PPV REVIEW: WWF Rebellion 1999

October 2nd, 1999
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England

Between 1996 and 1999, your writer attended every WWF event to take place in the UK.

Or at least, I thought I did.

Somehow, Rebellion 1999 happened without me being there, or even having any memory of it.

Whether I'd just exhausted the time and money my Dad was prepared to spend on taking me to wrestling shows (I was 15) with the UK version of No Mercy which had taken place earlier that year, or whether it was around this time that I started to fall out of love with pro wrestling for a while, I honestly can't remember.

Still, we're here now, so let's head down to Birmingham, England for the first ever Rebellion PPV.

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Two men set to kick some bum

Our show tonight began with an opening video which was voiceovered by a stereotypically posh Englishman talking about Mr Helmsley and Mr Rock.

This was countered by a brash American voiceover referring to them instead as Triple H and The Great One before declaring that these were two men set to -and I quote- "kick some bum."

It's rare that you'll ever hear me moan about one of WWE's usually awesome opening video packages, but my goodness this was cringeworthy.

When it finally ended, we went live to the arena to be greeted by Jim Ross and his colleague Michael Hayes.

No, I don't know where Jerry Lawler was either.

Hayes was super excited about our main event tonight - a one-on-one showdown in which The Rock and Triple H would apparently kick some bum.

First, however, we had our undercard to get to.

Jeff Jarrett hates women

Now at the height of his misogynist gimmick, Jeff Jarrett entered the National Indoor Arena first and took some time out to insult women everywhere, but especially those here in Birmingham.

Say what you want about the gimmick itself, Jarrett was very good at playing it and managed to get some serious, serious heat just by calling a few women ugly.

He then took out a vacuum cleaner and issued a "Thousand-pound challenge" - any woman who would step in the ring and do some vacuuming, thus proving that this was all women were good for - would earn £1,000.

After much deliberation, Jarrett picked a "fan" out of the front row, dumped a bunch of dust on the ring apron, then had her vacuum it up. Not that she could. The vacuum cleaner clearly wasn't plugged in, so the dust just stayed where it was, which made the whole thing look a bit silly.

Rather than actually plugging the vacuum in, Jarrett decided to attack the "fan" and put her in a figure-four leg lock.

Proving that she needed to spend way more time in whatever wrestling school they'd found her at, the "fan" sold Jarrett's figure four as though he were slightly flicking her on the knee.

Finally, Chyna ran in to a huge ovation and beat Jarret to a pulp.

As Double J reeled on the outside, referee Mike Chioda conducted a coin toss to decide whether it was Jarrett's Intercontinental championship or D'Lo Brown's European Championship that would be on the line in the next match.

It was heads, so we had ourselves an Intercontinental Championship match even though it would have made much, much more sense for D'Lo Brown to defend the European Championship in Europe.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/ Miss Kitty) vs. WWF Europea Champion D'Lo Brown

Once the two finally locked up, things developed into a good, though not necessarily great match.

The Birmingham crowd were really into D'Lo, and their unwavering enthusiasm for the show itself added an extra level of enjoyment to what was a pretty solid effort.

After a lot of back-and-forth action, Miss Kitty distracted the referee so that Jarrett could blast D'Lo with a vacuum cleaner for the match-winning three count.
Your Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Jarrett

Post-match, Double J challenged Chyna to a match for later on in the show. Apparently, we'd be getting a whole lot of Jeff Jarrett tonight.

The Godfather vs. Gangrel

Ah yes, The Godfather vs. Gangrel - the match you always wanted to see.

Before the bell, Godfather refused to give one of his hos to Gangrel then proceded to go after him in what was a very underwhelming contest.

The very definition of a filler match, absolutely nothing interesting happened outside of Michael Hayes informing us that Chyna had accepted Jeff Jarrett's challenge.

After a few minutes of nothingness, Godfather hit the Ho Train and the Pimp Drop to win the match.
Your winner: The Godfather

Afterwards, Godfather set his hos loose on referee Tim White. Having the time of his life, White got down and boogied with the bikini-clad ladies.

It was pretty funny.

Jeff Jarrett has Vachyna envy

Out in the back, Michael Cole asked Chyna if she accepted Jeff Jarrett's challenge. Despite just telling us she had a few minutes earlier, Michael Hayes acted surprised when Chyna confirmed that she did.

That was dumb.

It was almost as dumb as The Ninth Wonder of the World telling us that while some men had penis envy, Jeff Jarrett had vachyna envy. You know, because it sounds a bit like vagina?

Ahem. Yeah.

Anyway, Chyna was then interrupted by The British Bulldog.

Receiving a rousing chorus of boos from his countrymen, Davey Boy insisted that nobody wanted him to see him fight "that long haired freak" X-Pac and that he should instead have a title shot against Triple H. Playing the heel to full effect, Bulldog stormed off to demand such a shot from Vince McMahon.

Val Venis vs. Mark Henry

Well, this was fifty shades of meh.

Val Venis made light work of super heavyweight Mark Henry, beating him with the Money Shot after three terribly uneventful minutes.

Man, I'm actually starting to be grateful that I wasn't at this show after all.
Your Winner: Val Venis

Out in the back, British Bulldog stormed into Vince McMahon's office to demand a title shot against Triple H.

When McMahon reminded Davey that he'd already had one on Smackdown, an angry Bulldog picked up a rubbish bin and threw it across the room.

Cameras then cut away to Stephanie McMahon lying on the floor, insinuating that Davey had knocked her out with the bin.

World Wrestling Federation Women's Championship
WWF Women's Champion Ivory vs. Tori vs. Jacqueline vs. Luna

The last time we saw Jacqueline here in the UK, she was getting her boobs out back at Capital Carnage 1998. Tonight, she kept all of her clothes on as she locked up with Luna Vachon, Tori, and WWF Women's Champion Ivory.

Look, I hate to rag on the women. I'm a fan of at least three of them, but this was an absolute hot mess of a match.

At one point, Ivory dropped to the outside and let the other three duke out it before finally coming back in to pick up the scraps.

With Tim White's back turned, she blasted Jacqueline with the title and won what was a really poor bout.
Your Winner and Stil WWF Women's Champion: Ivory

Out in the back, we were shown paramedics putting Stephanie -now wearing a neck brace- onto a stretcher and wheeling her off. We were also shown a recap of the bin-throwing incident from about five minutes ago.

You know, just in case we missed it.

Looking back on it a second time, one thing stood out as being pretty odd:

When Stephanie was on the floor, the bin the Bulldog had thrown was now nowhere in sight despite the fact that it must have landed nearby.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the arena, Michael Cole and Davey Boy Smith watched via a monitor as Stephanie was stretchered out. Bulldog told Cole that what happened to Stephanie was an accident and that he didn't owe Vince an apology but rather Vince owed him one.

If anything, this was an effective way to establish the Bulldog as a hated villain in his own country.

WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg vs. Chris Jericho (w/ Curtis Hughes)

Oh, you didn't know?

Making his UK debut, Chris Jericho had been at war with Road Dogg for months after he legitimately injured him shortly after his debut.

