The 90s Royal Rumble shows are some of my favorites to look at because it’s not a brick of show with nine or ten matches. Since the featured match requires so much time, WWE kept the undercard small but often sprinkled in a few bangers here and there. Royal Rumble 1999 is no different and we’re diving into it!
This edition of WWE Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1999, in Anaheim, CA. While the Rumble is the featured main event, there’s a legendary WWE Championship match between The Rock and Mankind as well.
The Best
This is a brief list, folks—almost as brief as the first match on the list! X-Pac defended his European title against Gangrel in a bout that ran under 6 minutes but had this pace to it that I love. It was like getting a really fun, zippy TV match on PPV—which this is. It’s a match you would be seen on RAW or Shotgun. Maybe even HeAT as some pre-show action.
If it had the length of the opener it might have suffered but I definitely would’ve added a few more minutes and opened with this match. One flub that kind of damaged the match was Teddy Long messing up in the referee role. Other than that, this was a brief but enjoyable bout.
Now, the match to watch—and it can be hard to watch—is the “I Quit” match as The Rock defends his title against Mankind. This was a brawl for the most part and a very exciting one! The story here is that Mankind has never said “I quit” or given up in a match. The Rock aims to make that happen and hold on to the gold!
These two had such chemistry that a 22-minute brawl featuring Foley bumping and selling like roadkill goes right up my alley. The finishing stretch took from Foley’s ECW send-off match where he was handcuffed and took repeated chairshots to the head.
Needless to say, the Brahma Bull can really swing a chair. This was the hard part to watch given what we know about CTE and brain trauma in athletes but damn it if that wasn’t the best way for the match to go. It’s my favorite Foley-Rock match but I’ll admit it doesn’t hit the same way it did when I was young and ignorant of the dangers of those kinds of chairshots.
The Royal Rumble match itself was…a Royal Rumble match: long and meandering throughout. Plenty of midcarders in there who we know aren’t going to win but they didn’t have a match and this 30-man battle royal requires 29 bodies to go over the top rope.
I will say that this one had a great story heading into it. This one took place during the height of Austin-McMahon, they were the last two in, and McMahon wins! The finish worked very well because Austin was at his best with cards stacked against him and Vince McMahon had all the cards—hell, he’s the house.
Typically, the house always wins but Austin is one gambler who has given the house more than enough trouble. This Royal Rumble match told a great story that was fun to follow. It actually had me engaged in the match throughout.
The Rest
The opener saw Big Boss Man defeat Road Dogg in…a regular-ass match. I enjoyed these two the most in the Hardcore division. Whenever I see these two in the same match that’s what I’m expecting. The match itself wasn’t bad at all, it was just mid and didn’t have to go 12 minutes. It could’ve been a few minutes shorter and arrived at the same end and reaction.
Another match that ran a little long was Shamrock defending his IC title against Billy Gunn. Copy and paste my above statements except for the Hardcore division part. It didn’t need to be as long as it was though I can see why Gunn was positioned here. Also, IC title matches demand some match length.
These Attitude Era Women’s title matches just weren’t it early on. We’ve got Sable defending against Luna Vachon in a short strap match. If this was the post-Hulkamania period and it was Sherri Martel vs. Luna in a strap match, this would be been all that and a bag of chips. Instead, it was an empty bag of chips.
WWE Royal Rumble 1999 Verdict: Bronze Medal (5.75/10)
I’ll say that Royal Rumble 1999 was a pretty balanced show as far as what was worth watching and what you could skip. The Rumble match itself is something of a floater in that the match itself was alright but the story between Austin and Vinnie Mac made this match worth watching. The Match of the Show honors goes to the WWE title match between The Rock and Mankind.
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