WWF Heat 9/6/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation presents Heat
Date: 9/6/1998
From: New Haven, CT

Matches:
1.) Gangrel defeated Dick Togo
2.) Bradshaw defeated Ken Shamrock by disqualification
3.) WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg defeated Dennis Knight by disqualification
4.) The Undertaker & Kane defeated Road Warrior Animal & Droz
5.) Edge defeated WWF Lightweight Champion Taka Michinoku
6.) WWF European Champion D’Lo Brown defeated Val Venis

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Prior to Gangrel’s match, there is a video package highlighting the issues between Gangrel and Edge over the past few weeks on RAW where Edge has attacked Gangrel.

2.) Gangrel works over Togo to start the match with right hands. Togo comes off the ropes with a spinning heel kick, which Gangrel doesn’t sell. Togo hits a middle rope moonsault for a two count. Gangrel plants Togo with a powerslam and comes off the ropes with an elbow drop. Gangrel tosses Togo with a double hook German suplex followed by a jumping headbutt coming off the ropes. Gangrel continues to work over Togo with strikes against the ropes followed by a snap suplex. Gangrel goes for a cover but Togo kicks out at two. Gangrel spikes Togo with a jumping DDT for the win. (**. That was an effective squash match that made Gangrel look like a strong character and wrestler. I mean, really. I don’t know if I’ve seen a Gangrel match that I’ve enjoyed as much as that. A nicely done match to get Gangrel over.)

3.) March Mero and Jacqueline filmed a video at home where Mero puts over Jacqueline wearing her evening gown. It is kind of funny that Mero is wearing his wrestling gear. Mero gives Jacqueline a trophy since Sable broke her other trophy. It’s a bikini contest winner trophy. They embrace to end the video.

4.) Bradshaw starts the match with Shamrock delivering a knee lift to the midsection. Shamrock hits a bridging suplex for a two count. Shamrock comes off the ropes with a shoulder block to knock Bradshaw off his feet. Bradshaw catches Shamrock on a crossbody attempt and hits a fallaway slam. Bradshaw works over Shamrock with a running clothesline in the corner a couple of times. Shamrock scoop slams Bradshaw and comes off the ropes with an uppercut and a heel kick. A second spinning heel kick is able to knock Bradshaw off his feet. Bradshaw comes back with a powerslam. Bradshaw big boots Shamrock, but here comes Vader to attack Bradshaw leading to a disqualification. Vader drops Bradshaw with a couple of clotheslines, but Bradshaw big boots Vader and clotheslines Vader over the top to the floor. Bradshaw and Vader brawl on the floor for a few moments. (*1/2. For what they were doing it the match was not bad. This was just a way to advance the feud between Bradshaw and Vader.)

5.) Knight works over Dogg with several right hands and stomps to start the match. Dogg jabs Knight several times to get control of the match. Dogg comes off the ropes to boot Knight and splashes Knight over the middle rope. Knight eye rakes Dogg in the corner and delivers a headbutt. Dogg reaches the ropes to break a chin lock. Dogg gets cheap shot by Canterbury from the floor and Knight continues to work over Dogg with strikes. Dogg gets tripped by Canterbury and Knight delivers a strike. Jeff Jarrett gets in the ring and attacks Dogg from behind. That leads to X-Pac coming out and all six men start brawling. That wasn’t much of a match and seemingly just advance for the issues between Jarrett and X-Pac.

