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00:15The WWF's 1998 King of the Ring took place on June 28th in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 17,000 fans in
00:23attendance, fans were tuning in to see a Hell in a Cell match, the first ever WWF First
00:31Blood match, and fans were also gonna see a new King of the Ring get crowned after witnessing
00:36the semi-final and final matches of the annual tournament. This PPV would turn out to be one
00:41of the most well-remembered shows of the Attitude Era, the Hell in a Cell match is now the stuff
00:46of legend, I know you'll want to jump ahead to that match right away but let's see what
00:50happened before the Hell in a Cell encounter because there's some solid matches going
00:54on before the Mankind vs Undertaker match.
01:01The show begins with a six-man tag that had no build up on Raw at all, the tag team
01:06title
01:06match later in the show also had zero TV time before the PPV. We have Kan tag taking on the
01:12headbangers and Takamichi nogu here in our first match and this was definitely a good
01:17choice for the opener. Young Taka even became an honorary headbanger for the night so things
01:22just couldn't get any better for the light heavyweight champion.
01:25Farasha and Teo started the match off and Kaintai was already playing defense, we got
01:29some double teamwork from the headbangers as Marsh comes in with a missile dropkick and
01:33when Funaki tagged in, he ended up taking a big powerbomb. Taka tags in and Funaki gets
01:39double tee-bagged, not a good place to be. We see another missile dropkick and Funaki gets
01:44sent to the outside, giving Taka a chance to pull off his signature crossbody. When the
01:49match resumes in the ring, Taka takes a double elbow drop and the Kaintai boys… they nut
01:54on Taka. Taka's not just gonna lie there and take this disrespect so he sends Togo across
01:59the ring with a monkey flip, but Togo comes back with a headscissors on the outside. Kaintai
02:04then do all they can to keep Taka from making the tag, Teo hits the cruiserweight champion
02:09with a big boot followed by a DDT. Togo and Funaki come in to double team Taka, but when
02:14Funaki and Teo try to team up on Michinoku, the champ ducks out of the way and he gets
02:19a chance to tag out. Both headbangers get tagged, I mean why not? The headbangers clean house
02:24and the match comes to an end when Funaki misses an elbow drop. Michinoku gets a little help
02:29when pulling off a splash, we then see the Michinoku driver and the babyfaces win the first
02:34match at King of the Ring 98. The audience enjoyed this one and I thought it was a good
02:38little opener too.
02:44Sable comes to the ring to introduce Vince McMahon, ever since Vince re-hired her this
02:48seems to be her main job. The boss comes down and Jerry Briscoe goes to bring Sable out of
02:52the ring, Pat Patterson decides to pat her ass and this leads to Patterson getting smacked
02:57in the face. Sable leaves, Jerry Briscoe screams that people should have more respect for these
03:02legends in the ring and McMahon then hypes up the crowd a little by talking about the Steve
03:06Austin vs Kane main event. Kane said on Raw he'd set himself on fire if he loses the championship
03:12and McMahon says fans will be disappointed if that's what they paid to see. Vince says
03:17these fans are used to disappointment, he says the fans are disappointments to their parents,
03:21so McMahon's here to soften the blow a little and prepare everyone for what's gonna happen
03:26tonight. Austin's gonna lose the WWF championship in the main event.
03:32Here's our 1998 King of the Ring tournament brackets, every quarter final match had a little
03:37story heading into it but the way things turned out the semi-finals are a bit more random,
03:42still good but a bit random in terms of what the guys were doing on TV. As mentioned on reliving
03:47the war, I thought we'd see Severn vs Shamrock in the final when I watched this back in 1998,
03:52so let's see what happened, both semi-final matches happened back to back next. Double
03:57J vs Ken Shamrock started off with Kenny boy firmly in the driver's seat after he performs
04:01a knee lift and a clothesline from the corner, Shamrock was then able to suplex Jarrett but
04:06then Double J came back with a neckbreaker and a dropkick. The neckbreaker done some damage
04:11to Shamrock's left eye and I think he must've rubbed it against Jarrett's ring gear or something,
04:16it definitely wasn't the dropkick that caused the problem because he was already selling
04:20it before getting kicked in the face, whatever the case, it clears up by the end of the match.
