Original Airdate: January 11, 1999
From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler
WWF Champion Mankind and DX are out to kick things off, and Mankind cuts his victory promo. He discusses his entire history, talking about how he used to call the WWF every week for a job, and that no one would give him the time of day, but that Jim Ross always campaigned for him. So Mankind thanks Jim, on his way to thanking DX, and Steve Austin for all they did for him in getting him to the title. That draws the Corporation out, and Shane McMahon announces that he’s booking a ‘Corporate Rumble’ match tonight, with ten guys: DX versus the Corporation, with the winner getting the #30 draw in the actual Royal Rumble. Oh, but DX will all have matches tonight, in advance of that one. With that out of the way, Rock can properly fume, but Mankind tells him the tough news: there will be no rematch. Rock calls him a coward, so Mankind agrees to a rematch… but on his own terms. Namely: no countouts, no disqualification, the Corporation banned from ringside, no referee stoppage, and I Quit rules
Backstage, Steve Austin arrives
Earlier today, the New Age Outlaws strategized on how to counteract Debra McMichael’s presence in their upcoming tag match
#1 Contender's Match: The New Age Outlaws v Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett: Billy Gunn and Owen start, and trade wristlocks. A reversal sequence ends in Hart punching him, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Gunn press-slams him on the rebound. That draws Jarrett in, but he gets press-slammed as well, and Billy tags. Jesse James throws a backelbow and a kneedrop, followed by a straddling ropechoke. Jesse with a series of right hands for two, and an inverted atomic drop sets up a clothesline, but Jarrett ducks. Jeff delivers a DDT to gain control, and he passes to Owen for a tandem clothesline, then a wishbone. Owen tries for the Sharpshooter, but Jesse blocks, though fails to tag before the heels cut him off. They continue to cut the ring in half, until a double knockout spot leads to Billy getting the hot tag. Gunn hits Hart with a rocker dropper, so Debra hops up to try a distraction. Billy takes the bait, but tells her off, and stays on Owen . The Outlaws nail Owen with a tandem backelbow, so Debra goes after Chyna. That successfully catches the Outlaws’ attention, and Owen puts James away at 4:29. *
Gillberg v Luna Vachon: This is the debut of the Duane Gill as Gillberg, complete with police escort to the ring, a piped in chant, and the WWF Lightheavyweight title (not on the line here, though). Plus the rest of the JOB Squad holding up sparklers for his pyro. This was hilarious, and obviously well remembered, though it was weird that they were acknowledging WCW when they were on top. Usually, they’d only do that when they were fighting from underneath. Gillberg misses a spear right away, allowing Luna a ropeburn, and a shot to the nuts. Luna tries a suplex, but Gillberg counters to the jackhammer - only for Luna to topple him. Luna with a legdrop, and she dives with a flying splash at 1:05. Afterwards, a fan runs in on Luna, but gets taken out by security. Lawler notes that it’s the same Sable superfan we’ve seen a few times, and yep, it’s (the still unnamed) Tori. ¼*
Dennis Knight is out, looking like he’s been locked in a basement somewhere, and ranting about something that’s hard to understand… but the Acolytes remove him before he can get much out
Val Venis is out to put the moves on some woman in the crowd, but Ken Shamrock runs out to attack him, yelling about Val ‘messing with his sister.’ I’m not sure what the deal is here, but it’s not the same person portraying her as would later. Anyway, all this draws Billy Gunn out, and he antagonizes Shamrock by mooning his sister
Backstage, Mankind and Stone Cold have a chat
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac v Al Snow: A criss cross ends with X-Pac hiptossing him, and a dropkick looks to set up the bronco buster, but Al bails. X-Pac chases for chops on the floor, and he forces Al in, but Snow stomps him from the high ground. Al with a series of trapping headbutts, and a corner whip, then a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Al with a snapmare into a headvice, but X-Pac fights free. Al tries a clothesline, but misses, and X-Pac spinkicks him. X-Pac keeps coming with a jumping clothesline, but a criss cross ends in Snow powerslamming him for two. Al with a bodyslam to set up a flying moonsault, but X-Pac dodges. X-Pac lands a spinheel kick, and the bronco buster follows. That draws Goldust out, and he blasts Al with Head - allowing X-Pac to finish with a sitout facebuster at 2:50. This could have been good, but not at under three minutes. ½*
