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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 PART 4 Our final part of No Mercy opens with a video package for the final match of the night between Kurt Angle and The Rock. We see Triple H lose the number one contender's match to Kurt, and subsequently brand Stephanie a liability at ringside. She sets out to prove him wrong, helping Angle win various matches with her interference. Kurt asks her to accompany him on a permanent basis - although it's strictly business, everyone. Meanwhile The Rock hasn't been himself since finding out Rikishi was the man who ran over Austin, but Angle inadvertently helps him recapture his fire by accusing him of having something to do with the assault. Stephanie vows that her new business partner will become the next WWF Champion, while The Rock simply tells Kurt to "just bring it". 9. WWF Championship No Disqualification Match: The Rock (c) vs Kurt Angle As Angle enters, the match is announced as no-DQ to the bemusement of JR and Lawler. Stephanie distracts Rock at the bell, allowing Angle to get the jump from behind. Kurt immediately takes advantage of the last minute stipulation, grabbing the timekeeper's chair and slamming it over the Rock's spine. Angle chokes the champ over the middle rope, but Rocky explodes back to life with a clothesline and a Samoan drop. We cut backstage to Triple H watching from the #HeelLockerRoom, his shoulder heavily taped up after that match with Benoit. Meanwhile Angle heads up the ramp, but Rock chases after him and nails another clothesline. He drags Kurt off to the side of the stage and whips him into some tech stuff, then through the curtain. They brawl over to the other side of the stage and Rock takes a NASTY bump into a stack of lighting equipment. Rock gets whipped into the crowd barrier, but grabs a lifesized cut-out of himself from the crowd and shoves it in Angle's face, before decking him with a right hand. That was different. I swear Stephanie just shouted "come on Hunter!", but that might just be because I'm so used to it as her stock phrase. They fight back to the ring and Kurt chokes out the Rock with a boot in the corner. He misses with a running knee however, and Rock sticks a few stomps into his ribs. We again see Triple H watching from the back. I can't tell if his expression is seething or concentrating. They look the same for him. Rock slides out and grabs Angle's legs, dragging him crotch-first into the ringpost (despite Earl Hebner's best efforts. He was pretty much right in the Rock's face). The champ grabs a chair and drives it into Kurt's leg a couple of times, before catching a kick from the Olympian and taking him down with a dragon screw. Rock immediately slaps on his version of the sharpshooter (I've never understood why it gets so much hatred. It looks alright), and Angle taps out, but Stephanie is already up on the apron distracting the referee. Steph taunts the Rock, who snaps and chases her around the ring. She slides inside and Angle intercepts the champ, hitting a belly-to-belly in the middle of the ring. The pair exchange right hands and the Rock begisn to build momentum, but Angle kills it with a fast clothesline. He slaps on a chinlock/chokehold type combo for a looooooong time. Rock fades and the ref checks his arm, but he keeps it raised at the third time of asking. Here comes that classic Rocky comeback...right hand, right hand, Angle charges...and gets HURLED out of the ring! He takes a second nasty bump into the steps. Rock smashes his head into the announce table several times, before taking a long drink of JR's water and spitting it into the challenger's face. Angle retaliates by cracking the Rock's head into the Spanish announce table and rolling him back into the ring. Stephanie slides in the title belt and Angle measures the Rock. He charges...AND ROCK SETS UP FOR THE ROCK BOTTOM...ohh but Angle elbows out. BAM! Title belt shot to the dome. 1....2....of COURSE The Rock kicks out. They right to the top rope and the Rock hits a superplex. Angle looks to be legitimately cut open over his eye somehow. Kurt ducks a clothesline and hits a fantastic German suplex. Stephanie urges him to cover the Rock, but Angle's heading to the top rope. He misses with that BEAUTIFUL moonsault (does it ever connect?) and Rock hits a perfect floatover DDT. I've seen him gently caress up that move so many times, but it was hit very fluidly here. Angle just kicks out at two and gouges the eyes, but Rock presses the advantage with his - deliberately rougher-looking - version of the belly-to-belly suplex. It's more of a straight up throw when he does it. SPINEBUSTER to Kurt, and the Rock sets up for the People's Elbow. Stephanie rushes in and stands in his way, trash talking. She winds up for a slap, but Rocky ducks it and nails her with the Rock Bottom! He sets up for the Elbow on her, but Angle arrives back on the scene to prevent it just in time. Uh oh. Triple H comes haring down the ramp and into the ring, and he tees off on Kurt with right hands. He did promise to take it out on the Olympian if he let Stephanie come to harm. The Game hurls Angle out of the ring and Hebner turns around, not at all surprised to see Triple H standing in Kurt's place. Maybe he's just used to HHH/Rock matches by now. I loving am. Rock spins the Game around but gets caught with a kick to the gut...PEDIGREE! Trips grabs Stephanie and carries her to the back, not particularly caring about the outcome of the match. Angle crawls back in and covers the Rock, but AGAIN the champ kicks out. Angle tries to whip the Rock, but the Brahma Bull reverses into a heavy DDT! 1...2...now Angle kicks out! Rock takes Kurt to the outside and slams him into the Spanish announce table, but every time he tries to roll the Olympian back in the ring he slips out the adjacent side to try and get his head together. As Rock chases Angle down we cut to the ramp...and oh no. RIKISHI is interfering now, his head wrapped in the biggest bandage I've ever seen. Angle stumbles across him at the foot of the entrance ramp and hits a right hand, but Rikishi hits back harder and rolls Kurt back into the ring. He's trying to help his fellow Samoan win, although I'm not sure how the Rock feels about that. He doesn't seem to mind currently, laying the Smackdown on Angle in the corner. Kurt hits a low blow and charges at the champ...ROCK BOTTOM! But the Rock is too tired to make the cover! He does eventually roll onto Kurt. 1...2...ANGLE KICKS OUT! gently caress YEAH! Rikishi slides in and prepares to squash Angle in the corner, but Kurt pulls Rock in the way! Both get squashed, and Angle ducks a Rikishi superkick which lays out the champ! Olympic Slam to Rikishi! OLYMPIC SLAM TO THE ROCK! OH MY GOD, GO KURT, GO! COVER! 1....2....THREE! Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Kurt Angle 3/5 – This could have been a much better match were it not for the clusterfucky feel to it, and the extreme dubiousness of that ending, but who gives a gently caress? Angle's champion! They put Angle over! Angle bails to the ramp and Hebner hands him his belt. He drops to his knees while the Rock slowly recovers in the ring, pointing down at Rikishi in blame. The show ends with Kurt sobbing, belt in hand, while JR airs his disgust.
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Jan 16, 2014 14:05
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NO MERCY 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night The Rock vs Kurt Angle - A close contest between this, the cage match, and HHH/Benoit. The Rock and Angle managed to pull a good match out of a clusterfuck, creating an entertaining contest in spite of constant interference and overbooking. The spots were consistently crisp, neither man forgot to sell previous damage (particularly Angle and his leg), and the exiting title change made for a decent contest. It should have been better, as should the event as a whole, but we'll get to that. Wrestler Of The Night 1. The Rock - A spark-plug once again, Rock went out of his way to make Angle look great (even if the booking didn't). A constant source of energy in the main event scene. 2. Kurt Angle - The Olympian returned the favour and sold the champ's offence really well. He deserves his reign for his consistent brilliance over the year, and I'm excited to see what he can do with the belt. 3. X-Pac - Took an absolute beating in the cage match, and worked some pretty innovative spots with Jericho. 4. Chris Jericho - X-Pac maybe stood out more (weird, right?), but Y2J held his own. Two big spots stand out: the powerbomb from the top turnbuckle, and the bump from the top of the cage to the ring. 5. Chris Benoit - Great intensity throughout his match with Triple H. Made the ending sequence more exciting than it might have been. Triple H could also have got on here, although he looked a little more sluggish than usual in taking some of Benoit's bumps. Great psychology from the Game though, as always. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 26 2. Chris Jericho - 22 3. Chris Benoit - 18 4. Triple H - 17 5. Jeff Hardy - 14 6. The Rock - 13 7. Eddie Guerrero - 10 8. Mick Foley - 9 9. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 10. Edge - 5 11. Rikishi - 4 12. Test - 3 X-Pac - 3 13. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 14. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Angle and Jericho continue to steam away at the top, and we have a new arrival on the board in the form of X-Pac! Some notable non-movers this week are Triple H, who just missed out on a spot in the top five, and Eddie Guerrero, whose role was limited due to injury. NO MERCY 2000 SCORE: 6/10 This event felt pretty poor despite containing three 3/5 matches. Almost everything else was pretty much dross (although I wish I could have seen the opening tables match - that did seem to be fun, despite being low on quality), and even the three good matches were limited in some way or another. The cage match was too short, although that's understandable for a lower card bout, and Triple H/Benoit baffled me. In theory its booking was fantastic, and should have saved a match that perhaps slightly underperformed. The Cerebral Assassin finds a way to counter the Crossface but it's still not enough to put Benoit away, and he's forced to resort to help from the wife he branded a ringside liability. But JR and Lawler should have been HAMMERING home the point that Triple H had weakened the leg to counter the Crossface. Instead they were bizarrely reluctant to sell the damage done, instead putting it down to Hunter's strength in powering out of the hold. The main event was similarly held back, not by anybody's performance, but by the booking of its finish. I wish they'd toned down the interference; The Rock ate a Pedigree, a squash in the corner, and a superkick, before Angle THEN hit him with the Olympic Slam to finally keep him down. Sure, don't let Angle go over squeaky-clean, but at least allow him to have more of a direct role in defeating the champ. A slightly disappointing performance, then, from a show with a promising card.
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Jan 16, 2014 14:29
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JGKing posted:He looks to be about to repeat the spot, but instead bridges his own body backwards and wrenches back on Benoit's neck! Very inventive. Um, was it anything like this? 
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Jan 16, 2014 21:08
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I still don't understand the Rikishi thing to this day. It didn't make sense to 12 year old me, and it doesn't make sense to 25 year old me.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:34
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Rikishi is a bad man, thats pretty much the answer.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:49
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Frankston posted:I still don't understand the Rikishi thing to this day. It didn't make sense to 12 year old me, and it doesn't make sense to 25 year old me. It makes sense if you consider that in 2000, they were still relatively thin at the top of the card and the creative team was interested in the Angle/Triple H program leading to a slow-burning Triple H face turn so they needed a top heel to take his place. Rikishi had gotten very popular very fast, and by making him the guy who ran over Austin you've got two ready-made programs for him with Austin and Rock to help push him into the main event for good. Of course, in reality the fans loved Rikishi, Midcard Babyface and Friend to Too Cool, and had no interest at all in Rikishi, Main Event Samoan Heel. Big Show would've probably made more sense, since Austin getting hit by the car was what led to Show getting booked in the world title match that night, but he was stuck in OVW trying to lose weight so that was never going to happen. I'm about 99% certain that the Rikishi turn is what led to Chris Kreski losing the head writer position and the reign of terror Stephanie McMahon held over the writing team for the next several years.
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Jan 17, 2014 00:31
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Also that Main Event is a wonderful precursor to Triple H thinking he's too cool to care about whatever other chumps are holding the title now.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:46
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Survivor Series – November 19th 2000 – Tampa, Florida PART 1 So we've finally reached Survivor Series, the last of our "big four" PPVs of the year. The best of these so far has unquestionably been SummerSlam, and I'm going to predict that this event WON'T top it. I hope I'm wrong, but the card doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence. The WWF Championship match is between Angle and Undertaker, and before doing this thread I'd have expected that to be an excellent main event. What nobody seems to mention about The Undertaker, however, is that he had an AWFUL year 2000, at least from what we've seen so far. Add into this the fact that these two fought at Fully Loaded, and that it was pretty much a glorified squash in 'Taker's favour, and I'm fully bracing myself for an utter stinker here (despite Angle's best efforts). We also have an Austin vs Triple H match, which could either be wild or painful viewing. I haven't decided yet. The other singles matches on the card are Rock vs Rikishi and Jericho vs Kane (is that latter one a result the infamous coffee-gate feud!?), a pair of matches which I think could turn out to be disappointingly average. In better news though, we'll have two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches which I'm looking forward to quite a lot. So without further ado, let's get on with the show! The opening music nobody wants to hear hits the speakers, and T&A stride out to a muted reaction. As the teams make their entrances, JR brings up Survivor Series 1997 and the infamous Montreal Screwjob. Lawler chirps that Bret screwed Bret, and claims that tonight will put an end to all this screwjob talk once and for all. Well then. Is everybody ready for a cheap finish somewhere down the line? 1. Intergender Tag Team Match: T&A and Trish Stratus vs Steve Blackman, Crash Holly, and Molly Holly Test and Albert are both wearing APA vests which seem to be slightly modified, but I can't quite make out what they say instead. JR explains that T&A recently hospitalized both Acolytes (wow), and the boys left Crash in charge of their office while they were gone. Blackman and Albert start off with a pretty fast exchange, and the hero of our hearts wins out with a few quick strikes and a leg sweep. He's never afraid to sweep the leg. He tags in Crash who flies into a crossbody, but Albert plucks him out of the sky. Blackman helps out with a missile dropkick, knocking Holly into a pinfall on Albert. He kicks out and takes control of the smaller man, before tagging in Stratus. Albert holds Crash in a full nelson while Trish prepares to boot him in the groin...but Holly jumps and Albert takes the full force of the low blow! Crash has Trish isolated and decides to tag in Molly, but Stratus runs away. This is the first we've seen of Molly in the thread I think. Test gets the tag, forcing Molly to tag out. Her cousin comes back in and uses his elusiveness to evade Test's charges, before springboarding off the top rope into a nice headscissors! Crash hits the ropes...BIG BOOT BY TEST! Oh poo poo, is he going to set another opening tag match alight like at Fully Loaded? Test tags in Albert, and the pair hit a double gorilla press on the smaller man. Test comes back in after a short while and hoists Crash of his feet, but Holly is able to push him away into Albert, knocking the big man off the apron. Test hits an instinctive back elbow on the rebound, though, and both men in the ring are down. Trish blind tags in to the surprise of Test, and immediately misses an elbow drop. This allows Crash to scramble and tag in Molly, who hits a hip toss on her foe. Trish eats a scoop slam and a few elbows, and Molly looks to be okay in the ring. Better than Stratus, not as good as Lita. But perfectly acceptable I suppose. WOO! Molly hits some chops and hits the ropes, but Test yanks her down by the hair. Trish drags her up, but Molly hits a snap suplex and crawls over to tag in Blackman. The ref doesn't see the tag, however, as he's too busy reprimanding Test for his interference! All three members of the heel team back Molly into their corner and Albert presses her high above his head. Test gets up on the turnbuckles, and they look to be setting up for something heinous...but here come the boys to make the save. Blackman crotches Test on the top while Crash trips Albert, allowing Molly to land on top and almost pick up the three count. The men all brawl on the outside, and Stratus hits a horrible bulldog from the second turnbuckle on Molly. It only gets two however. Trish sets Molly up on the top turnbuckle, but Molly shoves her away and leaps into a nice sunset flip! 1...2...3! Winners: Steve Blackman, Crash Holly, and Molly Holly 2/5 - I was going to reduce this to a 1.5 because of Stratus' poor involvement in the match, but Molly's excellent sunset flip finish saves it. A decent opener. Nothing aside from a few spots between Test and Crash did anything to set the world on fire, but it had a job to do and did it. The faces scurry out of the ring and celebrate on the outside. The heels seethe. Edge & Christian are backstage and are quickly joined by Kurt Angle. He says he has a favour to ask them, but the boys think they already know what it is. Edge says they'd LOVE to help him out in his match against The Undertaker, but their match is right after (WHAT!? The title match isn't last!? MAJOR pet peeve of mine, excluding the Royal Rumble match). Also, Edge thinks Christian might be coming down with an illness again. Angle laughs at their "antics". Hahahaha. I love all three of these. Their chemistry together is amazing. Kurt claims he doesn't need their help and has the Undertaker situation fully under control. He was just wondering if they wanted to go out somewhere after they've all won their matches to celebrate. He bids them farewell, and the pair share a bemused look. They don't seem as confident in his chances as he does. We flash back to earlier in the night and see Lo Down (D'Lo Brown and Headbanger Mosh - or "Chaz" as he's now known) hanging out with a guy in bright red turban. That's Tiger Ali-Singh, their stablemate. They are denied access from backstage because the guy at the desk doesn't recognise them. Not even D'Lo!? The desk worker calls security and the wrestlers get flustered and leave. Way to get your lower-card guys over. Good job WWF. Next we have a traditional Survivor Series match! Huzzah! Unfortunately it's only the eight-person variant (as opposed to ten), but I'll take it. We have a somewhat reunited DX facing a somewhat reunited Radicalz. Joining DX is Road Dogg's new tag team partner, K-Kwik. K-Kwik is R-Truth. Seriously, trust me on that one. He's pretty much playing the same face persona he'd go on to work under during the beginning of his WWE return many years later, but not before he and Road Dogg leave to form the 3 Live Kru in TNA. Alongside Konnan. What a dream team. The pair get their own special entrance music, which they perform live all the way down to the ring. I like to think that Truth always includes this as a clause of his contracts, and nobody has the heart to tell him that he's really terrible at rapping. Chyna and Billy Gunn look awfully close during their entrance, and King muses whether they're a pair. They might be, but it doesn't prevent an awkward old-flame staredown between Eddie and Chyna as The Radicalz make their entrance. The heels have two championship belts with them - Malenko's Light Heavyweight strap, and Eddie's Intercontinental title - while Perry has kept ahold of Terri. Benoit has nothing, but is clearly their leader by this point. 2. Survivor Series Match: Billy Gunn, Chyna, Road Dogg, and K-Kwik vs Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn Saturn and Gunn lock up to start, and Perry gains the advantage with some right hands in the corner. Billy fights back with a clothesline, and looks much nicer with a short haircut. I feel duty-bound to point that out. Chyna tags in and the pair hit a double suplex on Saturn. The Ninth Wonder rocks Saturn with a few elbows to the jaw, before taking him over with a surprisingly nice powerslam. Chyna sets Perry up in the corner for her awful somersault thing, but Saturn seems to agree that it's a dreadful move, and catches her before she can complete it. He grabs her around the waist, but Chyna cracks a heel into his groin. I maintain what I said in an earlier post: no Chyna match without a low blow. She's a filthy cheat. She strides to the apron and socks Eddie to the floor, before DDTing Saturn for two. Everybody dives in and battles with one another to the outside, leaving Chyna alone to set Perry up for the Pedigree. But Eddie sneaks in with his Intercontinental title! BAM, right to the back of the head, and the ninth wonder crumples. The referee turns around just as Guerrero slides out of the ring, and counts the three. Perry Saturn eliminates Chyna Road Dogg jumps in with a really slow powerslam on Saturn, as Billy fishes Chyna out of the ring and helps her to recover. It's worth mentioning that RD is rocking a truly horrendous pair of dungarees, as is K-Kwik. Is that what passes for a gimmick around here? Saturn ups the pace with a nice back suplex, before launching into a loving necessary-as-gently caress forward roll to the corner, where he tags in Eddie Guerrero. Eddie springs over the top rope and lands on Road Dogg, before gesturing that Billy Gunn can kiss his rear end. THUNDEROUS "Eddie sucks" chants from the crowd. Woah, he really managed to get over as a heel. Road Dogg pops Eddie with a few jiving right hands, but Guerrero snaps him to the ground with a lightning fast dropkick to the knee. Malenko gets the tag and holds Road Dogg on the floor, allowing Eddie to again spring from the top rope, this time landing directly on the DX member's knee. Eddie climbs, possibly looking for the Frogsplash, but he stops to jaw at the crowd allowing Road Dogg to climb up and stop his progress. RD is looking slow as gently caress tonight. It doesn't stop him from hitting a big superplex though, and he gets the hot tag to Billy Gunn. Billy steams in towards Eddie, but Guerrero ducks and Gunn lands right in the Radicalz' corner. They all fall upon him with stomps and kicks. Worst hot tag ever, Billy. Eddie strides to the middle of the ring to taunt the DX corner, but misses Gunn getting a surge of energy and fighting off all three of his partners! Billy strides over and gorilla presses Eddie to the canvas, before nailing him with a sleeper slam. That gets the three!? Alright then. Billy Gunn eliminates Eddie Guerrero Malenko runs in and gets immediately hoisted up by Billy, but Saturn clips Gunn's legs, causing Dean to fall into a pinfall on the babyface. Malenko whips Billy into the ropes and looks for a backdrop, but Gunn kicks him in the face and dives to make the tag to K-Kwik. Let's see what he's got. Malenko goes for an immediate hiptoss, but Kwik lands on his feet! The pair race around the ropes outmanoeuvring one another, as Kwik looks for a monkey flip, but Dean cartwheels out of the way. Kwik settles for a simple trip takedown, but finds himself trapped in the Radicalz' corner. Benoit gets the tag and fires a welcome chop right into Kwik's chest. He whips the rookie into the corner, but Kwik vaults his attempted charge and somersaults to the centre of the ring...before WIPING OUT BENOIT with a fantastic jumping heel kick! His acrobatic offence is winning over the crowd already. NICE headscissor takedown, followed by a missed heel kick this time. Benoit ducks under it and CRUSHES K-Kwik with a nasty German suplex, right on the neck. He bridges into an immediate pinfall, and Kwik's highly enjoyable cameo is over. Chris Benoit eliminates K-Kwik It's Saturn and Road Dogg's turn to dance now, but the Radical settles for a few elbow drops before tagging in Malenko. Malenko does what he does, picking a limb and working it over for a little bit, before returning the favour and bringing Perry back in. He peppers Road Dogg with a few strikes, but the former New Age Outlaw simply STIFFS him with a right hand to knock him down! He hits a second, but Perry ducks a third strike and flips Road Dogg into a bridging northern lights suplex for three! Perry Saturn eliminates Road Dogg Thank god Road Dogg is out of there. He looked badly out of shape - easily the slowest wrestler in the match by a long way. Gunn is all alone now, but he charges Saturn and runs the ropes. Dean sticks a knee into his back, but Billy retaliates by knocking both Malenko and Benoit off the apron. Perry steams in with a shot of his own, and the numbers game begins to tell. The three Radicalz take turns breaking down the lone babyface, Malenko doing most of the work in the ring with a few knees to the head, while Saturn chips in by dropping Gunn's head across the middle rope from the apron. Billy gets whipped into the ropes, which Benoit pulls down to send him tumbling out of the ring. Benoit and Saturn head to the outside, and the Wolverine holds Billy in place for a Saturn superkick...which of course misses! Down goes Benoit instead, but Malenko is on hand to slow Billy's roll with a lovely baseball slide from the ring. Dean and Billy head into the ring, and Malenko fires a stiff kick into the ribs. He swings with a clothesline but Gunn ducks it, boots him in the gut, and plants him with the Fame-Asser! That's one down, two to go! Billy Gunn eliminates Dean Malenko Billy is looking very tired now, and I don't think it's entirely a result of really good selling. He drops Saturn with a weird inverted vertical suplex (JR calls is a Jackhammer. Maybe in Gunn's dreams), but Benoit breaks up the pinfall. WHAT THE gently caress? Again Saturn breaks out that needless forward roll to the corner and tags in Benoit. Is he TRYING to get Unsung Hero nominations from me by this point? gently caress it, it's working. Benoit hits a scoop slam and heads up top for the Diving Headbutt...and it connects! 1...2...Billy kicks out! Gunn whips Benoit into Saturn, knocking the latter into the side of the announce table. Billy shoves Benoit through to the apron and hooks him up for a vertical suplex back to the inside, but Perry reaches under the bottom rope and grabs his foot as he does so. This causes Billy to collapse, Benoit falling right on top of him, and Saturn keeps a firm grip on his foot to ensure he can't kick out. Chris Benoit eliminates Billy Gunn Survivors: Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn 3/5 - Very enjoyable stuff, even if I feel the order of eliminations was slightly off. I'd have loved to have seen more of K-Kwik and Eddie, particularly if they faced off against one another. It was probably right to get rid of Chyna early though. Billy had the most to do here, and it showed by the end of the match. He seemed completely exhausted, but managed to hold it together until the finish. Benoit, Saturn and Terri hug it out in the middle of the ring to a dead reaction from the crowd. Lillian Garcia is backstage with a mic, tasked with interviewing superstars as the enter the building. According to JR she wasn't having much luck on the Heat pre-show, but we'll see how she does now. The Rock strides into view with his bags, and he's looking incredibly pissed off. Lillian asks how he can possibly be 100% tonight after all Rikishi has subjected him to recently, but the People's Champ doesn't even break stride and walks straight past her. Poor Lillian.  Once they realise she can pronounce Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio with an authentic Spanish accent, I have a feeling that she'll be going up in the world.Michael Cole is standing by with Jericho, and reveals that Y2J requested his upcoming match against Kane. Jericho agrees - "You're drat right, Mitchell" - and says that at first he thought this match was just about coffee. Ahh, so this IS the feud that sprouted from coffeegate. Essentially, Jericho accidentally spilled some coffee on Kane backstage. That's all there is to it. Here's the video and everything. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ7S7NmytGk Y2J says that he now realises that the match is about so much more. It's about a man who can't look into the mirror without seeing a bitter, ugly, twisted monster waiting to break out. He tells us that that man isn't Kane. It's him. The coffee incident is shown, as is a later interview in which Kane seems to have an issue with Jericho's popularity - "The more you want to see him, the more I want to end him". He says that if the people can't accept Kane as a freak, he'll give them the monster. A backstage assault on Jericho follows the next week on Raw, culminating in Kane throwing Y2J clean through a glass window. He follows this up on Smackdown with a big Chokeslam through the announce table. The English announce table, so you know he's serious. 3. Chris Jericho vs Kane Jericho ducks a few big rights from Kane to start, and peppers him back with strikes of his own. Kane gains the advantage with a few bigger strikes in the corner, however, followed by a huge uppercut. Jericho dodges a charge to the corner and dropkicks Kane over the top rope, but the monster lands on his feet. Y2J hits a HUGE baseball slide, but it only staggers the Big Red Machine! Y2J hits the ropes again and...BOTCHES!? Nooooooo! Not you, Jericho! He tries to vault the ropes and gets caught up as he flies over, but fortunately Kane is quick to get underneath and break his fall. Excellent from Kane there actually, but a rare mistake from Y2J. Luckily he seems to be fine, and Kane celebrates by smashing his head into the crowd barrier. Jericho also gets introduced to the ring steps, before being rolled back into the ring. He stops Kane on the apron however, and drops his head into the top rope. Springboard dropkick follows, and Kane tumbles clumsily from the apron. Sharpen up guys! Come on. Jericho picks up the top half of the set of ring steps and places it on its side, dropkicking it into the downed Kane's face. They head back into the ring and Jericho flies from the top rope, but Kane catches him, flips him upside down, and SLAMS him right into the canvas! Jericho kicks out at two and fights back with right hands, but his charge is emphatically stopped as Kane hoists him high into the air and lets him crash back to earth with a thud. Jericho flips out of a back suplex attempt and tries a few more right hands, but Kane isn't in the mood to mess around and flattens him with a single punch. BIG boot to the face! Kane hoists Y2J onto his back and stretches him overhead, pulling hard at his chin. He releases it eventually and rips the padding from one of the top turnbuckles, aiming to smash Jericho's face right into the exposed steel. Y2J blocks the attempt and hits a few elbows, but Kane blocks HIS subsequent attempt to do the same thing and drops him with a wild left. Jericho runs at Kane and just keeps getting knocked down with uppercuts. In a very cool spot he grabs the straps of Kane's vest to keep himself falling, so the monster simply blasts him again. Jericho gets hurled out of the ring and taken around to the announce table area, but Kane decides to put him back in the ring. He displays unreal strength, pressing Y2J halfway over his head, lowering him slightly to reposition his body, and continuing to lift him the rest of the way! Jericho was suspended in mid air for a good second or two there, his entire body held only by the power of Kane's arms. The Big Red Machine throws Jericho through the ropes to the ring and heads to the top turnbuckle, but Y2J is up and crotches him. Jericho climbs up to take advantage, but gets shoved back down to the canvas with authority. Kane leaps, looking for his jumping right hand, but Jericho shows impeccable timing to leap up and dropkick him in the midsection! Both men are flat out in the middle of the ring, but Kane does his sit-up and swings for a rising Jericho. Y2J ducks and takes the match to Kane, blocking a big boot and tripping his other leg from under him. Dropkick to the face of the sitting monster! Jericho heads up top...lovely missile dropkick to the monster! 1...2...Kane kicks out! The pair are back to their feet...drop toe hold into the exposed turnbuckle by Jericho! Kane staggers back into a rollup, 1...2...ooh so close. I'm actually not sure if Kane kicked out properly there, but the ref only counted two. The camera was badly positioned in fairness. Jericho slaps on the Walls and holds it for a long time! Kane does a good job of selling the move (I actually thought he was going to tap at one point, and would have been LIVID had it happened. Kane is one of those wrestlers who should never tap out). The monster finds a burst of energy and crawls to the bottom rope. Jericho has to break the hold and Kane drags him down to the canvas. They miscommunicate something for a good few seconds and it looks really poor. I'm not sure what happened there, but Kane ends it with a kick to the face. Both men struggle back to their feet and Y2J hits a bulldog. He goes for the Lionsault, but Kane shifts his position on the floor and goozles Jericho as he lands! Kane stands up, dragging Y2J to his feet by the throat. Jericho fights back with a few valiant rights, but Kane is unmoved and spikes him with the Chokeslam! There's the cover. 1...2...3! Winner: Kane 3/5 - A good match that could have been a great match, were it not for a few untimely botches. Jericho's early trip over the top rope was scary, but Kane recovered well. Y2J did well to forget that and go on to deliver an impressive performance, but that ugly miscommunication towards the end again took away some momentum from the match. Luckily it was packed with enough good moments to outweigh the bad, and Kane here was particularly on form. You know that theory that you can tell if Kane is going to win a match or not by his entrance? For those that haven't heard of it, some reckon that if Kane ignites the pyro from all four corners during his entrance, it means he won't go on to win the match. If he's booked to win he'll save the explosion for his post-match celebration. Well that doesn't happen here. Kane ignited the corners during his entrance, but now simply hops out of the ring and stomps to the back. Take that, theorists! Including me, sadly. JGKing fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 05:28
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Claytor posted:I'm about 99% certain that the Rikishi turn is what led to Chris Kreski losing the head writer position and the reign of terror Stephanie McMahon held over the writing team for the next several years. Eh, Stephanie was going to run him out of the company no matter what. And yeah, I was such a fan of DX that I was excited to see Billy, Chyna and Road Dogg teaming again 
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Jan 17, 2014 19:02
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This is a shameless bump to stop my thread being lost to the archives. Expect the rest of Survivor Series to be covered in the coming few days. Apologies for the horrendously long hiatus - university work kind of got in the way. But with my dissertation almost done I'll get this back on track shortly.quote:And yeah, I was such a fan of DX that I was excited to see Billy, Chyna and Road Dogg teaming again I was excited for this too, but I really felt it should have been Eddie's match rather than Billy's. Everything kind of slowed down once he was eliminated.
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Mar 19, 2014 16:27
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Keep up the reviews! It gives me something to read when work gets slow.
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Mar 19, 2014 17:03
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JGKing posted:
Yeah it takes a long time for WWE to really give Eddie a shot. They let him run around the lower midcard being hilarious with Chyna and such, but it feels like he doesn't get the chance to shine in-ring like Benoit does. Probably has something to do with him getting hurt really early on and Vince not trusting him or something.
