page_title: Over the Edge (1999)
section_title: Storylines
hierarchical_section_title: Over the Edge (1999) / Storylines
caption_attribution_description: English: Steve Austin readies himself to defend his WWF Championship against the Rock. Taken 4/2/1999 in Sheffield, England.
context_page_description: Over the Edge (1999) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation on May 23, 1999, at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.
  Owen Hart was scheduled to face The Godfather for the WWF Intercontinental Championship during the event. Wrestling under his Blue Blazer gimmick, Hart was set to make a superhero-like ring entrance, which would have seen him descend from the arena rafters into the ring. He was, however, released prematurely when the harness line malfunctioned, and fell more than 78 feet into the ring and died. Criticism later arose over Vince McMahon's decision to continue the show after Hart's accident. In court, his widow Martha, children, and parents sued the organization, contending that poor planning of the dangerous stunt caused Owen's death. WWF settled the case out of court, paying US$18 million to his widow, children, and parents. Due to the accident and controversy surrounding the event, the Over the Edge name was retired.
context_section_description: The main narrative for Over the Edge continued the events that unfolded at Backlash, WWF's previous pay-per-view event, held on April 25, 1999. There, The Undertaker abducted Stephanie McMahon, the daughter of chairman Vince McMahon. The Undertaker's price for Stephanie's return was control over the wrestling organization. His plans were thwarted, however, by the WWF Champion, Steve Austin, who rescued Stephanie and denied The Undertaker his ransom. This set up a feud between the two wrestlers, which was settled in a title match at Over the Edge, in which both Vince and his son Shane, who had aligned himself with The Undertaker, would serve as the guest referee. Originally Shane had named himself the sole referee of the match, but WWF commissioner Shawn Michaels made Vince the co-referee in order to level the playing field. WWF further built up the rivalry between The Undertaker and Austin by having them attack each other on WWF programming, before their showdown. On May 3, 1999, The Undertaker threw Austin off the stage, and two weeks later, the WWF Champion handcuffed his title's challenger to a crucifix, which was raised above the ring.
  Another feud culminating at Over the Edge involved Triple H and The Rock, who would meet each other in a match at the event. Triple H had interfered in one of The Rock's matches, and later threw him off the stage. leading The Rock to wearing his (kayfabe) injured arm in a plaster cast. Shane, acting as co-owner of WWF and ally of Triple H, further aggrieved The Rock by forbidding him to wear the cast for Over the Edge.
  The pay-per-view event contained the rivalry among two stables, the Corporate Ministry and the Union. The Corporate Ministry was formed when the Corporation merged with the Ministry of Darkness; the Corporate Ministry consisted of Viscera, the Big Boss Man, and the Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq). Throughout the month of May, the Ministry was involved in matches with Mankind, Ken Shamrock, the Big Show, and Test, and in retaliation, the four wrestlers formed the Union stable. The WWF continued to enhance the feud over several weeks, which included a brawl among all eight wrestlers on May 10, 1999. The feud led to an eight-man elimination tag team match between both groups at Over the Edge.
  Other feuds included Billy Gunn against his former partner Road Dogg, the Blue Blazer against WWF Intercontinental Champion The Godfather, Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown against WWF Tag Team Champions Kane and X-Pac, Hardcore Holly against Al Snow in a Hardcore singles match for the Hardcore Title, and a mixed tag team match pitting Val Venis and Nicole Bass against Jeff Jarrett and Debra were also advertised.
caption: Stone Cold Steve Austin as WWF Champion.
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