Behind the scenes, this was the reason that Jericho had to run all his matches by X-Pac first. In front of the camera, it was the reason why he and Road Dogg had engaged in a war of words back at Summerslam 1999, and why they were going at it tonight.

Cutting Y2J off as he made his entrance, the D-O-Double-G took the fight to his opponent in what turned out to be the best match on the show (at least up to now) by a country mile.

This was a highly entertaining contest with a hot finish that saw Road Dogg make a miraculous, last-second kick out after being blasted with a vicious chair shot by Jericho's bodyguard, Curtis Hughes.

By the way, here's one thing I never mentioned back in the Unforgiven 1999 review. If your only memory of Mr Curtis Hughes is as the big fat guy from the late 80s/early 90s, you might want to check him out in 1999. The dude was jacked!

Anyway, despite kicking out of the chair shot, Road Rogg eventually succumbed to a low blow and lost this terrific match.
Your Winner: Chris Jericho

Prior to the next match, we saw clips of fans lining up outside Virgin Records in London for a meet and greet with The Rock and Big Show.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/ Miss Kitty) vs. Chyna

Though it was about five times shorter than their match at Unforgiven, this quick little contest was far more enjoyable.

Before it could pick up steam, however, British Bulldog ran in and clobbered Chyna before drilling her with a powerslam.

Jim Ross claimed that he had done so because, in their earlier backstage encounter, Chyna had claimed Davey Boy had a face like the ass-end of a dog.

Really though, it made more sense that he was trying to get the attention of Chyna's partner in crime, Triple H.
Your Winner via DQ: Chyna

Post-match, Jeff Jarrett slapped the Figure Four on Chyna until all the referees broke it up.

We then saw more clips from The Rock and Big Show's autograph signing in London.

No Disqualification Match
The Big Show vs. Kane

Though most of this no DQ match was basically just a regular match, it was still pretty fun, or at least as fun as you were going to get from The Big Show and Kane.

Sure, there was a little too much reliance on drawn out submission spots, but when the two were just laying into each other, it was an enjoyable watch.

In the end, Show went to smash Kane with a chair but The Big Red Machine kicked it into his opponent's face then lifted him up for an awesome looking bodyslam to win the match.

Yes, I know bodyslams aren't usually awesome, but the way Kane lifted Show like he was nothing was pretty impressive.
Your Winner: Kane

Backstage, Michael Cole interviewed Triple H, bringing up the fact that British Bulldog had been running roughshod all night.

The WWF Champion claimed that he didn't care about Bulldog, about Jeff Jarrett, or even about Chyna at that point. All he cared about was defending his title against The Rock in tonight's main event. Referring to himself as 'The Game' for the first time on a WWF PPV, Hunter vowed to kick Rocky's ass and leave "this craphole England," with the title still around his waist.

X-Pac vs. British Bulldog

The last time we saw British Bulldog on a WWF PPV, he was getting beaten up by Shawn Michaels and Triple H in the main event of One Night Only 1997.

Two years later, and he was back fighting HBK and HHH's Clique buddy X-Pac in a decent though somewhat unspectacular effort.

Keeping things relatively short, the two worked well together, but you sort of expected something more from Davey Boy's big homecoming.

Still, at least he picked up the win thanks to his patented power slam.
Your Winner: The British Bulldog

Out in the back, Crash Holly tried explaining to his cousin Hardcore Holly that Brits measure weight in stones and money in pounds. Clearly confused, a frustrated Bob insisted Crash pick up his weighing scales and get going for their next match.

Elimination Match to Determine the Number One Contenders to the Tag Team Titles
Edge & Christian vs. The Acolytes (Farooq & Bradshaw) vs. The Hollys (Crash and Hardcore Holly)

Fought under Elimination rules, The Holly Cousins were the first ones to go after Crash ate a wicked clothesline from Bradshaw.

That left The Acolytes to go at it with Edge and Christian in what proved to be a pretty good tag team contest. Though it didn't quite make it to fifth gear at any point, this was still great to watch, especially when Edge picked up the win to earn another tag team title shot for Christian and himself.
Your Winners: Edge and Christian

Finally, we got a recap of the recent three-way rivalry between Triple H, The Rock, and The British Bulldog, leading us to tonight's main event.

World Wrestling Federation Championship Steel Cage Match
WWF Champion Triple H vs. The Rock

We'd seen them fight in a two-out-of-three-falls match at Fully Loaded 1998. We'd seen them clash in a classic ladder match at Summerslam 1998.

Tonight, we finally got to see Triple H and The Rock collide in a steel cage match and, man, what a steel cage match it was.

Going from 0-60 in no time at all, the two long-time rivals put it all on the line in what proved to be a tremendous effort.

The two waged an absolute war on each other until they could barely stand, but that was only half the story.

At one point, Hunter got the cage door open and tried to make an escape, but when Rock grabbed his foot to stop him, the champ reached for a steel chair which had been conveniently placed near the door. Despite Tony Chimmel telling us earlier that this was a no-rules match, that dumb ass Earl Hebner tried to stop Triple H grabbing the chair anyway.

A scuffle ensued which resulted in Hebner getting knocked out cold, meaning the official wasn't awake when Rock climbed through the cage a few moments later to win the match.

With nobody to make the call, the action continued, using this clever little set-up to allow Rock and Hunter to brawl on the outside and through the crowd without the match ending.

Rock busted HHH wide open with a chair, then put on a headset and told us that it wasn't blood oozing out of the champion's head but monkey piss.

Once the two got back in the ring, Bulldog came in for the eventual run in. Shane McMahon and the Stooges went after him but got their asses kicked before Chyna ran down to help Triple H, despite The Game telling us earlier that he didn't really care about Chyna.

Eventually, The Rock got too busy getting beat up by The British Bulldog to stop Triple H escaping the cage and retaining his title.

Seriously, a lot happened in that match, but it was incredible fun.
Your Winner and Still WWF Champion: Triple H

Post-match, Vince McMahon locked The British Bulldog in the cage so that The Rock could nail him with The Rock Bottom and a People's Elbow to end the show on a high note.

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And that's probably the saddest part of Rebellion, the fact that The British Bulldog's last appearance on a British PPV was him getting his ass kicked rather than getting one last moment of glory.

But hey, that's just speaking as a biased fan.

Overall, Rebellion is only really worth watching for the awesome main event. Yes, the earlier Road Dogg/Jericho match was fun, and yes, the X-Pac/Bulldog and tag team title matches were enjoyable for what they were, but neither of those matches were strong enough to compensate for what had otherwise been a truly terrible undercard.

The main event, however, was in a league of their own, and after spending most of this show being glad I hadn't sat through this one in person, Rock/HHH in a steel cage made me wish I really had been there on that night in October 1999.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999
• WCW Summerslam 1999
• WCW Fall Brawl 1999

Other WWE UK PPV events

• WWF Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall 1991
• WWF Summerslam 1992
• WWF One Night Only 1997
• WWF Mayhem in Manchester 1998
• WWF Capital Carnage 1998
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999

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PPV REVIEW: WWF Unforgiven 1999

September 26, 1999
Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina.