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Mar 19, 2014 17:30
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Survivor Series – November 19th 2000 PART 2 4. WWF European Championship: William Regal (c) vs Hardcore Holly Regal is out to cut a snooty heel promo, but a returning Bob cuts him off almost immediately. JR explains that he's been out for 5 months with a broken arm, suffered at the hands of Kurt Angle. Holly demands that Regal put his title on the line so he can "wipe that English look off your face". I'm not sure what that means, or if I should be offended myself. William kicks things off with a European uppercut (hooray!) but Holly battles back. They chain-wrestle for a while and neither can get the upper-hand. They do the stand-off spot - "Neither of us can gain the advantage. We're both really awesome!" - but the crowd are pretty dead. Holly begins to beat Regal into the corner, but the champ responds by working the arm. And continuing to work the arm. And continuing to work the arm... Holly tries to suplex out of an armlock, but Regal takes him down. He continues to work the arm (surprise!), breaking off only to do his signature wave to the crowd. He goes for the Regal Stretch (I think) but Hardcore fights him off and looks to come off the top rope with a crossbody. He nails it for a 2 count, but hurts his arm in the process. He goes for a German suplex, but Regal hits a sneaky low blow and they battle to the outside. Mercifully, Holly appears to have had enough of this match as well. He sends Regal into the steps and waffles him with the belt. Ring the bell! Winner and STILL WWF European Champion: William Regal 1/5 - The very definition of filler. Executed well enough, but very trite. Trish Stratus and Kurt Angle (our WWF Heavyweight Champion of the WORRRRRRLD) are in the back. Trish notices that Angle's "business partner" Stephanie isn't around, and asks if he could use some special assistance. Angle: "Thanks, but NO thanks." He tells Trish to let Test and Albert know that he doesn't swing that way. Naive Kurt is the best Kurt. It's time for The Rock vs Rikishi. Rikishi was last seen slumped against a curb as police stopped Austin from literally killing him. The Rock was last seen dropping his title to Kurt Angle. Pffft. Losers. JR stresses that these two men used to be very close friends. Did they really though? I'm not sure about that Jim. A video package fills us in on the events since No Mercy. Rikishi accuses The Rock of instructing him to take out Austin, something which Rocky categorically denies. They confront one another in the ring, and Rikishi eats a Rock Bottom for trying to pin the blame. Later Rock is shown walking through the parking lot. A car drives past and Rikishi leans out of the window with a sledgehammer, catching The Rock in the ribs. The driver's door opens and out steps...TRIPLE H! So he's the mastermind behind the whole thing. (IT WAS ME AUSTIN! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG AUSTIN!) That's a shame. I was quite enjoying tweener Triple H since his feud with Kurt Angle, but I guess that's come to an end. The Rock is furious with Rikishi for slandering his name, and challenges him to a match at the PPV. Rikishi agrees, but not before doing further damage to Rocky's ribs with several Banzai Drops. 5. Rikishi vs The Rock Rikishi enters first as JR reminds us that his running down of Austin was at last years Survivor Series, in a plan "well orchestrated by The Game". That sounds oddly complimentary. Good job with the evil masterplan Triple H! The Rock's music hits...and he comes tearing down the aisle! I don't think I've ever seen him rush his entrance before, so that was surprising. He lays furious right hands into Rikishi before hitting a mammoth backdrop! The crowd are MOLTEN. He grabs a chair from ringside, but the referee pulls it away just as he's about to crack Rikishi over the head. A surprise superkick takes the Rock down while JR goes into the history between the two. "These two grew up in a family. A huge extended family". Maybe the WWF should have emphasised this BEFORE the feud got underway, because I didn't see Rocky eager to hang out with Rikishi when he was the champ and 'Kish was dancing around with Too Cool. Rikishi slowwwwwwwwwly beats the Rock around, but Rocky springs back and lays the smackdown in the corner...only for the Samoan (...the bigger Samoan) to hit back with a huge sidewalk slam. It gets two, but Rock reverses an Irish whip and hurls Rikishi clean through the ropes to the outside. Lawler either says "But man, how much credit do you have to give to Rikishi?" or "McMahon, how much credit do you have to give to Rikishi?", and I sincerely hope it's the latter. Rikishi regains control by smashing Rocky's injured ribs into the crowd barrier, before whipping him directly into the referee. Hopefully it's time for some shenanigans! Rikishi agrees, and pulls a sledgehammer from under the ring. I would love it if we got to Triple H's match later on and he looked in the same spot, but was unable to find the hammer. His bewilderment would be amazing. SigN me up, WWE booking team. Rikishi measures Rock with the sledge as the Brahma Bull slowly, shakily gets to his feet. He turns around and nails Rikishi with a right hand before the hammer can connect, and...ROCK BOTTOM! Rikishi's down, but so is the referee. Everybody recovers slowly, but by the time the cover is made, Rikishi has summoned the strength to kick out at two. Rock peppers Rikishi with rights, but the big man drops the People's Champ with a headbutt to the chest. A standing diving headbutt follows, but again the Rock battles back. He charges...SAMOAN DROP by Rikishi! He stands over the Rock and sits down heavily on his chest. 1...2...Rocky kicks out! He gets set up in the corner and Rikishi squashes him with a charge. Rock slumps to the floor in prime Stink Face position, and Rikishi duly obliges. It's weird watching the Stink Face as a heel move. Instead of the usual cheers, we're getting screams of horror from the crowd. It's quite disturbing. MASSIVE clothesline from the Rock, springing out of the corner! Both men get back to their feet and Rock ducks a superkick. Rikishi runs at him...RIGHT INTO A SPINEBUSTER! The crowd come unstuck as the Rock nails the People's Elbow, but he's slow to make the cover. 1...2...3!? Oh. I didn't think that was going to be the finish! Winner: The Rock 2.5/5 - Perfectly acceptable but nothing groundbreaking, and MAN have they killed Rikishi's character. He was so over as a babyface, and now he's only a couple of steps away from another generic monster heel. He's got the whole angle with Rocky for now, but once the feud ends I'm concerned for his overness. Both men are slow to get up, but Rikishi is quickest to react with a superkick. He drags Rock over to the corner and hits a Banzai Drop, followed by a second. And a THIRD. He starts laying out refs before his music hits and he goes to leave the ring. Oh wait, no. He changes his mind and hits a fourth Banzai Drop, before finally deciding that he's had enough. Well it looks like this feud's continuing for now. Triple H is chilling backstage, and seems to have invited The Radicalz into the #HeelLockerRoom. He's got some new buddies! Perry Saturn is living the high life at last. Foley bursts in and informs Trips that the Radicalz are banned from ringside for his match with Austin. The Game is unfazed, so Foley throws in a no-DQ stipulation and leaves. Trips still seems unshaken. Um. I'd be worried if I was you, Hunter. 6. WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) vs Lita The champ is out in her Right To Censor attire, as we see a replay of her braining Lita with the title belt on the previous Smackdown. Lita is out to a pretty big pop! Ivory gets tossed around to start things off, and she's not looking great in the ring to be honest. She catches a kick from the challenger, but Lita takes her head off with an enziguri counter. They go through a few sloppy exchanges while JR gives a shout out to the various countries broadcasting Survivor Series. Lawker: "Are we in Rwanda? Unbelievable!". He's so giddy. Lita hits a clothesline for 2, but Ivory fights back with some right hands. Holy poo poo, wait. Lita's busted WIDE open! When the gently caress did that happen? Ivory takes control with a few strikes and a suplex, while Lita's crimson mask is stopping Jerry from making his usual smutty jokes. JR gravely suggests that the referee stop the match, but Lita fights back with a headscissors takedown. A replay shows the moment Lita got busted open - a pretty standard right hand from Ivory that made a little too much contact. These things happen, I guess. I hope Ivory doesn't end up in the doghouse over this. Her wrestling isn't great, but she at least has a unique gimmick as part of the RTC. Steven Richards come down to ringside looking for trouble, but Lita slides Ivory out and dives onto both with a big crossbody! Lita drags Ivory back into the ring and goes for the Moonsault, but Richards pulls Ivory out of the way. Lita crashes and burns, and Ivory grabs her title as Richards distracts the ref. A belt shot misses, and Lita hits a back suplex. She rips off her shirt and heads up top for another Moonsault, but Ivory gets the knees up, as well as getting the title belt in the way! 1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Women's Champion: Ivory 0.5/5 - A nice ending sequence, but it couldn't hide what a poor match it had been up until that point. Props to Lita for bravely battling through despite getting busted open; it might have actually been a blessing in disguise, as it made her seem even more of a plucky babyface. Richards hoists Ivory over his shoulder and carries her victoriously from the arena, while Lita remains down in the ring. The ref helps her to the back as she sells her facial injuries. drat that's a lot of blood. Coach is backstage outside The Rock's locker room door, awaiting news on his condition. Elsewhere, Kane is WALKING~! Suddenly Jericho jumps him out of nowhere, smashing a chair across his back and whipping him into a garage door. That's no way of thanking a man for carrying you to a good match on an off-night!
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Mar 21, 2014 02:35
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Survivor Series – November 19th 2000 PART 3 If you, like me, are wondering what on earth 'Taker has done to deserve a title shot, you're in luck. Video package time. We get a recap of Angle's amazing debut year, winning the European Championship, Intercontinental Championship, King of the Ring Tournament, and WWF Championship. Meanwhile, Undertaker wins a four-man number one contender's match on an episode of Smackdown, beating Jericho, Kane, and Benoit. Undertaker does his whole "big dog" thing, explaining that Kurt Angle's in his yard. Angle vows to be nobody's whipping boy, although it looks as though this is being built as an underdog champion facing a much stronger challenger. They neglect to mention that Undertaker utterly crushed Angle during their mini-feud back in the summer, squashing him at Fully Loaded. Undertaker is backstage with Cole and cuts an incredibly cheesy promo. It sounds bizarre that his Deadman gimmick is easier to take seriously than his Biker one, but that legitimately is the case. 'Taker says that "it's time for the Golden Boy....to take his last riiiiide", before pointing at the ceiling and sauntering away. Ugh. Angle comes out first to address the crowd. He says that, as he embarks upon his second year in the WWF, he'd like everybody to take a moment of silence to reflect on their favourite Kurt Angle moment of the past 12 months. Usually he says he'd ask people to vote for their favourite, but doesn't trust Florida with voting since the Presidential election (OH SNAP!). He is cut off by the bong, and here comes the challenger. 7. WWF Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs The Undertaker Good lord, Undertaker is wearing an ugly set of ring attire. Words can't do justice to the colour of those pants. I'll put a picture of him at the top of this post, because that is unforgivable. He grabs the title belt to pose with it, before handing it over to the ref. Angle refuses to get in the ring with 'Taker. JR puts this down to cowardice, but I think he's sportingly waiting for Undertaker to prepare for the match; he hasn't yet taken off his trenchcoat. Undertaker leaves the ring and Angle scampers in. 'Taker grabs a chair from ringside and re-enters, tossing it casually on the floor in front of Kurt. Oooh, such a badass. Angle takes up the offer and tries to smash him with the chair, but Hebner stops him. 'Taker finally takes his coat off and turns to drop it out of the ring, allowing Kurt the chance to push Hebner away and crack him in the back! Everybody is outraged, but I think that's fair enough. If Undertaker gives him the chair and invites him to use it, why the gently caress would anybody be surprised if Angle did just that!? Kurt tees off with right hands in the corner as the bell finally rings, and Hebner kicks the chair out of the ring. Undertaker reverses the momentum and hits some punches of his own, before catching Angle with a big boot and legdrop. 1...2...oh gently caress THAT! Just as he did back at Fully Loaded, Undertaker pulls Angle's shoulder up at two. Way to make the champ look strong. Agh, that's pissed me off so much. Are we supposed to believe that that would have put Kurt away? And this is actually far worse than when it happened in their squash match, because this isn't a semi-meaningless singles bout. It's for the heavyweight championship! He hits a scoop slam and drops the elbow on Angle, and AGAIN PULLS HIM UP BEFORE THREE! This is bullshit. 