WrestleMania XIV, also promoted as WrestleMania dX raided, was a 1998 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It was the 14th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 29, 1998, at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. A total of eight matches were held at the event.
This was the first WrestleMania of the Attitude Era and also the first WrestleMania event since 1986 not to feature Bret Hart, who jumped to the rival World Championship Wrestling the previous year after the Montreal Screwjob. In the main event, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to win the WWF Championship for the first time; Michaels performed despite a severe injury sustained during a match at the Royal Rumble and would not compete again until SummerSlam in 2002. This pay-per-view event was also notable for the involvement of boxer Mike Tyson, who acted as a ring enforcer for the main event.
Production
Background
WrestleMania is the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania XIV was scheduled to be held on March 29, 1998, at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. In print advertisements, the event was billed as "WrestleMania: dX raided". Following this, the LOD suffered two defeats at the hands of NWA members Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham. Finally, on the February 23 episode of Raw Is War, the LOD once again lost to The New Age Outlaws when, despite having the match all but won following a Doomsday Device, the non-legal Hawk did not leave the ring as Animal was making the cover; while the referee was busy removing Hawk, Animal was struck by the title belts, causing them to lose the match. Following the match, the two men brawled all the way to the back and announced their dissolution, not appearing again until WrestleMania.
After the Montreal Screwjob, Owen Hart was left as the only member of the Hart family to remain with the company; and after a temporary absence, Owen returned during the closing moments of D-Generation X: In Your House to attack Shawn Michaels. Following this, he turned his attention to Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who would later be known simply as Triple H) and the European Championship that Michaels had given to Helmsley as a Christmas present. After weeks of deterring a championship match by way of a fractured kneecap (which was, in fact, legitimate), Triple H finally acquiesced to a match on the January 26 edition of Raw Is War, only for The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust (who was dressing up from week-to-week in a bid for attention) to appear in Helmsley's place. After Hart won the match, WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter declared the disguise to be so convincing that he upheld the decision and awarded the championship to Hart.
At the end of the inaugural Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood: In Your House, just as The Undertaker looked to win the match against Shawn Michaels, the lights went out and a huge masked man came to the ring, delivering a tombstone piledriver to the shocked Undertaker. The masked man was revealed to be Kane, Undertaker's (kayfabe) half-brother and, despite the animosity and the presence of Paul Bearer, Undertaker vowed never to fight his little brother. Before Undertaker's casket match with Michaels at the Royal Rumble, D-Generation X claimed Kane had joined them, but in fact, he came to the ring to assist Undertaker. The alliance was short-lived, however, as during the Royal Rumble, Kane came to the ring and turned on his brother, allowing Michaels to win the match before locking Undertaker in the casket and setting it ablaze, presuming his brother dead.
In January, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble match while Shawn Michaels retained his WWF Championship, all while Mike Tyson looked on from the director's box. The following night on Raw Is War, Vince McMahon was set to reveal that Tyson would be the special guest referee for WrestleMania's main event; however, Austin appeared and gave the finger to Tyson, offering him a fight and proclaiming the wrestling ring to be his, not Tyson's. Austin and Tyson then engaged in a massive brawl that garnered headlines all around the world. At the ensuing press conference, McMahon officially announced that due to the explosive situation, Tyson's role was being changed to that of ringside enforcer. On the February 2 episode of Raw Is War, in a scheduled match against Road Dogg, D-Generation X stormed the match and tied Austin in the ropes, allowing Shawn Michaels to hurl insults at Austin while rubbing the championship belt in his face, taunting him with it until Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie came to his aid. The following week, Austin stole the championship belt from Michaels in the hopes of baiting him into a singles match, but the partnership of D-Generation X and The New Age Outlaws continued, allowing Michaels to retrieve the belt back. This all led to a "non-sanctioned" eight-man tag match at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, which Michaels was unable to participate in due to a legitimate back injury; Austin won the match for his team by pinning Road Dogg.
