The 1998 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 11th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 18, 1998, at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California. The event was based around the men's Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-man battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the winner received a WWF Championship match at WrestleMania XIV. This was the first Royal Rumble of the Attitude Era.
Six matches were contested on the event's card. The main event was a casket match between Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship, which Michaels won to retain the title. The main match on the undercard was the 1998 Royal Rumble match, which "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won by lastly eliminating Rocky Maivia, becoming the third person to win two Royal Rumble matches and back-to-back, after Hulk Hogan in 1990 and 1991 and Shawn Michaels in 1995 and 1996. This was subsequently the fourth Royal Rumble event in which the titular match was not the main event, after the inaugural 1988 event and the events in 1996 and 1997. Additionally, The Legion Of Doom (Hawk and Animal) defeated The New Age Outlaws ("Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn) by disqualification, therefore did not win the WWF Tag Team Championship, and "The Rock" Rocky Maivia defeated Ken Shamrock to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Production Background
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988; that first event was a television special before it became an annual pay-per-view (PPV) beginning in 1989. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs with the addition of King of the Ring in 1993. It is named after and centered on the men's Royal Rumble match. The 11th Royal Rumble event was scheduled to be held on January 18, 1998, at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California.
The Royal Rumble match is a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time, and the match generally features 30 wrestlers. Since 1993, the winner earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1998, the winner earned a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV.
Storylines The event comprised six matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by the WWF's writers, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television show, Raw is War.
In the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view, Ken Shamrock had been facing various members of the Nation of Domination ahead of his booked match against Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia (The Rock), defeating Kama Mustafa and Faarooq with his ankle lock submission, despite interference from other Nation members. The final Raw is War before the Rumble saw Shamrock team up with Mark Henry against Maivia and D'Lo Brown. However, just as Shamrock looked to apply his ankle lock submission on The Rock, Henry turned on him, joining the Nation in giving him a post-match beat down.
After winning the team's first tag team title, the New Age Outlaws further humiliated the former champions, the Legion of Doom, by shaving one of Hawk's mohawks, and, with the help of D-Generation X, powerbombing Animal through the announcer's table, damaging his back. Although he was advised not to compete by doctors, Animal rested through the first few weeks of the year, while the Outlaws ran roughshod through the tag division before this pay-per-view.
The buildup to the Royal Rumble match itself focused almost entirely on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Austin declared that going into the Rumble, he would live by the motto "Do unto others before they do unto me". This led to Austin interfering in matches regularly on Raw is War, or appearing just as matches finished, delivering the Stone Cold Stunner to anyone in sight, as well as leaving other wrestlers backstage buried under tables, and chairs. In the final segment of the Raw is War preceding the event, all competitors of the Royal Rumble were in the ring, waiting to draw their number of entries, when Austin ran in through the crowd and began to throw punches all over the ring, sparking a brawl between the various wrestlers feuding in the ring, and kicking the number generator out of the ring.
The main event for the WWF Championship was a rematch between champion Shawn Michaels and challenger The Undertaker. Their feud had begun after SummerSlam the previous August after Michaels, who was the special referee in the match between then-champion Undertaker and Bret Hart, hit Undertaker with a chair meant for Hart, and counted the pin to cost Undertaker the championship. The first match between the two came at Ground Zero: In Your House the following month, a match that ended in a no-contest, due to outside interference from Michaels' D-Generation X cohorts, Triple H and Chyna. Michaels and Undertaker resumed their feud at Badd Blood in October 1997 in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match, which ended with the debut of Undertaker's (kayfabe) brother, Kane, giving Michaels the unfair win by delivering a tombstone piledriver on Undertaker, allowing the battered, and bloody Michaels to steal the win. To mock Undertaker, Triple H and Chyna brought a casket to the ring only for Michaels to appear from inside, and spray paint it in D-Generation X slogans. The following week, while Michaels was delivering a promo, the same casket appeared again, to which Michaels believed it was just Triple H and Chyna playing a prank on him. However, this time, Undertaker appeared from inside, grabbing Michaels by the throat, and dragging him into the coffin. Undertaker made his full presence known the following week, interrupting an interview in which Michaels was claiming to introduce the newest DX member: Kane. Undertaker warned Michaels and DX to leave his family out of the feud, before attacking the stable and being outnumbered. Kane then made a surprise appearance and helped Undertaker, fighting DX up to the ramp before turning and reaching his hand out in an Undertaker-like salute which his brother returned.
Event +Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsJim RossJerry LawlerSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraTito SantanaFrench commentatorsJean BrassardRaymond RougeauInterviewerMichael ColeRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereesMike ChiodaJack DoanJim KorderasEarl HebnerTim White The opening match began with Goldust attacking Vader as he entered the ring. Vader soon recovered, and threw Goldust into the turnbuckle, before eventually falling out of the ring, where he also shoved Luna Vachon to the ground. After a suplex, and a big splash, Goldust was dragged to the corner so Vader could attempt his Vader Bomb, but a low blow stopped him. Vader then attempted the move for the second time, only to have Luna jump on his back. Vader hit the move anyway and scored the pin.
With Sunny as the special guest referee, a six-man tag match of lucha libre midget wrestling took place. The face team took most of the early advantage, tagging frequently, while the heel team was regularly thrown under the bottom rope, and replaced with a fresh member. Max Mini used Sunny to help him dropkick Battalion, Tarantula, and then El Torito in order, before delivering a top rope hurricarana to Torito, and winning the match with a backslide pin.
Next up, the Intercontinental Championship bout began with an exchange of punches, and a few kicks until Ken Shamrock mistimed a hurricanrana, allowing Rocky Maivia to slam him down. After being kicked to the corner, Shamrock replied with a crossbody that only gained him a two-count, as did a fisherman suplex pin. Maivia then took control by reversing an Irish whip into a DDT, before putting the challenger in a headlock. Rocky's next attempt at a DDT was reversed, however, into a power slam, prompting the Nation members to storm the ring. With the referee distracted after Maivia's Nation of Domination teammate D'Lo Brown became entangled in the ropes, The Rock used brass knuckles to nail Shamrock, and hid the knuckles inside of Shamrock's trunks. By the time the referee looked back to the ring, he could only make a two count. Shamrock then recovered, and pulled off a belly to belly suplex slam, winning the match, and the title. However, as Shamrock celebrated, Maivia appealed to Mike Chioda who, upon discovering the foreign object in Shamrock's trunks, reversed the decision, and took the belt from a bemused Shamrock. Chioda gave the title back to Maivia, making him the winner via disqualification. A furious Shamrock then attacked the referee for stripping him of the title.
In the tag team match, New Age Outlaws prematurely began by attacking Legion of Doom before the bell rang. The LOD then quickly turned the match in their favor, chasing the Outlaws up the ramp as the champions tried to lose by countout. Still holding control, the LOD took turns on Road Dogg, who eventually handcuffed Hawk to the corner outside the ring. Regardless, Animal successfully dominated both Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn, power slamming Gunn into a pin that was broken up by a chair shot, causing the match to end via disqualification. The disqualification gave the victory to LOD, while the New Age Outlaws retained the belts. After the match, the Outlaws double-teamed Animal until Hawk broke free from the cuffs to save his partner.