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By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S WWF UNFORGIVEN REPORT
When: September 26, 1999
Where: Charlotte, N.C.

(Live from Charlotte, N.C.)... The show opened with referees picketing outside the arena, a take-off on the baseball umpires strike... Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the program from ringside...

(1) Val Venis pinned Steve Blackman at 5:45. Clean win for Val after the Moneyshot. Blackman just shows no personality. Okay action technically, but bland. After the match Blackman nailed Val with a kendo stick. The ref called for medical help. (*)

(2) D-Lo Brown pinned Mark Henry at 9:15 after a frog splash to capture the European Title. Before the match Henry made a pass at interviewer Lillian Garcia. She slapped him. He claimed to have a Brainyrism and thus couldn't wrestle. D-Lo came out and started the match anyway. D-Lo won clean with a frog splash. The crowd popped for D-Lo. Rather plodding, but not embarrassingly bad. Too long to be good. (3/4*)

(3) Jeff Jarrett (w/Miss Kitty) beat Chyna via DQ at 11:52 to retain the Intercontinental Title. Before the match, Lillian Garcia interviewed Debra, Miss Kitty, and Jarrett. Jarrett told Debra to stay out of his business and went to ringside with Miss Kitty. Chyna charged the ring, but Jarrett took early advantage in the match. There was no sense that Jarrett was holding back because she was a woman. Chyna's first offensive move was a low-blow. Jarrett took over at ringside, yanking her crotch-first into the ringpost and then ramming her into the stairs. At 6:00 Jarrett applied a sleeper, but Chyna escaped with elbows and then suplexed Jarrett. Jarrett came off the ropes and Chyna followed up with a powerslam for a two count. Seconds later Chyna powerbombed Jarrett for another two count. Jarrett went for the figure-four, but Chyna kicked out of it. Jarrett took an exaggerated bump over the top rope. Chyna followed Jarrett to ringside and whipped him into the stairs, then bashed his back with a chair. Back in the ring, Jarrett blocked a Pedigree attempt and catapulted Chyna into scab ref Harvey Wippleman. Miss Kitty then gave Jarrett a guitar. Mae Young and Fabulous Moolah then entered the ring and stopped him. They took turns hitting Jarrett which, while somewhat corny looking, got great heat. The crowd ate it up as the two 70ish woman suplexed Jarrett. They whipped Jarrett into the ropes, but when he rebounded he clotheslined them. They took better bumps than Sid or Nash usually take. Jarrett kicked them out of the ring. Debra walked out and shoved Miss Kitty to the ground. As Jarrett began to apply the figure-four to Chyna, Debra blindsided him with a guitar and then walked to the back. Chyna crawled over and covered Jarrett. The ref came to and counted the pin. Chyna was announced as the new IC Champ. Ref Tom Prichard ran out and insisted on explaining what happened to ref Wippleman. He explained that Debra interfered, thus Chyna was DQ'd. Chyna got in Prichard's face, then beat him up. The crowd again popped as she gave him a low blow and a Pedigree. (**)

(4) The Acolytes beat D-Von & Buh Buh Ray Dudley when Faarooq pinned D-Von at 7:27. As the Dudleys came to the ring for their match, WWF personnel had to help Young and Moolah to the back. The referee was Jim Kordaris, who was a regular ref who crossed the picket line. At 5:25 Bradshaw kicked out of the Dudley Death Drop. D-Von followed with a top rope headbutt, but Bradshaw kicked out. The crowd didn't pop for either two count. Faarooq shook the ropes when D-Von went back to the top rope. Bradshaw back suplexed D-Von off the top rope. A four-way brawl broke out. Stevie Richards came to the ring dressed as an Acolyte (in a witty twist, he had the UPN logo painted on his chest instead of an Acolyte symbol). He gave D-Von the Superkick; Faarooq scored the pin. Stevie entered the ring and jumped up and down in celebration. He tried to shake Faarooq's hand. Faarooq grabbed his hand and slammed him on his head. Stevie, who's got a history of neck problems, took a bump for a powerbomb, but Faarooq was trying to slam him face-first to the mat, so Stevie landed on his head. It could have been a lot worse than it was. Passable match, but matches without defined babyfaces and heels don't get crowd heat unless it involves top-tier talent . (*1/2)

(5) Ivory beat Luna in a hardcore rules match at 3:28 to retain the WWF Women's Title. The match began backstage and never entered the arena bowl. They fought among boxes, fork lifts, and crates. Tori, who was doing a photo shoot nearby, entered the scene. Ivory fended her off, then nailed Luna in the stomach with a wood pole and pinned Luna clean. Short, but watchable. (*)

Garcia began to interview Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young. Ivory interrupted the interview, so Moolah beat her up. Young even threw a few kicks. Funny.

