WWF RAW 7/13/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WWF Monday Night RAW 7/13/98
Let’s see how RAW reacts to last week’s Nitro. They did win the ratings by a slim 4.65 to 4.5 ratio. Also, RAW will be live and the first hour beat Nitro 4.7 to 4.4 while both increased in the final hour but WWF still beat Nitro.

Well, the bring out Shawn Michaels! He gets quite the reaction from the crowd and heads to the announce table. JR wants to know when he will get in the ring and Shawn is unsure and states he came back to help out the WWF and hints at against WCW.

Here comes the Undertaker.

Match 1: Undertaker v. Vader

Hey HBK buried Vader’s career and he will be surely squashed here. Here comes Kane. UT assaults a distracted Vader. Vader knocks him off but UT is up and beats on him in the corner. Vader is whipped into the corner but bounces out and runs over UT. UT rises up but is battered in the corner by a series of rights and lefts. Vader telegraphs the back drop for an hour and is leg dropped with a rocker dropper. UT has the arm and it is rope walk time. Vader is clobbered, and a clothesline sends Vader over the top. UT goes out after him. Vader fights back and rolls him back into the ring and squashes the Undertaker with a big splash and gets two. Vader drops the elbow on the leg. He continues to the work on the leg. Vader goes to the middle rope and hits the big splash and he gets a near fall. Vader hits him but is goozled and chokeslammed and now the Tombstone finishes him off.

**1/2 At least Vader got in some offense.

Mankind was down there too. He comes into the ring with a chair and wants to hit UT but Kane grabs it and nails Vader with it instead.

They show Edge.

Match 2: Bob Holly v. Bart Gunn

Brawl for it all match. Holly shoved him in the back. Bart hits him a few times. Holly fires back as they exchange shots.

Round 2: Fans are booing with alacrity! Bart is slugging away but Holly will not back down but he is staggered. Gunn dominated this round.

Final Round: JR has no idea about the scoring and assumes that Bart is winning. Holly is game but is getting pummeled. He has not gone down yet and Bart is backing off the final few seconds.

** Nice slobberknocker but the fans despised it.

Bart won all three rounds. Holly is jawing him and they start beating each other. They are pulled apart. They have a guy out there you played Owen last week. Now he does UT and Shawn Michaels. Now Austin. Damn he is pretty good. His name is Jason Sensation and he loves being here and has nothing but respect for the wrestlers.

Rock tells JR to know his role and shut his mouth. He does his spiel and is really getting into it. Godfather and Henry and Brown all tell DX they will be in trouble. Owen is going to slap something out of Jason. The kid looks scared. But he does more Owen impersonations anyway. Now the Nation is pissed and Owen is running down. He slaps the kid and attacks Lawler too! Jason is rolled into the ring and puts him in the Sharpshooter! D’Lo tells him to back off as the Rock laughs and they shove one another and here comes DX! The brawl is on.

Match 3: Rock and Owen Hart v. HHH and X Pac

DX wastes no time and they attack. All four are beating one another. HHH is tearing into Owen as Rock pastes Pac on the floor. Pac gets the upperhand and Rock runs into the ring and is kicked in the head and then double clotheslined to the floor. Rock and Pac are in the ring now, and the Rock pounds him wiht fists. But he misses in the corner after the whip. Pac gets his whip reversed and he is killed with a Samoan Drop. Rock gets two and stomps on Pac. Owen is tagged in and he gets two after an elbow from the rope. Pac is getting mauled by both. Pac is whipped into the corner with some serious speed by Owen. Owen hits a belly to belly and gets another near fall. Pac fights back only to miss the back crossbody. Owen gives him a backbreaker. Rock is tagged in and Pac shows some live and down goes the Rock but he is up and clotheslines Pac. Rock connects with the Elbow and gets two. He punches him in the nuts as HHH has the ref distracted. Rock has the pin but Chyna is on the apron and HHH levels The Rock with the belt. Pac rolls over gets two. Rock is up and knocks HHH off the apron but Pac bulldogs him and gets the win….

*** Fun brawl but odd that Pac got the clean win over the Rock. Oh well, it was solid. And it was more than just a bulldog….and Rock was distracted.

Mero and Jackie are rubbing one another in the back.

Sable is now at the announce table.

Match 4: Marc Mero v. Steve Blackman

They go back and forth. Mero has the upperhand and TKO’s him as Jackie gets in the face of Sable and a shoving match ensues. Jackie goes up top as is crotched. Mero is distracted and he gets his head kicked off and pinned.

*1/2 Angle Advancement.

Match 5: New Age Outlaws v. Kane and Mankind for WWF Tag Titles

UT has come down too and he gets a three hour entrance. Road Dog and Mankind start off. Mankind gets in some blows initially until Dog takes him down and works over the arm. Gunn is tagged in and he gets nailed with a few shots but Gunn pounds him into the mat. Mankind rolls to the floor and he is belted with the tag belt by Chyna. He is back in the ring and double teamed. Mankind fends them off but runs into the post as Dog wisely dodges. Gunn is back in and he leaps from the second rope but right into the Claw but Dog frees him. Kane is tagged in and Gunn’s blows have zero effect. Dog tries to help out to no avail and Gunn is on the floor and Mankind is right there and knocks him into the steps. Kane comes around and rolls him back into the ring. Kane uppercuts him and here comes the Rock and Owen. Gunn gets his head run into Mankind’s boot. He is now in and Gunn fights back but he is thrust sternum first into the corner and he bounces back into Mankind. Both men make the tag and Road Dog slugs away, ducks a wild shot and now hits Mankind and all four are in. Gunn piledrives Mankind and Kane is dropped with a rocker dropper and then a Russian leg sweep. He goes up top and D’Lo is there and knocks him off the top as the Nation and DX are brawling on the floor. Kane finishes him with the Tombstone.

