callanvass Live from Pittsburgh, PAAttendance 17,087Your commentators are Jim Ross & Jerry LawlerThe Headbangers & Taka Michinoku Vs Kaientai Taka and The Headbangers win. Pretty fun opener. Innocuous and high energy all the way. Good choice to open the show. This is a loud crowd.**3/4 out of 5Sable comes out and introduces Vince McMahon. Sable is dismissed by Vince to loud boos, but she slaps Pat Patterson. Vince insults the crowd as the crowd clamors for Austin. He promises that Austin will lose the title to Kane later tonight. Not sure why this was necessary, but it was a solid heel promo from Vince.KOTR (Semi Finals)Ken Shamrock Vs Jeff JarrettShamrock wins by submission. Pretty mediocre match and the result was way too obvious. He has a short interview. He says he'll be King of the Ring.*1/2 out of 5KOTR: Semi FinalsThe Rock Vs Dan SevernThe Rock wins, thanks to help from D'Lo Brown. Pretty bad match between these two. It sets up The Rock and Ken Shamrock in the finals.*1/4 out of 5Al Snow & Head Vs Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor)I could only take Al Snow in small doses a lot of the time. If Snow wins, he'll get a meeting with Vince McMahon. If he loses, he's done with the WWF. Jerry Lawler is the guest referee. Too Much wins. This was embarrassing and not funny at all. * out of 5X-Pac Vs Owen HartX-Pac wins with help from Chyna. A bit overbooked, but it was pretty exciting as well. Pretty decent stuff overall and worth a look.**1/4 out of 5Paul Bearer is out now. He plays his part so well that I wanted to sock him one. He says Kane wanted to be a WWF Superstar and he couldn't go out in the sun because the sun hurt his scars so bad. He says he'll be the Father and manager of the WWF Champion. Laugh at the fat man, because he'll laugh all the way to the bank!Tag Team TitlesThe New Age Outlaws (C) Vs Bombacious Bart & Bombastic BobBart Gunn and Bob Holly as the new Midnight Express is really ridiculous. They're completely ignoring that Bart is the kayfabe brother of Billy. Weird. Never mind. JR Just mentioned it. The Outlaws win, thanks to Chyna. This was bowling shoe ugly as JR would say.*1/2 out of 5King of the Ring The Rock Vs Ken ShamrockHunter Hearst Helmsley is out for commentary. Shamrock makes The Rock tap out to the ankle lock to become King of the Ring. Hell of a match and probably my favorite between the two. ***1/2 out of 5Hell in a Cell MatchMankind Vs The UndertakerThe Undertaker throws Mankind right off the cell. I don't care how many ECW matches there are. This remains the sickest bump I've ever seen. It gets even more disturbing after Undertaker chokeslams him through the cell, into the ring. He also gets thrown into thumbtacks (Once backdropped, once chokeslammed) Mankind valiantly fights back, but Taker wins with a tombstone. This is considered to be the definitive cell match by many. I wouldn't say that...but i'll be damned if it isn't memorable. Foley's bumps will never be forgotten and they will withstand the test of time. Spine chilling to say the least. **** out of 5WWF Championship (First Blood Match)"Stone Cold" Steve Austin Vs KaneKane wins the WWF Title after The Undertaker accidentally costs Austin the title. Not necessarily a great match, but it was well-booked. Austin looks strong and Kane winning was a cool moment. It's a shame Kane lost the title 24 hours later. That was kinda stupid and this is coming from a huge Austin mark.**1/4 out of 5This is a highly underrated PPV. One you won't forget anytime soon.9/10

