What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - July 27, 1998

by Logan Scisco

-Michael Cole narrates a video package that recaps last night’s Fully Loaded pay-per-view.

-Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Anaheim, California.  One of the best signs, in a sea of them, is one that reads “Bret Hart = Work” near the front row.

-The Undertaker comes out with both WWF Tag Team title belts.  He makes clear that he and Steve Austin might be champions, but they are not partners until Austin comes out and apologizes to him.  Vince McMahon walks out instead, with stooges in tow, and says that the Undertaker has not convinced him that he is not working with Kane.  In a nice piece of logic, McMahon points out that the Undertaker had to use three Tombstones to beat Kane at WrestleMania, so beating him with one at Fully Loaded is suspicious.  McMahon demands an apology from the Undertaker for attacking him last week and books a tag team title match between the Undertaker and Austin and the New Age Outlaws.  Austin then walks out, causing McMahon and company to flee, and says that while he will help the Undertaker defend their tag team titles, he will not apologize to him.  He gives the Undertaker the bird before leaving.  1 for 1

-Get your free Triple H poster by buying a box of Stridex medicated pads!

-Opening Non-Title Contest:  Vader beats D-Lo Brown (European Champion) by count out at 4:18:

D-Lo is refusing to defend his European title for the second consecutive night, which Ross explains is due to his representatives thinking it would not be prudent to defend the title against Vader.  D-Lo slams Vader twice, but that just rejuvenates Vader.  Vader rips off D-Lo’s chest protector and splashes him on the floor, securing a count out win.  This is Vader’s first win on RAW in a while and since he went over via count out, why did they not just make this for the title?  Rating:  ** (2 for 2)

-A video package shows us “Droz’s World.”  He shows off his exotic pets.

-Brawl for All Quarter-Finals:  Bart Gunn defeats Steve Williams by KO at 2:51 of the third round:

As most of the readers of this article will recall, this is the Brawl for All match that ruined the entire purpose of the competition.  The WWF thought Williams could easily run through the competition without rigging it, but Gunn had other plans here as he uses his reach advantage to keep Williams at bay.  You can sense Ross getting nervous on commentary as his enthusiasm for Gunn’s performance wanes by the end of the second round.  Trailing by ten points entering the third, Gunn manages a takedown, causing Williams to tear his hamstring, and after an exchange of punches, Gunn lands the first knockout of the Brawl for All competition to score the big upset.  Ross never forgave Gunn for knocking his guy out of the competition.  3 for 3

-Owen Hart comes to the ring and gloats about beating Ken Shamrock in the Hart Dungeon last night.  He issues an open challenge to the locker room and Jason Sensation, dressed as Owen, walks out to a pretty big pop.  Sensation leads a “nugget” chant and when Owen goes after him, Dan Severn walks out and intercedes.  This is taken as evidence of Severn accepting Owen’s challenge.

-Open Challenge Match:  Owen Hart beats Dan Severn by disqualification when Ken Shamrock interferes at 49 seconds:

This match barely gets started as Owen and Severn share offense until Shamrock runs in and places Owen in a Dragon sleeper.  Severn gets Shamrock off of Owen by placing Shamrock in a Dragon sleeper and Steve Blackman has to walk out to break that up with some WWF officials.

-Sunday Night Heat is coming to USA Network this Sunday!

-Michael Cole gets pushed into the RAW is War backstage interview set when he tries to ask Shamrock some questions about what just happened.

-The Disciples of Apocalypse (w/Paul Ellering) wrestle Faarooq & Scorpio to a no-contest at 3:23:

Bradshaw is on commentary, still ranting about Terry Funk not telling him that he was going to leave the company before last night’s Fully Loaded pay-per-view.  At least Bradshaw’s commentary is more tolerable than what we have to endure every Monday night these days.  This is Faarooq and Scorpio’s debut as a team on RAW, as they had been teaming and winning matches on Shotgun Saturday Night in the weeks leading up to this.  Conventional wisdom would hold that this match would be important in the tag rankings as both teams won last night at Fully Loaded, but instead it is used as a vehicle to make us care about Bradshaw as he attacks both teams and creates chaos until WWF officials intervene.  Rating:  *¼ (3 for 4)

-Intercontinental Champion The Rock tells the announce team that he is going to make Triple H and X-Pac famous when they square off with him in a triple threat match tonight.

-Chyna’s interference in the two-out-of-three falls match between the Rock and Triple H last night at Fully Loaded is the Stridex Triple Action segment.

-Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship:  Triple H (w/Chyna) & X-Pac beat The Rock by count out at 6:54:

Was the Rock drunk when he signed the contract for this match?  Predictably, DX works together in the early going, but then turn on each other when it is time to finish the Rock off.  That brings back fond memories of playing those elimination four-ways on the N64.  One thing is clear from this match:  Rock vs. X-Pac > Triple H vs. The Rock.  After Triple H and X-Pac get angry and start fighting each other, the Rock slithers out of the ring and takes a count out, which is a finish that I’ve never seen again in a triple threat match.  Normally, that would be an awful finish, but it makes perfect sense here with the way the match unfolded.  I wish they had run this match last night at Fully Loaded and given it twenty minutes instead of giving us the overbooked two-out-of-three falls match.  Rating:  ***¼ (4 for 5)

-Cole interviews the New Age Outlaws, who pledge to regain their title tonight.

-Brakus beats Jesus with a spinebuster in 50 seconds:

To give a nice time stamp on this show, Ross and Lawler talk about Ryan Leaf’s big contract with the San Diego Chargers.  This is Brakus’s wrestling debut and he does a few token power moves before winning.  This never led to anything.  I mean, seriously, who thought a German wrestler wearing CHAINMAIL to the ring would get over in the Attitude Era?

-Val Venis is shown sharing the shower with Yamaguchi-San’s wife.

-Val Venis pins “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher (w/Scott Taylor) with a fisherman’s suplex at 2:10:

Before the match, Kaientai appears near the entrance, with Yamaguchi-San carrying a sword and Men’s Teioh carrying a few pieces of salami.  Venis counters Too Much’s attempts to fight the match two-on-one and quickly finishes Christopher off.  When Too Much tries to attack Venis after the match, Taka Michinoku comes down and makes the save.

-After the bell, Kaientai challenges Venis and Michinoku to a match next week and Yamaguchi-San vows to “choppy choppy” Val’s “pee pee” before taking his sword and chopping up some salami.  Now we  know why Japanese promotions aren’t big Russo fans…

-Cole interviews LOD 2000, who are facing the Godfather & Mark Henry tonight.  Animal is excited for the match, but Hawk looks out of it.

-The Godfather & Mark Henry (w/Hos) beat LOD 2000 when the Godfather pins Animal with a Death Valley Driver at 3:49:

This was where the Godfather added hos to his gimmick.  During their entrance, Hawk is stumbling around, is not wearing his spikes, and trips over the middle rope when getting into the ring.  Hawk fails to tag in throughout the match and then falls off the top rope when the LOD try their Doomsday Device.  I was never a fan of this angle, as it was quite tasteless, but the Godfather and Henry are a good tag team combination.  Animal kept this thing together as a one man wrecking crew too.  Rating:  ** (5 for 6)

-Lawler is in the ring to present the trophy to the winner of last night’s bikini contest.  Lawler informs the crowd that Sable did not win because Vince McMahon did not consider her attire a bikini.  Mero does his usual overly excited dance when Jacqueline is announced as the winner.  Sable questions McMahon’s manhood for not telling her that she was disqualified, which brings him out.  As McMahon runs down Sable, someone from the crowd hits Vince with a cup, leading him to chastise the audience.  McMahon reminds Sable that she is easily replaced and when he turns to leave, Sable gives him the bird and strips to reveal a new bikini.  I just never cared for Sable or this entire “feud” with McMahon.  It’s like they wanted to make Sable the female Austin, but she did not have the mic skills to carry that out.  5 for 7

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match:  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin & The Undertaker (Champions) defeated The New Age Outlaws when Austin pinned the Road Dogg after a Stone Cold Stunner at 8:09:

It is so refreshing for Ross to tell me that RAW won’t have any commercials for the main event, since nowadays we get one or two commercials that interrupt nearly every match on the show.  After the opening bell, some idiot fan throws a beach ball into the ring, which Austin boots into the upper deck.  I’m glad WWF fans never resorted to WCW craziness of littering the ring with trash on a regular basis.  Austin does a funny pose down with Billy Gunn where he flexes and then flips him the bird.  The Outlaws try to wear down the Undertaker’s leg, but Austin cleans house after the hot tag and wins the match on his own.  A fun TV main event that made the Outlaws appear capable, albeit overmatched.  Rating:  *** (6 for 8)

-After the match, Austin gets a beer from ringside to drink and tosses one to the Undertaker.  The Undertaker decides to drink it, but Kane and Mankind attack Austin near ringside as we end the show.

The Final Report Card:  The Austin-Undertaker pairing continues to do the slow burn toward SummerSlam and the attack at the end of the show sets the stage for a Fully Loaded rematch down the road.  The good continues to outweigh the bad on RAW, topped by Bart Gunn’s stunning victory in the Brawl for All.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.9 (vs. 4.7 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up