by Logan Scisco We kick off our next round of reviews by covering the 1998 season of Monday Night Raw.  1998 is when the WWF finally turned the Monday Night Wars in its favor and began the process of grinding WCW to dust (assisted by poor WCW booking patterns and the AOL-Time Warner merger).  The year saw the creation of new stars, the continuation of a more mature product, and Steve Austin solidify himself as one of the greatest WWF stars of all-time.  I’ve also decided to modify my rating style for this set of reviews.  I don’t like doing star ratings for TV events because of the length of the matches, so when I review the pay-per-views I’ll revert to the star rating, but for the TV shows I’m going to do an average point system.  If a match or lengthy interview segment is worthwhile, it will receive a point.  Otherwise, it won’t.  I hope that this can better clarify the good and bad elements of a show.  If everyone hates it I can revert t...

by Logan Scisco - Footage of the angle surrounding last week’s show concerning the European title is shown . - Jim Ross, Michael Cole, and Kevin Kelly are in the booth and they are live from the Nassau Coliseum in New York for the last RAW of 1997. - Goldust comes out dressed as a New Year’s baby and declares that he will enter the Royal Rumble.  I should note that Cole is establishing a bad operating procedure of constantly talking over a wrestler’s promo, afraid of having any silence on the air.  Goldust is supposed to wrestle Steve Austin, who comes out and has a Porta John lowered, which he has to tug into the ring from the top of the arena.  The Porta John, which Cole initially calls an “outhouse” has “Crapper 3:16” written on the outside of it.  Goldust tries to sneak up on Austin behind it, but Austin slams the door in his face, tosses him inside, and when Goldust comes out he eats a Stone Cold Stunner.  Austin then tosses Goldust back in and t...

by Logan Scisco - Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma .

by Logan Scisco - Jim Ross narrates a video package that profiles the Legion of Doom, who have vowed to defeat the Godwinns for the tag team titles tonight or retire . - Vince McMahon, Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are in Topeka, Kansas . - McMahon interviews the Hart Foundation.  Before WWF Champion Bret Hart can start speaking, the Kliq interrupts and Michaels has his antics with the Canadian flag replayed from last week’s show, along with his loss to Triple H.  Bret calls Michaels and Triple H “degenerates” as they continue to run down the Hart Foundation and Michaels runs with it and says that his crew is “D-Generation X” and they are around to break rules.  After DX finishes their promo, the Nation of Domination comes out, thereby depriving Bret of a rebuttal, and this leads into our first match.