WWE Wrestlemania XIV
March 29, 1998
Boston, MA
Reviewed on April 10, 2014

Background: The WWF was coming back!

After getting their ass handed to them in the Monday Night Wars, the WWF finally switched gears to an edgier product in late 1997. The results were almost immediate. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the hottest thing in either company. De-Generation X had made the NWO look old and dated. The media had gotten behind the WWF, especially with Mike Tyson slated to be at Wrestlemania. Tyson had bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off only seven months before.

This was a huge make or break show. If it was good…the WWF was probably in great shape in the future (which is how it worked out). If it sucked? WCW might have been able to hold on and end the WWF. It wasn’t likely it would suck though, as this was a well-built show with some good matches set up. The right guys were in the main event. New guys were ready to make an impact. It would be hard for the WWF to screw this up.

It’s worth noting that WWF Champion Shawn Michaels injured his back at the Royal Rumble. There was talk back and forth about whether he’d show up to even defend the title…but I think he always would have. I don’t believe The Undertaker taped fist story or any of that. I actually believe the account Shawn wrote in his book. He was a pain in the ass, threatened not to show up a lot, got his own dressing room, took No Way Out off and got pissed afterwards. I buy that.

Anyway, this is the PPV that set up the WWF taking back the ratings lead two weeks later.

The Card

15 Team Battle Royal: Winner gets a WWF World Tag Team Championship Match

We don’t see all the entrances…but we have a Los Boricuas team, Chainz and Bradshaw, two Nation teams, the Truth Commission, Flash Funk and Steve Blackman, the new Midnight Express, the Godwinns, the DOA, the Rock’N’Roll Express, Headbangers, Too Much and the Quebecers. Oh, and the Legion of Doom has returned! LOD 2000 is with Sunny! Gee, I wonder who wins this one.

To be fair, Sunny leading the return of the LOD would have been a great moment…if the LOD didn’t become a joke and Sunny didn’t fall apart. Ah well.

Fans are also very into LOD. So there is that as well.

Sunny and Cornette argue on the outside. There is practically no way this doesn’t come down to the New Midnight Express and LOD 2000.

Kurrgan and Barry Windham make appearances. Way too much going on.

Always thought it was weird that the Quebecers were so wasted in their 2nd WWF run.

Midnight Express, Godwinns, DOA and LOD left. Sounds about right.

DOA is thanks to the Godwinns. DOA come back in and take out the Godwinns. There is a feud I’m happy we never saw.

Godwinns attack LOD. They did feud in 1997, so it makes sense.

LOD 2000 wins in 8:19. They double clothesline the New Midnight Express out to win. This would set up one last New Age Outlaws vs. LOD match at Unforgiven, but LOD never regained the popularity they had in the late 80s/early 90s. Battle royal was just a way to get everyone on the card. Unless you thought Flash Funk and Steve Blackman or Chainz and Bradshaw were long time tag teams. Didn’t help that the winner was obvious from the beginning.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
Taka Michinoku© vs. Aguila

Aguila is the future Essa Rios.

This was the WWF trying to carve in their own high flying division, but it would never even remotely get close to the WCW Cruiserweight division…and WWF fans never really cared anyway.

Aguila gets the jobber introduction…which should tell you who’s going to win this one.

Really nice top rope moonsault to the outside from Aguila.

Aguila looks really good here to be fair. Nice spots. Springboard armdrag.

Aguila with an over the top corkscrew tope con hilo!

Taka Michinoku retains by pin in 5:47. Aguila comes up the top but Taka dropkicks him on the way down. Michinoku Driver gets the pin. Fun little match. Aguila was interesting as all of his high spots got a good reaction, but his stomps and chops looked really fake and uninspired. Also, the dirty secret of Taka Michinoku here: In this WWF run, if you saw one Taka match you’ve seen them all. While this is a fun little match, it isn’t even close to the level WCW was doing. WWF lost its chance when The Great Sasuke didn’t stick around.

The Rock with Gennifer Flowers. Hilarious interview. Amazing the difference between Rocky Maivia in 1997 and The Rock in 1998. Absolutely amazing.

WWF European Championship
Triple H© vs. Owen Hart

Story: This is an extension of the HBK-Bret Hart feud. HHH and Owen ended up feuding. Somehow Owen never beat HHH in this feud. Also, to keep Chyna from interfering, Sgt. Slaughter will be handcuffed to her. There was also an Owen Hart ankle injury in all this.

Owen starts by double leg tripping HHH. Owen was wrestling a really aggressive style here to be the Blackhart. Too bad it didn’t go anywhere.

