WWF Royal Rumble 1999: January 24th [/b][/i]
A video package for Royal Rumble aired on the titantron, centering around the Royal Rumble match, the WWF Championship and Kane vs. Stone Cold. We then cut to the live arena where fireworks exploded on the entrance stage and "No Chance In Hell" played. After the smoke cleared, the stage was shown to be the exact same entrance stage used for previous pay-per-views such as the 1998 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XIV set-up, a big semi-circle, another circle heightened about the other whilst shaded in olive yellow to match the show. It has a short aisle, bending 90-degrees, where another aisle heads to the ring, the Royal Rumble logo on the wall opposite the ring. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler introduce us to the show and go through the card.
WWF Intercontinental Championship: X-Pac def. Ken Shamrock (c) (78%)[/i][/color]
What a great way to kick off the second most important pay-per-view of the WWF year. This match was a great ending to one of Shamrock's two feuds. Prior to the contest however, he was interviewed by Kevin Kelly while en route to the ring and Shamrock vowed that he'd come out victorious, both matches won and still holding both the Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships. X-Pac and Shamrock fought pretty quickly, every move was fast-paced and it remained that way for a large part of the match. This seemed like a UFC fight taking place after falling from a flying plane. Though four or six times, these two couldn't keep up and consequently botched up a move. Shamrock tried the Ankle Lock twice but X-Pac reversed or grabbed the ropes. Also alot of false finishes. Shamrock went for the Ankle Lock, X-Pac used his feet to pull Ken into the corner, X-Pac gave Shamrock a kick to the side of the face, and hit the Bronco Buster. Shamrock got up as X-Pac was taunting, going for a jab, but got a kick in the gut followed by the X-Factor, and X-Pac won the Intercontinental Championship after losing the European Championship six days ago.
Vince McMahon and the Corporation (91%)[/b][/i]
We see the leader of the Corporation, Vince McMahon walk down a corridor with a cup of coffee in hand. He walks inside of his lockerroom entitled 'The Corporation' and is greeted by the rest of his faction among Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, Test, Big Bossman and Kane. McMahon tells everybody to do their best tonight, telling Test not to win the Royal Rumble, but to wear down Triple H, Steve Austin if he's in and any threat in the match as long as it isn't a fellow Corporation member. Vince tells Kane to pull out his A-game and he motivates him, reminding the Big Red Corporate Monster of RAW is WAR after King of the Ring, how he lost the WWF Championship and who to. Vince tells Big Bossman to remind Ken Shamrock that they represent the Corporation and should get the win over Legion of Doom easily. Vince tells us of two new members to the Corporation. Vince tells the guys that one member will be announced in tonight's Royal Rumble bout. Then Sable walks in in a seductive, black kitty-cat style attire with the Womens Championship. McMahon puts her arm around her and introduces Sable as one of the two new members.
Public Enemy def. Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett (86%)[/i]
What an amazing addition to this great feud. It seems as though this rivalry is revolved around whether rap is better than country. This was shown as the Public Enemy came down the aisle rapping on the way down with a hooker looking like Debra in bra and panties with a business-jacket on. Jarrett and Owen came out with Debra and Jarrett blew his nut [he got pissed off!] on them for imitating his valet and praised country music, dissing the hell out of hip-hop. In an amazing show, Johnny Grunge dived over the top rope while the country lovers ranted. This was a great bout, suprising since the only matches that Public Enemy have had good bouts was in a stipulation match. The crowd were extremely into Public Enemy and really did hate the country-lovers, the fans calling Debra a 'crack whore' several times in the match. The bout was lengthy and nobody complained, the match remained enjoyable.
Steve Austin Arrives (95%)[/b][/i]
We head outside where a 4x4 shiny black truck pulls up with the decal of Steve Austin's logo on the door. Seconds later, the crowd explodes in cheers as Austin opens the door and gets out, carrying his bag to a great reaction from the capacity crowd indoors in Anaheim! This man is pure gold to this crowd, and I'm sure they love him though he doesn't really give a damn.
