No Way Out 2000

Legacy Review

No Way Out 2000

February 27, 2000 from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

We're on the road to Wrestlemania 2000 (AKA 16, in the year 2000 everything is 2000). The show opens with a fantastic video featuring Mick Foley, who's putting his career on the line tonight again as Cactus Jack to get one more shot at Triple H and the WWF Championship in a Hell in a Cell match. There's an enclosed cage around the entranceway, a cool way to play off the Cell match and "No Way Out" in general.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: WWF European Champion Kurt Angle def Chris Jericho (c) (w/Chyna) in 8:02- Angle defeated Val Venus on Raw in early February to win his first ever title in WWF and is now looking for the midcard double. He riles the crowd up by hitting on the late, locally beloved Hartford Whalers who, Angle was correct, haven't come back. Since the Rumble Jericho has been turned fully face, the crowd reactions he was getting left them little choice, and he and Chyna now have a mutual respect partnership after battling over the IC title themselves. Calling Angle "Kirk Angel" is one of Jericho's great early wordplays. Chyna gets her own entrance even though she's got pretty much nothing to do here. Huge pop for Jericho on his entrance, then there's a big "Y2J" chant after the bell. Speed start. Angle gets a shoulderblock. Jericho hits a hiptoss. Angle gets up and slaps him! Jericho slaps back. Clothesline and chops from Jericho. Angle drop toe holds Jericho into the bottom rope. Jericho backdrops Angle over the top to the floor. The springboard dropkick knocks Angle back off the apron. Angle gets the edge and pounds Jericho around the ringside area. This isn't either guy's wheelhouse, they'd be much better off keeping it in the ring, but such was the style at the time. Angle whips Jericho toward the stairs. Jericho leaps up and springboard moonsaults off them! He's a little off target and his feet hit Angle in the head. Going back in Jericho goes up top but Angle crotches him. Belly to belly superplex! That gets 2. Snap suplex from Angle for 2. Jericho kicks and hits a double underhook backbreaker. Angle turns a whip reversal into a German suplex! He armbar slams Jericho for 2, then goes to work on that arm. After some back and forth corner maneuvering Jericho hits a spinning heel kick, followed by a bulldog. Flying forearm for 2. Angle leaps for a hurricanrana. Jericho blocks it and hits a powerbomb! He's slow to cover because of his hurt arm. When he does Angle counters into an armbar! Jericho manages to get to the ropes. Corner whip and Angle Bret bumps! Jericho comes off the ropes for a quick follow up. Angle counters to hit the Angle Slam! Jericho kicks out! Angle is furious, goes out and gets the IC belt. Ref Tim White tries to take it away from him. Jericho double leg takedown and the Walls are on! Angle fights and slowly crawls over to get a rope break. The belt is still in the ring. They go back to the floor. Slugfest. Angle gets the European belt. Chyna tries to distract him. Angle swings at her with the belt and she ducks. Jericho pushes Angle from behind, which pushes him into Chyna and Chyna into the stairs! Chyna's hurt and White hops out to check on her. Jericho suplexes Angle off the apron back in, but Angle lands right next to the discarded IC belt. Jericho goes for the Lionsault. Angle grabs the belt, uses it as a shield and Jericho leaps right into it! Angle covers and gets the pin for the title! Fantastic finish. Angle becomes the third and final Eurocontinental champion. After the bell Hebner runs in and argues with White but White stands his ground and the decision isn't changed. Angle would carry both belts to Wrestlemania. Go back and watch Angle's debut in November then this match again and you'll see how much better he's gotten in just four months. It's scary, and he's still nowhere close to as good as he will be. And I'm not taking anything away from Jericho there, he's already fantastic, but Angle is one of my all time favorites and I'm loving watching his development again. ***1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boyz def The New Age Outlaws (c) in 5:20- Since losing the tables match at the Rumble, "their" match, the Dudleyz have been on a reign of terror, putting any body they could find through tables every chance they got on weekly TV, male or female. The Dudleyz are the first wrestlers tonight not to do a promo on their entrance. They charge in and it's on. Ref Teddy Long hollas at Gunn to get on the apron, then D'Von. He ain't having none of that shit tonight. Dogg quickly goes into his dancing jabs on Bubba Ray. Bubba Ray counters with the Bubba Bomb! He punches Gunn to bait him in so the D'Von can hit the second rope crotch headbutt. Dogg gets pounded around. He manages to get a sunset flip on D'Von for 2 before D'Von puts him back down with a clothesline. Bubba Ray does a crotch chop at Gunn to bait him again and chokes Dogg. Chops from Bubba Ray and he pounds Dogg down in the corner. Slam from Bubba Ray and he goes up to the second rope. Gunn walks across the apron to distract him. Behind Long's back Dogg hits a Greco Roman Cock Punch and hits a superplex! Tag to D'Von. Tag to Gunn! Hot tag run from Gunn with clotheslines and backdrops. He hits the Fameasser on D'Von! Bubba Ray pulls Gunn off the cover to the floor. Dogg hits his dancing kneedrop on D'Von and covers for 2 even though he's clearly not legal. On the floor Bubba Ray has a lead pipe and he whacks Gunn in the arm with it! 3D on Dogg! The Dudleyz get the pin and win the WWF tag titles for the first time! After the Dudleyz leave Dogg and Gunn argue before TV cuts to replays and backstage. Not much of a match, but the Dudleyz dispatching the at the time most decorated tag team in WWF history with relative ease was most definitely a statement. Times are changing in the tag division. In fact, this was the end of the Outlaws' original run at the top. They'd trade off between butting heads and reteaming until Dogg's release the next year, and wouldn't win the WWF/E tag titles together again until their nostalgia run in early 2014. *1/2

Man of the people Kurt Angle celebrates his Eurocontinental champion status with some fans in the concessions area.

 

"Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry def Viscera in 3:48- Right, buckle up kids. Henry and Mae Young have been a thing for a while on TV. Recently, 77 year old Young announced that she was pregnant and Henry was the father. I'm not sure that's physically possible but whatever. On a recent Raw, Viscera gave Young a big splash. Everyone was worried, but the baby is fine. It'll come out as a giant hand but it's fine. This is Henry's revenge match. Henry comes out first then jumps Viscera on the aisle during his entrance. They go back and forth back in the ring, then lose their spot and fumble around for a minute near the ropes. Henry hits a shoulderblock. Spinning heel kick, as much as he could still do, from Viscera. JR says "I guess the World's Strongest Man has the world's strongest sperm". 360 clothesline from Viscera. Henry gets whipped into the stairs and hits them hard. Viscera set the stairs upright and Henry goes into them again. Pretty loud "boring" chant from the crowd as they get back in the ring. Viscera covers for 2. The crowd boos the kickout! Samoan drop from Viscera. Here comes Young, jogging her way to the ring as fast as she can. She tries to cover Henry up. Viscera shoves her down and goes for another pregnancy killing splash. Henry cuts it off with a tackle. A simple bodyslam gets the pin. Insane story aside, this is just what you'd expect from these two. DUD

The Hardyz manager Terri is making her return tonight after being one of the Dudleyz table victims. Earlier on Heat, she enlisted the services of the Acolyte Protection Agency to make sure the Dudleyz don't attack her again during the match.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Match: Edge & Christian def The Hardy Boyz (w/Terri) in 16:55- The APA get their own entrance after the other teams come out and position themselves at the end of the entrance aisle. This is face vs face but these two teams have already had their issues in the past. Edge jumps Jeff from behind to kick things off. A Jeff corkscrew moonsault is dodged. Jeff does a nice flip over on a Christian backdrop attempt and hits a shotgun dropkick. Double legdrop from the Hardyz. The shirts are already off. Judging by the reaction so are a few panties. Matt back suplex on Christian for 2. Big chop exchange. Speed run, Christian slides to the floor, and Jeff hops down to run him into the barricade. Back in Poetry in Motion gets 2. Jeff hits a setup powerslam, then a springboard moonsault for 2. The Hardys have definitely been acting like heels so far in the match. It's cool to see, but it also stops once E&C get on offense later so I'm not sure if it was really the right call or not. Christian blocks a Matt powerbomb attempt and turns it around into a neckbreaker. Matt drags Christian away from his corner and tags Jeff. Jeff comes off the top but Christian gets his boots up and tags. Hot tag run from Edge. Matt goes to the floor and Christian gives him a springboard plancha. Jeff gets snapped over the top rope and rolled up for 2. Christian wheelbarrow slam on Jeff. This is where the Hardyz heeling it up ends as Jeff goes in peril. E&C pound Jeff down with stomps in their corner. Christian drop toe holds Edge for a headbutt into Jeff's crotch! That's an innovative double team. Edge hooks on a dragon sleeper while also giving Jeff knees in the back. Jeff escapes and gets a jackknife cover into the bridge up/backslide spot. Edge counters a Jeff flip over into a piledriver for 2. Jeff is doing a superb Ricky Morton impression in this match. No one could take an extended beating like Ricky Morton. Hurricanrana from Jeff. Edge grabs his foot to keep him from tagging. Jeff leaps for another one but Edge blocks it into a powerbomb. Christian powerslam for 2. Edge/Jeff speed run and both guys have the same idea, leading to a double hair grab faceplant. Christian runs in and stomps on Jeff. While the ref's distracted Matt hits an elbow off the top rope on Edge! Jeff covers for 2. Edge cuts the tag off again. He tries coming off the top rope. Jeff dropkicks him in midair! Both sides tag and now it's Matt's turn for the hot tag flurry. Neckbreaker on Christian for 2. DONNYBROOK! Edge gets set up on Matt's shoulders. Jeff is up top, looking for some variation on a Doomsday Device. When he leaps Edge ducks and victory rolls Matt! At the same time Jeff flies over and hits Christian with a crossbody! The ref counts 2 for both of them. Edge gets tossed out and Christian is isolated. The Hardyz hit their splash/legdrop off the top rope combo. Edge breaks the pin up. Another Poetry in Motion attempt. Edge spears Jeff in midair! Matt dodges an Edge spear! Twist of Fate! Christian grabs Matt and goes for an Edgecution. Matt counters and hits an inverted atomic drop. Jeff goes up top again. Terri gets on the apron. She pushes Jeff off all the way to the floor! What? Christian counters out of a Matt Twist of Fate attempt. Terri slaps Matt! Unprettier! That gets the pin. Terri gets in and tries to celebrate with Edge and Christian but they have no idea what this crazy lady is doing, they never asked for her help. After they leave Matt grabs Terri by the hair! That triggers the APA's contract! They run in and take the Hardyz out, including Faarooq dropping Jeff on his head with a bad Dominator. These guys could have good normal matches too, not just crazy gimmick ones. Thanks to these two teams and the Dudleyz the WWF tag division is in the best shape it's been in for nearly a decade. ***1/2

