Mike Reviews WWF Fully Loaded 1998

Happy Fully Loaded Friday Everyone!

I decided to review Fully Loaded 1998 today for two reasons.

1. I haven’t reviewed it before and it happens to be on Netflix so I thought I’d give it the old looksee and fill in a hole (ooo err matron) in my archives

And

2. The Rock Vs Triple H match on the show tends to divide people on whether it’s good or not, so I thought it would be a good discussion topic in the comments section

So, lets have a look at Fully Loaded 1998 to see how good (or bad) it is. You can view the full card for the event by clicking below;

WWF Fully Loaded 1998 Card

Pics have come from https://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/throwback-thursday-fully-loaded-in-your-house-on-wwe-network/157788/

Fully Loaded is emanating from Fresno, California on the 26th of July 1998

Calling the action are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Speaking of Jerry Lawler, we open up the show with Lawler entering Sable’s locker room to see what sort of bikini Sable will have on later. Sable gives Lawler a sneak peak behind a screen, and Lawler loses his mind, suggesting that Sable’s bikini is going to be a belter

Opening Match
Jeff Jarrett w/ Dennis Knight, Mark Canterbury and Tennessee Lee Vs Val Venis

Jarrett was a Country Music singer and Venis was an Adult Film maker, so this one is being billed as two different worlds of entertainment colliding. Venis had recently started his feud with Kai-En-Tai as well, which would lead to the Japanese faction trying to remove Venis’ little Val with a katana on an episode of Raw is War, because Attitude Era. Venis actually tries to flash the crowd to begin with, but Jarrett’s entrance thankfully prevents that from happening. This all leads to referee Tim White sending Knight and Canterbury to the back whilst Mr. Yamaguchi joins us to do some commentary, as apparently we need all of this stuff going on before the opening bout on this B Show. Yamaguchi hated Venis because The Big Valbowski had been giving it to Mrs. Yamaguchi, which leads to some awful commentary as Yamaguchi talks in a stereotypical evil Japanese manner about how he’s going to get revenge on his philandering foe.

Both Jarrett and Venis are competent wrestlers, and the crowd likes Venis, so the actual wrestling here is decent and it’s a good opening to Fully Loaded in that respect, although the commentary really drags it down. Jim Ross does at least valiantly try and remind his two colleagues that there is an actual wrestling match going on that they should probably pay attention to. Tennessee Lee (Colonel Parker from WCW in the 1990’s) gets a cheap shot in at one stage, which leads to Jarrett being able to cut Venis off and work some heat, with a notable moment being Jarrett SPIKING Venis with a very cool looking DDT at one stage. Venis eventually makes the comeback, with the crowd getting into the near falls and the wrestling continuing to be solid. Tim White ends up taking a stray elbow, which allows Lee to stop Venis coming…off the top with a big splash. Venis manages to survive Jarrett’s attempted Figure Four though and runs the two Heels into one another before getting a roll-up for three.

WINNER: VAL VENIS
RATING: ***

Thoughts: The stuff with Mr. Yamaguchi on commentary was really bad and distracting, but the actual match itself was quite good. Jarrett and Venis are both solid wrestlers and they worked well together here, with a responsive crowd adding to things as well. They did a good fake out with the finish as well, as it looked like Lee’s interference would prove decisive but then Venis found a way to win it at the last gasp

Venis insults Mr. Yamaguchi on the mic following the bout, although he does end up saying “sorry” as “sore-ree”, thus giving the game away that he’s actually from Canada and not Las Vegas as billed

Speaking of Canada, we get a shot of The Hart Family house in Calgary, which is where Owen Hart will face Ken Shamrock later on at Fully Loaded

Match Two
Non-Title
WWF European Champ: D-Lo Brown w/ The Godfather Vs X-Pac w/ Chyna

These two had a series of great matches over the European Title in 1998, with this being their first pay per view offering. Brown had recently won the belt from Triple H on the previous edition of Raw thanks to The Rock interfering, so Brown won’t be putting it on the line here as a result of that. Brown had three notable character traits during this time frame, which is roughly two more than most mid-carder’s are allowed to have in modern companies usually. Those traits were that he was very cocky, he waggled his head a lot like the dog from the Churchill adverts, and he had a chest protector that he wore even though he probably didn’t need it. All of these things were enough to get Brown pretty over for a mid-card act, which the loud “D-Lo Sux” chants would seem to verify.

