We’re finishing up August 1998 with WWE SummerSlam 1998. This is the show featuring AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” as the theme song—a great pick. On this show, we have Stone Cold Steve Austin defending the WWE Championship against The Undertaker in a No Disqualification bout.
The Best
We’ve got quite a few matches that made this PPV enjoyable. The opener saw D’Lo Brown taking on Val Venis. We have the long-retired but not forgotten European Championship on the line in a pretty strong bout that put a spotlight on both men. The main problem is that it went a few minutes too long and became clunky towards the end. Also, there was an almost botched powerbomb.
At the time, it was more of an “Oof…” reaction but while watching it years later, the reaction I had was simply grimacing.
The Hair vs. Hair match between X-Pac and Jeff Jarrett was good. High stakes here as one man could lose the long locks he had for years at this point. I love the pace of this showdown and these two just clicked against each other. There are just little touches here and there in the action that makes this match work.
The only downside here goes back to the stipulation as X-Pac won and the post-match haircut was only so-so. At least Double J wasn’t scalped like Raven in IMPACT five years later.
After spanking Ken Shamrock in the Dungeon, Owen Hart stepped into Shamrock’s Lion Den. Once again, Dan Severn was in the special guest referee role. I’d say this was definitely better than the Dungeon match and had more of a spectacle factor to it.
The semi-main event was a Ladder match bout as Triple H challenged for The Rock’s Intercontinental Championship. Watch this match! Ladder matches typically have no choice but to be heated and competitive with some sort of stake hanging over the ring. The Rock has to hold on to the title and Triple H is hungry to regain a belt he hasn’t worn in almost two years.
Lots of action and drama here plus the match is well-paced. It’s not too fast or sluggish but has moments where they really kick it into high gear. It’s a little on the lengthy side but check this one out, folks!
Another great match from SummerSlam 1998 was the No DQ main event with Steve Austin defending the WWE Championship against The Undertaker. I wouldn’t say that Austin was a dominant champion as he was typically on defense while fending off Vince McMahon and The Undertaker’s schemes.
However, in this match, he did what he does best: brawl and survive. Across the ring, The Undertaker brought the brawl to Austin in a very strong main event showing from both men. I have no strong complaints about the pacing and for a title match with this star power and this performance, I can’t say it was too long.
If anything, the Ladder match could’ve benefited from being as long as this match.
The Rest
This is a pretty brief list considering how many matches are worth your time on SummerSlam 1998. First, there’s the lemon of the bunch featuring The Oddities—fighting a man short—taking on the full Kaientai. The Oddities have Luna Vachon and the Insane Clown Posse in their corner. Honestly, this could be Kaientai’s worst WWE match at a PPV. It was pretty bad and went longer than it should’ve.
I believe that’s an issue with WWE’s stinkers on pay-per-view: they run longer than necessary. The intergender tag match with Edge teaming with Sable against Marc Mero and Jacqueline was acceptable.
Everyone did their job well with Edge getting the rub from teaming with the very popular Sable and Marc Mero selling his offense. This was a solid PPV debut for the future Rated R Superstar.
Another handicap match saw Mankind fail in defending the Tag Team title against the New Age Outlaws. This was extremely brief at just over five minutes and had Falls Count Anywhere stipulations. I’d say that was entertaining but not an essential watch if you’re going through SummerSlam 1998.
WWE SummerSlam 1998 Verdict: Silver Medal (2.81/5)
WWE has really run away with 1998 so far. This show trounced Road Wild 1998 easily. It featured one lemon of a match, a bunch of solid bouts, and a few strong ones in the undercard. The semi-main event and the main event were brolic. I’m giving the main event between Austin and Taker runner-up honors here but the ladder match between Triple H and The Rock for the IC Championship was definitely the match of the show.
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