 

Tazz def The Big Boss Man (w/Prince Albert) by DQ in :47- Boss Man tries to jump in the aisle but Tazz is ready for him. The brawl goes to the ring and Boss Man hits an avalanche. Clothesline from Tazz. Exploder suplex. Tazzmission! Albert runs in and draws the cheap DQ. After the bell Albert hits Tazz with the choke powerbomb. Boss Man gets a nightstick shot. The beatdown continues as Tazz refuses to stay down and keeps fighting back. Yet more beatdown that goes on for way longer than the match did. Boss Man gives Tazz another nightstick shot to the head and the nightstick breaks! Finally Slaughter and a ref gaggle come in to try to stop it. I fail to see how that did Tazz any good. NR

Kurt Angle's celebration continues. Now he's on a megaphone up in the cheap seats somewhere.

The Kane/X-Pac best friends to mortal enemies soap opera continues. The latest developments are why I call it soap opera. Tori turned heel by breaking up with Kane and hooking up with Pac. I thought I remembered Tori saying something about Kane being impotent because of his burns, but it's not mentioned in the recap or anytime during the match and you *know* Lawler would have run down the whole football field with that one and spiked it after. The breakup shock sent Kane in a spiral that caused him to be institutionalized (again), and when he came back he had Paul Bearer back with him for emotional support. Now I see Bearer as a service animal and that image will stick for a while. Kane then made himself feel better by giving Tori a Tombstone. On the last SD before this show Pac shot some fire in Kane's face, retraumatizing him for about the tenth time since his WWF debut.

 

No Holds Barred Match: X-Pac (w/Tori) def Kane (w/Paul Bearer) in 7:46- Kane sets his post pyro off from the entranceway and charges in. He no sells everything Pac throws at him. Tiltawhirl backbreaker and Kane 360 clotheslines Pac to the floor. Pac calls Tori over and they walk. Kane stalks and attacks Pac in the stage area. Pac tries to climb the cage on the aisle. Kane pulls him down. High spot denied. Pac counters a run and Kane goes into the cage. Kane no sells a trash can shot and works Pac over with the can. They brawl into and through the crowd back to ringside. Pac gets dropped on the barricade. He dodges Kane coming at him with the stairs. Kane tosses the stairs into the ring. Mentally circle that for later. Pac hits Kane with the bell. He gets a chair but Bearer takes it away. Bearer goes nuts pounding on Pac! Rabid service animal. Tori comes over and hits Bearer. Bearer gives her a bit of a chase. Pac and Kane finally get in the ring. Kane goes up top and Pac dropkicks him off. Corner kick combo. Pac does the bronco buster. That only pisses Kane off. Clothesline. Pac ducks a big boot and basement dropkicks Kane's knee. He sets to work on the knee. "X-Pax sucks" chant from the crowd. Kane kicks Pac over the top to the floor. Back in Pac hits a spinning heel kick. He comes off the top rope. Kane catches him! Pac slips out and hits a low blow. X-Factor! Bearer gets on the apron. Pac punches him out. Kane hits a big boot. Clothesline off the top. Now Tori gets on the apron. Pac tries to jump. Kane goozle! Chokeslam! Tori hops on Kane. JR: "Tori tries to mount Kane". Oh, he couldn't resist that one. Kane flips Tori over. She takes another Tombstone! Kane picks up the steps to finish Pac off. Pac dropkick. The stairs fall on top of Kane and pin him down! Pac uses that to get the pin! Very solid brawl, but this feud needs to end. And as great as Kane was when he first came in, his character is getting in need of some refreshing now. **3/4

 

Too Cool def The Radicalz (w/Eddie Guerrero) in 12:38- Oh. Hell. Yes. The Radicalz are here. Along with (currently injured) Guerrero the group consisted of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. Three out of four ain't bad. Sorry not sorry Saturn. They all jumped over together from the massive combined dumpster and tire fire WCW had become and debuted on the Smackdown after the Rumble. These guys, along with others already in the company like Angle, Jericho and Triple H, would help WWF find the "wrestling" in World Wrestling Federation again, moving away from the very brawling heavy style that had taken hold in the company the past few years. A little surprisingly they came in as heels and quickly allied themselves with the new McMahon-Helmsley regime. On the other side, Rikishi joined the existing Too Cool team of Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay (Brian Christopher) not long after his debut and they quickly exploded into one of the most popular acts in the company. It's the dancing. Rikishi getting the monster run in the Rumble didn't hurt any. The Radicalz jump before the bell. Rikishi quickly takes the upper hand. One of his legs is all taped up, I can't remember if it was just story or if he was working through something legit hurt. Guerrero comes in with the lead pipe he was hiding in the sling for his hurt elbow. Rikishi cuts it off, takes the pipe, and nails Guerrero in the bad elbow with it. That's him done for the rest of the match. During the reset Saturn hits Sexay from behind and the bell rings to start for real. He rips Sexay's shirt off and chops him. Sexay blocks a superplex and hits a missile dropkick. Enzuguri on Saturn. Benoit tags in and runs into a hiptoss. Sexay bulldog for 2. Double elbow from Too Cool. Benoit drops Scotty on the top rope. Scotty goes into dodge mode and hits a suplex. After a moonwalk he tags Rikishi in. Rikishi fights everyone off. Corner clothesline on Benoit. Benoit takes the as yet unnamed stinkface. Malenko comes in and kicks Rikishi's bad leg. The Radicalz go to work on the hurt body part with lots of quick tags. Rikishi can't run on a whip, but he manages to hit a superkick and tag out. Scotty bulldog on Saturn. He goes for the worm but Malenko cuts it off. Benoit back suplex for 2. Snap suplex for 2. After a double team Malenko hits a double underhook suplex. Malenko backbreaker/Saturn HIGH elevation kneedrop off the top rope combo. Hurricanrana from Saturn. Benoit lays in some nice stiff chops. Scotty gets a counter roll up for 2 but is still caught in the wrong part of town. Saturn slingshot senton for 2. Malenko leg lariat and kneedrop. Benoit hits a short clothesline. After a counter sequence Benoit and Scotty knock heads. Malenko tags in. Scotty gets to Rikishi for a tag. Everyone in the pool! Rikishi squashes Benoit and Saturn in the corner. Rikishi Driver on Saturn. Sexay brings everything to a screeching halt, then calls Scotty in to hit the worm for a pop. Rikishi gets chop blocked again. Sexay goes up top, puts the goggles on, and hits the legdrop on Saturn. Benoit quickly breaks the pin up with his headbutt off the top. Scotty and Benoit fight and all four guys in the ring flop over the top rope and out. The other two, Malenko and Rikishi, get back in the ring. Malenko hurts his back trying to drag Rikishi across the ring. He works on the bad leg some more. Rikishi uses that to low blow Malenko, then post his shoulder. Rikishi Driver. Banzai Drop, done. Not sure that's how I'd treat the Radicalz right after hopping over. Benoit and Malenko looked as crisp as ever, but the match was pretty disjointed in places, especially down the stretch. The Radicalz' serious technical wrestling style clashed with Too Cool's big over the top spots based style at times. **1/2

Angle is still celebrating! He's out in the arena lobby now, and has both belts on.

To set up the next match- after the Rumble on weekly TV Big Show produced a video replay that showed pretty definitively that the Rock's feet hit the floor before Show's did at the end of the Rumble. With this evidence he's gotten a fresh shot at winning the Wrestlemania title shot back.

 

WWF Championship #1 Contender's Match: The Big Show def The Rock in 8:55- The weird thing about this match is Show had a 100% legitimate gripe about getting screwed out of a Rumble win by a bad call. Rock didn't even care, spending the whole feud mocking Show. And the crowd went with the Rock because he was the Rock. Total face/heel dynamic reversal. They go nose to nose before the bell. Rock slaps. Corner clothesline from Rock. Show blocks a Russian leg sweep. Rock hits the spinny DDT for 2. He cinches up for the Rock Bottom. Show elbows out, which sends Rock flying out to the floor. After a stair shot (NOISE!) it's crowd brawl time. At the end of it Show gets backdropped over the barricade to ringside. Show presses Rock and drops him on the barricade. Headbutt and elbow drop back in. Powerslam from Show for 2. They go to the floor again with Rock grabbing a bottle of water and spitting it in Show's face. Show hits chops on the floor. He lays in some kicks to Rock's gut back in the ring. Rock counters with an elbow and hits the Russian leg sweep for 2. Rock duck, kick and DDT for 2. Show side suplex for 2. He goes out and gets a chair. Rock ducks a chair swing. Whip reversal and down goes Hebner. Show hits a big boot. Goozle. Chokeslam! No ref. Tim White runs in. Hebner pulls him back out and they argue again! I guess that argument from earlier is paying off at least. Still kinda stupid though. "NO CHANCE! THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE GOT!" SHANE MCMAHON IS HERE! He hadn't been seen since Steph's heel turn and the formation of the McMahon-Helmsley regime. While Shane has everyone distracted Rock hits Show with the chair. Rock Bottom. People's Elb...no, Shane cuts it off with the chair! He tells White to get in. Show covers, and gets the pin! Show wins the title shot at Wrestlemania, and now seems to be allied with Shane. Well, that's a turn of events. Think it's screwy now? It's only going to get crazier leading up to WM. *1/4

One last cut back to Angle, who's now singing "We are the champions" as he walks up to his rental car. Jericho and Chyna jump him! They stuff Angle in the trunk!