WWF Hardcore Championship: Gangrel def. Road Dogg (74%)[/b][/i]
Another decent match between these two...um, good performers. I wouldn't call this a wrestling match though, oh no. This was all about the weapons and the WWF Hardcore Championship belt. The quality of this match was okay, but I feel it wasn't either of these two men's matches. Still, the crowd were into it though not as much as the previous tag team contest. The match was a little boring as it lasted nine minutes, but these two still brawled on. Gangrel was jumped from beneath his whole in the aisle by Road Dogg, and Gangrel almost fell in his fire, forgetting not to jump. Road Dogg and Gangrel brawled on the aisle for a while, then going into the crowd, into the ring and on the stage. The match came to a close when Road Dogg hit the Pumphandle Drop on Gangrel but Edge came out and speared Dogg before Gangrel covered. After the match though, the two members of the JOB Squad, Bob Holly and Al Snow ran down the aisle, setting up another match!
Edge and Christian def. JOB Squad (84%)[/b][/i]
Another match, that rocked the house down. I gotta tell you guys, Anaheim have fantastic taste in tag team wrestling. Great bout with four fantastic wrestlers, Bob Holly and Al Snow tore the house down with Edge and Christian tonight as only Bob Holly messed the match up with a botch. Four star contest indeed. The crowd were loud, just like Public Enemy against Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart. Edge and Bob Holly started and Holly got Edge down a few times before tagging in Snow who also dominated the Brood member, until Christian got the tag and took out Al Snow's leg. Edge and Christian showed some awesome double team moves as the Hardcore Champion, Gangrel watched cautiously from ringside. This match was very lengthy as well, fifteen minutes long. The match came to a close as Gangrel distracted the official, causing Scorpio of JOB Squad to run out and they brawled on the aisle for a little while before Christian hit the Unprettier on Snow for the unfortunate victory.
The Rock Interview (100%)[/b][/i]
The Rock was shown, raising the eyebrow in the back as he was interviewed by Kevin Kelly. Rock had quite the entertaining performer and I agree with Jerry Lawler when he says that Rock is the most electrifying, entertaining man in sports entertainment today. Rock made fun of Kelly gaining a few pounds, Rock randomly told him to go yoga right there onscreen. Kelly tried reaching his feet without bending his legs in one move but Rock literally booted him offscreen. Rock went serious, before going comical again on the Gothtaker [Rock's nickname for Undertaker] and Wankind [Rock's nickname for a British kind of Mankind].
WWF Tag Team Championship: Big Bossman and Ken Shamrock def. Legion of Doom (79%)[/b][/i]
This contest was a minor disappointment though the capacity crowd enjoyed it quite alot. Hawk and Animal however decided that they'd rather not sell this specific match, and when the final decision was made, I understand why. How unprofessional on the part of the veterans, Hawk and Animal. Not to sell a match where they lose, to make way for more talented youngsters. Anyways, the crowd didn't really care for the Legion of Doom's no-selling, they just admired the tag team match just like the JOB Squad/Brood match, just like the Owen and Double J/Public Enemy match and just like to a lesser extent, Hardys against Too Much on Sunday Night HeAT earlier tonight. Shamrock and Hawk started things off and before long, Hawk was kicking ass in there [probably because Hawk didn't want to sell much] and Shamrock had to get to partner, Big Bossman who is of better suiting for the Legion of Doom's opponents. Bossman took out Animal's arm and the Tag Team Champions took control of it until Hawk got the tag. But his reign of terror was short-lived as Shamrock rolled him up [with him trying to get out, the official ignoring Hawk's shoulders being up] for the victory.
WWF Championship Hype (95%)[/b][/i]
As the Big Bossman and Ken Shamrock celebrated on the way up the aisle with the WWF Tag Team Championships, we cutted to a preview of next month's pay-per-view extravaganza, St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Live on pay-per-view, February 14th conveniently on St Valalentine's Day. We were told that the Royal Rumble winner will face a rising star and the winner of the Rumble will have to win in order to get to WrestleMania XV and challenge the WWF Champion. We then went through the previous hype for the match scheduled for the WWF Championship match tonight between the Rock, Mankind and the Undertaker. This was the exact hype from Sunday Night HeAT on USA Network several hours ago.
