Royal Rumble (1999) - Aftermath

Aftermath

When Mr. McMahon won the Royal Rumble he earned a match against the WWF Champion at WrestleMania, but at the time it seemed as if that champion was fellow Corporate member The Rock. Not a full-time wrestler, McMahon announced on January 25 that he was vacating his place at WrestleMania (the first time the Royal Rumble winner would voluntarily vacate their place) only to be informed by Commissioner Michaels that if the winner was incapable of wrestling in the WrestleMania main event then the runner-up would take their place. As the runner-up was Steve Austin, this enraged McMahon and Austin used this to goad him into a match. Austin explained that even more than a WWF Championship match, he wanted another chance to fight McMahon without any legal ramifications so much that he would risk his WrestleMania title shot for the chance. To ensure that there would be no Corporate interference, the match would take place inside a steel cage at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House. Austin went on to win the match after the debut of Paul Wight, who came through the ring's mat and threw Austin into the cage wall, breaking it open and causing Austin to exit the cage before McMahon. Austin proceeded to face The Rock at WrestleMania XV, winning the WWF Championship for the second year in a row.

The mystery of Mankind's quitting was solved when it was revealed that Shane McMahon had played a voice clip from a prerecorded interview on Sunday Night Heat of Foley vowing to make Rock be the one "screaming I quit, I quit, I quit!" when he was actually unconscious. Having been screwed again, Foley hijacked the $100,000 bounty money The Rock earned for helping eliminate Austin, and began to throw it in the crowd, holding it ransom for a rematch. The rematch would be a twenty-minute time limit hardcore match, held in an empty arena during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII on Halftime Heat, where Mankind would win the title back by trapping Rock underneath a heavy payload on a forklift truck. With the Rock claiming it was an unfair win, the two faced each other again, and in hopes of finding a definitive champion the match was booked as a "Last Man Standing" match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. It ended in a draw when both men were counted out, meaning they had to settle it again the next night on Raw is War in a ladder match which Rock won with help from Paul Wight. With WrestleMania so close, Mankind sought to settle the score with Rock by countlessly trying to become a second special guest referee in the WrestleMania main event, alongside Wight. Early in the WrestleMania card, Wight and Mankind fought for the referee position in a match which saw Wight disqualified for chokeslamming Foley through a pair of steel folding chairs. Foley was sent to the hospital for his injuries, but returned to officiate in the closing minutes of the match.

After making herself properly known, Sable's stalker Tori would be humiliated with her, pretending to align herself with Luna Vachon only to help Sable give her a beat down. Tori soon realized how selfish Sable was, though and the two had a match for the Women's Championship at WrestleMania XV where Sable retained her title thanks to interference from Nicole Bass.

Mabel, meanwhile, was renamed Viscera and became the newest member of the Ministry of Darkness as it assembled its war against The Corporation and Mr. McMahon, making The Brood part of the stable too on February 1. The Undertaker would have a "Hell in a Cell" match against Big Boss Man at WrestleMania XV which ended with The Brood passing rope from the roof to hang Boss Man with. The feud between the two stables continued until they joined forces when it became apparent that the "higher power" The Undertaker was answering to was actually Mr. McMahon.