The Wrestling-A-Holic Retro Pay-Per-View Review For WWF Unforgiven 1999
It is now time for the first annual Unforgiven WWF event. During this time, the WWF was enjoying a sucess it thought it never see again. The WCW was in deep trouble losing $80 million in 1999, while the WWF was going public with a stock in the stock market. SmackDown! was a hit on UPN while Triple H, before he started to date Stephanie btw, was trying to be seen as a legtimate World Champion. The stage was set for a battle at Unforgiven. So now it is time.
Live from the Charlotte Civic Center in Charlotte, North Carliona.
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler.
We start off by what is happening outside the arena. All WWF referees are on strike due to dangerous
working conditions stemming from a match last Monday on RAW between Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, The Rock, Big Show, and Triple H. The 6 got into a wild brawl that had the referees try to stop but the 6 attacked them all. The refs went to Vince McMahon and went on strike. For tonight's ppv, WWF road agents and backstage people will be the referees.
Opening Match: Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman
I don't actually remember the storyline to this match although I think it has to do with Venis using Blackman's bag o' weapons on him last Monday on RAW. Not a good choice for an opener cuz there really is not a big storyline to it. A punch and kick match. Val gets caught coming into the ring from the apron and Mr. Blackman takes control. Blackman works on Val's back boring the crowd. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Val comes back with a couple of two counts. He fights back with a DDT then finishes it off with the 
Money Shot for the pin and the win at 6:29 *1/2. Not-so-hot opener. After the match, Blackman gets his revenge by 
smashing his Kendo Stick on the top of Val Venis' head. Blackman knocks Venus out and the medical team is called to help by Scab Referee Steve Lombardi. Blackman has a promblem with that and shoves B.B. to the ground. Head of Security Jim Dotson has enough of that but Blackman shoves him. Dotson retaliates and spears Blackman. He leaves with the bag o' weapons. Blackman and Dotson would have a match the next night on RAW.
Backstage, Lillian Garcia interviews Mark Henry about his upcoming match with D'Lo Brown. Garcia asks Henry what he wants which Henry whispers in her ear.
Lillian has a look of disgust on her face and slaps Henry HARD! Ouch.
WWF European Championship Match: D'Lo Brown vs. Mark Henry
Back when the European Title was sorta meaniful and back when Henry had heat, this was a hyped match. These two had been friends for a long time, but at Summerslam: An Out Of Body Experience, Henry betrayed his best friend by smashing Jeff Jarett's guitar over his head costing Brown the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships. Henry did it so that he could spend the night with Ms. Kitty and had been fltiring with countless girls in the past month. Henry was awarded the European Championship by Jarett as a token of his apperciation for helping him. D'Lo, the greatest European Champion ever, wanted it back.
Before the match even begins, Sexual Chocolate tries to stop it by annoucing that he has a "braineysum or something" thanks to Lillian's slap. Lol. Mark's best line ever. D'Lo refuses to believe him and attacks him right away. A Ryden Bomb by D'Lo gets two but he misses a corner charge. Mark misses a rope jump something so D'Lo catches him outside with a WICKED~! Tope Con Hilo. 
Wicked. Sexual Chocolate comes back and takes control but doesn't really do anything at all. Power stuff but D'Lo comes back with a rana and a Flying Forearm. Henry mocks Brown by doing his mannerisms and the 10 punch count, but D'Lo fights back with a corner powerbomb. He then finishes it off with the Lo' Down for the pin and title at 9:11. *1/4 Brown is the new European Champion. 
Henry would begin his relationship with Mae Young months later that I'm sure noone wants to talk about. Ever. Ever. Again.
Micheal Cole interviews the Aculytes about their upcoming match with the Dudley Boyz. The Acuyltes brag about kicking Public Enemy out from the WWF. Suddenly, from the lockerrooms, there are several wrestlers who are looking for Chaz and want to beat him up for beating up his girlfriend.
Jeff Jarett tells Debra to keep from interfering in his I.C. Title match coming up next.