04:25The fight goes to the outside where Double J gets dropped across the top rope and thrown
04:29into the ring steps, back in the ring, Tennessee Dragon Lee causes a distraction and Jarrett performs
04:34a chop block, and that no good dirty hyena, Sweet T Lee goes after the injured ankle while
04:40Jarrett distracts the referee. Double J naturally focuses on the ankle and referee Tim White has
04:45to pull Jarrett's hair to get him away from Kenny boy, giving Lee another chance to get
04:50in a cheap shot, but even after all this punishment, Shamrock's able to fight back
04:54like nothing happened at all. The injury magically disappears as Ken punishes Double J with a spinning
04:59wheel kick and a jumping leg lariat and I'll be honest, this took me right out of the
05:04match, but it's pretty much over now anyway. Ken performs a power slam and he plants Jarrett
05:09with a hurricanrana, looked a bit rough. Double J then taps out to the ankle lock so Ken Chomrock's
05:14in the finals. Tennessee Bobby Lee takes a belly to belly suplex when he tries to attack
05:18Ken, and afterwards Ken says he has one more peak to climb and he didn't come to Pittsburgh
05:23to be second best tonight. Ken and Jarrett head to the back, and the crowd pops when the
05:28Rock's entrance theme plays in the arena. Rock comes down to the ring for his match against
05:32Dan Severn, and like always, the rest of the nation gets sent to the back, Commissioner
05:37Slaughter didn't even have to come down. Severn took out Owen Hart last week on Raw, the week
05:42before that he tore D'Lo's pack with the same modified bow and arrow, so let's see
05:46if he can do the same to Rocky. Rock goes to the ropes to force a break right away, Severn
05:51then takes a back elbow and he gets his head rocked on the top turnbuckles, Rock then misses
05:56a corner charge and Severn pulls off a fireman's carry followed by an arm bar, he tries to move
06:01into a dragon sleeper but Rock again makes it to the ropes. Rock then hits a clothesline and
06:05the crowd pops again when he removes his elbow pad. He then makes fun of Severn while the
06:10beast lays on the mat, Severn gets suplexed but he fights back with a few strikes to the
06:15midsection, Rock then gets kneed in the corner so Rock pokes Severn in the eye and both guys
06:20end up crashing into each other. Mark Henry and Kama then hit the ring to distract the
06:24referee. D'Lo then returns to WWF by hitting a frog splash on Severn while wearing what JR
06:30calls a protective device. Rock pins Severn and just like that, Dan Severn's been beat
06:36and it's a Shamrock vs Rock final. The Shamrock vs Severn match does not happen at the King
06:41of the Ring as many people expected, including myself. Rock says Shamrock won't be climbing
06:46any peaks later tonight, instead, The Rock's gonna make sure Kenny Boy hits rock bottom.
06:56Next up we have Al Snow vs Too Much. Since returning to WWF, Snow hasn't had a match, he's wanted
07:03to have a meeting with Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler's fail to make this happen even though
07:07he promised Al that he would. On Raw last week, Jerry said he would get Snow his meeting
07:12if he and head beat Too Much at the King of the Ring and if Al can't get the job
07:16done,
07:16then he's out of the WWF, so there's a lot on the line here for Mr Snow. This is also
07:23Too Much's first real match on pay per view, they did compete in the Wrestlemania 14 battle
07:28royal but they were just a footnote in that match, so this one definitely has a few things
07:33going for it. Snow makes his way to the ring with no entrance music and it's then announced
07:38that Jerry Lawler's the special guest referee for this showdown. Snow's all over Scott Too
07:44hot Taylor to start things off but he gets distracted by head, giving Taylor a chance to counter a
07:49back body drop and dance a little. Snow gets the better of Taylor, the competitors go back
07:54to their corners, Snow has a word with head while Scott tags out. Brian Christopher spits
07:59his gum on head, he then accuses Snow of hair pulling and of course the king takes his son's
08:03word for it. Lawler then stops Snow from smacking Christopher in Too Sexy Floor's Al, this
08:09is more like a 3 on 1 match here. Snow launches Christopher off the top turnbuckle but he
08:14gets his wee rocker smashed on the top rope by Taylor, still though he's able to perform
08:19a sunset flipbomb and that really should've been the match all over, but Jerry of course
08:24is counting very very slow. Too Much ends up getting dumped out of the ring, Snow body slams
08:30Christopher on the floor before heading back up the entranceway, only to run down again
08:34to hit a big clothesline. Scott Taylor then tries a springboard clothesline to the outside
08:39and it didn't look all that great honestly, looks like he didn't get enough distance.
