WrestleMania XV was a 1999 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 15th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ten professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card. The ticket sales of 20,276 drew a gross of $1,437,050.
The main event saw the challenger "Stone Cold" Steve Austin face The Rock in a no disqualification match for the WWF Championship. The penultimate match saw The Undertaker wrestle Big Boss Man in a Hell in a Cell match. Lower on the card, six of the promotion's seven active championships were defended, including the first WrestleMania defense of the Hardcore Championship. Also on the undercard was a Brawl for All match, an unscripted type of shootfight between wrestler Bart Gunn and boxer/mixed martial artist Butterbean. This event also marked the final WWF appearance for Gorilla Monsoon, who died in October that same year.
Production Background
WrestleMania is the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four",Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) and was considered one of the "Big Five" pay-per-views with the addition of King of the Ring in 1993. WrestleMania XV was scheduled on March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Storylines When Road Dogg Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Corporation, they tried their hand at singles wrestling for some time. Gunn failed in his attempts to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but Road Dogg would become Hardcore Champion until an injury prevented him from honoring a championship match with Al Snow. Snow ended up fighting himself and then Bob Holly for the vacant belt at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, with Holly winning the title at the banks of the Mississippi River. When Road Dogg won the Intercontinental Championship on Raw Is War Gunn fought Holly (now dubbed as Hardcore Holly) and won when Holly crashed into an ad-hoc announcers table Jim Ross had constructed for his pirate broadcast of the show.
In the previous year, due to the suddenly enlarged roster, a shootfighting (unscripted) knockout tournament entitled Brawl for All was organized on a voluntary basis, with Bart Gunn winning the tournament on August 24 after defeating every opponent by knockout aside from his opening-round opponent Bob Holly. When Holly rechristened himself Hardcore Holly on February 15, decrying poor gimmicks and tag-team partners he had been given in the past, Gunn made his first appearance since winning the tournament, to remind Holly that not all his partners were of a poor caliber. This led to a hardcore match between the two, which Gunn dominated until a masked assailant, revealed to be "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, threw him off the stage. Williams claimed he did this out of revenge for losing to Gunn in the Brawl for All. The week after on Raw Is War, Williams' manager Jim Ross announced to Gunn he would be facing noted mixed martial artist and boxer Eric "Butterbean" Esch, who held a 43–1–1 record at the time, who challenged him to a Brawl for All fight.
From November's Survivor Series until the night after St. Valentine's Day Massacre, The Rock and Mankind (Mick Foley) traded the WWF Championship numerous times as Mr. McMahon screwed Mankind time and time again on his quest to headline WrestleMania. In their final match, a ladder match on Raw Is War, Paul Wight delivered the Showstopper to Mankind as he was about to win the match, removing his chances of appearing in the main event of WrestleMania. However, as Mr. McMahon's conspiracy of appointing Big Show as special guest referee to secure The Rock as champion began to fall apart, Mankind constantly offered his services as a second official. With The Rock and Big Show causing infighting in the Corporation, Mankind successfully canvassed for a chance to referee; rather than have two conflicting referees, a match was booked to give the winner the right to officiate the main event match.
When Ryan Shamrock (Alicia Webb) appeared front row on Raw Is War on January 11, she gained attention not only from her (kayfabe) brother Ken Shamrock, but also Val Venis (who performed a flirtatious dance for her) and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (who lived up to his moniker by mooning her). Enraged, Ken Shamrock fought Gunn at the Royal Rumble, then Venis at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, with Venis winning the Intercontinental Championship thanks to help from Ryan. Venis soon dumped Ryan, and she began a relationship with Goldust (Dustin Rhodes). Venis also unwittingly lost his championship to Road Dogg on Raw Is War and found himself defending his championship against the important men in Ryan Shamrock's life in a four-corners elimination match.
