Wrestlemania 15 - First Union Centre, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, March 28th, 1999

Wrestlemania 15! Full disclosure - this one has a reputation and it's not a good one. I’m going to do my best to stay positive and look for the silver lining. I’m hoping that having actually watched all the build up on Raw will soften my opinion on it!

This event is held in the same kind of arena they’d use for a weekly Raw is War taping and that’s just due to forward planning and not knowing how hot the company would get. The WWF hasn’t had a stadium Wrestlemania since Mania 8 in 1992. The company struggled to move tickets during the New Gen and so Vince pre-agreed and signed arenas for Wrestlemanias in batches. This arena was booked for Wrestlemania 15 and indeed the one for Wrestlemania 16 next year in advance with no idea how popular the WWF would be and as a consequence, the two Wrestlemanias that took place during the companies hottest streak in history were two of the lowest attended due entirely to the arena’s being quite small.

Boys 2 Men sing America the Beautiful which is appropriately 90s. They’re quite good, one of the nicer versions of the song I’ve heard. It was a nice opening video package too. Classy Freddy Blassie is always worth wheeling out for the voice over on these.

Last bit of pre-amble trivia, this event's original poster is the one I used for the article and has Kane, but they replaced him with The Big Show for the home video release and for the front cover of the VHS (and later, DVD).

WWF Hardcore Championship

Bad Ass Billy Gunn © vs. Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly

Al Snow is the first wrestler out in front of the live crowd and gets a good reaction. This match is the debut of Hardcore Holly’s proper theme song that he (and later, his cousins) would have for the next couple of years which is nice to hear. It is royalty free music and also pops up occasionally in movies (like Dodgeball starring Ben Stiller) and even some car adverts. 

Billy Gunn tries a pre-match promo but is jumped by his challengers. Probably for the best, they’re always the same anyway.

This match is an odd one as it was originally Roaddogg in Gunn’s spot and Holly was the champion. The whole feud was built between Roaddogg, Al Snow and Hardcore Holly going all the way back to January but on Raw a couple of weeks ago, Billy and Roaddogg took on each others Wrestlemania opponents and won each other’s targeted titles, so they swapped places in each others feuds. No idea why that was done, but it was certainly unpredictable even if it robbed both this and the IC title match later of its rhythm and from feeling like a true payoff. 

The three brawl onto the outside and this is a good triple threat in that no one just lays out and sells, they all stay involved in the action the whole time. 

Mr. Ass breaks a hockey stick over Holly’s back, and then Snow uses a broom across Gunn’s back. He does some nifty martial arts moves with the handle of the hockey stick and then hammers on both opponents with it. 

He tries to use a chair but misses his move and Billy takes control until Snow knocks out both opponents with Head and goes to get a table, which he sets up in the corner of the ring. 

As Snow and Holly fight to put each other through it, Billy cracks Hardcore with a brutal chairshot and then hip toss throws Snow through the table. He follows up with a Fameasser (which only just got given its name this past week) onto a chair on Snow but Holly shoves him out of the way and pins Al instead to steal the pin and become the first two time Hardcore champion! 

This was good fun and the crowd were into it but it was too short to be one of the better Hardcore title matches of the era. 

Earlier tonight on Heat there was a battle royal to see who would get this WWF Tag title match. Despite featuring multiple real tag teams like LOD, The Brood and The Public Enemy, it was D’Lo Brown and the Corporation’s Test who were the last two men standing. D’Lo was at least feuding with the champs and this match should have been D’Lo and Mark Henry until Mark got hurt and needed knee surgery. According to D’Lo years later, that was the original booking and he and Henry were going to win the tag titles here, which is a shame if it's true.

WWF Tag Team Championships

Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett © (w/Debra) vs. D’Lo Brown and Test

Debra has some special Wrestlemania gear which is basically a white sparkly bikini, and her suit jacket on top. She looks um…yeah she looks pretty great, if a little silly. Jeff and Owen have been tag champions for a couple of months and had a decent reign, actually racking up some televised defences which is something even The New Age Outlaws never seemed to bother doing.

This is Owen’s 10th Wrestlemania appearance which I feel like can’t be true, but maybe?

D’Lo and Test work ok as a team, helping each other out of jams but Test is a little extra aggressive when tagging out which would upset me too.

It’s nice to see D’Lo getting some cheers now too - he’s slowly improved in front of my eyes over the past years worth of shows and is a great worker with tons of personality. 