08:44Back in the ring, Christopher performs a missile dropkick in Too Much team up for a double assbreaker,
08:50I don't know. Head watches on in horror as Snow gets chinlocked by Taylor, but Scott lightens
08:55up a bit and Snow ends up taking a pump handle suplex. Scott moonwalks back to his corner
08:59but he doesn't tag out, instead he takes a wheelbarrel suplex from Al and then he tags
09:05out. Too Much ends up taking a double DDT and then Al finally tags in Head. Head comes in
09:11with a few… headbutts. Al cleans house and he hits Bryan Christopher with a snowplow. Lawler
09:16refuses to end the match though so Al tags Taylor while Lawler leaves the ring to grab something,
09:21he tosses an empty shampoo bottle at Christopher, Christopher attaches it to Head, Lawler then
09:26counts the pinfall and Too Much win the match. It was an empty bottle of Head and Shoulders,
09:32get it? Head and Shoulders? This finish is clearly for the intellectual wrestling connoisseur
09:37so don't worry if you don't catch it right away. Seriously though, I got a chuckle out
09:41of this when watching it for the first time but the audience didn't care much for it at
09:45all. Still, take away all the shenanigans and tomfoolery in the match wasn't terrible.
09:50I can see why some fans would turn their noses up at it though and to those people, I say,
09:55lighten up.
10:01Owen Hart ruined the X-Pac vs Triple H first round king of the ring match so X-Pac wants
10:06to get some revenge tonight at the pay per view. Two extremely proficient superstars here
10:11so you expect great things in this one. Waltman starts it off with a flying kick while Owen
10:16was making his entrance, he remains aggressive with a double handed chop followed by a spinning
10:20back kick but then he goes for a bronco buster and Owen moves out of the way. I really don't
10:25see the point in attempting bronco busters on opponents standing in the corner, I mean,
10:30if it connects on a standing opponent, it's gonna look a little weird, isn't it? Anyway,
10:35it's Owen's turn to throw X-Pac into the turnbuckles a few times and Pac hits those corners
10:39hard, Owen delivers a backbreaker and a spinning wheel kick as the king talks about how he likes
10:44both of these guys and he can't choose a favourite, X-Pac comes back with another whip
10:48to the corner, Owen then takes another kick, the black heart replies with a few hard chops
10:53and a fisherman suplex but X-Pac kicks out of two. Owen then pulls off a gut wrench suplex,
10:58X-Pac replies with a back body drop, the two end up on the outside where X-Pac hits an
11:03apron
11:03clothesline but then Owen fires back with this Irish whip into the timekeeper's table, I totally
11:09forgot about this bump and it looked pretty good too. Owen doesn't let up, he performs
11:14a front suplex onto the Spanish announce table before bringing it back into the ring, his
11:18penitent leads to a kick out of two though so he tries to put X-Pac away with a sleeper
11:23hold. Kid gets out, he locks in a sleeper of his own, hard throws X-Pac into the ropes but
11:28Pac manages to hit the X factor. Owen gets his head busted open after another kick to the
11:33head and then X-Pac brings Owen to the corner, we see that bronco buster, Owen was thankfully
11:39sitting down and then X-Pac tries to go upstairs but he gets intercepted. Owen and X-Pac fight
11:45at the top rope and both men end up falling down with X-Pac falling to the outside and
11:50Owen falling into the ring. Mark Henry then appears and he hits a splash on Pac, Chyna gets
11:55in Mark's face but she doesn't need to do anything because Vader shows up and Henry gets
12:00taken out. In the middle of the chaos, Owen locks in a sharpshooter and Kid taps out but
12:05there's no referee. So Chyna hits Owen with a DDT and X-Pac wins this King of the Ring
12:11grudge match. It's almost like Owen's forever destined to lose big matches thanks to Chyna
12:15but still, I thought this was a solid match and like most matches at this pay-per-view, it's
12:21completely overlooked due to the Hell in a Cell encounter, so make sure you give this
12:25one a watch.
