The following is a reprint of the Torch Newsletter review of the WWF King of the Ring pay-per-view from five years ago this week.

-Jason Powell, Torch assistant editor

* * *

Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
WWF King of the Ring PPV review
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #501
Cover dated: July 4, 1998

KING OF THE RING PPV
When: June 28, 1998
Where: Pittsburgh, Pa.
What: WWF three-hour pay-per-view
Attendance: 16,505 sel

During the "Free for All," Mankind gave a long interview as he walked around the Hell in the Cell cage with a wireless mic. He talked about getting revenge on Undertaker for attacking "Uncle Paul." He said he has never hated a man before, but now he knows how it feels and he loves it. Excellent interview.

Michael Cole interviewed ref Earl Hebner about the main event, asking him if he'd stop the match due to a scrape or minor cut. Hebner said he wouldn't. Cole asked if he would stop it for a broken nose. Hebner said he wouldn't. Cole asked under what circumstances would he stop it. Hebner said he would use his judgement. Therefore, rather than being a "First Blood" match, it became a "First Bloodbath" or "First Bloody-Mess" match. They covered their bases, though, since Austin would suffer a cut on his back later in the show.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the event and previewed the main events.

(1) Taka Michinoku & The Head Bangers beat Kaientai (w/Mr. Yamaguchi) at 6:42. Ross billed it as the first of two bonus matches. Good opener. No memorable moments, but tons of nice spots and no missed moves. Taka put Funaki out with the Michinoku Driver. (**)

Sable came out and introduced Vince McMahon. McMahon came out accompanied by Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. As Sable left the ring, Patterson put his hand on her butt. She turned around slapped him. Ross joked that Patterson went somewhere he had never gone before. As fans booed McMahon, Brisco said over the house mic they should show respect for McMahon. McMahon asked the crowd how many wanted to see Austin lose the belt. He said they would be disappointed, just like all of them were a disappointment to their parents. The segment droned on too long. One of McMahon's weaker performances.

(2) Ken Shamrock beat Jeff Jarrett via submission at 5:27 to advance to the King of the Ring finals. Shamrock entered the ring and went after Jarrett aggressively right away. A fast-paced match, everything looked good, back and forth action. Shamrock won clean with an anklelock submission. Jarrett tapped out frantically. Afterward Lee entered the ring, but Shamrock suplexed him for a pop. (*3/4)

(3) Rocky Maivia pinned Dan Severn at 4:24 thanks to advance to the King of the Ring finals. Severn went for two early ankle locks, but Rocky reached the ropes both times. Rocky got in some offense, but the match was too short to develop into anything special. Kama and Mark Henry distracted the ref while D-Lo came off the top rope with a chest guard of some kind and frog splashed Severn. Rocky then scored the pin. (1/4*)

(4) Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor beat Al Snow & The Head at 8:30 when Christopher pinned The Head. Lawler seemed especially confident that Snow wouldn't be winning the match. Howard Finkle then announced that the special ref for the match would be Lawler. Snow chewed out Head, saying, "You're supposed to keep track of that. What do I keep you around for?" Fans chanted "Head" early in the match and popped for Snow when he raised Head in the air.

When Snow pushed Christopher into the corner, Christopher claimed Snow pulled his hair. Lawler made Snow break. Lawler then ignored when Christopher pulled hair. Lawler blocked a Snow punch, but left Snow wide open to get punched. The worst spot of the match came at 4:15 when Snow charged down the aisle toward the ring and clotheslined Christopher, who just stood there waiting to get hit.

"Too Hot" Scott Taylor continued his metamorphosis into "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert in terms of his look and ring style. At 5:33 Taylor covered Snow and Lawler counted a rapid-fire two count. At 7:05 Snow gave Christopher and Taylor a simultaneous double DDT. Snow hot-tagged The Head and then used Head as a weapon against Taylor and Christopher. Ross said, "Head is the legal man. What the hell am I saying?" Snow gave Christopher the SnowPlow finisher, but Lawler had his back turned and then left the ring before making the count.