X-Pac had been a weaselly Heel from 1996-97 both in the WWF and WCW, but then Eric Bischoff had fired him as a way to mess with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, which had led to X-Pac returning to the WWF as a gutsy underdog babyface, which was probably the role he was best at, although he now had some “attitude” to go with that underdog babyface act, and as a result X-Pac was a popular and successful act all the way up until an ill-advised Heel turn in late 1999 that led to the groan inducing term known as “X-Pac Heat” being created. Brown would equally have a fall from grace around the same time, eventually ending up in the world’s most generic tag team with Chaz “Headbanger Mosh” Warrington.

However, in July of 1998 both Brown and X-Pac were solid acts that the crowd saw as stars, so this one has decent heat to go with the good wrestling, and it’s a decent undercard bout as a result. The story of the match mostly sees Brown bullying X-Pac around, with X-Pac using speed, agility and guts in order to hang in there against his bigger foe. X-Pac eventually manages to dodge a big Brown Moonsault, and that leads to X-Pac making the comeback, complete with Spin Kick and Bronco Buster in the corner. Godfather ends up clipping X-Pac with a cheap shot when the referee isn’t looking though, and that leads to Brown getting the Sky High Powerbomb for the three count.

WINNER: D’LO BROWN
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Wow, two good matches in a row with minimal gaga once the opening bell rang. Are you SURE that Fully Loaded 1998 is an Attitude Era show? In all seriousness, Brown Vs Pac had a baseline of “decent”, so a good match was always a likelihood if you just got out of their way and let them wrestle, which is what we got here on Fully Loaded

Edge is watching in the crowd, back when standing in the crowd and looking mysterious was his sole character trait

The WWF.Com crew of Kevin Kelly and Dr. Tom Prichard let us know that Undertaker hasn’t arrived yet

Match Three
Blackjack Bradshaw and “The Hardcore Legend” Terry Funk Vs Faarooq and Scorpio

Both of these teams are ostensibly babyfaces, with Funk and Scorpio even tagging together earlier in the year. However, Funk suggests in the pre-match promo that he’s going to be taking six months off due to being so beat up, but he apparently didn’t tell Bradshaw, which sows seeds of dissension between the two. Of course, they could have built to this for weeks or even months in order to make the payoff all the more impactful, but they are getting through weeks of storylines in about 10 minutes, because Attitude Era.

This means that Bradshaw and Funk don’t get along in the match itself, with the eventual conclusion of the contest being so obvious that you could probably view it from space. The match has decent action, although the crowd doesn’t really care that much about it and Bradshaw ruins it a bit by not being especially keen to sell anything, with all of Scorpio and Faarooq’s offence mostly getting shrugged off. Bradshaw being a tough Texan who can take a lot of punishment and also dish it out is fine, but I don’t see why he has to wrestle like a mid 1980’s Road Warrior when he’s in there with legitimate tough guys such as Faarooq and Scorpio.

Funk and Bradshaw end up playing the subtle Heels here, with Scorpio getting cut off and worked over, which looks good thanks to Scorpio selling well and the Texas team having a strong night on offence. Funk even gets a Pump Splash out to the floor onto Scorpio at one stage, which isn’t something you see 54 year olds do that often. Despite crazy stuff like that, the crowd turns on the match and thinks it’s boring, and they take it home soon after with Scorpio coming off the top rope with a 450 Splash onto Funk after Bradshaw mistimes a stomp.

