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Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
No Mercy 1999 (UK Version)
Date: May 16, 1999
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 18,107
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
So we’re back in England for another show that’s never heard of again in America other than a random VHS release that got no hype. We’re about a month and a half after Mania 15 as Austin is world champion. We’re also a week away from Over the Edge, which was Owen’s last show.
The main event here is Austin vs. HHH vs. Taker in an anything goes triangle match since the term Triple Threat hadn’t been introduced yet. The rest of the match is just Corporate Ministry vs. various teams crap that no one really cared about but was awesome anyway. Again, just wanting to finish the 90s and this is one of a handful that I have left to go. Let’s get to it.
The opening video is about the Corporate Ministry which has just recently formed under the leadership of Shane McMahon. Since Taker vs. Austin was happening in a week this more or less wasn’t going to be much of a main event. Oh and they do call it a triple threat so ignore what I said earlier on.
Also note that there were two No Mercy PPVs in 1999 with the other being in I think October and in America, just in case anyone was confused at that.
Shane and the Corporate Ministry come out to open the show. Good night there are a lot of people in that stable. Vince really needs to go back to the original version of this song. It’s SO much better. The people kind of hate Shane. He says this is the most ruthless team in WWF history. Thank goodness he didn’t say the most talented.
He runs down a bit of the card as we have four matches involving Corporate Ministry people. In a cool thing, Shane opens his coat and reveals that he’s wearing the European Title. He makes the main even no holds barred. There’s something wrong with Shane as he stumbles over simple lines like no disqualifications and no….count outs. Maybe it’s being tired from the flight or something but this was really surprising.
Tiger Ali Singh vs. Gillberg
WHAT IS UP WITH THIS GUY??? He only fights on European PPVs and no one liked him because he’s not any good. They make Goldberg jokes mainly because we’re 4 months after the Fingerpoke of Doom so Goldie means nothing right now. Oh damn it they’re letting Singh talk.
He’s Ted DiBiase with a turban but lacking the talent or charisma. Can we please get back to anything else? Gillberg was light heavyweight champion at this point which he had for like a year. This might be the best parody of all time because there’s just so much you can make fun of Goldberg with.
The fire extinguishers and the sparklers crack me up to this day. And it’s a minute long match that Singh wins with a neckbreaker. Gillberg is a champion here and he’s the underdog. Only in the WWF could that make sense.
Rating: N/A. It was a comedy match, but what the hell was up with Singh getting pushed over there? I have NEVER gotten that one. Gillberg is great for a laugh though.
Austin just got here. He’s a Gillberg fan I guess.
We recap the Brood vs. the Corporate Ministry. The Brood used to be part of the Ministry but Taker kidnapped Stephanie and Christian was attacked by Shamrock and beaten until he said where Stephanie was being kept at. Christian was tortured by the Ministry and the Brood didn’t like it so they said no and a fight broke out. Here is the result of it.
Corporate Ministry vs. Brood
It’s Viscera and the Acolytes for the Ministry. The Brood’s music kicked ASS man. That song will immediately get your head bobbing from side to side. They’re over as hell too. Edge and Christian mean jack at this point though. The ladders were coming though. Gangrel starts with Viscera. I would call one the annoying one but it’s just not going to work here. Gangrel gets in some basic offense but not enough to do anything.
Edge gets a GREAT pop. Edge is 6’4 and Viscera towers over him. That’s amazing. Thankfully this is more like a tag between the APA and Edge and Christian. The guard rail is a fence. That’s most odd indeed. Christian stays in there a LONG time and gets beaten down and then stays in there a bit longer as Bradshaw beats on him.
Who would have believed that Bradshaw was the next of these guys to win the world title? Mideon and Shane pop up on the entrance way. It turns into a massive fight of course and Mideon DDTs Gangrel on the floor to let Bradshaw hit the clothesline to end this.