A lot had happened in a relatively short space of time for the superstars of the World Wrestling Federation. Back at Summerslam 1999, Mankind had triumphed in a three-way match against Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H to become our new WWF Champion, only to lose the title the following evening to The Hs.

A few weeks later, none other than Vince McMahon himself had dethroned Hunter thanks to assistance from Shane McMahon. McMahon had then added Triple H to a multi-man match at tonight's Unforgiven event, having him face off against The Big Show, The Rock, Mankind, The Undertaker and Kane for a shot at the title McMahon had declared vacant, though not before making him compete in a gauntlet match against all five competitors.

Meanwhile, Undertaker had gone down with a groin injury and required time off, forcing Vince to substitute a returning British Bulldog for The Dead Man.

Would Triple H be able to overcome the odds and regain his World Wrestling Federation Championship? Or would it be the Bulldog, Kane, Mankind, Big Show or The Rock walking away with the gold?

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Let's head down to Flair Country as the WWF presents Unforgiven 1999.

Deliver us from evil...

Playing on the Unforgiven theme, our opening video package focussed on the competitors in tonight's main event while the voice of an old man paraphrased the Lord's Prayer, talking about forgiving our sins and delivering us from evil.

Though it wasn't the best video package you've ever seen, it was at least effective and was followed up by Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler telling us that, yes, tonight, we were guaranteed a new WWF Champion.

The referees are on strike

King & JR also reminded us that the referees were on strike because, as part of the whole convoluted world title picture, they had all been beaten up by the five men who were originally supposed to be competing for the title (Rock, Mankind, Undertaker, Kane, Big show) who were all mad that a match they were in ended in a no contest due to Mideon and Viscera interference.

Man did that feel like a long sentence.

Anyway, the announcers told us that scab referees had crossed the picket line and would be working tonight's show.

Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman

It feels like a long time since we last saw Val Venis on PPV. In fact, the last time he'd competed was earlier in the year, back at Over the Edge 1999.

Here, he took on The Lethal Weapon Steve Blackman in a bout that, for whatever reason, fell flat.

With Steve 'Brooklyn Brawler' Lombardi filling in as referee (and King making reference to Lombardi's time as Doink the Clown), Venis and Blackman seemed to try hard, but the crowd only really cared when Val was swinging his hips and making double entendres on the microphone.

Not the worst opening match in history by a long shot, but certainly nothing special, either.
Your Winner: Val Venis

Afterwards, Val went to attack Blackman with Blackman's own kendo stick, but The Lethal Weapon blocked it and split the thing right over Venis' skull.

That prompted EMTs including Barbara Bush (remember her?) to rush down to ringside. They tried to help Val, but Blackman kept blocking off Bush in particular, causing head of security Jim Dotson (and remember him?) to spear tackle Blackman.

All of that was way more fun than anything that happened in the match.

Sexual Chocolate wants some of Lilian Garcia

A quick video package followed, recapping the falling out between former best friends Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown.

D'Lo had recently been helping Mark to get in shape, only for The World's Strongest Man to turn on him and help Jeff Jarrett beat Brown for the Intercontinental and European titles back at Summerslam 1999.

Tonight, the two would go at it for Mark's European title (handed to him as a thank you from Jarrett), but not before Sexual Chocolate stopped by for a word with Lillian Garcia.

Quite what those words were, we'd never know. After Lilian asked Mark a question about his match, he whispered something clearly vulgar in Lilian's ear and got a slap for his troubles.

After a look at the referees picketing outside, we went to that match.

World Wrestling Federation European Championship
WWF European Champion Mark Henry (w/ two random women) vs. D'Lo Brown

Prior to the bell, Mark Henry insisted that Lilian's slap had given him a 'braineurysm' and, as such, he wouldn't be able to compete.

This apparently didn't matter to D'Lo Brown, who showed up anyway and carried the champion through what was a pretty fun match.

D'lo worked like a trooper here, planting his opponent with an impressive Sky High and a sweet-looking tope before eventually powerbombing Henry off the middle rope and nailing him with the Lo Down frog splash to become European Champion for something like the 50th time.

If it wasn't for D'Lo, that would have sucked but, as it was, it turned into an enjoyable title match.
Your Winner and NEW European Champion: D'Lo Brown

Out in the back, Michael Cole speculated that The Acolytes had met their match in recent WWF arrivals, The Dudley Boys.

Bradshaw disputed such claims, reminding cole that he and Farooq had already disposed of one ECW team (Public Enemy) and would soon destroy D'Von and Bubba Ray too.

For his part, Farooq played the race card, claiming that the only way The Dudleys and The Acolytes were a match was that both teams had one white and one black guy in the team.

Around the corner from this promo, a bunch of wrestlers beat up on Chaz Warrington owing to the fact that Chaz was rumored to have beaten up his girlfriend.

Man, what a horrible story that was.

Jarrett and Debra are over

Elsewhere in the building, Lilian Garcia interviewed Debra. With Miss Kitty standing by, Debra vowed that the first time Jeff Jarrett put his hands on her would be the last and that the two were definitely over. Jarrett, currently doing his misogynist thing, then stormed in, belittled Debra, and stormed off again with Kitty in tow.

This was followed by a quick look back to the moment on Smackdown when Chyna had stripped Jarrett of his pants, put them on herself and beat up the Intercontinental Champion.

The two would face off for the Intercontinental Championship in our next match.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/ Miss Kitty) vs. Chyna

On the surface, this looked like it could have been a good match. Jarrett and Chyna looked to have put some decent spots together, and the crowd popped big time for what was probably the first time all night whenever Chyna was in charge.

There was, however, something altogether off about this match, almost as though you were watching two rookies slowly walking through a meticulously planned-out sequence of moves that they were trying desperately not to mess up.

Honestly, it looked kind of fake, and that's not something you ever want from your pro wrestling.

In the end, scab referee Harvey Wippleman took a tumble, causing Mae Young and the Fabulous Moolah (who had both been beaten up by Jarrett) to run in and attempt to take him out. Jarrett however, clotheslined them out of their pantyhose then went for the Figure Four on Chyna, only for Debra to rush in and bash him over the head with his guitar.

Wippleman got up, Chyna made the cover, and three seconds later we had a new Intercontinental Champion...

...Except we didn't really because head scab referee Tom Pritchard came down and revealed to Wippleman what had really gone down.

The decision was reversed and Double J retained his title.
Your Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Jarrett

Afterwards, an angry Chyna beat up Pritchard and planted him with a pedigree.

Before the next match, we took a look back to that night's episode of Sunday Night Heat, during which Steve Austin -the special enforcer for the Unforgiven 1999 main event- promised that we would definitely have a new WWF Champion tonight.

The Dudley Boys (D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley) vs. The Acolytes (Farooq & Bradshaw)

Making their WWF PPV debut, the Dudley Boys were rocking the tye-dye and doing that whole thing where Bubba Ray had a stutter. Prior to the bell, they got on the microphone and said nothing interesting, then locked up with the Acolytes and proceeded to do nothing interesting.

I mean, this wasn't a horrible match, it just kind of had no life to it.

The crowd, who had been relatively quiet for most of the night, were absolutely dead. If you looked past the action into the audience, you could literally see people in watching the match without any emotion whatsoever. Not enjoyment, not even boredom.