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Jeff Jarett (with Ms. Kitty and Debra) vs. Chyna
This match had WWF Attitude written all over it. Jarett had been Intercontinental Champion for a good part of 1999 and had been defeating oppoents left and right. On the September 2nd edition of SmackDown!, Chyna defeated Billy Gunn to gain a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Jarett was furious that he had to defend the belt against a woman and, like Andy Kauffman, began ranting about women's roles in life. Jarett wanted to prove his point by wrestling women, the first being Jaqueline. Then that Thursday on SmackDown!, Jarett met Fabolous Moolah and Mae Young. Jarett smashed the guitar over Moolah's head and locked her in the Figure-Four Leg-Lock. The next week on SmackDown!, Jarett met model Cindy Margollis and applied the Figure-Four Leg-Lock on her. Then, the next Monday on RAW, Jarett and Debra were in a tag-team match against Test and Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie pinned Double J. Double J blamed Debra for the lost and put the figure four leg lock on her. Finally, on the SmackDown! before the ppv, all the women that Jarett had put the figure-four leg-lock on, attacked Jarett in a pretty funny moment. Now the match.
Chyna was a tweener at this time. She gets a BIG face pop in this match going up against Jeff Jarett but got booed whenever she was with Triple H. Chyna beats the country out of Jarett early on with her signature moves and ofcourse, the lowblow. Jarett comes back by posting her (how does that effect her?). Chyna executes some good bumps for Jeff outside of the ring. Back in the ring, and Jarett gets a cross-body off the top rope for two. Chyna pulls out a Flair Flip but gets Superplexed and Jeff covers her for a two count. Jarett is getting so much heel heat I wish Stone Cold would have fought him. Chyna with an electric chair but Jarett reverses that into a sleeperhold which Chyna reverses. Chyna powerslam and rana-bomb get two. One of Chyna's best matches. She tries a rana but JJ reverses that into a powerbomb for two. He goes for the Figure-Four Leg-Lock but she throws him to the floor. She beats on him there. Back in, and Chyna goes for the Pedigree, however, Jeff reverses that and sling-shots Chyna onto SCAB Referee Harvey Whippleman. Now the climax: Jarett goes for ol' El Kabong but Mae Young and Moolah come in to try and stop him. Doesn't work obviously. But then, shockingly Debra grabs the guitar... 
smashes the guitar over Jarett's head! That was a suprise. The crowd goes crazy as Chyna covers Jarett and Wippleman counts 1,2,3 to give Chyna the Intercontinental Championship! Huzzah! BUT WAIT! Head SCAB Referee Dr. Tom Pritchard comes out and shows Wippleman what had just happened while he was knocked out on the video wall. Wippleman sees this and reverses the decision to a DQ. Jarett still keeps the title at 12:42 ***. The crowd is upset and so is Chyna, who releases her anger by attacking Pritchard with the Pedigree. A very intriguing contest between those two. Chyna would get her revenge soon enough.
The Aculytes vs. The Dudley Boyz
The Dudley Boyz made their WWF debut on the September 2nd episode of SmackDown! by attacking the Acuyltes, hence this match. The Aculytes are still heel and so are the Duds so the crowd doesn't really do much in this match. I like the Dudleyz old outfits better. The crowd does a great interaction with Bubba-Ray Dudley before the match when he asks "D'Von, are they making fun of me?" "YES!" :-D 
Bubba-Ray starts off with Faraqq but misses a splash and the future A.P.A. takeover while Lawler makes jokes about Moolah. Crowd is dead. D'Von is tagged and does some decent stuff on Bradshaw but Faraqq powerslams him. A couple of them on him. Faraqq tries to finish things off with the Dominator, but D'Von escapes with a DDT and the Dudley Boyz hit a double-team neckbreaker that JR thinks is the 3D. D'Von goes up top for a moonsault, but gets crotched, then superplexed. The brawl continues. The Dudley Boyz debut the 3D to the WWF crowd but then Stevie Richards enters the ring dressed up like an Aculyle complete with UPN written on his chest. Stevie does the Stevie-Kick on D'Von and Faraqq makes the cover for the win at 7:28 * The two never clicked but would continue feuding for 2 months. After the match, Stevie tries to shake hands with Faraqq, but the Aculytes decide to attack him instead.