WINNERS: FAAROOQ & SCORPIO
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: The action on display was okay here, although the finish didn’t quite go how they wanted it to. The match ultimately existed in order to get Bradshaw over at the expense of everyone else, which did make sense as he was the youngest of the four and the one with the most upside as a solo act in the summer of 1998. Like most things when Vince Russo had the book though, this would have meant more if they’d actually built it up instead of just doing it out of nowhere with no build

Bradshaw destroys all three of the other wrestlers after the match, just so we make sure that we know that he’s the one we should care about. Scorpio takes a fantastic inside-out bump from a Lariat. Funk is all angry following that, suggesting that we’ll get a feud, but I’m not sure that ended up going anywhere

Match Four
Battle of the Bulls
Mark Henry Vs The Man Called Vader

These two got into it back at King of the Ring, so now they’re going to wrestle. Sadly they botch almost the first move they try, as Henry goes for a body slam on Vader and loses his grip, causing them to repeat the spot. Vader is quite over with the crowd to start, but Henry is so un-over that he’s under, so the crowd takes a nap when they focus most of early stages of the bout on Henry dominating Vader. Henry is passable at basic power stuff but can’t really do much else, whilst Vader looks decent when he’s allowed to do his usual combination of strikes and deceptively agile attacks. The finish is pretty flat, as Henry just catches Vader with a Powerslam OUTTA NOWHERE and then follows up with a Splash for three.

WINNER: MARK HENRY
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Winning with a lame looking Splash was pretty apropos seeing as Henry was about on par with Big Daddy for wrestling ability in the early days of his career. Vader looked okay, and was the only person in the match that the crowd even borderline cared about, but this match was mostly a whole lot of nothing. Had it been latter career Mark Henry Vs prime years Vader though this might have been reasonably good

Kelly and Dr. Tom let us know that Undertaker still hasn’t arrived

Kane, Mankind and Paul Bearer join us for some promo time in the ring on this wrestling pay per view we bought to watch wrestling on. Bearer says that Undertaker is a coward for not showing up, as Bearer thinks that Taker is protecting himself for a match with Stone Cold at SummerSlam. This leads to Road Dogg and Billy Gunn joining us in order to challenge Kane and Mankind to a match tomorrow night on Raw is War. This leads to a pull apart brawl, which of course excites Jim Ross on commentary, especially when Kane and Gunn threaten a HOSS BATTEL. Snark from me aside, this ended up being a fun segment once they started trying to punch one another.

Last week on Raw is War; Paul Ellering tried to run over Road Warrior Animal with his motorcycle. As you do…

Match Five
The Disciples Of Apocalypse (8-Ball & Skull) w/ Paul Ellering Vs LOD 2000 (Animal & Hawk)

Ellering used to manage The Road Warriors, but now they’ve become LOD 2000 he thinks they’re soft and has instead switched to managing Skull and 8-Ball instead, who are The Harris Brothers in one of their MANY incarnations. The problem with matches like this are that they inherently work against both team’s strengths. DOA work better as bullying Heels against smaller opponents who can fire up and make comebacks, whilst LOD 2000 work better as bad ass babyfaces throwing around smaller conniving bumping Heels. Neither team really works well against bigger or similar sized opposition because it doesn’t allow them to work the formula best tailored to having a good match, so instead we just get a dull paint-by-the-numbers bout mostly based around the two teams punching one another.

The story they tell makes sense, with DOA using dirty tactics and Ellering’s scheming to cut Hawk off and work some heat. Hawk’s selling isn’t too bad, but the heat probably goes on for too long (leading to inspiration for Scott Keith to go on one of his more famous tangents) and the match soon feels like it’s dragging. Animal’s hot tag is reasonably well received at least, with the Devastation Device to one Harris Brother seemingly the finish until the other Harris breaks up the pin. Ellering then distracts Animal whilst ref Tim White argues with Hawk, which allows the illegal DOA member to pin Animal with a DDT.