'Taker hits Old School, and Angle rolls out of the ring to recover. He gets back in and ducks a lethargic clothesline to hit a German suplex! Lawler screams "WOOOHOOOO" and I concur. Undertaker's bullshit has put me firmly behind Kurt here. Angle clotheslines 'Taker out of the ring and leaps off the apron, but the challenger catches him and drives him into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Undertaker misses a big boot in the corner, catching his leg over the top rope. Angle hacks away at the other leg for a while, but Undertaker takes him down into an armbar. I'm half-certain I've made this distinction in the thread before, but to clarify: it's a wrestling armbar, not an MMA armbar with the legs across the torso. I'm not really sure what the WWF call an MMA style armbar. Edge and Christian scamper down to ringside and distract the referee, causing him to miss Angle tapping out to the armbar. That's right. The WWF Champion, in the midst of a massive push, just tapped out to a loving armbar. Undertaker swings a big right at Christian, but he grabs 'Taker's head and drops him onto the top rope! GO CHRISTIAN!  Angle works the leg some more, but Undertaker regains control and leaves the ring to deal with Edge and Christian. They each eat a big right hand, and Hebner dashes out to eject them from ringside. 'Taker returns to the ring and nails Angle with the Chokeslam, but Hebner's still on the ramp trying to deal with E&C. He dashes back to the ring when he sees the cover, but Kurt kicks out on the stroke of three. Just in case you didn't realise, guys, Undertaker should have won the match by now, okay? Several times. Maybe he should have pinned him after that devastating scoop-slam/elbow combo at the start of the match, but who am I to judge? Undertaker complains to the referee, and Angle takes the opportunity to roll him up for two. A Crimean legsweep gets another near fall, and Angle bails out of the ring. He trips Undertaker's leg and smashes it against the apron a few times, before sliding back in and applying a figure four leglock. 'Taker slowly manages to roll over and reverse the pressure, which Angle sells magnificently as he inches towards the ropes. He snags the bottom rope and bails out of the ring, before tripping 'Taker and applying a FIGURE FOUR AROUND THE RINGPOST! That's awesome. The ref breaks it up ("I've got 'til FIVE!") and slides back in. Undertaker drops Kurt to his knees, but Angle hits a blatant low blow and scoops 'Taker up for a slam. The challenger falls back onto his feet and reverses, lifting Kurt up for a Tombstone...but Angle kicks his legs and falls over the top rope onto the apron. 'Taker knocks Angle to the floor with a big right hand and goes out to continue the assault, but Kurt crawls under the ring. Undertaker reaches under and drags him out by the foot, before throwing him into the ring and nailing the Last Ride! 1...2...Hebner stops counting!? He points at Kurt's face...and another Angle crawls into the ring!? The pinned Kurt is a fake! The real Angle rolls up 'Taker, 1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: Kurt Angle 1.5/5 - One of the most unique finishes in wrestling, certainly, but also one of the worst matches in terms of making its champ look strong. I hated the way Undertaker was booked here - posing with the belt before the start of the match, no-selling the opening chairshot, voluntarily breaking his own pinfall twice, submitting Angle with the ref's back turned, and having him beat with the Chokeslam while Hebner was dealing with E&C. Angle was made to look criminally weak here, and only the match's semi-entertaining latter stages saved it from being an awful mess. Furthermore, this isn't the Undertaker we're used to seeing. In pretty much every appearance he's made in the thread so far, he's looked lethargic as hell. Kurt high-tails it out of there as fast as he can while Undertaker is stunned. He takes a look at the fake Angle lying in the ring and shakes his head in disbelief. Fake Angle slowly recovers and Hebner helps him out, while JR rages at the injustice of it all. "He had Angle beat TWICE King, if not three times!" We cut to the rear entrance of the arena, where Angle emerges from the building and dashes into his car before screeching off into the night. 8. Survivor Series Match: Edge, Christian, Bull Buchanan, and The Goodfather vs Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley, and D-Von Dudley The heels are accompanied by Val Venis, and the other two RTC members appear to have won the Tag Team championships. Good for them. Bubba Ray and Bull Buchanan start us off, the RTC man hitting a few strikes in the corner to gain the upper hand. Bubba fights back and tags in D-Von, who springs into Bull with a nice flying back elbow. Buchanan hits a big boot and tags in the Goodfather, who has finally copied Bull in modifying his Right To Censor uniform into a sleeveless look. Gotta show off the guns, G-Man. Christian gets a quick tag and is lifted by D-Von into some kind of facelock slam - it looked good, whatever it was. Matt and Edge tag in, and the Hardy goes crazy, taking out the RTC members on the apron with right hands, before going to work on both E&C with a variety of slams. He hits a neckbreaker on Edge, but Christian breaks up the ensuing pinfall at the count of two. All eight men spill into the ring, and the faces all link arms to hit a huge collective DDT on the heels. Hooray! The Hardy Boyz rip off their shirts to reveal Dudley-style camouflage attire underneath! Jeff flies into a sweet Poetry in Motion on Edge, and they rip off those shirts as well. Is this just turning into a Hardy Boyz striptease? Matt heads up top looking for a legdrop, but genuinely spends too much time "AAAAARGH"ing, allowing Val Venis to interfere in the match and push him off the turnbuckle. Edge takes advantage, hitting the Edge-o-Matic for the three count! Edge eliminates Matt Hardy D-Von and Jeff head into the ring to double-team Edge, but can only get a two count. Christian blind-tags in as Edge is whipped into the ropes, but D-Von causes a miscommunication between the two and hits a double clothesline. He's looking sharp in this one. Oh of course. Just as I say that, Bull Buchanan blindsides him from the apron, sending him straight into a Christian Unprettier for the three. Sorry D-Von. Christian eliminates D-Von Dudley Bubba comes in like a house on fire and flips Christian into a HUGE backdrop! He got airtime. Jeff gets the tag and slingshots himself onto the top rope, flipping off onto his opponent. It's less impressive than it sounds, but still earns a two count and a cheer from the fans. Bull Buchanan gets the tag, and I foresee an elimination in his near future. It's 4-2 to the heels and he's probably the least over guy on their team. Poor Bull. He hits a big gorilla press and beats Hardy around a little, but Jeff gets the tag to Bubba, who cleans house with a series of sidewalk slams and backdrops. He moves to attack a rising Bull Buchanan...AND EDGE COMES FLYING IN WITH THE SPEAR! Bubba JUST moves out of the way in time, but Bull takes the full impact, and the Dudley pounces on him for a three count!Bubba Ray Dudley eliminates Bull Buchanan Edge swings at Bubba, but he ducks and plants him with the Bubba Bomb! He goes to make a cover, but quickly backs out of the way as Christian flies off the top with a splash. He accidentally lands flush on Edge, and Bubba is quick to capitalise upon a second mistake for another pinfall. Bubba Ray Dudley eliminates Edge The faces regroup in the ring, and it's now levelled up at 2-2. Goodfather comes in to utterly kill the momentum, hurling Jeff out of the ring and hitting an ugly Death Valley Driver on Bubba for the crowd-killing three count. The Goodfather eliminates Bubba Ray Dudley Jeff fights bravely, but Christian whips him into a Goodfather big boot. Christian whips Jeff into the Goodfather and accidentally knocks the big man off the apron, before charging at Hardy. Jeff sidesteps, leaving Christian to crash into the ringpost. Jeff hits a slam and heads up top for a massive Swanton Bomb, as Val Venis looks on horrified from outside! Jeff Hardy eliminates Christian Goodfather dives into the ring and whips Jeff into a corner. He sets up for the Ho Train (is it still called that now he's in RTC?), but Hardy gets out of the way just in time. Goodfather is dazed, and rushes to clothesline Jeff just as Venis does the same from the apron. The two stablemates collide and Jeff dives onto Goodfather! 1...2...3! God that was a stupid finish! Sole Survivor: Jeff Hardy 2/5 - Perfectly fine all the way through apart from that ending. I get the point that most of the heels' eliminations came from miscommunication, showing that the good guys are better teammates, but I honestly preferred the other Survivor Series match to this. Nothing offensive though. Steven Richards charges out from the back, and all of RTC surround Jeff in the ring. They beat him down and Val hits the Money Shot, but here come the faces to save the day! Matt hits Twists of Fate on Bull Buchanan and Richards (without screaming "aaaargh" beforehand, so you know he means business), while the Dudleys 3D Goodfather into oblivion. Venis gets hit with a scoop slam and the wassup headbutt, and suddenly Bubba has three underlings to fetch the tables for him. Val is set up on one table and takes a Matt Hardy guillotine legdrop, while Bubba does the honours on Steven Richards with a top-rope table-shattering powerbomb. Everybody celebrates, HOORAY! Interesting that the faces saved all their signature spots for after the match was done. By interesting I mean stupid.
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Mar 21, 2014 05:15
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Good review, I remember that championship match being all sorts of fucky, thanks for confirming it for me. Also:JGKing posted:Crimean legsweep Excellently done.
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Mar 21, 2014 05:37
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Survivor Series – November 19th 2000 PART 4 Austin is WALKING to the ring. Elsewhere, Triple H is talking with The Radicalz. Benoit says "we know what to do." Trips tells him "do it". Just a reminder that Foley banned these guys from interference tonight... A video package takes us back to the running down of Austin at Survivor Series 1999 and his search for Rikishi's accomplice. Triple H reveals himself to be the mastermind, explaining that he gained the most out of anybody in Stone Cold's absence. He had a lengthy title reign and married the boss' daughter - "I WAS the World Wrestling Federation". Foley sets up this match, and Austin vows to get revenge on Trips for taking a year out of his life. 9. No Disqualification Match: Triple H vs Stone Cold Steve Austin Austin immediately gains the upper hand and beats Triple H around for a while, smashing his head into the turnbuckles and firing away with right hands. JR mentions that Trips is suffering from an injured back, perhaps something that Stone Cold will target as the match unfolds. The Game hits a facebuster and runs at the dazed Austin, but Stone Cold takes him down with an instinctive Lou Thesz press! All the right hands to the face. Triple H bails out of the ring to buy some time, but Austin follows him right out and beats him up the ramp. He picks up a large piece of the Survivor Series set, but Hunter avoids the blow and whips Austin into the crowd barrier. Stone Cold gets thrown onto the tech table, and they eventually battle behind a side-curtain to the backstage area. JR is suspicious of Triple H's intentions, and muses over whether the Game has laid some kind of trap for the Rattlesnake. Austin seems to agree and pushes Triple H back through to the arena, bowling him over with a big running clothesline. He sets up the Game for a vertical suplex on the ramp, but Trips blocks it and hits one of his own. He drags Stone Cold back to ringside and whips him into the steps and the Spanish announce table, but Austin fights back and FLINGS Triple H hard into another set of steps! Triple H gets a mudhole stomped in him in the timekeeper's corner, and...CRACK! Austin smashes a TV monitor into his head, drawing blood, before hitting him with his beer cooler. Triple H is well and truly dazed, buying Stone Cold enough time to sit on the ring steps and down a can of beer. The ref admonishes him, but Austin simply replies that he's drat thirsty. He downs half of another can, places it on the announce table and crushes it with Triple H's head. Stone Cold's having a blast here, as are the crowd. Austin grabs the ring bell and they re-enter the ring, but Trips knocks the weapon out of his hands and they brawl on the canvas. Back to their feet, Triple H gains the advantage with a mule kick to the crotch, all while JR reminds us that there's no disqualifications. I think we've worked that out by now, Jim. Austin boots the Game in the gut and looks for the Stunner, but Triple H counters nicely into a neckbreaker. He slides out of the ring and tries to squash Stone Cold's head against the ringpost with his bicep. Back in the ring we get our first pinfall attempt, but Austin of course kicks out at two. Imagine if that had been the finish. Riots. Another neckbreaker halts an Austin comeback for another two count, but he manages to hit a nice spine buster. He heads up to the second rope and flies a surprising distance with a big elbow, which Triple H doesn't quite roll out of the way of, resulting in a messy spot. They brawl to the outside again, and an outrageously angry girl in the front row tells Austin to "KICK HIS FUCKIN' rear end". Triple H gains the advantage and drags Austin atop the ring steps, looking for a nasty Pedigree. Austin struggles...fights back...and BACKDROPS TRIPLE H RIGHT THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Shitttt. They slowly get back in the ring and Triple H begs for mercy. Austin flips him off and stomps a mudhole to the crowd's delight. The Game staggers to his feet...STUNNER! Trips is laid out and Stone Cold thinks about going for the cover, but changes his mind and grabs a chair from ringside. See Undertaker, THIS is when it's appropriate to delay your own pinfall. Not when you're in a title match against a brand new champion. He slips the chair around Triple H's ankle and climbs to the middle turnbuckle, but Hebner begs for him to come down. Austin begrudgingly agrees and removes the chair...but instead slides it around Trips' neck! The crowd are wild for this, but Triple H gets rid of the chair and rolls desperately out of the ring. They fight to the backstage area again, and this time progress further into the building. Austin gets whipped into a storage