Well, this is a little bit of life imitating art, or is it art imitating life? In any case, thanks to the great podcast this week on Something to Wrestle which focused on the drama that resulted in Stephanie first marrying Triple H on TV and then dating and marrying him in real life, I thought I'd go back down memory lane 19 years to see a historic moment in their on-screen/off-screen relationship: WWF Armageddon 1999.
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Credit: WWE Network; WWF Armageddon 1999
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Background
The storyline is basically this: Vince McMahon and Triple H are now blood enemies. Vince has tried to put the screws to Triple H several times, including outright screwing him out of the WWF Championship at Survivor Series 1999. Triple H, for his part, had spent months berating Vince and making leud remarks and threats towards Stephanie herself at points in the feud. Both sides attacked the other, and Triple H actually had a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) on Vince. Stephanie was engaged to another wrestler, Test. And they were in the ring for their marriage and (GASP!) Triple H interrupted the marriage. And he revealed that he had married a drugged up Stephanie (he had someone slip pills in her drinks during her Bachlorette Party) at a Drive-Thru Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas in one of the greatest moments in Raw history:
And like that, the feud just went nuclear. Later, Triple H promised to give Stephanie a divorce if Vince beat him at Armageddon. However, if Triple H beat Vince, he'd get a World Title match. Remember that Vince was not allowed to attack Triple H until Armageddon, which led to Triple H forcing himself on Stephanie with a kiss to seal the deal and throwing Shane off a stage to the floor on SmackDown. With Stephanie McMahon sitting at ringside for this match, it was now time for the type of family in-fighting that would make for a fun episode of Springer.
Let's Do This...
WWF Armageddon 1999
12/12/1999
No Holds Barred
Triple H vs. Vince McMahon
* If Vince wins, Triple H must divorce Stephanie.
* If Triple H wins, he gets a World Title shot.
Stephanie McMahon comes out first to sit at ringside for the match. Triple H comes out with the Sledgehammer. McMahon comes out and throws powder in Triple H's eyes. As you would expect a lot of brawling going on with likely some McMahon potato punches being peppered in. Low Blow by Vince in the early going. J.R. and King are on their game here tonight on commentary as Triple H eats the steel steps. They then go out into the crowd to brawl. This is an unapologetic brawl with little to no value as far as wrestling holds. If you were looking for Steamboat-Savage, you've come to the wrong damn match. Vince gets thrown into a metal door around the arena. Now Triple H gets the advantage and drags Vince back to ringside. Stephanie gets on her chair and looks into the crowd to see what's going on (great job by the way selling the match and staying engaged on what's happening by the way).
They then get back to ringside. Mankind comes to ringside with a shopping cart full of weapons for Vince to use. Lol. Leave it to Mick Foley to bring some gimmicks to a match. Triple H uses a water bottle to clean his eyes out of the powder. (Um... He could see well enough to get Vince back to ringside, but he needs the water all of a sudden.) Vince nails him with a metal trash can lid several times (which I guess explains the water bottle use). Add a trash can to that last sentence now, this time in front of Stephanie. Triple H does a flip over the railing in front of Stephanie. Now Vince nails him with a crutch and chokes him with it. Triple H throws Vince into the shopping cart with weapons. (King asks a great question: Does Vince know what to do with a shopping cart?) Now, Triple H wraps his fist with a steel chain and decks Vince with it several times. They continue to brawl with the weapons with Vince nailing Triple H with a kendo stick and stop sign. And Vince goes face first into a helicopter. You read that right! There's one at the entrance way. And now, he's thrown into a Jeep.
(I could really throw garbage at this match, but let's be real: No one wants to see McMahon actually wrestle. But to see him in a street fight is different. Vince has proven to be a fun brawler on TV, and Triple H was on his way to proving how good he was in hardcore environments. Of course, it'd be only a month later where he'd start his program with Cactus Jack that helped define his career.)
Triple H rams a shopping cart with running momentum into Vince's face. Now Vince fires back with some ugly trash can shots and a punch to Triple H while Hunter is wearing the can. A literal machine gun is now swung into the head of Vince McMahon. Yikes! Vince's head takes a sick snap from that hit. Triple H gets whipped into an airplane at the entrance area now. Where's the kitchen sink? They're literally just stumbling and brawling around the entrance area. They now go to the backstage area. Vince is thrown on a truck backstage and eats an elbow drop.
