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1997 was a crucial year for the WWF. They had figured out what to do with the players at their disposal and had finally set their battle plans that would hopefully launch the ultimate comeback victory over Eric Bishoff and WCW.
1998 needed to be the year for those plans to come to fruition. After nearly two years of losing the ratings war, McMahon simply could not afford to see another year go by without something to show for it.
Also read: 10 Shocking Moments from WWF (WWE) 1997
1998, in hindsight, probably proved to be the most important year for the company going forward; and just like 1997, it wasn't without its share of shocking moments along the way. With that being said, here are the 10 shocking moments from WWF 1998:
#1 Stone Cold becomes the third back-to-back Royal Rumble winner
If 1995 - 1997 is seen mostly as the Shawn Michaels era, then 1998 undoubtedly belongs to Stone Cold Steve Austin. And in much the same way as The Heartbreak Kid began his rise to the top, Austin began his own ascension by becoming a back-to-back Royal Rumble winner.
Austin had achieved his goal of defeating 29 other men a year before but was never afforded his rightful prize of main eventing Wrestlemania. This, ironically, was due to the backstage shenanigans of Michaels, but in many ways, Austin's Mania 13 match with Bret did more for his career than facing Undertaker or Sid for the Championship would have done.
This time, however, Stone Cold would not be denied, as his Royal Rumble victory led to one of the most important and historic matches in Wrestlemania history when he took on Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship.
The 1998 Royal Rumble was a very strong start to what proved to be a fantastic year for the WWF. We saw Mick Foley enter three different times under his three wrestling personas of Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love. We also saw the beginnings of the break up between Rock and Farooq, beginning a power struggle at the head of The Nation of Domination.
The Rumble match didn't even main event the show, with Shawn Michaels taking on Undertaker for the belt, a match that would ultimately lead to Shawn having to take four years off with a back injury.
But the event ultimately belonged to Stone Cold. After eliminating The Rock to become the new number one contender, the thousands in attendance and everyone else watching across the world knew that 1998 was going to be the rocket ship that would launch Austin into main event stardom.
#2 Mike Tyson joins forces with the WWF
When you're the owner of a company that is facing the very real threat of going out of business, you are at least afforded the opportunity to take risks. One major criticism of Vince McMahon in 2017 is that his product is too cautious and represents everything bad about the new corporate, family friendly world of entertainment that we are so used to.
Back in 1997/98, taking risks was pretty much all Vince had left in the locker. WCW had superstars from the 80s and the financial backing of Ted Turner behind them, so it was going to take something out of the ordinary to turn the tide. The WWF got just that in 1998 with the acquisition of 'The Baddest Man on the Planet' Mike Tyson.
This is a man who had transcended his own sport of boxing and became a notoriously controversial megastar. Tyson had only recently been released from prison after serving three years of a six-year sentence for rape. It's almost impossible to imagine such a figure having a public working relationship with the WWE today, but back in 1998, this brought serious attention to the company. Whether that attention was good or bad, it didn't really matter.
One of the defining moments of the early Attitude Era was the face to face altercation between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mike Tyson. The two almost came to blows in the middle of the ring surrounded by WWF officials and representatives of Tyson's own brand. And with JR on commentary calling the action, everything about his segment spelt money for Vince and the WWF.
At one point, it appeared as though Tyson might even have been earmarked for a Wrestlemania match against Austin himself, but in the long run, common sense prevailed, and this never transpired. Tyson instead found his ideal role for Wrestlemania 14 as the special enforcer for the main event.
If there was ever a good example of why the WWE has a celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame, Mike Tyson is it.
#3 The dumpster incident
One of the many aspects of the WWF Attitude Era that made it stand out above the rest was its overt disregard for respect and tradition. While in today's product it is seen as almost blasphemous to talk about legends from the past in a negative light, the 1998 roster was busy doing and saying whatever it wanted.
The WWF had to portray itself as the younger, fresher company considering how heavily WCW relied on old stars from the past. One team in particular who embodied this attitude were The New Age Outlaws.