12:28On Raw this past week, The Undertaker showed up to Paul Bearer's house and Paul took a
12:32beating. What fans didn't know at the time is that The Undertaker also suffered a legitimate
12:37fractured ankle during this segment and the phenom would be entering the Hell in a Cell
12:42badly injured, but that pales in comparison to what Mick Foley goes through. Still though,
12:47it's something we shouldn't overlook. Paul comes to the ring and he says he took a beating
12:51from The Undertaker but he wouldn't miss tonight for the world. For 20 years, Cain
12:55sat all alone in his room. On Saturdays, he would watch WWF superstars and he would say
13:00to Paul, Dad, I want to be like him. Cain couldn't play little league, he couldn't
13:05join the boy scouts, he couldn't play in the sunshine, he just wanted to be like his
13:09big brother. So tonight is going to be the happiest day in Paul's life, he's going to be the father
13:14of the WWF champion and the fans can laugh at Paul all they want because Bearer's going
13:19to be laughing all the way to the bank.
13:22Next up, we have the New Age Outlaws defending the tag team titles against the New Midnight
13:26Express. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were feuding with DOA in LOD 2000 but seeing as neither team
13:32could beat the Outlaws, the WWF have given Bastard Bob and Ballbag Bart a chance at the tag
13:37team championships. There was no build up for this one at all, it's absolute silence when
13:42the NWA champs make their way to the ring and I guess the only notable thing about this
13:47is the fact that Billy and Bart are now on opposite sides of the ring, representing two
13:51different tag teams. Jim Ross even reminds us that these two were supposed to be brothers.
13:55The match was built around Road Dogg getting the hot tag and there were a few shaky moments
14:00in the match too. James tags out, Billy Gunn cleans house and so Jim Cornette jumps in to
14:05hit Billy with an NWA tag built. Cornette tries it again a little later on but this time,
14:10Billy stops him in his tracks, Jim doesn't notice Chyna getting in the ring and Cornette
14:14takes a low blow and the Outlaws win the match with a double stun gun. The crowd reaction
14:20to this match was odd, they cheered at the start for the Outlaws, they then chanted boring
14:25even when the Outlaws were in control and they cheered again when Road Dogg and Billy Gunn
14:29won the bout. The King of the Ring finals up next and Triple H joins the commentary table,
14:39not only did Triple H win last year's tournament but he also wants to get a good close look
14:44at the IC champion. So we've got The Rock vs Ken Shamrock once again on pay per view,
14:49they wrestled at the Royal Rumble, they met again at Wrestlemania and here they are in the
14:54King of the Ring finals. Shamrock's got a bad angle but that won't stop him trying to kick
14:58the IC champ at the opening bell. Rock's first to get floored after a kick to the chest
15:03and the people's champ gets out of the ring to regroup. As the match continues on, we see
15:07Chyna's join the Spanish announce table and she's speaking fluent Spanish, Triple H says
15:12she's talking about Taco Bell or something. The Rock gets sent out of the ring again and
15:16Jim Ross talks about Steve Austin getting a staph infection and spending a few days in hospital.
15:21Austin missed no TV dates at all while dealing with the infection. Rock approaches Triple
15:27H, the two talk smack and Triple H decides to spit water all over the IC champ. Rock doesn't
15:33sell it at all and he pie faces Hunter back into his seat, this leads to Shamrock taking
15:38advantage on the outside and Rock has to hit a low blow just to get a break. Back in the
15:42ring, Shamrock gets his hand tied up in the top and middle rope accidentally and Rock has
15:46to help Shamrock free himself. The two fight again right in front of Triple H and this time,
15:51it's all Rock as the Great One lands a clothesline and Shamrock gets dropped across the guardrail.
15:56The two get inside the ropes again, Shamrock takes a swinging neckbreaker, Rock gets punched
16:01in the corner, he instantly comes back with a DDT and there it is, a king of the ring tournament
16:06chin lock. So far, I don't think this has been as good as previous Rock and Shamrock matches,
16:12in my opinion. You may think differently but it does feel like the rivalry had run its course
16:16at this time. On Jim Ross' podcast, we learned that the WWF picked up on an interview Dan
16:21Severn gave days before this pay-per-view where he hinted about steroid use in the company,
16:27so there's a very real possibility that Severn vs Shamrock was the original plan and the WWF
16:33decided to beat Severn in a 5 minute semi-final match instead. Jim Ross said the interview was
16:38disappointing but Severn was just speaking his mind. Ross also said a Severn vs Shamrock final
16:43felt too predictable and there wasn't enough confidence that these two could pull off a
16:48good work king of the ring final match. When you think about it, Jim Ross was absolutely
16:52right.
