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JUDGEMENT DAY 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Kurt Angle, Edge, and Christian vs Too Cool and Rikishi - A wonderfully entertaining opener. Everybody in this match turned up - even Grandmaster Sexay! - and put on a crisp, entertaining match to kick off the PPV. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Chris Benoit - Would have been responsible for the best match of the night, were it not for a very poorly booked (and received) finish. 2. Chris Jericho - See above, but on a slightly lesser scale. Pulled off one of the best Lionsaults I've seen. 3. Kurt Angle - The glue holding the opener together. Proving himself to be frighteningly consistent. 4. Dean Malenko - Malenko FINALLY gets some points on the board,turning in a fine performance in the triple threat. 5. Eddie Guerrero - Slightly more muted than Malenko, but still a typically good showing from Eddie. Oozes charisma wherever he goes. There's a veritable host of narrow-misses this month. Edge, Christian, Rikishi, and Too Cool all did a great job in the opener alongside the shining Angle. DX and the Dudleys had a fun match later on. Even loving PERRY SATURN did alright. The Rock and Triple H put in a hell of an effort, but I just can't bring myself to include them in the list, so intense is my distaste for that main event. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 12 2. Triple H - 10 Jeff Hardy - 10 3. Mick Foley - 9 Chris Jericho - 9 4. Eddie Guerrero - 8 5. Christian - 6 Chris Benoit - 6 6. Edge - 5 7. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 8. The Rock - 2 Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 9. Rikishi - 1 Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 Four of the top five are WCW cast-offs this time. What does that tell you, Russo? There are lessons to be learned here. Angle edges into the lead in a week where many of the other frontrunners stalled. JUDGEMENT DAY SCORE: 6/10 The rationality of this score very much depends upon how much bearing you think a main event has upon the quality of the overall PPV. A lot of the matches here were good - the opener, the triple threat, and the Benoit/Jericho match all delivered. The tables match and Shane vs Big Show weren't exactly five star classics, but were entertaining nonetheless. Sadly, I just can't bring myself to appreciate that main event. In my old TNA thread, one of my main gripe with the company was the waste of potential brought about by lovely booking, and the same applies here. I'm sure that, given another stipulation and a better finish to work with, Triple H and The Rock could have put on an absolute classic, and I'd be rating this event much higher. Unfortunately, Undertaker's return was so horribly handled that I feel it dampened my enthusiasm for the PPV. It doesn't help that the match took up about a third of the show. Not the worst event ever, but it could have been so much more. I'll wipe away my tears though, in preparation for King of the Ring! Exciting.
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Dec 26, 2013 02:27
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 – Boston, Massachusetts PART 1 You know what? Despite my excitement in revisiting the period in which I first fell in love with wrestling, I totally forgot about King of the Ring. What a fantastic (and sorely missed ) concept, one which I feel would come in especially handy today, breathing life into the WWE’s rather stagnant midcard. Let’s have a look at the competitors! Rikishi has dominated since the thread began. He had a strong showing in the Rumble, and hasn’t been able to stop winning since then, regardless of his tag team partners. Too Cool, Kane, and Big Show have all benefitted from having the Samoan in their corner. He has defeated Shane McMahon and Scotty 2 Hotty to progress this far. Bull Buchanan has mostly acted as the understudy of the Big Boss Man so far, picking up a couple of tag team wins with his mentor before being squashed horribly by Kane at Insurrextion. Last seen helping Shane McMahon defeat the Big Show. He has also written himself firmly into my bad books by defeating two of my favourites in reaching this stage of the tournament – Steve Blackman and Perry Saturn. Kurt Angle has arguably been the most impressive and consistent wrestler since the beginning of this thread, and currently leads the Wrestler of the Year standings. Despite a slow start – getting his rear end utterly handed to him by the debuting Tazz in January – Angle has torn up the midcard, winning (and eventually losing) both the Intercontinental and European titles. Bradshaw and Bubba Ray Dudley fell victim to him in the earlier rounds. Crash Holly is surely the biggest underdog of the tournament. We haven’t seen him do much bar being thrown out of the Rumble by The Rock (with no eliminations), lose his Hardcore belt at WrestleMania, somehow win it back and defend it in a dreadful match at Backlash, and then lose it again to the British Bulldog at Insurrextion. He has (somehow) beaten Albert and big cousin Hardcore Holly to reach the final eight. Val Venis has perhaps had the least impressive of 2000s out of all the tournament entrants, at least in terms of PPVs. Despite flirting with the European and Intercontinental title scenes on TV, Venis’ pay per view action has been incredibly limited. He eliminated a grand total of 1 (one) man at the Rumble, and refereed the Kat vs Terri travesty at WrestleMania. Val beat two fan favourites in The Godfather and Jeff Hardy to reach the PPV. Chris Benoit has been the breakout star of the Radicalz, at least in terms of workrate (with Eddie perhaps proving most popular with the fans). Since winning the Intercontinental title at ‘Mania, the Crippler has been locked in a blood feud with the infinitely more charismatic Chris Jericho. Two members of DX fell to Benoit in the earlier rounds – first Road Dogg, then X-Pac. Chris Jericho is probably the most over man left in the tournament, commanding insane crowd reactions whenever he appears. He has been both European and Intercontinental champion so far, and was last seen REFUSING TO TAP OUT to a Benoit crossface. So heroic. Y2J has beaten two other blonde bombshells in Test and Edge along the way, and surely has the stature to go far in the tournament. Eddie Guerrero is another incredibly popular contestant in what is proving to be a rather stacked King of the Ring, especially with the benefit of hindsight. Initially competing with the rest of the Radicalz, Eddie broke away to ally with his “mamacita” Chyna and win the European championship. He has successful defences over Essa Rios, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn under his belt, and defeated Matt Hardy and – oh! – his beloved Chyna to progress! Controversial. That’s not all, folks! The WWF Championship is also on the line in a very intriguing six-man tag match. Triple H will team up with Vince and Shane to take on The Rock, Kane, and the freshly returned Undertaker with a host of stipulations. If any member of the challenging team scores a fall over any member of Triple H’s team, they will become the new WWF Champion! Should Triple H’s team win, he will retain and go on to face the winner of the King of the Ring tournament at Fully Loaded. Also scheduled is a very clusterfucky – but also potentially very good – four corners match for the Tag Team titles, a handicap match featuring DX and Torri vs those drat Dudleys, and...oh lord. It just wouldn’t be a WWF card without something like this, would it? A “Hardcore Evening Gown Match” between Hardcore champion Pat Patterson and challenger Gerald Brisco. Goodie. 1. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Rikishi vs Chris Benoit Rikishi is now Intercontinental Champion! We see footage of him winning the belt on Smackdown, pinning Benoit clean. The Rabid Wolverine wasn’t too happy, and laid out the Samoan with a steel chair as he danced in celebration with Too Cool. This should be a full-blooded affair, then. OH AND HERE THEY GO! The pair tear into one another as soon as Benoit enters the ring, the Canadian managing to back Rikishi into a corner with some of his deadly chops. Rikishi shoves him away, before dropping him with a MASSIVE Samoan drop! What an explosive start. Rikishi takes Benoit out of the ring and whips him into the ring steps. That was nice (although I am quite sick of step bumps. There were a lot at the last PPV), and the crowd are absolutely molten for the Samoan. They return to the ring and Benoit plants the big man with a humungous German suplex! The pair are just trading big spots here, and it’s fantastic. Benoit beats down Rikishi in the corner before locking in a modified standing crossface. Rikishi drops to his knees, but the power of the crowd soon brings him back to a vertical base. Benoit takes him back to the corner and lights him up with some more chops. Rikishi is able to whip the Crippler into the opposite corner, but JUST misses with a big running splash attempt! Benoit drops the Samoan with a single blow – I’m not sure that was actually supposed to happen; Benoit looked lost for a second – and locks in the Crossface! Rikishi struggles briefly, but they’re right next to the ropes and he’s able to snag one. The referee pulls Benoit away, and the Wolverine has had enough. He storms out of the ring and grabs a chair, using it to smash Rikish in the torso in full sight of the referee. He calls immediately for the bell. Winner: Rikishi 1.5/5 – This was great for what it was. They ran this match at almost full speed, keeping the crowd excited throughout. A sadly brief match. The DQ finish was also disappointing, but entirely understandable given the growing feud between these two. A nice start to the show. Benoit is pissed off and continues to lay into a prone Rikishi with the chair. He slaps on another Crossface, and a gaggle of referees rush out to drag him off. He instead nails a Diving Headbutt on the Samoan, followed by a few more seconds in the Crossface, before finally leaving the ring. Um...congratulations Rikishi, you’re through to the semi finals. I hope you enjoy your next match... JR took great care to emphasise a particular rule of the tournament throughout that match; a double DQ, double countout, or time limit draw (15 minutes) will result in BOTH competitors being eliminated. I sense screwy finishes in our future... Backstage we have the thrilling return of the HEEL DRESSING ROOM! Yeahhhhh! Triple H and the McMahons aren’t too happy. Linda is on her way to confront Vince later in the night, something which Shane, HHH, and Stephanie fear will make Vince lose his cool. Vince promises that he is “Joe Cool” tonight, and swaggers out of the room. Trips and Shane look very sceptical. What a wacky bunch they are, those heels! 2. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Eddie Guerrero vs Val Venis We see footage from the previous Smackdown of Val jumping Eddie during a match, probably to weaken him in preparation of tonight. How dastardly! Guerrero is accompanied by Chyna, as always. Val brings out Trish Stratus, and JR describes the pair as having a “business relationship”. I’m devastated to announce that Val’s slow, sleazy theme music has been replaced with pounding techno. Who the gently caress made that call? Even more bizarrely, they decided to keep the catchphrase and saxophone at the beginning. You’re waiting for the slower drums to kick on, only to get “Hello ladies...UN TSS UN TSS UN TSS UN TSS”. Utter dross. Val dominates from the bell, smacking Eddie around with nice right hands. He kicks him around for a little longer, but Guerrero manages to gain control with a hard whip into the turnbuckles, followed by a sharp dropkick. Venis battles back with a few stinging chops, but Eddie is able to headscissor the larger man over the top rope to the outside. Eddie hits a few chops of his own, but Val is able to lift the Latino and drop him hard onto the security barrier. Back in the ring, Venis heads unwisely to the top rope. Eddie is quickly up after him, “quicker than a hiccup” even, to coin a JR term, and hits a big superplex! A fan on the outside shouts to Trish “I wanna see some T & A!”. It’s funny because her tag team is called that, you see? Anyway, Eddie hits one of my favourite strikes, the seldom seen European uppercut, before downing Val with a drop toe hold. Eddie locks in one of those surfboardy submission things (I’m not sure what it’s name is. It looks painful anyway), but Venis powers out using his superior strength. Guerrero hits a high dropkick to Val’s back, but the bigger man again kills his momentum by simply tossing him high into the air and letting him fall. Venis hits a backbreaker and bends Eddie’s spine over his knee, but the Latino refuses to quit. Val whips him into the ropes, but Eddie counters with an incredibly smooth hurricanrana. He’s really loving good, isn’t he? He heads up top for the Frogsplash, but Val rolls out of the way. He does so a touch too early, allowing Guerrero to roll and break his fall. He turns and charges...right into a BIG spinebuster from Venis (about a 7 on the Arn Anderson scale). Val heads up top for his awfully named – and awful looking – splash, the Money Shot, but Eddie thankfully gets his knees up in the nick of time. Venis battles back into the match with a snappy Russian legsweep, before getting a two count with his feet very much on the ropes. The crowd don’t like that. Eddie lifts Val and drives him crotch first onto the top turnbuckle. He scoots up after him and delivers a nice frankensteiner, but Trish is on the apron to distract the ref from counting the fall. Chyna drags her to the floor to the delight of the crowd, but Val decks Eddie and reaches down to pull the Ninth Wonder onto the apron by the hair. He swings with a big right, but Chyna blocks it and smacks him back! Schoolboy rollup by Eddie, 1...2...NO! I thought that was it! Both men scramble to their feet and Val hooks Guerrero up for a hard Perfectplex. 1...2...3! Winner: Val Venis 2/5 – A great showing by Eddie, at the expense of the slightly sloppy Venis. He did his best to keep up, but some of those spots seemed a little beyond him. Still an entirely passable match, although I do wish it was Guerrero advancing in the tournament instead. 3. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Crash Holly vs Bull Buchanan Crash’s route to the quarter finals is revealed to be a lucky one. We first see him rolling up Albert for a cheap win, then defeating cousin Bob via DQ, after Brisco interfered to steal his Hardcore Championship (under 24/7 rules). Buchanan is out looking mean; Holly looks nervous. This is surely a squash in the making for mah BOY Bull. Crash peppers him with weak punches, but Buchanan chucks him out of the ring. Holly bounces straight back in and Buchanan tosses him again. Finally Bull tires of his peskiness, hoisting him into a huge gorilla press slam. He hoists the smaller man into a backbreaker, holds him, and lifts him to repeat the move a second time. Crash is being decimated. Bull beats up Holly in the corner for a while, before hitting a big vertical suplex. Chants of “boooring, boooring” from the Boston crowd, and I’m sadly inclined to agree. Bull needs to ditch these power moves and show us his grace once more. Bull sticks a big boot into Crash’s face and scoops him up for a slam...INSIDE CRADLE! 1...2...oooh. So nearly an upset. Bull regains control with a clothesline and backdrop, but misses with his Axe Kick! Crash lifts his head out of the way just in time and dives onto Buchanan, rolling him up. 1...2...3! Winner: Crash Holly 0.5/5 – Completely uninspiring and mercifully short. Bull didn’t get a chance to fly  . Easily the worst match of the show so far, and there’s really not much else to say about it.Crash sprints back up the ramp before Buchanan knows what’s happened, and we cut to the back where Vince McMahon is confronting his wife. He lists her misdemeanours: reinstating Austin, re-signing the Undertaker, bringing back Shawn Michaels, slapping Stephanie – all designed, of course, to get the crowd behind her. Unfortunately this momentum is killed when Linda starts talking, and we realise what a dreadful actress she is. She asks if Vince is man enough to compete fairly in the 6 man tag tonight, or if he’ll call for backup like always. Vince laughs this off, claiming that his team are guaranteed to win as the faces fight among themselves, and he even agrees that there will be no outside interference. Kurt Angle is out with a mic ahead of his quarter final matchup with Jericho. He disses ALL the local sports teams. He says he’s going to do what the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox can’t do, and actually win something. I don’t know much about ice hockey or baseball, but maybe his words stung the Patriots and Celtics into winning their titles since this PPV. He closes the promo with an impression of a Bostonian: “It’s true, I’m fat, I’m overweight, now get me another bee-ah.” The fans of course boo this, and...JERICHO THEME! 4. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho Jericho is out with a mic of his own and claims that Angle doesn’t need to win the tournament; he’s already King of the Nerds, King of the 30 Year Old Virgins, etc. Very hurtful, I’m sure. The two go at it immediately, and Angle wins the opening exchange with a sweet belly-to-belly. Jericho fights back with some chops, the base of every self-respecting upper-midcard workhorse’s moveset, but Angle throws him onto the apron. Y2J rushes immediately along to the nearest turnbuckle and flies with a lovely missile dropkick to the back. I hope they give these two a decent amount of time to work with. Jericho hits a bulldog and FLIES with an early Lionsault, but Angle gets a foot over the ropes. He crawls to the apron, so Jericho knocks him to the outside with his jumping dropkick from the turnbuckles. All very good so far, as you’d expect from these two. Jericho charges at Angle, who swiftly turns into a hip-toss over the crowd barrier! Lovely stuff – although it’s strange how they always use the same area for crowd spots. VERY MYSTERIOUS. Kurt sense my prayers that they don’t battle pointlessly up into the crowd and pointlessly back down again, instead throwing Y2J right back over the barrier to ringside. Good man. Jericho gets deposited back in the ring, via a quick introduction to the ring steps, and the camera shows Angle’s chest swollen with welts from Y2J’s earlier chops. Vicious, Chris. Jericho fights out of a chokehold and drops Kurt into a double-underhook backbreaker across his knee. Again the pinfall is too near the ropes (silly Jericho), and Angle works his way back into the match with very Angle-like suplexes, clotheslines, and the like. He ends up posing atop the turnbuckles, but Y2J shuts him up with a dropkick to the midsection, followed by a snappy Frankensteiner. Not quite as snappy as Eddie’s from earlier, but still really good. A huge spinning heel kick nearly keeps Kurt down for three, before Angle counters a Jericho bulldog by turning sharply and smacking him with a clothesline. That was really sharp. Angle set up for the Olympic Slam, but Jericho twists nimbly out of it in midair and trips Kurt into the Walls! He struggles to turn Angle properly into the hold but manages eventually...and here comes Stephanie! The eternal foe of Y2J distracts the referee just as Kurt taps out to the Walls! Jericho releases the hold and isn’t happy in the slightest. He confronts the ref, but Angle manages to dive and knock both men down. Steph takes the opportunity to get into the ring and measure Y2J with her Women’s Championship, but he ducks out of the way as she swings...and she clocks Kurt instead! Jericho paces slowly towards her, and Steph swings for him with a right. It’s blocked, and so is her subsequent left...and Jericho plants a very unwelcome kiss on her! What an unscrupulous knave! Stephanie squirms away and bails as the crowd go wild, but the party is stopped incredibly abruptly by Angle. He slithers up behind Jericho and PLANTS him with the Olympic Slam, right in the middle of the ring! 1...2...3! Winner: Kurt Angle 3/5 – A great match, easily the best of the quarter finals. Both guys delivered – as expected – and the screwy ending didn’t seem unnecessary at all, successfully gaining more heat for Angle and sympathy for Y2J. Good job everyone! JGKing fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Dec 26, 2013 15:51
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 2 Back in the #HeelDressingRoom Shane is annoyed at Vince’s macho decision to ban outside interference. Vince stands by his decision, claiming that Rock, Kane and Undertaker couldn’t even order lunch together. He tells Shane to be confident. Shane responds that it’s not his own confidence he’s worried about, it’s Triple H’s. Oooooooh. Edge and Christian (aka my favourite tag team ever) are out WITHOUT THEIR BELTS!? It looks as though somebody had the audacity to beat them somewhere between Judgement Day and this PPV. I am appalled. The boys do another of their five second poses, this time mimicking Bill Buckner’s infamous error for the Red Sox which even I – an Englishman – know vaguely about. 5. WWF Tag Team Championship Four Corners Elimination Match: Too Cool (c) vs Edge and Christian vs T&A vs The Hardy Boyz We start with Jeff Hardy and Albert. Jeff’s hair is rainbow coloured tonight, how lovely. Albert doesn’t agree – as a potentially envious bald man – and smacks him around a little bit. Jeff outsmarts the big man by leaving the ring and leading him on a merry dance, before tagging in Matt as he scampers back in. The pair double team Albert and Matt looks to capitalize, but Trish grabs his leg as he runs the ropes and Albert clotheslines him in the back of the head. I should mention that this is the first time we’ve seen Lita associated with the Hardys. She’s somewhere at ringside, but there are a lot of bodies out there at the minute. Test gets the tag and DEMOLISHES MATT’S FACE with a humungous big boot! Jesus. He sets Hardy up for a pumphandle slam, but Matt slips out the back and tries the Twist of Fate...but Trish hops on the apron as a distraction. Matt abandons his finisher attempt and JUST FLAT OUT SWINGS AT STRATUS!? I know this is the Attitude Era, but that’s quite controversial behaviour for a babyface. It even prompts an “oh my” from JR. Trish manages to duck out of the way, thankfully – imagine the blurring of the face/heel dynamic if she’d caught a right hand straight in the mouth. Lita’s on hand to administer some same-sex violence, running around the ring and shoving Trish to the ground. Test reaches over and pulls Lita onto the apron by the hair, but she beats him away with a punch to the jaw. Test is stunned and turns – BAM – right into a Twist of Fate from Hardy! 1...2...Albert is on hand to break it up. Matt seems to be something of a trend-setter here, as Albert also tries to get involved in the woman-beating action. He lifts Lita clean over the top rope and positions her for the Albert Bomb, but Matt comes to the rescue with a dropkick to the spine. Test hits his pumphandle slam on Matt and covers him, but Jeff spies an opportunity to do two of his favourite things simultaneously: jump off a high thing and save his bro’s rear end. He flies with the Swanton (clean over the head of an onrushing Albert) and breaks the pinfall in spectacular fashion! Jeff bounces straight back to his feet and leaps with a crossbody, taking both himself and Albert out of the ring. Meanwhile, Matt has rolled on top of Test! 1...2...3! Elimination #1: T&A (by The Hardy Boyz) Scotty 2 Hotty and Jeff become the legal men, and the fresher Too Cool member wins the opening exchange quite easily. He kips-up in celebration, Shawn Michaels style, and moonwalks over to Christian for the tag. Interestingly, Scotty also imitated Triple H during Too Cool’s entrance, spitting water out of his mouth as they danced down the ramp. It didn’t look nearly as intimidating or impressive. Matt Hardy is in now and decides it’s time to do that thing where he shouts before every move. “AAAH” right hand to Christian. “AAAH” powerslam. Up to the second rope...”AAAAAAAH!” legdrop. He just loves that, doesn’t he? Jeff gets the tag and the pair hit Poetry in Motion on Christian. He falls and rolls under the bottom rope, while Edge enters the ring and charges. Both Hardy’s duck out of the way and hook Edge up for a double vertical suplex. The Hardy’s are owning this match so far, especially as it’s now time for the shirts to come off. They mean business. Edge and Christian are able to reverse the momentum however, using the power of heelish shenanigans. They double team Jeff behind the ref’s back, but the Hardy’s gain a measure of revenge as Matt distracts the referee, allowing Lita to fly from the top with a nice hurricanrana on Edge! She got a surprisingly big pop for that. Maybe she hasn’t done much in the way of action yet? I’m not sure. All four men are in the ring now (while Too Cool chill happily on the apron), but Edge and Jeff take a tumble to the outside. This leaves Matt and Christian. The latter sets the former up for the Unprettier, but Matt shoves him away and hits...”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” the Twist of Fate! 1...2...Edge yanks him out of the ring! Jeff is up top now looking for the Swanton, but Edge AGAIN saves the day, dragging the Hardy off the turnbuckle and HARD into the top rope! Jeff’s head whips back sickeningly and he collapses through the ropes to the outside. Matt is left alone with both members of E&C, but he bravely sets Edge up for another “Aah” Tw...nope. Christian cuts off the move (and most of the yell) by hooking Matt’s arms and spiking him with the Unprettier! 1...2...see you later. Elimination #2: The Hardy Boyz (by Edge and Christian) Lita gestures angrily at Edge as the Hardys leave, which is hilarious in hindsight. Grandmaster Sexay is in the ring for the first time, and he goes to town on the much more fatigued Edge. He hits his missile dropkick and tags in Scotty, but Christian runs along to even the score. What follows is a period of the awesome, fantastic Edge and Christian getting beaten up by a far lesser tag team...through the medium of danced. Too Cool run through their repertoire of usual dancing bullshit, but it just seems so wrong when performed on so superior a team. Thankfully Edge is able to fight back, and gets the tag to Christian who petulantly slams Scotty’s head into the canvas again and again and again. He then strides over to Grandmaster and hilariously mocks his dancing. Picture a very angry Christian dancing furiously in his opponent’s face. It’s brilliant. Sexay spits gum into his face in response, but Christian keeps his cool and hits a Russian legsweep on Scotty for two. Edge and Sexay get hot tags, and Grandmaster is able to dropkick Edge into the ropes, tangling his arms. Christian dashes to the apron to free his partner, before pausing on the apron to tell everybody how smart he is for doing so. Too Cool slingshot Edge into him, knocking him to the floor, before Grandmaster ROLLS UP EDGE...1...2...oooh! Could easily have been the finish. Both E&C are whipped into the same corner and do the hilarious “clash heads before one falls headfirst into the other’s crotch” bump. Sexay sets Edge up in the powerbomb position. For a brilliant millisecond I think it’s going to be a Piledriver in tribute to Lawler, but he instead hits a sitout powerbomb. It only gets two, and the challengers are able to regain control with a double flapjack. HAHAHAHA, they mock Scotty’s setup for the worm, stomping their legs furiously. They hop around, but Scotty arrives just a second too late to interrupt, causing both to pause awkwardly before the actual worm section. He slides in behind and hits a bulldog on both men, and the crowd go wild in anticipation of the REAL worm. He hits it on Edge, but Christian is in with one of the belts and tries to behead Sexay! The Grandmaster ducks and rolls out of the ring. Scotty holds Edge in position, allowing Sexay to don his goggles and fly from the top with a big legdrop! The referee delays the pinfall to get Scotty back to the apron...and Christian runs in to smash Sexay over the head with the title belt! He bails and Edge rolls on top....1...2...3! NEW CHAMPIONS! Elimination #3: Too Cool (by Edge and Christian) Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: Edge and Christian 3/5 – A very decent match made out of what could easily have descended into clusterfuck territory. The Hardys (particularly Jeff) carried the first half of this match, Edge and Christian the latter. I’m pretty jubilant that the boys are champs again. As much as Too Cool are a nice pair of novelty babyfaces, I find E&C infinitely more entertaining and deserving of the gold. Scotty is SEETHING in the middle of the ring! I’ve never seen him so emotive. 