The WWFs In Your House: Judgment Day pay-per-view in October 1998 featured the main event of the Undertaker versus Kane for the vacant WWF Championship, with special guest referee, former WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yes, you read that right. For those of you wondering what the big deal is about all that well. At this point in the storylines, Kane and the Undertaker are tag team partners, despite having resolved none of the deep-seated family issues of fire, mayhem and sudden death that caused their very recent operatic blood feud. Kane is technically still a monstrous, pyromaniac heel, while the Undertaker is as close to being a white meat babyface as a giant demonic sorcerer possibly can be. Meanwhile, the match has been booked by Mr. McMahon, who had the Dead Man and his brother take part in a triple threat with Austin for his title at the previous pay-per-view, with the stipulation that they couldnt pin each other to win, only Austin. This backfired when both of the massive serial killers pinned Austin at the same time, and McMahon decided that although Austin had lost the title, neither brother had won it. Despite the fact that The Rock had literally just won a triple threat match to be named the number one contender to the WWF Championship, McMahon made the above match for In Your House: Judgment Day but to punish the Undertaker and Kane for not protecting him from Austin, he made Austin the special guest referee, telling him that hed have to raise the hand of a new WWF Champion that night, or be fired. Aaaand breathe. Thats a whole lot of plot for a short angle like this, but what it boils down to here is that the two men battling it out for the WWF Championship werent the story. No, the referee was the story and Austin would remain the focus of the match, a human spoiler, one moment refusing to count, the next counting too fast and the next encouraging weapons shots, all the while constantly taunting and distracting both men. There was another story going on in the middle of the ring, with an attempted double turn for the brothers no one noticed, or cared if they did. The match was all Austin. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x23c7p1_kane-vs-the-undertaker-with-stone-cold-as-ref-wwf-championship-judgment-day-1998_sport The match ended in a no contest finish, Austin having refused to make a three count for the Undertakers pin on a prone Kane, delivering a stunner and a chair shot to the Phenom and then counting three on both men, declaring himself the winner. Austin then called McMahons bluff, and his Horrible Boss simply fired him. So not only did the in-ring action not matter, the competitors not matter, the WWF title not matter and the outcome not matter, but the pay-per-view ended with the crowd favourite being caught on the back foot, seeming completely nonplussed that his nemesis actually had the testicular fortitude to sack him. Both WCW and the WWF had a nasty habit back in those days of using pay-per-views to advertise free television, instead of the other way around this was just one of the worst examples of that. Diabolical.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