 

Career vs Title Hell in a Cell Match for the WWF Championship: Triple H (c) (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) def Cactus Jack in 24:01- There's a lot of layers going into this match. Mick Foley sees this as his last shot to accomplish his dream of main eventing Wrestlemania, and he's willing to put his career on the line to do it. Anticipation was also high after how violent (and great) their clash at the Rumble was, and considering what Foley did in a Cell match last time he was in one at King of the Ring '98. In fact, Foley's promised to jump off the top of the cage again (not sure how that would help him win). Triple H and Steph have promised he won't get the chance. HHH's leg is taped up I presume due to the puncture wound he suffered in the Rumble match. The cage lowers down after intros. Jack immediately goes out of the ring and checks the door. I think those twelve padlocked chains all around the door might keep him from opening it. Seems like overkill but I guess you can't be too careful. OSHA's probably watching. HHH charges on the floor and the brawl is on. In the ring Jack gets the initial edge. He hits a flying forearm, then goes right out to the door again. He tries to kick it open. HHH comes off the apron but Jack gives him a shot in the gut. HHH blocks attempted cage shots. Back in the ring HHH pounds Jack down in the corner. Facebuster. Jack backdrops HHH over the top to the floor, then gets a chair from under the ring. HHH cuts the chair shot off and Jack goes into the cage. A knee sends Jack flying off the apron back into the cage. Stair and post shots for Jack. HHH picks the stairs up and throws them right in Jack's face! That was no gentle throw either. He puts Jack under the stairs then hits them with the chair! More chairshots in the ring for 2. HHH DDT for 2. And 2. And 2. Jack wants another shot with the chair. HHH goes for it and Jack cuts him off. Chair up into HHH's crotch! Double underhook DDT on the chair! Slow cover for 2. Jack hits a Russian leg sweep onto the chair. He pounds HHH down in the corner to where he's sitting in the chair. Jack charges. HHH gets up and drop toe holds Jack into the chair! 360 clothesline. Jack goes into the cage again. HHH sets up a Pedigree on the stairs. Jack backdrops out and slingshots HHH into the cage! HHH is busted open. More cage shots and HHH gets the cheese grater face rake. Cactus elbow off the second rope WITH A CHAIR! Jack tries to throw the stairs. HHH dodges and the stairs open a hole in the cage! Jack's eyes light up. He charges, and dives through using his body to open it up more! Then he whips HHH through the opening and they're both out. Jack is bleeding like crazy on his arm. Looks like he caught it on the chain link fence going through the first time. They get up on the English announce table. Jack piledrives HHH on the table! And the table doesn't give an inch. Jack looks up. Oh shit. He starts climbing. Steph grabs his leg to bring him back down! Jack goes to the timekeeper's table, tears it apart, and gets a 2x4 with barbed wire on it! Same as the Rumble match. 2x4 shot to HHH's head! HHH escapes the only way he can, up the cage. Jack follows, bringing the 2x4 with him thanks to the convenient holder attached to it so he can hang it from his arm. That's forward planning that is. But he then makes the mistake of tossing it onto the roof before he's up there. HHH gets it and nails Jack with it! Jack's dangling on the upper section of the cage. HHH stomps his foot and Jack goes down through the Spanish announce table! Well, they had to. At least they tried to make it safer by shortening the fall. HHH poses on the roof. Jack's already back up! That wouldn't have even won a Last Man Standing match. He's bleeding from his forehead now along with the unintended gash on his arm. Jack gets another chair and tries to throw it on the top of the cage with no success. Finally he says the hell with it and goes up without it. When he gets up HHH gives him more 2x4 shots with the wire getting tangled up in Jack's clothes. Jack hits a low blow. Off a punch HHH takes a full bump on the roof. Another bump and a corner of the roof comes loose. Jack suplexes HHH on the roof! Double underhook DDT on the roof! Jack gets the 2x4 again. He sets the end of it on fire! We have a flaming barbed wire 2x4! He hits HHH with the "burning" part (not really). He sets the 2x4 down and it's still burning. He hooks up for a piledriver onto the fire. HHH backdrops out, and Jack GOES THROUGH THE ROOF, DOWN INTO THE RING AND SMASHES A HUGE HOLE INTO IT! "Holy shit" chant. Again, something I guess they had to do but at least they rigged the ring for a softer landing. HHH slowly climbs down. He looks as Jack in shock. Jack stirs. He's alive! HHH is livid. Jack crawls out of the hole. HHH punch. Jack won't stay down. Another punch. Pedigree! Jack. Is. Done. The career of Mick Foley is over, to say nothing of his dream to main event WM. Another amazing match from these two, this one only being a letdown in the sense it's not quite as good as their classic at the Rumble despite the added emotion. ****1/2

HHH leaves and Foley gets his sendoff from the crowd. He refuses medical help and leaves under his own power. As he's going we can see the multiple gashes on his arm from the chain link fence now most of the blood has been cleared off and they are nasty looking. Foley gives one last pose by the entrance and end show. This really was intended to be Foley's big sendoff retirement match, and it would have been perfect as that. Unfortunately, circumstances would dictate that he'd be pressed into action again soon. Very soon. In fact, his dream to main event WM might not quite be over....

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A good B PPV follow up to an excellent Royal Rumble and to lead into WM as 2000 continues to be off to a great start. Unfortunately however, there are some warning lights flashing when it comes to the WM main event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Souled Out '98

Legacy Review

Souled Out '98

January 24, 1998 from the Hara Arena in Dayton, OH

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

The first Souled Out in '97, presented as a fully NWO run show, was a complete disaster but the name stuck for the January PPV, only now as a normal show instead of an NWO run one. There is a new branding thing starting with this show though. For the next year all WCW PPVs will be co-branded as presented by both WCW and the NWO. Speaking of disasters, we're coming off the epic all time disaster that was Starrcade '97. Instead of going through with one of the easiest decisions in wrestling history, Sting winning the World title and taking over as the face of the company as the fans clearly wanted, WCW screwed the whole thing up by burying it in layers of their beloved controversy to the point that the only reaction they could get out of the fans was apathy. As of this show the World title is still vacant and has been for nearly a month, a situation that will be addressed tonight. Not settled, addressed.

I do like the stage setup here. The big video board is a bit more up front with a cool backdrop behind it, and they've taken some notes from Raw and gotten a raised entrance ramp.

Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo, Chavo Guerrero Jr and Lizmark Jr def La Parka, Silver King, El Dandy and Psychosis in 9:30- Lucha rules here so tagging and selling are optional. Mike Tenay checks into the booth for this one. Ref Lil' Naitch wants nothing to do with Parka's chair before the bell. Calo and Psychosis start. Calo counters a powerbomb into an armdrag that sends Psychosis to the floor. Psychosis comes back in with chops. Calo flips over and hits a powerslam. Lizmark misses a dropkick and takes a King superkick. Chop exchange. Lizmark hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker. King responds with a huge DDT. Chavo gets a monkey flip and flying headscissors on Dandy. Dandy hiptosses him against the ropes and both guys go over and out. Parka and Juvy hit stereo baseball slides on the opposite team member then shove each other on the apron. Parka catches Juvy on a crossbody attempts, carries him across the ring with a little strut, then puts him down on his feet. Juvy goes into super spinny mode. Flying headscissors off the top and Parka goes to the floor. Juvy's dive attempt is cut off by a Psychosis clothesline. Lizmark hits a crazy springboard moonsault. Near fall exchanges as more guys swap in and out. King lifts Calo on his shoulders and gives him a modified airplane spin. There's a guy in the crowd holding up a sign that says "Lucha wrestling means bathroom break". I notice he's out here in the crowd watching and not flashing that sign in the bathroom. Hypocrite. Juvy hits King with the 450 splash! The pin gets broken up. Parka hits a sit out powerbomb. Psychosis hits a falcon arrow and legdrop off the top rope. Outside Calo dodges a King dive and King splats on the floor! It's that time of the match. DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! They stay with one camera for the entire diving sequence, a fantastic move. Chavo and Psychosis are the last two in the ring. Chavo dodges a Psychosis (in ring) dive in the corner, goes up, hits the tornado DDT, and that gets the pin! After the bell Parka takes everyone out with his chair because he's nuts, opponents and teammates alike, and gets a pretty nice pop from the crowd for it. Fantastic lucha spotfest craziness that was perfect to open things up and did its job of getting the crowd amped up. Other than bathroom break sign guy I presume. ***3/4

Next up is an ad for Boston Brawl, a very unique show. It's basically a house show that WCW will be streaming online, the first one ever, but due to the limitations of the internet at the time it will be audio only. "Pay per listen" as WCW calls it. They would do a few more of them as the year went on, but the idea of paying to listen to a radio broadcast of a show online didn't stick even in the early internet days of the late '90s. Free, maybe, but definitely not as a PPV. PPL. Whatever. I can only guess how long you had to wait for Real Audio to buffer before it would work anyway. Probably half the show. You kids have no idea what it was like back then.

 

Hours of my teenage life wasted waiting for this bloody thing to stop buffering. It was amazing when it worked though. LIVE AUDIO BROADCASTS on a COMPUTER!

Mean Gene is out with tonight's Hotline shill, which is pretty much the same as it's been for months, he's seen guys backstage and has names on the Hotline. They really need to come up with something new. Even Okerlund is phoning that pitch in by now, no pun intended.

