SummerSlam 99 - August 22nd, 1999

This is another case of the Raw's leading up to the event were bigger than the event itself. But I did enjoy it, but it probably could have been better.

D'Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett for the Euro-Continental Titles. I remember thinking at this time that D'Lo was gonna eventually be a WWE Champion. Boy was I wrong. D'Lo was so over at this time period, and holding two title belts proved just that. Jarrett's 1999 IC Title runs were not as well received as his 1995 IC Title runs. In 1995 you actually hated Jarrett holding onto the IC Title because he was a bad guy. In 1999 you hated Jarrett holding onto the IC Title because you knew there were a dozen other guys at that time period who could hold it. Mark Henry heel turn here, gets awarded the European Title, meh. Nothing special really.

The Tag Turmoil match was great at first. Edge & Christian destroyed team, after team, after team. Then the Acolytes came in and bored me with their victories.

Boss Man vs. Al Snow for the Hardcore Title. Meh. Nothing special. Would have rather seen Road Dogg into the mix instead of walking around doing commentary.

Ivory vs. Tori for the Women's Title. I don't even remember who wins this one.

Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman in another freaking Lion's Den Match. I swear Vince was trying to kill SummerSlam here. Two years in a row we get this stupid type of match.

Test vs. Shane O Mac! This match was actually really good, and entertaining. Test proved he could really wrestle, and Shane's match here was much better than his Wrestlemania XV match with X-Pac. Fun story line too involving Stephanie into the mix with her feelings for Andrew.

WWE Tag Title Match with Kane & X-Pac vs. Show and Taker was okay. I still can't believe how over X-Pac was even here too. That heel turn in a few months by X-Pac would be the nail in his coffin for his WWE days. He was so hated I remember at Invasion 2001, he got booed and Kidman got cheered. But summer of 1999, Kane and X-Pac were on fire! No pun intended.

The Rock vs. Billy Gunn. Poor Mr. Ass. He had the look, the height, the potential, the mic skills, the... oh wait, no, he didn't have the mic skills. It still pisses me off though that Billy Gunn at least didn't get an IC Title reign in 1999. That one in 2000 was horrible. But again, it goes to my point about Jarrett. I would have rather seen Billy Gunn with an IC Title reign here, than being fed to The Rock.

WWE Title match with Stone Cold vs. Mankind vs. Triple H. Should have been Stone Cold vs. Triple H in an one on one match. I get why it wasn't though, so Jesse Ventura could raise the hand of the ultimate baby face wrestler that you could have. But it took away from the build up of Triple H winning his first WWE Title at SummerSlam. Sure, he won it the following night on Raw, but that didn't have the same hype as it would have the night before on a PPV stage.

Over all, this even is okay. It could have been a helluva lot worse, so we are lucky we got what we got. But little tweaks here and there could have made for this event to be even greater than what it was.

This was a bad show, when the best match on there card is Shane O Mac vs Test you have that's a problem. Really all of the in ring action in 99 was crapty, that would change in the first PPV the following year Royal Rumble 2000. HHH vs Cactus Jack, Hardy vs Dudleys,…...

I think Jarrett deserves more credit than that. After cutting his hair at SS '98 he changed up his goofy, cartoon character to fit the Attitude Era. His "Don't Piss Me Off" slogan was over and the fans despised his character when he started his woman-hating gimmick. He was getting good heel heat. The guy was arguably the 2nd hottest heel at the time he left the WWF/E, trailing only HHH (Taker was out hurt, Show was getting no heat, Gunn was back to tagging with Dogg). Jarrett was more than worthy of the IC Title at the time.

I only remember this show cause i was mad Austin lost.

I was totally stunned he lost to Mankind. I had a feeling he was losing but never did I expect Mick to pin him clean. Now that we all know why he was added etc? it makes sense.

Austin never refused to lose to HHH. This theory needs to die.there were several factors here

I thought I laid it out in this thread but it must be another one recently!!!

After WM15 Austin was set to feud with Rock for a month then the Ministry alongside Rock until July. But after that? they had a problem.....their was nobody else near the title picture. So Vince decided on 3 options.... HHH was given the heel turn he really wanted for so long at WM15. Billy Gunn and Jeff Jarrett were selected by Vince and Co as the other options for "top heeldom". Billy was to be given KOTR and a top line feud to see how he did and JJ was to rescue Vince from several perilous situations with the Union faction.

HHHs heat after turning on DX at the HEIGHT of their popularity was nuclear......he had Austin's support from the beginning that's why this theory is bullsh*t.. Austin did however block JJs chance because of long term heat they had going back to WCCW and that reared its head again in WWF.....Austin has ALWAYS admitted this.

after weighing everything up? Vince went with HHH and booked him to beat Rock at Fully Loaded 99 for the 1# contenders spot then dethrone Austin @ SSlam 99. Austin was in the loop EVERY step of the way.

But at Fully loaded 99 Austin's neck started acting up......and the day after they found out that he was on borrowed time for the Surgery. The decision to add Foley to the match was made for two reasons......

1) Should Austin have deteriorated any further? Foley & HHH would have been able to carry the match.

2) Foley was to dethrone Austin because then down the road the rematch aura was preserved with HHH having beaten EVERYONE.....but not Austin. They did kinda use this at No Mercy.

If you notice Austin's in ring time was hugely decreased from Fully Loaded 99 through SSeries 99......and Rocks promo time was increased.....they knew from July focus had to be shifted to Rock.

Billys push went sour with Vince during the Rock feud. Shortly after SSlam the decision was made that DX would soon be reuniting to be HHHs muscle and that was that for aul Billy.

Jarrett realising that he had "plateaued" in WWF jumped to WCW with good buddy Russo.....no doubt for the promise of being made the man.

That sums everything and it was well planned out I must say.

one thing to remember,too - everything got screwed up by Russo and Ferrara leaving. so come Oct., whatever plans were in place got thrown out the window, and it took months for Vince and creative to stabilize again.

there's also the idea of intentional sabotage. Foley said that after Russo gave his notice, he turned in a month's worth of storylines angles, and it was among the worst ideas ever written, including Mankind getting down on one knee and proposing marriage to the Rock and Big Show becoming the "New Undertaker". who's to say Russo didn't book Triple H weak at first cause he was pissed off?

I've always thought it was because they wanted to keep Chyna face while HHH was the mega heel. This was around the time Chyna was becoming big in the mainstream and I can see why they'd want to distance her from the most hated character in the company. It was weird seeing them together from Summerslam-No Mercy as Chyna would be a face while feuding with JJ and then act heel while with HHH.