Unforgiven 2000

Legacy Review

Unforgiven 2000

September 24, 2000 from the First Union Center in Philadelphia, PA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

This is the night Steve Austin returns (for real, not counting his Backlash cameo) and begins the hunt to find out what dumb SOB ran him over back at Survivor Series. The Triple H/Kurt Angle/Steph soap opera triangle is also continuing, though not as compelling as it was going into Summerslam. It's not directly connected to this show, but the night after this Raw will make its debut on TNN, later SpikeTV, moving off USA for the first time ever.

Right to Censor def The APA and The Dudley Boyz in 6:05- Val Venus, continuing his move into angry seriousness, has recently joined the RTC and is teaming with the original RTC trio of leader Stephen Richards, Bull Buchanan, and the Goodfather in this eight man match. Heh, Venus is in white pants. He was serious about his switch to white gear. D'Von and Goodfather start with some basic back and forth. Bubba Ray tags in with some corner jabs. Goodfather channels his past and goes for a Ho Train that Bubba Ray dodges. Bubba Ray gets a boot up in the corner on Buchanan, hits a clothesline and tags. Bradshaw stiffs Buchanan and gives him a swinging neckbreaker. Buchanan does his corner springboard reverse clothesline. JR talks about Bradshaw being in a bad mood because of how bad the Cowboys were doing. Yeah, 2000 and the following few years were not a fun time to be a Cowboys fan, I remember all too well. Two words: Quincy Carter. Venus hits a few shots on Bradshaw and brags to the crowd, giving Bradshaw an opening to knock him around. Fallaway slam from Bradshaw. Faarooq continues the punishment as the face team quick tags on Venus. Richards tries to hit D'Von from the apron, giving Venus an opening to hit a powerbomb. Back suplex from Goodfather for 2. D'Von dodges a Venus elbow drop and gets a tag to Bubba Ray. Bubba Bomb on Venus. Side suplex on Goodfather. DDT on Buchanan. Richards gets in the ring for the first time. Bubba Ray hooks up for a Bubba Bomb on him but Venus makes the save. Bubba Ray powerslam on Venus for 2. 8 MAN DONNYBROOK! The APA take the fight to the floor. The Dudleyz hit a doomsday device on Venus! Goodfather breaks the pin up. Richards gets in with a superkick on Bubba Ray. Venus covers and gets the pin. Another win for the new RTC, another PPV loss for the Dudleyz. It's a bit weird that Richards is doing the chickenshit heel thing of never wanting to wrestle, and yet his finisher has been a move of instant death. The match was paint by numbers 8 man tag stuff, nothing horribly awful but nothing near special. *1/2

After the bell the Dudleyz give Richards the Whazzup drop. Table time. The RTC make the save before Richards can be put through it. The APA help the Dudleyz fight the heels off. Everyone takes a shot on Richards when he's isolated. Richards gets wood and everyone's happy. Especially Bubba Ray.

I know I've mentioned this occasionally but this stat continues to blow my mind: since defeating the New Age Outlaws for the tag titles at No Way Out in February to cement a big transition in the tag division, the Dudleyz have lost 7 straight PPV matches of various types. Then they put someone through a table and no one cares anymore.

Trips and Steph's early show chill outs have gotten awkward. Steph's concerned about Trips' hurt ribs, but Trips promises to end Kurt Angle. Steph admits that maybe she was wrong about thinking Angle was her friend and she's completely with Trips again.

It's kind of crazy watching this now knowing this is about the time that Trips and Steph started dating in real life.

 

Strap Match: Tazz def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 5:07- The feud that started out with Lawler trying to save JR from Tazz's abuse, which turned him face, and saw the duo humiliate Tazz at Summerslam continues. I suspect this won't go well for Lawler. Lawler makes his entrance from the announce desk again. As soon as Lawler gets the strap on Tazz drags him down. Half and half suplex. Lawler gets tossed out to the floor. Tazz chokes him in front of JR and commentates it for JR. Heh, he's looking for the Candy Jar of Death. Not getting hit with that again. Lawler gets behind Tazz and chokes him! Strap whips on Tazz. Back in Tazz low blows to get out of more choking and gives Lawler some strap shots. More choking. The Philly crowd is strangely split and/or unengaged seeing as how Tazz is an ECW alumnus. Lawler fights back and hits a piledriver. Tazz pops right back up. Another piledriver. Tazz is back up again! A THIRD piledriver! Again no sold......NO Tazz flops down! Lawler goes for turnbuckles. He gets up to three before Tazz grabs a rope to stop him. Lawler wraps the strap around Tazz's throat and tries to piggyback him. The ref goes down in that exchange. Someone gets in the ring. IT'S RAVEN! RAVEN IS HERE! That wakes the Philly crowd up. Evenflow on Lawler! Tazz hooks the Tazzmission on. Arm drops and the ref calls it, I guess it's not touch the corners only rules. That match would have been much better served on Raw. Tazz as expected gets his win back even if his credibility was already shot. Raven's WWF debut was a great shock though. It also makes sense the ECW guys would gang up on Lawler. 1/4*

