the same in ’06. But instead of getting depressed about that, let’s look back at a show that referenced Montreal when it was still a fresh reference.

Emanating from the Kiel Center in St. Louis, MO

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler

- Let’s bring everyone up to date as to the happenings around this time. The non-finish to last month’s main event meant there was still no champion. So, Vince announced that there would be a 14-man tournament to crown a new champion. Since the Undertaker and Kane were involved in that title match last month, they have been given byes in the first round. Also, Austin is in the tournament despite being fired last month. Shane McMahon, Vince’s son, signed Austin to a new 5-year contract because he and Vince haven’t been getting along lately. Angered by his son’s defiance, Vince has done all he could to punish Shane, including making him a “lowly referee”. I think that’s everything, let’s move onto the show.

Before the match, Mr. McMahon is wheeled to ringside by the Stooges. He introduces Mankind, who is clean shaven and wearing a tuxedo in his ongoing effort to please the boss. Then, Vince gives a lengthy intro for his mystery opponent. As he begins, the crowd chants “HBK”. Finally, after minutes of buildup, we learn it’s…Dwayne Gill! Yes, infamous jobber Dwayne Gill, who now has his own titantron video and pyro. Mankind makes quick work of him. After pulling Gill into the ring and hitting him with a double arm DDT, Mankind rolls him up and that’s it.

Bottom Line: Not much here as it was 30 seconds at best. Still, a very interesting and humorous start to the show, as no one was expecting the man who would become Gillberg. Is Mr. McMahon stacking the deck in Mankind’s favor? Hmmm…. DUD

- Sable bitches to Kevin Kelly about being jumped by Jacqueline earlier on HeAT. She says she’s pissed off and then storms away. It’s no wonder Mero and her split. I wouldn’t be able to stick around with someone who was always in a foul mood either.

So in yet another makeover for Jarrett, he now has a new manager, Debra McMichael. Thus far in ’98, he has had three different managers and three different costume changes. And you know what? He’s isn’t anymore over now than he was at the beginning of the year. Snow comes out with Head, which has Mr. Socko wrapped around it. Evidently, Snow stole it from Mankind a few weeks ago for reasons I’m not quite sure about. Jarrett tries a sneak attack on the floor, but Snow catches him. Then, Snow somersaults off the steps and onto Jarrett. Nice. In the ring, Jarrett nails Snow with a hot shot. A clothesline and a neckbreaker put Snow back into control, but then he misses a top rope legdrop. A dropkick by Jarrett gets 2. Snow gets Jarrett in a crucifix for 2. A spinebuster by Jarrett is countered into a DDT by Snow. That gets a nearfall. A mid-ring collision drops both men. Debra grabs Head and tries to give it to Jarrett, but the referee takes it away. As the referee chases Debra away, Snow grabs the guitar and Jarrett grabs Head. Jarrett nails Snow, but when he goes for a second shot, Snow boots him. Snow then grabs Head, blasts Jarrett with it and covers him for the victory.

BL: They did about as well as they could given that the match only lasted a few minutes. The action was good and constant, but you can’t say much for a match this short. I’m surprised Snow went over. Maybe it’s time to repackage Jarrett again. *

- Dok Hendrix talks with Ken Shamrock in the Superstar Line room and says that he should be a favorite tonight, given that he’s won two other single-elimination tournaments this year (King of the Ring and the Intercontinental title tournament). I’m so impressed with Dok for bringing up logical history, I’ll actually refrain from making a smart-alleck comment about him here.

The fight begins in the aisle and Austin whips the Bossman into the steps. In the ring, it’s all Austin as he hits the Lou Thesz Press and the F. U. elbow. That gets 2. As Austin approaches the Bossman in the corner, the Bossman lowblows him. The Bossman works over Austin and doesn’t do it in an interesting manner. Austin comes back and stomps away on the Bossman in the corner. The Bossman is thrown to the outside and when Austin follows him out there, the Bossman nails him with the nightstick. The referee sees it and calls for the disqualification.

Postmatch: The Bossman continues his nightstick attack as Mr. McMahon watches gleefully backstage.

BL: Another short match that wasn’t great. This one was for storyline purposes to illustrate how the beatdown will hamper Austin’s chances of winning. Austin seemed energetic here, but Bossman was his usual sluggish self. ¼ *

- Michael Cole asks Mr. McMahon if he’s concerned about Austin’s advancement. Vince smiles and says that the night is young. We’ve all seen that look from him before and we all know it can’t mean good things.

