WWF 1999

[pitseleh]

I listened to the most recent episode of SCG and I decided to check out the episode of Raw where Undertaker sacrifices Dennis Knights to see if it's as bad as Liam & Co. make it out to be. It is. Pure dross. However I found myself glued to screen throughout the entire episode and I am currently making my way through the entire month. Sure the wrestling might be shit and the sexism and homophobia is through the roof, but I can't deny I was suckered into the main event storylines and the majority of the talent are all over as rover, creating an exciting atmosphere where it feels like anything can happen.

 

Austin, Rock, The Mcmahons, The Stooges, Mankind, Menry, Shamrock, Venis and Al Snow are always entertaining. I even find myself enjoying the midcard stuff with Shamrock's sister. I'm not sure how much Russo I can stand, knowing that the Higher Power storyline is upcoming, but I'm loving it so far.

 

2000 is obviously better, but I've seen that all before so 1999 it feels much more fresh to me.

[garynysmon]

I fucking hated the "McMahon-Helmsley era" so I much prefer most of 1999 when compared to 2000 tbh.

[wandshogun09]

When I think of WWF in 1999 the things that pop into my head are Jericho's awesome debut, the X-Pac/Kane team, Debra's legs and lots of Rock vs Triple H. All good.

 

But there was a LOT of shit going on looking back. The never ending Higher Power storyline, last legs denim Bulldog, Foley stopping giving a fuck and wrestling in trackie bottoms, Beaver bastard Cleavage, Nicole Bass, The Union. Even crap like Vic Grimes coming in as Key, the evil pimp enemy of the Godfather - only to disappear and never be mentioned again after one or two appearances. Chyna's push was shite as well. I get why they did it, she was popular and it was unique having a woman wrestler fight the men. But she was awful. I was over the moon when Jericho came to the WWF but never did I think 'yes, now we can see Jericho vs Chyna'. It was just crap. The Good Housekeeping match with Jeff Jarrett is a guilty pleasure of mine though, I'll admit.

 

Back on the positives though, D'Lo Brown was still prominent and I loved the Mean Street Posse. Oh and Bossman's poem about Big Show's dead daddy

[PunkStep]

Even crap like Vic Grimes coming in as Key, the evil pimp enemy of the Godfather - only to disappear and never be mentioned again after one or two appearances.

When was this?? I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of this!

[wandshogun09]

Summer of 99, I think it was.

 

Here's a bit from Grimes' Wikipedia;

 

J.R. Benson sent Jim Cornette a tape of Grimes and O'Grady's feud in All Pro Wrestling and scheduled them for a dark match before an edition of Monday Night Raw. WWF officials were so impressed by the match that they signed both men to contracts on the spot. Grimes would be moved to the Memphis developmental territories before being brought up to television under the ring name Key. He made his televised WWF debut on the July 26, 1999 episode of Raw. As Key, Grimes formed a short-lived drug dealer character along with Droz and Prince Albert and feuded with The Godfather. The Godfather suffered an injury, however, just as the feud between the two was developing, which led to Grimes being taken off TV.

 

Look at the state of him...

 

 

Fucking Key, I ask you. How did that make it onto TV? Shame we were robbed of what would've surely been a home run of a feud with the Godfather.

 

Oh another thing a lot of people might've forgotten about 1999 which I liked - Michael Hayes' brief in ring comeback as the Hardy Boyz manager/tag partner against the Acolytes. You'd never have thought looking at Dok Hendrix in 1995 that he'd be wrestling again on a WWF PPV a few years later. It's probably shit now if you watch it back but I enjoyed it at the time.

[Porkchopcash]

I loved 99 at the time, to me 97-99 was the Attitude era, i found around 2000 everything just became that bit more polished.

[Trout Stain]

Any year in which Big Show is being driven around a graveyard while clinging onto the top of his father's coffin is an excellent one as far as I am concerned

 

The set at that years Armagedon was also one of my favourite ever

[ElCece]

What's fucking crazy is Hayes was only 37 at the time Wand.

[LaGoosh]

The matches were low quality, putting together a list of the best 10 matches would be a nightmare. 

 

I'll give it a go.

