Journey Through The Attitude Era Vol 19: WWF Summerslam 1999 Review

Welcome one and all once again to the wrestling series that no one ever asked for, Journeys Through The Attitude Era with me, The Seanomaniac. Today’s time machine places smack in the middle of the WWF Pay Per View calendar with the biggest party of the summer, Summerslam 1999. Austin vs Mcmahon had included and a new heel was on the rise in Triple H(Get used to seeing that name a lot). Austin was champion after vanquishing The Undertaker but now Mankind Triple H and at one point Chyna, were chasing his championship. To control all of these combustible elements, Jesse The Body Ventura would be the special guest referee for the main event. The Undercard would also feature The Rock vs Mr. Ass in a Kiss My Ass match and The Undertaker and The Big Show challenging for Kane’s and X-Pac’s tag team titles. Let us waste no more time and dive into WWF’S Summerslam 1999.

Opening Promo

Kickass intro as expected from the WWF, the focus is on special referees, Vince and Shane had tried to screw Austin, Vince being unsuccessful and Shane being successful. However, tonight Jesse Ventura is the referee and he is the only man that can control the chaos. Jesse is the first man we see as the pay per view starts as he warns Triple H and Chyna about cheating tonight. Next we see Chris Jericho and the first ever WWF Jerichoholic Howard Finkel, Jericho warns The Fink that he beter be on time and carry Jericho’s bag.

(WWF Intercontinental/European Championship Match) D’Lo Brown © vs Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett and Debra have been having some serious issues so Jarrett sends Debra to the backstage. D’Lo was on fire as a face, he was a double champion and was seemingly on his way to that upper echelon that he was slated for since his days in The Nation of Domination. D’Lo meets Debra backstage and brings her to the ring as his valet. Jarrett is pissed off and attacks D’Lo from behind. D’Lo starts hot with a hiptoss and a forearm, powerslam to Jarrett. Make it two from the Eurocontinental champion. Jarrett tries to sneak an attack on D’Lo but D’Lo catches the challenger with a right hand anad a spinebuster. Jarrett locks in the sleeper but D’Lo reverses Jarrett with a superplex.

 Jarrett changes the momentum with a sidewalk slam and a dropkick which takes D’Lo off his feet. Baseball slide from Jarrett rattles the champion. Jarrett gets caught by D’Lo who takes control before Jarrett sends D’Lo face first into the ringpost. Double J begins working D’Lo’s arm in the corner, tornado single arm DDT from the second rope by Jarrett. D’Lo hangs on in the match with a running powerbomb on Jarrett, both men are laid out, the referee begins counting, tilt a whirl slam and a calf kick on D’Lo. Scoop slam and a leg drop for D’Lo, backdrop by D’Lo and D’Lo begins climbing , D’Lo misses a somersault senton.

 Debra climbs to the apron, Jarrett appaears to wish to hit Debra but Mark Henry grabs the guitar from Jarrett to help his friend D’Lo. However, SWERVE! Mark Henry smashes D’Lo with the guitar and Jarrett pins D’Lo to win the titles. Great opener, that crowd loved D’Lo, all his moves were so over and he got a great reaction. Crowd seemed shock by the turn from Henry who had been D’Lo’s partner since the days of The Nation. Hopefully the feud these two have will be good.

Winner: Jarrett over D'Lo Brown thanks to Mark Henry & a Guitar!

(Tag Team Turmoil Match) Edge And Christian vs The New Brood(Hardy Boyz) W/ Gangrel vs Mideon and Viscera vs The Acolytes vs Droz And Prince Albert vs Hardcore And Crash Holly

Strange seeing The Hardys as heels and Edge and Christian as faces, I like it though, The Hardys turned on Michael Hayes to side with Gangrel who turned on Edge and Christian. Double hiptoss from Edge and Christian as Matt takes punishment to start us off. Gangrel takes a cheap shot and Matt take so over, double facebuster by The Hardys. Springboard moonsault by Jeff as Christian eats a poetry in motion for good measure. Jeff cheap shots Christian before nailing The Swanton Bomb. Edge breaks the count, Christian nails a double falling reverse DDT, Edge receives the tag, momentarily running wild before all four men spill to the outside.

 Jeff gets speared by Edge from a guard rail in a neat little spot before Matt and Christian dive onto their opponents. Matt and Christian remain in the ring, electric chair drop by Edge and an elbow from Christian eliminate The Hardys.

