Heat Of The Moment: WWF Live Wire (October 4, 1998)

Previously on Breakdown In Your House: The Rock suddenly became the most over person in the World Wrestling Federation, the pajama variant Hardy Boyz had their pay-per-view pre-show debut, and a new WWF Champion was crowned. BUT WHOMST

Previously on the Best and Worst of WWF Raw Is War: Vince McMahon tried to have a solemn and dignified WWF Championship presentation ceremony, got attacked by Stone Cold Steve Austin piloting a commandeered zamboni, and had his ankle shattered by two 7-foot tall guys for calling them mentally handicapped.

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Here’s what you missed 21 years ago on WWF Sunday Night Heat, originally aired on October 4, 1998.

This week’s Heat is all about establishing Vince McMahon’s hospital stay and hospital room set, which become much more important the following night on Raw. A nearly whimpering Shane McMahon checks in with Pops via a live satellite feed from the Local Medical Facility, which is kind of hilarious, and Vince low key cuts a brilliant heel promo spinning everything that happened to blame Stone Cold Steve Austin.

“I would really like to be there with you tonight. This morning the doctor readmitted me to the hospital. I am in such excruciating pain. My leg’s been crushed. And I will never, ever forgive the Undertaker and Kane for what they did. But … this is really Austin’s fault. And every bit of the pain that I’m suffering right now will be worth it if Austin has to suffer the indignity of counting one, two, three, and crown one of those ungrateful monsters as the WWF Champion. And quite frankly, the doctor doesn’t know how I’ve endured this pain, the amount of this pain, that I’ve endured, the trauma I’ve experienced. There’ll be a further evaluation tomorrow, but for those of you who are concerned, I’m gutting it out.”

Looking back, Vince’s run here is probably the reason why WWE’s still so obsessed with making every top heel a pissy loser coward about everything. The early “Mr. McMahon” character was a total wimp who was constantly getting his ass kicked, but kept coming back and getting massive heat. Everything he did felt cowardly and borderline stupid, but he had a plan, quite frankly, and it was always engaging to watch him work it. What’s missing from today’s heels is that they’re … you know, actual wrestlers, and don’t have an established, real-life power to play with. So while Vince could be a total piece of shit jobber about everything and keep his heat because he’s still the boss and still pulling all the strings, someone like Braun Strowman going heel and turning into a coward just makes him a heatless coward.

Anyway, as you might imagine, Stone Cold Steve Austin isn’t happy having to watch Vince cut promos on him from his deathbed or whatever, so he barges into the production truck with an axe, bosses them around about it to find out what’d solve the problem, and then literally cuts the feed.

Realizing they’re just gonna set it up again the next night on Raw, Austin presumably finds a Party City on Monday afternoon and asks them if they’ve got any surgeon costumes. More on that when Raw becomes War.

That’s not the end of the night for Austin, though. He shows up to make the save for The Rock when the advertised Rock vs. Jeff Jarrett main event turns into a 3-on-1 attempt at good old fashioned southern justice. It’s terrible when you phrase it like that, isn’t it The southern territories will rise again! It’s always funny when the announcers start screaming about how violent and mean CANTERBURY AND KNIGHT are, though, because it plays like Geoffrey Chaucer got an HBO adaption.

But yeah, it’s a big moment, as it transforms the Rock/Austin staredown from a mid-card Intercontinental Championship feud to a face-to-face showdown between the two top stars in the company. The vibe you get is that Austin’s almost “passing the torch” to Rock, in a way, or at least openly acknowledging him as the next Austin-level guy. What you don’t know at this point is that the staredown is foreshadowing future WrestleMania opponents, as Austin’s obsession with handling Vince McMahon “the hard way” runs die-reckally into a guy who chose to play the Deadly Game the easy way.

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