WINNERS: DOA
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Not awful, just not very exciting. These two teams just didn’t have much in the way of chemistry and the long feud between them was pretty dull, with even Paul Ellering turning on his former charges doing little to heat it up. Animal losing to a DDT, which was basically a transition move, didn’t help with protecting the waning mystique of The Roadies either

Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco and Sgt. Slaughter join us for ANOTHER in-ring promo segment on this wrestling pay per view we bought to watch wrestling on. The gist of the Vince promo here is that Undertaker not turning up is Stone Cold’s fault due to Stone Cold being untrustworthy and just generally being a jerk to Taker in recent weeks. Vince says that he will assign a partner to Stone Cold should Taker not show up, with that partner being Brooklyn Brawler. Brawler is of course overjoyed at the possibility of Main Eventing a pay per view like Fully Loaded, which is a funny gag to close on at least. This was pretty dumb, but Vince’s delivery was good and the payoff succeeded in really angering the crowd, so it hit the beats it needed to

Match Six
Hart Family Dungeon Fight
Guest Referee: Dan “The Beast” Severn
Owen Hart Vs “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock

Owen betrayed Shamrock back in the spring and supposedly broke Shamrock’s ankle, so Shamrock is now back for revenge, with this match taking place in the famous Hart Dungeon. Severn doesn’t really like either of these guys, hence why he should be an effective referee I suppose. You win by submission only in this one, so they roll around on the mats in the Dungeon and have a really good intense fight. It doesn’t last for very long due to the nature of the bout, but that’s acceptable and makes sense in kayfabe. Plus, there isn’t a lot of space in there, so you probably couldn’t work a 20 minute epic even if you wanted to. It’s solid shoot style stuff with some traditional Pro Wrestling spots worked in, such as Owen getting a German Suplex and a rana by hanging from a pipe at one stage. The finish eventually comes when Severn gets momentarily knocked down with a stray kick from Shamrock and that allows Owen to clock Shamrock with a nearby dumbbell, as the Dungeon also doubles as a work out room. Owen then makes it look like Shamrock is tapping out, which the awakening Severn sees and then calls the finish.

WINNER: OWEN HART
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was really fun and different, with the camera cuts giving early “cinematic wrestling” vibes but the actual wrestling was presented as serious and realistic, so it didn’t come across as too phony or rehearsed. Owen and Shamrock had really good chemistry as opponents and delivered a solidly worked shoot style match at SummerSlam the next month as well. The finish here was a little goofy, as they probably should have just said that Knock Out was a method for victory as well so that Owen could just lock in a hold and Severn could stop the bout based on that, rather than Owen doing the whole “making it look like Shamrock is tapping out” charade

Match Seven
Two out of Three Falls for the WWF Intercontinental Title
Champ: The Rock w/ The Nation Vs Triple H w/ D-Generation X Vs #2

The Nation and DX faction war had moved onto the respective leaders now facing off here at Fully Loaded, with the IC Title on the line in a two out of three falls match. SGT. Slaughter sends the faction members on their way to start, with only Chyna remaining because I guess she has a manager’s license or something. Jim Ross notes that the deciding fall will have to be pinfall or submission to plant that seed in the viewer’s mind, along with strongly stressing that they only have a 30 Minute Time Limit. It’s nice that they’re providing us with a cheap finish buffet to get excited about I guess. Triple H was a very Attitude Era styled babyface, in that he’s a degenerate jerk who is entirely happy to cheat if it benefits him, which is shown early on when Chyna clocks The Rock behind the referee’s back. They quickly head out to the floor for a brawl around ringside and the entrance way, with it being decent brawling and the crowd getting into it. Rock even takes a body slam out on the entrance way at one stage, which probably wasn’t a fun experience.

