Royal Rumble (1999)

Infobox Wrestling event
name=Royal Rumble (1999)


tagline=No Chance in Hell
theme="No Chance in Hell" ( The Chris Warren Band)
promotion=World Wrestling Federation
date=January 24 1999
venue=Arrowhead Pond
city=Anaheim, California
attendance=14,800
lastevent=
nextevent=St. Valentine's Day Massacre
event=Royal Rumble
lastevent2=Royal Rumble (1998)
nextevent2=Royal Rumble (2000)

Royal Rumble (1999): No Chance In Hell was the twelfth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1999 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. The title of the event was taken from a promise by Mr McMahon (Vince McMahon) that the first entrant in the Royal Rumble, Steve Austin (Steve Williams), had "no chance in hell" of winning the match. The theme song for the event, based on the phrase, would go on to become the entrance music for McMahon's stable The Corporation and later, just McMahon himself.

As usual, the main event was the annual Royal Rumble match, which saw the winner receive a place for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania two months later. The Royal Rumble centred around the continuing heated rivalry between Steve Austin and Mr McMahon, with both men entering the main event at #1 and #2, respectively. The penultimate match for the WWF Championship was an "I Quit" match, which is both rememebered for its brutality as well as its place in the documentary film Beyond The Mat. Lower down on the card the WWF Intercontinental Championship and WWF Women's Championship were both defended.

Background

The overriding theme of the pay-per-view was centred around The Corporation and Mr McMahon's attemps to enforce his notions of how a company should be run on the federation. Since its inception the night after Survivor Series, they had mainly come to blows with the irreverent D-Generation X, the Ministry of Darkness and McMahon's arch nemesis Stone Cold Steve Austin.

When Commissioner Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) allied himself with The Corporation, one of the first things he did was to book the Tag Team Champions, Road Dogg (Brian Gerard James) and 'Bad Ass' Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp), in a title defence against Corporate members Ken Shamrock (Kenneth Kilpatrick) and Big Boss Man (Ray Traylor) and despite his interference at they managed to retain their titles butcite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/dec14_rockbottom.html|title=Foley screwed again|publisher=SLAM! Sports|accessdate=2008-09-14] they were not so lucky on Raw is War on December 14.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/_1998/|title=Raw is War 1998 Results|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-08-25] As the feud between DX and The Corporation intensified, the New Age Outlaws turned to singles wrestling as Road Dogg found himself caught up in the hardcore division and became Hardcore Champion on December 21. Meanwhile, as well as tensions from the tag team feuding, Billy Gunn gained the ire of Ken Shamrock when his sister Ryan (Alicia Webb) appeared at ringside, only to have her sibling affection distracted when Gunn lived up to his nickname by flirtaciously mooning Ryan after Val Venis (Sean Morley) had already danced for her. Filled with his typical rage he put his Intercontinental Championship for a chance to honour his notions of sibling protection.

).

After unfairly losing the Survivor Series "Deadly Games" tournament, Mankind (Mick Foley) faced The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) again at Rock Bottom and won the match, but Mr McMahon stepped in and announced that while Rock lost the match by falling unconscious to the mandible claw, he did not submit and thus the WWF Championship would not change hands. Angered from being screwed out of the championship twice, Mankind attacked Shane McMahon on Raw is War and demanded a match. On the first Raw is War of 1999, January 4, after interferences from both The Corporation, D-Generation X and also Steve Austin, Mankind won his first WWF Championship.cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/jan5_foleywin.html|title=Mick Foley wins WWF World Title, dedicates match to his children|publisher=SLAM! Sports|accessdate=2008-09-14] Initially he refused The Rock's demands of a rematch, despite Rock offering stipulation after stipulation to appease Mankind until eventually he quit begging, at which point Mankind revealed that he would face The Rock at Rumble as long as it was an "I Quit" match.

The Royal Rumble match featured a number of notable build ups. On Raw is War January 11 a Corporation vs DX mini-Rumble was set up with the winner taking the number 30 spot, after all the apparent competitors had entered it seemed as if Triple H (Paul Levesque) had won until Mr McMahon made his way to the ring, entering himself on behalf of the Corporation and throwing a distracted Triple H out the ring. Again it seemed as if the winner was established until Chyna (Joanie Laurer) made her way to the ring and won the match.cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/jan16_man.html|title=Mankind lets The Rock know what's cookin'|publisher=SLAM! Sports|accessdate=2008-09-14] The event would be the first time a female wrestler took part in the match and to date Chyna is the only woman to take part in the match, competing in it the following year as well.

The most notable aspect of the Royal Rumble, though, was the feud between Mr McMahon and Steve Austin. Austin had won the Royal Rumble for the previous two years and McMahon attempted to prevent him from doing this by putting him in a Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom against The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) with one Royal Rumble place on the line. Austin won, with a little help from Kane (Glen Jacobs) and was guaranteed a place on the match, but McMahon continued in his attempts to prevent Austin winning the match by 'randomly' drawing his spot at #1 and entering himself in the match at #30. Commissioner Michaels over-rode his decision and put him at #2, setting up a Corporate/DX mini-rumble for the the now vacant thirty position. With Austin and McMahon being the first two to enter, McMahon wanted to guarantee there would be "no chance in hell" that Austin would win by not only training as a competitor, but also putting a $100,000 bounty for the man who eliminated him.

Qualification matches

*Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at
*Chyna won a Corporation Vs DX "Corporate Royal Rumble" for the #30 place

Event

Mideon, Faarooq and Bradshaw were not entrants in the Rumble.

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/history/19881143/ Official 1999 Royal Rumble website]
* [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/royalrumble99.html Results at OWW]
* [http://www.twnpnews.com/information/rumble.shtml twnpnews.com - Royal Rumble]
* [http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/rr99.html hoofco-inc.com - Royal Rumble '99 review]
* [http://www.oowrestling.com/columns/ooldtyme/20060118.shtml onlineonslaught.com - Royal Rumble '99 review]