Lawler returned to the ring and stuck Head onto a bottle of "Head and Shoulders." Christopher then covered Head and Lawler counted to three. Snow thought he won since he was covering Taylor at the time. The crowd didn't understand the finish. Christopher and Taylor laughed uproariously. Ross, who seemed genuinely embarrassed by the finish, said it was a first and probably a last. He called the match "uglier than a bowling shoe." The match seemed out of place and too Memphis-comedy oriented. (1/4*)

(5) X-Pac (w/Chyna) pinned Owen Hart at 8:31. X-Pac slidekicked Owen as he approached the ring and went on aggressive offense at the start. At 0:30 Owen moved when X-Pac charged the corner. At 3:30 X-Pac took over offense and hit Owen from behind with a clothesline off the apron. Owen, though, reversed X-Pac into a ringside table and then suplexed him into the Spanish announcing desk. At 4:45 Owen applied a sleeper. X-Pac escaped at 5:45 and applied a sleeper of his own. At 6:40 the match began to fall apart.

Owen was too low in the corner when X-Pac went for the Bronco Buster, killing the pop it might have received. They did a sloppy looking spot where both fell off the top rope. Mark Henry then ran to the ring and splashed X-Pac at ringside and threw him into the ring. Chyna got in Henry's face which popped the crowd. Vader, who had no other role on the card, splashed into Henry. They fell to the back. Meanwhile Owen applied the sharpshooter, but Chyna gave Owen a DDT. X-Pac rolled onto Owen for the pin. Given the talent, it should have been better. Bad camera work didn't help, either. Owen bled from above an eye. (**1/4)

Paul Bearer gave a monologue in mid-ring. He said he used to watch the Undertaker on television with his son Kane and Kane used to say, "Daddy, I want to be like him." Bearer said it will be the happiest night of his life because he will be the father and manager of the WWF Champion. "Then you can laugh at the fat man all you want because I'll sure laugh all the way to the bank."

(6) The New Age Outlaws beat The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) at 9:48 to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles. This was another "bonus" match that wasn't advertised. When Billy Gunn and the former Bart Gunn squared off early in the match, the announcers didn't make an issue of it, probably since it doesn't do Billy any good to remind people he was part of such a passé gimmick not long ago.

Lawler wondered if Cornette's moniker was "Ballsless Jim Cornette." Ross said, "That's close enough for me." Bob stood over Road Dog and yelled "Suck it!," then looked down and yelled, "F--- you." Ross didn't seem pleased by Bob's judgement. Cornette interfered with his tennis racquet, but it didn't lead to the pin. Later when Cornette entered the ring, Chyna gave him a low-blow from behind (although Chyna was very late getting into position). The Outlaws immediately gave Bob a double hot-shot and Bad Ass scored the three count. (**1/4)

Kevin Kelly interviewed Dustin Runnels backstage. Dustin said: "I personally think everybody should just put out a nice little prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior to keep them from injury."

(7) Ken Shamrock beat Rocky Maivia at 14:09 to win the King of the Ring tournament. Hunter came out to his intro music and joined Ross and Lawler on commentary. He talked about how the King tourney help elevate careers, but added, "You just can't pose in any nudy magazines or they take your crowd away." They showed Chyna doing color with the Spanish announcers. She speaks fluent Spanish. Ross asked Hunter if he was bi-lingual. Hunter responded, "There are a lot of bi things I am, but lingual is not one of them." He added a second later, "Wait a minute, did I just mean to say that?" Rocky avoided a pumped up Shamrock during the opening few minutes of the match.