They actually fight this at a pretty quick pace in the early going, highlighting how good a shape both of these two were in at the time. They both have muscular physiques, but neither of them are as insanely overly muscular as they would both get in later life, so both Rock and HHH can move around reasonably well despite being huge men by normal human standards. HHH bumps around like a Cruiserweight at points for Rock, including a huge tumble over the top rope to the floor at one stage. Despite the one on one aspect of the match being well worked and holding the crowd’s attention, they still decide to fill this full of run-in’s and other associated Attitude Era gaga, as Mark Henry heads out at one stage to give Tri a Splash on the floor whilst the referee isn’t looking. Billy Gunn runs down to chase off Henry following that, but the attack severely puts HHH on the backfoot, which gives Tri a chance to show off his good selling skills.

The only time the crowd ever really threatens to turn on the match is when Rock applies rest hold’s, as it’s the first time the bout has really slowed down after the initial hot start. Rock and HHH were both clearly talented and loaded with potential and this stage in their respective careers, but neither one of them was the genuine article yet, hence why they kind of have to stretch 15 minutes of match into 30 minutes here because the story of the contest requires that they do so. Faction members continue to try and get involved, with The Godfather getting chased out by The New Age Outlaws and D-Lo Brown getting taken out by HHH when he tries to run-in. However, Triple H has seemingly turned into Tommy Dreamer for about 10 seconds, as dealing with the lackey leaves him wide open to take the move of his opponent and get pinned, with Rock getting a Rock Bottom to go 1-0 up.

ROCK 1-0 TRIPLE H (ROCK BOTTOM FOLLOWING D-LO DISTRACTION)

So if the time limit runs out now then Rock will retain. Chyna decides that we need ANOTHER distraction from the actual wrestling going on, as she beats up D-Lo Brown, which distracts the referee and allows X-Pac to run-in with the X-Factor face buster onto Rock whilst Mike Chioda isn’t looking. Rock manages to kick out at two, so HHH heads out and grabs a chair, because if The Nation are going to cheat like nuts then I guess it’s okay for DX to do similar. Mike Chioda ends up taking a stray chair shot from Rock, which allows Chyna to clock Rock right in his pebbles before getting a DDT onto the chair. HHH then drapes an arm over The Rock to tie things up. It’s interesting that Rock looked a lot stronger winning his fall than HHH did winning his. That’s not something that would continue as Triple H became more of a star.

ROCK 1-1 TRIPLE H (DDT ONTO A CHAIR BY CHYNA WHILST REFEREE WAS DOWN)

Rock is still down following the rest period between falls, but Mike Chioda is getting carried to the back, which means there is no one to count at first and Tri only gets two from replacement referee Earl Hebner in a very good near fall. It’s interesting how much of this match got clipped into the opening video for WWF Attitude on the PlayStation and Dreamcast actually. It gives you an idea about when Acclaim were putting that one together. They do make Triple H look strong in the finish at least, as he gets the Pedigree and seemingly has it won, but the time limit runs out and Rock retains the Title. The finish didn’t quite work as the bell was supposed to go the moment HHH got the Pedigree, but it didn’t ring so Earl Hebner had to just wave it off and THEN the bell rung, even though there was clearly more than 3 seconds between the move hitting and the bell ringing, suggesting that if Hebner had counted then Triple H would have won. I can’t remember if that was supposed to be a genuine bone of contention there or if the timekeeper just ballsed everything up. Heaven forfend that a Hebner screw a wrestler with a questionable refereeing call though…

TIME LIMIT DRAW (ROCK RETAINS)
RATING: ***

Thoughts: You don’t normally associate long matches with the Attitude Era because it was a timeframe renowned for quicker contests and crowds with short attention spans, but Rock and Triple H did a reasonable job of working the longer match until they started getting tired and had to rely on the rest holds, at which point they started to lose the crowd a little bit. Rock and HHH did a great job working for an hour at Judgment Day in the May of 2000, but they both had more experience by that stage and had both improved considerably as in-ring performers as well

