Armageddon '99

Legacy Review

Armageddon '99

December 12, 1999 from the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, FL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Welcome to the last WWF PPV of 1999, the 1990s, the 20th century and the millennium. Those that didn't live through it have no idea how massive a worldwide cultural event the millennium was. That's probably a big reason I'm so blase about year changes now. Once you've lived through New Year's Eve 1999 nothing else can really compare. Armageddon is the new name for the December PPV in this post-In Your House era, one that will stick for nearly a decade. Armageddon is generally known for having some of the best PPV stages ever during its run, and tonight is a good start, a full battlefield setup complete with a foxhole, tank, jeep and chopper.

WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Battle Royale- In this match we have Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, Pete Gas & Rodney of the Mean Street Posse, Too Cool, The Headbangers, The Acolytes and the Godfather & Mark Henry. The winners get a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Just hearing commentary mention the Rumble gets me excited. The Dudleyz and E&C are the first two teams out. They've been having some issues lately, so they get into a little warm up brawl before everyone else comes out. Big pop for the Hardyz on their entrance, the biggest out of anyone in the match. Except maybe the hos but we don't count them. The bell rings and the big brawl is on. We get a lot of wide shots from hard camera the first part of the match, a very good choice. Kevin Dunn and co. weren't always completely useless, that really only started the last decade or so of the old regime. While I'm on that subject quick shoutout to the new Paul Levesque/TKO Era production crew, who have been phenomenal since taking over. Anyway, this is when one member is eliminated the whole team is eliminated rules. The MSP go through an early match run where all three members get eliminated, including Joey Abs who tries to swap himself into the match, but the ref only sees the last one to finally send them packing. Godfather dumps Mosh and his padded bra. Don't ask. The Acolytes muscle Henry over the top and out. Brian Christopher's pants fall down. Christian tosses Scotty, who lands on the apron, then he pulls Christian out with him. While they're brawling Christian pulls the rope down on a charging Christopher and he goes over to be eliminated. The final four teams pair off- the Dudleyz and E&C find each other again, while the Acolytes and Hardyz go at it on the other side. Edge goes over the top to the apron on the corner. D'Von, who was on the floor, pulls him down from behind into the barricade and E&C are out. The Dudleyz and Acolytes pair up to knock the Hardyz around. Bubba Ray hits Jeff with a very muscle buster like slam. Bubba then DDTs Bradshaw. D'Von hits the headbutt off the top to Bradshaw's crotch. While D'Von's celebrating Matt comes from behind and eliminates him! Down to two. Jeff goes over the top onto the apron. He hits a crazy springboard moonsault on Faarooq! The shirt is off! Matt and Bradshaw do the Lex Luger/Bret Hart '94 Rumble finish with both going over the top and hitting at the same time. The one and only ref assigned the match, Jimmy Korderas, was on the other side of the ring, can't make a ruling and lets the match continue. I'd say both of them should have been individually eliminated and it should have been decided between Jeff and Faarooq. Bradshaw gives Jeff a short Clothesline from Hell. Jeff headscissors Faarooq over the top to the floor! But the one and only ref didn't see it! Matt hits Bradshaw with the Twist of Fate. Bradshaw gets Matt with a big boot. Matt ducks a Clothesline from Hell and dropkicks Bradshaw over the top to the apron. Missile dropkick from Jeff onto Bradshaw! Bradshaw JUST hangs onto the top rope! He tries to low bridge Matt but Matt lands on the apron. Faarooq lifts Jeff with a HUGE backdrop. Jeff goes over the top and all the way onto the barricade. He's eliminated and the Acolytes win. Mostly OK battle royale. The end run was not too bad with the Hardyz and Acolytes doing some classic power vs speed stuff, but all the "we only put one ref out there and he's missing a bunch of stuff" bit got old quick. Maybe they were still punishing Korderas for crossing the picket line during the ref strike. I apologize for bringing up the ref strike, no one should be reminded that stupid crap happened. *3/4

 