 

Raven's Rules: Chris Benoit def Raven in 10:36- Raven comes out with the whole Flock, who have mock fan signs with them like "Benoit's not over". Huge "Raven sucks" chant during his musicless entrance. Mike Penzer reads an order from WCW that Raven MUST wrestle in this match (he'd been ducking Benoit for months and making him wrestle everyone else in the Flock), and the Flock is BANNED from ringside. Raven dropkicks Benoit as Benoit is first getting into the ring. Barricade whip and Benoit goes into the stairs. Back in Raven hits a trio of snap mares. Benoit counters another one with a backslide for 2. Raven drops elbows to keep Benoit down. Knee to the gut. He goes for another one that Benoit counters into a roll up for 2. Back to the floor and Raven gives Benoit a chairshot. Snap mare onto the chair in the ring. Bulldog on the chair! Benoit gets a foot on the rope, then Raven repositions for a 2 count. Benoit reverses a whip and drop toe holds Raven into the chair! Big shot with an even bigger sell. Chops from Benoit. Big clothesline. He suplexes Raven onto the chair. Dusty wants to make it very clear that Raven hit "the bars", AKA the chair legs. Benoit rips Raven's shirt off! That right there probably did more damage to Raven than anything else so far. More corner chops. Raven goes out and Benoit hits a baseball slide. They go up the ramp and Benoit hits a suplex up there, then kicks Raven back down the ramp. Another suplex onto the chair back in. Benoit puts the chair over Raven's face and stomps it! He calls for the headbutt off the top. It hits, right into the chair! Both guys are out. Benoit gets moving at 8 and covers Raven for 2. He hooks up for a northern lights suplex. Raven counters it into a DDT! Both guys are down again, and again Benoit stirs first at 8 to cover for 2. Raven hooks up for the finish him off DDT. Benoit counters into the crossface! Raven's laughing while he's in it! Sick freak. He goes out, the ref gets three arm drops and it's over. Fantastic match, hard hitting, intense and nonstop. Easily one of Raven's best. ****

After the bell Billy Kidman runs in. Dean Malenko comes in to cut him off! The whole rest of the Flock runs in. While the others are fighting Benoit and Malenko Hammer carries Raven out. The rest of the Flock leave. Benoit and Malenko seem to signal mutual respect while commentary wonders why Malenko decided to help Benoit.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho def Rey Mysterio Jr (c) in 8:22- Tenay's back in for this one. Jericho's had his heel turn that would carry him in his peak WCW months and turn him into a full fledged star whether WCW wanted it or not. He comes out wearing a Mysterio shirt. Mysterio has a knee brace on his eternally problematic left knee that was playing him up again here, both in story and real life. After the bell Jericho does a little height comparison, then gives Mysterio a quick eye poke on a rope break just to annoy him. Mysterio fires back with a slap that Jericho sells in full Flair style. Forearms from Mysterio. Jericho runs him over with a shoulderblock. They do an extended dodging sequence with Mysterio hitting a flying headscissors that sends Jericho out. Mysterio does the 619 dive tease, but tweaks his knee on the landing. Jericho tries to sneak behind to take advantage but Mysterio was ready for him. Jericho lifts Mysterio up, which Mysterio turns into a victory roll for 2. He pulls Jericho down by the hair! Jericho catches a leap and gives Mysterio a hot shot from the apron. He sets the stairs up on the floor, then runs up them and leaps off with a flying knee to Mysterio. Back in Jericho hits some mocking humiliation kicks. Mysterio fights back. Jericho flips over in the corner and gets knocked to the floor. Mysterio springboard senton! Jericho gets dropped on the stairs. Mysterio goes for another springboard but Jericho hits the ropes to knock him down. Both guys do some maneuvering on the ropes. Mysterio goes for the springboard hurricanrana. Jericho blocks it into the Liontamer! Mysterio, with the hurt knee, instantly taps out and we have a new champion! There's enough in there to make it good, though they got a bit shafted on time compared to other Cruiserweight title matches and Mysterio's knee was a bit of a hindrance. ***

Jericho takes a mic and is SHOCKED the people are booing him. He says "I'll give you a reason to boo" and rips Mysterio's knee brace off! He ties Mysterio's knee up on the stairs, then hits his knee with a steel box! Jericho, ever the true Canadian, says "sorry" as he walks off. Mysterio would miss the next five months after one of his many left knee surgeries.

Mean Gene is in the ring with JJ Dillon and the Big Gold Belt for the announcement on how the World title mess is going to be cleaned up. Hopefully. Dillon brings out Roddy Piper, apparently still interim commissioner and making his first appearance since Halloween Havoc. Piper claims he was the one that put the original Hogan/Sting match together behind the scenes so this is his responsibility. He calls out Sting, Hogan and Scott Hall. Naturally, Eric Bischoff is with the NWO contingent as well. First Piper addresses the fact that Hall, as the winner of World War 3, was scheduled to get a title shot at Superbrawl. Piper says Hall deserves that shot and he is #1 contender, but it's hard to do when there's no champion so he's going to have to wait. I appreciate that they're taking the time to explain that, normally WCW would just pretend it never happened. Piper then, after teasing handing the belt back to Hogan as Hogan wanted, books one final match between Hogan and Sting next month at Superbrawl. Hogan's pissed and teases getting into it with Sting. Hall then walks out on Hogan. Hogan and Bischoff immediately bail. By the time that match came around all the momentum that had been built for Sting the past year and a half was completely gone, flushed right down the toilet with the giant shit that was Starrcade.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Booker T (c) def Rick Martel in 10:50- Perhaps in response to recent TV title runs by young guys who were clearly not ready or would never be ready for the spotlight (Alex Wright, Prince Iaukea), we've now flipped the pendulum the other direction and have the recently WCW signed 20+ year veteran Rick Martel challenging for it. Former AWA World and WWF tag champ Martel hasn't wrestled full time or for a major company since he left WWF in the summer of '94. On the other side a Stevie Ray injury meant that Booker is getting the first singles push of his WCW career. He defeated Disco Inferno for his first TV title right after Starrcade. This is face vs face. They go nose to nose after the bell but no Code of Honor handshake. Long, rough lockup that ends with a clean break. Arm wringer tradeoff. HUGE shoulderblock hit from Booker. Another speed run and Martel gets a roll up for 2. Hammerlock exchange with Martel flipping out. He tries to block a Booker hiptoss but gets clotheslined for 2. Booker hooks on an ARMBAR. Jericho's turned heel, that means we're getting really close to the List of 1004 Holds. Martel tries a suplex but Booker blocks it and hits his own. Dodged elbow drop, spinaroonie and Booker hits the Harlem side kick for 2. Martel gets a knee up in the corner and hits a clothesline off the second rope for 2. Booker counters into a hook kick for 2. More corner dodging and Booker gets a deep armdrag. Martel leapfrogs on a speed run. Booker doesn't duck and runs right into him head first! Right on the waistline. Booker backs off because it was accidental, but once Martel recovers that sets off that French Canadian temper. He pummels Booker with slaps and stomps in the corner. Elbow drop to the back. Gutwrench suplex. Spinebuster from Martel for 2. He stays focused on the back, typical Martel strategery to set up for the Boston crab. Oh, Quebec crab as apparently WCW is calling it. Booker gets a roll up out of the corner for 2 but Martel is quickly back on the back. Booker ducks a couple of clotheslines and hits a flying forearm. Martel dodges a dropkick. Location unspecific crab! They're too close to the ropes and Booker quickly grabs one. Booker hits a couple of setup kicks. Scissors kick! Side suplex. The Harlem Hangover hits! Well, in theory. Landed in the general vicinity. That gets the pin. After the bell Martel takes the belt from the ref and teases a big turn, but then hands the belt to Booker and they shake hands. After Booker leaves Saturn comes in from the crowd to attack Martel! Booker runs back in to make the save. Hell of a pleasant surprise there. Booker's singles breakout is on, the start of the path that will see him develop into one of the best in-ring workers of the era and about the only thing worth watching in end of life WCW. The real surprise was Martel, who looked fantastic despite his age and lack of recent regular or high profile work. ***1/4

 

Larry Zbyszko (w/Dusty Rhodes) def Scott Hall (w/Louie Spicolli) in 8:09- Oh yay. This is continuing. Zbyszko had been feuding with the NWO for months. First from commentary, then he came out of retirement to have a match with Bischoff at Starrcade that was atrocious almost beyond description. Spicolli is the former short lived Rad Radford in WWF and had recently come into WCW as Hall's lackey after an equally short ECW run. Hall is once again half of the WCW World tag champs, he and Nash won the titles back from the Steiners after Starrcade. During Zbyszko's entrance Dusty leaves the booth to join him, the mystery corner man for Zbyszko that had been teased all show. After some jockeying Zbyszko gets a leg takedown, then a fireman's carry takedown. Hall loses an arm wringer tradeoff and hides in the ropes. They both cautiously wave hands at each other until Zbyszko slaps Hall. That leads to shoving. Zbyszko gets an abdominal stretch on. Escape and it's on again. Hall escapes again but misses an elbow drop. Zbyszko gets a waistlock takedown that looks like an attempted German suplex that was aborted mid-move. He goes for the front chancery that was somehow suddenly his move of instant death even though I can never remember him ever using it before. Hall quickly gets a rope break, then goes into usual Hall punchy/chokey mode. Spicolli gets a shot in and Dusty chases him off. Hall corner clothesline. He wraps Zbyszko's legs up and stretches him out. Huge "Larry sucks" chant from the crowd. Commentary plays it off by saying there's some NWO fans here. Hall hits a clothesline. Another section of the crowd has a counter "Hall sucks" chant. I'd say it's probably 60/40 to 70/30 in Hall's favor. Hall hits the fallaway slam and calls for the Razor's Edge. Zbyszko backdrops out. He unloads a flurry in the corner until the ref stops him. Hall clotheslines him over the ref. Over to the opposite corner and they do the exact same thing again, only this time Zbyszko does his spin kick but it takes out the ref instead of Hall. While Hall tries to revive the ref Zbyszko plays dead. When Hall covers him he hooks the chancery on! Spicolli runs in for the cheap DQ. Dusty comes in. He takes Spicolli out with the bionic elbow! HUGE pop from the crowd for that. They're bonkers for Dusty getting back in. Zbyszko holds Hall for Dusty to hit. Hall dodges and Dusty elbows Zbyszko! It looked 100% accidental. But then, Hall does his trademark point to Dusty. Dusty takes his top shirt off....and there's an NWO shirt on underneath. Commentary is very slow on the uptake. Only when Dusty drops an elbow on Zbyszko do they realize what's happening. And they're disgusted. So Dusty taking Spicolli out was all part of the plan? I guess so. This is a true "jumping the shark" moment for WCW. Dusty turning makes zero logical sense. The entire NWO angle he's been Mr. WCW and Mr. Tradition, but now after a year and a half now he says "eff it, I guess I'll join them"? It's only there to be a turn for the sake of having a turn and nothing else. The match wasn't great but also wasn't the disaster it could have been. *1/4

Seriously, that's probably one of the top 5 dumbest heel turns of all time to me. Still, silver lining is it did get Dusty out of commentary. Good or bad it also killed the crowd, who had been really hot, for the rest of the show.

