Your thoughts on 1999 WWF

[stephen90]

The Bad
Owen's Hart's death
Droz getting paralyzed
Vince's being a the higher power
Wrestlemania 15(Austin vs Rock being the only good thing)
The Corporation and The Ministry of Darkness merging
Road Dogg and Billy Gunn failing as singles stars
The Start of Big Show multiple heel face turns
Beaver Cleavage

The Good
Austin vs Rock
Rock N Sock connection
Kurt Angle's,The Dudleyz,and Chris Jericho's debut
Austin being run down(yes I know it turned out to be a disappointment but starting off good)

What are your thoughts on 99 WWF since it seems to be a mixed bag?

[lucas_lee]

It was pretty bad year for American wrestling in general. A lot of the positives you listed didn't really hit their stride until the next year. Jericho was floundering after his debut and would've been released if he didn't have that mini program with HHH

[chrom]

It was pretty bad until October.

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

It's the year I associate most with the Attitude Era, for better or worse.

I understand quite a bit of it has aged like milk, but I also have a lot of nostalgia for it.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

I can't watch anything before around August of that year. There was some good stuff here and there, but by and large it was nonsensical rubbish.

[stephen90]

If WCW wasn't self destructing they might have had a chance to get back in it. WWF was lucky to have Austin,Rock and Foley.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

The most coherent part of the show most weeks was the main event scene and that's not to say it was without flaws. It was just far more consistent than everything else. Of course, there were a few other bright spots, such as the Kane and X-Pac tag team, the first-ever tag team ladder match, and most of the Hardcore Title stuff they did on PPV was good. The big issue was Russo's ADHD booking, and the lack of direction after he left. It would take until after WrestleMania 2000 for things to really balance out, but WCW was so far gone at that point, it didn't matter.

[johnnyk9]

I felt Jesse Ventura’s involvement really did nothing for SummerSlam

[chrom]

Jul 2, 2023 15:17:12 GMT -5 stephen90 said:

If WCW wasn't self destructing they might have had a chance to get back in it. WWF was lucky to have Austin,Rock and Foley.

Oh yeah, if WCW could've fixed its image and show, they would've gotten back viewers as fans were getting tired of Austin vs Vince.

[jason1980s]

Jul 2, 2023 16:59:05 GMT -5 johnnyk9 said:

I felt Jesse Ventura’s involvement really did nothing for SummerSlam

That was probably just Vince thinking his involvement would get some mainstream attention and I think it did but doubt any non wrestling fan bought the PPV or went because of Jesse. Also it was Vince's way of getting Jesse to work for him one more time, after he sued Vince. A little bit like Sable.

[James Fabiano]

Jul 2, 2023 13:00:51 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

It was pretty bad year for American wrestling in general. A lot of the positives you listed didn't really hit their stride until the next year. Jericho was floundering after his debut and would've been released if he didn't have that mini program with HHH

Really? That was a real possibility?

[lucas_lee]

Jul 2, 2023 20:47:57 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Jul 2, 2023 13:00:51 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

It was pretty bad year for American wrestling in general. A lot of the positives you listed didn't really hit their stride until the next year. Jericho was floundering after his debut and would've been released if he didn't have that mini program with HHH

Really? That was a real possibility?

He was in Vinces doghouse the first year and a half he was there. He also pissed people off during his debut promo. He had the nuclear heat on him. It wouldve been on the table to release him as he wasn't over

[fw91]

For better or worse... it was WWE's most popular year ever in mainstream pop culture. They did something right.

[HMARK Center]

Both WCW and WWF sucked by late spring '99, by and large.

I was one of the young teens who got back into watching wrestling on the regular in early '98; I still pretty vividly remembering catching the Spring Break Nitro that year as well as the Raw after Wrestlemania 14, and I quickly got into flicking between both shows over the next year or so, but maaaaaaaan, by mid '99 I tapped out on WWF and only kept giving WCW chances because I liked their roster better (I was a Hulkamania era fan as a kid). Deep down, though, I think I knew they weren't any great shakes, either.

I know most people point to the period from about mid 2000 through the purchase of WCW as WWF's creative golden time, but I had given up on them months before then.