 

1. Stone Cold vs The Rock, Wrestlemania XV

2. The Rock vs Mankind, Royal Rumble

3. Stone Cold vs The Rock, Backlash

4. Hardy Boyz vs Edge & Christian, ladder match, No Mercy

5. Shane McMahon vs Test, Summerslam

6. Stone Cold vs The Undertaker, Fully Loaded

7. D'Lo Brown vs Jeff Jarrett, that Raw where D'lo won the IC/Euro titles

8. Stone Cold vs Vince & Shane McMahon, Ladder match, King of the Ring

9. X-Pac vs Shane McMahon, Wrestlemania XV

10. Big Show vs Mankind, Boiler Room Brawl, Backlash

 

I'm not going to lie, I really struggled after number 5.

[tiger_rick]

 

The matches were low quality, putting together a list of the best 10 matches would be a nightmare.

 

I'll give it a go.

 

1. Stone Cold vs The Rock, Wrestlemania XV

2. The Rock vs Mankind, Royal Rumble

3. Stone Cold vs The Rock, Backlash

4. Hardy Boyz vs Edge & Christian, ladder match, No Mercy

5. Shane McMahon vs Test, Summerslam

6. Stone Cold vs The Undertaker, Fully Loaded

7. D'Lo Brown vs Jeff Jarrett, that Raw where D'lo won the IC/Euro titles

8. Stone Cold vs Vince & Shane McMahon, Ladder match, King of the Ring

9. X-Pac vs Shane McMahon, Wrestlemania XV

10. Big Show vs Mankind, Boiler Room Brawl, Backlash

 

I'm not going to lie, I really struggled after number 5.

 

Never liked #2 either tbh.

 

I had a skip through the first three Raws last night. The matches are really uninteresting for the most part but that's the thin roster. In 1998, they were working miracles in the mid-card but the arse had been dragged out of it by this point. They'd also completely ruined X-Pac by doing nothing with him when he had all the momentum in HHH's absence and the entertaining D'Lo and Mizark duo should have been comedy gold tag champs but ended up fucking about with women (and not really women).

 

The shows do still have tons of energy but generally if Austin, Rock or Vince aren't on screen, I'm bored.

 

Foley winning the title is epic on any re-watch. Mizark selling the sex tape with the trans fella is brilliant, even if the angle is stupid. Rock & Foley talking is great.

 

The rest isn't. And Ryan Shamrock isn't anywhere near as hot as my memory said she was.

[Liam O'Rourke]

What I'm more conscious of personally is the May-September period of pure, unadulterated Russo. Austin's feud with Undertaker still going on, HHH's push with Rock treading water as a babyface, X-Pac completely wasted, the Billy Gunn push, Big Show and Kane wrestling each other every week, and the Shamrock/Blackman wars.

[Sphinx]

My mate's watching old Raws and I jumped in to watch with him after No Mercy and it's alright so far. Pretty cheesy, but that's the fun of it. I like the quick pace and that matches aren't too long as it helps differentiate TV from PPV. Having said that, there are these long DX and Vince segments which drag a bit.

[LaGoosh]

I thought Raw was great in 99 until Fully Loaded but pretty shit until the McMahon/HHH feud in December. Going from the Austin/McMahon feud to a then rubbish Triple H was brutal. It wasn't until December that HHH found his footing as a main event heel and it made the whole show better.

[tiger_rick]

My mate's watching old Raws and I jumped in to watch with him after No Mercy and it's alright so far. Pretty cheesy, but that's the fun of it. I like the quick pace and that matches aren't too long as it helps differentiate TV from PPV. Having said that, there are these long DX and Vince segments which drag a bit.

I've found it repetitive after watching 1998 back which I think was my feeling at the time. By post WM15, I was looking for something a bit different to happen. It's the first time I can ever remember having "smart" thoughts. I'd been a PowerSlam reader for ages but I didn't really think about backstage stuff. I was still obsessed with anything wrestling. Probably because I'd never had easy access to much of it ever. By then though, I was a bit fed up of the same old stuff. I remember finding out Jericho was coming, only really knowing him from the N64 games, and being super excited because it was a fresh face. In fairness, the product then adapted n late 1999 and early 2000 with some good additions and a different focus to the shock TV stuff. After the Mae Young angle at the Rumble anyway.

[air_raid]

What I'm more conscious of personally is the May-September period of pure, unadulterated Russo. Austin's feud with Undertaker still going on, HHH's push with Rock treading water as a babyface, X-Pac completely wasted, the Billy Gunn push, Big Show and Kane wrestling each other every week, and the Shamrock/Blackman wars.

September-Survivor Series is full of stop start booking, logic holes, rapid-fire title changes, and generally stuff you either have forgotten or wish you had. ROODY POO POO.