Raw - January 19th 1998

Raw opens with a video package recapping events between Undertaker and Kane last week and at Royal Rumble last night.

The Raw opening sequence plays.

Raw is in Fresno, California. Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly are on commentary.

Jim Ross hypes Mike Tyson's appearance tonight. Undertaker's music plays but Undertaker doesn't enter. Instead, Paul Bearer enters to a chorus of boos looking very pleased with himself. Michael Cole calls him "the devil incarnate."

The commentary team hypes up Bearer and Kane's actions last night, saying they must have "planned it for weeks." In the ring, Bearer works the crowd beautifully as the crowd chants "you suck!" Bearer says he deserves a Golden Globe for the interview he gave two weeks ago. Bearer brags about tricking the fans and Undertaker. He says last week when Kane saluted Undertaker, 'Taker smiled "for the first time in seven years." Bearer delights in the fact he tricked 'Taker. He calls last night "a beautiful night" as he recounts his and Kane's actions. Bearer mentions a little girl that cried while Kane set fire to Undertaker's casket. Bearer is so damn good in this role, as loathsome as a heel can be. He fluffs one line, calling the Undertaker's casket the "Undercasket" but he quickly corrects himself. Bearer says the plan he has been working on for the past six months has now come to fruition. He says Undertaker is gone and will never return.

Undertaker's music plays as Bearer looks frightened. The druids wheel a casket down to ringside while Jim Ross hypes up the fire last night and the fact Undertaker wasn't in the casket when WWF officials managed to open it. Ross wonders where Undertaker has been since. As the casket reached ringside, fire explodes from the ring posts and Kane's music plays as Kane emerges from the casket to the delight of Paul Bearer.

Bearer presents "the last surviving member of the Undertaker's family - Kane!" Raw goes to a break with the commentary team hyping an appearance from the Royal Rumble Match winner, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin; an announcement by Mike Tyson, and wondering if Undertaker will appear. D-Generation X are next.

A video recap of Royal Rumble plays advertising the encore available on pay-per-view.

Degeneration X (WWF Champion - Shawn Michaels, European Champion - Triple H and Chyna) are in their locker room. Triple H tells Owen Hart he "can't cut it here" and that maybe he should "pack his bags and head down south too." Ironic, considering that according to Bret Hart, he and Owen did everything they could to get him out of his WWF contract following Montreal so he could join Bret in WCW. Triple H then heaps praise on Shawn Michaels for his victory over Undertaker last night. Michaels sarcastically says he tossed and turned in bed last night and woke up guilt ridden over what happened to Undertaker. Michaels vows that "for the fans" DX would find Undertaker and bring him back tonight.

Disciples Of Apocalypse (Chainz, 8-Ball and Skull) enter. Kevin Kelly hypes up the dissension amongst the members of The Nation Of Domination last night. The Nation Of Domination (Faarooq, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown) enter. Jim Ross asserts that Faarooq is the one and only leader of The Nation and all the other members, including The Rock, know it.

Six Man Tag Team Match:

Disciples Of Apocalypse (Chainz, 8-Ball & Skull) VS The Nation Of Domination (Faarooq, Kama Mustafa & D'Lo Brown)

D'Lo and 8-Ball start it out. 8-Ball hits a big elbow but D'Lo takes control with an atomic drop and a nice clothesline. Jim Ross reveals that Skull was the entrant that no-showed the Royal Rumble Match last night. Ross says he was "waylaid." It's nice that they cleared that up for continuities sake. D'Lo tags in Kama and 8-Ball tags in Chainz. Chainz takes control before tagging in Skull. Kama takes control. The Nation work Skull in the corner. Faarooq tags in as Ross reiterates that Faarooq is the leader of The Nation. Michael Cole claims Faarooq could have won the Royal Rumble Match if not for The Rock. Faarooq tags D'Lo who hits a nice elbow. Kevin Kelly hypes D'Lo's recent improvement and his bright future. Michael Cole credits Faarooq for this, while Kevin Kelly credits Faarooq for The Rock's success. The Nation are making quick tags with Skull isolated. D'Lo misses a moonsault from the top rope allowing Skull to tag Chainz. A brawl erupts between all six men. The referee calls for the bell ending the match at a no contest at around the 5 minute mark.

