SummerSlam
August 27, 2000
Entertainment & Sports Complex, Raleigh, NC
The biggest event of the WWF’s summer in the year 2000 was centred around a major love triangle storyline. That triangle was that between Triple H, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, and Kurt Angle. Looking in on this love triangle was the reigning WWF Champion, the Rock, set to defend his title against the two men in a triple threat match. It would mark the second consecutive year in which the SummerSlam main event was a match of this format. Speaking of triple threats, also tonight we have the first ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, as the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz renew their chase of champions Edge & Christian from Wrestlemania. Lets dive in, but don’t forget to leave your thoughts on Twitter at @Mpmcc91.
The show kicks off with a good video package with Freddie Blassie looking on as the main event is hyped. Inside the arena, the usual pyro goes off and we are welcomed to the show by our broadcast team of Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler.
Rikishi & Too Cool vs Right to Censor
Our opening match of the night sees the PPV debut of the newest faction on the scene, the Right to Censor. Comprised of Steven Richards, The Goodfather (formerly the Godfather) & Bull Buchanan (with more members to come as time went on) the faction will forever be known for having the most annoying entrance theme in the history of wrestling. The formation of the group actually goes back to the Raw is War after King of the Ring, where Steven Richards came out as Terri was about to take her top off as per the stipulation of a match, and held up a censorship sign to cover her up. In the weeks that followed, Richards announced that he was sick of the vulgarity in the WWF and was going to clean the place up, quickly signing up Bull Buchanan to his plight. Shortly after, the Godfather would become the Goodfather on an episode of Smackdown, denouncing his past and even powerbombing one of his “hoes” – the future Victoria – through a table on Raw a few weeks later. Here she and another former ho accompany Rikishi & Too Cool to the ring for this one. As I’ve said in previous reviews, Too Cool was always a good way to start the card in 2000. Before the match, Richards preaches to the crowd but he is quickly interrupted by the popular trio and thus one is under way. All six men go at it to begin before we start things off officially with Scotty and Buchanan. Too Cool take early control with some double teaming which leads to Goodfather getting pissed and shoving his former women outside the ring. He comes in and hits a big boot on Sexay which allows the RTC to go on offence. After some RTC dominance, Rikishi gets the hot tag which leads to Richards attempting to flee. The future Victoria sends him back into the ring though and after some offence from the faces it looks as though Richards is going to get the stinkface. Before he can dish it out though, Goodfather distracts the big man which leads to an axe kick from Buchanan. Scotty comes in now and attempts the Worm on Buchanan, but Stevie sneaks in and delivers the Stevie Kick to his opponent to prevent it. With that, the RTC leader makes the cover to win the match for his team at 5:12. A decent enough match with the right team going over. The RTC was fairly new on the scene, so they needed to gain some credibility, and they did just that with the win tonight.
Grade: **
We now see footage from Jonathan Coachman interviewing Kurt Angle on Sunday Night Heat before the show. Coach asks about Angle kissing Stephanie on Smackdown, but Angle says he doesn’t need to explain anything. We then see Stephanie arriving later on. She asks Coach where Angle is, but she goes the other way.
We now go to Michael Cole who is standing by with Shane McMahon, who is the new WWF Hardcore Champion. Shane talks about his sister’s situation before he sees Steve Blackman and takes off. They’ll be competing later on.
Road Dogg vs X-Pac
This is really the end of the run for DX. Both men are heels and still partners now, but the thing has run its course by this point. This basically started out as friendly competition between the two but things became ugly when X-Pac accidentally put Road Dogg through a table after a tag match on Raw is War. Later that week on Smackdown, Road Dogg walked out on X-Pac in a handicap match against the Undertaker. That led to Commissioner Foley making this match to settle the differences between the team mates once and for all. Of course, Road Dogg is the de facto face in this one, as he does his pre-match spiel which always gets cheers. The two friends lock up clean to start, with X-Pac getting the better of the exchange until Road Dogg kicks his partner to the outside of the ring off a leapfrog and follows up with some crotch chops for good measure. We get some back and forth with both men countering the other due to knowing each other so well. X-Pac looks to put things away with the X-Factor, but Road Dogg counters with a powerbomb. He goes to follow up with the pump handle slam, but X-Pac goes low. That allows X-Pac to successfully hit his opponent with the X-Factor to pick up the win at 4:42. A short little match that was really about the end of DX more than anything else. Speaking of which, afterwards X-Pac attempts to shake hands with Road Dogg, but the Dogg hits his partner with a pump handle slam, effectively turning face in the process.
Grade: *1/4
We now see Eddie Guerrero and Chyna heading towards the curtain for their match up next. Chyna says one of them is getting lucky tonight. Elsewhere, Val Venis is upset that the coming tag team match means that Trish could lose the I.C Championship for him.
WWF Intercontinental Championship:
Val Venis (c) & Trish Stratus vs Eddie Guerrero & Chyna
After losing the European title to Perry Saturn last month, Eddie Guerrero looks to win more prestigious gold tonight as he sets his sights on the WWF Intercontinental Championship held by Val Venis, who is still under the management of Trish Stratus. This is a tag team match though, meaning Trish can lose the title for Venis, and either Eddie or Chyna can become the champion, a stipulation added to the match by Commissioner Foley. In the weeks since Fully Loaded, both Eddie and Chyna picked up non-title victories over Venis, whilst Trish drew the ire of Chyna after she smashed the Ninth Wonder of the World with a water pitcher on an episode of Smackdown. Anyway, Eddie and Val start us off for this one and Latino Heat starts out in control. As Venis attempts to come back, Chyna tags herself in and works over the former porn star until Trish gets a cheap shot in from the outside. The distraction allows Venis to go on offence, but Eddie creates a distraction of his own, allowing Chyna to hit the reigning champion with a low blow. Eddie comes back in eventually and he and Val go back and forth, until both men butt heads and go down together. This leads to Venis tagging in the inexperienced Trish out of necessity. She kicks at Eddie briefly, but Latino Heat grabs her leg and tags in Chyna. From there, Chyna gets her opportunity to get some revenge on Trish. Val attempts to intervene but he’s fought off by Eddie, which leads to Chyna getting the pin on Trish from a press slam at 7:13. Chyna is once again the new WWF Intercontinental Champion. This could have been better had it just been Eddie vs Val, but as it was, this was decent enough. This would be the end of the Val/Trish union as Venis would blame his manager for the loss and move on to new things from here. Chyna’s reign as champion wouldn’t last long either.
Grade: **1/2
In the back, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is in the make up area. She confesses that Kurt Angle is a good kisser. From here we get a video highlighting the rivalry behind our next match.
Jerry Lawler vs Tazz
Its been a while since we have seen the King in action on PPV, but he leaves JR alone on commentary to take on Tazz in our next match. This feud would effectively mark a shift in Lawler’s character, as he would go from a full blown heel, to a face with heelish sympathies on commentary going forward. The match has come about due to Tazz confronting JR after the voice of the WWF didn’t agree with Tazz’s recent actions on commentary in the weeks since his return. Lawler would come to his broadcast partner’s defence. On a recent episode of Smackdown, Tazz responded by jumping Lawler from behind at the announce position. The next week on the show, Tazz kidnapped Jim Ross and put him in Lawler’s car before smashing the window into his face. Tonight the King is out to get revenge. Tazz gets in JR’s face before the match, but Lawler stands up and knocks the Human Suplex Machine onto his ass. They get into the ring and Lawler goes on offence, but the tide turns when he misses a fist drop. Tazz takes over and sends King to the outside, taunting JR in the process. Lawler fights back and the action returns to the ring moments later. Lawler pulls down the strap and hits Tazz with a piledriver, but Tazz manages to get right back up. He throws the King into the referee, and then locks in the Tazmission. With the referee down however, JR decides he has had enough and smashes a lolly jar over Tazz’s head to a big pop. That allows Lawler to roll over and score the victory by pinfall as the ref recovers at 4:24. Another quick match here that served his purpose. Lawler didn’t really need to go over here, but you needed some kind of pay off for the abuse the commentary team had suffered over the past few weeks. The feud was not over here. Funnily enough, Tazz would replace Lawler as the Smackdown colour commentator about six months from now. Anyway, this was what it was.
