Throwback Thursday: Looking back at WWE Royal Rumble 1999

Each and every Thursday I will look back at a different pay-per-view event from the past via the WWE Network. Want to see a certain event covered? Send your suggestions to @VaughnMJohnson on Twitter.

Last time, I covered the WCW Starrcade 1993.

WWE Royal Rumble 1999

Date: Jan. 24, 1999

Venue: Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center), Anaheim, Calif.

Some random notes

I don't know about anyone else, but the Royal Rumble is WWE's second-biggest pay-per-view in my eyes. I know WWE promotes SummerSlam as the No. 2 event behind WrestleMania, but the Royal Rumble always carries a ton of intrigue and massive implications.

It is only fitting that I dedicate the month leading up to the big event by watching some Royal Rumbles from the past, starting with 1999.

I know you're probably wondering why I'm not starting with the 1997 edition given that it was the last one to take place in a stadium and was 20 years ago. The symmetry could not be any better.

Don't fret. That is being saved as a special live commentary episode of my podcast, the Straight Shooters on Wildfire Radio. That episode will air sometime this month.

This was the 12th annual Royal Rumble and was the second year in a row the event emanated from California. In 1998, the Royal Rumble took place in San Jose, Calif.

Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler were on hand to call the action. WWE's usual play-by-play by announcer, Jim Ross, was ailing from a bout with bell's palsy and was taking time away from television.

The theme song to the event was No Chance in Hell by WWE in-house composer Jim Johnston with Peter Bursurker providing the vocals. The song eventually became Vince McMahon's theme song.

With that said, let's get to the matches:

Big Boss Man def. Road Dogg

Dogg's haircut was rather strange. I'm still not quite sure how he pulled it off. Despite his haircut, Dogg was very, very over and walked into the match as the WWE Hardcore champion.

Boss Man, on the other hand, walked in as one half of the WWE Tag Team champions alongside Ken Shamrock.

Unfortunately for Boss Man and Shamrock, they lost those titles the night after this event to Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett.

The match was pretty standard. Boss Man used his strength advantage to dictate the pace for the majority of the match. Dogg mounted a flurry of offense to get back in it, but Boss Man caught him with sidewalk to pick up the win.

WWE Intercontinental championship – Ken Shamrock def. Billy Gunn

This match began with a much quicker pace than the previous one, as each man jumped on each other with a flurry of offense.

The match eventually slowed down when Shamrock methodically punished Gunn.

The match took a turn Shamcrock mistakenly clotheslined referee Tim White, which allowed Val Venis to interfere by hitting Shamrock with a DDT. Gunn went for the cover, but Shamrock kicked out.

Shamrock was eventually able to recover and slap on the ankle lock on Gunn's damaged ankle to win and retain his title.

WWE European championship – X-Pac def. Gangrel

Gangrel had one of the coolest theme songs of all time.

During the match, Cole said that X-Pac was perhaps the greatest European champion ever. The title wasn't even two years old yet so whatever.

There was a bit of botch during the match where referee Teddy Long counted to three with X-Pac's shoulders on the mat. Since X-Pac was supposed to win, the three count was just ignored. The announcers and the fans didn't ignore it though.

X-Pac won for real only a few moments later with the x-factor. X-Pac didn't look too happy with the win given the mistaken count.

WWE Women's championship (Strap match) – Sable def. Luna Vachon

Shane McMahon went to the ring before the match to introduce Vachon, but his theme music in 1999 was hot garbage.

Shane McMahon also announced that Sable was suffering from a back injury that came about when Vachon attacked her before the show, and that she was going to forfeit the title.

Sable walked to the ring favoring her back, but didn't forfeit anything. She simply said, "Ring the bell!"

There really wasn't much to see here even with the strap match stipulation.

Sable won due to interference from a fan that eventually turned out to be Tori. Tori played the role of a crazed Sable fan, but eventually became her rival. The two faced each other for the women's title at WrestleMania. That match wasn't anything to write home about either.

