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Royal Rumble 1999

Promotion	WWF
Date	January 24, 1999
Venue	Arrowhead Pond
City	Anaheim, California
Attendance	14,816
Last Event	Rock Bottom
Next Event	St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Royal Rumble 1999 was the twelfth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). 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 that the first entrant in the Royal Rumble, Steve Austin, 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.

EVENT HISTORY

IMAGES

The main event was the annual Royal Rumble match, which saw the winner receive a title shot for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania, the pay-per-view two months later. The Royal Rumble centered around the continuing heated rivalry between Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon, with those men entering the main event at #1 and #2, respectively. The penultimate match for the WWF Championship was an "I Quit" match between Mankind and The Rock, which is remembered both for its brutality and 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.

BackgroundEdit

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

When Commissioner Shawn Michaels allied himself with The Corporation, one of the first things he did was to book the Tag Team Champions, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, in a title defense against Corporate members Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man. Despite his interference at Rock Bottom: In Your House they managed to retain their titles but they were not so lucky on Raw is War on December 14. 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 appeared at ringside, only to have her sibling affection distracted when Gunn lived up to his nickname by flirtatiously mooning Ryan after Val Venis had already danced for her. Filled with his typical rage Shamrock put his Intercontinental Championship on the line for a chance to honor his notions of sibling protection.

After a minor absence, Women's Champion Sable returned to Raw with an open invitation on December 28, but before the match a fan came into the ring, later identified as Tori to give her a rose. A masked wrestler identified as "Spider Lady" came to the ring for the match (a nod to The Fabulous Moolah's screwjob over Wendi Richter in the mid '80s) but it ended in a no-contest when she started whipping Sable with her belt. The masked woman was revealed to be Luna Vachon, who would go on to face Sable in a "Strap Match" at the Rumble.

The Rock and Mankind had been feuding ever since Survivor Series in November 1998, when the two met in the finals of the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The Rock won the title that night with the help of the McMahons, who had previously been assisting Mankind, and became the chosen Corporate Champion while Mankind began a feud with the Corporation. Mankind faced The Rock again at Rock Bottom: IYH 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 technically submit and thus the WWF Championship would not change hands. Angered at 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 interference from The Corporation, D-Generation X and Steve Austin, Mankind won his first WWF Championship. Initially he refused The Rock's demands for 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 the 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 on January 11, a Corporation vs. DX mini-Rumble was set up with the winner taking the coveted number 30 spot; after all the apparent competitors had entered it seemed as if Triple H 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 of the ring. Again it seemed as if the winner was established until DX's Chyna made her way to the ring and won the match. The event would mark the first time a female wrestler took part in the match. Chyna also appeared at the Royal Rumble the following year as well. Chyna became the only woman to enter the match until Beth Phoenix entered the Royal Rumble in 2010.

The most notable aspect of the Royal Rumble, though, was the feud between Mr. McMahon and Steve Austin. Austin had won the Royal Rumble the previous two years and McMahon attempted to prevent him from repeating by putting him in a "Buried Alive" match at Rock Bottom: IYH against The Undertaker with one Royal Rumble place on the line. Austin won, with a little help from Kane and was guaranteed a place in the match, but McMahon continued in his attempts to prevent Austin from winning the match by "randomly" drawing Austin's spot at #1 and entering himself in the match at #30. Commissioner Michaels over-rode his decision and put McMahon at #2, and set up a Corporate/DX mini-Rumble for the now vacant #30 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 offering a $100,000 bounty for the man who eliminated him.

Qualifying matchesEdit

Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom: In Your House
Chyna won a Corporation vs. DX "Corporate Royal Rumble" for the #30 spot

ResultsEdit

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.

The Big Bossman defeated the Road Dogg (11:52)
Ken Shamrock (c) defeated Billy Gunn to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship (14:24)
X-Pac (c) defeated Gangrel to retain the WWF European Championship (5:53)
Sable (c) defeated Luna in a Strap match to retain the WWF Women’s Championship (4:43)
The Rock defeated Mankind (c) in a "I Quit" match to win the WWF Championship (21:46)
Mr. McMahon won the Royal Rumble (56:38)

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminationsEdit

A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds.

Entrant		Eliminated by		Time
1	Steve Austin	29	McMahon	56:38
2	Vince McMahon	-	WINNER	56:38
3	Golga	1	Austin	0:15
4	Droz	7	Mabel	12:30
5	Edge	8	Road Dogg	11:51
6	Gillberg	2	Edge	0:07
7	Steve Blackman	4	Mabel	7:22
8	Dan Severn	3	Mabel	5:43
9	Tiger Ali Singh	5	Mabel	4:02
10	Blue Meanie	6	Mabel	2:59
11	Mabel	9	Mideon, Faarooq and Bradshaw	1:26
12	Road Dogg	12	Kane	10:41
13	Gangrel	10	Road Dogg	0:26
14	Kurrgan	13	Kane	6:54
15	Al Snow	11	Road Dogg	0:47
16	Goldust	15	Kane	4:02
17	The Godfather	14	Kane	1:40
18	Kane	16	Himself	0:53
19	Ken Shamrock	17	Austin	4:50
20	Billy Gunn	18	Austin	7:05
21	Test	19	Austin	12:48
22	The Big Boss Man	28	Austin	18:53
23	Triple H	25	Austin	14:19
24	Val Venis	24	Triple H	12:41
25	X-Pac	20	Boss Man	5:44
26	Mark Henry	22	Chyna	7:57
27	Jeff Jarrett	21	Triple H	3:39
28	D'Lo Brown	27	Boss Man	9:11
29	Owen Hart	26	Austin	6:31
30	Chyna	23	Austin	0:35

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

Royal Rumble qualification matchesEdit

Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom
Chyna won a Corporation vs. DX "Corporate Royal Rumble"

The stipulation was the winner would enter at #30.

TriviaEdit

Chyna was the 1st woman to enter the Royal Rumble match. In 2010 Beth Pheonix became the second woman to enter the Rumble match.
Vince McMahon was the first of 2 Rumble winners to give up his right to face the champion at WrestleMania. John Cena was the second.

Other on-screen talentEdit

Commentators

Interviewers

Kevin Kelly

Ring announcer

Howard Finkel

Referees

Also seeEdit

DVD ReleaseEdit

Royal Rumble 1999 On DVD

External LinksEdit

Royal Rumble
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1999 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-views
Royal Rumble • St. Valentine's Day Massacre • WrestleMania • Backlash • No Mercy (UK) • Over the Edge • King of the Ring • Fully Loaded • SummerSlam • Unforgiven • Rebellion • No Mercy • Survivor Series • Armageddon

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