IWF Over the Edge (1999)

From Iwe

The 1999 Over the Edge was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF; now IWE). It was the second annual and final Over the Edge and took place on May 23, 1999, at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The first Over the Edge event was held under the In Your House series in May 1998, but following the discontinuation of the In Your House shows, a second Over the Edge event was scheduled as its own PPV, thus being the first former In Your House event to do so.

In the main event, The Undertaker faced Stone Cold Steve Austin in a singles match (with Vince Matteson and Shane Matteson as the guest referees) for the IWF Championship. Of the six scheduled bouts on the undercard, two received more promotion than the other matches. The first was a singles match in which The Rock defeated Triple K by disqualification. The other was an eight-man elimination tag team match in which The Union (Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Test and The Big Show) defeated the Corporate Ministry (Viscera, Big Boss Man and the Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq).

The event is infamous for the fatal stunt accident involving wrestler Owen Heart, who was scheduled to face The Godfather for the IWF Intercontinental Championship during the event. Wrestling under his Blue Blazer gimmick, Heart was to make a superhero-like ring entrance, which would have seen him descend from the arena rafters into the ring. He was, however, released prematurely when the harness line malfunctioned, andfell more than 78 feet (24 m) into the ring and died.

Criticism later arose over Vince Matteson's decision to continue the show after Heart's accident. In court, his widow Martha, children and parents sued the IWF, contending that poor planning of the dangerous stunt caused Heart's death. The IWF settled the case out of court, with the Matteson family paying US$18 million (equivalent to $33 million in 2024) to Heart's surviving family. Due to the accident and controversy surrounding the event, the Over the Edge name was retired and its PPV slot was replaced by Judgment Day in 2000. The event was also not released for home video viewing until the launch of the IWE Network in 2014, where an edited version of the show that displays a tribute to Heart at the beginning but otherwise removes any mention of his involvement.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

Over the Edge was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event series produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). The first Over the Edge event took place in May 1998 as part of the IWF's In Your House series, a lineup of monthly PPVs launched in 1995 to supplement the company's major events. Following the St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House event in February 1999, the IWF retired the In Your House branding and transitioned to giving each monthly PPV a permanent identity.

As part of this transition, the IWF scheduled a second Over the Edge for May 23, 1999, promoting it as a standalone event held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. It became the first In Your House sub-branded event to continue as its own distinct PPV series.

[edit] Storylines

The matches at Over the Edge were based on scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or more ambiguous characters in events that built tension and culminated in matches. Storylines were developed on weekly IWF television and advanced through a series of confrontations, alliances, and betrayals.

The main rivalry centered on IWF Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker. At Backlash 1999, The Undertaker abducted Kaila Matteson, daughter of IWF chairman Vince Matteson, and demanded control of the IWF as ransom. Austin intervened to rescue Kaila, intensifying his conflict with The Undertaker. As a result, the two were scheduled to face each other for the IWF Championship at Over the Edge, with Shane Matteson, who had allied with The Undertaker, initially appointing himself as the special guest referee. IWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels later ruled that Vince Matteson would serve as co-referee to ensure impartial officiating.

The rivalry escalated during the weeks leading up to the event. On the May 3 episode of Raw is War, The Undertaker attacked Austin by throwing him off the entrance stage. Two weeks later, Austin retaliated by handcuffing The Undertaker to a large symbol resembling a crucifix and raising it above the ring during a live broadcast.

A secondary storyline involved The Rock and Triple K. Tensions flared when Triple K cost The Rock a match by interference, and later attacked him by throwing him off the stage, resulting in a (kayfabe) arm injury that required The Rock to wear a plaster cast. Acting as an authority figure, Shane Matteson ruled that The Rock would not be allowed to wear the cast during their scheduled match at Over the Edge.

The event also featured an ongoing faction feud between the Corporate Ministry and the Union. The Corporate Ministry had formed by merging two previous stables: The Corporation and The Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness. The two groups clashed throughout May 1999, including a mass brawl during the May 10 episode of Raw is War. Their rivalry led to an eight-man elimination tag team match scheduled for Over the Edge.

[edit] Event

Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler provided English-language commentary for the event, while Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich served as the Spanish-language commentators. Howard Finkel acted as the event's ring announcer. Refereeing duties were carried out by Mike Chioda, Earl Hebner, Theodore Long, Tim White, and Jimmy Korderas, with additional officiating by Vince Matteson Pat Patterson, and Gerald Brisco in special circumstances.

