So, WCW Bash at the Beach 1998 pulled a Bronze Medal 2.27 out of 5—can WWE Fully Loaded: In Your House top it? We’re looking at a WWE Tag Team title main event as Kane and Mankind defend against Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker.
The Best
D’Lo Brown taking on X-Pac is one of those matches that you knew went down and you knew it was probably good even if you don’t remember what PPV it was booked on. It was a very strong bout worth checking out as it wasn’t long at all, had a really good pace, and rock-solid action.
I honestly have no complaints about this one other than it should’ve been the standard of quality for WWE PPVs at this time to not be declared “the drizzling sh**s”. More room for these guys to groove time-wise would’ve been nice.
Now, the 2 out of 3 Falls match between Triple H and Intercontinental champion The Rock was butter. This rivalry and The Rock’s rivalry with Ken Shamrock are two things that really stick out about the Attitude Era to me because of how they were presented on shows like Superstars and Shotgun Saturday Night.
The match went 30-minutes and was one of rare those lengthy Triple H matches that didn’t have me think “This could’ve been shorter” or “If they shaved some time from this one, it would’ve been better.”
I will say that a 2 out 3 Falls match ending in a time limit draw is a bit lackluster—I’ve always been partial to double pinfalls—but the match had enough excitement that it doesn’t matter.
The main event was an above-average affair but there was one thing that didn’t do it for me entirely: Kane. At this point, the character of Kane was still interesting and had a mystique to it but in-ring he wasn’t exactly wowing me outside of his top rope clothesline.
However, this match was enjoyable for the most part. It definitely had its moments—especially the finishing stretch—but the pace could’ve been picked up a bit. Ultimately, it was a serviceable main event.
The Rest
Honestly, most of “The Rest” was pretty damn decent. Normally, the undercard is blah on Attitude Era pay-per-views despite having some solid talent.
The opener between Jeff Jarrett and Val Venus was pretty much the best of The Rest. This was some good basic booking as Venis—who had talent after gaining a lot of international experience—was paired with the extremely capable Jeff Jarrett. Venis won his WWE PPV debut in convincing fashion.
There was something about the tag match between Farooq and former WCW and ECW partner Scorpio against Terry Funk and future partner Justin Bradshaw. It wasn’t particularly good and Funk will seem random as hell if you didn’t watch the TV shows leading into Fully Loaded but I found this entertaining.
The first three matches were enjoyable enough as a whole—and then we get the following bouts. Vader vs. Mark Henry was a bathroom visit in length. You have Vader who wasn’t in his best in-ring shape and an ultra-green Mark Henry.
That wasn’t going to work. Mark Henry needed either 1996 and prior Vader or the Vader who would return to form after leaving WWE. We’ve got another Disciples of Apocalypse vs. LOD 2000 match that someone apparently asked for, folks. These matches have been…awful and this one is not only awful but it was given almost 9 minutes for some reason.
There was a bit of a palette cleanser with the Dungeon match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock. We have Dan Severn there as a special guest referee. This wasn’t bad, it was just a little too short. It should’ve gotten the time that DOA vs. LOD 2000 got because this was actually interesting. I wanted a little more of this match but the little action we got was fine.
WWE Fully Loaded 1998 Verdict: Bronze Medal (2.43/5)
You know what? This show actually wasn’t bad at all. It was simply hit with the WCW pay-per-view curse of having matches so undesirable that they pull the whole thing down. Triple H vs. The Rock was the match of the show with D’Lo Brown vs. X-Pac coming in second.
Fully Loaded beats Bash at the Beach 1998 by a bit.
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