Unforgiven: In Your House was a 1998 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 21st In Your House event and inaugural Unforgiven event. 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 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) events 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 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Storylines For months, Nation of Domination leader Faarooq had felt that his leadership had been compromised by the growing ego of The Rock. At WrestleMania XIV, as Rock was tapping out to Ken Shamrock's ankle lock submission, rather than save him, Faarooq merely laughed as The Rock ostensibly lost his Intercontinental Championship (the decision was soon reversed). The following night on Raw is War, Rock promised to Faarooq that in their tag match against Shamrock and Steve Blackman, the Nation of Domination would "find a new strength". The new strength turned out 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 that The Rock return, so they could face each other man-to-man. But when Rock came back to the ring, the rest of the Nation members turned on Faarooq, and The 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 in the midst of forming a tag team with Steve Blackman based on their martial arts backgrounds; however, he 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 bitter feud with D-Generation X and, more specifically, Triple H. Hart wanted Helmsley's European title after Shawn Michaels laid down during a match, in order to give the title to Triple H as a Christmas present. Hart eventually persuaded Helmsley into a match, although 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 Owen's injured ankle. Their rematch at WrestleMania XIV would see Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter be handcuffed to Chyna in a bid to prevent her from interfering. However, Chyna managed to get involved 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.
Since the beginning of the year, Jim Cornette had long been on a campaign to "return tradition" to the WWF; in doing so, Cornette assembled 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 New Midnight Express who would eventually score a win over the Headbangers and take the titles. The Rock 'n' Roll Express, however, 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 had been escalating for months. In an effort to mock her and to deliberately annoy the audience, Mero would send Sable from ringside during his matches, and eventually would invite out The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, dressed up as Sable, to accompany him; this would lead to a short-lived tag team between the two. The team would soon come undone, however, as Goldust's valet Luna Vachon took exception to Sable. After Sable dominated Vachon in a mixed-tag match at WrestleMania XIV, Vachon demanded a one-on-one rematch with Sable, 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. Sable appeared, however, and assaulted Vachon, with the latter having to flee.
After a series of successive losses, the Legion of Doom seemed to split up after brawling in the ring following a loss at the hands of the New Age Outlaws on the February 24 episode of Raw is War. The team would return over a month later as the surprise entrants of WrestleMania's opening fifteen tag team battle royal with a revamped image as "LOD 2000", sporting new ring attire and a new manager, Sunny. By winning the match, LOD 2000 became the number one contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championships and were initially set to face the winners of the WrestleMania "Dumpster 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 would win the titles back thanks to some interference from their new D-Generation X stablemates, meaning LOD 2000 would have to once again face their old rivals for the titles.
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 had 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, before padlocking it shut and setting it ablaze, seemingly destroying The Undertaker. After Undertaker returned just before WrestleMania, he claimed to have gone to the afterlife and spoken to his parents and could now justify fighting his own brother. Despite winning the match, it took three tombstone piledrivers to do the job. Kane recovered afterwards, and tombstoned his brother onto a chair. Paul Bearer challenged The Undertaker again soon after on Raw, to a match surrounded by fire where the loser would be the first man to be set ablaze. The following week, Kane and Bearer were shown at the graves of Undertaker's parents, smashing the headstones and setting it on fire. 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.
A couple of weeks before 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 seemingly 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 either 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, the boast being that Austin 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 threatened to attack McMahon, before then giving 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 also predicting that 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 + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsJim RossJerry LawlerSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichInterviewerMichael ColeRing announcerHoward Finkel RefereesEarl Hebner Jim KorderasJack Doan Mike Chioda
The event began with a six-man tag team match, pitting The Nation against the team of Faarooq, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Blackman. D'Lo Brown began the match with a snap suplex on Blackman, but a reversal allowed Blackman to take control and soon things heated up when Faarooq was tagged in, scoop slamming Brown and then untying his belt to whip Brown with it, while The Rock complained to the referee preventing him from seeing the illegal weapon. The Nation then took control between the slow, heavy style of Mark Henry, the quick pace of The Rock, and Brown's high-flying maneuvers to dominate Blackman, with The Rock eventually landing the People's Elbow. The match would then 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.
Immediately following the opening match, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came to the ring, bringing the official timekeeper with him. Austin preceding to threaten the timekeeper, telling him to call the match right down the middle, regardless of what Vince McMahon's orders to him were.