Krendall on: Breakdown '98
WWF Breakdown 1998: Hamilton, Ontario
Main Storyline
Vince McMahon is sick and tired of seeing Steve Austin as the World Champion. To gaurantee that Austin will lose the title, he's set up a Triple Threat match of Austin vs. Undertaker vs. Kane. The stipulation is that Kane cannot pin Taker, and vice versa. The deck seems stacked against the Rattlesnake.
King of Harts vs. Semi-Goth
This is the match that got me to rent the tape, and it didn't disappoint, except a bit with the ending. Funny sign as Owen walks to the ring: "Gangrel Fears Garlic." It's cool to see Edge come out through the crowd again.
Match opens with some nice early chain wrestling sees Edge gain an early advantage. Owen gains the advantage when he reverses a Diving Spear into a Powerslam. Owen shows intelligent wrestling by working Edge's back with Suplexes and Back-Breakers. Owen gets a close fall with the Victory Roll that defeated Bret at WMX. Owen hits a WICKED Enziguri, but a top-rope follow-up is reversed by Edge into the Electric Chair Drop (God, I miss that move!). Edge regains the advantage. Edge with a sick DDT! Edge hits a picture-perfect Northern Lights Suplex for a near-three. Owen counters the next move with a Bridging Back Suplex for his own near-three. Owen reverses a Superplex and goes for the Sharpshooter, but get reversed into a cradle for a long two. Edge is suddenly distracted by someone at ringside. Could it be? It's Christian! During the confusion, Owen does a quick rollup for the three.
Winner: Owen Hart
Rating: **** Some points are lost for the ending, but still this match was awesome! Definately was worth my watching.
Ambiguously Gay Duo vs. Head! and You're Still Funky
Huge pop when Al Snow's music hits. JR talks briefly about Lief Cassidy and Avatar, and how both Al and Scorpio wrestled in ECW, to which Lawler quickly chimes "Extremely Crappy Wrestlers." Flashy early moves by Scorpio on Taylor. Taylor does a Pumphandle Slam, and then taunts with the Moonwalk. WTF is that sound?! That's Brian Christopher laughing? Damn, that's scary. Snow gets the Trapping Headbutts that hit squarly on Christopher's shoulder. Snow sets up a chair in the ring and does the Poetry in Motion. I guess the Hardyz didn't event it. Scorpio tries the same move, but the chair breaks. Luckily he recovers by doing a mess-up jump kick to the groin. Scorpio is ready for a pin, but pulls up Taylor. Meanwhile Snow is beating the piss out of Christopher outside the ring. Nice double-team moves by Too Much to gain the advantage. Nice bulldog by Christopher. Al Snow gets the hot tag and beats up everyone (including Scorpio) with Head. Referee keeps counting illegal pins. All hits the Snowplow on Taylor and gets the win.
Winners: Al Snow and Scorpio
Rating: **1/2 Basic tag match that kind of fell apart at the end. Funny seeing Scorpio chew out Snow and Al not even understanding what he's talking about.
The Baaaaaaaaaadd Man vs. Momma, I'm Now Known as Puke!
Marc takes an early advantage of punches and eye gouges, but gets counted by Droz. Droz hits some nice Clotheslines and a good Dropkick. Fight spills outside, and Droz throws Marc into the steps. Marc no-sells and counters Droz as he's getting back into the ring to take back the advantage. Marc shows his skills by more punches and chokes. Droz counters with a Jumping Tackle, but his follow-up sees him thrown outside the ring. Mero does a Somersault Plancha on Droz (finally, a wrestling move) but his Somersault inside the ring gets coutnered. JR claims Droz is unorthodox...go figure. Powerslam would've ended the match, but Mero gets his foot on the ropes. Mero cheats some more by choking Droz with his wrist-tape. Jacqueline hits Droz with the heel of her shoe, and Mero follows up with the Marvelocity for the win.
Winner: Marc Mero
Rating: ** Too much punching and the match was really quick. Plus Marc dominated the match, so Droz wasn't able to really go over.
Vader Time vs. Just Another Redneck
OMFG!!! Bradshaw without a goatee or long hair. He doesn't even look like the same person!
Hmmm...Bradshaw can punch and Clothesline. Yay. Wow...impressive Bodyslam from Bradshaw to Vader. Crowd doesn't give a fuck, though. They're dead quiet. Vader gets some nice offense of his standard big guy squash moves. Basic back-and-forth stuff with some outside action. Oh, this is a hardcore match. Okay. Bradshaw misses Vader and punches the ring post...twice. More back-and-forth outside. Action goes back in and hits a second-rope Splash and then the Vader Bomb, which Bradshaw kicks out from. Crowd isn't stunned, JR, they're sleeping. Bradshaw hits two Clotheslines from Hell and the Regal Cutter (dubbed a "modified Neck Breaker") for the win.
Winner: Bradshaw
Rating: *1/2 Poor Vader. The WWF didn't give a shit about him and then he's forced to carry a young and even worse Bradshaw.
Living Bobblehead vs. Registered Trademark of White Wolf, Inc.