After The Rock won his "I Quit" match against Mankind at the Royal Rumble by playing a recording of his voice, Triple H demanded an I Quit match of his own, but as he was about to put Rock through the announcers table, The Corporation came to the ring and Kane held his manager/girlfriend Chyna hostage, demanding that he quit the match. As soon as the match was over, Chyna low blowed Triple H and revealed her alliances with The Corporation, promising a Valentine's Day present at the subsequent pay-per-view. Despite almost having the match won, Triple H suffered at the hands of an interfering Shane McMahon and illegal man Kane's chokeslam. Triple H took revenge on the February 22 Raw Is War by interfering in X-Pac's (Sean Waltman) match with Chyna, causing her to lose. Chyna called Triple H out on March 8, but before they could fight, Kane came to the ring. Chyna held up Triple H as Kane shot a fireball at him, though he would duck out of the way causing (kayfabe) severe retinal damage to Chyna. Despite not receiving any damage, Triple H maintained that the fireball was meant for him, an insult he took personally and an intended injury he wanted to return at WrestleMania. On March 22, Kane prepared to have a match against Goldust, but as he threw off his entrance robes and wig, it turned out he was Triple H holding a flamethrower, shooting flames in Kane's face. Meanwhile, X-Pac, who had altercations with Shane McMahon prior to the February event, was frustrated with Shane's interference in the match and goaded into putting his European Championship on the line in a tag-team match with Triple H against Kane and Shane, which Shane won thanks to Triple H being distracted by Chyna. With Shane claiming himself to be a fighting champion, he agreed to a rematch at WrestleMania, but regularly interfered in X-Pac's matches up until that point, culminating in a Greenwich Street Fight on March 22 that ended in a no-contest when the Mean Street Posse ambushed X-Pac and drove off with Shane in their car.
Tori was sitting front row as a plant as early as September 14's Raw Is War, but it was not until late December that she began to act with stalker tendencies, sending flowers and notes to Sable, the Women's Champion and even helping her to defend her title against Luna Vachon at the Royal Rumble. On Raw Is War the night after the previous pay-per-view, Tori invaded the ring again and was publicly shouted at and humiliated by Sable. Vachon then brought Tori to the ring a fortnight after, reprimanding Sable for her ego, but a still-obsessed Tori helped attack Vachon. The following week on March 8's Raw Is War, Tori fought Vachon with Sable in her corner but after receiving a squash from Vachon, Sable also gave Tori a Sable Bomb, leading to Tori interrupting Sable's Playboy interview by demanding a championship match at WrestleMania.
Having been buried alive in a Royal Rumble qualification match at Rock Bottom: In Your House, The Undertaker disappeared from television while The Acolytes, Faarooq (Ron Simmons) and Bradshaw (John Layfield), began to act strangely, eventually abducting Dennis Knight and leaving him tied up in a darkened room. On January 11, The Undertaker returned in slightly new attire, taking a seat in a ceremonial throne on the Raw Is War stage while Paul Bearer stood beside him and The Acolytes brought Knight out and tied him to a table. There, Undertaker performed a ritualistic ceremony, rechristening him as Mideon. Undertaker began delivering ambiguous apocalyptic messages, but after recruiting Mabel, now Viscera (Nelson Frazier, Jr.) and The Brood, he began to be more direct, revealing his plan to attack McMahon and take over the World Wrestling Federation.
The security of Mr. McMahon's Corporation, Big Boss Man, challenged the Ministry to a six-man tag team match, which ended in a no-contest when the Ministry abducted Shane McMahon and took him to Undertaker, who threatened him while choking him then gave him a letter to give to his father. Vince McMahon replied the following week on February 22 by booking The Undertaker in an Inferno match with Kane on Raw Is War, the first network television airing of that type of match. During the match, McMahon provided commentary, nonchalantly revealing he had placed Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match against Big Boss Man for WrestleMania. During the match, Paul Bearer gave an ominous gift to McMahon, a teddy bear. After Undertaker set Kane on fire, he turned to the enraged McMahon, taking the teddy bear (later revealed to belong to Stephanie McMahon) and setting it alight, reducing Vince to his knees as he burst into tears. Trying to defeat either of his problems, McMahon declared he'd never show such weakness again and put Mankind against Undertaker, which ended with Undertaker almost chokeslamming McMahon through the announcers table until Boss Man saved him.
Undertaker continued with his mind games on March 8, ordering his Ministry to look for Boss Man all night and attacking any innocents in his way, eventually capturing Boss Man and crucifying him. Boss Man managed to escape while police were being beaten off by Undertaker's minions until he offered himself to the police while being derided by McMahon. The following week he continued his assault, with videos playing throughout the evening of the Ministry at McMahon's mansion ending in McMahon coming to the ring while Triple H brawled with Kane, begging Kane to help him. Kane ripped off his mask to reveal it was actually The Undertaker who grabbed McMahon by the throat as the lights turned off in the arena and when they came up, he was gone with McMahon alone in the ring.