| King of the Ring | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuringSable | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | June 28, 1998 | ||
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | ||
| Venue | Civic Arena | ||
| Attendance | 17,087[1] | ||
| Buy rate | 385,000[2] | ||
| Tagline | Off With Their Heads[3] | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| King of the Ring event chronology | |||
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| King of the Ring tournament chronology | |||
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The 1998King of the Ring was the sixth annualKing of the Ringprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that featured the 12thKing of the Ring tournament. It took place on June 28, 1998, at thePittsburgh Civic Arena inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Nine matches were scheduled on the event'scard. The main event was aFirst Blood match featuringKane defeatingStone Cold Steve Austin for theWWF Championship. The other main match was aHell in a Cell match featuringThe UndertakerdefeatingMankind. Featured matches on theundercard included the 1998 King of the Ring tournament final betweenKen Shamrock andThe Rock, which Shamrock won to win the tournament. Another prominent match was atag team match for theWWF Tag Team Championship (which was only added to the card earlier that morning) between theNew Age Outlaws defeatingThe Midnight Express, to retain the championship.
This event produced the best-known Hell in a Cell bout in history, pittingThe Undertaker vs. Mankind;Michael Landsberg ofTSN'sOff the Record in 2002 called it "maybe the most famous match ever".[4] Less than two minutes into the contest, The Undertaker threw Mankind from the top of the 16-foot (5 m) high cell through the Spanish announcers' table. The footage of that fall has since become one of the most used and viewed videos in professional wrestling history.[5] A few minutes later in the match in another memorable moment, The Undertaker chokeslammed Mankind through the top of the cell, briefly knocking him legitimately unconscious.
King of the Ring was apay-per-view (PPV) event held annually in June by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1993.[6] The PPV featured theKing of the Ring tournament, asingle-elimination tournament that was established in 1985 and held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990; these early tournaments were held as special non-televisedhouse shows. The winner of the tournament was crowned "King of the Ring."[7] Unlike the non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. Considered as one of the WWF's "Big Five" PPVs, along with theRoyal Rumble,WrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series, the company's five biggest shows of the year,[8] the 1998 event was the sixth King of the Ring PPV and 12th tournament overall. It was held on June 28, 1998 at thePittsburgh Civic Arena inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[9]
The main feud heading into King of the Ring was betweenStone Cold Steve Austin andKane over theWWF Championship. On the June 1st episode ofRaw Is War, Kane defeatedThe Undertaker to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship. The previous month atOver The Edge, Austin retained the WWF Championship againstDude Love despite the efforts ofVince McMahon as special referee andGerald Brisco andPat Patterson as time keeper and ring announcer respectively. On the June 22nd episode ofRaw Is War, McMahon announced that the match between Austin and Kane would be afirst blood match a match in which a wrestler who makes his opponent bleed from his face or mouth would be declared the winner. Kane through anelectronic voice box declared that if he lost the match he would set himself on fire. Later that night, Austin came to the ring and accepted the match at King of the Ring. Kane came out and hadfake blood drenched from the ceiling on Austin.
Another feud heading into King of the Ring was betweenMankind and The Undertaker in aHell in a Cell match.This would be the second Hell in a Cell match on PPV with the first being the one betweenShawn Michaels and Undertaker atBadd Blood: In Your House the previous year. On the June 15 episode ofRaw Is War, Mankind and Kane teamed up against Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker in the first ever tag-team Hell in a Cell match. The bout ended in a no-contest with Undertaker attackingPaul Bearer (who was aligned with Mankind and Kane) inside the cell, while Austin attacked Kane at the top of the structure. This led to a Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and Undertaker at King of the Ring.
| First round (TV) | Quarterfinals (TV) | Semifinals (PPV) | Final (PPV) | ||||||||||||
| Vader | 4:41 | ||||||||||||||
| The Rock | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| The Rock | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Triple H | 8:08 | ||||||||||||||
| Triple H | CO | ||||||||||||||
| X-Pac | 5:11 | ||||||||||||||
| The Rock | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Dan Severn | 4:25 | ||||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Scorpio | 5:16 | ||||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | 3:00 | ||||||||||||||
| Dan Severn | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| D'Lo Brown | 3:08 | ||||||||||||||
| Dan Severn | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| The Rock | 14:09 | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Kama Mustafa | 2:43 | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Mark Henry | 4:37 | ||||||||||||||
| Mark Henry | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Terry Funk | 4:55 | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Jeff Jarrett | 5:29 | ||||||||||||||
| Jeff Jarrett | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Faarooq | 3:32 | ||||||||||||||
| Jeff Jarrett | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | 4:31 | ||||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Steve Blackman | 2:57 | ||||||||||||||
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Englishcommentators | Jim Ross |
| Jerry Lawler | |
| Triple H (King Of The Ring tournament finals match only) | |
| Spanish commentators | Carlos Cabrera |
| Hugo Savinovich | |
| Chyna (King Of The Ring tournament finals match only) | |
| Interviewer | Michael Cole |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referees | Tim White |
| Earl Hebner | |
| Jim Korderas | |
| Jack Doan | |
| Mike Chioda |
The pay-per-view opened with a six-man tag team match betweenKaientai (Funaki,Men's Teioh, andDick Togo) and the team ofTaka Michinoku andThe Headbangers (Mosh andThrasher). At the climax of the match, Michinoku executed aMichinoku Driver on Funaki for the win.
It was followed by the first semifinal of the King of the Ring tournament betweenKen Shamrock andJeff Jarrett. Jarrett's managerTennessee Lee interfered in the match as he and Jarrett targeted Shamrock's ankle but Shamrock made a comeback by hitting a running kick and a powerslam on Jarrett and applied anankle lock on Jarrett to make him submit.