(6) The New Age Outlaws beat Edge & Christian at 11:07 to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles. The crowd got into the Outlaws' introduction routine. Ross acknowledged both teams were "fan favorites," which again insured minimal crowd heat. The crowd was much more behind the Outlaws than Edge & Christian. At 10:00 Gunn got a hot-tag and a four-way brawl broke out. Gangrel and the Hardy Boys attacked Christian and Edge. Gunn then gave Edge the Famasser for the win. Solid action, but nothing memorable. (**1/2)

(7) Al Snow beat Big Bossman at 15:01 in a double cage Rotweillers match. Snow wouldn't let Bossman into the inner cage, so as the dogs were led into the bigger cage, Bossman climbed over the inner cage to avoid the dogs and enter the ring. Early in the match, Ross commented, "This match has those bowling shoe tendencies." That's a variation of Ross's code-phrase for a bad match: "As ugly as a bowling shoe." A moment later Ross said, without any enthusiasm, "This is one of the more unique matches I've ever seen." Bossman climbed the cage and used pliers to begin cutting his way out of the big cage in order to avoid ever meeting the dogs outside of the inner cage. Snow and Bossman both bled, but it didn't make the match any more watchable. As Bossman climbed through the roof of the cage, Snow simply climbed over the inner cage and snuck out the door of the outter cage before a Rotweiller could get to him. Ross said, "Folks, we have seen the first and maybe the last Hell in the Cell match-up, a Kennel from Hell." Bossman climbed back into the cage for some reason, then had to face the dogs. Lucky for Bossman the dogs were preoccupied with fighting each other, so he easily escaped the cage. (neg. *)

(8) X-Pac beat Chris Jericho (w/Mr. Hughes) via DQ at 13:17. The match slowed to a crawl when Jericho went to a bow and arrow and then a sleeper hold. His goofy facial expressions during the sleeper reminded me of Sid, which is not a good thing. Jericho followed with a Lionsault. Jericho gave X-Pac a springboard dropkick off the top rope knocking X-Pac off the apron. Nice bump by X-Pac. Hughes then took a few cheapshots at X-Pac. At 10:00 X-Pac began his comeback, but Jericho caught him with a boot to the groin as he charged for a Bronco Buster. Jericho followed with a senton, but X-Pac kicked out. Jericho got caught upside down in the corner, so X-Pac delivered a Bronco Buster (or, as Konnan would say, "The Salad Tosser"). At that point Hughes entered the ring and punched Prichard for the DQ. Road Dogg ran out to save X-Pac from a two-on-one attack after the match. These two will have much better PPV matches in years to come. This was a decent, but disappointing start. (**1/2)

(9) Triple H pinned The Rock to win a six-pack match including British Bulldog, Big Show, Kane, and Mankind at 20:20. Austin joined Ross and Lawler at ringside to do color commentary, which if he wasn't going to be the actual in-ring referee was the best way to give PPV customers a fair dose of Stone Cold. As seemed inevitable from the format of the match, early on there was no sense of drama or momentum since the frequent tags prevented any sustained storyline. At 9:00 they brawled toward the back, then returned to the ring about 90 seconds later. At 12:00 the referees who had been picketing walked to ringside. Rock took a beer from Austin and sprayed it in Triple H's face. Austin said if he wants to drink a beer with him, fine, but if he's going to spit it out, he's going to open a can of whoop ass on him. At 16:00 chaos broke out. Mankind then surprised Rock with Mr. Socko. Austin roared his approval for setting up Rock the entire match. The crowd booed Mankind, then cheered as Rock turned it into a Rock Bottom. Triple H interrupted a pin attempt. Big Show chokeslammed Mankind. As the scab ref counted, the striking refs yanked him out of the ring before the three count. They attacked him five-on-one. Austin ran out and KO'd the refs. Meanwhile Rock gave Triple H a DDT and covered him. Austin began the count, but Hunter kicked out at three. The crowd popped as if it were a pin. Rock followed with the Rock Bottom and People's Elbow. Austin began to count, but Big Show yanked him out of the ring. Bulldog nailed Rock with a chair. Austin stole the chair and KO'd Bulldog. Triple H then gave Rock the Pedigree and covered him. Austin counted the pin. After Austin handed Triple H the belt, Triple H lipped off to him, so Austin gave him a stunner and celebrated to his music and drank beer. Decent second half. (***)

[Chyna art credit Joseph Borzotta (c) PWTorch]

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