Kurt Angle def Steve Blackman in 6:42- These two worked as a team on weekly TV for a few weeks until Angle blamed Blackman for losing a match. Angle didn't take the pin in that so he still considers himself undefeated. Angle takes Fink's mic to educate us about the Three I's before the match but is cut off by Blackman's music. Blackman charges in and pummels Angle. Missile dropkick. Angle dodges a headbutt off the second rope and hits his own dropkick. Much better than the one he did on the last PPV. The crowd still hates Angle but it's already becoming more good hate than bad hate. Running forearm from Angle for 2. Setup slam. Angle goes up top. Moonsault! That might be the single most beautiful moonsault in the history of wrestling. Blackman dodges though. He hooks on a bow and arrow. Backbreaker into a modified Mutalock. Angle hits a DDT for 2. Suplex for 2. He tosses Blackman to the floor while the crowd chants "boring". Whip reversal and Angle goes into the steps. Blackman sunset flip into the ring for 2. Angle hits a crossbody but Blackman rolls through it for 2. Double underhook suplex from Angle. Now we get an "Angle sucks" chant that Angle fully plays into. Natural heel right from the start. Blackman gets a boot up in the corner and drop toe holds Angle into the corner. Tackle from Blackman. Snap suplex. Spinebuster and jackknife cover for 2. Side suplex. He comes off the second rope but Angle gets his boots up. Half nelson cradle for 2. He ducks a Blackman enzuguri. German suplex! That gets the pin! After the bell Blackman attacks Angle with nunchuks to get his own back. Think he needs to work more on the second I: integrity. Angle's already getting better and that was as good as Blackman ever looked in a WWF ring. **1/2

 

Evening Gown Pool Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Miss Kitty def Ivory (c), Jacqueline and BB in 2:53- The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young are guest reffing this, also in evening gowns. The rules are everyone gets in the pool and the last woman with her evening gown still on wins. And you wonder why no one took women's wrestling seriously back then. I'm not getting into detail on this. Jacqueline gets stripped first. BB is out next. Ivory goes for her bra, allowing Kitty to pull her into the pool from behind. Kitty does a quick Greco Roman zipper pull (thanks JR) and wins the title in a bit of an upset. I've rated every women's match for months as a DUD and this definitely qualifies, but even though this was for a title it can hardly be called a match, it was short, and hell the hottest woman in it (and in all of WWF at this point) won it so I'll go easy on it. NR

Kitty takes a mic, says she promised she'd win the title, and now we're all going to see the goods. She strips down, then gets in the pool to get even wetter. Then, to cap it all off, she takes her bra off! Her tits were clearly out on camera before Slaughter ran in with a towel to cover her up. Damn you blurring. Frak it, 5 stars. And I'll be in my bunk. Wait, now Mae Young is back up on the stage. Young is taking her gown off! GOOD GAWD ALMIGHTY THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Thankfully she stops with her underwear still on and Slaughter's quick in with the towel again. Frak it again, still NR and no bunk, not after seeing that.

 

The Hollys def Rikishi Phatu and Viscera in 4:23- This is Rikishi's WWF PPV debut as himself, though he had wrestled for WWF earlier in the decade as Fatu of the Headshrinkers and under a mask as the Sultan. He and Viscera are doing the "tag partners that don't get along" thing. The only reason they're teaming up is because they're big, which is also precisely why the Hollys picked a fight with them. Rikishi comes out to Too Cool's music though I'm pretty sure there was no association between them yet. The Hollys try to charge but Rikishi takes them out. Early mostly uncovered butt splash on Crash for 2. He sets Crash up for a banzai drop. Hardcore makes the save and tags in. After some back and forth Rikishi hits him with an avalanche. Belly to belly suplex for 2. Viscera refuses to tag in so Rikishi tags himself out. Hardcore tries but Viscera shrugs it all off and hits a Samoan drop. Crash gets tossed around. Belly to belly from Viscera on him. The Hollys dodge a splash and both attack. Hardcore sticks and moves into a missile dropkick for 2. More Holly double teaming. Crash, the genius, tries a sunset flip. Hardcore tries to help but gets backdropped by Viscera, then Crash takes a legdrop. Tag to Rikishi. Pop up cutter on Crush. A Hardcore DDT is no sold and Rikishi superkicks him. He plants Crash with a shoulder piledriver. Viscera runs with with a spinning heel kick that takes Rikishi out! Hardcore covers and gets the pin. After the bell Viscera shoves, Rikishi superkicks him out of the ring, and they brawl on the floor. 3/4*