16:53Anyway, Rock lands the people's elbow but Shamrock kicks out, so Rock applies chin lock
16:57number 2. You think Severn vs Shamrock would've had two chin locks? I seriously doubt it.
17:03Shamrock fights out, Rock performs a float over DDT and Shamrock kicks out and Rock gets frustrated.
17:09Rock takes a back elbow, the jumping leg lariat and a power slam but Shamrock
17:13also struggles to put Rock away, and it was here where the audience started really getting
17:18into the match. We see a fisherman suplex from Shamrock, a rare power slam from the IC champ,
17:24Rock goes for the float over once again but Shamrock counters with a northern light suplex
17:29and even Triple H has to catch his breath after the move. Every move gets followed up with a
17:34pin attempt, the two share clotheslines and they both fail to win the match, Shamrock takes
17:38a stun gun and again, it's only a two count. Rock then gets frustrated and he argues with the referee
17:44and this leads to Shamrock applying the ankle lock and winning via submission. Ken Shamrock is our
17:501998 king of the ring. This match really ramped up in the last few minutes and it went from just
17:56okay to pretty good, but now you'd hope the WWF does something more with Kenny boy. Triple H spoke on
18:02commentary about how the king of the ring is a real stepping stone to bigger and better things and
18:07this was generally the case up until this point, so fans at the time did expect Shamrock to get pushed
18:14to the next level following this big win at the 1998 king of the ring. There's no ceremony this year
18:20though and there's no presentation, Shamrock just celebrates and the pay-per-view continues on.
18:30It's time for The Undertaker vs. Mankind. This bout and tonight's main event are very much
18:35intertwined so let's cover both match build-ups before looking at the Hell in a Cell encounter.
18:41After Stone Cold Steve Austin got done battling dude love, The Undertaker demanded a WWF title shot,
18:46The Deadman went on his own path of destruction until Vince agreed to give him an opportunity,
18:51but Undertaker would have to defeat his little brother Kane to get that title shot. Mankind ended
18:57up costing The Undertaker that match, Vince McMahon had publicly fired Foley because Mick couldn't beat
19:02Steve Austin, but Mick got rehired because he attacked The Undertaker. The following week,
19:07the Hell in a Cell was announced and Kane vs. Austin was also made official, Mankind would then return to
19:13Paul Bearer and that means Mankind was also aligned with Kane, so you'd naturally think that Austin
19:18and Undertaker would form an alliance to battle these two villains. Well, Undertaker couldn't help
19:24Stone Cold during a beatdown on Raw because he was being held back by police. Paul Bearer said that
19:29this was a plan by The Undertaker and it was all done intentionally because Taker had no interest in
19:34helping Stone Cold. All The Undertaker wanted was a shot at the belt. And while The Undertaker denied this,
19:40it did cause a little uneasiness between Austin and Taker, nothing major but it's definitely there.
19:46You then had Undertaker attacking Paul Bearer at his home last week and legitimately injuring his ankle,
19:52you also had Vince McMahon making the WWF title match a first blood match, you've got Kane saying
19:58he's gonna set himself on fire if he doesn't win the championship, and last week we also witnessed Kane
20:03dropping that old red liquid on top of Austin to close out Raw. The title picture in WWF sure is
20:09interesting and you've got quite a few players involved in creating this story, but we'll see
20:14what happens in the final two matches at King of the Ring and we'll see if the scores get settled
20:18or if the story develops even more.
