WWF RAW 5/25/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WWF Monday Night RAW 5/25/98
I am just going to keep this one short and sweet, but RAW has been a lot better and has found the formula to best Nitro. Hopefully the go home show will continue that trend. The ratings came back down due to Nitro back on its scheduled time with a 4.2 off of 4.1 and 4.3. Meanwhile, Nitro also received a 4.2 off of hours of 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, as it saw a steady increase throughout which is positive.

Here comes Vince and his cronies with some police protection and Vince is congratulating Pat and Brisco for taking it to Austin, along with Slaughter who walloped him from behind. Now to the replay of Vince “disguised” and attacking Austin. He is excited for the WWF going over the edge this weekend and the demise of Austin as champ. Here comes Austin! He has a shit eating grin on his face. He has a mic and tells what Vince has done proves he is the world’s dumbest sonofabitch. Austin pushes Brisco and tells him not to touch him. Seeing as he was assaulted he wants Vince arrested and the fans erupt as the police oblige (Okay this stretches credibility!). Vince is whining as he is cuffed, meanwhile Austin is taunting them. Now Patterson is being accused of obstruction of justice….Brisco is cuffed and Austin is calling Pat a little bastard! Austin cracks a beer and has one more thing for Vince and he kicks him in the gut and dumps the beer on him…..apparently that is not assault! He also kicks him in the back as he is being led away.

Match 1: DoA v. LoD

Darren Drozdov is their partner and his nickname is “Puke.” Fuck me that is horrific. He is actually dry heaving by the motorcycle….fuck this is terrible. He is nailed from behind and there is a brief melee. Skull boots Aniimal in the head but is dropped with a flying shouldertackle. Puke comes in and gets in one move and gets decrapitated, but after Chainz gets the tag Puke takes him down. Hawk is tagged in and he hammers Chainz with a series of clubbing blows. Chainz returns the favor and fires back, now Animal is in the wrong corner getting pounded. He ducks a clothesline after the whip and takes down Eight Ball. Ball is up first and stomps on him a couple of times before tagging Chainz back in. Chainz runs him over, covers him and gets two. Skull is tagged in or it is Eight Ball, who cares, and he sandwiches Hawk as he runs him from pillar to post. Puke gets the tag and he unloads and now it breaks down as everyone gets involved. Puke drops Chainz with a weak looking flying clothesline and then finishes him with a powerbomb.

*1/2 Nothing much here and Puke is the WORST gimmick since the Yeti.

Vince is in the back arguing with the police declaring that he is Vince McMahon and cannot be arrested. Austin is lurking and tells the police to take him away….

After the break Austin helps them put the three culprits in the police car.

Match 2: Owen Hart v. Dan Severn

Severn is no longer with Cornette. Dan takes him down and has a hold of the arm and keeps taking Owen down and now puts him in a cross armbreaker. Owen gets to the ropes and is slow to get to his feet. He teases a lock up and kicks him in the knee a couple of times but is goozled and slammed. The ref calls for the break, so Dan cradles him for two. Owen makes a comeback, knocks him to the floor and then wails on him out there. Back in the ring Owen is in command as he works him over. They are in the corner and Dan turns it around only to kicked in the nads. Owen goes after him but Dan kicks him in the ear and then picks him up and slams him and puts him in his finishing submission. The Nation runs down to dismantle him.

*1/2 Owen is no a jobber. Fuck you WWF.

Henry just squashed Severn with two splashes! They use the chair on the ankle like they did with Shamrock.

Austin on Celebrity Deathmatch.

Vince is pissed off as he wallows in the back of the car.

Another Edge promo…sad now due to his retirement.

Jackyl comes out with Howard Stern’s Wack Pack, and they are acting hammered. It is Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf! Jackyl is giving him an opportunity to speak about being voted as the angriest. He is happy with it and curses and rambles about nonsense. Now it is Crackhead Bob. Jackyl babbles about the hard life Bob has had and tells him to tell everyone that he is not going to take it anymore and Bob repeats it. Jackyl has more human oddities and out comes Luna and a dude with a mask and he is Volga. Now a big dude who is supposedly the tallest human, and did not say who he was. Jackyl has to encourage them to hug him…I bet the ratings fell; this is terrible.