Rating: D+. It’s not bad, but this didn’t need almost fifteen minutes PERIOD. The wrestling isn’t bad at all, but it just needs to be about 9 minutes instead of 14. This was the first of at least four Ministry matches tonight so get used to them.
Steve Blackman vs. Droz
Holy filler Batman! Blackman was in the middle of an awful push and Droz…well he’s Droz. Crowd is DEAD here. I’ve got nothing either. I have no idea why this is on the card as no one cares. They make sure not to stay on a crowd shot too long as I’m guessing the fans are really bored.
Oh great now we get a chinlock. This is just boring as freaking hell. I have never in my life heard a more silent crowd. Blackman makes the (face? Heel?) comeback and hits a triangle choke to end it. The pop for the match ending is kind of sad.
Rating: D-. I’m actually shaking my head here. I don’t get this AT ALL. Who booked this? Did someone really think this would be a good idea?
Now we move onto something WEIRD. The Headbangers broke up so we have Mosh becoming Beaver Cleavage. The idea was more or less Leave it to Beaver plus implied incest in black and white. How bad do you think this was? The best part of this though was how they ended it. More or less they had the guy playing him “quit” playing it on camera. As in he said he can’t do this character anymore and walked off. That was odd as hell at the time. It lasted all of a month though.
Mankind comes out and says asks MANCHESTER if they play football here and then if the team is any good. I bow in awe at the ability to get cheap pops that Foley had. Anyway, he says he talked to the British Bulldog earlier and asks if the fans want to know what he said. He said “Cactus, get off the damn phone so I can get back to sleep.”
Foley forgot the time difference apparently. And that is why Mick Foley is my all time favorite. He managed to be able to get over with idiotic stuff like that. Bulldog was hurt at this point so that’s kind of odd. He says that tonight he has Bad Ass Billy Gunn, but anyone that’s ever seen him in the shower knows he has a bad ass already. I love this guy.
Fans talk about the show tonight.
Kane vs. Mideon
Kane and X-Pac are the tag champions here. For you really old school fans, Mideon is more commonly known as Phineas Godwin. There’s very little to say here as Kane more or less dominates him and hits the chokeslam but the Ministry runs in for the DQ. That took over three minutes somehow. X-Pac makes the save and Shane says X-Pac is next.
Rating: N/A. This was just to keep the Ministry thing going all night.
We recap Debra getting the women’s title on Raw because she got her evening gown ripped off.
Tori vs. Sable
Tori was the crazy stalker lesbian at first but that was dropped to make her just a wrestler. Apparently she’s getting Nicole Bass who is bigger than Chyna here. Sable was doing this stupid dance/gyration called the Grind which allegedly kept her over as hell. She was a stuck up bitch around this time and few cared. She claimed she was a huge star or something and was gone soon after this. She’s sick apparently and Bass is replacing her. And it lasts 30 seconds.
Rating: N/A. Passable though as Tori was really hot.
We recap Shane vs. X-Pac which went on forever and a few years. More or less Shane stole the European Title from X-Pac and that’s about it. Shane had retired the title and is bringing it out of retirement for one night only. It would be brought back full time in about a month. Oh and HHH turned on X-Pac to keep the belt on Shane. This takes four minutes to explain.
European Title: Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac
Shane gets his ass kicked for awhile before he tries to leave. Patterson and Brisco make the save but Chyna beats the hell out of them for their troubles. X-Pac gets the same. They would make up in time to make their porn movie though. The perk is that Shane can actually work pretty well. He’s not great but he’s ok if nothing else.
After some really basic stuff the referee goes down and Chyna hits X-Pac with the belt. That only gets two though which gets a great pop. HHH comes down now as the overbooking continues. Where the hell is Kane? In a great spot X-Pac goes for the Bronco Buster and Chyna just puts her foot up. A Pedigree ends this.
Rating: D. There wasn’t anything of note here at all as no one thought Pac was going to win. It was overbooked to hell and should have ended after the belt shot. It’s not terrible but I was rather bored during the majority of this which is never a good thing.
