The 1999 No Mercy held in the United Kingdom was the inaugural No Mercy professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the American promotion, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on May 16, 1999, at the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England and was broadcast exclusively for the United Kingdom. It was the only No Mercy held in the United Kingdom, as beginning with the October 1999 event, all further No Mercy events were held in the United States.
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Promotional poster featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, Triple H, The Undertaker, and Billy Gunn | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | May 16, 1999 | ||
| City | Manchester, England | ||
| Venue | AO Arena | ||
| Attendance | 18,107[1] | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| No Mercy chronology | |||
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| WWE in Europe chronology | |||
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During this time, the pay-per-view market was relatively new to the UK, as before 1997, all pay-per-view events were broadcast for free on Sky Sports. UK-exclusive pay-per-views were established as a means to promote this new delivery method, however, the events were booked and treated similarly to house shows.
It was released on DVD in the UK and Europe on 12 July 2010, in a set also including Capital Carnage as part of the WWE's Tagged Classics range released by Silver Vision, without any edits to the original content, most notably keeping all mentions and appearances of the WWF logo intact and un-blurred.
Background
editThe pay-per-view (PPV) market was relatively new to the UK at the time: before One Night Only in 1997, all pay-per-view events were broadcast for free on Sky Sports. The United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-views were established to serve as promotion for the new delivery method, however, they were booked and treated similarly to house shows.[2] On 16 May 1999, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) held No Mercy as a UK-exclusive PPV and it was broadcast from the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England.[1]
Event
edit| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Jim Ross |
| Jerry Lawler | |
| Interviewers | Michael Cole |
| Ring announcer | Tony Chimel |
| Referees | Mike Chioda |
| Teddy Long | |
| Earl Hebner |
Preliminary matches
editThe first match was a singles match between Tiger Ali Singh and Gillberg. Singh quickly pinned Gillberg after a reverse neckbreaker.[3]
The following match was between The Ministry of Darkness (Viscera, Faarooq and Bradshaw) and The Brood (Gangrel, Edge, and Christian). Bradshaw pinned Gangrel for the victory after a Clothesline From Hell.[3]
The third match saw Steve Blackman defeat Droz by submission using a Triangle Choke. Following that match saw Kane competing against Mideon. Mideon was disqualified after several Corporate Ministry members interfered,[3] resulting in Kane being declared the winner.[3]
The next planned match was between Sable and Tori. Nicole Bass substituted for her and the match ended quickly after Bass performed a Chokeslam on Tori. This would be Sable's last appearance in the WWF for nearly four years.[3]
The sixth event of the night was a WWF European Championship match that saw Shane McMahon defend against X-Pac. McMahon pinned X-Pac after Triple H interfered and gave him a Pedigree, while the referee was down. At one point Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco stopped Shane McMahon from leaving the match early, leading to Chyna's interference, attacking the pair to prevent further interference.[3]
The seventh match saw Billy Gunn defeat Mankind. Gunn pinned Mankind after a Fameasser.[3]
Main event matches
editThe main event match was anything goes triple threat match for the WWF Championship. Defending champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) and Triple H (with Chyna), pinning Triple H after a Stone Cold Stunner following interference from the Corporate Ministry, The Brood, Kane, X-Pac and Mankind.[3]
Reception
editIn 2008, J.D. Dunn of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 4.0 [Poor], stating, "The UK events rarely get top effort, and when the 1999 roster dogs it, look the fuck out! There wasn't much that was actively bad outside of Sable walking out (although who cares, really). Most of it was boring and uneventful. If the show never existed -- and in WWF [canon], it barely did – no one would notice. Thumbs down".[4]
Aftermath
editA second No Mercy event was then held later that same year on 17 October, but in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.[5] This second event established No Mercy as the annual October PPV for the promotion until 2008;[6] because of this, the following year's May UK-only pay-per-view was held as Insurrextion. In 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, which became an orphaned initialism in 2011).[7][8] No Mercy was then discontinued and replaced by Hell in a Cell in 2009.[9] It was reinstated in 2016, following the reintroduction of the brand extension, where the promotion divided its roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform; the 2016 event was produced exclusively for SmackDown.[10] The 2017 event was then Raw-exclusive,[11] but No Mercy was then discontinued afterwards, as following WrestleMania 34 in 2018, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued, resulting in the promotion reducing the amount of yearly PPVs produced.[12] No Mercy was then reinstated in 2023 for WWE's developmental brand, NXT.[13]
Results
edit| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Ali Singh defeated Gillberg by pinfall | Singles match | 1:05 | ||
| 2 | Ministry of Darkness (Bradshaw, Faarooq, and Viscera) defeated The Brood (Christian, Edge, and Gangrel) by pinfall | Six-man tag team match | 13:49 | ||
| 3 | Steve Blackman defeated Droz by submission | Singles match | 7:43 | ||
| 4 | Kane defeated Mideon by disqualification | Singles match | 4:34 | ||
| 5 | Nicole Bass defeated Tori by pinfall | Singles match | 0:27 | ||
| 6 | Shane McMahon (c) defeated X-Pac by pinfall | Singles match for the WWF European Championship | 8:26 | ||
| 7 | Billy Gunn defeated Mankind by pinfall | Singles match | 12:17 | ||
| 8 | Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) defeated Triple H (with Chyna) and The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) by pinfall | Anything Goes triple threat match for the WWF Championship | 18:27 | ||
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See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "WWF No Mercy". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ "Episode 69: No Mercy 1999". Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "WWF PPV Results". Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
- ^ Dunn, J.D. (4 April 2008). "Dark Pegasus Video Review: No Mercy '99 (the UK Event)". 411Mania. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
- ^ "No Mercy 1999: Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
- ^ "Portland Trail Blazers at No Mercy". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
- ^ "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ Sacco, Justine; Weitz, Michael (7 April 2011). "The New WWE" (Press release). Connecticut: WWE. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
- ^ Caldwell, James (27 June 2009). "WWE News: WWE changes the names of two more PPVs; Report on WWE fan input leading to changes". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ WWE.com Staff (15 August 2016). "Get WWE No Mercy 2016 tickets". WWE. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ WWE.com Staff (15 July 2017). "WWE No Mercy 2017 tickets available now". WWE. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- ^ Sapp, Sean Ross (17 February 2018). "WWE Eliminates Single-Branded PPV Shows, Shuffles PPV Schedule". Fightful. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
- ^ Keller, Wade (27 July 2023). "WWE announces date and location for NXT No Mercy event this fall, plus pre-take ticket info". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.