Guest TSMAdmin Posted October 2, 2002 Report Posted October 2, 2002 Today in Wrestling History (August 10) by Jared "JHawk" Hawkins Some feedback notes: If I didn't respond to your e-mail this week, then one of two things happened. Either 1.) It appeared to be spam and got deleted -- I will not open an e-mail with "MILF" in the subject line, much less reply to it -- or 2.) It came in jumbled for some reason. Sometimes that is simply your e-mail server, particularly if you use Yahoo or Hotmail which occasionally try to stick in ads with their e-mails to piss you off. So I'm not ignoring anybody, I just can't respond to what I can't read. That being said, it's time for another look back at Today in Wrestling History, and we'll be going back to Raw is War on August 10, 1998 in Omaha, Nebraska. But first... The story so far: June 15. Kane and Mankind win a tag team Royal Rumble on Raw to become the number one contenders to the WWF Tag Team Championship. July 13: Kane and Mankind win the WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating The New Age Outlaws. Due to the controversial finish, a rematch is ordered for later that same night, with The Undertaker and Steve Austin...already scheduled to face each other at SummerSlam...as special outside enforcers. That rematch ends in a no contest when Taker and Austin each stop the others counts and all hell breaks loose. July 26: The Undertaker and Steve Austin defeat Kane and Mankind to win the WWF Tag Team Title. It's a Russo thing and really isn't important to this storyline as to why they're teaming. July 28: At a Raw/Heat taping, Taker and Austin successfully defend the championships against Owen Hart and The Rock. Kane and Mankind make their postmatch appearance. Kane has a chance to hit The Undertaker with a chair, but hits Austin instead. Taker could hit Kane, but he targets Mankind instead. "Are Kane and The Undertaker in cahoots?" Then, Mankind challenges The Undertaker to a match on Heat, only to be attacked by Kane. But it wasn't Kane at all, but rather The Undertaker in Kane's outfit. This is becoming all Eastenders, isn't it? Without any further ado... The Undertaker and Steve Austin are scheduled to defend the WWF Tag Team Championship in a Four Corners Match against Kane and Mankind, The New Age Outlaws, and The Rock and Owen Hart. At the beginning of Raw, Mankind asks for Vince McMahon's help in figuring out what the deal is with Taker and Kane. McMahon chastises Mankind for needing his help, when out comes Paul Bearer to dispute Taker and Kane working together. McMahon gets paranoid and claims Kane and Taker are the same person, so he tries to unmask Kane. The lights go out, and when they return, Taker is cleaning out the ring, and Kane is nowhere to be seen. It's finally match time, but before every team can be introduced, Ken Shamrock runs out to the ring and puts Owen Hart, his scheduled SummerSlam opponent, into an anklelock. Security and road agents finally clear the ring, but Owen is replaced by D'Lo Brown. Four Corners Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: Rocky Wants To Be In Pictues (Intercontinental Champion)/D'Lo Brown (European Champion) vs. The New Age Outlaws vs. Kane/Mankind vs. The Undertaker/Cold Stones Steve Austin (champions--Austin is also WWF Champion) Austin and Mankind begin to brawl immediately when the bell rings. Mankind gets in an early mandible claw, then catches Austin with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Austin goes for a quick Stunner, but Mankind avoids it. Austin goes on a brawling spree, then suplexes Mankind for a count of 2. Mankind with the advantage and a tag to D'Lo. D'Lo actually gets a two-count on Austin, but Austin is right back with a Thesz press (with punches) and a Fuck You Elbow. Austin tags in Kane, gets two or three shots in, and immediately tags out to Billy Gunn. D'Lo catches Gunn with a high cross body for 2. Gunn back with a Rocker dropper and a Gorilla press for 2. Tag to Road Dogg, Shaky Legs Kneedrop for 2. D'Lo tags Mankind. Mankind stomps away at Road Dogg, then gets a tag to The Rock. Rock does his damage and tags D'Lo. D'Lo takes Road Dogg down with a suplex, but Road Dogg kicks D'Lo in the face and tags Gunn back in. Gunn with a jackhammer and Taker makes the save. D'Lo gets an elbow in and makes a hard tag to Austin. Austin kicks Gunn's ass, then tags Taker in to a huge pop, and they do some pretty spiffy double teaming. Mankind tries to get a cheap shot in on Taker. Gunn tags in Austin, and although they could compete, the "Outlaw rule" is in effect, so they can't pin each other. Taker and Austin decide to wait until SummerSlam, so now it's Road Dogg and Taker legal. Taker dominates Road Dogg and tags D'Lo in. Poor D'Lo. Not even supposed to be in the match, and he's working harder than anybody. D'Lo with the legdrop to Road Dogg and a 2 count. D'Lo tags Rock, and he gets a Russian legsweep for 2, and he tags out to D'Lo. Smart strategy, because you can only the titles if you or your partner gets the pin. D'Lo into the reverse chinlock. Road Dogg fights back, but gets caught with the Sky High and a 2 count before Billy Gunn makes the save. D'Lo tags Rock, and there's the People's Elbow. Austin makes the save. Rock tags Mankind (so much for that smart strategy). Foley into the reverse chinlock. Mankind goads Austin into the ring and sends Road Dogg into his own corner. Road Dogg finally gets a Russian legsweep in, and it's a race for the tag. Road Dogg makes the hot tag to The Undertaker, and it quickly turns into a eight man brawl. Kane finally tags in, Taker choke slams D'Lo...but Kane choke slams Taker and gets the pin and the titles at 14:29. And Taker is almost instantly in a sitting position as the bell rings. Austin stares at Taker in disbelief at the finish and starts questioning Taker about it. Quite the entertaining match, as it follows the one Russo formula that worked...several storylines advanced in one excellent 15 minute segment. ***1/4 Aftermath: Vince McMahon would claim that the ease of Kane beating The Undertaker -- something he couldn't do with three chokeslams at WrestleMania -- was proof that they were in collusion. Kane and Mankind would lose the titles to The New Age Outlaws at SummerSlam when Kane turned on Mankind. As for Austin and Taker, Austin got a clean win over Taker. Taker had refused Kane's help that night, but within the week, it would turn out they were in cahoots...paid off by McMahon to take the title off of Austin, as well as for protection. This led to the triple threat match at Breakdown and subsequent title vacancy leading into Survivor Series...but that's another rant. Next week, Jerry Lawler gets hardcore -- ECW style. In the meantime, contact me at this link here.
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