Kane makes the save and as HHH and Shane are yelling at him they talk about Austin for no apparent reason. Ok then.
The Ministry jumps Mankind as he’s getting ready for his match and Taker goes after his knee. Ross shouting STOP IT makes me chuckle. Not really but I thought I’d try to make this the slightest bit interesting.
Billy Gunn vs. Mankind
Sadly enough Gunn was about to get a big push as KOTR so he’ll likely be going over here. They tried SO hard to make him mean something and it just always failed. Foley can’t walk to the ring so Gunn says he wins by forfeit. Good night he’s annoying. He just makes you want to smack him no matter if he’s heel or face and that’s never a good thing. Ah here comes the talented one.
To the shock of no one this is a brawl for the most part. Mankind is apparently mayor of Parts Unknown which is in No Man’s Land County. Oh there’s the bell. There’s little to this. We have no flow or anything and the only reason this is happening is because of Foley having a knee injury.
That’s legit actually as he was about to take the summer off to have it fixed. Gunn hooks a figure four to hit his wrestling quota for the night. Foley reverses and it’s chair time. And he gets a Fameasser into it for the pin. Well that came from nowhere.
Rating: D. This was just meandering through itself and nothing ever came of it. This was more about building for future stuff but that doesn’t mean this didn’t suck completely. It was just BORING as Gunn didn’t seem to know how to wrestle, which would put this sometime in the late 90s. Foley was busted up beyond belief here and shouldn’t have been in the ring so all was normal with him.
We recap Austin vs. the Ministry. Do you need a recap here? They’re evil, he’s Austin. There you are.
WWF Title: Undertaker vs. Steve Austin vs. HHH
Naturally it starts on the floor in a big brawl. Did you expect anything else really? They’re up by the entrance just to change things up a bit. Almost five minutes in and we’re finally in the ring. The heels dominate Austin and the crowd just dies. And we’re back on the floor now. Seriously we’ve had five minutes on the floor and less than one in the ring. There’s just nothing to talk about here as it’s just brawling with no semblance of a match or anything like that.
Hey we’re in the ring! The crowd freaking loves Austin too. More or less this is a handicap match but HHH doesn’t have main event credibility yet. The heels fight a bit and Austin low blows Taker to get an advantage. HHH and Taker get into an argument over who forgot to pay the bill at Olive Garden so Austin gets a breather. The whole point of this is for the Corporate Ministry to win the title right? It’s no holds barred right?
So why aren’t the Acolytes or someone coming out there and holding Austin while HHH lays down for Taker? HHH hits a facebuster, shouts out to Taker to make the save and then Taker kicks him to make said save. HHH is ALWAYS bad at these things and it’s really annoying to say the least. Taker chokeslams him for his troubles to make up for it a bit.
And here’s the Ministry in the massive run in to beat on Austin after about 13 minutes. Kane, X-Pac and the Brood make the save and take out Taker for no apparent reason. A Stunner ends it. Post match Austin and Pac beat up Shane and have some beers to end the show. Oh and HHH gets Stunned again just to waste some time.
Rating: D+. This is your standard overblown WWF Attitude Era insane main event. It’s not bad at all but it’s nothing you haven’t seen a million times. This is a match to send the fans home happy so that helps a good bit. It’s far more of a brawl than a match but it worked ok I guess. Austin winning was the main point and that’s all it needed to be. He was so far ahead of anyone else in the world so this was fine.
Overall Rating: F. This show just isn’t any good. It’s short as I don’t think it even made two and a half hours. Scratch that as it barely made 2 hours. The highest grade I gave this to anything was I think a D+. That simply doesn't pass, period. There isn’t a great match to be found anywhere and the novelty wasn’t really there.
Also, where was the Rock? This just isn’t a good show at all and felt like a big house show with a budget. That’s not entertaining at all and I was bored out of my mind during this whole thing. Steer WAY clear of this one.
