In both my King of the Ring and Fully Loaded reviews, I've made mention to just how hot the mainstream wrestling industry was in the summer of 1998, but nothing proves that point more than SummerSlam, the peak of this massive boom. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the most bought SummerSlam ever, achieving almost 3 times more than the previous year's edition, an absolutely insane leap. It's the culmination of months of build between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker, as they finally collide in the main event, but that's not all SummerSlam 1998 has to offer. The undercard features the fourth televised ladder match in WWE history, as rising stars Triple H and The Rock face off in the peak of the war between the Nation of Domination and D-Generation X, the two biggest factions in the company. This is a classic show in every sense of the term, and one of the best in the history of the Attitude Era.
- SummerSlam 1998 doesn't just have a stacked card, but also gets a huge boost from it's venue, the historic Madison Square Garden, which was absolutely rocking all night. Also, take a look at this poster, this thing is magnificent, one of my favorite posters for a show I've covered. As always, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- The European Championship is at stake in our opener, as D'Lo Brown defends against Val Venis. Val delivered a quality match opening Fully Loaded last month, and puts on another great outing here. There's plenty of great counter wrestling to be found, with both men countering flying attacks with power moves, the big highlight coming after Brown catches Venis in mid-air with the Sky High for a near fall. A scary moment does come when D'Lo can't quite lift Val for a powerbomb, dropping him down on his head and neck, but fortunately no serious harm was done and the second attempt at the running powerbomb looks great. Val steals D'Lo's chest protector, which the referee is definitely not cool with. This leads to a weak DQ finish after Val shoves the official, though at least it does lead to Venis hitting the ref with a Money Shot after the match to a big pop. This was a great way to open the night, though it would've been even better with a clean finish.
- Back in May, The Oddities, a group compromised of disfigured or otherwise bizarre wrestlers, was formed, and they would quickly become one of the most over acts in the company. They make their pay-per-view debut here, played to the ring by the Insane Clown Posse, though that performance has been completely cut from the WWE Network version due to copyright issues. Kurrgan, Golga and Giant Silva are down a man taking on all four members of Kaientai, though that doesn't trouble them in the slightest. This is a complete squash match, with Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Funaki and Taka Michinoku getting absolutely battered by their much bigger opponents. There is some fun to be had here, watching the heels fly in every direction, especially when Golga(the former Earthquake) lands a big clothesline that takes down everyone. Luna Vachon gets involved to slam Yamaguchi-san to a big pop, before Golga covers all four men for the win. This is a fun squash and props to all the guys in Kaientai for really putting the giants over, but it does run a little long, and the crowd got a bit bored from seeing a lot of repetitive spots.
- The first gimmick match of the night is Hair versus Hair, as X-Pac faces Val Venis. This is another very good match, as both men have a good amount of in-ring chemistry and move at an extremely fast pace in the opening few minutes. It does slow down a bit, as they exchange sleepers before Jarrett applies the figure four, and the crowd gets into it, rallying behind X-Pac as he escapes. Howard Finkel, who was shaved bald by Jarrett on Sunday Night Heat before the show to get some extra heat, now gets involved, allowing the X-Factor to connect. Jeff's allies Southern Justice, the former Godwinns, attempt to hit X-Pac with the guitar, which the D-X member ducks, before knocking out Jarrett with it for the win. Afterward, X-Pac has a lot of problems delivering the promised haircut to Jarrett, eventually having to switch to hair clippers, and gets very little of Jeff's hair off his head before he escapes with help from Southern Justice. This is another solid match that had some great stretches in it, and the crowd stays hot with another babyface victory.
- One of the highlights of WrestleMania 14 was the mixed tag match, so it's time to run it back here. This time, Sable and Marc Mero are on opposite sides, with Marc teaming with Jacqueline to face Sable and the recently debuted Edge. Edge has had just one match on TV to this point, and the crowd doesn't really know what to think of him just yet. He and Sable are a bit of an awkward pairing, but his big suicide dive to Mero and spanking of Jacqueline both get big pops. Big props to Mero in this one, who works together with Sable to make her frankensteiner look great, probably the best offensive move she's ever delivered. The finish sees Sable and Edge hit their first real double team maneuver, as he lifts her up in a wheelbarrow hold to splash her down on Jacqueline for the win. Once again, the crowd was really into this one as Sable remains one of the most popular performers on the roster, the match was booked very well and the action was pretty good, especially when Edge gets involved.