20:26Mankind comes to the ring first. On Raw, he debuted this new look where the
20:30old Mankind's mixed in with the corporate Mankind that failed to impress Vince McMahon, a great way to
20:36show the confused state the Mankind character was currently in. Mankind walks into Hell in a Cell,
20:42he walks back out, he throws a chair on top of the cell and he begins climbing the cage. I
20:47watched
20:47this show live as it happened and I remember getting so excited when Mankind climbed up there,
20:52there'd be no guessing throughout the match if the competitors end up on top of the cage because
20:56it started on top of the cage. The Undertaker comes out, he takes a look at Mankind before removing his
21:02coat, Taker begins scaling the cage and not a person in the arena is sitting down right now,
21:07this is gonna get crazy right at the opening bell. Undertaker punches Foley a few times so he can finish
21:13his climb, Taker gets up there but he ends up getting hit twice with that chair and already,
21:17you can hear the rivets and fasteners breaking at the top of the cell. When they step on a panel
21:22and
21:23it almost breaks through, I can remember getting really, really on edge when watching this for the
21:28first time so god knows what it was like for Undertaker and Foley, this was absolutely nerve
21:33wrecking for a viewer at home because that cell roof wasn't sturdy at all. More rivets break as the
21:39two move around, Mankind goes for a suplex but Taker counters with a few punches, Mick Foley's stunned,
21:45he tries to find his balance but before he can do that, The Undertaker grabs him and a moment happens
21:50that we'd never ever forget. There's really not a lot I can say about this because it's one of the
22:06most
22:06talked about matches in wrestling history, Mick's talked about it probably thousands of times and
22:11The Undertaker talked about it too following his last match, all I can offer here really is how I felt
22:17when watching this live and honestly, I will never forget it. I looked at the tv in complete disbelief,
22:24trying to process the fact that a man at Mick Foley's size got thrown clean off hell in a cell
22:29and I couldn't grasp how dangerous it was until they started airing replays from different camera
22:34angles. After seeing it four or five times though through replays, you then start to think you've
22:40witnessed the end of someone's career, Foley hardly moves, The Undertaker also looks a little
22:45concerned as he watches from atop the hell in a cell, Jim Ross gives his most famous call when he
22:50says
22:50as god is my witness, he's broken in half and it's a call that gets memed quite a lot but
22:56it's also
22:56absolutely perfect for this moment, it's just pure shock. The crowd pop for the bump, they cheer
23:03afterwards knowing they witnessed something truly unbelievable but it soon quietens down as JR and
23:09King ask for help and fans begin to realise that Foley hasn't moved an inch, Terry Funk comes down to
23:14check on Mick, Mick takes his mask off and he complains about his arm, WWF head doctor Francois Petit is
23:21now attending to Foley, and did you know that Francois played Sub-Zero in the original Mortal
23:26Kombat movie? Yeah, it all comes back to Glacier. Vince McMahon and Commissioner Slaughter then show
23:31up and it was right here where I thought something was definitely wrong. Vince McMahon breaking characters
23:37showed us all that this was pretty serious. The hell in a cell then begins to rise while The
23:42Undertaker's still on top, and Taker said he had no idea this was gonna happen by the way, but Mick
23:48Foley desperately needs stretchered out of the arena. Mick Foley gets brought to the entranceway,
23:58Jim Ross says the match has ended, Undertaker begins climbing down but then Mick Foley stands up,
24:04Foley pulls away from the officials and both he and Undertaker begin climbing the cage again,
24:09it's absolute insanity. Both men meet each other again at the top of the hell in a cell,
24:14Mankind gets headbutted, he takes a right hand, and then…
24:23Jerry Lawler says Mick Foley is dead and Jim Ross pleads for someone to stop the match.