ANLYSIS: Okay Six Man Match. Nothing special. D'Lo Brown looked the best of the bunch. *

The two teams continue to brawl as Mark Henry and the Intercontinental Champion, The Rock, hit the ring to help their Nation partners. Ken Shamrock and Ahmed Johnson make the save, Shamrock going right after The Rock. The Rock flees the ring and taunts Shamrock, while Jim Ross says that Shamrock should be the Intercontinental Champion. As The Nation flees, Kevin Kelly says Ahmed Johnson "has never looked better." He looks in the worst physical condition he ever has. Are they getting ready to renew his push? Steve Austin and Mike Tyson's appearances are hyped again with Jim Ross stating there may be "contractual problems" with Tyson. DX's search for Undertaker is hyped again as a hearse arrives at the arena. Raw goes to a break.

A video airs featuring Vic Venom (Vince Russo) promoting the WWF and Raw magazines. Venom was the editor in chief of the magazine. Venom uses insider terms terms like "shooting" and has swear words edited out. Quite a fascinating little promo when viewed today.

The commentary team speculate if Undertaker is in the hearse as Tom Brandi makes his way to the ring. "Marvelous" Marc Mero enters with Sable for a rematch from two weeks ago. Mero makes Sable cover up with a robe which says "property of Marc Mero." Sable holds the ropes for Mero to enter the ring. Jim Ross basically buries Mero for not "attaining the greatness everyone expected he would when he came to the WWF." He orders Sable to disrobe him. Before she can, Brandi attacks Mero.

"Marvelous" Marc Mero (with Sable) VS Tom Brandi

Brandi takes control before Mero can get his robe off. Brandi hits a sidewalk slam for a two count. Mero hits a DDT and shows off before choking Brani with the ropes. A man appears at ringside with a bouquet of flowers for Sable. Mero is furious and demands to know who it's from. He grabs the flowers off Sable and orders her to go backstage. Brandi attacks Mero on the floor. Back in the ring Brandi hits a couple of chops and a spear, followed by a facebuster for a near two count. Sable hasn't left and has picked up the flowers. Brandi thwarts a TKO attempt, and rolls Mero up for a two count. Mero kicks Brandi out of the ring, where he narrowly avoids landing on Sable. Brandi hits a sunset flip for a very near two count. I'm pretty certain the referee could have hit three. Sable gets up on the apron and distracts the referee as Mero low blows Brandi. Mero hits the TKO for the three count at around 3 minutes.

ANALYSIS: I like this TV feud. Not all feuds have to culminate in PPV matches. Brandi was a good hand as a jobber and at times I actually thought he was going to get the upset victory. Mero is excellent in his role as a jealous, chauvinist pig. *3/4

Mero starts beating Brandi with the flowers which is pretty funny. I guess if a title belt shot is a knock out blow, flowers can hurt.

Backstage DX quietly approach the hearse. Chyna opens the door as Triple H prepares to strike with his crutch. A load of screaming young girls are in the hearse and they mob Michaels and Triple H who get in the hearse with them. Chyna looks unamused as she shuts the hearse door. Why would a group of teenage girls be riding around in a hearse? Mike Tyson's appearance is hyped again.

The PlayStation Slam Of The Week is Vader Vaderbombing TAFKA Goldust with Luna Vachon on his back at Royal Rumble. A spectacular visual indeed. Raw goes to a break.

Mike Tyson's limo arrives at the arena as Jim Ross reiterates that negotiations with him may have "hit a rocky road." Shane McMahon and Tyson emerge from the limo.

The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) are in the ring. I had almost forgotten about their short WWF run in 1998.

Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie enter with a barbed wire covered baseball bat and a chainsaw respectively.

Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie VS The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre)

Cactus attacks Pierre outside the ring as Charlie works on Jacques. Cactus hurls Pierre into the steel ring steps. Jacques hits Charlie with a piledriver as he takes control, repeatedly hammering Charlie's head into the turnbuckle. The commentary team hype up how crazy Cactus and Charlie are. Pierre tags in. Jim Ross brings up Montreal. Jacques and Pierre work quick tags and set up for a spike piledriver. Cactus prevents it. As the referee tries to restore order, Cactus applies the Mandible Claw on him. The Quebecers double clothesline Charlie with the top tope. The referee calls for the bell and the no contest at around 3 minutes. Cactus double clothelines The Quebecers over the top rope and Charlie hits a springboard dive on all three men on the floor, including his own partner. Back in the ring Jacques attack Cactus, knocking him over the top rope. Jacques flips Pierre over the top rope to land on Cactus. Nice move. Cactus grabs his baseball bat and runs The Quebecers off.

