1998 in professional wrestling

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1998 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

Calendar of notable live events

January

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
NJPW	Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome	January 4	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo, Japan	55,000
ECW	House Party (1998)	January 10	ECW Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,650
WWF	Royal Rumble (1998)	January 18	San Jose Arena	San Jose, California	18,542
WCW	Souled Out (1998)	January 24	Hara Arena	Trotwood, Ohio	5,486
ECW	Hostile City Showdown (1998)	January 31	ECW Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,650

February

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
WWF	No Way Out of Texas: In Your House	February 15	Compaq Center	Houston, Texas	16,110
ECW	Cyberslam (1998)	February 21	ECW Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2,000
WCW	SuperBrawl VIII	February 22	Cow Palace	San Francisco, California	12,620
N/A	Third Annual Eddie Gilbert Memorial Show	February 28	West High School	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	N/A

March

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
AAA	Rey de Reyes (1998)	March 1	N/A	Naucalpan, Mexico	N/A
ECW	Living Dangerously (1998)	March 1	Asbury Park Convention Hall	Asbury Park, New Jersey	3,700
WCW	Uncensored (1998)	March 15	Mobile Civic Center	Mobile, Alabama	7,475
CMLL	Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth (1998)	March 20	Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	N/A
WWF	WrestleMania XIV	March 29	FleetCenter	Boston	19,028

April

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
WCW	Spring Stampede (1998)	April 19	Denver Coliseum	Denver, Colorado	7,428
CMLL	42. Aniversario de Arena México	April 24	Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico
WWF	Unforgiven: In Your House	April 26	Greensboro Coliseum	Greensboro, North Carolina	21,427
N/A	First Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show	April 29	Norwood Middle School	Norwood, Ohio	N/A
FMW	FMW 9th Anniversary Show	April 30	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	5,200

May

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
ECW	Wrestlepalooza (1998)	May 3	Cobb County Civic Center	Marietta, Georgia	3,407
ECW	It Ain't Seinfeld	May 14	The Elks Lodge	Queens, New York	1,250
ECW	A Matter of Respect (1998)	May 16	ECW Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,600
WCW	Slamboree (1998)	May 17	The Centrum	Worcester, Massachusetts	11,592
FMW	Neo 1998: Day 1	May 19	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
WWF	Over the Edge: In Your House	May 31	Wisconsin Center Arena	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	9,822

June

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
AAA	Triplemanía VI	June 7	El Toreo	Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico	N/A
N/A	Third Annual Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Show	June 11	Marine Midland Arena	Buffalo, New York	N/A
WCW	The Great American Bash (1998)	June 14	Baltimore Arena	Baltimore, Maryland	12,810
FMW	King of Fight 1998: Day 2	June 19	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
WWF	King of the Ring (1998)	June 28	Pittsburgh Civic Arena	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	17,087

July

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
FMW	King of Fight II 1998: Day 2	July 10	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
WCW	Bash at the Beach (1998)	July 12	Cox Arena	San Diego, California	10,095
CMLL	Ruleta de la Muerte (1998)	July 18	Palacio de los Deportes	Mexico City, Mexico	21,000
WWF	Fully Loaded: In Your House	July 26	Selland Arena	Fresno, California	9,855

August

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
WWC	WWC 25th Aniversario	August 1	Hiram Bithorn Stadium	San Juan, Puerto Rico	N/A
ECW	Heat Wave (1998)	August 2	Hara Arena	Dayton, Ohio	4,400
WCW	Road Wild (1998)	August 8	Sturgis Motorcycle Rally	Sturgis, South Dakota	8,500
FMW	Atsushi Onita Presents Liar, Liar	August 11	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
N/A	Second Annual Plum Mariko Memorial Show	August 13	Ota Ward Gym	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
CMLL	International Gran Prix	August 14	Arena Mexico	Mexico City, Mexico	N/A
FMW	Welcome to the Darkside	August 22	DirecTV Studios	Tokyo, Japan	50
WWF	SummerSlam (1998)	August 30	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	21,588

September

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
FMW	Super Dynamism 1998: Day 11	September 8	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
WCW	Fall Brawl (1998)	September 13	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	11,528
AAA	Verano de Escándalo (1998)	September 18	N/A	Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico	12,000
CMLL	CMLL 65th Anniversary Show	September 18	Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	N/A
ECW	UltraClash (1998)	September 19	ECW Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,100
WWF	Breakdown: In Your House	September 27	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton, Ontario	17,405

October

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
FMW	Flashover 1998: Day 10	October 6	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	N/A
WWF	Judgment Day: In Your House	October 18	Rosemont Horizon	Rosemont, Illinois	18,153
WCW	Halloween Havoc (1998)	October 25	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Paradise, Nevada	10,663

November

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
ECW	November to Remember (1998)	November 1	Lakefront Arena	New Orleans, Louisiana	5,800
WWF	Survivor Series (1998)	November 15	Kiel Center	St. Louis, Missouri	21,179
FMW	Scramble Survivor 1998: Day 6	November 20	Bunka Gym	Yokohama, Japan	N/A
WCW	World War 3 (1998)	November 22	The Palace of Auburn Hills	Auburn Hills, Michigan	17,670