Mideon and Viscera are next in the match as Christian gets samoan dropped by Viscera, Mideon fails to take advantage of Christian and Edge reaps the rewards. Clothesline by Edge knocks down Mideon but Viscera nails a spinning heel kick on Edge. Viscera attempts a splash on Edge but Mideon takes the splash by accident, Viscera is thrown to the outside and Edge nails the spear for the elimination.

Prince Albert and Droz the piercing buddies are in this match to my surprise, Albert takes out Edge with a beautiful neckbreaker, Christian takes down Droz with a plancha. Albert attempted a gorilla press slam but got chop blocked by Christian. One complete shot later from Edge and it is all over for Droz and Prince Albert.

Bradshaw and Faarooq come sprinting to ringside and annihilate poor Edge, Edge creates some separation with a spinning heel kick but Bradshaw takes out Christian so no tag can be made. Bradshaw plants Edge with a backdrop, Bradshaw tags in Faarooq who plants Edge with a backbreaker. Sleeper hold by Faarooq and a spine buster. Faarooq attempts a dominator but Edge counters with a complete shot. Edge and Christian isolate Bradshaw as Christian is now legal, Christian scores with the tornado DDT on Bradshaw. Two and a half for Edge and Christian. Bradshaw wipes out Christian with a Clothesline from Hell and we are down to our last two team.

Hardcore Holly and Crash are the final team as Crash tags in from Holly and pays for his brash attitude. Faarooq makes the smaller Holly pay with clotheslines before Bradshaw tags in, hangman’s neckbreaker from the Big Texan. Blind tag from Holly as Crash and Hardcore start beating the crap out of one another as they seemingly cannot get along with one another. Hardcore smacks Crash out of the ring and Hardcore eats a spinebuster from Faarooq as The Acolytes walk away the winners. Good match, Edge and Christian were the stars of the match but Faarooq and Bradshaw would win and challenge for the titles on Raw the next night.

Winners: Acolytes over Everyone Else via Survival!

Promo Time

Apparently, Road Dogg was supposed to be involved in tonight’s hardcore match but he could not participate so we are treated to a promo from Road Dogg before the man known as Chris Jericho makes his ppv debut appearance. Jericho had appeared earlier in the month interrupting The Rock in possibly the greatest debut in wrestling history.

 Jericho cuts a promo on how the WWF is boring and uninteresting with terrible wrestlers and matches. Funny to hear Jericho cut this promo knowing the amount of nuclear heat the poor guy had backstage. Road Dogg calls Jericho a bitch and that is his comeback, this was apparently too much for Jericho to handle so he leaves.

(WWF Hardcore Championship Match) Al Snow vs Big Bossman©

Road Dogg decides to do commentary on the match as Al jumps Bossman on the stage. Snow had lost Head as Prince Albert drove a spike through Head’s head(cannot believe I just wrote that). Snow had replaced Head with a little dog named Pepper.They go backstage as Snow takes a beating from Bossman, crutch across the back by Bossman. Bossman tries to murder Snow with a vending machine but Snow dodges the machine. Snow and Bossman brawl on the street again just like their last match. Must be weird watching two men brawl in broad daylight.

 Bossman throws a table on Snow for a two count as they enter into a bar. Snow throws some newspapers at Bossman, they end up in the toilets. Snow grabs a urinal cake and smashes Bossman with the cake, Snow is handed a chain from a fan and chokes out the Bossman. Snow places Bossman on a table, moonsault through a table, Bossman was supposed to dodge but he was a bit late on moving. Into the pool hall we go before Bossman attacks Road Dogg. Big mistake as Road Dogg whacks Bossman with a nightstick.

 Snow covers Bossman for the win. Afterwards, Snow attacks Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie for touching his dog Pepper. Snow is your new Hardcore Champion. Like I have said before, hardcore matches can be either hit or miss for you, they can be fun and mindless violence as they brawl outside the ring and use weapons or you could see them as shit and not actual wrestling especially if you hate the likes of ECW or FMW. For me, I am in between, match was fine but they barely hit a move.

 

Winner: Snow over Bossman via Head Shot!

(WWF Women’s Championship Match) Ivory © vs Tori

After the dark days of Sable, came a new light a women who wished to bring respect to the division and she was met with mixed success but I feel if it was not for her, there would be no Lita nor Trish Stratus  and I am of course referring to Ivory. Formerly the manager of Mark Henry, she had gotten in the ring and won the championship, her first pay per view defense would be against Tori who Ivory had assaulted and scribbled skank and slut on. I a intrigued by this match because this is the first proper women’s match that I have got to take a look at in this series and while I do not think I will be blown away by what I see, I still expect a solid showing from these two.

