[1998-11-09-WWF-Raw] The Rock vs Mark Henry

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Rock wore this ring gear while recovering from surgery to have his bitch tits removed. I didn't realize he wore it this early, but I don't think he was wearing it every time out at this point. He'd dress like this in 1999 all the way to Wrestlemania, which I hated at the time. The highlight of this from an in-ring standpoint is the setup for Rock to get a vertical suplex on a "400 lb man", but I won't kid myself into thinking Henry was any good yet. He's doing some okay things mechanically, but he's missing the mean streak and sense of purpose he would later develop. This has a lot of heat, but it's a Rock match and it's also really storyline driven. Boss Man interferes and tries to handcuff Rock to the ringpost, but Rock reverses the table on him. D-Lo pulls the ref out of the ring mid-pinfall count in their neverending attempt to recreate Over The Edge with Austin-Dude Love. Rock does the people's elbow and it's obvious to me that Shane is going to come out and do the three count. He does and Rock is back in Survivor Series. Once again, an electric pop. This is the kind of thing that was so overdone through the years but really felt fresh in 1998 before it was repeated to death.

 

Post-match, Rock gets his hands on Vince by throwing him into the ring, but Patterson and Brisco defend their boss. Patterson sure can sell a punch! Vince slaps Rock and ends up eating a Rock Bottom and a People's Elbow. Vince is great, Rock is great, the WWF is great.

[Strummer]

I don't remember liking the product that much in the fall of 98. I mean I didn't hate it but it didn't seem as good as 97 and the first half of 98. But I was so sick of Undertaker and Kane at this point that it might have clouded my judgment. Kane had been on TV for a little over a year at this point and was already overexposed and chronically stale. 16 years later... At least Undertaker had the sense to agree to turn heel. Although he didn't really act that much different until the ministry stuff started

[soup23]

Not much of a match but all about the booking. Bossman has had a lot of his plans thwarted off. Shane comes out to make the pin to stick it to his dad. Rock is back in Survivor SEries and gives Vince a Rock Bottom and Peoples Elbow as the shows closes. (*3/4)

[PeteF3]

I'm thinking late-'98 Henry is actually underrated--I marveled at how well he went up for the suplex and power slam and how generally good his timing was. But--he doesn't carry himself nor is he portrayed as a star, and that killed his perception for a long, long time. This is still as good of a match and segment involving '90s Henry as you could hope for.

 

Rock gets his hands on Vince, post-match. A big deal, as Vince was always so protected and only the top guys got to lay a hand on him.