This was the first PPV following Austin's triumph at Wrestlemania 14, and, while hardly a terrible show, was certainly the worst PPV for quite a while.
No sooner had Austin won the title than the man he defeated, Shawn Michaels, walked out on the company, leaving McMahon, who hated Austin as champion, mortified. After trying to get Austin to wear a corporate suit and failing, McMahon agreed to get in the ring with Austin, but that match was interrupted by Mick Foley, who KO'd McMahon and then gave Austin the mandible claw. Foley, jettisoning they Mankind character and wrestling as Dude Love, was made the No.1 contender. McMahon promising he would be at ringside for the match. No one needed any reminding of what had happened to Bret Hart in the same circumstances 5 months earlier.
The night kicked off with Faarooq, former leader of the Nation of Domination, seeking revenge on the man who'd usurped him, the Rock in a six man tag match. Faarooq was allied by Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman, while the Rock had fellow nation members D Lo Brown and Mark Henry in his corner. After a long beatdown on Blackman by the Nation and some wild brawling outside the ring, Faarooq got some measure of revenge, pinning the Rock following a dominator in a nice little finishing sequence.
Next up saw the continuation in the Owen Hart/ Triple H rivalry. Most of their earlier matches had been influenced by Chyna. So on this occasion she was locked in a cage which was suspended above the ring. But unfortunately they didn't have enough cages as X-Pac interfered, foiling Hart who recorded yet another loss to Triple H. It appeared this feud was just about done. A bit disappointing after the way the feud had started with Owen vowing revenge on Shawn Michaels for what had happened to his brother. The end result was not so much as a RAW match with HBK for Owen and a fairly one sided feud with Michaels' stooge Triple H.
Next up saw the New Midnight Express defeat The Rock n' Roll Express in a match based around two former Jim Cornette tag teams. I love Cornette, but this match really hit home for me that he just didn't fit into the WWE in this era. He would have been a breath of fresh air from 06 onwards. Maybe the WWE should have looked to him as a replacement for Bischoff as RAW GM.
Next up came a pretty terrible exploitative match that I'll never forget because it ended with Sable in her lingerie in a dressing gown match. Not much to report inring wise, but this was the continuation of the tension between Marc Mero and his valet Sable. Mero was becoming increasingly jealous of the attention Sable was getting. Mero never really took off in the WWE (or WCW for that matter) and his feud with Sable would be his last one in the company.
THe next match was another one that made me a little sad watching it, as the former NWA tag team the Road Warriors, old and well past their best, lost a lackluster match to the New Age Outlaws. The WWE tried to sell the Road Warriors to a younger generation, giving them the gorgeous sunny as a manager and calling them LOD 2000, but they just weren't up to it in the ring any more. Their second run in the WWE had been a failure.
The next match was actually the feature match for the evening with The Undertaker facing Kane in an inferno match. Kane had made life hell for the Undertaker since coming to the WWE. He had cost Taker a title shot when he interfered in his Hell in a Cell No.1 contender's match with Shawn Michaels, and then cost him the title by interfering in a casket match, before locking him in the casket and setting it on fire. Undertaker had exacted some revenge with a pinfall victory at Wrestlemania, but Kane and Paul Bearer weren't done and here they would meet in a match where ring was surrounded by fire. THis was not a great match, and must be hard to work with heat all around you. Undertaker won when he set Kane's arm on fire after a nice spot where he jumped over the fire.
This left the main event, which was a good match, though neither man's best. the ending was nice as Austin and Dude Love ended up outside the ring. McMahon tried to grab a chair from Austin. Austin ended up knocking Mcmahon out, hitting a stunner on Dude Love and counting his own three count. Austin was later informed he'd been disqualified, but it mattered little. He had outsmarted McMahon's plan and retained his title.
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