Bubba-Ray starts off with Faraqq Stevie would spend several weeks copying other wrestlers gimmicks, one of my favorites being when Mick Foley actually teamed up with Stevie and gave him permission to use the Dude Love gimmick. That would last until Stevie went down with an injury and came back as Steven Richards and the Right To Censor.
Hardcore Match For The WWF Women's Championship: Ivory vs. Luna
Oh boy. Lots of women's matches in 1999 were only 3 minutes long and this was one of them but then why make it a hardcore match? Anyway, Ivory was the Jazz of the Women's division: the psycho witch who did all that she could to keep the title. She was feuding with Tori but that somehow led to Luna coming in to defend her and thus we get this match. Luna and Ivory begin in the back where they stay the entire time. Ivory beats on Luna. 
At one point, Luna grabs Ivory and puts her face in the photocopy machine and make copies of her face. 
They fight some more with Luna doing a splash on Ivory. 
Some more brawling and then the two interupt a Torrie photo shoot. (?) Torrie attacks Ivory and then goes back to the photo shoot. Ivory grabs a pipe and uses it on Luna's stomach and gets the pin at 3:38 to keep the title. DUD oy. After the match, Ivory attacks Moolah but Moolah beats on her. This leads to the infamous and gruesome evening gown matches between Ivory and Moolah which I had to wash my eyes out after witnessing to get those images out of my head!
WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Edge & Christian vs. The New Age Outlaws
This match was made on HeAt so that the champs could have people to defend the title. The NAO had just reunited on that Thursday's SmackDown! and defeated The Rock n' Sock Connection for the Tag belts. I hate Road Dogg's hairstyle now. The crowd is happy to chant along with the Outlaw's schtick again. Remember that? Edge and Christian were still faces, but for this match, they become heels just cuz the fans love the Outlaws. Edge and Billy Gunn do a nice little wrestling sequence. Edge and Christian then double-team Road Dogg turning this into the standard NAO match. Edge and Christian do some heel moves working on the D-O-Double G's back which is actually some good PSYCHOLOGY~! because Road Dogg's back had just healed. The crowd is actually awake during this match which is unusal during a Outlaw match. Road Dogg reverses a spinebuster into a double DDT and makes the hot tag to Mr. Ass. Edge and Road Dogg both try to do a splash but hit each other instead. Ouch. Pier-Six brawl erupts and suddenly the Hardy Boyz interfere and take out Christian. Matt Hardy attacks Edge
allowing Mr. Ass to do the Fame-Ass-Er on Edge for the pin and to retain the titles at 11:07. ***1/2. A great match carried by Edge & Christian. This would lead to the Edge/Christian vs. Hardy Boyz series which cultminated in their AWESOME Ladder Match next month at No Mercy. Sweet match. Outlaws retain.
The Kennel From Hell Match: Al Snow vs. The Big Bossman
Oh Lord. The winner of 1999's worst match of the year as voted by R.S.P.W., this one is so bad that even Al Snow himself hates it to this day. There is a pretty nasty story going into it so here it is: You see, back in July, Al Snow went a little crazy and lost the hardcore title to Bossman. Snow's insanity stopped when he found a little chiunianna that he named Pepper. He chose Pepper over Head and spent time with him, winning the Hardcore Title thanks to him. At Summerslam: An Out Of Body Experience, Bossman won the title back and kidnapped Pepper also! Snow looked everywhere for him until Bossman turned face and told Snow he knew where Pepper was. That Thursday on SmackDown!, Bossman invited Snow into his hotel room and fed him some food. The catch: the food was Pepper. The dog. Bossman had killed Pepper and cooked him! The move was disgusting and even PETA protested that! Anyway, Snow went crazy as anyone would. He went cukoo but came to his senses and challenged Bossman to this match. So here we go!
