No Mercy 1999 No Mercy 1999 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , which took place on October 17 , 1999 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland , Ohio . Nine matches , including three championship matches . In the first , The Fabulous Moolah won the WWF Women ' s Championship from Ivory to become the oldest champion in professional wrestling history . In the second , Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship , becoming the first female Intercontinental Champion in WWF history . Lastly , Triple H defeated Steve Austin to retain the WWF Championship . Also on the card was a tag team ladder match in which The New Brood ( Matt and Jeff Hardy ) defeated Edge and Christian . Generally , reviews for the event were positive , with both SLAM ! Wrestling and 411mania . com rating it eight out of ten . The tag team ladder match , in particular , received very positive reviews from critics . Writing and production . Vince Russo and his writing partner , Ed Ferrara , watched " The Jerry Springer Show " for ideas to develop into WWF storylines . Some of the wrestlers also were involved with writing their own storylines . For example , the four competitors in the tag team ladder match made the decision for their rivalry to involve a " best - of " series . The plan was to originally do a " best - of - seven " series , but it was later changed to five . They had the whole match planned , including all of the stunts . In addition , Pat Patterson was the booker for the event . Before the event , Jeff Jarrett was on his way out of the company , as management felt he had been a bad investment for the company . Vince McMahon , the WWF Chairman , came up with the idea for Jarrett and Chyna to become involved in a storyline together . Vince Russo was asked to write the storyline leading up to the match , including when Jarrett would taunt Chyna and hit her with random household objects . The fans responded positively to the battle - of - the - sexes match - ups . They were originally supposed to have their match - up at Rebellion , but the WWF extended the storyline for another month due to its popularity . In the midst of the feud , Russo left the WWF for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . In her autobiography " If They Only Knew " , Chyna implies that Russo was the person who convinced McMahon to delay their pay - per - view match for a month , because he knew Jarrett was also going to sign with WCW . Because of the delay , Jarrett ' s contract expired the day before the match , so he was not contractually required to wrestle at the event . Hours before the event began , Jarrett demanded ( and received ) somewhere between $ 300 , 000 – 500 , 000 to wrestle Chyna for the night . Background . Nine professional wrestling matches were featured on the event ' s card . Matches were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE ' s creative staff and featured wrestlers for the entertainment of the audience . Leading up to their match at No Mercy , Jeff Jarrett would taunt Chyna and hit her with random household objects . He also began a gimmick where he would degrade women , which involved him attacking female WWF employees . At Rebellion , Jarrett defeated Chyna after hitting her in the head with a guitar when the referee was not looking . During this time , Jarrett also introduced Miss Kitty to be the valet for his manager Debra . Prior to No Mercy , The New Brood Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy were in a rivalry with Edge and Christian and the two teams were in the midst of a the Terri Invitational Tournament , where the winning team would win the managerial services of Terri Runnels . The series was a " best - of - five " and began on the September 30 episode of " SmackDown ! " when Edge and Christian defeated The New Brood in the first match of the tournament . In the weeks proceeding the pay - per - view , the teams traded wins until both teams had two each . Therefore , the match at No Mercy would be the deciding match in the tournament . Triple H and Steve Austin were also feuding heading into the event . They had a Triple Threat match , also including The Undertaker , at the previous No Mercy pay - per - view in April ; in the match , Austin defeated Triple H to retain the title . In the following months , the WWF Championship was traded back and forth amongst Austin , The Undertaker , Mankind , Triple H , and Vince McMahon . In late September at Unforgiven , Triple H won the championship in a match against five other wrestlers , including The Rock , with Austin as the Special Guest Referee . At the beginning of October at Rebellion , Triple H retained his title in a steel cage match against The Rock . Event . The first match was between The Godfather and Mideon in a singles match . During the match , Viscera interfered several times on the behalf of Mideon . The Godfather , however , won the match after pinning Mideon . Subsequently , The Fabulous Moolah , accompanied by her friend Mae Young , and Ivory , the reigning WWF Women ' s Champion , went to the ring for their match . Ivory immediately performed a dropkick on Moolah . After interference from Young , Moolah surprised Ivory by pinning her and winning the Women ' s Championship . At the time , Moolah was in her seventies , thus becoming the oldest champion in the history of professional wrestling . The Hollys ( Hardcore and Crash ) versus the New Age Outlaws ( Billy Gunn and The Road Dogg ) was next . In the midst of the match , Hardcore Holly threw a steel chair into the ring . Billy Gunn , however , used the chair to his advantage by performing an offense maneuver on Crash Holly that caused his head to slam into the chair which was lying in the ring . Therefore , the Hollys won the match by disqualification . The fourth match of the night was between Chyna and Jeff Jarrett in a Good Housekeeping match — a match where the ring is surrounded by household objects which the wrestlers can use against each other — for the WWF Intercontinental Championship . After Jarrett hit Chyna with the Intercontinental title belt , he pinned her . The referee Theodore Long , however , overturned the ruling because the belt was not considered a " household item " . As a result , Jarrett performed a submission maneuver on Long , but Chyna hit him over the head with a guitar . She then pinned him to win the title . With the win , Chyna became the first woman to ever hold the title . Also as a result of the win , Jarrett ' s valet Miss Kitty left Jarrett to valet for Chyna . Subsequently , The Rock defeated The British Bulldog in a singles match by performing a Rock Bottom and People ' s Elbow . After the match , The Rock cut a promo where he challenged the winner of the main event to a match . Triple H , however , came out and hit The Rock with a sledgehammer , which caused The Rock to be taken backstage by a stretcher . Backstage , The Rock refused to be taken to the hospital . The following bout was the last match in the " Terri Invitational Tournament " , contested between The New Brood Matt and Jeff Hardy and Edge and Christian in a tag team ladder match . For the match , a bag with 100 , 000 dollars was hung from the ceiling , and the goal of the match was to use one of the two ladders in the ring to climb and retrieve the bag . The first team to retrieve the bag would win the match . The manager of The New Brood , Gangrel brought a ladder to the ring , but as a result , he got ejected from ringside by the referee . During the match , the ladders were set up so that one was on top of the other , resembling a Seesaw , Jeff jumped on one side so that the other side jutted upwards , knocking down both Matt and Christian . Later in the match , all four men were on the ladders and after Edge pushed Matt off of the ladder they were both on , he fell into the other ladder , knocking Christian to the mat . Jeff however , jumped onto the other ladder to continue to battle with Edge . As Jeff and Edge climbed the ladder , Jeff pushed Edge to the ground and grabbed the bag of money to win the match . As a result of winning the match , The New Brood won $ 100 , 000 and the managerial services of Terri Runnels . Backstage , the trio celebrated the win and their new partnership with a bottle of champagne . The seventh match of the night was between Val Venis and Mankind . During the course of the match , Venis slammed Mankind back first into a steel chair which was lying in the ring . When Mankind tried to perform a mandible claw on Venis , he retaliated by simultaneously grabbing Mankind ' s crotch . As a result , both men collapsed , but because Venis landed on top of Mankind — causing a pinning predicament — Venis defeated his opponent . The second to last match was between X - Pac , Bradshaw , Kane , and Faarooq in a Four Corners Elimination match . Eight minutes into the match , Kane performed a chokeslam on Bradshaw to pin and eliminated him from the match . Approximately two minutes later , X - Pac performed a spinning heel kick on Kane and pinned him to eliminate him . X - Pac eliminated Farooq by using the X Factor to win the match . Triple H defeated Steve Austin in an Anything Goes match for the WWF Championship . When Triple H attempted to use his sledgehammer against Austin , Vince McMahon grabbed it from him . They spent seven minutes of the match outside the ring , where Austin used a steel fence , trashcan , and microphone as weapons . Once in the ring , both men attempted to end the match by utilizing their finishing maneuvers . Back outside of the ring , Austin threw Triple H into both the steel ring stairs and the announce table , causing him to bleed profusely . Near the end of the match , The Rock , bandaged from his injuries earlier in the night , came down to ringside carrying the sledgehammer . Although he was aiming at Triple H , he accidentally hit Austin with the weapon . Taking advantage of the situation , Triple H Pedigreed The Rock and pinned Austin to retain his WWF Championship . After the match , Austin and Triple H continued to fight into the backstage area , where Chyna picked Triple H in a limousine and drove away . Aftermath . The " Terri Invitational Tournament " and the tag team ladder match between The New Brood ( later known as The Hardy Boyz ) and Edge and Christian elevated both teams . According to Matt Hardy , the match elevated them from " WWF wrestlers to WWF Superstars " . Both teams received standing ovations the night of the match , as well as the following night on " Raw " . It also led to WWE utilizing ladder matches more frequently . After No Mercy , Jeff Jarrett left the World Wrestling Federation and showed up on WCW Monday Nitro the next evening . Miss Kitty began accompanying Chyna to the ring for her matches . Kitty also began dressing like Chyna , including wearing a black wig , and became known as " Chynette " . Chyna then began a rivalry with Chris Jericho over the championship . Chyna defeated Jericho at the subsequent pay - per - view Survivor Series in November to retain the title . Triple H held the WWF Championship until Survivor Series in November when he lost it to The Big Show in a Triple Threat match that also involved The Rock . Meanwhile , Steve Austin was written out of WWE storylines so he could have neck surgery . On - screen , his absence was attributed to being hit by a car . When he returned to television a year later , it was revealed that Rikishi had hit him with a car to allow The Rock to become champion . The Rock , however , did not win the championship until Backlash in April 2000 . . Later , though , it was revealed that the hit - and - run on Steve Austin was orchestrated by Triple H . Reception . John Powell of SLAM ! Wrestling said that the tag match between the Hardys and Edge and Christian overshadowed the main event match between Triple H and Steve Austin . He called the match " astonishing " and claimed it " brought the crowd to their feet " . Specifically , he claimed that Edge and Christian " were the future of the federation " and deserved " a hefty raise " . Powell also liked the match between The Rock and The British Bulldog , calling it " A well - fought , explosive encounter " . In contrast , Powell stated that the women ' s match was the " worst match [ he ' d ] ever seen " . Overall , he rated the event eight out of ten . J . D . Dunn of 411mania . com also rated the pay - per - view an eight out of ten . He called the tag team ladder match " 1999 ' s WWE MOTY [ Match of the Year ] by most accounts " and rated it four and one - fourth stars out of five . In addition , he called the Chyna - Jarrett match " a goofy - but - fun match " and claimed " The Jarrett - Chyna feud was one of the best of the year , although that ' s not saying much . " The main event of Triple H versus Austin achieved three out of five stars .