One of the most fun matches of the Attitude Era came in the main event of Over The Edge ’98 as Dude Love challenged ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin for the WWF Championship with Vince McMahon as the special referee.
The Background: ‘Stone Cold’ won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 14 from Shawn Michaels and immediately entered a rivalry with the owner of the company, Vince McMahon. This match came in the very early stages of their feud but features several of the major players who would dominate the WWF for the foreseeable future. With Michaels out with a back injury, Mick Foley pivoted from Cactus Jack to the ‘Corporate Cat’ Dude Love. It was an intriguing plot given that Foley challenged for the tag titles at WrestleMania and turned on Austin thanks in part to the crowd chanting for the Rattlesnake as Foley and partner Terry Funk were helped out of the ring following a brutal steel cage match on Raw against the New Age Outlaws. In addition to McMahon as referee, the stooges were given roles. Pat Patterson was the ring announcer and Gerald Briscoe was the timekeeper. McMahon had offered the chance for any volunteer to come down and watch Austin’s back, knowing the Rattlesnake doesn’t trust anybody. If Austin puts his hands on Vince, he’ll be stripped of the title.
The Action: Patterson gives Dude Love a long prepared introduction, then refuses to give one for Austin. JR is brilliant in this match, he was really hitting his stride as Austin’s biggest supporter, building up drama, and Jerry Lawler beside him defending McMahon’s actions. It’s another really interesting dynamic given that Lawler was sat beside Vince for so long chastising him. Foley looks to be in great shape having dropped a few pounds but after Austin is introduced, the lights dim and here comes the Undertaker. On Raw, McMahon ordered Undertaker versus Austin only to suffer a chokeslam. Undertaker is in the phase of throwing up his hands to bring back the lights, which is the best version of the Deadman. McMahon insists they get it on aggressively and makes a fast count early with Austin’s shoulders down, Undertaker starts to come up the steps. Lawler makes a hilarious comment about Vince receiving a double bird being a visual assault. Austin stands on Dude’s fake front teeth and tosses them to the crowd. Dude gets hung up in the ropes and again McMahon is awesome as he sees Undertaker over his shoulder and is visibly scared. On the outside, Dude sends Austin across the Spanish announce table and Vince orders Patterson to announce that it’s no disqualification. JR: “Since when? Since when? Since now? That’s not right!” Austin gets the upper hand and suddenly Lawler wants a DQ. The rules are being made up as they go along, as moments later Patterson announces that it’s falls count anywhere as soon as Dude gains the advantage. They fight across the cars in the entrance way, Austin gets backdropped on one of the car hoods but kicks out. In many ways, the ending to WrestleMania 40 is the greatest sequence in professional wrestling history with Rock, Rollins, Undertaker and Cena all involved, but the last few minutes of this match rivals it. It all starts with Dude taking a chair shot from Austin but McMahon refuses to count. McMahon takes an accidental chair to the head from Dude Love and takes a Stone Cold Stunner. Mike Chioda sprints down to make the count but Patterson pulls him out and drills him. Mandible Claw is locked on and the crowd are unglued. They’re so loud that JR and the King are raising their voices to be head. Patterson jumps in but gets dragged back to the floor by the Undertaker and chokeslammed through the announce desk. Dude Love calls for Briscoe and JR calls it best; “There goes Briscoe now! Here comes Briscoe now!” He suffers a chokeslam through the Spanish announce table. Another Stone Cold Stunner and Austin pulls McMahon’s lifeless body across to force his hand to slap the mat three times. Undertaker calls for the bell. There’s a stare between Undertaker and Austin, the Deadman takes off before the inevitable Steveweiser celebration.
The Aftermath: One great thing about the Attitude Era was that everybody has layers. Dude Love and Austin are former WWF Tag Team Champions, Undertaker doesn’t like how McMahon exploited his family tragedy, Austin versus McMahon captivated the audience and then you add personalities like Patterson and Briscoe to the mix. Undertaker would demand a title shot only to lose to his brother Kane in a number one contenders match thanks to a previously fired Mick Foley returning as Mankind. That would set up Austin versus Kane at King of the Ring in a First Blood bout, something hardly remembered thanks to the Mankind versus Undertaker Hell in a Cell match that stole all the headlines.