Date: May 16, 1999
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 18,107
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
So we’re back in England for another show that’s never heard of again in America other than a random VHS release that got no hype. We’re about a month and a half after Mania 15 as Austin is world champion. We’re also a week away from Over the Edge, which was Owen’s last show.
The main event here is Austin vs. HHH vs. Taker in an anything goes triangle match since the term Triple Threat hadn’t been introduced yet. The rest of the match is just Corporate Ministry vs. various teams crap that no one really cared about but was awesome anyway. Again, just wanting to finish the 90s and this is one of a handful that I have left to go. Let’s get to it.
The opening video is about the Corporate Ministry which has just recently formed under the leadership of Shane McMahon. Since Taker vs. Austin was happening in a week this more or less wasn’t going to be much of a main event. Oh and they do call it a triple threat so ignore what I said earlier on.
Also note that there were two No Mercy PPVs in 1999 with the other being in I think October and in America, just in case anyone was confused at that.
Shane and the Corporate Ministry come out to open the show. Good night there are a lot of people in that stable. Vince really needs to go back to the original version of this song. It’s SO much better. The people kind of hate Shane. He says this is the most ruthless team in WWF history. Thank goodness he didn’t say the most talented.
He runs down a bit of the card as we have four matches involving Corporate Ministry people. In a cool thing, Shane opens his coat and reveals that he’s wearing the European Title. He makes the main even no holds barred. There’s something wrong with Shane as he stumbles over simple lines like no disqualifications and no….count outs. Maybe it’s being tired from the flight or something but this was really surprising.
Tiger Ali Singh vs. Gillberg
WHAT IS UP WITH THIS GUY??? He only fights on European PPVs and no one liked him because he’s not any good. They make Goldberg jokes mainly because we’re 4 months after the Fingerpoke of Doom so Goldie means nothing right now. Oh damn it they’re letting Singh talk.
He’s Ted DiBiase with a turban but lacking the talent or charisma. Can we please get back to anything else? Gillberg was light heavyweight champion at this point which he had for like a year. This might be the best parody of all time because there’s just so much you can make fun of Goldberg with.
The fire extinguishers and the sparklers crack me up to this day. And it’s a minute long match that Singh wins with a neckbreaker. Gillberg is a champion here and he’s the underdog. Only in the WWF could that make sense.
Rating: N/A. It was a comedy match, but what the hell was up with Singh getting pushed over there? I have NEVER gotten that one. Gillberg is great for a laugh though.
Austin just got here. He’s a Gillberg fan I guess.
We recap the Brood vs. the Corporate Ministry. The Brood used to be part of the Ministry but Taker kidnapped Stephanie and Christian was attacked by Shamrock and beaten until he said where Stephanie was being kept at. Christian was tortured by the Ministry and the Brood didn’t like it so they said no and a fight broke out. Here is the result of it.
Corporate Ministry vs. Brood
It’s Viscera and the Acolytes for the Ministry. The Brood’s music kicked ASS man. That song will immediately get your head bobbing from side to side. They’re over as hell too. Edge and Christian mean jack at this point though. The ladders were coming though. Gangrel starts with Viscera. I would call one the annoying one but it’s just not going to work here. Gangrel gets in some basic offense but not enough to do anything.
Edge gets a GREAT pop. Edge is 6’4 and Viscera towers over him. That’s amazing. Thankfully this is more like a tag between the APA and Edge and Christian. The guard rail is a fence. That’s most odd indeed. Christian stays in there a LONG time and gets beaten down and then stays in there a bit longer as Bradshaw beats on him.
Who would have believed that Bradshaw was the next of these guys to win the world title? Mideon and Shane pop up on the entrance way. It turns into a massive fight of course and Mideon DDTs Gangrel on the floor to let Bradshaw hit the clothesline to end this.
Rating: D+. It’s not bad, but this didn’t need almost fifteen minutes PERIOD. The wrestling isn’t bad at all, but it just needs to be about 9 minutes instead of 14. This was the first of at least four Ministry matches tonight so get used to them.