24:28This chokeslam right here, according to Foley, was way worse than the first fall. If you watch closely,
24:34you can see the chair falling on top of Mick and he got legitimately knocked out for the first time
24:39in
24:39his career. This spot was not planned, Undertaker told Terry Funk to check and see if Mick was still
24:45breathing, and Funk would write in his book that Mick's eyes looked like those of a dead fish,
24:50just totally glazed over. Undertaker then jumps down and he further injures his ankle upon landing
24:56on the canvas, but he just shrugs it off so he can chokeslam Terry Funk and continue the match. After
25:01seeing a few more replays, we go back to the ring and Undertaker punches Mick and Foley just collapses
25:07on the mat in a heap, he's completely out of it. He looks awful as Undertaker goes for old school,
25:12but Foley throws himself into the ropes and then we can see that there's a loose tooth lodged into
25:18Foley's nose. To go back to how I felt watching this, I was absolutely glued to the screen at this
25:24point, this was one of the most gripping matches I'd ever watched and I also remember rooting for
25:29Mankind. I was indifferent to the dude loves stuff at Unforgiven and Over the Edge, but Mick Foley
25:34became the man in my eyes as this match continued on. Undertaker gets rammed into a cage panel and
25:40Foley struggles so much to lift the ring steps that he just gives up and Undertaker takes over. That
25:45bad arm takes a few hard shots and Mick takes a few right hands before the phenom tries to dive
25:50through the ropes, but Mankind moves out of the way and the dead man gets busted open. Watch closely and
25:56you can see the Undertaker blading here. It gets back in the ring where Mankind hits Undertaker
26:00with a pile driver on the chair, Taker kicks out so Mick sets the chair on Undertaker's head and he
26:06performs a leg drop. The Undertaker won't stay down though so Mick hits a double arm DDT and he then
26:11goes under the ring to find something, it's a bag filled with thumbtacks. WWF audiences had never seen
26:18this before, there's a loud gasp when Foley throws the tacks onto the mat, Mankind tries to punch the
26:24Undertaker into those tacks but it doesn't work, the two pull off counters and the Undertaker ends
26:29up taking the mandible claw, but then, the Undertaker stands up with Mankind on his back
26:35and Foley falls into the thumbtacks back first. To make sure he gets the full effect, Mankind then
26:41rolls in the tacks. If all this isn't enough, if the fans haven't been entertained yet for some reason,
26:46Mankind gets chokeslammed into those tacks and that's gonna be the end of one of the most insane
26:51matches WWF ever put on. The Undertaker hits Mankind with a tombstone and the Undertaker wins an
26:58unbelievable hell in a cell match. We're definitely desensitized to this kind of thing in wrestling
27:03today and it's not like other companies weren't having matches even more brutal than this one
27:08before 1998, but if you were only following things like WWF or WCW and you didn't have access to tapes,
27:15then this would've been one of the most mind blowing things you ever witnessed in a wrestling ring.
27:19I couldn't believe WWF or rather Mick Foley went as far as he did for a mainstream pay-per-view
27:26show,
27:26watching this unfold at the time was easily one of the best experiences I ever had watching pro wrestling.
27:33Mick Foley refuses to get carried out on a stretcher, the fans give the heel Mankind a standing ovation,
27:39and it was later revealed that Vince McMahon thanked Foley for what he did on this night,
27:44but he also asked him to never ever do it again.
27:53Steve Austin and Kane have an impossible act to follow and the WWF knew this, so the hell in a
27:59cell is gonna come into play in this main event match. Kane comes out first, we see the cans of
28:04gasoline sitting at ringside just for Kane if he loses tonight, and then Austin comes out with a
28:09heavily bandaged right elbow thanks to that staph infection. Austin also looks very tired but credit
28:15where it's due, he wasn't gonna miss an advertised title defence. Austin storms the ring and we start
28:20this first blood match right away with a lufez press and Austin drops an elbow on Kane, he uses his
28:25bandaged elbow too by the way. Kane gets hit with the WWF title belt twice, Stone Cold removes the
28:31turnbuckle pad but neither man are able to bust each other open just yet. Kane gets choked out as the
28:37crowd begin a loud Austin chant, Stone Cold then gets floored with a right hand as Jerry Lawler brings
28:42up the fact that Kane's completely covered up, his left arms usually exposed but that's not the case
28:47tonight at King of the Ring. Austin fires back with a clothesline and a few right hands, Kane tries to
28:52end it
28:53with a tombstone but Austin manages to throw him out of the ring. Gotta say too, the crowd are just
28:57as
28:57loud here as what they were for the Hell in a Cell, it just goes to show how popular Stone
29:02Cold really
29:02was and how fans of this era were totally up for it. Not to get sidetracked here but nothing compares
29:08the wrestling fans of this era. The two fight on the outside and then, for some unexplained reason,
29:15the Hell in a Cell begins the lore, someone's controlling the cage and the prime suspect has to be
29:20Vince McMahon. Austin gets thrown into the ring steps but he takes the impact on his hip,
29:25he ends up getting thrown face first into the cell though and Earl Hebner checks for blood,
29:30but Austin's clean as a whistle. The cell almost crushes Austin and Kane welcomes it,
29:35he chokes Stone Cold as Austin desperately tries to stop the cell from taking his head off,
29:40the two get up as the Hell in a Cell fully lowers around the ring, they continue to fight for
29:45a bit and
29:45then Kane ends up landing over the cage door's lip as the cell begins to rise again. The commentators
29:51have no idea what's going on and indeed it is quite confusing but it's also pretty awesome too.