December

Promotion(s)	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
WWF	WWF Capital Carnage	December 6	London Arena	London, England	10,441
ECW FMW	ECW/FMW Supershow I	December 12	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	2,150
ECW FMW	ECW/FMW Supershow II	December 13	Korakuen Hall	Tokyo, Japan	2,150
AAA	Guerra de Titanes (1998)	December 13	Aguirre Gym	Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico	8,000
WWF	Rock Bottom: In Your House	December 13	General Motors Place	Vancouver, Canada	20,042
CWA	Euro Catch Festival (1998)	December 19	Stadthalle Bremen	Bremen, Germany	1,000
IWRG	Arena Naucalpan 21st Anniversary Show	December 20	Arena Naucalpan	Naucalpan, State of Mexico
WCW	Starrcade (1998)	December 27	MCI Center	Washington, D.C.	16,066

Accomplishments and tournaments

AAA

Tournaments	Winner	Date won	Notes
Rey de Reyes	Perro Aguayo	March 1

WCW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
World War 3	Kevin Nash	November 22

WWF

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Royal Rumble	Stone Cold Steve Austin	January 18
King of the Ring	Ken Shamrock	June 28
WWF Brawl for All	Bart Gunn	August 24	This was a shoot fighting tournament, rather than traditional wrestling matches
WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament	Ken Shamrock	October 12
Deadly Games WWF Championship Tournament	The Rock	November 15

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Main article: List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Stone Cold Steve Austin
PWI Tag Team of the Year	The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn)
PWI Match of the Year	The Undertaker vs. Mankind (King of the Ring)
PWI Feud of the Year	Vince McMahon vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Stone Cold Steve Austin
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Hollywood Hogan
PWI Comeback of the Year	X-Pac
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Booker T
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Goldberg
PWI Rookie of the Year	Bill Goldberg
PWI Lifetime Achievement	Bobo Brazil
PWI Editor's Award	Paul Bearer

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Main article: Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Inductee
Dos Caras

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Main article: List of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Category	Winner
Wrestler of the Year	Stone Cold Steve Austin
Most Outstanding	Koji Kanemoto
Best Box Office Draw	Stone Cold Steve Austin
Feud of the Year	Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon
Tag Team of the Year	Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Most Improved	The Rock
Best on Interviews	Stone Cold Steve Austin

Title changes

ECW

ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Shane Douglas
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
No title changes

ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 14	Taz	It Ain't Seinfeld	Taz introduced the championship during a storyline.
December 19	Sabu	Hardcore TV #296

ECW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Taz
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 1	Bam Bam Bigelow	Living Dangerously
April 4	Rob Van Dam	Hardcore TV #259

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Chris Candido and Lance Storm
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
June 27	Rob Van Dam and Sabu	Hardcore TV #271
October 24	The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von Dudley)	Hardcore TV #288
November 1	Balls Mahoney and Masato Tanaka	November to Remember
November 6	The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von Dudley)	Hardcore TV #290
December 13	Sabu and Rob Van Dam	ECW/FMW Supershow II

FMW

FMW Double Championship
Incoming champion – Masato Tanaka
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 6	Mr. Gannosuke	New Year Generation Tour
April 30	Hayabusa	9th Anniversary Show
November 20	Kodo Fuyuki	Scramble Survivor Tour

FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – ZEN/Team No Respect (Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 29	Team No Respect (Kodo Fuyuki and Hido)	Winning Road tour
April 17	Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka	Fuyuki Army
May 27	Team No Respect (Kodo Fuyuki and Yukihiro Kanemura)	Neo FMW
October 26	Hayabusa and Daisuke Ikeda	Fuyuki Army

FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Hisakatsu Oya
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 16	Team No Respect (Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Jado)	FMW
February 13	ZEN (Atsushi Onita, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda)	FMW
May 5	Team No Respect (Kodo Fuyuki, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido)	Neo FMW tour
June 1	Vacant	Neo FMW Tour
June 1	Team No Respect (Atsushi Onita, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hido)	Neo FMW tour
November 20	Vacant	N/A

NJPW

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Kensuke Sasaki
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 4	Tatsumi Fujinami	Antonio Inoki Retirement Show
August 8	Masahiro Chono	Rising the Next Generation in Osaka Dome
September 21	Vacant	N/A
September 23	Scott Norton	Big Wednesday

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 21	Vacant	N/A
June 5	Cho-Ten (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono)	Live event
July 15	Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka	Summer Struggle 1998

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Shinjiro Otani
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 7	Jushin Thunder Liger	Live event

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 8	Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa	Rising the Next Generations in Osaka Dome

WCW

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Sting
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 8	Vacant	Thunder	vacated due to the controversial ending from Starrcade 1997
February 22	Sting	SuperBrawl VIII
April 19	Randy Savage	Spring Stampede	This was a No disqualification match
April 20	Hollywood Hogan	Nitro
July 6	Goldberg	Nitro
December 27	Kevin Nash	Starrcade