Backstage, Kane tells the Corporation that he’ll win the WWF Title for them tonight. And he wants to do it on his own
WWF Title Match: Mankind v Kane: Kane kickstarts things on the outside, but Mankind blocks a shot with the steps, and smashes Kane’s face into them a few times instead. Mankind with a drop-toehold into the steps, but Kane throws a headbutt on the way back inside. Mankind slugs at him in the corner, but a charge is blocked when Kane uses a spinebuster. Kane with a big boot, but Mankind manages a piledriver for two. They spill to the outside, where Mankind tries another piledriver, but gets backdropped into the steps. Inside, that gets Kane a two count, and he dives with a flying clothesline for two. Chokeslam, but Mankind goes low to block, and delivers a double-arm DDT. That allows the champion to slap on the mandible claw, but he can’t get it properly applied due to the mask. They end up in the ropes, and Kane powers to a vertical base to turn it into a tombstone. That was a nice transition. Cover, count, but Rock runs in on Kane to cause an intentional DQ at 6:05. Rock pops both guys with chair shots after the bell, so Stone Cold runs out, and Rock runs for the hills. ½*
Backstage, Rock defends his actions to Vince McMahon. Aggressively
Triple H v Edge: This is the first meeting between the two. HHH wins a slugfest to start, and tags him with a backelbow. Into the corner for a ten-punch count, but Edge manages a hotshot into the turnbuckle to shake him off. Edge follows with a spinheel kick, and he holds Hunter down with a blatant choke. Edge with a flapjack for two, but a corner splash misses, and HHH pops him with a series of jabs, then a high knee. Hunter with a kneeling facebuster for two, but Edge counters a piledriver into a catapult into the corner. Edge looks for a follow up, but HHH puts him away with the pedigree at 2:53. Not much to this one. Afterwards, the Brood attack HHH, so DX try to make the save, but Road Dogg takes a blood bath. ¼*
Undertaker is out, and he’s got his giant symbol on the entrance stage again. And Dennis Knight is tied to it, with the Acolytes standing guard. Undertaker casts a sort of spell, then slices his own wrist, and pours the blood into a chalice. He pours the blood down Knight’s throat, and recasts him as ‘Mideon.’ This was some weird shit
D-lo Brown and PMS are out, and D-lo apologizes to Terri Runnels for the whole miscarriage thing. Brown offers to do anything she wants to make it up to her, and what she wants is for him to fight Mark Henry. Right now. Henry doesn’t want to fight, and neither does D-lo. So Jackie shoves them into one another, and then hits Mark with a low blow. That draws Chyna out to save, with Sammy helping get Mark out of the ring as well
Backstage, Chyna and Sammy tend to Mark’s balls
Another Vince McMahon Royal Rumble training video, this time with Shane making him run around in the snow, and basically recreate various Rocky training montages. Like last time, phenomenal
10-Person Corporate Royal Rumble Match: Shane McMahon sits in on commentary for this. Ken Shamrock gets #1 and Billy Gunn gets #2, and Ken attacks before the bell, but makes the mistake of hitting a plancha, and thus eliminates himself. Guy’s never tried a dive in his life, and he picks a battle royal? He beats Gunn all the way around the ring anyway, before fucking off. Big Boss Man draws #3, and keeps the hurt going on Billy. #4 is Test, and that’s bad news for Billy. X-Pac gets #5, but goes right after both fresh Corporation guys, and that doesn’t go well for him. Jesse James is in at #6, and boy, that boy runs funny. Seriously, he looks like he’d fail gym class with that sprint. Kane is #7, and the Outlaws are both history. Triple H enters the fray at #8, and gives X-Pac some much needed breathing room. Test ends up colliding with Kane, but Kane isn’t feeling forgiving, and dumps him. That allows HHH to sneak up and dump Kane, as Boss Man exists X-Pac. HHH wins a slugfest with Boss Man, and here comes #9 entrant: Vince McMahon. That distraction allows Boss Man to grab HHH, and Vince sneaks in to dump both. He thinks that’s the win, and celebrates by tearing his shirt off like Hulk Hogan, but there’s still one more: Chyna, at #10! The Stooges try to talk her out of going in, so Steve Austin shows up, and that distraction allows her to get in, and toss Vince (in dramatic fashion) at 10:53. ¼*
BUExperience: Another extremely entertaining episode, even if we’re starting to really lean into some of the shock value stuff that was the worst of 1999.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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