Here’s Part 14 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania 29 on April 7th
WrestleMania XIV (1998)
Tagline: The Greatest PPV Attraction of all time!
Sponsor: M&Ms
Date: March 29, 1998
Venue: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 19,028
America the Beautiful/The Star-Spangled Banner: Performed by Chris Warren and The DX Band (Off air)
The Undertaker’s Streak: 7-0 (Def Kane )
WrestleMania XIV was the fourteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was presented by M&Ms and took place on March 29, 1998 at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts.
This pay-per-view event was notable for the involvement of boxer Mike Tyson, who acted as a ring enforcer for the main event. The main event also saw the start of Steve Austin’s first WWF Championship reign. His victory in the main event, against Shawn Michaels (who performed despite a severe injury and would not compete again until SummerSlam 2002), has been cited as the beginning of the Attitude Era.
After Legion of Doom lost their Tag Team Championship to the New Age Outlaws, they were assaulted by the Outlaws and D-Generation X. At the Royal Rumble they lost a championship match largely because Road Dogg handcuffed Hawk to the outside of the ring.Following this they suffered two defeats by the NWA members Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham and finally on the February 23 episode of Raw, they lost again to the New Age Outlawswhen, despite having the match all but won, the non-legal Hawk did not leave the ring and while the referee was busy removing him, Animal was struck by the title belts and lost the match. Following the bout the two brawled all the way to the back and announced their dissolution, not appearing again until WrestleMania.
After the Montreal Screwjob, Owen Hart was the only member of the Hart family to remain with the company, and after a temporary absence returned during In Your House: D-Generation X to attack Shawn Michaels.Following this he turned his attention to Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the European Championship that Michaels had given to Helmsley as a Christmas present. After weeks of deterring a championship match by way of a fractured kneecap, Triple H finally acquiesced to a match on January 26’s Raw is War, only for the Artist Formerly Known as Goldust (who was dressing up from week to week in a bid for attention) to appear in Helmsley’s place. After Hart won the match, WWF Commissioner Slaughter declared the disguise so convincing that he upheld the decision and awarded the belt to Hart.On Raw, March 2, Hart defended the title against Mark Henry, Chyna came to the ring and pushed Hart off the turnbuckle allowing Henry to lock on a bearhug, but before he could submit she gave an obvious lowblow to Henry, resulting in a disqualification in favour of Hart. The following week in a match against Barry Windham, Hart landed awkwardly on his ankle suffering a (kayfabe) injury. On a special Tuesday edition of Raw, March 17, the following week Hart joined the commentary team with a supportive case on his leg; while commentating Triple H came to the ringside and goaded him into an impromptu title defence despite his cast, during the match Chyna appeared and hit his ankle with a bat allowing Helmsley to win the title back.
After successively beating members of the Nation of Domination until Mark Henry turned on him, Ken Shamrock beat the Intercontinental Champion[2] Rocky Maivia despite being hit with a foreign object; The Rock convinced the referee that it was in fact he who suffered an illegal attack and the referee reversed his decision.The following month at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, Shamrock capitalised on the in-fighting of the Nation, due to leadership disputes between Faarooq and The Rock, by pinning the champion in a ten-man tag team match.
At the end of the inaugural Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood, just as The Undertaker looked to have won the match against Shawn Michaels, the lights went out and a masked man came to the ring and delivered a tombstone piledriver to the shocked Undertaker.The masked man was revealed to be Kane, Undertaker’s (kayfabe) half-brother and, despite the animosity and the presence of Paul Bearer, Undertaker vowed never to fight his little brother. Before Undertaker’s casket match with Michaels, D-Generation X claimed Kane had joined them but in fact he came to the ring to assist Undertaker.
The alliance was short lived, however, as during the Royal Rumble event Kane came to the ring and locked Undertaker in his casket before setting it ablaze, presuming his brother dead.On the March 2 edition of Raw is War, Kane’s opponent, Steve Austin, was taken out by DX and with nothing to do, Bearer ordered the time keeper to deliver a ten-bell salute for The Undertaker’s passing, before telling Kane to tombstone him. After he did, more bells were heard to ring, this time signalling Undertaker’s theme music. The ringing continued much longer than normal, with Bearer denying the possibility of it being the Deadman. Eventually a sarcophagus appeared on the top of the ramp and after lightning struck it, The Undertaker sat up before revealing that he had been through hell and talked to his parents to tell them that he would have to go back on his vow. The week before WrestleMania, Kane came to the ring and began to display similar supernatural powers as his brother, striking the TitanTron with lightning, as well as the announce table, before striking a crew worker with lightning, setting him on fire; Undertaker was shown on the same episode speaking to his parents’ gravestones, revealing it may have to take the damnation of his soul to reunite the troubled family.