ANALYSIS: Short but sweet. It was match designed to emphasize the craziness of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie. It accomplished that. The Quebecers didn't look like jobbers either, they gave as good as they got, including that nice double team with Pierre landing on Cactus outside the ring. On this showing, The Quebecers look a decent lower card edition to the roster, although the WWF tag division was already quite full. If it was up to me I'd keep The Quebecers and cull some teams like Disciple Od Apocalypse and Los Boricuas. *1/2

Steve Austin's appearance is hyped again and Mike Tyson's reaction to Austin winning the Rumble Match is shown. Backstage, DX continue to search for Undertaker. They come across the Mexican midgets and ask if they've seen him. Michaels sells his bad back, ordering Chyna to lift Max Mini because he can't bend down that far. Funny? Not really. Michaels decides it's a waste of time.

Raw goes to a break and returns with Mike Tyson backstage talking to WWF officials.

The next match is for the NWA North American Heavyweight Title. Blackjack Bradshaw is in the ring  with Blackjack Windham. NWA North American Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Jarrett enters with Jim Cornette and the NWA World Tag Team Champions, The Rock 'N' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton).

NWA North American Heavyweight Title Match:

(C) Jeff Jarrett (with Jim Cornette, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) VS Blackjack Bradshaw (with Blackjack Windham)

Jim Cornette joins the commentary team. Jarrett and The Rock 'N' Roll Express attack Bradshaw before the bell. When the match begins, Bradshaw takes control with a side slam. Cornett says he's out to prove that the NWA competition are better than their WWF counterparts. He calls the WWF an "outlaw promotion" and says he will return the WWF to the NWA fold. Bradshaw hits some big chops but misses an elbow drop. Bradshaw catches Jarrett attempting a dive and hits a fall away slam. Kevin Kelly hypes up Bradshaw's performance in the Royal Rumble Match last night. Bradshaw attempts a lariat but is stopped by The Express. Jarrett hits a nice drop kick and distracts the referee as The Express take cheap shots at Bradshaw. As Jarrett attempts a kick, Bradshaw catches Jarrett's foot and lands a lariat followed by a big boot. Bradshaw hits a powerbomb, which Michael Cole calls a slam. This seems to irritate Jim Ross. Cornette leaves commentary and distracts the referee, as The Express try to interfere. Bradshaw clumsily thwarts them. Windham enters the ring and attempts a lariat on Jarrett, but Jarrett ducks and Windham hits Bradshaw. The referee turns around and makes the three count at around 3 minutes.

ANALYSIS: Pretty boring. Jarrett still hadn't gotten over by this point, and nobody had any interest in The Blackjacks. If you'd have told me then that Jarrett and Bradshaw would go on to be World Champions I'd have laughed at you. There were some nice clotheslines and old school heel tactics. *

Bradshaw seems miffed at Windham. Windham doesn't seem too concerned. Is a heel turn on the cards? As Jarrett begins to strut, Bradshaw attacks him. Jarrett and The Rock 'N' Roll Express beat down Bradshaw. Windham is slow to make the save, and even when he does, he simply tells Bradshaw's attackers to back off rather than fight them. Windham helps Bradshaw up before hitting him with a lariat and putting the boots to him. Shocking stuff. Kevin Kelly mentions the fact that Windham is a former NWA Champion. This NWA invasion is exactly like the NWO, only if instead of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash jumping, Barry Horowitz and Duke "The Dumpster" Droese jumped; and instead of Hulk Hogan turning, The Renegade turned.

The commentary team hype some house shows before Raw goes to a break hyping Steve Austin appearing on the War Zone and DX's search for Undertaker. DX are in their locker room and the lights go out. A short tribute to Martin Luther King airs, voiced by Vince McMahon. Quite surreal.

We now enter the War Zone. The intro is bad ass. Jerry "The King" Lawler replaces Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly on commentary.

