WrestleMania XV

WrestleMania XV took place on March 28, 1999, and took place in the First Union Center in Philadelphia, PA. The main event featured WWF Champion The Rock defend the title against Steve Austin. This would be the first of three WrestleMania battles between these two men. The referee for this match was decided by a bout between Mankind and Paul Wight (The Big Show).

From the time Austin won the title last year, Vince McMahon schemed of ways to get the title off of Austin. He succeeded and in a tournament for the vacant title at The Survivor Series McMahon helped The Rock win the belt. Vince McMahon won the Royal Rumble to become number 1 contender but wound up losing a steel cage match to Austin at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre which earned Austin this title shot.

Paul made his WWF debut by interfering in the Austin vs McMahon match at St. Valentine’s Day massacre. He accidentally cost Vince the match. Mankind was a former ally of Vince McMahon’s but was screwed by him at the prior Survivor Series. He and The Rock had just had a brutal series of matches. The winner of this bout would determine the ref in the title match. Mankind won by DQ but was too hurt to referee the battle.

Prior to the match, Vince McMahon declared himself the referee for this match. President Shawn Michaels nixed this idea. This match featured several referees that were continually getting injured. The match ended with Austin hitting the Stone Cold Stunner to get the win and regain the world title.

The Brawl for All Match between professional boxer Butterbean and Billy Gunn was a legitimate fight that saw Gunn get knocked unconscious in less than a minute. His WWF career never recovered from this. One of the guest judges for this battle was Gorilla Monsoon. Gorilla was very sick at this point and this was one of his final appearances before passing away.

McMahon found a new way to get at Austin and that was with the new Corporate Ministry. McMahon lulled Austin into helping save his daughter only turning out to be the one to put her in danger in the first place. Stephanie would get revenge on her dad a few months later by marrying Triple H and turning on her father. They would rule the WWF during the McMahon-Helmsley era.

By this time, the WWF was clearly winning the war. In an attempt to spoof Sting’s entrance (entering the ring from the rafters), they had Owen Hart, dressed as The Blue Blazer, perform a similar ring entrance. On 5/23/99, at the Over the Edge PPV, things went tragically wrong and Owen died when he plummeted from the rafters into the ring. In a very controversial decision, Vince McMahon decided to continue the event.

In the fall of 1999, Eric Bischoff was fired from WCW and was replaced by WWF writer Vince Russo. Part of the reason for Russo leaving was that the WWF had just started the UPN show SmackDown. At around the same time, Steve Austin had to leave the ring for almost a year due to the effects of the neck injury he suffered at the hands of Owen Hart a few years earlier.

- This was the first WrestleMania put on DVD.
- This is the first WrestleMania where the scratch logo was officially recognized as the new logo of the WWF.
- The Brawl for All Match is the only legitimate fight in WrestleMania history.
- Steve Austin became the only man to win the WWF title in consecutive years at WrestleMania.

- Triple Threat Match for Hardcore Title: Bob Holly beat Champ Billy Gunn & Al Snow to win the title
- Tag Team Title: Champs Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett beat D-Lo Brown & Test
- Brawl for All: Butterbean knocked out Bart Gunn
- Mankind beat Big Show by DQ
- Four corner elimination match for I-C title: Champ Jesse James beat Val Venis, Goldust & Ken Shamrock
- Kane beat Triple H by DQ
- Women's Title: Champ Sable beat Tori
- European Title: Champ Shane McMahon beat X-Pac
- Hell in a Cell: Undertaker beat The Big Bossman
- WWF Title: Steve Austin beat the Rock to win the WWF title