** Just not that great. And Kane should NEVER be nearly beaten by Gunn and Road Dog in any fucking world. Still nice to see them not have the belts as they suck.

DX is sad in the back.

Match 6: Taka Michinoku and Too Much v. Kaientai

Too Much double team one dude from Kaientai and Scott Taylor runs him over, kicks him in the gut and pump handle tosses him. He nips up and does the moonwalk over to his corner and Taka is tagged in and he nails one of them with a running kick. He is doubleteamed and run off when Too Much comes in. Taka is clotheslined. Brian is in and he powerbombs Togo.

Shit more got deleted than I thought. Okay, they went back and forth for three minutes with body’s flying everywhere. Taylor run into Taka who just stands there as he gets triple teamed and finished off. Brian attacks him after the bell.

**1/2 Nice fast paced match.

Val Venis comes down and he has a message for Yamaguchisan and that is he has learned to never mess with another man’s wife. He points to the TitanTron and he is getting head from Yamaguchi’s wife! He is livid as Val brags.

They show Vince in the back. After the break he comes out to boos and Michaels mocks him. Vince mentions there may be a tag title rematch but first he calls out the Undertaker. Vince reiterates that UT will do anything to become champ. He runs down what he did to Mankind and chokeslamming everyone in the WWF. He brings up last week and admits to being fooled. He thinks he is getting help and wants to know if he is in cahoots with Kane. He demands an answer. UT grabs his hand and tells Vince to go to Hell! Vince stammers: “Who do you think you are?” Instead of an answer he gets shattering glass and Steve Austin! Austin states that there is a roadblock before SummerSlam. I guess Vince is his partner or something. He wants to know where the Undertaker is coming from. UT responds for him to go to Hell too. DX music and here they come. HHH states that it seems everyone in the WWF seens to want answers. DX wants answers from Mr. McMahon. He answers his own question by demanding the rematch tonight. And Vince will find out if Kane and UT are in cahoots. There will be three refs, one on the inside and two on the outside and it will be UT and SCSA. Austin seems excited. Vince agrees and is told to Suck It Vince looks like he did!

Match 7: Dan Severn v. Godfather

Severn tries to take him down but cannot. Godfather takes him down! Now Dan grabs the leg and they roll around the on the mat and the announcers have no clue if it is points or not. He tries again and may have gotten the point and waits to well after the bell before releasing him.

Round 2: I guess Dan got five points. Shawn and JR think he should not have. Now Dan finally takes him down and holds onto the Godfather and the ref is pissed as Dan refuses to break. Dan ducks low and has him and down they go again.

Final Round: The crowd is PISSED! Godfather is winning. Dan goes low again and wails away by tossing random rights and lefts. They miss. He goes for the leg again and it is broken up. Fuck, again. No swinging either and thank Christ it is over and the fans are booing!

* Terrible. Apparently Severn won. Shitty way to score this debacle. It is too hard to understand.

Match 8: New Age Outlaws v. Kane and Mankind (c) for WWF Tag Titles

Not sure why we are getting a rematch tonight. Kane is unloading as Mankind is laid out on the floor. But Kane is doubleteamed and dropped. Mankind was run over with steel steps and then pushed into them. Now they want to double suplex him into the grating but Kane clotheslines all of them. Kane rolls Road Dog into the ring. Kane kicks him into the corner and chokes him out. Road Dog is thrust into the corner with some speed. Kane uses his boot to choke him out. Mankind is back and he is tagged in and he chokes out Road Dog in the corner. Mankind stomps on him. He pulls him to his feet rocks him with some more shots and gets a hand from Kane. Kane is in and he back suplexes Dog and goes up top and struggles but strikes with a flying clothesline. He makes the cover and Gunn makes the save. Mankind is back in and he connects with a swinging neckbreaker and he gets two as Road Dog got his foot on the rope. Road Dog ducks after the whip and has him in a sleeper but is back into the corner. Kane is tagged in and he runs Road Dog face first into the corner. He slugs away and Mankind comes in now and Gunn has run into the ring and he tees off on Mankind and the ref does nothing. Road Dog headed to the apron. The ref is squashed off the whip. As Kane takes command he is rolled up, yes rolled up and pinned for three months and Austin comes in to make the count but is pulled to the floor by UT and they argue. Now Kane chokeslams Road Dog and has him pinned but he is pulled off and now the brawl starts as DX and the Nation run down and Austin starts Stunning everything and we fade….

*1/2 Not a good match. I know they need to figure out if Kane and UT are a team. But Kane is rolled up? Seriously? By Road Dog? Fuck that.

*** It had its moments. It was fast paced with some decent wrestling. But it got repetitive. Not enough Rock and Austin. Outlaws nearly beating Kane is asinine and their two matches were mediocre at best. Nice to see Michaels actually. It was better than the previous week. I do agree with Shawn that the Hell in the Cell match should have been brought up more often and how great it was. If anything they are setting up the PPV and did that relatively fine.