 

The Steiner Brothers and Ray Traylor (w/Ted DiBiase) def Team NWO (w/Vincent) in 12:20- This is a partial rematch from Starrcade, where the team of the Steiners and Traylor lost to the NWO team of Savage, Scott Norton and Vincent. This time it's Norton, Konnan and Buff Bagwell. While everyone is in an endless staredown before the bell Heenan says Tony left and it standing with his face in a curtain. I suppose that's one way to smother yourself. Dusty's heel turn was bad, but not THAT bad. Tony gets back before the bell rings. Scott wants to start with Bagwell. Apparently they've had a thing going for a while over who has the biggest....muscles. Muscles that can be viewed in polite society. Makes sense, between the two of them they probably have three brain cells to rub together, and they're all Scott's. It's like watching two cavemen fight over who has the biggest club. But wait. Rick wants to start and he and Scott are arguing about it. Oh yeah, we're here. Scott's heel turn to become Big Poppa Pump is coming. Rick wins the argument and gets the start. Commentary mentions that on a previous Nitro Scott worked a whole match by himself without tagging anyone in, like a basketball diva that never passes the ball, so now Rick and Traylor are conspiring to keep him out. Bagwell goes right into mocking Rick and being his general "as annoying as a tropical skin disease" self. Tenay takes Dusty's old spot in the booth, not just for the rest of the show but thankfully for the foreseeable future. Bagwell gets a leg takedown on Rick then hides in the ropes. Rick mocks Bagwell's flex. Bagwell, unshockingly, takes that as the greatest insult known to man. Rick hits a powerslam. Steinerline. Traylor hits Bagwell with an avalanche. Tony calls Scott a "glory hound". Bagwell continues to be pounded around by Rick and Traylor, who refuse to tag Scott in. Bagwell gets a shot in on Traylor and tags Norton. Norton and Traylor do some back and forth stuff. Norton hits a powerslam after Konnan hits Traylor from the apron. The NWO team keep Traylor trapped. Konnan seems to be in a contest with Bagwell on who can be the most annoying person in the match. Possibly on the planet. Konnan's trying but he's not taking that crown. Bagwell hits a dropkick for 2. Norton and Traylor double clothesline each other. Traylor initially goes to the wrong corner, then tags Rick. Hot tag run from Rick, until Konnan hits him with a DDT. Scott pulls the ref down to the floor and gets into with him it for some reason. Per commentary Scott has also been racking up fines for getting physical with refs on Nitro. Rick gets beat down on the floor, then we get a looooooooong Rick in peril run in the ring that goes on for what feels like half an hour. While that's going on Scott has gotten on the same side of the ring as Traylor trying to get in tag position and they argue over who should stand where. Scott runs in at one point to open the door for more NWO double teaming. Eventually Rick dodges Konnan in the corner, Steinerlines Bagwell, and tags...Traylor, but Scott reached for it too and they both come in. DONNYBROOK! DiBiase even gets into it with Vincent on the floor. Nice callback for WWF fans. Scott hits a dragon suplex on Konnan. He gets on the apron to Traylor can finally tag him in for real. Steiner Screwdriver on Konnan! That gets the pin. After the bell Scott and Bagwell continue their measuring contest, to the chagrin of Rick and DiBiase. This was nothing more than an overly long and very dull vehicle to continue the push to Scott's full heel turn. 1/2*

 

Kevin Nash (w/Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff) def The Giant in 10:47- This was originally supposed to take place at Starrcade and was hyped up as the #2 match on that card, only to have Nash no-show on the night. He claimed to have a "legitimate medical scare". I think the medical term is jobophobia. They go nose to nose before the bell, and with Nash's height it's actual nose to nose. Long lockup stalemate into a Nash headlock. Giant side suplexes out. Elbow drop. He does an Andre style squash of Nash in the corner. Nash powders while Hogan throws a fit. Back in Nash gets shots in and hits a corner clothesline. Giant responds with his own corner clothesline and high kick. Nash just barely leapfrogs over Giant, which is still impressive, and hits a big boot. He 360 clotheslines Giant to the floor with Giant landing on his feet! Nash with a plancha! Again, just barely, his feet almost caught the ropes, but he made it. Giant catches him! He posts Nash's stomach. While Giant's getting back in Hogan comes over and whacks him in the back with a chair. Giant barely beats the count back in, to the point Nash argues it was 10 and Tenay even has to get the rule book out for Tony and Heenan. I just got done watching this year's G1 so I'm wondering why he rushed and didn't wait until 19. Nash lays some elbows in. Giant stops selling and hits a clothesline. Double big boot! Both guys are down. Nash crawls over and covers for 2. Vintage Nash corner elbows. Giant counters mounted punches with an inverted atomic drop. More Giant clotheslines. Big boot. He points at Hogan after that, but sadly doesn't go for the legdrop. Slam on Nash and Giant calls for the chokeslam. Hogan and Bischoff get on the apron. The ref takes Hogan while Giant chokeslams Bischoff into the ring. Nash has a pot of something or other Hogan gave him. He throws coffee in Giant's face! Apparently this is something that's been going on during the feud. It's supposed to be hot coffee and Giant is blinded and burned. But wait, who's keeping a pot of hot coffee at ringside? I never see anyone drinking it. Is there a hot pad somewhere in there keeping it hot? Isn't that a violation of fire codes? Nash hooks Giant up, then hits the infamous HORRIBLE botched jackknife that plants Giant right on his head for everyone to see. Commentary instantly reacts to it. Nash covers and gets the pin. Medics quickly run in for Giant. They work on bandaging his eyes because of the coffee, but they're really checking to make sure his neck isn't broken. Nash, to his credit, does stop to check what's happening before leaving without trying to be obvious about it to keep character. There's a huge splat of coffee in the ring that needs to be cleaned up before the next matches. During the replay run we get a full slo mo replay of the botched jackknife. TWICE. 1/4*

 

"Hitman" Bret Hart def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 18:06- Now we're talking. This is Bret's first match with WCW, and they're getting him in there with Flair. True neither man are at the top of their game mentally for various reasons, but it's still Bret vs Flair. This is not their first encounter. Bret defeated Flair to win the WWF Championship for the first time in late '92 when Flair was wrapping up his initial WWF run. It was a phenomenal match, but hardly anyone saw it because it was taped at a house show and only released as a Coliseum Video exclusive on the very unfortunately titled video "Smack 'Em, Whack 'Em". Sounds like something you had to go behind the red curtain at the video rental store for. Bret's WCW music is a *huge* downgrade. More than usual. We get some Slick Ric mind games to start out, with a "WOOO!". Bret grabs a headlock out of the lockup. Shoulderblock, slam and back to the headlock. Surprising clean break in the corner. Flair hits the jets again and gets a shoulderblock. Bret then gets a drop toe hold. He goes for a figure four! And gets it on! Flair quickly grabs a rope, but message sent. Suplex from Bret for 2. Top wristlock leverage fight that Bret wins. Flair gets back up. Shoving! Slapping! Flair powders to cool down. Back in Bret reverses a whip and hits a backdrop. More Bret headlock. Flair gets him into the corner and gives him the casual one thumb eye poke. Corner jabs from Flair, followed by the first chop and it's a belter. Huge arena echo. Bret hooks on a sleeper! Back suplex counter from Flair. Flair aska the ref to check the time, then gives Bret a quick low blow while his back is turned! Dirtiest player in the game. The master. Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. Chinlock with rope leverage. More big chops. Bret slugs back in the corner. Swinging neckbreaker. Bulldog for 2. Super casual legdrop. Always loved that from Bret, he's just standing there and BOOM, legdrop done before you even knew what was happening. Bret starts working on Flair's knee. He goes to the post for the corner figure four. Flair pushes out and Bret goes into the guardrail. Back in Flair drops an elbow for 2. Kneebreaker! He JERKS Bret's leg right out of the socket! Bit of a strut and another kneebreaker. He goes for three. Brett counters with an enzuguri! Flair's still up first and goes for the figure four. Bret small package counter for 2. Backslide for 2. Flair clips the knee. Figure four! Bret fight, and fights, and finally gets a reversal. Flair breaks and goes up top. Bret slams him off. Corner whip reversal and we get a Bret bump, though not nearly as hard as usual. Probably getting adjusted to WCW turnbuckle pads. Flair goes for another back suplex. Bret blocks into a Russian leg sweep. Another Flair chop. Bret puts the straps down! He wants more! Flair begs off. Mounted punches from Bret, then he blocks Flair's inverted atomic drop counter. Headbutt and it's FMOD time. Superplex from Bret! Sharpshooter! Flair submits! Not quite on the level of their WWF Title match, but still fantastic and probably as good as we were going to get from these two at this particular difficult point in time for both of them. ***3/4

 

"The Total Package" Lex Luger def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) in 7:07- The only reason this is main eventing over Bret vs Flair is this is an NWO match and that one wasn't. Savage hops right out after the bell and tries to get Luger to chase. Elizabeth distracts and Savage hits Luger from behind in the aisle. Double ax handle off the top in the ring for 2. Clothesline for 2. Commentary talks about how Savage is causing all kinds of problems in the NWO right now, setting up for the big NWO civil war that's coming. Savage back suplex for 2. He whips Luger around and hits a back elbow for 2. Elizabeth chokes Luger with Savage's bandanna. Finally Luger gets a boot up in the corner to break Savage's momentum. Elizabeth grabs his boot and Savage runs in with a knee to the back. Double ax handle off the top to the floor. Elizabeth slaps Luger! That gets Luger's attention. Savage AGAIN gets Luger from behind! Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me three times I might as well give it up. Luger gets dumped over the guardrail and we go into the crowd brawl. Savage takes some shots on an arena wall. Back in Luger hits a series of clotheslines. Running no more steel plate forearm. Scott Hall comes out with a chair, with Hogan is behind him. Well behind him. Luger hits a powerslam and calls for the Torture Rack. Hogan and Hall argue while Hall is on the apron. Luger whips Savage into Hall and Hall goes down. Savage gets Racked! That's been a move of instant death for a while so of course he immediately submits. 3/4*

Hogan jumps Luger after the bell to kick off an NWO beatdown, minus Hall. Sting runs in and the faces fight the goons off. Luger Racks Nash, Sting puts Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock, end show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- I can't think of a better microcosm of the crossroads WCW was at. Everything that didn't involve the NWO was universally good to great. Everything that did involve the NWO was universally bad to terrible. What would WCW take from that? MORE NWO!

