BRM Reviews WWF Royal Rumble 1999

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews WWF Royal Rumble 1999

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 23rd, '23, 23:08

WWF Royal Rumble 1999 (1/24/1999)- Anaheim, CA

Welcome back to BRM’s Monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” Review Series! We’re going to stick with WWF/E again and once again watch a show that I have been meaning to get around to watching for years… but unlike the many shows in this series that fit that bill, this is one that I actually started watching at one point and got interrupted and never came back to, despite setting aside time to do so several times over the past seven or eight years. Grab your giant foam middle finger and join me as we head back to the height of the Attitude Era and the Austin vs. McMahon rivalry for WWF Royal Rumble 1999!



THE BIG BOSSMAN vs. ROAD DOGG- 4/10
Road Dogg is the Hardcore Champion and is opposed to the Corporate Team, but this is a non-title match. Michael Cole finds this extremely suspicious. Bossman was one half of the tag champs, along with Ken Shamrock. I have no memory of even having heard about this title run.
This was slow and boring. Road Dogg found sneaky ways to work over Bossman’s testicles without the referee noticing. That doesn’t seem very babyface-like. Bossman eventually cut him off and started working over his midsection. Road Dogg eventually made his comeback… and then Bossman hit the Bossman Slam and pinned him cleanly. Cole speculated that Road Dogg would have won if this was a Hardcore match, but the idea that the Corporate Team was screwing someone by booking them in a regular singles match instead of a gimmick match is silly.

Lots of signs in the crowd, but very few clever ones (“Your Ad Space Here” was probably the best). Hell, most of the ones you could see from the hard-cam didn’t even seem relevant.

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Ken Shamrock(c) vs. Billy Gunn- 5.75/10
I thought they did a good job of making this feel like a grudge match brawl, even when Shamrock was taking his time picking Billy apart. Shamrock worked over Billy’s ankle, which he had injured on Raw. I laughed when after we got a ref bump, immediately followed by a double-down, all of the fans immediately turned towards the entrance to see who would be running in. Said interloper would be Val Venis, making his return from being assaulted by Shamrock. He hit Shamrock with a DDT, but the ref was out long enough that Shamrock was able to recover and kick out at two. Billy missed a high-risk move and Shamrock slapped on the ankle lock for the win, making Billy tap out for the first time in his career (see how that plays into the idea of the I Quit match later on?).

One other thing I must comment on because I loved it so much was the intricacy of the booking of Shamrock’s feuds here. First Billy Gunn gets screwed out of the IC Title. Then Val Venis doing Val Venis things (gyrating in the general direction of Shamrock’s sister) causes Ken to snap and injure him. Billy sees this and realizes that he can do something similar to get Ken angry to goad Ken into giving him a rematch, so Billy goes out and moons Ryan Shamrock before his match, and Shamrock gets angry enough to give him exactly what he wants: this match here tonight. And now that Ken Shamrock has beaten Billy Gunn, his next feud is with Val Venis. Val acting in a completely natural way doesn’t just remind us of Ken’s propensity to go berserk (and establish that dudes gesturing at his sister is one of his buttons), but it also plants the seeds in Billy’s mind for how he can maneuver himself into a title match he deserves, and sets up Ken’s next feud all at the same time. It all fits together, and it does so in a way where no one feels like an unimportant bit-player in someone else’s story.

WWF EUROPEAN TITLE MATCH: X-Pac(c) vs. Gangrel- 5.75/10
X-Pac won cleanly.

KEVIN KELLY INTERVIEWS D-X- okay
They all (minus Billy who is injured) insisted that in the Royal Rumble, it would be “every man for himself.” “And woman.”