6. King of the Ring Semi Final: Rikishi vs Val Venis Rikishi sells the post-match beating from Benoit earlier as he makes his way to the ring. Val comes out with Trish, who has had a LOT of work to do tonight for a valet. What the hell!? A short video package reveals that Rikishi and Val have had major beef over the past few weeks. And not normal run-in attacks on one another. This is some next level poo poo. We see Rikishi splashing onto Val from atop the stage one week, and slamming him through the announce table the next! We also see Val opening up Rikishi’s forehead with a TV monitor. Jesus Christ! The bell rings and Rikishi just kicks the poo poo out of Venis for a minute or two. He takes him to the outside and smacks him into the ringpost and steps. He brings him back in and squashes him in the corner. He drills him with the occasional big right. This is heading for squash city until Val manages to attack ‘Kishi’s weakened arm (or Benoiarm? Sorry.). He works over the arm for a while before planting Rikishi with a DDT and heading up for the Money Shot – or THAT Money Shot, as JR refers to it. Rikishi springs to his feet, however, and Val confirms himself to be the stupidest superstar on the roster, jumping off anyway with the feared Flying Nothing. Rikishi catches him and hits a belly to belly for the three. Hey Val, if your finishing move is a splash, don’t try to hit it on a standing opponent, okay? Cool. Winner: Rikishi 0.5/5 – Really short and simple, with a very unexpected ending. No mistakes at all from either men, just not much to award points for either. Rikishi progresses to the final, where he’ll meet either Kurt Angle or Crash Holly. Trish is livid and leaps onto the back of Rikishi. He slams her to the mat and begins to drag her by one arm to the corner. There’s something very disturbing in that image. King is all “Oh no!” while JR seems to be quietly relishing the impending Stink Face, but when Rikishi actually sets her up for the Banzai Drop he changes his tune. Suddenly both commentators have their serious voices on, but Val rushes in with a low blow right to Rikishi’s venis, putting a stop to that. Val goes apeshit, grabbing a set of ring steps and ramming them right into the Samoan’s weakened arm. He then drapes the arm across the steps and crunches it with a chairshot. 7. King of the Ring Semi Final: Crash Holly vs Kurt Angle So how long can Crash survive here? I’m saying this doesn’t go longer than 3 minutes, and that’s generous. This one starts a lightning pace, and Crash is keeping up with Angle move for move! Angle soon takes the advantage however, suplexing Holly around and occasionally stiffing him in the corner. The pair take turns going crazy with right hands in the corner, and just as Kurt winds up for a huge one, Holly manages to duck out of the way and gain control of the match. Now it’s his turn to toss Kurt around a little bit, but he soon abandons that idea in favour of going up top and hitting a big missile dropkick! 1...2...OOOH! So very close to a three. The crowd gave an audible gasp, as did JR and King. Crash charges, but Angle hotshots him face-first into the top rope. Olympic Slam on the rebound! This one’s in the books. Winner: Kurt Angle 1.5/5 – Not a very long match by any stretch of the imagination, but an incredibly fine performance by both men. Credit to Crash for sticking with Angle throughout, matching him for speed and intensity. Kurt’s in the final. Kane is in the back with a terrified Michael Cole. He claims that tonight’s main event is all about one thing: him becoming the WWF Champion. Undertaker is elsewhere backstage with Coach, and he claims that it’s actually about HIM winning the title. Nobody is interviewing The Rock. Perhaps he hasn’t arrived yet, so we can get a shot of him WALKING through the parking lot later on. That’s always the part of a PPV I look forward to the most. We get a video package of the blood feud between Patterson and Brisco now. First we see Brisco celebrating his regaining of the Hardcore title with Patterson, only for Pat to smash a champagne bottle over his head and cover him for the belt. Later, Patterson hides out in the divas’ dressing room disguised in drag, so Brisco throws on a wig to get in there as well. The pair brawl in their dresses, and Vince angrily breaks them up. He then makes the worst decision of his career, scheduling the match we’re about to witness. Hold on to your hats. Five stars incoming. 8. WWF Hardcore Championship Evening Gown Match: Pat Patterson (c) vs Gerald Brisco Brisco comes out to ‘Real American’ in a black dress, wig, heels, the works. He’s also carrying – I think – a 2x4. Patterson comes out looking scarily like Mae Young (although King thinks it’s Moolah) in a red dress and sunglasses, pushing a cart full of pillows, toilet paper, and a teddy bear. His theme is ‘The Stripper’. Can we get this over with? Patterson grabs a mic and begs for a truce. He says that he knows everybody wants the pair of them to go at it real bad (I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Pat), but he has a better idea. He offers to lay down for Brisco, forfeiting the belt to him. The pair hug it out, AND PATTERSON KNEES BRISCO, right in the Geralds. Pat pulls a banana out of his cleavage and stuffs it into Brisco’s face for some reason. He rips the challenger’s wig off and...wow. In perhaps the worst spot I’ve ever seen in any wrestling match, Patterson removes a sanitary towel from his underwear and rubs it in Brisco’s face. He prepares for a stink face, but Gerald low blows him hard. The pair stand and brawl messily in the middle of the ring, and here come the “boring” chants. Brisco whips Patterson into the corner and hits a horrible Bronco Buster as JR tries to stay professional, stating “Brisco’s a southpaw. If that matters.”. I’d enjoy if this match slowly escalated to steadily more vicious spots, ending with both men covered in blood and hitting one another with piledrivers, punts to the head, and so on. This looks unlikely, as the pair begin to rip at one another’s dresses. The crowd give a mild cheer, more out of relief than anything, as Crash runs down with a trashcan to kick some old man rear end. save_us.crash. He beats both men around for a few seconds, before braining Patterson with the trashcan and putting this match out of its misery with a successful pinfall. Winner and NEW WWF Hardcore Champion: Crash Holly DUD/5 – Terrible. Dreadful. Offensively bad. What were they thinking? They could have had a Blackman match instead. Crash grabs his title and gets the gently caress out of there, leaving the ring full of carcasses, wreckage, and the stench of shameless booking. As if we haven’t had enough, Brisco jumps Patterson as he walks down the ramp, and the pair brawl in their bras and panties as refs try to break it up. JGKing fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 26, 2013 18:32
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 3 We now see a video package of the Dudleys/DX feud, beginning with Tori’s escape from table-based doom at Judgement Day. Tori is then shown splashing Bubba through a table on a following episode of Raw! Nice going, Tori! She got pretty good hangtime on the move as well. The Dudleys want revenge on the following Smackdown, but Edge and Christian interfere on DX’s behalf. The heels load the Boyz into a dumpster and push it off the edge of the stage. Vince decides “gently caress it”, and a handicap tables AND dumpsters match. I’m not sure whether the stipulation means the tables and dumpsters have to feature in order to win the match, or whether the teams are just encouraged to use them. Let’s find out. The Dudley Boyz are backstage, and D-Von is getting Bubba hyped about their upcoming match against DX. Bubba moves slightly, revealing that he has spray-painted “Tori” on a nearby table. The pair laugh evilly and carry the table out of shot. Those chirpy babyfaces. 9. Handicap Tables and Dumpsters Match: Degeneration X and Tori vs The Dudley Boyz JR handily answers my question as DX make their entrance. For the Dudleys to win, they must put all three members of DX through tables. For DX to win, they must put the Dudleys in the dumpster and close the lid. Fun fact for any Americans reading: in the UK we call dumpsters “skips”. It gives them a deceptively light-hearted feel. Bubba and Road Dogg start off in the ring as the crowd break into an immediate “X Pac sucks!” chant. Poor guy. Bubba gains an advantage over the DX man with a superkick (not sure if I’ve seen him do one of those before) out of the corner , before tagging in a very hyped D-Von. X Pac is in soon after and flips out of an attempted slam. Instead of following up with an actual wrestling move, he simply tells D-Von to “SUCK IT!” and gets his head clotheslined off his shoulders. He fights back with a spinning heel kick and drags D-Von to the corner, tagging in Tori. She throws some pretty pathetic kicks while JR claims she trains in a “Japanese women’s dojo”, which I somehow doubt. Also, is that a dojo for women ran by Japanese people, or a dojo exclusively for Japanese women? Both male members of DX crash the ring and beat on D-Von, but he takes them down with a jumping double clothesline. Bubba gets the hot tag and clears house, but there hasn’t really been any urgency to this match so far. That looks to change as Road Dogg gets hooked in a full nelson and DRILLED with the Bubba Bomb! Bubba powerslams Road Dogg and holds his legs open for D-Von’s headbutt. X Pac rushes in to make the save, but is the victim of the same move again! Tori now rushes in and aims a slap at Bubba, but it’s blocked. She goes for a kick to the groin, but he catches it and hits her with a third powerslam. D-Von’s up top, and we get our third diving headbutt in succession. Oh. D-Von decides to leave his head down there for an UNCOMFORTABLY long period of time. Creepy. The Dudleys head to the outside, presumably for tables. No, for once it’s not. They actually go to fetch DX who are retreating up the ramp. Road Dogg and X Pac reverse a couple of Irish whips into the dumpster – which has been rolled up to the apron – and begin slamming the Dudleys’ heads into the metal. They drag them up onto the apron and open the lid, throwing the Dudleys inside. JR and Lawler are delighted to find that there’s a camera inside the dumpster, which shows our heroes’ limp bodies fall into the garbage. DX slam the lid shut and celebrate in the ring, but the ref is on the outside tending to Tori! The Dudleys crawl out of a pair of side doors in the dumpster and crawl under the ring while DX go to fetch the ref. They open the lid to show him...that there’s NOBODY INSIDE!? Comedy at its finest. Bubba and D-Von emerge from the opposite side of the ring and roll in with chairs. WHAM. DX are laid flat, and Bubba calls for the tables as the crowd go wild. They set up one table on top of another on the outside, and place a set of steps inside the ring. Bubba stands on the steps and D-Von lifts Road Dogg so tenderly into his arms, before he’s dropped over the top rope and through both tables below! He drew the short straw in having to take that bump, even with the extra table to cushion the fall. Suddenly, out of nowhere, X Pac is kicking everyone’s rear end, back suplexing Bubba off the steps and hitting a spinning heel kick on D-Von. He sets up a table near the corner and drags D-Von onto it, before scaling the turnbuckles. Bubba runs into the ropes, however, crotching Pac on top. D-Von clambers up and hits a superplex (Does a middle-rope version still count as a superplex? Maybe a semi-superplex) through the table! Only Tori left now, and Bubba points at her menacingly. Tori runs across the ring and...cements her place as Idiot of the PPV, climbing into the dumpster to escape. The Dudleys stride over and open the lid, and prove themselves to be just as idiotic, peering inside to find her while teetering precariously on the apron. Yup, DX take full advantage, braining both Dudleys from behind with stereo chairshots – although X-Pac gets an extra shot in on Road Dogg’s man, just because he was taking a while to fall in. He always has to be the loving centre of attention doesn’t he? DX slam the lid closed, winning the match. Winners: Degeneration X and Tori 1/5 – Very poor, and I had high hopes coming into this. For some reason I was expecting a high-octane brawl, culminating in some wicked bumps and hardcore action. Well, we got one good bump from Road Dogg, but apart from that this match was really quite boring. But wait! Further shenanigans are afoot. Let’s go back to ringside... Road Dogg strides victoriously up the ramp, but X Pac is lingering. He asks the ref where Tori is, but the official has absolutely no idea. The Dudleys emerge from the dumpster with Tori in their grasp, and X Pac is all like “Oh no!” on the ramp. Road Dogg, hilariously, is more interested in selling his injuries, and doesn’t seem shocked or concerned at all. The Dudleys start to set Tori up for something, but X Pac charges in and eats a 3D for his troubles. Road Dogg rather slowly slides in now (he certainly took his sweet time) and takes a second 3D. The coast is now clear for extreme woman-beating, everybody. Bubba backs Tori into a corner and...ugh...licks the tip of her nose. Delightful. D-Von fetches the “Tori” table from the outside, her name still spray-painted on it, and Bubba does the rest. You know the drill. Smash! We get a brief interview with Kurt Angle who states his intention to win King of the Ring, and go on to take Triple H’s WWF Championship. JR and Lawler recap Rikishi’s various post-match beatings tonight, emphasising the disadvantage he faces here. 10. King of the Ring Final: Kurt Angle vs Rikishi Rikishi comes out with his right arm strapped up, but it doesn’t stop him from calling Angle out to brawl on the ramp. He beats the Olympian all the way down to the ring, and continues the assault once the bell rings. Angle tries a powerslam but strains his back trying to lift the big Samoan, and Rikishi shows him how it’s done properly. He clotheslines Angle into the turnbuckle, and Kurt collapses. The crowd sense a Stink Face, but Angle hits a low blow (I think. The ref didn’t seem to mind) to get out of it. Angle takes Rikishi to the outside and slams him into the ring steps, while JR and Lawler go over some great previous Kings of the Ring. Owen Hart gets a mention, as does Austin and the beginning of the Attitude Era. And then we learn that last year’s winner was...Billy Gunn. The pair stand and brawl in the ring for a while, but Rikishi is only able to use lefts due to the weakened nature of his injured arm. Angle wins the exchange with some right hands, but Rikishi regains control with an instinctive clothesline...and immediately clutches his shoulder in pain. This match has been far from a classic so far in terms of wrestling, but I’m enjoying the developing story. Angle springs to his feet and charges, but Rikishi lifts him into a one-armed Samoan drop. Lawler and JR emphasise how great it is that he hit it one-handed, but he actually used his injured arm. Hmm. Rikishi is visibly wincing now, but hits a strong cutter on Angle. He can’t hook the legs however, and Kurt kicks out at one .This is great storytelling. Rikishi crushes Kurt in a corner of the ring and is able to hit the Stink Face at the second time of asking. JR genuinely says this – “That’ll smell worse than the body odour from that Iranian in the 1996 Olympics”. Wow. Rikishi stands up and strides to the centre of the ring, the crowd behind him...but ANGLE DASHES OUT OF THE CORNER AND HITS THE OLYMPIC SLAM! 1...2...no! Rikishi bravely kicks out. Angle can’t believe it, but dives quickly into a sunset flip attempt...but Rikishi sits down on his chest hard! 1...2...THE CLOSEST OF TWO COUNTS! Angle really is the master of kicking out at the last possible second. Rikishi foolishly heads to the top rope, but Angle is quickly up after him. He tees off with a few forearms...before delivering a BELLY TO BELLY SUPERPLEX! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW King of the Ring: Kurt Angle 2.5/5 – A fine match, although not the best of the tournament. That goes to Angle vs Jericho from earlier in the show. The storytelling was good throughout, the finish was unique (if a little sloppy, but how gracefully can you expect Angle to throw a man of Rikishi’s size from the turnbuckles?). Great work by these two throughout the night, Angle in terms of consistent workrate, Rikishi for telling a gradual story with his injuries. Angle celebrates in typically over-the-top fashion, dropping to his knees in jubilation and rolling out of the ring with arms aloft. Unfortunately we don’t get to see his coronation, which JR explains will take place the following night on Raw. We cut backstage now to Triple H, Shane, Vince and Steph. They’re making their way to the ring for the main event, and Trips doesn’t seem very confident in Vince at all. He has every right to be worried, as his title is on the line even if Vince or Shane are pinned. Vince is incredibly cocky, stating again his belief that the faces will be unable to work together.
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Dec 26, 2013 19:32
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 4 Kane is stalking to the ring. Undertaker is chilling on his motorcycle, and prepares to drive it to the ring. I find this hilarious. Do you think the backstage workers all get really pissed off at having to clear a path from the parking lot to the ring? Do they wish he was the deadman again? Because I loving do. I remember this being really confusing for me as a child, because I’d certainly been aware of the Undertaker before I became interested in wrestling, and I knew vaguely what his gimmick was about. Then, when he finally returned from injury, he was a loving biker. My first experience of Mark Calaway was as BikerTaker. Pity me. The Rock is WALKING~! to the ring. 11. WWF Championship Six Man Tag Match: Triple H (c), Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon vs Kane, The Undertaker, and The RockThe heels have a team talk before the bell rings, while the faces stand separately. It’s Shane and Kane to start, and the McMahon cheap shots Kane with his back turned. Kane backs him down into a corner, but Shane convinces the Big Red Machine to give him a free shot. Kane agrees? He sticks his chin out and Shane winds up...and clocks him in the face. No-sell! Shane ducks the return blow and peppers Kane with jabs, but the monster grabs his fist and lifts him into a choke. Vince is wearing the expression of a man who has only just realised that his team is heavily outmatched here. Shane bails out of the ring, but Undertaker throws him back in immediately, and Kane continues the assault with a big clothesline. He presses Shane over his head a few times before dropping him face-first onto the canvas. Shane gets set up for a chokeslam so Vince runs in to save him, but also finds a hand wrapped around his throat! Triple H is in to save the day. The Rock blind tags himself in and peppers the McMahons with rights, before entering into a staredown with Triple H. Trips starts to retreat slowly to his corner, but Rocky tells him to just bring it. Hunter takes the bait and re-enters the ring, but cleverly jaws with the Rock long enough for Shane to recover and hammer him in the back. Shane takes control as the ref clears everybody else from the ring. He backs the Rock into a corner and mocks his style of laying the smackdown, spitting into his own palm and slapping Rocky across the face. The crowd don’t like that. Neither does the Rock, who springs into action and tees off on Shane, before throwing him over the top rope. He goes to follow him out, but ‘Taker blind tags himself in (it was actually more of a hard forearm to the back than anything), and goes after Shane himself. Undertaker sets to work on Shane, beating him around and rolling him back into the ring. Oh my god, he has the worst trash talking ever. The camera catches him saying “Hello Mr Turnbuckle” just before he Shane’s head right into it. You’re fighting somebody, ‘Taker, not narrating a children’s book. BIG chokeslam to Shane and he’s out. 1...2...The Rock breaks up the pinfall! Vince’s stipulation looks to be working as the two faces argue, allowing Triple H to tag himself in and blindside the Undertaker. ‘Taker soon regains control with a big back body drop, boot to the face, and a nice running DDT. He covers the Game, but now Kane breaks up the pinfall! The two brothers square up to one another, and the Rock takes advantage by blind tagging himself in again. Triple H crawls to his corner and tags in Shane, who wants no part of the Rock. He stays on the apron and wastes time, but Rocky gets bored and launches him into the ring by the head. He decides to lay the smackdown on everybody, knocking Vince and Triple H off the apron to the delight of the crowd. The heels display great teamwork, as Shane is able to whip the Rock into the ropes just as HHH pulls them down, sending the Rock tumbling to the outside. The three heels crowd around and stomp away at the people’s champ, but ‘Taker and Kane stomp over to even the score. Everybody pairs off, and Rock goes straight for the champ, smashing his head into the Spanish announce table over and over. He marches over the JR and Lawler and strips their table down, but Triple H puts a stop to his plans with a clothesline. The pair get back in the ring and exchange a few fast paced counters, ducking under clotheslines and so on. Suddenly HHH catches Rock with a kick to the gut, and drills him with the Pedigree! 1...2...The Rock kicks out of the Pedigree! PPV resiliency is back! Undertaker drags the champ out of the ring and launches him into the ringpost. He and Kane both climb back onto the apron, desperate for a tag from Rocky. Rock staggers to his feet and looks very weakened, but refuses to tag out. Triple H comes back onto the scene and drops him with another clothesline. He tags Shane back in – bad call, man – and it’s worth noting that Vince hasn’t been entrusted with the legal man position yet. Shane takes Rock down with a high spinning heel kick (white boy’s got hops) and decides to juke and jive while hitting him with jabs. He goes for a big right, but Rocky blocks it and hits the ropes...where Triple H immediately kills his momentum, dropping his head into the top rope. Shane catches Rocky on the rebound with a big clothesline and tags in Vince. He delivers a single punch to the Rock and tags in Triple H. Good job, McMahon. Trips hits a vertical suplex and neckbreaker on the Rock, and Kane has to come in to break up the following pinfall. Vince gets the tag now, and clearly remembered to put his swag on this morning as he taunts Kane and the Undertaker. Rock gets a surge of energy and smacks Vince down, before knocking the other two off the apron...but turns right into a flagrant low blow from the boss! The ref actually saw it coming and turned away to miss it. Pet peeve of mine, right there. Triple H tags in and he and Rocky exchange blows in the centre of the ring. The champ charges, and Rock takes him over with a Samoan drop. Shane rushes in to break up the ensuing pinfall, and it all breaks down as everybody jumps in after him. Kane and ‘Taker clear the McMahons out of the ring while Triple H gives Rock a facebuster. We cut quickly to a great little shot of Kane uppercutting ‘Taker and throwing him into the ringsteps. So merciless! Rock catches Triple H with a spinebuster and sets up for the People’s Elbow, but Kane is watching on menacingly from the outside. Rock goes through all the theatrics...and Kane dashes in to catch him with a Chokeslam! Stephanie cheers from the outside as Triple H gives Kane the thumbs up. It was their plan all along! The Game bends over to taunt the downed Rock...and KANE SCOOPS HIM UP FOR A BIG TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER! 1...2...Undertaker pulls Kane out of the ring! He grabs Lawler’s chair – “He didn’t take it, I gave it to him” – and brains his big red brother with it. Shane has climbed up to the top, looking for a high flying move on Rocky...but Undertaker goozles him from the apron AND DRIVES HIM ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Dammmmn! That spot was sick! Vince takes advantage of all the carnage to set up for a People’s Elbow on the Rock. He runs the ropes...and Rocky was playing possum! He springs to his feet and hits the Rock Bottom! 1...2...3! Triple H is going to be pissed... Winner and NEW WWF Champion: The Rock 3.5/5 – Not the best technical match by a long stretch of the imagination, but one with a very entertaining ending sequence. Although the first half was pretty lethargic and slow (only the Rock and Triple H really looked bothered at first), everything kicked into a higher gear once Kane turned on the Undertaker. Also, that spot with ‘Taker, Shane and the announce table was so outrageously well executed that I’ve added a bonus .5 for that alone. The Rock grabs the title and celebrates in the ring while Triple H storms furiously to the back. Kane and Undertaker depart reluctantly, while Vince staggers to his feet...only for Rocky to drop him with a shot from the title belt. The show ends with the new champion, one foot planted on Vince’s chest, standing triumphantly with the championship held aloft. Lovely stuff.
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Dec 26, 2013 22:29
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KING OF THE RING 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Triple H, Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon vs Kane, The Undertaker, and The Rock - For the first time since No Way Out, the main event gets match of the night. Not a technical classic by any stretch of the imagination, but the latter half was extremely entertaining. Despite his slightly one-trick-pony style, I'm always a big fan of masked Kane in the main event scene. He's just so terrifying. It's great to see 'Taker back in the ring too, even if it is during that silly biker gimmick. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Kurt Angle - An easy decision. Turned in two excellent performances, and a fairly even - for a squash - match against Crash Holly. 2. Chris Jericho - Y2J gets second place for the second event in a row. A fantastic display against Angle. Perhaps should have gone further in the tournament. 3. Rikishi - The best we've seen from Rikishi since his dominance of the early Royal Rumble stages. Good work in his three showings. 4. Eddie Guerrero - A brilliantly fluid display from the Radical, single-handedly dragging his match with Val Venis halfway to respectability. 5. The Undertaker - Although nobody stood out particularly in the main event (it's success very much a shared effort), 'Taker's spots were the most memorable. The chokeslamming of Shane through the announce table was outrageous. I really regret not being able to put anybody from the tag title match in this month's top five. Jeff and Christian were particular frontrunners. Additional possible inclusions are The Rock and Triple H, who put in a great effort as always. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 17 2. Chris Jericho - 13 3. Triple H - 10 Jeff Hardy - 10 Eddie Guerrero - 10 4. Mick Foley - 9 5. Christian - 6 Chris Benoit - 6 6. Edge - 5 7. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 Rikishi - 4 8. The Rock - 2 Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 9. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Angle races four points clear at the top, while the consistently impressive upper-midcarders such as Jericho and Guerrero are beginning to edge above the rest of the pack. KING OF THE RING SCORE: 7/10 I considered giving this a 6.5 out of 10, as I felt it lay somewhere between No Way Out and Judgement Day, but decided to keep decimals out of it. King of the Ring deserved to get rounded up to a 7. Despite one of the worst matches ever (Brisco vs Patterson), everything else ranged from great to purpose-serving. The short matches were short for a reason, and the longer matches were all enjoyable. The tag title match, Angle vs Jericho, and - against all odds - a McMahon-heavy main event were very entertaining, even if they varied in terms of actual quality. The main event is a classic example of great storytelling and booking, with Kane's betrayal, 'Taker's brutality, Vince's arrogance, and the Rock's resilience all tying together to make for a satisfying conclusion. JGKing fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Dec 27, 2013 02:05
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jfjnpxmy posted:Good match really enjoyed it lots of good spots and chain wrestling and good drama throughout but still it wasn't very good 2/5. This did make me chuckle. From looking back at the thread I do agree that my ratings are harsh, although I think I've subconsciously weighted them in a different way. It looks as though I give 2/5 for an average match, and anything below that is flawed to some degree. So my 2/5s aren't the same as 4/10s, as stupid as that sounds. I'm still not apologising for my low score for the Iron Man match. I really couldn't stand it.
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Dec 27, 2013 13:20
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Squalitude posted:Wave of nostalgia. I remember learning that wrestling was fake at the age of about 8 while watching an episode of Heat on Channel 4! They were showing a recap of a Raw or Smackdown match where Kane was just beating the poo poo out of Kurt Angle. I vividly remember Angle being choked out over the ropes and my dad exclaiming that if this was real they'd have the police out there to arrest Kane. I don't think he meant to spoil it for me, probably just a throwaway remark as he passed the TV. I spent barely any of my time as a wrestling fan thinking it was real. It was never real to me, dammit. Aside from Channel 4 Heat, the main wrestling I remember from TV was WCW Worldwide on Channel 5. It was atrocious, but I loved some of the wrestlers. I was a big fan of Chris Kanyon in his gimmick where he pretended to be DDP all the time (why!?), and thought the Misfits In Action were great. Looking back, I was really too young for that sort of thing. I didn't get the Hugh G. Rection joke at all, and their valet was loving Major Gunns! As atrocious as WCW was at the time, it did make the Invasion storyline doubly exciting for me as I couldn't believe guys like Lance Storm and Booker T were mixing it with my WWF favourites. I remember being one of the only kids at school who liked Booker at all. He got a lot of hatred for his feud with The Rock, but I thought he was awesome just because I had prior knowledge of him already.
