History of the WWE Championship | Part 4 | Brahma Bull & Rattlesnake

The mid ‘90s were dominated by whiney babies politicking on and off screen. It felt cool to some at the time, but looking back it’s pretty annoying. So along came Steve Austin, who kept his politicking out of the dirt sheets (for a while) and channeled it on-screen into a blue collar badass character that at the same time was dope as hell and gave a generation of young men the wrong idea about how to express themselves. But I’m not a psychologist, I’m a wrestling fan, so here’s a look at an era dominated by men who were presented as either rage monsters, narcissists, or schizophrenics. 

Oh also, thanks to Vince Russo (probably), this portion of the series covers less time than any other because that dude loved moving the title around. 

March 29, 1998 – Boston, Massachusetts

Steve Austin def. Shawn Michaels {WWF Championship Match}
From WrestleMania XIV. This had a really great intensity that frankly had been missing from most of the title changes in WWE’s history. I wonder if that’s because the champions losing the titles were being babies. Flair vs. Savage had it, and the Fatal Four Way match had it, and it’s not a coincidence that those were the two best title matches to this point. This also told a great story with Austin being outclassed and HBK looking like he’d put down the upstart without much of a problem, especially with Tyson in his camp. But Austin showed the champ that he was overconfident, avoided his finisher over and over and got the win with outside enforcer Tyson’s help at 20:01. ****

June 28, 1998 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Kane def. Steve Austin {WWF Championship First Blood Match}
From the sixth King of the Ring. The commentators had to bend over backwards to make sense of the cell going up and down during this match, and of Austin’s back bleeding early on in a First Blood match but the damn thing continuing. Why didn’t Austin just wear a shirt? Why didn’t Jim Ross spend the match decrying how unfair it was that Kane was completely covered up and couldn’t really lose this the match? Beyond that, I thought this was actually a decent brawl. It leaned on floor bumps more than it did on rest holds, and I’m always for that. Sadly, the stipulation just ruined it. I mostly hated Mankind no-selling death in the previous match to interfere in this match too. Also, Austin bladed on camera at 15:58. There’s a lot to dislike about this match, but it wasn’t boring. **

June 19, 1998 – Cleveland, Ohio

Steve Austin def. Kane {WWF Championship Match}
From Raw 266. Without all the nonsense, these two had a pretty solid match, especially by the standards of Kane at the time. The first half of the match was all Austin, full of energy and a lot of fun. Kane took over and things slowed down, though the big man moved pretty quickly around this time. The finish was solid, and clean too, with Austin hitting the stunner at 8:27 to keep Kane’s reign short. One of Kane’s better matches. ***

September 27, 1998 – Hamilton, Ontario

The Undertaker and Kane def. Steve Austin {WWF Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Breakdown: In Your House. For all the fun brawling in the Austin vs. Kane matches, throwing Undertaker into the mix and adding more time brought the intensity of the proceedings way down. There were a couple tense moments and things got kind of fun when Kane and Undertaker briefly fought each other, but way too much of this match was a drag. And while it’s hard to argue given how much money WWF was drawing at the time, this faux handicap match felt like it belonged on TV, not on PPV. Kane and the Undertaker double pinned Austin 22:18, and the title was held up as vacant. *¼ 

November 15, 1998 – St. Louis, Missouri

The Rock def. Mankind {WWF Championship Match}
A match between Kane and Undertaker a month after Breakdown ended in a no contest thanks to Austin, so the title was decided in a tournament at the 12th annual Survivor Series. Watching this as a teenager, it felt like the Montreal Screwjob had happened such a long time ago. In hindsight, a year was not nearly long enough to wait to run the same kind of angle in the main event of Survivor Series. They somehow made 17 minutes feel like 30 here, and the callback felt unbelievably lazy. The last five minutes or so were starting to heat up, but everything before that and the garbage finish at 17:10 left me hating this. It really sucks that this is how the Rock won his first title. *¾ 

January 4, 1999 – Worcester, Massachusetts

Mankind def. The Rock {WWF Championship No Disqualification Match}
From Raw 293. This isn’t much of a match outside of a couple of insanely rough shots with the ring bell (which actually rings on impact) and the title belt (which gives off a loud smack) from Rock to Mankind. That and of course the escalating pop that starts with Billy Gunn attacking an interfering Ken Shamrock, then Austin blowing the roof off the place when he runs in, and finally the crowd nearly rioting in support of Mankind’s win at 8:42. It was the first time I think since Sammartino that I’ve seen the fans look this insane. It’s also hilarious that WCW basically gave WWF free advertising for this match on the air on Nitro, leading to them getting slammed in the ratings. Other companies should definitely heed this cautionary tale. ***

