Royal Rumble 1998 Royal Rumble 1998 was the eleventh annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . It took place on January 18 , 1998 at the San Jose Arena in San Jose , California . The main event was a casket match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship . The main matches on the undercard were the Royal Rumble match , which Steve Austin won after last eliminating The Rock to win the match , making it his second Royal Rumble win , The Legion Of Doom ( Hawk and Animal ) versus The New Age Outlaws ( Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ) for the WWF Tag Team Championship and The Rock versus Ken Shamrock for the WWF Intercontinental Championship . Background . In the weeks leading up to the pay - per - view , Ken Shamrock had been facing various members of the Nation of Domination ahead of his booked match against Intercontinental champion Rocky Maivia ( The Rock ) , defeating Kama Mustafa and Faarooq with his ankle lock despite interference from other Nation members . The " Raw is War " before the Rumble saw Shamrock team up with Mark Henry against Maivia and D ' Lo Brown , but just as Shamrock looked set to lock his submission on The Rock , Henry turned on him , joining the Nation in giving him a post - match beat down . After winning their first tag team title , the New Age Outlaws further humiliated the erstwhile champions , the Legion of Doom , by shaving one of Hawk ' s mohawks and , with the help of D - Generation X , powerbombed Animal through the announce table , damaging his back . Although he was advised not to compete by doctors , Animal rested through the first few weeks of the year while the Outlaws ran roughshod through the tag division before this pay - per - view . < The buildup to the Royal Rumble match itself focused almost entirely on Stone Cold Steve Austin . He declared that before the match he would be living by the motto " Do unto others , before they do unto me " interfering in matches regularly on " Raw is War " , or appearing just as matches finished , delivering the stunner to anyone in sight as well leaving other wrestlers back stage buried under tables and chairs . In the final segment of the " Raw " preceding the event , all competitors of the Royal Rumble were in the ring , waiting to draw their number of entry when Austin ran in through the crowd and began throw punches all over the ring , sparking a brawl between the various wrestlers feuding in the ring , and kicking the number generator out of the ring . The main event for the WWF Championship was a rematch between champion Shawn Michaels and challenger The Undertaker , who had previously fought at in the first Hell in a Cell match which ended with the debut of Undertaker ' s ( kayfabe ) brother , Kane , giving Michaels the unfair win by delivering a tombstone piledriver on Undertaker , allowing the almost beaten Michaels to steal the match . To mock his opponent , Triple H and Chyna brought a casket to the match only for Michaels to appear from inside and spray paint it in D - Generation X slogans . The following week , while Michaels was delivering a promo , the same casket appeared again but this time Undertaker appeared from inside , grabbing the champion by the throat and dragging him into the coffin . Undertaker made his full presence known the following week , interrupting an interview in which Michaels was claiming to introduce the newest DX member : Kane . Undertaker told his opponent to leave his family out of the feud , before attacking the stable and being outnumbered . Kane made a surprise appearance and helped Undertaker , fighting DX up to the ramp before turning and reaching his hand out in an Undertaker - like salute which his brother returned . Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations . A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds .