Guest TSMAdmin Posted October 2, 2002 Report Posted October 2, 2002 Today in Wrestling History (September 14) by Jared "JHawk" Hawkins Today, we prove the old adage "Anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation!" But before we do, if I haven't responded to your e-mails yet, that's because I had Indians tickets last night and haven't actually been able to check it since early yesterday. I'll get to it before the weekend's out though. By the way, this particular show is out of my personal collection, but I do trade tapes, so drop me a line if you're interested. Anyway, remember when we covered the "End of an Era" match a couple of months ago? Today, we cover the official end of the end of an era, plus the match that most likely convinced Vince Russo that "David Arquette: World Champion" could get over. The story so far: July 25,1999: Vince McMahon's career is allegedly ended at Fully Loaded 1999. Read here for the backstory on that. August 23, 1999: Triple H finally realizes his dream by defeating Mankind in Ames, Iowa for the WWF Title. Triple H would then proceed to piss off the entire locker room, eventually fighting a five-way front of The Big Show, The Undertaker, Mankind, Kane, and The Rock while also doing whatever he can to get under Linda McMahon's skin. September 13, 1999: Triple H has Steve Austin arrested in an attempt to get out of a mandatory title defense on Raw. At the end of the show, he demands that Austin is moved to the bottom of the ladder, but Linda McMahon refuses. Triple H appears ready to bitch slap Linda around, but out comes Vince to make the save. During his argument with Triple H (the essence of which is Vince saying "I can't interfere with business, but this is personal"), out comes Steve Austin with absolutely no explanation. He has a three minute match with Triple H before he is disqualified for tossing referee Earl Hebner aside. Without any further ado: We move forward one day to September 14, 1999 from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is SmackDown! In the opening segment, we find that Austin's abuse of Earl Hebner was the last straw, as the referees are officially on strike and replaced with road agents acting as "scab" officials. Austin challenges Triple H to a no holds barred for the title, but Hunter declines. He does say he'll defend the title at the end of the night against a man who once main evented with Austin. Throughout the course of the evening, Triple H is shown in a series of backstage segments where he threatens to kick Austin's ass. In one of them, Austin is hiding in an equipiment truck listening to the conversation. One fall for the WWF Championship: Hungry Hungry Hippos (champion--w/The Man Beast Chyna) vs. ??? The champion is out first, and he has security at the top of the ramp to make sure Austin doesn't interfere. He has been granted the opportunity to choose the referee. He asks for Shane McMahon. Backstage, Shane tells Vince and Linda that he wants to do it and heads to the ring. Once Shane has made his way to the ring, Triple H then proceeds to go through his five logical contenders but dismisses them as potential challengers. Then he calls out his challenger...Vince McAsshole. Vince reluctantly heads to the ring, but once there, he tells Hunter flat out that a title match is business, and he can't interfere with WWF business. Hunter doesn't care and starts verballing assaulting Vince, questioning what happened to "the balls the size of grapefruits". Vince shrugs it off until Hunter goes, "Well, you tell your sexually frustrated wife that if you can't handle it, I can keep it up all night long for her." Ooo, that did it, as Vince waits for Hunter to turn his back. Clothesline from behind, ring the bell, the match is on! Unfortunately for McMahon, that ends up being the extent of his offense, save for a handful of right hands and a low blow. The first three minutes is all Triple H in a glorified Wrestling Challenge squash. Anytime Shane makes Hunter break, they end up arguing with each other. Then things move to the floor, where Hunter takes Vince through the announce table with a flying elbowdrop. Back into the ring, and Hunter has a chair. Shane starts arguing with Trips. Hunter shoves him aside, so there's the spear from Shane. This gets Chyna involved, and both McMahons end up getting leveled with the chair. The mat is filled with McMahons out colder than me during my friend's first wedding. Vince even juices for effect. There's a company man for you. And here comes Linda McMahon with Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. Patterson and Brisco convince Linda to stay on the floor and go in themselves, but they are disposed of by Hunter and Chyna in short order. Linda can't take anymore, so she ends up in the ring. Chyna grabs her and holds her. Hunter grabs Vince and shows her to Linda, berating her the entire time. There's the setup for the Pedigree...but cue the glass breaking and Austin's Titantron video. Chyna pulls Linda to the floor as Hunter looks down the aisle for Austin. Austin comes in through the crowd (so much for security), and he is brawling in the ring with Hunter. In comes Chyna, and there's a Stunner for Chyna. And a Stunner for Hunter! Austin starts to leave, but he looks over at Vince. Austin pulls Vince on top of Hunter, wakes up Shane, and Shane makes the three count at 8:51 to an amazing pop! NOW secruity figures out Austin hopped out through the crowd and heads to the ring, but it's too late. Tony Chimmel makes the official announcement, there's the celebration, and we are out of time! The match was essentially an extended squash and was heavily overbooked, but the crowd pop alone makes the whole thing worthwhile. * Aftermath: McMahon vacated the title the following Monday on Raw because he wasn't supposed to interfere in WWF business, which, of course, defending the WWF Title would do. Of course, Austin came out and said, "Well, grant me the title shot and I have the power to reinstate you," and within the first 15 minutes of Raw the entire premise of Fully Loaded was completely rendered pointless. Of course, this result was pretty much forgotten by the time David Arquette became WCW Champion, but was generally considered to be the main culprit in Russo thinking he could get away with it. That's it for me here, but join me Monday for Raw, and send me los feedbackos.
Recommended Posts