Unforgiven (1998)

Unforgiven: In Your House was the 21st In Your House and inaugural Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It took place on April 26, 1998, at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina. This was the first WWF pay-per-view that used the new "scratch" logo for promotional work, which had first appeared on the ring apron at WrestleMania XIV. This event saw the first Inferno match and WWF's first evening gown match.

This was one of the In Your House events which later became the title of an annual pay-per-view, replacing the method at the time of making new names for all events aside from the "Big Five" (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series). Unforgiven returned in September 1999, becoming the promotion's annual September PPV until its final event in 2008.

Production

Background

In Your House was a series of monthly pay-per-view (PPV) shows first produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in May 1995. They aired when the promotion was not holding one of its then-five major PPVs (WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble), and were sold at a lower cost. Unforgiven: In Your House was the 21st In Your House event and took place on April 26, 1998, at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Storylines

Nation of Domination leader Faarooq felt his leadership compromised by the egotism of The Rock and so when Rock was tapping out to Ken Shamrock's anklelock at WrestleMania XIV, rather than appear to save him, Faarooq merely laughed as The Rock ostensibly lost his Intercontinental Championship (the decision was soon reversed). The following night Rock promised to Faarooq that in their match against Shamrock and Steve Blackman, the Nation of Domination would find a new strength. The new strength turned to be a double cross as Rocky left the match, making it a de facto handicap match which Faarooq lost. After the match, Faarooq demanded The Rock return so they could face each other man to man but when Rock came back to the ring, it turned into a coup d'état as all the other members turned on their leader and Rock took leadership of the newly named Nation. The next week, as Faarooq arrived at the arena, he was met with a beating in the parking lot by all the Nation members, which they also filmed. Ken Shamrock, meanwhile, was forming an ad hoc tag team with Blackman based on their martial arts backgrounds, and still wanted his hands on the Intercontinental Champion.

As the only Hart family member left after the Montreal Screwjob, Owen Hart found himself in a feud with D-Generation X and specifically Triple H. Hart wanted Helmsley's European Belt after Shawn Michaels laid down to give it to Triple H as a Christmas present. Hart eventually persuaded Helmsley into a match, though it turned out to be a ruse with The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust playing the part of Triple H; Hart's win was upheld and he became champion anyway. Triple H would win the title back with the help of Chyna exploiting an injured ankle. Their rematch at WrestleMania XIV would see Commissioner Slaughter handcuffed to Chyna in a bid to prevent her from interfering but she managed to regardless and Hart lost the match after a low blow. The decision was then made for a rematch to be held at Unforgiven, with Chyna restrained in a small cage, suspended from the ground.

Jim Cornette had long been on a campaign to return tradition to the WWF and in doing so brought in a National Wrestling Alliance faction. The NWA Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express were part of this faction until two successive losses to The Headbangers saw Jim Cornette turn on them and bring in The Midnight Express who would record a success over the Headbangers and take the titles. The Rock 'n' Roll Express, though, still wanted revenge for their assault and Cornette's double-cross.

Marc Mero's jealousy over the attention his wife and valet, Sable, gained from the crowd. To mock her, he sent her from ringside and invited out to accompany him The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, dressed up as Sable, which started a short-lived tag team between the two. The team would come undone, however, when Goldust's valet Luna Vachon took exception to Sable. After Sable dominated Vachon in a mixed-tag match at WrestleMania XIV, Vachon demanded a rematch with Sable between just the two of them, which was instantly accepted. The stipulation was later revealed to be an Evening Gown match, in order for Vachon to humiliate Sable, which she initially did by having Goldust dress up again as Sable and strip him as she intended to do to Sable. Sable appeared, though, and assaulted Vachon, with the latter having to flee.

After a series of successive losses, Legion of Doom seemed to split up after brawling in the ring following a loss at the hands of the cheating New Age Outlaws on ''Raw is War'', February 24. They reappeared over a month later as the surprise competitors of WrestleMania's opening 15 tag team battle royal with a revamped image as LOD 2000 sporting new ring attire and a new manager, Sunny. By winning the match, they became the number one contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championships and would have faced the winners of the WrestleMania Dumpser Match, Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, however a technicality saw the titles being stripped from the team and on the March 30 edition of ''Raw is War'', the Outlaws won the title back thanks to some interference from their new D-Generation X teammates meaning LOD 2000 would have to face their old rivals for the title.

Since Kane's debut in the WWF, interrupting The Undertaker's match and ruining his chances of beating Shawn Michaels at Badd Blood: In Your House, Paul Bearer ordered Kane to be constant trouble to his half-brother, who in turn had refused to fight Kane. Things changed though, during a casket match at the Royal Rumble when Kane interfered again, chokeslamming The Undertaker into the casket then padlocking it shut before setting it ablaze, seemingly destroying The Undertaker. After he returned, just before WrestleMania, he claimed to have gone to the afterlife and spoken to his parents and could now justify fighting his brother. Despite winning the match, it took him three tombstone piledrivers to do the job, and Kane recovered afterwards and tombstoned his brother onto a chair. Paul Bearer challenged him soon after on Raw, to a match surrounded by fire where the loser would be determined by the first to be set on fire. The following week Kane and Bearer were shown at the graves of Undertaker's parents, smashing the headstones and setting it ablaze. The week before the event, Undertaker went to the crypt of his parents only to find their coffins gone; they reappeared in the arena under the auspices of Kane and Bearer, who then set one of them on fire and when Undertaker tried to stop them, Kane chokeslammed him into the other coffin.

