Backlash 1999 - Providence Civic Centre, Providence Rhode Island, April 25th, 1999

Backlash 1999! While the first Raw is War I ever watched was before Wrestlemania 15, my ability to get my hands on WWF shows without my own Sky Sports subscription meant that I was reliant on my mum’s friends at work taping the shows on VHS and giving them to her to pass along. Shout out to David Never-got-his-surname who worked in the Asda cafe, for whom I would use my pocket money to buy multipacks of blank tapes for my mum to pass on to him semi-regularly.

All of that means that THIS is the first WWF PPV I ever watched in real time. Magical. Truly life changing. Nostalgia is going to play a pretty huge part in my feelings on this show but I will try to be objective I promise.

I know what you're all thinking. "In your St. Valentine's Day Massacre review you said that that was the LAST "in your house" PPV event but it CLEARLY says "in your house" on the Backlash PPV poster". You are right, hypothetical reader. They made the call to abandon the In Your House branding somewhere in the weeks between Wrestlemania and Backlash and so the poster was later amended to have the "In Your House" branding removed.

This PPV has one of the all time great video packages, and that is my unbiased opinion even without the nostalgia goggles 

At the start of the PPV we get the standard “updates from Sunday Night Heat” Jim Ross says that tonight’s main event has been made No Holds Barred and that Shane McMahon - the special referee - has said that if Stone Cold lays a finger on him then he will be disqualified and be stripped of the title. 

The Ministry of Darkness (Mideon and The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq)) vs. The Brood (Gangrel, Edge and Christian)

The Brood were card-carrying members of The Ministry until a couple of weeks ago. Christian “gave up the goods” and told Ken Shamrock where The Ministry was keeping the freshly abducted Stephanie McMahon and when The Undertaker brutally punished him, his Brood Brothers made the save and decided they’d rather be on their own.

The larger Ministry team try to isolate Christian and Gangrel to no avail but do finally settle on Edge. He does hit a really nice spinning heel kick on Faarooq in the midst. He does actually get a visual three count and would-be victory on Mideon but the referee is distracted.

This is a make or break night for The Ministry and JR and King talk a lot about how The Undertaker will punish Mideon and The Acolytes for not winning this match. They’re right too - he’s been drinking blood and kidnapping women and hanging people lately. When you list it all together like that you wonder why he’s not in jail. Because wrestling, obviously.

In the end, Edge gets a hot tag and The Brood - who have far better tag team continuity - look to be in a good spot but Viscera runs (walks?) to the ring and squashes Edge against the apron, throwing him back inside to be pinned by Bradshaw off an Acolytes double powerbomb.

The Ministry win a slow but competent six man tag team match.

Backstage, The Rock arrives at the arena and is disrespectfully dragging the Smoking Skull belt behind him on the ground. All joking aside, I bet that really scratched it up. 

WWF Hardcore Championship

Hardcore Holly © vs. Al Snow

Al Snow is obsessed with being the Hardcore Champion. He was chasing Roaddogg and failed, and when Roaddogg got injured it was Holly who swooped in and won the title in that fun match that went all the way to the Mississippi river. 

Holly opens the match with a shot to the face with the Hardcore title belt for a two count and within moments they’re fighting on the outside. 

Snow is already bleeding in the early going, I think from the belt shot to the face. Holly grabs a big jug of water from under the ring, has a drink and then blasts Al in the head with it. I bet that hurt. 

Snow takes control out in the crowd, trading punches on the concrete among the people, whipping each other into the metal security railings. 

Back at ringside, Snow uses his now trademark moonsault off the security wall onto Hardcore for a two count, and then grabs a hockey stick from under the ring which he uses in the ring, showing off some martial arts moves. 

The crowd pops for Snow bringing a table out and the commentators are bemused that the table got a pop - table spots were still pretty rare in 1999 but it won’t be long until no wrestlers can have a no DQ match for the rest of time without the fans chanting “we want tables”.

The two use metal sheets on each other and brawl up the ramp leaving the table in the ring. Holly suplexes Snow on the concrete which made me wince. 

