King of the Ring '99

Legacy Review

King of the Ring '99

June 27, 1999 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

For the first time since 1995 (involuntary shudder) the King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal matches will be on the PPV card instead of just the semifinals and finals. There have been some significant story developments since we were last on PPV for the tragic events of Over the Edge. With the Undertaker's WWF Title win, the Ministry of Darkness/Corporate Ministry's "higher power" could finally be revealed, and it turns out the man behind it all was....."IT'S ME, AUSTIN"! Yup, it's Vince McMahon. JR's "Aw, son of a bitch" reaction was a perfect summation of how everyone felt about this "shocking" reveal. Basically it's the most disappointing long term angle reveal since the Black Scorpion. Now, we've learned in the years since there were other ideas being thrown around, including WWF signing young Christopher Daniels to play the part, but when all else fell through they just went back to the same old same old. Of course this also means it was Vince behind the months of psychological and sometimes even physical torture of his own daughter Stephanie, and the whole Vince/Shane split was just a Russo RUSE. Never analyze Russo booking too deeply. It's like a Michael Bay movie. But that's not all. Steph was understandably upset about all this, and so was one Linda McMahon. That's right, the whole family is now on TV. Linda used her influence with the Board of Directors to appoint a new CEO to WWF, and that man was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin! Austin was now Vince's boss. Obviously Vince didn't take to kindly to the flip of power, and he and Shane have challenged Austin to a handicap match tonight to once and for all determine who will control the WWF from this point forward. Not just any match either. A Ladder Match.

The show opens with footage of some stuff that just happened on the Sunday Night Heat preshow. Commissioner Shawn Michaels tried to put a wrench in the McMahons' plans and ordered Vince to have a match with Ken Shamrock. Shane stepped in to take Vince's place. During the course of the match Shane got hurt, then Steve Blackman ran in and attacked Shamrock, injuring him. Both are now up in the air for their matches on the PPV proper.

Quarterfinals: X-Pac def Hardcore Holly by DQ in 3:02- Lockup! Followed by a basic start. Are we sure this is a 1999 PPV? Pac gets up holding his neck, which had recently been hurt again. Speed run, Pac hits a hiptoss, and Holly dodges a charge in the corner. Pac hits a springboard crossbody for 2. Powerbomb from Holly. He works Pac's neck some more and gets into it with ref Mike Chioda. Pac gets a back suplex. He ducks a clothesline and hits a spin kick. Corner kicks and the bronco buster hits. Holly rolls out, gets a chair, and whacks Pac with it. It's not a hardcore match, so that draws the DQ. After the bell Holly continues attacking Pac's neck until Road Dogg makes the save. 3/4*

Terry Taylor is back with WWF, as a road agent behind the scenes and as an interviewer on screen. He stops Holly backstage to ask what the hell. Holly hilariously doesn't know who Taylor is, then says we're playing by his hardcore rules now. During the interview there's a chalkboard at Gorilla in frame that I think has the spoilers for the rest of the tournament. Or it could just be a legit bracket, it's hard to read. They made sure to hide it after a minute though. We then cut to Michael "Adam Schefter" Cole, who says Shane is questionable to return tonight. After that we get some footage from last week's Raw of Big Show getting into it with Holly and pushing a car around because he's big and strong.

 

Quarterfinals: Kane def The Big Show in 6:36- The two monsters go nose to nose before the bell. Back and forth slugging. Show hits some chops and tosses Kane around because he's big and strong. He looks so wrong in those trunks too. Kane dodges an avalanche but soon gets tossed around again, runs into a Show big boot and gets clotheslined. Enzuguri from Kane! A horrible double big boot puts both men down. I guess from the moving air because that wasn't close to contact on either side. Kane clothesline off the top for 2, then he does some ground and pound and choking. Show hits a jawbreaker. The ref took a glancing blow from that. I'm not sure if he was supposed to go down then and messed up, but a Kane dodged kick from Show catches the ref right after and puts him down for good. Hardcore Holly runs in with a chair to try to get some revenge on Show. Because having a straight up match between the two of them made too much sense. Kane cuts Holly off and chokeslams him. After a bit more back and forth Kane goozles Show. You think he's going for a chokeslam, but he's just choking Show out. Show slowly goes down and the match grinds to a halt as they stay in the same position for what seems like 15 minutes. With the ref still down. DO SOMETHING. The crowd turns on Kane and/or the match. Show FINALLY swipes Kane's arm to get free. Man, after all of that dead time they could have done something a bit more interesting. Kane takes the chair, whacks Show with it, covers, and the ref recovers to count 3. Woof. 1/4*

Vince pops his head out of the locker room door to talk to Cole. He'll never forgive Shamrock, says Shane can't go tonight and wants EMTs RIGHT NOW. We can hear Shane protesting behind him.

 

Quarterfinals: Mr. Ass def Ken Shamrock in 3:37- That's right, we've hit the point in Billy Gunn's failed singles push where he's now called simply Mr. Ass. I'm really not sure how anyone thought that was a good idea. He's also got one of the tag title belts. The Acolytes are the official tag champs at this point, but there were some Russorific shenanigans with Gunn in a 6 man match recently on Raw that I really couldn't be bothered with the details over, it's all forgotten in a week anyway. Gunn gets a mic and cuts a promo goading Shamrock to forfeit. We cut to the back to see Shamrock toss the EMTs aside and come to the ring. Gunn ambushes him with a dropkick to the gut, since the suspected issue with Shamrock is internal bleeding. Thankfully not anal bleeding. Shamrock ducks a shot and kicks Gunn in the head. Gunn catches a crossbody attempt and hits a backbreaker. Shamrock uses a cover to try and grab the ankle lock but Gunn fights free. They become the first match to go out to the floor tonight. Again, are we sure this is a 1999 PPV? Shamrock takes some barricade shots. He goes for the ankle lock again on the floor but it turns into a giant fumble session that looks more awkward than a couple of high schoolers after prom. Back in Shamrock dodges a splash off the top and hits a couple of leg lariats. As he's getting up at one point he clearly shouts "Fuck!", selling the injuries. Gunn counters a hurricanrana into a powerbomb. Shamrock's coughing up blood again, so ref Teddy Long calls it. Gunn getting a ref stoppage over a clearly injured man, like the name change I'm not sure how that was supposed to help him. After the match Shamrock tosses Long out of the ring because that's what he did. 1/2*

 

