What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - June 8, 1998

by Logan Scisco

-A small video package is shown for the Junkyard Dog, who passed away in an automobile accident.

-Jim Ross and Michael Cole are in the booth and they are taped from Rockford, Illinois.

-Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, and Gerald Brisco come out in black tie attire since McMahon is being recognized for charity work tonight.  McMahon argues that we only know the “public” Vince, but tonight he will be named “Humanitarian of the Year.”  He adds that Steve Austin will be joining them for the presentation.  This was a subtle promo by McMahon and full of exaggeration.  1 for 1

-Opening King of the Ring Qualifying Match:  Ken Shamrock defeats “The Godfather” Kama Mustafa via submission to the ankle lock at 2:42:

The WWF was really starting to emphasize Kama’s “Godfather” nickname at this point, but he has not started his pimp gimmick yet.  The Nation is not allowed to accompany Kama to ringside.  This is Shamrock’s first match back from the beatdown Owen Hart and the Nation gave him after Unforgiven.  Kama works Shamrock’s leg, but gets too cocky and caught in the ankle lock and Shamrock advances to face Mark Henry in the first round.  After the bout, D-Lo Brown tries to attack Shamrock, but Dan Severn makes the save.  Severn and Shamrock eye each other to keep building the possibility that they may meet in the King of the Ring finals.

-Footage from the recent Madison Square Garden show is played.  Ross announces that MSG will play host to SummerSlam.

-D-Generation X is shown walking through New York City and talking to people about SummerSlam.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your “Don’t Trust Anybody” Steve Austin t-shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping & handling)!

-Faarooq & Steve Blackman defeat “Marvelous” Marc Mero & “Double J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Jacqueline & Tennessee Lee) when Blackman pins Jarrett with a schoolboy at 3:26:

Jarrett and Mero are an odd pairing since they are scheduled to face each other in a King of the Ring first round match in a couple of weeks.  Sure enough, Mero starts posing in front of Jacqueline on the apron and ignores the match, which allows Faarooq to push Jarrett into his partner and help Blackman secure a victory for his team.  Rushed match, but it at least does something to make people care about the Mero-Jarrett tournament match.  Rating:  *¾  (1 for 2)

-DX keeps roaming around New York City.  They get two consecutive segments for this.

-King of the Ring Qualifying Match:  Owen Hart beats 2 Cold Scorpio via submission to the Sharpshooter at 5:16:

The Nation is barred from Owen’s match like they were the Kama’s earlier.  Based on the booking of both guys, this should be a squash, but this is an Owen Hart match, so we’re going to get some solid workrate.  Scorpio misses a dive off the top rope, injuring his knee, and Owen locks in on the injured body part to secure a clean win.  This is the third and final time that Owen qualified for the King of the Ring (1994, 1996, and 1998).  Owen will face the winner of tonight’s Dan Severn-D-Lo Brown match.  Rating:  **¾ (2 for 3)

-The Undertaker shows up at the arena and is searching for Vince McMahon.

-We get video footage of Darren Drozdov playing for Denver Broncos and throwing up on a football.  The NFL on NBC announcers made a big deal out of his tattoos at the time, but now it is common for athletes to have them.

-Chainz beats Darren Drozdov with a Death Valley Driver at 2:55

This is Droz’s singles debut on RAW and this match is an extension of the awful LOD 2000-Disciples of Apocalypse feud that we have been treated to for the last month.  A decent brawl, but Chainz wins in a puzzling development since he was ice cold in terms of momentum.  This was a signal that Droz wasn’t getting a strong push out of the gate, but if the booking didn’t do him in then his attire, which looked grungy and unconvincing, would have done that anyway.

-Right after the bell, the Undertaker shows his disapproval with the LOD 2000-DOA program by chokeslamming Chainz and Droz and tossing them out of the ring.  Or maybe the Undertaker is taking revenge on Brian Lee for allegedly stealing his wife and/or stealing his gimmick in 1994.  The Undertaker says that he wants McMahon, but McMahon is busy backstage talking with his charity folks so the Undertaker heads back to the locker room.

-DX comes out and does their usual spiel, but before Triple H can rip the Nation, LOD 2000 walks out.  Animal demands a title shot due to their win at Over the Edge and Triple H agrees to give it to them.  This brings the DOA out and they say they are still owed a title shot based on beating the New Age Outlaws on RAW several weeks ago.  Triple H tells both teams to suck it and cancels the match, but Commissioner Slaughter comes out and books a triple threat match between all three teams for the WWF tag team titles.  This entire segment was a big mess as Triple H’s sophomore humor fell flat, Animal spewed nonsense, and one of the Harris brothers literally screeched while giving his promo.  2 for 4

-The Undertaker is shown destroying things backstage.