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Royal Rumble 2000

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble 2000

January 23, 2000 from Madison Square Garden

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

They're using the short MSG entrance again tonight like at Summerslam '98. The whole entranceway has been set up to look like a NYC street, complete with graffiti, to play off the Street Fight WWF Title match tonight. To top it off there's a taxicab hanging above the entrance doors, which is really cool.

Kurt Angle's music opens the show to a chorus of boos. He's taking on a mystery opponent tonight. He has a mic and does his usual early career shtick, including getting the sports heat by running down the Knicks and Patrick Ewing. He says he's still undefeated and doesn't care who his mystery opponent is. The crowd starts chanting and shows that Angle's "mystery" opponent is an open secret here in the early days of internet spoilers. Music hits, and.......IT'S TAZZ! He's making his WWF debut tonight, another ECW alum coming over as part of the somewhat under the table WWF/ECW partnership.

Tazz def Kurt Angle in 3:16- Tazz jumps all over Angle as soon as he hits the ring and backdrops him over the top to the floor. ECDub chant from the crowd. Tazz goes for a suplex in the entrance aisle. Angle escapes and hits it instead. Back in Angle hits a flying forearm for barely 1. Belly to belly suplex from Angle! That gets big boos. He goes up top. Tazz hits the ropes to crotch him. Tazz superplex! Angle JUST gets a foot on the rope before 3. Tazz argues with the ref and Angle small packages him for 2. German suplex from Angle for 2. He goes for the Angle Slam but Tazz slips out. German from Tazz with an Angle flip upside down sell! Belly to belly. Exploder. Tazz hooks on the Tazzmission. Lawler argues that it's an illegal choke. JR tries to defend it by saying that's Tazz's version of a sleeper. Angle goes out and the ref calls it! Angle doesn't come to and medics run in to check on him. As he gets stretchered out JR acknowledges that maybe that was more of a choke after all. That could easily have been a squash, but even with the short time Angle got a good amount of offense in and continues to improve every time he goes out there, and Tazz still looked like a badass killer in the end. Going toe to toe with "The Human Suplex Machine" Tazz in suplexes is good foreshadowing to Angle eventually taking over as wrestling's suplex master in his prime. *3/4

The Hardyz are in the back and refuse to let manager Terri go to the ring with them because this match is going to be violent and not for the womenfolk.

 

Tables Match: The Hardy Boyz def The Dudley Boyz in 10:17- This is billed as the first ever tag team tables match in WWF history. It's both members of the team have to go through tables rules for this one. Bubba Ray also goes to the sports heat before the match, name dropping John Rocker. If you don't know that name because you didn't live through it I'm not getting into it because it's all pretty stupid. Like John Rocker. As soon as the Hardyz come out the big brawl is on in the aisle. All four guys fight in the ring and Bubba Ray hits the Bubba Bomb on Jeff. Bubba Ray sets the first table up in the ring. Another ECDub chant. Bubba Ray tries to backdrop Jeff through the table but Matt pushes the table aside while Jeff is in the air. Jeff hits a big dive onto Bubba Ray on the floor. D'Von and Matt do a series of counters to avoid going through the table, then D'Von settles for suplexing Matt away from the table. Jeff gets a chair and nails Bubba Ray with it. He goes for his barricade run leap. When he launches Bubba Ray throws a table in his face! The Dudleyz swap and Bubba Ray sets Matt up on the table in the ring. He gets up on the second rope for the kill shot. Matt gets up and low blows him. Jeff comes in and the Hardyz go to double superplex Bubba Ray through the table. D'Von comes in and just gets the table out of the way before he hits! Matt goes under the ring and gets a ladder! We've got tables in the rules, then chairs came out, and now ladders. Hmmmm..... The Hardyz work the Dudleyz over with the ladder. More chairshots on Bubba Ray. He gets set up on a table on the floor. Matt sets the ladder up and climbs it. D'Von tries to stop him but Matt fights him off. Matt legdrop off the ladder! At the same time Jeff came outta nowhere, from the camera's perspective, and both Hardyz hit at the same time to put Bubba Ray through the table! That gets a "holy shit" chant from the crowd. Might want to save that for a bit, they're just getting warmed up. D'Von takes a chairshot. The Hardyz set up a table on the floor that's bridged between the ring apron and positioned upright ring steps. D'Von gets set up on it. Matt goes up top. D'Von dodges and Matt goes through the table! Jeff takes a dive at D'Von. D'Von dodges and Jeff goes through another table that was propped up against the barricade! But, that doesn't count for ending the match. The rules are specific that the table shots must be offensive moves. The Hardyz took themselves out so we continue. That right there is why WWF gimmick matches were almost always superior to WCW ones, they set firm rules and actually stuck to them. The Dudleyz bring both halves of the ring steps in the ring and set a table up on top of them. They avalanche powerbomb Matt through the table! That's one for each side. Both teams go over the barricade and fight into the crowd on hard camera side. Matt takes a chairshot. Bubba Ray sets up a big 2x2 stack of tables up in an arena entranceway. He sets Matt on top of it. Bubba Ray then takes Jeff up into the arena seats with him, and across to the balcony above where the tables are set up. Bubba Ray poses. Jeff low blows him! Chairshot. Bubba Ray wobbles, then goes down through the entire stack of tables! But that's his second time, D'Von still has to go through a table. Fortunately, one table survived the carnage. Matt sets D'Von up on it. Jeff, still up on the balcony, takes his shirt off. Swanton bomb off the balcony putting D'Von through the table! That's the match. Another fantastic gimmick match from the up and coming star tag teams, following up nicely on the superb Hardyz/Edge & Christian ladder match at No Mercy. The groundwork for what would become TLC continues to be laid. ***1/2

Still loopy Angle is in the back getting checked out. He argues that if he was illegally choked out he's still undefeated.

Next up in the ring is the Miss Rumble 2000 bikini contest, I guess in lieu of a women's title match that likely would have been in a similar vein to what they did the month before at Armageddon which was also pure T&A instead of a proper match. It's doubly pointless anyway as they'll never top the very sexy Miss Kitty/The Kat (Lawler's real life girlfriend at the time the bastard) going completely topless on that show. Kat tries by having a bikini made up entirely of bubble wrap, but it's layered so heavily it shows less than an actual bikini. In the end the whole thing is just a giant setup for the punchline of Mae Young crashing the contest at the end, flashing her saggy 200 year old tits and winning. Mark Henry runs in to cover her up. 10+ minutes of PPV time we'll never get back.

After that we cut to the brand new WWF New York, a themed restaurant and store that just opened in Times Square. And it's a double debut, not just of the location but also for one Jonathan "Coach" Coachman, making his first WWF appearance and getting mobbed by the crowd there.

Jericho and Chyna are in the back bickering over who gets to wear the IC belt to the ring. OK, let me explain this one because it's a doozy. Jericho defeated Chyna to win the title at Armageddon. Soon after that, they had a rematch on Smackdown that ended in a double pin. Instead of declaring the match a draw, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley decided that they would now be co-champions. For equality I guess. This led to both Jericho and Chyna interfering in each other's individual defenses, because if one of them lost the title they both did. Hardcore Holly had title shots end just that way against both of them, hence his inclusion in a triple threat tonight. And I hope you knew all that from watching weekly TV going into this show, because there's nothing to explain it. Nothing from commentary, no video recap, nothing. The segment ends with non-ref Hebner brother Dave taking the belt and bringing it to the ring himself. Naturally Jericho calls him both Dave and Earl.