bh_tafe3 Mick Foley became a legend, Ken Shamrock became a King, and Kane became WWE Champion at what proved to be the best PPV event of 1998, finally ending the show's losing streak after 4 lackluster King of the Ring events in a row, it was also a return to form after two mediocre In Your House PPVs following Wrestlemania.The big story going in was centered around Kane and the Undertaker. They were taking a break from hurting each other but now found themselves caught up in the Austin vs McMahon rivalry. The Undertaker had refused to allow Vince McMahon to screw Austin out of the title at the previous PPV. Underaker's presence at ringside had cost Mick Foley the title, and he would have to answer for his actions in a Hell in a Cell match with Mankind. Foley's two failures meant that McMahon needed to find someone else to get Austin's title off him, so he turned to Kane and again stacked the deck against Austin by making it a first blood match. With Kane's entire body covered in a suit it would be almost impossible to tell if he is bleeding anyway! But the night started off with one of those junk matches that this era is famous for as the Headbangers defeated Kaientai in a nothing match. Headbangers would not have an overly long or memorable run in the WWE. Never really explained what wearing a dress has to do with heavy metal music.The next match was the King of the Ring semi final between Ken Shamrock and Jeff Jarrett. Shamrock picking up the submission victory with his ankle lock.The next match saw the Rock defeat Dan Severn in the other semi final. Severn, like Shamrock was an MMA fighter trying his hand at wrestling. Neither was a long term success, though Shamrock did have his moments. And so Shamrock and the Rock, who had a long bitter rivalry over the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the year, would meet in the final.Next up comes the comedy match with Jerry Lawler acting as guest referee while his nephew (actually his son later better known as Grandmaster Sexay) Brian Christopher and his tag team partner Scott Taylor (later better knows as Scotty 2 Hotty) took on Al Snow and Head. THis was a comedy match and Lawler is actually pretty funny when he stalls on three counts for Snow. The bad guys end up winning, but this is one of the better done comedy matches. Lawler and Snow are both pros and just know how to go about it and keep things entertaining.Next up saw Owen Hart, now a bad guy continue his feud with DX in a match with X-Pac which he lost. The addition of the New Age Oitlaws had really seen DX start to gain popularity from the fans.This popularity became more evident in the next match as the Outlaws defeated Jim Cornette's New Midnight Express tag team. THis was Cornette's final stint in the WWE and the Midnight Express were a short lived part of it.Next up saw Ken Shamrock finally avenge all of those screwy losses to the Rock by winning the King of the Ring Final in probably the best of their trilogy of PPV matches. While none were classics, the characters of both men just seemed to work together. This was Shamrock's brightest moment in the WWE, but in a little over a year he was out of the WWE and back in MMA.Next came one of the best known matches ever as the Undertaker defeated Mankind in a Hell in a Cell match. Mankind was thrown off the top of the cell, through the top of the cell and slammed multiple times onto thumbtacks in the match that made his career.The Undertaker was then heavily involved in a sweet main event match. Kane had promised to set himself on fire if he lost to Stone Cold. With Kane bleeding and the ref unconscious Undertaker came into the ring, busted Stone Cold open with a chair shot and then tipped gasoline all over the ref to revive him. The ref, seeing Stone Cold bleeding stopped the match and awarded Kane the title. McMahon was jubilant at finally taking the title off Austin, but his joy was short lived: Austin defeated Kane to win back the title in an excellent match the following night on RAW.

The_Light_Triton There's really only 2 matches from this PPV that people remember. the hell in the cell match and the first blood match. out of all the Pay-per-views, this one makes the biggest milestone. for one, it marks the third hell in the cell match (it wasn't the second, i did some research and found out the second one took place during an episode of RAW) and it's undertaker's first victory in one. it also marks the only time Kane has ever won the WWE Title belt, despite cheating.Firsthand, the Hell in the cell match. This was a very hyped match, and it was to end a less than big rivalry. it ended with a huge explosion. firsthand, before the match began, Mankind/Mick Foley climbed to the top of the cell and waited for the undertaker to come out. then undertaker came out and climbed to the top of the cell. they fought up there for about a minute, then taker threw mankind off the top of the cell. this fall was planned. if you watch Mick Foley land, he landed on his buttocks and side, not his head or upper body.the second fall came after Foley walked off from the stretcher to go back to the cell. then taker was supposed to chokeslam Foley onto a chair on top of the cell. unfortunately, the cell structure was not meant to stop a falling 287 pound man, and Foley fell through the cell and landed on his upper back, near his neck. this fall was not supposed to happen. In a later interview, Undertaker said when he chokeslammed mick foley through the cell, he thought mick was dead.in the first blood match, "stone cold" Steve Austin was defending the WWF/WWE title from Kane. now everyone knows the rules of a first blood match. the first person to draw blood loses the battle. however, Kane was supposedly bleeding, but he was wearing a mask, which meant the ref never saw his blood. stone cold eventually was cut open, leading to Kane's first WWF title.What this Pay-per-view marked was Kanes First and Only WWF/WWE title, which he only held for 24 hours (stone cold Steve Austin won it back from Kane the next night on WWF Raw is War.)it's a sweet pay-per-view, and it's well worth seeing.

keith007killer i have seen this match more times then i think is healthy and still find something new in it each time.if you look closely at the shamrock vs rock final match for the KOR you can see when Shamrock gets his hand caught in the ropes you see the Rock get him out lol. its so strange to see the rock being someones lackey.the worst match on there i think is the al snow vs too much. when i first saw it i knew that there was going to be a screw job but that was the dumbest one i have seen and i have been watching pro wrestling for most of my life and that begins in the early days of hulkamania. but this was the time the Vince was trying to compete against wcw and turners billions.