Wrestlepalooza (1998) was the third Wrestlepalooza professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and the only edition of Wrestlepalooza to be broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV). The event took place on May 3, 1998 in the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia. Joey Styles provided commentary for the event. The PPV was billed as ECW "invading enemy territory", since the state of Georgia was the home of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in nearby Atlanta.

Seven professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Shane Douglas defeated Al Snow to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in Snow's farewell match in ECW as he departed the company after the event to jump to World Wrestling Federation (WWF). On the undercard, Rob Van Dam successfully defended the World Television Championship against Sabu in a match that ended in a thirty-minute time limit draw and Chris Candido and Lance Storm successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten).

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches played out on ECW's television program Hardcore TV.

At Living Dangerously, Al Snow and Lance Storm defeated Shane Douglas and Chris Candido when Snow pinned Douglas. As a result of pinning Douglas, Snow was named the number one contender for Douglas' World Heavyweight Championship on the March 11 episode of Hardcore TV.

At Living Dangerously, Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Taz to win the World Television Championship. On the March 25 episode of Hardcore TV, Sabu was named the number one contender to Bigelow's title at Wrestlepalooza. Later that night, Sabu cost his tag team partner Rob Van Dam, a match against Al Snow, which resulted in Sabu and RVD nearly coming to blows. RVD planned to soften up Bigelow for Sabu but ended up defeating Bigelow for the title on the April 8 Hardcore TV. Following RVD's title win, Paul Heyman announced that Sabu would receive his title shot against new champion RVD at Wrestlepalooza. The following week on Hardcore TV, RVD won a match by competing in a drag as Sabu to mock him but Sabu did not take it lightly. A week later, RVD threw in the towel for Sabu during Sabu's match against Al Snow, thus costing Sabu the match despite Sabu having the match in control. The two men subsequently brawled with each other.

Mikey Whipwreck ended Justin Credible's undefeated streak in ECW at November to Remember and Credible retaliated by injuring his leg. At Living Dangerously, Whipwreck returned to ECW from injury and cost Credible, a match against Tommy Dreamer. Whipwreck cost Credible a rematch against Dreamer on the March 18 episode of Hardcore TV, resulting in Credible attacking Dreamer and Whipwreck after the match. On the April 8 Hardcore TV, Credible defeated Whipwreck in a match. This led to a match between the two at Wrestlepalooza.

On the April 15 episode of Hardcore TV, The Bushwhackers debuted in ECW as the newest members of The Dudleys, leading to The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer coming to the ring with weapons to assault them. Sandman and Dreamer were set up for an attack by The Dudley Boyz. Dudleys attacked Sandman and Dreamer with chairs and kendo sticks and Sandman was carried away on a stretcher. This would lead to a match between the two teams at Wrestlepalooza.

On the April 29 episode of Hardcore TV, a match was made between New Jack and Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlepalooza.