We’re at the end of 1999 for WWE, so let’s check out WWE Armageddon 1999! This show went down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and drew over 17,000 to see Triple H take on Vince McMahon!
The Best
You know what? Kane and X-Pac was a storyline that should’ve ended up in a steel cage. X-Pac is squirrelly and can always escape and the slight against Kane demands satisfaction. A cage is perfect. This match could’ve been better but it’s the best I’ve seen between the two.
I’ll add that this match had a satisfaction factor to it in that the storyline reached its logical conclusion: a bit of comeuppance.
The Chyna Train should be wrapping it up any moment now. Chyna had an incredible 1999. She was involved in a rivalry that was competitive and entertaining plus she avoided whatever the Women’s division was at this point.
Her failed IC title defense against Jericho was good from a performance stance. Jericho did his thing as a heel and Chyna did her thing as an inspirational face and it went off very well. They found a formula that works and stuck to it. Kudos!
In the main event, we have Triple H mainly spanking Vince McMahon for 30 minutes. The action in this match was good but there’s no reason on Earth for this to be 30 minutes. After 10 it’s like “OK, wrap it up Triple H.”
The Rest
Battle royals are an ordeal to sit through but I’m sure they’re just as difficult to put together and execute. With that said, the tag team battle royal was for a shot at the Outlaws. The Acolytes outlasted The Mean Street Posse, the Headbangers, Mark Henry & the Godfather, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian in a messy affair.
On the one hand, I find battle royals tolerable when they’re either messy or just chaotic. This one was in the middle but it had the black mark of being a tag team battle royal which only works for Lethal Lottery or something.
Kurt Angle’s early PPV matches would’ve made for good HeAT main events or a mid-RAW or SmackDown bout. His match against Steve Blackman is no different. It’s a perfectly acceptable match but it was pretty damn white bread. You won’t say that it’s bad but you can’t say “That was a good match” unless your wheelhouse is just B-shows.
If anything, this is a good match to watch and view Angle’s improvement between PPVs.
I hate when matches that technically aren’t matches are on the card. It seems unfair to rate them but the Evening Gown match between Miss Kitty, Ivory, Jacqueline, and B.B–for the Women’s title—was on the card.
It doesn’t eat up a ton of time but I’d still say skip it.
The main thing I remember about the Hollys taking on Rikishi and Viscera is that it played into their claims of being super heavyweights. I had to rewatch the TV to see how we got here exactly. It turns out that was necessary because the build wasn’t even that entertaining. The match itself: mildly entertaining—no thanks to Viscera.
Whenever you see British Bulldog in a late 90s match the strength of an “Oof” intensifies as the 90s rolls on. We’re at the end of the road for WWE 1999 so that “Oof” was loud, folks. It was Val Venis vs. D’Lo featuring British Bulldog and it wasn’t anything to get excited about. It wasn’t horrible but it would’ve been a lot better if Davey sat this one out.
The Tag Team title match saw the New Age Outlaws retain the belts against the Rock n Sock Connection by DQ. Now, the DQ wouldn’t have been as bad as if this match didn’t span almost 16 minutes. There was no reason for the match go over 10, honestly.
There was some extra stuff going on in the match which can stretch it but even that could’ve been done with less time. This would’ve been one of the more eventful matches of the night if it was just kept short.
Big Show spanks Big Boss Man in his WWE title defense—as expected. I just like that Boss Man had been really severe in targeting Big Show in the prior weeks and got bulldozed. This wasn’t a good in-ring display but as closure to a storyline, it works.
WWE Armageddon 1999 Verdict: Bronze Medal (5/10)
Significantly better than Starrcade 1999 but that wasn’t going to be hard to do. The main thing I give it to WWE for here is that Armageddon felt like a PPV. It didn’t feel three more hours of Nitro. As with any PPV, there’s stuff that could’ve been dropped to make for a better-paced, enjoyable show but I’ll say that Armageddon had a mix of bad, decent enough, and good matches.
I’m giving match of the show to Jericho vs. Chyna. I was really into that match even though I was tired of seeing Chyna in IC title matches. It was “Damn, she still has the belt? Christopher, what are you doing, bro?” The runner up is the Triple H vs. McMahon match.
Jericho vs. Chyna had the perfect amount of time but the main event just had way too much room to groove. It was a vulgar amount of time.
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