STRAP MATCH FOR THE WWF WOMEN’S TITLE: Sable(c) vs Luna- 4.75/10
Shane McMahon came out before the match and introduced Luna, who had jumped Sable earlier tonight on Heat. Shane said that Sable would be unable to complete, and ordered her to come out and hand the belt over to Luna. Sable came out, but demanded that the match take place. Shane okayed it, then went to go do commentary. He was openly rooting for Luna. When Cole asked him why, he said that Luna was “a hottie,” and then said “Sable is such a prima donna. She’s so unappreciative for everything my pops has done for her.”
Sable’s already injured back was worked over a bit, but this was just a shorter version of every “touch all four corners” match you’ve ever seen… until the end. They teased that same stupid finish we always get, but then they didn’t get to the fourth corner. Sable was about to, so Shane hopped up and distracted the referee… which allowed the Sable mega-fan we had seen at ringside for the past few weeks to jump the guardrail and punch Luna, which then allowed Sable to win.

DOC HENDRIX INTERVIEWS THE ROCK- good

I QUIT MATCH FOR THE WWF WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE WITH THE CORPORATE TEAM BARRED FROM RINGSIDE: Mankind (c) vs. The Rock- 9/10
Just to get it out of the way first, I’m not going to talk about any of the controversy regarding whether or not Rock hit Foley with the chair a bunch more times than he was supposed to on the finish, and the controversy about Foley’s kids being in the front row and being traumatized by this, because in this case it’s completely irrelevant to the art.
And what wonderful art it was. The stipulation let both men’s personalities shine in their promptings of and responses to requests that the other quit, and also allowed for a wild and wonderful brawl that had all of the big bumps and violence necessary for both the scale of the match and to make you believe that Mankind actually did quit in the end (or, as we would find out later, that it was enough to knock him unconscious so that the Rock’s tape of him saying “I QUIT!” could be played).
But most of all… holy f*ck was Mick Foley one hell of a babyface. He was so tough and had so much fire it was impossible to not want to root for him. Him fighting back effectively despite being handcuffed was amazing, and that series of chairshots in the ring was so brutal that I was terrified for his condition watching this match twenty-four years later. Like Shibata headbutting Okada at NJPW Invasion Attack 2017, that final chairshot in the ring made a sound I will never un-hear. And Mick Foley kept going.