Ivory and Debra get into an argument at ringside. D’Lo sets up a powerbomb on Jeff but Owen clips him with a missile dropkick turning it into a roll up for Jeff to win and retain the tag team titles in a very short match.

Terri Runnels and Jacqueline have come out to join in the “women argue” spot with Ivory and Debra and that distracted Test to stop him from helping his partner. We don’t even get to see the champions celebrate their victory as the camera instead focuses on Test and D’Lo arguing. At least Owen and Jeff got to win! 

Brawl for All match

Bart Gunn vs. Butterbean

This gets a video package where it's promoted like a boxing match basically. Butterbean is a legit boxer and Bart Gunn is not. He’s the man who won the Brawl for All last summer which is legendary for all the wrong reasons. 

Howard Finkle spends some time introducing the celebrity referee (Vanny Pazienza) and judges Kevin Rooney, Chuck Webner and, most importantly - Gorilla Monsoon. This would end up being Gorilla’s last TV appearance before his death a couple of months later. Gorilla is the reason there's a section in my Preview articles called “Happenings” 

Those introductions and the entrances last roughly ten times longer than this fight ends up being. Bart Gunn does have his trainers with him, and is in full boxing regalia. 

They touch gloves, the bell rings, they dance around a little and Butterbean waffles Gunn with a right hand. He loses his balance but gets back up and walks into a second, much harder right hand which knocks him out.

The fight is over, as is Bart Gunn’s career. Butterbean knocked him out in about twenty seconds. 

After the match, a man in a chicken suit comes out and taunts Vinny Pazienza. Michael Cole keeps calling him “the world famous chicken” and King specifies that it's “the San Diego chicken” . I think it's a sports mascot but they aren’t in San Diego so….?

Vinny punches them which the chicken does not sell because it only clipped their beak anyway.

Earlier tonight on Heat, The Big Show waited backstage to try and jump Stone Cold when he arrived but missed him when Mankind showed up to brawl with him instead.

Mankind vs. “The Big Show” Paul Wight

Winner gets to referee the main event

Paul Wight only finally gained his “The Big Show” nickname last week, and still doesn’t have his theme song as he comes out here to “No Chance in Hell.” 

To be honest, it's hard not to be critical of the way they’ve handled Paul Wight since arriving from WCW. He’s a big goof who has continually screwed up (helped Austin accidentally win the cage match with McMahon, has cost Corporate members matches by DQ multiple times, has let Austin get his hands on The Rock more than once) and in his one match that had a finish, lost by pinfall to Stone Cold Steve Austin. 

This feud started when Wight cost Mankind the WWF title in a ladder match but has continued in this sort of endless back and forth about who would act as referee for the main event. McMahon wants it to be Wight so he can help The Rock, and Mankind wants it to be him so he can be part of the main event of a Wrestlemania. Stone Cold doesn’t really care, nor does The Rock and the whole thing has been a little…lame?

Wight bullies and throws around Mick who battles back with a Mandible Claw and a kick down low as he starts to power out of it. Big Show gets Mankind up onto his back and drops backwards, crushing him which Mick sells with a disgusting wretching sound, like all the air really was driven out of him. It looked awful and painful and I’m sure it was.

The Big Show uses a steel chair to the ribs and then across the back on the outside but the referee is the worst referee in all of wrestling Earl Hebner so he looks right at it and doesn’t disqualify anyone. 

Big Show sets the two chairs up in the ring with seats pointed to each other and then chokeslams Mankind through them which is finally enough to cause a disqualification. 

Mankind wins by DQ and will referee tonight's main event! Show hits him with a few more chair shots in frustration.

Vince McMahon comes out to the ring and seems like he might be slightly mic’d up as we can hear what he's saying to Show very clearly on TV even though he has no microphone in his hand. He’s very angry that he’s just handed the referee position to Mankind. He could have cost Vince the WWF title. Vince gets very angry and calls him a nobody. Show grabs Vince by the throat and lifts him but comes to his senses and puts him back down. McMahon can’t believe it and slaps Paul in the face! Show responds by immediately punching his boss right in the face, knocking him out! Vince is out cold! Big Show had problems getting along with The Rock in the build up and in following orders and seems to have had enough of Vince. 

The stooges come out to get Vince and Mankind, in a very rare sight, gets stretchered out of the arena. The commentators especially Michael Cole put that over huge - he didn’t leave on a stretcher after Hell in a Cell or I Quit but a match with the colossal Big Show was enough to need it. 

Backstage, Vince is told that Mankind is being taken to the hospital and then he demands that the cops be called and “that big son of a bitch” be arrested for assault. 

Four way elimination match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Roaddogg © vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Val Venis vs. Goldust (w/The Blue Meanie and Ryan Shamrock)

Much like earlier tonight and the Hardcore title match, this one is the consequence of odd booking. Bad Ass Billy Gunn had been chasing the IC title since December and this four way was announced with him in Roaddogg’s spot and Val Venis as the defending champion but it was all thrown into disarray when Roaddogg took on his buddies Wrestlemania opponent Val Venis on Raw in the build up (which is fairly standard wrestling logic) but messed it all up by actually winning the Intercontinental title. Roaddogg has been a Tag Champion, Hardcore champion and now IC champion all in the past few months. He’s not the half of The New Age Outlaws everyone expected to be a big singles star but here we are.

Val, Billy, Goldust and Shamrock all had a feud centred on Ken Shamrock’s sister Ryan (who is now with Goldust) but that’s been quietly dropped with Roaddogg taking Billy’s spot totally changing the dynamic. It’s barely referenced during this match that Ken’s sister Ryan is at ringside with another man.

Ryan Shamrock’s special Wrestlemania attire is to dress like a primary school teacher in her smart red top and black skirt. 

This is the first of these matches that I’ve seen which had elimination rules. 

The action here is good but disjointed - there's no mention made of Goldust and Val’s past at the end of last year but that’s fair enough. 

The men trade big moves but as one man goes down, another takes his place. 

After trading finishes and near falls, Ken Shamrock and Val Venis get double counted out to eliminate both. There was no announcement to confirm it for the live fans so I think they were a bit confused.

Shamrock runs back to the ring and in anger, lays out Goldust and Roaddogg with belly to belly suplexes and leaves it as one on one. “Come on mommy!” cries The Blue Meanie. As Roaddogg and Goldust go off the ropes, Ryan reaches out to grab Roaddogg’s leg not realising the whip had been reversed and trips Goldust instead which lets Roaddogg hit the Pumphandle Slam and win to retain his Intercontinental title. 

I thought the finish was pretty clear but Michael Cole just fully misunderstands it, repeating that Goldust was nowhere near her over and over. 

This was a decent match that would have benefited from not being elimination rules - a flurry of near falls and pin break ups building to the finish would have given it an exciting ending.

Post-match, Goldust and Meanie read poor Ryan the riot act and kick her to the curb. I’m not sure how they thought a long running storyline where no man seems to want this objectively beautiful young woman would get anyone over but it is what it is. 

The Big Show is shown being arrested on Mr. McMahon’s orders. 

As Kane makes his entrance, the San Diego chicken who we saw earlier attacks Kane from behind! He’s unmasked - it's baseball great Pete Rose who was tombstoned by Kane last year. Kane throws him into the ring and for the second year in a row, drops Pete Rose with a tombstone! 

Triple H vs. Kane (w/Chyna)

Kane is the unwilling member of the Corporate team, forced to join under threat of being sent to the insane asylum by the McMahons. He’s become more of a team player since Chyna joined and after saving her from DX, and her saving him from being fired by Vince, Kane seems to be in love with her. Or at least have some strong feelings for her. 

Triple H has been laser focused on taking both Chyna and Kane out, feeling betrayed by Chyna understandably when she joined the Corporation for money and the spotlight.

Triple H comes through the crowd and jumps Kane from behind and honestly, considering the stature of both men and the heated nature of this feud (they had a cage match on Raw a few weeks ago) the fans are really quiet for this in the early stages.

It’s been my opinion for a while that Triple H was the least popular member of D-Generation X and I keep being proven right. No spoilers for this is the last night that’ll be an issue for him.

They fight around the ring with Triple H slamming Kane into the announce desk and ring steps but Kane takes control back in the ring with a big boot. 

On the outside, Kane catches Triple H in a chokeslam and drops him groin first onto the security wall right in front of Shane McMahon’s real life buddies The Mean Street Posse. Rodney and Pete Gas gleefully push him back over to ringside. 

Kane dominates Triple H in the ring and I bet when they laid this match out they thought the fans would get behind Triple H here for a comeback but they are so quiet. Personally I think it's because Kane was really popular as a babyface late last year and they ruined that by pushing him into the Corporation - the fans want to cheer him. 

