First of all i have to say the first thing that strikes me from minute one is how much better it was to have a "heel" commentator. The King manages to save certain situations just by being there.
Definitely agree. When The Coach joined the announcing team, he was the heel, Lawler gradually turned face, Coach left and Lawler never really went back. He does make some heel-sympathetic references at times; defending Matt Hardy's "injured hand" and saying positive things about Randy Orton (I think.... I can't remember exactly) recently.
Anyway, the only stuff from 1998 I've seen are the Rumble, WM14, KOTR, Summerslam and IYH: Rock Bottom plus one or two Raw matches on the Foley DVD. I'd like to see more from that year and 1999 at some point....