Original Airdate: February 15, 1999
From Birmingham, Alabama; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler
Commissioner Shawn Michaels opens the show by bringing WWF Champion Mankind and Steve Austin out to officially give us our WrestleMania XV main event, but before they can say or do much, a bruised and battered Vince McMahon comes out on the entrance stage. He’s still reliving last night, but manages to politic for Mankind putting the title on the line against Rock again tonight. Mankind thinks he needs a week to recover first, but Rock comes out and goads him, and Mankind accepts for tonight. But to make it more interesting, Shawn agrees to make it a Ladder match to settle this endless feud once and for all. Oh, but Vince has one more bit of business: regardless of who the champion Austin will face at WrestleMania will be, the guest referee is going to be Paul Wight!
Mixed Tag Team Match: Jeff Jarrett and Debra v D-lo Brown and Ivory: Both women are basically wrestling in lingerie here, which makes the concept of these Evening Gown matches even sillier. Brown dominates Jarrett, and a bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope kneedrop, but Jeff dodges. Jarrett hammers on the banged up leg, and he puts on a figure four, but Ivory comes in to break it up. Jeff stays on the leg, but Brown fights him off, and uses a bodyslam to set up a legdrop. Brown goes up with a flying frogsplash, but Debra saves at two. That draws Ivory in to brawl with her (to a massive pop), and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! Everyone goes at it, and the referee throws it out at 2:19, without even really trying to restore order. That’s some lazy refereeing. Afterwards, Debra hits Ivory with the guitar (to another massive pop), and Owen Hart runs down to attack D-lo before he can do much about it. This was barely a match, but it worked as a segment. DUD
Backstage, the Corporation officially welcome Paul Wight to the gang
Triple H and X-Pac are out, and they want a rematch with Kane and Chyna. That draws Kane, Chyna, and Shane McMahon out, and Shane laughs off the idea, since they already beat them, what’s the point? In fact, Shane gives Chyna the night off as a reward for a job well done at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. X-Pac has another idea: trade one bitch for another, and have Shane team with Kane against them instead. Shane is hesitant, but if they want him to agree, X-Pac needs to put the WWF European title on the line to make it worth his time
Backstage, Mankind climbs a ladder, practicing for his title defense later
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Val Venis v Billy Gunn: Gunn slugs him into the corner, but a cross corner whip backfires, and Venis slugs his challenger down. Gunn pops up with a pair of clotheslines for two, and a neckbreaker is worth another two. A criss cross is won but Venis with some right hands, and he loads up his fist for a big shot to knock Billy on his ass. Gunn returns fire, and manages a backdrop, then another pair of clotheslines. More punches, so Ryan Shamrock gets on the apron, but accidentally gets knocked off while Billy is running the ropes. That allows Venis to grab him in a bridging German suplex at 2:30. The work here was super repetitive, especially for a match that didn’t even break three minutes in length. Afterwards, Ryan comes in to celebrate, but Val is sick of her trying to take credit for his successes, and dumps her. DUD
Backstage, Undertaker leads the Ministry of Darkness down the hallway
Backstage, Billy Gunn tries to apologize to Ryan for what happened, when Ken Shamrock attacks him
The Ministry are out, so Undertaker can make a very long winded promise that he’ll soon own the WWF. He also references a ‘higher power’ for the first time, saying that he answers to this mysterious figure. That draws Big Boss Man out to stand up for Vince, and he challenges the Ministry to a six-man later. Well, that should dissuade them
Backstage, Kane warms Shane up
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac and Triple H v Kane and Shane McMahon: HHH goes after Kane to get us started, but Kane fights him off, and passes to Shane. HHH recovers before Shane can get anything in, however, and McMahon immediately tags out. DX try a double team, but Kane fights them both off. They have more success with a total elimination, which gives X-Pac two, but also ends with X-Pac on the outside. Shane attacks him out there, so X-Pac chases, but Chyna clotheslines him. Kane presses X-Pac back in, and Shane is on him with mounted punches, then an elbowdrop for two. Tags all around, and HHH is able to deliver a kneeling facebuster, then a high knee. Kane reverses him into the ropes and delivers a big boot, allowing him to go up with a flying clothesline, but Shane wants the tag, so no cover. McMahon unloads on HHH, but HHH fights him off, and X-Pac tags in to unload. Chyna is quick with an assist, but it backfires, and X-Pac delivers a series of strikes in the corner. Bronco buster, but Kane blocks on his behalf, so HHH attacks, and Roseanne Barr the door! Chyna passes Shane the title belt in the chaos, and Shane bashes X-Pac with it for the pin (and title) at 4:22. ¼*