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF European Championship: Val Venus def D'Lo Brown and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (c) in 9:15- The Mean Street Posse come out with Bulldog but ref Teddy Long tosses them before the match starts because they've already cheated enough tonight. Venus and Brown initially gang up on Bulldog before a lot of three way back and forth stuff that leads to Venus 360 clotheslining Bulldog to the floor. Brown dives onto both guys! Venus powerslam on Brown for 2. Elbow off the second rope from Venus. Bulldog quickly breaks the pin up. Venus drags Bulldog to the floor and they do some floor brawling. Brown offers Bulldog a double team deal and they pound Venus down until Brown pops Bulldog. Brown tries for a springboard move on Venus but screws it up all to hell. Venus hits a kneedrop for 2. Brown and Venus slug it out, then see Bulldog is watching and double clothesline him. Brown and Venus go for a double hiptoss but Bulldog doesn't rotate right and lands right on his head/shoulder area. That got an "oof" from the crowd. Double team delayed suplex on Bulldog. Brown fakes Venus out and drops an elbow on him. Venus and Brown continue to go at it while Bulldog rests on the outside. Brown gets crotched on the top rope, then blocks Venus' superplex attempt. Sunset bomb! Bulldog pulls Long out before he can count 3. Venus spinebuster on Bulldog for 2. Bulldog ducks a Venus clothesline and hits the running powerslam minus most of the running. Brown puts Venus' foot on the rope to save the pin. Flying forearm on Bulldog from Brown as he starts rolling with offense. Spinebuster. Frog splash! Venus comes off the other side with the Money Shot onto both guys! Venus gets the pin on Bulldog for the title! Nice finish, very bleh match. *1/4

X-Pac does his usual drug addled stumble through his promo, setting out the rules he wants for this match which apparently he can do. The cage door will be locked, Kane can only win by pinfall, but Pac can win by pin or over the top escape.

 

Steel Cage Match: Kane (w/Tori) def X-Pac in 9:00- It took longer than I thought, but this is finally the first WWF PPV cage match using the chain link fence cage rather than the old blue/black bar cage. No dramatic cage lowering music either, the whole thing was done off camera. Pac gets in Tori's face during his entrance. Kane climbs over the cage and attacks him. Pac nails Kane with the bell. He climbs up the cage and Kane follows. When both are in the ring the bell rings to officially start things. Kane no sells a bunch of Pac shots before dropping him. Think Kane's got new gear again, I haven't seen this on a PPV yet. Press slam from Kane. Corner clothesline. Pac tries coming off the top but Kane catches him. Pac slips free and hits a spinning heel kick. He starts to climb. Kane follows. Pac kicks and Kane gets crotched on the top rope. Legdrop off the top for 2 as the "X-Pac sucks" chants start up. Kane tries to fight back but Pac hits him with a DDT. He comes off the top again, right into a goozle! Tiltawhirl backbreaker from Kane. Pac takes the first cage shots of the match. Big boot. The New Age Outlaws run out. They've got bolt cutters and try to cut the chain off the door. Key word, try. They finally manage to, slam the door in Kane's face and slide a chair into the ring. X-Factor onto the chair! Pac's got handcuffs and cuffs Kane to the cage and gives him a couple of chairshots. Pac climbs again. Tori gets in the ring! She pulls Pac down. Pac spits in her face! X-Factor on Tori! Kane big boots the chair into Pac's face! Pac recovers and climbs again to a huge "X-Pac sucks" chant. Kane breaks the cuffs! He goes to the floor and catches Pac coming down. Kane carries Pac on his shoulders back into the ring! Door shot into Pac's face! Kane climbs all the way to the top of the cage. Clothesline off the top of the cage! Tombstone! That's it. It's overbooked all to hell, but fun and the right guy won. Definitely better than their Survivor Series match. **3/4

