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| Survivor Series 1999 - Joe Louis Arena - 11/14/99 |
I hated this show. HATED it. Survivor Series 1999 is very high on my all-time worst PPVs list. It's just pure tripe almost from start to finish, and full of half-assed short-attention-span bouts. Plus the much anticipated triple threat between the WWF's top three stars ended up not happening as planned due to one of them being unable to compete prior to the show, thus necessitating an incredibly stupid injury angle.
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| Shane and Steph are very concerned. Imagine how Vince must've felt. |
There were four traditional elimination matches, only one of which passed the ten-minute mark:
The Godfather, D-Lo Brown and The Headbangers faced The Dudley Boyz and the Acolytes. Godfather and D-Lo won in a quick and forgettable nine-minute bout.
Val Venis, Mark Henry, Gangrel and Steve Blackman faced The British Bulldog and The Mean Street Posse. Now, both these teams were comprised of heels who had zero beef with each other, so there was no reason for this match to even happen. Not to mention the Bulldog had just begun a feud with Test stemming from a backstage segment at a UK PPV, where Bulldog threw a temper tantrum and accidentally hit Test's girlfriend Stephanie McMahon with a trash can. So if anything it should've been Test vs. Bulldog in some form. But Test wasn't even booked on the show. Makes sense. Venis and Henry won this stinker.
The third elimination match ended up being a 1-on-4 handicap match due to The Big Show beating up his three partners (Kaientai) prior to the match. So he was on his own but managed to eliminate Mideon, Prince Albert, and Viscera in the first minute, leaving captain The Big Bossman to take a countout loss. Waste of my life.
The fourth Survivor Series match was the only watchable one, pitting Edge/Christian and The Hardy Boyz against Bob & Crash Holly and Too Cool. This was an entertaining, fast-paced match but the wrong team won, as Bob Holly was the only survivor. Given that the Hollys only lasted a few months as a team it probably would've made more sense for the E&C/Hardyz team to win this.
Additionally there was an 8-woman one-fall match that ran just under two minutes. I have no earthly idea why this was even included on the card.
There were five regular matches on this travesty of a PPV.
Kurt Angle made his WWF TV debut against Shawn Stasiak. Why did this need to be a separate match, and why was Stasiak booked on this show when Test wasn't?
Former partners Kane and X-Pac had just split up when X-Pac turned heel, and they had a 4-minute throwaway match with a lame DQ ending on this show. Why did this need to be a separate match if it was just going to be a short disqualification? Give Kane and X-Pac teams and make it a Survivor Series match, for the love of Christ!
Chyna defended the I-C Title against Chris Jericho in a match that was pretty decent. Oddly despite Jericho's obvious heel tactics throughout this feud, he ended up winning the crowd's sympathy, while Chyna was starting to be exposed as a mediocre worker.
The New Age Outlaws defended the Tag Titles against Mankind and Al Snow for some reason. The match was okay but not PPV-worthy and given the lack of a title change once again begs the question: why did this need to be a separate match?
Finally the Triple Threat main event originally scheduled to be Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Steve Austin was derailed when it was learned that Austin needed neck surgery. To explain his absence they staged an angle where Austin chased Triple H into the parking lot and was then run down by an unknown driver, sending him to the hospital. Austin's sub for the match ended up being The Big Show, who unexpectedly won the WWF Title in a pretty good match. This was a bold move, but after a few weeks it was clear the company wasn't ready to get behind Big Show as a serious champion - at December's Armageddon PPV, Show defended against The Big Bossman (hardly a worthy challenger) in a three-minute squash. Show dropped the belt back to Triple H on January 3, 2000.
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| Hey look it's 3/4 of next year's WrestleMania main event! |
Survivor Series 1999 was the ultimate example of the WWF taking the awesome Survivor Series concept and watering it down to the point of absurdity. I couldn't even give you much of a background on this show because most of the matches were devoid of purpose. The elimination matches were essentially booked as obligatory tradition (the one match built around an actual feud lasted under two minutes), and the rest of the bouts were either rushed or underwhelming, resembling your standard RAW fare. This is one of the worst wrestling PPVs I've ever seen.
Best Match: Triple H vs. The Rock vs. The Big Show
Worst Match: 8-Woman match
What I'd Change: Everything. Kurt Angle should've been on someone's team, Kane and X-Pac should've been opposing team captains, Test and Bulldog should've either had a singles match or been opposing captains, the Tag Title participants should've been on opposing teams. Basically every match except the World Title match should've just been a traditional Survivor Series match built around the various feuds. Ten matches on a three-hour show is too many, especially when most of them don't even need to happen.
Most Disappointing Match: The whole show was a disappointment really.
Most Pleasant Surprise: At the time I liked seeing Big Show win the belt. That wore off fast though.
Overall Rating: 1/10
Better than WrestleMania XV and/or SummerSlam '99? - No on both. And that's saying something considering just how low 'Mania 15 set the bar.
1998
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