 Tori sprints to the ring , powerslam by Tori and Ivory powders. Ivory baits in Tori and rams her head into the ringpost, stungun from Ivory as Tori looks a little shaken, Spinning elbow from Ivory, two count, Tori changes momentum with a knee to Ivory and hits a nice dropkick and two snap suplexes. Two count for Tori, facebuster by Ivory as she readjusts her pants (she has a great ass by the way even Stone Cold Steve Austin had a crush on her).

 Ivory grabs Tori’s feet and goes for the giant swing, she scores but eats a spear from Tori. Tori nails the knife edge chops and an interesting suplex. Crossbody from Tori for a two count, sunset flip gets the two count. Now this was a fine match until the finish, it seems they repeat the spot and Ivory lands on Tori, she basically sits on her and Ivory gets off and holds down Tori’s arms for the pin so imagine if you were fighting your younger sibling and you are trying to pin he/she to the floor and you grab their arms. 

Well yeah that was the finish so I thought it was a fine match until that, I am hoping to see more from Ivory but I know what awaits are not kind to her. Ivory tries to strip Tori before Luna makes the save. Wow Luna as a face could be interesting, I wonder if she gets a pay per view match.

Winner: Ivory over Tori via pinfall!

(Lion’s Den Match) Steve Blackman vs Ken Shamrock

Shamrock’s last pay per view match and fitting it be in an octagon as he would return to the octagon, the very ring where he would achieve some of his greatest success. Ok so this match is in a UFC Style cage with weapons at the top. Blackman has a pair of nunchaku and starts attacking Shamrock. Shamrock uses his superior submission skills to take down Blackman. Blackman is tossed into the cage by The World’s Most Dangerous Man.

 Knees to the ribs by Shamrock, Shamrock grabs a kendo stick but he does not get the chance to utilize the weapon as Blackman blocks and throws Shamrock into the cage wall. Blackman grabs two sticks and starts whacking Shamrock. A choke using the stick by Blackman is unsuccessful as Shamrock springboars off the cage and elbows The Lethal Weapon. Kidney shots by Shamrock, back suplex, tide is turned by Blackman with a DDT. Shamrock recovers with a powerslam, enzuigiri finds the mark for Blackman.

 Kendo stick for Shamrock as Blackman beats the piss out of Shamrock. Blackman misses an axe kick and gets caught with a belly to belly suplex, Shamrock has the kendo stick, he wears out Blackman shot after shot. Shamrock knocks out Blackman with a kendo stick for the win. It was a fun match with not a whole lot of wrestling but there were some nasty weapon shots in there. Overall, it was enjoyable!

Winner: Shamrock over Blackman via Kendo Stick Knockout!

(Love Her or Leave Her Match) Test vs Shane Mcmahon

Test was romantically linked to Stephanie Mcmahon, Shane being the protective brother did not want to see his baby sister date a wrestler. Shane believing his was right assaulted Test and challenged him to this match. If Test loses, Test must leave Stephanie behind, if Shane loses, Shane must give Test and Stephanie’s relationship his blessing. Test has taped up ribs due to Shane’s assaults, Test had evened the odds by assaulting Shane’s backup The Mean Street Posse, injuring them all in separate attacks. Shane and Test tackle one another before Test uses his power and takes over The Boy Wonder.

 Test dominates the early going by powerslamming Shane around the outside of the ring. The Mean Street Posse get in Test’s face before being taken out by Test as Shane is body pressed onto his friends. Test is mugged by The Posse as Shane watches on from ringside. The Posses supply Shane with weapons as he whoops Test. Shane smashes a picture of The Posse over Test’s head. Two count for Shane, Shane catches Test with an elbow before crashing and burning on a corkscrew moonsault attempt. Test takes advantage with a powerbomb, Test had the match won but Rodney distracts the referee. The referee is wiped out by a big boot from Test as Shane is knocked over the top ropes.

 Test smashes Shane with a sign on the outside, scoop slam by Test, The Posse seize their moment and assault Test. Test is placed on the Spanish announce table as Shane is revived by Pete Gas. Shane climbs to the top rope and nails his now trademark elbow through the announce table for the first time. Test is motionless as The Mean Street Posse put Shane on top of Test in the ring. Two count for Shane as JR puts over Test big time, interference from Pete Gas goes wrong as he nails Shane by mistake, Test makes the cover for a two count as Joey Abs drags out the referee. Rodney hits Test with the cast for a two count. Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco assault The Mean Street Posse and now it is one on one as Test big boots Joey Abs. 