1999 ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH- 6.5/10
As usual with Royal Rumbles, here are my stream of consciousness thoughts and notes, and there will be an overall analysis at the end.
Holy f*ck, I was not expecting Vince to be that jacked.
Austin beats up Vince for a while. Golga is #3 and saves Vince. Vince slips out of the ring under the bottom rope. Austin eliminates Golga, then follows Vince through the crowd. They focused on a “McMahon’s on juice” sign. As #4 (Droz) entered, Vince lured Austin to the women’s bathroom, where the Corporate Team was waiting to ambush him.
Edge at #5. Gillberg was in at #6. He did his pose on the ropes… and Edge just shoved him over them. I laughed my ass off.
We cut backstage to see the Corporate Team leaving the bathroom, and Austin unconscious on the floor. I was a little surprised they didn’t have any blood. After #7 (Steve Blackman) came out, we were shown Austin being loaded onto a stretcher.
Dan Severn came in next, and charged at Blackman and took him down… and we cut away from that excitement to watch Austin’s stretcher get wheeled out of the building. Tiger Ali Singh’s entrance was ignored so that we could see Austin loaded into an ambulance.
10 was Blue Meanie. #11 was supposed to be Mosh, but he was assaulted by Mabel, who was apparently allowed to just steal his place, and cleared the ring of everyone but Edge. Road Dogg came in at #12 and eliminated Edge. Road Dogg and Mabel started to brawl, but the lights went out and Undertaker’s music played. When the lights came back on, the Acolytes and Mideon were shoving Mabel over the top ropes. They shoved him up to the entranceway, where Paul Bearer and the Undertaker were waiting. Taker said something to Mabel and maybe did magic to him, and then the Ministry of Darkness attacked Mael again and brought him to the back.
Road Dogg wasn’t alone for long, because Gangrel came in soon after that. They had a quick brawl that ended when Road Dogg eliminated Gangrel. Kurgan was in at #15. Kurgan beat on Road Dogg until Road Dogg got help from #15, Al Snow. Road Dogg showed his gratitude by eliminating Snow… and proceeded to get his ass kicked by Kurgan again.
#16 was Goldust. #17 (getting the biggest pop so far aside from Austin) was the Godfather. It turned out that the pop was actually for the Hoes, as when they went to the back, the crowd got upset and started chanting “WE WANT HOES!
Kane was in next and cleared the ring quickly. Then some “white-coats” came out to try to take Kane “back to the insane alyssum.” Yes, really. Kane beat them all up, but then decided he needed to run away from them as well so they wouldn’t find him, and he was an idiot and stepped over the top rope instead of stepping between the ropes on his way out.
At this point Vince came back, and the next entrant (19) was Corporate Team member Ken Shamrock. Vince decided to go do commentary. He told us that Austin absolutely was not coming back. The next entrant was Billy Gunn, who was already hobbling from his earlier encounter with Shamrock. He even had his injured ankle wrapped up, but not in a boot because it couldn’t take the pressure. Somehow, Billy managed to hold his own against Shamrock in this state. Test was in next to help him, but as soon as he got into the ring, we cut to the parking to see the Acolytes and Mideon STILL beating on Mabel, and Mabel STILL standing. As they shoved him into a hearse, an ambulance drove into the parking lot, and a brief glimpse from a bad angle was enough to make Cole certain that Austin was driving it. Vince became very scared.
Billy Gunn has managed to survive against TWO MEN even though he only had one good leg. Austin marched out, so Vince went to the safety of the ring. The Corporate Team went at Austin while Vince hid on the outside again. Austin eliminated Shamrock just in time to square off with the next entrant, Bossman. Vince returned to commentary.
Triple H entered next, and saved Billy Gunn from Test. Billy went to attack Austin and was eventually eliminated. Val Venis was in next, followed by X-Pac. Cole emphasized that X-Pac was the smallest competitor to ever compete in the Royal Rumble.
Mark Henry was in next at #26. #27 was Jeff Jarrett. D’Lo Brown was #28. Triple H eliminated Jeff Jarret right before the entrance of Jeff’s tag team partner Owen Hart at #29. At this point Austin slipped out of the ring to throw water on Vince, then got back into the ring. Chyna was in at #30. She quickly eliminated Mark Henry, then got eliminated by Austin.
Austin eliminated everyone, then went for Vince. He beat Vince up until The Rock came out and distracted Austin, allowing Vince to eliminate Austin. Austin and Rock brawled to the back. Vince, Shane, Patterson, and Brisco celebrated with beer, with Vince doing Austin-like poses.

There were two stories in this match: There was Vince putting the $100,000 bounty on Austin, and then there was Austin trying to get at Vince and chasing him around. The latter maybe could have worked as a cinematic type of things with a lot of pre-tapes that they would occasionally cut to and there being obstacles in Austin’s way (although I think it probably would have gotten a little boring after a while). The former absolutely could have worked, as a kind of 1992 Rumble on steroids, with Austin in Flair’s role. Together, though, they get in each other’s way, as Ausitn chasing Vince around the building and then being at the hospital means he’s not in the ring and thus can’t be eliminated, so the bounty story becomes irrelevant.
This Rumble also had a decided lack of star-power, with Rock, Foley, and Taker all not in it, Austin and Vince not involved in the in-ring action for most of it, and Kane in it for less than a minute. The only person who had real star-power and who was in for a long period of time was Triple H. Even the stars the next level down like the rest of D-X, Owen Hart, Ken Shamrock, and Jeff Jarrett were not in the Rumble for very long (of the seven wrestlers I just named, only Road Dogg lasted longer than 7:05), and most of them weren’t in until the very end. The numbers guy in me is kind of happy that Austin not winning this one meant that he only wound up with three wins and a not an insurmountable-feeling four, but all in all, I think this can certainly be called a failed experiment.


This was a disappointing show from the WWF, despite the fantastic world title match. It takes a phenomenal rest of the card to make up for a disappointing Royal Rumble, and this was a far cry from being that. It is an interesting Rumble to watch, and Rock vs. Foley is absolutely worth watching if you haven’t seen it, but if you’re not planning on doing a review, you should do yourself a favor and just skip to Rock vs. Foley and start this show with the match that really cemented that rivalry in history. Speaking of rivalries, next month we’ll take a look at another famous rivalry, but we’ll be seeing it in its infancy.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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