Now Triple H runs off and Vince wonders where he went. And now, Vince goes outside. Vince continues to stumble outside and yell for Triple H. Vince continues to just walk around and look for Triple H. He tells the ref to go looking for him. And now a car is driven almost into Vince, but he gets out of the way. Triple H gets out of the car. (AND WHY THE HELL WASN'T HE THE GUY THAT ACTUALLY RAN OVER AUSTIN INSTEAD OF RIKISHI?! This made just so much more sense. And I wish they would have let J.R. and King make that connection on commentary that Austin was taken out the same way.)
More brawling around the arena. And now, fans have run out to get a glimpse of the fight happening outside. Triple H rams Vince into an 18 wheeler now. Vince gets slammed on a limo. Vince and Triple H go back into the backstage area. They get back into the arena around the entrance way. McMahon gets a lead pipe and goes to attack Triple H. Triple H climbs a tower, and McMahon follows. Triple H rams his head into one of the bars, and Vince goes flying backwards into a crashpad off of view. Vince is busted open now. Gas can to the face now by Triple H. Triple H gets a microphone. "Tell me how it feels, baby, to see your Dad get his butt kicked in front of you." and "Don't worry. You'll never have to ask for Daddy. Because Daddy's right here." And now Triple H is beating up Vince in front of Stephanie who is crying.
They're now back in the ring. He goes to hit Vince with a pipe, but he throws the referee away and goes for his sledgehammer. He lifts up his hammer, and Vince lifts up his leg into the crotch of Triple H. Vince now smacks Triple H with a lead pipe. And now Vince has the sledgehammer. He lifts it up to hit Triple H, but Stephanie runs in. She tells Vince she wants to hit Triple H. He gives her the sledgehammer, but Stephanie tells Vince she can't do it. Sledgehammer to the gut of Vince by Triple H. And a sledgehammer shot that looked like it was 6 inches to a foot away from Vince's face from the wideshot. He puts his boot on Vince's chest for the 3 count.
After the match, Stephanie goes to her father and cries in his face. Triple H lifts up his sledgehammer, and Stephanie gets up. She then smiles and they hug in the ring! SWERVE! SWERVE! SWERVE!!! She was in on it all along!!!! She lifts up Triple H's arm and kisses him. And thus begins The McMahon-Helmsley Faction/Era/The Authority. JR asks "WHY STEPHANIE?! WHY?!" as we fade to black.
Winner: Triple H
Match Grade: C+. Fun brawl for a main event that suffers from a few different problems. First, there was too much backstage stuff going on that ran too long. The fans lost interest from that moment on, and it wasn't until Vince got the sledgehammer towards the end that it seemed like the crowd got reinvested into what was going on. Secondly, it's a Vince McMahon brawl that goes over a half hour. That's unacceptable in a main event position. I get that they were trying to live up to the brawl aspect. But it got too cliche for its own good with the army weapons, the aforementioned backstage stuff, and the ridiculous bump into the crashpad to try to spice things up.
That being said, you have to hand it to Vince and Triple H for delivering a solid, if unspectacular street fight in this environment. Cut this down by ten minutes (remove the backstage stuff) and focus more on intense hatred with weaponry in front of this crowd, and it could have been a much better match.
The main thing though is the finish: Stephanie turning on Vince and revealing she was in cahoots with Triple H is actually brilliant storytelling. Earlier in the year, Stephanie had been a puppet used by her own father in his rivalry with Steve Austin. Vince basically used her in a sick series of mind games with The Undertaker to screw Steve Austin, including an abduction and cult-like wedding ceremony. And this was her payback. Stephanie had turned heel, but you could see where she was coming from. The sins of the father came back to haunt Vince McMahon, and now the entire WWF was going to suffer for it. In reality, in the absence of Steve Austin, this is exactly what the doctor ordered to help propel WWF into the year 2000.
See this clip of Stephanie explaining her actions to her father:
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That does it for this edition of UnWrest Focus REWIND. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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