10 Best Matches From B-Level WWE Pay Per Views
2. Steve Austin Vs. Dude Love - Over The Edge 1998
The diminished returns that followed this match have reverberated around the WWE landscape for far too long - just last year, intra-match McMahon politicking all but ruined AJ Styles Vs. Roman Reigns at Payback - but you can't hold it against Steve Austin and Dude Love.
Fought when the seminal Austin Vs. Mr. McMahon feud was revolutionising the company, its awesome and inventive quality was in its beginning to end presentation. Howard Finkel's lavish, shotgun wedding introduction for guest ring announcer Pat Patterson was as comical as it was agonising. As became apparent when he introduced guest timekeeper and fellow stooge Gerald Brisco, all imaginable odds were stacked against Austin. McMahon even served as the guest referee.
All were despatched to obstruct the transgressive, anti-corporate Austin from retaining his WWF Title. It was a masterstroke from a company firing on all creative cylinders. The hastily-turned Dude Love was a comedown as a challenger, but a thin roster was no barrier to success. We're practically living in 1998 Bizarro World in 2017. The roster is richer than it has been a decade, but this sort of shared universe storytelling is all but dead.
The presentation of the match was a revelation. It would have guaranteed success even if the lowly Marc Mero hadn't scuppered his own chances of a headline programme. The psychology behind Austin's ring introduction ("He's a beer swilling fool!") was expert. It was a rabona of an assist, and the finish netted itself.
The match itself was just as inventive - a smash mouth arena wide brawl, as heated as it was dramatic. The finish, which saw Austin coerce the accidentally knocked out McMahon's hand into a three count, was catharsis the likes of which are as dead as the imagination of this rule-shifting smorgasbord of sports entertainment.