They recap the lights going out in DX's locker room and hype Autsin and Tyson's appearances. Undertaker's music plays and the lights go out. A figure is lowered from the ceiling while Jim Ross exclaims "the Undertaker is back" and recaps that Undertaker was not in the casket when the casket was opened last night. The figure is revealed to be Shawn Michaels in a wig and Undertaker's jacket. Michaels dances to the DX music while Triple H and Chyna make their way to the ring with a barbecue grill. Jim Ross is indignant. This is the third Undertaker tease of the night, which is slight overkill.

Michaels and Triple H don chefs hats and Triple H is wearing an apron which says "s*ck the cook."

Jim Ross says if it wasn't for Kane, Los Boricuas and the New Age Outlaws; Undertaker would have beaten Michaels for the WWF Title last night. Triple H cracks some dick jokes. This doesn't come off as cool or funny. Frankly, it comes off gay.

Michaels and Triple H mock Undertaker being being burned. Michaels says Undertaker is done thanks to DX. Jim Ross says it's thanks to Kane that Undertaker isn't here. Triple H addresses Owen Hart, who he calls "the Mr. Hanky of the World Wrestling Federation." That was quite funny. Triple H says he will give Owen a European Title shot next week on Raw. Not very heelish, offering the babyface a title shot when you're not 100%. Triple H then compares his and Owen's penis sizes.

Triple H says he can beat Owen even with one leg. He then addresses the females in the crowd, saying "there's no need to ride space mountain. Woooo! Because it's old and it's broken down. Besides, it's bleach blonde." Another pop at Flair. That's two weeks in a row. He then begins nibbling a sausage very provocatively. Very, very gay. Triple H's "I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual ain't one of them" comment is starting to make a lot of sense.

Michaels sarcastically talks about how he beat Undertaker all by himself, with no help from anyone. He says it's time to go to "the list" and find out who's next in line to face him. Ross quips "figure it out Einstein, who won the Rumble?" Michaels then addresses Steve Austin. The crowd go crazy at the mention of his name. Michaels lists Austin's title wins and says that he (Michaels) has "been there, done that." He says Austin has only one more mountain to climb but that Michaels is not only at the top of the mountain, he is the mountain. He then calls Austin "son" and tells him to ask around in the locker room and then call every wrestler that Michaels "sent down south" and they will all tell him "The Heartbreak Kid lays down for absolutely nobody." The final part of this segment, when Michaels got serious, was entertaining.

Ross hypes Tyson's announcement again.

Countdown to WrestleMania - 10 weeks left.

Ross hypes No Way Out: In Your House.

Mike Tyson is shown backstage talking to the Legion Of Doom (Road Warrior Hawk and Road Warrior Animal). Sunny interrupts and flirts with Tyson.

Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Jesus Catillo, Jose Estrada Jr. and Miguel Perez) are in the ring. The Honky Tonk man joins commentary and claims Mike Tyson has been following him around all day trying to get his autograph. Owen Hart, The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) and the Light Heavyweight Champion, Taka Michinoku enter.

Eight Man Tag Team Match:

Owen Hart, Taka Michinoku & The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) VS Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Jesus Castillo, Jose Estrada Jr. & Miguel Perez)

Ross hypes up the fact that Owen owes Los Boricuas for their attack on him. No mention so far tonight of Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette attacking Owen Hart at Royal Rumble. That incident is starting to seem rather strange. Taka Michinoku and Miguel Perez start the match and do little, except for a hurricanrana from Taka. The Honky Tonk Man and Jerry Lawler discuss what they would do to Mike Tyson in a fight while Jim Ross alludes to the fact Honky and Lawler are cousins. The Headbangers double team Jesus. Miguel hits a cheap shot from the apron on Thrasher to turn the tide. Savio hits a nice spinning heel kick on Thrasher in the corner. Savio misses a big splash in the corner, which allows Thrasher to tag in Owen. The crowd pops. Owen was very over at this point. Owen goes to work on all of Los Boricuas and the match descends into a brawl. Owen puts the Sharpshooter on Jesus who taps out at around 3 minutes 30 seconds.

ANALYSIS: A nothing match really. An eight man match needs a lot more than three and a half minutes if it's to have any substance. The match seemed to exist solely for Owen to get some heat back from Los Boricuas, which was logical. 1/2*

Outside the ring, Michael Cole asks Owen if he accepts Triple H's challenge. He does. Owen says he's going to break Triple H's other leg.

