The Tombstone
1. Stone Cold Steve Austin flips off 'Iron' Mike Tyson. Perhaps the turning point for the WWF this year. I don't think Austin would have made it to TV Guide or the latest issue of People Magazine if he hadn't flipped 'ol Iron Mike the bird. Plus it was damn funny.
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. Why hell, that could sum up the whole year, but I'm talking about when the two of them were actually going to fight in a ring on RIW. That was the night that the WWF reclaimed it's spot at the top of the ratings, and it was the night that Vince McMahon proved he'd do absolutely anything to get the attention on his company.
3. The Undertaker returns. It was early March during a live RIW from Cleveland, Ohio, and to cap off a show that saw Austin vs. Kane get interupted by "sweet chin music", Sable and Luna cat fight, the return of "Double J", we saw the Undertaker make a really kick-ass return after a couple months off by challenging Kane to a match at Wrestlemanina XIV.
4. Tag Team Royal Rumble. Besides the fact that Sunny was ringside in that LOD outfit (WOO HOO!) we got to see every top team in the WWF compete. Kane and Mankind won the thing, and then went on to face Undertaker and Austin in a Hell In Cell Tag Team match later on. Great stuff.
5. Kane wins the WWF Title. At King of the Ring 1998, we saw Mankind take some of the biggest damn bumps in the history of wrestling, and get up, showing he has the biggest balls in the sport, and we saw Kane beat Stone Cold Steve Austin for the belt. Yeah yeah, all of you Austin fans are thinking "but Undertaker helped him". I don't give a damn who helped him, I loved the sound of "...And NEW World Wrestling Federation Champion, KANE!" It's too damn bad he didn't hang on to the title for longer than he did.
6. 4-Way Tag Team Title Match on RIW. It featured Austin/Undertaker (champions) taking on The Rock/D-Lo, versus Kane/Mankind, against the New Age Outlaws. Not only was it a great match, but it was happening amongst a great angle, with Kane and UT untiting within the next few weeks.
7. The Rock wins the WWF Title. Maybe it pissed off a lot of people, but my god, this angle was played out so damn well. I loved the Rock before he was face, while he was face, and I love him just as much now that he's heel again. The "Corporate Champ" is just too damn funny and skilled to hate him. You can't tell me that his little WCW parody a couple weeks ago wasn't one of the funniest damn things you've ever heard.
8. RIW the night after Wrestlemania. Austin stuns McMahon and goes to jail, Sunny wearing her little LOD outfit, a cage match between Cactus/Chainsaw and the NAO, plus on top of that DX drops Shawn Michaels and picks up X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws. Of course, any show where a wrestler talks about guys in the WCW having heads up each other's asses, it can't help but be good.
9. Opperation DX. Funny, funny, funny stuff. I especially loved it when they asked the guy if he paid for his ticket to WCW...and he said "hell no! I got it for free!" Man...that was classic.
10. Kane and Undertaker are revealed to have been in "cahoots". Not to mention the rest of that show. The week before Summerslam, you knew it'd be good, but me being such a huge Undertaker and Kane fan, the fact that they had teamed up was almost too much excitment for me to bear.
Well that's it for this year. You can't help but wonder what suprises Vince has in store for us in 1999. He shook the Wrestling world in 1998 with "WWF Attitude", and I'm sure 1999 will be no different.
That's it for this round....until next time....Rest In Peace! Or BURN IN HELL! Take your pick!
