Journey Through The Attitude Era Vol 7 : Judgement Day 1998 Review

  

Another night and another review of Attitude goodness, Vince Mcmahon had finally done it, the WWF championship was no longer around the waist of The Texas Rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin, he had been pinned by both Kane and Undertaker simultaneously at the last pay per view. However, Austin attacked Vince on Raw driving in on a zamboni, frustrated by the assault and the lack of help from the brothers Kane and The Undertaker, Vince decided they would fight one another once more to see who the real champion was after all! Austin would suffer humiliation by Mcmahon as he declared that Austin would be the guest referee and if he did not count the pin and raise the winner's hand, he would be fired from the WWF. This card would also feature the debut of Christian, Mankind challenging Shamrock for the intercontinental championship and The Rock taking on his former Nation Stablemate Mark Henry. It has potential to be a great night but will it be a one match or a two match show like other shows up to this point  Let's find out !!!

Al Snow vs Marc Mero

Both men make their way to the ring before Jeff Jarrett comes out and he wants a piece of Al Snow so perhaps a triple threat match will take place? No silly me Jarrett is waved off by the referee and heads backstage as Mero attacks Snow. That was weird I mean why have Jarrett come out if he was not going to be involved in the match? He wasn't even in the finish.

 Weird Attitude era, bad attitude era you should know better. Both men hit some nice moves in this match, Snow busted out his moonsault while Mero busted out his own moonsault and his version of the shooting star press, it is a shame that the crowd were not that into him. The finish was cool with Snow countering Mero's TKO into the Snowplow for the victory. A fine match with a strange beginning.

Winner: Snow over Mero via Snowplow!

LOD(Hawk/Animal/Droz) vs DOA(Skull/8-Ball/Paul Ellering)

So, the story in this match was Animal was finding it hard to rely on Hawk who was having real life issues at the time so he enlisted Droz as his new partner while Hawk was a backup partner. The tension comes from Droz trying to steal the spotlight from the veteran Hawk.

 This was Hawk's return match and he does not do much as Droz is destroyed by Skull and 8-Ball before Animal comes in and cleans house. Hawk climbs the top rope and nails the devastation device but Droz pushes Hawk out of the way and gets the pin for the victory. Hawk looks on in disgust as Droz has stolen the victory from his hands.

Winner: LOD over DOA following The Devastation Device!

Christian vs Taka Michinoku (C) (WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Match)

Christian's first match officially in the WWF, Gangrel had revealed that Christian was Edge's younger brother and had taken an interest in Christian while Edge would watch over his brother from a distance as he takes on the champion Taka Michinoku who had turned heel several months earlier aligning himself with his Kaientai stablemates. Lots of high flying on display here everything from hurricnaranas and tornado ddts to springboard dives and tope suicidas.

 Taka Michinoku is awesome, watching his work in Japan you can see how good he was at such a young age and he makes Christian look great with his selling in this match. Plus. his facial expression when in pain are awesome too. Christian wins the championship with a reversal of Taka's Michinoku Driver. Christian's reign would be largely uneventful and he would lose the championship to Gillberg of all people but at least when Edge joined Gangrel and Christian as The Brood, things improved for Christian.

Winner: Christian over Taka following an inside cradle!

Val Venis W/Terri vs Goldust

A continuation of the feud that had begun at Breakdown, Val Venis had slept with Goldust's wife Terri and had been a massive dick about it because he is a heel and heels are dick. However, Val had pushed Dustin too far and thus, Goldust returned and debuted a new finishing move known as Shattered dreams which was a giant kick to the balls. Val had the pleasure of being the first to take said finisher and he was not happy about being kicked hard in the nuts. Val enters the ring and tries to cut a promo but Goldust cuts him off and cuts his own promo stating it is showtime.

 Nice to see Goldust go back to his mindgames. The match was ok, it was dull at certain points. Val works over Goldust's arm for a long portion of the match but it never really builds to anything except a weird hammerlock spot where they do the spot where if the arm drops three times the match is over. It is kind of bizarre to see Val laying beside Goldust on the mat while Goldust is passing out to a HAMMERLOCK! but not everything comes out as planned in wrestling.

 Goldust tells Terri at ringside that she can suck his you know what while she is standing on the apron, the referee is distracted by Terri (Who wouldn't am I right?) and Goldust kicks Val in the nuts for the win. The right man won as Goldust got his revenge on Val but I would have preferred a Curtain Call and no distraction to beat Val rather than a shot to the nuts of the pornstar.

Winner: Goldust over Val Venis due to Shattered Dreams!

X-Pac vs D'Lo Brown (C) (WWF European Championship)

 Another match between these two and another great showing by these two young lions at the time. X-Pac and his kicks were so great in this match, every time he struck D'Lo you thought his head was about to fly off. D'Lo is so hated, and he has some impressive moves that are over with the crowd especially his running powerbomb. These two gel together and worked a fast paced match that the crowd were definitely into. The referee gets knocked out and out comes Mark Henry who crushes X-Pac while D'Lo grabs his title and smashes X-Pac over the head.

 Ref wakes up and 1..2.. Kick out from X-Pac, the crowd loses their collective minds at the thought that X-Pac might beat the cocky champion. In shock D'Lo climbs to the top for what I suppose would be a diving shoulder block but X-Pac counters into the X-Factor and we have a new champion. Great match form these two as they had been working with each other for a long time by this point and the finish was unique.

