The Corporate Ministry

The Corporate Ministry

Vince McMahon, the leader of Corporate Ministry
Stable
Members Mr. McMahon (co-leader)
The Undertaker (co-leader)
Shane McMahon (co-leader)
Faarooq
Bradshaw
Mideon
Viscera
The Big Boss Man
Triple H
Chyna
Paul Bearer
Rodney
Pete Gas
Name(s) Corporate Ministry
Debut April 29, 1999
Disbanded August 2,1999
Promotions WWF

The Corporate Ministry was a villainous stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late spring and summer of 1999.

It was formed after a merger between The Corporation and the Ministry of Darkness factions, who united while facing common adversaries Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Mr. McMahon. In an infamous swerve, the latter would eventually be revealed as a member of The Corporate Ministry who had intended to use the faction to destroy Austin.

History

Background

Throughout early 1999, The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness had been feuding with WWF owner Mr. McMahon, trying to gain control of the Federation. To break Vince's spirits they began targeting his daughter Stephanie. Worried about his daughter, Vince shifted focus from his Corporation stable to Stephanie. With Vince occupied, his son Shane gradually took over the leadership of the Corporation. On April 12, Shane kicked Vince, Pat Patterson, and Gerald Brisco out of the Corporation. His rationale was that there was no room in the Corporation for the old and that Vince no longer had his priorities straight. Shane then slapped his father, saying that the strong, ruthless man he knew was gone.

Heading into WrestleMania XV, Mr. McMahon had been feuding with Stone Cold Steve Austin for an entire year.[1] By this point, the Corporation was involved in the feud as well. The Rock lost his WWF Championship to Austin at WrestleMania XV.[1] He got a rematch at Backlash: In Your House in which Shane was the special guest referee, but lost that match as well. Since Shane had accidentally hit him with the championship belt near the end of the match,[2] The Rock blamed him for the loss and they had a confrontation the following night on Raw Is War that ended up with The Rock being fired from The Corporation, but not before giving Shane a Rock Bottom.

At Backlash, the Ministry kidnapped Stephanie.[2] The Undertaker attempted to wed before sacrificing her the following night, but was ruined by Ken Shamrock, Big Show and ultimately Stone Cold Steve Austin.[3] Members of The Corporation had wanted to help Stephanie, but Shane held them back assuring them that it would be a trap, but that never stopped the Texas Rattlesnake doing the heroic deed that Vince had done.[4]

Formation

Stone Cold Steve Austin was the main target of this stable

On April 29, the pilot episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker merged his Ministry of Darkness with Shane's Corporation to form the Corporate Ministry. The two groups united in order to fight their common foes Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Mr. McMahon.[5] The members of both factions seemingly forgot their past conflicts and worked together as a massive stable.

On the following episode of Raw Is War, a new faction formed to oppose the Corporate Ministry. Former Corporation members Ken Shamrock, Big Show, and Test joined together with Mankind to form The Union. The Union members felt that they were being screwed over by the Corporation ever since Shane had taken control of it from his father. Wanting revenge on his son, Vince soon united with the Union as they fought with the Corporate Ministry.

The Corporate Ministry

As the Corporate Ministry's first act, Shane ordered a WWF Championship match at Over the Edge between Austin and Undertaker with himself as a special guest referee. However, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels countered by making a special stipulation that both Shane and Vince were the guest referees. That night, an altercation between the feuding McMahons collected Undertaker and Austin, and Shane fast-counted the pin to give the match and the title to Undertaker.[6] That same night, The Rock defeated Triple H via disqualification and The Union defeated The Acolytes, Viscera, and Big Bossman in an elimination match.[7] A week later, The Acolytes defeated X-Pac and Kane to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.[8]

Meanwhile, The Undertaker's claim since the Ministry of Darkness that he served a higher power was expanded upon. Eventually, The Undertaker decided to serve Austin up to this greater power, who revealed his identity to Austin while dressed in a black robe and a hood that hid his face from the live audience. On June 7, the identity of the higher power was revealed as Mr. McMahon[9] and the entire exercise had been a ruse designed to fool everyone and destroy Austin. After the unveiling Linda and Stephanie McMahon, who were also victims of the ruse, got their revenge on Vince and Shane for their actions.[9] Linda announced that she was stepping down as CEO of the company and hiring Austin as her replacement. Further, she and Stephanie were signing over their shares of the WWF to Austin, making him the majority owner of the company with a 50% stake leaving Vince and Shane with 25% each. The Undertaker has stated that he considers the Corporate Ministry stable to be the low point of his "dark" era due to the diluting of power from himself to Mr. McMahon.[10]

With Austin now feuding with the McMahons, The Undertaker faced a new challenger, The Rock. After Rock beat The Undertaker and Triple H in a handicap match, The Undertaker faced The Rock at King of the Ring for the title. Undertaker won the match and retained the title thanks to a sealing run-in by Triple H.[11] That same night, Vince and Shane defeated Austin in a ladder match to win his 50% share of the company and regain full control of the WWE.[11] The following week, The Acolytes lost their tag team titles to the Hardy Boyz[12]