case, but ups the ante by flinging Triple H into a vending machine. He seems to have the upper hand, but suddenly the Radicalz jump him out of nowhere. Triple H staggers to safety as Austin brawls with the four heels, and we see him getting into his car outside the arena. Back inside, a team of referees manage to pull Eddie, Saturn, and Malenko away, but Benoit and Austin are still going at it. The Wolverine leads Austin outside of the building where Triple H waits in his car. Benoit whips Austin into the side of a truck and scampers over to the other side of the parking lot, across the path of Trips' car, but Austin doesn't follow. Handily the Game seems to have a mic on the dashboard, as his voice comes through loud and clear. An intuitive member of the production crew has also set up various cameras around the parking lot, just on the off chance that the match would end up out here. Triple H asks Benoit where Austin his gone, but he's disappeared. The Game tells Benoit to drag his rear end out here so he can run him down, and the Wolverine runs back into the building in search. Triple H opens the car door and peeks nervously around, but he can't see anybody. He gets back inside the car and waits. Suddenly the camera pans around to reveal Austin in a loving crane/forklift type thing on the other side of the car, and he uses it to scoop the car into the air. HAHAHAHA are you loving kidding me!? As if Triple H didn't see or hear that sneaking up on him. Austin drives to an open area of the parking lot and lifts the car high into the air. Triple H begs him not to do something he'll regret, and claims that his running down of Austin was all a mistake. Stone Cold replies "Gimme a hell yeah, you stupid son of a bitch" and straight up drops the car. It crashes down on it's roof and there's no way that a human being could survive that. The very fact that Triple H is set to compete at this year's Wrestlemania FOURTEEN YEARS LATER makes me call bullshit. Austin gets out of the vehicle and walks away. And the show ends!? That's it I guess. Winner: No Contest 3/5 - A pretty decent brawl for the most part, but that ending was utterly LUDICROUS! I can't be the only one who found it hilarious for so many reasons: the fact that Trips never heard the forklift approaching, the melodramatic camera angles, the complete implausibility of it all. I'll give it a slight bonus for the intensity throughout (and that sick announce table spot), but this only gets 3 because of its ridiculous nature. And that's how it ends. With the company's top babyface committing what appears to be legitimate homicide, and striding off into the night. Hooray for...wrestling? Summary to follow.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:28
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Yeah that Undertaker/Kurt match inspired quite the rant from one of the dirtsheet guys, it was pretty funny. And when people say "Oh Bikertaker wasn't that bad" you basically point them to that match to shut them up. No one should be able to have a match that bad with Kurt Angle.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:30
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SURVIVOR SERIES 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Stone Cold vs Triple H - The winner by default. Certainly the most dramatic and intense match on the card, but also the most ridiculous. The DX vs Radicalz match was decent too, as was Kane vs Jericho, but nothing on this card really stood out in terms of quality. Wrestler Of The Night 1. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - Intense throughout, fought hard and well. It's nice to see him back in action on a regular basis. A much better brawl than his trainwreck against Rikishi last month. 2. Triple H - Played his part well, took a fantastic bump through the announce table, and tried his best to make that ridiculous ending seem serious. 3. Kane - Took the lead on an uncharacteristically sloppy night for Jericho, and pretty much saved the match. Reliable as always. 4. The Rock - His usual energetic self in an unspectacular match against Rikishi. His energy was needed tonight. 5. Rikishi - Sneaks in ahead of a few other candidates for his solid effort with Rocky. His Samoan drop in particular sticks in my mind. Angle would have been on here were it not for the best efforts of Undertaker in stinking up their match. Kurt tried his best, bless him. Jericho generally wrestled well, but a couple of glaring errors prevents him from making it on here. In the two Survivor Series matches, K-Kwik, Eddie Guerrero, both Dudleys, Jeff Hardy and Christian all impressed, but their individual contributions were relatively limited. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 26 2. Chris Jericho - 22 3. Triple H - 21 4. Chris Benoit - 18 5. The Rock - 15 6. Jeff Hardy - 14 7. Eddie Guerrero - 10 8. Mick Foley - 9 9. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 10. Edge - 5 Rikishi - 5 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - 5 11. Kane - 4 12. Test - 3 X-Pac - 3 13. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 14. Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Jericho blows his chance to close the gap on Angle, while Triple H and The Rock continue to inch away. Austin makes a welcome appearance at last. SURVIVOR SERIES 2000 SCORE: 4/10 Very, VERY average. Not a single match really stood out as the show-stealer in terms of workrate, and while nothing was offensively bad wrestling-wise, the booking of this show was dreadful enough for me to deduct a whole point. The Austin/HHH finish was ludicrous, although both men worked well to at least try to give it some credibility. Undertaker pretty much made Angle look like the weakest champion in history, cutting off his own pinfalls and having him beat twice when the ref's back was turned. Both Survivor Series matches were okay, although noticeably lacking in star power, while the European and Women's title bouts were poor (although credit to Lita for soldiering on after a nasty cut). The opener was average, as was Rikishi vs The Rock. Drab.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:53
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Bikertaker as a face certainly sucked rear end, he was booked as the worlds biggest douche, but was still a face. After he turned heel, I really liked it. His match with Flair and title run were both pretty great.
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Mar 21, 2014 17:03
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triplexpac posted:Yeah that Undertaker/Kurt match inspired quite the rant from one of the dirtsheet guys, it was pretty funny. Bikertaker was a one-note bully character regardless of alignment who seemed to exist solely to bury anyone who got into the ring with him.
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Mar 21, 2014 17:37
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Claytor posted:Bikertaker was a one-note bully character regardless of alignment who seemed to exist solely to bury anyone who got into the ring with him. He's the big dog in the yard, and when you get in his yard you'll have to deal with that big dog. Soup bones. Learning tree. Big Red.
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Mar 21, 2014 18:13
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I'm so glad you're back to writing these JGKing! It gives me something to read when work is slow.
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Mar 21, 2014 18:14
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I love that that's not even the only forklift finish in the Attitude Era.
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Mar 22, 2014 01:19
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This is the song written for the car chase This is the chase, Austin and Trips HE TRIED TO KILL HIM WITH A FORKLIFT Olè!
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Mar 22, 2014 02:54
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I'm reminded of all the interviews that Angle's done on DVD's to explain what a privilege it was to be able to wrestle Taker, and how he made him a star just by working against him.
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Mar 22, 2014 11:52
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Those interviews don't show Taker standing off to the side taping his fists and glaring at Angle.
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Mar 22, 2014 15:47
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THE 2000 STEVE BLACKMAN UNSUNG HERO AWARDS: FOURTH QUARTER quote:Unforgiven 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:No Mercy 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Survivor Series 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees
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Mar 25, 2014 00:33
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Claytor posted:Bikertaker was a one-note bully character regardless of alignment who seemed to exist solely to bury anyone who got into the ring with him. As well, Bikertaker had to wrestle a more conventional style which is not Undertaker's forte at all. Which is why everyone was ecstatic beyond belief when he went back to the Deadman at WrestleMania 20 (no lie: the gong going off at the 2004 Rumble was one of my Top 5 markout moments).
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Mar 25, 2014 01:24
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Rebellion – December 2nd 2000 – Sheffield, England PART 1 Here's what I had to say before my earlier review of Insurrextion. quote:Oh god. Insurrextion. I hate Insurrextion. And Rebellion. I should love them, being English, but they just seem like events in which nothing substantial happens. The real storyline changes are saved for the American PPVs, and it'll take quite a show here to convince me otherwise. This proved to be depressingly true, as we were given the worst PPV of the thread so far. As such, I have very low expectations for Rebellion. I'm going to set it the very minor target of surpassing Insurrextion. Come on buddy. You can do it. JR screams his welcomes from the Sheffield Arena and announces a main event Fatal Four Way match for Kurt Angle's WWF Championship. He is cut off by a screech of tires as Mick Foley and....and his "Lieutenant Commissioner" Debra make their way down to the ring. "Puppies, puppies, puppies" drools our co-commentator, but shockingly it's not Lawler! Instead we have our first announcer change of the entire thread, as Tazz steps in. The same Tazz who was engaged in a brutal summer feud with both JR and The King mere months ago. I guess they put their differences aside. What's a couple of attempted blindings between friends? Foley hypes the main event contenders: Rikishi, Angle, Stone Cold, and The Rock. Two of these wrestlers get bigger reactions than the others. Can you guess who? Foley announces that Triple H demanded to be in the main event also, but he has doesn't believe The Game to be worthy of a place. He claims that Trips, upon hearing of his exclusion from the main event, kicked up a fuss and flew home. Are they brushing over the absence of a promised superstar here, or was he never on the card anyway? I'm not sure. Anyway, Debra announces that the main event will be no-DQ. The crowd enjoys this. Angle storms out angrily. He's unhappy with the no-DQ clause, stating that he would never have deliberately gotten himself disqualified in a regular bout. That would tarnish the title, and claims that him tarnishing the title is about as likely as an Englishman winning an Olympic gold medal. Angle begs Foley to reconsider, claiming that "we legends" have to stick together. Debra and Foley tell him that the decision is final. 1. Tag Team Elimination Table Match: T&A vs Edge and Christian vs The Dudley Boyz Tazz hypes the 3D, claiming it to be the most effective tag team move in the WWF. JR claims that the Dudley Death Drop isn't nice either. What the gently caress, Jim!? Albert and D-Von start off, and the bigger man gains the upper hand. D-Von tries a couple of clotheslines but can't knock Albert down, so he tags in Bubba and they drill a big double suplex. The crowd are really hot to start the show, by the way, and you can see that Bubba is feeding off it. He hits a couple of chest chops in the corner, but Albert doesn't feel a thing and hits back with some big rights. Test gets the tag now and hits a mean clothesline, before both he and Albert head under the ring and fetch a table. The crowd are delirious. The Dudleys fight back and knock Test off the apron, but Albert prevents them from setting up the table by breaking it in half with a big boot! He fetches a replacement while Test weakens Bubba, and both men prepare to backdrop the Dudley into the wood...but D-Von shoves it out of the way just in time. Bubba crashes into the canvas only and looks to get himself back into the match, but Test puts a stop to that with a sickening Big Boot to the face! Edge hits a blind tag and goes to work on Bubba, but the Dudley hits back a little too hard, causing Edge to immediately tag Test back in. Bubba counters a splash with a boot to the throat and makes the hot tag to D-Von, who ducks a Big Boot and drops Test with a flying clothesline. Albert charges in to help, but D-Von moves aside and the tag partners crash into one another hard. The Dudleys set up a table as it all breaks down. Test throws D-Von out of the ring, but finds himself tossed by Edge and Christian. The former champs scurry over to the turnbuckle where Albert is preparing to superplex Bubba, and hoist the big man through the table back-first! T&A are out of there. D-Von and Christian brawl on the outside, but Edge intervenes with a nice baseball slide. They re-enter the ring and Christian squares off against D-Von, hitting a nice Russan legsweep to gain the upper hand. Edge tags back in and instructs Christian to grab a table, but the poor guy can't find one under the ring (perhaps because Albert accidentally broke one with his foot earlier, and had to use a spare later). Edge helps him out and tells him to look on the other side of the ring; what a great partner. They're about to bring the table into the ring, but D-Von hits a baseball slide into the wood as they lift it onto the apron, knocking both men off their feet. D-Von finally gets the hot tag to Bubba, but the referee doesn't see it and kicks up a fuss. The crowd are furious, but Bubba leads them in a "D-Von" chant to encourage his buddy to make the tag. N'awww. The tag is made at last, and Bubba clears house...really slowly. E&C punish him for this, as Christian ducks a sluggish clothesline and Edge flies in with the Spear! They hilariously mock the Wassup headbutt on Bubba, but he is able to roll over and counter the move just as D-Von shoves Edge off the top turnbuckle into his partner's crotch! Funny spot. They hit the genuine Wassup spot on Edge to the delight of the crowd, before D-Von is politely instructed to fetch the table. They call for the 3D on Edge, but Christian dives onto his partner as he hits the ropes to save him. The Dudleys are untroubled, and simply snatch Christian to drive through the wood instead! Winners: The Dudley Boyz 2/5 - Very average, but did its job to warm up the crowd. Everybody seemed to have fun. Lita is backstage with Michael Cole to hype her upcoming rematch against Ivory. She's excited to be over here in the UK for the first time, and hopes she can get what she deserves (the Women's Championship) while giving Ivory what she deserves (the beating of a lifetime). Right To Censor's siren hits, and out comes Ivory accompanied by Steven Richards. Richards slams England for its lack of morality: having a pub on every street corner and a monarchy that stands idly by and allows it. He claims that RTC are here to fight the good fight because the English Royal Family refuses to do so, and it's for our own good. Does he realise that the monarchy are a pretty divisive establishment over here? They're not as universally popular with the working class, especially in cities in the north of the country (ie Sheffield, where we are tonight). Whoops. Ivory takes the mic and slams Lita for sending the wrong message with her visible underwear, and brings up the facial injury she suffered at Survivor Series. She urges her challenger to make a change and see the light. 2. WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) vs Lita Lita charges the ring during her entrance and tackles Ivory to the canvas. She dominates the early going with dropkicks and slams, and I cringe whenever Ivory gets some offence in because she is looking terrible in the ring. Richards gets on the apron to remonstrate with Lita, so she grabs his tie and uses it to drop his neck onto the top rope. Ivory fights back with right hands and a few chops, before pushing Lita down onto the bottom rope and urging Richards to talk to her. He grabs her by the face and commands her to look into his eyes. She refuses to repent, or whatever he's trying to get her to do, so Ivory hits a legdrop for a two count instead. She whips Lita into the ropes, but the challenger comes back with a nice headscissors! She grabs Ivory's head and hits......"AAAAAAARGH!"......Matt Hardy's Twist of Fate! Instead of going for the cover, however, she foolishy dives through the ropes onto Richards. She gets back onto the apron and leaps into a Sunset Flip attempt on the champ, but Ivory doesn't allow herself to be pulled into a pinfall. She instead sits down on Lita, and Richards grabs his stablemate through the ropes for leverage! 1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Women's Champion: Ivory 0.5/5 - Really disjointed and slow, despite Lita's best efforts. Far too short for anything particularly gripping to emerge, although I'm not sure I'd have wanted it to continue much longer anyway. On the plus side, Lita really does look to be a cut above all the other divas in the ring. The Rock is backstage with Cole. FINALLY, The Rock HAS COME BACK, etc etc. He does a standard Rock promo, before promising to layeth the smackethdown all over his candy...bum. He claims that, since it's the holiday season, The Rock is feeling in a generous mood. He's interrupted by a cheer from the crowd as the camera cuts to a group of Santas in the stands. Anyway, Rocky says he's going to give Kurt Angle exactly what he needs: not brand new gold medals, not cookies and milk, but the gift of whipping his candy rear end all over Sheffield. Oh Rock. What are you like? 3. WWF Hardcore Championship: Steve Blackman (c) vs Perry Saturn Oh. My. God. WHAT a matchup we have here, with two of my favourites squaring off against one another. Saturn is out without valet Terri, as Tazz explains that he left her back in the States. He didn't want her to see the level of violence and intensity he's about to unleash on the champ. Good luck with that, Perry. Saturn jumps Blackman at the bell and pounds away in the corner, but my boy Steve fights back with a dropkick to the spine. Tazz debuts his version of JR's slobberknocker, the "rocketbuster". JR seems baffled. Saturn hoists Blackman over the top to the outside, following him out with a crossbody! Blackman reverses an attempted vertical suplex into one of his own, and I just want to see some loving weapons. Steve answers my prayers, returning to the ring with "some kind of metal shelving" according to the announce team, which he uses to smash into Saturn's kneecap. I personally think it's a tea tray. A vicious shot to the back of the head puts Saturn down for two, a kick-out Tazz attributes to the challenger's thick neck and traps. It's fitting that Tazz steps up his commentary game for the hardcore matches. I don't think we'd have it any other way. Blackman wedges a trashcan in between the turnbuckles, but finds himself driven into it head-first after Perry reverses an Irish whip. Saturn grabs the tea tray and swings, but Blackman rolls under. He misses with a high kick in response...and SATURN BRAINS HIM WITH A HUGE TRAY SHOT! Steve collapses and Perry pounces on him...for two!? That really could have been three and I wouldn't have complained. What a shot. Saturn surprises me (and everyone) by wrapping up Blackman with a picture-perfect crucifix pin attempt for two. That was...beautiful. Perry attempts to toss Steve to the outside, but Blackman holds on and tries to skin the cat. Saturn puts a stop to that with a blast to the top of the head with the tray, before posing on the turnbuckle for the fans. They give him a huge reception! He goes ahead and ruins all his good work with a sloppy dive through the middle ropes, but Blackman saves the spot by smashing him in the head with the metal tray as he falls. Saturn regains control by delving under the ring and finding a fire extinguisher, which he uses to blind Blackman for a while. This gives him the chance to set up a chair in the ring, but Blackman reverses whatever he was planning with a spinning drop toe-hold into the steel! Blackman fetches his trademark sticks and goes to work on Saturn, finishing him off with a stick-assisted suplex. 1...2...Saturn kicks out on the brink of three! Blackman complains to the ref...STICK TO THE BALLS FROM SATURN! He rolls up Blackman, 1...2...OH I thought that was the finish! Saturn grabs a chair and swings, but Blackman ducks under it and runs the ropes...OHHH! A MASSIVE FRONT KICK TO THE CHAIR, and it bounces into Perry's skull! That's all she wrote! Winner and STILL WWF Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman 2.5/5 - Hardy a technical masterpiece, but extremely entertaining. Both these guys seemed to pull out a little extra, and that finishing sequence was genuinely great. It made up for the earlier sloppiness of the match, and the crowd loved every second. Great job from both guys. JGKing fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 16:37
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I was a big fan of WWF's hardcore matches. They were always goofy matches but man you could tell the guys were having fun out there and they pulled out some funny tricks. I loved when they went backstage but looking back on it now, I can see why that would be a crowd killer.
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Mar 26, 2014 17:55
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JGKing posted:2. WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) vs Lita Erm.
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Mar 26, 2014 19:18
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Senerio posted:Erm. Oh. Fixed, thanks dude.
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Mar 26, 2014 19:21
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Ha, be careful, it's a slippery slope as a match reviewer, pretty soon you'll be typing things like "they started scrapping and Blackman got the upper hand before Blackman kicked him in the face and pinned Blackman to win the match"  Glad to see you're back up and running- I must confess I'm glossing over some of the matches, because I simply don't care about every single clothesline and pin attempt, and them are some daunting walls of text at time. But keep up with the goodness please!
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Mar 26, 2014 22:42
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The STICK TO THE BALLS comment had me laughing and getting wierd looks in the office.
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Mar 27, 2014 08:43
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JGKing posted:No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 Holy crap I just noticed that Rock's Sharpshooter doesn't look awful here
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Mar 27, 2014 16:39
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It looks like Steph is going for a high five and the ref is really awkward about it
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Mar 27, 2014 16:50
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Squalitude posted:Ha, be careful, it's a slippery slope as a match reviewer, pretty soon you'll be typing things like "they started scrapping and Blackman got the upper hand before Blackman kicked him in the face and pinned Blackman to win the match" Ahh I do worry about this. Triple H matches are useful because I find myself alternating between Triple H, HHH, The Game, Trips, Hunter, etc. The Rock vs Rikishi match was a nightmare because I usually describe 'Kish as the big Samoan or something, but it didn't really work. #StickToTheBalls
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Mar 27, 2014 21:21
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A table match but with tags? Is that normal?
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Mar 28, 2014 01:03
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Rebellion – December 2nd 2000 PART 2 JR and Tazz hype the upcoming European Title match between Regal and Holly. They both mistakenly call William "Steven" a lot. Regal is backstage with Cole and says that it's wonderful to be back home. He claims to represent Great Britain and says that's a relief because we have no other sporting heroes. He runs down Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, and local boy Prince Naseem, calling them all worthless. He promises not to return to America and tell them of Britain's terrible dental hygiene and high unemployment rates. This was the most forced of heel promos. Why couldn't they just go the easy route and make him a temporary face to the UK audience? The Undertaker zooms past a parking lot camera on his bike. 4. WWF European Championship: William Regal (c) vs Crash Holly Crash is out to a muted reception, Molly Holly in tow. Regal gets a face pop despite the above promo, so the cameras focus upon the only "Regal Sucks" sign in the crowd. JR brazenly lies to our faces, claiming that Crash got a bigger ovation. That is objectively false, Jim. William gets on the mic and finally incurs the wrath of the crowd by claiming that he deserves a bigger reaction than Austin and The Rock. He claims that he is the crowd's hero, and seems to be doing a good job of drawing heat. A plucky minority do start up a "Regal, Regal" chant however. Crash finally interrupts, jumping the champ from behind and hitting a nice headscissors takedown. Regal regains control with a nice suplex before waving to the crowd. He hits a few more basic strikes and suplexes, and we see for the first time in this thread just how wonderfully Regal moves in the ring. He's a class act. I've just spotted an amazing sign in the crowd, by the way. It reads "Chyna, I'm pregnant". Regal continues to dominate - at one stage hitting a unique double-knee strike to the face - causing the crowd to rally behind Crash slightly. William slaps on a rest hold and uses the ropes for leverage until the referee scolds him. LIGHTNING QUICK BACKSLIDE from Crash gets two! That was fast as gently caress. Holly flies off the ropes with a back elbow for another near fall, and suddenly he's in control. He heads up top, but Regal is right there to slam him back down. Crash's head bounces face-first off the canvas, and the champ makes a cover right near the ropes. 1...2...Holly gets a foot on the ropes...the ref misses it! 3. Winner and STILL WWF European Champion: William Regal The bell rings but the ring-announcer makes his way over to ringside. As he relays instructions to the ref, Molly Holly climbs the turnbuckles and hits a missile dropkick on Regal! Crash makes the cover as the announcer tells us the match is restarted! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW WWF European Champion: Crash Holly 1/5 - Started off pretty well and looked to be going somewhere, but that ending absolutely bombed. The crowd popped for Crash's win, but I felt that there was an unnecessary amount of confusion. Molly initially looked to be attempting a post-match beatdown, so late was the announcement to restart the match. They could have let these two wrestle a proper match and it would have been more than passable, as both guys looked to be building up steam. A shame. Regal beats the gently caress out of both Hollys and takes the belt with him to the back, leaving Crash and Molly both down in the ring. Angle and Benoit are in the back, and Kurt is worried. He asks if Chris just saw what happened to Regal. The same can't happen to him - he can't lose his WWF title here in England. He tells Benoit that he got screwed, that Foley should have made the match a Fatal Five Way with the Rabid Wolverine included. Angle tentatively asks that Benoit come down to the ring tonight during the main event and "lend him his support". He hypes a potential future match between the two, urging Benoit to imagine "The Olympic Gold Medalist vs The World's Greatest Technical Wrestler". Chris remains emotionless as Angle claps him on the shoulder and leaves. JR and Tazz lead us into a video package for the upcoming tag match between Chyna/Billy and Eddie/Malenko. It mainly consists of the Eddie and Chyna love angle we've already covered earlier in this thread, but there's added footage of Eddie begging Chyna not to leave him. She drives away leaving him the parking lot, where Billy Gunn is on hand to reprimand Guerrero for his actions. (In case you forgot, Eddie was caught in the shower with two of the Goodfather's former hos). Gunn tells Eddie to take his cheap-rear end engagement ring back to the pawn shop he got it from, and that he'll never get close to Chyna again. Guerrero waits for him to turn before hitting a cheapshot from behind. Billy gets beaten down and told not to interfere in Eddie's business again. 5. Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko vs Chyna and Billy Gunn We have two champions in this match; Malenko is wearing the Light Heavyweight strap, while Gunn has somehow wrangled himself an Intercontinental reign. Eddie jumps Billy at the bell and hits a dropkick to the knee, before blowing a sarcastic kiss at Chyna on the apron. Guerrero eats a huge tilt-a-whirl slam and begs off Gunn on his knees. They return to their feet and Billy is just TOWERING over Eddie. I never realised there was such as size difference there. Is Billy deceptively tall or Eddie deceptively short? Guerrero offers a handshake which Billy accepts...before crushing the Latino with a clothesline. Malenko is in to break up the count and it all breaks down. Chyna and Billy hit stereo military presses on the Radicalz to the crowd's delight, before the Ninth Wonder takes down Malenko with a stiff, stiff clothesline. Dean goes for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Chyna rolls him up for two! As if we're supposed to believe she could actually best Malenko on the mat. She whips him into a corner and hits her stupid handspring back-elbow move, but Eddie trips her feet from ringside to stop the faces' momentum. Tazz is doing all he can to set feminism back a few decades, continually referring to Chyna's breasts as "biscuits", which is even more baffling than puppies. He also says that Gunn "needs to get his big, strong, tough body in there to save Chyna", which comes across as more than a little homoerotic. The Radicalz double-team Chyna for a while until she catches Malenko low (further proving my theory that she is the dirtiest wrestler on the roster), and places him gently down with a DDT. Her movements really lack any sort of snap, if that makes sense. Billy gets the hot tag and takes down both heels with a diving double clothesline, before hitting a nice powerslam on Eddie. He's looking fairly good, is Gunn. Chyna takes Eddie to the outside, allowing Billy to hit the jackhammer on Dean Malenko. Apparently that's a transitional move in his arsenal, making him unquestionably better than Goldberg, okay? The Fame Asser connects, but Eddie scrambles in to break up the pinfall attempt at two. Again Chyna and Eddie go to the outside, and Malenko charges at Gunn. Billy evades him and wraps an arm around his neck for some kind of sleeper-slam (which JR and Tazz don't even know the name of), and that's enough for the three count! Winners: Chyna and Billy Gunn 1/5 - Eddie and Billy tried their best, but this match really lacked any sort of rhythm or structure. Chyna is so very sloppy, as we've already seen, and segments including her involvement inevitably slowed the match to a crawl. Even the ending came out of nowhere, leading to a very muted reaction from the crowd. Poor. Billy and Chyna embrace while JR throws us over to his "British colleague" in the crowd. It's clearly an American dude putting on an accent. A few fans scream their approval in various regional accents, and it's an utterly pointless segment. A hype video details the continuation of the coffeegate scandal, or the Kane vs Chris Jericho feud. Kane interferes in a couple of Y2J's title shots for the European and WWF(!!) championships. He later reveals a plan to take Blackman's Hardcore belt, challenge Jericho to a title defence, and ruin his appearance so severely that he too must wear a mask. Y2J doesn't take too kindly to this, interfering in the match and costing Kane the match. It's emphasised that Jericho doesn't seem to fear Kane, because he's just such a hero. 6. Kane vs Chris Jericho Jericho has a mic upon his entrance and welcomes us all to "ENGLAND IS JERICHO" and greets all the Jerichoholics. He announces that, in the nation where we proudly fly the red and blue Union Jack (just red and blue, Chris. No white at all?), stands a red and black Union Jackass. He means Kane you guys. Y2J starts off furiously and clotheslines Kane over the top to the outside. The Big Red Machine clambers back to the apron but Jericho knocks him right back down with a springboard dropkick. They battle around the outside for a short while until, back in the ring, Jericho chances his hand with a Flying Nothing from the top rope. Kane of course catches him, and plants him into the canvas with a big powerslam. A big military press sends Y2J down again, as does a guillotine slam. This is approaching squash territory as Jericho eats a couple of big rights and a sidewalk slam. FINALLY our hero fights back, crotching Kane on the top turnbuckle as the big man hesitates. Jericho tries to join his opponent up top but gets beaten back down. Kane flies with a jumping right hand, but Jericho meets him in mid-air with a dropkick to the midsection! Nicely timed! Both men are down, but Kane does his signature sit-up and grabs Y2J by the hair. Enziguri connects for Jericho! He heads up top and scores with the missile dropkick. A roll-up gets only a two count...but Jericho transitions into the Walls! He can't quite roll the Big Red Machine over, however, and Kane grabs him by the throat! They clamber to their feet and Jericho fights free, running the ropes and bouncing Kane's head into the canvas with a bulldog. The Lionsault...catches nothing but knees! Jericho's up and staggering....right into a CHOKESLAM! 1...2...3! Winner: Kane 2/5 - Kane continues his dominance over Y2J with a second consecutive PPV win. This one was a little shorter and a lot less exciting, but both men did an acceptable job. They looked a little lethargic, but who hasn't on this show so far? (Blackman and Saturn) Jericho follows Kane up the ramp and smashes him with a steel chair to the spine. He boots away at the fallen monster and applies the Walls on the stage. Ugh, Kane taps. Kane should NEVER tap. Officials drag Jericho off and he celebrates for the crowd.
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Mar 30, 2014 18:52
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Rebellion – December 2nd 2000 PART 3 Lita is in the back grabbing some water. Trish Stratus comes along and mocks her for losing her match earlier. Lita gets nasty, throwing the water in Trish's face and beating her - quite brutally - around the backstage area. She eventually drags her into the women's locker room and throws her into an unsuspecting Ivory as she gets changed. Steven Richards comes out of loving NOWHERE to shield his stablemate with a towel while a group of referees and security officials hold Lita back. 7. WWF Tag Team Championship: Right To Censor (c) vs The Hardy Boyz Goodfather and Bull Buchanan are accompanied by Val Venis for this one. The Hardys foolishly stand on the turnbuckles and gee up the crowd instead of locking up, so RTC simply club them from behind. Nothing wrong with that. Our Boyz use their speed to trick Bull and Goodfather out of the ring, where they fall prey to a couple of slingshot crossbodies from the challengers. Jeff and Buchanan square off to start the match properly, and Jeff gets in the first big move with a flying headscissors takedown. Goodfather gets the tag and simply trucks over his opponent, pressing the advantage with a big right hand. Bull comes back in, as does Matt via a blind tag. Jeff and Bull seem to miscommunicate something and clatter into one another hard, but Matt saves it with a nice discus punch and neckbreaker on the champ. He hooks up Bull for the "AAGHH" Twist of Fate, but Goodfather rushes in with one of the title belts. Venis distracts the ref, Goodfather swings...and Matt ducks out of the way! DOWN goes Buchanan! Matt heads up top and drops a leg! 1...2...Goodfather pulls him out of the ring at the last second! Matt gets taken for a ride into the ringpost and shoved back in the ring, where Goodfather applies a resthold to kill the nice momentum we were building . Matt plays face in peril for a while, but manages to take Goodfather down with a jumpy DDT. As in he jumped slightly when he hit it. Hardy jumps for his corner, but Goodfather catches him in a bear hug and deposits him in the heel corner. He sets up for the Ho Train...but Matt dives out of the way and makes the tag to Jeff! He hits a nice front-dropkick to the chest of Goodfather, and an even more impressive corkscrew moonsault on both champions. The Hardys whip their opponents into the same corner and hit a double Poetry in Motion. Bull gets shoved out of the ring, leaving Goodfather to fall victim to the Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo! Jeff makes the cover, but Buchanan grabs the referee to distract him. This frees up Venis to clamber up top and hit the Money Shot on Jeff as he covers. Goodfather rolls on top, Buchanan grabs Matt's hair to hold him back, and that looks to be enough for the win.Winners and STILL WWF Tag Team Champions: Right To Censor 2/5 - Decent. The Hardys looked pretty motivated here (although the same can't be said for their opponents) and a story was told throughout. Unfortunately the ending absolutely sapped the life out of the crowd who were desperate for a face win here. One or two little errors also took the shine off slightly, but we have our second acceptable match in a row. RTC get the gently caress out of there with their belts. Christian is backstage still selling his ribs from that 3D through the table in the opener. Edge is comforting him. It's adorable. Angle comes along and congratulates them on their match, which is met with puzzled looks. Just as he did with Benoit earlier, Kurt asks that the boys come down to ringside during his title defence and "lend their support". Christian is reluctant, still feeling the effects of his match. Angle scolds the pair for being so selfish and storms off. Undertaker is confronted backstage by his upcoming opponent, Chris Benoit. Benoit provokes him and 'Taker moves forward...only to get jumped by the rest of The Radicalz! They targed 'Taker's left knee and stomp away, while Benoit fetches a bin and smashes it down over his leg. 8. Chris Benoit vs The Undertaker That match is right now! Benoit makes his way down and paces intently. Kid Rock hits (what a dreadful theme) but Undertaker doesn't emerge. Benoit grabs a mic and says that the American Badass must have left his Badass back in America. The theme hits a second time, but still no 'Taker. The announcer gets in the ring and is about to proclaim Benoit the winner...but he's cut off mid-sentence by the theme yet again, and finally the emergence of a heavily limping Undertaker. He's so cool and badass, you guys. They just destroyed his knee but he's still coming out to fight! Gee, I wonder if he'll win.  Benoit goes straight for the knee and stomps away, but Undertaker fights back like the badass he is and hits a military press. Undertaker goes old school and gets a two count, but Benoit kicks out and runs...only to eat a nasty sounding big boot to the face! The Wolverine scoots out of the ring and grabs 'Taker's legs, looking to pull him crotch-first into the ringpost. Undertaker has other ideas, pulling his legs in and dragging Benoit's head right into the post! 'Taker heads outside and begins a slowwwwww beatdown of the Crippler. He slowly throws him into the ringpost. He slowly slides him back inside. He slowly hits some of those masturbatory big rights in the corner. He slowly clamps on a slow bearhug. Wait, who's the face here!? Benoit fights out of the bearhug with some vicious headbutts, but runs right into another big boot. Undertaker looks for a powerslam, but the Wolverine slips out the back and takes him down with a snappy dropkick to the injured knee. Benoit works the leg for a while, but Undertaker eventually counters a leglock by rolling over and kicking him away smartly. The Crippler, though, goes right back down into a drop toehold and regains control. Benoit slaps on a figure four which Undertaker is able to roll and reverse, but the Canadian is able to stretch out and grab the nearest rope. He and 'Taker stand a trade blows, but Benoit scoots underneath a big right and hits a nice German suplex. He heads up top and hits the Diving Headbutt into Undertaker's knee, before looking to apply another leglock...but 'Taker rolls him up! 1...2...3! poo poo, that's it!? Winner: The Undertaker 2/5 - Saved from being a poor match by Benoit. Saved from being a good one by The Undertaker. Some good wrestling, a shitload of boring restholds, and a poor ending. Silly booking too. Our newer guy has the whole "best technical wrestler" thing going for him, so let's have the well-established veteran beat him at his own game. While injured. That'll do well. Benoit complains to the ref all the way back up the ramp while The Undertaker stays in the ring and limps around, selling the leg injury. JR and Tazz emphasise the fact that 'Taker has won here with a move straight out of Benoit's playbook. Thanks guys. The American Badass salutes the crowd and leaves. Main event up next. Hopefully it'll steal the show, otherwise this one is a stinker from top to bottom.
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Mar 30, 2014 23:49
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