We cut to the waiting Kevin Kelley in the back, who's waiting no longer as the Stone Cold pickup drives in. Kelley very enthusiastically asks Austin how he feels. Austin says he's here to ask questions, not answer them, and tosses Kelley into a garage door! Yup, Austin's back.

Lawler had to be helped to the back after his match so Michael Cole replaces him on commentary. Cole and JR, this might be about the only time they were in the booth together during JR's heyday.

 

10 Minute Hardcore Battle Royale for the WWF Hardcore Championship- This is mostly the same as the Hardcore Battle Royale at Wrestlemania- pins and submissions count at any time during the match, there can be an unlimited number of title changes, and whoever is champion at the end of the time limit will be champion until at least tomorrow. The only differences are the time limit has been cut from 15 minutes to 10, and pins only count on whoever the current champion is. Steve Blackman is coming in as champion. Also participating: Al Snow (now European champ and going way over the top in celebrating European heritage), Crash Holly, Test (with Trish Stratus), Perry Saturn (with Terri popping right out of her very thin dress) and Funaki. Much smaller roster than the WM match too. Saturn tries to dive but Blackman whacks him out of the air with a trash can lid! Test presses Funaki down onto Blackman! Test powerbombs Blackman in the ring. Everyone runs into cut pins off and try their own. Saturn tries a northern lights suplex but Funaki breaks it up. Terri takes Head away from Snow! Saturn hits Trish with Head! Test hits Terri with Head! Snow gets Head back and takes Test and Saturn out. Crash tries a flying headscissors off the top rope but it doesn't go well at all. Funaki crossbody on Blackman for 2. Crash and Funaki do a team up of the underdogs and knock everyone to the floor. Funaki turns on Crash! Saturn crazy dive off the top to the floor on everyone as we go into the split up and fight on the floor portion of the match. Snow has a butterfly net. That's a new one. Though if I remember right you can actually damage enemies with one in Zelda: A Link to the Past. Snow grabs his head in the ring but we don't see what happened to hurt him. Test big boots a trash can into Blackman's face. Crash takes Test out with another trash can, covers Blackman, and gets a pin to finally get his baby back! He runs off like the match is over, and runs right into a Saturn trash can shot! Saturn pins Crash to win the title! Snow does a drive by with a trash can lid and covers for 2. More trash cans and lids are tossed around as everyone brawls in the stage area. They work their way into the crowd with not a whole lot worth mentioning happening. At under 3 minutes left they start to work back toward the ring. Saturn gets a kendo stick but just stands in the ring and poses with it. Blackman gets his tiny sticks from under the ring. Snow hits Test with a pizza box! The camera cuts quick but I think Test sells it too. Blackman goes nuts with his personal sticks. He gets the kendo stick and whacks Saturn in the head with it. Everyone runs in and takes kendo shots. Another head shot for Saturn. Blackman covers and gets the title back with one minute left! Blackman takes the belt and just walks away. Test and Snow attack him in the aisle. "One of these brain surgeons should go for a cover"-JR. No one does and Blackman survives still champion, as he came in. The match was pretty decent in the first half but bogged down bad the second half with a lot of obvious stalling toward the end. *1/4

Angle is in the back showing off his medals to I'm pretty sure Tony Garea and some rando. He walks away whistling.....and right up to Austin! Angle introduces himself as this is the first time they've ever been on screen together. Austin lets Angle ramble. Angle presents Austin with an honorary gold medal. He even lets Angle put it around his neck. After that he tells Angle he's going to store this in a special place.....RIGHT UP YOUR ASS! Austin attacks Angle! Old Stone Cold is a little ornery tonight. Hard to picture now, but man the comedy classics these two would be putting on backstage in less than a year's time.