Mike Tyson is in the locker room talking to the Nation Of Domination (Faarooq, Intercontinental Champion - The Rock, Kama Mustafa, Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown). Jerry Lawler says The Nation is trying to recruit Tyson. Steve Austin's appearance is hyped for the trillionth time. Raw goes to a break.

As Raw returns, the Intercontinental Champion, The Rock is in the ring. He plays up to the crowd as they chant "Rocky sucks." It's amazing how he turned those chants from disastrous babyface heat into red hot heel heat. Jim Ross mentions how close The Rock came to winning the Royal Rumble Match last night. Ahmed Johnson enters. He runs down to the ring (a feat in itself) and is attacked immediately by The Rock.

The Rock VS Ahmed Johnson

I'm assuming this is a non-title match. The commentators either don't say or I missed it. The Rock throws kicks, one of which clearly misses Ahmed by at least a foot. Why are we supposed to care about Ahmed as a babyface at this point? He turned heel and joined The Nation who proceeded to turn on him. That makes him a face again? The Rock dominates with a suplex, a slam and a People's Elbow for a two count. The crowd continues to chant "Rocky sucks." Ahmed blocks a suplex attempt and hits one of his own. Ahmed knocks The Rock outside to the floor and follows him out. Ahmed throws Rock into the steel ring steps. This really was the flavour of the month at the time. Mark Henry makes his way to ringside and grabs a chair. Back in the ring, Ahmed hits a spinebuster and signals for the Pearl River Plunge. For some reason he then runs the ropes and Mark Henry nails him the back with the chair. Rock hits a Rock Bottom for the three count at around 3 minutes.

ANALYSIS: Ahmed was done at this point. Rock had great heel heat and his sheer charisma made even short matches such as this entertaining. *

Ken Shamrock hits the ring and The Rock and Mark Henry flee.

Mark Henry slaps The Rock's ass.

Steve Austin's appearance is hyped again. The WWF Tag Team Title is on the line next. Mike Tyson is with Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie. Cactus is encouraging Tyson to hit him with his barbed wire covered baseball bat. Raw goes to a break.

Raw returns with a Rewind: highlights from last night's WWF Title Casket Match, promoting the encore showing of Royal Rumble. Mike Tyson is with DX. He's comparing biceps with Chyna. Shawn Michaels is trying to recruit Tyson into DX.

The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) are in the ring. The WWF Tag Team Champions, the New Age Outlaws ("Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) enter. James says the N.A.O. have no beef with The Godwinns. The N.A.O. are wearing overalls in tribute to The Godwinn's. The Godwinn's attack N.A.O.

WWF Tag Team Title Match:

(C) New Age Outlaws ("Road Dogg" Jesse James & "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) VS The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas)

Henry and Gunn start it out. Henry hits a big clotheline and strips Gunn's overalls off. Phineas tags in and Irish whips Gunn into James. Phineas completely botches a gut wrench suplex. He gets a two count as he checks he hasn't injured Gunn after dropping him on his head. Phineas takes control with haymakers and tags in Henry. The commentators discuss Undertaker's whereabouts as Henry hits a big elbow drop for a two count. Henry knocks James off the apron and distracts the referee as Phineas chokes Gunn. Phineas tags in and nails a headbutt. Phineas slaps and spits on Gunn before attacking James and distracting the referee so Henry can go to work on Gunn. Henry tags in and hits another nice clothesine for a two count. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler discuss Lawler's fued with Andy Kaufman which is pretty cool. Gunn rallies with fists but is sunset flipped. Henry hits a flapjack and tags in Phineas. The Godwinns hit a double flapjack on Gunn. James breaks up Phineas's pin attempt at two.  Gunn reverses an Irish whip and James tosses Gunn a stuffed pig that the N.A.O. brought to the ring with them. As the referee is distracted by Henry., Gunn nails Phineas with the pig for the three count at around 5 minutes. Henry nails James with an empty slop bucket and rips the stuffed pig open to reveal a brick.

