Steve Austin vs Kane (WWF, 6-28-1998)

WWF King of the Ring, Pittsburgh, PA

A request! This show is most (basically only) famous for Undertaker vs Mankind in the Cell, a truly legendary match. But this was the main event! First Blood for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s WWF title.

Jim Ross sort of stumbles trying to figure out how to say that this match has a hope in hell of living up to what we just saw, so he kinda veers off of even trying to go there and is just, like, “This is for the belt and I tell ya Vince McMahon said some damn mean things lately.”

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

These two boys really had a hell of an act to follow, no question about that. We got here because Undertaker had been hunting for a shot at Austin’s belt, won at WrestleMania three months prior, but Vince McMahon was, like, “No,” and Kane beat Undertaker for the No. 1 contender spot. There was a whole bunch of doofy, hot ’98 type stuff with Vince, Mankind, and Kane teaming up to make Austin’s life miserable, Austin fighting back because he is Stone Cold, and so on. And now we are here. Then Kane said if he didn’t win the title he would set himself on fire!

JR: “Seven feet tall, 326 lbs. He is a superhuman destroyer intending on complete annihilation, intending on leaving this arena as the WWF champion, and if he does not, Kane will set himself on fire and breathe his last breath.”

This is slightly more compelling than the main event commentary setups of today, where Kevin Patrick is, like, “Seth Freakin Rollins is trending on social media!”

Only the referee can stop this match when someone bleeds. There are cans of gasoline on the ring steps for Kane to burn himself alive if he does not win the strap.

Austin hits the ring, and gets right at it. Thesz press, right hands, belt shot early! Kane has a mask and also may be undead? So making him bleed could be tough, and Austin’s going right for it. Turnbuckle pad removed. Austin’s right elbow is “badly infected,” Jim Ross says, had staph infection recently, and has it wrapped up heavy here.

Kane taking over with right hands. Boots. Lawler notes that Kane does not have an arm exposed like he normally has in recent times, full sleeves. Kane trying for the tombstone, Austin counters and throws Kane to the floor, but the big fella lands on his feet and drags Austin out with him.

Right hands from Austin. Smack into the steps. Again. They fight around and what the “H” but the Cell is lowering! Austin sent into the steps. Ross and Lawler confounded by the Cell, which Austin gets sent into as it’s still lowering, and it threatens to lower on top of him, but he manages to stay clear of that, barely. In fact, it even seems to stop lowering while he’s still under it, until he’s very safely clear!

JR reminds everyone that Earl Hebner has made clear he won’t stop this for something minor, bloody nose or skinned elbow or whatever, which is smart to make clear early. It has to be busted open, and Austin does indeed have a small cut on his back.

Now, personally, to me, Kane has already won the match, and we are just dealing with Earl Hebner’s whims, as we often were.

The Cell starts rising again with Kane drapped over the bottom of the door. Nothing much comes of that but you get a weird visual.

Once it’s back up, Austin and Kane head up the aisle to fight near the entrance set. Austin gets backdropped onto the concrete. Up in a luxury box, Vince watches alongside Sable. Austin suplayed on the small ramp.

Kane finds a chunk of bicycle rack and hits Austin, but Austin gets his hands way up and mostly blocks. More shots of Vince and Sable.

They quickly get back down to the ring, feeling they’ve had enough of their entrance brawling. The cage is about halfway up, so it has all the benefits of fucking up the view of many people in attendance, and none of the cage match drama! Brilliant!

Kane gets smashed into the exposed turnbuckle but it does nothing, because of mask. They fight outside some more. Austin hits Kane with a small desk fan, the type that would get stuck in HHH’s fucked up quad years later.

Back in and Kane hits a flying clothesline. There’s no referee. JR notes that Lawler is “licensed,” but the King passes because he’d rather not be the one to tell either of these two they lost. Kane goes for another flying clothesline but Austin side-steps and stomps.

Austin trying to bust Kane open on the turnbuckle, but here comes Mankind somehow! Hobbling down with a chair. Austin fights him off, but the Cell is being lowered again. Austin hits the stunner on Mankind, but turns around into a GOOZLE from Kane, only to hit him with a stunner, too!

Now here comes Undertaker, hobbling down on his busted ankle, with a chair of his own. Undertaker and Austin both have chairs, both go to swing on Mankind, and Mankind ducks. The chairs crack together, Stone Cold’s swings back into his head, and Austin hits the mat to blade fairly obviously.

Mankind knocked out of the cage. Kane is out of the way. Austin is busted open as Undertaker puts Earl Hebner back in the ring. Undertaker now has the gasoline. Kane’s in the ring behind him as Undertaker dumps the gasoline on Hebner. Kane hits Undertaker with a chair.

Austin fighting Kane off, but it’s over as soon as Hebner sees him, and the gas did wake him up. Austin crushes Kane with a chairshot to the head, but Hebner finally sees Austin and calls for the bell.

Kane is the WWF champion. Austin is shocked, covered in blood. JR mutters, “No. No.” In his luxury box, Vince smiles as the show goes off the air.

So begins the reign of Kane, sure to be a dark time for all WWF Superstars and the fans of the World Wrestling Federation. What diabolical plots will this indestructible madman and his father, the devious Paul Bearer, concoct as they rule the Federation with an unholy iron fist?

For a full 23 hours or so, it was truly Hell on Earth in the WWF, but then Austin won the belt back on Raw.

The match is alright. Kane wasn’t much but could hold his own, and Austin was so good and so over that he could make these simple brawls work even if they weren’t tremendously memorable, and they layered on so much extra stuff with the stipulation, the fight going all over, the stuff with the Cell, Mankind, and then Undertaker’s confusing interference. They really got into a groove with these Austin matches; they are sort of predictable in base style, but they constantly tacked on different elements and crowds loved Austin too much for it to become chore-like.

3/5