The 1999 Backlash was the inaugural Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It took place on April 25, 1999, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island and was presented by Castrol GTX. The event had originally been promoted as "Backlash: In Your House", but the branding was dropped as the WWF discontinued the In Your House series before Backlash was held. As a result, Backlash was the first non-In Your House monthly PPV held by the promotion outside of their five major events at the time (the In Your House branding would be revived by WWE for its NXT developmental brand in 2020). The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WWF's flagship event, WrestleMania. In line with the event's concept, the main event was a rematch from WrestleMania XV between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock for the WWF Championship, but this time with a special guest referee, Shane McMahon. Lower down on the card, Big Show and Mankind had a Boiler Room Brawl to settle matters after their previous encounter, which decided who would referee the WrestleMania event. Triple H also wrestled X-Pac due to Triple H causing X-Pac to lose a match for the European Championship the previous month. Production Background From 1995 to 1999, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) ran a series of monthly pay-per-views (PPV) titled In Your House, which were held between the promotion's five major PPVs at the time: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Five". The next event was originally to be "Backlash: In Your House", but in April 1999, the WWF phased out the In Your House events to establish permanent names for the monthly pay-per-views held between the "Big Five". Backlash in turn dropped the In Your House branding and was the first monthly PPV held following the discontinuation of the In Your House shows. Early advertising had included the In Your House branding, but it was dropped in the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view. Backlash was subsequently held after WrestleMania XV, and it took place on April 25, 1999, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WWF's flagship event, WrestleMania. Storylines The event consisted of eight