In the end, Stevie Richards ran out dressed like an Acolyte and superkicked D-Von, allowing Farooq to pick up the win for his team.

What a big pile of meh that was.
Your Winners: The Acolytes

Post-match, Farooq and Bradshaw destroyed Stevie Richards.

Hardcore Match for the World Wrestling Federation Women's Championship
WWF Women's Champion Ivory vs. Luna Vachon

If you recall, Luna had returned back at Summerslam 1999 and stopped Ivory from attacking Tori. That set up a feud between the two ladies that I'm sure nobody remembers to this day.

That's sad too because I was -and still am- a big fan of Luna Vachon.

Though short, this match was actually a lot of fun. Neither lady held anything back. They threw TVs at each other, they threw telephones at each other, at one point, Luna slammed Ivory's face into a photocopier then later jumped off the top of a forklift and crashed onto Ivory for a two count.

A short while later, Tori came in to attack Ivory but immediately got her ass handed to her and ended up looking like an idiot.

Ivory then took the stick that Tori had tried to beat her up with, smashed Luna with it, and got the rather underwhelming pinfall.
Your Winner and still WWF Women's Champion: Ivory

Round the corner, Lilian Garcia advised Moolah and Mae Young to stay out of Jeff Jarrett's business. Before the two old women could fully respond, Ivory interrupted and got beat up until Sgt. Slaughter and a gaggle of officials came to the rescue.

World Wrestling Federation World Tag Team Championship
WWF World Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws vs. Edge & Christian

It had only been two months ago, back at Fully Loaded 1999 that Road Dogg and Billy Gunn had been on opposite sides of the ring, fighting for the rights to the DX name along with Chyna and X-Pac.

Now, after Gunn's unsuccessful singles push, the two had been reunited and were once again your WWF Taaaaaaaaaag Teaaaam champions of the Worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllllld.

With both teams sitting on the babyface side of the fence, it was up to Road Dogg to play his old, familiar role of face-in-peril while Edge and Christian dominated the bulk of the context.

The result was the best match on the card so far by a quarter mile.

OK, so it wasn't the greatest tag team match in history, but after what we'd seen so far, the level of enjoyment to be found here was very, very welcome.

Towards the finish, The New Brood (Gangrel and The Hardy Boyz) ran in and beat up Edge & Christian behind the referee's back, allowing Bad Ass Billy Gunn to pick up the three thanks to the Fame Asser.
Your Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws

Out in the back, British Bulldog and Triple H talked about Bulldog turning on The Rock to help Hunter beat him on Smackdown. Davey Boy and Trips seemed to have formed an alliance of sorts and told Lillian Garcia that both of them knew what they had to do in the upcoming six-pack challenge.

Kennel from Hell is Coming

Out in the back, Michael Cole asked Big Boss Man if he regretted all the terrible things he'd done to Al Snow's dog, Pepper. Boss Man responded by threatening to shove his nightstick up Cole's butt, then promised us that the upcoming Kennel from Hell match was something we'd never forget.

He was right, of course, though the reasons we'll never forget this next contest probably aren't the same ones Boss Man was thinking of.

As the two cages were put in place for the match, Al Snow was interviewed by Lilian and got, really, really intense as he repeatedly called Boss Man fat and promised to make him pay.

Both men cut compelling promos here, but the whole storyline between was so ridiculous that it was impossible to take this seriously.

Kennel from Hell match for the World Wrestling Federation Hardcore Championship
WWF Hardcore Champion Al snow vs. Big Boss Man

So yeah, this happened. Basically, you had a Hell in a Cell structure around the old-school, blue-bar steel cage and, to win, you basically had to escape both cages.

Oh, and did I mention that between the two cages there were rottweilers?

Yep. This was supposed to be the big scary part - that the wrestlers didn't want to go where the dogs were because -shock horror- if they did, the dogs might attack them.

The whole match was sold on this, but then the rottweilers actually had handlers restraining them, so you never got the idea that Snow and Boss Man were ever in any real danger.

This is normally the part where I'd tell you what the actual action was like, but there barely was any.

Snow and Boss Man climbed around the cages a bit, then tried to make up for not doing very much by hitting each other really, really hard with the back end of a shovel.

It was brutal in more ways than one. In fact, it was so bad that even in the early going, JR & King all but publically apologized for what we were watching.

Though the crowd had been quiet for much of tonight, they outright booed the crap out of this one and were especially displeased when Al Snow managed to break free from being handcuffed to the corner and stop Boss Man climbing out of the top of the cage.

From there, Snow himself escaped both cages and this terrible atrocity was over.
Your Winner and Still WWF Hardcore Champion: Al Snow

Out in the back, Mankind promised Michael Cole that, despite his friendship with The Rock, he would have no problem laying the smackdown on his candy ass in the six-pack challenge. Hilariously, Mankind finished his entertaining promo by muttering "don't tell him I said that."

Chris Jericho (w/ Curtis Hughes) vs. X-Pac

After making his WWF PPV debut last month at Summerslam by trading words with The Road Dogg, Chris Jericho got set to meet the D-O-Double-G's DX buddy X-Pac in his first WWF PPV match.

Before he did, however, Y2J promised us that he was here to save us from this brutal, boring PPV.

Now, I know he only said that to get heel heat, but boring and brutal was a pretty good summary of this show so far.

Though the match wasn't the all-time classic you might have hoped for, it was still a tremendous effort and far surpassed the two's last PPV outing back at WCW Halloween Havoc 1996.

Rivalling the earlier tag team title match for MOTN honours, the only downfall was that the Charlotte crowd (who, I repeat, had been weird all night), spent most of the match distracted by something going on somewhere in the crowd.

Regardless, X-Pac and Jericho carried on and delivered a wonderful little match until Curtis Hughes came in on Jericho's behalf and decked scab referee Tom Pritchard.
Your Winner via Disqualification: X-Pac

Post-match, Road Dogg ran in to save Pac from a two-on-one beatdown at the hands of Y2J and Hughes.

Prior to the main event, we got a look at how the Six-Pack Challenge came about.

Six-Pack Challenge for the Vacant World Wrestling Federation Championship
The Rock vs. The British Bulldog vs. Mankind vs. The Big show vs. Triple H vs. Kane
Special Enforcer: Stone Cold Steve Austin

As all six men took turns in beating the hell out of each other, special enforcer Austin cracked open a case of beers and joined King & JR on commentary, proving that, if he'd wanted to, The Rattlesnake could have made an effective color guy post-retirement.

With him calling the action, Rock, Bulldog, Show, HHH, Kane, and Mankind developed a compelling main event that was just about as enjoyable as you were going to get in the Attitude Era.

A technical masterpiece?

No, of course, it wasn't, but it was very, very fun to watch.

At one point, the referees who had been on strike the entire evening came out to ringside to watch scab referee Jimmy Korderas do his thing. Later, when Big Show looked to have the match won thanks to a punishing chokeslam to Mankind, they dragged Korderas out of the ring and beat the hell out of him.

Since it cost him the WWF title, this understandably made Big Show mad, but damn if it wasn't funny to see Earl Hebner, Mike Chioda and Tim White go into a full-scale beat down mode.