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho def Chyna (c) (w/Miss Kitty) in 10:19- This is a rematch from Survivor Series. Jericho, just like at Survivor Series, jumps before the bell. This time Chyna was more ready for him. Chyna's got a cast on her right hand. Not sure if that's story or something legit. They do some back and forth slugging in the corner. Chyna flips over the corner. Jericho charges in, flies into the ring post and to the floor. Chyna comes off the apron with a clothesline. Jericho goes to the old eye poke on the floor to get some shots in. He lifts Chyna in a suplex and drops her on the announce table. Jericho gets a chair and swings it wildly. Kitty tries to get it away, giving Chyna an opening to dropkick the chair in his face. Jericho whips Chyna into the steps and kisses Kitty for the second straight PPV. Jericho comes off the top back in, crotch first into Chyna's cast! Chyna hits the handspring elbow and a DDT for 2. Jericho gets Chyna tied up in the ropes and slaps her, then kicks her hurt hand. Corner clothesline from Jericho. He goes for a powerbomb. Chyna slooooooowly hurricanranas him over for 2. Jericho does a basement dropkick that Chyna has zero reaction to. Not even a no sell, she didn't even notice it happened. Delayed suplex from Jericho. Arrogant cover! He hits a chop and some forearms in the corner. While Chioda is checking on Chyna Jericho takes a top buckle pad off. Chyna hits a short clothesline but Jericho is quickly back on her. Delayed backbreaker and stretch. "ASK HER!". Crossbody collision! Chyna wins that for a 2 count. Jericho hits the misdirection bulldog. Setup slam. He goes for the Lionsault but Chyna gets her knees up. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Chyna hits a powerbomb and catapaults Jericho into the exposed buckle! Clothesline and cover. Jericho kicks out! Jericho counters out of the Pedigree into a backslide for a long 2. He goes for a back superplex, but Chyna supposedly counters for 2. That didn't come off 100% right. Chyna gets a cradle out of the corner. Jericho rolls through and gets Chyna in the Walls! Chyna tries to get to the ropes but Jericho pulls her back. He gets his knee in Chyna's back, cranking the hold back into almost a full Liontamer. Chyna taps! Jericho win the IC title for the first time! The first of his record 9 reigns. Heel Jericho also won clean as a sheet. Another good Jericho carry job. ***1/4

Jericho goes right to the back with "Mitchell" Cole. Chyna interrupts, but does the class move and offers Jericho a handshake. Jericho very cautiously takes it expecting something else, but Chyna just walks away. Code of Honor.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rock N Sock Connection def The New Age Outlaws (c) by DQ in 16:00- Alternate light blue shirt for Mankind tonight. Someone got the preorder bonus. Rock's entrance just about pops the roof off the place. Nice of Billy Gunn to remember his belt this time. The Outlaws also took my advice and aren't doing their full prematch bit anymore since they're heels now. Dogg and Mankind start. Mankind gives him a clean break off the lockup in the corner. On the other side Dogg does not reciprocate but Mankind was ready for him. They do the usual rope run off a headlock, but Mankind flips the script by legdropping Dogg in the back of the head when he drops down. Gunn faceplants Mankind for 2. Mankind asks the crowd if they want Rock. Of course they do and Rock tags in. Gunn decides now is the right time to take his shirt off and Rock jumps him while it's over his head. Gunn does a nice flop off being run into Mankind's boot, er, shoe. The Outlaws get Mankind stuck in their corner. Dogg goes for his dancing jabs. Mankind cuts it off with a Mandible Claw! Gunn runs in to break it up, followed by Rock, and we're donnybrooking all over the floor. Rock and Gunn go into the crowd. Another nice Gunn flop off an announce table shot. After everyone gets back in Dogg tries to give Rock a cheap shot from the apron but it doesn't go well for him. Rock continues to pound Gunn around until Gunn comes off the ropes with a running cutter for 2. Gunn tosses Rock out and drops him on the barricade. Back in the ring Rock goes in peril for a bit. Dogg crotch chops at him and Rock comes out of the corner with a clothesline. Dogg goes for the pumphandle slam. Rock low blows to get out of it. An apron shot from Gunn gets Rock down again. Gunn hooks on a sleeper to put Rock down. After arm drops Rock fights back up. Spinny DDT! Tags on both sides. Mankind runs wild. Running corner knees for both Outlaws. Gunn Stinger splashes Dogg! Mankind hits Dogg with his own dancing jabs. Dogg ducks and Mankind punches ref Korderas down! Piledriver from Mankind. Cover but no ref. Mankind tries to get Korderas back up but Gunn dives onto both of them. Rock knocks Gunn out of the ring. Mankind double underhook DDT on Dogg! Socko is out! Claw! Al Snow runs in! Snow recently turned heel on Mankind after teaming with him for a while. He nails Mankind with Head! Dogg covers Rock breaks the pin up! Rock runs out and attacks Snow! The Outlaws hit Mankind with the bell. Mankind kicks out! Gunn hits a piledriver for 2. Mankind breaks up a spike piledriver attempt. Mankind crawls over and get the tag to Rock. Samoan drop on Gunn. Spinebuster on Dogg. Rock Bottom on Gunn! Snow attacks Rock to draw the cheap DQ. Snow and Mankind keep fighting after the bell. Dogg tries to keep fighting Rock but gets a Rock Bottom for his trouble. Snow comes in and takes a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow to make the crowd happy. Solid enough match, but that was quite a bit to get to that finish. **1/4