Quarterfinals: Road Dogg def Chyna (w/Triple H) in 13:19- The ex-DX continue to get into it with the still DX. Lockup! Leverage fight in the corner and Chyna shoves Dogg across the ring. Arm wringer tradeoff into a hammerlock exchange. Chyna hits a back elbow, then powers out of a headlock and puts Dogg down with a forearm. Another forearm and corner shots on Dogg as Chyna is dominating early. Hard corner whips. Dogg reverses and Chyna does the Trips flip out to the floor! HHH comes over to get involved. Dogg cuts him off, so Chyna pushes him into the post. Now HHH gets his shots in and rolls Dogg back in the ring. More corner beatdown stuff from Chyna. Chops and a back elbow for 2. Dogg hits some punches to the gut to try to come back. Chyna hits a DDT for 2. She slams Dogg and drops some elbows, then mocks Dogg's signature kneedrop. Sleeper! Dogg goes down but eventually gets free. After some counters Dogg puts on a sleeper. Hebner starts the arm drops, and HHH puts Chyna's foot on the rope before the third one. Dogg argues and Chyna rolls him up for 2. Hebner takes a shot and goes down. HHH gets a chain out and punches Dogg with it, then drapes Chyna on top. Henber recovers and counts. Dogg kicks out! Commish Shawn makes his way out. Dogg gets going hitting his signature jabs and the real kneedrop. HHH gets on the apron again. Shawn pulls him down! They argue with Shawn pushing HHH back to the back. Chyna comes from behind and low blows Dogg. Wait, she hurt her own arm on that? Dogg's wearing a cup! He hits the pumphandle slam and it's over. That sets up an all DX semifinal between Dogg and X-Pac. Chyna still looks plenty competent in the ring with the guys, but the longer singles match also exposed how little she could do at this point. Dogg's not exactly the carrying type either. *1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Match: The Hardy Boyz (w/Michael Hayes) def The Brood (w/Gangrel) in 4:49- We're getting the Hardyz official PPV debut and the first PPV Hardyz vs Edge & Christian match all in one go. True, E&C are still in the Brood with Gangrel and the Hardyz are in that weird early period when Freebird Michael Hayes was managing them for no reason, but it's a start. They tried to have a match earlier in the night on Heat, but the Acolytes interfered and took everyone out so the match was rebooked for the main PPV with a #1 contender's stipulation. Take that, APA. The Hardyz charge in and it's on! Things quickly settle in with Matt and Christian having a good basic exchange. Christian gets caught in the wrong corner. Jeff whips Christian around the corners until Christian gets him up and gives him a gutbuster. Jeff flying headscissors on Edge. That sets Edge off. After some beating he takes advantage of Jeff being on the second rope to give him an Alabama slam. The Hardyz do their to be classic "leap off the back" double team. Christian does a nice flop sell of a Matt boot. Matt fights out of a Christian reverse DDT attempt into a northern lights suplex. The shirts are off! Christian hits the reverse DDT. Might want to put the shirts back on. Both sides tag with Edge getting the hot tag run. Gangrel gets on the apron while Hayes gets all the way in the ring and pops Edge from behind. Jeff northern lights suplexes Edge. Christian comes in to break the pin up. Edge spear on Hayes! The Hardyz try their double team again. Edge comes off the second rope and spears Jeff out of midair! That was awesome. Christian springboard dives onto Matt on the floor. Gangrel loads up the blood spit. Jeff ducks and Edge gets it! Jeff hits the as yet unnamed Twist of Fate and gets the pin. After the bell the Brood tease issues but they sort it out pretty quickly. Nothing special, but it definitely shows the promise of what was to come and is by far the best thing on the show so far. **1/2

Vince makes his way out to the ring. He says that Shane has been downgraded from questionable to out for tonight, and therefore the handicap ladder match is now cancelled. Commish Shawn comes out and says wait just a damn minute. Vince then does a complete 180 and says he'll have a "suitable placement" for the match like that was what he originally said in the first place. That whole segment gave me whiplash. The Rifftrax movie I watched last night had a more coherent plot (Terminus, by the way, which was in no way plot coherent whatsoever).

 

Semifinals: Mr. Ass def Kane in 5:25- Gunn goes into dodge mode at the start while the crowd already sounds like it doesn't give two shits about this match. Kane does his corner toss and hits some uppercuts with crazy Gunn sells. Short clothesline. Stomps from Kane and Gunn rolls out. Kane stalks and attacks again on the floor. Stair shot. Kane lifts the steps up. Gunn dropkicks the steps! Kane gets run into the post a couple of times. Back in Gunn bites Kane's....mask? Not sure what's happening there. He puts on a kind of half assed dragon sleeper/chancery. Gunn calls for the fameasser. Kane counters with a powerslam. Clotheslines and a big boot send Gunn out, and Kane dropkicks him off the apron. Gunn goes over and gets a chair. Big Show makes his way out. He takes the chair from Gunn, then whacks Kane in a way that I'm not sure was supposed to be intentional or accidental. Regardless, Gunn covers and gets the pin. So far tonight Gunn's won by ref stoppage over an opponent that came into the match injured, then pinned someone knocked out by someone else. Really looking strong there. Even as a heel it doesn't work because he's just fluking into stuff. 1/4*

 

Semifinals: X-Pac def Road Dogg in 3:08- The last two remaining members of DX go at it, guaranteeing that Gunn will be facing a former stablemate in the final. Both guys are serious and cautious, no fooling around. Pac works into a back suplex and hits a legdrop for 2. And we're chinlocking already. Dogg gets his dancing jabs and kneedrop in for 2, then hits some chops in the corner to some "WOOOOOOs" from the Flair country crowd. Pac hits a spinning heel kick for 2. Dogg dodges the bronco buster and goes for the pumphandle slam. Pac flips out, hits the X-Factor, and it's already over. At least it's finally a clean finish in a tournament match. 1/2*

Pure match quality wise, this KOTR tournament might be even *worse* than '95 so far. That's terrifying. The booking isn't much better either.