 

New Age Outlaws (C) vs The Headbangers (WWF Tag Team Championship)

The champions Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were looking for revenge as The Headbangers Mosh and Thrasher had smashed Road Dogg with a boombox. Yeah this feud is over a boombox and you thought the storylines today were laughable. Interesting promo before this match by Headbangers as they accuse the Outlaws as being homosexuals and that The Outlwas will be doing the "J-O-B" tonight. Yeah if that happened today, all hell would break loose in this politically correct world we live in.

 I thought this was going to be a short match because almost immediately Road Dogg starts getting destroyed as per usual and Billy Gunn comes in and it looks like its time for the finish but no not on this night as I was shocked to see Billy being worked over. Could this possibly be a Road Dogg hot tag where he kills everything in sight? Nope, I was foolish to think such a thing could happen, The Headbangers isolate Billy and frustrate Road Dogg until he cannot stand it anymore and he smashes a boombox over Mosh's head for the disqualification. The champions retain the titles but The Headbangers have a win over them, maybe this will lead to a future title shot opportunity.

Winners: Headbangers over New Age Outlaws via Disqualification!

Ken Shamrock (C) vs Mankind (WWF Intercontinental Championship)

Shamrock had beaten X-Pac in the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion after Triple H's injury. Shamrock set his sights on Mankind after the chairshot to the head at last month's pay per view cost Shamrock a chance to be the number one contender for the WWF Championship. Shamrock goes after Mankind's leg like a man on a mission and the leg work is largely boring but Mankind sells it like his leg is about to fall off so good work by Foley there, I cannot complain.

 Foley hits a few signature spots, the double arm ddt, the Cactus Jack clothesline before Shamrock powerslams Foley onto the steel steps, Foley's ankle taking the brunt of the attack. Shamrock locks in the Ankle Lock and Foley never taps, he screams in pain,he pulls his hair out he punches himself in the face but Foley will not tap. Refusing to tap, Mankind gives himself the Mandible Claw and passes out rather than let Shamrock get the win with his submission move The Ankle Lock. Shamrock snaps when he is announced the winner by the use of the mandible claw, he stomps Foley and belly to belly suplexes the referee. Mankind staggers to his feet and delivers the mandible claw to the delight of the fans.

Winner: Ken Shamrock over Mankind following A Mandible Claw!

The Rock vs Mark Henry W/ D'Lo Brown

The number one contender to the WWF championship The Rock takes on his former Nation Stablemate Mark Henry as the group comes to an end. Henry starts the match with a sexual chocolate poem and that is just awesome as he tries to win a date with Chyna by accusing her of sexual harassment when it is clearly if anything the other way around. Rock comes down to the ring as the crowd goes insane, he was so cool and so over, it is unbelievable to see The Rock's rise during this time. Henry destroys The Rock, cutting him off at every turn, The Rock hits a ddt and The People's Elbow which makes the crowd explode with happiness.

 D'Lo makes his presence felt with Rock slapping the taste out of his mouth before Henry hits a splash with D'Lo holding The Rock's feet down so Henry gets the pin over the number one contender. Interesting choice here with the number one contender to the the championship losing to Mark Henry. Henry was protected in WWF but this was your next prodigy in The Rock, you would be a fool to ignore his popularity so why have him lose this match? I don't really understand but I guess Rock would have his revenge as he would beat Henry on Raw a few weeks later to save his job.

Winner: Mark Henry over The Rock due to Shenanigans!

Undertaker vs Kane (WWF Championship Match With Special Guest Referee Stone Cold Steve Austin)

Austin will have to raise the hand of the winner or he will be fired, surely Austin would comply and humble himself before Vince Mcmahon? Yeah it was never going to happen, Undertaker and Kane beat the piss out of one another with nothing really worth noting here. Austin messes with the head of the Undertaker as he does not count the pin for Undertaker while doing fast counts for Kane. In the madness, Kane and Undertaker assault Austin laying him out with a chokeslam. Paul Bearer comes to ringside and has a chair in his hand intending to knock Undertaker's head but shock as Bearer clobbers Kane, turning himself and Undertaker heel in the process.

 Undertaker pins Kane but Austin looks Taker in the eyes and tells him that he is not counting the pin, Taker gets hit with the Stunner and Austin counts both men down for the three count. Austin declares himself the winner and Mcmahon sitting in a wheelchair due to attack by Kane and Undertaker on a previous raw declares that Austin per stipulation is fired. Austin celebrates in the ring for the final time while declaring that Vince had not seen the last of The Texas Rattlesnake.

Winner: No Contest due to that Damn Rattlesnake!

Another one bites the dust as only a few more pay per views remain for the year of 1998, it has been a few journey so far as we are smackdown in the middle of the Austin and Mcmahon Feud. Judgement Day was a fun pay per view, perhaps a mixed bag like the other pay per views of this year with good moments and bad moments. For me there was no real standout match on this card, Undertaker and Kane was not that good with the focus on the referee and not the action in the ring. The Rock's match was not great either nor was Mankind's match with Shamrock but it was the stories that drove the matches in the attitude era not the wrestling so the feuds between the likes of Goldust and Val and the ongoing war between D'Lo and X-Pac were the highlights for this pay pay view. Join me for next time where we will be looking at the Deadly Games Survivor Series 1998.