The second match was a Light Heavyweight Championship match, with Taka Michinoku defending his title against Águila; this would be the first and only time the championship was defended at WrestleMania, though its successor, the Cruiserweight Championship would be defended at the event more than once. After throwing Taka out the ring and baseball sliding into him, Águila hit an asai moonsault outside the ring, but was soon the victim of a springboard crossbody after Taka reversed a suplex from the apron. Águila almost won the match with a moonsault crossbody into a pin, but remained on the offensive with a frankensteiner. Taka tried to land the Michinoku Driver, but as Aguila flipped out and attempted a hurricanrana, Taka managed a powerbomb reversal. Taka then stopped a high flying dive attempt by Aguila with a dropkick, before successfully executing a Michinoku Driver and picking up the win. After the match, both contestants shook each other's hand and celebrated together. The Undertaker was preceded by a league of torch-bearing druids to the tune of "O Fortuna". As the match began, The Undertaker cornered Kane and threw a flurry of punches into him, ducking and reversing Kane's attempts until Kane hit him with a clothesline that he instantly sat up from. Kane then set Undertaker up in a tree of woe to begin his assault of punches and Irish whips, before suplexing Undertaker onto the ropes and delivering a flying club to the neck from the turnbuckle. As The Undertaker began to fight back, Kane threw him into the ropes, but Undertaker retaliated by jumping onto his back, which was met a face-first electric chair. Paul Bearer kept the referee distracted while Kane landed the steel steps onto Undertaker, and repeated the effort a second time while Undertaker was lying on the steps, crushing him in-between them. As the referee tried to keep Kane in check, Bearer slapped Undertaker while walking past him. Kane caught his brother running and delivered a chokeslam, but Undertaker lifted his shoulders off the mat before the three-count could be made. Kane put The Undertaker into a sleeper hold that he eventually fought out of with a flurry of punches. Undertaker then dropped Kane on top of the ropes and punched him off the apron; he followed this with an over the top rope suicide dive that Kane managed to sidestep, sending Undertaker crashing through the Spanish announce table. As Undertaker made it back into the ring, Kane hit him with a flying lariat. Undertaker then attempted to give Kane the Tombstone Piledriver, but Kane managed to shift his weight, reversing the positions and allowing Kane to deliver the tombstone to Undertaker instead. Undertaker kicked out and after landing a running clothesline, Undertaker chokeslammed Kane and then delivered a tombstone piledriver of his own; but Kane kicked out. This would mark the first time anyone had ever kicked out of Undertaker's tombstone piledriver. It would take three tombstones with a guillotine leg drop and flying clothesline in between to stop Kane. But in the end, Undertaker scored the pin and was victorious. As soon as the match was over, Bearer attacked Undertaker and ordered Kane to attack him, which he did with a chair shot to the head and then a tombstone piledriver onto the chair. After Kane and Bearer left, Undertaker sat up and left the ring.
Shawn Michaels' loss was criticized by Triple H the following night on Raw Is War, with Triple H blaming Michaels for "dropping the ball" and overlooking Tyson's potential double-cross. Helmsley delivered a promo essentially kicking Michaels out of the group, saying that he would now lead D-Generation X and turn it into an army, saying "the first thing you do is look to your blood. You look to your buddies. You look to your friends. You look...to the Kliq", before introducing a returning Sean Waltman, now under the "X-Pac" persona, who had re-signed with the company after being fired from World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Later in the evening, it was revealed that Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were also part of the DX Army.
The ongoing saga between The Undertaker and Kane continued to escalate even further. The following night, Paul Bearer challenged Undertaker on behalf of Kane to a match at Unforgiven: In Your House, where the ring would be surrounded by fire. The first man to be set ablaze would lose, thus giving birth to the Inferno Match.
By winning the fifteen-team battle royal, LOD 2000 won the right to face the WWF Tag Team Champions at Unforgiven. The champions by rights were Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, but some legal wrangling from The New Age Outlaws saw the match held up on account of the wrong dumpster being used. The vacant titles were then decided in a steel cage match between the two teams the following night, which the Outlaws won after interference from the newly formed DX Army, concreting their ties, and by handcuffing Charlie to the cage by his neck. Following this match, Charlie would return to his original moniker of Terry Funk, whilst Cactus Jack became Dude Love again. Meanwhile, the New Age Outlaws became part of the DX Army, achieving further success.
In a tag team match against Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman, Rocky Maivia promised to show Faarooq that the Nation was stronger and more connected than ever before. The promise was a sour one as, during the match, Rocky left Faarooq to suffer the wrath of Shamrock and Blackman. Afterwards, Faarooq demanded that Rocky come back out so the two could fight. When Rocky returned and squared up to Faarooq, the other members of the Nation turned on him, and Maivia proclaimed himself as the new "ruler" of the faction.
Before Marc Mero's match with Taka Michinoku the next night, Luna Vachon appeared and challenged Sable to a singles match, which Sable promptly accepted. Vachon also announced that it was not to be a traditional wrestling match, because she wanted to humiliate Sable, and so it would be an evening gown match to be held at Unforgiven.