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Dec 31, 2013 04:02
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THE 2000 STEVE BLACKMAN UNSUNG HERO AWARDS: SECOND QUARTER Oh it's time. It's drat time. quote:Backlash 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Insurrextion 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Judgement Day 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees
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Dec 31, 2013 04:54
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 – Dallas, Texas PART 1 If you can peel your eyes away from that awful poster for second, allow me to introduce you all to the third (and final) instalment of the WWF's Fully Loaded PPV. Fully Loaded occupies something of a middle-child position in the Pay Per View lexicon. It's not one of the big four, nor does it have any particular associations or atmosphere. Armageddon is, in my mind, to be thought of as a particularly brutal PPV. Backlash is the WrestleMania fallout show. Fully Loaded is one of those Vengeance, No Mercy, Judgement Day-esque PPVs with no signature style, and is perhaps even worse off due to its especially short lifespan. Let's hope the card makes up for the slightly underwhelming sense of occasion. JR screams his welcomes and proclaims that we have THREE main events in store! He refuses to elaborate on them at all, so I'm forced to get stuck into Wikipedia - scrolling hastily to the "background" section to avoid spoilers - to find out what we have in store. Benoit appears to be the first of the upper-midcarders to break into the main event scene, as he'll face The Rock for the WWF Championship later on. Triple H and Chris Jericho will also mingle, having feuded their way into a Last Man Standing match (my prediction for match of the night). Our third main event is a clash between Undertaker and Kurt Angle, completing a trio of main events which I think have the potential to make for an incredible show. Fingers crossed...  1. Intergender Tag Team Match: T&A and Trish Stratus vs The Hardy Boyz and Lita This match seems centred around an ongoing feud between the two divas involved, with Trish getting the better of it. Lita comes out clutching her ribs, an injury picked up from a combination of falling through a table and being whipped by Stratus. Jeez. Give her a win, guys. Lita makes a beeline for Trish at the bell, but Test cuts her off and she returns to her corner. Albert and Matt start us off, the bigger man hurling the Hardy around with ludicrous ease. Hopefully Matt can get back into this with the power of yelling. He fights his way up to the top rope and comes off with an armdrag, but I can't tell how good it is because the truck monkeys decided to cut to a reaction shot of Jeff and Lita. Get it together, guys. Test is in and looks INTENSE, but Matt manages to shove him to the canvas and hit an "AAAAAARGH" legdrop frop the middle rope. Jeff gets the tag to the delight of ladies everywhere, but Test catches his charge and hits a spinning sidewalk slam! Nice! He looks to have turned up today. They head to the outside but Jeff scoots back in and dropkicks Test through the middle ropes, but hangs on and swings himself back in...CROSSBODY TO THE OUTSIDE! I sometimes forget how good Jeff was. Matt is back in and gets a two count with an inside cradle, but this only angers Test who hits a MASSIVE big boot. These guys are putting on a show! Trish gets the tag now, and slaps Matt across the face while Test holds him up. She rears back for a second slap...but Matt ducks out of the way and she cracks her partner! Roll up on Trish! 1...2...Test just breaks it up in time! He lays out Matt and Trish goes for an elbow drop, but Hardy rolls out of the way and makes the tag to Lita. She comes in to a massive ovation - wow she's over - but Stratus gets the gently caress out of there and tags in Albert. Lita suddenly wants no part of this and takes off running, but Albert's in hot pursuit. The "Boyz" intervene and hit a beautiful Poetry in Motion on the big man, followed by a double suplex. Test is in and they hook him up for one as well, while Lita simultaneously catches Trish in position for a suplex of her own. The two set-ups link arms! Big group suplex to the bad guys, hooray! Matt and Jeff pull their shirts off, as does Lita after a momentary pause. They're all for equality in the WWF. Albert is back up and puts a stop to the party in emphatic fashion, gorilla pressing Jeff all the way to the outside! It all breaks down into a mass brawl, but the ref regains control surprisingly quickly and we're left with the two MVPs of the match so far in the ring. Jeff rolls up Test for a near fall, but the big man retaliates with a hellacious full nelson slam! I'd buy that as his finisher. Jeff has to battle back again, but Test kills his momentum for good, catching his headscissors attempt with a MASSIVE powerbomb! Test and Jeff are absolutely balling. Test decides it's time to commit and actual murder and heads to the top rope, but Jeff rolls out of the way of his diving elbow attempt! He struggles to reach the corner but Test grabs his leg...and Jeff does that twisting jump-kick thing! You know the one. Nevermind. Matt's in with a diving clothesline from the top rope, and this match is just leaving everybody breathless. I can barely type fast enough as Test plants Matt with a pumphandle slam the Road Dogg could only dream of. 1...2...JEFF HITS A SWANTON TO BREAK IT UP! Slight gripe here: the ref started his count way too early here and probably could have made the three, but it's a minor fault. Albert's in to sort this poo poo out, but Matt counters his powerslam into a tornado DDT! Lita hits one of her own off the top rope onto Test, before leaping into a crossbody onto Albert on the outside! She heads back up top a third time...and hits a hurricanrana on Test, who sells it to perfection! 1...2...ohhhh so close! This loving match! Lita is on a roll, but Albert digs her in the spine as she nears his corner. She staggers into Test...and he straight up murders her with a powerbomb! Trish demands the tag to finish things off, but Lita weakly throws a shoulder up on the stroke of three. Trish looks annoyed, but regains her composure to hit a bulldog, perhaps the first non-awesome move of the match so far. Aghhh Trish, don't gently caress up this match! It's been awesome so far. Trish looks completely out of her depth, so Lita takes control and whips her hard into her own corner. Stratus fights back with an elbow and hesitates for an AGE before heading to the top rope. Lita's up and slaps Albert off the apron, before scooting up to punish Trish for almost making GBS threads up the match with a superplex! 1...2...Albert pulls Lita off. The Hardys run in and take T&A out of the ring, leaving Lita and Trish alone. Lita heads up top...Moonsault! 1...2...3! Jesus Christ! Winners: The Hardy Boyz and Lita 4/5 – Why have I never heard about this match before!? It's as if some of the main eventers were laughing at these guys beforehand or something, because they came out as if they had something to seriously prove. Test was as good as I've ever seen him, with Jeff very close behind. Lita shone, Matt and Albert did their jobs, and Trish's involvement was thankfully kept to a minimum. The best undercard match I've seen in this thread so far. It reminded me of a really fun Chikara match, big spots popping off all over the place. One final point: what's the deal with Stratus? I always thought she was regarded as decent in the ring. Was this before she learned how to wrestle? Hmmm. Lita jumps up and celebrates, but Albert's in behind to knock her down. Boooo. The Hardys jump in to save her, but T&A down them with slams and big boots. Trish pulls a belt out of somewhere and whips Lita for a while, before the heels march triumphantly to the back. Really curious booking there. I'd rather the faces had their moment to celebrate a huge win. That's really put a dampener on things. Still, we got a match that was ten times better than it had any right to be. Commisioner Mick Foley is backstage (he's the commish now, okay?) and Edge asks if he can speak to him. He thinks Christian has food poisoning. Foley thinks this is awfully convenient, considering they're defending their titles later tonight. Edge swears he's telling the truth. Mick agrees to send for a doctor, but seems quite sceptical. Undertaker rumbles into the backstage area on his motorcycle, and asks if anybody has seen Kurt Angle - his opponent later tonight. A backstage dude remarks that he's right there, and we see Kurt stride into view in the distance. He sees 'Taker and pulls the best "oh poo poo" expression, before turning and running. 'Taker drives right through the building after Angle (which conveniently consists of one long, straight corridor), who tries to hide in his locker room. Undertaker cruises right into the room after him, but Kurt scoots around and heads right back up the corridor. 'Taker sits and revs his bike. What a badass. Those last two segments were pretty hilarious, but I only think the first one was meant to be. 2. Tazz vs Al Snow Aw poo poo, it's Tazz. Tazz's insistence on no-selling a lot of poo poo has really made me dislike him over the course of this thread. The best we can hope for here is a Steve Blackman run-in. Al looks all business as he heads straight into the ring and goes after Tazz with right hands! The only build up to this match consisted of a short video package of Tazz attacking random face superstars during their matches for no reason, so I can only assume that Snow is pissed off at the injustice of this. Al is BEATING on Tazz, and in fairness his attacks are being sold convincingly. Tazz rolls out of the ring for a breather, but Snow is right after him to continue the assault. Tazz fights back in the ring and goes for a suplex, but Snow pushes him off and slides under a clothesline...ooooh superkick to the mush! Lawler is bewildered by Snow's dominance so far, as he slams Tazz down for a two count. Snow gets whipped to the corner and tries to vault his legs over a charging Tazz, but the ECW alumnus counters into an Alabama Slam type thing. This match is alright, but everybody seems burned out by that amazingly hot opener. Al seeks to change that with a powerslam...followed by a BIG legdrop from the top! He got surprising airtime. He goes back up and...hits a moonsault! Everybody seemed certain that Tazz would get out of the way, but he instead has to kick out at two. Oh no, I hope this isn't another "Tazz is so resilient! He kicks out of everything!" sequence of events. The crowd are chanting "BORING, BORING" and it's really undeserved! The match has lacked a little bite, but it's motoring along perfectly well. Snow crawls over to the corner to grab Head, but Tazz chop blocks him back down. Tazz takes control and I really can't get into his style of wrestling. It's very wooden. Al manages to block a couple of strikes and hooks the arms, drilling Tazz with repeated headbutts. I've always thought that spot should be more damaging. In a real right that would destroy somebody. Al hits a leg kick, then a body kick...but Tazz catches the head kick and suplexes Snow over! He stalks him for the Tazzmission...blocked! Al grabs Tazz's arm and drags him over, before grabbing him as he rises for a German suplex. Tazz blocks it and scoots around the back, and THIS TIME applies the Tazzmission! Uh oh. Al struggles, but Tazz drags him to the mat. He can only tap out. Awwww Winner: Tazz 2/5 – Short, but very nice. Dampened a little by a dead crowd and Tazz's...Tazzness, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Fully undeserving of its "boring" chant. Is everybody going to perform beyond themselves at this PPV!? I am shocked by the quality of both matches so far. We go backstage to Edge waiting outside a toilet cubicle. Christian is inside making loud vomiting noises. Foley is here with a doctor to check him out, and Christian emerges looking a little worse for wear. The doc says that, in his opinion, Christian can't fight tonight. Christian hilariously says things like "But we have to defend our titles tonight" and "We're the fightingest champions of all time", while Foley apologises to Edge for not believing him. He gives the champs the night off. I absolutely love E&C. Have I mentioned already? We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Steph and Triple H are...watching what just happened on a monitor. Trips chuckles at Christian's illness. So, does this mean they're now watching themselves!? I'm confused. Anyway, a gopher arrives with "more flowers" for Stephanie, which he adds to an already overflowing table. Triple H is all like "Alright, enough's enough! Who are these from!?", and Steph is hilariously disappointed to find they're not from him. He backtracks and said he WAS going to send her some. Am I the only one who thinks that Triple H is an okay husband? See the previous Steve Blackman Awards for one example in particular, but he generally seems to go out of his way to get Stephanie out of trouble whenever she decides to interfere. Triple H finds a card attached to the flowers and reads it out in a brilliantly pissed off tone. "Stephanie, best of luck to you and your man tonight. It's true. It's true." I think it's fantastically in-character of Angle to fall in love with Steph after her interference in his match with Jericho at King of the Ring, so I really hope that's the thinking behind this. Trips isn't happy. Stephanie is bewildered. 3. WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Perry Saturn I am delighted to announce that my boy Perry Saturn has not only managed to bag himself a title match, but also a valet in the form of Terri (last seen wasting everybody's drat time at 'Mania and Insurrextion). Chyna is staring daggers at Terri as she heads to the ring. Apparently the she-devil got a few cheap shots in on the ninth wonder on the previous Smackdown. Oh man! Chyna stalks down to the ramp to confront Terri and Saturn gets in her way. He throws a punch, but Chyna blocks it and KNOCKS HIM ON HIS rear end! Terri takes off running, but Chyna catches her further up the ramp and grabs her by the hair. Perry is on the scene to nail her in the back, but finds himself attacked in turn by Guerrero. Terri runs to the back (worst valet ever), while Eddie beats Saturn all the way back down to the ring. King and JR bring up the history of the Radicalz, explaining how Eddie pretty much abandoned the group for Chyna. Speaking of Chyna, she turns Saturn inside out on the outside with a big lariat! I didn't know Perry could sell like that! It's much more funny when he's dreadful. Saturn crawls back into the ring and Guerrero wastes no time in hitting a picture perfect frankensteiner from the top. Perry gets sent back to the outside and Chyna throws him into the ring steps! Saturn is really hurling himself around here. This is nearing squash territory. Eddie heads up top and hits a crossbody all the way to the floor! Back in the ring he hits a flying hurricanrana with unnerving precision. The man's an acrobat. Guerrero hops up onto his opponent's shoulders again, but Perry's had enough and flattens him with a powerbomb. The pair rest for a while, but Guerrero reasserts his dominance with a tornado DDT. He goes for a hurricanrana again, which he hits, and then ANOTHER which Saturn counters into a powerbomb. Eddie Guerrero isn't acting like Eddie Guerrero here. He's acting like Eddie Guerrero controlled by an Eddie Guerrero fan on a Smackdown game, who just keeps doing the most Eddie Guerrero spots he can think of. Perry heads to the top and hits an attempted moonsault, but Eddie rolls out of the way. That's three moonsaults so far, and Saturn's is comfortably the worst. Are they having a bet backstage or something? All three moonsaults have happened from the same turnbuckle as well. Bizarre. I can only pray that Angle busts out one against the Undertaker. His is the most beautiful of them all  .Eddie hits a very hard vertical suplex - "Almost a brainbuster" says JR - and heads to the top to get froggy. Saturn rolls out of the way, but Eddie is able to break his fall with a forward roll. Saturn drops the champ and heads to the top himself, but Eddie is up and dropkicks him to the outside! Perry has taken some serious bumps in this match. Bravo. Chyna stomps over to Saturn on the outside, but he's finally had enough of her bullshit and drills her in the face. Chyna staggers...and Saturn clotheslines her onto the Spanish announce table, breaking it in half! Hahahaha. I hope that wasn't being saved for a later match. That was the most underwhelming Spanish announce tale spot I've ever seen. Amazing. Terri finally decides to make her return to ringside, but Perry doesn't seem impressed. He grabs her to use as a human shield, and the chivalrous Eddie hesitates to attack. Terri rewards him with a boot to the crotch, and Saturn sends him into the ringpost. Guerrero's weakened, and Saturn throws him back into the ring before FLYING from the top with a big elbow drop to the back! Oh my god, could it be!? 1...2...3...YES! PERRY SATURN IS YOUR NEW CHAMPION! Winner and NEW WWF European Champion: Perry Saturn 2.5/5 – I hate to say it, but Perry probably deserves this. He bumped like a madman for a good portion of this match, while Eddie did his Eddie thing, and it all came together quite nicely. Again the crowd seemed quite dead, but big spots such as the (accidental?) Spanish table breakage and the low blow brought them back into it. Hopefully this leads to a Guerrero push further up the card, because he's unquestionably great. Good job everybody. Perry swaggers back up the ramp and poses with Terri. Good GOD he's ugly. I think my favourite thing about Saturn is the way his facial expression never changes. Backstage (in the lesser #HeelLockerRoom?) Edge and Christian are celebrating their duping of Foley while they pack their bags for the night: "He's so totally gullible! Food poisoning rules!". Mick comes in and catches them celebrating, and decides he might have suddenly changed his mind. Christian claims his sickness has come back, and he runs to the toilet. Foley follows him, and ignores his cries of "Mick don't come in here! I'm like totally barfing!" to peer over the top of the cubicle. The camera pans down to show Christian pouring a cup of water repeatedly into the toilet while simulating puking noises. He slowly looks up and realises he's busted. Foley admits that while he's not a doctor ("although I have spent quite a lot of time in emergency rooms"), in his humble, medical opinion...the pair of them are going to get their asses kicked when they defend their titles tonight. Well, that's the end of part one. What a surprisingly great show so far! With those three big main events lined up, I'd say this PPV has an excellent chance of surpassing No Way Out to become the best show of the thread. JGKing fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 21:29
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triplexpac posted:I've never seen a Test match rated so highly! You go, Andrew "Test" "The Punisher" Martin It was an incredibly breathless match and took me completely by surprise. Almost every move Test gave or received was done with such impact. It reminded a little bit of Batista in the midst of his first push, when everything he did seemed so forceful.
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Jan 2, 2014 22:06
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 2 We go backstage to Michael Cole, currently being dwarfed by The Undertaker. He asks for his opinion on Kurt Angle. Undertaker spits on the floor - because he's a biker, you see - before explaining that Kurt Angle's going to need a doctor to remove his foot from his rear end. A handily placed TV monitor shows Angle climbing onto 'Taker's bike, and the American Badass isn't happy. He stomps over to the parking lot and catches Kurt attempting to start the engine. Angle sees Undertaker and shits himself, jumping out of the seat and running for the hills. 4. WWF Tag Team Championship: Edge and Christian (c) vs The Acolytes You think you know them. Edge and Christian are out to defend their titles, but grab a couple of mics first. They insult the home crowd. Edge cuts a hilariously generic heel promo, beginning with "What is up with Dallas' professional sports franchises?". Christian brings up the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories, claiming that it doesn't make a difference because "if JFK had spent five more minutes in Dallas, he'd have committed suicide anyway". Edge prepares to unveil their five second pose, but the Acolytes are out to interrupt them. Bradshaw grabs a mic himself and is furious, being a Texan boy. He brings up Dallas' "FIVE SuperBowl championships" and the fact that teams from Texas have collectively won every major sports championship there is. However, I know for a fact that no Texas team has won the FA Cup, the oldest association football championship in the world, especially not in 1937 or 1973, the years in which it was won by the mighty Sunderland AFC. But I digress. Bradshaw's still going. He runs down Canada and brings up the Dallas Stars' Stanley Cup win, but I'm struggling to pay attention. This promo is nearing Steiner levels of volume and incoherence. Thankfully he stops talking, and the Acolytes leave the ring to lay down a whoopin' on the champs. Bradshaw smacks Edge around with right hands, while Faarooq lays into Christian with the ring steps. Finally the action moves to the ring, where E&C try for their own version of the Poetry in Motion (ending with a crossbody rather than a flying heel kick), but Bradshaw catches Christian horizontally and sticks him onto the top turnbuckle. He repositions himself, scoops up the champ, and hurls him backwards overhead into the centre of the ring. Big spot. OHH big boot to Edge as well. Boys, what happened to you being good at wrestling? You're getting squashed. Bradshaw beats Edge around for a while before spiking him with a huge powerbomb. He sets him up for a second...and Christian flies from off-camera with a missile dropkick! That got almost no reaction but it was insanely well executed! Edge takes control and a neckbreaker gets two, before tagging Christian in. The pair do a few double-team moves in the corner and set Bradshaw up for a double superplex, but he shoves them into the ring and flattens Edge with a diving shoulder block. Faarooq gets the hot tag and comes in like a house on fire! Powerslam to Christian! Spinebuster to Edge (man I hate Faarooq's spinebuster)! 1...2...Christian breaks it up. Bradshaw takes Edge to the outside and drags him over to the timekeeper...and Edge uses the timekeeper himself as a weapon!? He rams Bradshaw right into the unfortunate official, and grabs one of the title belts. Meanwhile, Faarooq hits the Dominator on Christian and covers him. 1...2...Edge drags the referee away and smashes his belt into the back of Faarooq's head. Winners: The Acolytes 1/5 – A filler match with a few nice spots (the missile dropkick and Faarooq's hot tag), but everything else was pretty ordinary. A screwy finish tops off this below-average showing. E&C grab their belts and head to the back, but the APA jump them on their way up the ramp. They beat the champs up the ramp and all the way backstage. In the #HeelDressingRoom we see Triple H pacing angrily. He explains to Stephanie that he's annoyed he has to think about Kurt Angle sending his wife flowers while he should be focusing on his last man standing match with Jericho. Steph gets angry and tells Trips that if he thinks Angle sent the flowers, maybe he should go and ask him himself. The Game decides to do just that, and storms off. Kurt is not having the best of nights. Speak of the devil, we cut to Angle still being pursued by an angry Undertaker. Kurt backs away and repeatedly apologises, but 'Taker is having none of it. Angle leads him down what looks to be a dead end, but he scoots around the back and blindsides undertaker with a wrench to the knee! Oh my god, it was all an ingenious plan! He leaves 'Taker down and hurt in the back. 5. WWF Intercontinental Championship Steel Cage Match: Val Venis (c) vs Rikishi A steel cage match, oh boy! We see a recap of Venis winning the title from Rikishi on an episode of Smackdown, thanks mainly to interference from Tazz - who has been attacking faces for no reason, remember. We also see Val attacking Rikishi's buddy Scotty 2 Hotty, throwing him off the stage on the previous episode of Raw. Couple all of this with the poo poo we saw Venis do to Rikishi in the run up to King of the Ring, and at the PPV itself, and I'd say the Samoan has a pretty big reason to be pissed off with him. Val is out to his awful techno remix with Trish in tow. The ref locks them in, and Val goes immediately for an escape, but Rikishi drags him back down. Venis gets whipped into the cage walls a few times, allowing Rikishi a chance to escape himself. Val goes up after him and gets swatted back down with an elbow, but he cunningly goes for the door instead. Rikishi has to abandon his own escape attempt to drag Val back by the feet. I am not a fan of the whole cage door thing at all, I must confess. Rikishi gets driven headfirst into one of the walls and I'm just waiting for him to blade, but he instead regains the upper hand, squashing Venis in a corner of the ring. Val falls into prime Stink Face territory and...manages to low blow the Samoan away! He crushes Rikishi with a running clothesline, turning the challenger inside out. I always enjoy when Rikishi pulls out that particular type of bump. It looks so impressive. The pair climb one side of the cage, but Val knocks Rikishi back down to the mat before leaping off with an elbow drop. He again goes for an escape and makes it halfway over the top of the cage, but the 'Kishmesiter General is there to drag him back. The pair take an age standing on the top rope, slowly bouncing one another into the wall, before both men fall and crotch themselves over the top rope. This isn't exactly the bloody brawl I was hoping for. Just as I say that, the camera reveals a cut over one of Val's eyes. Val freaks out on Rikishi with right hands, something Lawler attributes to the effect of seeing his own blood (nice commentary), but the challenger whips him HARD into one of the walls. BIG Samoan Drop, BIG squash in the corner, and Rikishi is rolling. He climbs up to the middle rope and hits the Banzai Drop, but Val just about drapes a leg over the ropes at two. Rikishi heads for the door...and Trish slams it onto his head! Venis climbs up top and hits the Money Shot. 1...2...Rikishi kicks out! Suddenly Lita runs out from the back, strap in hand and revenge on her mind! She whips Stratus to the floor and rips off her top, before lashing her all the way up the ramp to the back. Back in the ring, Val and Rikishi are battling AGAIN on one of the top ropes. This match has been sort of repetitive. Val gets knocked down, taking the ref out along the way. Rikishi climbs all the way to the top and looks to be on his way down the other side...but he slowly turns...and SPLASHES ONTO VAL FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE! Jeeeeesus. Rikishi is slow to get up, but clambers towards the door of the cage. Suddenly Tazz is on the scene, and smashes a TV camera into the challenger's head! Rikishi falls back into the ring, where Val is able to roll over and cover him for the three count. Winner and STILL WWF Intercontinental Champion: Val Venis 2/5 - This was quite a boring and repetitive match to be honest, but I've given it a 0.5 bonus for Rikishi's ludicrous splash from the top of the cage. Even so, this dragged, featured way too much interference, and probably didn't do a great deal to put either man more over. We cut briefly to The Undertaker limping around backstage. He doesn't look happy. Neither does Triple H, who is stalking the corridors in search of Kurt Angle. He runs into a gopher carrying a bunch of flowers, and demands that he take him to the sender. The man leads Trips to a closed door, and the Game braces himself before declaring "Kurt Angle's about to get his rear end kicked". He storms into the room and the door slams. We hear an almighty commotion from inside while the poor backstage worker looks confused. He wonders what Triple H meant by Kurt Angle, just as the door opens and Chris Jericho emerges triumphantly! That sneaky genius. We see Triple H lying dazed inside the room as Y2J takes off. Shane McMahon's music hits and he strides out to the ring in a Rock t-shirt. Nice touch. He claims he's about to call out The Rock to face him one on one. He tells the champ to "just bring it", and sure enough, the Brahma Bull's music hits. Rocky looks wary and claims that he knows this is a set-up. He demands to know where Benoit is. In the rafters, under the ring, stuck up Shane's candy rear end? Suddenly Benoit appears on the Tron and assures The Rock that there'll be a new champion come the end of the night. The camera zooms out to reveal that Benoit is standing in the champ's locker room, and he proceeds to rip shirts off their hangers, tear pants in half, etcetera. The Rock looks mildly annoyed and storms out of the ring. Well, that was one of the worst examples of that type of segment I've seen. My favourite is probably one of Austin's, although Kofi trashing Orton's ridiculous stock car was great as well. Hype video now for the Angle/Undertaker feud. We see Angle interfere on behalf of Edge and Christian to help them retain their tag titles on Raw, costing 'Taker and Kane in the process. We also see Kurt accidentally trashing the motorcycle with food and drink thrown from a catering table during one of his typically over-the-top celebrations. Angle apologises: "As they would say on the streets, 'my bad'". He brings 'Taker a replacement bike. It's a bright white scooter, which Undertaker pushes over the edge of the stage. Very ungrateful. Kurt then interferes in another of 'Taker's matches on an episode of Smackdown, accidentally clocking the American Badass with a sledgehammer shot made for Triple H. I'm not sure why he'd want to nail the Game; no feud has really been mentioned yet, although one seems to be brewing. Anyway, Kurt later has a revelation and decides that he's no longer scared of the Undertaker. He proves this by pouring a bucket of slop all over the motorcycle and blindsiding 'Taker backstage with a wrench. 6. Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker Kurt comes out clutching a wrench in hand, and jumps in fear as his own pyro goes off. Amazing. 'Taker comes out early while Angle's music is still playing, driving his bike halfway down the ramp and leaping off in pursuit! Kurt aims a wrench shot right at Undertaker's face, but the American Badass blocks it and punches Angle right over the crowd barrier. He beats Kurt around the crowd, and then around the ringside area for a while, before the referee ushers them into the ring so the match can start. Angle fights back briefly with a few rights, but 'Taker hits a big boot and (probably equally big) elbow drop. The ref counts two, but Undertaker lifts Angle's shoulders so the match can continue. Are we really supposed to believe that would have been enough for the pinfall already!? That's not the Olympic Hero I know. A vertical suplex results in the same outcome, 'Taker sparing Angle the three count to continue the beating. Why are the burying him so much!? Dammit, WWF. Interestingly, Undertaker hasn't sold the beating his leg has taken backstage at all. Angle gets taken to the corner and socked in the mouth, but manages to stick a boot into 'Taker's grill when he charges. Kurt leaps onto his back and clamps on a sleeper, but Undertaker backs him hard into the corner. A clothesline follows, as does a sidewalk slam with authority. 1...2...and this time Angle kicks out of his own accord, thank gently caress. Kurt goes for a ride out of the ring, but is able to snatch up his wrench and stiff 'Taker in the knee as he approaches. Back in the ring Angle eats a few more humongous rights, but chops away the bad leg and slaps on a leglock. 'Taker battles free and the pair exchange blows in the middle of the ring. Undertaker slaps on a goozle, but Angle kicks him in the leg and trips him Judo-style. He slaps on an incredibly long leglock (seriously, it takes like two minutes for 'Taker to reverse it), before Undertaker regains control and begins to dominate with brawling once again. He whips Angle into the ropes and catches him on the rebound with a BIIIG Chokeslam! The ref encourages Undertaker to cover Kurt, but he refuses. Angle is scraped off the mat and smashed with the Last Ride, and finally that's enough for the three. Winner: The Undertaker 1.5/5 - A third disappointing match in a row. I didn't really agree with Undertaker's whole "I could pin him if I wanted to" thing at the start of this match, and nothing about it stood out as remarkably good. Perhaps given more time these two could have produced something special, but given the two matches above this on the card I can understand why not. Still, I'd have expected a better showing from both men. When Al Snow and Tazz deliver a more entertaining match than 'Taker and Kurt, something's not quite right. We cut backstage to The Rock discovering his torn-apart wardrobe. He looks at it with the same slight annoyance as earlier before storming off. What a man. JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 00:41
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 3 Video package now detailing the rivalry between Jericho and Triple H. Beginning with his forced kiss on an interfering Stephanie at King of the Ring, Y2J has been a thorn in the Game's side for weeks. We see him cost Triple H a number one contender's spot, as well as causing him to receive a Stinkface from Rikishi and - my personal favourite - costing him a match against the Brooklyn Brawler. Triple H gains revenge on a following Raw, using Road Dogg and X-Pac to lead Jericho into an ambush, before decimating him with a sledgehammer. The heels wave a bloodied Y2J onto an ambulance. This causes a vengeful Jericho to demand the match and stipulation. 7. Last Man Standing Match: Triple H vs Chris Jericho JR claims that this is only the second Last Man Standing match in WWF history (whaaaaaaaat!?), the first taking place in 1999 between The Rock and Mick Foley. Jericho has taped ribs but comes out swinging, stomping a mudhole in Triple H in a corner of the ring. He dropkicks the Game to the outside and hits a flying follow-up when Trips tries to clamber back onto the apron. They brawl in the wreckage of the Spanish announce table and Y2J hits a few disrespectful slaps to the face. Back in the ring the smaller man hits a nice diving elbow from the top, but Triple H regains control with a slightly sloppy version of his facebuster. A brutal clothesline takes the action back outside, but it's not long before they return to the ring. Triple H rips some of Jericho's bandaging away and goes to work on the ribs. Mannn this is an extensive working-over of the midsection, while JR delivers the biggest Smackdown of the match to Lawler: "You know what's running through the mind of Triple H right now, JR? Those disgusting words that come out of Jericho's mouth when he calls his wife a 'trashbag' and a...and a 'bottom feeder'. How would you like it if somebody called your wife a trashbag?" "...Triple H going to work now on the-" "How would you like it JR? How would you like it if somebody called your wife a trashbag?" "I WOULDN'T LIKE IT, DAMMIT! How many times are you going to ask me that? How would YOU like it if somebody called ALL YOUR WIVES trashbags?" I am gobsmacked at the sickness of that burn. Meanwhile, Triple H hooks the arms of Jericho on the outside, allowing Stephanie come over and get a few free slaps in. Hard vertical suplex on the ramp, and the Game looks in control. He gets up at the count of five and returns to the ring, where Triple H...applies an abdominal stretch. I'm all for telling the story of a match, but this is going on for quite a while. FINALLY Jericho breaks out with a brave hip toss, but immediately collapses clutching his ribs. Triple H loses his cool with the ref and enters into a shoving match, allowing Y2J to wipe out the Game with a beautiful jumping heel kick. He goes for the Lionasult...and eats knees! A DDT puts Jericho down for six or seven seconds, but he gets back up...and immediately rushes into a sleeper hold from the Game. That puts him down for a further nine, but he drags himself up via the ropes and defiantly urges Triple H to keep going. Trips blasts him with a right hand, but he pops back up and eats another. They're doing a good job of selling Y2J as the valiant underdog, and I'm just waiting for him to get a big reversal. Oh...the opposite actually happens; Jericho gives HHH the DX crotch chop, and Triple H straight up Pedigrees him in the middle of the ring! Merciless. The referee administers the count while Triple H lounges across the top turnbuckle like some kind of decadent warrior-king. Jericho just about manages to beat the ten count, and Trips can't believe it. He storms over to ringside to grab a chair and rams it into Y2J's ribs, following up with another shot across the back. He sets up Jericho for a Pedigree onto the chair, but the referee jumps in and tries to stop it. Slight gripe here - I HATE when refs go overboard in stopping heels from pulling off damaging moves. Fair enough, protest and wave your arms. But trying to physically force the heel to gently caress off is a stage too far in my opinion, especially when they never put the same amount of effort into stopping a face from killing his rival. Case in point here as Jericho low blows the game, snatches up the chair, and WAFFLES him with an outrageous chairshot to the head! I believe that may be the first Jericho chairshot we've seen in this thread, at least the first that looks like it could kill a man. He is loving brutal with them. OH MY GOD Triple H has given himself a ridiculous bladejob, although I suppose it fits with the brutality of the chairshot. I'm half considering a use of that "Well, that escalated quickly" meme from Anchorman, because it really has. Jericho builds up a head of steam and hits a sweet missile dropkick from the top. JR talks up his heart and resiliency, how he refuses to quit, but right now Triple H looks in a far worse state. Jericho hits his bulldog right onto the steel chair, but breaks up the referee's count at six to administer more punishment. Nice to see the remnants of his vindictive streak, even in his current babyface persona. Jericho whips Triple H clean over the top turnbuckle - he always takes that bump well - and the pair brawl over to the announce area. Jericho gets whipped into the steps before being set up for a Pedigree directly onto them. He's about to get his face rearranged...but backdrops the Game off the steps just in time! The pair stagger to their feet and grab a TV monitor each from the one remaining announce table (after Chyna so selfishly FELL THROUGH IT during Eddie's match). They measure one another and hit simultaneous shots to the head! Both men beat the count at nine and roll slowly back into the ring. Triple H goes for another Pedigree...SWIFTLY COUNTERED INTO THE WALLS OF JERICHO! Triple H screams and taps out, but Jericho doesn't release the hold. Trips drags himself to the ropes and grabs one, but the ref is powerless...and Jericho drags him back into the middle of the ring! Stephanie runs in and drags Y2J off by the hair and he grabs her. Is he going to kiss her again? NO, he trips her legs and slaps on the Walls! The crowd go wild as Triple H runs the ropes and smashes Jericho off his wife. They brawl back to the outside and Triple H grabs a sledgehammer from under the ring. He hides them everywhere, doesn't he? He swings and misses, hitting the ring post as Y2J ducks out of the way. Jericho snatches up the weapon now, and nails Triple H in the midsection. He topples backwards onto the announce table, and Y2J gets up on the tiny timekeeper's desk! Is he going for the Lionsault!? Triple H prevents what would have been a crazy spot with a desperation low blow. He climbs up alongside Jericho and, using the crowd barrier for balance, vaults both men backwards through the table with a thunderous back suplex! That looked dangerous as hell. The referee counts and both men look to be completely out...but Triple H staggers to his feet on the stroke of ten! Winner: Triple H 3.5/5 – A great match. The constant rest holds and slow wearing down of Jericho towards the start of the bout were quite a drag, but a necessary one as the match was then able to kick into a higher gear. Neither man put a foot wrong here; the only reason this doesn't get a 4/5 was because the ending spot looked fairly sloppy. I'm not sure how much of the blame for this can be put on the wrestlers themselves (see Onmi's above post), but it didn't damage the match too much anyway. Both men come out looking strong. Triple H collapses as soon as the bell rings and looks to be out cold, his face covered in blood. Stephanie rushes to his side and a couple of referees help him to the back, broken but victorious.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:50
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 4 We get a hype video for the upcoming main event, and it looks to be based around a refreshingly simple feud. The Rock has the gold. Benoit wants the gold. We see Benoit jumping The Rock on various occasions, beating him down with chairs and the help of new ally Shane McMahon. I think this is an interesting move from Shane. Perhaps we're supposed to entertain the idea that he's moved to align himself with the next big thing after Triple H lost the belt. There's a montage of Benoit beating people up while Cole screams his negative traits in the background: "Benoit is ruthless...unfeeling...no emotion...dangerous". In hindsight it actually makes for quite disturbing viewing. The Rock agrees to put his title on the line, not because Benoit has deserved or earned a shot, but because he has "made it personal". The pair then seem to spend the rest of the month beating the crap out of each other in various backstage locations. Rocky seems to have the final word, Rock Bottoming Benoit onto the hood of a limo. However, Commissioner Foley turns the tables by ruling that the title CAN change hands on a disqualification. Oooooh. Potential shenanigans incoming. 8. WWF Championship: The Rock (c) vs Chris Benoit Everybody looks intense as they come out (Shane included), and for a second it looks as thought they're going to do the Big Fight Announcements. It's not to be, as Shane sneaks into the ring while Rocky poses on the turnbuckle. The champ turns and sees him, but as Shane scampers away Benoit is able to slide in from the back and club snatch Rock's arm. He's going immediately for the Crossface! The Rock fights him off and hits a big running elbow, so Benoit slides out for an immediate breather. Rock is pumped up though, and follows him straight out to jam his head into the ring steps! I should mention that the Rock is currently in that phase where the logo on his trunks is red rather than white. I find that particularly year 2000. Shane leads the champ on a merry dance around the ring, and I think they're going to do that spot where the dastardly manager cuts through the ring and allows the heel to cut off the face with a clothesline...but THEY TOTALLY GO THE OTHER WAY WITH IT! Rocky ploughs right through the Rabid Wolverine and continues out the other side of the ring to chase Shane some more. Hah. I loved that spot for some reason. They dash back into the ring and Rocky gives Benoit an atomic drop, before tripping him and slingshotting the Canadian right into Shane on the apron! Shane tumbles into the announce area, which looks like a demolition site by this stage of the evening. Rock tries to apply the Crossface, but he can't get it properly locked in! Benoit scrambles to the outside and waits, the atmosphere slowly building. The challenger returns to the ring and begins to take control. They spill to the outside where Benoit gives Rock one of his STINGING chest chops, and to make matters worse for poor Dwayne, his head cracks into a lurking TV camera as he whips himself back. Shawn Michaels wouldn't stand for that poo poo. That cameraman would be getting petulantly dragged into next week. Back in the ring now...and oh look. There's some of Triple H's blood on the canvas. Quite a lot, actually. Rocky lifts Benoit up and drops him stomach-first over the top rope, before NAILING him with a straight up kick to the grill. Or "XFL punt", as Lawler describes it.  Benoit goes up top, but Rock swipes one of his legs away and joins him up there for a (surprisingly perfect) back suplex. The champ's looking really good.That last move keeps both men down for a while, giving Shane a chance to place the title belt just inside the ring before calling the ref over to a different corner. He's putting in a shift out there. Textbook heel managing. Benoit grabs the belt and lays out Rocky, but it only gets a 2. Remember, Benoit, the Rock has PPV resiliency on his side. He's like one of those Pokemon whose trainer keeps feeding healing potions to just as you think you've got them beat. SNAP suplex from Benoit interrupts my rambling. The challenger starts to get his suplexes on, and the Rock is getting thrown around like a ragdoll. AHH, I was waiting for this to happen. Benoit is a Canadian heel, so of course he brings out the Sharpshooter (maybe even our first of the entire thread; I'm not sure). The Rock struggles and manages to crawl over to the nearest set of ropes. Benoit goes to apply the hold again, but Rock fights back with punches from the floor! He hauls himself up and gets whipped into the ropes...where Shane is on hand to pull them down and send the champ tumbling out of the ring. Benoit comes out to continue the rear end-whipping, but finds his own rear end getting whipped as the champ lifts him up, driving him crotch-first into the ringpost. Back in the ring, just as he did during the Iron Man match with Triple H (oh god, the flashbacks!), Rock slaps on a half-decent figure four leglock. Don't do it Rocky! The Undertaker will be down on his bike to gently caress things up any second now. Benoit makes the ropes and clotheslines the champ over the top rope. He tries to follow him out but Earl stops him (why?), so Shane comes SPRINTING around the ring to flatten Rocky with a big clothesline! I love Shane McMahon. A second clothesline takes the Rock over the crowd barrier - while a VERY conspicuous security man shields the crowd way in advance of the actual spot happening. I noticed him about five seconds beforehand, thinking it was Albert doing a run in. The dude was HUGE. Benoit clambers into the fray, but the oh-so-resourceful Rock grabs somebody's drink and throws it in his eyes. A fat guy next to them takes a lot of it as well, and gives out a huge cheer. So happy to be involved.  Benoit gets clotheslined over to ringside, but manages to deal out some punishment of his own with a vertical suplex over the barrier. They brawl back into the ring and Benoit looks to be gaining control, but Rock hits a DDT out of nowhere! It only gets two though, and the challenger regains momentum with a backbreaker and neckbreaker. All the breakers. You can tell Triple H is more experienced, because he mixes up the breakers with an occasional buster or two. If a dude starts busting out drivers you know he's done some serious time in the indies or Japan.Aghhhh a botch!? This match looked the least likely of all to have one of those. Luckily it actually looks alright, as Rock scoops up Benoit for some sort of powerbomb, but stumbles backwards and drops him right onto the ropes. Ouch. Benoit sells it well - or is actually in pain - but that could have been a lot worse. Benoit slams the Rock down and goes up top...Diving Headbutt connects! The Rock is out, but Benoit hurt himself on the move as well. Both men rise slowly and tee off in the middle of the ring. Rocky whips Benoit into the ropes...SPINEBUSTER! The crowd lose their poo poo as the Rock hits the People's Elbow, but Shane times his distraction of Hebner perfectly. Rock has Benoit covered for a good five seconds before Earl turns around, but the challenger is JUST able to throw a shoulder up in time. Benoit battles back and hits a lovely superplex, and both men are out again. The subsequent pinfall attempt only gets two, and Benoit's had enough. He heads to the outside and takes the timekeeper's chair. The referee is having none of that poo poo, and tries to wrestle it away from him...but it's all a plan! Shane slides in with another chair and blasts...the referee in the back!? Unorthodox, but let's go with it. Rocky gets his second wind and knocks Shane down with a right hand. He lays the Smackdown on Benoit in the corner before turning his attentions back to the McMahon, who flees from an attempted chairshot. Rock hilariously catches a downed Earl watching him, and drops the chair over the top rope immediately. He turns around...right into a charging Benoit...but catches his arm and takes him down into the Crossface! Yay stolen finisher! Benoit won't tap, but Earl rings the bell anyway. Uh oh. The crowd think Rocky's won, but they might be disappointed. Yup. The Fink announces that... Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Chris Benoit - Wait a second. Here comes Foley... Alright, well Foley doesn't come out immediately. First we see the Rock's bulging, disbelieving eyes, followed by one of Shane's sick chairshots to knock him down. The heels celebrate all the way up the ramp while some cups and stuff get thrown into the ring (what is this, WCW?), and NOW Foley comes out. He grabs a mic and announces that although he said the belt could change hands on a DQ, he sure as hell didn't see one. He orders the match to continue, and the Rock is back up in the ring. Oh man, he's busted WIDE open. He does the "just bring it" motion to Benoit and the crowd goes wild! Benoit strides down the ramp and hands the belt off to Shane, the opponents shouting trash-talk to one another furiously. drat, this is awesome! Benoit rolls in and is IMMEDIATELY taken to school with right hands. The Rock spits into his palm and swings, but the Wolverine ducks underneath and hooks him up for three big German suplexes! The third is bridged, and JUST kicked out of. Benoit apples the Crossface, and it's in tight. Rock has his Austin moment, bleeding profusely in a Canadian's submission hold. But unlike Austin, Rocky is fully babyface at this point, so OF COURSE he makes the ropes! It takes him a while, and Benoit tries to drag him back down into a second...but Rock uses his snagged arm to pull the challenger into his clutches! ROCK BOTTOM! 1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 4.5/5 - Woooooo! What a match! I felt dubious about the booking when Foley first came out, but the reaction of the wrestlers and crowd made it an awesome moment. The Rock's earlier botch aside, both men were absolutely superb here. Even Shane was fantastic throughout, not just in his interferences, but in his reactions and mannerisms. I'm glad they didn't take the belt off the Rock so soon (as they did just one month after he last won it at Backlash), and I'm not sure Benoit was established enough to hold it just yet. Great match, good booking. Great show! The Rock grabs his belt and holds it aloft, face bloodied, as Foley looks on smiling from ringside. Shane and Benoit stagger off into the distance as JR muses whether we've just witnessed the beginning of a rivalry for the ages. What a way to cap the Pay Per View! Summary to follow.
