November to Remember (1998)

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[1]

At Heat Wave, Taz defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in a Falls Count Anywhere match to retain the FTW Heavyweight Championship.[2] On the August 12 episode of Hardcore TV, Taz retained the title against Sabu and Bigelow in a triple threat match after the match ended in a thirty-minute time limit draw.[3] The following week, on Hardcore TV, Bigelow's Triple Threat leader, the injured World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas proclaimed that he was a better champion than the World Television Champion Rob Van Dam and announced that Triple Threat would be pursuing Rob Van Dam and Sabu's World Tag Team Championship. Later that night, Bigelow and Chris Candido attacked RVD and Sabu during RVD's match against Dudley Boyz until Taz made the rescue.[4] RVD and Sabu retained their World Tag Team Championship against Triple Threat and Dudley Boyz on August 26 Hardcore TV.[5] It was teased that a new Triple Threat would be formed between RVD, Sabu and Taz against the Triple Threat.[6][7][8] On the October 2 Hardcore TV, RVD and Sabu's manager Bill Alfonso tried to convince Taz to form the New Triple Threat with RVD and Sabu but Taz teased a handshake and then left the ring. Later in the main event, Taz made the save for RVD and Sabu from an assault by Triple Threat and Dudley Boyz and formed New Triple Threat.[9] The two teams continued to brawl and battle with each other.[10][11] On the October 23 episode of Hardcore TV, it was announced that the Triple Threat would face Sabu, RVD and Tazz at November to Remember.[12] A week later, Triple Threat cost RVD and Sabu, the World Tag Team Championship against Dudley Boyz.[13]

On the August 19 episode of Hardcore TV, Justin Credible defeated The Sandman to get a huge upset victory.[4] The two men feuded with each other over the next few weeks as they attacked each other during matches.[5][6] On the September 19 episode of Hardcore TV, Jack Victory allied himself with Credible and Jason as the trio attacked Sandman during his match against Rod Price later in the night until Tommy Dreamer made the save. One Man Gang made his ECW debut and assaulted both Sandman and Dreamer, thus marking Sandman's exit from ECW who would jump ship to World Championship Wrestling (WCW).[8] On the September 26 Hardcore TV, Dreamer paid tribute to Sandman until he was insulted and attacked by Credible and his allies as Credible heavily made him bleed by assaulting him with Sandman's signature Singapore cane.[14] On the following week's Hardcore TV, Dreamer and The Gangstanators (New Jack and John Kronus) defeated Credible, Victory and Price in a Street Fight.[9] A week later, Dreamer rescued Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten) from Credible's assaults by hitting Credible with the Singapore cane.[10] On the October 16 Hardcore TV, the team of Dreamer, Spike Dudley and The Gangstanators defeated Credible, Victory, Price and One Man Gang.[11] On the October 30 episode of Hardcore TV, Credible caned Victory's opponent Tommy Rogers to help Victory in defeating Rogers and then Credible's alliance attacked Rogers until Dreamer made the save. Later that night, Jack declared that he would be Dreamer's partner against Credible and his chosen tag team partner at November to Remember as his match against Victory had been cancelled at Heat Wave. Victory then smashed a guitar over Jack's head.[13]

On the October 9 episode of Hardcore TV, Masato Tanaka defeated Buh Buh Ray Dudley in a match after Rob Van Dam and Sabu prevented Bam Bam Bigelow from interfering in the match.[10] On the October 23 episode of Hardcore TV, Tanaka took on Balls Mahoney in a match which ended in a no contest after Dudley Boyz interfered in the match and attacked both men, resulting in a tag team match between the two teams which Mahoney and Tanaka won.[12] This would lead to a match between the two teams at November to Remember, which became a title match after Dudley Boyz won the World Tag Team Championship on October 30 Hardcore TV.[13]

At Heat Wave, Chris Candido defeated Lance Storm in a match.[2] Both men continued to feud with each other after Heat Wave. On the October 16 episode of Hardcore TV, Storm interfered in Candido's match against Jerry Lynn, with Mikey Whipwreck also getting involved into the match. Storm helped Candido in beating Lynn, thus setting up a match between Lynn and Storm at November to Remember.[11]

November to Remember received negative reviews from critics. Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania rated a score of 4.5 and called it a poor event and considered it "a disappointment of a show", with "It felt like it wasn’t a special show, mostly due to there being so many tag team matches. The disappointment came from several issues. For one, the main event didn’t deliver. Then, things like the mystery partners and the over focus on shenanigans in an otherwise strong Lynn/Storm match didn’t help. I didn’t see the point of Rogers/Smothers, but was pleasantly surprised by the Tag Title match."[15]

David of Wrestling Recaps wrote "What’s with all the tag team stuff on this card? Only two one-on-one matches? I never cease to be confused by ECW booking. If you can ignore Sunny’s handiwork, Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn is very good, but there’s not much else of note from this pay-per-view. Thumbs down."[16]

On the November 13 episode of Hardcore TV, Taz confronted Sabu for stealing the win from him at November to Remember and then Shane Douglas came and provoked Taz into attacking and injuring Sabu and offered him a spot in Triple Threat in place of the departed Bam Bam Bigelow, who left ECW for WCW.[17] Taz pretended to be Douglas' ally until he laid down in a match and put Sabu on top of him for the FTW Heavyweight Championship on the December 25 episode of Hardcore TV.[18] At Guilty as Charged, Taz finally defeated Douglas to win the World Heavyweight Championship.[19]

Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer continued their feud after November to Remember as Credible defeated Dreamer in a Stairway to Hell match at Guilty as Charged after Terry Funk nailed Dreamer with a trashcan.[19]

On the December 13 episode of Hardcore TV, Dudley Boyz defeated Masato Tanaka and Balls Mahoney in a rematch to regain the World Tag Team Championship.[20]

• 1998 in professional wrestling

• November to Remember 1998 at IMDb