I don’t know why, but we were lucky enough to get PPV documentation of Regal’s first gimmick in the WWF. One that has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. “He’s a maaaaaaaannn” Oh sorry, got carried away there for a second. X-Pac uses his feet to his advantage early on. A back suplex by X-Pac gets 2. X-Pac tries for the Bronco Buster, but comes up empty. Regal twists X-Pac up like a pretzel in hopes of getting a submission. X-Pac gets Regal in a sunset flip, but Regal rolls through it and then catapults X-Pac across the ring. A gut wrench suplex by Regal gets 2. Yet another Bronco Buster attempt by X-Pac fails to hit. Regal mounts X-Pac on the top rope and then hits him with a double-arm suplex. That gets a nearfall. As Regal slaps on another resthold, I’m beginning to suspect what the finish here will be. X-Pac dropkicks Regal and then hits him with the Bronco Buster. After suplexing Regal, X-Pac goes up top. Regal gets up, however and knocks him to the floor. On the floor, X-Pac suplexes Regal. As X-Pac punches away on Regal, the bell rings. The referee has counted both men out.

Postmatch: Mr. McMahon sends Commissioner Slaughter out to announce a five-minute overtime. However, X-Pac just walks to the back and the overtime never happens. So I guess the double count-out decision sticks and Austin now gets a bye in the next round.

BL: Strange finish aside, this wasn’t too bad. I would have actually liked to see an extended feud between these two, but Regal’s character was sadly scrapped shortly after this. As for the ending, it seemed like they were going for a time limit draw. I’m not sure if that was the planned finish or if someone called an audible. Regardless, it didn’t come off very smooth. * ¾

Shamrock starts off strong with a series of punches and kicks. Goldust comes back with a clothesline and a slam. Shamrock is whipped to the corner, but fires out of it with a clothesline. A Russian legsweep by Shamrock gets 2. Goldust charges at Shamrock, but nobody’s home. Goldust tries for a monkey flip, but Shamrock shoves him off. However, when Shamrock comes out of the corner, Goldust catches him with a drop toe hold. Goldust goes for a powerbomb, but Shamrock punches out of it. After connecting with a sloppy bulldog, Goldust tries going for Shattered Dreams, but the referee stops him. This allows Shamrock to hit Goldust with a hurricanrana. Shamrock hits a belly-to-belly suplex and then slaps on the ankle lock. It doesn’t take long before Goldust submits.

BL: What an absolute bore. It’s pretty sad when you can’t even be entertaining for under 10 minutes. On top of that, half of their moves didn’t hit properly. These two did not work well with each other at all. We should be thankful this had a 10 minute time limit. ½ *

- Michael Cole says Austin has refused medical attention and will somehow find a way to be ready for his semi-final match. That’s some more fine reporting from the Obvious News Network’s lead reporter, Michael Cole.

HHH is out with a knee injury, so it’s to everyone’s surprise when his music hits. However, it’s the Stooges who come out to it. They say that since HHH refused to come, Mr. McMahon has arranged The Rock to wrestle a replacement…the Big Bossman. The Bossman runs into the ring and The Rock immediately small packages him for the win. Total match time: 4 seconds! Eat your heart out King Kong Bundy. Clearly Mr. McMahon’s plan here to thwart The Rock did not work.

BL: Clearly a DUD, but it was damn funny seeing the Bossman get jobbed out like that.

Undertaker jumps Kane as soon as he enters the ring. Kane comes back by booting Taker in the face. The fight heads outside where Kane continues to be in control. Taker drops Kane across the guardrail and then sends him into the steps. Back inside, Kane catches Taker with a powerslam. Kane charges at Taker, but gets booted. Then Taker chopblocks him. Taker works on Kane’s leg in his typical boring fashion. Now Taker is slugging away on Kane, but he’s no-selling all of the shots. Kane reverse a whip and then follows it up with a clothesline. A top rope clothesline by Kane gets 2. Both men try for a chokeslam, but only Kane is able to succeed. Paul Bearer gets on the apron and distracts Kane. Taker sits up, grabs Kane and plants him with a Tombstone. Taker hooks the leg, while Bearer holds the other and that gets the pin.