The Headbangers come down and Thrasher taunts the dwarf for an hour before Volga attacks him….This is a match.

Match 3: Volga v. Thrasher

The Pack join JR at commentary. This match is FUCKING AWFUL. Volga moves like my Great Grandmother and she was almost 97. The fans are dead silent. Volga finally finishes this abomination with a powerslam. The big dude comes in and beats up Mosh.

DUD.

I do not mind Stern but on wrestling? I would say kids are watching and they looked baffled in the crowd but this is the Attitude Era so I would be wasting my breath. But it was an asinine vignette.

Al Snow is in the crowd wandering around with Head.

Austin is talking to the cop and flipping off Vince while he does so.

Match 4: Jeff Jarrett v. Vader

Vader is handling JJ with ease. JR is hinting that Vader is fat and out of shape. He runs over JJ and powerbombs him. Lee is distracting the ref as Vader makes the cover. This allows JJ to clip the knee and work it over for a long while. He misses the leap onto the leg and now Vader unloads on him. He short arm clotheslines him and from the second rope crushes him with a splash and for some reason gets off and motions for the crowd and this allows a belated Kane to run down and blindside him. Kane dismantles him….

** Well Vader got some air time.

Austin lets Vince go after a childlike apology from him! Vince is hanging his head in shame.

Here comes Vince and his cronies to the ring and Vince looks like he is hungover, and got raped during the festivities. He is droll when he gets on the mic and hopes Austin has had some fun tonight and that he is proud of what he accomplished. He is fired up for being arrested like a common criminal. He goes off about what happened earlier. Another Godzilla reference, and there is not one WWF superstar who intimidates him or will stop him from what he is going to do at the PPV. Austin’s reign will actually come to an end tonight as he faces off against the Undertaker.

DX is at a “clandestine” airport and Operation DX continues. They are busy playing pinch and tickle. This operation is so dangerous that none of them can do it and Road Dog is throwing a fit. HHH is going to do it and is not sure if he will see any of them again. HHH is going from plane to plane acting like a jackass.

Al Snow is wearing a bandanna over his face as he climbs over the railing and screams at Lawler that he wants to see Vince. Here comes Security to spirit him off.

Match 5: Taka Michinoku (c) v. Togo

Togo greets him with a release suplex as Taka enters the ring. Taka strikes back with a kick that sends him to the floor and then follows up with his flying plancha. Back in the ring he low kicks him in the back of the head and then the front. Taka kills him with a missile dropkick, goes up again and leaps right into a dropkick from Togo. Togo knocks him to the floor and then somersaults into him. He rolls Taka back into the ring and Togo has him pinned but his own manager distracts him. Now they go back and forth and Togo gets another near fall with a powerslam. And another two count after a moonsault from the top; he chokes him out until the ref forces the break. Togo whips him into the corner but misses and Taka goes up top only to be tossed off. Taka recovers quickly and finishes him via headscissors takeover.

*** Quick ending but a fun match.

Yamaguchi gets in the ring and Taka is about to lay into him but the Squad comes out and lays into Taka.

UT is prepping for his match….I predict Kane with interfere.

Some more DX shenanigans.

Match 6: Marc Mero v. Farooq

Mero has that contract, and is wary as Sable disrobes him. Mero uses Sable as a shield and then clubs Farooq. Farooq is dropped with a back elbow but Mero telegraphs the back drop and gets kicked in the head and then powerslammed. Mero retreats to the floor with Farooq in hot pursuit. Sable is used as a shield again, and once again it succeeds. Back in the ring Mero unleashes a flurry of blows. He kicks him in the gut and a knee lift sends him down. Mero postures for the crowd and Sable and then DDT’s Farooq. Sable is on the apron yelling at Mero and he turns into a clothesline and is finished.

*1/2 That was a lame ass ending but it did what it was supposed to do and that is keep having Sable cost him matches.

Mero is none too pleased and he wants a stipulation for a match at the PPV. He will tear up the contract if she finds anyone who can beat him, without here help. If she loses she is out of the WWF….yeah Mero will win! She agrees.

The Blue Angels are flying over where WCW is at or supposed to be at and makes smoke in the sky, fuck I cannot remember what the term is, and it declares WCW Sucks and advertises HHH v. the Rock…..oh and HHH is doing a voiceover acting as if he is flying it. FUCK THAT IS LAME!