Steve Blackman vs. Droz
Holy filler Batman! Blackman was in the middle of an awful push and Droz…well he’s Droz. Crowd is DEAD here. I’ve got nothing either. I have no idea why this is on the card as no one cares. They make sure not to stay on a crowd shot too long as I’m guessing the fans are really bored.
Oh great now we get a chinlock. This is just boring as freaking hell. I have never in my life heard a more silent crowd. Blackman makes the (face? Heel?) comeback and hits a triangle choke to end it. The pop for the match ending is kind of sad.
Rating: D-. I’m actually shaking my head here. I don’t get this AT ALL. Who booked this? Did someone really think this would be a good idea?
Now we move onto something WEIRD. The Headbangers broke up so we have Mosh becoming Beaver Cleavage. The idea was more or less Leave it to Beaver plus implied incest in black and white. How bad do you think this was? The best part of this though was how they ended it. More or less they had the guy playing him “quit” playing it on camera. As in he said he can’t do this character anymore and walked off. That was odd as hell at the time. It lasted all of a month though.
Mankind comes out and says asks MANCHESTER if they play football here and then if the team is any good. I bow in awe at the ability to get cheap pops that Foley had. Anyway, he says he talked to the British Bulldog earlier and asks if the fans want to know what he said. He said “Cactus, get off the damn phone so I can get back to sleep.”
Foley forgot the time difference apparently. And that is why Mick Foley is my all time favorite. He managed to be able to get over with idiotic stuff like that. Bulldog was hurt at this point so that’s kind of odd. He says that tonight he has Bad Ass Billy Gunn, but anyone that’s ever seen him in the shower knows he has a bad ass already. I love this guy.
Fans talk about the show tonight.
Kane vs. Mideon
Kane and X-Pac are the tag champions here. For you really old school fans, Mideon is more commonly known as Phineas Godwin. There’s very little to say here as Kane more or less dominates him and hits the chokeslam but the Ministry runs in for the DQ. That took over three minutes somehow. X-Pac makes the save and Shane says X-Pac is next.
Rating: N/A. This was just to keep the Ministry thing going all night.
We recap Debra getting the women’s title on Raw because she got her evening gown ripped off.
Tori vs. Sable
Tori was the crazy stalker lesbian at first but that was dropped to make her just a wrestler. Apparently she’s getting Nicole Bass who is bigger than Chyna here. Sable was doing this stupid dance/gyration called the Grind which allegedly kept her over as hell. She was a stuck up bitch around this time and few cared. She claimed she was a huge star or something and was gone soon after this. She’s sick apparently and Bass is replacing her. And it lasts 30 seconds.
Rating: N/A. Passable though as Tori was really hot.
We recap Shane vs. X-Pac which went on forever and a few years. More or less Shane stole the European Title from X-Pac and that’s about it. Shane had retired the title and is bringing it out of retirement for one night only. It would be brought back full time in about a month. Oh and HHH turned on X-Pac to keep the belt on Shane. This takes four minutes to explain.
European Title: Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac
Shane gets his ass kicked for awhile before he tries to leave. Patterson and Brisco make the save but Chyna beats the hell out of them for their troubles. X-Pac gets the same. They would make up in time to make their porn movie though. The perk is that Shane can actually work pretty well. He’s not great but he’s ok if nothing else.
After some really basic stuff the referee goes down and Chyna hits X-Pac with the belt. That only gets two though which gets a great pop. HHH comes down now as the overbooking continues. Where the hell is Kane? In a great spot X-Pac goes for the Bronco Buster and Chyna just puts her foot up. A Pedigree ends this.
Rating: D. There wasn’t anything of note here at all as no one thought Pac was going to win. It was overbooked to hell and should have ended after the belt shot. It’s not terrible but I was rather bored during the majority of this which is never a good thing.
Kane makes the save and as HHH and Shane are yelling at him they talk about Austin for no apparent reason. Ok then.
