Background King of the Ring was a
pay-per-view (PPV) event held annually in June by the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1993. The PPV featured the
King of the Ring tournament, a
single-elimination tournament that was established in 1985 and held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990; these early tournaments were held as special non-televised
house shows. The winner of the tournament was crowned "King of the Ring." Unlike the non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. Considered as one of the WWF's "Big Five" PPVs, along with the
Royal Rumble,
WrestleMania,
SummerSlam, and
Survivor Series, the company's five biggest shows of the year, the 1999 event was the seventh King of the Ring PPV and 13th tournament overall. It was held on June 27, 1999 at the
Greensboro Coliseum Complex in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
Storylines The event featured a total of 15
professional wrestling matches, one untelevised match, four shown during
Sunday Night Heat and the remaining 10 matches broadcast live on
Pay-Per-View (PPV). Some of the matches featured wrestlers who were involved in pre-existing
scripted feuds or
storylines and others are teamed up with no backstory. Wrestlers themselves portrayed either
heels (wrestling term for those who portray the "bad guys") or
faces (those who portray the "good guys") as they competed in matches with pre-determined outcomes. The main feud heading into King of the Ring was between
Stone Cold Steve Austin and
The McMahons (
Vince McMahon and
Shane McMahon) in a
handicap ladder match. The storyline began at
WrestleMania XV, when Austin won the
WWF Championship from
The Rock. The following months, Vince and Shane had been feuding with each other when Shane took control of
The Corporation and later revealed that he was the mastermind behind his sister
Stephanie McMahon's abduction at the hands of
The Undertaker and his
Ministry of Darkness. At the time, Shane and The Undertaker joined forces to form the
Corporate Ministry. The previous month at
Over the Edge, Austin lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker after Shane who served as
special referee made a quick three count to ensure The Undertaker the victory. Three weeks later, it was revealed that the Corporate Ministry served a "greater power" whom they were taking orders from behind the scenes. After The Undertaker and Austin's title match ended in a no contest, the Ministry dropped to their knees in the ring and the greater power emerged from the back and revealed himself to Austin who was tied up in the ring ropes. The following week, the greater power was revealed as Vince McMahon who explained that his
face turn was a plot to screw Austin out of the WWF Championship.
Linda and Stephanie appeared on the stage and Stephanie berated Vince and Shane for using her to get to Austin. Linda then announced that she had stepped down as the
CEO of the WWF and has hand-picked her successor, which was revealed to be Stone Cold. Austin announced as CEO that he would be facing the McMahons in a handicap match at King of the Ring. A week later, after Austin dumped
cow manure into Vince's office at the
WWF headquarters, Vince announced the match would be a ladder match with 100% ownership in a briefcase hanging high above the ring. The following week, Austin defeated
Big Boss Man in a singles match to ensure there would be no interference from the Corporate Ministry. The secondary feud heading into King of the Ring was between
The Undertaker and
The Rock over the WWF Championship. The feud started on the June 7 episode of
Raw is War, when The Rock faced Triple H in a
cast match. As The Rock was preparing to drop the People's Elbow on Triple H, The Undertaker interfered and dropped The Rock with a Tombstone Piledriver on a steel chair.
The Big Show made the save chasing away The Undertaker. The following week, The Rock came out and challenged The Undertaker to a title match at King of the Ring. The Undertaker accepted the challenge but the McMahons came out and told The Rock that he must defeat The Undertaker in a non-title match to earn his title shot. Later that night, Shane was about to announce the stipulation for the match between The Undertaker and The Rock, but was attacked by
Ken Shamrock. When the match got underway though, Triple H came out and announced that the stipulation was that The Rock would have to take on both him and The Undertaker in a
Triple Threat match which The Rock won after
Chyna accidentally tripped The Undertaker during the match. The following week, The Rock defeated
Edge in singles action. After the match, The Undertaker came out and once again dropped The Rock with a Tombstone Piledriver. Later that night, The Undertaker defended his WWF Championship against Triple H. The match ended in a
disqualification when The Rock interfered and dropped The Undertaker with a Rock Bottom. When a large
Brahma Bull symbol (similar to the
Undertaker symbol) descended from the rafters, The Rock attempted to tie The Undertaker to the symbol but The Undertaker was saved by his allies in the Corporate Ministry.
Paul Bearer was tied to the symbol instead. ==King of the Ring tournament bracket==