Vince McMahon found success in the summer and fall of 1997 with a long form storyline focused around the heel turn of Bret Hart, and was intent on doing the same the following year. "The Highway to Hell" began at King of the Ring, when The Undertaker accidentally cost "Stone Cold" Steve Austin the WWF title, though he would regain it one night later from Kane. The tension between Undertaker and Austin would continue to build leading into the main event of Fully Loaded, which would see the two frenemies team up to face the new tag team champions of Kane and Mankind. Certainly, anticipation for both this match and the eventual title showdown between Undertaker and Austin at SummerSlam was extremely high, and the company absolutely needed it. Earlier in the month of July, WCW gave their fans one of the biggest title changes in history, with Goldberg taking down "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan in the Georgia Dome. Let's take a look at the final stop, at least on pay-per-view, for the WWF before their historic SummerSlam.
- Fully Loaded 1998(technically still with the suffix of In Your House) comes to you from the Selland Arena in Fresno, California, a very strange choice of venue, as I definitely wouldn't think of Fresno as a wrestling hotbed or anything. The crowd was dead for most of the show, so I guess that's why this was the final WWE pay-per-view in Fresno. As always, JR and The King are on the call.
- The opening contest of the night is one of the few quality wrestling matches on display during these 3 hours, as Jeff Jarrett takes on Val Venis. Both of these guys can go, and proved it here, exchanging some big moves and putting each other over. Venis gives us his best Rob Van Dam impersonation, doing a headstand following a DDT, the best selling of the night. It's worth noting that Kaientai's manager Wally Yamaguchi was at ringside for this match, offering some occasional commentary, and building to the infamous angle the following night on Raw when he attempted to chop off Val's third leg. After a collision between Jeff and the referee, Val gets the win with a roll-up, ending a very good wrestling match, though most of the heat was on Venis and Yamaguchi instead of Jarrett.
- In a non-title match, new European Champion D'Lo Brown takes on X-Pac in a continuation of another of the major feuds during the summer of '98, this time between The Nation and D-Generation X. D'Lo got the belt on the go-home edition of Raw, defeating Triple H with help from The Rock, and he's being built up to be a major midcard player. Unfortunately, his moveset is very boring, consisting mostly of headlocks, which is a real shame as Sean Waltman is a terrific seller and could've got D'Lo over as a big threat if given the chance. Brown does have a beautiful moonsault, though he misses it here and sells his chest. The champ does still get the win, as fellow Nation member The Godfather interferes, allowing Brown to drill Pac with the Sky High. This was a disappointing outing for D'Lo especially, and not a great start to his push.
- The third contest of the night is the first tag team affair, as Farooq and Scorpio team up to face Bradshaw and Terry Funk. Bradshaw and Scorpio have both recently qualified for the second round of the Brawl For All shoot fighting tournament, and the less said about that the better. Neither of these teams have an real chemistry, and this match is a drag to watch as a result. The crowd even gets a "boring" chant going, before Scorpio shuts them up with a 450 splash to Funk for the win. Furious about Terry not just taking the fall but also announcing he would be taking some time off, Bradshaw attacks his own partner and both of the babyfaces in a pretty brutal post-match assault. Scorpio is turned inside-out with the Clothesline From Hell, a great bump that really put Bradshaw over as a real menace, though the crowd refused to care.
- A big hoss battle then follows, as Mark Henry and Vader collide. This match seems like a really bad idea on paper, with Vader on his last legs and Mark still incredibly green, and wouldn't you know it, it was terrible. The two big boys slam into each other a couple times, throw some strikes and toss each other around in a slow but thankfully safe manner. Vader hits a big splash for a near fall, before going down to a powerslam and running splash from Henry for the three. The only good thing I can say about this match is that it was only 5 minutes, making it better than the following one.
- In tag team action, the Legion of Doom take on the Disciples of Apocalypse, who now have Hawk and Animal's manager Paul Ellering in their corner. This is real bottom of the barrel stuff here folks, right up there as one of the worst matches I've ever watched. Ron and Don Harris just cannot work, and while Animal's hot tag was nothing close to what it used to be, as he just hits some weak lariats. The DOA get the win by using some twin magic, with the legal twin rolling out of the ring and illegal one planting Animal. This sucked hard.