Shane misses a tackle on Test, pump handle slam by Test and Test drops his elbow,1…2…3! Test will be dating Stephanie. What a star making performance which raises the question, why did they not go all the way with Test, make no mistake about it Test was the man in this match, he looked every bit like a star so should of it been Test battling Triple H after Triple H “married” Stephanie? Would have it not made sense?

Winner: Test over Shane via Elbow Drop!

(WWF Tag Team Championship Match) X-Pac And Kane © vs Undertaker and The Big Show

Big Show and Undertaker had come together out of their hatred of Kane, Undertaker wished to reunite with his brother but Kane would not betray his friend X-Pac. Big Show and Kane had been battling since King Of The Ring, their problems well documented. Their attacks on X-Pac and Kane led to this title match, Undertaker looks to injure X-Pac in the early going but Kane is the legal man who stops all attempts at attacking X-Pac. Kane nails his brother Undertaker with a top rope clothesline for a two count. Kane lowers his head and eats a thunderous DDT.

 Knife edge chops and punches from Big Show, Kane sees Show coming and fights back before Show drops a big boot and an elbow on Kane. Kane gets worked on by Taker and Show who uses chokes and punches before Kane makes the tag to X-Pac. Big spinning heel kicks by X-Pac on Undertaker. Show grabs X-Pac’s hair and Taker assumes control, Taker tosses X-Pac to the outside. Show drops X-Pac on the guard rail while Take distracts Kane. Kane comes to his partner’s rescue momentarily but Big Show drags X-Pac into the ring. Scoop slam and a knee drop by Show. Big bearhug by Show as X-Pac bites his way out, Kane breaks the pin as Show stops X-Pac with a two handed choke slam.

 Show attempts a choke slam, Kane breaks it up before X-Pac nails a low blow, Undertaker stops the tag attempt, X-Pac nails a second low blow in front of referee Earl hebnar who has an expression of “shit I did not know I was supposed to look away on his face”. Kane runs wild and nails Show in the corner, X-Pac tags in as Show is in the corner, bronco buster on Big Show, Kane and Taker brawl on the outside.

 Kane is sent into the steel steps, Chokeslam by Big Show on X-Pac, he places his foot on X-Pac but only gets two due to his arrogance. Taker goes insane and tombstones X-Pac for the win. New champions as Taker and Show beat Kane and X-Pac. This was a good match, crowd was hot for X-Pac and Kane and hated Undertaker and Big Show.

Winners: Undertaker & Big Show over Kane & X-Pac via Tombstone!

(Kiss My Ass Match) Mr. Ass vs The Rock

Early 1999 to mid 1999 was Billy Gunn’s best run as a singles wrestler, he won King Of The Ring although they did not do anything with the poor guy but Mr. Ass had beaten X-Pac, Kane, Mankind and even The Rock on Raw. If I remember correctly, Rock had made fun of acne on Billy Gunn’s ass and Mr. Ass had assaulted The Rock and made him kiss his ass which led to this match. Not a shiny moment on either man’s career but it would signal the end of Billy’s run as a singles wrestler for the time being.

 Mr. Ass brings a large women out to the ring and states The Rock will be kissing her fat ass when he loses this match. Rock smacks Mr. Ass around the ring in the early parts of the match, The Rock and Mr. Ass make their way to the top of the stage. Mr. Ass takes over by whipping The Rock into the steel steps. Rock recovers Billy by stealing Jerry Lawler’s crown and crowning him Mr. Ass. Billy nails Rock with the ringbell to take control, choke from The King Of The Ring. Rock fires back and gets dropped by a neckbreaker, another chokehold by Billy Gunn. Elbows across the throat by Mr. Ass, bulldog from Mr. Ass had Rock reeling as Billy goes for the pin, two count for Mr. Ass. Mr. Ass nails a splash in the corner, states he is number one, big mistake, Rock nails a clothesline, float over DDT by The People’s Champion.

 Cover by The Rock, two and a half for Rock. Right hands from Rock, neckbreaker by Rock, two count, Billy gets caught with a samoan drop. Rock Bottom gets countered into a FameAsser. Mr. Ass has the match won but gets cocky and asks for the woman to enter the ring. Mr. Ass’ plan backfires as Rock sends Billy’s face into the large woman’s ass and nails a Rock Bottom and a People’s Elbow. That was alright, more about the gimmick than the match so it was ok.

 

Winner: The Rock over Billy Gunn via People's Elbow!

(WWF Championship Match) Triple H vs Mankind vs Stone Cold Steve Austin ©

Ok, originally Triple H was the undisputed number one contender by beating The Rock at Fully Loaded. At one point Chyna defeated Triple H twice to become the number one contender, she was in fact at one point considered to win the belt due to her popularity. It did not go ahead as Mankidn would beat Chyna for the number one contendership before Triple H and Mankind would draw in a match to settle who was the rightful number one contender so both Triple H and Mankind were named number one contender and the match is a triple threat.

