WWF Edmonton Report: July 3, 1998

Editor's note: Here are two reports from the Edmonton show sent in from our SLAM! Wrestling readers. Compare and enjoy!

Overall, it was an ok card. Nowhere was the quality of the card like that of most RAW shows. I anticipated that tonight would not equal the magical RAW event in Edmonton last year. Fortunately, I caught a wrestling site which warned us that Austin, HHH, and Mankind would be unable to show up due to injuries or other committments. Better to be disappointed ahead of time than right at the spot.

Here's the rundown

Match #1: Syxx Pac vs D-Lo

-fast paced match with the winner being Syxx Pac with Chyna's help (could swear that "her" Adam's Apple was protruding)

Match #2: Savio Vegas vs Bradshaw

-ridiculously quick match with lame ending as Bradshaw rolled up Vegas for the 3 pin.

*pause* Jackyl came to fill in the time by ragging on Edmonton...then the spotlight lit on the Edge sitting amidst the crowd. Jackyl goaded him to come down if he had the 'guts'. Nuff to say, the Edge demonstrated existence of his guts, and after getting the mandatory "heel slap", brutalized Jackyl before finishing him off with a stunning shoulderslap DDT.

Match #3: Marc Mero vs Scorpio Funk

-not such a bad match after a slow start...Mero was quite distracted by our local version of Sable before getting himself beat while the real Sable came up to detract him from his mission to thrash Funk. After the match, Mero went into a raging fit after our local Sable (not sure if she flashed him or not).

Match #4: Owen Hart vs Ken Shamrock

-excellent hard fought match with both men showing no mercy to one another and taking/giving nasty bumps. The crowd was all for Owen who unfortunately lost. I reckon Shamrock was displeased with his heel heat as he told the crowd after the match to "kiss his ass".

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Match #5: An abomination that should never have happened (between a jobber and a Lethbridge newcomer who won). The only good purpose of this one is perhaps to elevate the worth of the upcoming featured matches.

Match #6: DOA (with Ellering) vs LOD

-lots of wicked chairshots (applied by LOD) with no wrestling substance, and ended quickly with Ellering's briefcase. LOD looked nowhere as good as they were when I last saw them live in Detroit 10 years ago.

Match #7: Double J (with Tennessee) vs Blackman

-best match of the night with Blackman dominating before Tennessee interfered to allow Double J to steal a victory. Double J got the heaviest heel heat of the night.

Match #8: Rocky Maivia (with Kama) vs Road Dog (with Chyna)

-well done match with lots of bumps and grinds. Both managers eventually got evicted to their dressing rooms for interference. Rocky victored with a shoulder slam.

Match #9: Kane (with Paul Bearer) vs Undertaker

-typical match between the two with Undertaker tombstone piledriving Kane at the end.

Memorable Moments:

-Edge's presence is very compelling! Yes, he has the makings of a star.

-Blackman was the best wrestler of the night. He's got the grooves of the ring psychology much better than when he debuted. He's the man to rise as well.

-Shamrock vs Hart match with the traditional heel-face roles switched in the eyes of the fans even though both wrestlers did not change their style and personality.

-Our busty blonde pissing off Mero more than Sable

-Earl Hebner the ref giving the crowd a crotch chop

-Paul Bearer doing the sarcastic jiggle dance right in front of a raving blonde howling at him.

-the lunkheads who threw pop at the Undertaker after the match as he knelt before the blue light.

-compiled by Jono Chapman

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Report #2

I was there live when the WWF presented the "Highway to Hell" tour at the Edmonton Coliseum before approximately 8,000 jacked up fans.

STONE COLD NO-SHOWS

That attendance would have been much higher except for the fact that Stone Cold Steve Austin pulled out of his title match against Mankind yesterday. I work at a televison station, so I knew yesterday because we received the press release. However, at the Coliseum this evening, there were many fans dissapointed to learn of his abscence via posters put up on every entrance to the building. However, the posters stated that tickets already purchased could be refunded by the end of the second match. With all the people in line for a refund, it could have been a sellout!!!! We didn't even sell out RAW last July!! (I was there for that too!!!)