We get footage of Rock defeating Taker and Triple H on Raw in a triple threat/handicap match to become #1 contender, a match that ended with stablemates Trips and Taker coming to blows with each other. Trips has already challenged the winner of this match.

 

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (c) (w/Paul Bearer) def The Rock in 19:10- This is Rock's first shot at the title since his face turn. Given the card placement I don't like his chances. Huge "Rocky" chant before the bell. As ref Mike Chioda is taking the belt, Taker kicks Rock, then knocks Chioda down from behind! Because he can I suppose. Rock Bottom! There's no ref so I guess Taker knew in advance he was going to eat a Rock Bottom so took the ref out beforehand. Or something. Hebner runs in to count and Bearer pulls him out before he can get to three. Man, it's all go on overbooking screwjobs early isn't it? Taker hits a chokeslam! Chioda is back up to count. Rock kicks out! The match settles in as Rock pounds on Taker and 360 clotheslines him to the floor. Aisle and stage brawl time. Rock low blows out of a chokeslam attempt on the floor but runs into a clothesline. They go to the other side of the stage and Rock gets whipped into the barricade. As they work back Rock gets suplexed in the aisle. They slowly work back in the ring with Taker cranking Rock's arm in an attempt at some actual wrestling. He goes for old school but Rock crotches him. Rock gets a water bottle and spits in Taker's face. Taker gets clotheslined over the barricade and now it's time for the mandatory late '90s crowd brawl. They fight in front of one of the hard cameras and somehow we never cut to see things from that camera's perspective. Shame. When they get back to ringside Taker takes stair and timekeeper's table shots. Rock gets a chair. Taker blocks it with the bell! Bearer gets some shots in with his shoe. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Back in Rock slugs back and Taker cuts it off with a DDT for 2. Big boot for 2. Rock fights out of a chinlock and they have a hard time getting on the same page until Rock hits a Samoan drop for 2. Double clothesline. Taker scoops for the Tombstone. Rock squirts free and hits a DDT for 2. Whip reversal and Chioda goes down again. Rock hits the People's Elbow. Cover but yet again there's no ref. Taker hits a low blow. Bearer pours a bunch of ether on a rag (we know this by the stuck on label on the bottle that says "ETHER" in handwritten marker). Rock clotheslines Taker, then takes the rag and smothers Taker with it! Taker goes down. Triple H runs in. Pedigree on Rock! Both guys stagger back up. Taker scoops, hits the Tombstone, and it's over. Typical late '90s main event overbooked brawl. Not great, not awful, seen it dozens of times by this point. **1/4

Cut to the back and Triple H is being drug out by Shawm-directed security. Vince protests. "That's my partner!" Shawn retorts "No shit, Sherlock. You can't fool me". Vince gets out his late '90s cell phone and tells someone to "Turn around now, I need you!". At the end a very candid not in character not expecting to be on camera Rock pops up in frame which is pretty funny.

 

King of the Ring Finals: Mr. Ass def X-Pac in 5:53- Gunn jumps and goes right for Pac's hurt neck. Stinger splash. Pac dodges a second one. 360 clothesline. Pac with a plancha! Back in Pac hits a crossbody off the top for 2. Gunn bulldog for 2. Press slam. A Pac flurry is cut off with a powerslam. Fameasser! Arrogant cover. Pac kicks out! X-Factor! Slow cover and Gunn kicks out. Pac does his corner kick combo and hits the bronco buster. Gunn ducks a clothesline and hits a neckbreaker. He goes up top but Pac dropkicks him. Gunn fights Pac off the top rope. Super fameasser! That gets the pin, and Gunn is your 1999 King of the Ring. And the crowd goes mild. Not even mild. Barely tepid. The match wasn't as bad as others tonight but still nothing special. A bleh end to a dreadful tournament. *1/4

A video recap tries to salvage the whole "hower higher power" disaster, recapping the whole angle since its beginning right after Wrestlemania. This only makes it more glaring how little sense it made to have Vince be the one behind it all. Then we get to the Austin as CEO stuff, and that's genuinely funny. From Austin's over t-shirt tie at the announcement to the "beer drinking challenge" corporate meetings to "You're stupid looking, you're fired!". In a way it's a bit of a dry run for the fun Austin would have as the "sheriff" and co-GM of Raw in the first year or two after his injury forced in-ring retirement.