Grade: 3/4*
Back at the announce position, JR congratulates King and says their plan worked before telling Tazz to go to hell. Meanwhile Lillian Garcia attempts to get a comment from Shane McMahon backstage about the Stephanie/Angle situation. Just like earlier however, Blackman shows up so Shane bolts, this time towards the ring.
WWF Hardcore Championship:
Shane McMahon (c) vs Steve Blackman
The last we saw of the Hardcore Championship on PPV saw Crash Holly regain the title after interfering in the terrible evening gown match at the King of the Ring. Later that very week on Smackdown, Steve Blackman would interfere in a title defence against Al Snow, and pin Crash to become the new Hardcore Champion. Crash and Blackman would trade the title once more on the house show circuit later that week, but from there, Blackman was challenged to a title match by Shane McMahon the week before this event on Raw is War. With the assistance of Edge, Christian and T&A, Shane would defeat Blackman to win the title, only to realise that this meant Blackman would be out to kick his ass, a reality confirmed when Foley sanctioned a rematch for SummerSlam. Shane would attempt to lie down for Edge & Christian to intentionally lose the title, but as the count was being made, Foley announced that he was suspending the 24/7 rule until after SummerSlam, guaranteeing Blackman his chance to get revenge on Shane. Hence why the Boy Wonder had been avoiding Blackman all night here. Anyway, Blackman chases Shane to the ring here and hands him a kendo stick, giving him the chance to take the first shot. Shane drops it but cheap shots Blackman before bolting into the crowd. The challenger gives chase and catches the champion, hitting him with a trash can and bringing him back to ringside. From there its all Blackman destroying Shane until T&A hit the ring. They put a beating on Blackman, and Shane attempts to capitalise by grabbing a trash can lid. He goes to whack his opponent with it, but Blackman boots it into his face, only for T&A to beat on the challenger some more. The three heels end up carrying Blackman up to the entrance area, but Blackman manages to get a hand on a kendo stick and he fights off both Test and Albert with it. Meanwhile Shane climbs up the set hoping to reach safety. Instead, Blackman climbs up after him, so Shane goes higher and higher. Blackman whacks Shane with the kendo stick, and in a huge Holy Shit moment, Shane plummets down about fifty feet to the production area below. Obviously thats it, but Blackman does some further damage to his adversary, hitting a diving elbow off the entrance set which wins him back the Hardcore Championship at 10:08. This was obviously all about the insane moment rather than what proceeded it. The whole idea of this storyline was to get Blackman over, but he wouldn’t really capitalise on this momentum going forward as he’d be stuck in the lower midcard. It makes the spot not really worth it in hindsight, but Shane’s always going to take a crazy bump – this was the first major example of that. Shane is attended to by medical personnel after the match.
Grade: **3/4
In the back, Stephanie is upset after seeing what happened to Shane. Kurt Angle comes in to console her, only for the two to be busted together by Commissioner Foley. We then get a recap of the rivalry between Benoit and Jericho before our next match.
