10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 1999
1999 was another huge year for WWE Raw, but not everything was perfect...
The WWF was a loud, proud, swaggering, money-making beast in 1999.
Business had shot through the roof in 1998, and the entire company was riding the crest of a creative wave that'd continue for the next few years. Even sweeter, WCW had started to unravel by '99 - that fact cannot have escaped Vince McMahon. Mr. "We Make Movies" had a lot on his plate federation-side though.
Namely, he had 52 episodes of Monday night monster Raw to produce. Plus, that year, the WWF debuted SmackDown as a weekly accompaniment to the main flagship. This was an exciting time to be a fan, so why did this one revisit 1999 with trepidation?
Being honest, Raw didn't have a lot to offer in terms of actual matches back then. Skits, yes. Comedy, absolutely. Car crash segment-to-segment production that never stopped to smell the roses, you bet. Pure wrestling? Not so much.
Though that isn't an overwhelming, experience-destroying negative, it's worth mentioning. For everything the company did right in '99, there was something else they really didn't. Perhaps the madness was worth it regardless.
Here's everything one learns when binge-watching the glory days...
10. WrestleMania XV Was The Real End Of An Era
Post-WrestleMania XV, everything started to change.
The fabled Austin vs. McMahon story did rage on throughout much of 1999, but it wasn't the only focus in WWF minds. It becomes clearer with each passing episode of Raw that Triple H was beginning to take centre stage as the future; also, the company were starting to run out of ideas.
They'd done the beer bath, the fake gun angle, the constant Stunners and even a cage match between Vince and 'Stone Cold' in February. Come the traditional post-'Mania lull, they were fresh out of new material that'd help the bread-winning feud soar to new heights.
That's presumably why the feud took a dip in quality and started to desperately clutch at straws to remain relevant. It starts to become apparent by summer that Austin vs. McMahon needed to encroach on other hot angles to stay near the top of the booking sheets.
Speaking of which...