The pace here is very slow and Kane gets near falls off an uppercut and a big elbow drop.

Kane does a dive over the top rope to the floor, but his attempted top rope clothesline ends with an armdrag off the top rope instead. 

Its as Triple H builds momentum with a barrage of punches and then a running knee strike that Chyna comes to ringside. Kane goes for a tombstone but Triple H wriggles out the back and tries a Pedigree which is also countered.

Chyna lifts the ring steps and slides them into the ring for Kane to use. He picks them up and charges Triple H but has them kicked back into his face, and then a drop toe hold onto them. The referee gets the steps out of the ring as Triple H clotheslines Kane over the top to the floor and the match finally has some heat. Triple H tries to Pedgiree Kane onto the base of the ring steps but is backdropped from a fair height.

In the ring, Kane plants Triple H with a chokeslam and has victory in hand but Chyna gets in the ring with a chair and blasts Kane in the back with it to cause a disqualification. Kane wins.

Kane wheels around and stares at Chyna full of confusion and hurt feelings which lets Triple H crack him with a pair of brutal stiff chair shots to the head, which don’t knock Kane off his feet, and then a Pedigree onto the bent and mangled chair. 

Triple H and Chyna embrace and DX is seemingly whole once again. Why did Chyna turn on them to begin with? Was this always her plan? Did she join the Corporation and then change her mind? This doesn’t make tons of sense (at the moment)

Backstage, Kevin Kelly provides us with an update on the referee for the main event - The Big Show is in jail and Mankind is in the hospital. Vince McMahon interrupts him and with a big smile reveals that tonight it will be him that is the special guest referee.

WWF Women’s Championship

Sable © vs. Tori

Sable turned heel right after the Royal Rumble and is conceited and self obsessed but still gets cheered because men are gross and she’s pretty. 

Tori was a huge Sable fan and they actually started that angle back in September of 1998! She finally debuted but Sable treated her poorly. Initially she still tried to suck up until she’d finally had enough and attacked her hero.

Tori’s ring gear here is a skin tight suit that looks for all the world like she’s nude under it. This match is also the debut of Sable’s prematch “Are you ready for the grind?” spiel. 

“Sable has turned into a tremendous in-ring wrestler” says noted liar Michael Cole. 

Sable does work over Tori and uses a crossbody off the apron to the outside which was nice. 

As Sable taunts and poses, Tori tackles her and clubs her with mounted punches.

Sable’s fame and success and recent Playboy cover has made her an unbearable obnoxious heel but she’s sadly not a good enough promo to make it work. 

The two try to chain wrestle and use backslides and reverse roll ups but it's sloppy and uncoordinated which I’m sure is Sable’s fault.

The referee goes down when Tori throws a forearm and Sable ducks. Sable tries the Sable Bomb which Tori counters (kinda, she botches it) and goes for one of her own until an enormous muscular woman gets in the ring, pulling Tori by the hair and then dropping her from up high in a gorilla press slam. 

The woman in question is Nicole Bass of Howard Stern Show fame, and who’d had a brief run in ECW too. She tells Sable to pin Tori and gets out of the ring.

Sable hits Tori with the Sable Bomb for good measure and retains the WWF Women’s Championship.

This match was pretty awful as Sable still isn’t a good wrestler and doesn’t care enough about it to get better. She won’t be sticking around for much longer as Hollywood beckons, but she does have a new bodyguard in Nicole Bass to freshen up her gimmick. 

Very sadly the WWE Network has for some reason removed the video package for X-Pac vs. Shane but I’ve tracked it down from elsewhere because it’s awesome. 

Pre-match comments from all five members of D-Generation X where Triple H does most of the talking.  DX are back together and have never been stronger. We'll see. 

WWF European Championship

Shane McMahon © (w/Test) vs. X-Pac

This is about X-Pac’s way of life vs. Shane McMahon’s way of life, apparently. Shane has been awesome in the build up to this as a spoiled rich daddy’s boy, an obnoxious heel that you can’t wait to see get punched in the face.

Shane moves fast and runs away as X-Pac takes control with a spinning heel kick and sets up the Bronco Buster in the corner but Test pulls Shane out of the way. 

X-Pac dives out at Test but gets driven crotch first into the ring post for his troubles. 

Shane takes control and tries the Corporate Elbow but X-Pac moves.

Shane immediately gets control back with a low blow behind the referee’s back and then whips X-Pac with Test’s belt a few times until X-Pac backdrops him over the top rope.

Pac follows with a dive into a crossbody but the Mean Street Posse grab him by the hair so he takes a moment to knock out all four of them with elbows and punches but is wiped out again by a clothesline from Test and thrown back into the ring.

Shane has so much help! 

X-Pac rallies with some kicks and uses the belt on Shane, even whipping him in the face and chest and gives him the Bronco Buster but Test slips into the ring and knocks out Pac with the European title belt. 

X-Pac amazingly kicks out and this match is the hottest the fans have been all night.

Shane tries his own Bronco Buster but X-Pac moves and Shane drives himself jewels into the bottom turnbuckle.

Test tries to help again but this time is caught with a big spinning heel kick and gets his own Bronco Buster.

Triple H and Chyna run to the ring seemingly to help X-Pac but with Chyna distracting the referee, Triple H plants his buddy X-Pac with the Pedigree! 

Shane McMahon covers and retains his European title, but more importantly Triple H and Chyna seem to have joined The Corporation! 

After the match as Chyna tends to Shane, Triple H and Test beat on X-Pac two on one until The New Age Outlaws run out to make the save. Triple H attacks and beats up them too! As the two huge blonde men stomp down The Outlaws in the corner the fans start chanting for “HBK” which actually would have been the perfect way for Shawn Michaels to return but it’s lights out and Kane who arrives to make the save. If Triple H has joined Chyna in the Corporation it would seem that Kane has been kicked out. The four Corporate team mates are chased off by Kane as The Outlaws check on X-Pac. Roaddogg has some choice words about Triple H too and just like that, DX is down to three members and none of them original. 

Hell in a Cell match

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Big Bossman

This match does get a video package centred on The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness’s threats against the McMahon family and promises to take control of the WWF.

This match is the debut of The Undertaker’s new theme which is very similar to his best ever theme - the one he used in the second half of 1998 - but has additional “The Undertaker saying sinister things and speaking in tongues” in it. It’s pretty cool! That plus the change in his attire have made him the true personification of evil.

So why is he facing another heel in this match? The booking kind of painted them into a corner but amazingly, the WWF creative team felt that in 1999 all this satanic ritual and demonic possession stuff would make The Undertaker and The Ministry babyfaces. 

The commentators make the mistake of talking about the Mankind Hell in a Cell which is setting incredibly unrealistic expectations for this one.

The two have a slow, dull brawl around the ring. Bossman handcuffs The Undertaker to the Cell wall and then hammers him in the ribs and head with his nightstick. As The Undertaker falls to the floor the weight of him snaps the handcuff chain and Undertaker really openly blades on camera. The fans are quite, occasionally booing or trying to start a “boring” chant. 

They fight back in the ring and after about eight minutes, The Undertaker plants Bossman with a tombstone to win the match and put us all out of our misery. This win brings The Undertaker’s Wrestlemania record to 8 - 0. 

Post match, The Undertaker gestures up to the sky and all three members of The Brood rappel from the arena ceiling onto the roof of the Cell. A pretty memorable first Wrestlemania appearance for these three. They cut open the roof of the Cell and throw a hangman’s noose down to The Undertaker after tying it to the beams on the roof. The Brood clip back onto their cables and disappear back to the ceiling as Paul Bearer takes control of the Hell in a Cell and raises it, hanging The Big Bossman about 10 feet above the ring. “Is this symbolic?” asks Michael Cole over and over. I mean literally eight or nine times in the space of a couple of minutes. He then does a hard pivot to throwing to a video package about the Wrestlemania Rage Party (which was like 1999’s Axxess held in a nightclub. It looked pretty awful).

Michael Cole gets into the ring and introduces, to commentate on the main event, Jim Ross. This officially marks the end of his rubbish four week heel turn. No idea what they were thinking but I’m glad they’re not thinking it anymore.

Vince McMahon comes to the ring pleased as punch to be the referee for this match but before he can enjoy it, WWF commissioner Shawn Michaels comes to the ring dressed in a white suit and looking very “Miami Vice” with another referee in tow. He says that only the commissioner can appoint a referee and it won’t be Vince. He says that The Corporation is banned from ringside (apart from Vince, he can come back out if he wants) “Get to steppin’, and hit the bricks McMahon”.

In a little bit of backstage drama, the story doing the rounds at the time (and has never been discredited to this day) is that the WWF wanted this to be a triple threat match also including Mankind. He’d become super popular and his feud with The Rock was commercially and critically successful. Shawn Michaels is the one who allegedly put the brakes on that idea, saying that the Wrestlemania main event had to be a singles match. 

