[1998-02-09-WWF-Raw] Steve Austin and DX

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

DX's music fires up. Shawn says that Austin has an ass kicking waiting for him. Shawn is waiting right their in the ring for Austin. Austin comes walking down and D-X and the NAO surround the ring as the crowd chants Austin in a fury. We get the distant sound of a chainsaw firing up and CHyna is able to reclaim the WWF championship. Cactus comes up from through the ring and Chainsaw does as well with Chainsaw in his hand. Owen comes from the crowd and we get our final sell of No Way Out with the NAO taking a little punishment and D-X bailing.

[Loss]

DX are out and are not happy at all, just after Austin locked Los Boricuas in a room where they were looking for him in the locker room area. Austin comes out with the WWF title and swings it around as a weapon, which causes DX to bail. The NAO are also out and Austin is holding them off with the belt as they chant his name. Chyna is able to retrieve the belt and Cactus and Funk come through the ring to make the save, prompting a brawl.

[PeteF3]

Final hard sell for No Way Out, a throwaway PPV if there ever was one, but not without a bad main event on paper at least. Los Boricuas failed in their quest to find Austin and the belt, so DX are finally out to beg Austin to come to the ring. Austin manages to run off DX, but is quickly surrounded by them and the Outlaws. But we hear the sounds of a chainsaw as this is going on, and up through the ring apron come Cactus and Chainsaw, with Owen Hart soon to follow. Chyna manages to get the belt back during the big standoff. Big heat for this, and Austin vs. Michaels is so, so much fresher than anything WCW can offer in the main event scene.

[tim]

Austin is such a badass here. Shame Michaels couldn't work the 8 man tag because this does a great job building anticipation to see these guys clash. The continued inter-linking build of all these four matches toward Wrestlemania helps a lot. Makes the tag match and Owen/Triple H feel like bigger deals than they would otherwise and makes the weekly TV a lot better than it probably would be otherwise.

[TravJ1979]

I knew Austin was big in 1998, but good god it really shows here in these highlighted segments. Great final sell for PPV. Did they know Michaels was out at this point?