WWE SummerSlam 1998 (1998)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Live from New York, NY (Madison Square Garden)Attendance 21,588Your commentators are Jim Ross & Jerry LawlerD'Lo wins by DQ. Pretty good opener overall. It was pretty exciting. Crowd was rather bipolar, though***1/4 out of 5Kaientai Vs The OdditiesKurgan, Giant Silva & Golga win. This was an entertaining train-wreck if there ever was one. Turn your brain off. I can't recommend that enough. It's not a masterpiece.** out of 5Hair vs Hair MatchX-Pac wins after smashing a guitar over Jarrett' head. As a result, Jarrett gets his hair shaved. Pretty fun match. Lot of back and forth between the two and some exciting near falls.*** out of 5Edge & Sable Vs Marc Mero & JacquelineEdge and Sable win. Really fun stuff for what it was. I enjoyed the antics from both Edge and Sable. Not a huge Sable fan...but she was in the right place at the right time and she did have her moments. I also enjoyed Edge's moveset earlier in his career. He was more risky.**3/4 out of 5Lion's Den MatchKen Shamrock Vs Owen HartShamrock wins by submission. This actually bored me to tears, probably because I don't like MMA.*1/2 out of 5Tag Team Titles; Falls Count AnywhereMankind (C) Vs The New Age OutlawsKane refuses to team with Mankind, so he'll go it alone. The Outlaws win the titles. Mankind basically got slaughtered. Kane attacks Mankind after the match. Not much of a match.* out of 5Intercontinental Title; Ladder MatchThe Rock (C) Vs Triple HTriple H wins, thanks to Chyna. One of the greatest Ladder matches ever. I love this match and loathe it at the same time. I'm a HUGE Rock fan and I hate Triple H. Triple H was always feuding with my favorites and he's an arrogant ass in real life. Seems to be anyway. No denying his talents, but I can't stand him. Match is incredible though and deserves 5 stars. No huge spots, just a classic, good old-fashioned latter battle.***** out of 5WWF Championship"Stone Cold" Steve Austin Vs The UndertakerAustin wins with the Stunner. One of their worst matches together. I'm not saying it was terrible...but they just didn't click. It definitely had a few great spots...but it just seemed off. Maybe it's because The Rock and Triple H were so good...but I wasn't feeling this. **1/2 out of 5An amazing PPV and quite possibly, the best Summerslam of all time. 8.5/10

Undertaker and Austin went to war, Triple H and the Rock announced their credentials and Mankind defended the tag belts on his own against the New Age Outlaws on an entertaining Summerslam show, which rode a great main event angle down the Highway to Hell to become the most successful Summerslam PPV ever.The big story going into the night was the revelation on RAW six days earlier that the Undertaker, who was challenging Austin for the WWE Title, had formed an alliance with his brother Kane. Kane had been in a bitter feud with the Undertaker for much of the first half of the year, but this began to change when Undertaker screwed Austin out of the title at King of the Ring to prevent Kane setting himself on fire. Taker made up for this by helping Austin win the title back a night later, but the relationship between the two brothers improved from there. Before the event started, Kane announced that he would be turning his back on tag team partner Mankind and not helping him defend their title, preferring instead to concentrate on his alliance with Undertaker. Surely this spelt doom for Austin in the main event? The night began with a surprisingly competently worked European Title Match in which D Lo Brown successfully defended his championship against Val Venis, making his PPV Debut. They actually tell a decent story and drag the crowd into the match, before a screwjob finish which saw Venis disqualified. This was the period of time where D Lo was wrestling with a metal chest plate supposedly for medical reasons.The next match saw the Insane Clown Posse rock MSG as the Oddities downed Kaientai in a short comedy match. This was reasonably harmless fun, but the crowd didn't seem into it. I didn't mind it, but must admit it was an ineffective waste of time.Our next match was another decent one between two good workers as X-Pac, flanked by DX and "The Fink" defeated Jeff Jarrett in a hair vs hair match. The story here was that Jarrett had humiliated Finkle by shaving him bald and so "the fink" took great pleasure in assisting X-Pac in cutting Jarrett's hair after the match. THis was a pretty entertaining 20 minutes or so. Jarrett