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Jan 6, 2014 03:52
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FULLY LOADED 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night The Rock vs Chris Benoit - It seems to me that The Rock has always been on the verge of delivering a quality match since the beginning of this thread, and here he finally delivers. This was fast-paced, incredibly intense, and full of memorable moments. Even little spots (like the drink-throw, or Shane tumbling off the apron into the area where the announce tables used to be) stick in the mind, and helped make this an incredibly fun main event to watch. The false-ending had me worried, and would have probably ruined the match had they not hit everybody with the double-bluff, but it ensured that the actual finish was full of excitement. Wrestler Of The Night 1. The Rock - Excluding his one botch - which we'll excuse, as it didn't look too bad - Rocky was the star of the show, as he should be. 2. Chris Benoit - Took a backseat to the brilliant Rock, but delivered a performance oozing with typical Benoit technique and intensity. 3. Test - The main reason that the opening match was such a banger. Delivered some of the most thunderous spots I've seen since the TLC match, and he didn't even need to use weapons! 4. Triple H - Started slowly in his match with Y2J, but everything he did from the bladejob onwards was psychologically superb. 5. Jeff Hardy - Test's partner in crime. Dished out damage and bumped like a madman in equal measure. A very exciting showing. Chris Jericho gets about as close as you can to the top five without actually entering into it. I nudged Jeff ahead because Triple H was really the centrepiece of the Last Man Standing match, and although Jericho did a perfectly good job, I wasn't awed by anything he did apart from the nasty chairshot. Jeff and Test, on the other hand, went through some of the most entertaining, breathless sequences I've seen since the beginning of the thread. Lita was going to be on here if the main events had been stinkers, as she turned up to fly. I also toyed with the idea of giving Rikishi a spot for his splash from the top of the cage, but the rest of his match was very average compared to those featuring the wrestlers in the top five. Definitely the hardest top five I've had to order so far. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 17 2. Chris Jericho - 13 3. Triple H - 12 4. Jeff Hardy - 11 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 Chris Benoit - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 7 8. Christian - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 Rikishi - 4 11. Test - 3 12. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 13. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Triple H and Jeff Hardy inch towards the leading pair, while Benoit and The Rock leap up from their relatively low positions. Test gets himself on the board, leapfrogging a host of rookies - including both Brothers of Destruction - in the process. Angle still leads fairly comfortably however, his earlier consistency serving him well in a non-scoring month. FULLY LOADED SCORE: 9/10 A wonderful show from top to bottom. There were three great matches on here, as advertised, although maybe not the exact three the WWF had in mind. The Last Man Standing and WWF Title matches were great, while the opening intergender tag match was a shock barnstormer. Even the filler matches on this card exceeded expectations (you know it's going to be a good night when Al Snow and Perry Saturn are balling), and the only disappointments are perhaps the monotonous cage match - which admittedly gave us Rikishi's amazing high risk spot - and the Undertaker's squashing of Angle. Kurt was on such a roll up until now
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Jan 6, 2014 04:23
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 – Raleigh, North Carolina PART 1 Hello and welcome to the second of the “big four” PPVs of 2000! SummerSlam is probably my third favourite of the four (behind the Rumble and WrestleMania at first and second respectively), although if they ever did Survivor Series justice, maybe I’d prefer it. It’s a wonderful concept, but they never seem to get it right. Poor Survivor Series. Anyway, SummerSlam is traditionally regarded by the WWE as its second biggest show, although that’s a very arguable point. Here, for example, we aren’t really seeing the culmination of any big feuds. It feels more like the starting point for a lot of new storylines, as The Rock and Triple H handily dispatched their foes at Fully Loaded, and Undertaker dealt with Kurt without really breaking sweat. I was expecting a follow-up to the Benoit/Rock storyline, but instead – according to one of the three marquee matches – we’ll be having a triple threat match for the WWF Title featuring Kurt and Triple H. The feud there seems to have sprouted from Kurt’s growing friendship with Stephanie, and the fact that both men have their sights set on The Rock’s shiny shiny gold. The whole jealousy storyline throws an interesting dynamic into the match, which could lead to some pretty entertaining fireworks. Here’s a question; this is WWF booking 101. What do you do if Kane and Undertaker have no current storylines? THAT’S RIGHT, you feud them. If previous feuds between the two are anything to go by, this match should be high on theatrics and low on quality. That being said, it does have the potential to be good. Undertaker can go with the best of them, and Kane is about as solid as wrestlers come, so I’m staying hopeful. The only other announced match is a beautiful example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The bookers saw how outrageous the triangle ladder match was at WrestleMania and decided to just do it again, this time under the stipulation of a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. Nowadays the TLC match is everybody’s favourite injury-fest waiting to happen, but I believe that this is the first ever example of such a stipulation. It would be an understatement to say that I am rabidly anticipating this one. JR and King scream their lovely welcomes to us, and the set looks great. Is SummerSlam always purple and green, or only some years? I can’t remember. Anyway, I like it. JR reveals that there are four championships to be decided tonight, but King heart-warmingly cuts him off to wish him well. Apparently JR was viciously attacked by Tazz on the previous Smackdown, and King is scheduled in a match to get some payback for his announcing buddy. Aww, those guys. They may bicker constantly, but deep down they’ve got each other’s back. And hello, what’s this!? NEW THEME MUSIC!?Well, music is a loose term. What we instead get is a constantly wailing siren and the emergence of one of my favourite heel groups ever, Right To Censor. They are an ingenious concept. In the Attitude Era, who could possibly be a more hateable bunch of villains than a stable of fun-spoiling do-gooders, their mission to ban everything gratuitous and sexual from the WWF. I hope whoever came up with them was rewarded; they are bloody fantastic. Stevie (sorry, Steven) Richards, The GOODfather, and my main man, the man with the plan, he’s as big as a van, I’m his number one fan, Bull Buchanan stride out to the ring. Richards grabs a mic. He claims to be disappointed and shocked that here, in the Bible Belt, Right To Censor’s lessons in morality are not applauded. He begins a tirade against Rikishi, but is immediately cut off by the music of Too Cool. 1. Right To Censor vs Too Cool and Rikishi Rikishi strides out with a former member of the Goodfather’s ho train on either arm. I’m assuming he ditched them as part of his heel turn; the pimp lifestyle probably doesn’t mesh well with employment as Steven Richards’ morality-dispensing henchman. JR reveals that one of the ladies was recently thrown through a table by the Goodfather, and that her name is Victoria. Holy poo poo! A closer look reveals that it’s Victoria as in THE Victoria. So this is where she got her start! That’s one of the main reasons I like doing these reviews; you find out so many little things. Too Cool have a dance party in the ring which RTC don’t approve of, and the bad guys jump them before the bell. Rikishi dispatches Goodfather over the top rope with a clothesline and the match settles into Scotty vs Buchanan. Mr 2 Hotty climbs to the second rope and fakes diving off, causing Buchanan to hesitate (great spot, I remember Christian and Orton mastering this a couple of years ago). He gets all elusive and slides under a big boot to the outside, tripping Bull’s legs and dragging his crotch into the ringpost. Goodfather and Sexay receive tags, and Grandmaster just about ducks his head out of the way of a devastating clothesline. He hooks the ropes to avoid an equally vicious big boot, before rolling a charging Goodfather up and out of the ring. Sexay jumps out after and restrains the Goodfather, calling for Victoria to slap him. She winds up...but Goodfather breaks free and shoves her to the floor to huge boos. Surely that’s acting in a more pimp-like fashion than when he actually was a pimp. Sexay gets double teamed in the ring by Richards’ two henchmen, before the boss gets tagged in himself. He hits a really nice powerbomb on Grandmaster for a two count. Was Richards a good wrestler!? I never got into ECW, and the only real memory I have of him was despising this very gimmick as a child. He heads up top but gets caught by Sexay, and the former tag champ hits a high-angled superplex. Both men are down but Grandmaster gets to his corner – with the help of a quick enziguri on Steven – and here comes the big man! He rocks Richards with a few big rights and sends him out of the ring. The RTC leader tries to make an escape up the ramp (possibly because his shirt came untucked. That would throw my game off too), but Victoria chases him down and drags him back into the ring to the fans’ delight. Rikishi sets up the Rikishi Driver, but Goodfather and Buchanan rush in to break it up. Rikishi takes them all on and whips all three into the same corner. A butt-splash from Scotty drops Goodfather, and a second from Sexay sends Bull out of the way, leaving Rikishi to squash Richards. Steven drops to the floor in prime Stink Face position, but his boys are back up to save the day. Goodfather charges Rikishi but eats an instinctive Samoan drop. The big man is slow to get up, however, allowing Buchanan the time to drill him with an axe kick to the back of the head. But now Scotty comes out of nowhere with a bulldog! The crowd come alive! W...o...r...RICHARDS OUT OF NOWHERE WITH A NICE SUPERKICK! 1...2...3! Winners: Right To Censor 2.5/5 – Perfectly good opening match. I love RTC’s gimmick unconditionally. We see footage of Angle and Stephanie on the previous Smackdown, hanging out alone in the #HeelDressingRoom. Kurt tells Steph he really cares about her and he’s sorry for letting her get attacked (she got Rock Bottomed earlier). She says thank you and he goes in for the kiss. What a dog. Stephanie struggles at first but seems to succumb. They break apart and Steph looks confused, while angle has the creepiest grin on his face. Kurt is the best heel. Just the best. We cut to the interview area, where Cole is standing by with Shane O’Mac. Shane has won the Hardcore title! Good for Shane. And he’s defending it later tonight against...oh my god...  2. Road Dogg vs X-Pac This match apparently came about as the result of a “friendly rivalry” turned nasty. On the previous Raw, Pac and Road Dogg got into a shoving match, and Waltman ended up accidentally shoving his partner off the apron through a table. The following Smackdown saw the pair in a handicap match against Undertaker, and Road Dogg abandoned his partner midway through. Needless to say, Pac lost. Road Dogg comes out first and does his usual spiel, ending it by throwing the mic back to the Fink who hilariously fumbles. X-Pac takes Road Dogg down with some amateur wrestling skills and keeps him on the mat with ease, before popping back up to taunt his partner. Audacious. Road Dogg gains the upper hand now – perhaps fuelled by the thunderous “X-PAC SUCKS” chants. He ducks under a leapfrog and boots X-Pac in the backside, sending him tumbling out of the ring to jeers. Pac slides back in and builds momentum with some nice martial arts kicks (he was always good at those), but Road Dogg has the final spinning kick scouted and catches his leg. I like spots like that, where the opponents have one another’s moves scouted. RD throws some crazy knees into the equation to the delight of the crowd, before releasing Pac’s foot and flooring him with a hard clothesline. They go to the corner where X-Pac gains control with a few more kicks, knocking Road Dogg to the floor. He almost goes for the Bronco Buster, but Road Dogg scoots out of the ring just in time, remarking “I know that trick”. He runs the ropes, but X-Pac leaps onto his back and clamps on a sleeper. Road Dogg fights out and hits the ropes again, but Pac takes his head off with a spinning heel kick! He drags his partner over to the corner and this time the Broncu Buster comes off. X-Pac turns away and plays to the (near silent) crowd, but Road Dogg no-sells the attack and measures him from behind. He hits the dancing punches, before draping Pac over the middle rope and leaping butt-first onto his neck! Wow. The crazy knee drop gets two, and Road Dogg sets up for the Pumphandle Slam. X-Pac reverses, but Road Dogg fights out of his attempted X Factor. He goes for his own finisher again, but this time X-Pac sweeps his foot back and hits a sneaky low blow! X Factor connects! 1...2...3. Winner: X-Pac 2/5 – Quite slow. The pair seemed a little unmotivated, but the action itself was alright. X-Pac grabs a mic and calls for the rivalry to be over. He says they found out who the better man was, now they can go back to being a great team. Road Dogg accepts his handshake...but kicks him in the gut! Pumphandle Slam! The crowd go wild for Road Dogg as he leaves to his theme music, leaving his partner down in the middle of the ring. We cut backstage to Eddie and Chyna. They’re both apparently competing for the Intercontinental title tonight in an intergender tag match. They talk about her being the new Playboy centrefold model, and Guerrero also mentions that if she wins the title, he’s not the jealous type. He’ll be pleased for her despite not having any gold of his own. We now see Trish Stratus and the current champ, Val Venis in their locker room. Trish muses whether people would rather see her as a centrefold as opposed to Chyna. Val seems stressed as gently caress. He slams her for even talking about that sort of thing, and says that tonight is all about him retaining is gold. He warns Trish to stay focused and do her part before storming off. That seemed a little over the top, Val. Are you okay buddy? 3. WWF Intercontinental Championship: Val Venis (c) and Trish Stratus vs Eddie Guerrero and Chyna Eddie and Val start us off, but not before we see a quick video of the last match between these two. Chyna powerbombed Val from the apron to the floor, and Trish smashed a glass over the back of Chyna’s head. Good clean family fun. Eddie takes control of the early stages with his superior speed, hurtling around the ring and smashing into Venis with a flying back elbow. Val lifts Guerrero up for a powerbomb, but Eddie backflips clean out of it. I’m going to put forward the suggestion that Eddie is, if not the best worker on the roster, then certainly the wrestler with the most fluid movement in the ring. Everything looks so smooth. Eddie catches a kick from Val and holds his leg, standing just out of range as Venis swings for him. Guerrero fights like some sort of comical swashbuckling Zorro. His partner doesn’t, however, as she tags herself in and takes Val’s head off his shoulders with a clothesline. The challengers hit a double flapjack, but it only gets two. Val and Chyna go through one of the slowest exchanges I can recall seeing, but she finally manages to slip out the back of a powerslam attempt and hits another HUGE clothesline. drat that looked stiff. Venis hits a few sloppy powerslams – he really doesn’t have the most imaginative moveset – but misses from the top rope with a big elbow attempt. Chyna goes for the tag to Eddie, but Val breaks it up and spits all over Guerrero. Eddie is livid and rushes in, but the ref dashes over to stop him. Low blow by Chyna! She sets up Val for a powerbomb but he backdrops out and hits the ropes...DDT from Chyna! Just loving make the tag already! Thankfully she does, and the match is finally injected with some pace as Guerrero takes Venis apart. Eddie grabs one of Val’s hands and looks as though he’s setting up for Undertaker’s Old School, but he instead hits a springboard hurricanrana! Lovely. The pair battle some more but neither is able to get the upper hand, and they both take one another out with simultaneous clotheslines. Val crawls over and Trish is calling for the tag. This could get ugly very soon. He makes the tag and Stratus covers Eddie...who just kicks out at two! She sticks a few boots into his ribs, but he catches one and trips her, before tagging Chyna with an awesome “go kick her rear end!” expression on his face. Chyna does her thing, which just seems to involve clotheslines and powerslams. She props Trish in the corner and...oh no...she’s going for her awful cartwheel finisher thing, isn’t she? Val senses my concern, and dashes over to yank her down by the hair. Eddie comes over to even the odds with a European uppercut, but Venis tosses him to the outside. He and Trish link arms and go for a double clothesline on Chyna, but Eddie yanks Val under the bottom rope, and Stratus simply bounces off Chyna’s body. Eddie sends Venis into the ring steps, and Chyna hits Trish with a big gorilla press slam! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW WWF Intercontinental Champion: Chyna 1.5/5 – The parts with Eddie in were decent, but the parts without him were outrageously slow. Easily the worst match of the night so far, but also curiously the match with the best individual performance. Guerrero’s back must be in agony after carrying these three for ten minutes or so. Am I right you guys? Eddie hoists Chyna in celebration while Val screams at Trish on the outside. The belt is handed to Chyna and Eddie volunteers to strap it around her waist. Is it wrong that I’m praying for him to blast her with it? He doesn’t, sadly, and they celebrate Chyna’s win. We see a recap of a baffling event that took place in New York prior to the show called WWF Radio, hosted by Michael Cole and featuring the guest appearances of Foley, Trish, and Chyna. They even got The Rock on the phone. And Too Cool came in and made Mick do their dance with them! Oh the hilarity. Oh the fun. Stephanie is backstage with a female assistant or worker or something. She asks Steph about kissing Angle last week. Steph stresses that she didn’t kiss him, he kissed her. The woman reveals that “the girls” were having a debate over whether Angle was a hunk or a hotte. Are those the only two options!? He’s doing very well in that case. Steph concedes with a mischievous smirk that he was a good kisser. Oh my god, everybody is so stupid. Do they KNOW who her husband is!? The huge, evil barbarian-looking dude with a dangerous love of sledgehammers? And they’re all just joking around as though everything will be fine. I am fearing for Angle’s life when the main event rolls around. Lawler vs Tazz is up next, and JR warmly wishes King the best of look. Awww. They bring up a jar of candy sat on their announce table for seemingly no reason. Chekhov’s gun, anybody? Lawler says he’s not worried at all and that he’ll be fine. We see a recap of Tazz beating up various babyfaces for no reason, and he decides to focus his bullying on JR. He knocks the announcer’s hat off on an episode of Raw, calling him a redneck scumbag. He says that he wishes he could slap JR across the face, but it looks as though God beat him to it. Wow. A little tasteless there. Jim seems to agree, and slaps him in retaliation. Tazz begs him to do it again, but Lawler instead shows JR how to throw a proper strike, and NAILS Tazz with a right hand. Jesus, that was huge! Tazz retaliates by splitting Lawler’s head open with a pair of headphones on Smackdown, but the King goes right after him in the ring with right hands. We cut ahead to Jerry jumping Tazz in a storeroom, sending a group of heavy boxes down on him from a high shelf. Tazz retaliates by vandalizing Lawler’s car, spraying “Thug Life” all over it. That’s not all. JR is trapped in the front seat, and Tazz smashes the window with a truncheon, sending glass all over the announcer. Lawler runs to the back to help his buddy, but as he tries to get glass out of JR’s eye, Tazz takes advantage and jumps King from behind, getting the last laugh on the run-in to the PPV. 4. Tazz vs Jerry “The King” Lawler Tazz comes out dressed as a blind JR, with a cowboy hat, dark glasses, and a walking cane. JR thanks the medical team for getting the glass out of his eye and remarks that Tazz’s antics aren’t a drat bit funny to him. The New Yorker strides over to the announce table and mocks JR, so Lawler springs out of his chair and flattens him with a right hand. JR goes right into calling the match (“And King with a right hand!”); what a goddamn professional. Lawler rips off his robe, revealing his singlet underneath, and pounds away with right hands in the ring. He hits a dropkick to the back! Nice. A “Jerry, Jerry” chant starts up as JR builds up Lawler’s veteran credentials. “He’s been in the ring with every great in the game, and that does not include Tazz”. King heads to the second rope and hits the fist drop, and it looks as though he actually makes contact with Tazz’s mouth! Ouch. He heads up for a second, but Tazz rolls out of the way and takes control of the match. Just as JR reminds everybody of Tazz’s toughness and athleticism, the man himself abuses him from inside the ring, calling for him to look at his fallen friend. JR cuts off his commentary abruptly and fights to remain composed. The dynamic of this match is fantastically unique. I’m loving it. Tazz hurls Lawler out of the ring and goes after him, pausing to throw some more trash-talk at JR. The crowd sitting in the front row behind Ross leap to their feet and hurl obscenities back, and it’s all quite heartwarming in a way. Jerry jumps Tazz from behind and rolls him back in, where the former ECW man begs off on his knees. Lawler pays no attention and strides over, but Tazz headbutts him in the groin! He hits a scoop slam and goes to the top, but Lawler JUST rolls out of the way of a senton attempt. Jesus, that was awfully close to a botch. They get away with it though, and Lawler hooks up Tazz for the PILEDRIVER! Wooo....oh my GOD Tazz no-sells it! I know I’ve complained about his no-selling on other shows, but it was actually really effective here and caught me completely off-guard. It catches Jerry unawares too, and he gets shoved right into the referee. Uh oh. Ref bump. Tazz shouts over to JR that he’s going to choke out Lawler, and then come for him next. JR manages not to completely poo poo himself (I would), and continues to call the match as Lawler misses with a big right and gets locked into the Tazzmission. Tazz takes King down to the matt and taunts JR through the ropes, daring him to come and save his friend. Oh! JR gets out of his seat! The crowd go wild! He marches over...AND SMASHES THE CANDY JAR OVER TAZZ’S HEAD! OH MY GOD I’M MARKING OUT. EVERYBODY IS! Lawler makes the cover just as the ref regains consciousness...1...2...3! I knew that candy jar was going to feature somehow! Winner: Jerry “The King” Lawler1/5 – Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Never destined to be a good match, but oh my god that was an awesome ending! I’m so happy! FRIENDSHIP WINS! JR returns to his seat and says that, while he might get in a hell of a lot of trouble, that son of a bitch got what he deserved. This is so great! Ahahaha, King milks the win as though it was all him, standing on the announce table and cheering. In a wonderful moment of karma, we see Tazz roll out the other side of the ring wailing about glass in his eye. King returns to his seat next to JR and they congratulate one another. I’m just so very happy! And on that ultimate “gently caress YEAH!” moment, we come to the end of part one. That was so awesome! JR and King rule! JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 22:25
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Der-Wreck posted:I've said this once but I'll say it again... Thanks a lot man, and thanks again for everybody's feedback in general. I have a blast watching and reviewing these shows but without everybody's responses I wouldn't be nearly as motivated to keep doing so.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:58
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 2 Shane is on his way to the ring and gets stopped by a backstage interviewer. She wants to ask him about his opinion on the whole Steph/Kurt scenario, but he explains that he's about to defend his Hardcore belt. There's a clang of metal and his challenger strides around the corner, trash can and kendo stick in hand. Shane takes off running. GUESS WHO IT IS!  5. WWF Hardcore Championship: Shane McMahon (c) vs Steve Blackman We flash back briefly to Shane winning the hardcore title by interfering in a massive clusterfuck of a match originally between Test and Blackman. Albert, Christian and Edge all get involved, before finally Shane sneaks onto the scene to crack Blackman over the head with a kendo stick and steal a pinfall. Blackman storms down the ramp and into the ring, and Shane immediately scampers to the apron. King mentions that there's glass all over the place. JR denies knowing anything about it. Shane doesn't want to get in the ring. Blackman throws him his kendo stick. Shane throws it back. Blackman lays it on the mat and turns his back, offering a free shot. Shane takes it, but Blackman turns around and catches the blow, because he is god. Shane hightails it out of the ring and leaps into the crowd, but Blackman heads up the ramp and into a separate crowd entrance to cut him off. BAM! Trashcan to the head. Blackman beats Shane back through the crowd to the ringside area and throws him over the railing. He stands on the barrier and waits for McMahon to turn around...and NAILS him with a jumping kick to the solar plexus! They get back in the ring, Blackman stopping to grab an assortment of trash can lids from under the ring. He whips Shane into the ropes...and smacks him in the knees on the rebound! Ooooh. He lifts Shane by the hair and holds his head, screaming "This is my house!". He gets a cheer! He's come so far since those "Blackman sucks" chants at the Rumble!  Ouch! Spinning trashcan lid shot to the back of the head! Shane gets the trashcan itself placed over his head, and Blackman goes to town on him with two smaller sticks. Shane drops to his knees, still wearing the trashcan...CLANG. Side kick to the head. Blackman grabs a leather strap and wraps it around Shane's neck, using it to whip him into the corner, and then yank him from the second rope to the canvas. He applies some kind of leglock (maybe a half Boston crab?), but simultaneously uses the strap to yank Shane's neck off the mat, and it looks BRUTAL. Oh no...here comes the cavalry. Test and Albert crash the party, and Blackman gets dropped with the Albert bomb. Test wedges the trashcan into the turnbuckles and uses Albert to squash the challenger in that corner. Blackman staggers out and gets DROPPED with a lid shot. Albert places the lid on his chest, and Test goes up top and drops a HUGE elbow right onto him! Shane seems to be enjoying the match a little more now. I, on the other hand, am furious.T&A hold Blackman's arms while Shane peppers him with jabs. He picks up a trashcan lid and dances around with it, before moving to clock Blackman with it...BUT BLACKMAN KICKS IT BACK INTO HIS FACE! Aghhh, Test and Albert quickly regain control of the situation, and Shane LEAPS into a jumping shot to the face with a road sign of some sort. The leather strap gets put over Blackman's head, and Shane drags him up the ramp to the side of the stage - the area full of sound and lighting equipment. Blackman gets laid down underneath a stack of two huge amplifiers...and HOLY poo poo! Test pushes the top one off, and Blackman only narrowly rolls out of the way! That was a legitimately dangerous spot! Imagine if that had gone wrong! He's a brave man. T&A still have control, however, and Albert measures Blackman with a kendo stick...but Test gets dragged in the way! CRACK! Suddenly Blackman has the stick, and he goes nuts on the pair. I am having the best fun, but Shane spoils everything by flying out of nowhere with a clothesline. Blackman gets up with vengeance in his eyes, and Shane turns and runs. He proves himself to be an absolute idiot by choosing to flee...up the lighting rig? Blackman goes straight up after him, kendo stick in hand. Shane reaches the top and (surprise, surprise) hits a dead end. Blackman is up alongside him now, and hits him with several shots to the spine. Shane teeters...AND ONE MORE BLAST FORM THE KENDO STICK IS ENOUGH TO SEND HIM FALLING WAYYYYY BACK DOWN TO THE STAGE AREA! Jesus Christ! He obviously landed on a crash mat, but even so that took serious balls. Blackman could just climb down and pin him now, but apparently he's way too much of a loving hero for that. He descends about a third of the way, pauses, and THROWS HIMSELF INTO AN ELBOW DROP ONTO SHANE! He lands perfectly next to him and the referee is on hand to administer the three count. What the gently caress did I just witness!? Winner and NEW WWF Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman 2.5/5 - The second "holy poo poo" ending to a match in a row, this one less feel-good and more flat out ridiculous. As a wrestling contest this was largely sloppy and poor from the moment Test and Albert arrived on the scene, but the first few minutes were fun in a squashy sort of way. That ending totally saves it though. Shane needs his head checked for volunteering to throw himself BACKWARDS off scaffolding, and Blackman adds unnerving accuracy to his list of superpowers. That elbow drop could have resulted in disaster had he landed a foot in the wrong direction. Amazing scenes. I didn't realise 2000 was such a big year for sick bumps. We had Mick Foley suffer all kinds of thumb-tacky, cell-breaking poo poo in the first two PPVs, followed by Jeff's infamous Swanton at 'Mania. Now in the past two events we've had THIS loving thing, as well as Rikishi's splash from the top of the cage onto Val Venis! AND we've got that TLC match coming up later in the show. I'm worried somebody's going to do themselves a mischief (is that a British saying only?). Shane does the stretcher job as we cut back to JR and King at the announce table. Lawler still hasn't put a shirt back on after his match! You're a disgrace, Jerry! Anyway, they do a good job of selling the shocking nature of Shane's fall. JR mentions that Foley's infamous plunge from the cell roof was only half as high as Shane's fall, so surely the latter is more dangerous. I'll field that one for you, Jim. As dangerous as Shane's fall looked - and unquestionably was - he pulled it off in a very controlled manner. We see him push himself away from the scaffolding and land pretty much flat on his back. Undertaker just loving heaves Mick Foley over the edge like a sack of potatoes. Add to that the fact that Shane fell onto a fairly large surface designed to break his fall, and Foley had a single announce table, and you kind of see why Mankind's is the one that has gone down in wrestling folklore. I don't want to take too much away from Shane's spot though. It was still pretty death-defying in its own right, and I certainly wouldn't do anything like it. #DontTryThisAtHome (Actually, I think they've shortened it now to simply "Don't try this", which probably stops kids from doing it in the playground or whatever, but robs the message of its previous domestic charm )We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Steph is worried sick. Kurt comes in and she asks him frantically if he's heard anything about Shane's condition. Um, it literally just happened Stephanie. Is Angle some kind of backstage roving reporter? He replies that he thinks Shane "just got the wind knocked out of him" and he'll be alright, before going in for the comforting hug. Hahahaha, Angle you are such a slimy bastard. Foley interrupts and the embracing pair spring apart. He takes Stephanie away to check on Shane's condition. A video package shows the growing hatred between Benoit and Jericho. It sticks to the basics at first, with the pair jumping one another after matches, backstage, and so on. But then we get Y2J's infamous rhyming promo, which is well worth seeking out if you haven't seen it before. He'll fight Chris Benoit on a boat, he'll fight Chris Benoit with a goat. He'll also fight him when the score is tied, or fight him as a blushing bride. 6. Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit The pair brawl messily to start, their hatred for one another apparently defying their usually excellent wrestling abilities. The ref tries to break it up, but ends up caught in the middle as all three tumble from the ring. Jericho continues to beat on Benoit on the floor, but the ref finally manages to pull him away. Y2J pays little attention and charges at Benoit, who instinctively hoists him up face-first into the ringpost. Back in the ring Benoit hits a drop toe hold and tries to slap on an STF, but Jericho battles out and almost reverses into the Walls! The Crippler is too strong, however, so Jericho settles for slingshotting him into the nearest turnbuckle. OH MAN! Nice release German suplex by Jericho. It only gets two, and Benoit gets scooped up into the Tombstone position. Jericho falls backwards and gets lifted himself into the same position, but Benoit has to settle for a shoulderbreaker (otherwise the Undertaker would be sad. Even though he's currently using the Last Ride instead). Jericho backflips out of a suplex attempt and hits a running bulldog. He goes for the Lionsault but takes a pair of knees to the ribs. Benoit is back up and Jericho swings wildly...BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER SWING WILDLY AGAINST CHRIS BENOIT! Y2J gets immediately dragged down into the Crippler Crossface, and he's absolutely stuck in the middle of the ring. Lawler screams for Jericho to tap out, thus preserving his strength for the rest of the match, and Y2J eventually does. 1-0 to Benoit, and I think some of the crowd may have thought that was the end of the match. There was a slightly shocked gasp there, as if to say "What the gently caress!? That's it!?". They play Benoit's music, which is something I didn't realise usually happened in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The ref tries to raise his hand, but he goes right back down looking for a second Crossface! Jericho tries to beat him away, but eventually falls into the clutches of Benoit's finisher again! JR really sells to danger of the move, urging Y2J to tap out to preserve the bright career he has ahead of him. Jericho manages to crawl over to the ropes, however, and the hold is broken. Benoit hangs him in the tree of woe and heads out of the ring, using his lower position to yank Y2J's shoulders painfully back. Usually I get easily bored by the slow working over of a particularly body part, but these guys are managing to tell that story while keeping the match interesting. Triple H take note. Jericho gets dragged out of the ring and whipped shoulder-first into the ringpost. Benoit wrestles like a wild animal, especially in the rough looking way he drags his opponents around. He's like the anti-Eddie, but in a good way. Back in the ring Jericho has to resort to a huge slap to the face to halt Benoit's assault, but decides to follow up with some wild rights. You weren't listening Y2J. NEVER swing wildly against Chris Benoit. This time he doesn't get caught with the Crossface, but with a nasty German suplex. Benoit tries to hold on for a second, but can't quite lift Jericho. Y2J kicks his legs and manages to roll forwards, quickly sprining to his feet and ensnaring Benoit's legs with the Walls of Jericho! The Crippler crawls doggedly to the ropes but Y2J walks him back to the middle of the ring, drawing a big pop from the crowd. Benoit has to tap and even the score at 1-1. Jericho presses the advantage with a backbreaker, followed by (WOO!) a big chop. This could get painful. Oh, a chop battle doesn't emerge after all. Y2J instead heads to the top rope, flooring Benoit with a flying back elbow. He hooks up the Wolverine for a powerbomb, but Benoit backdrops out of it...and lays down on Jericho with the arms still hooked! 1...2...JERICHO BRIDGES OUT! Incredible strength! Jericho goes for a backslide but Benoit turns around and hoists him into a sick Dragon suplex! He bridges for the pinfall but it only gets two. He signals that it's time for the match to end and heads up for the Diving Headbutt, but Jericho is able to crotch him on the turnbuckle and head up after him. loving HELL! Jericho leaps HIGH to wrap his legs around and pull Benoit into a Frankensteiner! This has been an outrageous showing from Y2J. Both men are down for a while, but Jericho is first to his feet and builds momentum with clotheslines and a spinning heel kick. He drops Benoit with a nice elbow shot and heads to the ropes...the Lionsault connects! But his weakened shoulder got hurt upon landing. Look at that relevant callback to an earlier part of the match. Smark heaven. Jericho lights Benoit up with another hard slap, before hitting the ropes and...rolling up Benoit into a pinfall! 1...2...Benoit rolls on top! He grabs the bottom rope and the ref doesn't see! 1...2...3! Winner: Chris Benoit 4/5 – An utterly fantastic match on paper, and it delivered. Although Benoit was obviously impressive, this was the Jericho show from start to finish. He came to play, and put on the best performance I've seen from him in this thread so far. The cheap finish works well here, especially as its execution wasn't at all botched (if I had a pound/dollar for every sloppy rollup reversal I've seen...) Benoit gets the hell out of there while Jericho is left frustrated in the ring.
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Jan 11, 2014 00:48
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 3 Uh oh. Triple H has arrived and he's looking mean. We see a recap of Kurt kissing Stephanie on Smackdown, followed by Steph's distraught reaction to Shane's fall earlier tonight. A video recap of Edge and Christian's glorious title reign is shown, as well as the ultra-violent rivalry between the three biggest teams of the tag division. A lot of weapons are used; a lot of bodies get hurt. Foley sets up the first ever TLC match. 7. WWF Tag Team Championship TLC Match: Edge and Christian (c) vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz The Hardys are last out and run straight into the fray, as JR mentions their status as hometown favourites tonight. Edge and Christian attempt a sneak attack with chairs, but the Hardys rip them away and use them to dominate the early exchanges. Matt sets Bubba up in a corner and hurls the chair into his face! He then drops to his knees for Jeff to jump off with the poetry in m-BUBBA SWATS HIM OUT OF THE SKY WITH A CHAIR! This match is going to be brutal, isn't it? E&C take control, Christian drop-toe-holding D-Von into an unfolded chair. Edge brings a ladder into the ring and rests Bubba against it on the ropes. He charges, but Bubba steps aside and cunningly nudges the ladder into the onrushing champ's face. Christian eats a DDT and Bubba is the first to try and scale the ladder to grab the belts. The Hardys powerbomb him HARD to the canvas, allowing Jeff and D-Von to climb alongside one another on a ladder each. Edge dashes up behind and hits a double Russian legsweep to take both back down to the mat, and I'm pleased to announce that nobody has died yet. Now Bubba and Christian climb...and Bubba hits a massive Bubba Bomb on the champion! Now Jeff tries his luck, but Edge shoves him off onto a see-saw contraption set up by two other ladders on the canvas, sending one flying up into Matt Hardy's head (It's the same kind of spot that utterly wrecked Joey Mercury's face). Edge and Christian pick up a couple of chairs and swing for Jeff, but he ducks out of the way and the champs clash steel. They're dazed from the impact...and Bubba comes along to absolutely steamroll both men with a horizontally held ladder! Jeff snatches up a chair, but Bubba bulldozes him into the corner with his weapon. Construction vehicle metaphors work particularly well when Bubba's involved, it seems. Bubba stalks Edge and hits him with a scoop slam while D-Von scales a ladder in the corner...and he hits the Wassup headbutt from a height! Bubba (and the entire crowd) scream for D-Von to get the tables, and the poor guy looks under the ring despite tables lining the entrance ramp behind him. He finally realises where they are, and poor Christian gets hit with the 3D! "D-Von! Let's kill them" yells Bubba, which is a unique twist on the ol' catchphrase I suppose. Both Dudleys set up a stack of tables at the foot of the entrance ramp (two tiers of two) and head back into the ring. Bubba grabs Jeff - "Come here, pretty boy!" - and sets him up for a powerbomb right over the ropes...but Edge is in to save the day with a chair. He goes nuts on both Dudleys, leaving them down and out in the middle of the ring. Before he can think about setting up a ladder, however, Matt Hardy scoots in from behind in hits the "AAAAAAAAAAAH" Twist of Fate! The Hardys head up a ladder and take turns droppin' legs on the incapacitated Edge, much to the delight of their hometown crowd. Matt wedges Edge inside a prone ladder, just as Christian climbs a turnbuckle looking to blindside the Hardy. Matt sees him, and SPLASHES him onto his own partner trapped inside the ladder! JR and Lawler miss this, but as that whole spot takes place, Jeff utterly DESTROYS Bubba on the outside with a ladder to the head. He places the Dudley across two tables and scales a ladder, looking to perhaps repeat his amazing spot at WrestleMania. He heads right to the top of the ladder and comes off with the Swanton Bomb...BUT BUBBA STANDS UP AT THE LAST SECOND! Jeff crashes and burns as refs rush to his aid, leaving Matt pretty much flying solo. Bubba staggers out of the way to the announce table area, but Edge is waiting for him and BRAINS him with a chairshot. The remaining Hardy sets up a ladder under the belts, but Christian is up after him and the pair crash to the canvas. Edge and D-Von try their look, but pull one another down and jar their necks on the top rope. Everybody's down now, leaving a very shaky Bubba to drag himself back into the ring and up the ladder. He nearly reaches the belts...but Edge and Christian topple the ladder, sending Bubba over the top rope and through the huge stack of tables he set up earlier! It's a marvellously destructive spot, with bits of broken table strewn all over the bottom of the entrance ramp. The champs are alone in the ring now, and climb up a side of the ladder each. It looks as though they're going to retain their titles...but here comes Lita out of nowhere! She dashes into the ring and pushes the ladder over, crotching both men over the top rope! Lita screams for Matt to get up, and he obliges, dragging himself up the ladder towards the belts. D-Von's up now, and tilts the ladder over from the front! Matt flies directly backwards, over the top rope and through yet another set of tables on the outside! Lita is horrified, and dashes over to check that he's okay...EDGE WITH A SPEAR ON LITA! So dastardly! Meanwhile, D-Von and Jeff (he resurrected himself somehow) are climbing towards the belts. The champs dash in and yank the ladder away, leaving both men swinging from a belt each! Jeff manages to kick D-Von down, but E&C swat him out of the air with the ladder! They set it up and climb, and this time there's nobody to stop them from retaining their belts. Winners and STILL WWF Tag Team Champions: Edge and Christian 4/5 - I preferred the original at WrestleMania, but this was absolute chaos in its own right. Bubba, Jeff, and Matt all took extremely dangerous bumps, and Lita's cameo provided an interesting twist. A great spectacle. Backstage in the #HeelLockerRoom, Triple H is demanding an explanation from Stephanie. She claims that the kiss meant nothing, even claiming that Kurt took advantage of her. Trips warns her to stay away from Kurt Angle, and that after tonight he won't be a part of their lives ever again. Steph tells him that he's the only man her for. It doesn't really soften Hunter's expression. I'm quite angry too, after hearing the announcement that our run of great matches is about to be ended by the first ever... 8. Thong Stinkface Match: The Kat vs Terri We see a flashback to Smackdown, where the Kat encouraged Rikishi to give Terri a Stinkface. Terri gained a measure of revenge, jumping the Kat at - of all places - WWF New York, and giving her a return Stinkface. Kat is out first in white lingerie, accompanied (for whatever reason) by Al Snow. Terri makes her entrance in a black dress, which she immediately strips out of on the ramp. Lawler seems happy, but Perry Saturn rushes out from the back with a towel to cover her. They get in the ring, and Kat immediately rips Terri's towel away. She hits her with a bodyslam, before whipping her (sort of) into a corner. Terri immediately falls into position for a Stinkface, but Saturn yanks his lady out of the ring and begins to carry her away, but Al is on hand to knock him down and shove Terri back into the ring. She tries to crawl away, but Kat stands astride her and decides to spank her as she shuffles around on her hands and knees. Where did the wrestling go? Terri gets dragged into the corner, and Kat hits her with a Bronco Buster. That's very impressive, but just hit a loving Stinkface so we can move on. Kat begins to back up, but Saturn leans over the ropes and shoves her to the canvas. Terri pulls herself up and hits the worst bulldog I've ever seen. She sits astride Kat and does some sort of taunt, but Kat pushes her away and runs at her with a clothesline...type thing. Terri regains control and drags Kat into the corner by the hair, stunning her with a slap to the face. I'm worried my commentary is making this sound better than it really is. Imagine what I'm describing, but performed in a consistently shaky, disjointed, sloppy, uncoordinated manner. Terri prepares to hit a Stinkface, and YOU KNOW WHAT!? MAYBE IF ONE OF YOU JUST WENT AHEAD AND DID THE loving MOVE, RATHER THAN SPENDING ABOUT TEN SECONDS TAUNTING BEFORE EACH ATTEMPT, THIS MATCH WOULD ACTUALLY BE OVER BY NOW. Terri backs in, but Kat kicks her out of the corner. Terri accidentally headbutts the ref in the crotch, allowing Al to toss Head into the ring. Kat catches it, and blasts Terri across the face. Terri's out, allowing Kat to finally, finally put her in a corner and sit on her face. Happy now Vince? Winner: The Kat DUD/5 – I don't particularly want to acknowledge this match's existence with a summary. Saturn hoists Terri over his shoulder and carries her to the back while Snow and Kat celebrate in the ring. Hype video now for Kane vs 'Taker. It all started when Kane rushed out to save Undertaker from a Benoit Crossface, chasing away the Crippler before helping his brother to his feet...and planting him with a Chokeslam. And then, just to make sure, a second Chokeslam, this one making a hole in the ring. Here's a quick piece of JR mathmamatics for everybody. In his lingo, the distance from the beginning of a Chokeslam to a simple crater in the ring is equal to "all the way to hell". The following Smackdown Kane explains why he turned on his bro. He says it's because he's a MONSTER. Which I think means that the writers couldn't really think of anything. Undertaker is similarly frustrated, and storms down to the ring for answers. Kane doesn't give any, instead sucker punching his brother and wailing away on him with a chair. 9. The Undertaker vs Kane 'Taker storms up the ramp to confront Kane during his entrance, and the pair brawl like the big loving hosses they are. 'Taker drags Kane up onto the apron and tries to rip his mask off, but it's still a few years until that angle, so Kane manages to keep it on. It does anger him though, and he shoves Undertaker into a corner and begins to beat the hell out of him. He goes outside and grabs a chair (I don't think this is no DQ, but who's really going to stop these two?) and prepares to blast 'Taker with it, but his brother fights back with punches while on his knees. A big uppercut sends the chair flying out of Kane's hands, allowing Undertaker to grab it and smash the Big Red Machine in the spine. Kane falls and 'Taker's on him, snatching at the mask. He rips off a section of the mask, exposing some of Kane's forehead. Kane rolls out of the ring and Undertaker follows him, but gets his read repeatedly smashed into a set of ring steps. Kane picks up the steps and runs at 'Taker, but the Deadman dodges the blow, leaving his brother to clonk into the ringpost. Now 'Taker picks up the steps and hurls them into his bro's head, the first good spot of this match sadly. They return to the ring and Kane looks to be busted open slightly, at least from what we can see of his head. Undertaker drops him with a few rights, but Kane hits a low blow to regain the advantage. Kane begins to turn the tide now with some big rights of his own. A lot of big rights, even. Almost as if neither man wants to actually hit a wrestling move. One last big right sends Undertaker falling into the ropes, but he rebounds with...sort of a clumsy tackle. He mounts Kane and rains down punches, before going for the mask yet again. He can't quite get it off, and Kane struggles back to his feet. Both brothers grab one another's throats simultaneously, looking for the Chokeslam, but Undertaker breaks the stalemate with a boot to the crotch. Kane falls and 'Taker snatches his mask off! Kane covers his face and bails...and Undertaker's music plays? He wins by count-out or something, I guess. Winner: The Undertaker DUD/5 - Really really bad. I'm not sure what the point of this was at all, but it fell very flat. Too short, too slow, no actual wrestling, no fun. The ending was just confusing. I'm sort of intrigued where they go with the storyline, but this would have been a horrible TV Match, never mind the second highest bout on the SummerSlam card. But hey, at least we got that Stinkface match to make up for things. Kane hides his face and skulks to the back while 'Taker remains in the ring, holding his brother's mask aloft in triumph. JGKing fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 03:09
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 4 Angle is backstage texting somebody, presumably John Laurinaitis or Kevin Nash. Oh, no he's not. He's just musing over whether to call somebody or not. He eventually decides to go through with it. We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Triple H is gearing up for the main event. Steph tells him that she's certain he's going to destroy The Rock and become champion again...when the phone rings. Oh no. Stephanie answers and her eyes widen. She pretends she's talking to her mother - "I'm just here with HUNTER. " - but Triple H seems eager to talk to her. Stephanie passes the phone over and Trips says hi, but "she" hangs up immediately. Aw, he seems genuinely sad he didn't get to talk to Linda. A video package goes over the build up to the main event. We see Triple H and Kurt Angle simultaneously pinning Jericho to both become number one contenders, so Foley books the match as a triple threat. Trips and Stephanie's marriage seems to be breaking down, especially when Steph walks into the #HeelLockerRoom to find her husband and Trish Stratus in a very suspicious position (he was actually just teaching her a hammerlock). Kurt takes this opportunity to get closer to Steph, although both claim that they're just friends. On Smackdown Kurt saves Steph from Bubba Ray Dudley and a date with a table, resulting in a big hug in the middle of the ring - much to Triple H's chagrin. Vince drops by to warn both men that if either one of them upsets Stephanie again, neither will even want to be in the WWF. With a little urging from Shane McMahon, the two contenders bury the hatchet and begin to work as an effective team, decimating The Rock on an episode of Raw. The following week however, Triple H allows Kurt to get beaten down by the Acolytes, not wanting to risk his own well-being to save a rival for the title. Angle later accidentally hits Trips with a belt shot meant for The Rock, and the pair's fragile partnership completely breaks down. Triple H wants to make amends on the go-home Smackdown, and after carrying a hurt Stephanie to the back during a tag match with Kurt, returns to the ring to save Angle from a beatdown led by Rock and the Hardys. The Game finds himself outnumbered and overwhelmed, while Angle sneaks to the back and plants a kiss on a dazed Stephanie. Fantastic build up. Despite my love of Angle, I quite want to see him get destroyed for all his slimy behaviour. Our Olympic hero is out first and grabs a mic. He explains that while everybody might be expecting him to apologise for kissing Stephanie, he'll only apologise for not doing it a heck of a lot sooner. He explains that he's a giver. He gives his all in the ring every night. He gave his all for the USA in the Olympic games. And he gave Stephanie the kind of passion her husband couldn't give her if his life depended on it. Of course Triple H's music hits immediately as he says this. 10. WWF Championship Triple Threat Match: The Rock (c) vs Kurt Angle vs Triple H Triple H storms down to the ring and goes after Kurt with rights. The Rock hasn't entered yet, so no bell rings. A clothesline takes Angle down, and he tries to roll out of the ring to safety only for Trips to drag him back by the foot. Kurt gets shoved into a corner and stomped repeatedly. Earl tries to pull Triple H off, only to get pushed to the mat for his troubles.  Angle charges from the corner and downs the Game with a clothesline, before a second attack takes both men over the top rope to the floor. Triple H gets his head bounced off the ring steps, but gains revenge with a hard whip into the same structure. It's perhaps worth noting that JR is very much on the Game's side here, while Lawler is sympathising with Kurt. Trips strips down the Spanish announce table and drags Angle up there with him. He sets him up for the Pedigre...and THE TABLE COLLAPSES! Holy poo poo that looked dangerous. Not a botch that can be explained as either man's fault, but a dangerous one nonetheless. Triple H seems to be fine, dragging himself from the wreckage and fetching his sledgehammer from under the ring. It all looks bleak for Kurt..."IF YA SMELLLLLL" The crowd come unstuck as the champion finally strides out from the back. Triple H awaits him in the ring, but misses with a swing of the sledgehammer. The Rock peppers him with rights, followed by a huge clothesline and a Samoan drop. The arena is bouncing. Rocky takes Triple H outside of the ring and sets to work stripping down the remaining announce table, but the Game puts a stop to that, lifting the champ and dropping him face-first onto its surface. They re-enter the ring as we cut briefly to Angle sitting on a chair by the wreckage of the Spanish announce table, a pair of EMTs tending to him. Triple H knocks Rocky down with an elbow, before turning to watch as Angle is stretchered out of the arena. The Rock charges, but Trips hoists him onto the top rope, and the champ takes a painful looking bump down to the outside. Instead of pressing the advantage, the Game chases the EMTs up the ramp and drags Angle's trolley back down to ringside. He's about to dish out some further punishment, but The Rock comes along and drops him with a clothesline. Back up the ramp they go, Rock and Triple H smashing one another into various parts of the set. Trips is in extra pissed off mode, and sets Rocky up for a piledriver on the hard floor, but the people's champ is able to trip his legs and slingshot the Game into a part of the set. He drags Triple H all the way back down to ringside and...just punches him right in the nuts. The Rock taking full advantage of the triple threat no DQ rule there, and seeming to enjoy it quite a lot. We cut back to Angle, his trolley having now been wheeled back to the top of the ramp. Stephanie is out to check on the Olympian (despite Triple H's instructions to remain backstage) and accompanies the EMTs to the back with him. Trips and Rock exchange clotheslines and slams on the outside, before sliding back into the ring to continue the brawl. Steph is back out now to cheer on her husband, who jabs a finger in her direction and says "don't screw with me". Rocky begins to battle back with rights, but Triple H takes him down with a wickedly fast knee to the face. He instructs Steph to get the belt, and she does so with aplomb, SLAPPING the poor guy whose job it is to look after the championship. The Game holds the Rock steady as Steph measures him, but the Brahma Bull sidesteps her blow at the last second...and she blasts her husband in the face! It only gets a two count, but Rocky grabs Steph by the hair as she drops to the outside! Triple H drags his carcass over and manages to low blow the champ, before commanding Stephanie to "just go!". Poor guy. He's having girl problems; I feel bad for him, son. Rock begins to take control with a few punches, but again Triple H is able to reassert control, this time with a nice neckbreaker. He heads back outside to grab his sledgehammer, crashing a hard shot into the ribs of the champ. Earl snatches the weapon away and throws it out of the ring, but the damage is done. UGHH Trips follows up with a merciless punt to the ribs! And another! He props Rocky in the corner and drives his head into the champ's ribs a few times. It's a good choice, because the Rock is particularly fantastic at selling damage to the torso. Has anybody else noticed this? Trips hits his facebuster for a two count, before working over the ribs some more in that methodical fashion of his. Rock begins to turn the tide with a swinging neckbreaker, before both men head up top and the champ hits a thunderous superplex! We cut suddenly to the back, where Steph is asking a dazed Kurt Angle to get back out there and help Triple H. He agrees to do it ("I'll do it for you, Steph"), and rises shakily from his stretcher. Meanwhile The Rock has covered the Game...who JUST kicks out at two. A belly-to-belly gets another CLOSE two, and here comes Stephanie, dragging Kurt down the ramp with her. She brings him down to ringside and urges him to get involved, and he obliges, snagging the Rock's leg as he runs the ropes. That's all the distraction Triple H needs to hit the Pedigree! 1....2....ANGLE DRAGS HIM OUT OF THE RING! Ohhhhh! Trips gets whipped low and hard into the steps, and Angle crawls in to cover the Rock...who just about kicks out at two. Both men are up, and now Angle's going toe-to-toe with the champ. Belly to belly suplex drops Rocky for a two count, before the champ hits a HIGH one of his own in retaliation! DDT gets two, and Triple H has just about managed to drag himself back onto the apron now...only for the Rock to whip Angle into him and send him right back down. Rocky catches Kurt on the rebound...ROCK BOTTOM! 1...2...OHHHH! Triple H reaches in an snags the Rock's trailing leg, dragging him to the outside. A massive right hand knocks the champ down, and now Trips tells Stephanie to fetch his hammer. She obliges, sliding it into the ring, but Angle kicks Triple H away as he bends to pick it up. The two scuffle over the weapon and Steph jumps in the ring, presumably to help her husband(?). Angle ducks under a Triple H right hand, and the Game accidentally decks his own wife! He bends down to see if she's okay, and Kurt takes advantage to blindside Trips with a sledgehammer shot to the head! 1...2...The Rock breaks it up! Oh man, the Rock lays the smackdown on Angle HARD, and sends him tumbling out of the ring. He takes a look at the prone Game...and nudges his arm with his boot! The crowd come alive as Rock sets up for the People's Elbow, hurdling both Triple H and Stephanie as part of the theatrics! It connects...1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 3/5 - Nothing spectacular in terms of wrestling, but the booking here was compelling throughout. It was a little too clusterfucky for me to award it a really high score, and suffered a little from the stop-start nature of the action, but still served as an exciting, emotionally charged main event. High drama - not the best in terms of match quality. Rocky hoists his gold high and departs victoriously. Angle drags Steph under the bottom rope, leaving an unconscious Triple H alone in the middle of the ring, and tries to rouse her. The show ends with Kurt carrying a limp Stephanie to the back while her husband lies flat out on the canvas. I'm guessing poo poo's going to go down on Raw...
