WWF Backlash (April 1999)

From Providence, Rhode Island; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Ministry of Darkness v The Brood: Mideon starts with Christian, and he hammers him in the corner for a bit, until Christian catches him with a spinheel kick after a sloppy criss cross. Tag to Gangrel for a wristlock, so Mideon rakes the eyes, and headbutts him ahead of a tag to Bradshaw. He promptly no-sells Gangrel's punches, and hits a big boot before tossing him into the corner for a beating. Cross corner charge misses, however, and Gangrel hits a 2^nd rope backelbow. Bodypress, but Bradshaw catches him in a blockbuster to counter, so Edge runs in with a clothesline to the back of the head, and a double-team suplex with Gangrel. Tag to Faarooq to pound Edge down good, but he takes a crucifix for two, and Edge follows with a spinheel kick. Faarooq fires back with a spinebuster, then tags Mideon with a hanging vertical suplex for two. The Ministry cut the ring in half on Edge in an overlong heat segment, until Mideon misses a pair of charges in the corner, and takes a 2^nd rope spear. Tag to Christian, and it turns into a six-way brawl in short order, with the Brood controlling. That draws Viscera out, and he avalanches Christian for Bradshaw to lariat at 11:38. Not terrible, but not exactly a hot opener, and it ran about four minutes too long. ¼*

WWF Hardcore Title Match: Hardcore Holly v Al Snow: Holly nails Snow with the title belt immediately for a two count (and drawing blood), but ends up getting tossed as they criss cross, and they brawl on the floor. Holly reverses a whip into the steps and hits him with a water bottle (gallon sized, bitch!), and into the crowd they go. Well, that didn't take them long. Al hits a moonsault off the rail for two, and back into the ring, Snow abuses him with a hockey stick. Punch-punch, kick-kick, and they end up backstage, where Al rams the champs head into a parked car. They fight outside of the arena briefly, then back down to the ring for more weapon shots, where Snow whacks him with Head for the pin at 15:26. Too long for what it was. Way too long. DUD

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Godfather v Goldust: Blue Meanie tries messing with Godfather's hos to allow Goldust a cheapshot, but Godfather quickly recovers with a backdrop and a pair of clotheslines. Facebuster, and he dumps the challenger over the top with another backdrop. Goldust stalls out there, and he gets slammed on the way back in for two. Meanie interferes to allow Goldust to clothesline Godfather out of the ring, and Meanie stomps him out there before rolling him back in for Goldust to jumping clothesline for two. Goldust tries a handful of powder, but Godfather kicks it back into his face, and the blinded Goldust ends up hitting Meanie by accident. He adds the Shattered Dreams before Godfather interferes, and hits the Ho Train to set up the Pimp Drop at 5:21. Pay per view booking, TV length, house show effort. ½*

#1 Contenders Match: The New Age Outlaws v Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett: Hart and Jarrett attack when the Outlaws try getting frisky with Debra, and the dust settles on Billy Gunn and Owen to start. Criss cross goes Gunn's way with a nice dropkick, and Jesse James tags in to work the arm for a bit. Owen escapes a hammerlock with an inverted cutter, and he tags Jarrett for a swinging neckbreaker. Jesse comes back with his stupid dancing punches and kneedrop for two, and Owen comes in to trigger a brief four-way brawl - Hart taking over with an enzuigiri on Jesse for two. The heels cut the ring in half on Road Dogg, as the crowd enthusiastically chants for Debra's enormous breasts. Hart with a sleeper, but James escapes, and they hit a double-knockout spot to set up the tag to Billy. He's a house of arson, and the four-way brawl sees Jesse hit a pumphandle-slam on Hart for two - saved by Jarrett. Owen gets Jesse in the Sharpshooter out of the deal, but Billy sneaks up with a Fameasser to break, and he scores the fall off of it at 10:34. And that, sadly, marks Owen Hart's last pay per view matchup - playing second fiddle to a pair of tits. ¾*