WWE championship ("I quit" match) – The Rock vs. Mankind

Mankind walked into this match as the WWE champion. His goal in storyline was to win the match and retain the title.

In reality, he had a completely different mission: Bring the dark side out of The Rock.

WWE knew full well by this point what its main event for WrestleMania was going to be, and that was a WWE championship match between The Rock and Steve Austin.

But before The Rock could get to that point, he had to prove himself as a real threat to the insanely popular Austin. Enter: Mankind.

Whether he was Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love or simply Mick Foley, the man had a penchant for taking a beating. What better person to put in The Rock's way as a roadblock on his road to WrestleMania?

Mankind held the early advantage and attempted to use the microphone to force The Rock to utter the magic words, but the microphone didn't seem to work.

Mankind later used the microphone as a weapon and asked The Rock again, but to no avail.

The Rock finally got some licks in after launching Mankind into the steel steps. He then grabbed Cole's headset and began doing his own commentary. The Rock asked why Lawler wasn't speaking. When Lawler tried to speak, The Rock quickly hushed him.

The Rock's attempt to speak to his millions of fans proved costly, as it allowed Mankind to recover and hit him from behind. Lawler tried to warn him, but The Rock wasn't hearing it.

Mankind then grabbed a steel chair and wrapped it around The Rock's back. Mankind asked The Rock again, but The Rock refused. Mankind rewarded his courage by clocking him in the head with another microphone.

Once back in the ring, Mankind whipped out Mr. Socko and stuck it down The Rock's throat. The Rock passed out, which meant that he couldn't say anything, let alone "I quit."

The two then brawled amongst the fans of Anaheim. They fought their way back ringside when The Rock got a hold of the ring bell and its hammer. He took the bell, placed it on Mankind's head and banged it with the hammer. He did this twice while singing, "Bells will be ringing …" I almost forgot how good of a singing voice The Rock has. The man can do it all.

The Rock got serious again and attempted to rock bottom Mankind through the Spanish announce table, but the table gave way under their weight.

Mankind and The Rock brawled their way up to the staging equipment. The Rock got a hold of the ladder and used to climb up into the stands.

Mankind climbed after him, but that proved to be a mistake, as The Rock knocked him out of the stands and onto some electrical equipment, which caused the lights to go out in the arena.

The lights in the arena turned back on, but I'm not sure the lights were on in Mankind, as he barely moved.

Shane McMahon came out with paramedics to take Mankind away, but The Rock wouldn't let them. He was hell-bent on making Mankind say, "I quit."

Mankind began crawling away, but The Rock remained on the attack. He beat the champion all the way back to the ring and handcuffed his hands behind his back.

Despite being in handcuffs, Mankind managed to fight back by using his feet and his head. It didn't take long for The Rock to regain control and grab a steel chair.

This is when things began to get uncomfortable.

The Rock placed the chair on top of Mankind's head and hit him with the people's elbow, which was then known as the corporate elbow. The Rock asked him if he quit, but Mankind refused.

The Rock didn't like that answer and hit Mankind in the head with the chair.

One.

The Rock hit him again and asked, but Mankind said, "You'd have to kill me!" The Rock picked up the chair and hit him three more times straight in the head.

Five.

Mankind rolled out of the ring, but The Rock hit him with another.

Six.

Cole and Lawler pleaded with Mankind to say the magic words that would end this assault, but he somehow made his way back to his feet and refused again.

The Rock hit him with the chair again.

Seven.

The Rock asked again, but didn't even get an answer from Mankind. So, The Rock hit him again.

Eight.

Mankind crumpled to the ground with his face and mask covered in blood. He got back on his feet yet again and The Rock met him with a steel chair.

Nine.

Mankind stayed on his feet. All that meant was The Rock had to give him another chair shot to knock him back down.

Ten.

The Rock asked again while Mankind lied faced-down on the arena floor.