2 out of 3 Falls Match:
Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit
With neither of these guys having anything else to do on the show, it made sense to blow off this rivalry. Earlier in the year the two were engaged in a war over the Intercontinental Championship, but since moving away from title contention they went their separate ways. That was until an episode of Smackdown last month which saw Chris Benoit assault Jericho backstage with a steel chair and slam a garage door on top of the popular star. After being out of action for a few weeks, Jericho returned with a vengeance and cost Benoit a WWF Championship match against the Rock on Raw is War. From there, Jericho challenged Benoit to a match, which Commissioner Foley made a 2 out of 3 Falls match for SummerSlam. Jericho would continue to get under Benoit’s skin over the next few weeks, memorably mocking Benoit using photoshop style images on the Smackdown before this event. That brings us to this one. Benoit was still under the tutelage of Shane McMahon at this point, but he’s obviously not at ringside. The match gets under way with both men going at it. After trading blows, they head up falling to the outside of the ring, taking the referee down with them in the process. Benoit sends Jericho into the ring post and the action returns to the squared circle, with the Crippler in command. Jericho fights out of an STF and we get a series of counters and suplexes from there. Jericho gets the upper hand and goes for the Lionsault, but Benoit gets his knees up and locks in the Crossface. Jericho taps to give Benoit the first fall just over three minutes in. As soon as the second fall begins, Benoit locks the Crossface right back in, but this time Jericho manages to crawl to the ropes. The damage has been done however, and the Wolverine dishes out a beating to Y2J, going after his injured shoulder in the process. Benoit looks to be closing in on victory when he hits the three consecutive German suplexes, but as he hits the last one, Jericho counters into the Walls of Jericho! Benoit taps and the score is evened at one fall a piece heading into the final fall. As the last fall gets under way, Jericho attempts to keep his momentum going. We get some more back and forth between these two great athletes with both men going to town on the other with some hard hitting manoeuvres. Jericho ends up taking Benoit down and connecting with the Lionsault, but he aggravates his shoulder in the process and is unable to capitalise. They go back at it, and Jericho rolls Benoit up in a cradle out of nowhere, only for Benoit to reverse it into a pinning predicament of his own to win the match at 13:02. This was a really good, stiff match as you would expect from these two. Want to have an awesome match to eat up some time on a PPV in 2000. Throw Jericho and Benoit in there and this is what you get. This match is somewhat forgotten due to being on the card of a show with much bigger matches, coupled with the fact that they had their I.C title series earlier in the year. For now, these two go their separate ways again, but their paths will cross again down the line. Very good match.
Grade: ****
Backstage Triple H arrives at the building. We see more footage of the Angle/Stephanie kiss from Smackdown. We then go to a video package looking at the upcoming first ever TLC match.
WWF Tag Team Championship – TLC Match:
Edge & Christian (c) vs Hardy Boyz vs Dudley Boyz
Here we get the renewal of a rivalry from Wrestlemania, although this time the champions are heels whilst both challenger teams are incredibly popular. This all started a few weeks ago on Smackdown when the Hardy Boyz attacked the reigning tag team champions with a ladder, a ladder which Bubba Ray Dudley ended up putting Edge through. E&C would fire back the next week on Raw is War however, attacking the Hardy Boyz with chairs, which would lead to the, adopting the famous conchairto as one of their trade mark moves. The antics of the three teams would lead to Commissioner Foley making the first ever TLC – Tables, Ladder and Chairs – match for the tag titles at SummerSlam. It was essentially the same thing as the triangle ladder match at Wrestlemania, except now tables and chairs were specifically involved and able to be used to incapacitate your opponents before you climbed the ladder to retrieve the hanging title belts. In the weeks that followed, the three teams would continue to go at it, which brings us to where we are tonight. And once again we are about to see a classic! This starts out as a three way brawl and obviously I’m not going to do detailed play by play here. It doesn’t take long for the Hardy Boyz to bring chairs into the mix and Edge & Christian follow suit by bringing the ladders into play. We get some climbing attempts from all six men in the early going which leads to bodies going flying. The reigning champions eventually go for the conchairto on Jeff, but the Hardy moves out of the way and Bubba proceeds to clean house with a ladder. They do the Wazzup to Edge and then get the crowd going as they bring out the tables. The Dudleys hit the 3D through the table on Christian and then set up a stack of tables outside the ring. Edge comes back and takes the Dudley Boyz out with a chair in the ring, and after a Twist of Fate from Matt, the Hardy Boyz have their chance to go at it with the champs. The next big spot of the match comes when Jeff ascends a previously set up 20 foot ladder outside the ring and looks to Swanton Bubba through a table. Bubba moves out of the way though, and this leads to the younger Hardy crashing through the wood below. Bubba meets a similar fate shortly after however, as Edge and Christian send him falling from a ladder in the ring to the stack of tables set up earlier in the match. With the ring to themselves, Edge & Christian look to have closed in on victory, but as they climb to retrieve the titles, Lita rushes out to ringside. She knocks the ladder over and the champions fall down and get crotched on the ropes below. This allows Matt Hardy to recover and he now goes to climb the ladder, only to be stopped in his tracks by D-Von Dudley, who knocks the ladder and sends Matt crashing and burning through two tables stacked outside. The crowd are going nuts by this point. Lita continues to get involved, but she almost gets broken in half by Edge following a spear. Meanwhile Jeff and D-Von attempt to climb the ladder and both get their hands on the titles. The champs pull the ladder out from under them though, leaving the two men dangling above the ring. Jeff kicks D-Von off, but he is unable to grab the belts himself. Instead, Edge & Christian throw a ladder at the risk taking Hardy brother and then climb the ladder themselves to retrieve the titles at 14:51. Pure awesomeness that sees Edge & Christian retain the WWF Tag Team Championship. Wow, what a match. Once again, these six men put their bodies on the line and the end result is an all time classic. This raised the bar from the triangle ladder match at Wrestlemania and is a definite match of the year contender. The result is the same, but this match saw some new spots that would be refined and developed into even more awesome stuff down the line. Simply put, this was awesome.
Grade: *****
We now go to the back where Triple H confronts Stephanie about the Angle situation. He tells his wife to stay away from Kurt Angle.
Stinkface Match:
The Kat w/Al Snow vs Terri w/Perry Saturn
Well its time for our usual Attitude era T&A fest from the women. Like our previous match, this is also a Wrestlemania rematch, but don’t expect the same greatness. Stinkface rules means that the winner is the woman that delivers the stinkface to her opponent. Naturally this goes back to Terri receiving a stink face heading into this show. Terri has her man Perry Saturn in her corner here, who is still the reigning European Champion after winning the title last month at Fully Loaded. Meanwhile Kat has Al Snow in her corner, as he had recently started up a rivalry with Saturn. Anyway, this is exactly what you would expect – cat fight antics with some spanking mixed in. The Kat puts this one away when she slams Terri and follows up with the stinkface for the win at 3:06. Enough said. Why do the divas today get criticised again?
Grade: DUD
Before our next match we go to WWF New York where Faarooq and Bradshaw are spending the night drinking some beers.
Undertaker vs Kane
Speaking of the renewal of old rivalries! This was actually supposed to be the Undertaker taking on the returning Big Show, who had turned heel on his return to camera the night after Fully Loaded (thats turn number six for those playing along). On that night, Show would realign with Shane and assault the Undertaker, and would go on to take Kane out of action the very next week. Taker would return the following week on Raw for revenge however and tossed the giant off the stage. This would be the last we would see of Show on TV for the year, as he was sent back to developmental to get his weight under control. With Taker left without an opponent for SummerSlam, Kane returned the following week as his brother was in action against Chris Benoit. Seemingly making the save in a post-match beat down, Kane would instead chokeslam the American Bad Ass. Turning heel in his own right. The match was set a week before this show on Heat, and on the go-home Raw, Kane inflicted some more damage on his big brother, busting him open with a steel chair. Anyway, Taker is out for revenge here and he takes the fight to Kane in the aisle as soon as the Big Red Machine makes his way out to get this one started. What follows is not a pretty match. Taker actually spends most of the match going after Kane’s mask which was just really random. Kane ends up fighting off his brother and brings a chair into play. Taker blocks the attempted chair shot and instead hits Kane with it and goes right back after the mask. The Big Red Monster gains the advantage once again as the action goes to the outside, sending Taker into the ring steps before picking them up looking to do some more damage. Taker gets out of the way before he can so so however and Kane whacks himself instead as the steps connect with the ring post. Taker follows up by throwing them at Kane’s head which busts the Big Red Monster open, visible and all with his ripped mask. Back in the ring, Kane comes back with a low blow, but Taker returns the favour after some more back and forth following a chokeslam attempt. The American Bad Ass then rips off Kane’s mask, but we don’t see anything as Kane covers his face up. He runs to the back and the match is called off as Taker’s music plays. Well…that was random. Not exactly a great start to Kane’s heel turn, and the mask thing would be forgotten the following night. I guess they were booked into a corner here with them not wanting either guy to lose this one and the match had to be thrown together following Show’s removal from TV. But really, what a mess.
Grade: 1/2*
Before the main event, Kurt Angle considers calling Stephanie. He ends up deciding to do so, and Stephanie answers with Triple H by her side. She pretends its her mother. From there we get our main event hype as its coming up next.
WWF Championship:
The Rock (c) vs Triple H vs Kurt Angle
The Angle/HHH/Stephanie storyline was really well done and was probably the feud of the year in 2000. The build to this match was really all about it. For months we had seen Stephanie’s school girl like crush on the Olympic Gold Medallist growing. Meanwhile it seemed Triple H and his wife were having issues, including a memorable Smackdowm segment which saw the Game in a compromising position as he was teaching Trish Stratus wrestling moves, only to be busted by his wife. Despite the tension, Angle, Triple H & Stephanie would team up to take on the Dudley Boyz & Lita in an intergender tag a few weeks later on Smackdown. The heel team would come out victorious, but the Game became enraged as Angle hugged Stephanie in celebration. The next week on Raw, both Angle and the Game asked Commissioner Foley for a shot at the WWF Championship. He would book the two along with Chris Jericho in a triple threat number one contender match only for the Angle and Trips to both pin Jericho simultaneously. As a result they were both set to face the Rock for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam. After Triple H walked out on Angle in a tag match later in the week on Smackdown, the two were forced to team up with Shane McMahon to battle the Rock & the Dudley Boyz on the following Raw, with the stipulation being if either Angle or Trips walked out on the other they would forfeit their title shot. Instead the two challengers managed to coexist and put a beating on the WWF Champion after the match. The Rock would gain some revenge the following week on Raw though, when he acted as the guest referee for a Women’s Championship match and counted the three as Lita pinned Stephanie to end her long reign as title holder. Finally we had the big moment in the feud on the Smackdown before the show. The Rock & Lita teamed together against Kurt Angle & Stephanie. During the match, Stephanie was taken out and tended to by her husband. Stephanie would send Hunter back out to help Angle, only for the Olympic Gold Medallist to meet her in the back and kiss her deeply in a moment of passion. And so we have come to the main event at the biggest party of the summer. Angle gets on the mic before the match and says he just realised he should have kissed Steph sooner as he is able to satisfy her like Hunter never could. The announcers are disgusted, and the Game hits the ring and beats the hell out of Angle before the Rock even makes his way to the squared circle. The two challengers fight onto the announce table, and Triple H hits the Pedigree, only for Angle to legitimately be knocked unconscious. Oops. Medical personnel come down and check on Kurt, and thats Rock’s cue to hit the ring to a huge pop. With Angle gone, the two renew their old rivalry and improvise in the early going. The two brawl back and forth on the outside, whilst Angle is loaded onto a stretcher. From there this essentially becomes a one on one match for the time being. Rock and Trips brawl up the aisle and back again, with the Great One sending the Game into the set in the process. As the two go at it back in the ring, Stephanie runs out to check on Angle as he is being stretchered en route to the back. She stays at ringside and makes her way to her husband’s corner. With the Game in control of the match, he tells Steph to get the title belt, but she accidentally nails her husband with it instead of the Rock. Rock goes after the Billion Dollar Princess, but Triple H makes the save with a low blow to the champion, whilst Steph is ejected from ringside. From there, the Game goes for his sledgehammer. He does some damage with it before the ref takes it away, but its too late as he takes control and pounds on the champion’s ribs. We get some back and forth from here, but as Rock is making his comeback, we see Stephanie plead for Angle to return to the match backstage. Angle does so, and returns to ringside with Steph moments later, cutting off the Rock’s momentum when he gets there. Trips hits Rock with the Pedigree, but Angle pulls him off before the ref can count to three and throws the Game into the ring steps. This leads to Angle getting in and going at it with the Great One. Some trading offence proceeds until Rock hits the Rock Bottom, but this time Trips recovers and breaks up the pin. He takes control and tells Steph to get the sledgehammer. She brings it in but Kurt gets to it first. He and Hunter struggle over it, which results in Trips accidentally nailing Steph, knocking her out. Realising what has happened, Angle quickly decks the Game, but Rock comes in and throws the Olympic Hero out of the ring. He follows up with the People’s Elbow to the Game, and that gets the three at 20:09. The Rock retains the WWF Championship in a very good main event. Sure, there was tons of overbooking here, but the storyline called for it, and it was such a hot storyline it made the match better for it. In a strange way, Angle being knocked out and being pleaded to return to the match afterward played into the storyline even more. Huge props to Rock and Triple H for keeping this thing going for that first part of the match as well when they had to improvise.
Grade: ***3/4
After the match, Angle tends to Stephanie and takes her to the back as the Game looks on furious. This rivalry is just getting started, but thats where we go off the air.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Its getting to the point where it goes without saying, but this is yet another awesome show from the WWF as we continue through the year 2000. What a hot run the company has been on save for King of the Ring in the new millennium. This show had it all. Sure a lot of the undercard was pretty throw away in terms of quality, but once Shane took that sick bump off the set this show kicked into high gear. From there we had a really good 2 out of 3 falls match between Jericho and Benoit which served as a fitting blow off to their feud on the 2000 front. From there we went to a surefire match of the year candidate – an awesome TLC spot fest from the three teams responsible for revolutionising the tag division at this time. The momentum was interrupted by the next two matches, but then you cap the show off with a very good main event with an awesome storyline driving it. That’s three matches approaching the **** mark, which always makes for a good PPV in my book. The WWF was on fire, and with the return of a certain Rattlesnake in the cards ahead things look bright for the number one wrestling company in the world.
Three Stars of the Night:
1. Edge & Christian – once again came out on top and established themselves as the standard bearers of the tag division in an epic TLC match
2. Hardy Boyz/Dudley Boyz (tie) – too hard giving it to one or the other team. I was tempted to put all three teams in first actually.
3. Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho (tie) – their match wasn’t as high profile as some of the others on the PPV but they lit the ring up for thirteen minutes in another great showing. These guys had awesome chemistry.
Yeah, I didn’t even have room to mention Rock, Angle and Triple H. Even Stephanie played her part in the main event perfectly. Shane deserves an honourable mention for his insane bump as well.
FINAL GRADE: 8.5 out of 10
ALL TIME PERFORMANCE TALLY:
What I do here is add the three stars of the night with each review so as to keep track of who we can say overall is the greatest PPV performer to any given time. First place scores 3 points, second 2 and third 1. The Rock and the Game continue to chase each other up to the top of the pack.
Steve Austin = 84
Bret Hart = 83
Shawn Michaels = 67
The Rock = 45
Triple H = 44
Mick Foley = 38
Randy Savage = 28
Undertaker = 25
Owen Hart = 21
Hulk Hogan = 18
X-Pac = 18
Diesel = 15
Ultimate Warrior = 13
Vader = 13
Chris Jericho = 13
British Bulldog = 12
Ted DiBiase = 10
Razor Ramon = 10
Vince McMahon = 10
Matt Hardy = 10
Jeff Hardy = 10
Christian = 9
Ric Flair = 8
Edge = 8
Jim Neidhart = 7
Jerry Lawler = 6
Bubba Ray Dudley = 6
D-Von Dudley = 6
Dynamite Kid = 5
Arn Anderson = 5
Roddy Piper = 5
Mr Perfect = 5
Marty Jannetty = 5
Bob Backlund = 5
Ricky Steamboat = 4
Ax = 4
Smash = 4
Bobby Heenan = 4
D’Lo Brown = 4
Kurt Angle = 4
Chris Benoit = 4
Greg Valentine = 3
Tully Blanchard = 3
Tanaka = 3
Bam Bam Bigelow = 3
Sato = 3
Jake Roberts = 3
Hakushi = 3
Yokozuna = 3
Savio Vega = 3
Ken Shamrock = 3
Shane McMahon = 3
Chyna = 3
Brutus Beefcake = 2
Paul Orndorff = 2
Andre the Giant = 2
Rick Rude = 2
Sgt Slaughter = 2
Jeff Jarrett = 2
Jesse Ventura = 1
Texas Tornado = 1
Tito Santana = 1
Virgil = 1
Scott Steiner = 1
Rick Steiner = 1
Lex Luger = 1
The Roadie = 1
Billy Gunn = 1
Bart Gunn = 1
Marc Mero = 1
Flash Funk = 1
Animal = 1
Hawk = 1
Taka Michinoku = 1
Test = 1
Big Show = 1
Dean Malenko = 1
Scotty 2 Hotty = 1
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: @Mpmcc91. Thanks for reading!