 

Chris Jericho def X-Pac in 9:05- After their great feud Benoit at least temporarily got moved up the card, but Jericho's going to be stuck in midcard hell for a bit. JR says this could be a show stealer. Clearly he hasn't watched any Pac matches the past year or so. Jericho charges in and Pac slides out. "X-Pac sucks" chant. Rough lockup. Shoulderblock from Jericho and Pac wants some space. Pac does his flippy hiptoss escape but takes a couple of Jericho chops. More chops in the corner. Pac dodges in the corner, almost in slow motion, and hits a couple of corner kicks. Jericho counters a bronco buster setup with a clothesline. Spinning heel kick from Jericho. He goes for the springboard dropkick but Pac pushes him out to the floor! Spinning plancha from Pac. He tosses Jericho on the announce table, then almost squashes Mark Yeaton with Jericho. Baseball slide to keep Jericho on the floor. Back in Pac hits a spinning heel kick for 2. Jericho reverses a corner whip and goes for the misdirection bulldog. Pac dodges it and hooks on a sleeper. Jericho fights free and hooks his own sleeper on. Pac back suplexes out for 2. He chokes Jericho in the corner and does the shit move bronco buster. He gets up to gloat and Jericho powerbombs him off the ropes. Kick block and clothesline from Jericho. Flying forearm for 2. Jericho gets Pac down in the corner and does his own bronco buster! Corner dodge and Jericho posts his shoulder. Pac goes out and gets the numchucks that he used to attack Jericho with during the build. Jericho ducks a swing and rolls Pac up for 2. Jericho goes for a German suplex in the corner. Low blow from Pac to get free. X-Factor! Pac covers slowly and Jericho *just* kicks out! Powerbomb counter from Jericho and he goes for the Walls. It's on but Pac gets right to the ropes. Big swing kick from Pac for 2. Bulldog from Jericho. He goes for the Lionsault but Pac gets his knees up. Pac tries coming off the second rope. Jericho catches him and hooks the Walls on! Pac taps out! Jericho keeps the Walls on for a bit longer and a ref gaggle comes out to get him off. While they're discussing things with Jericho Pac attacks with the numchucks again. Not too shabby. Jericho got as much as was possible out of Pac. **3/4

Commissioner Mick Foley is in his office, which tonight looks like one of the arena admin offices decorated with a bunch of cacti. He's practicing his counts because he's the guest ref for the Angle/Triple H match tonight. Angle comes up and complains about Austin attacking him. Foley not only doesn't give a damn, just because Angle's a whiny little bitch he makes tonight's match no DQ, and that's *gavel tap* FINAL!

Austin walks into Rock's locker room. They stare down while Vince mentally counts the money that's going to make, then shake hands. Austin says he knows Rock didn't have anything to do with it because they're cool, but it was Rock's rental car and Rock must know something. Rock says he doesn't know, anyone could have gotten in the Rock's bag while the Rock was busy. They're interrupted by.....Joe. Joe who? Just Joe. Damn I'd forgotten all about this guy. He tells Austin he heard something Austin might want to hear about. Austin says he heard Just Joe was a sorry son of a bitch and punches him out! Austin's really making up for all the lost backstage beat downs the past year.

 