- For the second month in a row, Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock compete in a unique gimmick match, this time meeting inside the Lion's Den. It's an enclosed narrow steel cage, similar to the Octagon in the UFC, a bit like an upside done safety cone. Just like the Dungeon match at Fully Loaded, Hart and Shamrock make great use of their surroundings, with Shamrock scaling the mesh wall to deliver a crossbody and using it to escape a Sharpshooter by crawling up it. Hart locks in a dragon sleeper, a hold that was taught to him in storyline by trainer Dan Severn and has been built a lot on television lately. Shamrock escapes by walking up the cage, before flipping over Owen, taking him down with a drop toe hold and finally applying the ankle lock, a terrific sequence. Owen taps as Severn walks off in disgust, ending one of my favorite matches of the night. The Owen-Shamrock feud is incredibly underrated, and this was the best way to debut the new Lion's Den gimmick, as both guys were so great in figuring out creative ways to make the match interesting.
- Kane and Mankind were scheduled to defend their tag titles in a falls count anywhere match against the New Age Outlaws, but "The Big Red Monster" is nowhere to be found. Mankind is forced to defend all by himself, which he's convinced to go forward with by Vince in a great backstage segment, as McMahon is obviously manipulating the childlike Mankind into going for glory all by himself. Everything about both that promo and this match seems designed to make Foley as sympathetic as possible, and if that was the intention, it really worked. Billy Gunn and Road Dogg are remorseless on the attack, powerbombing Mankind onto two chairs and putting him away with a spike piledriver onto one of the title belts. It's definitely a bit of a heelish beatdown, but most of the top faces weren't particularly good guys, so it's par for the course. After Mankind is tossed into a dumpster, Kane emerges from it, what on Earth was he doing in there, hitting Mankind with a sledgehammer for seemingly no reason. This is probably the most forgettable match on the card, but it did it's job and there was some fun hardcore mayhem to be found, so it wasn't too bad.
- In the first of the two much hyped matches, Triple H challenges for the Intercontinental Championship against The Rock in the first ladder match to not feature Shawn Michaels. Obviously, neither of these guys can match the creative, daredevil stunts that Shawn could pull off, so this is wisely booked to be something completely different. Instead, it's an absolute slugfest, as both men take lumps out of each other, utilizing the ladder to deliver brutal punishment. Hunter takes the worst of it, getting his leg smashed into the ladder multiple times, before taking a bodyslam onto it late in the match. Rock doesn't take many big bumps, but does get busted open the hard way, which is a great visual. Both men have backup, and Mark Henry and Chyna get involved a couple times, with the best moment saved for the end. Mark throws flour into Hunter's eyes, but he still manages to scale the ladder alongside The Rock, before Chyna strikes the final blow, sending Rock crashing to the mat with a low blow, as Triple H claims the IC strap. This is a terrific match, one that absolutely holds up against Shawn's classic bouts by adding an air of legitimacy and brutality that really hadn't been seen before. There may not have been too many memorable spots, with the best probably being the People's Elbow on the ladder, but they told a gripping story that had the crowd and myself hooked the entire way.
- Main event time, as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defends the WWF Championship against The Undertaker. Austin sustains a concussion pretty early on when both guys' heads collide, though he doesn't show too many ill effects for most of the bout. Kane does walk out from the back at one point, but Undertaker sends him packing, wanting to do this on his own. The story here is Undertaker's desperation to become champion once more, and it's that drive that leads to an unreal spot, as Undertaker takes flight with a leg drop onto Austin on the Spanish announce table. Austin is able to keep going, and throws everything back at his challenger as the match really picks up in intensity. Undertaker hits a chokeslam and signals for the Tombstone as the crowd pops big, but Austin slips out and looks for the Stunner. Undertaker counters that, dumping Austin across the top rope and now attempting Old School. But Austin is willing to do that little bit more, catching Undertaker with a low blow and the Stunner to remain WWF Champion. Undertaker remains a face, at least for now, handing over the belt to Austin before watching on with Kane as the champion celebrated, as apparently Mark Calaway wasn't interested in turning at this point. He would turn heel before Breakdown the following month though, so this was a pretty useless ending to the show. Still, this was a dramatic and well told main event, a worthy capper to a wonderful night for the WWF.
9/10
Every match had some entertainment value, though the most shocking good match for me came from the Lion's Den, that stipulation hasn't gotten much use but it was the perfect setting for the Owen-Shamrock grudge match. The ladder match is a true classic, one that absolutely made both men into true main event players, and the main event, while not at the level of what guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were putting on in recent years, featured two top stars and a brilliant story.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 1998, the site of the legendary Deadly Games tournament to crown a new WWF Champion. See you soon.
- Henry
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