The next semifinal featuredDan Severn againstThe Rock.Nation of Domination interfered in the match asKama Mustafa andMark Henry distracted the referee, allowingD-Lo Brown to attack Severn and nail afrog splash, helping Rock to win the match.
Next,Al Snow andHead took onToo Much (Brian Christopher andScott Taylor), withJerry Lawler serving as the special guest referee. Lawler cheated Snow out of the victory numerous times during the match, allowing Christopher to attach a bottle ofHead & Shoulders shampoo to Head and pin it for the win.
In the next match,D-Generation X memberX-Pac took on The Nation of Domination memberOwen Hart. Mark Henry interfered in the match on Hart's behalf but thenVader showed up and collided with Henry. Hart had applied theSharpshooter on X-Pac but the referee was distracted, allowing X-Pac's DX teammateChyna to hit aDDT on Hart and X-Pac pinned him for the win.
Next,The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn andRoad Dogg) defended theTag Team Championship againstThe Midnight Express (Bodacious Bart andBombastic Bob).Jim Cornette tried to interfere on Express' behalf by using his racket but Gunn stopped him and Chyna nailed a low blow to Cornette and then Outlaws tossed Holly head-first on the ropes for the win to retain the titles.
Later, The Rock took on Ken Shamrock in the final round of the King of the Ring tournament. After a back and forth match, Shamrock applied an ankle lock on Rock to make him submit and win the 1998 King of the Ring tournament.
The penultimate match of the event was a Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Mankind (Mick Foley) that has become one of the most watched and discussed in professional wrestling history due to the bumps Foley sustained at his own request and with his full participation.
Before this match, Foley andTerry Funk were discussing the previous year's Hell in a Cell atBadd Blood: In Your House that featured the Undertaker backdropping and slammingShawn Michaels onto the chain-link ceiling of the cage. Foley and Funk were brainstorming ideas about how to top that match when Funk said, "laughing, 'maybe you should let him throw you off the top of the cage.'"[10] Fittingly for Foley, the King of the Ring was scheduled to take place that year at theCivic Arena inPittsburgh. Foley himself trained to become a professional wrestler atDominic DeNucci's wrestling school in nearbyFreedom, Pennsylvania, only 25 miles (40 km) from Pittsburgh, bringing his career full circle.[11][12]
Early in the match, Undertaker tossed Mankind from the top of the cell onto the Spanish announce table. Midway through the match, Undertaker dropped Mankind again from the top of the cell bychokeslamming him through the roof. Near the end of the match, Mankind spread thumbtacks in the ring and applied aMandible claw on Undertaker but Undertaker dropped him on the thumbtacks and executed a Chokeslam and aTombstone on Mankind onto the thumbtacks for the win.
The main event was aFirst Blood match, in whichStone Cold Steve Austin defended theWWF Championship againstKane. The Hell in a Cell was lowered, then raised 8 feet, then lowered again when Mankind interfered in the match on Kane's behalf until The Undertaker made the save and attempted to hit Mankind with a chair but Mankind ducked and Austin was accidentally hit with the chair instead, which busted Austin's face. Austin would then attack Kane with a chair to make him bleed but the referee saw Austin bleeding, therefore the referee awarded Kane the win and the title.
In 2002, Scott Keith of InsidePulse gave the event a rating of Recommended, stating, "The Bottom Line: Wildly divergent opinions on you-know-what aside, there was some really solid wrestling in the form of Rock-Shamrock and NAO-NME. Owen-XPac narrowly misses match of the night honors. And Foley-UT is really worth a look, if only to make your own judgment on it."[13]
In 2003, Dan of Cult of Whatever gave the event a rating of 8/10, stating, "You won’t need much persuasion However if you are looking at it as a PPV overall, it is not bad, ok it is not a great PPV but it has its good points, The Austin/Kane match is good, and the other mid card matches are enjoyable. As you would expect my favourite match was Undertaker/Mankind, it was just amazing. If you buy this you will almost certainly enjoy it as much as I did."[14]
In 2017, Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 5.0 [Not So Good], stating, "Judging by the first few matches, this was on pace to be a horrendous Pay-Per-View. Once we got past the Semi-Finals and dumb Too Cool match, everything else was pretty solid. The King of the Ring Finals were pretty good and the main event was an enjoyable Attitude Era brawl. Obviously, the key to the show was the memorable Hell in a Cell match, which is a must see for any wrestling fan, even if it is just for historical purposes."[15]
The following night onRaw Is War, Austin defeated Kane to regain the WWF Championship[16] and began a feud with both Kane and the Undertaker, which lasted through September. AtFully Loaded: In Your House in July, Austin and Undertaker defeated Kane and Mankind for the WWF Tag Team Championship, but dropped the titles back to them in a fatal four-way match on the August 10 episode ofRaw Is War.
Kane and the Undertaker were gradually revealed to be in cahoots with each other over the WWF Championship. As part of the storyline, Kane turned on Mankind atSummerSlam, losing the tag team titles to theNew Age Outlaws, and Undertaker ordered his brother not to interfere in his title match with Austin in the main event. The feud culminated in a match atBreakdown: In Your House in September, where Kane and Undertaker simultaneously pinned Austin. This led to a match between Kane and Undertaker atJudgment Day: In Your House in October, where Austin, who was the special referee, attacked both men and refused to count a fall. After the match, Undertaker turned on Kane and reunited with Paul Bearer, reigniting their feud.
At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...