Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

17. WWE SummerSlam 1999

• Jeff Jarrett def. D’Lo Brown to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the WWE European Championship
• The Acolytes won a Tag Team Turmoil Match to become the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship
• Al Snow def. Big Boss Man to win the WWE Hardcore Championship
• Ivory def. Tori to retain the WWE Women’s Championship
• Ken Shamrock def. Steve Blackman (Lion’s Den Weapons Match)
• Test def. Shane McMahon (Greenwich Street Fight)
• The Unholy Alliance def. Kane & X-Pac to win the WWE Tag Team Championship
• The Rock def. Billy Gunn (Kiss My Ass Match)
• Mankind def. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H to win the WWE Championship (Triple Threat Match)

The 1999 edition of SummerSlam was right smack in the middle of WWE’s dominance over WCW and this night also served as Vince Russo’s last pay-per-view with the company. And this show had his name written all over it with plenty of stipulations, title changes, swerves and all sorts of things.

The night started with Jeff Jarrett winning both the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship from D’Lo Brown after Mark Henry turned on his former tag partner, blasting him with Double J’s guitar to set up the finish. It wasn’t the best start to a SummerSlam but it certainly wasn’t the worst either, and it let the audience know that things were going to get a little crazy, which is what the Attitude Era was all about.

Tag Team Turmoil was next and while The Acolytes got the victory, the most notable thing to come out of all of these matches was the first match itself. All young Superstars at the time, Edge and Christian took on The New Brood, who just happened to be Matt and Jeff Hardy. This was a preview of the epic battles these two teams would have over the years and was the best portion of the segment.

Big Boss Man and Al Snow fought for the Hardcore Championship and it was exactly what was expected from that “division” at that time. It was fine for what it was but nothing spectacular. Ivory vs. Tori for the Women’s Championship was easily the worst match of the night but most people didn’t expect great wrestling from them at the time, even with some talented women on the roster in ’99.

The Lion’s Den Weapons Match with Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman just looked weird. It’s not that it was bad and it brought some violent elements in but it never hit the right gear. The Greenwich Street Fight with Shane McMahon and Test actually did hit that next gear and was so much better than I thought it would be. We’ve known for a long time now that Shane doesn’t mind getting a little crazy and Test looked good as well. He’s a guy I always liked and wanted to see succeed but after Triple H married Stephanie on TV instead of him, he was done. But this one was fun and got him a big win.

The Undertaker and Big Show won the tag titles over X-Pac and Kane in a decent bout and The Rock and Billy Gunn put together a decent showing as well, which led us into the main event.

With Minnesota Governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura back in WWE for the first time in a long time as the special guest referee, Stone Cold Steve Austin put his WWE Championship on the line in a Triple Threat Match against Mankind and Triple H in another fun match to cap off the night.

The Minneapolis crowd was hot for it and all three delivered. Austin and Foley worked together for a minute before getting into it with one another and Chyna got herself involved from time to time as well. The tease of Jesse fighting with Triple H was fun after he refused to count for him knowing he had used a chair. It seemed like this would be the night that Trips would win that first world title, but it was Mankind to get the win as he caught Austin with the double-arm DDT for the 1-2-3. It made for a fun end to a pretty fun night overall.