 

WWF Championship: The Big Show (c) def WWF Hardcore Champion The Big Boss Man (w/Prince Albert) in 3:00- This is putting a bow on the infamous "Boss Man makes fun of Show's dead dad" angle that included the even more infamous segment where Boss Man tried to drag the coffin away from the funeral. The title is pretty much incidental. Show won the title at Survivor Series as a last second replacement for the run over Steve Austin, which I'm pretty sure was a spur of the moment call so the title really is incidental most likely. It got kicked up another notch since Survivor Series when Boss Man used the advanced interrogation techniques he learned in Cobb County to force Big Show's mom to admit Show was a BASTARD. In the technical use of the word. Show hits the ring and immediately attacks. Corner clothesline. Running Terry Taylor fivearm style forearm. Show takes it to the floor. Albert tries to get involved and gets chokeslammed through the Spanish announce table. Boss Man comes from behind and hits Show with the steps! Show gets posted. Boss Man needs a while to lift Show back into the ring while a "boring" chant floats around. Cover and show kicks out. Rope assisted kip up. Big boot. Chokeslam. Done. I get it with the feud, but WWF Title matches shouldn't be squashes, especially on PPV. It'd look even worse in retrospect after Triple H won the title back on the first Raw of 2000. 1/4*

Once again Vince McMahon is heavily involved in a feud, but this time as the face while Triple H had been solidified as the #1 heel in the company. They've been trying to destroy each other every weekly TV show since Survivor Series, but things got kicked up another notch when Steph had her wedding to Test on Raw. Or so she thought. Trips interrupted to show that he'd already gone through a Las Vegas drive thru chapel to get married to Steph! True she was unconscious at the time but Vegas doesn't care. It's probably the best angle WWF has run all year, but looking back it can't be understated how important this moment is in wrestling history now. Trips and Steph playing married on TV led to their real life relationship and eventual real life marriage, which led to Trips getting more power in the company, leading him to getting the shot to completely remake NXT, which changed the industry, to as of this writing being the man solely in charge of all WWE creative and leading its hottest period in many years. Crazy how these things can work out.

 