On the road to WrestleMania, Vince McMahon revealed in an interview by Kevin Kelly that the thought of Stone Cold Steve Austin winning the WWF Championship would be a public relations nightmare. Following the event, McMahon had Austin incarcerated after being assaulted in the ring. He later brought out a changed Austin, formed in his own corporate image with a suit. This turned out to be a ruse though, with Austin quickly stripping off into his normal attire and stunning McMahon. On the April 13th edition of ''Raw is War'', Austin offered McMahon the choice of fighting him in the ring or being attacked backstage; McMahon took the offer of the match but once in the ring called on the boast that Austin had made, that he could defeat McMahon with one hand tied behind his back. Before the match could get underway though, Mick Foley returned in his Dude Love persona and attacked McMahon and then gave the mandible claw to Austin. The week before the event, McMahon commentated the final match, Dude Love versus Steve Blackman, and promised not only to be at ringside during Unforgiven but a catastrophic event would occur. Austin commented on this saying Vince McMahon has only sat at ringside one other time and that was at Survivor Series when someone else got screwed out of the title. The match ended in controversy as well, when the timekeeper suddenly rang the bell in the middle of a submission hold, declaring Dude Love the winner, much to the fury of Blackman.

Event

D'Lo Brown began the six-man tag match with a snap suplex on Steve Blackman but a reversal allowed Blackman to take control and soon things heated up when ex-Nation member Faarooq was tagged in, scoop slamming Brown and then untying his belt to whip Brown with, while The Rock complained to the referee preventing him from seeing the illegal weapon. The Nation varied between the slow, heavy style of Mark Henry, the quick pace of The Rock and Brown's flying manoeuvres to dominate Blackman with The Rock eventually landing the People's Elbow. The match would turn after Brown missed a moonsault, allowing for Blackman to tag in Faarooq, taking down the newly tagged Rock and an interfering Henry when all six men came in the ring. The non-legal men soon brawled out of the ring leaving the legal men to complete the match after Faarooq reversed a DDT attempt into his Dominator to win the match. After the match, Stone Cold Steve Austin came to the ring, bringing the official timekeeper with him, and threatening the timekeeper to call the match right down the middle, regardless of what Vince McMahon's orders to him were.

Before the European Title match, a cage was lowered from the ceiling and after both competitors came to the ring, Commissioner Slaughter came to ringside to oversee Chyna being caged. Once she was locked in, but with Triple H still paying attention to her, Owen Hart attacked Triple H from behind and fought him up the ramp and back down, throwing him into the cage and then suplexing him on the walkway, taunting him with an ironic crotch chop before rolling him into the ring for the match to be officially started. They were not in the ring long though, as Hart immediately clotheslined the champion out again, and watched Chyna's cage ascend. Triple H eventually managed to fight back after much dominance from Hart, using a flying knee while Hart was running. He slowed down the match after a suplex with an inverted backbreaking sleeper hold and despite some fight back from Hart, Triple H mostly managed to keep subdue him with a variety of holds. Hart reversed the second time Helmsley applied the backbreaker sleeper by bridging into a standing position and then performing a backflip to allow a belly to back suplex. It was at this point that Chyna's attempts to break free from the cage, that had been going on all match, came to fruition with the steel bars bending under her hold. While Hart continued to throw Triple H around, Chyna gradually climbed out of the cage but was too far to drop down. The cage suddenly lowered, revealed to be Road Dogg at the controls, allowing her to drop off and jump to the apron causing Hart to let go of the Sharpshooter hold on Helmsley in order to push her to the ground. Slaughter appeared with a number of referees to dispatch Chyna and so nobody could make a pin count when Hart executed his opponent's own finisher, The Pedigree, neither did they see when X-Pac stormed the ring, attacking Hart with a fire extinguisher for Triple H to steal the match again.

An unscheduled NWA match between The Midnight Express and The Rock 'n' Roll Express began with Robert Gibson circling Bodacious Bart and after some grapple take downs both teams changed partners. Ricky Morton ducked under a kick from Bombastic Bob, with Bob accidentally striking Bart. The same thing would happen again with Morton hung on the ropes, Gibson was pulled into the ring and Bob Irish whipped him into Morton, only for it to be reversed and Morton to step away, allowing Bob to run into Bart and push him off the ring apron. Despite some in-fighting, the match soon continued with an abdominal stretch on Morton being aided with Bart holding onto Bob's hand. As the referee saw it, Jim Cornette came into the ring to complain to referee Tim White at which point a fight almost broke out between the two, the wrestlers breaking them apart. After both Midnight members dominated Morton, Gibson's tag managed to turn things around with the Rock N Roll Express performing a simultaneous turnbuckle ten-punch and Irish whipping the Midnighters into each other. The pin count was almost broken up by a high flying Jim Cornette, but Gibson released the pin and Cornette bodysplashed Bob. It amounted to little though, when Bart quickly ran into a bulldog

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