 

Triple Threat Match for the Undisputed Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho (co-c) def Chyna (co-c) and Hardcore Holly in 7:30- Jericho gets a pretty big pop on his entrance. I can't remember if he'd officially turned face yet but he de facto is one tonight as far as the crowd is concerned. Holly pie faces Chyna down after the bell to go after Jericho. Slaps all around for everyone. Holly reverses a corner whip and Chyna does the Trips flip down to the floor. Jericho and Holly do a decent long speed/counter run ending with Holly hitting a dropkick. Lawler is still traumatized by Mae Young's mummified mammaries. Fortunately he reins it in pretty quick and doesn't get super annoying Lawler over the top about it. Jericho and Holly get into a chopfest. Jericho blocks a hurricanrana attempt and hooks on the Walls. Chyna clotheslines him to break it up to a chorus of boos. Holly gets 360 clotheslined to the floor by Chyna. Jericho dodges and Chyna baseball slides Holly. Jericho springboard plancha on Holly! Back in Chyna hits Jericho with the handspring....well, it's supposed to be an elbow but Chyna didn't even put an elbow out, she just flopped onto Jericho. DDT on Jericho. Holly tosses Chyna out. Getting back in Chyna pulls the top rope down on Jericho, sending him tumbling out. Holly gets a chair. Jericho actually stops him hitting Chyna with it and Chyna dropkicks the chair back in Holly's face. Coming back in Chyna and Jericho do a messy double splash onto Holly. They start arguing with each other, which leads to some face punching. Chyna low blow on Jericho. Pedigree on Holly! Holly kicks out! Chyna goes up top. Holly lifts her up on his shoulders. Jericho uses that to come off the top with a crossbody on Chyna! That gets 2. Chyna breaks up a superplex by crotching both guys, then she superplexes Holly, but Holly rolls over into a cradle for 2. Now Chyna gets a chair. She nails Holly with it, then puts on a Boston crab. Jericho bulldog on Chyna! Lionsault! That gets the pin! Jericho is fully IC champion again, mercifully ending the "co-champion" nonsense. The match was eh. As I've said before, Chyna's cleared the bar where she can work believably with the men, but still has yet to clear the bar of being actually good. You're also always only going to get so much out of Holly. **

Michael Cole is in the back with the Rock. He asks who Rock he's worried about most in the Rumble. Rock's answer? Crash Holly and Mosh. Fantastic. It's even better because with Austin and Undertaker both out with injuries Rock is by far the overwhelming favorite to win the Rumble this year. No one else even seems plausible. Cole asks about Big Show, the only guy besides Rock that might have a smidgen of a chance but no one believed it. Rock takes the mic, shoves Cole out of the way, and cuts a standard but still really good Rock promo. This is getting about the time that Rock got all time great, can't miss every time he had a mic because he could riff more and didn't lean heavily on his catchphrases like he had been up to this point. I do wonder why his football jersey is in Detroit Lions colors though.

The very simple, bog standard tag title feud gets a full video package recap, where the extremely complicated IC title match didn't.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def The Acolytes in 2:35- The Outlaws get a big pop and are doing their full prematch routine again despite still being heels due to their association with Triple H. The Acolytes charge in and it's another hot start. During the charge in we got a quick glimpse from a camera that's been set up inside the entrance taxi. Bradshaw takes both Outlaws out. Faarooq powerslams Dogg. Gunn tries to run in and help but Faarooq double clotheslines them. Dogg hits his dancing jabs. Bradshaw pulls him down by the hair from the apron and we're already donnybrooking. Bradshaw dodges Gunn's Stinger splash and hits him with the Clothesline from Hell, getting a 360 sell. Faarooq spinebuster on Dogg. He covers but Gunn pulls ref Tim White out of the ring. Bradshaw charges and takes Gunn and White out on the floor. Acolyte double team powerbomb, but there's no ref. X-Pac runs in and gets taken out. In the confusion Gunn hits Bradshaw with the Fameasser and gets the pin. I'm sure this got cut short due to time. Might have been best if they cut this from the card altogether. Or didn't waste 10 minutes with the bikini contest. 1/2*

WWF pulled off the first major swerve in the post-Russo era at Armageddon with Steph turning on her dad to join her new husband Triple H, who everyone thought had married her against her will. Since then they've taken complete control of the company. Full despotic rampage. One of the few people to stand up them was Mick Foley, still as Mankind. That got him good and fired. The rest of the roster rebelled, demanding Foley be reinstated. The McMahon-Helmsley regime relented, and Trips even promised Mankind a WWF Title shot at the Rumble in a Street Fight. Mankind then changed everything on Smackdown, revealing that Mankind wasn't good enough to face Triple H. He needed to tap into something deeper, darker.....CACTUS JACK! The king of the deathmatch. Foley ripping his Mankind shirt off to reveal Jack is still an all time great SD moment. Trips was figuratively shitting himself. Maybe even literally.

 

Street Fight for the WWF Championship: Triple H (c) def Cactus Jack in 26:48- Steph comes out with HHH but immediately leaves because even more than the tables match this isn't going to be for the womenfolk. HHH is very cautious on his entrance, taking his time getting into the ring. He hands Fink a bag as he goes by. After HHH gets in the ring Jack jaws at him and HHH actually backs off a bit. Jack words turn into Jack fists and it's on. Back and forth slugging to start. Classic Jack beatdown in the corner. Bang bang! Jack hits a swinging neckbreaker on the floor. He legdrops HHH as HHH is trying to get back in the ring. HHH gets bounced of various ringside objects. He takes advantage of that, grabbing the bell and whacking Jack with it! HHH gets a chair and challenges Jack to join him in the ring. Jack gets in, says "come on", charges, and takes a chair in the face. He gets right back up with a clothesline! Jack puts the chair over HHH's head then legdrops it for 2. Back outside HHH gets backdropped over the barricade. Crowd brawl time. They keep it short and head straight for the entrance alley that looks like it comes from the set of an '80s crime movie and is perfect for this match. HHH gets dropped on a stack of bricks. Jack gets a couple of already half broken pallets and sets them up on the street/aisle. He suplexes HHH onto them! When HHH hits it one of the broken pieces of wood goes right into his leg, causing a nasty puncture wound that was not at all planned. Jack gets a trash can and hits HHH with it. HHH does a classic on the knees sell. Then HHH gets whipped into the gate that serves as the entrance. As they're coming back HHH gives Jack a quick back suplex onto the trash can. As soon as that's done he quickly checks his leg, which is bleeding pretty good. Leg's still attached, the match continues. Commentary hasn't even noticed it yet. Jack hits the running knee on the floor against the stairs. Bang bang! Jack goes under the ring and pulls out.....a 2x4 covered in barbed wire! Shit's getting real now. Hebner tries to stop it to no avail. HHH cuts Jack off with a low blow. He gets the 2x4 and works Jack over with it! HHH is noticeably limping from the leg wound but is pushing through it. Jack cuts off another shot. He low blows HHH with the 2x4! Double underhook DDT! But, Hebner decided to get the 2x4 out of the ring and stash it with Spanish commentary. By the time he finally gets back in, HHH kicks out. Jack's upset. Not at the count, because Hebner took his toy away. He goes looking for it and sees Spanish commentary has it. Savinovich won't give it up and Jack punches him out! Cabrera does the smart thing and hands it over. Back in HHH runs Hebner over to take him out for a bit, not that it matters in a match like this. Jack nails HHH over the head with the 2x4! Then he drops the 2x4 right onto HHH's head while he's down! HHH is bleeding properly from the forehead now as well as his leg. Jack covers for a long 2. We get a closer look at HHH's leg wound but commentary's still not fully onto it yet. Another 2x4 head shot. HHH is gushing blood. Jack scrapes his face with the barbed wire! He punches on the cut as Trips goes full crimson mask. Between that and the leg I don't even want to know how much blood he's lost. HHH gets set up on the English announce table. Jack sets up a piledriver on the table. HHH backdrops out! Both Jack and he fall onto the table, and when they do the top of the table breaks in half! I don't think I've ever seen an announce table break like that before. HHH is flopping all over the place as he tries to escape the wreckage. Commentary finally notices and mentions the leg wound and we get a good close up of it after HHH get back in the ring. Pedigree setup. Jack counters into a corner slingshot that HHH puts some serious extra welly on. Bulldog onto the 2x4! HHH kicks out! Cactus Clothesline! Jack charges on the floor and HHH hiptosses him onto the steps! Jack gets whipped into the steps. HHH clips his knee. Both guys wobble back into the ring. Another knee clip. 2x4 shot onto Jack's knee! HHH goes out and gets the bag from Fink. It's handcuffs! Commentary immediately remembers Foley getting his hands handcuffed behind his back at the Rumble last year. HHH tries to do it again. Jack fights back but HHH kicks his knee to get him down again. The cuffs are on and Jack's hands are literally tied behind his back. Beatdown time. HHH gets the stairs and puts them in the ring. He picks them up and charges at Jack. Jack does a drop toe hold and HHH's face goes into the steps! Jack dives down into HHH's crotch! Then he bites HHH. HHH comes back up with a clothesline. More chairshots to Jack's head with the chair back legit breaking off. Another chairshot to the head in the aisle. Jack wants more! While he's screaming for that the Rock runs in and hits HHH with a chair! Then immediately leaves again. Total drive by. The only reason I can see for that happening is interference was so baked into the main event style at the time they felt like they had to do something. While everyone's down a cop comes out and frees Jack from the handcuffs. Jack pounds HHH around ringside a bit more. They set up on the Spanish announce table. Jack hits a piledriver on the table! And the table doesn't give an inch! Very '89 Funk/Flair bit there. As everyone gets back in the ring Jack has a large bag with him. Thumbtacks! A TON of thumbtacks! Steph runs back out to try to distract. HHH gets back up but is extremely wobblelegged. Jack charges. HHH backdrops him into the tacks! Human pin cushion time! Pedigree! Jack kicks out! HHH is furious. He quickly recovers though. Kick wham PEDIGREE ONTO THE THUMBTACKS! Hebner tries to find a safe tackless spot to count and it's all over. Clean as a sheet win for uberheel HHH. A brilliant, well constructed piece of pure violence. All the credit in the world to HHH for gutting through getting his leg punctured barely a third of the way in and still going through the whole thing. The last of his doubters should have been silenced by this performance. Mick Foley once again plays kingmaker while also ably adding on to his own legend. This is absolutely one of the best non-Rumble matches on a Rumble show ever. *****

Jack's got tacks stuck in his forehead after the bell. A stretcher comes out for the WINNER. That's when you know how brutal the match was. Jack chases the stretcher down! He rolls HHH into the ring apron! They get back in the ring and HHH takes one last shot from the 2x4. I have a feeling this isn't over.