6.) Kane and Droz kick off the match with Kane working over Droz with strikes. Kane clotheslines Droz in the corner. Road Warrior Hawk calls in and says he is checking into rehab. Kane continues his offense with a clothesline but misses an elbow drop. Droz kicks Kane in the corner and comes out of the corner with a clothesline and on a second attempt is able to knock Kane down! Taker and Animal get tagged in with Taker working over Animal with a big boot. Taker misses an elbow drop after a clothesline. Animal knocks Taker down with a leaping shoulder block for a two count. Animal works over Taker with shoulder rams but gets hit by Kane on the apron and Taker chop blocks Animal. Taker works over leg of Animal trying to get a submission. Droz is beating on Taker trying to break the hold. Kane enters and drops Droz with a chokeslam. Kane dumps Droz over the top to the floor. Taker has had the leg lock on Animal this entire time. Vince McMahon loved every minute of it at the top of the aisle way. (*. I was kind of surprised that Kane and Undertaker gave so much offense to Droz and Animal.)

7.) Edge chases after Taka and drops Taka gut first down to the mat followed by a bulldog. Edge works over Taka with stomps and strikes in the corner. Taka boots Edge in the corner and plants Edge with a tornado DDT. Taka attempts a second tornado DDT but Edge shoves him off. Edge dropkicks Taka for a two count. Edge takes Taka over with a lifted reverse slam. Edge clotheslines Taka several times and a flapjack. Edge goes to the top rope missing a diving headbutt. Taka goes to the top and dropkicks Edge. Taka signals for the finish, but Edge counters and hits the Downward Spiral for the win. (*1/2. That was just a quick match and a good match to give Edge momentum.)

8.) Kane and Undertaker have brought Gerald Briscoe and Pat Patterson to the ring by their ties. Taker says that Vince McMahon has ten-seconds to come out before he destroys his stooges. Vince McMahon doesn’t come out and that leads to Patterson and Briscoe getting destroyed. They both are driven down with chokeslams.

9.) Venis attacks Brown on the floor with a clothesline and sends Brown shoulder first into the post. Venis gets stopped in the ring with right hands by Brown. Venis plants Brown with a DDT and gets a two count. Brown catches Venis on a leapfrog attempt managing to hit a sit down powerbomb. Dustin Runnels is in the crowd with a sign claiming to be born again. Brown drives Venis down with a backbreaker on the floor. Venis yanks Brown down off the railing and D’Lo hits the floor face first. Venis rolls Brown into the ring and connects with a backdrop. Venis continues to work over Brown with right hands and a back elbow. Venis works over Brown in the corner with right hands. The referee pulls Venis out of the corner and Brown removes the turnbuckle pad. Venis hits the exposed turnbuckle and Brown hits a German suplex for the win. After the match, Venis takes off D’Lo Brown’s chest protector and powerbombs Brown. Venis puts the chest protector on and goes to the top rope hitting the Money Shot. JR believes this is Val’s first pin fall lost in the WWF. (*1/2. They only had a few minutes to work with, but at least there was a finish and they managed to keep the feud going with the aftermath.)

10.) Vince McMahon is in the ring to close the show. McMahon knows the fans are wondering why he’s wearing all black. He is wearing black because he’s in mourning. On September 27th, Steve Austin’s reign as WWF World Champion will die. Vince says he’s not too hard to find and calls out the Undertaker and Kane to the ring. Vince goes to the floor and says he wants to apologize to both men. Vince is sorry for his remarks and puts them over as the most destructive force in WWF history. Vince thinks that Taker deserves another chance at being WWF World Champion and should have a rematch. He also thinks that Kane deserves a chance to once again hold the WWF World Championship. Vince proceeds to call out the WWF World Champion, Steve Austin. Austin goes right in the ring and Vince returns to the ring, as well. McMahon doesn’t understand what the fans see in Austin that causes them to cheer him. McMahon says that Austin disrespected him for the very last time. McMahon tells Austin there is zero value that he brings to the company. Thus, on September 27th Steve Austin will defend the WWF World Championship against Kane and the Undertaker! It will be a triple threat match. McMahon has revealed his master plan and he’s proud of it.

Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed the show this week as there were a couple of fun, quick matches and then the closing segment was important to the main event scene making the show important. I know that will change sooner rather than later, but Heat has some good stuff going on for an hour program.

Thanks for reading.