- In a pre-taped segment, we head to the Hart Family Dungeon, as Owen Hart takes on Ken Shamrock in a fairly unique match. The Dungeon gives off a very dingy and grimy feel, a good backdrop for a brawl that's intended to feel like a no holds barred shoot fight. Both men take turns slamming each other into the walls, which have absolutely no give and seem like they could easily give you a concussion, with Shamrock using the bar at the top to his advantage to deliver a dropkick. Ken accidentally knocks down special referee Dan Severn with a flying kick, allowing Owen to knock Shamrock out with a dumbbell. Owen then applies a loose armbar, and grabs the limp arm of Shamrock to mimic a tap out, with Severn sees and he calls the match. It's a finish that does make Dan look a bit dumb, as he really should've seen that Shamrock was unconscious, but oh well. This was still a fun brawl between two guys that made it look legit, in a unique setting that has never been seen before or since on WWE programming. Admittedly, if another match had been set in the Dungeon, it probably wouldn't have worked quite as well, as they're only so much you can do in such a small space, but for a one-off, this was enjoyable.
- Time for the biggest clash to date in the war between The Nation of Domination and D-X, as The Rock defends the Intercontinental Championship against Triple H in a two out of three falls match. Jim Ross brings up the 30 minute time limit before the match even begins, which was extremely frustrating to me as whenever a wrestling announcer mentions the time limit, it's a dead giveaway that the match is ending in a time limit draw. And indeed, that's exactly how this one goes, as both men get one fall each before time is reached, and the necessity to fill 30 minutes does drag it down for me. Both Rock and Hunter spend the first half not doing very much, throwing some strikes and working rest holds, as members of both factions interfere. It's D'Lo Brown who allows Rocky to score the first fall, as Triple H hits D'Lo with the belt before turning into the Rock Bottom for three. Though I didn't like most of the action to this point, the final 10 minutes were very exciting. Triple H ties the score after Chyna hits Rock with a low blow and a DDT on a chair to an absolutely massive pop. Down the stretch, the tension is very high, as Hunter closes in on victory. He manages to escape a Rock Bottom attempt to hit the Pedigree, but time expires before Hebner can begin his count, as Rock retains the title. In the long history these two men have shared in the ring, this one definitely won't be remembered too highly, though there were some highlights, and the crowd was invested.
- This show is probably best known for the following "match", a bikini contest between Jacqueline and Sable. Yes, this features one of the most famous Attitude Era moments, where Sable reveals the hand prints on her breasts, as Jerry Lawler nearly dies from excitement in the ring. Women's wrestling, ladies and gentlemen.
- Main event time, as Kane and Mankind defend their tag titles against The Undertaker and Steve Austin. Not just is their the promise of a future title match between Undertaker and Austin, but the WWF is also once again teasing a possible alliance between the brothers Kane and Undertaker after months of war. This match mostly ignores the latter story point and focuses entirely on the former, with Austin getting most of the heat while taking a heel beatdown. Undertaker seems reluctant to get in the ring after Austin hit him with a chair on Raw, but eventually sticks out his tag for the tag to a sizeable pop, as the crowd is definitely invested in this story. Undertaker cleans house, before once again scoring a pinfall on his brother following a Tombstone Piledriver. The official hands him the tag belts, which he takes by himself to the back, leaving Austin empty handed in the ring. The match may not have anything great, but this final tease towards the possible heel turn of the Deadman is more than enough to keep this title feud interesting, and provides a great moment to close the show.
3/10
The name on the billing might read Fully Loaded, but this show was anything but. There are some positives to be found, but they just can't outweigh the negatives, with just one truly entertaining match out of the first five. The final three matches certainly had their moments and save this from being an all-time stinker, but there's still really nothing that absolutely has to be seen. Considering just how great the product was at this time, Fully Loaded 1998 is a pretty big miss for the WWF.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: SummerSlam 1998, as Austin and Undertaker square off and The Rock and Triple H meet in a ladder match. See you soon.
- Henry
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