--- title: "SummerSlam 1999: A Retrospective" canonical: "https://wrestletalk.com/features/party-like-its-summerslam-1999/" type: "post" language: "en-US" author: "Wrestle Talk" section: "Features" published: "2018-08-17T21:00:00Z" modified: "2025-08-01T10:05:31Z" --- # SummerSlam 1999: A Retrospective It’s **SummerSlam** season everyone and I invite you to travel back in time… I recently re-watched 99’s installment of the ‘Hottest Event of the Summer’ as it is definitely one that stands out and is a highlight of the Attitude Era. Let’s get started. Opening the show, taking place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was Intercontinental Champion, Jeff Jarrett taking on D-Lo Brown – the European Champion – in a match where both titles were on the line. What stands out to me now, is remembering the ovation D-Lo received when he emerged with Debra (McMichael); she’d had a spat with Jarrett once they’d entered the arena and stormed off, only to join the European Champ upon his entrance which riled ‘Double J.’ This was a very Attitude Era crowd though, and they were clearly cheering Debra’s… assets. The match itself was enjoyed by the crowd, but was interrupted by Brown’s running buddy, ‘Sexual Chocolate’ Mark Henry, when Jarrett went to his weapon of choice, his guitar. Henry appeared to be there to help D-Lo as he snatched the six-string away from Jarrett, but actually took out D-Lo himself, smashing the guitar across his back. A bemused Jarrett made the cover and carried two titles away. The “why Mark, why?” question was soon asked by our resident commentary team, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler – those were the days! We are then treated to a ‘Tag Team Turmoil’ match – a gauntlet match where the eventual winners would be named number one contenders for the Tag Team Championships. Opening the bout were Edge and Christian (who at the time were billed as brothers), taking on The Hardy Boyz (or the ‘New Brood’ as they were entitled during this period). E&C saw off the brothers Hardy after Christian pinned Matt following a frog splash from the top rope. The highlight of this bout was when Jeff Hardy and Edge both mounted the guard-rail from either side and combined for a pretty spectacular mid-air spear! The next team to enter, Mideon and Viscera, the remnants of the Corporate Ministry, were pretty quickly dispatched after some miscommunication led to ‘Big Vis’ crushing his team mate in the corner and a spear got the three. We then had Prince Albert… yes, I know, I did say this was the Attitude Era, you were warned at the start!… and the ill-fated Droz arrive. There was a little back and forth, but this team were soon seen off after Edge’s custom DDT, the Downward Spiral. Then the Acolytes, Farooq and Bradshaw arrived and essentially laid waste to the blonde-locked twosome. Don’t get me wrong, the future tag champs got some licks in, but they were eventually eliminated after Bradshaw’s Clothesline from Hell reigned down on Christian. The team consisting of cousins – wink, wink, nudge, nudge – Hardcore and Crash Holly were the final team to enter. The Acolytes took advantage of infighting between the Hollys and won the match to become the team eligible to next challenge for the straps. Backstage, before a Hardcore title match – remember when that was a thing?! – we had the wacky Al Snow, one of the combatants, talking with his pet Chihuahua, Pepper. Yes, I did say *with*, not *to*; they were *both* talking, get it? Jeez… Back in the arena,the Road Dogg and Chris Jericho had a bit of a random slanging match, including some pretty dated homophobic stuff in there, too! The former D-Generation X member stayed at ringside for commentary for the Al Snow vs. Big Boss Man Hardcore title bout. It is at this point where I will make a brief aside, as this show is notable, like so many, for the number of those within the world of wrestling that we’ve lost in the intervening years. I shan’t list them, but take a look at the some of the names you’ll see throughout this retrospective and how many are no longer with us. Just a little shout out to those guys and gals. Right, back to the action! Action it certainly was as Al Snow and the Boss Man went from ringside, to backstage, then to the streets, before finally ending up in a bar where Boss Man was clobbered from behind by the Road Dogg, who had literally followed the action and was the man on-the-scene with a live mic. For the duration after, Road Dogg’s feelings were hurt following some harsh words from the champ. I will give as much attention to the Women’s Championship match as this deserves. Ivory (c) pinned Tori in a 4 minute match in an