WWF SummerSlam

For the third time in its history, SummerSlam returned to Madison Square Garden in 1998. 1998 actually marked the 10th anniversary of SummerSlam, so it was only fitting that the main event would be a battle of two WWE legends. Stone Cold Steve Austin defended his WWE Championship against the Undertaker in the main event in what was deemed the "Highway to Hell." Ultimately, Austin would pin the Undertaker to retain his title. Also at SummerSlam 1999, Triple H defeated The Rock in a brutal ladder match to net his second Intercontinental Championship, and the New Age Outlaws topped Mankind and Kane to nab their third Tag Team Championship.

European Champion D'Lo Brown defeated Val Venis by DQ The Oddities defeated Kaientai X-Pac pinned Jeff Jarrett in a Hair vs. Hair Match Edge & Sable defeated Marc Mero & Jacqueline Ken Shamrock defeated Owen Hart in a Lion's Den Match New Age Outlaws defeated Mankind & Kane to win the Tag Team Championship Triple H defeated The Rock in a Ladder Match to win the Intercontinental Title WWE Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin pinned Undertaker

Overall Mark: B-

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) returns to New York City in Madison Sqaure Garden in front of a crowd of nearly 22,000.

Match 1: D'Lo Brown (c) defeated Val Venis by disqualification - Singles match for the WWF European Championship (15:24) - Decent match both Brown and Venis at the time were showing how strong mid carders both where. The ending is kind of blah but doesn't make Venis look like crap in the process. 5/10

Match 2: The Oddities (Giant Silva, Golga and Kurrgan) (with Luna Vachon, Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J) defeated Kaientai (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki and Taka Michinoku) (with Yamaguchi-san) - Handicap match (10:10) - Stupid throwaway comedy match that has what feels like a million people at ringside. Only redeeming value is that the Insane Clown Posse is there during their stint with the company other than that its totally forgettable. 1/10

Match 3: X-Pac (with Howard Finkel) defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury) - Hair vs. Hair match (11:11) - Pretty good match I always enjoyed watching X-Pac wrestle. For some reason they have the hardest time cutting Jeff Jarrett's hair following the match. 7/10

Match 4: Edge and Sable defeated Jacqueline and Marc Mero - Mixed tag team match (8:26) - Notable for being the first PPV for Edge who had been built up for weeks prior in several Sting style vignettes sitting in the rafters. The company's worship of Sable continues while the burying of her husband Mero sadly continues as well. 6/10

Match 5: Ken Shamrock defeated Owen Hart (with Dan Severn) by submission - Lion's Den match (9:15) - Interesting seeing the company try some MMA stuff here defiantly different, but nothing to memorable. 6/10

Match 6: The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) defeated Mankind (c) - Falls Count Anywhere Handicap match for the WWF Tag Team Championship (5:17) - About five minutes of Foley just getting the crap beat out of him, watching him take so many chair and pan shots to the head is rough, I'm shocked that man's still alive today. Kane was supposed to be his tag partner, but no showed only to appear after the match in the dumpster Foley is thrown in to beat him with a sledgehammer. 6/10

Match 7: Triple H (with Chyna) defeated The Rock (c) (with Mark Henry) - Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (25:58) - A dang good ladder match defiantly among the companies best watching what would eventually be two main eventers go to war over a title that at one time held solid prestige is awesome. 10/10

Match 8: Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) defeated The Undertaker - No Disqualification match for the WWF Championship (20:52) - A heck of a battle between these too. It's matches like this that kept WWF firmly ahead of WCW and eventually helped them win the war. Austin and Undertaker would have plenty more battles over the years, but this one is usually the most remembered, even if the fact both are faces sort of hamper it down a bit. 9/10

Overall, a very good and memorable event saved by the strength of the final two matches. The rest of the card other than that terrible second match is good enough and it's shocking how much time they gave several of these lower card matches. 8/10.

That event had great matches especially Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker. I don't know if it's just me but the Crowd at Madison Square Garden that night didn't seem as active as most crowds instead of cheering for some of the moves they clapped very odd compared to the rest of the Crowds for wwf.

By this point in WWE history, that had re-built from the disastrous mid-90s and put together a talented roster filled with innovative angles. As such, an event like SummerSlam 1998 isn't going to be horrible. For whatever reason, though, the event does seem to fall a bit flatter than those around it.

A few thoughts...

-A new character like Val Venis (basically riffing on a porn star trope) shows just how far into the "Attitude Era" the company really is at this point. -Shamrock vs Owen Hart in the Lion's Den is certainly innovative, but such a clear jab at UFC that was probably un-necessary. -Mankind vs. New Age Outlaws is fun to watch, especially with Foley taking that character to new levels seemingly with every PPV at this point. -The Ladder Match between Rock & Triple H doesn't have a ton of "pop" to it. I'm not sure if this because it is pretty straightforward or because the ladder concept was losing a little steam (I would guess the latter). Maybe it would take TLC matches to rev up that engine again. -Austin vs. Undertaker is a perfectly acceptable finale, but one featuring an angle that really has no "future" in it. This is one of those scenarios where the two "top dogs" are matched up against each other, put on a decent show, and then go their separate ways again.

So, while featuring a solid talent roster, SummerSlam '98 is a bit of a step backward in terms of overall entertainment factor.

A strong looking card . Better on paper good match ups and strong storylines. Have to say it lacked something. I don't know was it crowd was low energy, for me something didn't work. All night long failed to capture my attention like I felt these matches would. Was like drinking coke tastes like coke looks like coke just a little flat. Mankind defending the tag team titles alone Double JJ & Xpac have there hair on the line. Sable new partner being Edge was a highlight facing Mero & Jacqueline. Triple H v The Rock Intercontinental title . Stone cold Steve Austin and the undertaker for the title.