Well, Vince McMahon won back control of the WWE, Undertaker retained the WWE title and Billy Gunn won the King of the Ring in what was a real step down compared to the 1998 event, which, to be fair, was one of the best handful of WWE PPVs of the late 90s. But possibly the most significant event of the night came in a throwaway midcard tag match that pitted the Hardy Boyz against Edge and Christian (then still part of the brood in Undertaker's Corporate ministry): the first PPV match between the two teams.
Well, things had taken a slightly ludicrous turn in the build up to the Over the Edge PPV, which had seen the Undertaker kidnap Stephanie McMahon in order to sacrifice her to The Higher Power. Vince enlists the help of Stone Cold, only to be revealed as being the aforementioned Higher Power, in what could only be described as a Vince Russo special. The Undertaker had defeated Austin to win the title at the PPV, In the aftermath, Linda McMahon had made Steve Austin the CEO of the WWE. Here he would put that title on the line in a handicap ladder match against Vince and Shane McMahon, while the Undertaker would defend the WWE title he had won from Austin against former Corporate Champion turned fan favourite The Rock.
The King of the Ring tournament featured a fairly weak field and unsurprisingly a disappointing champion. the quarter final matches, in order, panned out like this: X-Pac defeated Hardcore Holly by DQ after Holly hit Syxx with a chair in a short, fairly poor, match. Kane defeated Paul Wight in a laborious match after clocking the Big Show with a chair while the ref was out. (That's two chair shot finishes to start off the night, and they weren't done with the screwy finishes yet). More BS from the ref in the next match as Ken Shamrock is deemed not fit to continue in his match with Billy Gunn by referee Teddy Long. Shamrock actually sells his internal injuries pretty well and this is not a bad finish or angle in and of itself, but just added to the nonsense we'd seen in the other two finishes. Next match saw former DX members Chyna and Road Dogg facing off, with the Roadie taking the win following an ill advised low blow by Chyna (Roadie was wearing a metal cup). That's four matches without a straight finish to start the show.
Next came the afore mentioned first time on PPV tag team match between the Hardyz and Edge and Christian, and after Edge spears Jeff Hardy off the top rope, he is knocked down accidentally by fellow Brood member Gangrel allowing Hardy to get the pin. 5 matches without a straight finish.
Next comes the two King of the Ring semi finals. First one has another chair shot finish, this time with Paul Wight coming to ringside to take out Kane and help Billy Gunn to a victory. Wight's WWE career to this point had been a bit troubled. He had started allied with McMahon against Austin, turned his back on the Corporation to widespread apathy after WrestleMania and would soon find himself in a tag team with the Undertaker. the other semi final, our first clean match of the night saw the only two former DX members who still got along, X-Pac and Road Dogg, have an average match, won by X-Pac to set up an epic final between Billy Gunn and X-Pac sure to make the crowd go mild.
Next came the WWE Title match, in which the Undertaker retained his title, defeating The Rock in a decent main event level match. Rock hits the Rock Bottom with the ref out right near the start of the match and is later screwed by Triple H, who interfered from the outside, hitting the pedigree on the Rock, the Undertaker eventually getting the pin following a tombstone.
Next match sees former DX member Billy Gunn defeat fellow former DX member X-Pac to win the 1999 King of the Ring, a tournament result that did not mean as much as some others.
This brings us to the main event where Vince and Shane McMahon defeat Steve Austin in a ladder match to win back the ownership of the WWE. This is a pretty standard McMahon match with Vince taking heaps of damage and taking some amusingly over the top bumps. Eventually Austin and Vince fall off the top of the ladder together, allowing Shane to climb up and get the briefcase. This follows some shenanigans with the rope holding the case which appeared to be lifted up out of Austin's reach when e was on top of the ladder and left a lot lower when Vince was near the top.
So there you have it, 10 matches and only one clean result. With the Undertaker retaining the title, Vince regaining control of the WWE and the one guy no one wanted to win the King of the Ring tournament winning it. Pretty fair to say the Empire Struck Back.