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Incoming champion – Ultimate Dragon
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 8	Juventud Guerrera	Thunder
January 15	Rey Misterio, Jr.	Thunder
January 24	Chris Jericho	Souled Out
May 17	Dean Malenko	Slamboree	Malenko won a battle royal earlier in the night, wearing a mask as Ciclope, to earn a title shot
June 11	Vacant	Thunder	Vacated due to Malenko not winning the title shot as himself
June 14	Chris Jericho	The Great American Bash
August 8	Juventud Guerrera	Road Wild	Dean Malenko was the special guest referee
September 14	Billy Kidman	Nitro
November 16	Juventud Guerrera	Nitro
November 22	Billy Kidman	World War 3

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Diamond Dallas Page
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 19	Raven	Spring Stampede
April 20	Goldberg	Nitro
July 6	Vacant	Nitro	Vacated due to Goldberg winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
July 20	Bret Hart	Nitro
August 10	Lex Luger	Nitro
August 11	Bret Hart	Thunder	Aired on tape delay on August 13.
October 26	Diamond Dallas Page	Nitro
November 30	Bret Hart	Nitro

WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship
Incoming champion – Sugar Sato
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 3	Retired	GAEA Full Bloom

WCW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Booker T
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 16	Rick Martel	Nitro
February 22	Booker T	SuperBrawl VIII
April 30	Chris Benoit	House show
May 1	Booker T	House show
May 2	Chris Benoit	House show
May 3	Booker T	House show
May 4	Fit Finlay	Nitro
June 14	Booker T	The Great American Bash
July 14	Stevie Ray	House show
August 10	Chris Jericho	Nitro
November 30	Konnan	Nitro
December 28	Scott Steiner	Nitro

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 12	The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall)	Nitro
February 9	The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)	Nitro
February 22	The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall)	SuperBrawl VIII
May 17	Sting and The Giant	Slamboree
June 2	Vacant	Thunder	Aired on tape delay on June 4. Vacated due to Sting joining the NWO Wolfpac.
June 14	Sting and Kevin Nash	The Great American Bash
July 20	Scott Hall and The Giant	Nitro
October 25	Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos	Halloween Havoc

WWF

WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Shawn Michaels
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 29	Stone Cold Steve Austin	WrestleMania XIV	Mike Tyson was the special outside enforcer.
June 28	Kane	King of the Ring	This was a First Blood match
June 29	Stone Cold Steve Austin	Raw Is War	The title was renamed to WWF Championship
September 27	Vacant	Breakdown: In Your House	This was a triple threat match also involving The Undertaker and Kane
November 15	The Rock	Survivor Series	Defeated Mankind in a tournament final
December 29	Mankind	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on January 4.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Incoming champion – The Rock
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 30	Triple H	SummerSlam	This was a ladder match
October 9	Vacant	N/A	Vacated due to injury.
October 12	Ken Shamrock	Raw Is War	Defeated X-Pac in a tournament final

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Taka Michinoku
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
October 18	Christian	Judgment Day: In Your House
November 17	Gillberg	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on November 23.

WWF Women's Championship
(Title reactivated)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
September 15	Jacqueline	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on September 21.
November 15	Sable	Survivor Series

WWF European Championship
Incoming champion – Triple H
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 20	Owen Hart	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on January 26.
March 16	Triple H	Raw Is War
July 14	D'Lo Brown	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on July 20.
September 15	X-Pac	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on September 21.
September 29	D'Lo Brown	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on October 5.
October 18	X-Pac	Judgment Day: In Your House

WWF Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 29	Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie	WrestleMania XIV
March 30	The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg)	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on April 6.
July 13	Kane and Mankind	Raw Is War
July 26	Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker	Fully Loaded: In Your House
August 10	Kane and Mankind	Raw Is War	This was a four-way match also involving The New Age Outlaws and D'Lo Brown & The Rock.
August 30	The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg)	SummerSlam
December 14	The Corporation (Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock)	Raw Is War

WWF Hardcore Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
November 2	Mankind	Raw Is War	Mankind was awarded the title by Vince McMahon
November 30	Big Boss Man	Raw Is War	This was a ladder march
December 15	Road Dogg	Raw Is War	Aired on tape delay on December 21.

Debuts

• August 21 - Kurt Angle
• December 14 - Faby Apache

Retirements

• Antonio Inoki (1960 - 1998)
• Austin Idol (1972 - 1998)
• Mark Starr (1986 - 1998)
• Marcus Laurinaitis (1987 - 1998)
• Rick Martel (1973 - 1998)
• Paul Roma (1984 - 1998)
• Joey Maggs (1987 - 1998)

Deaths

• February 15 – Louie Spicolli, 27
• June 2 – Junkyard Dog, 45
• August 17 – Terry Garvin, 61
• August 18 – Shane Shamrock, 23
• November 29 – Giant Haystacks, 51
• December 15 – Brady Boone, 40

See also

• List of WCW pay-per-view events
• List of WWF pay-per-view events
• List of FMW supercards and pay-per-view events
• List of ECW supercards and pay-per-view events