WWF: Sunday Night Heat
August 16, 1998
Omaha, NE
Omaha Civic Auditorium

The current WWF champs are as follows:
WWF Champion: Steve Austin (6/29/1998)
Intercontinental Champion: The Rock (12/8/1997)
World Tag Team Champions: Kane & Mankind (8/10/1998)
European Champion: D’Lo Brown (7/20/1998)
Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (12/7/1997)

IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERRE. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Shane McMahon.

• WWF World Tag Team Championship: Kane & Mankind (c) (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Road Warrior Animal & Darren Drozdov

Mankind keeps his distance from Kane and Uncle Paul during their entrance. No real explanation as to where Hawk is at other than JR assuming Hawk is just in shape to wrestle tonight. Animal and Droz run wild on the tag champs to start. Shane thinks Droz as Hawk’s replacement is a step up. Anyways, Mankind slows down Droz with a Double-Arm DDT. Shane’s blonde chick this week is named “Michelle”. She’s got a stud in her tongue. Shane can’t explain why she would want that. Droz comes back with a clothesline out of the corner. Looks like he’s cut somewhere on the face. Tag to Animal, Mankind brings a chair in the ring and takes a slam on the chair. Big shoulderblock to Kane. Droz saves Animal from the MANDIBLE CLAW. Meanwhile, Kane gives Animal the TOMBSTONE for the win. (3:18) Fairly quick, competitive little match there. ¾*

Elsewhere, we check in to see Undertaker and Steve Austin sulking in their dressing rooms.

After the break, Shane takes back to last week on RAW when Sable messed up Jacqueline’s WWF wrestling debut and then handled Jackie’s bikini contest trophy over to Luna – because the freaks got to feel GOOD. Gee, what a lady.

Back to HEAT, Jacqueline and Marc Mero are in the ring. She calls out Sable because she’s got something to say. Put down the ring-dings and cheap wine and SHOW YOURSELF. Here comes Sable. Shane turns into Wayne and Garth when he sees her. Sable delivers a couple cheap lines. Jackie ain’t playing though. She wants her damn trophy back. Sounds like an arm wrestling match is upcoming. Crowd chants Sable. No matter the challenge, Sable will drop the “bomb” on Jacqueline. Something is going to go down or come off, says JR.

• Edge vs. Brian Christopher (w/Scott Taylor)

JR and Shane get in some Jerry Lawler jokes. Christopher fails at BUM RUSHING THE SHOW, but quickly puts Edge down with a clothesline. Edge grabs him off the second rope though for a Kanyon electric chair drop Faceslam. Dustin Runnels is walking around through the crowd with a “The Choice Is Yours” and “He’s Coming Back” sign. Alright then. Meanwhile, Edge goes to the floor with Christopher and Too Much fails to double-team him. Edge then ducks a swing from Christopher and runs his nuts into the ringpost. Back in, Scott Taylor tries to prevent Edge from getting back in the ring, allowing Christopher to deliver the sunset flip powerbomb to the floor! Back inside, Christopher gives Edge a Super Bulldog and celebrates with Taylor over the big move instead of covering him. He throws Edge around by his hair, but then he flies down into a spinebuster from Edge. SPEAR! That stuns Christopher for a clothesline, but Christopher ducks a second one and hits the STROKE. He heads up top, but misses the Tennessee Jam. DOWNWARD SPIRAL from Edge gets the win. (4:40) Another fun, short match. **

• Bart Gunn vs. Vader

The Godfather joins us for extra special commentary. He faces Bart Gunn in the “Brawl for All” semifinals tomorrow night on RAW. They trade shots to start until Vader starts splashing Bart. Vader elbow drops the mid-section and starts hammering away on Gunn. Another left hand to Vader’s belly. Bart shows off with a vertical suplex, but then Vader comes back with a clothesline. Fujiwara armbar to Bart. Okay, back to their feet. Both guys tumble out to the floor in front of Godfather. Bart then throws Vader into the steps. While Bart isn’t looking, Godfather stands up and shoves Gunn into the ringpost. (2:34) In the ring, Godfather slams Bart in place for a splash by Vader. Oh boy. This adds some sauce to tomorrow’s “Brawl for All” semifinal. ½*

DAN SEVERN – OWEN HART – KEN SHAMROCK. Tomorrow night on RAW, they will meet in a “triple-threat” match.

• Gangrel vs. Scott Taylor (w/Brian Christopher)

This is the TV debut of the vampire character Gangrel. He has a COOL entrance as it looks like he’s coming up from the stage surrounded by FIRE. Gangrel drinks from a goblet full of “blood” and spits it out all over himself like Triple H spews water. Pretty sure Gangrel just creamed himself. Taylor doesn’t know what to think of this dude. Little background info on Gangrel. His real name is David Heath and he has toiled on the indies for the past ten years doing the vampire character in between doing TV jobs for the WWF and WCW, but now he has finally found his spot on the WWF roster full-time where he’ll remain until the end of the year 2000. Short match as Gangrel wins with the IMPALER DDT in 1:47. That was the darnedest DDT JR has ever seen.

After the break, Tiger Ali Singh and Babu head to the ring to make Americans look stupid while doing the Ted DiBiase thing. He’ll pay a ham-and-egger $500 to eat a nightcrawler. The guy they choose looks like Kevin Dunn’s cousin or something. He eats the nightcrawler and picks up the cash as Tiger Ali Singh feels he’s made his point.

• Triple H & X-Pac (w/Chyna) vs. Southern Justice

Does anything really bother DX? It seems no matter what controversy heads their way, they just laugh it off. Shane McMahon gets up on the table to crotch chop his DX brethren. Dennis Knight starts off beating up X-Pac, but then X-Pac catches him with a spinning heel kick and tags in HHH. High Knee to Knight gets two. Knight comes back with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline. Tag to Canterbury, he pounds Triple H down in the corner. Helmsley ducks a clothesline from Canterbury and drops him with a reverse neckbreaker. X-Pac tags in and he kicks Knight down in the corner for the Bronco Buster, but then Knight runs him down with another clothesline. In comes Canterbury with a wheelbarrow facebuster to X-Pac for two. Triple H makes the save. Canterbury clotheslines Helmsley out to the floor as he and Knight beat on him. Meanwhile, Jeff Jarrett shows up and kicks X-Pac in the nuts for the DQ. (3:58) JR mentions Jarrett and X-Pac will meet at SummerSlam. That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Jarrett pulls out some clippers and wants to cut X-Pac’s hair, but Billy Gunn chases off Double J. That’s the breaks, boy. Yeah, break it down. ¾*

The Undertaker heads to the ring to make his “confession”. Taker tells Austin that until SummerSlam, he would be the safest SOB in the WWF. However, the one person Taker couldn’t protect him from was Austin himself. Taker admits he’s pissed off and that Austin now has one foot in the grave. Well, we see Steve Austin won’t sit by and let Taker continue talking like this. He grabs his WWF title and heads to the ring. Taker continues to say he will meet Austin at the intersection of the “Highway to Hell” at SummerSlam and Taker plans on taking back his WWF title. *GLASS BREAKS* Here comes Stone Cold Steve Austin. As he’s halfway down the ramp, the pyro goes off and Kane appears on the stage. Now Austin is trapped between the Undertaker and Kane as we close the show.

RAW IS NEXT! Until then, so long for now.