No Holds Barred Match: Triple H def Mr. McMahon in 29:45- If Vince wins this match Trips' marriage to Steph will be annulled. If Trips wins, he keeps Steph and gets a WWF Title shot. A very distraught looking Steph comes out first to no music and takes a seat at ringside. Close to legendary golfer Greg Norman, who's been at ringside the whole show. He must be a true fan and not just there to be seen. Trips has Mr. Sledge with him at the start. Steph looks daggers at him during his entrance. Vince charges in and tosses powder in HHH's face! He goes right to work punching away. After a bunch of shots HHH goes down. Vince clothesline. Low blow! No DQ. They do some of the usual floor brawling with Vince staying mostly in control. Mandatory late '90s main event crowd brawl time. They go into a side area under the stands and Vince gets run into a rolling door. HHH knocks Vince around the crowd as they slowly work back to ringside. Vince backdrops HHH back over the barricade. Mankind it out! And he's got a shopping cart full of goodies! He tells Vince to "use these bad boys". Vince chooses a trash can lid. HHH cuts Vince off with a kick and Vince takes the lid shot. I think. That didn't come off as planned. Vince gets back up and wears HHH out with the lid! Over and over. Vince gets the full trash can and gives HHH some shots with it. HHH flops on the barricade right in front of Steph. Now Vince gives HHH a crutch shot. HHH gets back up and uses the crutch to give Vince a shot right in the McMahon grapefruits. He runs Vince into the cart and it all tips over. HHH sorts through the available options and whacks Vince with a road sign. He then wraps a chain around his fist and pummels Vince with it. Vince gets a kendo stick and hits HHH with it, followed by a shot with the road sign. They work up to the battlefield stage area. Vince takes a shot on the chopper. Sandbag to Vince's face. HHH runs the shopping cart into Vince's face! Not sure how we don't have any blood yet. Vince cuts off a 2x4 shot as they struggle back down the aisle. Vince pummels HHH with a trash can, then puts it on him and punches it. HHH tries to cut off a giant wrench shot and legit accidentally trips over something, sending them both tumbling. Whoops. Oh, there's a machine gun nest in the stage area. Didn't see that earlier. HHH swings the machine gun into Vince's face. Vince reverses a whip and HHH goes into the tail of the chopper. It's nice to have some new things for these guys to bounce off of, these stage brawls had gotten pretty old hat by this point. They work into the tech area. Now they go fully backstage and Vince takes a couple more rolling door shots. A different door than earlier. Vince gets rolled onto a truck hood and HHH drops an elbow on him. Vince gets up and HHH is nowhere to be seen. The wandering search is on. Vince goes all the way outside looking for him. He and Chioda wander around the parking lot but HHH is nowhere to be found. A car drives in trying to run Vince over! Vince has to jump on a wall to avoid it and the car definitely gets a Darlington stripe. Trips flies out of the car fists flying. He pounds Vince on the car trunk. They stagger back through the parking lot with some more car shots. HHH drags Vince up on the roof of a limo. Body slam on the roof! Followed by an elbow drop. They get back inside and Vince gets run into a vending machine. And, finally, back out in front of the crowd. Vince gives HHH a shot with a pipe. HHH climbs some of the stage scaffolding. Vince follows. Oh this won't end well. They both get to the top, hanging off the edge. HHH runs Vince's head into the scaffolding, and he falls down into the stage area! For a big fall that didn't get nearly as big a reaction as you'd think. Maybe they didn't set it up as well as they could have. After chain shots, shopping cart shots, machine gun shots and car shots, it's the fall that finally busts Vince open. Wrestling logic. HHH hits him with a gas can to open it up some more. HHH goes all the way up to the timekeeper's area to get Fink's mic. He asks Steph "How does it feel, baby?". Steph says "I hate you". HHH is amazed Vince is up again and hits him with the mic. He screams at Vince to quit. HHH drags Vince in front of Steph and tells her to tell him goodbye. Hey, they're back in the ring! HHH has the supersized steel pipe and teases hitting Vince with it. But then he changes his mind. Chioda tries to stop him and HHH tosses him aside. The sledgehammer is out! Vince low blow as HHH was setting up for the killing blow! Vince hits HHH with the pipe. HHH begs off and hides in the corner. Vince has the sledge. Steph runs in! She wants to do it! Vince gives her the sledge. Steph winds up.....but then seems to have second thoughts and turns around. She's such a sweet girl, she can't do it even with what HHH has done to her. HHH takes the sledge and nails Vince with it! Steph looks horrified. HHH covers Vince with one foot and get the pin. Steph immediately checks on her dad. HHH teases hitting Steph with the sledge from behind! Steph turns around and sees. Shock. HHH drops the sledge. Steph smiles! THEY HUG! SWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVE! Steph raises Trips' hand AND THEY KISS! Heel Steph is born. It's the first big post-Russo swerve and they pulled it off superbly. The happy evil couple leave arm in arm and end show. The match wasn't great, but it wasn't nearly the disaster it could have been, especially for how much time it got and the fact Vince was in it. They made an effort to have a lot of variety in it at least. The angle work was superb however, and Triple H has clearly gotten comfortable working main event matches. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- December in WWF is often plagued with bad PPVs as they typically spin their wheels until January and the Rumble. Thanks to the undercard title changes and especially the Steph swerve this one is a bit better and more consequential even if the overall match quality doesn't completely show it. 1999 wasn't WWF's best year creatively or wrestling wise, but they were still a commercial juggernaut and were leaving WCW more and more in the dust every month. It helped that WCW couldn't get out of their own way at this point and that would only get worse. A couple of years ago the long term injuries to both Austin and Undertaker would have left them seriously hurting, but they hit at a point where enough other stars had been built up to cover. Add in some fresh minds in creative with Russo gone and newcomers like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and the soon to arrive Radicalz turning the in ring style slowly away from brawling and back to more wrestling, and 2000 would be a banner year by any possible measurement that's widely considered one of the best in the company's history.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-