Boiler Room Brawl: Mankind v Big Show: First one to escape the boiler room wins. Though, it's less a 'boiler room' and more just a storage room. Mankind attacks him from behind, and slams his head in a door a few times. They whip each other into various objects, and Show bodyslams Mankind onto a crate. Brutal spot, as Show whips Mankind into some heavy looking cart, and it tips over onto him in the most vicious way possible. Mankind breaks a piece of glass over Show's head to draw blood, and he climbs a ladder, but gets slammed off through a pair of tables. Foley is just bumping like mad here. After taking a few more brutal bumps, Mankind opens up a steam valve to blast Show in the face with, and exits the room for the win at 8:00 - leaving a nasty trail of blood as he does. This would have been more interesting had we not already seen a fifteen minute hardcore match an hour earlier. Like, one of the reasons the Boiler Room Brawl from SummerSlam '96 appealed to fans is that it was extremely unique. We saw this shit on a weekly basis in 1999, and this was just par for the course. Mankind's bumping was top notch as always, however. ½*

Triple H v X-Pac: Triple H was somewhere between his classic DX persona and The Game at this point, look wise. Like, he still has the long tights and high boots, but he's starting to get noticeably bigger, and has the wet head look going. Slugfest to start, and Hunter blasts him with a backelbow, but gets chopped, and X-Pac enzuigiri’s him out of the ring. X-Pac follows for a shot into the steps, but he gets punched on the way back in, and tossed over the top in brutal fashion. Chyna tries a cheapshot out there, but X-Pac knows how that trick goes, and blocks her, then nails an incoming HHH. Inside, a spinkick gets two, and he sets up the bronco buster, but Chyna interferes, and it misses. HHH capitalizes with a clothesline, and he stomps a mud hole in the corner, then starts dropping elbows across the neck like they're going out of style. Chyna gets her licks in too (though, thankfully, not literally), and Hunter hits a swinging neckbreaker for two, as Ross sells X-Pac's history of neck problems brilliantly on commentary. Hunter wrenches on a front-facelock next, and when X-Pac escapes, he drops a pair of knees onto it for two. Dragon sleeper, but X-Pac slugs free before the third arm drop - only to take a kneeling facebuster for two. Hunter tosses him out to the floor again for Chyna to press-slam across the rail, and Hunter follows for an elbow off the apron, to the neck. Inside, Hunter goes for the kill, but X-Pac cradles him for two. HHH pops up with a lariat for two, and grounds him with another front-facelock. X-Pac tries powering up, so HHH slaps on a sleeper, but X-Pac manages a reversal! He rides Hunter, but HHH falls into the corner to break before he can take him down. X-Pac hops right back on, so Hunter side suplexes his way out. Both guys up for a slugfest - X-Pac controlling with a spinkick, and a spinheel kick. Somersault clothesline, but he lands on the neck, and can't capitalize. HHH sets him up for a superplex, but X-Pac manages a tornado DDT to counter, and he covers for two. Headbutt to the groin for two, and out to the floor, X-Pac whips him into the steps. Baseball slide ends up hitting the referee, however, and Hunter clotheslines X-Pac on the way back in, but walks into the X-Factor. No referee to count, so Chyna comes in, blows him low, and hits an inverted DDT. She drapes HHH over him, but the lights die, and Kane joins us for chokeslams on HHH and Chyna. X-Pac recovers for a bronco buster on both HHH and Chyna, but the second one on Chyna allows Hunter to come from behind with the Pedigree for the pin at 19:18. Good (if overbooked), psychologically sound battle between the two real-life friends - putting Triple H over strong with his big push starting, and making him look like a killer. ** ½