Match is revolving around the ankle injury…which makes sense and is good psychology!

Sharpshooter got a huge reaction.

Triple H retains by pin in 11:27. Chyna helps HHH get to the ropes in the Sharpshooter…then tosses powder in Sgt. Slaughter’s eyes. Low blow to Owen then Pedigree. Good match here. Didn’t bury Owen as it looked like Owen had it won if it weren’t for Chyna. With that being said, this was the right decision as Owen Hart had no shot at being a main eventer in the WWF anymore (despite what people say about the Game gimmick after Owen died). Austin never wanted to work with him again, so that was that. They were clearly going with HHH.

Mixed Tag Match
TAFKA Goldust and Luna vs. Marc Mero and Sable

Story here: Fucking weird. Mero is jealous of Sable. Somehow Mero decided to use Goldust as his valet. Somehow Luna got involved cause Sable is the pretty girl everyone loves. Mero got angry at Goldust protecting Sable once. We still aren’t sure if Sable can rely on Mero. It’s a lot weird than this, but this is the basic story.

Sable kicks Goldust in the face, to the surprise of everyone.

The Goldust-Mero sequence is actually pretty solid. Fans don’t care though, they just want Sable.

Sable beats the crap out of Luna…and it looks damn good to be fair.

Nice TKO counter to the DDT from Goldust.

Mero busts out the Merosault…which is a 180 jump on the top into the moonsault. He hadn’t busted that out since the Wildman days.

Sable and Marc Mero win when Sable pinned Luna in 9:05 Sable hits a powerbomb and a TKO on Luna for the win. This match was really good…and I don’t remember it being good! I would have never guessed. Of course, I assume Sable here was why they brought in the Women’s title a few months later…since it seemed like Sable could wrestle.

We have Jeff Jarrett bringing Gennifer Flowers to the ring. Jarrett was in the IC title match only three years ago at Mania, interestingly enough. She says Jarrett great. No one cares.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
The Rock© vs. Ken Shamrock

Story: They actually went at it at the Rumble, but Rock got himself DQed. This match has the stip that if Rock Is DQed, he still loses the title. The Nation is out here, sans Faarooq. This was during that power struggle.

Shamrock just murderalizes Rock here.

Rock does get a People’s Elbow in…before it was called that.

Rock with a cringeworthy steel chair shot to Shamrock!

Rock taps out! Shamrock wins!

The Rock retains by reverse decision in 4:49. Shamrock snaps again! He keeps going for the Ankle Lock then takes out some referees. Faarooq turns on Rock here by not helping him. Rock gets carried away on a stretcher…and the ref reverses the decision. Shamrock attacks Rock again (Rock was hilariously holding up the title despite being carried away, funny stuff). While the finish is whatever (since surely this happens in other matches) it was pretty well done, and somehow Rock got more over despite getting killed.

WWF World Tag Team Championship: Dumpster Match
The New Age Outlaws© vs. Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack

Story: This all began with the famous dumpster ride. They were on opposite sides of the No Way Out 8 Man tag as well.

This works like a Casket Match…just with a dumpster.

Foley actually tries his upside down Crack Smash off the apron but misses Road Dogg and hits the dumpster…and lands on his head. Jeez.

Russian Legsweep into the Dumpster. Foley is taking an ass kicking.

Billy Gunn and Cactus go flying through the dumpster lid from a ladder. Jeez.

Terry Funk takes a POWERBOMB into the dumpster.

Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie win the title in 10:00. They fight backstage, and eventually they get the Outlaws on a forklift and deposit them in a different dumpster (which would cause the title to be held up the next night). Not really a good match…it was pretty disjointed with the random Foley or Funk bump. Ending was strange too. A precursor to the Hardcore Title division for sure. While I said it wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad either.

Pete Rose comes out and cuts a heel promo on Boston, which is awesome. Finkel calls him a surefire future Hall of Famer…which is true for WWE! Kane’s feud with Rose begins here with a Tombstone!

The Undertaker vs. Kane

Story: Very similar to Bret vs. Owen in 1994, except with more death stuff and Paul Bearer. That being said, this was a well built story that led to this feud. Taker accidentally (or, as we were told later, purposely) killed his family, but Kane survived. Kane wants revenge. Paul Bearer was with Kane for the last 20 years. Taker refused to fight him. Kane locked him in a casket and burned it. And here we are. Kane also had beaten up everyone and was undefeated at this point. For the record, it’s funny that Taker refused to fight Kane…then fought him probably 500 times over the next 13 years…if not more.

