Guest Columns | Jeff Harris |
MainBLAH |
WWF JUDGMENT DAY 2000
Rikishi whips his opponents into the corner. Grandmaster Sexay gets a big thump on Edge, and Scotty gives one to Christian. Kurt escapes one from Rikishi. Heels regroup, and Edge starts things off with Sexay. They lockup. Edge pushes off a side-headlock and gets a shoulder block from Sexay. Sexay goes for a backdrop suplex, and Edge flips over. Sexay manages an enziguri kick. Head to the turnbuckle sets Edge up for a missile drop kick off the second rope. Tag to Scotty. Double-back hair takedown and elbow drop by the dancers. Edge gets a cheap shot into Scotty and tags Christian. Full-arm dragon twist by Christian. Scotty flips and reverses it into a side-headlock. Christian pushes it off and gets a shoulder block. Scotty goes for a hiptoss, but Christian blocks it and goes for one. Scotty flips out of the hiplock and ducks a clothesline. Vertical suplex by Scotty. Scotty moon walks allowing Chris to get the back hit. Scotty stomps a mud-hole into Christian after an assist by Sexay. Edge gets put into the opposite corner, and the fools double-whip Christian into him. Double-clothesline to Christian and now its Sexay and Christian. I don't think Sexay was tagged in. Sexay drop toeholds Edge into Christian's groin. Sexay starts dancing, and his pants fall down. I think then, Scotty makes fun of the size of Sexay's package. Christian gets the back hit and stomps on Sexay's back. Christian tries to do the Too Cool dance, and Sexay sneaks in a tag to Rikishi. Big rights to Christian. Edge runs in but gets decked. Christian tags Kurt. Fatu sees this and hiptosses Kurt into the ring. Irish-whip and Rikishi ducks. Kurt goes for a sunset flip. Fatu misses his sit-down butt splash and gets sent to the corner of opposition. The heels work over Rikishi. Tag to Christian. Rikishi comes back with some rights. Tag to Scotty. Irish-whip by Rikishi to Christian, and Scotty nails a double-handed face-buster. Angle sneaks in a lariat to stop the worm. Christian and Edge take their licks to Scotty. Edge stays in without tagging. Tag to Kurt and he chokes Scotty on the ropes. Head to the turnbuckle, and Scotty gets a boot choke. Cross-corner whip sends Scotty down. Vertical suplex by Angle gets 2. Tag to Christian. Cross-corner whip by Christian. Christian charges but gets a dropkick. Christian gets a right in and goes for a power-bomb. Scotty blocks it and lifts Christian up like a power-bomb and drops him on the ropes. Here comes the hot tag. Tag to Rikishi, and Christian tags in Edge. Rikishi cleans house. The heels get stacked in the corner and get a big thump from Rikishi. Rikishi gives Edge and Christian a clothesline before they topple down. Angle gets the most disgusting, sick move ever, the stink-face. Rikishi goes for the Rikishi driver on Edge. Christian blocks it, and Rikishi gets a double-DDT from Christian and Kurt. Rikishi just pops up and clotheslines both men. Edge comes in and gets the spear on Rikishi. Edge goes for the worm. Scotty intercepts Edge with a double-handed face-buster and gets the worm. Sexay gets a super kick on a charging Angle, and then Angle gets the worm from Scotty. Christian gets the ring bell and whacks Rikishi with it. Edge covers. Sexay climbs to the top. Guillotine leg drop to Edge! Fatu covers. 1...2...NO! Wait-a-minute, ref counts to 3 anyway! What the hell was that?! Too Cool are declared the winners at 9:47. **1/4. Damn they screwed that finish up really good. Edge clearly got the shoulder up before three. Anyway, soon the WWF would start to shove Angle down our throats even more, and even as WWF champion. Angle is a weak world champion and the title suffers from that. Edge and Christian lose their tag team titles to Too Cool eight days later on RAW. They would go on to win the belts 6 more times. Rikishi now gets a totally undeserved high spot on the card because he is the Rock's cousin. And Too Cool? They aren't doing too much now, no pun intended. After the match, Too Cool does their traditional dance.
Dean and Saturn double-team Eddy. Saturn climbs up top. Back-breaker by Dean to Eddy. Dean holds Eddy on the knee, and Saturn delivers a flying knee drop. Dean and Saturn shake hands. Saturn whips Eddy to the corner and gives Eddy a running reverse-elbow and follows it up with a lariat to Dean for 2. Dean with some rights, irish-whip, and a leg lariat on Saturn. Rights by Dean and he goes for an irish-whip. Saturn pulls Dean in a fireman's carry into a pancake-slam. Eddy charges Saturn. Saturn with a military press into a slam. Dean and Saturn go for a neck-breaker combination backdrop on Eddy, but he blocks it and low-blows both men. Eddy cleans house with forearm shots. Whip and a body shot to Saturn. Gut shot to Dean. Knuckle-lock into a springboard frankensteiner by Eddy. Saturn reverses a whip from Eddy, but gets a frankensteiner as well. Eddy sends Saturn into the corner into Dean. Saturn reverses a second whip, and Dean goes for a back body drop. Eddy turns it into a spinning head scissors, but then Dean turns it into a sideslam. Dean covers, and Saturn breaks it with a double-axehandle. Saturn whips Eddy to the corner and charges. Eddy gets a reverse-elbow and goes to the second rope. Tornado DDT! Eddy covers, and Dean pulls him off after a two-count. Eddy reverses an Irish-whip and ducks. Dean gets a kick in to set up Eddy for a sit-down tiger driver for 2. Dean goes for a power-bomb, and Eddy reverses it into a sunset flip. Dean rolls out of it and goes for the Texas cloverleaf! Dean breaks it to clothesline an incoming Saturn. Eddy reverses a cross-corner whip and crotches Dean on the top rope. Eddy goes up top for a super-plex. Saturn stops it and puts Eddy on his shoulders. Saturn drops Eddy on the ropes, and then gives Eddy an over the head belly-to-belly suplex. Saturn goes for a supler-plex, but Dean blocks it and turns it into a front-vertical suplex. Eddy goes for a frankensteiner on Dean, but Dean turns it into what I think was supposed to be a super-gut buster. It looked botched. Saturn kicks Dean to the outside and climbs up to the top rope. Decent frog splash by Saturn. Funny how Eddy once perfected that move and now he hardly ever does it. Dean breaks the cover. Saturn gets a double-leg takedown into a Texas cloverleaf on Dean. Eddy grabs Saturn to break the hold and gives him a brain-buster suplex. Dean breaks the cover and applies the rings of Saturn to Perry. Eddy runs off the ropes with a dropkick on Dean to break it. I get it they are trading finishers! Eddy tries to cloverleaf Dean, but Saturn pushes Eddy into a small package by Dean for a 1 count. Eddy causes Saturn to fall outside. Backdrop suplex by Dean to Eddy, and Dean goes upstairs. Cruddy big splash by Dean. Dean breaks the cover to intercept Saturn. Dean goes for a backdrop suplex on Eddy. Then Saturn comes from behind and grabs Dean. DOUBLE-BACKDROP SUPLEX!!! Neato spot. Saturn rolls outside and Chyna whacks him with her rose bouquet. Eddy gets on the apron and goes for a sunset flip on Dean. Malenko blocks it by holding the ropes. Dean grabs Chyna's bouquet, but then Chyna trips Dean. Dean hits the bouquet face-first. Mahistrol-cradle by Eddy. Dean's shoulders aren't down. Ref is going to count anyway. One...two...three. Dammit Dean's shoulders weren't down! Eddy retains his title at 7:58. ***. Chyna's bouquet had a metal rod in it. Dang, two messed up, screwy finishes in a row. Anyway, good match for these three given the time limit and all. But I was a bit upset by the botched spots and shortness of the match. Seems Eddy and Dean are never going to have great matches again. We see the instant replay so the whole world can clearly see that Dean's shoulders were not down.
-Brisco is hiding in the bathroom.
Show rams Shane's back into the ring post. Show does it again and tosses Shane into the ring steps. The Big Nasty Bastard tosses the top of the steps off. Shane gets a scoopslam on them. Show punches Shane over the security wall. Shane gets up and Show lifts him up into a military press. Shane gets tossed into the ring, and here comes Show. Show starts kicking Shane down at the butt. Big Show hooks Shane's arm and gives him a clothesline. Irish whip and a standing side kick by Show. Show calls for the choke slam, but Big Bossman comes in and beats down Shown with his night-stick. Show comes back with some head butts, and Shane rolls out of the ring. Bossman gets a power bomb from Show. Show kicks Bossman out and here comes Test and Albert, chairs in hand. Show punches the chairs into their faces. Trish Stratus runs and gives Show a low-blow. Show picks her up, and Trish gets thrown to Test and Albert to the outside. Show follows Shane to the entrance way and tosses Shane into some fence on the Judgement Day set. Show rips off a piece of the set and goes for Shane. Shane starts hanging by the set and kicks Show down by the head. Test and Albert lay a beat down on Show. Shane with a splash and cover for 2. Show comes back and beats down all three men. Test and Albert get tossed into the fence, and Show tries to grab Shane who is climbing up the set. Bull Buchanan comes in and beats down Show with his nightstick. Shane climbs down and pushes a speaker onto Show's leg. Shane covers. One...two...three. Shane wins it at 7:15. DUD. Nothing match here. Post match, some officials help walk out the Big Show, and he leaves in an ambulance. Show spends a few months rehabilitating and comes back only to turn heel and join Shane again. The WWF for once finally realized how much Paul Wight sucks and how lazy he is. So, they sent him to the WWF training camp in Ohio where he was until January.
The combatants circle the ring and lockup. Ross admits Benoit has the better submission hold. They tie up in the corner, and the ref breaks it up. They lockup and Benoit gets Jericho on the ropes. Knee to gut shot, forearm shot, and a gut kick by Benoit. Big chop to Jericho. Head to the turnbuckle and another chop by Benoit. Irish-whip by Benoit, but Jericho ducks under him. Gut shot, and Jericho runs off the ropes and nails a face-crusher on Benoit. Knee-to-head shots and Jericho chops Benoit in the corner. Cross-corner whip, and Jericho gets an armbar submission on Benoit. Benoits rolls out of it. Gut shot, and Benoit goes for a tombstone. Reversal by Jericho. Another reversal by Benoit, and he hits a shoulder-breaker on Jericho's left shoulder. Benoit climbs to the top rope. KAMIKAZE HEADBUTT! Benoit hit Jericho's left shoulder again. Sitting abdominal stretch by Benoit. Jericho gets up to a vertical base and punches out. Double-leg takedown, and Jericho goes for the Liontamer! Benoit is able to spin out of the hold! Cool spot. Jericho ducks a running clothesline and comes off the ropes with a running reverse elbow to Benoit. Benoit climbs up on the apron, and Jericho nails a top-rope springboard dropkick. It is much better than the sissy second-rope version he does now. We get a quick shot of Val Venis in the back, watching the match on a monitor. He squares off with the winner tomorrow night on RAW. On the outside Benoit reverses a whip, and Jericho hits the ring steps left shoulder first. Alright! We have psychology! Benoit stands up the top layer of the steps and grabs Jericho. Jericho picks Benoit up and drops his braced knee on the steps. Almost like an atomic knee-breaker. Stomps to Benoit's head, and Benoit's head gets slammed to the ring steps. Back in. Gut shot and the double-underhook back-breaker to Benoit. Jericho covers Benoit for a pin, but he can't win like that. The Canadians get into a nasty chop fest in the corner. Jericho stops it with some shots to the head. Cross-corner whip and a blind-charge by Jericho. Benoit moves, and Jericho's left shoulder hits the post. Benoit unties the top turnbuckle pad to expose the steel bolt. Benoit hooks Jericho's arm and starts to slam his left shoulder to the exposed bolt. The Crippler kneels down and locks up Jericho's bad left shoulder. Jericho gets up to a vertical base. Forearm shots and an armdrag takedown by Jericho. Benoit rolls right back up. Another nasty chop fest. Benoit wins it with some gut shots and a nice snap suplex. Scoopslam by Benoit and a kneedrop to Jericho using the knee brace. Big short-arm clothesline by Benoit sets up the cross arm-breaker submission. Jericho maneuvers toward the ropes and hooks them with his legs. Now we see Hardcore Holly watching the match on a monitor. Gut shots by Benoit, and Jericho goes to the corner. Benoit misses a running knee lift, and his bad knee hits the exposed bolt in the corner. Big pancake slam by Jericho. Jericho slams Benoit's knee to the canvas. Benoit goes for some kicks, but Jericho grabs one and hits a dragon screw leg whip. Mounted punches by Jericho, and he rips off Benoit's knee brace. Jericho starts whipping Benoit's exposed knee with the brace. He puts the brace on his arm. Flying forearm to Benoit. Jericho with a spinning-toehold, but Benoit kicks Jericho off. The Ayatollah comes back with a dropkick to Benoit's bad knee. Lion-sault by Jericho! Pickup by Jericho, and he drapes Benoit over the outside of the ropes. Jericho debuts his on the ropes Lion-tamer! It almost looks like a Tarantula submission hold. Funny how this match is supposed to have rope breaks, and both Benoit's arms and legs are touching the ropes. Yet, the ref doesn't call for a break. Benoit unhooks his arms and punches and kicks Jericho off. Jericho kicks at Benoit's legs. Benoit goes for an enziguri, but Jericho ducks. Benoit ducks a clothesline and applies a full nelson into a waistlock. German suplex! Benoit holding onto the waistlock, GERMAN SUPLEX! Jericho escapes a third one, and they get into a brawl. Jericho goes after Benoit's knee, and Benoit goes after Jericho's shoulder. Jericho takes Benoit down and goes for the Lion-tamer again. Benoit flops around and grabs his knee brace. He whacks Jericho in the head with it to escape the hold. Now Benoit with the Crippler-crossface! Jericho tries to get out, but Benoit lets go and pulls him into the middle of the ring and reapplies it. Benoit lets go again and whacks Jericho's shoulders. This time Benoit reapplies it with his hands on Jericho's throat like a choke-hold. Fans cheer Jericho on for a baby-face comeback buts its no use. Jericho just passes out! Benoit wins via TKO submission at 13:26. ****. Initially, I was pretty disappointed with this match. My expectations were pretty high, and I was expecting it to go over at least 15 minutes. Not exactly the five-star classic I was expecting. Overall, the Jericho and Benoit feud has been disappointing in the WWF. Due to the WWF wrestling style, they clearly hold back a bit in the ring sometimes. Benoit loses the title a few weeks later, and moves higher up on the card to feud with the Rock for the world title and essentially becomes his b***h. Jericho remains over enough to be a world champion, but the bookers bury him anyway so they can push weak, overrated champs like Kurt Angle.
D-von and Road Dogg start it up. Flying shoulder block and a spinning reverse elbow by D-von. Dogg gets D-von in the corner and tags X-pac. flying shoulder block to X-pac, and a tag to Buh-Buh. Right by Buh-Buh, but X-pac gets a roundhouse kick in. Buh-Buh misses a body avalanche in the corner but gets a boot on X-pac. Second-rope clothesline by Buh-Buh. Scoopslam sets up the Dudleyz diving headbutt by D-von. Roadie comes in, and he gets one too. DX tries to get the Hell out of Dodge, but the Dudleyz drag them back into the ring. Now its Road Dogg and D-von. Roadie stomps on D-von. Tag to X-pac. Jumping back kick sets up the bronco buster. Tag to Roadie, and he gives D-von a boot choke. Front-facelock to D-von. D-von gets up to a vertical base and makes a blind tag to Buh-Buh. The referee didn't see it. Tag to X-pac. Irish- whip and a leg lariat to D-von. Tag to Roadie. D-von ducks a double-clothesline and hits a double-clothesline on DX. D-von tags in Buh-Buh Ray, and he cleans house. Irish-whip and a sideslam to X-pac. Full-nelson bomb to Roadie. Samoan drop to X-pac, and Buh-Buh calls for some tables! They stand tables up in opposite corners. Outside, Roadie whips D-von into the ring steps, and he sets up a table. He brings D-von up the steps. Pump-handle slam through the table eliminates D-von. Buh-Buh gets the drop on Roadie and bites his forehead. X-pac puts D-von in a corner table and goes for the bronco buster. Buh-Buh gives him a back-hair takedown. Buh-Buh sets up a table. X-pac whips him, but Buh-Buh gets the pickup and Buh-Buh bombs X-pack through the table. X-pac is now eliminated. Buh-Buh and Roadie get into a slugfest. The referee tries to break it up, but he gets double-armdrag through a table in the corner. Buh-Buh gives Roadie a DDT. Brisco makes his way out to the ring. Dudleyz stand up a table and give Roadie the 3-D through the table! The ref is knocked out, so the Dudleyz can't be declared the winners. Brisco pulls Road Dogg outside of the ring. Buh-Buh grabs Tori, and D-von sets up a table for her. Brisco stops Buh-Buh from giving Tori a Super-Bubba-bomb. X-pac climbs to the top rope. Super-X-factor through the table! Buh-Buh Ray is eliminated. DX wins the match at 10:56. *3/4. Nothing special here. After the match, the Dudleyz 3-D Gerald Brisco through a table. The Dudleyz continue their feud with DX through the next pay-per-view and lose again.
Some trash talking and a big stare-down to start. Shove by Rock and they lockup. They break it and lockup again. Tie-up into the corner followed by a shove-fest. Lockup into a side-headlock by Rock. Knee shot by HHH into an over-the-head wristlock. Ross and Lawler say the longest match HHH and the Rock ever had in their careers was thirty minutes. They mean the best two of the 3 falls match from Fully Loaded '98, which ended in a 30 minute draw. However, the longest match HHH and Rock were ever in before this was the main event at Wrestle Mania 16. Eat that Ross and Lawler!
HHH is winning a test of strength, but Rock rises up and reapplies a
side-headlock. HHH pushes it off, and Rock gets a shoulder block on
HHH for 2. Another big shoulder block gets 2. Rock runs off the ropes
and flips over HHH's leg into a schoolboy roll-up for 2. HHH regroups
outside. The Game goes back in. Side-headlock by HHH, Rock pushes it
off, but gets a shoulder block. Leapfrog and a right by Rock. HHH
rolls outside. Back in. Lockup into a side-headlock by Rock. HHH
pushes it off but misses a leapfrog. Right by Rock, and HHH gets his
head slammed to the corners. Cross-corner whip by Rock. HHH answers
with a reverse-elbow and a nice lariat. Full-arm dragon twist by HHH,
and he works on Rock's left arm. Rights by HHH and an armbar. Rock
punches out, Irish-whip, and he ducks. Single-arm DDT by HHH gets 2.
Armbar reapplied to Rock's left arm. Rock rises up and punches out.
HHH gets a kick to the head and runs off the ropes. Wait, Rock with a
Rock-bottom! Cover, 1...2...3! Rock gets the first fall at
10'45".
1-0
Back into the ring they go. Vertical suplex by HHH. HHH runs out of
the corner with an elbow drop. One more time, and HHH covers for 2.
Another cover gets 2. HHH drives the knee in Rock's ribs. Another
cover for 2. Lateral press gets 2. Rock tries to kick back at HHH's
knee and charges, but HHH just tosses him to the outside. HHH rolls
outside and breaks the count. Rock whips HHH's knees to the steps.
Back in. Rock drops a knee to HHH's left one. Rock starts to elbow
drop HHH's left knee, and he applies a leg grapevine. HHH gauges
Rock's eyes to break it. Pickup and an atomic knee-breaker by Rock.
Spinning-toehold by Rock, but HHH kicks him off. Gut shot and a
PEDIGREE! Cover, 1...2...3! HHH gets a fall at 25'30".
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5-6 ****1/4. Damn what a horrible finish to a great match. I was really surprised by the effort both men gave, especially the Rock. I am taking off half a point because of that piss-poor, ridiculous finish. HBK apparently lost track of time because he threw away his ear-piece during the match or something like that. The next night the WWF tried to play off the mistake by saying HBK dq'ed the Rock because of the choke slam to HHH, which Ross says HBK did see. Lawler said after the match it was because of the tombstone, but that happened after the final bell. OVERALL: Well, other than all the messed up screwy finishes, a very solid WWF pay-per-view. I think the only match with a clean finish was the submission match. Anyway, in the coming weeks WWF got very repetitious and over-confident which led to the horrible pay-per-view, King of the Ring 2000. Then the Foley Era started and the WWF jammed out one more, great pay-per-view with Fully Loaded 2000. Everything sunk from there in my opinion. Summerslam 2000 was ok, but that show started giving hints of WWF getting lazy with the product. Anyway, I highly recommend this show, especially to pure-wrestling fans because this show has plenty of it.
Jeff Harris |
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