At this stage you could see that both Rock and HHH had talent, but they were still a bit raw when it came to being top of the card guys, which is why they had to fill the run-time with rest holds and run-in’s here in a way they didn’t in 2000. In 2000 the run-in’s during Rock and HHH’s famous matches at Backlash and Judgment Day were an additional thing that complimented an already good match, whereas at Fully Loaded the run-in’s were kind of a necessary evil because Rock and HHH didn’t have 30 minutes of match to deliver, so they needed the distractions to help them get there

They utilised the run-in’s and other gaga here well enough that it ended up being a good match overall, but it’s not a forgotten classic or anything like that. It’s solid work from Rock and HHH during the “solid, but not yet great” periods of their respective careers, and they would go on to top this bout multiple times over the coming years, with them having a great ladder match at SummerSlam the following month in fact. Its an interesting chapter in the history of both Rock and HHH climbing up the mountain to become two top stars in the company by the Spring of 2000, but it’s not a match you desperately need to seek out or anything

The Nation and DX fight a bit more

Kevin Kelly lets us know that The Undertaker has arrived at the building, meaning that Steve Lombardi will NOT be Main Evening Fully Loaded tonight. I’ll give all of you Abe Knuckleball Schwarz fans a chance to compose yourselves before we continue the Fully Loaded review…

In ACKSCLOOSIVE home video footage, The Rock and D-Lo Brown are leaving the building, with Rock being happy to have retained his Title

Dustin Runnels was doing a religious zealot gimmick at the time, so he prays for the souls of everyone ahead of the upcoming Bikini Contest between Jackie Moore and Sable

Co-Main Event
Bikini Contest
Jackie Moore w/ Marc Mero Vs Sable

You might think that I’m kidding; but the WWF really did promote this like it was one of the most important things on the show, because Attitude Era. Sable had finally ditched Mero, leading to Mero causing Sable to leave the WWF “forever” back at Over the Edge. Forever ended up being a couple of shows, because Attitude Era, as Vince McMahon hired Sable back. Meanwhile, Mero had shacked up with new beau Moore, leading to a natural feud between the two catty women and thus this Bikini Contest getting booked. The pre-match video package focuses on Moore and Sable trading Jerry Springer like insults, which should show you what was inspiring the writing team at the time.

Moore gets to go first, and looks good in a skimpy number, with apparently one of her puppies noses becoming visible, leading to some blurring and Jerry Lawler getting excited. I’ve never really thought of Jackie Moore as a sex symbol. She usually fell into the “butt kicker” category as opposed to the “eye candy” one, but she looked pretty darn hot there, especially as she combined a ludicrously skimpy bikini with knee high boots. By comparison; Sable has quite a modest bikini on, which disappoints Lawler and the crowd. Sable explains that Vince McMahon demanded that she wear something more conservative, hence the rather meh bikini that looks more like a sweater compared to what Moore was rocking. However, Sable decides that she’ll defy Vince and go with her original plan, which is to basically go topless with just some handprints covering her flowery baps. Lawler of course has an aneurysm upon witnessing that and Sable wins the contest by a landslide.

WINNER: SABLE
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: I can’t really give it a star rating, so I’ll instead give it four jugs out of four. It delivered on the titillation (quite literally in fact) that you’d expect from one of these things, with both Moore and Sable wearing the sort of outfits you probably couldn’t get away with on television. I’m not sure the segment was good/important enough to be this high up on the card of a pay per view like Fully Loaded, but the WWF was more about the sizzle than the steak during this timeframe and the Fresno crowd seemed accepting of it being there, so I guess you can’t really argue with it

Vince McMahon covers Sable up following that and that would eventually lead to a Dusty Finish where Sable was DQ’ed for defying Vince and for not wearing a proper bikini. Yes, they booked a Dusty Finish in a bikini contest, because Attitude Era.

