This Day in Wrestling History (Sept 28): Steve Austin Rides a Zamboni into Raw

On This Day In History: September 28, 1998
By Divyan Mehta

By the fall of 1998, Monday Night Raw had regained some momentum in the Monday Night War, with ratings on the rise. Much of the WWE’s success was due to arguably the most talented roster ever assembled. The roster included names like Kane, Undertaker, The Rock, Triple H among others. However, the driving force behind WWE’s newfound success was the intense rivalry between Austin and the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon. Each week on Raw, both men were trying to outdo each other, with McMahon doing whatever he could to take the WWE Championship away from Austin.

McMahon had enlisted the services of Kane and Undertaker to help him take the title away from Austin. He mandated that on the 27th of September at Breakdown, there would be a triple threat match, between Austin, Kane and Undertaker for the WWE title. However, this wouldn’t be a normal triple threat match.

The Undertaker and Kane were prohibited from pinning each other to win the title and had to pin Austin. Much to the delight of McMahon, Austin lost the WWE Championship after both Kane and Undertaker pinned him simultaneously. Vince quickly retrieved the title and took it away with him as he left the arena. While Vince certainly had a reason to celebrate, nobody could have predicted the events of the next night.

With Vince beaming with joy and as boastful as ever, he walked to the ring on Raw and intended to have a ceremony to crown the new champion, whom had still not been decided. With Undertaker and Kane standing in the ring and the audience looking on, McMahon was about to announce who the new champion would be.

Before he could, Austin came crashing through the backstage area on a Zamboni. With the audience on their feet, Austin destroyed production equipment and crashed the Zamboni into the ring. He then jumped off the top of the Zamboni and attacked McMahon. He was eventually pulled off by security and escorted out of the arena. As he left the arena, he said, “I ain’t through with you, Vince. I ain’t through with you, not yet by a long shot.” Nineteen years later, this segment is still frequently revisited by wrestling fans and is just one of the many reasons why WWE won the Monday Night War.