Having seen enough, Austin left the commentary booth and laid waste to the referees before taking over the officiating itself as the match reached a rousing crescendo.

Bulldog laid out Rock with a chair, but before he could hit Hunter with one too, Austin grabbed it and walloped Davey Boy. Hunter covered Rock and arch-rival Austin made a reluctant three count.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Triple H

Post-match, Stone Cold stunned the new champion and left him laying in the middle of the ring.

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It's fair to say that Unforgiven 1999 was a very mixed bag. The opening match was boring, the Kennel from Hell match was one of the worst things I've seen in 25+ years of being a wrestling fan, and the Acolytes/Dudleys debacle was something nobody needs to see.

Still, the tag team title match, X-Pac/Jericho and especially the main event made for fun viewing, perhaps not enough to make Unforgiven a must-see show, but at least enough to make it worth your while sitting through an otherwise lackluster show.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999
• WCW Summerslam 1999
• WCW Fall Brawl 1999

Other WWE Unforgiven events

1. WWF Unforgiven 1998

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PPV REVIEW: WCW Fall Brawl 1999

September 12, 1999
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

For the better part of the 1990s, World Championship Wrestling's annual Fall Brawl show was the one night of the year you were guaranteed to see one of the company's signature matches:

War Games.

Yet in 1999, both WCW and the wrestling industry as a whole were doing their best to throw tradition out of the window and establish themselves as a new, edgy, alternative kind of product that would basically redefine pro wrestling in the new millennium.

Alas, for the first time since the early 1990s, this year's show didn't feature any War Games match at all.

What it did feature, however, was red & yellow Hulk Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger and Kevin Nash. In other words, exactly the kind of stars you'd want to have on top of your card in order to position your company as new, edgy and different.

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With that rather sarcastic introduction out of the way, let's head to Winston-Salem for Fall Brawl 1999.

Who can you trust?

Tonight's opening video package recounted the problems between World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and his upcoming opponent, Sting.

Basically, both Hogan and Lex Luger were trying to get in Sting's ear and convince him that the other one couldn't be trusted.

Would Sting be able to trust good guy Hulk Hogan who had previously been engaged in a notoriously long war with The Stinger back in 1997? Or would he be able to trust Luger, his long-time friend who had a proven track record of turning on him?

Only time would tell.

Or maybe the announcers would, as it was to them that we went next.

Tony Schiavone, Iron Mike Tenay and Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan told us all about Sting's troubles with Hogan and Sting before running down some of the other matches on tonight's card, including our opening contest.

This led us to a quick video package detailing the rivalry that Vampiro & The ICP had with Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

That match was next.

Vampiro & The Insane Clown Posse (Violent J & Shaggy 2 Dope) vs. Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

Last month, at Road Wild 1999, these two opened the show with a pretty fun contest. Tonight, they didn't quite live up to the standards they'd set back at the height of summer. There was far too much stalling in the early going and something about it just didn't quite click the same way.

Still, this was by no means a bad match.

The Insane Clown Posse - while hardly the next Brain Busters- were better pro wrestlers than you might have imagined, and they worked well with Vampiro, Guerrero, Kidman and Rey to put on a solid opener that got better the longer it went on.

After a good 15 minutes of action, Kidman hit the shooting star press to pick up the three.
Your Winners: Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr.

Out in Internet Location, some random guy wanted to know if The Revolution could have a clean sweep in their matches tonight, but Saturn was more interested in how he could download photos of The Nitro Girls.

World Championship Wrestling World Cruiserweight Championship
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Lenny Lane (w/ Lodi) vs. Kaz Hayashi

Prior to the match, we got a look back at Lenny Lane's new team with Lodi and how he managed to upset Rey Mysterio Jr. for the title. At the same time, Kaz Hayashi had been on a roll, and even beat Lane in a non-title match, earning his title shot championship opportunity tonight and having the notable distinction of being the first Japanese wrestler in WCW history not to be managed by Sonny Onoo.

That's a joke by the way before you leave comments.

Like the previous outing, this one got better the longer it went on.

To begin with, Lenny's gay gimmick got in the way of him doing anything meaningful with his opponent, but when they finally got on to some proper wrestling, they turned in a decent, though hardly spectacular matchup which saw the champ retain thanks to interference from Lodi.
Your Winner and Still Cruiserweight Champion: Lenny Lane

Up next, Mean Gene Okerlund was out in the ring for an interview with Sting. Ever the charismatic superstar, The Stinger was none too happy with Lex Luger and insisted that he and The Total Package were close to having no friendship whatsoever.

Sting then revealed that he had no problem at all with Hulk Hogan until they got in the ring, at which point he would try to take Hogan's title and become the nine-time champion.

The whole segment was pretty short and to the point, but Sting was very entertaining here and the crowd, naturally, loved him.

No Disqualification Match
The First Family (Hugh Morrus & Brian Knobbs w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Revolution (Shane Douglas &  Dean Malenko)

It's rare that I ever say this about a Dean Malenko match, but boy was this terrible.

Both teams started off brawling on the outside, which made sense for a No DQ match, but then they took to the ring and got on with a normal tag match, complete with Malenko standing on the outside while his partner got his ass handed to him when he could have just dove in there and helped him out.

For the rest of the match nothing, and I mean nothing, happened that justified the no disqualification stipulation. In fact, it's fair to say that nothing of any interest happened at all.

This was dull, messy and boring. The only good thing about it was that it ended.
Your Winners: The First Family

Prior to the next match, we saw that Rick Steiner and Perry Saturn didn't like each other. This was convenient since they'd now be competing for the TV title.

World Championship Wrestling World Television Championship
WCW World TV Champion Rick Steiner vs. Perry Saturn.

You know, I started Retro Pro Wrestling as a fun little hobby, but watching WCW really makes it feel like work.

This was not a good match. Saturn tried, but Rick Steiner blatantly didn't give a damn about things, and neither did the announcers.

Instead, they took a verbal detour to tell us that Buff Bagwell had not arrived for his match against Berlyn and a substitute wrestler would take his place. They also told us that the referees and announcers were wearing black armbands as a mark of respect for the recent passing of Brian 'Mark Curtis' Hillibrand.

Back to the match, Steiner made the whole thing look like garbage then eventually won. It was atrocious.
Your Winner and Still TV Champion: Rick Steiner

Out in the back, Mean Gene wanted to know if Sting could trust Hulk Hogan.

Hulkster answered in the affirmative, insisting that he had made a promise to his kids that he was walking on the right side of the law and that he was going to beat Sting fair and square, with no shady goings-on.

Berlyn (w/ The Wall) vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Sigh, let's get this one over with.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan was in this match because, rather than being 'late', Buff Bagwell had, in real-life, actually refused to job to Berlyn.

So whilst the novelty of having Evil German Berlyn (Alex Wright with a new gimmick) going up against Ultra-American Jim Duggan was kinda fun, that novelty value quickly wore off.

Hacksaw spent the first few minutes no-selling all of Berlyn's offence. The two then spent the next couple of minutes sat on the mat doing nothing before toppling to the outside, where The Wall clotheslined Duggan out of his boots, causing more damage with that one move than Berlyn had done the entire match.

