Over The Edge (1999) - Background

Background

Over the Edge was the culmination of various scripted plots and storylines. Before the event, several WWF professional wrestling matches and stories were played out on WWF programming: Raw is War, SmackDown!, and Sunday Night Heat. These narratives created feuds between various wrestlers, casting them as villains and heroes.

The main narrative for Over the Edge continued the events that unfolded at Backlash, WWF's previous pay-per-view event, held on April 25, 1999. There, The Undertaker abducted Stephanie McMahon, the daughter of chairman Vince McMahon. The Undertaker's price for Stephanie's return was control over the wrestling organization. His plans were thwarted, however, by the WWF Champion, Steve Austin, who rescued Stephanie and denied The Undertaker his ransom. This plot development set up a feud between the two wrestlers, which would be settled in a standard singles match for the Championship at Over the Edge, in which both Vince and his son Shane, who had aligned himself with The Undertaker, would serve as the guest referee. Originally Shane had named himself the sole referee of the match, but WWF commissioner Shawn Michaels made Vince the co-referee in order to level the playing field. WWF further built up the rivalry between The Undertaker and Austin by having them attack each other on WWF programming, before their showdown. On May 3, 1999, The Undertaker threw Austin off the stage, and two weeks later, the WWF Champion handcuffed his title challenger to a crucifix, which was raised above the ring. Another feud created for Over the Edge involved Triple H and The Rock, who would meet each other in a standard singles match at the event. Triple H had interfered in one of The Rock's matches, and later threw him off the stage. The script called for The Rock to portray an injury to his arm that required him to wear a plaster cast. Shane, acting his role as co-owner of WWF and ally of Triple H, further aggrieved The Rock by forbidding him to wear the cast for Over the Edge.

The pay-per-view event featured the build up of a rivalry among two stables, groups of at least three wrestlers. The two groups were the Corporate Ministry and the Union. The Corporate Ministry was formed when the Corporation merged with the Ministry of Darkness; the Corporate Ministry consisted of Viscera, The Big Boss Man, and The Acolytes Bradshaw and Faarooq. Throughout the month of May, the Ministry was involved in matches with Mankind, Ken Shamrock, The Big Show, and Test, and in retaliation, the four wrestlers formed the Union stable. The WWF continued to enhance the feud over several weeks, which included a brawl among all eight wrestlers on May 10, 1999. The evolving plot led to the promotion of an eight-man elimination tag team match between both groups at Over the Edge. In this bout, the team that eliminated all of its opponents would win. Other feuds that received less promotion and culminated into matches at Over the Edge include Mr. Ass versus Road Dogg and The Blue Blazer versus WWF Intercontinental Champion The Godfather for the title in standard singles bouts. Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown versus WWF Tag Team Champions Kane and X-Pac in a tag team match for the titles, Hardcore Holly versus Al Snow in a Hardcore singles match, and a mixed tag team match involving Val Venis and Nicole Bass versus Jeff Jarrett and Debra were also advertised.