The Kennel From Hell is the old cartoonish WWF Steel Cage covered by the Hell In The Cell cage. In between are real life Rotweilers guarding the ring. The object is to escape both cages. Snow is in street clothes. The match was innovative but...well...just continue reading. The rottweilers want to attack each other. Bossman and Snow escape the blue cage and fight inside the Hell In The Cell. It looks so stupid. Snow brings a bag o' weapons but gets hit with them. The crowd is dead throughout this. Bossman gets scare of the rotweillers and grabs a pair of wire cutters from his pants, and uses them to climb to the top of the Hell In The Cell 
with his left eye bleeding profusely. Ewwww. Snow with powder and a stick. He unhooks the bottom turnbuckle but does nothing to it. Bossman grabs a shovel from the bag o' weapons, and hits Snow with a shovel. He then handcuffs Snow to the top turnbuckle and proceeds to escape by stepping on the rotweilers. PSYCHOLOGY WOW! Snow, as if it can actually happen, breaks the handcuffs and FINALLY wakes the crowd up and stops Bossman from escaping. Snow reaches in his bag o' weapons and its the return of Head! Crowd likes that. The crowd goes apatheic as Snow hits Bossman with Head. Bossman tries one more time to escape but Snow is way ahead of him by just walking out of the Hell In The Cell. So stupid but atleast the torture is over. -***** just dumb. No crowd reaction and slow match really hurt this one. Let us never speak of this match again. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever again. Thank You. BTW, the rotweilers had trainers and leashes on them so they weren't that much of a threat.
Chris Jericho (with Curtis Hughes) vs. X-Pac
Even though this match was just added on HeAt, it has some storyline to it. At Summerslam: An Out Of Body Experience, Road Dogg was cutting a promo when Jericho interrupted citing boredom for the Jerichoholics. On the first episode of SmackDown!, Jericho took on Road Dogg and powerbombed him through a table injuring the Dogg's back and putting him on the shelf for several weeks. X-Pac wanted to stand up for his buddy after Ken Shamrock got injured and couldn't compete in this match. Shamrock, btw, never came back after the injury. Jericho has Curtis Hughes as his bodyguard who he would have for the next two months.
Now to the match: A quick little wrestling sequence between the two start. Ah, for the days when Sean Waltman was cool and was liked by the smarks. And wrestled great. Chops and Jericho drops X-Pac on the top rope and chops him from there. Pac come back with his lightning quick kick corner in the other corner, but when he goes for the broncobuster, Jericho moves out of the way and takes over. 
An X-Factor is countered into the Walls of Jericho, which gets rolled out
of, sending Jericho to the floor, and X-Pac pulls out a springboard bodyblock to the floor. Awesome. Mr. Hughes distracts the SCAB referee Dr. Tom Pritchard and Y2J hits a missle dropkick for two. Jericho with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a slingshot splash for two. The crowd seems interested in something going on in the stands, so Jericho applies the chinlock on 'Pac till the crowd stops being interested. They do. X-Pac comeback, but Jericho hits the Lionsault for two. X-Pac tries something from the top rope, but lands on the apron, and Chris Jericho contributes with a springboard dropkick. Leg Lariat by X-Pac once back in. Jericho whips X-Pac to the ropes, but on the way by the
other side, X-Pac neatly dropkicks Hughs, then springboards back to take out Jericho. Just incredible to see X-Pac do this! 'Pac goes for the broncobuster again, but Jericho blocks it, again, and hits a senton for two. Double-arm backbreaker by Jericho who goes to the top, but is crotched, and X-Pac superplexes him for two. Y2J hits his signature double-powerbomb for a two count. Twice. X-Pac sends Y2J to the corner and Jericho is locked in the Tree-Of-Woe. This gives X-Pac the chance to do the first ever inverted broncobuster with Jericho being at the bottom. Mr. Hughes ain't happy at that so he decks the referee screwing the ending at 12:57. Still an excellent match at ****. After the match, Hughes attacks X-Pac but Road Dogg makes the save! One of the best matches of 1999. Cool.
