World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
The 1999 Unforgiven was the second annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on September 26, 1999, at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although the event was the second Unforgiven PPV held, it was the first Unforgiven not held under the In Your House series, which had been discontinued in February 1999.
The main event was a Six-Pack Challenge–a non-elimination match consisting of six wrestlers for the vacant WWF Championship. Stone Cold Steve Austin served as the special outside enforcer for the match. The match included Triple H, The Rock, Mankind, Kane, Big Show, and British Bulldog. Triple H pinned Rock after a Pedigree to win the WWF Championship. The undercard featured X-Pac versus Chris Jericho, a Kennel from Hell match between champion Al Snow and challenger Big Boss Man for the WWF Hardcore Championship, New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) versus Edge and Christian for the WWF Tag Team Championship, Ivory versus Luna Vachon in a Hardcore match for the WWF Women's Championship, The Acolytes (Faarooq and Bradshaw) versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Jeff Jarrett versus Chyna for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, Mark Henry versus D'Lo Brown for the WWF European Championship, and Val Venis versus Steve Blackman.
The matches of the event featured special guest referees due to the WWF officials being out on "strike" due to continuous assaults on them by wrestlers. However, only one WWF official Jim Korderas served as the referee of the event. He refereed Dudley Boyz vs. The Acolytes, the WWF Tag Team Championship match and the WWF Championship match.
The previous , which was an In Your House event, was held in April while the 1999 edition was moved to September as Backlash was held in April. Unforgiven in turn became the annual September pay-per-view until its final edition in 2008 as it was replaced by Breaking Point in 2009.
The Kennel From Hell match is widely regarded as one of the worst matches ever. It is jokingly included on Mick Foley's "Hard Knocks And Cheap Pops" as a shot at Al Snow who Foley has repeatedly ribbed over the years.
Production.
Background.
Unforgiven was first held as the pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998; In Your House was a series of monthly PPV shows first produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in May 1995. The In Your House branding was retired following February 1999's event, as the company moved to install permanent names for each of its monthly PPVs. Following this, the WWF announced that Unforgiven would return as its own PPV event on September 26, 1999, held at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 1999 event thus established Unforgiven as the annual September PPV for the promotion.
Storylines.
Unforgiven featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on "Raw is War" and "SmackDown!"—World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main rivalry heading into the event was between Triple H, The Rock, Mankind, Kane, Big Show and The Undertaker over the vacant WWF Championship. At SummerSlam, Mankind defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H in a Triple Threat match for Austin's WWF title, only to lose it to Triple H the following night on "Raw is War". ;ref name="Raw - 08/23/1999" ; ;/ref ; On the September 13 edition of "Raw is War", the WWF CEO Linda McMahon announced that Rock, Kane, Mankind, Big Show and Undertaker would compete in a 5-Way match to determine the #1 contender for the title at Unforgiven. However, the match resulted in a no contest after Mideon and Viscera attacked Mankind. As a result, all five of the wrestlers attacked several WWF referees and many of the WWF wrestlers interfered in the brawl. As a result of the attack, the referees went on an on-screen strike and all the five competitors were named contenders for the title, making it a Six Pack Challenge for the title at Unforgiven, meaning that two wrestlers would begin the match and a wrestler could become legal if he was tagged in. ;ref name="Raw - 09/13/1999" ; ;/ref ; On the September 16 edition of "SmackDown!", the WWF Chairman Vince McMahon defeated Triple H for the WWF title, with the help of his son Shane who served as the special guest referee for the match. ;ref name="SD - 09/16/1999" ; ;/ref ; However, Vince vacated the title on September 20 episode of "Raw is War" and named Triple H as the sixth competitor in the Six Pack Challenge at Unforgiven. ;ref name="Raw - 09/20/1999" ; ;/ref ; On the September 23, 1999 edition of "SmackDown!", however, McMahon decided to place Triple H in a gauntlet series of matches against the other five competitors in the match. He would have to wrestle Big Show in a Chokeslam Challenge match, Kane in an inferno Match, Undertaker in a casket match, Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl, and The Rock in a Brahma Bull Rope match, and if he failed to win three of the five matches, he would be out of the match. Triple H lost the first match due to his inability to lift the massive Big Show. He managed to beat Kane when Kane was distracted by Mideon and Viscera, Undertaker's allies, long enough to accidentally set himself on fire but lost the casket match after Undertaker, who orchestrated the distraction on Kane, walked out and was fired after refusing to wrestle; the match became a handicap match and Triple H could not put both Mideon and Viscera in a casket before they did it to him. He managed to escape the boiler room to even up the gauntlet and bring it to the deciding match with The Rock. The British Bulldog, who was named as a replacement for The Undertaker in the Six-Pack Challenge (in kayfabe, The Undertaker walked out of the WWF, but in reality he needed time off to deal with a severe groin injury and would be gone for nine months while he recovered), served as the guest referee and assisted Triple H's victory by turning on The Rock, giving Triple H the necessary three wins he needed to keep his spot in the main event. ;ref name="WWF SmackDown! - 09/23/1999" ; ;/ref ;
Another predominant rivalry heading into the event was between Al Snow and The Big Boss Man over the WWF Hardcore Championship. At SummerSlam, Snow defeated Boss Man to win the Hardcore Championship. The following night on "Raw is War", Snow was attacked by Boss Man during a title defense against Road Dogg, who had left the match to brawl with Chris Jericho. Boss Man stole Snow's dog Pepper and escaped with it. On the August 26 episode of "SmackDown!", Boss Man defeated Snow to win the title and escaped with Pepper. ;ref name="SD - 08/26/1999" ; ;/ref ; The following week, Snow ate some food until Boss Man told him that it was Pepper. ;ref name="SD - 09/02/1999" ; ;/ref ; On September 9, British Bulldog defeated Boss Man for the title and awarded it to Snow. ;ref name="SD - 09/09/1999" ; ;/ref ; On "Raw is War" on September 13, Snow challenged Boss Man to a Kennel from Hell match for the Hardcore Championship at Unforgiven, which Boss Man accepted.