was always a good worker, even if the WWE tends to not give him credit for it.Next up Michael Cole was given the first (I can remember) of many tongue lashings by the Rock, who was being interviewed about his upcoming defence of the Intercontinental Championship against Triple H in a ladder match.Next we saw the latest in the public humiliation of Marc Mero as he was put in a mixed tag team match with his on screen girlfriend Jacqueline against his then real life wife Sable (now Mrs Brock Lesnar) and Edge ( who like Val Venis earlier was making his PPV debut). Longer than a lot of mixed tag matches but nit particularly memorable. By this stage Mero's ring work was so bad and his apathy with the crowds so obvious, it must have only been his marriage to Sable (who was one of the biggest merchandise sellers in the company) keeping him employed (or independently contracted as the case may be).Next up we saw Mankind get talked into defending the tag belts on his own by Vince McMahon.This was followed by an early attempt at a worked MMA match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock. The story here was that Hart had enlisted the services of Dan "The Beast" Severn to prepare for his Lion's Den match. Check it out for morbid curiosity, but this isn't good. Itl;s basically a worked pro wrestling match in an MMA cage. Be lying if I said it wasn't memorable, as I've never forgotten it, but it isn't good either.Next up was the tag match in which Mankind made a reasonable effort of defending the tag belts, but was eventually over powered and then destroyed by the New Age Outlaws in a decent match.THis was followed by the fondly remembered and extremely entertaining ladder match for the world championship between the Rock and Triple H. The Rock had retained his title in a best two of three falls match with Triple H at the previous PPV after a time limit draw that the challenger was about to win after hitting a pedigree. Here trips beats the odds, triumphs over outside interference, with some interference of his own, and wins is second Intercontinental championship. THis feud, which featured Rock's Nation of Domination cronies taking on Triple H's DX buddies would propel both to stardom and begin a long and lucrative rivalry between the two that would sustain the WWE through Stone Cold's injury in 2000.This brings us to the well built and highly anticipated main event, in which Steve Austin defeated the Undertaker in a very good match to retain the WWE Championship. It took three stunners to keep Taker down in an entertaining back and forth match, pleasingly clean of a screwy finish.So what would McMahon do now after even the mighty Undertaker had failed to beat his nemesis Stone Cold? Mankind, Kane and Undertaker had all failed to wrest the title from Austin. Who was next?

Match 1: D'Lo Brown (c) vs Val Venis for the European Championship - Pretty decent opener. Back in the late 90's D'Lo could really work a decent match, but as of his recent performances on Raw in 2008 I'm not impressed anymore. So basically these two go at it for with WWE's now defunct European title on the line. Venis looked pretty good in the ring, his character was still relatively fresh at this time. But anyway towards the end of the match Val gets himself disqualified, which means D'Lo retains the title.Match 2: The Oddities (Kurrgan, Golga and Giant Silva) (with Luna Vachon and The Insane Clown Posse) vs Kaientai (Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Mens Teioh and Sho Funaki) (with Yamaguchi-san) in a Handicap Match - Extremely weak match. I did like the Oddities as comic relief, but guys like Kurrgan and Golga did better as singles wrestlers. This, as J.R. says in the commentary, is not a classic. Anyway the Oddities squash their way to a victory over Kaientai.Match 3: Jeff Jarrett vs X-Pac in a Hair vs Hair Match - The first good match of the night. These two put out a very crowd pleasing match at this particular Summerslam. X-Pac is able to score the win, but Jarrett retreats from getting his hair cut. He is brought back to the ring shortly and they cut his formerly long hair into the look he had all through WCW and in TNA.Match 4: Marc Mero & Jacqueline vs Edge & Sable - A great way to get the young Edge over. Edge has always been tremendous in the ring, and even though he faces off with the talentless Marc Mero, he still manages to put on a decent match. In the end Edge and Sable get the win.Match 5: Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart in a Lion's Den match - This match was off the hook. Owen Hart completely ruled the ring, if it wasn't for his death he would have been WWE Champion at some point. This match was absolutely awesome. Shamrock is able to defeat Owen in the end, but I still applaud Owen because he was such a great wrestler. He's a guy that needs to be in the WWE Hall of Fame.Match 6: Mankind (c) vs The New Age Outlaws for the WWF/E Tag Team Championship - This was just a low and lame match. Kane is the tag team partner of Mankind, but he doesn't show. So Mankind is left to fend alone against Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. In the end they get the win over Mankind and claim the Tag Titles again.Match 7: The Rock (c) vs Triple H in a Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship - The match of the night. These two incredible veterans put out a great match. At this point both the Rock and the Game were on the verge of becoming main eventers, and I think this match made it for them. Honestly a fantastic, must watch, match. In the end Triple H grabs the title to win.Match 8: Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) vs Undertaker for the WWF/E Championship - Great main event. Really one of Summerslam's best matches of all time. Madison Square Garden completely was behind Austin as he went into battle with the Undertaker for his championship. After a vicious battle, Austin hits the Stunner to retain the title. Crowd was completely ecstatic.

This is one of my very favorite shows WWF/E has put on. Forgive me, I haven't watched this in almost 2 years, so my memory may be a bit fuzzy. European Championship - Probably my favorite opening match of all time, D-Lo Brown VS Val Venis was far better (and longer!) than I could have possibly hoped for. Two very capable (and horribly underutilized) guys getting 15 minutes (!!!!) to shine on a huge show...thumbs up! Great stuff! If you're ever wondering why they kept these 2 around for so long, check out this match. Oddities VS Kaientai - Nothing too special here, basically a comedy match. In that sense, it was well done. A couple funny spots, and Kaientai is always money. But all in all, they're wasted here.Hair VS Hair: Jeff Jarrett VS X-Pac - Nothing much to say. I forget the majority of this match, it was nothing spectacular. Then again, I actively dislike both of these guys, so this could have been pretty good and I just ignored it. Check for yourself.Sable/Edge VS Marc Mero/Jackie - Edge fans, pick up this show for Edge's debut! Nothing spectacular, Edge and Mero looking OK, Sable trying her best not to maim anyone with botched moves. Fairly early in her wrestling career, so don't expect anything special. Ken Shamrock VS Owen Hart: Lion's Den Match - Not a technical masterpiece, but very solid, given the environment. Limited space for movement inside the modified cage/lion's den seems to handcuff both guys, but they made it work. Worth watching, if only to see something you might not have see before (this type of match occurred only twice, I believe, and the other replaces Hart with Steve Blackman....who would YOU rather watch??)Tag Team Championship: New Age Outlaws VS Mankind/Kane - Kane no shows, leaving Mankind to defend on his own. If you're a Foley fan, check this out. No one takes a stiff butt kickin like Foley, and there are few examples of that as good as this. Nothing close to the spectacle of some of his other matches, this one is brutally short, emphasis on the 'brutal'Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match - What a great match. This stands out in my mind as the match that 'made' Rock and HHH. Up until this point, they were upper midcarders leading their respective factions. This match proved to me that they're both very capable of working a main-event caliber match and delivering HUGE. Not as much emphasis placed on high spots in this match, it seems to focus more on (again) brutality and storytelling. VERY well done, one of the forgotten great matches. World Championship Steve Austin VS Undertaker - A very well done match, especially considering Austin was knocked silly when they knocked heads about 3 or 4 minutes in. Not the greatest match of all time, but an important match nonetheless. The second PPV title match for these two, the first with Austin defending. Great (and unexpected) high spot features Undertaker attempting a huge legdrop from the top turnbuckle onto the announce table. Impressive visual for a guy that size. Good match, great show, check it out!