ANALYSIS: The Godwinns worked this match as full on heels. It was hard not to sympathise with Billy Gunn who was isolated from his partner for the whole match. James didn't even tag in. The N.A.O. got their heel heat back at the end though so it was a pretty well worked match between two heel teams. *

Henry Godwinn is furious and threatens to throw the brick at the commentators. Jim Ross doesn't seem too concerned as he hypes the WWF Superstar Line, teasing a "macho week for the WWF." Hogan last week, Savage this. Ross hypes Austin and Tyson again. Raw goes to a break as Vince McMahon makes his way down to the ring to a chorus of boos.

McMahon introduces Mike Tyson in his classic Mr. McMahon "you're fired!" voice. Tyson and his entourage make their way to the ring to a mixed reception. The crowd is very loud, whether positive or negative. What a great piece of business this was for the WWF. Tyson and McMahon shake hands.

McMahon kisses Tyson's ass. Tyson speaks of how he's a longtime WWF fan, citing his favourites as Bruno Sammartino (a rib by Vince I'm sure) and, bizarrely, Nikolai Volkoff. Vince begins to announce that "on March 29, at WrestleMania, in this very ring, "Iron" Mike Tyson will..." At that moment "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's music plays. Austin enters to a huge pop. Jim Ross utters the immortal line, "Mike Tyson is standing in Stone Cold's ring." The ring fills with officials as Austin salutes the crowd. McMahon asks Austin's why he's here. Austin says he's sick and tired of seeing Mike Tyson, and that Tyson shaking hands with all the WWF Superstars has made him so sick he's been "in the back throwing up." Tyson offers Austin his hand. Austin refuses saying he isn't out there to make friends with Tyson.

Austin tells Tyson he respects what he has done in boxing but that "when you step in this ring you're messing with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and that's something you don't do." The crowd go nuts. Austin says he wants "a piece of Mike Tyson's ass." How homo-erotic has this show been? McMahon keeps trying to interject, but Austin keeps telling him to shut up or else he'll "knock his lights out too." Austin tells Tyson that he may call himself the baddest man on the planet but right now he has his "little beady eyes locked on the world's toughest son of a bitch." The crowd lap it up. Austin tells Tyson he can beat him "any day of the week, twice on Sunday." Does Austin think Tyson could beat Austin's ass? "Hell no!" Does Austin think he could beat Tyson's ass? "Why, hell yeah!" Austin says "if you don't understand what I'm saying, I always got a little bit of sign language" and proceeds to flip Tyson the double bird.

Tyson shoves Austin and a huge pull apart ensues with Jim Ross yelling "Tyson and Austin! Tyson and Austin!" Ross's commentary really added to moments like this.

Austin won't stop trying to get to Tyson. McMahon is furious at Austin, screaming, "you ruined it damn it, you ruined it!" McMahon is trying to attack Austin. Austin gives McMahon the finger. This is classic stuff.

Jim Ross wonders what the announcement was that Austin "ruined." Austin is dragged to the back by officials. Ross says Austin nailed one of Tyson's entourage. Raw goes to a break.

Raw returns with highlights from Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie's weapons fest in the Royal Rumble Match. We are shown a recap of what just went down between Tyson and Austin.  Lawler says "Tyson wants "Stone Cold", but not as bad as "Stone Cold" wants Tyson." Backstage Tyson is furious with Vince McMahon. McMahon is apologizing profusely as Raw goes off the air.

FINAL ANALYSIS: This show was one of the most pivotal in the history of the Monday Night Wars. The Austin-Tyson angle was groundbreaking and stands as legendary to this day. If Austin wasn't well on his way to being the biggest wrestling superstar of all time before, he was now. Tyson played his role about as well as could be expected. The final pay off from this that everyone obviously wanted to see was Austin VS Tyson, but, of course, that was never going to happen. This angle was also a key moment in advancing the Mr. McMahon character and his feud with Austin.

I'm left slightly perplexed that there is no follow up to the Jeff Jarrett-Owen Hart angle at Royal Rumble. I guess Owen got his revenge for being attacked on the night, so it's settled, but why did Jarrett attack Owen in the first place? Was it just a random attack to show how dastardly the NWA is? If so, why have him attack Owen who is just about the only babyface in the Rumble Match, aside from Ken Shamrock; who is already heavily invested in a feud? It just seems overly convoluted.

Anyway, like I said, this was a key show thanks to one major angle. The match quality wasn't anything great but the hype for WrestleMania is well and truly underway.