Inside the ring, Berlyn hit a Rude Awakening and picked up a win which was met with absolute silence.
Your Winner: Berlyn

Out in the back, Buff Bagwell had finally 'arrived' and was trying to get Mike Graham to reformat the show so he could wrestle.

After being told to be on time 'for once in your life,' Bagwell rushed to the ring to embrace Duggan but was pushed off by a beat-up Hacksaw.

I'll remind you that Buff was the babyface here.

He looked like an idiot.

World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship
WCW World Tag Team Champions The West Texas Rednecks (Barry & Kendal Windham w/ Curt Hennig) vs. Harlem Heat (w/ Booker T & Stevie Ray)

You know, after being totally burned out by the last couple of matches, it was really, really hard to get excited about anything Harlem Heat and The West Texas Rednecks did here.

That's probably because they didn't do very much at all, but even when they were trying -and I mean, really, really trying- it was a struggle to enjoy this one.

After what felt like the longest time ever, Booker hit the missile dropkick and Harlem Heat won the tag team titles for the second PPV in a row.
Your Winners and NEW WCW Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat

Up next, we got a hype video for our upcoming US title match in which Sid Justice went on a dominant winning streak and promised to destroy Chris Benoit for the US title.

World Championship Wrestling United States Championship
WCW United States Champion Chris Benoit vs. Sid Vicious

It says a lot about your show when a match involving a beat up Sid Vicious is one of the best things on it.

To be fair, almost everything good about this match was thanks to Benoit, how hard he worked and just how universally loved by the live crowd he was.

Not that his unwavering popularity did him any favours here.

Despite finding a number of ways to ground Sid, it was ultimately The Millenium Man who went 80-0 and became your new US champion after a pretty decent outing.
Your winner and NEW US Champion: Sid Vicious

Next, we got a video package of DDP threatening to kick Goldberg's teeth in and Goldberg replying by threatening to rip Page's throat out.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg

Could Goldberg and DDP recapture the magic they created back at Halloween Havoc 1998 in a match that Dallas famously made pages upon pages of plans for?

Not quite, but this was still a pretty fun bout between the two.

Page had his whole cocky, cowardly heel thing down to perfection by this stage, at one point taking to the mic and threatening to leave if the crowd didn't stop chanting for Goldberg. Naturally, they blew the roof off the place.

The actual in-ring action was as good as you were going to get from these two and made for an enjoyable showing.

In the end, The Jersey Triad ran out and bashed Goldberg over the head with an International Object which looked to be made of glass and caused a nasty cut on his neck. Undeterred, Goldberg clotheslined Bam Bam Bigelow and Kanyon out of their boots, then smashed DDP with both a spear and Jackhammer to win the match.
Your Winner: Goldberg

There's 21 minutes left on this show and only one more match.

Look, I enjoy Hulk Hogan as a character, but a 20-minute Hogan match in 1999? Please say it isn't so.

World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Sting

Well, this was garbage.

In a match that went way too long, Sting got his ass beat by Hogan at the slowest, most tedious pace possible.

After several minutes of awfulness, Diamond Dallas Page ran in and hit Hogan with a Running Turd Breaker that looked like a crappy version of the Diamond Cutter. He draped Sting's arm over Hogan but Hogan kicked out, so Page hit the referee with another Diamond Cutter that was only slightly better than the first.

Then Bret Hart came down to beat up Hogan and Lex Luger came down also. As Hogan dealt with the dastardly Luger, Sting grabbed a baseball bat which he eventually hit Hogan with.

This was supposed to be Sting's big heel turn, but the crowd loved it.

Sting then hit the Scorpion death lock and became your new nine-time WCW champion.
Your Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting

Post-match, Sting and Luger embraced, revealing that they'd been in cahoots the whole time.

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I rarely get angry these days, but having sat through that atrocity of a show, I actually feel my blood boiling.

The first couple of matches were pretty decent and things picked up a little towards the end before taking an absolute nosedive in the main event.

Seriously, do yourself a favour and avoid this one like the plague.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999
• WCW Summerslam 1999

Other WCW Fall Brawl reviews

1. WCW Fall Brawl 1996
2. WCW Fall Brawl 1997
3. WCW Fall Brawl 1998

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PPV REVIEW: WWF Summerslam 1999

August 22, 1999,
Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It is often said that, despite making many a rival over the years, Vince McMahon is willing to build bridges with just about anybody if it made for good business.

If there was ever one show that was proof of that, it was Summerslam 1999.

At one time, Vince can't have been too happy with Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, the former colour commentator who had publically sued Titan Sports in a dispute over royalties.

Aggrieved, McMahon famously had much of Ventura's work overdubbed on home video releases but now, taking advantage of The Body's status as Governor of Minnesota, he had welcomed The Body back into the fold in order to referee tonight's main event.

Speaking of that main event, it would be -as far as this writer can remember- the first time Triple H had headlined a Pay Per View as a singles competitor.

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He had been in the main event of No Way Out of Texas: In Your House 20, back in early 1998, but that was part of a multi-man tag team match, rather than a world title fight such as the one he'd be in tonight.

With that interesting little tidbit out of the way, let's head to Minneapolis for Summerslam 1999.

I Have the Power

Our opening video tonight began by reminding us of Stone Cold Steve Austin's history with special guest referees and enforcers, including the time Iron Mike Tyson took out Shawn Michaels in the main event of Wrestlemania 14, the time Vince McMahon refereed the Austin vs. Dude Love main event back at In Your House: 22 - Over the Edge 1998, and the time Vince's son Shane donned the stripes at Survivor Series 1998.

Tonight, the video package told us Austin would now defend his title with Jesse 'The Body' Ventura as the special guest referee. Ventura had repeatedly claimed that he would be bringing law and order to Summerslam, but both Austin and one of his challengers, Triple H, had both vowed to beat him up if they have to.

Finally, the video ended with Ventura telling us "I have the power," because he was, obviously, He-Man.

Out in the arena, Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler welcomed us to the show before we went backstage where Ventura was busy confronting Triple H and Chyna.

The Body Lays Down the Law

Jesse repeated his claim to be the law and order and reminded Chyna that she'd better not interfere in tonight's main event.

"Listen," said Triple H. "You make all the rules you want. I'll break them if I feel like it."

"You do that and you won't become champ," replied Ventura, stating a very obvious part of pro wrestling which was often overlooked in this era.

Y2J is Here

Elsewhere, Chris Jericho made his WWF PPV debut by standing in the parking lot waiting for his lackey, Howard Finkle, to catch up.

Last seen on PPV back at WCW Superbrawl IX, Jericho lambasted "Harold" for not being on time then headed out into the arena.

Everyone in both of those past two segments played their parts really well. It's fair to say Summerslam 1999 was off to a fun start, and that's before we'd even had our first match.

World Wrestling Federation European and Intercontinental Championship
WWF European and Intercontinental Champion D'Lo Brown (w/ Debra) vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jeff Jarrett had been doing a bit where he was sick of Debra flaunting her puppies everywhere and would yell at her. Tonight, he yelled at her to go backstage and leave him alone rather than accompany him to the ring. The former Queen of WCW did as she was told, only to come back out in D'Lo Brown's corner instead.

