WWF Sunday Night Heat- August 16, 1998
by Scrooge McSuck
- Last week on Sunday Night Heat, The Undertaker in Kane Clothing laid an ass-beating on Mankind, X-Pac pinned TAKA Michinoku in a Non-Title Match, Mark Henry mopped the floor with Vader, Dustin Runnels continues to play a pathetic Jobber, and the Godwinns being repackaged as Southern Justice doesn't make them any better in the ring. Oh, and we also saw the last of Tennessee Lee. All this, and will we find out what happened to Val Venis' pee-pee, and will we get the inevitable 6-Man Tag between Droz, the Headbangers, Double J, and Southern Justice? We'll find out, next...
- ...but first, last week on Monday Night Raw, Mankind wanted answers, Vince McMahon claims that the Undertaker has been parading around as Kane all along (escept for the fact they've wrestled each other countless times), and during a Four Corners Match for the Tag Team Titles, the Undertaker did the job for Kane via a simple Chokeslam, giving us New Tag Team Champions in the form of Kane and Mankind, thus rendering the Main Event at Fully Loaded as pointless.
- Jim Ross and Shane McMahon (and Friend, and yes, that's how it's shown on the graphic) are at ringside to call all the action, unless otherwise noted.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match:
Kane & Mankind © (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. L.O.D. 2000:
What have the LOD done to earn this title match? Something tells me that Mankind and Kane aren't on the same page, judging by how they practically came to the ring separately, but not with seperate introductions. Animal and Droz are working this match, to Jim Ross' surprise. Droz and Animal quickly send Kane to the floor with a double clothesline, then one for Mankind. J.R. notes that Hawk "must be in no shape to wrestle", which means we're kicking off that horrible angle. Kane nails Droz from the apron and Mankind plants him with a double-arm DDT. Kane with a slam, but misses an elbow drop by a year and a half. He remains in control, though, with a short-arm clothesline and choking. Mankind meets a boot in the corner and Droz clobbers him with a diving clothesline. Animal with the "hot" tag, unloading on Kane with boots. Mankind brings a chair in and gets slammed on it for his troubles. He recovers to slap on the Mandible Claw, but Droz saves with a clothesline. Meanwhile, Kane re-enters the picture, and casually finishes Animal with the Tombstone at 3:20. Not to sound like a broken record, but an energetic match with little substance.
- Sable and Jacqueline have a battle of words. This is kind of hard to sit through, with Sable's terrible delivery and Jacqueline not being that great, either. I'm sure we're going to see them in action sometime soon.
Edge vs. "Too Sexy" Brian Christopher (w/ Scott Taylor):
Something I noticed last time Edge was on Heat, but didn't comment on :Jim Ross and Lawler calling him "The Edge" at times. Thank goodness the "The" part was never officially added. The Edge just sounds lame, for some reason. Unfortunately Lawler isn't on commentary here, since Brian Christopher's only "worth" at this point was the inside joke about Jerry Lawler being his father. Edge avoids a sneak attack and unloads with rights. Whip to the ropes, Christopher counters a back drop with a punt, and drops him with a clothesline. He celebrates too soon and eats a modified Electric Chair Drop for it. Suddenly, Dustin Runnels is shown marching through the crowd with a "The Choice Is Yours" sign. Edge misses a charge, but still takes Christopher down with a back suplex, followed by a clothesline, sending Christopher to the floor. Taylor creates a distraction, allowing Christopher to sunset flip powerbomb Edge off the apron. Christopher with a bulldog from the second rope. He spends too much time working the crowd and just being annoying than actual wrestling. Maybe that works in Memphis, but typically the WWF audience didn't care for that style. Edge catches Christopher with a Spinebuster, then comes off the ropes with a Spear. Christopher comes back with the Stroke, but a top rope leg drop misses, and Edge finishes him with the Downward Spiral at 4:38. That felt longer than what it ended up being. Edge looked impressive, but Brian Christopher always sucked.Vader vs. Bart Gunn:
The Godfather joins the commentary team for this one, no doubt to hype... uh... something. It ends up being to hype their Brawl For All Match on Raw, tomorrow night." Just because someone hates Jim Ross, we get a the clips from three weeks ago when Gunn KO'ed Dr. Death. Hopefully Vader will have a better showing than the complete squash at the hands of Mark Henry last week. Vader and Gunn trade blows. Whip to the corner, and Vader greets him with the pump avalanche, followed by a splash for two. Vader drops an elbow across the leg and continues to pound away. Gunn continues to rely solely on punching as his offense until taking Vader over with a suplex. Whip to the ropes, and Vader lays him out with a clothesline. Vader grabs a Fujiwara-Armbar, but lets go. Gunn with a clothesline, taking both men to the floor. Godfather attacks, and it's a Disqualification at 2:34. The Godfather lays him out, and Vader comes off the second rope with a splash. So, who's the good guy here? Nothing match.- Tomorrow night on Monday Night Raw, there will be a Triple Threat Match between Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Owen Hart. They actually have the nerve to show clips of one of their UFC fights to hype the match. Hopefully it wasn't the fight that included 20-minutes of circling each other like a couple of pussies. Nice video, though, to make a midcard match seem important.
Gangrel vs. "Too Hot" Scott Taylor (w/ Brian Christopher):
This is the debut of Gangrel in the WWF. Formerly known as the Vampire Warrior, he makes his entrance coming up, through a ring of fire, and spits what appears (or is meant) to be blood all over himself. He looks like someone straight out of the Lost Boys. Taylor looks to be a bit freaked out by him. Gangrel attacks, sends Taylor to the corner, and they appear to blow a spot that involved Gangrel doing a tumble clothesline. Whip and Gangrel with a back drop. Whip, and Gangrel with a sloppy fallaway slam. Taylor sweeps the leg and drops an elbow. He plants him with a slam, but gets too into showing off his dance moves, and Gangrel plants him with a high-angle DDT for the three count at 1:50. Gangrel seemed a bit sloppy at times, but he's definitely got an interesting look that makes up for it.- Tiger Ali Singh and his man-servant Abu come to ringside to continue ripping off the Ted Dibiase angle from the late 80's, paying Americans to do embarrassing acts. Tiger Ali Singh might rank as one of my least enjoyable performers in WWF History. They bring in some nerdy looking guy to eat night crawlers for $500. You know, ripping off a good idea isn't the problem, it's the person delivering the goods. Singh's promo work is weak, and he doesn't really sound genuine in humiliating the people he pays to do these things.
Triple H & X-Pac (w/ Chyna) vs. Southern Justice:
This should be a dandy. Triple H works in his Michael Buffer inspired ring introduction, a move that would be recycled nearly a decade like by Mr. Kennedy. I seem to recall him dropping that aspect of his character fairly quickly (by wrestling standards), so maybe someone threatened WWF with a lawsuit for ripping off Buffer's trademark. X-Pac starts with Knight, and is quickly over-powered. He ducks a clothesline and connects with a jumping heel kick for two. Hunter tags in and pounds away in the corner. Whip and Hunter connects with a running high knee for two. Knight surprises him with an inverted atomic drop, followed by a clothesline. Cantebury tags in, putting a hurt on HHH. Three years ago, they were feuding as a Blue Blood and Hog Farmer. Triple H with a neck breaker and hot tag to X-Pac. He pounds away on Knight and connects with another heel kick. He follows with the Bronco Buster, then takes a shot at Cantebury. Knight comes back with a clothesline, and Cantebury in with a wheel-barrel slam for two. Chaos erupts at ringside, with Triple H taking a double team pounding. Inside the ring, Double J shows up and kicks X-Pac in the nuts for the Disqualification at 4:01. I forgot, Jarrett and X-Pac had issues that started with X-Pac pissing in his boots, and somehow that lead to them fighting over giving each other haircuts.- Lengthy music video hyping the SummerSlam's Highway to Hell.
- The Undertaker joins us to clear things up regarding his relationship with Kane, but mostly gives us a run-around explanation before being interrupted by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who is also interrupted, by Kane. The final shot before fading to black is Austin on the ramp, looking back between the Undertaker in the ring and Kane at the entrance set. What is going to happen to Austin?! Tune into Monday Night Raw to find out!
Final Thoughts: Kane and Mankind continued their dominance as Tag Team Champions, but we're also kicking off the "Hawk has Personal Demons" angle that absolutely no one found to be in good taste. We showcased new talent in the form of Edge and Gangrel, tried to advance the angle between X-Pac and Double J, no matter how much it smells like an Insta-Feud, and continue trying to make Tiger Ali Singh the new Million Dollar Man. Oh, and they also promoted the upcoming Brawl For All match between Gunn and the Godfather, but no one cares for that either. Again, there wasn't much in terms of quality wrestling, but there's another strong effort in making every segment either mean something or give someone a chance to shine.
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