-Edge’s new vignette says that people are lost and scared.

-Jerry “the King” Lawler joins Ross for commentary for the second hour.

-Mark Henry and Vader wrestle to a no contest after the Undertaker interferes at 2:45:

Well, Vader’s pledge to go away for a while and find himself didn’t last very long.  Henry and Vader engage a fun brawl until the Undertaker walks out and chokeslams both of them.  The logic of this is probably to keep Henry strong and not damage Vader’s credibility, since he will face the Rock in a King of the Ring qualifying match next week.

-Steve Austin’s chairshot to Dude Love at Over the Edge is the JVC Kaboom! of the Week.

-A video package recaps Sable’s loss to Marc Mero at Over the Edge.

-King of the Ring Qualifying Match:  Dan Severn defeats D-Lo Brown with a modified bow and arrow submission at 3:10:

The WWE bookers didn’t think through a lot of the tournament brackets since they had lots of potential Nation matchups (Kama-Henry or Owen-D-Lo in the first round) and, since the odds of those matchups were low, that made the qualifying round too predictable.  D-Lo gets dominated by Severn here and the finish is notable because it was said that D-Lo suffered an injury to his pectoral as a result of the bow and arrow, thereby necessitating his use of a chest protector in future matches.  Since that gimmick gave D-Lo personality, you could argue that he got more out of this loss than Severn did a win.  After the match, Owen attacks Severn, but Ken Shamrock runs in to make the save.  Rating:  *½ (2 for 5)

-A video tribute to Sable is aired.

-Steve Austin is shown shaking the hands of Chicago football players before today’s show.

-Val Venis wrestles Dustin Runnels to a no-contest when the Undertaker interferes at 5:29:

Remember that Runnels is wrestling without pay due to his defeat at the hands of Dude Love a few weeks ago.  The match has an interesting story as Venis showcases a lot of the sexual antics that Runnels used under the Goldust gimmick and now he’s outraged by Venis’s behavior.  Runnels pushes Venis to the limit, but the Undertaker interferes and ruins what was Venis’s best match to date.  The chemistry that these two displayed here may have convinced the WWF brass to create a long-term program between these two.  Rating:  **½ (3 for 6)

-The Undertaker attacks Commission Slaughter in the locker room when he cannot tell him where McMahon is.

-Triple Threat Match for the WWF Tag Team Championships:  The New Age Outlaws (Champions w/Chyna) defeat LOD 2000 (w/Sunny) & The Disciples of Apocalypse when Billy Gunn pins the Road Dogg at 7:37:

This match requires two men to be in the ring at one time, so it does not utilize the triple threat variation where a member of each team is engaged in the ring at all times.  Under these rules, I’ve never understood why a team voluntarily tags itself out, since they might not get another opportunity to re-enter the bout.  The Outlaws get tagged into the match by the LOD and DOA, but they intelligently take advantage of the situation to retain the titles.  Each team rotated enough to keep this interesting and the finish was well crafted.  Rating:  **¼ (4 for 7)

-An army of police officers are shown assembling in the backstage area.

-Al Snow shows up in ridiculous coat and tie attire and interrogates Lawler, but security escorts him away.

-Vince McMahon comes out for his “Humanitarian of the Year” ceremony to the music that was used for celebrities at WrestleMania X.  As McMahon enters the ring, police officers corner the Undertaker backstage.  Steve Austin comes out wearing a black tie with the rest of his ring attire, which irritates McMahon.  As McMahon receives his awards, he is told that his contributions were not what he promised and that it took several times for his checks to clear.  As McMahon gives his acceptance speech, promising to take his awards and place them in a future Hall of Fame, Austin picks his pocket and gives the $1,200 in it to the foundations present.  Austin proclaims McMahon the “Jackass of the Year” and druids carry a casket to the ring as the lights go out and the Undertaker’s music plays.  However, Kane pops out of the casket and Mankind joins in.  They toss Austin in the casket and Kane stands over it and signals for his pyro as the show plays out.  A pretty tame segment compared to the great work that Austin and McMahon have done up to this point, but the heel beatdown and closing shot were great.  5 for 8

The Final Report Card:  I didn’t care for the Undertaker’s rampage during the show, since it ruined Venis-Runnels and defied logic (why could the Undertaker not find McMahon in the backstage area during the ENTIRE show?).  In contrast, the show had enough entertaining segments like the tag team triple threat, the closing segment where Austin one-upped McMahon and then McMahon got immediate retribution, and Owen-Scorpio.  I’ll give this week’s effort a neutral score because although Austin-McMahon was fun, their segments on this show were arguably the weakest between them since their feud began after WrestleMania, and this show seemed to lack the energy of previous broadcasts.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.3 (vs. 4.0 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:   Neutral