Sable went topless, Triple H and the Rock had a classic, Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart had a rather unauthentic worked MMA/ pro wrestling hybrid match and Undertaker eventually helped Steve Austin win the tag team belts from Mankind and Kane in an entertaining main event.
This was a filler PPV in the true sense of the word, with all roads leading to Summerslam. I find it interesting when people talk about how deep the WWE was during the attitude era when, in reality, the only four guys in the company moving PPV numbers in 1998 were the ones in the main event here. Rock and Triple H were coming fast, and Sable was sending merchandise flying off the shelf. But depth was not there at all.
The night started off with Val Venis, making his PPV debut and beating Jeff Jarrett with a roll up pin. Between this and his last PPV match, Jarrett was off to an inauspicious start in his final WWE run, but it would get a lot worse when he left a year later.
The next match was one of a number at this PPV featuring the stable war between Triple H's DX stable and the Rock's Nation stable. Here we had D Lo Brown, representing the Nation defeating DX's X-Pac in a short, not overly good match.
Next up came a short tag team match which saw the tag team of Faarooq and Scorpio defeat Terry Funk and Bradshaw. Faarooq had been the leader of the Nation of Domination before the Rock usurped him following Wrestlemania. Terry Funk had won the tag team titles partnering Mick Foley at Wrestlemania. Funk would soon be out of the WWE again. By the end of the year Faarooq and Bradshaw would be part of the The Undertaker's ministry stable as his Acolytes.
The next match saw the latest low in the sad WWE career of Vader as he lost to Mark Henry in a short, awful match. Henry had been bought into the WWE with big plans that he would be a dominant monster, but he struggled to find his feet and the WWE largely gave up on him pretty early in the piece.
Next up was another short, forgettable tag match with the Disciples of the Apocalypse defeating the LOD 2000. LOD 2000 was an unsuccessful attempt to re invigorate the legendary NWA Tag Team the Road Warriors.
Next up saw a Dungeon Match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock. Given Shamrock's UFC background and Hart's MMA training curiosity might cause you to track this match down: don't bother. They do a couple of take downs and then have a wrestling match. Hart wins.
Next up was a classic with stable leaders Triple H and the Rock meeting for the Intercontinental Championship in a 2 out of three fall match. There's a fair bit of factional involvement in the first two falls. And the match ends with Triple H hitting the pedigree as time expires. Rock retains his title. But the faith the WWE has invested in Triple H seems to be finally paying off with the fans responding.
Next up saw Sable take her top off in a bikini contest with Jacqueline, one of the few memorable moments in a forgettable filler show. Sable had been re instated following her pin fall loss to to Marc Mero in the previous PPV. Mero, having turned on Sable, had now gotten with Jacqueline.
Brings us to the main event, in which Steve Austin and the Undertaker, who were scheduled to meet for Austin's WWE Title at Summerslam in a month, defeated Kane and Mankind to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. The story here was that McMahon had put them together knowing that they would not work together and hoping that Undertaker would allow Kane and Mankind to destroy Austin. But Undertaker's conscience gets the better of him and he tags in, winning the match. The will he/ won't he crisis of conscience over the course of the night was one of the more effective running themes of the show. Fully Loaded had been an effective filler show and now we all waited impatiently for the main event of Summerslam.
This was a filler PPV in the true sense of the word, with all roads leading to Summerslam. I find it interesting when people talk about how deep the WWE was during the attitude era when, in reality, the only four guys in the company moving PPV numbers in 1998 were the ones in the main event here. Rock and Triple H were coming fast, and Sable was sending merchandise flying off the shelf. But depth was not there at all.
The night started off with Val Venis, making his PPV debut and beating Jeff Jarrett with a roll up pin. Between this and his last PPV match, Jarrett was off to an inauspicious start in his final WWE run, but it would get a lot worse when he left a year later.
The next match was one of a number at this PPV featuring the stable war between Triple H's DX stable and the Rock's Nation stable. Here we had D Lo Brown, representing the Nation defeating DX's X-Pac in a short, not overly good match.
Next up came a short tag team match which saw the tag team of Faarooq and Scorpio defeat Terry Funk and Bradshaw. Faarooq had been the leader of the Nation of Domination before the Rock usurped him following Wrestlemania. Terry Funk had won the tag team titles partnering Mick Foley at Wrestlemania. Funk would soon be out of the WWE again. By the end of the year Faarooq and Bradshaw would be part of the The Undertaker's ministry stable as his Acolytes.
The next match saw the latest low in the sad WWE career of Vader as he lost to Mark Henry in a short, awful match. Henry had been bought into the WWE with big plans that he would be a dominant monster, but he struggled to find his feet and the WWE largely gave up on him pretty early in the piece.
Next up was another short, forgettable tag match with the Disciples of the Apocalypse defeating the LOD 2000. LOD 2000 was an unsuccessful attempt to re invigorate the legendary NWA Tag Team the Road Warriors.
Next up saw a Dungeon Match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock. Given Shamrock's UFC background and Hart's MMA training curiosity might cause you to track this match down: don't bother. They do a couple of take downs and then have a wrestling match. Hart wins.
Next up was a classic with stable leaders Triple H and the Rock meeting for the Intercontinental Championship in a 2 out of three fall match. There's a fair bit of factional involvement in the first two falls. And the match ends with Triple H hitting the pedigree as time expires. Rock retains his title. But the faith the WWE has invested in Triple H seems to be finally paying off with the fans responding.
Next up saw Sable take her top off in a bikini contest with Jacqueline, one of the few memorable moments in a forgettable filler show. Sable had been re instated following her pin fall loss to to Marc Mero in the previous PPV. Mero, having turned on Sable, had now gotten with Jacqueline.
Brings us to the main event, in which Steve Austin and the Undertaker, who were scheduled to meet for Austin's WWE Title at Summerslam in a month, defeated Kane and Mankind to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. The story here was that McMahon had put them together knowing that they would not work together and hoping that Undertaker would allow Kane and Mankind to destroy Austin. But Undertaker's conscience gets the better of him and he tags in, winning the match. The will he/ won't he crisis of conscience over the course of the night was one of the more effective running themes of the show. Fully Loaded had been an effective filler show and now we all waited impatiently for the main event of Summerslam.
