The Anti-Climatic Ending To The 1999 Royal Rumble

 

Now that we are completely embedded in the WWF Attitude Era, we bring this dose of aggression and intensity back to the west coast in California, where The Anaheim Arrowhead Pond will host the 1999 Royal Rumble. This was an entertaining yet different Royal Rumble Pay Per View, where this was the rare occasion where the WWF Championship title match outshines and outdid the Rumble match itself.

The WWF Championship was on the line as The Rock was challenging Mankind for his Championship that he recently defeated The Rock for earlier in the month on Monday Night Raw. The match between the two would be an “I Quit Match” making the under clause of this match a no DQ/no holds barred. The dichotomy of this match, which made things interesting was Mankind’s mentality of him rather tasting death than to ever give up and The Rock’s in ability to ever say the word “I”, making it impossible for him to say “I Quit”. This was a $40 PPV and this match alone was worth the cash as it was 20 min of non-stop violence. The catalyst of the match was The Rock handcuffing Mankind and obliterating him with a steel chair until he was unconscious. Finally, Foley was heard shouting “I quit!” 3 times in a row; the audio was actually a recording from a promo Foley made on Raw in the match build up, so Foley never actually quit, but the Rock was declared the winner and new WWF Champion nonetheless.

The Rumble match itself was almost pointless, since it was centered focused and tailor made to fit the existing storyline between WWF Chairman Mr. Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Both Austin and McMahon were the first two in and the last two left in the Rumble. But they both were not brawling with the 28 other wrestlers similar to Shawn and Davey Boy in 1995, but instead Austin was “rushed to the hospital” during the match and McMahon was on commentary until the end. When both men were the last in the ring, Austin would tease that he would thrown Vince over the top rope and three peat his Rumble victories, but instead would continue to punish him. That may not have been the best decision, since due to The Rock’s distraction, McMahon dumped Austin over the top rope and would in the Royal Rumble.

 

Maurice D. Proffit is a Writer For Rant Sports