At SummerSlam, Mark Henry turned on his partner D'Lo Brown by costing him the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the WWF European Championship against Jeff Jarrett. The next night on "Raw is War", Jarrett awarded the European Championship to Henry. Henry and Brown wrestled each other in several tag team matches and attacked each other on many occasions, leading to a European Championship match at Unforgiven. ;ref name="Raw - 08/30/1999" ; ;/ref ;
Following his WWF Intercontinental Championship victory at SummerSlam, Jeff Jarrett offered an open contract to any WWF wrestler for an Intercontinental Championship match at Unforgiven. Chyna signed the contract but Billy Gunn offered Chyna to hand him over the contract for the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven. On the September 2 episode of "SmackDown!", Chyna defeated Billy Gunn to retain her status as the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship.
On the September 2 episode of "SmackDown!", a Tag Team Turmoil match was held to determine the number one contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Acolytes (Faarooq and Bradshaw) and Edge and Christian were the remaining two teams in the match and were attacked by the debuting The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). As a result, the match ended in a no contest. On September 6, on "Raw is War", Edge and Christian defeated The Acolytes to become the number one contenders for the Tag Team Championship, after further interference by Dudley Boyz. ;ref name="Raw - 09/06/1999" ; ;/ref ; As a result, a match was made between Dudley Boyz and Acolytes at Unforgiven. The Tag Team Championship changed hands many times after Edge and Christian were made the contenders. On the September 23 episode of "SmackDown!", the final title change before Unforgiven occurred when the New Age Outlaws (Mr. Ass and Road Dogg) defeated Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mankind) for the Tag Team Championship. ;ref name="SD - 09/23/1999" ; ;/ref ;
On the August 26 episode of "SmackDown!", Luna Vachon involved herself in the WWF Women's Champion Ivory's Evening Gown match against Tori. Luna later got involved in a brawl between Ivory and Tori on "Raw is War" on September 6. A week later on "Raw is War", Luna was attacked by Ivory during her match with Jeff Jarrett. This led to a match between Ivory and Luna for the Women's Championship at Unforgiven. On the September 23 episode of "SmackDown!", Luna offered to make their bout a Hardcore match which Ivory accepted.
At SummerSlam, Ken Shamrock defeated Steve Blackman in a Lion's Den match. On the September 2 episode of "SmackDown!", Blackman tried to attack Shamrock after Shamrock's match with Val Venis but Shamrock attacked Blackman. When Blackman recovered, he vented his anger on Venis by attacking him. Blackman attacked Venis again after Venis' match against Big Show on "Raw is War" on September 6. Venis took his revenge by costing Blackman, a WWF European Championship match against Mark Henry and a standard match against Shawn Stasiak, leading to a match between Venis and Blackman at Unforgiven.
At SummerSlam, Road Dogg announced that he would challenge the winner of the WWF Hardcore Championship match between Al Snow and Big Boss Man on the following night on "Raw is War". However, Road Dogg was interrupted by Chris Jericho and as a result, Jericho and Road Dogg began feuding with each other. During Road Dogg's scheduled Hardcore Championship match against Al Snow on "Raw is War", Jericho began brawling with Road Dogg. As a result, the match resulted in a no contest. On the August 26 episode of "SmackDown!", Jericho powerbombed Road Dogg through a table during a match between the two. Jericho continued to assault Road Dogg after the match by applying the Walls of Jericho. On the September 2 episode of "SmackDown!", Road Dogg's D-Generation X (DX) teammate X-Pac wrestled Jericho as he attempted to avenge Jericho's assault on Road Dogg but the match resulted in a no contest after interference by the Unholy Alliance (The Undertaker and Big Show). Jericho was also feuding with Ken Shamrock at the time due to attacking him with a chair prior to Shamrock's scheduled match with Val Venis. It would lead to a match between the two at Unforgiven. However, on the September 23 episode of "SmackDown!", Shamrock was badly injured after losing a First Blood match to Jericho and left WWF. As a result, X-Pac replaced Shamrock as Jericho's opponent at Unforgiven.
Event.
Preliminary matches.
As the event began, the first match took place between Val Venis and Steve Blackman. The Brooklyn Brawler refereed the match. Venis stole Blackman's bag of weapons and brought it to the ring. Blackman looked to regain his weapons, so he attacked Venis in the corner. Blackman dominated most of the