The ring crew works frantically to clear the ring of thumbtacks before the Rumble starts. JR and Lawler's announce table is broken in a way that can't be fixed and completely covered in dried blood. The ring mat is also caked with dried blood that will stay there the whole Rumble. Fink starts up the prematch Rumble rules rundown before the cleanup is even finished. He gives this year's interval as "Regularly scheduled intervals of two minutes or less". Think they really had timing issues on this show. Commentary mentioned 90 seconds, which became the standard around this time. Officially.

 

Royal Rumble-

1 & 2. D'Lo Brown and Grandmaster Sexay- Lawler's annoyed his (alleged) kid had a bad draw. Sexay, brain trust that he is, decides to dance and Brown jumps him. A Brown powerbomb is barely countered into a hurricanrana. Sexay makes sure to get that annoying horse braying laugh in a couple of times. He hits a missile dropkick off the second rope. Brown goes over the top but lands on the apron.

3. Mosh- Complete with tit cones. Should he have been in the bikini contest? Also, are those things legal? Kaientai run in! They're just a straight team now of Taka Michinoku and Funaki (future SMACKDOWN #1 ANNOUNCER). They were originally entered into the Rumble but were pulled earlier in the day and are clearly not happy about it. Of course, being Kaientai, as soon as they hit the ring they both get tossed over the top and out. Thanks for coming. Mosh whips Brown and Brown legit runs into Sexay while Sexay wasn't looking. Brown spinebuster on Mosh. The cones are off! Sexay bulldog on Brown. Mosh seems to have tweaked his ankle but shakes it off.

4. Christian- He hits a quick reverse DDT on Mosh. With four guys in we get a couple of pair offs.

5. Rikishi- Backup for Sexay as he was in Too Cool now, and he gets a pretty big pop. Superkick and Mosh is the first elimination. Good thing too, Rock was really worried about him. Christian is eliminated by Rikishi. A Brown neckbreaker and legdrop on Rikishi are no sold. Rikishi Driver. Brown's gone. The factionmates stare down. Sexay tries to talk Rikishi down.

6. Scotty 2 Hotty- Well how about that. All of Too Cool is in now. No one wants to fight. The glasses go on Rikishi and we get a mid-Rumble dance segment with the crowd fully into it. Until Rikishi double clotheslines his partners and dumps them out! Well done. Scotty and Sexay are cool with it, it's just business. The lights go out again and Rikishi dances some more.

7. Steve Blackman- If there's anyone that's guaranteed to end the ha-ha's, it's Steve Blackman. He kicks Rikishi down. Rikishi hits another Rikishi Driver and Blackman's gone. Rikishi is definitely getting the big man push this year. The crowd's all for it.

8. Viscera- Speaking of big men. We get the big guy staredown into a slugfest. Viscera hits a belly to belly suplex and legdrop. Avalanche. Rikishi dodges a second one. He hits a flurry of superkicks, gets Viscera over the top and Viscera is gone. Seven eliminations and all by Rikishi.

9. The Big Boss Man- He may be evil but he's no dummy. Seeing how things have gone he takes his sweet time, never fully getting in the ring and killing the whole period.

10. WWF Hardcore Champion Test- He gets a pretty good pop, still riding the wave of being Steph's beau before she turned evil. As women do. Boss Man is still on the floor so Test jumps him. Boss Man runs Test into the post. Test backdrops Boss Man on the floor. They finally both get in the ring. After they do it's low blows all around.

11. "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith- Another 4 men in pair off. Test hits the big boot on Boss Man. Rikishi goes for the banzai drop but Bulldog low blows him, then he tries to deadlift pure muscle Rikishi over the top.

12. Gangrel- He still gets the blood spit in because that's super important. Kaientai is in again! And out they go again! Rikishi squashes Test and Gangrel in the corner. We get a replay of Taka going over the top again and face splatting right on the floor. Ouch.

13. Edge- He gets a *very* high pitched pop. A panties dropper. Everyone gangs up on him. Jealous? Rikishi hits the banzai drop on Boss Man. Lawler wants to see the replay of the "Chinese guy" (sigh) faceplanting again.

14. Mr. Bob Backlund- Surprise entrant! After his failed '96 presidential bid the story is Backlund is now running for Congress in Connecticut. He's wearing shorts instead of trunks so this might have been a last second thing. Backlund dodges in the corner and Rikishi bounces off. Everyone currently in the ring gangs up to take advantage of the opening, dumping Rikishi out! That gets some boos from the crowd. Backlund has a lot of fun doing some wobblelegged selling.

15. WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho- The first of many double duty entrants tonight. A Jericho dropkick in the back eliminates Backlund. Edge and Jericho exchange some chops. Who could have guessed the future those two would have. Backlund leaves through the crowd in full campaign mode. It's plausible there's some Connecticut residents in the crowd.

16. Crash Holly- Edge quickly gets Crash upside down and spanks him. That's probably top quality content on some website somewhere. More low blows get tossed around. Icepacks will be needed after the match.

17. Chyna- Making the second of her two career Rumble entries. She'd be the last woman in a Rumble until Beth Phoenix in 2010. She knocks Test of the way and goes right for Jericho. Jericho gets Chyna over on the apron. Chyna suplexes Jericho from the apron and eliminates him! While she's letting Jericho know about it Boss Man comes up and eliminates her! The two of them argue all the way to the back.

18. Faarooq- As soon as Faarooq hits the ring the Mean Street Posse run in and jump him! I can't remember what exactly the story was here. Boss Man uses that opening to eliminate Faarooq. Everyone knocks Crash around.

19. WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg- He goes right for Test. Test responds by low blowing him. Crash saves himself again.

20. Al Snow- Boss Man eliminates Bulldog.

21. WWF European Champion Val Venus- Test jumps all over him. Kaientai's back again! No, it's just Funaki now. And he's eliminated for the third time. That has to be a Rumble record. JR mentions Taka's been taken to the hospital after his rough landing earlier. Which we get to see again.

22. Prince Albert- Snow and Venus team up to eliminate Edge. Dogg goes to the "wrap up the bottom rope and hope everyone forgets you're there" strategery. JR points out that's right out of the Lawler playbook.

23. Hardcore Holly- Another one goes right for Test. Who'd he piss off? Boss Man and Gangrel try to get Dogg off the ropes. Another Crash save.

24. The Rock- There's the cure for the acute case of jobberitis this Rumble had developed. Rock punches Boss Man over the top and out. Test and Venus get Rock on the ropes. Test powerbombs Crash.

25. WWF Tag Team Champion "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn- Goes right for Rock. Dogg gets up and NAILS Hardcore from the side. Total blindisde shot that looked pretty legit. Rock hits a DDT and Crash is gone. Dogg gets himself wrapped around the bottom rope again.

26. The Big Show- The only other guy that has a snowball's chance in hell of winning this other than Rock. And I don't like the snowball's odds. Rock jumps him getting in. Show shrugs him off and quickly dumps Test and Gangrel. Test claims the "ironman" run this year such as it was at a bit over 26 minutes. Not exactly threatening the record books. Show gets back on Rock, then press slams Hardcore.

27. Bradshaw- The Mean Street Posse run in again but Bradshaw has better luck with them than Faarooq did. Still it leaves him distracted and the Outlaws take advantage to eliminate him. Faarooq comes back out and the Acolytes and Posse brawl to the back.

28. Kane- Kane *should* be a contender to win this, but he'd been mired in midcard hell for so long no one even thought of it as a possibility. Venus tries to jump Kane. Kane no sells it all and eliminates Venus.

29. The Godfather- With Ho Train, Rumble or no Rumble. They dance slowly all around the ring. Kane eliminates Albert. Here's Funaki one last time! He gets eliminated again right in front of the hos. Embarrassing. Well, it might be if any of them were decent looking. That leads to Lawler asking for one last Taka faceplant replay. Godfather finally gets in right as the countdown starts.

30. X-Pac- Snow eliminates Hardcore. Show eliminates Godfather. Rock hits a Samoan drop on Snow and Snow is gone. Dogg is finally up off the rope again. Gunn sneaks behind and eliminates him! Kane eliminates Gunn.

FINAL FOUR: Rock, Show, Kane, Pac- All of the final four came in at #24 or later this year. The Outlaws pull Kane out to the floor and they all brawl. Rock dodges a Pac spinning heel kick and dumps him out! But, the refs were too busy with the Kane/Outlaws brawl and didn't see the elimination, allowing Pac to get back in. Kane and Pac renew their recent rivalry. Kane hits a big boot on Rock. He goozles Show. Show counter goozles. After a minute Kane fights the chokeslam off. Pac hits the spinning heel kick on Rock this time. Kane enzuguri on Show! He slams Show! Pac comes from behind and eliminates Kane! Mandatory bronco buster spot on Show. I hate that move. Show presses Pac and drops him straight down to the floor, eliminating him for the second time. Final count: Funaki eliminations- 4, Taka eliminations- 2, Pac eliminations- 2, Taka faceplant replays- 4. To the surprise of no one, we're down to Rock and Show. Rock does a double leg takedown. Pad off. People's Elbow. Show blocks an elimination toss. Chokeslam! Show soaks the boos in. He scoops Rock up and makes a big show (no pun intended) of deciding which side to toss Rock out on. He chooses and goes. As Rock's going over he grabs the top rope and barely keeps his feet from hitting the floor, while Show's momentum sends him over the top and out! The Rock wins! As everyone expected. Good finish though. Rock becomes the third man to win the Rumble from #24, which at the time tied #27 for the slot with the most winners ever. Rock takes a mic to do a New Japan style show close promo. While he's doing that Show attacks him and dumps him over the top and out! This isn't over. Like last year things will get complicated before we get to Wrestlemania.

As I've made sure to make clear, going into tonight it was blatantly obvious Rock was winning. I don't know if there was ever a more obvious Rumble winner. But despite that and the fact the match was almost entirely midcarders at best they still managed to put together a pretty fun Rumble. All the Kaientai stuff was great and helped keep the fun factor up. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WWF's banner year of 2000 gets off to a superb start with an all time great WWF Title match, a very good and groundbreaking gimmick match, and a very solid Rumble that managed to overcome the obviousness of the result.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-