BL: So it took three Tombstones after a 20 minute match to beat Kane at Wrestlemania, but only one Tombstone after a 7 minute match here. OK then. This was your typical Taker/Kane plod-fest, but in condensed form. Too bad it still felt like a 20 minute match. ¾ *

Snow immediately attacks Mankind in the corner to begin. A dropkick sends Mankind to the floor. On the outside, Snow actually uses a chair on Mankind, but the referee doesn’t disqualify him. Snow leaps off the guardrail, but Mankind catches him. Then Mankind drops Snow across the chair. As they continue to fight, we go to a splitscreen and see Mr. McMahon reveal to the Stooges that he stole Socko and put it on Head. After connecting with an enziguri, Snow grabs Head. He swings and misses and then Mankind hits him with a back suplex. Mankind spots Socko on Head, takes it off, and beats up Head. Snow, meanwhile, comes up and clotheslines him. A sit-out spinebuster by Snow gets 2. Mankind comes back with a double-arm DDT. Then he puts Socko on Snow and he submits.

BL: Just like the X-Pac/Regal match, I would have liked to see more from these two. It’s obvious they know each other well, and it would have been interesting to see these two feud when they were both healthy. But tonight’s not the venue for it. The Socko shenanigans rise this slightly above a forgettable match. *

Gee, haven’t seen this matchup before. The Rock dominates early, until missing a charge into the corner. A suplex by Shamrock gets 2. On the floor, The Rock throws Shamrock into the announce table and then cools him off with a little bottled water. Shamrock comes back by whipping the Rock into the steps. After slamming The Rock on the floor, Shamrock tosses him back into the ring. A Russian legsweep by Shamrock gets 2. As The Rock battles back, the Bossman strolls down to ringside. Shamrock slaps on a chinlock as a “Bossman sucks” chant rings out. After connecting with a hurricanrana, Shamrock puts on the ankle lock. The Rock manages to get to the ropes, however. A double clothesline sends both men to the mat. The Rock rolls over and gets 2. He then connects with the float-over DDT and then taunts the Bossman. As the referee yells at the Bossman, The Rock is able to go low on Shamrock. The People’s Elbow gets 2. The Rock goes for the Rock Bottom, but Shamrock fights out of it. Then he hits The Rock with a belly-to-belly suplex. The Bossman tries tossing Shamrock his nightstick, but The Rock intercepts it and wallops Shamrock with it. That’s enough to give The Rock the pinfall. The Bossman fails again.

BL: We started off hot, then slowed way down when Shamrock took over on offense and then finished strong. A fun little match that certainly got the crowd fired up after being lulled to sleep by Kane and the Undertaker. * ½

- Paul Bearer talks to Michael Cole, but says nothing of interest. Can someone help me out as to the explanation given for why the Undertaker and Paul Bearer reunited? That would be great.

For note, Shane McMahon is YOUR lowly referee for this match. Mero distracts Sable to allow Jacqueline to jump her from behind. Sable blocks a hiptoss and delivers one of her own. After kicking Jacqueline in the face, Sable connects with the TKO. Sable covers, but Mero pulls her out of the ring. On the floor, Sable kicks Mero in the jewels and then gives him the Sable Bomb. Meanwhile, Jacqueline hits Sable from behind again. In the ring, Jacqueline chokes Sable on the ropes. Jacqueline goes for a powerbomb, but Sable backdrops her. Now Jacqueline tries for the tornado DDT, but Sable shoves her off. A Sable Bomb later and we have a new women’s champ.

BL: The crowd seemed to like this, but pardon me if I’m not as enthusiastic. I can’t get too excited about seeing someone who knows all of 3 moves hold their division’s title. This was basically a squash and poor Jacqueline, an actual wrestler, wouldn’t be a factor in the division for a long time after this. ½ *