By the beginning of 1998, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were embroiled in a feud with The Road Warriors, a legendary team from the late 80s and 90s. In a series of matches and segments throughout most of late 1997, the Outlaws mocked their older rivals as being out of touch with the business and proceeded to humiliate them in the ring at any given opportunity. In one memorable segment, Hawk even had his head shaved while the Outlaws and DX destroyed his partner Animal.
Road Dogg and Gunn continued through the rest of 1998 in very much the same fashion, going on to face another tag-team made up of two of the business's greatest legends in Mick Foley and Terry Funk. Funk had been brought in to team with Foley at the beginning of the year, calling himself Chainsaw Charlie. The two of them would stalk the New Age Outlaws everywhere they went, threatening to drag them into the extreme world they had helped to build over in Japan and in ECW.
The most memorable and shocking moment of this feud came during a match between Foley and Funk where both men ended up in a giant dumpster. As the two hardcore legends helplessly lay there, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn came to ring side, secured the dumpster shut and proceed to throw it off the side of the stage.
The company did everything it could to make this feel like a huge deal at the time. Almost the entire locker room came out to show how disgusted they were at the actions of the two young thugs. Foley and Funk were carried off on a stretcher while JR and King did their best to show concern and compassion on commentary.
This incident led up to a fantastic match at Wrestlemania 14 between the two teams and signalled the arrival of the New Age Outlaws into the main event picture of the company going forward.
#4 The Rock joins the Corporation
It's safe to say that Dwayne Johnson's early career with the WWF was a bit of a rollercoaster. Initially brought in as a cheesy babyface that nobody responded well to, he was turned heel in an attempt to respond to fan criticism. His heel turn worked so well that people then began cheering for him in the way that Vince McMahon had originally intended.
As for the rest of 1998, The Rock underwent yet another image change when he joined forces with the evil Mr McMahon and the rest of the Corporation.
During a rivalry with Mankind, who was himself trying to win the favour of Vince as the man to prevent Stone Cold from holding the WWF Championship, the two met at The Survivor Series PPV where a double turn occurred. In scenes reminiscent of the Montreal Screwjob, Vince ensured that Rock became the champion after calling for the bell despite Mankind not giving up.
The Rock then went through a corporate make-over of sorts, changing his moniker from 'The People's Champion' to 'The Corporate Champion', brilliantly fulfilling that gap on the heel side of the roster. Mankind was too sympathetic a character for people to boo, whereas The Brahma Bull had the natural arrogance that made him a great villain.
This might not have been as important a double-turn compared with the one we saw at Wrestlemania 13, but it certainly set the scene for the rest of the year and the beginning of 1999 especially.
#5 D-Generation X gets a facelift
Arguably the biggest turning point in the career of Triple H came the night after Wrestlemania 14. His onscreen tag partner and DX brother Shawn Michaels was forced off of TV due to a back injury and other personal demons. The fans were eager to know whether this would also mark the death of DX, a team they had strongly gotten behind throughout much of 1997.
To his credit, Triple H immediately fitted into the role of leader in Michaels' absence. He recruited some new members to the team and made sure DX would not just live on, but become bigger and better than before.
In shocking scenes that marked the start of the new DX, Hunter announced the return of Sean Waltman who had previously jumped ship to WCW a few years before to join the NWO. This was a massive symbolic response from the WWF who had seen so many of their top level talent leave in order to prop up their biggest rival. Waltman, who now referred to himself as X-Pac, might not have had the prestige and notoriety of a Scott Hall or Kevin Nash, but his arrival meant that WWF was not willing to give up the fight when it came to offering favourable contracts to the wrestlers.
Later on that night, Triple H turned DX from a three-person team into a five-person faction when he recruited the New Age Outlaws. Over the next weeks and months, DX would become an exaggerated version of their former selves, eventually becoming the very backbone of the new WWF, a company finally ready to pose a real threat to their Southern rivals.
For anyone concerned about how the WWF would fare without Shawn Michaels, Triple H managed to settle a lot of those worries in the space of two RAW segments.
#6 Stone Cold threatens to kill Vince McMahon
As all fans of professional wrestling know, the feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon is generally considered one of the most important in the history of the business as a whole. The two complemented each other so well, with Austin as the all-American hero of the new millennium who distrusted authority and Vince as the embodiment of evil corporate management.