MATCH #1=D-LO BROWN vs. X-PAC

Awesome match!!! Really good heat for both men. Losts of high-flying, high-impact kind of stuff. (I still think D-Lo is way underrated and he proved it tonight) Lots of crotch chops. X-Pac gets the 3 count after a spinning heel kick, following distraction by Chyna.

MATCH #2=SAVIO VEGA vs. BRADSHAW

From the files of "Who Cares?? Magazine". They knew they were there to make the other matches look better. Bradshaw rolls up a distracted Savio for the pin in about 2 minutes, to a mild crowd response.

JACKYL INTERVIEW

Pretty funny. Jackyll comes out and plays the role. Rips the city of Edmonton. Says that it's his first time here, and now he knows why Curtis Joseph wants to leave. Says we lost Gretzky and Messier and that Doug Weight is next. Then ask for a spotlight to point to something he thinks he sees in the crowd. Finally the spotligh finds it.... it's THE EDGE!!!! Rips Edge for a while. He makes his way though the crowd to the ring and after some bantering, basically destroys the Jackyll to a pretty big pop. Edge runs out through the crowd, very cool.

MATCH #3 LOD(is)2000 vs. DOA with Paul Ellering

Mild response for LOD, deservedly so, they got whupped!!! DOA destroys them in a "No Holds Barred Streetfight" Skull pins Hawk after Precious Paul hits Hawk with the briefcase.

MATCH #4=SUBMISSION MATCH KEN SHAMROCK vs. OWEN HART

Crowd was 50/50 for this one. I guess some folks in attendance forgot where they came from!!! Good match, as you might expect. But sadly, Owen does the J-O-B on his home turf. Shamrock makes him submit to the anke lock after reversing the sharpshooter.

MATCH #5 SCORPIO vs. MARC MERO with JACQUELINE

Solid reception for Scorpio, great heel heat for Mero. Hmmmm. The card said "special appearance by Sable" Let's take a minute and guess how this one's going to end. Sable arrives on the scene, and distracts Mero just long enough for Scorpio to roll him up for the pin. Should be noted, that a trashy young lady in the audience held up a sign upon Sable's arriaval that said "SABLE vs." and an arrow pointing at herself. Now this next part is for real, the young lady then opened the front of her shirt and bared her breasts to all 8,000+ in attendace. Before the match was over, she also mooned us all. Few complained. As a sidenote, this chick never sat down the whole night, I doubt she even had a ticket, she was just flirting with ever guy in a security uniform, and with her "assets", she didn't have any problems getting around. I'm also quite sure this is the same woman who stripped naked when Metallica visited the Coliseum last year.

MATCH #6=INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION "THE ROCK" vs. "ROAD DOG" JESSE JAMES

Can you say mismatch??? D-X seemed to pretty over on the whole, but the Road Dog could not compare to the huge pop for the peoples champion. He laid the smack down in grand style. People's Elbow, Rock Bottom, need I say more......

MATCH #7 MARK HENRY vs. VADER in "The Battle of the Bulls!!"

Pretty awesome sight to see these huge men in the same ring together. Big pop for Vader. Very physical. Vader gets the nod by DQ. Nation interference.

MATCH #8= TENNESSEE LEE presents JEFF JARRETT vs. STEVE BLACKMAN

Yawn. Same old, same old. Give the assist to Mr. Lee, and chalk up another one for the world's greatest singer, the world's greatest entertainer, and the world's greatest wrestler. Double J.

MAIN EVENT=NO DISQUALIFICATION KANE vs. THE UNDERTAKER

UT gets the biggest pop of the night to my dismay(and surprise). Pretty standard match for the two big men. Lots of power, not much agility. Paul Bearer gets involved and takes a beating to the delight of the fans. UT receives a tombstone piledriver, but then pins his sibling after delivering one of his own, and despite the show being Austin-less, most of the paying attendance seem to leave the show quite content.

NOTES

Press release stated that Austin could not appear due to a Staph Infection.

Biggest pops for X-Pac, The Rock and Taker.

Best heel heat for D-Lo, Mero and Kane.

Goodnight from Edmonton, Alberta. See you in another year.

szabunia