King of the Ring 1998: Mankind Falls, Kane Wins, and the Attitude Era Finds Its Most Dangerous Image

The opener is exactly what the early card needs: short, busy and unconcerned with pretending anyone came to see twenty minutes of methodical control. Taka and Kaientai provide speed while the Headbangers add enough size and awkwardness to keep the exchanges from feeling like a pure junior-heavyweight exhibition.

The match gets loose when everyone enters at once, but the disorder is productive. Taka finally catches Funaki with the Michinoku Driver and ends the match before the sloppiness can become the whole story. Cagematch currently places it at 5.80, while the Observer gave it 2.25 stars.

It is a good opener by function rather than a memorable match by quality.

Jarrett's strategy is logical: attack Shamrock's ankle before Shamrock can attack his. Tennessee Lee helps around the post, and Jarrett spends enough time on the leg to establish a route toward an upset. The problem is that the match is too short for the damage to become dramatic.

Shamrock rallies almost immediately, hits the powerslam and secures the ankle lock. Jarrett taps without a prolonged struggle. The result is correct because the tournament needs Shamrock in the final, but the match feels like a television checkpoint rather than a pay-per-view semifinal.

The Observer's one-star rating is harsher than WrestleFile, while Cagematch sits in the upper fours. There is sound logic here, just not enough development.

This match wastes the most interesting possibility in the bracket. Dan Severn versus Ken Shamrock would carry obvious combat-sports history, and even if WWF never intends to book that final, Severn should feel dangerous enough that Rock escaping him matters.

Instead, the match is mostly a short setup for Nation interference. Severn applies holds, Rock survives, the referee is distracted, and D-Lo Brown lands the frog splash that allows Rock to advance. The result gets the more important star into the final, but Severn is treated as a device rather than an attraction.

The Observer gave the match negative one-half star. WrestleFile stops just below the D threshold because the four-minute semifinal has almost no independent value.

The match is a joke whose punchline is also the finish. Jerry Lawler refuses to recognize Head as a legal partner until the rules become convenient, interferes repeatedly on behalf of Too Much, and eventually counts a pin on Head after a bottle of Head & Shoulders shampoo is attached to it.

There is a certain commitment to the stupidity. Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor understand that the match is comedy, and Al Snow's entire act is built around arguing with an inanimate mannequin head. But comedy still needs timing, escalation and payoff. This mostly has a pun.

The Observer's negative two-star rating is one of the harshest on a WWF pay-per-view match of the era. WrestleFile agrees with the direction even if it does not go quite that low.

Owen Hart and X-Pac have enough speed and precision that eight minutes feels useful rather than restrictive. They skip long setup, exchange quick offense and make the faction rivalry feel physical without requiring every member of DX and the Nation to become part of every sequence.

The match loses points at the finish. Mark Henry interferes, Vader appears, the referee becomes distracted and Chyna DDTs Owen so X-Pac can score the pin. It is standard 1998 machinery attached to a match that could have survived a cleaner ending.

Cagematch currently sits just under six and the Observer gave 2.25 stars. WrestleFile lands at C because the work is good enough to rise above the booking clutter.

The Midnight Express name carries history that this version of the team cannot cash. Bart Gunn and Bob Holly are competent wrestlers, but the audience does not treat them as a credible threat to the New Age Outlaws, and the match never finds a reason to argue otherwise.

Jim Cornette tries to create heat with the racket, Chyna neutralizes him, and the Outlaws retain. The crowd reacts more strongly to Cornette getting humiliated than to the championship struggle itself, which tells the story of the match.

Cagematch currently rates it 4.67 and the Observer 1.5 stars. WrestleFile gives it D+ because it is functional tag wrestling with almost no suspense.

This is the tournament match the show has been waiting for. Rock and Shamrock already have a rivalry, so the final does not need to manufacture stakes beyond the crown. Shamrock wants a decisive victory over the man who repeatedly escaped him; Rock wants another accolade as his rise accelerates.

The early minutes are controlled, but the closing stretch becomes increasingly sharp. Rock finds counters and near falls, Shamrock keeps returning to the ankle, and Triple H's commentary adds faction context without overwhelming the action. The crowd becomes louder because a clean conclusion finally feels possible.

Shamrock catches the ankle lock and Rock submits. No reversal, no restart, no technicality. The simplicity is the payoff. Cagematch currently has the match at 6.47, while the Observer rated it 3.25 stars.

WrestleFile gives it B-: not a classic, but the best conventional wrestling match on the card and exactly the finish their feud needed.

Traditional match analysis almost fails here because the contest becomes something else within minutes. Mankind begins on the roof of the cell. Undertaker follows despite wrestling with a foot injury. The panels flex beneath them, and the audience is already reacting to danger before the first defining moment arrives.

Undertaker throws Mankind from the roof through the Spanish announce table. The planned fall is enormous, frightening and immediately treated as potentially match-ending. Officials and medical personnel surround Foley. The cell is raised. Then Foley gets off the stretcher and climbs again.

The second fall is worse because it is not supposed to happen the way it does. Undertaker chokeslams Mankind onto the roof, the panel gives way and Foley falls into the ring. The chair follows and strikes him. Foley is briefly unconscious. From a modern safety perspective, this is where the match should end.

Instead, the match continues and somehow becomes a coherent brawl. Undertaker guides the pace while Foley recovers enough to hit the piledriver and double-arm DDT. The thumbtacks provide the final escalation. Undertaker goes into them, then chokeslams Mankind onto them and finishes with the Tombstone.

The most enduring element is not simply the height of the falls. It is the audience's transformation from excitement to concern, Foley's almost impossible return, and Jim Ross's commentary changing from narration to alarm. The match feels like a live event escaping its intended boundaries.

Cagematch currently rates it 9.31 from 784 votes and the Observer gave it 4.5 stars. WrestleFile lands at A / 9.2. It is one of wrestling's most important spectacles and one of Foley's defining performances, while also standing as evidence of a safety culture the industry was right to change.

Following Undertaker-Mankind is nearly impossible, so Austin and Kane wisely begin with movement rather than trying to outdo the previous match's violence. Austin attacks immediately and looks for ways around the obvious problem: Kane's face is covered by a mask.

That problem never fully disappears. A First Blood match requires visible blood, and one participant is almost designed to hide it. The added promise that Kane will set himself on fire if he loses further narrows the plausible outcomes. The match therefore works best as an Attitude Era brawl rather than a suspenseful stipulation match.

The Cell drops and rises around them, Mankind returns despite what just happened, and Undertaker arrives to counter him. The decisive chair swing is intended for Mankind but catches Austin, opening him up. The referee eventually sees the blood and awards Kane the WWF Championship.

The title change is historically significant even though Austin wins the belt back the next night. Kane becomes champion for the first time, Austin remains protected, and the Undertaker-Kane conspiracy story advances.

Cagematch currently sits at 6.16 from 186 votes and the Observer rated it 3.25 stars. WrestleFile gives it B- for atmosphere, consequence and a strong enough brawl trapped inside a flawed stipulation.