The Ministry jumps Mankind as he’s getting ready for his match and Taker goes after his knee. Ross shouting STOP IT makes me chuckle. Not really but I thought I’d try to make this the slightest bit interesting.
Billy Gunn vs. Mankind
Sadly enough Gunn was about to get a big push as KOTR so he’ll likely be going over here. They tried SO hard to make him mean something and it just always failed. Foley can’t walk to the ring so Gunn says he wins by forfeit. Good night he’s annoying. He just makes you want to smack him no matter if he’s heel or face and that’s never a good thing. Ah here comes the talented one.
To the shock of no one this is a brawl for the most part. Mankind is apparently mayor of Parts Unknown which is in No Man’s Land County. Oh there’s the bell. There’s little to this. We have no flow or anything and the only reason this is happening is because of Foley having a knee injury.
That’s legit actually as he was about to take the summer off to have it fixed. Gunn hooks a figure four to hit his wrestling quota for the night. Foley reverses and it’s chair time. And he gets a Fameasser into it for the pin. Well that came from nowhere.
Rating: D. This was just meandering through itself and nothing ever came of it. This was more about building for future stuff but that doesn’t mean this didn’t suck completely. It was just BORING as Gunn didn’t seem to know how to wrestle, which would put this sometime in the late 90s. Foley was busted up beyond belief here and shouldn’t have been in the ring so all was normal with him.
We recap Austin vs. the Ministry. Do you need a recap here? They’re evil, he’s Austin. There you are.
WWF Title: Undertaker vs. Steve Austin vs. HHH
Naturally it starts on the floor in a big brawl. Did you expect anything else really? They’re up by the entrance just to change things up a bit. Almost five minutes in and we’re finally in the ring. The heels dominate Austin and the crowd just dies. And we’re back on the floor now. Seriously we’ve had five minutes on the floor and less than one in the ring. There’s just nothing to talk about here as it’s just brawling with no semblance of a match or anything like that.
Hey we’re in the ring! The crowd freaking loves Austin too. More or less this is a handicap match but HHH doesn’t have main event credibility yet. The heels fight a bit and Austin low blows Taker to get an advantage. HHH and Taker get into an argument over who forgot to pay the bill at Olive Garden so Austin gets a breather. The whole point of this is for the Corporate Ministry to win the title right? It’s no holds barred right?
So why aren’t the Acolytes or someone coming out there and holding Austin while HHH lays down for Taker? HHH hits a facebuster, shouts out to Taker to make the save and then Taker kicks him to make said save. HHH is ALWAYS bad at these things and it’s really annoying to say the least. Taker chokeslams him for his troubles to make up for it a bit.
And here’s the Ministry in the massive run in to beat on Austin after about 13 minutes. Kane, X-Pac and the Brood make the save and take out Taker for no apparent reason. A Stunner ends it. Post match Austin and Pac beat up Shane and have some beers to end the show. Oh and HHH gets Stunned again just to waste some time.
Rating: D+. This is your standard overblown WWF Attitude Era insane main event. It’s not bad at all but it’s nothing you haven’t seen a million times. This is a match to send the fans home happy so that helps a good bit. It’s far more of a brawl than a match but it worked ok I guess. Austin winning was the main point and that’s all it needed to be. He was so far ahead of anyone else in the world so this was fine.
Overall Rating: F. This show just isn’t any good. It’s short as I don’t think it even made two and a half hours. Scratch that as it barely made 2 hours. The highest grade I gave this to anything was I think a D+. That simply doesn't pass, period. There isn’t a great match to be found anywhere and the novelty wasn’t really there.
Also, where was the Rock? This just isn’t a good show at all and felt like a big house show with a budget. That’s not entertaining at all and I was bored out of my mind during this whole thing. Steer WAY clear of this one.
) when I was 10, thought it was pretty cool seeing Mankind and the Brood fighting the Corporate Ministry at the end and then Austin and X-Pac beating down HHH, Chyna and Shane(although Corporation was my fave then)