WWF Championship: The Undertaker def. Mankind & The Rock (92%)[/b][/i]
What a slobber knocker presented by these three headlining superstars of the World Wrestling Federation. The Undertaker came down on a hook, almost omenously walking in the air as though he was walking down steps to the ring. But by the time Taker had gotten to the ring, coming down the aisle were Taker's opponents, the Rock and Mankind trading blows right outside of the ring on the aisle. This match was based on the outside of the ring for a large part of the match as when one man went for a cover on the other, the third man would get in there and throw the guy trying to pin and win the gold to the outside of the ring. The Rock tried to rip the mask from Mankind's face on several accounts to no avail. The finish came when Mankind put The Rock to sleep with the Mandible Claw using Mr Socko trying to win but Undertaker used a steel chair on Mankind in a match featuring disqualifications. The referee called for the bell but Undertaker grabbed him by the shirt, tore it off and yelled through an headset 'Count Or Die'. Undertaker slammed the chair into Mankind's skull, sending him to the outside floor. Taker covered Rock and it was over!
Unique Confrontation (91%)[/i]
After the Undertaker had left and Mankind was picking himself up from the shambles of the match, he yells through a microphone that he wants Undertaker tomorrow night on RAW is WAR! Mankind crawls slowly to the back on all fours and the Rock slowly follows afterwards. When Mankind left and Rock was halfway up the aisle, Stone Cold Steve Austin's theme hit and he walked out in his usual state, leather jacket and black trunks, dressed to fight, not to wrestle. Austin got into the ring and cut a promo on Rock calling him an embarrassment for losing the title without getting pinned, by a man who's less over than him among other things. Vince McMahon then entered with Kane telling Austin to shut the hell up and get set for action.
Steve Austin def. Kane[/i]
Well this was another amazing match, this match had it all though like the the aforementioned triple threat match, featured lesser wrestling than the more fighting. These two had fantastic chemistry in that ring and the crowd loved Austin and hissed Kane with a vengeance. This had everything and the selling from Kane was suprisingly off the chain. These two men traded what seemed to be thousands of blows in this lengthy and extremely evened out contest. The match was eighteen minutes in length and this match was also made more interesting by the Vince McMahon factor, as well as the fact this was a Royal Rumble qualifying match. Vince McMahon got involved countless times and was in front of the microphone for like five minutes of this great match. He kept restricting Austin, eventually telling him not to hit the Stone Cold Stunner. The match came to a close when Vince accidentally hit Kane with a steel chair when Austin had the million dollar dream applied. But even after that, McMahon told Austin that he has earned the right to enter the Rumble match against the Chairman's will. But Vince stated that the entire active Corporation squad shy of Ken Shamrock and Big Bossman are in the ring - including Kane! Vince also had news for Austin - he was to be #1 against Kane's #2 entry!