The feud really began in earnest after Stone Cold became WWF Champion at Wrestlemania 14. Vince essentially told Austin that he would have to learn to be more 'corporate-friendly' or else face the consequences. For the rest of 1998, the WWF main event scene was built around Vince's attempts to keep Stone Cold from holding his company's main belt.
Perhaps the apex of the rivalry, at least as far as 1998 was concerned, occurred immediately after Vince fired Stone Cold for not doing his duties as a referee in the Kane and Undertaker WWF Championship match. Austin had basically been screwed out of the title despite defeating Taker at Summerslam a month earlier.
Vince's plan backfired, as Austin was now a former employee with nothing left to lose. He would proceed to stalk his former boss throughout the RAW episode, eventually kidnapping Vince who was confined to a wheelchair at the time. Austin rolled McMahon to the ring and placed a gun next to the Owner's temple.
In what has become a legendary scene, Austin pulled the trigger to unveil a piece of cloth attached to the gun with 'Bang 3:16' written on it. In a humiliating scene for McMahon, Austin then let the viewing audience know that the owner had wet himself out of fear.
In many ways, this kind of scene was made possible by the earlier rivalry between Stone Cold and Brian Pillman back in 97. Vince had worked out that controversy was the key to his success, and this realisation led to many similar promos and backstage segments throughout the rest of the Attitude Era.
#7 DX invades WCW
As the momentum was beginning to shift back towards the WWF after nearly two years of WCW dominance, Vince and Creative started inventing ways to really take the fight to Bishoff and Turner. Luckily for McMahon, he had quite the talented roster to depend on, particularly the team of D Generation X.
After the new group formed following Wrestlemania 14, Triple H turned DX into 'The DX Army'. The group began wearing combat gear and basically became the personifications of WWF's war with WCW. There had been exchanges back and forth for a few years between the companies, but mid-1998 was when the wars really started to become literal.
On April 27th, 1998, both RAW and Nitro were filming in the same town, just a few miles from each other. The WWF had the idea to 'invade' WCW using the DX Army. Triple H, Road Dog, Billy Gun and X-Pac all assembled on a tank and literally drove themselves to the door of the arena where Nitro was being filmed.
Triple H then began shouting insults at the company over the loud speaker and claimed that WCW was giving away free tickets in order to fill the seats. The altercation reached its most tense moment when the tank drove up to a loading bay with DX demanding they be let in. According to rumours, there was disagreement backstage at Nitro as to whether or not to let the tank in. Eventually, DX were turned away.
This was the perfect spot on the roster for DX at the time, considering Stone Cold and Foley were busy filling up the main event scene. Triple H and the rest of the group were given the space to prove themselves as worthy members of the roster and it only helped cement their credibility going forward.
#8 Stone Cold wins the WWF Championship
The WWF/E has often been accused of not following through with stories even if they are receiving white-hot heat. Vince has been known to cancel plans for fear of his product being too predictable. If wrestling is all about getting the right reaction, then by Vince's logic the audience shouldn't be able to predict what is going to happen beforehand.
Every now and then, however, there are certain moments that we can all see coming a mile away, but simply need to be allowed to happen regardless. One such moment is the conclusion of Wrestlemania 14 and the main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels.
As alluded to at the outset of this piece, the WWF was in many ways built around HBK between the years of 95-97. He was the man who never jumped ship and offered Vince some much-needed loyalty and stability when he needed it most. It was fitting, then, that as a new era was brought in, it would be Shawn Michaels who would help deliver it into existence.
After winning the 1998 Royal Rumble, Stone Cold sought about going after Michaels and DX, promising to take the belt away from him. Mike Tyson was even brought in to make this occasion feel even more special, and in kayfabe terms at least, Tyson initially sided with HBK. Like any great wrestling story, the babyface Austin went into the match with multiple obstacles to overcome. Shawn was being backed up by the rest of DX as well as the 'Baddest Man on the Planet' himself.