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Jan 11, 2014 05:24
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SUMMERSLAM 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit - Chris and Chris served up a classic two out of three falls match which was thankfully afforded a good chunk of time. The pair blended intense brawling with a clinic in grappling and mat wrestling, with some amazingly inventive sequences and reversals popping up throughout. The ending was cheap, but relevantly so. Here's hoping this feud continues a little while longer. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Chris Jericho - Outrageously good in the match of the night. One of the best individual performances I've seen since the start of the thread. 2. Chris Benoit - Benoit plays second fiddle in the MotN for the second event in a row, which stands testament to both his consistency and versatility. 3. Jeff Hardy - The main ragdoll/punching bag of another brutal TLC match. Took some wicked punishment and looked awesome doing it. 4. Bubba Ray Dudley - A force of nature while on the attack in the opening stages of TLC mayhem. Also took the centrepiece bump, crushing a few tables in the process. 5. Triple H - As so often, the glue of the main event scene. Held everything together in the chaos of the triple threat match and wrestled well, as we expect him to. It broke my heart not to be able to include Steve Blackman on here, and Shane probably deserves something too, just for his crazy bump off the SummerSlam scaffolding. The rest of the TLC guys turned in great performances too, and I was tempted to shoehorn Matt Hardy onto the list as I felt his bump was actually far more dangerous than Bubba's (although Ray's overall performance was too good to ignore). Eddie had another good showing, but was lumbered with a poor supporting cast once again. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Chris Jericho - 18 2.Kurt Angle - 17 3. Jeff Hardy - 14 Chris Benoit - 14 4. Triple H - 13 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 7 8. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. Rikishi - 4 11. Test - 3 12. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 13. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Jericho takes the lead, while Benoit rockets from nowhere up to third on the back of two strong outings. Jeff Hardy is still mixing it up there with wrestlers he has no business being anywhere near, while Angle is still very much in contention despite yet another scoreless event. SUMMERSLAM SCORE: 8/10 Two huge matches - the TLC match and Benoit vs Jericho - made this card great, and were perhaps guilty of slightly overshadowing the main event. Unfortunately it was dragged out of classic territory by a couple of stinkers. Whoever decided to afford the Kat and Terri yet more PPV time needs firing, and the Kane/Undertaker match was as baffling as it was disappointing. A host of fun moments make this an easily enjoyable show however, most notably Shane and Blackman flirting with suicide. JR saving Lawler is up there as well. Definitely worth a watch.
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Jan 11, 2014 05:46
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Squalitude posted:Out of interest, have you seen all of these PPVs before, or are you watching some for the first time? And did you watch the Old Skool RAW last week? I watched the Too Cool part, I was surprised that Scotty 2 Hotty looked quite different, but seeing the Worm again was magnificent. Plus, he's a firefighter now- talk about living the gimmick (it is a pun based on his name)! This is the first time I've seen most of these PPVs, and the ones I have seen were too long ago for me to really remember much. I do remember certain moments and matches however, having seen footage of them (or if they've just stuck in my mind). I remember things like Blackman knocking Shane off the Tron, and I've definitely seen a clip of the announce table breaking underneath Triple H and Angle, but I couldn't tell you which PPV each spot or match belonged to. I didn't watch Old School Raw, but I read somewhere that Sexay is looking more and more like Lawler the older he gets.
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Jan 11, 2014 15:53
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania PART 1 Another month, another horrendous poster. Just look at that photoshopped piece of poo poo. ANYWAY, welcome to Unforgiven! Our card here seems to be a continuation of the storylines birthed at SummerSlam, and we have some potentially awesome matches to look forward to. The main event sees Chris Benoit, Kane, and The Undertaker compete for Rock's WWF Championship in a fatal four way match, while Triple H takes on Kurt Angle in a no-DQ bout (I'm expecting an ungodly amount of blading). We're also getting the long-awaited return of Austin - for the first time on PPV since his interference at Backlash - who will be searching for the identity of his vehicular assailant. If you know who it is please don't post any spoilers. I know who it turns out to be as well, but just in case anybody reading this thread doesn't want to find out until the reveal, please refrain from doing so. I'll give a little clue though: it's somebody we've seen quite a lot of in the thread so far. I'm not sure if the reveal actually happens on this show, but we're going to see some Stone Cold either way. A shitload of pyro kicks off the night, and I should mention that we're in Philly. I'm hoping for a very outspoken crowd. JR tells us that Shane McMahon claims to have footage of Austin's running down, including the identity of the driver. All that can wait for now however, as we hear a shrill whistling sound to signify the arrival of those drat Dudleys. 1. The Dudley Boyz and The Acolytes vs Right To Censor We see footage of the tag division uniting to beat down Right To Censor on a previous Smackdown, as Too Cool, the Dudleys, and the Acolytes all shared a dance party in the middle of the ring. Newsflash: Bradshaw can't dance. This is an eight-man tag match, and RTC looked to have secured the services of Val Venis to bolster their ranks. It's Goodfather and D-Von to start, but the Dudley boy quickly tags in his brother, finding himself outmatched for strength. Bubba gets shoved into a corner but dives out of the way of an attempted Ho Train (does he still call it that?), and hits a big back suplex. Goodfather hits a backdrop on Bubba and tags in MAH BOY Bull Buchanan. Big clothesline to Bubba, big punches in the corner, and yet all I want is to see Bull fly again . Bubba regains control with a clothesline and tags in Bradshaw. Bradshaw does some of his terrible, terrible offence. Does he get any better during his later career resurgence? I didn't follow wrestling too closely around that time. He whips Bull towards a corner and BUCHANAN TAKES TO THE AIR! He plants one foot on the top turnbuckle and springs off, nailing a twisting clothesline on Bradshaw! Lovely. Aghhhh he ruins everything by tagging in Val Venis. Val and Brashaw brawl, and it's very messy. Venis tries to speed things up, coming off the ropes with a crossbody attempt, but Bradshaw catches him! BIG fallaway slam, and Faarooq gets the tag. He hits a shoulder block and immediately tags in D-Von. Great contribution there buddy. D-Von actually brings a little bit of mobility into this matchup, flying around the ring with clotheslines and shoulder blocks. Maybe he just looks fast compared to the other competitors in this match. Goodfather's in now, hitting a high-angle back suplex on D-Von for a two count. Venis gets the tag and misses and elbow drop, allowing D-Von to make the hot tag to Bubba. Clothesline to Val! Backdrop to Val! Bubba Bomb to Val! Sidewalk slam to Goodfather! DDT to Buchanan! Richards is the only one left, and he gets hooked up for the Bubba Bomb...but Venis is back on his feet to save his boss. D-Von and the APA storm the ring and clear out the RTC members, causing a big brawl on the outside. In the ring, Bubba hooks Venis up on his shoulders...and D-Von flies from the top with the Doomsday Device! 1...2...Goodfather crawls in to break it up. Bubba throws him out of the ring and turns his attentions to Val, but here comes Richards with the Superkick (or Steven Kick, as JR calls it)! He's out cold, and Venis pounces on him for the three. Winners: Right To Censor 1/5 – An unsurprisingly slow, cumbersome match, given the participants. The Dudleys injected a little bit of energy, but this was mostly tedious stuff to watch. I do like Richards' role in the RTC however, the cowardly boss who lingers on the apron all match before scuttling in and hitting a superkick for the win. RTC try to beat down the faces after the bell, but the Acolytes clear the ring. Richards is left stranded, and is hit with D-Von's diving headbutt to the groin. Bubba orders him to get the table, which he does, but RTC recover to save Steven from a powerbomb through the wood. Bradshaw lays out Goodfather with a Clothesline From Hell, while Faarooq hits his ugly-rear end spinebuster on Venis. D-Von sort of ushers Buchanan out of the ring. That was weak. The APA grab Richards and Bradshaw hits a really stiff few kicks. That's notorious ECW-hater Bradshaw, ladies and gentlemen. Hmm. Finally Bubba hooks up the RTC leader and smashes him through the table, and everybody's happy. We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Triple H is nursing some injured ribs. Stephanie tells him that she's worried, but he vows to destroy Kurt Angle and leave him lying in the centre of the ring. He needs to know if Steph has any intentions of coming down to the ring to defend Kurt, but she promises that she's behind her husband one hundred percent. She thought Angle was her friend, but maybe she was wrong. Triple H mocks her - "MAYBE? Maybe you were wrong!?" - and asks if her friend would take a sledgehammer and smash her husband's ribs in, or if her friend would do what he's done to the pair of them for months on end. He asks if her "friend" was worth it and storms off. We cut back to Lawler and JR who debate when Austin is going to show up, but are cut off by Jerry's theme music. It looks like he has another bout against Tazz, this time a strap match. I'm not sure about this. It seemed like last month was a great place to end the feud. 2. Strap Match: Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Tazz Win by pinfall, submission, or touching all four turnbuckles in succession. Here we go. Tazz immediately drags Lawler to the canvas and stomps away, before hitting a back suplex and screaming at Jerry to get up. They head to the outside where Tazz chokes out Lawler right on JR's announce table. He looks around for any weapons Jim might have hiding back there and gets into a shouting match with the announcer, allowing Lawler to wrap him up from behind and choke him with the strap. King doubles over the strap and begins whipping away at Tazz's back, rather like one would whip a government mule actually. Back in the ring Tazz regains control with a boot to the crotch, and now it's Jerry's turn to get whipped about. Lawler blocks a punch and fights back with lefts of his own, followed by a right to knock Tazz down. He scoops him up and nails the Piledriver, but Tazz gets right back to his feet. Undeterred, Lawler hits a second Piledriver! Again Tazz gets up, and AGAIN Lawler hits a Piledriver! Tazz gets up...wobbles...and falls flat on his face! Jerry drags Tazz around, touching three of the turnbuckles, but the ECW alumnus grabs the ropes on his way to the fourth. Lawler tries to choke him out with the rope, and Tazz flails his legs, inadvertently knocking down the referee. Jerry's almost made it to the fourth corner when....the Philadelphia crowd comes unstuck because RAVEN IS IN A WWF RING! Evenflow DDT to King! Raven hits his pose and saunters out of the ring, leaving Tazz to slap the Tazzmission on Lawler. He passes out, and that's all she wrote. Winner: Tazz 1/5 – Boring match, but WOOO RAVEN! I take back my reservations about this feud continuing. Tazz keeps on the submission long after the bell has rung, and a gaggle of referees come down to drag him off. King is helped to the back. We cut to Steve Blackman doing some weapony poo poo in the back, ready to defend his Hardcore title, and then switch over to the parking lot where Kevin Kelly is awaiting Austin's arrival. Stone Cold drives into view and hops out of his truck. Kelly asks how he feels, and Austin says he's not here to answer questions. He shoves Kelly into the wall and strides off. Michael Cole has joined JR at the announce table in King's absence, and next up is the Hardcore battle royal. Al Snow is out first, and is the current European champion. Looks like Perry isn't a champ anymore . Apparently Snow has taken to representing one European country per appearance, and tonight is Italy. He comes out in a leather jacket, dark shades, and a guerra hat (Head is wearing one too), and has gifts for the two announce tables. The Spaniards get a pizza, while JR and Cole get a framed picture of Tony Danza. 3. WWF Hardcore Championship: 10 Minute Hardcore Battle Royal We have Al Snow, Crash Holly, Test, Perry Saturn, Funaki, and the champion (and hero of our hearts) Steve Blackman. I'd like to remind everybody of the last time we had a hardcore battle royal back at 'Mania. It was disgustingly bad. Luckily they seem to have realised this, and the time limit of this match is only ten minutes as opposed to fifteen. Also, whereas last time we had people like Viscera, Hardcore Holly, and ALL THREE members of the Mean Street Posse, at least here we have guys who could actually be mistaken for wrestlers - like Test and Al Snow. Perry Saturn instantly recaptures my heart for the umpteenth time, diving straight through the middle of the ropes as Blackman makes his entrance. BAM, instant trashcan lid to the head. What a brilliant start, Perry. Test presses Funaki over his head and drops him over the ropes onto the champ, but Blackman recovers quickly and faces the giant in the ring. Test hits a gutwrench powerbomb and makes the cover, but Al Snow breaks it up with a lid shot. Crash breaks up HIS pinfall attempt with a road sign, and Saturn breaks up Holly's effort by charging over and dragging him off. Pick up a weapon, Perry! Wow...Saturn surprises everybody with a nice bridging northern lights suplex on the champ, but Funaki breaks it up with yet another trashcan lid, this time to the ribs. Crash, Blackman and Funaki battle on the outside, while Snow, Saturn and Test fight in the ring. JESUS CHRIST! NICE superkick by Saturn on Test! The valets are up on the apron now, Terri for Saturn and Trish for Test. Al Snow grabs Head and measures Perry, but Terri snatches it out of his hands and tosses it to her man. He measures Al who ducks...and Trish gets smacked off the apron! Test is furious and grabs Head out of Perry's hands. He swings and this time Saturn ducks, and Terri gets knocked off this time! Snow has Head now and sidesteps a Test big boot which flattens Saturn. Test gets dropped by Head, and this actually hasn't been too bad so far! Blackman slides back in and goes to work on Snow, before Crash FLIES off the top and...hits some kind of botched headscissors on Al. I'm not sure whose fault that was, but I bet both are thinking "poo poo! I'll never get on JGKing's top five list now!". Funaki hits a flying crossbody on Blackman for two. Crash and Funaki team up to clear the ring, hitting a double clothesline on Snow, ducking a flying big boot from Test, and hitting tandem dropkicks on Blackman. They celebrate and high five, but Funaki turns on his new ally with a mule kick. Crash rolls out of the ring and everybody's battling at the foot of the ramp. Plancha time, surely! Funaki doesn't get a chance to, instead finding himself dragged out of the ring as well. Who's left to dive onto everybody!? PERRY SATURN WITH A CLUMSY-rear end MOONSAULT FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE OUTSIDE! I LOVE YOU PERRY! Everybody battles on the outside apart from Snow and Crash who return to the ring. Perry drags Funaki all the way up the ramp to the back, with Terri in pursuit. I wonder what they're up to. JR points out that Test is the only smart contender in the match, as he's the only one who has remembered to focus on Blackman, the only man who can be pinned for the title to change hands. OH poo poo! Blackman picks up a trash can but eats a FURIOUS big boot from Test who came flying down the ramp! Crash weighs in with a few traschan lid shots to Test's cranium, and steals a pinfall on the champ! 1...2...3! Crash grabs the belt and sprints towards the back, but there are still six minutes left for him to defend the title. PERRY SATURN COMES OUT FROM THE BACK WITH A TRASHCAN! CRUNCH! 1...2...3! Perry's the champ! Superkick to an onrushing Funaki, and Saturn has turned up to play! He hands off the belt to Terri, but should probably have kept it for his own self-defence as Al Snow comes flying up the ramp and smashes a trashcan lid over his head! Terri screams and runs for cover as Snow tries a pinfall, but Saturn just kicks out at two. The match degenerates into a messy brawl on the the ramp, with traschans flying everywhere. Everybody moves slowly around to a side-entrance to the crowd, and brawl slowly down a pathway to the ring. I'm sure the fans sitting near there love it, but for everybody else (including me) this kind of sucks. Test tries to be original, stealing somebody's drink and sloshing it in Al's face, but apart from that it's just a boring procession back to ringside. Al steals a drink now (although the camera catches him politely asking the fan if he can use it), and throws it in Blackman's face. FINALLY they begin to spill back out of the crowd at ringside, and Saturn grabs a kendo stick. He stands alone in the ring awaiting any challengers, and Blackman obliges, grabbing his two smaller sticks from under the ring and sliding in. Meanwhile, Al Snow hits Test over the head with a pizza box. Um, that wouldn't hurt at all Test. You should probably get up buddy. Blackman goes to town on Saturn with the sticks, pausing momentarily to deal with Al Snow who tries to get a piece of the action. Steve grabs the kendo stick and takes out pretty much anybody who sets foot in the ring, before one final big shot to the head of Saturn downs him for the three count. Blackman has his belt back with a minute to go, and bails to the ramp. He turns to the ring and yells "It's still mine!", but everybody rushes him! They beat down Blackman on the ramp, but keep breaking up each other's pinfalls! Time runs out, and the belt stays where it is. Winner and STILL WWF Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman 1/5 – This was actually entertaining at the beginning, but just about everything from the crowd segment onwards was poorly executed. The three standouts here were Test, Blackman, and (amazingly) Perry Saturn, who actually stole the show. You keep on rocking, Perry Saturn. You keep on rocking.
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Jan 11, 2014 21:35
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 2 Angle is backstage showing a couple of unfortunate passers-by his gold medals. He bids them farewell and strides down the corridor whistling happily, but is stopped in his tracks by a passing Stone Cold. Kurt says it's an honour to meet him and offers a handshake, which Austin ignores. Angle says that he wants to present Austin with a honorary gold medal, in celebration of his hard work and courage in returning from injury. He brings out a medal and hangs it around Stone Cold's neck. Angle apologises that it isn't as big as either of his medals, but Austin didn't really do anything to earn it. Stone Cold says he appreciates the medal, and promises to store it in a very special place: "Right up your rear end". Angle eats a big right hand and falls to the floor where Stone Cold begins to stomp a mudhole. Some backstage workers rush to break it up, and Austin stomps away down the corridor. He's not in the best of moods tonight... 4. X-Pac vs Chris Jericho JR reveals that X-Pac has been attacking Jericho from behind the past few weeks, but doesn't really explain why. A video clip shows Pac beating down Y2J with a pair of nunchucks, leaving our Wrestler of the Year points leader in a bloody mess. Pac bails out of the ring to avoid a charging Jericho as Cole goes into the feud in a little more detail. Apparently X Pac's mean streak began during the friendly rivalry with Road Dogg, and since then he's even shoved best buddy Triple H down in the middle of the ring. The pair start off at a rapid pace, Pac missing with a headscissors attempt and being knocked down by a chop block. Jericho fires off a chop to the chest, before missing with a clothesline to the corner. X-Pac kicks Y2J down and signals for the Bronco Buster, but Jericho explodes out of the corner with a big clothesline! A nice spinning heel kick knocks Pac to the apron, but he recovers in time to shove Y2J as he jumps to the turnbuckles. Jericho flies and crashes into the crowd barrier, giving X-Pac the chance to grab the top rope and flip into a senton to the outside. Y2J finds himself whipped pretty much into JR's lap, before going for a ride right into the poor timekeeper as well. It seems that Pac's been taking lessons from Edge's performance at Fully Loaded. Cole theorises that jealousy may play a part in X-Pac's change in attitude, envying the success of the other DX members. JR points out that DX isn't really a functioning organisation at the moment, yet X-Pac is still wearing their colours. "What's up with that!?". I don't know, JR. I just don't know. A great spinning heel kick (better than Jericho's, #controversial) flattens Y2J, but Jericho battles out of the subsequent chinlock and whips Pac into a corner. He looks for the bulldog, but X-Pac has it scouted and whirls around onto his back with a sleeper hold. Jericho fights out and clamps on a sleeper of his own, but X-Pac immediately counters with a back suplex for two. Y2J gets dragged into the corner and hit with the Bronco Buster, but Pac unwisely stays in position and taunts the fan favourite, who lifts him onto his shoulders and carries him halfway across the ring for a powerbomb! Now it's X Pac's turn to get dragged into the corner, and Jericho smirks before hitting a Bronco Buster of his own. He misses a follow-up charge into the corner, however, inadvertently ramming his shoulder into the ringpost. X-Pac heads under the ring and pulls out that set of nunchucks. He flips them around for a while before measuring Jericho and missing with a wild swing. Roll up! 1...2...X-Pac kicks out just in time. The ref shoves the 'chucks out of the ring and misses Y2J suffering a flagrant boot to the groin. X-Factor connects! 1...2...JERICHO GETS THE SHOULDER UP JUST IN TIME! Looks like he's over enough now to benefit from The Rock's favourite trait: Babyface PPV Resiliency. Jericho gets whipped into the ropes and Pac looks for a hurricanrana...reversed into a powerbomb, and an immediate transition into the Walls of Jericho! Pac is quick to scuttle over to the ropes, however, and Y2J has to break the hold. Welp, that's both finishers used. I guess we won't be getting a clean finish... Jericho complains to the referee a little, and turns into a beautiful crescent kick from X-Pac! 1...2...another near fall! Both men are on their feet and X-Pac eats a bulldog! Does the Lionsault count as a finisher!? I forgot about that one! Jericho goes for it...and gets knees! X-Pac heads to the second rope and waits for Y2J to get to his feet. What's Waltman got in his locker here? Oh, it's the Flying Nothing! X-Pac hits a beautiful Flying Nothing on Jericho, who immediately slams him into the canvas and applies the Walls! X-Pac taps! Winner: Chris Jericho 2.5/5 – A decent match, as expected due to the quality of both men in the ring. Jericho was his usual impressive self, while X-Pac looked a little sloppy at first but picked his game up as the match progressed. A little bit of a weak finish, but certainly the best match on an unimpressive card so far. Jericho keeps the submission hold locked in long after the bell, but releases it just as the customary gaggle of referees arrive to break it up. They lecture him for being a naughty boy, giving Pac the chance to slip out of the ring and grab his nunchucks. CRACK! Jericho goes down. Here's a quick thought. Maybe if they want to discourage attacks after the bell, they should stop playing the assailant's music after his cheap shot has succeeded. Nevertheless, X-Pac leaves to the sound of his own theme tune while Jericho lies hurt on the outside. Cole and JR muse over why Pac has become so sadistic in recent weeks. Foley is backstage in his referee shirt, practising his pinfall counting. Looks like he'll be reffing the Angle vs Triple H match later tonight. Kurt storms into the room complaining about Austin's earlier attack. Foley doesn't seem very sympathetic, but Angle bravely announces that he'll still compete later. He brings up his Olympic victory and explains that the night before he suffered from a head cold; competing hurt is nothing new to him. Mick has little sympathy for Kurt, reminding him that he injured Triple H's ribs with a sledgehammer this past week. The Rock is lacing up his boots in the #FaceLockerRoom. It's kind of like Triple H's #HeelLockerRoom, but without the leather sofas and potted plants. There's a knock at the door and in walks Austin. The crowd go nuts. There's a long staredown, but the tension is diffused with a handshake. Stone Cold knows that it wasn't Rocky who ran him down, but it WAS the Brahma Bull's rental car. He asks if the Rock can remember anybody snooping around backstage that night who might have stolen his keys. Rock believes that it could have been anybody, as there were a lot of wrestlers milling about. A second knock at the door is heard, and in walks Just Joe. For those of you who don't know, Just Joe was a character whose entire gimmick seemed to be stirring up rumours and trouble backstage. He didn't last long, unsurprisingly. Joe tells Austin that he heard some stuff flying around the locker room that Austin might want to hear about. Austin retorts that he heard something too; he heard that Just Joe was a sorry son of a bitch. Joe eats a few right hands and gets shoved out the door while The Rock watches on with a smirk. Austin leaves. We get a flashback to Smackdown and an incident between The Hardy Boyz and E&C. The Hardys watch from the ring as the champs appear on the Tron, and roll old promo footage from the Hardys' adolescent backyard wrestling fed. Oh my god, Edge comes out with maybe the funniest line of the entire thread so far: "Let's go to a clip of Matt Hardy - as High Voltage, explaining what he's going to do...TO WOLVERINE". It's said with such amazing sincerity. The Hardys (and Lita) storm backstage to find the champs, but it's all a trap, and they end up blindsided and beaten with chairs. I think Lita just got knocked to the floor without a chairshot. E&C aren't quite at the "Hitting divas with weapons" point on the heel spectrum. 5. WWF Tag Team Championship Cage Match: Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz The Hardys spring through the cage door and kick off a brawl, but Christian takes control of Jeff with his inverted facelock slam thing. You know the one I mean, right? He uses it as a transitional move all the time. Matt hits Edge with a DDT, and the Hardys double team Christian for a while. Jeff holds his legs as Matt heads to the middle rope and hits an "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" legdrop. That was a long yell there dude. Christian gets sat on the top rope, his back resting against the cage, and Jeff hits a unique version of the Poetry in Motion. It's also a really unwise one, as he gets all tangled in the ropes as he falls. The Hardys go for an escape over the top of the cage, but E&C recover to stop them. They should really have let one of them go, and then double-teamed the other for the rest of the match. But I digress. Matt gets elbowed to the canvas by Christian, while Edge pursues Jeff. The Hardy stands right on top of the cage and signals for the Swanton. What are you doing!? There's nobody in position! Edge rightfully punishes his stupidity, shoving in the midsection. Jeff falls over the other side of the cage, grabs the top, hangs for a few seconds, but finally lets go and falls hard to the canvas. Edge peers down at him and grins evilly. Holy poo poo! They just did exactly what I said they should do! If Jeff's fall was deliberate, at least. It looked kind of messy, but Edge's expression was one of an evil plan coming together. Matt drags Edge down and crotches him on the top rope. Christian eats a few rights and gets whipped into the cage wall. He rebounds back to Matt, who hooks him up and hits the "aaaaaah" Twist of Fate. A shorter, sharper yell there. I think he grasps the urgency of the situation. He covers Christian, but Edge breaks it up at the count of two. Christian begins to scale the cage from a nearby turnbuckle, but Matt takes Edge down and slingshots him into his own partner. Meanwhile, JR and Cole are disagreeing over whether Jeff is allowed to re-enter the cage and help his brother. JR sides with the babyfaces, of COURSE. Christian ends up in the Tree of Woe position, and Matt wisely ties Edge's arms up in the ropes. He heads for the top of the cage with both champions trapped, but they recover just in time and head after him. Both champs balance on the top rope and yank Matt's head towards them. Uh oh...BIG DOUBLE SUPERPLEX FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE! All three men are down, but Edge drapes an arm over Matt for a near fall. The champs scoop Hardy on their shoulders and ram him into the nearest wall, while Jeff begins to climb from the outside. Edge spots this, and boots the cage to knock him down immediately. Jeff tries again, and this time E&C whip Matt HARD into the wall to knock his brother halfway up the entrance ramp (slight exaggeration maybe, but he flew). They beat down Matt some more, but forget about Jeff who is able to almost make it up to the top of the cage this time. Christian stands on the top rope and hammers away with rights...and Jeff falls all the way back down to the floor! Ouch! That drew a few screams from his admirers at ringside. Pretty boy bastard. Real women prefer classically handsome men - the Saturns, Blackmans and Buchanans of this world. More double teaming occurs, but by now Jeff has lost his poo poo. He grabs a nearby referee and slams him into the cage, before robbing him of a key. I WONDER WHAT IT COULD OPEN! He grabs a chair and opens the door, and again shows that he's having an off night. He throws the chair in the ring, and Christian dashes over to slam the door in his face. Jeff's still on the outside (and suffering from a door-related head injury), and the champs now have a weapon. I bet Matt hates his bro right now. Christian briefly takes a trip outside of the cage to fetch a second chair while Edge busts Matt open with right hands. He totally steals my thunder by mocking Matt's trademark yell. I've been doing that since this thread started, you dick. The champs lock the cage door again, and Edge makes a big show out of storing the key down the front of his tights. Turns out he was a sleazy bastard long before the Rated R gimmick. Edge drops to his hands and knees, and Christian flies off his back with a crossbody to Matt. The champs grab a chair each and measure Hardy for the conchairto, but he ducks just in time, and the chairs clash into one another. Matt runs the ropes and hits a big double clothesline, and he's bleeding pretty badly now. He heads up top and is almost out of the cage, but E&C follow him up and just stop him in time. Christian ends up hanging on the outside of the cage due to his efforts in keeping Matt in, but he tries to get back over to the inside now...and FINALLY Jeff does something loving useful! He fetches a ladder from under the ring and throws it into Christian's spine, causing the tag champ to fall the outside and eliminate himself from the match! It's down to Edge and Matt now. The pair battle atop one turnbuckle, and Edge hits a flying bulldog to gain the advantage. Jeff sets up the ladder on the outside and uses it to climb alongside the cage wall, while rendering Edge unable to knock him off. He climbs from the top of the ladder up to the top of the cage just as Matt hoists Edge off the ropes with a big back suplex, and the champ lands in prime Swanton territory. OH WOW! Jeff doesn't hit his finisher, instead twisting his body into an UNBELIEVABLE corkscrew moonsault! It takes down both men inside the ring and brings the crowd to their feet! Christian begins to climb Jeff's ladder on the outside, but here comes Lita dashing down the ramp! She climbs the cage wall adjacent to Christian and launches off with a headscissors takedown, sending both crashing to the floor! That looked like a brutal landing for both. Back in the ring, Edge throws a chair right into Jeff's face. He climbs slowly to the top of the cage, but the Hardys catch him with a chair each. All three men sit astride the top of the cage...CONCHAIRTO TO EDGE! He falls backwards and crashes right in the middle of the ring! The Hardys throw down their chairs and climb down the outside of the cage for the feel-good win! Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: The Hardy Boyz 3.5/5 – This would have been a pretty lacklustre bout if it only consisted of what in-ring wrestling action we saw, but the unique booking of the match and a few huge spots made it pretty compelling by the end. This is also an example of the beneficial effects of a lengthy title reign. The pop the Hardys got for finally dethroning Edge and Christian was huge. Good work from Matt and Edge, who had the most to do, and great work from the other three (that's including Lita) in taking some dangerous looking bumps. The Hardys and Lita give each other forceful happy hugs, kind of like the hug that Danny and Kenickie give each other in Grease. They head victoriously up the ramp while Edge is helped out of the ring by Christian and a few stray referees.