Austin wastes no time and begins stomping a mudhole in Mankind as the bell rings. Now he tries ripping apart his tuxedo. That’s a $10,000 tuxedo! As Austin nails Mankind with his shoe, we see Vince and Co. come out to ringside. Mankind takes over on offense with a running knee to Austin’s face. Austin comes back with the Lou Thesz Press and the F. U. elbow. Mankind escapes a Stunner attempt and then runs away down the aisle. The Stooges coax Mankind to come back, but Austin meets all of them in the aisle and attacks everyone. Austin goes for a piledriver, but surprise, surprise, Mankind backdrops him. Now Mankind whips Austin into the steps. They brawl some more before getting back into the ring. A slugfest breaks out and then both men go down on a double clothesline. Austin does some more mudhole stomping. When Austin tries to wrap Mankind’s leg around the post, Mankind pulls Austin into the post. Mankind charges with a chair, but Austin boots it into his face. Austin misses a legdrop and falls onto the chair. Then Mankind hits him with a double-arm DDT on the chair. That gets a long 2. A piledriver attempt by Mankind is blocked and Austin backdrops him onto the chair. Austin connects with the Stooges and covers. Mr. McMahon, however, gets out of his wheelchair and grabs the referee. McMahon beats up the referee as Austin looks on. Mankind attacks Austin from behind and then applies the Mandible Claw, as his tuxedo pants have fallen off. Austin kicks Mankind low and then gives him another Stunner. Austin covers and out comes Shane McMahon. He counts 1…2…and then stops and flips off Austin. Austin looks stunned by this. Then things kinda fall apart as Austin sorta goes after Shane, but doesn’t fully because he seems to be waiting for something. He just opts to go back after Mankind instead. Mankind clotheslines him and then Gerald Brisco comes in and hits him with a really weak chairshot. Mankind covers and Shane counts the 1, 2, 3.

Postmatch: We see the Bossman show up at the finish and I think he missed his cue and was supposed to be the one to attack Austin right after Shane’s betrayal. Anyway, Vince, Shane, the Bossman and the Stooges skip away victoriously. Austin chases after them. The heels drive away in a limo and Austin carjacks someone’s truck and follows them.

BL: At the time, Shane’s turn was a true WTF moment. You totally didn’t see it coming. Evidently, the Bossman didn’t either since he missed his cue. The botched ending didn’t help, but it also didn’t take away too much from the match. The match itself was a bit too much brawling for it to be great. However, the drama behind the match is very strong. ** ¾

Taker tries to jump The Rock, but he’s too quick for him. Before long, the two are brawling on the floor. Taker has taken over after winning the battle outside. The Rock boots a charging Taker and then clotheslines him. Taker does a lot of choking and I do a lot of snoring. The Rock gets his arms tied in the ropes and Taker punches away on him. Once free, he’s able to backdrop Taker out of the ring. The fight heads into the crowd, but nothing much happens. Paul Bearer attacks The Rock with his shoe, while Taker distracts the referee. After Taker misses a charge, both men slug it out. The Rock catches Taker with a Samoan drop. With both men down, our old buddy, the Bossman comes back out. Evidently he didn’t leave with the McMahons. Taker puts his head down and The Rock plants him with a DDT. The Rock slams Taker and goes for the People’s Elbow, but the Bossman trips him. Taker gets back up and clotheslines The Rock. The Bossman gets on the apron, but Taker knocks him off. Taker goes to chokeslam The Rock, but Kane comes into the ring. Taker shoves The Rock into Kane, who chokeslams him. That draws a disqualification for Taker.

Postmatch: Kane clotheslines Taker out of the ring and they fight through the crowd.

BL: This one was really slow and boring. I’m sure it was that way because they wanted to save The Rock’s energy for the finals. At least the ending was a swerve. I mean, I thought for sure that the Bossman was going to find a way to screw up again. *

- Michael Cole interviews Mankind, who cuts a promo on The Rock and ends it with “If you smell what the sock is cooking”. Then Cole gives us a facial expression as if to say, “Man, that was a lame pun”. Listen Cole, you have no room to judge anybody for being lame.

D’Lo and Badd Ass kick things off. Badd Ass misses a corner charge and then D’Lo kicks him. As D’Lo celebrates, Mosh covers, but D’Lo breaks it up. Mosh springboards off the second rope and clotheslines D’Lo. He covers, but the pin is broken up by Road Dogg. Both Outlaws are in and they clean house. D’Lo powerbombs Road Dogg and then the Headbangers kick away on him. The Headbangers hit Road Dogg with a flapjack and then get a nearfall. D’Lo and Mosh team up to attack Road Dogg. It would appear Road Dogg is your designated Ricky Morton. Now it’s Henry and Thrasher doing a number on Road Dogg. Mosh dumps Road Dogg outside and then goes to attack D’Lo. D’Lo puts Mosh on the top rope and hits him with a hurricanrana. A Russian legsweep gets 2 for Mosh. Road Dogg begins to mount a comeback until he’s blindsided by a Henry clothesline. That gives D’Lo a nearfall. D’Lo goes for a running powerbomb on Mosh, but he reverses it into a sunset flip and gets 2. The Headbangers do a double-team move on Road Dogg. D’Lo then wants to do the move with Mosh, which Mosh agrees to, but then attacks D’Lo when his back was turned. Mosh and D’Lo collide, which allows Road Rodd to finally tag out. Badd Ass cleans house until D’Lo catches him with a sit-out spinebuster. That gets 2 thanks to Thrasher breaking it up. Only men left in the ring are Badd Ass and Thrasher and Badd Ass hits him with the Rocker Dropper. He covers, but Henry comes in and tries to hit him with a big splash. Badd Ass moves and Henry splashes Thrasher. Henry remains on him for the cover and Thrasher kicks out at 2. That weak and late kick out makes me think someone was supposed to break it up. Badd Ass hits an ugly slam on Thasher and scores the 3 count.