Mankind was probably legitimately unconscious when a recording of him yelling, "I quit!" blared through the arena speakers. The referee thought it was actually Mankind and awarded the match and the WWE championship to The Rock.

Mankind had completed his objective. The Rock was the WWE champion and looked like as the vilest human being on the planet that would win by any means necessary in the process.

However, Foley suffered a great deal. He was hit in the head with a steel chair 10 times. That is bad even if a wrestler is getting his or her hand up each time. It is way worse when the wrestler's hands are cuffed behind his or her back.

That was brutal to watch even for 1999, which was way before all of the heightened awareness about concussions and head injuries in general.

But it didn't take a bunch of medical research and studies to know that an excessive amount of blunt-force trauma to a person's brain is not good — under any circumstances.

To make matters worse, Foley's wife and children literally had a front-row seat for all of this.

But that is the price wrestlers like Foley are willing to pay to provide fans with a memorable match. They are slaves to the art, which can be a good thing and also a very, very bad thing.

Vince McMahon wins the Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble was really all about two people: Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. Austin saw the Royal Rumble as his chance to go to WrestleMania so that he could regain the WWE championship.

McMahon saw the match as an opportunity to thwart Austin at all costs, even going as far as entering the match.

McMahon did everything he could to ensure that Austin had "No chance in hell" to win the Rumble, including putting him in the unwanted No. 1 spot and offering $100,000 to the person that eliminated Austin from the match.

Then-WWE commissioner Shawn Michaels countered by putting Vince McMahon in the No. 2 position.

With that being the case, the first two entrants were of no surprise.

What also wasn't surprising was that Austin unloaded on Mr. McMahon as soon as the bell rang. Austin could have eliminated his rival, but opted to keep him in the ring.

The third man in was Golga from the Oddities. Golga, wanting the $100,000, attacked Austin. That didn't workout too well, as he was quickly eliminated.

While that was happening, Vince McMahon crawled out of the ring, but was not eliminated, as he was not tossed over the top rope.

Austin left the ring to chase after McMahon and began beating on him throughout the arena. Vince McMahon ran into the women's bathroom, which turned out to be where the rest of The Corporation was waiting on Austin.

Boss Man, Shamrock and Test overwhelmed Austin while the ring was left empty for the fourth entrant, which was Droz. He was eventually joined by Edge at No. 5.

Edge and Droz went at it before Gillberg entered at No. 6. He was 0-2 at this point. He lasted maybe two seconds in the Royal Rumble before he was eliminated.

Meanwhile, Austin lied unconscious in the women's bathroom after being attacked by The Corporation and was taken to the hospital.

No. 7 and No. 8 were Steve Blackman and Dan Severn, who had an issue heading into the event. Tiger Ali Singh was No. 9.

No. 10 was Philadelphia's own Blue Meanie. That made it seven men in the ring just in time for No. 11. However, no one went to the ring.

The cameras cut backstage when Mabel slammed Mosh of the Headbangers into a wall. He then walked out and entered the Rumble. He quickly eliminated Severn, Blackman, Singh, Meanie and Droz by the time Road Dogg ran out at No. 12.

Edge finally slowed down Mabel by delivering a low blow. The future WWE Hall of Famer didn't last much longer, as Dogg eliminated him.

Suddenly, the lights went out and The Undertaker's music hit. When the lights came back on, The Acolytes and Mideon were attacking Mabel. The Undertaker then walked out with Paul Bearer and said something to Mabel before his henchmen continued the beating.

Not long after this event, Mabel became a member of the Ministry of Darkness as Viscera.

All of this left Dogg in the ring all by his lonesome. Next up was No. 13 and that was Gangrel. The leader of The Brood didn't last too long, as Road Dogg tossed him out before No. 14 even got to the ring.

Speaking of No. 14, that was Kurrgan, who quickly got the upper hand on the Hardcore champion.