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Jan 12, 2014 05:43
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 3 Stephanie is alone in the #HeelLockerRoom and is paid a visit from Austin. He asks after Triple H, but Steph says he's gone to talk with Foley. She welcomes him back and says he looks in great shape. As a token of well-wishing she gives Austin a gift. It's the cap he was wearing on the night he was run down. Austin isn't thrilled - "I haven't found the sumbitch who ran me down, but at least I've got my hat back. I guess I can go home now". Steph asks why he's bothering to carry out his own investigation tonight when Shane has conclusive video footage of the assailant. Austin says you can be sure of three things in this world: death, taxes, and don't trust anybody around this place. Triple H is in Foley's office, and they reminisce over watching old footage of Angle crying atop the Olympic podium together. The weird grudging respect thing these two have going on is quite endearing. Suddenly Trips gets serious. He wants to know that Mick will call the match right down the middle and not interfere, because he wants to end Angle's career tonight just like he ended Foley's. Mick says that - since the match is no-DQ - his only job is to count the pinfall. Triple H warns him that he'd better stick to his word. We're back at ringside and Lawler's music plays. He's back out looking quite sheepish after his loss to Tazz (with a lot of help from Raven). Cole gets the hell out of the King's chair and scurries to the back. JR sends us to a video package involving the current Intercontinental champ, Eddie Guerrero. Eddie's behaviour has turned quite heelish recently, attacking Too Cool during one of their post-match dance parties, and spraying something into Rikishi's eyes on an episode of Smackdown. He also "accidentally" wins the Intercontinental belt from Chyna, accidentally covering her during a triple threat match while making sure she's okay. We see an argument backstage between a livid Eddie and a distraught Chyna. She claims he used her to get to the top. Eddie is furious, and demands to know if she has his back like he had hers when she was the champ. We cut to Eddie apologising the following night, but Chyna says he needs to learn to control his temper. The following Raw, Eddie is admiring Chyna's figure, saying she should be in pictures. Chyna reveals that she is going to be in "pictures" actually, as she is due to appear on the cover of Playboy. Eddie flips, and we see him in a hilarious looking skit where he tries to storm the front door of the Playboy Mansion, only to be stopped by security. He later gets out of a title defence against Rikishi by pretending to have the flu, and Chyna steps in as his replacement in a non-title match. Rikishi kicks the poo poo out of her. Chyna says she is sick of Eddie and is about to break up with him. Eddie proposes as she is about to leave the ring, and she says YES! This can't end well. 6. WWF Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Rikishi JR and King plug Chyna's issue of Playboy, and it's loving weird to hear JR doing so. "She's buff, she's beautiful, the artwork is classy, and it's on sale tomorrow". Rikishi dominates the early going, throwing Eddie out of the ring and whipping him into the steps. Back in the ring Guerrero goes for a sunset flip, but Rikishi stays on his feet and ALMOST sits right down on the champ's head. Guerrero just nips out of the way in time, and seems to have had enough. He beckons to Chyna that they're leaving - "Did you see that? He almost killed me, man!" - and begins to stride back up the ramp. Chyna chases him down and tries to persuade him to stay and fight, but Eddie's having none of it. OOOH, Chyna shoves him back into the ring. Backdrop by Rikishi, and Eddie gets squashed with a big clothesline in the corner. Uh oh, he drops down to a sitting position. Rikishi slowly backs into the Stinkface, but Chyna drags Eddie to safety just in time. Rikishi gets out of the ring to argue with her, allowing Eddie to sneak up to the top rope and leap off with a HUGE crossbody to the outside! Rikishi goes for a ride into the steps, before being shoved back into the ring. FROGSPLASH...misses, and Rikishi squashes Guerrero on the corner. A wicked Samoan drop puts Eddie down, and Rikishi drags him into the corner for the Banzai Drop! 1...2...Chyna dashes into the ring and grabs the ref, pleading with him not to count the pinfall. So he doesn't!? He's angry at her, but he doesn't count the loving three. What the hell? Rikishi shoves Chyna down and hits her with a Superkick as she returns to her feet. THE REF CALLS FOR THE BELL!? What the gently caress? Winner and STILL WWF Intercontinental Champion: Eddie Guerrero 1/5 - The action was fine here, but I didn't enjoy the booking of the match at all. Chyna's method of interference was weird - pleading with the referee to not count the fall? - and the subsequent DQing of Rikishi for taking revenge on her seemed an inconsistent decision, even for professional wrestling. A waste of a potentially good match. Rikishi squashes Chyna with the Banzai Drop and leaves. He should be more pissed at the referee. Eddie seems to be crawling over to help Chyna, but he hilariously rolls right past her and grabs his title belt first. The story here is that Guerrero has retained thanks to Chyna's reluctant heelish behaviour, but the crowd seem utterly dead. Undertaker is in the back with Coach. He says that Kane, Benoit, and The Rock are all going for a ride tonight. Everybody forgot while he was away that the ring was his yard, and that he's the big dog who runs it. He says that his three opponents better hope that the ride isn't going to be their...LAST RIDE. I see what you did there, Mark. Really lovely promo though. Kurt is in the back bemoaning his bad luck of late. He has to face Triple H in a no-DQ match, Austin attacked him backstage, and Stephanie is still mad at him. Trish Stratus comes along and tells Angle that if he needs anybody to talk to, "just as a friend", she'll be there for him. Kurt, ever the naive one, completely misses her advances. He snaps to his feet and exclaims that he has an idea, breezing past Stratus and out of the room. We see a video recapping the Triple H/Angle feud. The night after Summerslam, Trips has Kurt set up for the Pedigree but Steph grabs him from behind to stop him. Triple H thinks she's the ref, and swings an elbow back which knocks her clean out. He's devastated, and begins to carry his wife to the back. Angle takes the opportunity to crack a right hand into Trips' face, knocking both the Game and Stephanie to the floor. Triple H demands a match from Foley, and on the next Smackdown mocks Angle's "sissy" ways, dropping to his knees and pretending to cry like Kurt when he wins a match. Angle snaps and hits the Olympic Slam, before bringing a sledgehammer to the ring and smashing it into Triple H's ribs. Stephanie tries to slap the Olympian, but he blocks it and forces a kiss upon her. 7. No Disqualification Match: Kurt Angle vs Triple H (Special Guest Referee Mick Foley) Angle has a mic and reveals that it's his "good friend" Stephanie's birthday. He tries to get the crowd to join him in a rendition of Happy Birthday To You. It's wonderfully sickening. Triple H is out with heavily taped ribs and Stephanie in tow. Kurt goes straight for the ribs, but Trips battles back with a clothesline. A backdrop sends Angle over the ropes to the outside - careful around those announce tables Kurt. Triple H adopts the strategy of smashing Angle's head into pretty much anything nearby: the ringpost, the announce table, the guardrail. Trips seems to remember back to SummerSlam, and the revelation that Angle was allergic to Spanish announce tables, as he strips it down for use. Kurt is able to recover, and whips Triple H into the barrier before clocking him with a clothesline. Back in the ring, the Game tackles Angle down and rains down right hands. He heads to the second rope, but Kurt blocks the attempted axe handle and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Triple H fights back with a DDT for two. He complains to Foley about the speed of the count, and Kurt shoves him into the ref! German suplex! Foley recovers and counts...but Triple H kicks out at two. Angle gets in Foley's face, and Mick momentarily loses his cool and shoves the Olympian down. He instructs Angle to concentrate on the Game, and the match continues. A back suplex take Triple H down for a pinfall attempt, but he rakes Angle's eyes to break it. Triple H fights back with right hands and a neckbreaker, before hitting his jumping knee to the face. He drops a knee right onto Angle's head, but Kurt is able to fight back to his feet and launch Trips right over the top turnbuckle to the floor. I think I mention this whenever it happens, but he takes that bump so well! They fight on the outside, and Angle crashes into the steps to the delight of Stephanie. I don't think she'll be interfering too much on Kurt's behalf this time. Owww, Angle tries a vertical suplex on the floor, but Triple H reverses into a heavy one of his own. The Game grabs the timekeeper's chair and smashes it into Kurt's spine! Lawler: "I don't think that's actually an Olympic move, JR". Trips climbs onto the English table and sets up Angle for the Pedigree, but Kurt saves himself with a low blow in desperation. He gets to his feet and...HOLY poo poo! HE GRABS TRIPLE H AND SUPLEXES HIM FROM ONE TABLE TO THE OTHER! Trips crashes clean through the Spanish announce table, and suddenly Kurt looks like a loving beast! He throws his arms out and celebrates, while Stephanie rushes to her husband's aid. They return to the ring and Angle goes to work on Triple H's ribs again, before sending him falling under the bottom rope with a baseball slide. Trips crawls back in and is bleeding, but Kurt has little sympathy and rams his shoulder into those injured ribs. He backs off, but the Game beckons him to continue. Angle obliges, but Trips moves out of the way and Kurt crashes and burns in the corner! They both head to the top, and Angle hits a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope! He won the King of the Ring with that move, if you recall. A lot of this match has consisted of Triple H getting chucked around like a jobber. It's great. Angle slaps on an abdominal stretch and cranks away, and Triple H passes out from the pain. Mick checks the arm once...twice...and three times it falls! That's the end of the match! Just kidding. Of COURSE Triple H gets the arm up at three. He battles out, but Angle heads to the top and FLIES WITH HIS BEAUTIFUL MOONSAULT! Triple H rolls out of the way just in time, but drat that's a gorgeous moonsault. Facebuster by Triple H! Angle's reeling. Trips sets up for the Pedigree...but he can't quite hook both arms, such is the pain in his ribs! He settles for a one armed version of the move, but falls to the canvas himself as well. He calls Stephanie in the ring and tells her she has to choose. She looks conflicted, but goes around the back of Kurt and kicks him low down! He falls forwards into Triple H....PEDIGREE! It's over. Winner: Triple H 3.5/5 - Not really the massacre I was hoping for (with the exception of that amazing table spot), but the pair still put on an admirable show. Lots of suplexes, lots of wearing down the ribs, and a nice return of Triple H's sadistic streak towards the end there. He was starting to look a little too babyface-like for my taste. Disappointing to see Kurt lose again though. It looks as though every time he builds momentum, a comprehensive defeat stops him in his tracks. This was way closer than the Undertaker squash though. Stephanie looks confused as to why Triple H made her do that. He kicks Angle out of the ring, before planting a very forceful kiss on a surprised Steph and striding to the back. Intriguing developments.
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Jan 12, 2014 19:43
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 4 "No Chance" hits the speakers and here comes Shane McMachon, who claims to have video proof of Stone Cold's assailant. Shane claims he was hoping Austin would have privately asked him who the driver was, rather than conducting his own investigation. He says that, regrettably, he now has to call out the culprit. He claims that the perpetrator is not necessarily somebody we would suspect, but somebody who does indeed have a history of vehicular assault. The Tron rolls footage which Shane tells us is about a year old. It's from the parking lot of an episode of Raw, and we see Steve Blackman reversing a car into Ken Shamrock. Is that it!? That's his conclusive evidence!? This feels like Shane trying to pin the blame on his current nemesis. He says that Blackman is cold, callous, and not to be trusted, "and that's the bottom line, 'cause Shane O'Mac said so". The crowd are sceptical, as is JR. Shane is about to leave the ring, but Blackman's music hits and HERE HE COMES! He enters the ring and Shane bails to the outside. *SMASHHHHHHH* Austin is out to a thunderous ovation. The difference in magnitude between Blackman's pop and his really depresses me. Even worse, it's not even the regular Stone Cold theme. It's the awful version by Disturbed. Steve is out and poses on all four turnbuckles. Blackman doesn't look intimidated, but still protests his innocence as Austin struts around. I'm excited that Blackman has been injected into this storyline, but he's ludicrously out of his depth. He tries to get at Shane, who is taunting him from behind Austin, but Stone Cold maintains the staredown. STUNNER OUT OF NOWHERE! Aghhhh, down goes Blackman . Shane is jumping for joy and helps Austin roll Blackman out of the ring. He brings a case of beers into the ring and throws a couple to Stone Cold. Shane, you're such an idiot. Have you never seen wrestling before ever. Just get out of the ring while you can.The pair down a few beers on the turnbuckles. Shane looks a lot less cool in doing so. They return to the centre of the ring and clash their cans together, but only Shane drinks. He stops and notices Austin glaring at him. Uh oh. STUNNER TO SHANE! He spits beer everywhere and the crowd go crazy. Shane unwisely staggers to his feet and eats a second Stunner. Austin leaves. Nothing is solved in terms of the identity of the driver, but everybody seems happy. JR jizzes over Stone Cold for a while, and we cut eventually to a video package for the main event. It's a fairly paint-by-numbers video package, showing a montage of everybody hitting their finishers on one another in previous weeks. Earlier footage of the Benoit/Rock and 'Taker/Kane feuds are used as well, such as Kane chokeslamming Undertaker through the canvas, and Rock locking Benoit in his own submission manoeuvre. Emphasis seems to be on how much the odds are stacked against Rocky, and we close with clips of him being chokeslammed through the announce table by Kane, given the Last Ride by Undertaker, and locked in Benoit's Crossface. Rock vows to layeth the Smackethdown on AAAAAAAALL their candy asses. I wonder what happened with that Kane/Undertaker thing at SummerSlam by the way. Was the mask removal ever explained or followed up on? It seems weird that it hasn't even been mentioned here at all. Cole is interviewing The Rock in the back. Finally he's come back to Philadelphia, etc etc. Cole says that all three of his opponents desperately want the WWF Title. Rock asks how he can possibly know what they want. Maybe Kane just wants a box of matches so he can light his big red rear end on fire. Maybe Benoit wants a pet wolverine so he can lick its left testicle. Maybe he Undertaker wants to hop on his motorcycle and ride around the Union Centre a few more times because it gives him that...funny feeling. The crowd are eating this up, but I suspect if Cena was making the same jokes nowadays he'd be getting quite a lot of hate for it. Rock closes by saying that he's going to shove all three men's heads so far up their asses, that they'll have to cut holes in their little nipples just to be able to see. If ya smelllllll......and so on. 8. WWF Championship Fatal Four Way Match: The Rock (c) vs The Undertaker vs Chris Benoit vs Kane As the four make their entrances, it strikes me how remarkably no-frills Benoit is compared to the other three. Rock squares off with Kane, while 'Taker and Benoit brawl at the bell. The Deadman and the Brahma Bull gain advantages and break off to stare at one another in the middle of the ring...but Kane and Benoit jump them from behind and knock them to the canvas. Benoit takes Rock to the outside and they brawl into the crowd, leaving the two big men alone in the ring. Rock punches the Wolverine back over the crowd barrier to ringside just as Kane comes off the top rope with a big right to his brother. Undertaker leaps into a huge clothesline to regain the advantage, while on the outside Benoit takes the Rock to school with some knife edged chops to the chest. Big boot to Kane earns a two count for the Undertaker, before the competitors all switch partners. Rock hits Kane with a Samoan drop, but the Big Red Machine retaliates with a huge one-armed powerslam. Kane crushes Rock the corner with a clothesline, while on the outside, Undertaker gorilla presses Benoit and drops him head first onto the guardrail. He returns to the ring and briefly teams up with the Rock, the pair taking Kane down with a pair of elbows and knocking him out of the ring with a double clothesline. Rock begins to tee off with rights, but the Undertaker retaliates with a few big strikes of his own, knocking Rocky to the apron. A lethargic looking snapmare brings the champ back over the top rope into the ring. 'Taker's been looking generally lethargic since the start of the match, actually. 'Taker heads to the top rope looking to go Old School, but the Rock yanks him back down to the mat. Undertaker gets removed from the ring with a clothesline, but the champ has no time to rest as Kane comes back in with a big forearm to the face. Rock shoves Kane right into Earl Hebner, incapacitating the poor ref, before spiking the monster with a DDT. Undertaker takes advantage of the lack of a match official, bringing a chair into the ring and SMACKING the Rock over the head. Benoit follows suit with a chair of his own, knocking 'Taker down and making a pinfall. The ref regains consciousness. 1...2...3!? What the gently caress!? Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Chris Benoit Wait a sec... Deja vu, anyone? Benoit grabs the title and storms up the ramp victoriously, but here comes Mick Foley from the back just like at Fully Loaded. He rips the belt away from the Crippler and orders him back to the ring. Benoit turns and sees the other three waiting for him on the ramp. I guess this match is continuing. Rocky shoves Benoit backwards all the way to the stage, and he, Kane and 'Taker take turns throwing the Wolverine headfirst into a part of the set. All four men brawl back down to the ring and Undertaker makes a cover on Benoit. 1...2...Rock pulls 'Taker out of the ring, but he was about a second too late. That could definitely have been a three. Ugh, all the energy has been sapped from this match, and these sloppy mistakes aren't helping at all. OHHHH, we see a replay of the pinfall and it shows that Undertaker JUST managed to drape a leg over the bottom rope in time. I missed that upon first viewing. Rock decides to kick things into another gear, picking up the ring steps and driving them into Undertaker's head. He enters the ring and faces Benoit, and finally we have a little urgency and speed in this match. The pair whip one another around the ring, ducking clotheslines and the like, before Rock hurls Benoit with a high-octane belly to belly. That's more like it. Rock misses with a wild right and suffers three German suplexes, but kicks out of the third just in time. Benoit heads up top and FLIES with a huge Diving Headbutt! Rocky just about kicks out in time, and slaps on a surprise Crippler Crossface! Benoit holds on long enough for the Undertaker to return to the ring and break it up, and Rock gets clotheslined to the outside. Kane's in now...CHOKESLAM TO THE UNDERTAKER! 1...Benoit breaks up the count. Kane beats down Benoit and a returning Rock, but the champ switches the momentum in his favour with a big spinebuster. Off comes the elbow pad...bounce...bounce...CHRIS BENOIT with a clothesline to stop the People's Elbow! Rock gets back up and lays the smackdown on Benoit, sending him tumbling over the top rope and out of the ring. He turns around right into the clutches of the waiting Undertaker...LAST RIDE TO THE ROCK! 1...2...Kane breaks it up just in time. The pair brawl to the outside and Benoit blindsides them with a chair, sending both men down with hard shots! The Wolverine races into the ring and slaps the Crossface on the Rock! He holds it in for a lonnnnng time, screaming at Rocky to tap, but eventually the Undertaker ambles back into the ring and breaks it up with a stomp. Chokeslam to Benoit! 1...2...Kane drags Undertaker out of the ring! The brothers tee off on one another, exchanging slow, heavy right hands. Back in the ring, Rock and Benoit stagger to their feet....ROCK BOTTOM! 1....2....Kane and Undertaker get in each other's way as they try to return to the ring....3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 3/5 - This was shaping up to be a horrible main event, but the latter half of the match unquestionably saved it. That false-finish nonsense with Benoit and Foley was very strange and pointless, but once everybody started to hit their big spots and finishers on one another, the bout shifted into a higher gear. Decent. The Rock grabs his belt and celebrates. No post-match shenanigans, just another successful title defence for the Brahma Bull.
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Jan 12, 2014 23:46
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UNFORGIVEN 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz - The cage match pips the no-DQ match to the post due to its incredibly clever and unique booking. All four guys (plus Lita) played their roles to perfection, but the fact that the burden of carrying the match was so evenly shared between everybody means that none of them cracked the top five for this event. It feels wrong, but I went back and looked at what each guy did. Jeff, Christian and Edge all had one big spot each, while Matt sold the bulk of the offence but didn't do anything spectacular. A great team performance, if that makes sense, but not a match in which any one particular individual shone. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Kurt Angle - Angle tops everybody yet again for his role in the no-DQ match. Great offence throughout, and looked like an rear end-kicker despite losing (he suplexed Triple H through the announce table like it was nothing!). 2. Triple H - Sold the damage to his ribs consistently, and bumped around like crazy for Kurt. Looked as strong as ever when the time came for him to take control of the match. 3. Chris Benoit - The star of the main event. Great intensity and sharpness throughout, and stood out the most despite having the plainest gimmick out there. 4. Chris Jericho - A perfectly flawless, yet sadly short performance from Y2J, carrying a slightly sloppy X-Pac to a decent match. 5. The Rock - Succeeded in injecting the main event with a dose of energy whenever Kane or 'Taker stunk up the joint for too long. Special mention must be given to Edge, Christian, and both Hardys for combining to create the match of the night. Crazily, Perry Saturn almost gets on the list by stealing the show in the Hardcore battle royal, while Undertaker's lack of form is baffling me. He hasn't looked good since chokeslamming Shane through the announce table in his first match of this thread. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 22 2. Chris Jericho - 20 3. Chris Benoit - 17 Triple H - 17 4. Jeff Hardy - 14 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 8 8. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. Rikishi - 4 11. Test - 3 12. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 13. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Jericho's brief reign at the top is ended by a resurgent Kurt Angle, while Triple H and Chris Benoit continue to make moves. UNFORGIVEN SCORE: 6/10 No Way Out got 7/10 because it had an average undercard and a great main event, while SummerSlam got 8/10 for its fantastic undercard and okay main event. Unforgiven, sadly, falls short of both of these two. A lot of the matches were average and short, and it quite reminded me of the Royal Rumble show from the start of the thread. The cage match, no-DQ bout, and main event were all pretty good, but none of them stood out as especially brilliant. Aside from those three, the rest of the card ranged from average to bad. Eddie and Rikishi's match had potential, but was ruined by a stupid ending, while Jericho and X-Pac could have delivered a much better bout given more time. Stone Cold's return was unquestionably electrifying, but didn't really achieve anything. I'd have rather seen more time given to some of the matches on the card. JGKing fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 00:23
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THE 2000 STEVE BLACKMAN UNSUNG HERO AWARDS: THIRD QUARTERquote:King of the Ring 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Fully Loaded 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:SummerSlam 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees
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Jan 13, 2014 02:59
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Beef Jerky Robot posted:Wait, why did Foley reverse Benoit's win at Unforgiven? A few lines underneath the false-finish I mention that we see a replay of Undertaker draping his leg over the bottom rope. It takes them a long time after Foley restarts the match to show the replay, and the whole thing really disrupts the flow of the match. I'm not sure why they did it.
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Jan 13, 2014 14:54
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I've run into a slight snag with the next PPV, No Mercy. I can't find footage of the full show, but I've tracked down individual videos of each of the matches apart from two on the undercard (that's the Dudley Boyz' invitational tables match, and William Regal vs Mideon). I have, however, found a highlights video which would show some of the key moments from those bouts. I'm probably going to describe briefly what happens in those two matches and award NA/5 ratings. It's annoying, but what can you do? I'm hoping the videos of the other matches include backstage goings on and video packages, but some things will probably be missed out.
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Jan 13, 2014 22:21
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triplexpac posted:Foley coming out to constantly take away Benoit's wins really annoyed me. WWE had some really hypocritical points around this time. Why did Foley only police some finishes, and not others? Why did announcers get so mad at Edge & Christian for cheating, but Lita had free reign to interfere in all Hardy Boys matches? JR is probably the biggest offender when it comes to this. I've noticed that if a heel so much as looks sternly at an interfering female babyface, he's incredibly quick to drat them as the worst person in the history of professional wrestling. But earlier in the thread he was whooping it up whenever Bubba Ray smashed Trish or whoever through a table. At one point he actually urged Kane to tombstone Tori, his justification being that she's a "drat Jezebel".