Oh, how I miss Gangrel's entrance. It defined bad-ass. Nice suplexes from Gangrel. He does a couple Flashing Elbows which is cool to see someone besides Rock do. D'Lo does some punches and chokes. According to him, I'd better recognize. Okay...you're D'Lo. D'Lo misses a 2nd-rope Elbow Drop, but gets in a sneaky Low Blow Kick to keep the advantage. Running Powerbomb spot by D'Lo gets a reaction from the crowd, followed up by the Bobblehead Legdrop. Textbook Suplex from D'Lo gets a two-count. Damn, D'Lo taunted a lot. Harsh Clothesline by Gangrel. WTF, JR? How is Gangrel's DDT anything like a Piledriver? D'Lo does the Angle Slam, but still can't get the three. Man, D'Lo is just keeping the advantage through this match. Gangrel starts to get the advantage, but Mark Henry appears. Gangrel does a Flying Clothesline but only gets a two. Gangrel gets thrown to the outside and jumped by Henry. D'Lo draps Gangrel back into the ring and delivers the Sky High for the win. In the post-match, Gangrel gives both Henry and D'Lo the Mist, and D'Lo gets the added bonus of the Impaler DDT.
Winner: D'Lo Brown
Rating: *** Basic match. Good spots from Gangrel. Why was he fired again?
Triple Threat Cage Match for the #1 Contender
Snap Into an Ankle vs. The People's Jackass vs. Mommyyyyyyyy
The prematch interviews show that Rock and Mankind are hilarious and Shamrock can't promo to save his life. Oh, this is one of those cage matches where you can be pinned or submit. I hate those.
Rock gets an insane pop. I didn't think he was already that popular (September '98). Hmm...calling this will be hard. Mankind tries to sneak an early win while Rock and Shamrock beat each other. Doesn't work, sadly. Mankind punches the shit out of Shamrock in the corner, then gets Clotheslined by Rock. Shamrock takes the advantage on Rock while Mankind takes a breather. Which doesn't last long, as Shamrock jumps Mankind. Shamrock throughs an Abdominal Stretch on Mankind, then Rock throughs one on Shamrock. This is a site to be seen, people. Mankind finally gets some offense on Shamrock and starts climbing out the cage, which Rock prevents. Shamrock almost escapes, but Rock stops him. Rock and Mankind double-team Shamrock. Dammit, JR and King, talk about the match at hand! Stop talking about the main event! Rock turns on Mankind and beats him into a corner. Rock starts to escape, but Shamrock stops him. Again, Shamrock beats up everyone. Check that, Shamrock and Rock double-team Mankind. More double-teaming on different people. Rock regains the advantage and pulls off a double People's Elbow. Rock almost escapes, but doesn't. Mankind looks ready to escape, but can't resist. He steps onto the top of the cage, performs a Flying Elbow.....and misses! Ouch to Mankind. More action ensues, and a chair somehow gets into the ring. Mankind lays out Shamrock and starts to climb out. Before he can reach the bottom, however, Rock covers Shamrock for the win.
Winner: The Rock
Rating: *** Pretty decent for a cage match. Nice spots. Overall an enjoyable match.
(NOTE: The run-downs are going to be shorter from here-on cause it's taking waaaaay too long to do this.)
Pornstar vs. Not-So Goldust
Val Venis introduces Terri as his valet to entice Dustin Runnels...and it works quite well. Basic back-and-forth match, but Venis always seems to keep the advantage. Even though Venis is the heel, the crowd is clearly behind him. Decent spots from Venis, including a Fisherman's Suplex. Runnels hits a nice Bulldog, but can't finish with it. Venis forgets to kick out and nearly loses, but the ref stops the count for no apparent reason. Venis hits the Money Shot and that's it.
Winner: Val Venis
Rating: ** Okay match, but Runnels just can't cut it without a gimmick. Cool to see Morely in his porn gimmick again.
Ain't I Great? and a Pair of Rednecks vs. Heatless Wonder and Oh, You Didn't Know?
X-Pac gets a decent pop. Odd how he was popular in DX but no-one cared about him afterwords. Outlaws jump from behind to take out Southern Justice. Apparently the feud between X-Pac and Jarrett has been going on for a while. Sad, really. Road Dogg does some nice moves on Jerrett. Too bad he couldn't control his drug problem, he was a really good wrestler. I didn't know Mideon used to be part of Southern Justice. Sad that Mideon was an improvement for his career. Denis "Mideon" Knight and...Canterberry?...do typical big guy moves. X-Pac gets a semi-hot tag and takes out everyone. X-Pac gets beat up for quite a while. Billy Gunn gets the hot tag. Fame-asser on Knight gets the win, though X-Pac took a harsh guitar shot while on the outside.
Winners: X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws
Rating: **1/2 Knight and Canterberry really dragged the match down. Otherwise a decent six-man tag match.
WWF World Title Triple Threat Match
Steveweiser, the Wife-Beater of Beers vs. Under "No Job" Taker vs. Hell's Dentist
Austin tries to do an early Stunner on Kane, but doesn't succeed in the pin. He then gets horribly double-teamed. He gets some offense, but not enough to go anywhere. When it comes time for a pin, Kane and Undertaker can't agree on who should get it, and turn on each other. Austin looks like he has a chance, but never gets it. Kane and Taker do a Double Chokeslam, and both pin Austin. Vince runs off with the title and flicks off Austin.
Winners: Undertaker and Kane (I guess)
Rating: **1/2 Should have been a better match than it was. Nice to see Taker as the Dead Man again, though. Not to mention seeing Kane as a monster.
Overall Rating: ***1/2 This was a solid PPV. It did lack in title matches, but it was made up with solid action. Austin finally losing the title was a nice touch, too.
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