Backstage, Kevin Kelly goes into the Corporation’s dressing room, where Shane is being toasted
WWF Hardcore Title Match: Bob Holly v Steve Blackman: They don’t even make it to the ring before Blackman suplexes Holly on the ramp, and they go back through the curtain a moment later. It takes a really, really long time for a camera to catch up with them back there, where Blackman misses a sidekick, and takes out a refrigerator instead. They brawl around the backstage area, whacking each other with various weapons, until Droz pops out to knock Blackman silly, and Holly pins him at 2:47. Afterwards, Holly hits the ring, and says he’s glad to be the champion now, and finally not getting anchored down by useless tag partners. That draws Bart Gunn out to remind him that he isn’t useless, and he’ll really remind him in a title match next week. ¼*
Backstage, WWF Women’s Champion Sable is walking
Backstage, Austin paces
Kevin Kelly brings Sable out, and there’s big news: she’ll be on the cover of the next issue of Playboy. She immediately has a big head about it, as she lists off all the appearances and media she’ll be doing in the coming weeks. I still don’t get why the hell they decided to turn her heel at this point, she was one of the biggest babyfaces on the roster. Anyway, a female fan (Tori) jumps into the ring, but security grabs her before she can get to Sable. Sable tells them to let her go, because she wants to have a word. So Sable insults her, calls her a wannabe, and then puts on her sunglasses while security hauls her off. And the crowd still cheers her anyway, because again, this heel turn is completed ill-advised
Backstage, Vince gives Rock a pep talk
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ken Shamrock, Big Boss Man, and Test v Faarooq, Bradshaw, and Mideon: Everyone brawls right away, and the dust settles on Boss Man and Mideon. They slug it out for a bit, before everyone just comes in again, and Roseanne Barr the door. As they brawl, the lights die, and the rest of the Ministry appear on the entrance stage, and they’ve abducted Shane McMahon now. That kind of distracts everyone, and the match is just sort of over at 3:30. So, Undertaker makes some threats, and gives Shane an envelope to deliver to Vince. Okay, fine, but couldn’t he do that on his own time? Why interrupt the match? But then, the match was completely terrible, so maybe we should thank him? DUD
WWF Title Ladder Match: Mankind v Rock: Steve Austin is out to do guest commentary for this one, and you can almost feel the building shake through the screen as he makes his entrance. Mankind attacks while Rock jaws at Austin, and man, poor Mankind is the champion (and a deserving, beloved champion, at that), but feels like a third wheel here, as it’s beyond obvious that Austin/Rock is where we are going. Rock reverses Mankind into the steps on the outside, and he goes to work on his leg afterwards. Inside, Rock uses a chair to continue to work the leg, and he brings the ladder in, but Mankind hits him with the chair to knock him down. Mankind unloads with the chair, and a bodyslam to set up his own version of the people’s elbow, and Mankind climbs. Rock uses the chair to knock him off, and he goes back to the leg. Mankind fights him off, and climbs, but Rock uses the chair on the leg to knock him off. Mankind ends up tied in the ropes from the fall, allowing Rock to unload, but Mankind goes low to buy time. They spill back to the outside, where Rock wins a brawl in the crowd, and he puts Mankind through the announce table with a uranage. Rock goes in to climb, but Mankind cuts him off, and delivers a double-arm DDT. He goes for the mandible claw, but Rock shoves the ladder at him to block, and delivers a DDT of his own. Rock climbs, but Mankind comes up the other side, and they slug it out. Rock controls, but Mankind gets the claw on at the top of the ladder. Rock fades, but Paul Wight hits the ring, and chokeslams Mankind off of the ladder. That allows Rock to grab the gold at 12:54. Almost every Rock/Mankind match is somewhat decent, but few are really spectacular. This would fall into that category. Afterwards, Austin comes in, and hits Rock with a stunner to close the show. ¾*
BUExperience: Okay, so the wrestling with straight up and across the board terrible (with one sort-of exception), but you can’t say that it wasn’t an entertaining or consequential show.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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