There’s also no video package for this match which is actually fair enough - the build has mostly focused on Paul Wight, Mankind and who the referee would be. I've included one at the end of the match for you though, because I'm nice.

No Disqualification match for the WWF Championship 

The Rock © vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

The WWF Champion The Rock enters first, which I’m sure will annoy all the wrestling purists. Stone Cold gets a huge ovation but right away it's less than perfect as the Rattlesnake is wearing one of his t-shirts instead of his classic leather vest. Why? Well sadly Steve was going through a messy divorce at the time and his head wasn’t in the game - he left the vest at home. He has actually said in the years since that he barely remembers this period of his career as all of his focus was on his personal life which must have killed him given how obsessed he always has been with the business.

The Rock chokes Austin with the t-shirt and they fight to the outside right away, disappearing into the crowd. Austin battles The Rock through the people and sends him flying with right hands and back to ringside before sending him flying over the barrier on the other side of the ring and back into the people. Stone Cold loves brawling in the crowd amongst the people.

The Rock gets control and sends Austin back to ringside for Austin’s other favourite spot - choking each other with the bundles of cables around the ring. 

They fight up the ramp and send each other bouncing off the security walls and bumping hard on the concrete floor. Austin is fully in control until The Rock counters an attempted piledriver on the concrete into a backdrop which drops Stone Cold’s legs across a steel support and spotlight setup. The Rock goes right to the legs with stomps and works over the challenger's legs. 

Cool spot as Austin reverses The Rock’s whip into the huge hanging superstructure holding the Wrestlemania sign which sets it swinging and swaying. 

Austin tries for a vertical suplex on the entrance ramp but The Rock reverses and Austin’s lower back and legs land heavy and hard on the concrete.

They fight back around the ring using the ring steps and end up at the announce tables where The Rock gets to use his favourite spot - spitting water from a bottle into his opponent's face.

Austin lays The Rock on the announce desk and then dives off the ring-barrier with an elbow. The table doesn’t break so he sets The Rock back up and tries again and the table does break the second time. 

They finally go into the ring but The Rock immediately rolls out the other side and trips Austin, wrapping his legs around the ring post and there's a little more brawling on the outside. 

Austin throws The Rock into the ring but walks right into a Rock Bottom, which he kicks out of which the commentators sell huge. 

The Rock gets a chair but when Austin gets it from him and swings, it's the referee who takes a brutal shot to the head instead. The Rock gets the chair and hammers on Austin’s legs and knees with it. This is the more vicious side of The Rock that was brought out of him during the Mankind feud. The Rock finishes with a big shot to the head and a second referee comes into the ring to count for a close near fall. 

The Rock is finally able to string some moves together, working over Austin and clamping down with a sleeper and shutting down a comeback with a Samoan drop. 

The Rock, frustrated by not getting a three count, plants referee number two with a Rock Bottom and then walks right into a Stone Cold Stunner. There’s no referee to count! Earl Hebner (eugh) sprints to the ring and counts but The Rock kicks out! The fans start to boo as Vince McMahon makes his way to the ring. He tries to distract Austin…which works, and The Rock comes back with a low blow. 

Vince gets in the ring and as Earl tries to get him out, he punches the referee in the face. The Rock and McMahon put the boots to Stone Cold as Mankind, our rightful and would-be referee, limps to the ring holding his ribs! He knocks out VInce with a punch and kicks him out of the ring. Austin rolls up The Rock and Mankind counts and Mick Foley seems to have taken his place as the referee for the finish. 

Austin and The Rock go back and forth and The Rock hits the Rock Bottom. He doesn’t cover and instead sets up a Corporate Elbow but Stone Cold moves and after a counter-counter-counter exchange, Austin delivers a Stone Cold Stunner. Mankind counts the three and Stone Cold Steve Austin is the WWF Champion again. 

To make up for there being no video package before this match, here's the one that opened Raw the next night;

As amazing as it is to see Austin with the title belt again, toasting with beers and JR screaming about it, my personal nemesis Earl Hebner almost ruins this moment by getting way way too involved and trying to make sure he stays on camera the whole time. What a prick.

As Austin leaves, Vince gets in his face so Stone Cold throws him into the ring and stands on his chest, holding the title belt and a beer up high. Austin wins and the show ends on a definite high.