No. 15 represented the halfway point and it was the halfway insane Al Snow. Snow and Dogg attempted to gang up on Kurrgan, but their partnership was brief, as Dogg tossed Snow out.

At 16 was Goldust followed by The Godfather at No. 17, who had two lovely ladies in tow. They were not part of the Royal Rumble.

No. 18 was Kane and he wasted little time tossing Road Dogg over the top.

The next one on Kane's list was Kurrgan followed up by The Godfather. Finally, he tossed Goldust out to make it four eliminations in less than a minute.

All of a sudden, a bunch of orderlies from an insane asylum (Was it the Ambrose Asylum?) ran to the ring and attempted to take Kane back. Kane easily dispatched of two of them, but there a bunch more waiting for him outside the ring.

He then took the straight jacket they brought with them, tossed it out of the ring. He then stepped over the top rope to chase them away. However, that also meant he was eliminated from the match.

Once again the ring was empty, which was when Shamrock came down at No. 19. At the same time, Vince McMahon finally resurfaced and joined Cole and Lawler on commentary.

At No. 20 was Gunn, who ran to the ring with only one shoe and a limp thanks to what Shamrock did to him earlier in the night.

No. 21 was Shamrock's corporate running mate Test. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Darkness was shown tossing Mabel into a hearse in the parking lot.

While that was going on, an ambulance came screaming into the parking lot. It turned out Austin was behind the wheel. He eventually hopped out of the ambulance and walked back into the arena to re-enter the Rumble — much to the chagrin of Vince McMahon.

No. 22 was supposed to be Big Boss Man, but out came Austin and he went right after Vince McMahon. McMahon ran around the ring and eventually in it before Shamrock got in Austin's way.

Boss Man eventually came out to join the fray, but not before Austin tossed Shamrock out of the ring.

No. 23 was Triple H and the tone of the match quickly shifted to who could eliminate Austin and claim the $100,000 bounty.

No. 24 was Val Venis, but not long after he entered the match, Austin eliminated Gunn.

At No. 25 was X-Pac and according to Cole, he was the lightest person to ever enter the Royal Rumble at 210 pounds. That's bigger than a cruiserweight today.

At No. 26, 27 and 28 were Mark Henry, Jeff Jarrett and D'Lo Brown. Moments after Brown entered, Austin eliminated Test and Boss Man teliminated X-Pac.

No. 29 was Owen Hart, but wasn't fast enough to save his partner Jarrett from being eliminated.

Austin rolled out of the ring to take a drink of water, but tossed the rest in Vince McMahon's face.

No. 30 was Chyna, who was the first woman to ever enter the Royal Rumble. Moments later, she became the first woman to record an elimination when she tossed Henry over the top rope.

Unfortunately, her historic run didn't last much longer, as Austin knocked her out of the ring.

The next to go was Venis at the hands of Triple H, who was then met with a stunner from Austin and was sent over the top rope.

Austin then sent Hart to the showers. Boss Man eliminated Brown after celebrating a big move to Austin.

Seconds later, Vince McMahon's worst fears were confirmed, as Austin eliminated Boss Man, leaving only the two men that began the match.

Austin didn't wait for his boss to get in the ring. He went out to the announce table and began the beating out there. Like they did earlier, Austin beat McMahon through the audience.

They quickly made their way back to the ring when Austin hit McMahon with a steel chair. Austin then tossed him back into the ring and eventually hit him with a stunner.

Just when it looked like Austin was about to punch his ticket to WrestleMania, out came the new WWE champion, The Rock to taunt Austin.

The Rock jumped onto the ring apron, which spurred Austin to attack. However, that allowed McMahon to recover and sneak up from behind Austin to toss him out and win the Royal Rumble.

Austin, realizing that his WrestleMania dreams were dashed, took his frustrations out on The Rock. While those two brawled backstage, Vince McMahon slowly made his way to his feet and celebrated in the best way possible: by cracking open a few beers just like Austin.