Main Event
WWF Tag Team Titles
Champs: Mankind and Kane w/ Paul Bearer Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker

Undertaker and Austin was already set for SummerSlam, so Vince McMahon booked this match in order to screw with the two babyfaces. I personally would have made this a WWF Title match, where Mankind or Kane could win the belt if they pinned Austin, but Undertaker could earn himself a Title shot if he won. You still get the drama of whether Austin and Taker can get along or not, and you can also use this match as a way to directly set up SummerSlam. Plus, you don’t then need to flip the tag belts if you want the babyfaces to win here. That stipulation also feels a bit more “PPV worthy”, as there is stuff at stake regarding the Main Event belt and not just the tag belts, which weren’t always treated with much respect by the WWF at the time so a Tag Title match was going to be a tough sell for a pay per view Main Event, even a B show like Fully Loaded.

Austin had actually been in the hospital prior to King of the Ring with a staph infection, so he’s still got his elbow heavily bandaged here. Today he probably wouldn’t even be wrestling whilst still healing up from something like that, but in 1998 a wrestling war was going on, so here’s Austin working a pay per view Main Event. Taker and Austin clearly don’t like each other here, but they don’t actively fight one another and Taker even agrees to wrestle his brother Kane even though most of the build was based around whether Taker and Kane were in cahoots. It was funny when Bryan and Vinny were reviewing this era of the WWF as they HATED the cahoots storyline.

The action is okay, with it mostly being punching and kicking, as Austin and Taker shine for a bit until the Champs cut off Taker and work him over. This was during a period where Taker pretty much just sold like a normal wrestler as opposed to being an unstoppable undead zombie, so Taker’s selling is good here and it’s a solid heat segment. Mankind of course takes some big bumps at points, with Austin knocking him off the apron onto a table at one stage and Taker also giving him a back body drop out on the floor. No wonder Mick Foley was basically completely physically shot by the end of the year.

Austin eventually gets the hot tag and the crowd comes alive, with Austin’s forays into the ring being when the crowd has been most invested. Kane manages to survive, a sickening, unprotected chair shot to the head at one stage, with the resulting pin attempt only getting two from referee Earl Hebner. Kane and Mankind are able to cut Austin off following that though, and that gives us our second heat segment of the contest. I’m not sure this thrown together, pay-per-view main event needed the old Rock ‘N’ Roll Express double heat spot, but I guess they have airtime to fill, so we’re going to see it regardless.

Austin sells well whilst getting beaten up by the tag champions, at least with the drama being based around whether Taker will actually allow Austin to deliver the hot tag should the WWF champion make it to his half of the ring. Austin eventually manages to drop both of the Heels with Stunners and makes it to his corner, where Taker does indeed tag in after mulling it over. Taker runs wild in the Champs and ends up getting the Tombstone Piledriver onto Kane for three whilst Austin fends off Mankind. The Title win does elicit a big pop from the crowd, so they enjoyed the result of this one at least.

WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: AUSTIN & UNDERTAKER
RATING: **12

Thoughts: This was absolutely fine and would have been a solid conclusion for a television show. It didn’t really feel like something that was pay-per-view main event quality though, especially as the WWF had delivered some excellent main events already in 1998. As far as adding another step along the “Highway to Hell” for SummerSlam, this did what it needed to, but I’m not convinced that this needed to be on a show that fans paid for

Taker leaves with both of the belts following the match

In Conclusion:

Fully Loaded had some decent stuff on it, but it mostly felt like an episode of Raw is War with an extra hour tacked on rather than a pay per view quality card in its own right. It was watchable overall, and advanced some storylines, but it was also totally inessential and I think I might have been a bit annoyed had I ordered it back in the day.

There were four matches at *** by my count and the bikini contest delivered the promised skin, so Fully Loaded wasn’t a total rip-off, but there’s nothing on here you really need to go out of your way to see. King of the Ring and SummerSlam are both much more noteworthy events, so if you want to revisit the WWF’s summer of 1998, then those are the two to go for

Not a recommended show