WWF 1998

[Hewey]

Good Raw Is War coming off Unforgiven, All though, It was disappointing that neither The Rock or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were around. Wow, You're already hyping up the KOTR tournament? I can't wait to see the brackets for it, And my early pick is Ken Shamrock. Though, I think down the line, Shamrock will turn heel and side with McMahon to face Austin. Owen winning the European title was great, And I can't wait to see a possible Flair/Triple H feud happen. I also enjoyed Flair's confrontations with DX and NWA. Corino telling Flair he's the next Flair was cool. I'm wondering what will happen with Bearer/Kane/Taker/Vader, But it's very interesting. I can't wait to see Kane show up. Keep up the good work. (Y)

[Lord Nibbler]

Shawn Stasiak vs. Flash Funk

Shotgun Saturday Night. Hampton, Virginia. May 2nd 1998 (taped)

Flash Funk vs. Shawn Stasiak

Shawn Stasiak - son of former WWWF transitional champion Stan Stasiak - made his debut by squashing Flash Funk. Stasiak worked a Narcissist-like gimmick striking poses and kissing his biceps and such. He polished Funk off with a not-so-perfectly executed PerfectPlex. Not an awful match, and Stasiak's posturing got some heat from the crowd.

Dan Severn vs. Tom Brandi

Another squash, as 'The Beast' made the former Salvatore Sincere tap out to his Beast Choker submission hold. A mismatch of styles, the match thankfully didn't last too long. Severn is still getting little crowd reaction, and this wasn't helped by the lack of Jim Cornette at ringside to drum up heel heat.

The Hardy Brothers vs. Too Much

A good, fast-paced tag encounter between these two Cruiserweight tag teams. Jeff Hardy (the blonde one) has been wrestling on Shotgun recently under a mask as Willow the Wisp but teamed up with his brother Matt to take on Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor. After a good back-and-forth match, the heels picked up the win when Christopher hit his Tennessee Jam leg drop off the top.

They showed footage of the Triple H/Ric Flair confrontation from RAW, and a recap of the HHH/Owen Hart title match from the main event. Russo and Cole discussed Ric Flair's arrival in the WWF, and how it's affected everyone backstage. Russo says a lot of guys are worried about Ric Flair taking their spot, but Cole says he thinks the young guns will benefit from Flair's experience.

Lance Storm vs. Savio Vega

Storm and Vega put on an acceptable match, with Storm getting a chance to show off some of his technical prowess. It wasn't all one-way traffic, though, as Savio got a near-fall from a sneaky roll-up. Storm picked up the three-count after a superkick. Storm was pretty over, and Savio Vega - unlike his Boricuas stablemates - hasn't been completely forgotten by the fans.

Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown vs. The New Midnight Express

A fair but slow-paced tag team brawl. The NME picked up the win after hitting their Veg-O-Matic finisher on Kama. The Express showed some good veteran tag team moves, obvious studying some tapes of Eaton and Lane.

Even without Cornette to play cheerleader, The Express got a decent heel reaction from the Virginia fans.

[TheArsenal]

A good RAW.

I'm hoping for a few shocks to come up. Hopefully an unpredictable KoTR win, or some unexpected team/stable creation or break-up.

I loved Corino's bit with Flair, and generally the stuff Cornette and his guys are doing. Really good stuff. I like the way you're using Shotgun properly to try out the undercard too.

I really want to see how you can use a few more guys properly (ie. better than the way they were used in real life) but you have some good ideas coming out so I don't see it being too much trouble for you.

This is good. I'm enjoying it.

BTW.....Who is Martyr?

[JStarr]

lol, america