page_title: Royal Rumble (1999)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Rumble (1999) / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIX at Safeco Field in Seattle, WA on March 30, 2003.
context_page_description: Royal Rumble (1999) was the twelfth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1999, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The tagline and subtitle of the event was taken from a promise by Mr. McMahon that the first entrant in the Royal Rumble, Stone Cold Steve Austin, had "no chance in hell" of winning the match. The theme song for the event, based on the phrase, would go on to become the entrance music for McMahon's stable The Corporation and later, just McMahon himself, which he uses to this day.
  The main event was the annual Royal Rumble match, which saw the winner receive a title shot for the WWF Championship at the WrestleMania pay-per-view two months later. The Royal Rumble centered on the continuing heated rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon, with those men entering the main event at #1 and #2, respectively. The penultimate match for the WWF Championship was an "I Quit" match between Mankind and The Rock, which is remembered both for its brutality and its place in the documentary film Beyond the Mat.
context_section_description: On Raw Is War the following night, Mr. McMahon awarded The Rock the $100,000 bounty for helping him eliminate Austin in the Royal Rumble, and also announced that he was officially forfeiting his title shot at WrestleMania, the first time ever a Royal Rumble winner had done so, so as to not make The Rock defend his WWF Championship against McMahon. While McMahon planned to choose who The Rock would face at WrestleMania, he was interrupted by WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, who informed McMahon that since he forfeited his title shot at WrestleMania, according to WWF rules, the title shot was then immediately given to the Royal Rumble runner-up, Steve Austin, much to McMahon's fury. Austin took advantage by convincing McMahon to a match. Austin explained that even more than a WWF Championship match, he wanted another chance to fight McMahon without any legal ramifications so much that he would risk his WrestleMania title shot for the chance. To ensure that there would be no Corporate interference, the match would take place inside a steel cage at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House. Austin went on to win the match after the debut of Paul Wight, who came through the ring's mat and threw Austin into the cage wall, breaking it open and causing Austin to exit the cage before McMahon. Austin proceeded to face The Rock at WrestleMania XV, winning the WWF Championship for the second year in a row.
  The mystery of Mankind's quitting was solved when it was revealed that Shane McMahon had played a voice clip from a prerecorded interview on Sunday Night Heat of Mankind vowing to make Rock be the one screaming, "I quit, I quit, I quit!" when he was actually unconscious. Having been screwed again, Mankind hijacked the $100,000 bounty money The Rock earned for helping eliminate Austin, and began to throw it in the crowd, holding it ransom for a rematch. The rematch would be a twenty-minute time limit hardcore match, held in an empty arena during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII on Halftime Heat, where Mankind would win the title back by trapping Rock underneath a heavy payload on a forklift truck. With the Rock claiming it was an unfair win, the two faced each other again, and in hopes of finding a definitive champion the match was booked as a "Last Man Standing" match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. It ended in a draw when both men were counted out, meaning they had to settle it again the next night on Raw is War in a ladder match which Rock won with help from Paul Wight. With WrestleMania so close, Mankind sought to settle the score with Rock by countlessly trying to become a second special guest referee in the WrestleMania main event, alongside Wight. Early in the WrestleMania card, Wight and Mankind fought for the referee position in a match which saw Wight disqualified for chokeslamming Mankind through a pair of steel folding chairs. Mankind was sent to the hospital for his injuries, but returned to officiate in the closing minutes of the match.
  After making herself properly known, Sable's stalker Tori would be humiliated with her, pretending to align herself with Luna Vachon only to help Sable give her a beat down. Tori soon realized how selfish Sable was, though and the two had a match for the Women's Championship at WrestleMania XV where Sable retained her title thanks to interference from Nicole Bass.
  Mabel, meanwhile, was renamed Viscera and became the newest member of the Ministry of Darkness as it assembled its war against The Corporation and Mr. McMahon, making The Brood part of the stable too on February 1. The Undertaker would have a "Hell in a Cell" match against Big Boss Man at WrestleMania XV which ended with The Brood passing rope from the roof to hang Boss Man with. The feud between the two stables continued until they joined forces when it became apparent that the "higher power" The Undertaker was answering to was actually Mr. McMahon.
  One day after her historic appearance in the Royal Rumble Match, Chyna turned villainous by betraying Triple H and becoming the newest member of The Corporation. At St. Valentine
caption: The Rock would meet Steve Austin at WrestleMania for the first of three WrestleMania matches between the two over the next five years
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