Match 7: Rock (c) v. HHH (c)

Rock states that the crowd wants to know what his opinion is on the new wonder drug: Viagra. Well, he does not need it. Rock then calls himself the best damn IC champ and Farooq will pay the price at the PPV. Rock turns to HHH now who comes out and says funny things to entertain the trailer trash. He also has a fetish with his anatomy and I think mentions that he has something hard for him and it is a Rock Bottom!

Well the transformation of DX into faces is complete. Rock takes an hour to get into the ring and they finally lock up. Rock has him in a headlock, pushes him into the ropes and runs him down. They tie up again, and Rock has a headlock on again. He turns it into a hammerlock but is shoved down. HHH crotch chops towards him and Rock unloads on him with a series of blows and gives him a crotch chop of his own. HHH responds by tossing him to the floor where Chyna decks him. Henry gets in her face and they argue. HHH attacks Rock out on the floor, running his head into the announce table. Rock is rolled back in and uses that time to regroup and meets HHH with a flurry of kicks. He runs HHH headfirst into the corner and hammers him there. Henry lends a hand by choking him out on the ropes. Rock hits him with his belt and the ref takes an hour to turn and make the count as Chyna has to go around the ring to pull Rock off by his leg.

Commercial.

Rock hits the People’s Elbow and gets a two count. HHH counters back with a jawbreaker and then a clothesline. Chyna is up on the apron and wallops Rock with it but he just gets his shoulder up. HHH drops the knee and gets another two count. He pulls him up and hammers him in the corner. He kicks him numerous times as the Rock wallows there. Rock mounts a comeback and they exchange shots, but HHH knees him and goes for the Pedigree but is back dropped to the floor. Henry stomps on HHH as Chyna grabs a chair and goes the long way and cracks Henry with it. She lures him away and HHH runs him into the steel steps. Rock heads to the floor and brawls with HHH but gets flung into the steel steps and gets back into the ring and both are counted out.

*** Protected both and HHH played the face. The Nation and DX face off at the PPV.

Farooq hits the Rock as he backs up the ramp and then murders him with a piledriver into the steel grating.

Austin is sitting in the back deep in thought.

Here comes Vince in his gay ref outfit. Not that there is anything wrong with that. No Roids there!

Match 8: Undertaker v. Steve Austin (c) for WWF Title

There is only a couple of minutes left and the entrance is FUCKING long. UT goozles Vince and chokeslams him! It is Tombstone time! Here comes Kane so UT drops Vince and those two hammer one another. Kane is sent over the top where he lands on his feet and the brawl continues. UT uppercuts him over the railing and they take it into the crowd. Vince’s cronies get in the ring to try and help Vince and here comes Austin! He kicks and Stuns Vince and does it to his cronies! He ties up Vince in the ropes….maybe he did not Stun him. Austin has a chair as Vince pleas. He places the chair against his head and here comes Dude Love with a chair and Austin hits Dude’s chair which ricochets off his head and leaves him standing strong. It was Pat and Brisco who were Stunned.

**1/2 Not a great show especially for a go home show and one they need to keep the momentum against WCW. I do not agree with the face standing tall prior to the PPV. Austin owned Vince, and he should have gone into the PPV with what happened last week. But then again, they could plan it out so that Vince is even more angry and obsessed with getting the belt off of Austin, so it is not necessarily a bad thing. The PPV once again seems a bit overbooked and hopefully its execution is not that way. Still the show was fast paced and enjoyable and it is nice to be back in the game, though it may not be until later in the week when I can get to the PPV. Oh, and it is clear that DX will win as the Nation will fracture soon and Vader is being set up for another job as he gets a couple of random matches before being pushed back down and his tenure with the WWF is coming to an end. It looks like LoD and the Outlaws are no longer feuding and they are stuck in a dead end feud with DoA who are essentially lower card. Also, the Wack Pack angle was fucking atrocious….Some of the childish antics are just forced and lame, like pretending HHH is flying a fighter plane, that shit is stupid. Being adult is fine but being stupid is another thing altogether, luckily HHH and the Rock had a good match and the ending and beginning were entertaining.