era where women’s wrestling had pretty much hit its lowest ebb. Not befitting of Ivory, who really was quite good. Thankfully her recent **[Hall of Fame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJCE6b3_cdc)** induction gave her the props she deserved. Next up was the UFC-lite ‘Lion’s Den’ match between former ultimate fighter, Ken Shamrock and martial artist, Steve Blackman. This was the culmination of a pretty violent feud and as such was a ‘weapons match’. Shamrock got the ‘W’ via knockout when he connected with a clean shot to the top of Blackman’s head with a kendo stick. Yet another reminder of the era we were in. We then had my favorite match of the night and one of Shane McMahon’s best ever matches when he took on Test in a ‘Greenwich Street Fight’, in the conclusion of a blood feud that centered around the fact that Test was dating Shane’s sister, Stephanie, in times when Stephanie was rarely seen on TV. I said ‘those were the days’ earlier, didn’t I? Shane had his Greenwich, CT. cronies at ringside, the Mean Street Posse (Pete Gas, Joey Abs and Rodney… Rodney didn’t get allocated a surname by the **WWF** brass of the time) all of whom were addled with injuries – that Test had bestowed on each of them as he hunted down Shane – that they nursed at ringside, on a couch that they had installed for their stay! These two combatants had a very engaging match that really had the crowd invested and was over hugely with the live audience. This is one of those almost forgotten matches that had, if not everything, pretty close to it; we had ref bumps; outside interference and, what I believe to be Shane O Mac’s first table bump with his patented diving elbow! Test won with a diving elbow of his own following a pump-handle slam, which brought out Stephanie. Well, all good things must come to an end, right? The pairing of The Undertaker and The Big Show, known as the Unholy Alliance challenged Tag Champs X-Pac and Kane. ‘Taker and Big Show dominated and defeated the champions when the Deadman pinned X-Pac after a Tombstone. This was Undertaker’s last ppv appearance before an eight-month injury lay-off that ended with him returning as the ‘American Badass’ in May of the following year. In our penultimate match of the show, ‘Mr Ass’ took on The Rock in a ‘Kiss My Ass Match,’ did I mention this was very much during the Attitude… oh forget it! Though Billy Gunn did not deem The Rock worthy of planting his lips on the butt cheeks of Gunn, so brought in a substitute… I’ve held off plugging (no the best choice of word, there) the **WWE** Network till now, but I won’t describe the ‘lady’ – check this one out for yourself! Of course, The Rock, who was red hot at this time and very much heading towards his peak, having only turned babyface a few months before, won the match following the classic Rock Bottom/People’s Elbow combo. When watching, it’s stark to think that the ‘People’s Champ’ was a mere 18 months from superstardom beginning to come his way as he took his first Hollywood role. By this point, he’d been in **WWF**  a few months shy of a mere three years. The main event of the evening… a triple threat match for the **WWF** Championship, featuring the returning Mankind, Triple H and champion ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. The road to this match was a little all over the place as number one contenders ranged from Helmsley, Mankind and Chyna(!) before we eventually got our final line-up. The x-factor in this match, was the special guest referee, Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura, who operated in this match as he had in his political endeavors and was very ‘no nonsense.’ He stood for none of Triple H’s intimidation tactics and even launched the interfering Shane McMahon over the top rope himself, following a Stone Cold Stunner, of course! Mankind was the eventual surprise winner of the bout, hitting Austin with a double-arm DDT. **SummerSlam 1999** ended with Triple H ambushing Stone Cold and obliterating his knee with a steel chair, ‘bah gawd!’ This kept the former champ side-lined for a couple of months and out of September’s **Unforgiven** title bout… Of course, there were a few things in this show that **WWE** wouldn’t be able to get away with now, and rightly so, but I implore you to trawl in to yesteryear when you have an on hour or three spare, I recommend **SummerSlam 1999** as a bit of classic **WWE**! #### What’s your favorite SummerSlam 1999 memory? **Let us know in the comments below or on [Twitter here](https://twitter.com/WrestleTalk_TV). You can also join us on Discord to chat with Oli, Luke, the magazine team, the website writers and each other here!**