Before The Undertaker’s match with Kane, baseball record-holder Pete Rose came to the ring as the special ring announcer. However, after insulting the home-town team and introducing Kane, the wrestler gave him a tombstone piledriver starting a tri-year tradition. The Undertaker was preceded by a league of torch-bearing druids to the tune of O Fortuna. The Undertaker would eventually defeat Kane to become 7-0 at WrestleMania. His effort took three tombstones with a guillotine leg drop and flying clothesline in between to stop Kane kicking out and sitting up. As soon as the match was over Bearer attacked Undertaker and ordered Kane attack him, which he did with a chair shot to the head and then a tombstone piledriver onto the chair. After Kane and Bearer left, Undertaker sat up and left the ring.
In January, Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble while Shawn Michaels retained his WWF Championship, both under the auspices of Mike Tyson from the director’s box. The following week on Raw is War, Vince McMahon revealed that Tyson would be the special guest referee for WrestleMania’s main event until Austin appeared and gave the finger to Tyson, offering him a fight and proclaiming the wrestling ring to be his, not Tyson’s.] At the ensuing press conference, McMahon announced that due to the explosive situation Tyson’s role was being changed to that of ring enforcer. On February 2, in a scheduled match against Road Dogg, D-Generation X stormed the match and tied Austin in the ropes, shouting abuse in his face and rubbing the Championship belt in his face, taunting him with it until Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie came to his aid. The following week Austin stole the belt from Michaels in the hope of baiting him in a singles match but the partnership of D-Generation X and New Age Outlaws continued. This led to a “non-sanctioned” eight-man tag match at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, which Michaels declined to participate in and that Austin won by pinning Road Dogg. With WrestleMania drawing closer, on March 2 Tyson appeared once again to be interviewed only for Michaels to interrupt and challenge Tyson to a fight. After both entourages left the ring, the two grabbed at each other until Michaels ripped Tyson’s shirt revealing a DX t-shirt showing the enforcer’s degenerate alliance; later in the evening Austin came out to take place in a match against Kane he saw Triple H on the ramp and walked over to him, only to turn round into Sweet Chin Music which knocked him out, something that occurred again the following week. Also that week, a St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday broadcast of Raw on March 17, Austin called out Vince McMahon and attacked him for describing Tyson as ‘the baddest man on the planet’ but McMahon would not be goaded into a fight, instead he forced Austin to fight Rocky Maivia the following episode just, before WrestleMania.
With Mike Tyson enforcing from ring side, the WWF Championship fight began with both superstars dancing around each other, engaging in a few light punches before Shawn Michaels escaped the ring and ran back in to take advantage of Steve Austin, but was met with a standing clothesline. Towards the end of the match, Austin then tried to reverse a standing sleeper hold by throwing Michaels back into the turnbuckle but unwittingly trapped referee Mike Chioda who fell unconscious. With both men on the floor, HBK recovered with a kip-up and landed a high-flying elbow drop, getting in position to taunt for his finisher. As Austin eventually stood up, he ducked the super kick, attempting a stunner on Michaels as he turned round only to be thrown into the ropes and met again with a Sweet Chin Music which he grabbed, spinning Michaels round and finishing with a Stone Cold stunner.
Tyson jumped into the ring to make a quick three count and the new champion celebrated by tossing the enforcer an Austin 3:16 t-shirt. When Shawn Michaels stood up, he confronted Tyson about his turn but was met with a punch that instantly floored him, and draped with Austin’s t-shirt.
WrestleMania XIV Results
• L.O.D. 2000 (Hawk and Animal) (with Sunny) won by last eliminating The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart) (with Jim Cornette).[ 15-team battle royal for the number one contendership to the WWF Tag Team Championship. Other participants were: Los Boricuas (Savio Vega and Miguel Pérez, Jr.), Los Boricuas (Jose Estrada, Jr. and Jesus Castillo), The Truth Commission (Recon and Sniper), Bradshaw and Chainz, the Nation of Domination (Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown), the Nation of Domination (Faarooq and Kama Mustafa), The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Ouellet), The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), Too Much (Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher), Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball and Skull), Steve Blackman and Flash Funk and The Godwinns (Phineas and Henry)
• Taka Michinoku (c) defeated Aguila Singles match for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
• Triple H (c) (with Chyna) defeated Owen Hart Singles match for the WWF European Championship.
• Marc Mero and Sable defeated The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust and Luna
• The Rock (c) (with Kama Mustafa, Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown) defeated Ken Shamrock by disqualification Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship with the stipulation that The Rock could lose the title by disqualification 04:49
• Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie defeated the New Age Outlaws (c) (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) Dumpster match for the WWF Tag Team Championship
• The Undertaker defeated Kane (with Paul Bearer)
• Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels (c) (with Triple H and Chyna) Singles match for the WWF Championship with Mike Tyson as special outside enforcer