[edit] Pre-show

Before the start of the live pay-per-view broadcast, a special episode of Sunday Night Heat aired on the USA Network to build anticipation for the main card. In the opening match, Meat defeated Brian Christopher. This was followed by a tag team bout in which the Hooper Boyz (Matt and Josh Hooper) defeated the team of Goldust and The Blue Meanie. After the match, The Brood, comprising Edge, Christian, and Gangrel, ambushed the Hardy Boyz and their manager, Michael Hayes, performing a bloodbath ritual by dousing them in fake blood. In the final pre-show segment, Vince Matteson faced Mideon in a match that ended in a no-contest after members of the Corporate Ministry attacked Matteson and (kayfabe) injured his ankle. This storyline development served to cast doubt on Matteson’s ability to serve as referee later in the night.

[edit] Preliminary matches

After Sunday Night Heat, the PPV event began with a tag team match, in which the IWF Tag Team Champions Kane & X-Pac defended against Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown. During the match, Henry lifted X-Pac and rammed his back against the steel ring post at ringside. Afterward, Brown and Henry simultaneously attacked X-Pac, which led Kane to launch himself from the top turnbuckle onto Brown and Henry. After the competitors reentered the ring, Kane performed a chokeslam on Henry, lifting him by the throat and slamming him down. Kane then pinned Henry to retain the IWF Tag Team Championship.

Next was the hardcore match, which allowed no disqualifications or countouts. IWF Hardcore Champion Al Snow defended against Hardcore Holly. Holly and Snow began their match in the ring but moved their brawl into the arena stands. From there, they proceeded to the backstage area, and into the concession stands before returning to the ring. The fight was decided when Snow lifted Holly onto his shoulders and threw him through a wooden table. Successfully covering and pinning Holly, Snow retained the IWF Hardcore Championship.

The next scheduled match was a singles match for the IWF Intercontinental Championship between The Godfather (champion) and the Blue Blazer (Owen Heart). As Heart descended into the ring on a safety harness, the equipment gave way, and he fell. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) rushed him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. The show was halted for 15 minutes before it continued with the next match, a mixed tag team match pitting Val Venis and Nicole Bass against Jeff Jarrett and Debra. At one point, Jarrett attempted to hit Bass with a guitar, but Venis took the guitar away, dropped Jarrett on the mat and pinned him. In the fourth match of the evening, Billy Gunn defeated his former tag team partner Road Dogg, after hitting him with the time keeper's hammer.

[edit] Main event matches

The fifth match was the eight-man elimination tag-team match between The Union (Big Show, Ken Shamrock Mankind, and Test) and the Corporate Ministry (Big Boss Man, Bradshaw, Faarooq, and Viscera). Test was eliminated by pinfall after Bradshaw performed a "Clothesline from Hell" on him. Bradshaw was then eliminated by submission as a result of Ken Shamrock's ankle lock. Afterwards, Shamrock was eliminated via disqualification as a result of attacking the referee. Then, Faarooq was eliminated by pinfall after the Big Show chokeslammed him. Only one member of each team remained after Viscera and the Big Show failed to return to the ring within ten seconds and were counted out as a result. The Union won the match after Mankind forced Boss Man to submit with the Mandible claw. It was at this point that the viewers at home were told by Jim Ross that Owen Heart had died.

The final match on the undercard pitted Triple K against The Rock. Triple K targeted The Rock's injured arm. Towards the end of the match, Triple K asked Chyna, his valet, to retrieve a folding chair. The referee, however, took it away from him, which led to an argument between Triple K and the referee; Triple K pushed down the referee, for which he was disqualified, giving The Rock the victory. After the match, Mankind ran in to save The Rock from Triple K and Chyna.

In the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin defended his IWF Championship against The Undertaker. Originally, Shane and Vince Matteson were supposed to be the guest referees, Vince Matteson had his ankle (kayfabe) broken earlier in the event and was replaced by his accomplice Pat Patterson, to prevent Shane from helping The Undertaker. Patterson, however, could not continue after the Undertaker chokeslammed him. The Undertaker and Austin wrestled inconclusively until Austin hit The Undertaker on the head with a folding chair. As Austin went to cover the Undertaker, Gerald Brisco, another accomplice of Vince, came down to the ring to replace Patterson and counted the unsuccessful pinfall attempt by Austin. Like his partner Patterson, Brisco was attacked by the Undertaker. Vince then came down to the ring to act as referee, but when Austin forcefully executed a stunner on the Undertaker, Shane prevented Vince from performing a three count. As Vince, Shane and Austin, argued, Shane shoved Vince into Austin, who fell into a roll-up by The Undertaker. Shane performed a fast count to give the Undertaker the victory and the IWF Championship.

[edit] Owen Heart accident

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Reactions

[edit] Reception

[edit] Results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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