As great as the Attitude Era was for storylines, it wasn't really that productive in terms of excellent in-ring wrestling. The 1999 Royal Rumble was a classic case of that, with Mr McMahon winning the Rumble from the number two position. He actually spent the majority of the match outside the ring, and only won after WWF Champion The Rock came down to distract Austin. That was enough for the chairman to push his nemesis over the top rope. From a wrestling purist point of view, it was entirely meaningless, even more so when McMahon vacated his prize the very next day. The win quite literally counted for nothing, and Austin was awarded the title shot by commissioner Shawn Michaels. Austin did, however, put that title shot on the line when he faced McMahon at the St Valentines Day PPV in February. It was the kind of booking that fans accepted back then. Nowadays, there'd be a riot at the thought of a non-wrestler winning the Rumble.