 I can only give my opinion and it does not mean it is always right but my guess is that it was made a triple threat match due to Austin’s unwillingness to drop the belt to Triple H. The reason I say that is there was those who did not feel Triple H was a main eventer in WWF, there had been tension in the past between Austin and Triple H over Shawn Michaels and that the every next night on Raw, Mankind would lose the championship he won on this night to Triple H and when Austin faced Triple H for the title at No Mercy a few months later, Triple H would not defeat Austin clean as a sledgehammer from The Rock finished Austin.

 Again, just my opinion, could be way off and this could have been the plan all along but it just does not make a whole lot of sense. Austin goes right after Triple H, Mankind waits on the outside before assaulting Triple H. Triple H is between a rock and hard place as Austin and Mankind destroy Triple H. Mankind hugs Austin and pays for his love as Austin tries stunning Mankind. Blocked but Austin reverses Floey so all three men end up on the outside.

 Austin and Triple H brawl around the ring but Chyna stalks Mankind and throws him into the ringpost. Austin has been in control for the whole match up until this point as Triple H smashes Austin’s leg with a steel chair behind the back of Jesse Ventura. Jesse Ventura ejects Chyna as he catches her inflicting damage on Mankind. Triple H pleads innocence for Chyna but gets nail by Austin for his trouble, Austin slams Triple H into the barricades. Triple H outsmarts Austin and goes after Austin’s leg with the ringpost chop block by Hunter floors Austin. Austin is in a lot of pain in the corner before Mankind teams up with Triple H.

 Mankind tries pinning Austin which leads to the end of Triple H and Mankind’s friendship. Foley misses a cannonball from the apron on Triple H, Triple H catches Austin with a tungun and works the leg of Austin. Austin and Triple H brawl into the crowd, Mankind follows but misses a piledriver and lands hard on the concrete floor. Austin has his back against the wall but he continues to fight back, right hands from The Texas Rattlesnake takes out both Foley and Triple H.

 Triple H goes for the pedigree and gets countered, catapult into the corner, Triple H bails,  Stunner by Austin on Mankind. Triple H smacks Austin with the chair and Mankind, Triple H pins Mankind but Ventura will not count Triple H’s pin dues to his use of the chair. Triple H gets in Ventura’s face but Shane Mcmahon, a supporter of Shane Mcmahon gets in Ventura’s face. Stunner by Austin on Shane Mcmahon, Triple H chokes Mankind in the corner. Ventura tosses Shane to the outside, Austin’s famous botch as he gets caught hung up in the ropes, Triple H makes the save, lucky for Austin.

 Double clothesline  and only Mankind stands, it is time for Socko! Double Mandible Claw ends in failure, Triple H tried for the pedigree on Mankind but Austin breaks it up. Austin hammers both challengers with right hands, meeting of the minds Stunner by Austin on Triple H, Mankind breaks the pin at two. Mankind gets taken out and Triple H scores with the pedigree, Mankind interrupts Triple H and scores with the double arm DDT and pins Austin! And the man who everyone thought had no chance of winning the match walks away with the belt. Triple H had the match won but Foley swooped in to win the championship. As alluded to earlier, I feel this only happened as Austin did not want to put over Triple H so Mankind was made transitional champion.

 After the match, Triple h wears out Austin with the steel chairs, targeting Austin’s legs. Such a vivid image in my head as I can remember the promo so clearly of Triple H screaming he damn near crippled Steve Austin. That was one hell of a match, I loved it, it was fast paced they brought their A game and it was very exciting to watch. Jesse as the referee added a fun dynamic as he would not allow the heel to cheat to win.

Winner: Mankind over Everyone Else via Double Arm DDT!

Overall, this show was an alright pay per view, I had seen better from WWF earlier in the year, it was not terrible by any means but I felt a lot of matches were more about the gimmicks than the wrestling like the hardcore match, Lion’s den match and Kiss my ass match. I was happy with the women’s match it had a fucked up ending but the wrestling was good for the most part, the opener was great too, D’Lo Brown had built up so much momentum and the crowd were all over him, the tag match was fun and the tag team title match was fun too.

 I think there were more negatives than positives so that’s why I felt it was only an alright pay per view, you could see it differently and that is fine, I am only giving my opinion and my view and if you want to check it out yourself, you should because it is all there on the network. Next up is Unforgiven 1999 I shall see you there until next time have a good night ^^