29:57Kane ends up falling from the cage and we notice that Austin's bleeding from his back but the
30:02match continues on, this cut was obviously not planned and you wouldn't want it ending now anyway.
30:07The two end up fighting at the entranceway where Kane counters a pile driver with a backdrop,
30:11we then see Mr McMahon in an arena luxury box along with Sable, he has a headset too so it's
30:18possible
30:18that Vince is sending orders for the Zelda lore but who knows. Austin gets suplexed on the rampway,
30:24he gets thrown into the security railing, Kane tries to bust Austin open by throwing that barrier in
30:30his face but Stone Cold gets his hands up, the two make their way back to the ring and Austin
30:34fails
30:34when trying to smash Kane's head into the exposed turnbuckle, so they both end up on the outside again
30:40where Stone Cold uses the guardrail, the timekeeper's chair, the announce table and a desk fan to try
30:46and open Kane up but he can't do it, Jerry Lawler says Austin really needs to remove the mask here
30:52to get results and he's probably right. We see a referee bump when Austin crashes into Hebner,
30:57so Earl stays on the outside as Kane hits Stone Cold with a diving clothesline back inside the ropes,
31:03McMahon watches on as Kane goes up one more time but Austin counters and Stone Cold fires up,
31:08Kane gets whacked in the exposed turnbuckle, Austin stomps on his opponent before ramming
31:13the back of Kane's head into the turnbuckle over and over again and then Mankind shows up with a
31:18chair, it's unbelievable. Mankind gets in the ring, the cell lowers again but Austin's able to fight
31:24Mick off and both Mankind and Kane take Stone Cold stunners. The Undertaker then comes limping down to the
31:30ring holding a chair, Austin grabs himself a chair too but when Taker and Austin swing for Mankind,
31:36Mrs. Foley's baby boy ducks out of the way, Austin takes all the impact and Austin's being busted open.
31:43Surprisingly, Undertaker throws Earl Hebner back in the ring and when Hebner doesn't wake up,
31:47the phenom decides to pour gasoline on the referee to get some sort of response, Kane attacks the
31:53Undertaker, the referee wakes up, Stone Cold tries his best to bust Kane open before Earl notices what's
31:59happened but it's no use, Kane gets floored with a chair shot, the referee notices the blood on Stone Cold,
32:04and Kane wins the King of the Ring main event, Kane's the new WWF champion, Austin's absolutely livid while
32:12Vince McMahon smiles from ear to ear. As for the Undertaker, well, we'll have to find out his
32:17motivations tomorrow night on Raw but if you remember what would happen to his little brother
32:21if he lost the match then you should come up with the answer pretty quickly.
32:30King of the Ring 98 is absolutely filled with drama during those final two matches
32:35and it makes for a really memorable pay-per-view. In my opinion, in the reliving the war timeline,
32:41it's the best show WWF's put on since WrestleMania 14. Mankind vs Undertaker speaks for itself,
32:47Austin and Kane sounds like a match that wouldn't really work but they pulled it off well thanks to
32:51adding a ton of gimmicks to the match but don't overlook X-Pac vs Owen Hart either,
32:56that's an underrated matchup for sure. I also had fun watching Isle Snow in too much again but it's
33:02no wonder the undercard gets forgotten about at this show, the last 60 minutes or so of King of
33:06the Ring 98 is so entertaining that the matches beforehand were always gonna be hard to recall.
33:12Join me next week for reliving the war though and we'll find out what happens next with Austin,
33:16Kane, Undertaker and Mankind. Trust me, it's another episode you won't want to miss.
33:21Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed this look at King of the Ring 1998 and take care.
34:01Maybe I'll talk to you all in a few minutes before you go.
34:02I guess you'll be doing this, but I'm sure you can check it out for a year.
34:02Bye.