It is now time for the main event. The first ever six-pack challenge for the WWF Championship. This one has a LONG storyline so bare with me okay?
Okay, so at Summerslam:An Out Of Body Experience, Mankind defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H in a Triple Threat match to win the WWF Championship. The next night on RAW, HHH was furious that he lost and demanded another title shot. He showed his anger by attacking Jim Ross. Mankind obliged and in the main event, defeated Mick to win his first WWF Championship. That Thursday on the first episode of SmackDown!, The Rock challenged HHH for the title. He had the match won until special guest referee Shawn Micheals super-kicked The Rock giving Hunter the pin.
On the September 13th episode of RAW, Linda McMahon annouced a five man match to determine who would fight HHH at Unforgiven. The match got wild as the wrestlers, Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Mankind, and Rock took out all the WWF referees with no winner being decided.
Later that night, Triple H demanded who he would fight at Unforgiven and physically threatened Linda McMahon. This was all Vince McMahon could take and he made his return to television demanding Triple H take his hands off of his wife. McMahon made the match a six-pack challenge just to make Hunter suffer with 5 guys going after his title.
But then, on the September 16th episode of SmackDown!, Triple H demanded a match with Vince McMahon, who was now a full fledged babyface due to his hatred of HHH btw, to a WWF Championship match. McMahon accepted and had the crap beat out of him until Stone Cold came back and knocked out Hunter with a chair. 1,2,3 and Vince McMahon was the new WWF World Champion.
Then, on the September 20th episode of RAW, Vince relinquished the title saying his contract from the Fully Loaded match back in July prohibited from doing buisness on T.V. so he would put the belt up at the Six-Pack Challenge match with the winner becoming WWF Champion.
Meanwhile, Austin came back and demanded a shot at the WWF Champion. McMahon promised that he would fight the WWF Champion the next night on RAW, ONLY if Stone Cold agreed to be the Special Enforcer for the Six-Pack challenge match. Austin agreed.
However, on the SmackDown! before Unforgiven, McMahon had HHH go through several matches in order to get his place in the six-pack challenge. He beat Kane in an Inferno Match. Beat Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl. Beat Big Show in a Chokeslam Challenge. And beat Mideon in a Casket Match. Also, Undertaker refused to participate in the casket match and left the WWF altogether (the truth is he had a knee injury and went home to nurse it. This was also the last apperance of Dead Man Taker.) Then, suprisingly, the British Bulldog returned (only for good publicity for the WWF after Owen Hart's death. McMahon allowed Bulldog to be the sixth man in the Six Pack challenge and referee the Rock/HHH Brahma Bullrope match in the main event of SmackDown! The match happened but in the end, Bulldog did a heel turn on Rock and helped HHH win and get a spot in the Six-Pack Challenge.
And that's where we leave off for
First Ever Six Pack Challenge Match For The Vacant World Wrestling Federation Championship: The Rock vs. Mankind vs. Triple H vs. Big Show vs. Kane vs. The British Bulldog with Special Guest Enforcer Stone Cold Steve Austin
The crowd is into this one. This is Bulldog's last WWF main event on a pay-per-view sadly. He is wearing United Kingdom tights that he only wears this time before switching to the jeans and boots that he wore during his WWF tenure. Kane is wearing his special inverted outfit that he only wears when he really wants something. Stone Cold is on commentary not really doing any enforcing.