Once the bell rung, both champ and challenger put on a very solid opening contest with lots of high-impact offence.

To be honest, I was never a huge fan of Jarrett's at the time, but the more I watch matches like this one, where he really impressed, the more I start to like him.

Towards the finish, Debra got up on the apron where Jeff pretended like he was going to hit her with his guitar, only for referee Tim White to get in the way. With White distracted, Mark Henry ran out and turned heel on long-time friend D'Lo Brown by waffling him with Jarret's guitar.

Double J made the cover, White turned around, and three seconds later we had a new dual champion.
Your Winner and NEw European and Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Jarrett

Post-match, Debra lept into the ring and into Jarrett's arms, revealing the whole thing to be a rouse.

Edge and Christian Want the Tag Team Titles

Out in the back, Edge and Christian spoke to Michael Cole about leaving The Brood and how one of the teams they'd be facing in a few moments -The Hardyz- had aligned themselves with Gangrel.

The duo also spoke about how they were coming after the tag team titles in a promo that felt a little bit disjointed. On the one hand, Edge was already coming into his own as a character. On the other, Christian didn't seem to have much of a character at all and was a long way off being the Captain Charisma we'd all later get to know.

Tag Team Turmoil Match
Featuring: Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy), Viscera & Mideon, Droz & Prince Albert, The Acolytes (Farooq & Bradshaw) and The Hollys (Hardcore and Crash Holly)

The winner earns a tag team title shot
The idea here was that two teams would start, and every time a team got pinned, they would be replaced by another until all six teams had been involved.

Edge, Christian, and The Hardyz started things off and absolutely tore it up. With a white-hot crowd cheering for their every move, the two teams displayed flashes of the brilliance that would make their rivalry so epic. That included Edge and Jeff Hardy running along opposite sides of the security barrier then leaping towards each other and Edge spearing Jeff in mid-air.

The whole thing was awesome and led to a well-earned win for Edge and Christian.

Mideon and Viscera were the next team up, quickly followed by Droz and Prince Albert, but despite taking their already tired opponents, both teams were disposed of by Edge and Christian in dramatic fashion.

The two eventually got the better of the valiant youngsters, but not before Edge and Christian gave it everything they had.

Honestly, if there's one match that you could argue was the making of E&C as tag team stars, it was probably this one.

Alas, it wasn't to be their day, and The Acolytes were left to duke it out with Hardcore Holly and his recently debuted cousin, Crash Holly.

The two looked to be a good match for a weakened Farooq and Bradshaw, but alas, they couldn't get on the same page. The two cousins argued so much that they were easy pickings for the Acolytes, who battered their way into an upcoming title shot.
Your Winners: Farooq and Bradshaw

Post-match, Hardcore and Crash Holly argued some more.

Backstage Shenanigans

Out in the back, we saw The Undertaker and The Big Show arriving at the arena in preparation for their WWF tag team title match against Kane and X-Pac. Man, I can't tell you how much I hated that team back in the day.

Elsewhere in the arena, Al Snow was seen talking to Pepper the Chiuaua, telling his little dog not to be afraid of The Big Boss Man.

Chris Jericho Interrupts The Road Dogg

Up next, Road Dogg came out to lament his fate at being left out of the upcoming Hardcore Title match and challenge the winner to a title match the following night on Raw.

Before he could wrap up, the D-Generation-X mainstay was interrupted by 'The Saviour of the WWF' Chris Jericho.

Taking to the mic, Y2J complained that 'Raw is Snore' was boring and that 'Summersham' wasn't much better, adding that all of the WWF's performers were crap, especially Road Dogg.

Though Jericho had always been wildly entertaining in his WCW run, there was something off about his performance here. It was stilted and forced, almost as if he were reading directly from a script.

That wasn't even the worst part though. The worst part was that none of this had any point. Jericho insulted Road Dogg for a bit, Road Dogg called Jericho a bitch and invited him to suck it before joining the announce table for the next match, and that was it.

Though I get that it was a good way to get both men on the show, it just kind of ended without anything actually happening.

World Wrestling Federation Hardcore Championship
WWF Hardcore Champion The Big Boss Man vs. Al Snow

Man, was this fun. With Road Dogg following them around as a kind of roving-reporter, Al Snow and Big Boss Man didn't even make it into the ring.

Instead, they brawled through the backstage area to the outside and into a bar across the street. There, they engaged in all the usual hardcore brawling, albeit with the added fun and games that a unique location provided.

After several minutes of entertaining action, Boss Man pissed off Road Dogg, prompting the D-O-Double-G to hit him with his (Boss Man's) own nightstick. Al Snow then picked up two pool balls and smacked Boss Man in his actual balls with them before pinning him on top of the pool table to become your new Hardcore Champion.
Your Winner and NEW Hardcore Champion: Al Snow

Post-match, Al ran back into the arena, only to find Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards having after his dog, Pepper. Naturally, the new hardcore champion beat them up.

Hilariously, there was a spot earlier in the match in which Boss Man saw a guy with crutches, stole one of them and hit Snow with it. Now that they were back in the arena, Snow took the other guy's crutch and hit Stevie and Meanie with it, causing the poor, crutchless guy to fall over.

It was hysterical.

The Body Warns Mankind

Elsewhere in the arena, Jesse Ventura told Mankind that he wasn't going to disqualify him if he used a steel chair in the main event, but that Mankind would at least have to pin either Austin or Triple H inside the ring.

Foley basically ignored Ventura's warning and wanted to talk about politics instead.

After a quick look at the Lion's Den setting for Ken Shamrock's upcoming match against Steve Blackman, it was onto our next contest.

World Wrestling Federation Women's Championship
WWF Women's Champion Ivory vs. Tori

The best thing you can say about this one is that it is a thing that happened.

Both girls did the best that they could but the crowd just didn't care at all and it was a hard match to get into which is a shame because I really rather liked Ivory.

Speaking of the future WWF Hall of Famer, she picked up the three count here to retain her title.
Your Winner and Still WWF Women's Champion: Ivory

Afterwards, the champion tried to take off Tori's pants and top, but Luna Vachon ran in and saw her off. Honestly, I had no idea Luna was even still with the company at this stage.

The Rock is Ready to Lay the Smackdown

Out in the back, The Rock questioned Michael Cole's sexuality before claiming that he didn't care about Billy Gunn's so-called surprises. A generic Rock promo followed, and when I say generic, I don't mean that as a bad thing.

The Great One was as charismatic and electric as ever here and, even from backstage, had the Minnesota faithful eating out of the palm of his hand.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the arena, Billy Gunn was seen ushering an unknown mystery person through the backstage area under a black sheet.

Lion's Den Match
Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman

The last time we saw Shamrock face Steve Blackman, it was the previous month at Fully Loaded 1999.

Tonight, the two would lock up in a Lion's Den Match, a concept not seen since Shamrock faced Owen Hart in one the previous year at Summerslam 1998.

Though Blackman was no Owen Hart, he did work well with Shamrock in what was essentially a cross between a no-rope cage match and a worked version of an MMA fight with weapons.

