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Post by Baker on Feb 11, 2019 3:46:12 GMT
I'm not surprised Bret/Benoit won but I am surprised by its margin of victory over Hardys/Edge & Christian and the fact that the first ever WWF tag team ladder match finished 3rd. They were my 1-2 the entire time with the debate being would I go with the old school beautiful match (TM Bret Hart) in honor of the late, great Owen Hart or would I pick the wild new school actionfest. In the end I decided to kick it old school. Bret/Benoit really did feel like the End of an Era. There hadn't been a match like that since at least Bret/Austin at Survivor Series '96. The star making ladder match was my #2.
I thought the RVD/Lynn matches would sort of cancel each other out. Turns out I was wrong again. A little surprised to see Living Dangerously over Hardcore Heaven since HH seems to get more love. HH actually missed my list at what would have been my #11. It might have been different if I watched them all but going strictly off memory I found HH rather superfluous. LD was Lynn's big breakout star making performance. I also went with their August '99 Arena match because it felt the biggest of the 3. I was pleased to see another person vote for that one (as their #1, no less!) and was equally thrilled to see it crack the Top 10.
Rock/Mankind is deserving of its high ranking due to it being one of the top 5 or 6 wrestling equivalents of a snuff film. I thought it might not age well for that reason. Turns out I was wrong yet again. Brutal match.
Taz/Awesome/Tanaka cracking the Top 10 was a pleasant surprise. It's my favorite Tanaka vs. Awesome match. Their matches were always good, but samey. Most of them just run together in my head. This one felt special due to Taz's involvement and the way it was booked. My cousin and I were on the edge of our seats watching it live once Taz got eliminated. Bringing out the roster to watch was another nice touch. I'm not sure the ECW Title had never felt bigger than it did here. Who would be the man to carry ECW in the tv era? Turns out it was Awesome after winning their usual stellar match. I know I was ready to get behind either man watching it live. It's just a shame Awesome peaked here.
I honestly don't really remember Rock/Austin- Backlash all that much. I liked it in real time as a good Attitude Era brawl sort of thing but couldn't give you any details. Didn't consider it for my list. 1999 was deeper than you might think thanks to non-WWF promotions. And even in real time this was a distance 4th on my WWF MOTY list.
DDP/Sting is probably the most famous WCW match I have yet to watch. Started a few months ago. Got distracted. Will have to do my homework and check it out. This one didn't get a ton of love back in the day. It was all Bret/Benoit Bret/Benoit Bret/Benoit. But nowadays this seems to have surpassed Bret/Benoit as most people's GOAT Nitro match.
You guys and your weird 1999 Taz/Sabu love. This one never even crossed my mind. Maybe I have a second homework assignment? In real time I thought this was a decent, maybe slightly above average match, that I rarely thought about again over the next 20 years.
Lynn/Storm is a solid pick that would have been #12 on my own list. Good 'technical' match that I rate as Storm's career bout and also the best non-RVD Jerry Lynn match I have ever seen.
My List
1. Bret vs. Benoit (#1) 2. Hardys vs. E&C (#3 tie) 3. Taz/Awesome/Tanaka (#7 tie) 4. Benoit & Malenko vs. Raven & Saturn- Spring Stampede 5. Rock vs. Mankind- Royal Rumble (#5) 6. RVD vs. Lynn- Living Dangerously (#2) 7. RVD vs. Sabu- ECW Arena 10/23 8. RVD vs. Lynn- ECW Arena 8/28 (#10 tie) 9. Juvy vs. Blitzkrieg- Spring Stampede 10. Test vs. Shane McMahon- Summerslam
I am saddened by the lack of love for Horsemen vs. Flock. Great match that could have easily been my #3. It was basically a throwback to the glory days of JCP tag team wrestling. Strong faces vs. strong heel with a red hot crowd. Or basically Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express with cooler moves. Also loved the finish though I suppose it hasn't aged well. Best WCW tag match since at least 1994 and a Top 10 WCW match of the 90s for me. Check it out if you haven't seen it.
RVD vs. Sabu at The Arena got the live show boost. They had an RVD vs. Sabu match for 30 minutes. 1999 me couldn't have asked for more. It was amazing live and held up surprisingly well when I watched it for the first time in nearly 20 years a few months ago.
Juvy/Blitzkrieg is a balls to the wall actionfest with a killer finish. Another one I'm surprised didn't fare better in this countdown.
Is Shane/Test better than RVD/Lynn- Hardcore Heaven? Probably not. But it's far more memorable (to me). I was expecting a lousy sports entertainmentfest. Yet these two unheralded guys ended up having a wild balls to the wall brawl that far exceeded expectations. I decided to reward that rather than the 3rd best RVD/Lynn match of 1999.
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 11, 2019 10:27:36 GMT
Ah, gotta get caught up! Let's do tag teams first. 1 Kane & X-Pac 2 The Acolytes 3 The Hardy Boyz 4 Edge & Christian 5 The Filthy Animals 6 Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 7 Raven & Perry Saturn 8 The Jersey Triad 9 The Dudley Boyz 10 The Rock 'n' Sock Connection Total markdom won out and carried the day on my list. Kane & X-Pac could quite possibly be my favorite Of Mice and Men odd couple pairing of all time. As has been stated though, the angle where they ended the team came arguably too early and was mishandled too. I think it damaged X-Pac more than Kane though, as I think this was when "X-Pac Heat" came into vogue. Meanwhile, Kane went on to have a decently solid 2000-2002 IMO. The pre-APA were my favorite "real" team, paralleling X-Pac & Kane. Talk about a case of making chicken salad out of chicken shit. I gave zero fucks about Bradshaw prior to this tag team forming. And Farooq's stock had been seemingly irreparably damaged by becoming Rock's bitch in 1998. Yet, through this pairing, throughout 1999, I found myself not only caring deeply about these two but rooting them on to manhandle and destroy their in-ring victims with some of the stiffest offense this side of Hardcore Holly. I don't think I had any reason for putting the Hardyz over E&C. I guess maybe because they were actual brothers and had a team name? But at least E&C had a more legit run with the Brood earlier in the year. I dunno... They were really equals to me, had to split the difference somehow. I like Baker's rationale of giving a differential bonus for tag gold held. I think I cheated with my Filthy Animals pick so as to get to include every possible two-man iteration (minus, of course, anything involving Konnan). Most likely, if a gun was held to my head, I'd say this vote counted for Kidman & Mysterio. They edge out the rest of WCW's spring time tag team division, which really ended up sorted by my in-ring style preference. Dudleyz are so low on my list mostly due to being oblivious to how good their ECW stuff was and but more importantly when their best ECW stuff happened. Had I been forced to hazard a guess, I would've assumed 1998... but who knows. Their rough start in the WWF hurt them a bit, but then quickly finding their footing and making a major impression in the tail end of 1999 was enough to warrant a Top 10 spot on my list despite my ECW oblivion. RnS rounded out my list more due to respect for the era and the lasting impact this short-lived duo has had on WWF nostalgia.
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 11, 2019 10:30:01 GMT
Also... The only team I regret not finding space for, and deliberated bumping Rock 'n' Sock for, was Owen & Double J.
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 11, 2019 10:42:41 GMT
And matches:
1 Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz @ No Mercy 2 Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit @ 10/4 Nitro 3 Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn @ Living Dangerously 4 Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn @ Hardcore Heaven 5 The Rock vs. Mankind @ Royal Rumble 6 The Rock vs. Steve Austin @ Backlash 7 Shane McMahon vs. Test @ SummerSlam 8 Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac @ WrestleMania XV 9 Chyna vs. Pat Patterson & Gerald Briscoe @ 1/18 RAW 10 Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon @ St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The tag team ladder match was THE match of 1999, especially if you only lived in a WWF-only bubble.
Bret/Benoit got on my radar after the fact between IWC love and snippets being featured in the Malcolm in the Middle opening. Despite RVD and Lynn's mind-blowing sequences in their matches, neither of them will ever do pro wrestling better then Bret and Benoit. So Bret and Benoit making emotionally charged magic together gets the nod.
Speaking of RVD/Lynn, I discovered their matches after the fact and binged them all in rapid succession with no context. They were mind-blowing then, and even still now to some degree. Only problem was I had no clue which match was which; then, now, whenever. So I think I just assumed the PPV bouts had to have been the better ones, and I think I just listed mine chronologically?
The I Quit was to 1999 what the HIAC was to 1998. Plus, it was further immortalized in Beyond the Mat. So it claimed my final spot in my Top 5.
Rock/Austin from Backlash was everything their first Mania main event should've been.
Despite being a Shane hater, I loved his matches in 1999. At least those ones made arguably the most sense from both a storyline standpoint and an in-ring standpoint. It made sense Shane could stand a fluky chance against X-Pac considering X-Pac was built like a greasy string bean, and also that the Corporation had turned DX buddies against him. It made sense that an older brother might want to fight his sister's girlfriend, especially if the family doesn't approve of him. I guess marquee Shane matches didn't really start to offend me from a logic standpoint until his epic street fight with Kurt in 2001. Anyway...
I probably had Austin/Vince too low. And Chyna/Stooges is one of my favorite sports entertainment "matches", so had to give it some love.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2019 20:56:41 GMT
Don't know how but I forgot about Sabu vs RVD from the October ECW Arena show even though I remembered that show for my top 10 shows list. That match should have made my list around the 7 spot over the I Quit Match. I really wanted to go through and watch the matches @big Pete posted in the other thread but ran out of time, had I got the chance my top 10 would probably be a lot different:
1. RVD vs Jerry Lynn Living Dangerously 99 2. RVD vs Jerry Lynn Hardcore Heaven 99 3. Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm Anarchy Rulz 99 4. Masato Tanaka vs Taz vs Mike Awesome Anarchy Rulz 99 5. DDP vs Sting April Nitro 6. Bret vs Benoit Owen Tribute Match 7. The Rock vs Mankind I Quit Match Royal Rumble 8. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy vs Guido Anarchy Rulz 99 9. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka ECW on TNN Dec. 24th 10. Sabu vs Taz ECW on TNN October 29th 99
I did not vote for Sabu/Taz at Living Dangerously. It had a few cool spots but for me it was their most disappointing match, it was just a lot of aimless crowd brawling and didn't really have any type of flow. Maybe it was a match that was called on the fly like good workers are supposed to do, but neither guy was really good at calling a match on the fly. The match they had on TNN to me was a lot better. Still not a 5 star match that you would be blown away by but to me it's my favorite match they ever had, it just has a flow to it like maybe they laid it out move by move beforehand. The match just happened out of nowhere one Friday night on TNN without any hype or build, I believe it even opened the show. So what I thought I was tuning into another typical ECW on TNN episode(the ones leading up to this were not all that good if I remember correctly) turned out to be a surprise head to head clash between my two favorite wrestlers so I got really fucking hyped really fucking fast.
The match just feels like it meant something to both guys, at least that's the impression I got, like they knew this would be their last match ever. Sabu finally getting the clean win was also very huge in the kayfabe universe of ECW. Luckily I taped this one on VHS so I was able to watch the fuck out of it in the months that followed. Special match that had to make my list.
The RVD vs Jerry Lynn matches I haven't watched in a while but I remember there being a sentiment back then that these matches saved ECW at the time. These happened when all the wrestlers checks were bouncing and rumors of their demise were really becoming a reality. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure these matches had a big role in ECW getting the TNN deal. I mean if Paul E was going to show TV executives what ECW was about in 1999 surely he led off with these right? And surely they must have been impressed because they got the gig.
I flip flop on them all the fucking time. I think whichever one I watch last ends up becoming my new favorite. :lol: Last I remember I liked the Living Dangerously match a tad more because there was more action and a better finish but if I were to watch the Hardcore Heaven match right now I'd probably instantly change my mind.
And honestly I love Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm just as much as either of the RVD/Lynn matches. I'm probably the only one thats this crazy about this match but it's ok, I don't care, to me it's like a borderline 5 star match and I fucking love every god damned second of it, they just tore the fucking house down opening the show live on PPV on the first ECW PPV in the TNN era in front of the biggest crowd in ECW history and it's like the perfect match. Easily a top 3 all time ECW match and one of my favorite matches ever.
I had 2 other matches from Anarchy Rulz make my top 10 and I almost put a 3rd in RVD vs Balls. Man I have so much nostalgia and love for that show. I'll never forget the shock and awe and feeling like I got ripped off of my $20 when Taz was eliminated from that 3 way in like 90 seconds, I couldn't fucking believe it(didn't have internet so had no idea he was gone to WWF). Looking back this was one of the greatest wrestling shows ever let alone ECW.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2019 23:22:48 GMT
had RVD vs Jerry Lynn from the Arena in August as my #1. wanted to put the Hardcore Heaven match on the list and regretted not doing so right after submitting. could probably switch out some of those for that match. My second favorite one of theirs because Lynn came out of it looking like more of a beast and the smashed nose was an inadvertent yet nice callback to their 98 match. Really loved Taz vs Sabu from LD. Probably one of ECW's best main events. Loved the build and liked it a little more than Barely Legal. Their was a match Sabu had with Lynn in the build that I remember really liking even if it went to a no contest. Only nitpick to the match was one really out of character and place moment where Taz yells into a camera calling out people from WCW. Taz not focused on the match weakened it and the feud a little but some cool spots made up for it. Sabu took out a camera at one point getting suplexed!
Jerry Lynn vs Super Crazy vs Tajiri made the list. Show stealer. Sometimes its hard to do favourite matches because with bigger ones, I like to look into the build to. He had a really good match against Tajiri at Re-Enter the Sandman I wanted to put in. Lynn was just a great underdog face that year bleeding a decent amount and having the injured ribs made him someone to route for. Really like his match with Lance
ended up putting any Rock/Mankind match. Really couldn't decide and those matches are really better watched chronologically to make sense.
put Psycosis winning the title in their because I really liked him. Tajiri/Crazy at Crossing the Line made the list because something about that match really sticks out to me. only other matches of theirs that stick out as much are the Mexican Death Match and tv title switch. think they added a little extra to their usual insanity and the hot crowd helped.
Sabu vs Rhino is a random one. Really sold Rhino for me. Also saw a live version of it before it aired that was similar so maybe there's that.
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Post by Baker on Feb 11, 2019 23:55:16 GMT
10. Sabu vs Taz ECW on TNN October 29th 99 I did not vote for Sabu/Taz at Living Dangerously. Whoops. My bad. I just went back to fix it. Best Shows might be up tonight. Really all depends on whether or not I feel like doing the math after telling some more Royal Rumble stories.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 12, 2019 0:41:58 GMT
Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro): What a match. Not knowing about Bret's very near future title run, this match felt like the most significant thing Bret would do, like they finally got it right, and maybe that's still true. You could also say the same about Benoit. Through horrible circumstances, the two best wrestlers in the world were allowed to be the two best wrestlers in the world.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Living Dangerously): I've seen enough people that think about the grades of matches way more than I do have this above Hardcore Heaven, so I grant that it's probably true. HOWEVAH, the month before Living Dangerously, at a house show, I saw RVD and Jerry Lynn wrestle a near identical match to work their future Living Dangerously match out, so it never had the same impact on me. Plus, I also have a huge sentimental attachment to their Hardcore Heaven match.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Hardcore Heaven): The only ECW PPV I ever got to, and it was a good one, with this match being the best. I think this is Paul E.'s favorite match RVD and Jerry Lynn ever had. The week after he went into aggressive hype mode doing a voice over recap of it, and then he made sure on the first TNN show to make sure this was the first match his new audience saw. So, I am not alone. The thing I loved about the Hardcore Heaven match is it took all of the insane athleticism of their prior and future matches, but had that extra ingredient of a war. The Whole Fucking Show vs. The New Fucking Show was usually about who could top the other, Hardcore Heaven was about who could kill the other. In a way, it's the perfect representation of ECW because it was equal parts New Style Wrestling, which they helped usher in, and also Tables, Chairs and Blood Ultra Violence, which they also helped usher in. Also no real heel, no reel face. It was everything ECW was about in one match.
Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian (No Mercy): It was such a treat at the time. Considering where the TLC era of the tag division would go, it's easy to forget that before that, this was the fucking match. This was as good a tag match WWF had seen in ... I don't even know when. Although it cracks me up that it'll be forever referred to as the Terry Invitation Tournament (TIT). Really brings you back to 1999.
The Rock vs. Mankind (Royal Rumble): I haven't watched it in forever, so I actually didn't even vote for it. I'm sure it belongs, though.
Sting vs. DDP (Nitro): DDP was slightly ahead of his time on big match formulas, getting it right with Goldberg in '98 and then again Sting in '99.
Steve Austin vs. The Rock (Backlash): I rewatched this when I did Steve Austin Month (almost three years ago already!) and this match was so much fun. It was the second best match I saw them have, WM17 being the best, but without the dumbass ending of WM17, so a dark horse for their best match.
Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Taz (Anarchy Rulz): This match was so much fun the night it happened. I think I underrate it every time I rewatch because the Holy Shit factor can obviously only be experienced the first time.
Taz vs. Sabu (Living Dangerously): Is this the best title defense of the Taz Championship Era? I think it might be. To say Sabu worked his ass off in this match is redundant because he always does, but it seemed even more so here and made the match for me. Barely Legal was oddly lethargic, Wrestlepalooza was okay but overshadowed by everything that came after, this was the actual grudge match I had always expected. Sabu put a table on a guardrail, but not a bridge from the apron like he usually did (well he did that earlier only to get hand-and-arm Tazplexed through it), but then again in the 90 degree corner where two guard rails meet, making a sort of A with the table bridged between the two guard rails, then jumped from the rope outside onto it. Always loved that spot. Then dragon suplexed into another table in the corner of the ring. This insane effort just so he could job to Taz again for gazillionth time. We didn't deserve Sabu. Another favorite moment is Taz is beating Sabu up on the floor, talking shit to the camera, calling out Flair and Hogan, just being a badass, then Sabu randomly fishhooks him and Taz yells, "Ahhhh, you cocksucka." Always cracks me up. Perfect comedic timing by both.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (ECW Arena 8/28): I know Jerry Lynn would go on to win the ECW Heavyweight Title and he'd get a cup of coffee in the WWF, but being in the greatest rivalry of the year, wrestling at the ECW Arena against that rival, a rival who is one of the most over people EVER at that Arena, and they're pulling for Jerry Lynn to win has to be the true peak of his career.
Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm (Anarchy Rulz): Goddamn, Jerry Lynn truly was the New Fucking Show of 1999. Another very good match. Is this Lance Storm's best match ever? I think it might be. Mr. JL putting in the work.
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Post by Shootist on Feb 12, 2019 3:43:19 GMT
1. The Dudley Boyz 2. Burning (Kobashi and Akiyama) 3. Sabu and RVD 4. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko 5. The Acolytes 6. Rock N' Sock Connection 7. Edge and Christian 8. Hardy Boyz 9. Chair Swinging Freaks 10. The Untouchables (Misawa and Ogawa)
1. Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit- Owen Hart Tribute (Nitro 10/4) 2. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Super Power Series 6/11) 3. Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Hardcore Heaven 5/16) 4. Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (November 2 Remember 11/7) 5. Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (Living Dangerously 3/21) 6. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW Summer Action Series 7/23) 7. Kenta Kobashi vs. Vader (AJPW Champions Carnival 4/16) 8. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader (October Giant Series 10/30) 9. Burning vs. The Untouchables (AJPW Excite Series 3/6) 10. Steve Austin vs. The Rock (Backlash 4/25)
Kobashi/Akiyama vs Misawa/Ogawa is just a fun match with the former partners breaking in two young lions. Kobashi's Burning Hammer was the ace up the sleeve though to get them the win. Vader got back in the groove tossing bombs with Kobashi and winning the Champions Carnival. Vader would later have his crowning moment in October though finally beating Misawa for the belts. What would be the final Triple Crown match between Misawa and Kawada didn't dissapoint although the result to some was. Kobashi and Misawa pushed the modern All Japan style to it's limit but even after kicking out of the Tiger Driver '91 Kobashi falls to Misawa in the end. 1999 had some questionable booking decisions all around for All Japan as the Triple crown was like a hot potato in the first half with the wrong people going over in some cases. Kawada's broken arm early in the year threw everything off.
Austin/Rock at Backlash perfectly encapsulates 1999 WWF with the stooges as guest ring announcer/timekeeper and Vince having his fingerprints all over everything. Plus Austin and Rock do some fun crowd brawling and the use of the monitors iirc.
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Post by Baker on Feb 12, 2019 3:59:40 GMT
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 12, 2019 4:05:52 GMT
Interesting/surprising results.
Again, my list was primarily governed by a real-time WWF exclusivity and then retrospective loyalty that automatically precluded a lot of probably deserving WCW and ECW shows. For what it's worth, Spring Stampede was my favorite WCW tape to rent from Blockbuster, so I'm glad to see it end up so highly ranked.
1999 WWF (and probably WCW and ECW) seemed like the peak of an era where PPVs stopped mattering as stand-alone shows, and they almost really became more about hooking people for the following night's TV. As such, and to better represent the year's vibe this way, I loaded my list with a lot of TV episodes:
1 RAW 1/4 - Mankind wins the world title 2 SmackDown! 8/26 - Series Premiere feat. Rock vs. HHH w/ special guest ref HBK 3 SummerSlam 4 Backlash 5 RAW 5/24 - RAW is Owen 6 St. Valentine's Day Massacre 7 RAW 8/16 - HHH, Chyna, and Mankind: #1 Contenders 8 RAW 12/27 - Pink Slip on a Pole 9 RAW 2/15 - Ladder Match: Rock vs. Mankind, Kane/Shane vs. HHH/X-Pac 10 RAW 1/25 - I Quit: Rock vs. HHH
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Post by Shootist on Feb 12, 2019 4:32:10 GMT
1. AJPW Giant Baba Memorial Show (5/2) 2. WWF Backlash (4/25) 3. ECW Anarchy Rulz (9/19) 4. WCW Spring Stampede (4/11) 5. ECW Living Dangerously (3/21) 6. AJPW Summer Action Series- Day 13 (7/23) 7. ECW Hardcore Heaven (5/16) 8. WCW Monday Nitro (10/4) 9. WWF Monday Night Raw (5/24) 10. WWF Monday Night Raw (6/28)
The Baba Memorial show had Vader/Misawa in the main event and the Road Warriors return to All Japan after a decade's absence on the undercard teaming with brother Johnny Ace against Kobashi/Akiyama and Hakushi, good stuff. Plus Kawada made Hiro Hase look like a legit threat again in a seriously underrated match.
Raw Is Owen seems to be on twice, god that was an awful show to get through. Truth be told it was the only time I appreciated Jeff Jarrett, his speech really felt from the heart.
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Post by Big Pete on Feb 12, 2019 5:43:13 GMT
The Dudley Boyz - I didn't appreciate how jarring their WWF run was until I went back and watched those old ECW Shows. I only had a certain level of appreciation for the Dudleys and never truly considered myself a fan. In the WWF they had devised a nice formula for themselves and it worked to a point, but by 2002 it had grown stale and there was nothing they could do to fix that. I never truly appreciated how great a trash-talker Bubba was until I watched those ECW segments. As much fun as I was having, it's tough watching those segments and realising that Joel Gertner never made the impact he should have on the business. He was hilarious and very few performers in the industry have made me laugh as much. I do think their transition to the WWF hurt them initially but by December you could tell they had won the office over and were beginning to make the most of their opportunities. Their match against the Rock n Sock connection was the longest match on Raw that year and is a fun slice of sports entertainment.
The Hardy Boyz - I touched on it in my post about feuds, but with teams like Edge & Christian & The Hardy Boyz, I found the rivalry was so strong, it was difficult to be a fan of both. It wasn't until their reunion in 2006 I began to appreciate their work and in revisiting the WWF in 1999, began to see just how adept they were. The Hardy Boyz were real students of the game, taking pieces they saw from the Rock n Roll Express, The Midnight Rockers, Rob Van Dam & Sabu and melding it into their own vision. Matt was the ideas man who possessed wonderful creativity and an understanding of how to put a match together. Jeff was his stunt man, a guy who was willing to try anything and like Juventud Guerrera could pull it off 9/10. The first thing you think off when it comes to the Hardyz and 1999 is the ladder match, but the truth was they were having the best matches on the card with a wide variety of opponents. From the New Age Outlaws, to Goldust & Meanie they could work around limitations and entertain a crowd like very few could.
Edge & Christian - I feel like we got the order right here. With Edge and Christian the old adage of 'work smarter, not harder' applies and there were a lot of matches where they came up with some wonderful tag team maneuvers, but didn't know how to make sense of them in the context of the match. I think back to their match against the New Age Outlaws at Unforgiven 1999 as a good example. Still, they had good chemistry together and while they couldn't quite put the pieces together, the pieces themselves were promising.
Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko - If I had to pick a style of tag team that I enjoy, it would be Benoit & Malenko. Two guys who know how to work a hold, can work babyface or heel as effectively as the other and can put together a match where the end result feels important. Bottom line, if you asked me to sit through an entire collection of matches from any one tag team on this list, Benoit & Malenko would be my pick. They pulled a great tag team match out of the nWo B-side for christ sakes!
Impact Playaz - I like the New Age Outlaws comparison, it isn't perfect but it captures the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It's a shame tag team wrestling all but died in 2003 because the Impact Playaz would have been a good addition to the roster and would have made Storm more marketable beyond being a Dave Taylor stand-in.
The Acolytes - Bradshaw and Farooq did a good job of presenting themselves as hosses, but I found their 1999 underwhelming. Russo wasn't a fan and they could never get any consistent in-ring time. Even when they won the WWF Tag Team titles, it was more or less a transitional reign that was quickly forgotten about.
X-Pac & Kane - They had a good dynamic with Pac being a good babyface in peril and Kane providing a nice hot tag. Pac also had one of the best babyface comebacks in the business at the time, which always made for an exciting finish. Unfortunately it was at odds with the booking and I wasn't a fan of how overt they were with their relationship. What I loved most was how desperate they were with the 'no homo' shtick they had to desperately give Kane a girlfriend.
Raven & Saturn - While it was odd to see Raven and Saturn reconcile after such a long drawn out feud, they did have great chemistry together as a tag team and knew how to lay out an effective match. Raven had a good grasp on the business and knew how to blur old school sensibilities with modern visuals and Saturn was one of the hardest working guys in the business. It's a shame Raven had surgery when he did because they seemed well on their way to finding their feet in WCW.
Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr - There's very few performers I'd rate above Rey Mysterio. He's one of the few guys who could combine athleticism with in-ring expertise and could work with just about anybody. Rey would go onto become a great tag team wrestler, but it was with Kidman he found success in WCW and the two worked well in tandem together. They seemed to borrow from the Rob Van Dam & Sabu style where it was all about this friendly rivalry and one-upping the other which was fun because both guys could go in the ring.
Rock n Sock Connection - In the ring they didn't have the best chemistry, but on the microphone they were something else and it was just exciting to see two naturally funny people play off one another. For a team that didn't have much of a run, it's amazing how much of an impression they left on the audience. You could include them as one of the greatest WWF Tag Teams and most people would go along with you.
Matches
Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - Nitro 4/10/99 - It goes to show how talented Bret and Benoit were that they can call a 27 minute match in the ring and it never feels boring. This was such a rarity in an era where everybody relied on props or big stunt dives to make for a compelling match.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn - Living Dangerously 99 - I couldn't wait for this list to pop up because this is where my homework paid off. For years, I had a tough time telling between the two RVD/Lynn matches, they both seemed pretty similar but watching them back to back there's some clear differences. I much prefer this over their rematch since I find the drama of Rob Van Dam being caught on the back-foot a lot more compelling than him being in control.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn - Hardcore Heaven 99 - I was do disappointed coming back to this match. A little behind the scenes, I actually watched this match first off the Rise and Fall of ECW set and was caught off guard with how plodding it was in parts. Granted, Jerry Lynn was knocked out during the match which only complicated matters, but even the opening five or so minutes with Rob Van Dam hot-dogging to the crowd feels like an eternity. To the matches credit considering Lynn's condition it should have been worse than it was, but it's still a boring and sloppy match.
The Hardy Boyz vs. The New Brood - No Mercy '99 - I like how the crowd goes from not caring about anyone in the ring to eventually popping for every high spot like it's a Stone Cold Steve Austin match. This is a match where the flaws actually put over the talent and just how inexperienced they are. There's a few moments where it seems like the participants did more damage to themselves, but the recklessness puts over the lengths these teams are willing to go through to make a name for themselves.
The Rock vs. Mankind - Royal Rumble '99 - I thought this was one of the more original matches in Pro Wrestling history until I realised Mick took a bunch of ideas from the match he had with Douglas and remixed him here. Still, the lack of nuance here actually makes for a more compelling match as you see one of the 'coolest' wrestlers go to his absolute breaking point as he repeatedly bashes another man's skull in with a steel instrument. It feels like you're watching a murder take place, like everybody's favourite uncle is getting beaten infront of their eyes yet he still won't throw in the towel.
Sting vs. DDP - Nitro 26/4/99 - This is the best straight forward babyface vs. heel match of the year, and possibly of the entire era. Sting brought his A game to this one and had more fire than any babyface and he really brought the fans to life. Page was one of the hardest working faces and he always had good ideas. I liked how they went back to the well and used the same finish from the March 23rd 98 edition of Nitro. It was a great finish in 98, it was just as over in 99.
Steve Austin vs. The Rock - Backlash '99 - I've grown to appreciate the art of an Attitude Era brawl. For years I thought they were a crutch, but there was a logic to it and when done properly it could still be entertaining. In Rock/Austin you had two great performers, nobody had Austin's intensity and nobody was willing to bump like The Rock. They had a good match at Wrestlemania, but this was even better now without the special referee distraction. Settling on Shane gave the match a much needed focus and only came into play when it mattered. The one part of this match that sticks out beyond all else is The Rock's hot-dogging. This was actually a good example with The Rock stealing the camera and giving us a POV shot of him taking a Stunner - that's the over-the-top sports entertainment wrestling I can appreciate.
All of those other ECW matches are a blur. I remember enjoying them enough, but I haven't studied them enough to offer a valuable opinion.
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Post by Big Pete on Feb 12, 2019 12:34:34 GMT
When it comes to shows, I tend to agree with PI that the journey was often more enjoyable than the destination, especially in 1999. However, so many of those Raw and SmackDown shows run together, I didn't feel confident enough to say the Raw where Austin saved Stephanie from the black wedding, or the Raw where The Rock beat both members of the Corporate Ministry because I can barely remember the rest of the show. For all I know, there was a Beaver Cleavage or Nicole Bass segment that ruined the show. I know that's the case with the Jan 4th episode where outside of the main event, the rest of the show sucks a big fat one, with that PMS segment being especially heinous. (Can you tell I've been subjected to a lot of SVU?)
WWF Backlash - This was the first time the WWF had ever run a Wrestlemania main event on the next PPV. This eventually became an annoying practice, usually taking away from the significance of the Wrestlemania show, this was the WWF's opportunity to correct the mistakes from Austin/Rock. When the two met at Wrestlemania, they put together a fantastic WWF style brawl, but there were short-comings that prevented it from being as important as it should have been. The feud wasn't personal enough, Austin forgot his jacket and there was far too much emphasis placed on who would officiate the damn thing - did anyone care who officiated an Ali/Frazier fight? The pair put on what I consider the best WWF main event of the year and both men were able to maintain their heat. The undercard was one of the strongest the WWF put together and while I felt in certain instances it didn't deliver, everybody was over enough to overcome those short-comings.
WCW Spring Stampede - I haven't seen this show in full yet, but have picked apart individual matches which were enjoyable. It reads like a good show, but I never liked the creative behind the main event and thought it hurt everyone involved. DDP winning the WCW Title should have been a triumphant moment, instead it was one of the worst anti-climaxes in the company.
Anarchy Rulz - ECW is really drawing the short straw with me this tournament, because the show just doesn't have the same emotional connection as others. From what I recall, every match on the card was at least good. Mike Awesome winning the ECW Championship felt novel and in an era filled with 'controversial title runs' this felt like the most palatable. Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney maybe the most surprisingly good match of the era and could very well be the best main event match any company had in 1999. The last time I saw it, I wasn't blown away, but then I was too busy listening to Paul Heyman and Rob Van Dam provide guest commentary. That was a trip because it's Paul Heyman in 2004 shilling for ECW. It's a shame that Paul has all but absolved himself of the company, because I feel like there's a ton of stories that have just been lost.
WWF SummerSlam - I actually think this show delivered more than Backlash, the problem is that creative wasn't up to snuff. I thought the WWF did a poor job of making HHH feel like a worthy successor to Stone Cold Steve Austin and thought the way they played around with the SummerSlam main event distracting. This would have been fine on a show like Unforgiven, but as a marquee show, it didn't feel right. A big part of that was timing. They had just 'ended an era' a month prior and found themselves with nobody at the right level to take on Austin. HHH had made strides by this point, but hadn't received enough consistent booking to feel at that level. Austin copped a lot of flack for not putting HHH over, but I can't blame him and I feel he made the right call. By October, HHH had gone another level and it made for a more compelling match (although PPV audiences disagree, No Mercy was one of the worst performing shows of the year). Still, it was weird to see Mankind win the WWF Title and was the most transparent transitional reigns since Randy Savage a month prior. The rest of the card doesn't read well on paper, but the matches hold up better than most of the matches on the Backlash card, including the piece of sports entertainment brilliance that was Shane McMahon & Test. That was such a well put together match, I can only presume Patterson came up with it. Bottom line, the boys worked a good show top-to-bottom but the stories weren't as strong as they should have been.
Raw Is Owen - I have mixed feelings. Dedicating a show to Owen was the least the company could have done, and I'm not sure how I feel about putting everyone at their most vulnerable infront of a camera. If the talent wanted to do it, fine, but if it was the company idea and they pushed for it then I feel uneasy. Maybe I've just become cynical over the years, but profiteering over a death that was the company's responsibility is just gross. I can't imagine a situation where the talent wouldn't accept a week off to escape from the tragedy, I just can't. I don't want it to seem like I'm attacking anybody's taste here either, it's obviously one of the most memorable Raws and as a fan there was a level of catharsis but I feel it's important to be honest.
Raw 4/1/99 - I referenced this show earlier and again as a single moment, there were few better than Foleys original WWF title win. If you were on the net you would have seen it coming, but imagine being in that building, sitting down for another predictible shmozz only for Austin's theme music to hit. That pop gives me goosebumps, I know it's coming and I can't help it. To see so many people get lost in that one moment is just amazing to me and Foley's title win is beyond a shadow of a doubt the best feel good moment in all of Pro Wrestling. Better than Bret beating Yoko, better than Goldberg beating Hogan, better than Benoit and Eddie embracing (even when it happened), better than Bret reuniting the Hart Foundation, better because they took a ficticious moment and made it real. It was at that moment the WWF reminded the audience that they were going to treat them to these moments, while over on TNT we saw all the same self-serving horse-shit that ultimately killed the company.
I don't have a problem with the other ECW shows making the count, again, I just want to leave that discussion to the experts.
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Post by Baker on Feb 13, 2019 1:39:58 GMT
Raw Is Owen seems to be on twice, god that was an awful show to get through. Truth be told it was the only time I appreciated Jeff Jarrett, his speech really felt from the heart. D'oh. Fixed. Thanks for the heads up. The 14 point, Top 10 finish was accurate. I double checked to be sure. Deleted the other one. Backlash was another surprise winner. I had it as a two horse race between other, non-WWF shows. Still, this was a good 'un that won consensus WWF Show of the Year honors. You guys have already discussed the main event. What really puts it over the top for me is having the strongest undercard of any 1999 WWF ppv. HHH/Xpac felt big. Taker/Shamrock was unique. I was weirdly hyped for New Age Outlaws vs. Owen & JJ and the match itself delivered for me in real time. Felt like a throwback tag match of sorts. The only real time disappointment was Mankind/Show, which I probably underrated due to expecting an absolute war on par with the Vader/Cactus matches since visions of 1996 Giant still danced through my head. Bonus points for the show ending with Taker's (in)famous "Where to, Stephanie?" line. The two horse race for my top spot that I mentioned earlier was between Spring Stampede & Anarchy Rulz. I gave Spring Stampede the nod. It was the best $5ish impulse purchase I ever made at a Blockbuster. I had no idea it was a 'classic' show. I just thought the card looked cool and decided to take a chance since this was 01-02 when I was catching up on all that late 90s WCW stuff I missed. SS turned out to be a blowaway great show with a little something for every type of fan. Horsemen vs. Flock and Juvy vs. Blitzkrieg (last great WCW cruiser match?) just cracked my 1999 MOTY list. Bam Bam vs. Hak was a shockingly good hardcore match that would probably be legendary had it taken place in the ECW Arena. Shame about that terrible commentary though. Kidman/Rey was more fun cruiserweight action. S. Steiner/Booker was solid. Gotta love Steiner at his most roided breaking out his last(?) top rope frankensteiner. Goldberg/Nash was a decent Big Star match highlighted by Nash leapfrogging(!) a Goldberg spear. Most athletic thing Nash ever did? The main event was an even better Big Star match that I liked a lot more than Big Pete. I thought DDP was the man in that match. Finally winning the belt on a heel turn after injuring babyface Hogan feels like a thing that should have been much bigger than it ended up being. Imagine DDP going all slimy heel champ for 3 months with the Triad as backup until Hogan makes his triumphant return at the July or August pay per view. $$$$$. Now I kind of want to rebook 1999 WCW.... I suppose the lack of context also helped me accept DDP's big win. I had no allegiance to/history with DDP as a people's champ style babyface. So DDP embracing his slimy heel roots to reach the top was fine by me. Anyway, Spring Stampede is not just THE show of 1999. It's one of the greatest WCW pay per views of all time, period. We're talking Top 10 here. Anarchy Rulz was my real time show of the year. Taz/Awesome/Tanaka was the usual good Tanaka/Awesome war taken to the extreme due to the enormity of the situation. Lynn/Lance also cracked our Top 10 MOTY list for a reason. Fine pro wrestling that. RVD/Balls exceeded everybody's expectations but *hipster alert* my own since I knew what they were capable of due to having seen them tear the house down at The Arena. Still cool to see their match play out in front of a large audience on PPV though. Forgotten Fun Fact: RVD's opponent was supposed to be All Japan's Johnny Smith. Heyman changed it at the very last minute for reasons I forget. I guess the Cruiserweight 3 way was fun. Those usually are. I just don't remember it. Sabu/Credible had a great months-long build but I thought the match itself was a disappointment with the 'wrong guy' winning. Dreamer & Raven had a filler title defense over the not-quite-there-yet duo of Corino & Rhino. ECW Arena 10/23 gets the live show boost. This was the last great ECW Arena spectacular. Seeing RVD/Sabu (aka: the Flair/Steamboat of My Generation) tear down the house for 30 minutes was worth the price of admission alone, and would have been THE highlight of 99% of the shows that took place in '99. Yet that was topped when Sandman made his triumphant return a short time later. GOAT live show moment, and in a world where Mick Foley didn't win the WWF Championship this would be THE moment of the year in all of wrestling. This show also had a sneaky good undercard. Mikey Whipwreck returned as well that night to die against Awesome in the opener. There was a big angle with Da Baldies stapling New Jack in the eye. Over a thousand people were throwing up the 'X' and marking out for New Jack. Then it was like one big giant "OOH!" when Jack got stapled in the eye. Felt like a Big Deal. One asshole started a (dickishly clever in hindsight) "One Eyed Jack" chant. He was immediately shouted down by a thousand+ New Jack marks. This show also had the surreal "Hardcore Holly" chant AND a Lynn/Tajiri match I don't even remember that had to be at least solid. GRRRRREAT show! No regrets having it as my #3. Living Dangerously- For nearly two decades the wisest wrestling sages have asked a question that has baffled even the most astute extremists "What is the 4th greatest ECW pay per view?" with no consensus developing. I thought I had finally found the answer to this age old question. Taz/Sabu may not have been great, but it was solid, and certainly the biggest Taz title defense on pay per view. Think this show also had that awesome Taz promo where he calls out the Big Two champs. Normally I rolled my eyes at this sort of grandstanding when done by the likes of Shane Douglas or *insert prime ROH champ of your choice* but with Taz I just nodded along and said "yep." For Taz was on that rare 1990 Larry Zbyszko "Best In The World" level of greatness where I totally bought into everything he said. More famously, this show also had Jerry Lynn's star making performance opposite RVD. We saw another chapter in the Crazy/Tajiri rivalry. Impact Players vs. Shane & Tommy wasn't a great match but it did have that big match feel with a cool "cocky young punks vs. company legends" storyline. Even in defeat it established the Impact Players as....well, impact players. There was a moment in that match where Douglas teased a heavily predicted heel turn and I was all "No! Don't do it Shane!" And he didn't! Hooray! New Jack beating Mustafa to blow off their underrated little feud was cool. Mustafa coming back to turn heel on Jack was the best possible use of Mustafa in 1999. And with his story complete, he was gone. Heyman once again getting the most out of his talent. Living Dangerously also marked one of the first times big balls Corino became a martyr for his cause by catching a beating from the man with the biggest Balls of all. So, yeah, I thought I had finally found a definitive answer to that age old question posed by wrestling sages......until I realized stupid Spike & shitty Sid beat the Dudleys here rather than Hardcore Heaven as I thought until last night. Dammit! That pissed me off so much in real time. How are two randoms (who suck) going to beat The Best Tag Team In The World for all to see live on PPV?!? Way to treat your 3rd biggest and best act, Paul E, ya goober. And because of that the search must continue..... (But seriously though. Living Dangerously '99 rules surprisingly hard, right? Kilgore shinobimusashi @fisto I need thoughts.) I haven't seen Cyberslam, November To Remember or Summerslam. And here I was considering myself a big fan of 1999 wrestling.....Sad. Unlike 🤯 I didn't even research Raw's/Smackdown's this time around. But two WWF tv episodes did stand out above the rest. One is Raw Is Owen. I get why this show is polarizing nowadays but in real time it provided the closure I needed on the life of the late, great Owen Hart. Definitely the saddest show in wrestling history. I usually don't cry when friends and relatives die. Yet I spent at least two nights in May of 1999 balling for one of my all time wrestling heroes in Owen Hart. (Moral of the story: I'm a little messed up) But, yeah, I lost it for those tributes to Owen from the likes of JJ & Mark Henry. Nor was I alone at our weekly Raw viewing party. Like 4 or 5 other people kept getting something in their eye that night. I'm glad Pete mentioned the rest of Raw 1/4 sucking just because I was curious how the rest of that show went. It doesn't matter. Foley winning the title is the greatest moment of the year. Greatest moment in Raw history. Greatest wrestling moment of all time. That alone makes an otherwise pedestrian Raw worthy of a Top 10 spot. I left my #10 spot blank rather than give it to the leading candidate in Hardcore Heaven. This is mainly because I mistakenly thought the Dudleys vs. Sid & Spike debacle happened here. But even without that I don't think this was a great, or even good show. It was basically a lesser version of all the PPVs/supercards surrounding it. Plus I hated the way Taz was booked. Opening the show by squashing a midcarder and then main eventing with a win over a tag team specialist is no way to treat a world champion. My List1. WCW Spring Stampede (#2 tie) 2. ECW Anarchy Rulz (#2 tie) 3. ECW Arena 10/23 (#5) 4. WWF Backlash (#1) 5. WWF Raw Is Owen (#9) 6. ECW Living Dangerously (#4) 7. WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre 8. WWF Raw 1/4 (#10 tie) 9. ECW Guilty As Charged St. Valentine's Day Massacre seems like it might be a sneaky good show. Austin vs. Vince was a main event spectacle 18 months in the making that featured a Big Moment with the debuting Big Show inadvertently helping Austin win. Rock & Mankind had their usual solid Attitude Era brawl. Holly/Snow was a unique match that I probably liked more than most people (they fought in the Mississippi River!). I even vaguely remember D'Lo & Henry vs. Owen & JJ being solid (though there is a 50/50 chance I'm mixing that up with some other match). Guilty As Charged was basically list filler. The Big Moment of Taz finally becoming ECW Champ by beating Douglas (with Sabu cameo) and The Dudleys being awesome was enough to crack the bottom of said list. Dudleys were the highlight of the show. They won their match. Left a lot of bodies in their wake. Then cut one of their typically awesome heel promos. Called out Public Enemy, which marked first and only time I had ever looked for to seeing Public Enemy. This also had the first (high profile) Tajiri/Crazy encounter. RVD/Storm was decent enough in a 1993 Royal Rumble sort of way, while Dreamer/Credible might have been as well. *Will post the last category, PW's Favorite Wrestlers of 1999, either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Â
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 13, 2019 2:01:52 GMT
Living Dangerously- For nearly two decades the wisest wrestling sages have asked a question that has baffled even the most astute extremists "What is the 4th greatest ECW pay per view?" with no consensus developing. I thought I had finally found the answer to this age old question. Taz/Sabu may not have been great, but it was solid, and certainly the biggest Taz title defense on pay per view. Think this show also had that awesome Taz promo where he calls out the Big Two champs. Normally I rolled my eyes at this sort of grandstanding when done by the likes of Shane Douglas or *insert prime ROH champ of your choice* but with Taz I just nodded along and said "yep." For Taz was on that rare 1990 Larry Zbyszko "Best In The World" level of greatness where I totally bought into everything he said. More famously, this show also had Jerry Lynn's star making performance opposite RVD. We saw another chapter in the Crazy/Tajiri rivalry. Impact Players vs. Shane & Tommy wasn't a great match but it did have that big match feel with a cool "cocky young punks vs. company legends" storyline. Even in defeat it established the Impact Players as....well, impact players. There was a moment in that match where Douglas teased a heavily predicted heel turn and I was all "No! Don't do it Shane!" And he didn't! Hooray! New Jack beating Mustafa to blow off their underrated little feud was cool. Mustafa coming back to turn heel on Jack was the best possible use of Mustafa in 1999. And with his story complete, he was gone. Heyman once again getting the most out of his talent. Living Dangerously also marked one of the first times big balls Corino became a martyr for his cause by catching a beating from the man with the biggest Balls of all. So, yeah, I thought I had finally found a definitive answer to that age old question posed by wrestling sages......until I realized stupid Spike & shitty Sid beat the Dudleys here rather than Hardcore Heaven as I thought until last night. Dammit! That pissed me off so much in real time. How are two randoms (who suck) going to beat The Best Tag Team In The World for all to see live on PPV?!? Way to treat your 3rd biggest and best act, Paul E, ya goober. And because of that the search must continue..... (But seriously though. Living Dangerously '99 rules surprisingly hard, right? Kilgore shinobimusashi @fisto I need thoughts.) ... I left my #10 spot blank rather than give it to the leading candidate in Hardcore Heaven. This is mainly because I mistakenly thought the Dudleys vs. Sid & Spike debacle happened here. But even without that I don't think this was a great, or even good show. It was basically a lesser version of all the PPVs/supercards surrounding it. Plus I hated the way Taz was booked. Opening the show by squashing a midcarder and then main eventing with a win over a tag team specialist is no way to treat a world champion. My vote for the 4th best PPV is Hardcore Heaven '99. I was there, so I am bias, but I think it was legit very good.The Taz booking was odd, to say the least, but I thought it oddly worked with him bookending the event. I think it also was a great showcase for a potential Buh Buh Ray singles run, which probably would have happened if the Dudleys didn't sign with the WWF a few months later. Because there was no real threat for Taz, I thought it was cool that they just had him squash Candido (as he should), and then wrestle again just to give people their money's worth essentially. It'd be like if Tyson knocked somebody out in the first round and decided to just fight a second time the same night. The rest of the card ruled. RVD vs. Lynn speaks for itself. Storm vs. Tommy was notable. Sid was still booked exactly as he should have been and him coming out was one of the loudest pops I've ever heard. Super Crazy vs. Taka and Tajiri vs. Guido were exactly what you'd expect those matches to be, super solid ECW Cruiserweight action. I think it's a total sum of its parts card, where nothing other than RVD vs. Lynn seems like it would be anything to write home about, but as a total show one of the best shows of 1999. It reminds me a bit of The Doctor Is In, in that sense, but I remember any time I saw The Doctor is In in the ECW Merch catalogue, it looked like a generic show, but then I watched it and realized it was one of the Top 3 ECW Home Videos of all time. Hardcore Heaven '99 isn't quite that good, obviously, but it always had that sum of its parts vibe.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 3:49:13 GMT
Baker , loved Living Dangerously. what surprises me about it is 3 major angles got canned shortly before but it ended up ruling anyway. Candido vs Shane, Tommy/Funk storyline and The Public Enemy vs Dudleys feud unfortunately didn't work out, but we got a really nice and underrated Impact Players vs Tommy Shane feud instead. I'm completely against the Dudleys beating up Sid though. Really wish the Public Enemy angle could've worked out. I know Sid in ECW has been brought up an unnatural amount, but I really want to do a quick rebook of what I think his run should've been. He never came to any MA shows (by 99, ECW had moved up from running shows in baseball fields and greyhound parks in MA to nightclubs) so i don't know how loud we would've got for him. I can't hate on the man, but I'm not that big a fan either. but I did enjoy watching him destroy the undercard for a month or 2. Come Living Dangerously, it was time to do something with him. How about a match with Spike. It can be similar to Spikes matches with Bigelow, but maybe less offense from Spike and Sid comes off really heelish. Have Dudleys face Balls/Axl instead and Corino can factor in there somehow since I like him. make him a Dudley ally. Then we get to after the Impact Players match. Cyruss coming out to help beat down two of ECW's most iconic wrestlers was kinda lame. How about Sid joins the Impact Players and puts a major beatdown on Shane/tommy. Now the Impact Players are more of a stable, and every stable needs a muscle. Sid would be to them what Bam Bam was to the Tripe threat. Hated Sid easily beating up the Impact Players even more because they were just a little bigger of a deal to me than the Dudleys and it made it look like any big 2 guy can just have his way with 2 of ECW's most pushed wrestlers easily. They really should have just jumped on a Sid vs Sabu (maybe a stretcher match) or RVD ASAP. Fuck build. you gotta know Sid isn't sticking around long. maybe Sid beats Sabu at HH (unsanctioned) than loses to RVD in Detroit a few weeks later. Really wanted to put Anarchy Rules on but I liked N2R more. Also had cyberslam and that episode of hardcore tv with the Dudleys vs Spike/Balls match where Spike gets put through 2 flaming tables. think that would have been a great way to start TNN but now that I think about it, RVD vs Lynn from Hardcore Heaven was probably a better way to showcase the company.
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Post by Baker on Feb 13, 2019 18:29:02 GMT
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Post by Shootist on Feb 13, 2019 20:27:33 GMT
1. Chris Benoit 2. Taz 3. Rob Van Dam 4. Kenta Kobashi 5. Mitsuharu Misawa 6. Toshiaki Kawada 7. Steve Austin 8. Mick Foley 9. Jushin Liger 10. Vader
I was right in the middle of my Benoit fandom. I think this was the fourth time in a five year span he placed as my favorite wrestler (I think we did a thread about this on the old board.) He was on the cusp of being a world champion after years of toiling with at best brief single title runs in WCW so I was totally invested. I was so disappointed when he didn't win the tournament at Mayhem. Benoit was also one of the last threads to hold onto during my waning interest in WCW.
Seeing Taz as champion was so cool. I though he was going to be the face of ECW well into the new millenium.
RVD's TV title run in 1998-99 is really the only reign that should be compared to any Ric Flair world title run. He owned that TV title while having fantastic matches.
Getting mail order VHS tapes and waiting hours on Quicktime downloads for Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi matches are a fond memory of 1999. They provided a breathe of fresh air from the (my mentality at the time) kick and punch WWF/WCW main event scene. Watching Liger do his thing seemingly years after his prime and Vader return to beast mode were also fun (and at times tedious) to catch up on.
Yeah, Austin and Foley in 1999. Not much needs to be explained there.
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 13, 2019 21:19:15 GMT
1 The Rock 2 Mick Foley 3 Steve Austin 4 Rob Van Dam 5 Jeff Jarrett 6 Triple H 7 X-Pac 8 Kane 9 Chris Benoit 10 Chris Jericho
In my eyes, Rock had surpassed a growing-stale Austin to become THE ace face of WWF with a HUGE 2000 on the horizon for him.
Part of what helped kick Rock's 1999 into gear was the excellent work of Foley in the early months. While Foley himself would fade here and there throughout the year with injuries and random midcard feuds, he always had a home in my heart.
Austin was still Austin, of course, so he stayed in my top three.
RVD earned his spot retroactively.
Might've overrated Jarrett, but I had a soft spot for his tag team with Owen and then thought he was really finding a good groove with his IC title run.
HHH probably should've had Jarrett's spot, but oh well. He spent the first part of the year getting some things figured out as he bounced from DX to Corporation. By the time he changed his look and declared it "My Time", I was on board. Ended the year stronger than ever, and was poised for a 2000 as huge as Rock's. Maybe should've even had HHH over RVD.
X-Pac and Kane claim the next two spots because of my love for their pairing. In that order too because I always feel like Waltman deserves more love than he gets.
Of my beloved WCW spring tag team division, Benoit had the overall biggest/best year. I was ready for him to make a jump a la Jericho.
Jericho eeks out my #10 spot mostly on the back of his WWF debut hype and his actual debut moment. Aside from that, he might've been a little bit of filler for me.
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Post by 🤯 on Feb 13, 2019 21:23:44 GMT
Reflecting on my list and all the memories and new learnings concerning 1999 thanks to this thread so far, I think I would've/should've had my Top 10 look more like:
1 The Rock 2 Mick Foley 3 Steve Austin 4 Triple H 5 Rob Van Dam 6 Chris Benoit 7 Jeff Jarrett 8 Chyna 9 X-Pac 10 Kane
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Post by Baker on Feb 14, 2019 2:06:47 GMT
I liked Steve Austin far more in '99 than I had during the previous 2 1/2 years due to Stone Cold becoming more of a traditional babyface this year with stuff like helping Foley achieve the dream and saving Stephanie from Undertaker's Black Wedding. Plus I rooted for him over HHH in their little feud. While he was still far from a favorite, all this was more than enough to at least get Austin off my shit list.
Chris Benoit probably would have landed somewhere in the 20s on my list had I watched more WCW due to his Horsemen status and stellar tag team work with fellow 95-96 WCW darling Dean Malenko.
I was more of a Tajiri/Lynn/Crazy respecter than fan in 1999. Sure, I enjoyed their matches, but they fail the "Would I theoretically buy their t-shirt?" test.
My List
1. Mick Foley (#2) 2. Taz (#5) 3. Rob Van Dam (#1) 4. Jeff Jarrett (#9 tie) 5. Undertaker 6. The Rock (#3) 7. Steve Corino 8. Sabu (#7) 9. Owen Hart 10. Dudley Boyz
I go back and forth on whether Mick Foley or Memphis Jerry Lawler is the greatest babyface of all time. The Mickster was just so darn lovable. He's the ultimate People's Champ who scratched and clawed his way to the top by being the hardest working man in the business. I found it impossible to root against him. We've already discussed Foley winning the title, which is only the greatest markout moment in wrestling history. Nobody deserved it more than Mick. He honestly coasted for most of the year, relying more on Mr. Socko-related comedy than the willingness to die that initially got him noticed. And I'm ok with that! He had sacrificed enough. The man deserved a little break.
What really puts him over the top was his New York Times bestselling autobiography. People might forget how big of a deal that was at the time. It basically spawned a whole new revenue generator for wrestlers and promoters. Now it felt like I knew this guy I had been cheering for on and off since 1993. That book was even over with a particular suburban soccer mom I knew who hadn't watched wrestling since her daughter outgrew it during the New Generation. Mick Foley: Hero to everybody from the hardcores to soccer mom's. That about sums up his universal appeal.
Taz & RVD are basically interchangeable at #2 & #3. Both men carried their respective championships like they were the 1a & 1b Best In The World. Taz was the baddest man on the planet. RVD was the coolest man on the planet. It was about a wash in the ring (look, I LOVED Taz squashes, ok?). Taz was much better on the mic. Yet RVD was not just more over than Taz, but about as over as any wrestler can possibly be. Taz did miss the last few months due to signing a WWF deal BUT that only made me more intrigued for his future. RVD made Jerry Lynn a star and had good matches with everybody from Balls Mahoney to Sabu. You can't go wrong with either one of these icons of extreme. Plus I literally bought their shirts. So they pass the t-shirt test.
Jeff Jarrett finally found his footing in the Attitude Era. First came the cool, sort of old school throwback heel team with fellow New Generation alum Owen Hart. I'll admit I gained even more respect for JJ on Raw Is Owen. Then came the misogynist gimmick, with some celebrity beating throw in for good measure, where JJ reached his peak heel status/overness in a WWF ring. His last IC Championship run was probably the best of his 6. JJ was on fire as a heel for the first time since at least 1995. The big payoff with Chyna winning the belt was well booked. Then JJ got the better of Vince and I didn't even care. Rather than turn on JJ, I followed JJ in WCW more than I had followed any WCW guy since Flair in late 98. Ain't he great?
Undertaker- Was teflon. Unless he got really, really bad (like in 2000-01) I was always going to cheer for The Deadman. In '99, he not only went back to his evil roots, but took that evilness to the extreme. Yeah, maybe it was a little hokey at times, but I dug this new over the top Lord of Darkness. He was the monster heel WWF needed. I was into most of his angles like the sacrifices, Ministry, and Austin stuff. Plus THAT THEME! His batshit insane promo about leaving Big Show stranded in the desert is an all timer imo. He came. He got really, really weird. And then he left for a little while, with this heart growing even fonder during his latest hiatus in hell.
The Rock- Wasn't quite as consistently amazing every week the way he was in '98, but unless he was beating up Mick Foley, or being unreasonably mean to Mick as his own tag team partner, I was probably going to root for Rocky against anybody else in the company. Fwiw The Rock's Brahma Bull tee was literally the first of far too many wrestling shirts I owned. So he doesn't just pass the t-shirt test. He bah gawd invented it.
Steve Corino- The former local hero from the Apter Mags far exceeded my expectations by being an old school trash talking wimpy heel with a death wish. Corino was gold on the mic with balls of steel. Dude was no less than the Roddy Piper or Eddie Gilbert of my generation. His interactions with Tommy, Balls, and especially Taz & Limp Bizkit were glorious. Would go on to do even greater things in 2000 once his in ring game caught up with his sports entertainment game.
Sabu- I was really into the storyline where (I think) the Impact Players got him suspended. They'd do this thing where The Impact Players would find themselves in Unsanctioned Matches or Mystery Partner deals which gave Sabu a loophole to compete. Just classic pro wrestling bullshit that I ate up every single time. Then there was that awesome match with RVD at The Arena where I cheered for a wrestler (Sabu in this case) over RVD in 1999. I felt like the crowd was disrespecting Sabu and was all "Screw that! I'm cheering for the man who put this damn company on the map!" First dueling chant I was ever a part of, and this was before they became played out, so it was a really cool moment. Fwiw this would be the real time peak of my Sabu fandom until his awesome 2005-06 veteran legend runs in both TNA & WWECW.
Owen Hart- A legacy "Thank You" pick, but let's face it, if anybody in wrestling history deserves a sympathy vote, it's 1999 Owen Hart. Plus he was in that Taker/Flair/Foley teflon category, and I was also into his tag team with Jeff Jarrett.
Dudley Boyz- Formed that murderer's row of ECW champs alongside Taz & RVD. Quite honestly often surpassed those two greats to become the best part of ECW shows. Best finisher in the biz. Best tag team in the biz. In the running for best heels in the biz. They were on fire at Guilty As Charged and their last night with the company. Plus most nights in between, like that time when they got The ECW Arena to cheer for Justin Credible. They're only this 'low' because it took them a few months to find their footing in WWF. I mean, I was still rooting for them. Rooting hard even! But those first few months were rough. They had even reverted back to Bubba's stuttering gimmick. UGH! Anyway, they would have been worthy of a Top 5 slot here if I was only counting their ECW stuff, though I'm glad they eventually found their niche in WWF, and would go on to have a monster 2000. I loved me some Dudleys in 1999.
The List: Expanded
11. Hardcore Holly 12. Kurt Angle 13. Hardy Boyz 14. Acolytes 15. Kane 16. Sandman 17. Tommy Dreamer 18. Raven 19. New Jack 20. Edge & Christian 21. Too Cool & Rikishi 22. Mean Street Posse 23. Christopher Daniels 24. Balls Mahoney 25. The Godfather
Still Liked But Had Mostly Given Up On
26. Nova 27. D'Lo Brown
Other
*Vince McMahon- I don't know how to rank him. On one hand, he was definitely one of the Top 10 characters in wrestling this year. I loved the majority of his segments, and even some of his matches. Vince being evil or taking a beating from Austin ruled. Vince winning Royal Rumbles and WWF Championships, not so much. Plus Vince being the Higher Power was dumb. Could be anywhere from #11-#28 on this list.
WCW- Nobody really stands out as Top 20 material. Flair is the usual guy there, but even from afar I hated how they turned him heel mere months after his triumphant return. It would be like if ECW turned Sandman heel a few months into 2000. I mean, say what you will about 2000 ECW, but at least Heyman had the decency not to turn their returning hero heel. Anyway, I'm sure Flair, Benoit, Malenko, Saturn, DDP, Kanyon, and possibly Bret would have been competing for a spot in the 20s, while Raven likely receives a nice little boost, bumping him up a few spots.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 14:03:51 GMT
This was my top 10 shows:
1. ECW Anarchy Rulz 2. WCW Spring Stampede 3. ECW Cyberslam 4. ECW Arena October 23rd 99 5. ECW on TNN Dec. 24th 1999 6. ECW Living Dangerously 7. WWF Backlash 8. ECW November To Remember 99 9. ECW Crossing The Line 99 10. ECW House Party 99
Anarchy Rulz is my favorite wrestling show of all time. Put yourself in my shoes in 1999 if you will, you are 14 and have fallen head over heels in love with ECW, but it doesn't come on TV where you live and the tapes are like $35 which might as well be a million to your broke ass family. But with birthday money and such you are able to acquire a tape here and there out of the magazines/catalog, you see the ads for the ECW PPV's on TV from time to time and they make your heart race. But you can't afford to buy any PPV's ever, you mostly watch the scramblevision or wait a few months to read about the results in a magazine(or rent the tapes at the video store if it's WWF/WCW).
Anarchy Rulz was the first time I ever got to see a live ECW show on TV, also the first PPV I ever got to buy and watch live as it was happening after all those years of scramblevision and having to wait to read about it in a magazine or rent it at the video store 3 months later. I did get to see Fall Brawl 95 when my cable had a free preview of one of the PPV channels for a week and there was also that one time we got to see In Your House: Beware Of Dog through some type of satellite glitch, but those don't count. I bought Anarchy Rulz with my own hard earned $20, if I remember correctly it was the very last of my money I made from working that Summer for the first time(I paid my own money that Summer to get Dish Network on our trailer JUST so I could see ECW on TNN).
In real time I remember being somewhat disappointed with the show. I mean I thought it was extremely cool wrestling show but I kinda expected more from my first ECW PPV, I mean big things were happening for ECW it felt like they were on a huge rise, I would have robbed a bank or sacrificed a limb to be able to watch Anarchy Rulz, the ads on tv for it were dope as fuck and still give me goosebumps.
Fuck me. That ad still gives me chills :lol: 20 years later.
But it didn't live up to my unrealistic expectations for a first time live ECW PPV. New Jack didn't dive off of a 30 foot balcony. Sabu got beat by Justin Credible a scrub and Taz only wrestled like 90 seconds before being eliminated by 2 guys I had really never heard much about. Also the new Dreamer/Raven team wrestled against some nobodies(there was a big surprise opponent advertised) and RVD wrestled Balls Mahoney of all people in the main event. I fell asleep halfway through the main event(it was a school night!) but I taped the whole show to VHS. I completely fucking burned that tape out over the next few years and Anarchy Rulz is like burned into my heart.
It's really the perfect ECW show even in all of it's imperfections, it was wild and crazy and unpredictable with probably 4 of the greatest matches in ECW history, opening with a match that I would put against any ECW match ever in Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm. New Jack destroying jabronis to Natural Born Killaz was so awesome. The three way with Tajiri vs Crazy vs Guido is another all time great. Sabu vs Justin Credible was fucking awesome. And the whole set up with Heyman and Taz cutting promos and the tension with Taz going to WWF and the crowd turning on him, then the title match was just unreal and the quintessential ECW segment/match going from the promos into Taz being eliminated first(which if you where following the kayfabe universe of ECW was huge like Taker streak ending, especially if you was like me with no internet access didn't know Taz was going to WWF) seguing into Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka absolutely tearing the fucking house down. It tops off with RVD vs Balls EXCELLENT fucking match. It's the perfect ECW show really, in front of the biggest crowd they ever had, my favorite wrestling show.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 14:32:27 GMT
I rewatched Spring Stampede before making my list and it still holds up really well. I've been trying to go through 99 WCW and I've realized the first few months really weren't as bad as I remembered. Both Souled Out and Superbrawl were solid PPVs and Spring Stampede has always been one of their finest PPV shows of that whole era. I guess in real time I was just too salty about them killing Wrath and Goldberg and booking Bret to be everything he never was and never should be(a coward feigning injury to dodge opponents and using weapons and hokey cheating tactics to win matches). Also in real time I was just not a fan of what they were doing with all my favorite guys, Rey, Dean, Benoit, Booker, Jericho, Raven, Saturn, all these guys should have been doing WAY bigger things than what they were at that time.
Cyberslam is another one of my all time favorite ECW shows. I felt like it was just a better all around show for ECW than most of the others almost ever match was really good and you had that great ECW Arena crowd/atmosphere. Also so jealous of Baker for being there for the October 23rd show. I rented that show on one of the RF Video or Highspots on demand deal a few years ago and it was spectacular.
I was glad to see Living Dangerously and Hardcore Heaven getting some love in this thread. Hardcore Heaven was a late cut. ECW really did make big strides on PPV in 1999, they stepped up their game and came off a bit more big league than their 97-98 outings. The 99 PPV's had more continuity to them, people shit on them a lot in reviews but when you look at what else was going on on PPV in 1999 ECW had a really fucking solid run. I've always really enjoyed that trilogy of shows from Guilty as Charged to Living Dangerously to Hardcore Heaven. Heatwave wasn't all that great but then they followed up with Anarchy Rulz and November To Remember. ECW was the best in 1999.
I rounded out my top 10 with House Party and Crossing The Line two really solid ECW supercards. House Party was like a week after Guilty As Charged PPV and it was a better show than the PPV where ECW was at home in the ECW Arena(GAC was in Florida). I rewatched some of the matches before making my list and really enjoyed Taz vs Shane Douglas rematch and Crazy vs Tajiri and never realized how great RVD/Sabu vs Balls/Axl was at this show until seeing it again recently. Also Crossing The Line was really fun ECW show in the Madhouse in Queens(I have the DVD autographed by RVD!) featuring a spectacular RVD vs Jerry Lynn match and probably my second favorite Tajiri vs Crazy match.
Whew, I need another cup of coffee before I cover my top 10 wrestlers!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2019 19:06:31 GMT
Favorites: Jerry Lynn Super Crazy Tajiri RVD Mankind Sabu Stone Cold Kane Balls Mahoney Spike Dudley Least Favourite: Anyone from CZW New Age Outlaws Simon Diamond Any Baldie Jason Kilgore, had me regretting my least favorite list a little. Always down for some Nasty Boys hate. Not even feuding with Cactus Jack or the Public Enemy could get me to give a shit about them. Everyone has wrestlers they just don't like, and that's the Nasty's for me. Had no idea one of them was getting pushed this year or that Disco Inferno still existed or was still featured as much. probably could've switched out Jason for either of them. Only reason he's on this list is cause they put him on ppv against Jazz. Guess I can't hate on him because he was an ok manager to introduce new heels like the Eliminators and going way back, Pitbulls and Dean Malenko. but usually, very quickly, those guys would outgrow him and do better things. I was fine with him managing credible for the first year and a half or so, but when the Impact Players were being pushed as top heels, its time to ditch the goofy manager. At the time I was expecting Fonzie to turn on RVD, and go back to being a nuclear heat seeker managing the Impact Players. Baldies suck, but Kilgore, reminded me of Vic Grimes bumps and I though of when Mike Awesome squashed him. plus New Jack's promo's made me care about this feud. Don't think Angel was trained so it sucks that he was the main focus in this feud but they were fine afterwards as intimidating hosses who'd put other guys over. Think they were going as replacement Dudleys with this group cause they usually fought the Dudleys usual enemies but they were more like the original Raven's Dudleys meets the Bruise Brothers. Guess Devito was alright. Road Dogg won me over with his matches against Mankind and Bossman in 98 and I got sick pleasure over watching DX, who I hate, implode with Billy turning heel. Then the New Age Outlaws return to put a damper on the hot, developing tag division. And they sucked X Pac into their void of awfulness. Simon diamond had no business being on 2 ppvs that year. At least in N2R he just got beat quickly by Spike and he would eventually improve. Never found him funny. I promised a rant on CZW. not that good at ranting though. just thought it sucked. Jerry Lynn was my #1 because I've always been a babyface man and he was the ultimate gutsy underdog that year. Left Taz off because he wasn't wrestling much on tv. It'd usually just be interference or a promo. Maybe a squash match here and there and the occasional competitive match like vs Candido at Cyberslam or Shane at House Party. Great on ppv though. I think the injuries were really catching up to him. It was apparent in 98 but something was really up in 99. Think it gets overlooked how soon he was back in the ring after breaking his neck. Maybe could've tried to put Awesome on the list. him destroying people was great for new viewers on TNN. not a lot of competitive matches though. Outside of Tanaka I can only think of a match against Too Cold Scorpio I've always been a believer in striking while the iron's hot. Taz's debut at the Rumble was cool, but does anyone think he should've debuted at Survivor Series a week after N2R. Detroit would give him a good pop and then they could build to him vs Kurt at the Rumble. might post more thoughts on my favorite wrestlers/shows/feuds but I may have to take a break from forums soon
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2019 10:39:16 GMT
This was my favorite wrestlers of 1999:
1. Bret Hart 2. Sabu 3. Taz 4. Rob Van Dam 5. Chris Benoit 6. New Jack 7. Yoshihiro Tajiri 8. Blitzkrieg 9. The Sandman/Hak 10. Undertaker
Undertaker just kinda made my list because he had to, I actually wasn't really digging much of anything he did that year. ECW didn't come on TV where I live but I had seen a few tapes and grew to really love The Sandman so I was a pretty big fan of him popping up in WCW. I'll actually defend the signing of Sandman to WCW, their undercard had gotten beyond stale by 99, it really showed on Thunder and Saturday Night, they really couldn't go wrong in bringing in a guy like Sandman who was tough as nails and had a unique style/character. I was a big fan of all the ECW guys that WCW would bring along. Sure beat Lenny Lane and Lash Leroux. But then Sandman's return was beyond epic, my favorite moment of pro wrestling in 1999.
Blitzkrieg just blew me away and he instantly became one of my favorite guys in wrestling that year. Still to this day probably one of the more underrated lucha guys from the 90's. It was like he came from out of nowhere and then just completely disappeared back to nowhere and has now mostly been forgotten. One of the best high flyers I ever seen.
Tajiri and Super Crazy was one of the big reasons why I was way more into ECW than the big two in 1999, absolutely LOVED the way they would wrestle. Tajiri was just so awesome, everything he did.
Shameless New Jack fan right here though. Some of my earliest internet memories are watching those 5 second clips of New Jack balcony dives on ECWWrestling.com in the computer lab in school, blurry blocky digitized and took 30 minutes to load and every other one would just crash the whole computer. :lol:
Benoit didn't make my 98 top 10 but he really should have, if you asked me in 98 he probably would have been top 3. I had to put him on my 99 list even though I felt like WCW had dropped the ball with him big time. I'm watching through 1999 WCW right now and it really doesn't get any better than Benoit/Malenko as a tag team at that time.
Sabu/RVD/Taz the holy trinity of my pro wrestling fandom in 1999. These three pro wrestlers made everybody in WWF/WCW look boring. It was like ECW ruined pro wrestling for me, after getting a strong dose of the good shit I just couldn't go back to weak ass shit that was on monday nights. I had a serious obsession with Sabu in 1999, it was like I would daydream all day long about him triple jump springboarding fuckers through tables, was so in love with his style of movement.
I'm the only person to vote for Bret that's about right. He had a pretty solid year actually, some good matches against Benoit and Booker, the chest plate angle where he kayoed Goldberg in Canada, winning the WCW World title, coming back to make a run after dealing with the horrible death of his little brother. I was still very much rooting for the Hitman regardless of how uncool it was, by the end of the year his career was over and I just never could get into pro wrestling the same again.
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