 

Handicap Ladder Match to Determine Control of the WWF: Vince and Shane McMahon def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 17:11- This is the first ever WWF ladder match to have a briefcase suspended above the ring. A tradition begins. Vince makes his entrance alone, then introduces his new partner for tonight: Steve Blackman! Zero reaction from the crowd because it's Steve Blackman. But wait! GTV is on! Also GTV is making a PPV appearance. Shane is in the back hanging out with the Mean Street Posse, clearly faking his injury! They all realize they're on live and scatter. Shawn stops them and forces Shane to go to the ring, kicking Blackman out. Glass shatter and Austin comes in a bit calmer than normal with no jump start. The bell rings with the McMahons on the floor. They try to walk. Austin charges out with a double clothesline from behind! Vince takes some pounding on the floor and in the ring. Thesz Press on Shane and he gets crotched on the post. Vince gets Austin to chase on the floor and he gets ambushed by a Shane clothesline. Double beatdown on Austin. Vince goes and gets the ladder. Austin charges in and jumps him. Vince gets run into the chain link fence tron on the stage. Shane climbs up on top of the giant ladder structure that makes up the entrance area. Austin follows and knocks him off. The next few minutes is Austin meticulously throwing both McMahons through all the ladders on one side of the structure, knocking them all down. Once that's done Austin pulls a chain, and the whole thing collapses on top of the McMahons! Austin gets the proper ladder and heads to the ring. Shane comes in and gets tossed right back out. Vince takes a ladder shot. Austin slides the ladder into Shane on the floor, and he does a crazy ass flop over the English announce table right into JR's lap! Austin sets Shane up on the Spanish announce table, then sets up and climbs the ladder. Elbow through the table! Vince and Austin both climb the ladder on the floor. Vince gets knocked down, but then the pushes the ladder down and Austin falls onto the English announce table! And it doesn't break, he has a huge bounce off it then slides down. Ouch. Vince sets the ladder up in the ring and starts to climb. Austin low blows him! He pounds Vince upside down on the ladder then tosses him off. More ladder shots for the McMahons. At one point Austin stands on top of the ladder, which is on top of Shane and Shane taps out. Austin sets the ladder up and climbs. Vince tips it over. He tries to get the ladder but Austin won't let him. Vince tries to boost Shane up to get the briefcase! That's not going to work. Shane gets up on the ropes, climbs onto Vince's back, and Vince tries to walk him under the briefcase! Still not tall enough. Austin tips them over from behind. Stunner on Vince! Stunner on Shane! Austin's free and clear. He climbs up, gets to the briefcase.....and it raises up out of his reach! What the hell? A pissed off Austin charges at the timekeepers and Fink demanding to know what's going on. Behind him Vince starts climbing the ladder. Austin joins him. Shane dumps the ladder over, sacrificing Vince to get Austin down. Shane climbs and grabs the briefcase that's now lower than where it was at the start of the match for easy reach to win. The McMahons get the hell out of town while Austin's still pissed in the ring. Again, not great, not awful. It's not nearly on the same level as the Austin/Vince cage match earlier in the year. **3/4

So how did they follow up on this? The next night on Raw the "raising briefcase" thing was implied to be the Big Boss Man, who Austin had fired while he was CEO, and the whole thing was pretty much forgotten. Then that same night Austin won the WWF Title back despite the best efforts of the McMahons. All in all, pretty pointless.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another King of the Ring joins KOTR '95 on the list of worst WWF/E PPVs ever. Russo's crash TV booking style was really starting to wear thin, as were his ideas. Fortunately we're only a few months away from his departure to WCW.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-