Jul 2, 2023 20:55:35 GMT -5 fw91 said:

For better or worse... it was WWE's most popular year ever in mainstream pop culture. They did something right.

My argument there would be that they did 1998 right, and spent '99 coasting off the goodwill while being fortunate enough to plant a few seeds that would bear fruit the next couple of years (e.g. Angle's rise, getting the Rock/Austin rivalry into a higher gear, etc.).

1999 was dire.

[fg]

Jul 2, 2023 16:59:05 GMT -5 johnnyk9 said:

I felt Jesse Ventura’s involvement really did nothing for SummerSlam

The buy rate for that show was the same as last years so it is questionable whether he added buys to the show.

[bob]

a lot of really good stuff from the WWF

The rise of Kurt Angle, Rock, HHH and Mick Foley as main eventers

the mid-card was really stacked with the likes of Jericho

a very stacked tag team division

Triple H's DX was really great

Wrestlemania 15 was pretty good, and the first of the historic trilogy of Austin and Rock at Wrestlemania

Big Show's debuting at St. Valentine's Day was really awesome

I thought the Ministry of Darkness was really dark and cool

the mid card was stacked with Goldust, Jericho, Val Venis, Ken Shamrock etc.

There was a lot of not so good

The Corporation and the Ministry of Darkness merging... was an interesting choice

I still hate the Higher Power reveal -- even as a dumb high school kid I knew Vince being the Higher Power made no sense

Billy Gunn as King of the Ring... was perplexing

Mark Henry and Mae Young......

I didn't care about the Brawl for All

the passing of Owen and Droz's paralyzing, was obviously the worst things in all of wrestling in 1999

[fw91]

Jul 2, 2023 20:59:05 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Both WCW and WWF sucked by late spring '99, by and large.

I was one of the young teens who got back into watching wrestling on the regular in early '98; I still pretty vividly remembering catching the Spring Break Nitro that year as well as the Raw after Wrestlemania 14, and I quickly got into flicking between both shows over the next year or so, but maaaaaaaan, by mid '99 I tapped out on WWF and only kept giving WCW chances because I liked their roster better (I was a Hulkamania era fan as a kid). Deep down, though, I think I knew they weren't any great shakes, either.

I know most people point to the period from about mid 2000 through the purchase of WCW as WWF's creative golden time, but I had given up on them months before then.

Jul 2, 2023 20:55:35 GMT -5 fw91 said:

For better or worse... it was WWE's most popular year ever in mainstream pop culture. They did something right.

My argument there would be that they did 1998 right, and spent '99 coasting off the goodwill while being fortunate enough to plant a few seeds that would bear fruit the next couple of years (e.g. Angle's rise, getting the Rock/Austin rivalry into a higher gear, etc.).

1999 was dire.

i definitely get that argument, but I still feel like 1999 was peak. You can argue Stone Cold was just about an A-list celebrity, you had more mainstream stuff like halftime heat and a huge increase in programming with Smackdown. Despite weird and silly story's. It was a fun time to be a fan.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

I guess I'm the only person who liked 1999 WWF better then 1998. I know you had Russo's nonsense but the roster was great and it was still highly entertaining.

[Mozenrath]

Jul 2, 2023 21:43:42 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

I guess I'm the only person who liked 1999 WWF better then 1998. I know you had Russo's nonsense but the roster was great and it was still highly entertaining.

I am almost inclined to agree with you just by virtue of "1998 had the Kane and Undertaker Are In Cahoots" storyline, which was f***ing terrible by virtue of really convoluted stuff, like why the hell Vince McMahon should care enough to become so obsessed with the conspiracy, along with them saying the words "in cahoots" just short of twenty billion times.

On paper, the storyline should have been a no brainer, but they could not help themselves but to f*** it up.

[James Fabiano]

Still popular, no one denies that, but this was the year Russo's worst vices really were becoming evident, like if he was being "filtered" as we all claim, it was less so now. WCW is where we got full-blown Russo.

The tragedies put a dark shadow on this year for me too. (Then you got downers outside of WWF, like Rick Rude dying...back to WWF, losing Gorilla too.)