In Your House

[tiger_rick]

Just now, wandshogun09 said:

Then they had Austin beat him 123 with the Stunner on Raw before WrestleMania was even done and dusted. Just over a month into the company and they’ve already had Austin slay the giant. Madness. Built right that would’ve been a monster opponent for Austin at SummerSlam or whenever. But no, just spunk it away for free on Raw. 

Watched that match recently. It's a great bit of business. It's the end of Wight as a megastar in the WWF but I think they'd already soured on him before he debuted. If you accept they weren't pushing him to the moon anytime soon, him and Austin doing a great number in front of a rabid crowd and sending Austin into Mania 15 looking like a god is pretty great stuff.

[air_raid]

I think trying to go with “The Big Nasty, Paul Wight” fucked him far harder than that loss did.

[Roy]

9 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Watched that match recently. It's a great bit of business. It's the end of Wight as a megastar in the WWF but I think they'd already soured on him before he debuted. If you accept they weren't pushing him to the moon anytime soon, him and Austin doing a great number in front of a rabid crowd and sending Austin into Mania 15 looking like a god is pretty great stuff.

What made you think they had soured on him before he debuted? Do you mean soured on him before his first WWF match? I recall him being linked with a move once his contract was up as far back as Autumn 1998 so you would have thought that would be ample time to come up with a name for him and get something planned out. I remember they were talking about calling him 'Titan' or 'Big Titan' and so on.

What they ended up with was atrocious for many reasons. Wight was in terrible shape and it seemed his attitude wasn't that best. Their debut of him was nonsensical as he costs Vince the match versus Austin, and he was played as being a lummox more than a threat. Rock dunking on him at every opportunity made him even more of a laughing stock.

[Merzbow]

Outside of the original beating of Hogan did WCW book him anywhere half decent, either? Misstep after misstep with the brief show of brilliance in-between was his entire career.

[BarryOVega]

4 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Outside of the original beating of Hogan did WCW book him anywhere half decent, either? Misstep after misstep with the brief show of brilliance in-between was his entire career.

Even his win over Hogan was via dq, presumably every booking team he ever worked for just figured he’d be over because of his size regardless of what they actually did with him

[tiger_rick]

8 hours ago, Roy said:

What made you think they had soured on him before he debuted? Do you mean soured on him before his first WWF match? I recall him being linked with a move once his contract was up as far back as Autumn 1998 so you would have thought that would be ample time to come up with a name for him and get something planned out. I remember they were talking about calling him 'Titan' or 'Big Titan' and so on.

What they ended up with was atrocious for many reasons. Wight was in terrible shape and it seemed his attitude wasn't that best. Their debut of him was nonsensical as he costs Vince the match versus Austin, and he was played as being a lummox more than a threat. Rock dunking on him at every opportunity made him even more of a laughing stock.

I just don't think that Vince wanted him as much by the time he got him as he had for years before. As you've said, it was a done deal, pretty much, for a good while before Wight's contract came up and by the time they got him, he was different and they were absolutely miles away from the company they'd been a year and a half before. Vince took him anyway, presumably to shit on WCW or just because he's so damn principled but, like Bret, Mark Henry and countless others, he clearly resented spending the money and didn't fancy him.

Big Show had a hell of a run despite a million ups and downs. Worked out fine, eventually.

[LaGoosh]

On 5/6/2026 at 4:42 PM, wandshogun09 said:

Built right that would’ve been a monster opponent for Austin at SummerSlam

That's not how they booked anything back then. It's not like today where everyone fantasy books six months ahead. The TV back then moved way too fast for any long term booking. They definitely rushed Austin/Show but realistically for the time period it made sense and probably popped a rating which was their priority. 

[wandshogun09]

Saw recently on one of them ‘On This Day’ accounts that it was the anniversary of the first Backlash in 1999. I remembered enjoying the Austin vs Rock main event so had a look on YouTube and, lo and behold, it got uploaded to the Vault a while back.

Incredible stuff. I think like most people, my main memories of these two facing each other are mostly from their WrestleMania trilogy. But honestly, this might just be my favourite match between them. It’s hard to knock the Mania X7 match off the top spot for me, I’m not 100% sure this does it, but it might. It’s definitely better than their match at Mania XV the previous month for me. Just the perfect Attitude Era main event between the two top stars of the time. It’s not on the huge stage the Mania X7 match was but it also doesn’t have the Austin heel turn stuff at the end. It’s clear babyface Austin vs heel Rock and it’s class.

Shades of Austin vs Dude Love at Over The Edge 98 in a way as well, with the way the odds are stacked against Austin. It’s a ‘No Holds Barred’ match with Shane McMahon as ref. But despite the ‘No Holds Barred’ stipulation, if Austin puts his hands on Shane, he loses the title by DQ. It’s a really fun brawl before they end up back in the ring and they completely destroy the entrance way in the process…

The crowd is white hot throughout like you’d expect, it’s Austin vs Rock in 99. JR and The King on commentary, which adds to it, JR is on form here. And there’s a great bit where Rock gets hold of one of the cameras and is taunting Austin and the crowd. Even busts out the weird Vince middle finger from Breakdown 98!

Then he turns the camera to the crowd and continues to talk shite, only to turn back around and be met with this…

They do a nice callback to Survivor Series 98 where Shane refuses to count three and gives Austin the double bird. Then face Vince comes out and once again shows himself to be the least coordinated man on the planet, twatting Shane with the Smoking Skull belt, tripping over his own feet and falling on his face…

Useless. He had one job. Great character back then but ask him to do anything physical and he’s clambering about like a dragonfly with its wings pulled off. Face Vince never sat right with me and especially when he’s helping Austin. Just feels alien. So if I’m gonna knock any points off this match, I didn’t like that. But whatever. That’s about as negative as I can get about this. Austin finishes Rock off with a Stunner and a belt shot, Earl Hebner rushes in for the three count and the crowd erupts.

I know we say a fair bit on here that a lot of 98/99 stuff doesn’t really hold up on rewatches, but this was quality. Just a perfect slice of Attitude Era wrestling. Austin at his peak, Rock coming into his peak, the shenanigans of them trying to screw Austin, the crowd, the commentary, the feel-good ending. It’s a beauty. I had a memory of liking the match at the time but it’s better than I remembered. All things considered, I think it is probably my favourite match of their series. 

[LaGoosh]

The video package for that match is one of the best they've ever done. I've watched it so many times every part of it is imprinted in my brain.

"Stone Cold if you want your precious smoking skull title belt...it is around the waist...OF THE ROCK!"

It's a brilliant match too. Filled with great brawling, crazy bumps and wacky moments with not a single dull moment from start to finish. The 17 match is better but this is my favourite. 

A match so fun that they basically re-do it almost beat for beat the following year with The Rock vs Triple H at Backlash 2000.

Edited May 10 by LaGoosh

[Supremo]

I was going to conclude my In Your House Bogus Journey with St. Valentine’s Massacre, since from Backlash ‘99 onwards they removed the, “In Your House,” tagline.

Reading the above posts, that’s another three hours of company time I’ll be wasting this week. I hope you’re proud of yourselves!

[Chili]

10 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I was going to conclude my In Your House Bogus Journey with St. Valentine’s Massacre, since from Backlash ‘99 onwards they removed the, “In Your House,” tagline.

Reading the above posts, that’s another three hours of company time I’ll be wasting this week. I hope you’re proud of yourselves!

Now hold on here playa, Backlash 1999 was the very last event to still use the tagline as it appeared on all the promotional materials, so you sit right down and watch The Godfather of all people defending the Intercontinental Championship young man.

[jimufctna24]

5 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

It’s hard to knock the Mania X7 match off the top spot for me, I’m not 100% sure this does it, but it might. It’s definitely better than their match at Mania XV the previous month for me. Just the perfect Attitude Era main event between the two top stars of the time. It’s not on the huge stage the Mania X7 match was but it also doesn’t have the Austin heel turn stuff at the end. It’s clear babyface Austin vs heel Rock and it’s class.

I watched Austin and Rock's series of matches back a few years ago. I think the greatness of their X7 bout means that their awesome X9 and Backlash 99 bouts get overlooked. They also had a bout on RAW in late 98, which isn't in the same league as those bouts, but is fun nevertheless.

With the obvious exception of Bret Hart, and possible exception of Kurt Angle, Rock is probably Austin's best opponent. Austin is certainly Rock's best opponent, unless I'm forgetting someone. 

[wandshogun09]

@Supremo I only watched Austin vs Rock but I remember Backlash 99 being a decent show overall. Looking up the card now, I might have to revisit the Mankind vs Big Show ‘Boiler Room Brawl’ especially because I recall that being a lot of fun. Another Bob Holly vs Al Snow hardcore match as well, which was always a laugh. Don’t remember much about Triple H vs X-Pac but I do have a vague recollection of Undertaker vs Shamrock being a disappointing slog. Mixed bag but I’d be curious to see how H/Pac and Taker/Shamrock matches hold up in ‘26. 

Edited May 10 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

35 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

I watched Austin and Rock's series of matches back a few years ago. I think the greatness of their X7 bout means that their awesome X9 and Backlash 99 bouts get overlooked. They also had a bout on RAW in late 98, which isn't in the same league as those bouts, but is fun nevertheless.

With the obvious exception of Bret Hart, and possible exception of Kurt Angle, Rock is probably Austin's best opponent. Austin is certainly Rock's best opponent, unless I'm forgetting someone. 

There’s also the cage match from just after X7 and the Rebellion 2001 match. Both of which I only have hazy memories of. They were always electric together though. Their interactions in the six man Hell In A Cell match at Armageddon 2000 and the end of the Rumble match in ‘01 were class as well. Plus a bunch of TV tag matches during the Invasion. They were always on fire when in there together, and it didn’t matter which side of the babyface/heel divide each man was on. Made little difference.

I wasn’t a huge fan of their last match at Mania 19 myself. I liked it but Austin was knackered physically from 2002 on and maybe I’m being harsh but I recall that match being a lot of them just spamming each others finishers. Like I said, I still liked the match. I don’t think there was ever a bad Austin vs Rock match. Their chemistry was off the charts and wouldn’t allow for anything less than at least ‘good’. But I felt like that match was a couple of steps behind some of their other ones and it felt very much like they were just trying to ‘get through it’. Understandable when you know the backstory of how rough shape Austin was in going in and his health scare and stuff, it’s a minor miracle they pulled off a match as good as they did. The thing I did really like about that match was that their series ended with Rock finally getting that elusive big win over Austin. Felt like it tied their rivalry up nicely and left it where there wasn’t really any need to carry it on, even if Austin wasn’t done. 

Looking back, we probably didn’t fully appreciate what we had at the time. Steve Austin and The Rock were the kind of performers and stars that only come along once in a generation. The fact we got them both at the same time, in the same company, with both of their primes overlapping, you couldn’t have planned for that. A proper lightning striking twice in the same place situation that will almost certainly never happen again to that degree because they just don’t make ‘em like these two anymore. We’ll probably never get another star like either one of these two again, much less two of them at the same time. 

Edited May 10 by wandshogun09

[Chico Torres]

As I’ve mentioned before I bowed out of the WWF before the attitude era so only caught pieces here and there but can’t deny the magnitude and greatness of Austin and The Rock. I haven’t seen this Backlash match but @wandshogun09 has sold me on it, will check it out.