10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 1999 Facts
Stone Cold had no chance. No chance in Hell.
For all intents and purposes, it seemed like the road to WrestleMania XV would run through an unprecedented point of interest, that being Steve Austin becoming the first person to win not only three Royal Rumble matches, but three in a row. It was hard to imagine anyone besides Austin leaving the biggest show of the year with the gold, and a showdown between he and Rock seemed all but assured.
Of course, WWE at this time was prone to book major swerves whenever possible, and that's what the audience got at the 1999 Royal Rumble, when Vince McMahon won the damn thing. Of course, WWE still had plenty of other ways to get Austin into the title match for WrestleMania, Rumble win or not.
The 1999 Royal Rumble is similar to many shows of the period, in that it hasn't exactly aged well over the years. The only good match on the show is one where a man had his brains beaten in while his young children looked on, so unflinching drama aside, it's hard to call that a positive.
The rest of the night ranged from dull (the rest of the undercard) to ridiculous (the booking of the Rumble match). There were a number of Attitude Era shows that still hold up today as events featuring both quality matches and quality moments. This ain't one of them.
Here are ten facts about the 1999 Royal Rumble you may not have known.
10. It Gave Us A Theme Song That Would Stand The Test Of Time
McMahon was insistent that Stone Cold wasn't going to win the Royal Rumble from the pre-ordained number one position, so much so that "No Chance in Hell" became the official tagline for the event. By no small coincidence, theme music deity Jim Johnston put together a song for the event, a rather aggressive-sounding bit of nu-metal similarly entitled, "No Chance in Hell".
McMahon entered to said music a few times on the Sunday Night Heat pre-show, but curiously, not when he made his Rumble entrance later in the night. Following the pay-per-view, the song became McMahon's full-time theme, a heralding sound that has accompanied his entrances for nearly 20 years. If ever a performer had their theme music done right on the first try, it was certainly Vinnie Mac.