Going back and watching this match all these years later, it's hard to refer to it as a technical masterpiece. Shawn was not allowed to show off the full capacity of his arsenal due to back problems that were actually exacerbated during the match itself. Stone Cold was also not too far removed from the neck injury he suffered to Owen Hart the year previous. But when all said and done, this match did not need to be a '5-star classic'. This was all about ushering in the new era of WWF with Stone Cold at the helm.
After a double cross from Tyson and a pinfall victory for Austin out went the 'new generation' era of WWF that brought with it so many problems and such failure, and in came the beginnings of a much brighter future. The WWF was still waiting for the tide to turn in terms of the ratings, but the final scene of Mania 14 with Austin's hand being raised by Tyson must have filled Bishoff and Turner with dread.
#9 RAW beats Nitro in the ratings
The first few months of 1998 were undoubtedly very strong for Vince McMahon and the WWF. Fans had flocked in support of their new hero Stone Cold Steve Austin, and due to the Montreal Screwjob a few months previous, everyone was talking about the WWF once again.
But at the end of the day, all that would mean nothing if it did not translate into a ratings victory. For almost two years, WCW Nitro had beaten RAW on Monday nights. The sheer popularity of the NWO, along with guys like Flair and Sting was simply too much for fans to ignore. These were also not the days of the WWE Network or illegal streaming. If one show was receiving better viewing figures than the other, it meant that fans were just more interested in seeing it.
As the months went by, everyone involved with the WWF must have been left feeling frustrated. Austin was the number one contender and Mike Tyson had been brought in as a special guest referee for the upcoming Wrestlemania main event, yet the company could still not score a victory in terms of viewership.
Then, on the 13th of April 1998, after Stone Cold had defeated Michaels for the championship, WWF RAW finally defeated Nitro for the first time since June 1996. If younger fans don't quite understand how important the rivalry between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin was, then this victory by RAW should go some way to explaining it. The main event of the show would see McMahon take on Austin after the two had come to blows over whether or not Stone Cold was a worthy enough champion in the boss's eyes.
The actual match never came to pass, as the main event ended up being interrupted by Dude Love, leading to a new feud for Austin over his Championship. But the announcement itself was enough to draw people over to the WWF product. After a few weeks of back and forth throughout the summer, the WWF would eventually wrestle back control permanently, leading to ultimate supremacy.
#10 Mankind is thrown off Hell in a Cell
After the sensational performance put on by Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, Undertaker and Foley knew they had a lot to live up to. Foley was well-known by this time for being a hardcore legend, and with Undertaker proving time and again that he was not afraid to take the odd risk, fans knew they were in for something special.
Rumour has it that following a conversation Foley had with Terry Funk, the decision was made to start the match off on top of the cell itself. Before a punch was thrown, Mankind started to climb and the audience held its breath as the two superstars precariously teetered at the edge.
Then, just as many fans were probably saying to themselves 'surely they aren't going to do this', Taker grabbed Foley by the back of his shirt and hurled his opponent 16 feet onto the Spanish announce table. In one of the most memorable pieces of commentary ever, JR was heard shouting 'As God as my witness, he is broken in half!'.
If this match had involved any other competitors, this bump would have been more than enough to call the whole thing to an end. But Foley being Foley, the hardcore legend refused to be carried off and instead rejoined the match by climbing to the top yet again.
It is said amongst the wrestling community that while the fall from the top of the cell strikes most fans as the most extreme part of the match, anyone who knows what it feels like to actually be in the ring will argue that what happened next was much worse. After a brief scuffle atop the cell, Undertaker choke-slammed Foley through the roof and down to the ring below. This was not a pre-planned spot, and many of Foley's colleagues and friends have spoken about their genuine fear that Mick might not have survived the fall. According to Foley, the ring mat was far less forgiving back in 1998 compared with today and his fall was essentially broken by immediate impact.
To make matters worse, a chair that had been placed on the roof of the cell actually fell through along with Foley, causing his tooth to become dislodged which pierced the lower part of his nose. The camera zoomed in on his face only to reveal that Mankind was laughing throughout the pain.
However you think this match measured up to the previous HIAC bout, you can't deny that this was one of the WWF's most memorable matches of all time, and it went to prove just how valuable Mick Foley was for helping the WWF claw back some much-needed credibility.
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