So what now for Austin? Would Billy Gunn's King of the Ring victory catapult him to stardom? Who would stop the evil Undertaker and his corporate ministry? Would the Rock get a match at the next PPV? All these questions would be answered at Fully Loaded.
Well, things had taken a slightly ludicrous turn in the build up to the Over the Edge PPV, which had seen the Undertaker kidnap Stephanie McMahon in order to sacrifice her to The Higher Power. Vince enlists the help of Stone Cold, only to be revealed as being the aforementioned Higher Power, in what could only be described as a Vince Russo special. The Undertaker had defeated Austin to win the title at the PPV, In the aftermath, Linda McMahon had made Steve Austin the CEO of the WWE. Here he would put that title on the line in a handicap ladder match against Vince and Shane McMahon, while the Undertaker would defend the WWE title he had won from Austin against former Corporate Champion turned fan favourite The Rock.
The King of the Ring tournament featured a fairly weak field and unsurprisingly a disappointing champion. the quarter final matches, in order, panned out like this: X-Pac defeated Hardcore Holly by DQ after Holly hit Syxx with a chair in a short, fairly poor, match. Kane defeated Paul Wight in a laborious match after clocking the Big Show with a chair while the ref was out. (That's two chair shot finishes to start off the night, and they weren't done with the screwy finishes yet). More BS from the ref in the next match as Ken Shamrock is deemed not fit to continue in his match with Billy Gunn by referee Teddy Long. Shamrock actually sells his internal injuries pretty well and this is not a bad finish or angle in and of itself, but just added to the nonsense we'd seen in the other two finishes. Next match saw former DX members Chyna and Road Dogg facing off, with the Roadie taking the win following an ill advised low blow by Chyna (Roadie was wearing a metal cup). That's four matches without a straight finish to start the show.
Next came the afore mentioned first time on PPV tag team match between the Hardyz and Edge and Christian, and after Edge spears Jeff Hardy off the top rope, he is knocked down accidentally by fellow Brood member Gangrel allowing Hardy to get the pin. 5 matches without a straight finish.
Next comes the two King of the Ring semi finals. First one has another chair shot finish, this time with Paul Wight coming to ringside to take out Kane and help Billy Gunn to a victory. Wight's WWE career to this point had been a bit troubled. He had started allied with McMahon against Austin, turned his back on the Corporation to widespread apathy after WrestleMania and would soon find himself in a tag team with the Undertaker. the other semi final, our first clean match of the night saw the only two former DX members who still got along, X-Pac and Road Dogg, have an average match, won by X-Pac to set up an epic final between Billy Gunn and X-Pac sure to make the crowd go mild.
Next came the WWE Title match, in which the Undertaker retained his title, defeating The Rock in a decent main event level match. Rock hits the Rock Bottom with the ref out right near the start of the match and is later screwed by Triple H, who interfered from the outside, hitting the pedigree on the Rock, the Undertaker eventually getting the pin following a tombstone.
Next match sees former DX member Billy Gunn defeat fellow former DX member X-Pac to win the 1999 King of the Ring, a tournament result that did not mean as much as some others.
This brings us to the main event where Vince and Shane McMahon defeat Steve Austin in a ladder match to win back the ownership of the WWE. This is a pretty standard McMahon match with Vince taking heaps of damage and taking some amusingly over the top bumps. Eventually Austin and Vince fall off the top of the ladder together, allowing Shane to climb up and get the briefcase. This follows some shenanigans with the rope holding the case which appeared to be lifted up out of Austin's reach when e was on top of the ladder and left a lot lower when Vince was near the top.
So there you have it, 10 matches and only one clean result. With the Undertaker retaining the title, Vince regaining control of the WWE and the one guy no one wanted to win the King of the Ring tournament winning it. Pretty fair to say the Empire Struck Back.
So what now for Austin? Would Billy Gunn's King of the Ring victory catapult him to stardom? Who would stop the evil Undertaker and his corporate ministry? Would the Rock get a match at the next PPV? All these questions would be answered at Fully Loaded.