Taker had that awesome “O Carmin Fortuna” entrance. First time he did this. Probably still the best one unless you take the Mania XX version.

This is the first time the Undertaker as the underdog story actually worked. Unless you took Giant Gonzales seriously. Watching Kane no-sell Taker punches is a bit odd, and was very odd at the time.

I think at the time the whole idea of Kane was that he was better than the Undertaker at everything (kayfabe wise). Bigger, stronger, more agility, etc. And actually, I would have bet at the time they thought Taker would last 4-5 more years and then Kane would be the new Undertaker. Never worked out that way.

Undertaker somehow climbs to Kane’s shoulders in one move…but then gets dropped head first. A weird sequence for both.

This is a really well booked match. Big time chokeslam by Kane. Kane has dominated this match.

Really long chinlock here. Kinda hurting what was a really good match so far.

Undertaker knocks Kane to the floor…but when he goes for the tope Kane slams him through the announcer’s table! What a spot!

Taker just kicks out of a Kane Tombstone! Barely!

Shocker as Kane kicks out of Taker’s Tombstone (a first, although Hogan got up from one once)!

Second Tombstone! Kane just kicks out again! Fans are stunned.

The Undertaker pinned Kane in 16:58. Third Tombstone…and Kane still kicks out, but does so a moment too late. What a well booked match. Even though Taker won, it still looks like Kane was the dominant brother. It took three tombstones at a time where one was automatic death. A very solid big man match…although that headlock was annoying. If you wanna know why I hate the Survivor Series 98 match between these two, just watch this match and see the difference. Kane also destroys Taker post-match. Kane lost the battle, but won the war.

WWF World Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Story: Austin won the Rumble and HBK was the champ. Mike Tyson was brought in to be the special enforcer and him and Austin had a famous altercation…and Tyson eventually joined HBK’s De-Generation X! The buildup was fantastic. You can tell Tyson was having a lot of fun (I bet Tyson would have been an awesome professional wrestler) with the whole thing. DX was the hottest thing in all of wrestling not named Stone Cold, and that includes the NWO.

Backstage story: HBK’s back was screwed up from the Casket Match in January. Of course, there were questions if he’d even make it to Mania and do the job for Stone Cold. Austin stated he was worried about that in his book…HBK said he was adamant about putting Austin over in his. And since HBK ended up doing it, hard not to side with his story.

Austin gets one of the biggest pops in history during his entrance. He was fucking over, that’s for sure.

HBK says “this is for you Earl” on camera, as referee Earl Hebner was in the hospital. Pretty classy for HBK there.

Even though it happened for HHH’s entrance, the live DX entrance is one of my favorites.

Something that is cool about this match: Neither Austin nor Michaels had someone who could match them attitude wise. Austin had finished with Owen Hart and a not main event ready Rock. HBK finished with Bret, Undertaker and Shamrock. It really added to this match. For every suck-it from Michaels there’s a middle finger from Austin.

Michaels still takes some bad ass bumps for someone with back problems.

A lot of outside brawling once HHH is ejected. Another thing about this match is HBK wasn’t the high flying HBK here…but instead a brawler. This is more 2002 Shawn than 1996 Shawn.

Austin busts out the old Stun Gun.

You can see Michaels tending to the back pretty much the whole match. It starts as just a hand on the back.

Michaels gets no lift whatsoever on his flying forearm. You can tell his back is fucked.

Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the title by pin in 20:01. HBK goes for Sweet Chin, but Austin ducks. Stunner is countered, then Austin hits the classic SCM block, spin around, Stunner sequence for the win. Mike Tyson makes the (fast) count. Whatever, great finish. Match itself wasn’t much to say in terms of spots…but it was still a bad ass back and forth match. Hard hitting, good brawling, good action. Tyson’s turn to Austin’s side is funny too. This of course gave Austin the title and launched the most successful WWF era ever.

The WWF needed a great Wrestlemania and it delivered. The only match that could be considered bad had a good moment at least (Tag Battle royal), and everything else ranged from decent o pretty fucking good. Taker vs. Kane elicits different opinions from a lot of people, but it was the perfect match to continue to get Kane over despite losing. In terms of action, this was a B+/A- PPV.

But then there is the historical aspect. So much of the midcard here was the future of the foundation of the WWF coming into their own. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was pretty much dead, here is Triple H. Rocky Maivia was firmly The Rock. Kane went from storyline to legit WWF Championship material. Cactus Jack took some sick bumps and became Austin’s first challenger. And of course, the Austin era began here.

And you’ve gotta give Shawn Michaels credit for the main event.

Final Grade: A