January 24, 1999 – Anaheim, California

The Rock def. Mankind {WWF Championship I Quit Match}
From the 12th Royal Rumble. Before the match even starts, the commentators talk about all the shots to the head Mankind had taken on Raw the week before. On the one hand, I’d like to think about this match in the context of what these guys were thinking when they performed. The spectacle of this thing is pretty incredible, and Mankind was more compelling in handcuffs than anyone I’ve ever seen in any other wrestling match save for maybe Tommaso Ciampa. The last few minutes were really powerful, with the exclamation being the heel commentating Jerry Lawlor originally cheering Rock’s chair shots on eventually getting fed up and saying it was enough. But we know the Rock took advantage of Mankind here. And it’s frankly impossible to watch this in 2020 without feeling pretty disgusted. There were moments when the Rock could have hit a chair shot to the back, and it looked like Mankind wanted him to do that, and Rock waited and moved around and hit the gnarly head shots from every angle. I’m not going to pretend this wasn’t entertaining because we happen to know so much about CTE now, but it’s upsetting to watch. I’m still going to give them credit for what they went through. A fake soundbite of Mankind quitting rang out over the speakers at 21:46, giving Rock the title back. ****

January 31, 1999 – Tucson, Arizona

Mankind def. The Rock {WWF Championship Empty Arena Match}
From Halftime Heat. This was a lot more violent than I remembered, though I hadn’t watched it in 21 years so it’s not like I remembered it all that well at all. Mankind falling halfway down the stairs was particularly rough, as was Rock hitting him while he was down with a chair so soon after the Royal Rumble (two days in real life). The fake sound effects in the back were a little silly, and truly the match just got sillier and sillier until it ended. But given the throwback vibe of the gimmick I’m kind of into it. Minus several thousand points for the Rock fat shaming a background actress. Mankind won at 17:20 by using a forklift to pin the Rock. ***¼ 

February 15, 1999 – Birmingham, Alabama

The Rock def. Mankind {WWF Championship Ladder Match}
From Raw 299. Having Steve Austin sit in on commentary and talk about how stupid it was for Rock and Mankind to brawl so much rather than go for the belt didn’t make that fact any less annoying. What did make it less annoying is that it was their hatred of each other that kept them from going for the belt, not goofy ladder spots they wanted to hit. The brawling was quite good, the crowd was hot, and the only shame is that Paul Wight’s interference was so tied into the finish. Rock retrieved the title at 12:58. ***½ 

March 28, 1999 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Steve Austin def. The Rock {WWF Championship No Disqualification Match}
From WrestleMania XV. This was not a great match by any stretch, simply a good one in the brawling main event style of the time. Most of it didn’t feel particularly WrestleMania worthy. But in hindsight it’s a historically important match, as Vince McMahon’s interference and the use of the chair was paralleled in the vastly superior rematch they had exactly two years later. Mankind eventually took his place as the guest referee and counted Austin’s win at 16:52. ***¼ 

May 23, 1999 – Kansas City, Missouri

The Undertaker def. Steve Austin {WWF Championship Match}
From Over the Edge, unfortunately. I don’t want to say too much about this match in the negative because the extenuating circumstances were about as dark as they could possibly be in wrestling. Owen Hart Had just died in front of everybody, so I’m not sure how we could’ve expected a stellar performance from Austin for the Undertaker. The crowd was pretty hot for Austin, so it’s not like the entire thing was a bust. But most of the match was punching and walking around. That lasted almost 20 minutes. And honestly, the referee shenanigans featuring guest refs Vince and Shane McMahon at the end were the only part of the match that was any fun. This match isn’t on the WWE Network and I don’t recommend going out of your way to see it, as it’s kind of macabre and very sad. Undertaker won at 22:58 after Shane made a fast count on a roll up. **

June 28, 1999 – Charlotte, North Carolina

Steve Austin def. The Undertaker {WWF Championship Match}
From Raw 318. They weren’t making a big deal out of episode numbers on Raw much at this point, but it would have been very cool had Austin won the title two weeks earlier. Here is where it becomes clear that the PPV match wasn’t bad because of the circumstances only. There were no extenuating circumstances on this episode of Raw and the match still sucked. Both guys were just totally broken down at this point, suffering from injuries and in dire need of time off. So we got 12 minutes of punches and kicks and that’s about it. Austin got his belt back at 12:02. *¾ 

With two of their biggest stars hobbling through the main event scene and barely able to move, it was time to elevate someone new. In the next part, we see the beginning of the main event career of one of the most interesting wrestlers of all time.