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boyz def Edge & Christian (c) in 14:00- It's pin or both team members escape rules tonight, but in a unique twist to escape you have to go over the top of the cage, no door escape. As soon as the Hardyz get in the cage it's on. Matt DDTs Edge and both Hardyz gang up on Christian. Cole mentions Lita isn't out there tonight, probably due to injury from a prior attack. Christian gets hit with Poetry in Motion against the cage! Both Hardyz climb. E&C go up to pull them down. Jeff fights Christian off and gets to the top of the cage. He sets up for a crazy Jeff Hardy dive. Edge pushes him off! Jeff dangles off the top of the cage, then falls down to the floor! Well that makes things interesting. The Hardyz are halfway to winning, but now Matt is in there by himself. Edge realizes that and smiles. Matt crotches him on the top rope then goes after Christian. Cage shot for Christian. Twist of Fate! Edge breaks the pin up. Christian tries to climb and gets crotched, then Matt slingshots Edge into him. Edge gets rolled up off the ricochet for 2. Matt ties Edge up in the ropes, then climbs. He gets to the top. E&C chase, pull him down, and suplex him off the top of the cage back into the ring! Crazy spot, but also a small bump by their standards. Edge covers for 2. E&C dart throw Matt into the cage. Matt gets run into the cage again, knocking a climbing Jeff off! Jeff climbs again. Christian goes up to meet him. Jeff falls off the top to the floor again! While Matt continues to get beat on Jeff demands the key from the ref, then pushes him back into the cage to take it. Door unlocked and Jeff goes to come back in, and with a chair to boot. Christian comes over and slams the door into Jeff! Christian goes out the door to the floor, which doesn't count toward winning the match. Meanwhile Edge has continued the punishment on Matt and Matt is busted open. Christian comes back in with a chair and locks the door again. Matt takes more cage shots. Hey, there's two chairs in the ring. I think it's conchairto time. Matt dodges it and clotheslines them both! He drags himself up and starts to climb. He gets to the top again. E&C chase and Christian gets over the top. Jeff has a ladder! He tosses it at Christian and Christian falls to the floor! Well, Jeff might have been helping but it's tied 1-1 now. Edge drags Matt back into the cage. They both walk across the top rope. Edge bulldogs Matt back into the ring! Meanwhile, Jeff has the ladder set up on the floor and climbs it. Edge tries to knock it over but it's too far away from the cage. Jeff gets up to the top of the cage. Matt comes up and back suplexes Edge. Jeff walks across the top of the cage. Shirt off. Whisper in the Wind onto Edge AND Matt! That gets a "holy shit" chant. Lita's out! She low blows Chrisitan and climbs the cage, then hurricanranas Christian off the ladder from the cage! Edge throws a chair into Jeff's face and starts to climb. The Hardyz follow with both chairs. Brawl on the top of the cage. Conchairto on Edge and Edge falls back down into the ring! The Hardyz drop down to win the match and the titles! Well deserved big celebration for the title win. It's the Hardyz second title win but their first in over a year, just after their New Brood days. These teams had gotten so good, both with each other and in general, that it doesn't matter what kind of match it is, they're going to deliver. This one was definitely laid out in an interesting way. I think they knew they couldn't top TLC I straight up so they approached it from a different angle, and it works well but overall doesn't quite hit the "great" level. ***1/2

Austin pays Steph a visit, looking for Triple H. Steph says he's gone to see Foley, but Steph has a present for Austin. It's the very hat he was wearing when he was run over (which Steph really did hang onto the rest of the show that night). Austin is....less than appreciative. Steph then tells him that Shane knows who it was.

We then cut to Trips' visit to the commish. Trips says he wants to retire Angle the same way he retired Foley. He and Foley hate each other, but he wants to know that Foley will call it down the middle. Foley says he will.

Lawler's music hits and he comes back out to commentary. Cole leaves to give him his spot back.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) (w/Chyna) def Rikishi by DQ in 6:10- Chyna won the IC title at Summerslam, but then Eddie won it back in a triple threat match by "accidentally" pinning Chyna. That started to unleash Guerrero's Latino temper and natural heel self but he managed to rein it back in for Chyna. But then Chyna told him that she was going to be on the cover of Playboy and that was more than Guerrero could handle, sending him completely over the edge. Too Cool and Rikishi were often the outlets for Guerrero's rage. Chyna threatened to break up with Guerrero, so Guerrero got on one knee and broke out the ring to keep her with him. And here we are. JR says "the artwork is classy" of Chyna's Playboy spread, which makes me laugh. Guerrero tries some dodge and stick at the start to little avail. Rikishi tosses him over the top to the floor and runs him into the stairs. Guerrero tries a sunset flip back in and dodges the butt splash counter. He gives Rikishi a Spaceballs salute, grabs Chyna, and goes to leave. Chyna tells him to be a man and wrestle the damn match. She shoves Guerrero back toward the ring! He tries to run again and Chyna throws him back in the ring! Backdrop from Rikishi. Corner clothesline. Guerrero is down in the drop zone. Chyna pulls Guerrero out before he can take the stinkface. Guerrero pushes Chyna into Rikishi and runs. Dive off the top onto Rikishi. Back in he goes for the frog splash but Rikishi dodges. Corner avalanche. He gives Guerrero a sloppy pop up something. Samoan drop. Banzai drop. Chyna comes in to stop the count! She's extremely sorry after. Rikishi can't believe it. He goes out and gets in her face. He throws Chyna in the ring! Chyna gets shoved down. Superkick on Chyna! The ref calls for the bell. Rikishi doesn't care. Banzai drop on Chyna! Guerrero goes out to get the belt first, then checks on Chyna. Pretty sloppy match and the angle work was muddled at best. 1/2*

 

No DQ: Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) def Kurt Angle in 17:28- After being the top heel in WWF for a solid year this whole love triangle drama has given Trips a new sympathetic babyface edge. Commish Foley comes out first with his usual homemade ref shirt on. Not only is Raw moving to TNN starting tomorrow night, but the short lived talk show live from WWF New York, Sunday Night Heat, is also debuting this week on MTV. Angle takes the mic after his entrance and says today is Steph's birthday and wants the crowd to sing Happy Birthday. No one does except him. HHH's ribs are heavily taped up after Angle attacked them with HHH's own Mr. Sledgehammer. HHH even sells it during his water spit. Angle goes right for the bad ribs. HHH turns a corner whip into a short clothesline and knocks Angle around. Angle gets backdropped over the top to the floor! He almost got Randy Savage/Shawn Michaels height on that. HHH tries to throw Angle into the timekeeper's area but Angle hits the brakes way too soon. HHH clears off the Spanish announce table. Reversal and HHH goes into the barricade with a clothesline follow up from Angle. Nice guy Foley does a little table cleanup. Back in HHH full on spears Angle, not a usual move from him, and lays in some ground and pound. He goes for a double ax handle off the second rope. Angle grabs him coming down and gives him a belly to belly suplex. Extended back and forth brawl in the corner. Kick wham HHH DDT for 2. He's already arguing with Foley about the count. Angle comes from behind and hits a German suplex for 2. Now Angle doesn't like the count. He shoves Foley and Foley shoves back! The Philly crowd starts chanting for Foley, who I'm sure they and any other crowd would rather root for than either of these two. Back suplex from Angle for 2. Regular suplex for 2. Another back and forth corner brawl. Both guys duck clotheslines, then they lose their place badly. HHH literally grabs Angle and pulls him into a neckbreaker to get back on track. Speed run and HHH hits the Harley Race high knee. Suplex and kneedrop from HHH for 2. Corner whip reversal do-si-do and we get the Trips Flip out to the floor. Angle takes a stair shot. Now he clears off the English announce table. Angle goes for a suplex on the floor but HHH reverses and hits it. Chairshot to Angle's back. They get up onto the English announce table. Hope it holds this time..... HHH hooks up for the Pedigree. Low blow from Angle! BELLY TO BELLY TOSS ONTO THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! Angle damn near lost his footing doing that but it was a nice recovery. Not going down with HHH, just tossing him, is also really smart psychology so he didn't take the hit too. Back in Angle gets back on the ribs. Steph comes over and seems to be asking him to stop. Huge running shoulderblock right into the ribs. HHH is putting on a selling clinic. A baseball slide sends HHH back to the floor. Steph checks on him. Angle doesn't care and gets back on him. Another hard running shoulder to the ribs. HHH suckers Angle in for another one, dodges and Angle goes shoulder first into the post. Sheesh, you can see HHH tell Angle to knee him back in the ribs. HHH gets set up on the top rope. Belly to belly superplex! HHH kicks out! Angle hooks on an abdominal stretch! A classic that's perfect thanks to HHH's hurt ribs. HHH fades down. Foley goes for arm drops and HHH fights out. Elbow drops from Angle into the bad ribs. Angle goes up top. Moonsault! HHH dodges! Slug back and HHH hits the facebuster. One arm Pedigree! HHH is too hurt and can't follow up. He calls Steph into the ring. He tells her to choose, me or him. Steph seems unsure, then low blows Angle! Full Pedigree! HHH gets the pin. Steph still seems unsure or shocked. HHH lays a huge, very aggressive kiss on his wife and Steph seems less than pleased about it. Good match, but not up to the level of what HHH had been doing for most of the year. Angle's athleticism is off the charts, but his lack of experience shows putting him in main event level matches this early. He'll get there. ***

Shane's music hits as he comes out to the ring for a semi-main promo segment. He says he wished Austin had come to him first so they could do this privately, but now he has to call the culprit out publicly. He says his investigation has been "impartial and objective", a huge red flag. He says it's someone that has a history of vehicular assault. He pulls up footage of no longer with WWF Ken Shamrock being run over by Steve Blackman. Seriously? Blackman? Like anyone's going to believe that. This is all due to Blackman and Shane's previous feud. Blackman comes out and Shane scurries away. Glass shatter! Austin's here! With new music. Austin hits all four corners then stares Blackman down. Shane sneaks back in the ring and mocks Blackman behind Austin's back. Stunner on Blackman! Shane gets in Blackman's face and pushes him out of the ring. Then he gets Austin's beer cooler and brings it into the ring. Austin says OK, we'll drink. After a few drinks......Stunner to Shane! With full beer spit sell. And a second one because why not, it's been a while. JR asks for a logical reason why it would be Blackman. Yeah, good luck finding logic in anything involving this angle. This was the first real sign that the whole thing was about to go completely off the rails.

And a third Stunner for Shane. Really making up for lost time.

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the WWF Championship: The Rock (c) def Chris Benoit, The Undertaker and Kane in 16:03- To my memory this is the first four way WWF Title match that's single fall rather than elimination. The full ref gaggle is in the ring to keep everyone separated before the match starts, a nice touch. The bell rings, all the refs but Hebner vacate the ring, and we quickly pair off, Kane with Rock, Taker with Benoit. Rock and Taker stare down but get jumped from behind by the two heels in the match. Rock and Benoit go to the floor while Taker and Kane slug it out in the ring. Full crowd brawl for Rock and Benoit. Kane hits a clothesline off the top rope on Taker for 2. Flying clothesline from Taker for 2. During all that Benoit and Rock have been fighting around the announce table. Big boot from Taker for 2. Swap time. Benoit comes in and jumps Taker, and they go to the floor. Rock comes in with Kane. Samoan drop for 2. Kane hits a powerslam for 2. Corner clothesline from Kane. Taker drops Benoit on the barricade and comes back in to attack Kane. Rock and Taker work together to double team Kane. Double clothesline and Kane goes 360 to the floor. Now Rock and Taker go at it as we go face vs face and heel vs heel. Side suplex from Taker for 2. He wraps Rock up for old school but Rock pulls him down off the ropes and clotheslines him 360 to the floor. Rock turns around right into a Kane clothesline. Tombstone scoop. Rock fights out and pushes Kane right into Hebner. Early ref bump. DDT from Rock. Cover but Hebner's out. Taker comes in with a chair. Chairshot to Rock. Now Benoit has a chair. Chairshot to Taker. He covers and Hebner counts 3 despite the fact Taker's clearly got a full leg wrapped around the bottom rope. The bell rings and Benoit's music hits. Fink does the AND NEWWWWWWWWW and everything. But wait. Here comes Foley. He grabs the belt away from Benoit and orders him back to the ring. The bell rings to restart the match. This is the second time in three PPVs they've done this exact thing with Benoit. It's WCW for him all over again. Benoit turns around in the aisle and sees all three guys staring him down. Everyone takes turns tossing Benoit into the noisy metal piece that makes up most of the stage. Taker drops an elbow on Benoit in the ring and covers. Rock pulls him out before 3. Now Benoit and Kane team up to pound on Taker, until Benoit low blows Kane from behind. Rock runs the stairs into Taker's face. Big Benoit chops on Rock in the ring. Speed run and Rock hits a snap belly to belly for 2. Benoit flew so far on that Rock barely kept up with him. ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit hits all three and gets a long 2 count. Straight drop back suplex and Benoit says that's it. The headbutt off the top hits! Rock kicks out! Rock hooks the crossface on Benoit! Taker comes in to break it up. He clotheslines Rock out. Kane chokeslam on Taker! Benoit breaks the pin up. Rock spinebuster on Kane. Pad off. Benoit cuts the People's Elbow off with a clothesline! Rock punches Benoit 360 and out. Taker Last Ride on Rock! Kane breaks the pin up. Taker and Kane take the fight to the floor again. Benoit comes over swinging chairs on both of them. Crossface on Rock! Rock tries to fight but slowly fades. Benoit shouts at him to tap. Taker gets back in to break it up. Chokeslam on Benoit! Taker covers but Kane pulls him out. They slug it out on the floor. Rock Bottom on Benoit! Taker tries to break it up, but Kane holds him back still trying to fight him and Rock gets the pin! The first half was awful clunky with all the two guys in/two guys out fighting, but they got going pretty good in the stretch run. ***1/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A pretty solid but standard B PPV, which for 2000 WWF is a slight disappointment with all the good PPVs they've had this year. It doesn't help that so much of the show is focused on Austin's search for his attacker, which we know will ultimately land like a squashed turd alongside other long term reveal disasters like the Black Scorpion and the Ministry of Darkness' Higher Power. Also disappointing was the Philly crowd, who sounded.....normal. We don't go to Philly for normal.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+