Kane wins the Royal Rumble Match (85%)[/b][/i]
The first two numbers were
Steve Austin and
Kane. Entries occured at every 2 minutes during this one hour and two minute battle royal/gauntlet match. Kane and Austin traded blows and went around the ring just like they did moments ago in their one fall match. The third entry was the very unfortunate
Sho Funaki. The Royal Rumble match this year featured its first elimination quickly as Austin and Kane formed a truce and eliminated Funaki. The fourth entry was
Bob Holly and he was fairly interesting in this match, that's a big difference. Holly got involved with Kane and traded blows with him as Austin was taken down with a sidewalk slam. The fifth entry was
Test and he evened things up in that battlefield with Test helping Kane in taking down Steve Austin and Bob Holly countless times. The sixth entry was
Billy Gunn and sure did he make things different in there, taking out anybody and everybody. Bob Holly however was the second man to fall out of the ring. The seventh entry was
Faarooq, he really just went in there, gave Billy Gunn the Dominator and proceeded in taking him out. The eighth entrant was
Viscera, conveniently the second Ministry of Darkness members to enter. Viscera did nothing to speak of but he did take down European Champion, Test. The ninth entrant was
Rocco Rock of Public Enemy who seemed buck naked without his partner, Johnny Grunge. Rocco attempted to hustle with Viscera but nothing ever came of it. The tenth entrant was
X-Pac who made things more interesting in the ring, taking out the man he dropped the European Championship to last Monday night, Test. The eleventh entrant was
Scott Taylor though he served no threat to the current men in the ring. The twelveth entrant was
Val Venis who attempted to help the Corporation members, Kane and Test to eliminate Steve Austin to no avail, as Faarooq took Venis down. The thirteenth entrant was
Steve Blackman though after half a minute in the ring, Billy Gunn clotheslined him over the top rope. The fourteenth entrant was
Animal and he tried to eliminate Val Venis but got slapped in the face by Steve Austin, Animal proceeded in leaving the ring over the top rope obviously furious. The fifteenth entrant was
D'Lo Brown and he showed off his new heel attitude like on Shotgun this previous Saturday night. D'Lo tried eliminating Test like a face would do but Kane stopped him and chokeslammed him to the canvas. The sixteenth entrant was
Road Dogg and he went in there and assisted Billy Gunn in taking out Kane but both men got chokeslammed. The seventeenth man was
Brian Christopher who tried helping Scott Taylor against the New Age Outlaws along with some others. Taylor got whipped out of the ring into elimination by Dogg and Christopher remained. The eighteenth entrant was
Taka Michinoku who didn't make one impact on this match whatsoever. Unfortunately for one of the greatest wrestlers in current day WWF, Stone Cold eliminated him. The nineteenth member mysteriously no-showed, but a graphic said 'Hawk'. Weird. The twentieth entrant was
Johnny Grunge entered and him and Rocco Rock managed to eliminate Val Venis. Faarooq then clotheslined both men and eliminated Rocco Rock. The twenty-first entrant was
Bradshaw and he aided Faarooq in dumping Brian Christopher over the top rope. The twenty-second entrant was a very suprising entrant. ECW's
Taz came down the aisle and made a huge impact on the match, even almost eliminating Stone Cold! The twenty-third entrant was
Jeff Jarrett and he went in there and kicked some ass, eliminating Road Dogg. The twenty-fourth entrant was
Chris Candido, though he didn't do much but entertain us in his entrance gear. The twenty-fifth entrant was
Owen Hart who eliminated Bradshaw and Faarooq along with the rest of the pack in the ring, shy of the tied up Kane. The twenty-sixth entrant was
Mark Henry and he eliminated D'Lo Brown and Billy Gunn. Around this time, Steve Austin was kicking ass but the Rock ran in angry from his appearance earlier tonight and he eliminated Steve Austin! The twenty-seventh man was
Chyna who isn't at all a man, funny. Chyna eliminated Johnny Grunge before Kane eliminated her. The twenty-eighth man was
AJ Styles but he was easily eliminated by Viscera, followed by Chris Candido. Test got eliminated by Kane, which was weird because Kane was a Corporation member alike Test. The twenty-ninth member was
Triple H who went in there, joined the rest of the gang into eliminating Mark Henry and Viscera. The thirtieth and final man was a gigantic man with long hair, wearing black trunks and large black leather boots. 'Paul Wight' appeared on a graphic with 'Representing the Corporation' in small letters underneath appeared. Wight immediately eliminated X-Pac, before throwing Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett out with ease. And there we were with the final three, Paul Wight against Kane against Triple H, with the winner going to defend his contendership to the WWF title at the next PPV and go to WrestleMania XV! Triple H went first by Kane and Wight, before Kane dumped Wight out to a huge shocking reaction from the audience. Kane is going to WrestleMania! But why did he eliminate his own partners, Test and Paul Wight? Goodnight everybody![/center][/size]