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WWF WrestleMania XIV symbolized the turn in the war between the WWF and WCW. While WCW had dropped the ball at Starrcade 1997, the WWF picked it up and ran with it on the back of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mike Tyson at WrestleMania XIV. It was the nights that the WWF took over and never looked back.
The show ran in one of the WWF largest cities, Boston and the East Coast fans were hardcore WWF fans. Vince McMahon knew to schedule the biggest show of the year in one of his several backyards, and the Beantown fans were infamous for loving the WWF product for many years. Several big shows and big matches had happened at the Boston Garden in years past, so magic would be in the air!
Once again WrestleMania was centered around two gigantic, must see, first time ever matchups. However, unlike WrestleMania 13, where that was the case, this time around almost every single match on the card absolutely delivered!
The card opened with a 40-man battle royal that would focus on 20 Tag Team Teams. Some established like The Godwins and the Headbangers, and some makeshift teams like random members of DOA, The Boricuas and the Nation of Domination. In the end however, it was a returning team that took home the win.
Even in 1998, The Legion of Doom had already established themselves as the greatest tag team of all time in a little over a decade of competing. The had won tag titles in the NWA, WCW, WWF, AWA and overseas as well. For whatever reason in early 1998, they lost their patented mojo and couldn’t seem to solve the mystery of the upstart New Age Outlaws. After losing to them multiple times, they broke up to the shock of many fans.
Their comeback and victory along with new manager with sultry and sexy Sunny, wouldn’t last. Within months, Sunny left them and they once again failed and taking the titles off The New Age Outlaws. They went by a new moniker LOD 2000, along with new haircuts and Sunny, but none of it helped and they were broken-up for good by years end. Eventually Hawk would be booted out for a new member in, “The Droz”, but that failed too, and that was that.
The WWE used to have a damn good Cruiserweight Division in the 1990’s, and this night featured two of the best as Taka Michinoku defended his belt against Aguila. Traditionally the second match of a WrestleMania tends to be a clunker as the crowd comes down off a thrilling opener. This was not the case as both men absolutely brought it for five plus straight minutes.
Michinoku would hit the Michinoku driver for the win at the 5:57 mark. He would hold on to the belt through the summer even after he switched to becoming a heel later that spring. As for Aguila, he went on to lose the mask and wrestle as Essa Rios with Lita as his manager.
If there ever was a grudge match, it was HHH versus Owen Hart and the two would hook it up at Mania. Hart was doing everything he could in the short time he was a babyface as he was trying to avenge his brother Bret’s “screwing” at the previous Survivor Series.
Shawn Michaels and HHH instantly became the two biggest heels in the industry the night they screwed over Bret, and the WWF was trying to take advantage of the last remaining Hart on their roster.
This was when DX was still seen as a “bad guy cliché” and with that being said, cheated to win. It was the same narrative they had been pushing for months, the poor Hart family getting screwed by the evil DX. This was even trickier than normal however as Chyna was handcuffed to Sargent Slaughter as he tried to keep her out of the action.
He failed, as she threw powder in his eyes, and nailed him in the crotch. It was classic DX as HHH used the distraction to pin Owen and retain the European Championship.
This WrestleMania featured only the second mixed gender tag match in show history, until that point. Ironically enough, Dusty Rhodes was in the first one at WrestleMania VI, and now his son, Goldust, would be in the second one as he teamed with the lunatic, Luna Vachon. Their opponents were the extremely popular Sable, along with her husband and the forgotten about Marc Mero.
This match was extremely unique as Goldust, Vachon and Mero were all hated, meanwhile Sable was quickly rising to becoming one of the most popular figures behind Steve Austin and The Undertaker at the time. When the husband and wife team of Sable and Mero won, it was only Sable getting the cheers. Eventually, Marc Mero couldn’t live without the spotlight on him, and split with Sable for good.
As for Sable, over the next 6 years, she would pose for Playboy three times, sue the WWF and get married to Brock Lesnar. As for Marc, he was never relevant again. In fact, whatever momentum Mero started to build, was squashed when his valet Ms. Jackie flashed her bare chest for the world to see a few months later.
The Rock was in the peak of his initial heel run as he defended the Intercontinental Belt against Ken Shamrock. What belt was more prestigious, HHH’s European or The Rock’s IC Strap? That was the question as both were headed on similar paths. For the second straight year The Rock would retain the IC Belt at WrestleMania.
