The Year in PPV- 1999, Part III

As 1999 came to a close, the WWF experienced one of its dumbest moments in history...


10. Unforgiven

After Mr. McMahon won the WWF Championship....(WHAT?!?!?!), the title was vacated and offered in a Six-Pack Challenge. With Stone Cold Steve Austin as guest enforcer, The Rock, Mankind, Big Show, Triple H, Kane, and the British Bulldog squared off in an epic match. The Bulldog replaced an injured Undertaker, and while he was a decent replacement, how in the world could the WWF NOT jump at the chance to name Austin the replacement?!?! It had the potential of being the most star studded main event in the history of the Attitude Era, and no offense to Bulldog, but he kind of holds it down from being just that.

This show also had one of the WORST matches in wrestling history in the form of the Kennel from Hell. In what could've been a solid idea (Ok....that's a HUGE stretch...), Big Boss Man and Al Snow feuded over Boss Man kidnapping Snow's dog Pepper, cooking it, and feeding it to Snow. Yes, THAT happened! So to end the feud, they had a steel cage surround the ring, then had the Hell in a Cell descend, and surrounded the outside of the ring with "vicious" dogs. It's exactly the kind of disaster match that you'd expect. A match that should be that exciting should never be this boring. I think on this night the WWF learned that after two strikes, they should never put Boss Man in a cell match ever again.

Mild Recommendation


11. Rebellion

We've finally come to it. We've arrived at the LAST UK PPV I ever have to review. YAY!!! In reality, this isn't the worst UK exclusive I could've reviewed. There are actually a lot of things that really work for this show. The first thing that works is the booking of Jeff Jarrett. While in his feud with Chyna, he defended his Intercontinental Championship against D'Lo Brown, then answered a challenge from Chyna for later that night. Another great character highlighted on this show was the British Bulldog. Had his match quality been as pristine as it used to be, this could've easily been my favorite version of the Bulldog. He was so consumed by the thought of winning the WWF Championship, he didn't care who he attacked to get to the top.

The main event also saw an epic steel cage match for the WWF Championship between Triple H and The Rock. Feeling like a legitimate bridge between Unforgiven and No Mercy, this match actually felt important because of how it was set up. The winner would face Stone Cold Steve Austin at No Mercy, so the winner actually meant something since the No Mercy match. This match was lengthy, but deservedly so. It has just the right amount of overbooking and wrestling quality. In fact, I'd label this match a lost gem of the Attitude Era.

Mild Recommendation


12. No Mercy

This was a really good show, highlighted by three GREAT matches. The first was a Good Housekeeping match that saw Chyna challenge Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship. This match was full of great puns on commentary, and some of the most unique weapons spots in wrestling history. I'm sure many know how this match ends, but some might not be familiar with the overall impact on wrestling. PUN INTENDED! Jeff Jarrett left the company after this evening, and it led to friction between the WWF and Jarrett, that eventually led to the creation of TNA Wrestling. The main event was also pretty solid between Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Game and the Rattlesnake put on a very entertaining brawl for the WWF Championship, that left things very open heading into Survivor Series.

But the best match on this card was the tag team ladder match between Edge and Christian and the Hardy Boyz (then known as the New Brood). This was the first match of its kind and was actually a game changer for the ladder match. This was the first ladder match to really pick up the pace and favor high risk spots, instead of having a wrestling match with a ladder.

Highly Recommended


13. Survivor Series

This year's Survivor Series started off a bit underwhelming with traditional elimination tag team matches that didn't matter. The only two that really wowed me was watching Big Show take on an entire team by himself (Big Show vs. Big Boss Man, Mabel, Mideon, and Prince Albert) and the Hardy Boyz teaming up with Edge and Christian to take on Too Cool and the Hollys. Other than that, not too much else on the undercard that was very memorable. And the only match on the undercard I was intrigued by was the Intercontinental Championship match between Chyna and Chris Jericho because they made it feel like a big match situation.

In one of the biggest bonehead decisions I've EVER seen, the WWF ran the "who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin?" angle on the WORST night possible. The main event was scheduled to be Triple H defending his WWF Championship against Austin and The Rock in a triple threat, arguably the BIGGEST triple threat the wrestling world had ever seen (at least in the Attitude Era). Because he got ran over by someone, he was written out of the match to recover from injury. I can only imagine how pissed most fans were after this happened, I know I would've been had I watched it live.

Mild Recommendation


14. Armageddon

This was actually a pretty good way to end the year. I actually was able to find SIX things on this card that were entertaining. Knowing how to push the boundaries of women's matches and censorship, the Four Corners Evening Gown Pool match saw Ivory defend the Women's Championship against Jacqueline, Miss Kitty, and B.B. The match is pretty sloppy, but it's the post-match moment that absolutely shocked the world. We also had an Intercontinental Championship match between Chyna and Chris Jericho that built off their Survivor Series match and delivered something that was a lot more polished than their previous encounter. The steel cage match between X-Pac and Kane took their personal feud to new heights in a match where you REALLY wouldn't want to be X-Pac. The Rock n Sock Connection joined forces once again to try and win the WWF Tag Team Championships from the New Age Outlaws in a match that saw a cohesive tag team take on a mismatched pairing. And then we had the WWF Championship match between Big Show and Big Boss Man. Man, did they try and put the cheapest heat possible on Boss Man. The things he did were so despicable, I don't think you could've found a single fan watching and hoping he would win the title. It was a surefire way to get the fans behind Big Show as WWF Champion, so kudos to them for trying.

The main event saw a bitter and personal feud between Mr. McMahon and Triple H culminate in a No Holds Barred match. After marrying Stephanie McMahon (in a storyline, not in real life...yet), Mr. McMahon wanted the marriage ended, which is exactly what would happen if McMahon was victorious in their match. If Triple H won, he would be number one contender for the WWF Championship. This match had BIG stakes on the line. Admittedly, it did drag for a bit, so it would have been more of a classic if it had 5 or 10 minutes shaved off. The ending is the thing everyone talks about, and in terms of an end of the year moment, no moment could have ended the year BIGGER or more historical at that point.

Recommended


Final Thoughts: Call me crazy here (you probably have been for a while), but I think Triple H is what made the rest of 1999 interesting for me. He finally found his niche in the main event scene, and with Austin gone for a while, it was up to the Game to dominate the company. This string of PPVs actually kept me consistently entertained, so there's proof that there is stuff from this year in the Attitude Era that I found watchable. Heading into 2000, the company was about to start a storyline that was going to run the main shows for quite a while: the McMahon-Helmsley Era. With the ending of Armageddon really shaking things up, fans really wanted to tune in to see what could happen next. And THAT is the proper way to build excitement for your wrestling program.


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