Now the match: Six-Pack Challenge is the same as a Four Corners match in that anyone can be tagged. Rock and Bulldog start off. Rock goes after Triple H and so does Kane who tags himself in and manhandles HHH with ease. Big Show is pissed at Kane for some reason and so he just knocks Kane over the top rope. It is Mick's turn and he goes up against Kane. He doesn't go very far so he tags in Big Show. Ain't it funny that everyone in the audience and all the competitors hate Triple H and flash forward 3 years later and they still hate him for REAL reasons? Hard to believe is it? But wrestling is a dirty buisness. Kane does the big man Enziguri and dropkick and tags in Bulldog. Bulldog gets scared and tags back Mick against Big Show. Mick and Big Show tag bringing in Rock and Bulldog. Bulldog hits Rocky with a low-blow and takes control. Bulldog tags in Mankind, but Mankind won't fight his partner in the Rock n' Sock Connection, so he tags in Kane. Kane puts Rock in a Tombstone but Rock reverses that into a Russian Legsweep for two. Foley in with a piledriver for two. The fans chant "Rocky" and they would grow bigger in the upcoming months. Mick and HHH do a little preview of their street fight by brawling outside and soon everyone is outside. Mankind does a piledriver on Triple H on the steel steps. Nasty bump. Back in, and Mankind and Bulldog fight. Mankind allows Rock some shots. How sweet. Rock does his funny Big Show impression and that makes Big Show tag in. Suddenly, all the WWF referees enter the arena and start jawing at referee Jim Kordeas, the only WWF referee to cross the picket line. While this is going on, Big Show pounds on Mankind and gets a two count. Rock gets tagged and nails Big Show with a clothesline for two. Rock and HHH do some brawling and are now the legal men. At one point, The Rock takes the beer Austin has, drinks it, then does the BEER SPIT OF DOOM~! on Triple H drawing the cheers of the crowd. That was inpolite. Mankind and Kane are now the legal men. Mick with a DDT but Big Show tags himself in. Still, Kane does a tombstone on Mick. And now the climax: Big Show chokeslams Mankind. However, Kane clotheslines Big Show over the top rope. However, Bulldog does his signature powerslam on Kane. However, Triple H does the Pedigree on Bulldog HOWEVER, Rock hits Triple H. And finally, HOWEVER, Mick applies the Mandible Claw on Rock.
That was pretty cool. Rock reverses that into a Rock Bottom, but Triple H stops the pin. Big Show comes back and goes crazy by headbutting everybody. Big Show chokeslams Mankind and goes for the pin...but the referees PULL Kordeas from the ring at the two count and beat HIM down. Wow. Just wow, but cool. The crowd is now going crazy as the refs beat on Kordea until finally, Stone Cold Steve Austin does his job, that of being the enforcer, and beats up all the referees taking control of the match. No wonder they were on strike. Stone Cold is now the Stone Cold referee. Rock and HHH are now the only two men in the ring. Rock does the Layeth-The-Smacketh-Down DDT for two. The Rock does the Rock Botttom and the People's Elbow. One...two...NO! Big Show pulls Austin out at two! While Big Show is distracting Austin, The British Bulldog comes in with a chair and smashes it over The Rock's head knocking him out. Stone Cold sees this and smashes that same chair over BULLDOG'S head. Don't you wish all referees could be like this. The crowd liked that. Unfortunaley, Triple H applies the Pedigree on The Rock and Stone Cold has no choice but to count the pin. 1,2,3 and Triple H is a two time WWF Champion at 20:24 ****1/2 what a great and memorable match. The crowd is dead from that. Stone Cold does the disgusting duty of handing Triple H the WWF Championship belt. HHH taunts Austin with the belt like the dick that he is so Austin does what all smarks everywhere wish they could do to him and gives Triple H a Stone Cold Stunner to end the show on a happy note.
This would lead to Austin vs. HHH next month at No Mercy.
Bottom Line: Believe it or not, Triple H didn't win the belt because he was sleeping with the bosse's daughter. He actually won it because Vince wanted Hunter Hearst Helmsey to be the biggest heel champion in WWF history. Remember when THAT used to be the reason why he won?
The card is defintley memorable for a few things. The kennel from hell, the I.C. Title match, the Six-Pack Challenge. Still, it ain't THAT memorable. I'm talking Wrestlemania memorable.
The first part of the show sucked luckily the last 2 matches saved the show from mediocrity.
The six-pack challenge is an innovative idea so it is a good reason to check it out. Plus, you feel nostalgia when watching the main event and remembering when Triple H was hated because he was a good heel character.
So all in all, recommended.
Feedback is welcomed thank you.
Peace.
Wrestling-A-Holic
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