This time however, he did it by losing as Ken Shamrock went berserk and couldn’t be controlled after making The Rock tap out to an ankle lock in just 4:49. Shamrock proceeded to beat up everyone in site and continue to attack The Rock until the official decision was reversed and The Rock was able to keep his belt. The booking made zero sense, but the highlight came when Nation leader Faroog ran down to the ring and didn’t help The Rock, furthering the storyline for their split.
Cactus Jack and Terry Funk would win one for Hardcore Legends everywhere as they took the Tag Championships off the New Age Outlaws in the first ever “Dumpster Match”. This was great as their wasn’t much wrestling but rather, a lot of high spots that kept the Chowder Head crowd cheering.
This story wasn’t over with yet however, and would reach its climax the following night. A story that we will be getting to soon as elements of it would shape the rest of 1998 as The NAO would join DX and Cactus Jack would revert back to Dude Love and Mankind in the coming months as well.
As mentioned, the card was highly focused around the two big main events. The first of which was the Brothers of Evil, Kane and The Undertaker colliding for the first time. Ever since his brother Kane debuted in October of 1997, The Undertaker refused to fight him. Enough was finally enough as Kane finally wore Taker down to accept his challenge for WrestleMania.
Over the next several years this feud would see them tag several times, light each other on fire several times, bury each other alive and pretty much do everything under the sun to each other as Paul Bearer switched alliances numerous times. On this night however, it was The Undertaker winning cleanly and decisively with three massive Tombstones to Kane.
The main event was very much in doubt before it could even start. Shawn Michaels was already known for being extremely difficult to work with, and this was before he damaged multiple discs in his back. Things only worsened in January of 1998 when he damaged his back by landing on a casket during his title defense against The Undertaker at Royal Rumble 1998. Ironically enough, one of the times Kane would burn The Undertaker came later that night when he set the casket afire while The Undertaker was still in it.
The hungry challenger trying to take the WWF Championship off Shawn Michaels that night was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now, it didn’t take a genius to realize that they were building Austin as the next huge thing dating back nearly 10 months. All signs pointed to him as the next champion as he simply needed Michaels to get his ass to the ring that night.
Michaels had been balking at the match since January, and had pulled the injury card numerous times in his career already. In fact, Shawn had dropped the IC belt twice, without even losing it. He didn’t want to job to Dean Douglas in 1995, and gave up the belt after getting his butt kicked by actual Marines. Even before that, he never lost his IC championship in the fall of 1993, but rather got stripped of it for taking steroids.
His second WWF World Championship reign ended when he, “lost his smile” and refused to put Hart over at WrestleMania 13. He had a tag title reign with Diesel end two separate times, with neither one of them because of in ring action. Once at the end of 1994, and one more time in the fall of 1995.
Again, it bears repeating, Michaels had a long history of dropping titles without actually getting beaten. That alone, was already five times in which it occurred, who was to say that WrestleMania XIV wouldn’t be number six?
Adding some spice to the dish was the addition of Mike Tyson as the special guest enforcer for the match. However, because of his recent membership into DX, Tyson was relegated to staying outside of the ring and pretty much doing absolutely nothing until the closing seconds when he double crossed Michaels and counted the wining pinfall for Austin.
In the end, Shawn Michaels was a man of is word and dropped the strap while leading Austin to one Hell of a match. Mike Tyson walked away with over an over 10-million-dollar payday for doing very little work and making 5 total appearances.
I’ll say it again as the true winner was the WWF. The WCW brass would try to counter by brining back names like Dennis Rodman, along with adding new superstars from the word of sports and entertainment later that summer such as Jay Leno and Karl Malone. Nothing worked, and Tyson raising Austin’s hands to start the Stone Cold Era, and the Attitude Era, was the deathblow for WCW.
The key difference was that WCW tried to save the promotion with one major pop or spike in business by having people in the ring who had no business being there. Names such as Jay Leno, Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone.
Making matters worse was that not only where they there, but they were in ring focal points in the main event. That is almost as bad as Master P and David Arquette.
The WWF was smart about it, and kept names like Tyson outside of the ring, and the focus on the incredible in ring talent. It worked, this was the night it started and the rest is history!