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Jan 14, 2014 02:45
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 – Albany, New York PART 1 Hello! Are you ready for No Mercy? I am sure as hell not! As mentioned above, I couldn't find a full video of the PPV - I'm relying instead on individual videos of the matches. Unfortunately I couldn't find footage of two of the matches, so apologies to William Regal, Mideon, and the participants of the Dudleyz' Invitational Tables match - you will all be receiving ratings of NA/5. Luckily I have found a highlights video of the event, so I'll be able to run through some of the spots in these two matches and piece together what went down. No Mercy is quite an important show due to its positioning here. We've just come off the back of a trio of good shows in King of the Ring, Fully Loaded, and Summerslam, only to have their momentum spoiled by a very average Unforgiven. Can No Mercy render Unforgiven nothing more than a hiccup, or will we see a negative trend as we move towards the end of the year. We have three big main events tonight. Angle finally his his shot at The Rock's title, a deserved reward for what has been a fantastic début year for the Olympian (his first appearance coming in November 1999). Benoit has therefore been moved out of the title scene for now; he'll face off against Triple H, who is just coming off the back of his exciting feud with Kurt. The third big marquee match is a no-DQ bout between Stone Cold and his mystery assailant, or at least it was. IT now turns out that his identity isn't exactly a mystery anymore, having been revealed on an episode of Raw. I'll keep that quiet for now but elaborate when the match rolls around. Hopefully a lot of you will have opinions on the reveal. The opening video concentrates solely on the revenge Austin plans to get on his assailant. I get that everybody wants to see him get vengeance, but is it wise to totally neglect the other matches on the card? Just splice in some brief shots of The Rock and Angle or something. Aghhhh. Unfortunately the first bout is one of the two I wasn't able to find. It's a shame too, because it sounds like it could be a really fun match. 1. The Dudley Boyz' Invitational Tag Team Tables Match Remember this is from a highlights video only, so expect this recap to be brief. This looks like it'll run as a gauntlet, with two teams facing off and eliminating one another until one remains. The first team out are Too Cool, and they'll be starting off against Lo Down. Oooh, new team! It's two wrestlers we've already seen, however, although not for a really long time in this thread. We all know D'Lo Brown, but has anybody heard of Chaz? Wikipedia informs me that it's Headbanger Mosh, except without any of the unique features of that gimmick. He's just a bald dude with long black pants on. Yeah that'll really propel him up the card. Good job, WWF. The hairless duo seem to dominate, D'Lo hitting his big powerbomb finishing move on Sexay, but Too Cool manage to scrape through to the next round. Scotty pushes Chaz from the second turnbuckle through a table, while Sexay simultaneously avoids an attempt from Brown to splash him through a second table. Next up we have the ECW boys, Tazz and Raven. They gain an early advantage, but Raven succumbs to the Worm. The heels regain control however, and eliminate Too Cool by hitting Scotty with a double vertical suplex through a table. The Dudleys themselves are next, and pretty much kick rear end by the look of these highlights. Tazz gets Bubba Bombed, and Raven takes the wassup diving headbutt. Tazz gets a nice suplex in on Bubba, but D-Von finishes the job with a guillotine legdrop onto a table holding a weakened Tazz. The final pair are Right To Censor, here represented by The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. It seems to be a hard hitting affair, but the Dudleys despatch the heels without too much hassle, hitting a 3D on Goodfather for the feel-good opening win. Winners: The Dudley Boyz NA/5 – It's good to see the Dudleys winning the match they specialise in, especially one they organised. A loss would have been pretty embarrassing. Isn't that right, Undertaker? Mr "Buried Alive Matches Are My Speciality". You ALWAYS lose them dude. Stop lying to yourself. Luckily, although this match looked fun, it didn't seem the type that would contain a top five worthy individual performance, so I don't think I'm wrongly missing anybody out! Woohoo! T&A and Trish are getting ready in the back. They have a match next against The Acolytes and Lita. Test ponders whether Stratus' breasts are going to fall out of her revealing ring attire. Albert sniggers and tells him not to say it like it's a bad thing. For two hulking, terrifying monster men, T&A really do have a juvenile sense of humour. Austin's assailant waits in the back, sledgehammer in hand (that's not my attempt at a sneaky clue. It's not Triple H). I'm don't think even an army of sledgehammer-wielding heels could stop Austin going over in his comeback match, but we'll see. JR and Lawler mention that he's promised to run Austin down again tonight, time and time again. Referees get jumpy whenever somebody tries to use a chair in a no-DQ match. I can't imagine their reaction if that plan works. Lawler mentions to JR that Stone Cold hasn't shown up yet. Jim guarantees that Austin will be here. I swear the same thing happened for the entirety of Backlash. In between every single match we'd have a brief moment of Jerry doubting Stone Cold's balls, and JR responding with "He'll BE here. If I know the Rattlesnake, he'll be here. You can bet your rear end he'll be here". A quick few videos show the brief rivalry between the APA and T&A. It begins with Test and Albert losing a poker game to the Acolytes on Heat, and betting items of Trish's clothing in an attempt to win their money back. They continue to lose and Trish almost has to get naked, but the heels beat them down before it can happen. The following Raw, Trish tries to distract Bradshaw during his match with Albert, but he pulls a leaf out of Jericho's book and kisses her to make her get off the apron. On Smackdown, T&A interfere to help Trish beat Lita, but the APA run in to prevent a post-match beatdown. 2. Intergender Tag Team Match: The Acolytes and Lita vs T&A and Trish Stratus Lita is out first with her shiny new Women's championship. That's probably a good call. She's the best diva I've seen in this thread so far, although her competition consists of Stephanie, Trish, Terri, Tori, and The Kat. Oh, and Mae Young and Moolah. So yeah, an easy decision in my eyes. The Acolytes' music plays, but nobody comes out. Lita looks pissed off. We cut to the back and see T&A beating down Bradshaw in that storage corridor that seems to be used for about half of the backstage scenes. You know the one. It's a long grey corridor with boxes piled against the walls. That's about all there is to it. It's quite low down on my list of favourite backstage ambush locations - you can't beat a good parking lot brawl, and the catering area is always good for a few comedy spots. Anyway, Faarooq runs in for the save, but Test takes him down with a tire iron. The heels drop a box onto him, and both APA men are pretty much down and out. Back at ringside, Lita is heading up the ramp to check on her partners. Suddenly T&A step out from behind the curtain and stop her in her tracks. They stare her down and she backs slowly away...but Trish runs in to blindside her from behind! She boots Lita down the ramp and drags her into the ring. The bulldog connects, and it looks a lot sharper than the one she did back at Fully Loaded, thank god. Albert slingshots Lita, sending her neck-first into the middle rope, before scooping her up and holding her in place for Test to do some damage from the top turnbuckle. He doesn't get the chance to however, as the Hardys run out to a big pop and clear the ring. The heels look pleased as they back up the ramp. Winners: No Contest NA/5 – Well that didn't make anybody look good. Oh dear. Edge and Christian are in the back complaining that they didn't get to compete in the table gauntlet. UNFORTUNATELY they came down with a case of food poisoning from some bad peanuts. A very convincing excuse from the boys. They make lots of nut-based puns, the loving scamps. Austin's assailant is still in the back, and he still has a sledgehammer. Why do I get the feeling that they're going to ram this angle down our throats until it overshadows the rest of the Pay Per View? 3. Steel Cage Match: Chris Jericho vs X-Pac Jericho is out first with a mic. He says he and Pac have been feuding for so long that he can't even remember why he hates him. I don't think that's the problem Chris, I just think we never really got a proper reason. He claims that their feud will be ending tonight inside this steel cage, or as he calls it, the "Y2Jail". Superb. Often there are feuds in which the less popular guy should win, thereby receiving a boost in the eyes of the fans. This is not one of those feuds. Jericho needs to pick up the W here and get the gently caress out of this rivalry. Pac pauses at the door of the cage and poses for the crowd, but Y2J wastes no time and clips him with a baseball slide. Jericho beats X-Pac around ringside for a little bit, but Pac grabs a chair and almost takes his head off in retaliation - Jericho just ducking out of the way in time. Y2J tries to drag X-Pac through the door into the ring, but gets the steel slammed shut onto his head. Pac enters and chokes Jericho out in the corner, before trying to get back out the door. Y2J grabs his foot, but eats a snappy enziguri for his troubles. Pac hits that nice jumping spin-kick of his and begins to climb one of the walls, but Jericho springboards from a tunrbuckle with a dropkick to the legs, leaving Pac crotched on the top rope. Nice Spot. Jericho hits a vertical suplex and chucks Pac into the cage wall. X-Pac's actually performing well here. He looks a lot less lazy than usual. A bulldog sends X-Pac down, but he recovers and whips Y2J towards the corner...but Chris keeps running! He clambers all the way up the side of the cage in an instant, and X-Pac has to scramble to stop him from disappearing over the top. Pac gets kicked down to the canvas...NICE missile dropkick from Y2J. He goes for the Lionsault but only gets knees. In fact, he was slightly off with that. X-Pac barely had to move his legs; Jericho was almost aiming straight for them anyway. Y2J gets whipped hard into the steel a few times, but counters with a backdrop right into the cage wall! X-Pac falls down in between the ropes and the cage. That looked like a painful landing. The pair trade right hands, but X-Pac hits the ropes and hits a nice spinning heel kick. They really are his forte, aren't they? Pac goes for a pinfall, but apparently this match is escape rules only. Instead of ignoring his mistake, he sells how stupid he's being, grabbing his hair. I like that. Most wrestlers would have just carried on as if nothing had happened. X-Pac knocks Jericho down in the corner and hits the Bronco Buster. He heads to the top of the cage and almost makes it, but Y2J recovers beneath him and hooks his legs for a massive powerbomb! X-Pac goes for a couple more rides into the steel, but calls for a time out as he returns to his feet. Y2J answers that with a clothesline and heads for the top. Pac just about drags him down, right onto the top rope. He crawls towards the door, but Jericho dives and lands on his feet just as he's almost out of the cage. He drags Pac back in, but the sneaky bastard grabs a chair from the outside as he is pulled. WAFFLE! X-Pac heads for the top, and is almost out. He stands on a corner of the cage...OH MY GOD JUST CLIMB DOWN! YOU'LL WIN! Y2J is up now, and yanks Pac's feet out. JESUS CHRIST! He crotches himself on the top of the cage, and that looks precarious. Jericho slowly moves into position and tries to hook in the Walls of Jericho on top of the cage! No! X-Pac kicks him off, and Y2J falls back down into the ring! X-Pac wins! No wait, no he doesn't! He decides to showboat, raising his arms to the crowd. He lowers his feet until he's standing on the top of the open cage door beneath him. Jericho's up...dropkick into the cage wall! X-Pac falls from the impact and crotches himself on the door! His balls have taken a hammering in this match. Jericho crawls out of the door and wins! Winner: Chris Jericho 3/5 - Better than I expected from X-Pac. He put in a great effort all match, and Jericho was solid as usual. The ending sequence was very exciting and inventive, although I'm not sure it completely makes up for all the filler this match had. Still, a great effort, and the best match on this show so far (by default). Jericho grabs an unsuspecting security guy and uses him for support up the ramp. I'm not sure if he actually did hurt his back, or if it's just great selling. The next match pits Billy Gunn and Chyna against Steven Richards and Val Venis of the RTC. I think this match was potentially supposed to involve Eddie, but apparently he's unable to compete due to injury. Apparently Eddie and Chyna have finally broke it off, with footage airing of Guerrero showering with two of the Godfather's ex-hos. As if he couldn't piss off his fiance anymore, Eddie also decides to choke her with a crutch on an episode of Smackdown. The marriage is off. I suppose that makes him fully heel now, huh? Billy Gunn (or Mr rear end, as the WWF insist upon calling him around this time) is playing the role of Chyna's white knight, saving her from beatdowns from Right To Censor and Eddie. Right To Censor are involved because they object to Chyna's Playboy appearance. Chyna and Billy are backstage with Coach. He asks what Chyna thinks of Eddie's injury. She says that she'll get her hands on him soon enough. Gunn then cuts a hilariousl old-school, underprepared face promo. You know the time. "YOU KNOW SOMETHING, AS FAR AS RIGHT TO CENSOR ARE CONCERNED, THEY JUST MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THEIR LIVES". Apparently that biggest mistake is "getting introduced to the most beautiful woman in the World Wrestling Federation, and Mr rear end", which will result in them getting "AB...so...LUTely deSTROYED!". Amazing. 4. Right To Censor vs Chyna and Billy Gunn The faces dominate the early goings, and I've JUST remembered that Billy and Chyna would be familiar with each other from their time in DX. It all makes sense now. I'm glad there's at least a tenuous reason for his involvement. The faces dominate the early stages, Billy and Chyna taking turns to pick apart Venis while Richards watches on from the sidelines. Billy knocks Val to the outside and he gets whipped HARD into the steps by Chyna. Richards tries to jump Gunn from behind in the ring, but the ref stops him and he slinks back to the apron. Venis and Gunn return to the ring, and make tags to Richards and Chyna. The Ninth Wonder slings Steven around by his tie. Val shouts abuse from the apron, and Chyna retaliates by...by shoving his face into her boobs!? Yeah, that'll teach him. It does give Richards the chance to attack from behind, and Venis holds Chyna's arms back while he prepares to clock her. She ducks....but Richards pulls his punch just in time! He turns around...dropkick from Chyna connects, knocking Steven into Val, and Val from the ring! Comedy at its finest. Gunn gets the tag, but Richards gains the advantage by working over his shoulder. Channel the strength of your pre-match promo Billy! Channel that fury! HE DOES! DDT to Val leaves both men down in the ring, and they crawl to their respective partners for the tag. Chyna rushes in and begins to destroy Val with clotheslines. Aghhh. He staggers into the corner and she does her STUPID somersault-back-elbow thing. I hate that move. King shouts that he loves that move. gently caress off Jerry, you popularized the piledriver. Don't pretend you love that monstrosity. Richards runs in and swings with a clothesline...but Chyna ducks and nails a low blow! Fame-Asser to a bent over Richards! I swear Chyna cheats more than most heels in her matches. Always low-blowing and stuff. Chyna hits a neckbreaker on Venis while Billy rushes out of the ring to intercept and onrushing Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. The three brawl outside the ring, and Richards joins in, leaving Chyna and Val alone inside. She sets him up for the Pedigree...it's been a while since we've seen her use that...but Eddie Guerrero is here out of nowhere! He nails Chyna in the back with a bunch of roses (I'm assuming they're loaded), and Venis covers her for the three count. Winners: Right To Censor 1.5/5 - This was never going to be a classic, given the participants involved, but they managed to avoid a disaster I suppose. I just can't look past how rigid Chyna's movement is in the ring. It really disrupts the flow of matches she's involved in. Billy clotheslines Venis out of the ring, but the RTC are happy to retreat up the ramp in victory. Gunn picks up the bunch of roses and pulls out a lead pipe. OH EDDIE! You card.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:25
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 PART 2 In the #HeelLockerRoom, Stephanie wants Triple H to let her accompany him to ringside for his match with Benoit, but he says it's too dangerous. She reluctantly agrees, and gives him a tape which apparently might contain information on countering the A video clip takes us back to Survivor Series 1999, where we see Austin get hit by the rental car and left for dead in the parking lot. We flash forward to his return, and his indiscriminate assaulting of various members of the roster (heel and face). Foley announces that he is free to conduct his investigation any way he sees fit, but mustn't interfere in any more matches. Austin ignores this, interfering in a RTC match and stunning Steven Richards. Foley explains that he has no choice but to suspend Stone Cold indefinitely, which earns him a stunner in retaliation. All evidence seems to point to The Rock. It was his rental car, and he had the most to gain from stepping into Austin's vacated spotlight. That angle would have been awesome. I wish they'd gone for that. Later, Foley reveals that it was Rikishi who ran down Stone Cold! The big Samoan shockingly confesses, and explains that he did it for...The Rock!? No, not under The Rock's instructions (that angle would have been awesome as well), but for The Rock and Samoans in general. He claims that islanders are constantly held back by the WWF, and he was making a stand against this injustice. I'm going to pause for a second here and welcome you all to put forward your views on this reveal. What do you think? I personally think it's horrendous. Rikishi hadn't even made his television debut when Austin was ran down (something that Foley actually acknowledges), and I'd have much preferred it to be somebody who had legitimate beef with Stone Cold himself. I think The Rock storyline would have been awesome if they'd gone with that instead. Anyway, back to the video. I guess Austin's suspension is lifted, because we see him back in the ring at the Joe Louis arena (the venue of the assault upon him). Rikishi is on the Tron and beckons Stone Cold to the parking lot if he wants a piece of him. Austin storms to the back and almost gets run down again, but this time manages to dive out of the way. Rikishi leans out of the window and says "Austin. This Sunday. No Mercy" before speeding off into the night. Foley takes matters into his own hands, making the match no holds barred. The feud escalates over the next few weeks, but Austin is never able to get his hands on Rikishi. We see the Samoan take a sledgehammer to Austin's truck, which looks like the slowest car-trashing scene in WWF history. Man he's slow. 5. No Holds Barred Match: Rikishi vs Stone Cold Steve Austin Rikishi is out first in a traditional-Samoan looking shirt. I feel ignorant just blindly assuming that, but it would make sense given the context of the angle. Unfortunately, his happy Too Cool music has been replaced by some slow, generic rap music. It's a shame. Wouldn't it be hilarious to see the most evil man in the company stomp out to "YOU LOOK FLY TODAY!". He grabs a mic and calls out Mick Foley. He knew Stone Cold wasn't going to show up, and tells everybody that Austin is too scared to face the man who ran him over. He demands Foley come to the ring and declare him the winner of the match. Mick's music hits and he comes out looking saddened. He grabs a mic and is about to say something when... SMASHHHHHH! Austin's music hits, and here he comes in the same pickup truck that Rikishi took a sledgehammer too, damaged windscreen and all! He drives it right down to the apron and Rikishi bails out of the ring to meet him with rights. Stone Cold quickly gains the advantage, and JR wastes no time in plugging the name of the event: "Austin is showing NO MERCY to Rikishi". Stone Cold whips Rikishi into his truck a few times, before opening a door hard onto the Samoan's head a few times. Rikishi gets beaten around the ringside area and launched into the Spanish announcers' laps. Austin jumps over and chokes Rikishi with a cable, before knocking him over the barrier into the crowd behind the tables. The battle up into the crowd (although it's not much of a battle - it's all Austin at the moment), but Rikishi finally gets a shot in by throwing a drink into Stone Cold's face. I wonder if that beverage was warm, or if it was...stone cold.  They fight back towards the railing, but not before Austin sets up Rikishi for something. A piledrivder? We never get to find out, as the Samoan backdrops Stone Cold onto the concrete. Austin takes his belt off and starts to whip Rikishi back down to ringside. He goes under the ring and bulls out some sort of bullrope, but Rikishi whips him over the Spanish announce table...AND AUSTIN COMES RUNNING BACK WITH A RIGHT HAND! Great intensity from Stone Cold, as you'd expect. Austin finally gets in the ring, but it's only so he can use it as a platform from which to choke Rikishi with the rope. He does so for a while, before sort of getting bored and deciding instead to smash his assailant's head into the announce table. He grabs a monitor, but Rikishi is able to fight back with rights. Good ones, actually. I think my favourite thrower of right hands on this roster is The Rock, but Angle's are up there too. A left-footed superkick knocks Stone Cold down, and Rikishi grabs a chair. Austin hits a boot to the gut and snatches the weapon away...BAM. BAM. A couple of headshots take the big man down. Stone Cold beckons Rikishi to his feet...and a third gets driven HARD into his head. Rikishi's bleeding now (JR always mentions that somebody's busted open before I spot blood myself. He's amazing at spotting wounds), and Stone Cold shows no signs of letting up. He grabs JR's hat and wears it for the next couple of chairshots, but it falls off somewhere around ringside. I hope Jim gets that back Rikishi gets beaten with chairshots all the way around the ring to Austin's truck, and Stone Cold grabs a sledgehammer. He misses with a shot to the downed Samoan who rolls out of the way, leaving Austin to smack the hammer into his own truck. Rikishi crawls around to the back to try and escape, but Austin opens the tailgate down onto his back. The Samoan slowly rises - and is bleeding pretty heavily now - and one final chairshot from Stone Cold sends him into the back of the truck. Austin slams the tailgate shut and reverses up the ramp, beer in hand. You can't drink and drive, Stone Cold! That's too far. He drives Rikishi out of a side entrance to some sort of outdoor area. I think they're just outside of the parking lot. Austin beats Rikishi down on the curb and gets back in his truck. Rikishi s dazed and helpless as Stone Cold backs the truck up...accelerates towards the Samoan...but crashes right into an intercepting squad car. About five or six more cars arrive on the scene, and a ludicrous number police officers drag Austin out of his truck and cuff him. Seriously, there's about five of them trying to cuff him at once. Work as a team, guys. Stone Cold gets loaded into the back of a car and taken away, sirens blaring. What the gently caress was that? Winner: No Contest 0.5/5 – A straight up brawl, high on intensity but very low in quality. That finish was ridiculous as well. We didn't even get to see a single Stunner. An ambulance arrives to take Rikishi away. DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK, SUNSHINE! Next up we have the first appearance of William Regal in this thread. Unfortunately, it's one of the two matches I was unable to find, so we'll be using very brief highlights. Although, given his opponent, that might be a blessing in disguise. The story behind this match is that Regal refuses to fight a naked opponent, so Mideon is actually wearing clothes. 6. WWF European Championship: William Regal vs Naked Mideon This looks to be a very short match. It consists of the pair fighting back and forth, occasionally pausing for Mideon to strip off a layer of clothing. Eventually he's left in just a thong and boots, and decides to plant a huge kiss on Regal. Poor William is disgusted, and fights back by crotching Mideon on the top rope. Regal thinks about using the Regal Stretch, but doesn't really want to touch Mideon too much. He opts instead for a Cutter, which is enough for the win. Winner and STILL WWF European Champion: William Regal NA/5 – I suspect we haven't missed out on a five star classic. Next up we have the first PPV title defence of the Hardys' regin. Apparently they defeated Edge and Christian in a television match, with the stipulation that if E&C lost they would never be able to challenge the Hardys for the belts again. In unrelated news, Los Conquistadores look awfully like Edge and Christian. Speaking of Los Conquistadores, here they are getting interviewed in the back! They charm us with some Spanish ("Arriba." "Si senor".) and head off for their match. 7. WWF Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boys (c) vs Los Conquistadores Los Conquistadores are out in their fabulous gold costumes and masks. So dashing. They enter the ring and do some forward rolls, which I think is their attempt at lucha libre. Matt Hardy's confused face is hilarious. The Luchadores leave the ring and converse for a little with the Spanish announcers, who don't understand a word they're saying. JR points out that the back of their masks seem to be bulging, as though they've got a lot of hair underneath there. Matt demands that they take their masks off. You NEVER ask a masked wrestler to remove his mask, Hardy. Are you insane!? The bell rings, and Matt accuses his opponent of being Christian!? Where on earth did he draw that conclusion from? The luchadore forward-rolls under the champ's attempted lock up and celebrates his agility with a team-talk in the corner. He and his partner exchange kind words, and he forward rolls back towards Matt...who clotheslines him down and goes straight for the mask! The Conquistador hastily exits the ring, and his (slightly taller) partner helps him reattach the mask at the back. The taller Conquistador gets the tag, and he and Matt exchange headlocks. He backs Hardy towards the ropes, and Jeff takes the opportunity to blind-tag himself in. He flies into a nice clothesline as Matt ducks out of the way, and begins to dominate his masked opponent with a headscissors takedown and dropkick. JR describes Los Conquistadores costumes as looking like "gold enemas". Thanks for that image Jim. The shorter Conquistador tags in, but the two luchadores suffer a miscommunication when Jeff leapfrogs over one, leaving the pair to crash into one another. Oh the japes! The legal luchadore thinks he's nailed Jeff with a backdrop, but Hardy manages to flip out and land on his feet. He aims a kick at the Conquistador who grabs his foot, but Jeff does a nice...twisting kick thing (I should really learn the name of that move) to take him down. Matt gets the tag and the Hardys do their double elbow-legdrop spot. I always feel sorry for Matt during that move. His role is far less spectacular, while Jeff gets to do a front flip and everything. Matt takes the Conquistador down with a nice discus punch, and tags Jeff back in. NICE poetry in motion connects, and Matt trips the onrushing taller Conquistador into his downed partner's crotch! The taller luchadore gets tied up in the ropes, and the Hardys go for his mask to his horror. I'm not surprised that he's panicking! Do the Hardys realise the dishonour that comes with losing one's mask!? Luckily his partner is there to make the save, and Los Conquistadores hit glorious double dropkicks to send the Hardys out of the ring. HAHAHAHA! The challengers pretend to go for huge planchas to the outside, but simply hit the ropes and roll back to the centre of the ring. The Hardys aren't amused and whip Los Conquistadores right into one another. JR muses that the challengers don't have to be from Mexico. They could be from anywhere south of the border. "Mexico, Argentina, Toronto...". One Conquistador slingshots Jeff into the other, but Hardy manages to turn the move into a pinning predicament...but it only gets two. I've loving lost track of which Conquistador is which now, but I don't think either will be cracking the top five this time, so it's probably fine. One of the Conquistadoes (the shorter one?) wears Jeff down and heads to the top rope, as a true luchadore should. He misses with a senton, and Matt is desperate for the hot tag. He gets it, and does the whole hot tag sequence of moves, but kind of in slow motion. As funny as this match has been, it hasn't been great in terms of quality to be honest. Jeff battles the other Conquistador on the outside and nails him with a flying clothesline from the crowd barrier. OH poo poo! The shorter Conquistador dives from the top turnbuckle onto Jeff on the outside, but pretty much misses and lands face-first! loving ouch! He seems alright somehow, and Matt climbs to the top to jump off and nail all three (although in all honesty he pretty much catches Jeff only). The shorter luchadore and Matt get back in the ring, and the challenger has obviously been studying tape of Edge and Christian's previous reign, as he hits Christian's inverted facelock slam. 1...2...Jeff breaks it up with a Swanton Bomb! The taller Conquistador is in and hurls Jeff to the outside, but Matt hooks him up with the "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHH!" Twist of Fate! Instead of going for the pin, he tries to rip the mask off. He does so, and reveals...another mask! Matt is baffled, giving the shorter Conquistador time to sneak up behind and spike him with the Unprettier! 1...2...NEW CHAMPIONS! Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: Los Conquistadores 2/5 - Not a great wrestling match, but very drat funny. Los Conquistadores didn't seem quite as...mobile as usual, but I'm not sure if that was due to the shittiness of their masks. They may have struggled with their ability to see. The new champions scurry to the back while Lawler celebrates. JR is far from amused. Probably due to his racism or something. JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Mar 21, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 16:48
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TomWaitsForNoMan posted:First off, I love the stuff you've been posting in this thread, keep it coming! I am watching complete shows, but No Mercy has been the first one I haven't been able to track down in full. I've already checked ahead though, and should be able to watch full versions of the rest of the PPVs in 2000 at least. Beyond that I'm hopeful, but who knows?
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Jan 15, 2014 20:02
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TomWaitsForNoMan posted:Ah ok cool. Well if you have any problems down the line just let me know Will do, thanks man
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Jan 16, 2014 03:38
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 PART 3 Triple H is in the back studying the tape Steph gave him. It shows the last moments of the match between the Game and Benoit, which ends with Trips tapping out to the Crossface. He watches intently for a few seconds, and then a faint smile crosses his face. Looks like he's spotted a solution. I really liked that little segment for some reason. It was cool. A video package shows the feud between Benoit and Triple H. It starts when Benoit headbutts Stephanie in the middle of the ring, before they stumble upon one another backstage on the following Raw. The Wolverine asks how her head feels with a smirk, and she slaps him hard across the face. He laughs it off evilly. Benoit goes on to interfere in a HHH vs Angle number one contender's match, although it's only to get back at Stephanie. Triple H tries to defend his wife but eats a chairshot, allowing Kurt to hit the Olympic Slam and score the pinfall. A lot of the remaining build-up seems to revolve around Trips' inability to escape from the Crossface. 8. Chris Benoit vs Triple H Benoit is out first, all business as usual. Sign in the crowd: "Benoit, I have your tooth". He tries to jump Triple H during his water-spit thing on the apron, but the referee holds him back. JR and Lawler muse over Stephanie's "business relationship" with Kurt Angle, explaining why she's accompanying him tonight rather than her husband. How very strange, especially considering the events of the last PPV. Hopefully all will be revealed in the build up to that match. Big "Triple H" chants to start things off. He seems to be almost fully babyface here. They lock up and struggle in the corner briefly, but it degenerates into a slight brawl as the pair tee off on one another. Triple H gains the advantage with a stomp to Benoit's knee, before ducking an attempted enziguri and slamming the same knee into the mat. He cracks it into the apron next, before sliding to the outside and wrapping Benoit's leg hard around the ringpost. Trips continues to work the knee while JR points out that he can still use the Crossface, whether his leg hurts or not. He CONTINUES to work it over; this is really methodical stuff, and Benoit's selling it well. He lifts the Crippler onto his shoulders, but Benoit slides down the back into a sunset flip! The Game immediately rolls out of it, ducking the subsequent attack and going right back to the injured knee. He does that spot where he wraps his own leg around the opponent's and throws himself to the mat, wrenching their knee in the wrong direction. It looks brutal here. 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. Benoit manages to duck a clothesline and back suplex Triple H over the top rope, but the Game hooks his head on the way over and both men spill to the outside. Benoit is able to trip Hunter and slingshot him into the ringpost, before running with him headfirst into the steps. Back in the ring the Wolverine hits a few chops and an armbar takedown. Benoit looks to be working the shoulder, whipping Triple H right into the ringpost arm-first. A bridging belly-to-belly gets two and they head back to the outside. Triple H gets introduced to another set of ring steps and the announce table in quick succession. A lone dude in the crowd shouts "do it again, do it again!", but they don't. They just return to the ring. Poor guy. A weird quirk of JR's in this match has been personifying the environment. Both men were early described as using the ringpost and steps like tag team partners, while the announce table just became "Benoit's ally" for that spot. A snap suplex gets two, and Benoit goes right back to work on the arm. He locks in an armbar, or "cross armbreaker" in this crazy pre-MMA explosion world. The Wolverine heads up top and hits the Diving Headbutt, right into the arm of the Game! Very clever. This match has sadly slowed down after an intriguing start, but Triple H looks to pick things back up by seizing momentum with an inside cradle for two, followed by an inverted facelock suplex. Benoit ducks a clothesline but eats Trips' high knee. Neckbreaker, and now Triple H is going through his finishing spots. Oh, this is a unique one for the Game! He hoists Benoit onto the top turnbuckle and hits a massive superplex! He goes for the Pedigree, but Benoit backdrops out and hits two German suplexes. The Game elbows out of the third but Benoit hooks him up with a (slightly sloppy) bridging dragon suplex. 1...2...Triple H tilts his body and puts a leg on the middle rope! OHHH, Benoit drags him to the middle of the ring and hits one there! 1...2...HE JUST kicks out. That was an interesting sequence of moves. Benoit hits the ropes but Hunter counters with a facebuster! He charges with a clothesline...BENOIT SLAPS ON THE CROSSFACE! Triple H struggles...and slowly stands up to break the hold!? Ohhh I think it's the injured knee of Benoit that the Game targeted. He can't properly clamp down on the arm. Jesus, would it kill JR and Lawler to make this clear for us? Benoit hits a few furious clubbing blows to Triple H's back and tries again with the Crossface, but again Triple H is able to rise to his feet. ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT! Okay, okay, death valley driver. Either way, it's exciting. Stephanie runs out from the back! Benoit leans through the ropes to recover from the driver and she cracks him across the face. He turns around right into Triple H who sets up for the Pedigree...but Benoit fights out and looks to apply the Crossface! Triple H reverses back into the Pedigree, and Benoit reverses THAT back into a Crossface attempt! Stephanie distracts the referee and the Game hits a low blow, and that's FINALLY enough for him to nail the Pedigree. 1...2...3! Winner: Triple H 3/5 – Something about this match was a little off for me. It was technically very good at the beginning and end, but the middle section dragged quite a lot. It was still a good contest, which should be expected given the two participants, but perhaps not as good as it could have been. I'm also going to disagree with the booking here. The past few PPVs have given the popular upper-midcarders a chance to mix it up with the top stars, but it feels as though the established stars come out on top every time. We'll see how Kurt vs Rock goes down. That might help change my opinion. Stephanie strides to the back, a self-satisfied smile on her face. Triple H has his hand raised by the referee and looks exhausted, while JR and King put over how even a contest it was. They also mention how valuable an asset Steph proved to be, despite Hunter's earlier request for her to stay away from ringside. HAAAAHAHAHAHA. Backstage Edge and Christian celebrate with Los Conquistadores, and arrange a title match between the two teams tomorrow night on Raw. Amazing.
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Jan 16, 2014 04:34
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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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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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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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