As far as Austin was concerned, he reinserted himself into a feud with The Undertaker by announcing the night after losing to the McMahons that he booked himself a title rematch with Undertaker for the next week's Raw Is War, which he won.[13]

At Fully Loaded, a First Blood match was signed with two stipulations. If Undertaker regained the title, Austin could never challenge for it again. If Austin was to retain, Vince McMahon would be forced to leave the WWF. Austin won by hitting The Undertaker with a television camera after an assist from X-Pac, thus retaining the title and forcing Vince out of the company.[14][14] Meanwhile, The Acolytes defeated The Hardy Boyz and their manager Michael Hayes to regain the tag team titles[15] and Triple H defeated The Rock in a leather strap match to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship.[14][16] Two weeks later, the Acolytes would lose the tag team titles to X-Pac and Kane.[17]

Dissolution

By the end of July, The Undertaker's relationship with the McMahons had dissolved and the Corporate Ministry was effectively disbanded by Shane McMahon on August 2, 1999. Shane continued to align himself with Triple H and Chyna, and on the Raw Is War following SummerSlam he helped Triple H defeat Mankind to win his first WWF Championship. The Acolytes stayed together and continued to wrestle under that name with no connection to anyone, eventually becoming the APA.

The Undertaker, in the meantime, formed a new tag team with Big Show called the "Unholy Alliance", which eventually grew into a stable that included former Ministry members Mideon and Viscera.[18] They defeated X-Pac and Kane at SummerSlam for the WWF Tag Team Championship only to lose them a week later to the makeshift tag team of Mankind and The Rock, which became better known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection.[19] The following week, they regained the tag team titles in a Buried Alive match after Triple H buried Mankind following an attack on Big Show.[20]

Shortly after this, it was found that Undertaker suffered a torn groin and would require surgery, which necessitated a change in storyline. The team's scheduled defense against the former champions on Raw Is War two weeks later was turned into a Dark Side Rules match where any of the members of the Unholy Alliance could wrestle. This enabled Undertaker to avoid aggravating his injury, although the group lost the tag team titles back to the Rock 'n' Sock Connection.[21]

Undertaker was also set to compete in a Six-Pack Challenge WWF Championship match at Unforgiven against The Rock, Mankind, Kane, Big Show, and Triple H, requiring a change in those plans as well. One week after the group lost the tag team titles for the final time, Mr. McMahon forced Triple H to take part in a gauntlet match to keep his spot in the Unforgiven main event with each match being considered the "specialty" match of the competitors. Undertaker was originally to face Triple H in a casket match as part of the gauntlet, but Undertaker refused to compete and walked out on Mr. McMahon.[22][23] Mideon and Viscera, who earlier had interfered in Triple H's inferno match against Kane, were forced to take Undertaker's place and won the match after Triple H was unable to put both men in a casket.

After that, the remaining members of what was left of the Ministry went their separate ways. Big Show became the WWF Champion at that year's Survivor Series, while Viscera won the WWF Hardcore Championship and was eventually let go from the company. Mideon disappeared for some time after Unforgiven, returning first as an impostor version of Mankind and then as "Naked Mideon" before leaving the company himself. Joey Abs made his debut by joining The Mean Street Posse; he wasn't member of the Corporate Ministry, but debuted under the Corporate Ministry banner.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

1 ^ McMahon refused the award, stating: "These are for the boys, not me".

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Powell, John (1999-03-29). "Austin wins title at WM15". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  2. 1 2 Powell, John (1999-04-26). "Backlash: Austin wins, Stephanie abducted". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  3. ↑ "Stone Cold saves day". SLAM! Sports. 1999-05-01. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  4. ↑ Cole, Glenn (1999-05-02). "WWE undertakes new twist". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  5. ↑ "Most Memorable Moments in SmackDown History #3: SmackDown pilot episode". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  6. ↑ "The Undertaker's third WWE Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  7. ↑ "Over the Edge 1999 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  8. 1 2 "The Acolytes' first WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  9. 1 2 "McMahon no Greater Power". SLAM! Sports. 1999-06-12. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  10. ↑ The Undertaker (2001-09-25). Undertaker - This Is My Yard (DVD). WWE.
  11. 1 2 "King of the Ring 1999 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  12. ↑ "The Hardy Boyz' first WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  13. ↑ "Steve Austin's fourth WWF Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  14. 1 2 3 Powell, John (1999-07-26). "Fully Loaded recycles Raw material". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  15. 1 2 "The Acolytes' second WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  16. ↑ "Fully Loaded 1999 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  17. ↑ "Kane & X-Pac's second WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  18. ↑ "Undertaker and Big Show's first WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  19. ↑ "Rock 'n' Sock Connection's first WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  20. ↑ "Undertaker and Big Show's second WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  21. ↑ "Rock 'n' Sock Connection's second WWF Tag Team Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  22. ↑ "WWF SmackDown results". PWWEW.net. September 23, 1999. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Unholy Alliance Vol. 18". September 23, 1999.
  24. ↑ "The Undertaker's third WWF Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  25. ↑ "Mideon's first WWF European Championship reign". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  26. ↑ "History of the Hardcore Championship". WWE. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
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