Holly tries to use a kitchen sink but Snow blasts him with a hose and he drops it, shattering it. The pair brawl out into the parking lot and set off a car alarm a couple of times when they slam each other into a minivan. 

Holly gets a near fall after hip tossing him from some stairs onto a huge dumpster full of trash and pinning him on top of the pile of trash bags.

JR and King laugh about who’s cars these are and end up fighting into the production truck! You can actually see the match happening on the monitors behind them. Snow throws Holly off the trailer onto the roof of a car which crumples it, and then drops a big elbow drop which amazingly only gets a two count. Whoever that white car belongs too is going to be pissed! 

When the two fight back to the ring, Snow seems to have the match won from a brutal shot from a frying pan but Snow doesn’t cover and points out that the table is the only thing they haven’t broken yet. He tries to set up a dive from the top but Holly uses the frying pan to stop it, and then superplexes Snow through the table which I thought looked awesome! They go through it longways with an almighty crunch. 

Snow kicks out of a loose cover and as both men crawl to their feet, Snow blasts Holly with Head (“ cuter Head than usual” says King) and collapses into the cover for the three count. After all that - the Head beat him. Al Snow wins the Hardcore Championship in what I thought was a great Hardcore match. 

Backstage we see Stone Cold Steve Austin arriving, and also a short segment with very poor audio where The Undertaker tells The Ministry that they are forgiven, but their transgressions are not forgotten. He says they must prepare for the arrival of the Higher Power. He has promised “a tragedy” here tonight. Honestly, I didn’t hear half of what he said. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

The Godfather © vs. Goldust (w/The Blue Meanie)

Before the match, The Blue Meanie mocks Sable by copying her pre-match heel spiel and doing “The Grind”. When The Godfather comes out, he doesn’t have any hoes and the fans boo, and then he calls out five hoes! There is a girl in a powder blue dress who has some of the biggest breasts I’ve ever seen and they are struggling to stay in her dress. She’s the one King has the big reaction to of course. The Godfather debuts his new “I love weed” prematch promo here and doesn’t offer the hoes to Goldust because “my girls don’t like no scrubs”. That even made JR laugh.

The Godfather overpowers Goldust who tries to take a walk, but Meanie points out (correctly) that if he wants his Intercontinental title back then he needs to go back to the match. The Blue Meanie has been calling Goldust “mommy” and honestly I quite like this pairing of weirdos but this is Goldust’s last WWF PPV appearance until 2002. He leaves for WCW a couple of weeks later and was reportedly deep in his “personal demons” phase here.

Goldust tries to use powder but Godfather kicks it back in his face, blinding him. Meanie gets in the ring to try and help and Goldust attacks Meanie thinking he’s The Godfather. Goldust gives Meanie the Shattered Dreams - impressive considering he’s blind - and then walks right into a mule kick. Meanie lands on Goldust when he tries to break up the pin and after a double Hoe-Train running splash in the corner, finishes Goldust with the Death Valley Driver to win a short match that was kind of nothing but the fans loved. It was an entertaining finish and that’s all I can really ask for.

Michael Cole - who Al Snow calls Todd - interviews the new Hardcore Champion. He talks to Head who seems surprised that he’s the new champion. Head seems to believe that they are in fact the Hardcore champion since Snow pinned Holly with the hand in which he was holding Head. This is funny.

Number 1 contendership for the WWF Tag Team Championships

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) vs. The New Age Outlaws (Roaddogg and Bad Ass Billy Gunn)

Amazingly, this is the first time The New Age Outlaws have been a team on PPV since December. They were busy chasing singles glory for a while but after various levels of success have fallen back into familiar territory. 

On the Raw prior to this show, Roaddogg invented the term “puppies” for Debra’s breasts and that stuck around for a couple of years. The match is officially for the number one contendership but The Outlaws have made it more about them winning so that Debra will get her boobs out, as was the style at the time.

Debra has another special PPV attire like she did at Wrestlemania - wearing a sparkly black thong bikini with a red blazer on top. King loses his mind like he’s never seen it before. 

There’s a huge chunk of audio missing during Jeff and Owen’s entrance which makes me wonder what they’d edited out. I’d imagine it was Jerry Lawler being a drooling pervert for Debra. 

The crowd breaks out into a deafening “show your puppies'' chant because it's 1999. There was a definitive female squeal when Billy tried to show his ass though so that’s….something. 

Both teams trade the advantage in the early going and the fans are really into this, cheering for The Outlaws and chanting “nugget” at poor Owen. Roaddogg does end up being the legal man and worked over by the heels though, as that's what all Outlaws matches must feature. 

Billy gets the hot tag and is explosive! He throws both men around, hitting a beautiful dropkick and a huge powerslam on Jeff for a near fall. The Outlaws have duelling 10-corner punches and whip Owen and Jeff into each other. Billy clotheslines Jeff out of the ring and Debra uses her…assets to distract Roadogg. Owen tries to take advantage and gets a pumphandle slam but Jeff breaks up that cover.

Owen and Jeff counter some double team offence and Owen gets the sharpshooter on Roaddogg. Billy kicks Jeff to the outside and drops Owen with the Fameasser to win the match! 

A hot finish to one of the better New Age Outlaws matches (and I’ve seen a lot of them during this run.) The elephant in the room is getting harder to ignore as it dawned on me here that this is Owen Hart’s last PPV match. 

Post match, Mr. Ass shows off his ass and JR and King make some vaguely homophobic comments.

Michael Cole interviews tonight’s special guest referee Shane McMahon who promises to call this match right down the middle. Which is unintentionally hilarious as the screwy referees would always promise that and never stick to it. He gives his word, and swears on the name of his Grandfather that if Austin pins The Rock, he will count the one, two, three. He again reiterates that Mr. McMahon is no longer his father and he is just “Vince” and tells him to stay out of the way. 

We then cut to Kevin Kelly talking to Vince and Stephanie. Vince says that his focus is on Stephanie and his family and that Shane can continue to run things. 

Stephanie says that Shane knew exactly what he was doing when he swore on their Grandfather’s name. JR and King at ringside very seriously and soberly discuss the situation - the falling apart of a father and son relationship.

Boiler Room Brawl

Mankind vs. The Big Show

This is only the second Boiler Room Brawl. This match was set because while Big Show is a babyface now, he still cost Mick the WWF title and it doesn’t make these two friends. Show looks around for Mankind and jumps from behind.

Much like the first Boiler Room Brawl at Summerslam 1996 with The Undertaker, this match is pre-taped but unlike that one, there are a lot of gimmicked weapons and such used during this so that it wouldn’t be too physically taxing on Mick Foley. In saying that, he still gets a wicked beating!

Show picks up a large table and drops it on Mankind’s head. This is just a wild brawl around the boiler room and is hard to describe honestly. They whip each other into walls and metal objects and Big Show dents a fridge door with a huge right hand. 

Mankind smashes sheet after sheet of plaster board over Show’s head who shrugs that off and wails on him with a trash can and throws him into what looks like a huge folded up ping pong table, which Mankind slipping under it and it lands on him, driving all of the air out of him. He even puts him in a shopping cart and crashes him into things and body slams him across various uneven surfaces. Mick is taking a beating here. 

Mankind smashes a sheet of glass over Show’s face and honestly the fake blood on Mankind’s hand is really the only giveaway that not everything used here is legit. Mankind sets up a ladder and climbs, apparently wanting to dive off onto him but Show chokeslams him off of it through two tables and more sheets of glass which look awesome and sends shards flying everywhere. 

Mankind manages to come back by using a 2x4 to break a pipe which shoots a foam looking substance into his face. JR says its steam but it doesn’t look like steam at all. He snaps a pipe across Show’s back and then uses it for a low blow before throwing him into a table which drops what looks like hundreds of pounds of metal pipes onto him, burning him. Mankind crawls out of the door, leaving bloody handprints as he goes and Mankind wins the boiler room brawl!

He’s immediately jumped by The Bossman and Test who pumell Mick back into the Boiler room. Big Show rises up and punches out Test and chases Bossman out of the room. Mankind slips on Mr. Socko and clamps the Mandible Claw on Test as his theme music plays! 

This match was great fun.

Pre-match promo by Triple H and Chyna. Its vague heel threats at X-Pac. They still haven’t really explained why they joined The Corporation. 

WWF Tag Team Champion X-Pac vs. Triple H (w/Chyna)

Triple H brought X-Pac into the WWF last year to prop up DX so the betrayal here runs deep. Chyna jumped first, and then Triple H but was that always the plan, or did Chyna jumping convince Triple H to do it? The whole series of turns was good for drama and twists but doesn’t make a great deal of sense when you step back and examine it. X-Pac has formed a tag team with Kane on the grounds that they were the two people most significantly hurt by Chyna and Triple H’s actions.

Triple H debuts some generic heel instrumental theme music here. He was using No Chance up until the last episode of Raw. He has cut off a lot of his hair and has his “main event hair” now as it's no longer long, flowing and blonde and is shorter and darker. It's amazing what a difference it makes. He hasn’t quite found his main event vibe yet but he’s getting there. 

The match starts fast as the larger Triple H tries to pin X-Pac down but Pac lashes out with big heel kicks and keeps himself in the fight.

The turning point comes as X-Pac goes for the Bronco Buster which Triple H avoids, causing Pac’s head to snap back off the middle rope and Triple H starts to aggressively work on his former friend's neck. 

The crowd is very quiet for this as Triple H slowly and methodically works over X-Pac’s neck. My interest was held as I’ve got JR talking about the seriousness of Sean Waltman’s neck injuries and history. Triple H very audibly asks the referee how much time they have as he locks in a front facelock. They must not have a lot of time for this as the match hasn’t been going for long. 

King laughs at X-Pac’s misfortune until a knee drop driving across X-Pac’s neck has even him agreeing this might be too far. JR really hammers home what an evil despicable human being Triple H is here, trying to end X-Pac’s career. 

King does give us a little break from the seriousness and emotion of this situation by taking some time to talk about Chyna’s boobs.

X-Pac does eventually mount a comeback with heel kicks and a sleeper but after sending Triple H into the ring steps on the outside he misses a baseball slide and wipes out the referee. 

Back in the ring, X-Pac out of nowhere hits the X-Factor but there's no referee to count. Chyna gets in the ring and after a low blow gives X-Pac a reverse DDT and puts Triple into the cover but the lights go out and Kane - full entrance and all - comes to the rescue of his tag team championship partner! 

Kane plants Triple H and Chyna with a pair of chokeslams (with JR screaming the pretty transphobic and/or misogynistic “she wants to be a man? Treat her like a man!” as Chyna gets hers. 

Kane positions them both in the corner and leaves, just as X-Pac and the referee recover. He gives Triple H the Bronco Buster, and then another on Chyna! But then walks right into a Pedigree from Triple H. Triple H wins. 

This was a slow, story driven match in front of a quiet crowd. I enjoyed it but the fans weren’t really into the story of it which hurt it. Maybe if they’d had JR laying out the story for them too they would have. 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Ken Shamrock

There’s a big cut on the WWE Network version of this event where we go right from Chyna selling to Ken Shamrock’s entrance. I think it was probably an advert for something that doesn’t exist anymore.

Shamrock is a babyface again as he left Shane McMahon’s Corporation due to his loyalty to Vince McMahon. He was punished by them, and also targeted by The Undertaker. His sister was kidnapped and held for over a week (kayfabe) as well as sacrificed on Raw. Pretty dark stuff.

The Undertaker has such a good theme song here and has changed his appearance so dramatically that he looks pure evil - his face looks so different with this beard, and has his eyebrow pierced. Shamrock has promised to break The Undertaker’s leg - a good strategy.

The second he steps in the ring, Shamrock goes right after Taker with punches and goes right to the leg. 

The Undertaker does dominate with punches for a bit but Shamrock gets his chance to come back after a missed big boot leaves Taker’s leg hung up on the top rope. 

That becomes the story of this match - Shamrock works over The Undertaker’s left leg to near silence. The commentators do put over how surreal it is to hear The Undertaker screaming in pain. He sells a lot for Shamrock and does make him look like a killer which is the nicest thing I can say about this match. It’s slow. Very slow. 

The crowd breaks out into “Boring” chants and I honestly don’t have a lot to say. The action isn’t bad - Shamrock is pretty good really - but its slow and dull. 

In the end, as Shamrock gets the ankle lock it’s Bradshaw from The Ministry who runs down with the same baseball bat Kenny used on him on Raw. The distractions from Bradshaw and Paul Bearer get Undertaker back in it and in a spot that makes no sense, Shamrock goes for his own Tombstone which The Undertaker obviously counters and wins the match. You could hear a pin drop at the finish.

This was a very dull match that the live fans hated. I question the logic in having these two big, story driven slow one on one matches back to back. If this or the Triple H/X-Pac match went on a bit earlier with matches in between, they might have both been received better.

Post match, Bradshaw gets in the ring and hits Ken with a brutal power bomb and then chokes him out with the baseball bat, also to silence. King speculates that this may be the tragedy that The Undertaker promised.

No Holds Barred match for the WWF Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin © vs. The Rock 

Special Guest Referee: Shane McMahon

I have said it many times over the course of these shows but this video package is the best one. Goosebumps, so many great moments. I love this.

Before the match, we see Vince McMahon putting his daughter Stephanie into their limo. He asks the driver to keep the doors locked and wait for him, he has some business to attend to. 

Shane McMahon is still officially the European champion but has “retired” the belt undefeated. When The Rock enters with the Smoking Skull belt, Shane has someone run it to the back and put it in his office. He doesn’t want it at ringside so that there’s no way for Stone Cold to get it back. 

Austin stops on the ramp, dropping the title belt and sprinting to the ring to attack the challenger. They start fast and furious and the crowd is electric. Shane stays out of the way as the two brawl to the outside and into the crowd and then up the ramp.

Austin and Rock whip each other into the metal fence that comprises the staging, sending it all crashing down. Austin climbs up onto the technical desks and jumps off into a clothesline, and runs a big case on wheels into The Rock’s head. 

It’s hard to recap this as it's such a fast and furious brawl! 

The two head back to the ring and The Rock drives Stone Cold through the Spanish announce table with a Rock Bottom before taking a moment to steal a headset and do a little trash talking. 

Shane McMahon’s first obvious cheating happens right after as he takes a steel chair off of Austin and throws it to The Rock! 

They brawl back into the crowd and Shane is clapping and cheering on Rock, encouraging him to head back to the ring and pin him. 

The Rock strips off the second announce table apparently wanting to put Stone Cold through that one too. The Rock steals a cameraman’s camera, climbing up onto the table and filming Stone Cold. The picture quality of the camera The Rock uses is notably worse (because its a cheap camera they can afford to break) Austin pops up as The Rock shows the crowd and delivers a Stone Cold Stunner on top of the table with the camera still in hand in an awesome spot! Everyone at home got to see what it feels like to be Stunned! 

They both get back into the ring and are both hurting and struggling. Austin sizes up The Rock for a Stunner but he shoves him off into Shane McMahon. He bounces back into a Rock Bottom, and Shane actually puts The Rock’s hand on Austin’s chest so he can count! Stone Cold kicks out. 

Shane tries to hit Austin with the belt but he ducks and it's The Rock who gets nailed between the eyes. Austin covers and Shane refuses to count, leaving the ring!

As Shane goes up the ramp, Vince comes down carrying the Smoking Skull belt. Shane tries to stop him and Vince knocks out his own son with the belt! The Rock gets back up and uses a belt shot and a cover as a second referee runs down. Stone Cold kicks out!

The Rock goes for another belt shot but takes a Stunner and Stone Cold retains the WWF title in an awesome main event that was much better than their Wrestlemania match!

To everyone’s shock, Vince McMahon hands Austin the Smoking Skull belt and in a great visual, Austin gets to celebrate his victory with beers and yes, both versions of the WWF Championship. Vince stands and watches on the ramp, face full of thought.

Meanwhile, The Ministry arrives in the parking lot and so security tells the limo driver to just drive. Inside the limo, Stephanie calls to the driver to stop and wait for her dad. The partition lowers - it’s The Undertaker! “Where to, Stephanie?” Steph screams for her dad as back in the arena, JR and King plead for someone to tell Vince what happened.