Postmatch: Badd Ass begins his disturbing trend of pulling down his tights and revealing a thong. Why Billy Why?

BL: You know how a lot of triple threat matches are uncoordinated. Well, they are twice as bad when it’s a tag team triple threat. Sometimes two guys were in the ring, sometimes three, sometimes more. Plus, people were missing cues left and right. On top of that, the Ricky Morton sequence drug on forever. This was a train wreck and not in the “still fun to watch” sense. ¾ *

As The Rock comes out, we cut to the back and see Vince and Shane talking with the Bossman. I guess no one left in that limo. Some stalling by both men to begin. Mankind whips The Rock to the corner, but The Rock fires out of it with a clothesline. That gets 2. The two fight down the aisle and Mankind gets the upper hand. As Mankind applies a chinlock, the McMahon men stroll down to ringside. The Rock escapes with a back suplex. Back outside, The Rock suplexes Mankind on the floor. The Rock goes after the McMahons, but Mankind grabs him. The two fight amongst the crowd and then Mankind is backdropped over the guardrail. In the ring, The Rock puts a chinlock on Mankind. A clothesline by Mankind sends both of them back outside. Mankind nails The Rock with a chair. Then he tries hitting him with the steps, but The Rock hits him with a chair. The Rock then repeatedly strikes the steps with the chair, as they lay on top of Mankind. Mankind gets up and then takes a chairshot to the head. That gets a nearfall. Mankind slows The Rock’s momentum with a lowblow. With The Rock laying on the floor, Mankind drops an elbow on him from the apron. The two brawl on top of the announce table. Mankind brings The Rock back into the ring and gets a long 2 count. A slugfest breaks out and ends with Mankind backdropping The Rock to the outside. With The Rock trying to lean on the Spanish announcer’s table and recover, Mankind leaps from the second rope. However, The Rock moves and Mankind crashes through the table. The Rock brings Mankind back in and hits him with the People’s Elbow. That gets another nearfall. Mankind hits the double-arm DDT and then applies Socko. The Rock breaks it and hits the Rock Bottom. The Rock covers, but still only gets 2. The Rock gets up, looks over at the McMahons and then applies the Sharpshooter. Vince yells at the timekeeper, “Ring the bell, ring the damn bell”. The Rock is the new champion. Whaaaa?

Postmatch: The McMahons come in and The Rock embraces them. Vince then gets on the mic and says “the people screwed the people”. Mankind comes over and asks what’s going on. But Vince doesn’t give an answer. Instead, he has The Rock beat him up some more. All three men celebrate when all of a sudden Austin comes down the aisle. He runs in and fights with The Rock. Austin stunners The Rock and then tosses him out of the ring. Then, he helps Mankind up and stunners him for good measure.

BL: They just had to revisit Montreal didn’t they? At least it wasn’t a cliché when they pulled it here. And while it was shocking at the time, it was a good move that nicely reset your main storylines. As for the match, it was solid, but you could tell that both men were getting tired. Thankfully they would get plenty more opportunities to show what they could do together. ***

Final Thoughts: OK, so most of the matches are crap. But you know what? I don’t care! This is one of my all-time favorite PPVs. For one, it’s a really fun show. And two, it was the first show my friend BJ ever saw and it immediately hooked him into wrestling. The booking for the entire tournament was just so perfect. You can look back and see how all the pairings and the finishes make sense, given the end result. If Vince Russo wanted a job, this is the tape he should send to a wrestling promotion. The WWF started a new chapter with this show and I recommend anyone who’s never seen it to check it out for its historic nature.

Next time…hey, when did J.R. lose all that weight and when did he grow that ugly goatee?