A Vince Russo gimmick gone very, very right, the shoot-style Raw that begat this inherently silly effort in the first place was eventually beaten into the ground like every trope he trotted out. But the New Yorker's 1998 midas touch turned literal garbage to gold again as a skip became the prop du jour for a bloodthirsty war between The New Age Outlaws and the Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie pairing.
It mattered not that this was a coffin match without an Undertaker or that a brave new vision for WWE's future involved a middle aged-man getting bruises bigger than the birthmark on Dusty Rhodes' belly - Rockabilly and The Roadie going to war with ECW icons was suddenly what the people wanted.
A win for the babyfaces made for a fine finale, too. The Boston crowd knew not of the hotshot to follow - this was at last a night for Funk and Foley to bask in their grizzled glory.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
