Talk about it here.

Fresh off a major injury angle the night before, Vince limps out to resounding boos. He's very slowly becoming a more over the top character, but I like how slow that evolution is. Vince announces Austin vs Goldust tonight with Gerald Brisco as the referee. I love Gerald Brisco in this role ("Yes sir, Mr. Mac Mann") and I think Vince is my favorite personality in wrestling at this point. Vince flat out says anyone would be better than the champion we have now.

Gerald Brisco is hilarious here as the stooge sucking up to the boss. His facial expressions and 'Yes Sir's' are terrific. Vince thinks that a crazed, cross-dressing freak show would make a more suitable WWF champion than Stone Cold.

Really good promo by Vince and the #1 heel in the company. Brisco as a stooge is wonderful and we get a good main event with brisco as the referee tonight

McMahon should have been in a neck brace but still a fucking awesome dick heel promo. I love that chose Goldust basically really reinforcing anyone even GOLDUST is better suited to be champion than Austin

As I mentioned at the end of 1997, Vince is (for a little while) putting an end to the necessity of the "cool heel." There's nothing cool about this and it's all the better for it. He begs for sympathy and doesn't get it, announces an impromptu title match tonight, appoints Gerald Brisco as the referee with the capacity to fire Austin and strip him of the belt if he touches him, and gets thrown off a bit as the crowd starts chanting for Austin. That kind of spontaneous reaction is something you tend to miss out on in the world of scripted promos. Vince and Brisco emphasize that Gerald will officiate according to the TIME-HONORED TRADITION of WWF officials.

Great stuff. Vince is natural heel and this shows why they are leaving WCW in the dust.