Royal Rumble (1998)

The opening match began with Goldust attacking Vader as he entered the ring. Vader soon recovered and threw Goldust into the turnbuckle before he eventually fell out of the ring where Vader also shoved Luna Vachon to the ground. After a suplex and a big splash, Goldust was dragged to the corner so Vader could attempt his Vader Bomb, but a low blow stopped him. Vader then attempted the move for the second time, only to have Luna jump on his back. Vader hit the move anyway, and scored the pin.[8]

With Sunny as the special guest referee, a six-man tag match of lucha libre midget wrestling took place. The face team took most of the early advantage, tagging frequently while the heel team were regularly thrown under the bottom rope and replaced with a fresh member. Max Mini used Sunny to help him dropkick Battalion, Tarantula and then El Torito in order and then delivered a top rope hurricarana to Torito, and winning the match with a backslide pin.[8]

The Intercontinental bout began with an exchange of punches and a few kicks until Ken Shamrock mistimed a hurricarana, allowing Rocky Maivia to slam him down. After being kicked to the corner, Shamrock replied with a crossbody that only gained him a two-count, as did a fisherman suplex pin. Rock took control by reversing an Irish whip into a DDT and then putting the challenger in a headlock. His next attempt at a DDT was reversed, however, into a powerslam prompting Nation members to storm the ring. With the referee distracted, The Rock used a brass knuckles to hit Shamrock and then disposed of the knuckleduster inside Shamrock's trunks. By the time the referee looked back to the ring, he could only make a two count and Shamrock pulled off a belly to belly suplex slam, winning the match. However, as Shamrock celebrated, Rock appealed to Mike Chioda who, upon discovering the foreign object, reversed the decision and took the belt from a bemused Shamrock.[8] Then, Chioda gave it back to The Rock, making him the winner via disqualification. A furious Shamrock attacked the referee for stripping him of the title.

In the tag team match, New Age Outlaws prematurely began by attacking Legion of Doom before the bell rang but the Legion quickly turned the match in their favor, chasing the Outlaws up the ramp as the champions tried to lose by count out. Still holding control, the Legion took turns on Road Dogg who eventually handcuffed Hawk to the corner outside the ring. Regardless, Animal successfully dominated both Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, powerslamming Gunn into a pin that was broken by a chair shot. The disqualification gave the victory to LOD while the New Age Outlaws retained the belts, double teaming Animal until Hawk broke free from the cuffs to save his partner.[8]

The Royal Rumble began with Mick Foley's persona Cactus Jack as #1, bringing trash cans to the ring. The second contestant was Terry Funk's alter-ego Chainsaw Charlie who ran to the ring wielding his chainsaw before Cactus hit him with a chair and the two engaged in a hardcore battle briefly interrupted by Tom Brandi who they both eliminated over the top rope. As The Rock entered, he was met with a trash can over the head, being bundled out of the ring under the bottom rope briefly. As the ring filled up Cactus Jack went to clothesline Charlie over the top rope but inadvertently threw himself over and eliminated himself. Owen Hart came out #9 but before he was able to enter the ring, NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett and ally Jim Cornette attacked him. Soon after, at #16, Mick Foley returned to the ring in his Mankind gimmick, returning the favour by eliminating Chainsaw Charlie while Ken Shamrock and The Rock resumed their feud from earlier. Jarrett officially came out at #18 and was soon joined in the ring by Owen Hart, who ran out from the back and eliminated Jarrett. Hart himself was soon distracted by the non-competing Triple H, who hit him with a crutch as Chyna yanked him out. When the clock counted down to #22, no contestant appeared with Jerry Lawler on commentary attributing the number to Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had reportedly been taken out backstage by Ken Shamrock. By #23, the Nation of Domination had four members (Rock, D'Lo Brown, Mark Henry and Kama Mustafa) in the ring although they seldom worked together. All fighting in the ring ceased when Austin's music played for #24 but, after a lengthy wait, Stone Cold appeared from behind and tossed out Marc Mero and 8-Ball. Savio Vega, who entered #26, was accompanied by the rest of Los Boricuas who went straight after Austin. Faarooq completed the Nation stable in the ring but went straight after teammate The Rock before Foley's third appearance as Dude Love.[9] Soon only four men remained (Rock, Austin, Dude Love and Faarooq) and Austin and Dude Love, former tag team partners, teamed up against the Nation members, until Austin turned on Dude, allowing Faarooq to clothesline him out of the match. When Faarooq then turned to Austin, Rock tossed his teammate out of the ring leaving the former Intercontinental champion against the current champion. The Rock survived almost being thrown out only to be stunnered and tossed out again.[8]

The main event began with The Undertaker mostly controlling Shawn Michaels. After walking on the top rope, Undertaker rolled Michaels into the casket but Michaels' hand grabbing the ring apron stopped it from being shut. As Undertaker went to shut the casket, Michaels threw it open and dazed his opponent by throwing powder into his eyes, leaving him stunned. Despite a throat shot, Undertaker began to lose his dominance of the match as things moved outside of the ring, with Michaels delivering a piledriver on top of the steel steps, before fellow degenerate, Triple H, hit him with a crutch. Michaels, too, failed to close the coffin's lid on Undertaker, forcing the fight back into the ring where Shawn tried to submit his opponent, following with a high-flying elbow drop and Sweet Chin Music. So sure of the win, with Undertaker lying in the casket, Michaels chose instead to taunt Undertaker, giving a crotch-chop which Undertaker seized on, leading to a brief fight in the ring but going back into the casket when Undertaker missed a flying clothesline and his momentum caused him to tumble inside. Michaels climbed to the top rope and delivered an elbow drop into the casket and the two fought inside a closed coffin. After eventually climbing out, both made it back to the ring where Undertaker gave Shawn a chokeslam. He then dragged the champion to the ring apron and hit a jumping tombstone piledriver, depositing Michaels into the casket. Before Undertaker could close it, the New Age Outlaws and Los Boricuas ran in and collectively pummeled Undertaker until the lights went out in the arena. Kane's music played and the Big Red Monster single-handedly took out everyone in the ring. In the meantime Chyna and Triple H helped a visibly hurt Shawn Michaels out of the casket. Kane suddenly turned on Undertaker, punching him and chokeslamming him into the casket. Triple H and Chyna shut it, thus ending the match and allowing Michaels to retain his title.[10]

Kane was not done, however, as Paul Bearer came to ringside and the two padlocked Undertaker inside the casket and rolled it to the top of the entrance ramp where Kane chopped holes in the casket with an axe, doused it with gasoline and set it on fire.[8] After the show went off the air, with the casket still burning, Kane and Bearer left the arena while various emergency officials extinguished the fire and Commissioner Slaughter and others tried to break open the casket to free Undertaker. However, when the casket was opened, no one was inside. Undertaker's voice then was heard to say "Kane, until our paths cross again, I shall never rest in peace!"[11]

By winning the Royal Rumble match, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won the right to face Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XIV. Mike Tyson's presence in the director's box was revealed the following night to be because he was taking the role of special guest referee for the event. Following an altercation with Austin, however, he was changed to special enforcer and soon allied with D-Generation X.[12] At WrestleMania, though, Tyson showed his true colors and stepped in when the referee was knocked down making the three-count for Austin[13] which many see as the official genesis for the "Attitude Era" and WWF's resurging dominance over chief rivals World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

During his match with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels suffered a severe back injury when he took a back body drop off of the casket, landing on his tailbone on the casket's outer mid-section. He herniated two discs in his back and crushed a third, and the injury forced him to retire from wrestling after WrestleMania. As it transpired, during a one-off match with Triple H at SummerSlam 2002,[14] he realized his back no longer hampered him and made a full-time return to wrestling. His back injury kept him out of all wrestling until the main event at WrestleMania, despite being billed on the card for the next PPV, No Way Out of Texas. His last-minute replacement was Savio Vega, who appeared in the main event eight-man tag team match which saw a number of high-profile feuds converge on the road to WrestleMania.[15]

The New Age Outlaws would go on to take part in the eight-man main event at No Way Out of Texas, sparring opposite Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie ahead of their WrestleMania title match. Their alliance with Triple H in this match saw them join the newly formed DX Army the day after WrestleMania. Legion of Doom went on to suffer a series of losses, ending in another loss against the Outlaws on February 23 after which they had an in-ring brawl and announced the dissolution of their team. They reappeared in a modified form as LOD 2000 in the opening WrestleMania match with Sunny as their valet.[13]

Rocky Maivia's feud with Ken Shamrock spilled out into a ten-man tag match between the Nation of Domination and Shamrock's team, teaming with Ahmed Johnson and the Disciples of Apocalypse. Shamrock won the match by pinning Rock[15] and faced him at WrestleMania once again for the Intercontinental title. He originally won the match but would not release his ankle lock; thus, Shamrock was disqualified.

The Undertaker would not return to action until WrestleMania, where he defeated Kane in a singles match. The feud continued with an inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House in April. Two months later the two entered a storyline where Undertaker was eventually revealed to be in cahoots with his brother, which concluded with Paul Bearer reuniting with Undertaker and turning on Kane which led to the formation of the Ministry of Darkness at the end of 1998. This also marked the last time he would face Michaels in a singles match until the two met at WrestleMania XXV; he would wrestle Michaels once more at WrestleMania XXVI where he won a "streak vs. career" match, forcing Michaels to retire from wrestling for good.[13]

• Official website
• Review of Royal Rumble 1998
• Review of Royal Rumble 1998