When Rock got in Hunter's face at ringside, Hunter called him "fuzzy top." Shamrock then began beating on Rocky at ringside. When Rocky clotheslined Shamrock, he then got in Hunter's face again. Hunter threatened to stick his boot up Rocky's ass. Ross said he wished he wouldn't do that. Hunter said, "Me, too, it's a nice boot." After a couple of two counts, Rocky went to a chinlock on Shamrock. At 8:30 Rocky signalled for the People's Elbow and hit it. The crowd popped. When Shamrock kicked out, Ross said the ref was just a few inches away from a three count. Hunter suggested Ross enter the ring and drop his pants and measure just how close he was. Hunter was on a roll. Ross criticized the Snow match as setting the business back 20 years. Hunter said he liked it. Lawler told Ross to shut up.

Shamrock made his comeback at 11:00 and scored several near falls. The crowd popped for the believable near falls. Shamrock hit a really nice Northern Lights suplex after blocking a Rocky DDT. Rocky got frustrated with the two counts and got in the ref's face. That gave Shamrock a chance to lock on the ankle lock for the win. The crowd being so into the near falls made the match, which otherwise was solid, albeit ordinary. (***1/4)

(8) Undertaker beat Mankind in the Hell in the Cell at 17:08. Ross's build up for this match was awesome. Mankind challenged Undertaker to meet him on top of the cage to start the match. Mankind nailed Undertaker with stiff chairshots. They both stood on one section of the cage roof and it gave way a bit and the crowd ohhhed. Good (unintentional?) foreshadowing of what was to come. Then, just seconds later, in a shocking move, Undertaker threw Mankind off of the cage. Ross shouted, "Good god almighty! Good god almighty! They killed him."

Lawler broke character in selling the move. Mankind flipped onto his back and crashed through the Spanish announcers' table. Ross said, "Oh my god. Somebody get out here. Really." Lawler said, "This is over." They replayed the bump from three different angles. Terry Funk was the first to come to ringside to check on Mankind. He grabbed at his arm, but was moving around. Several others came to tend to Mankind. Undertaker remained on top of the cage. McMahon came to ringside and also broke character, looking terribly concerned. EMTs brought a stretcher to the ring. They began raising the cage with Undertaker still on top to make room for the stretcher. Fans chanted "Undertaker" as Foley was stretchered. The stretcher got half way down the aisle when Mankind got up and ran back to the cage with a smile on his face. The crowd cheered. They fought on top of the cage again starting at the 7:00 mark.

Undertaker deliberately stood on the support beams while lifting and chokeslamming Mankind through the top of the cage. Mankind bumped onto his back to the mat. The crowd popped again. Mankind didn't move again. EMTs rushed into the ring as Ross said, "Somebody stop the damn match. Enough is enough." Undertaker hung from the roof and dropped to the mat landing on his injured ankle. He appeared okay. He began beating on Funk and chokeslammed him. A minute later Mankind was on his feet and taking bumps for Undertaker's punches. Mankind bled from his mouth. Undertaker walked the ropes, but Mankind knocked Undertaker off. They locked the cage door. Undertaker rammed Mankind with the steel ringside stairs. Undertaker dove through the ropes at Mankind, but hit the cage facefirst.

Undertaker came up bleeding. Mankind piledrove Undertaker onto a chair and scored a near fall at 13:00. After a minute more of offense, Mankind brought in a bag of 500 silver thumbtacks. Mankind put the Mandible Claw on Undertaker, but Undertaker escaped by dropping backward slamming Mankind onto tacks. Mankind rolled through the tacks, dozens of which were stuck to his back.Undertaker then chokeslammed Mankind onto the tacks at 16:45. He then gave him a tombstone, crossed Mankind's arms over his chest, and scored the pin. The crowd popped. Undertaker walked slowly to the back. Mankind insisted on walking to the back with the help of Funk and a referee. An awesome, yet disturbing spectacle. (****1/2)

(9) Kane defeated Steve Austin at 14:57 to capture the WWF Title in a "First Blood" match. A tremendously booked and well executed match that managed to successfully follow an impossible act to follow. Great bumps, believable brawling, and innovative finish. (See "Cover Story.") (***3/4)

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