The Undertaker v Ken Shamrock: This is either going to be really good, or a complete train wreck, and I don't think there's going to be much middle ground. Ken attacks before the bell, but gets the tables turned in the corner, and 'Taker hammers him. Undertaker with a cross corner clothesline for one, and the ropewalk forearm follows. Jumping clothesline for two, as 'Taker is just blowing through his move set here. Cross corner big boot misses, and Shamrock capitalizes by kicking at the leg, and then wrenching it on the ropes. Sloppy sunset flip gets two, and Shamrock shifts into a grapevine. More kicks to the leg set up a leglock, but Undertaker escapes, and punches him into the ropes. Hiptoss, but Shamrock counters into another grapevine, and 'Taker makes the ropes to break. He rolls out of the ring to catch a breather, but Ken immediately follows, and keeps going for the knee out there. Back in, more shots to the knee, but Undertaker drop-toeholds him down for some mounted punches. Ken reverses, and slaps on a cross-armbreaker, but Undertaker makes the ropes again. Man, 'Taker is looking like a little bitch out there, which is really uncharacteristic of him. Knowing what we do now about his admiration of MMA, maybe he just really liked/respected Shamrock? To the outside, Ken tries a dive off of the apron, but 'Taker catches him, and rams him into the post. Back in, Undertaker with a backbreaker into a backbreaker submission - not even grimacing to sell the knee there. Surfboard (again, with no selling of the knee work), but Ken grabs the ropes to force a break. 'Taker tries a legdrop, but Shamrock catches it on the way down, and rolls into another grapevine - as we get a weird, 1991-WCW camera angle. Undertaker counters into a half-crab, but can't coax a submission, so he goes to the old standby: choking in the corner. He adds a clothesline for two, and hits a big boot for two - Shamrock forgetting to kick out, and the referee forced to stop early. Looked like Undertaker might have knocked him a bit silly with the boot there. Another big boot, but Ken hits the deck, and clips the knee to block, then adds a rana for two. Anklelock, but 'Taker escapes before he gets it fully applied, and clotheslines Ken for two. Tombstone, but Shamrock counters into the Anklelock, and this time gets it on all the way. That draws Bradshaw out, and the distraction forces Ken to break. Undertaker sneaks up with a chokeslam, but Shamrock counters into an armbreaker on the way down. Cue Paul Bearer (aligned with the Undertaker at this point, for those Bearer-tracking) to force a break, and 'Taker sneaks up, but takes a belly-to-belly suplex anyway. Bodyslam, but Undertaker counters into the Tombstone for the pin at 18:49. Yeah, leaning more towards train wreck here. Really long for what it was too, which seems to be an unfortunate trend tonight. Good psychology for the most part, but it came off as very slow and very dull, with both guys not clicking at all. Certainly unique for the Undertaker in 1999, though, if nothing else. ¼*

Main Event: WWF Title No Holds Barred Match: Steve Austin v The Rock: Shane McMahon acts as the special guest referee here. Big slugfest to start (Hey crowd heat! There you are!), and Austin knocks him into the corner, but gets caught up with Shane, and Rock slugs back. Thesz press by Austin sets up mounted punches, and he adds a pointed elbowdrop for two. Backdrop, but Rock counters with a swinging neckbreaker, then stomps the champion in the corner before tossing him over the top. They fight over to the entrance set for the usual weapon shots and whips into objects. They end up demolishing a portion of the set when Rock whips Austin through it, but Steve comes back with a suplex on the concrete, and destroys the rest of the set by whipping Rocky through it. More brawling, then back to the ring for Austin to absolutely launch Rock out again, over the top. He follows and preps the Spanish announce table, but it backfires when the challenger Rock Bottom's him through it. Rock pounds him on the floor, and they do the 'brawl into the crowd' bit, since it wouldn't be an Attitude main event without it. Rock preps the English announce table, then, in a great spot, steals a camera from the cameraman, and decides to film. He stands up on the table to get a nice birds eye view of the fallen champion, then pans up for a crowd shot, but when he pans back to Austin, Steve is flipping him a double-bird, and hits the Stunner on the table. Really cool, creative POV spot there. Back into the ring, finally, Austin tries for another Stunner, but Rock shoves him into Shane to block, and hits the Rock Bottom for two. Shane decides to finish things by hitting Austin with the title belt, but he ducks, and McMahon ends up clobbering Rock. Cover, but Shane refuses to count the fall, and bails. Unfortunately for him, here's daddy Vince, and he clobbers Shane with the title belt, and appoints a new referee. The distraction allows Rock to clobber Austin for two, but Steve hits a Stunner as Rock argues the count, and covers to retain at 17:07. Afterwards, as Austin celebrates, we cut to the back, where The Undertaker kidnaps Stephanie McMahon in her limousine, in the infamous 'where to, Stephanie' bit. As for the match, way too much brawling for my taste (they spent less than five minutes in the actual ring), but I know a lot of people enjoy these Austin/Rock brawls, so I accept that I'm in the minority there. ¾*

BUExperience: This show was fairly well received at the time, but looking back, there’s only one good match, and it’s loaded with the cliché Vince Russo stuff that had reached the point of oversaturation even then.

DUD