Yes, the two had hidden nun-chucks, kendo sticks and other assorted martial arts weapons around the top of the cage and used them to beat each other senseless in between brawling, suplexing, and generally trying to destroy each other.

The result was a very entertaining, unique match which Shamrock run by knocking Blackman out with a kendo stick.
Your Winner: Ken Shamrock

Out in the back, Kevin Kelly told us that Shane McMahon had attacked his opponent and potential future brother-in-law Test on the Sunday Night Heat show that preceded Summerslam.

Almost as if wrestling were scripted or something, Test himself just so happened to walk past Kelly at that exact moment, but was in no mood for an interview.

"Talking time's over!" he snapped as he marched to the ring.

Love Her or Leave Her Match
Test vs. Shane McMahon

So yeah, McMahon was mad because he didn't want Stephanie McMahon in a relationship with Test. As such, this 'Greenwich Street Fight' was set up with the stipulation that, if Shane won, Test would have to leave Steph, but if Test won, Shane would have to leave the couple alone.

Before things got underway, The Mean Street Posse came out sporting various casts and other 'LOOK HOW INJURED WE ARE' paraphernalia after Test had beaten them all up in the run-up to tonight's match.

Then, the bell finally rang, and this quickly built into one of the most entertaining matches on the card.

The street fight rules, plenty of Posse interference and general overbooking (including a run in by Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe on Test's behalf) all helped the two put on a brilliant contest without having to do much actual wrestling.

Not that the wrestling they did do wasn't noteworthy.

I know Shane O' Mac gets a bad wrap for his sloppy punches these days, but back in 1999, he was busting out corkscrew moonsaults which didn't look half bad given his limited in-ring experience. OK, so said moonsault missed, but his later elbow from the top rope to the outside onto Test and through the Spanish announce table landed and was truly impressive.

After one hell of a fun ride, Test hit Shane with a pumphandle powerslam and a top rope elbow of his own then made the cover and got the fall.
Your Winner: Test

Afterwards, Stephanie ran down to congratulate her boyfriend in what was genuinely a nice moment.

Man, did I ever enjoy that one.

You hurt Sean, You Hurt Me...

Before our upcoming tag team title match, we got a look at how The Undertaker and Big Show came together, and how their rivalry with Kane and X-Pac developed. This was mainly through Show and 'Taker beating up the faces and Kane telling them 'you hurt Sean, you hurt me, now I'll hurt you.'

Later, 'Taker would tell them that Summerslam would now be known as Armageddon. He was wrong of course, but you have to imagine that someone in the WWF's PPV-Naming Committee was paying attention to this one.

World Wrestling Federation World Tag Team Championship
WWF Tag Team Champions Kane & X-Pac vs. The Undertaker & The Big Show (w/ Paul Bearer)

As I've probably told you before, I absolutely hated The Undertaker and Big Show back in 1999. This wasn't me hating them because they were heels and I was supposed to, but because they were slow, boring and as dull as the proverbial dishwater.

I'll give it to you though, this match was actually pretty fun.

The hot crowd, the whole story of X-Pac having a heart as big as any of the other three men despite being the smallest guy in there, everybody actually trying, it all added up to a create a bout which, while by no means the best thing on the card, at least held its own.

After a very decent contest, Undertaker Tombstoned 'Pac to win the titles for his team.
Your Winners and NEW Tag Team Champions: The Undertaker and The Big Show

Afterwards, 'Taker and 'Show had a little tiff because Show believed he already had Pac beat.

Meanwhile, backstage, Jesse Ventura tried laying down the law to Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Austin merely walked off.

Kiss My Ass Match
Bad Ass Billy Gunn vs. The Rock

Prior to the bell, Mr Ass finally revealed his mystery surprise - a big, fat woman with a big, fat ass.

The stipulation here was that the winner would have to kiss the loser's ass (welcome to the Attitude Era), but according to the King of the Ring 1999 winner, when he beat The Rock, he would make The People's Champion kiss the big, fat woman's big, fat ass instead.

Finally, the match got underway and, you know, what? It wasn't half as bad as people make it out to be.

I've seen people dump on this match and Gunn's singles push as a whole, but I honestly don't think it was all that terrible. Ok, so it won't go down as one of the greatest of all time, but this was a perfectly serviceable contest in which both men at least worked hard to entertain.

Towards the finish, Gunn was in control and had his big, fat woman stand in the corner and show her big, fat ass (she was wearing pantyhose with a hole cut out). He went to ram Rock's face into the big, fat woman's big, fat ass, but Rock reversed it and Billy got a face full of booty.

Considering his whole gimmick was that he was an Ass Man, I can't really see how that was a bad thing for him.

What were bad things were the Rock Bottom and People's elbow which followed, giving Rock a somewhat predictable three count.
Your Winner: The Rock

Finally, we got a look back at the build-up to our world title match and with that, it was show time.

World Wrestling Federation Championship Triple Threat
WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mankind vs. Triple H (w/ Chyna)

Special guest referee: Jesse 'The Body' Ventura

Pre-bell, Ventura took to the mic and claimed that, despite the media calling him a disgrace for associating with the World Wrestling Federation, he was proud to be a wrestler and proud to be there tonight.

Once things got underway, this turned into one of the better Triple Threat matches Austin would have for the WWF title. Indeed, while the likes of his three-way with Undertaker and Kane at Breakdown: In Your House 24 left a lot to be desired, this was pretty good from bell to bell.

With all three wrestlers busting ass, Ventura played his role as the strict but fair referee to perfection, even refusing to make a three count when Triple H slammed Mankind with a chair and tried to get the pinfall.

After that, Shane McMahon came down to insist that The Body make the pin. Austin got up, stunned him, then had Jesse throw him out of the ring. At that point, Austin stood on the ropes to yell at Shane, but then Ventura did too and Austin ended up falling and getting himself all tangled up in the ropes until Triple H came to get him out again.

It was pretty funny.

Not that Hunter would have much to laugh about.

After nailing Stone Cold with a Pedigree, Mankind blasted The Game, hit the champion with a double-arm DDT and got the one, the two, and the three.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Mankind

Post-match, Mrs Foley's baby boy walked backstage with Ventura as Triple H reached for another chair and destroyed Austin's knee with it, effectively writing Stone Cold out of the show to go and deal with some legitimate injuries.

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And so one of the better Summerslams in the company's history was finally over, and what a night it was. Although not every match sparkled, there was far more good here than bad. The opening Jarrett/D'Lo match was solid, the tag team gauntlet match was the making of Edge & Christian as stars and that Shane/Test match was far, far better than anyone could have ever expected.

I feel like I haven't said this in any of these reviews for a long time, Summerslam 1999 is a definite must-watch show. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999

Other WWF Summerslam Reviews

• WWF - Summerslam 1988
• WWF - Summerslam 1989
• WWF - Summerslam 1990
• WWF - Summerslam 1991
• WWF - Summerslam 1992
• WWF - Summerslam 1993
• WWF - Summerslam 1994
• WWF - Summerslam 1995
• WWF - Summerslam 1996
• WWF - Summerslam 1997
• WWF Summerslam 1998

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