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JUDGEMENT DAY 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Kurt Angle, Edge, and Christian vs Too Cool and Rikishi - A wonderfully entertaining opener. Everybody in this match turned up - even Grandmaster Sexay! - and put on a crisp, entertaining match to kick off the PPV. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Chris Benoit - Would have been responsible for the best match of the night, were it not for a very poorly booked (and received) finish. 2. Chris Jericho - See above, but on a slightly lesser scale. Pulled off one of the best Lionsaults I've seen. 3. Kurt Angle - The glue holding the opener together. Proving himself to be frighteningly consistent. 4. Dean Malenko - Malenko FINALLY gets some points on the board,turning in a fine performance in the triple threat. 5. Eddie Guerrero - Slightly more muted than Malenko, but still a typically good showing from Eddie. Oozes charisma wherever he goes. There's a veritable host of narrow-misses this month. Edge, Christian, Rikishi, and Too Cool all did a great job in the opener alongside the shining Angle. DX and the Dudleys had a fun match later on. Even loving PERRY SATURN did alright. The Rock and Triple H put in a hell of an effort, but I just can't bring myself to include them in the list, so intense is my distaste for that main event. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 12 2. Triple H - 10 Jeff Hardy - 10 3. Mick Foley - 9 Chris Jericho - 9 4. Eddie Guerrero - 8 5. Christian - 6 Chris Benoit - 6 6. Edge - 5 7. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 8. The Rock - 2 Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 9. Rikishi - 1 Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 Four of the top five are WCW cast-offs this time. What does that tell you, Russo? There are lessons to be learned here. Angle edges into the lead in a week where many of the other frontrunners stalled. JUDGEMENT DAY SCORE: 6/10 The rationality of this score very much depends upon how much bearing you think a main event has upon the quality of the overall PPV. A lot of the matches here were good - the opener, the triple threat, and the Benoit/Jericho match all delivered. The tables match and Shane vs Big Show weren't exactly five star classics, but were entertaining nonetheless. Sadly, I just can't bring myself to appreciate that main event. In my old TNA thread, one of my main gripe with the company was the waste of potential brought about by lovely booking, and the same applies here. I'm sure that, given another stipulation and a better finish to work with, Triple H and The Rock could have put on an absolute classic, and I'd be rating this event much higher. Unfortunately, Undertaker's return was so horribly handled that I feel it dampened my enthusiasm for the PPV. It doesn't help that the match took up about a third of the show. Not the worst event ever, but it could have been so much more. I'll wipe away my tears though, in preparation for King of the Ring! Exciting.
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Dec 26, 2013 02:27
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 – Boston, Massachusetts PART 1 You know what? Despite my excitement in revisiting the period in which I first fell in love with wrestling, I totally forgot about King of the Ring. What a fantastic (and sorely missed ) concept, one which I feel would come in especially handy today, breathing life into the WWE’s rather stagnant midcard. Let’s have a look at the competitors! Rikishi has dominated since the thread began. He had a strong showing in the Rumble, and hasn’t been able to stop winning since then, regardless of his tag team partners. Too Cool, Kane, and Big Show have all benefitted from having the Samoan in their corner. He has defeated Shane McMahon and Scotty 2 Hotty to progress this far. Bull Buchanan has mostly acted as the understudy of the Big Boss Man so far, picking up a couple of tag team wins with his mentor before being squashed horribly by Kane at Insurrextion. Last seen helping Shane McMahon defeat the Big Show. He has also written himself firmly into my bad books by defeating two of my favourites in reaching this stage of the tournament – Steve Blackman and Perry Saturn. Kurt Angle has arguably been the most impressive and consistent wrestler since the beginning of this thread, and currently leads the Wrestler of the Year standings. Despite a slow start – getting his rear end utterly handed to him by the debuting Tazz in January – Angle has torn up the midcard, winning (and eventually losing) both the Intercontinental and European titles. Bradshaw and Bubba Ray Dudley fell victim to him in the earlier rounds. Crash Holly is surely the biggest underdog of the tournament. We haven’t seen him do much bar being thrown out of the Rumble by The Rock (with no eliminations), lose his Hardcore belt at WrestleMania, somehow win it back and defend it in a dreadful match at Backlash, and then lose it again to the British Bulldog at Insurrextion. He has (somehow) beaten Albert and big cousin Hardcore Holly to reach the final eight. Val Venis has perhaps had the least impressive of 2000s out of all the tournament entrants, at least in terms of PPVs. Despite flirting with the European and Intercontinental title scenes on TV, Venis’ pay per view action has been incredibly limited. He eliminated a grand total of 1 (one) man at the Rumble, and refereed the Kat vs Terri travesty at WrestleMania. Val beat two fan favourites in The Godfather and Jeff Hardy to reach the PPV. Chris Benoit has been the breakout star of the Radicalz, at least in terms of workrate (with Eddie perhaps proving most popular with the fans). Since winning the Intercontinental title at ‘Mania, the Crippler has been locked in a blood feud with the infinitely more charismatic Chris Jericho. Two members of DX fell to Benoit in the earlier rounds – first Road Dogg, then X-Pac. Chris Jericho is probably the most over man left in the tournament, commanding insane crowd reactions whenever he appears. He has been both European and Intercontinental champion so far, and was last seen REFUSING TO TAP OUT to a Benoit crossface. So heroic. Y2J has beaten two other blonde bombshells in Test and Edge along the way, and surely has the stature to go far in the tournament. Eddie Guerrero is another incredibly popular contestant in what is proving to be a rather stacked King of the Ring, especially with the benefit of hindsight. Initially competing with the rest of the Radicalz, Eddie broke away to ally with his “mamacita” Chyna and win the European championship. He has successful defences over Essa Rios, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn under his belt, and defeated Matt Hardy and – oh! – his beloved Chyna to progress! Controversial. That’s not all, folks! The WWF Championship is also on the line in a very intriguing six-man tag match. Triple H will team up with Vince and Shane to take on The Rock, Kane, and the freshly returned Undertaker with a host of stipulations. If any member of the challenging team scores a fall over any member of Triple H’s team, they will become the new WWF Champion! Should Triple H’s team win, he will retain and go on to face the winner of the King of the Ring tournament at Fully Loaded. Also scheduled is a very clusterfucky – but also potentially very good – four corners match for the Tag Team titles, a handicap match featuring DX and Torri vs those drat Dudleys, and...oh lord. It just wouldn’t be a WWF card without something like this, would it? A “Hardcore Evening Gown Match” between Hardcore champion Pat Patterson and challenger Gerald Brisco. Goodie. 1. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Rikishi vs Chris Benoit Rikishi is now Intercontinental Champion! We see footage of him winning the belt on Smackdown, pinning Benoit clean. The Rabid Wolverine wasn’t too happy, and laid out the Samoan with a steel chair as he danced in celebration with Too Cool. This should be a full-blooded affair, then. OH AND HERE THEY GO! The pair tear into one another as soon as Benoit enters the ring, the Canadian managing to back Rikishi into a corner with some of his deadly chops. Rikishi shoves him away, before dropping him with a MASSIVE Samoan drop! What an explosive start. Rikishi takes Benoit out of the ring and whips him into the ring steps. That was nice (although I am quite sick of step bumps. There were a lot at the last PPV), and the crowd are absolutely molten for the Samoan. They return to the ring and Benoit plants the big man with a humungous German suplex! The pair are just trading big spots here, and it’s fantastic. Benoit beats down Rikishi in the corner before locking in a modified standing crossface. Rikishi drops to his knees, but the power of the crowd soon brings him back to a vertical base. Benoit takes him back to the corner and lights him up with some more chops. Rikishi is able to whip the Crippler into the opposite corner, but JUST misses with a big running splash attempt! Benoit drops the Samoan with a single blow – I’m not sure that was actually supposed to happen; Benoit looked lost for a second – and locks in the Crossface! Rikishi struggles briefly, but they’re right next to the ropes and he’s able to snag one. The referee pulls Benoit away, and the Wolverine has had enough. He storms out of the ring and grabs a chair, using it to smash Rikish in the torso in full sight of the referee. He calls immediately for the bell. Winner: Rikishi 1.5/5 – This was great for what it was. They ran this match at almost full speed, keeping the crowd excited throughout. A sadly brief match. The DQ finish was also disappointing, but entirely understandable given the growing feud between these two. A nice start to the show. Benoit is pissed off and continues to lay into a prone Rikishi with the chair. He slaps on another Crossface, and a gaggle of referees rush out to drag him off. He instead nails a Diving Headbutt on the Samoan, followed by a few more seconds in the Crossface, before finally leaving the ring. Um...congratulations Rikishi, you’re through to the semi finals. I hope you enjoy your next match... JR took great care to emphasise a particular rule of the tournament throughout that match; a double DQ, double countout, or time limit draw (15 minutes) will result in BOTH competitors being eliminated. I sense screwy finishes in our future... Backstage we have the thrilling return of the HEEL DRESSING ROOM! Yeahhhhh! Triple H and the McMahons aren’t too happy. Linda is on her way to confront Vince later in the night, something which Shane, HHH, and Stephanie fear will make Vince lose his cool. Vince promises that he is “Joe Cool” tonight, and swaggers out of the room. Trips and Shane look very sceptical. What a wacky bunch they are, those heels! 2. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Eddie Guerrero vs Val Venis We see footage from the previous Smackdown of Val jumping Eddie during a match, probably to weaken him in preparation of tonight. How dastardly! Guerrero is accompanied by Chyna, as always. Val brings out Trish Stratus, and JR describes the pair as having a “business relationship”. I’m devastated to announce that Val’s slow, sleazy theme music has been replaced with pounding techno. Who the gently caress made that call? Even more bizarrely, they decided to keep the catchphrase and saxophone at the beginning. You’re waiting for the slower drums to kick on, only to get “Hello ladies...UN TSS UN TSS UN TSS UN TSS”. Utter dross. Val dominates from the bell, smacking Eddie around with nice right hands. He kicks him around for a little longer, but Guerrero manages to gain control with a hard whip into the turnbuckles, followed by a sharp dropkick. Venis battles back with a few stinging chops, but Eddie is able to headscissor the larger man over the top rope to the outside. Eddie hits a few chops of his own, but Val is able to lift the Latino and drop him hard onto the security barrier. Back in the ring, Venis heads unwisely to the top rope. Eddie is quickly up after him, “quicker than a hiccup” even, to coin a JR term, and hits a big superplex! A fan on the outside shouts to Trish “I wanna see some T & A!”. It’s funny because her tag team is called that, you see? Anyway, Eddie hits one of my favourite strikes, the seldom seen European uppercut, before downing Val with a drop toe hold. Eddie locks in one of those surfboardy submission things (I’m not sure what it’s name is. It looks painful anyway), but Venis powers out using his superior strength. Guerrero hits a high dropkick to Val’s back, but the bigger man again kills his momentum by simply tossing him high into the air and letting him fall. Venis hits a backbreaker and bends Eddie’s spine over his knee, but the Latino refuses to quit. Val whips him into the ropes, but Eddie counters with an incredibly smooth hurricanrana. He’s really loving good, isn’t he? He heads up top for the Frogsplash, but Val rolls out of the way. He does so a touch too early, allowing Guerrero to roll and break his fall. He turns and charges...right into a BIG spinebuster from Venis (about a 7 on the Arn Anderson scale). Val heads up top for his awfully named – and awful looking – splash, the Money Shot, but Eddie thankfully gets his knees up in the nick of time. Venis battles back into the match with a snappy Russian legsweep, before getting a two count with his feet very much on the ropes. The crowd don’t like that. Eddie lifts Val and drives him crotch first onto the top turnbuckle. He scoots up after him and delivers a nice frankensteiner, but Trish is on the apron to distract the ref from counting the fall. Chyna drags her to the floor to the delight of the crowd, but Val decks Eddie and reaches down to pull the Ninth Wonder onto the apron by the hair. He swings with a big right, but Chyna blocks it and smacks him back! Schoolboy rollup by Eddie, 1...2...NO! I thought that was it! Both men scramble to their feet and Val hooks Guerrero up for a hard Perfectplex. 1...2...3! Winner: Val Venis 2/5 – A great showing by Eddie, at the expense of the slightly sloppy Venis. He did his best to keep up, but some of those spots seemed a little beyond him. Still an entirely passable match, although I do wish it was Guerrero advancing in the tournament instead. 3. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Crash Holly vs Bull Buchanan Crash’s route to the quarter finals is revealed to be a lucky one. We first see him rolling up Albert for a cheap win, then defeating cousin Bob via DQ, after Brisco interfered to steal his Hardcore Championship (under 24/7 rules). Buchanan is out looking mean; Holly looks nervous. This is surely a squash in the making for mah BOY Bull. Crash peppers him with weak punches, but Buchanan chucks him out of the ring. Holly bounces straight back in and Buchanan tosses him again. Finally Bull tires of his peskiness, hoisting him into a huge gorilla press slam. He hoists the smaller man into a backbreaker, holds him, and lifts him to repeat the move a second time. Crash is being decimated. Bull beats up Holly in the corner for a while, before hitting a big vertical suplex. Chants of “boooring, boooring” from the Boston crowd, and I’m sadly inclined to agree. Bull needs to ditch these power moves and show us his grace once more. Bull sticks a big boot into Crash’s face and scoops him up for a slam...INSIDE CRADLE! 1...2...oooh. So nearly an upset. Bull regains control with a clothesline and backdrop, but misses with his Axe Kick! Crash lifts his head out of the way just in time and dives onto Buchanan, rolling him up. 1...2...3! Winner: Crash Holly 0.5/5 – Completely uninspiring and mercifully short. Bull didn’t get a chance to fly  . Easily the worst match of the show so far, and there’s really not much else to say about it.Crash sprints back up the ramp before Buchanan knows what’s happened, and we cut to the back where Vince McMahon is confronting his wife. He lists her misdemeanours: reinstating Austin, re-signing the Undertaker, bringing back Shawn Michaels, slapping Stephanie – all designed, of course, to get the crowd behind her. Unfortunately this momentum is killed when Linda starts talking, and we realise what a dreadful actress she is. She asks if Vince is man enough to compete fairly in the 6 man tag tonight, or if he’ll call for backup like always. Vince laughs this off, claiming that his team are guaranteed to win as the faces fight among themselves, and he even agrees that there will be no outside interference. Kurt Angle is out with a mic ahead of his quarter final matchup with Jericho. He disses ALL the local sports teams. He says he’s going to do what the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox can’t do, and actually win something. I don’t know much about ice hockey or baseball, but maybe his words stung the Patriots and Celtics into winning their titles since this PPV. He closes the promo with an impression of a Bostonian: “It’s true, I’m fat, I’m overweight, now get me another bee-ah.” The fans of course boo this, and...JERICHO THEME! 4. King of the Ring Quarter Final: Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho Jericho is out with a mic of his own and claims that Angle doesn’t need to win the tournament; he’s already King of the Nerds, King of the 30 Year Old Virgins, etc. Very hurtful, I’m sure. The two go at it immediately, and Angle wins the opening exchange with a sweet belly-to-belly. Jericho fights back with some chops, the base of every self-respecting upper-midcard workhorse’s moveset, but Angle throws him onto the apron. Y2J rushes immediately along to the nearest turnbuckle and flies with a lovely missile dropkick to the back. I hope they give these two a decent amount of time to work with. Jericho hits a bulldog and FLIES with an early Lionsault, but Angle gets a foot over the ropes. He crawls to the apron, so Jericho knocks him to the outside with his jumping dropkick from the turnbuckles. All very good so far, as you’d expect from these two. Jericho charges at Angle, who swiftly turns into a hip-toss over the crowd barrier! Lovely stuff – although it’s strange how they always use the same area for crowd spots. VERY MYSTERIOUS. Kurt sense my prayers that they don’t battle pointlessly up into the crowd and pointlessly back down again, instead throwing Y2J right back over the barrier to ringside. Good man. Jericho gets deposited back in the ring, via a quick introduction to the ring steps, and the camera shows Angle’s chest swollen with welts from Y2J’s earlier chops. Vicious, Chris. Jericho fights out of a chokehold and drops Kurt into a double-underhook backbreaker across his knee. Again the pinfall is too near the ropes (silly Jericho), and Angle works his way back into the match with very Angle-like suplexes, clotheslines, and the like. He ends up posing atop the turnbuckles, but Y2J shuts him up with a dropkick to the midsection, followed by a snappy Frankensteiner. Not quite as snappy as Eddie’s from earlier, but still really good. A huge spinning heel kick nearly keeps Kurt down for three, before Angle counters a Jericho bulldog by turning sharply and smacking him with a clothesline. That was really sharp. Angle set up for the Olympic Slam, but Jericho twists nimbly out of it in midair and trips Kurt into the Walls! He struggles to turn Angle properly into the hold but manages eventually...and here comes Stephanie! The eternal foe of Y2J distracts the referee just as Kurt taps out to the Walls! Jericho releases the hold and isn’t happy in the slightest. He confronts the ref, but Angle manages to dive and knock both men down. Steph takes the opportunity to get into the ring and measure Y2J with her Women’s Championship, but he ducks out of the way as she swings...and she clocks Kurt instead! Jericho paces slowly towards her, and Steph swings for him with a right. It’s blocked, and so is her subsequent left...and Jericho plants a very unwelcome kiss on her! What an unscrupulous knave! Stephanie squirms away and bails as the crowd go wild, but the party is stopped incredibly abruptly by Angle. He slithers up behind Jericho and PLANTS him with the Olympic Slam, right in the middle of the ring! 1...2...3! Winner: Kurt Angle 3/5 – A great match, easily the best of the quarter finals. Both guys delivered – as expected – and the screwy ending didn’t seem unnecessary at all, successfully gaining more heat for Angle and sympathy for Y2J. Good job everyone! JGKing fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Dec 26, 2013 15:51
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 2 Back in the #HeelDressingRoom Shane is annoyed at Vince’s macho decision to ban outside interference. Vince stands by his decision, claiming that Rock, Kane and Undertaker couldn’t even order lunch together. He tells Shane to be confident. Shane responds that it’s not his own confidence he’s worried about, it’s Triple H’s. Oooooooh. Edge and Christian (aka my favourite tag team ever) are out WITHOUT THEIR BELTS!? It looks as though somebody had the audacity to beat them somewhere between Judgement Day and this PPV. I am appalled. The boys do another of their five second poses, this time mimicking Bill Buckner’s infamous error for the Red Sox which even I – an Englishman – know vaguely about. 5. WWF Tag Team Championship Four Corners Elimination Match: Too Cool (c) vs Edge and Christian vs T&A vs The Hardy Boyz We start with Jeff Hardy and Albert. Jeff’s hair is rainbow coloured tonight, how lovely. Albert doesn’t agree – as a potentially envious bald man – and smacks him around a little bit. Jeff outsmarts the big man by leaving the ring and leading him on a merry dance, before tagging in Matt as he scampers back in. The pair double team Albert and Matt looks to capitalize, but Trish grabs his leg as he runs the ropes and Albert clotheslines him in the back of the head. I should mention that this is the first time we’ve seen Lita associated with the Hardys. She’s somewhere at ringside, but there are a lot of bodies out there at the minute. Test gets the tag and DEMOLISHES MATT’S FACE with a humungous big boot! Jesus. He sets Hardy up for a pumphandle slam, but Matt slips out the back and tries the Twist of Fate...but Trish hops on the apron as a distraction. Matt abandons his finisher attempt and JUST FLAT OUT SWINGS AT STRATUS!? I know this is the Attitude Era, but that’s quite controversial behaviour for a babyface. It even prompts an “oh my” from JR. Trish manages to duck out of the way, thankfully – imagine the blurring of the face/heel dynamic if she’d caught a right hand straight in the mouth. Lita’s on hand to administer some same-sex violence, running around the ring and shoving Trish to the ground. Test reaches over and pulls Lita onto the apron by the hair, but she beats him away with a punch to the jaw. Test is stunned and turns – BAM – right into a Twist of Fate from Hardy! 1...2...Albert is on hand to break it up. Matt seems to be something of a trend-setter here, as Albert also tries to get involved in the woman-beating action. He lifts Lita clean over the top rope and positions her for the Albert Bomb, but Matt comes to the rescue with a dropkick to the spine. Test hits his pumphandle slam on Matt and covers him, but Jeff spies an opportunity to do two of his favourite things simultaneously: jump off a high thing and save his bro’s rear end. He flies with the Swanton (clean over the head of an onrushing Albert) and breaks the pinfall in spectacular fashion! Jeff bounces straight back to his feet and leaps with a crossbody, taking both himself and Albert out of the ring. Meanwhile, Matt has rolled on top of Test! 1...2...3! Elimination #1: T&A (by The Hardy Boyz) Scotty 2 Hotty and Jeff become the legal men, and the fresher Too Cool member wins the opening exchange quite easily. He kips-up in celebration, Shawn Michaels style, and moonwalks over to Christian for the tag. Interestingly, Scotty also imitated Triple H during Too Cool’s entrance, spitting water out of his mouth as they danced down the ramp. It didn’t look nearly as intimidating or impressive. Matt Hardy is in now and decides it’s time to do that thing where he shouts before every move. “AAAH” right hand to Christian. “AAAH” powerslam. Up to the second rope...”AAAAAAAH!” legdrop. He just loves that, doesn’t he? Jeff gets the tag and the pair hit Poetry in Motion on Christian. He falls and rolls under the bottom rope, while Edge enters the ring and charges. Both Hardy’s duck out of the way and hook Edge up for a double vertical suplex. The Hardy’s are owning this match so far, especially as it’s now time for the shirts to come off. They mean business. Edge and Christian are able to reverse the momentum however, using the power of heelish shenanigans. They double team Jeff behind the ref’s back, but the Hardy’s gain a measure of revenge as Matt distracts the referee, allowing Lita to fly from the top with a nice hurricanrana on Edge! She got a surprisingly big pop for that. Maybe she hasn’t done much in the way of action yet? I’m not sure. All four men are in the ring now (while Too Cool chill happily on the apron), but Edge and Jeff take a tumble to the outside. This leaves Matt and Christian. The latter sets the former up for the Unprettier, but Matt shoves him away and hits...”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” the Twist of Fate! 1...2...Edge yanks him out of the ring! Jeff is up top now looking for the Swanton, but Edge AGAIN saves the day, dragging the Hardy off the turnbuckle and HARD into the top rope! Jeff’s head whips back sickeningly and he collapses through the ropes to the outside. Matt is left alone with both members of E&C, but he bravely sets Edge up for another “Aah” Tw...nope. Christian cuts off the move (and most of the yell) by hooking Matt’s arms and spiking him with the Unprettier! 1...2...see you later. Elimination #2: The Hardy Boyz (by Edge and Christian) Lita gestures angrily at Edge as the Hardys leave, which is hilarious in hindsight. Grandmaster Sexay is in the ring for the first time, and he goes to town on the much more fatigued Edge. He hits his missile dropkick and tags in Scotty, but Christian runs along to even the score. What follows is a period of the awesome, fantastic Edge and Christian getting beaten up by a far lesser tag team...through the medium of danced. Too Cool run through their repertoire of usual dancing bullshit, but it just seems so wrong when performed on so superior a team. Thankfully Edge is able to fight back, and gets the tag to Christian who petulantly slams Scotty’s head into the canvas again and again and again. He then strides over to Grandmaster and hilariously mocks his dancing. Picture a very angry Christian dancing furiously in his opponent’s face. It’s brilliant. Sexay spits gum into his face in response, but Christian keeps his cool and hits a Russian legsweep on Scotty for two. Edge and Sexay get hot tags, and Grandmaster is able to dropkick Edge into the ropes, tangling his arms. Christian dashes to the apron to free his partner, before pausing on the apron to tell everybody how smart he is for doing so. Too Cool slingshot Edge into him, knocking him to the floor, before Grandmaster ROLLS UP EDGE...1...2...oooh! Could easily have been the finish. Both E&C are whipped into the same corner and do the hilarious “clash heads before one falls headfirst into the other’s crotch” bump. Sexay sets Edge up in the powerbomb position. For a brilliant millisecond I think it’s going to be a Piledriver in tribute to Lawler, but he instead hits a sitout powerbomb. It only gets two, and the challengers are able to regain control with a double flapjack. HAHAHAHA, they mock Scotty’s setup for the worm, stomping their legs furiously. They hop around, but Scotty arrives just a second too late to interrupt, causing both to pause awkwardly before the actual worm section. He slides in behind and hits a bulldog on both men, and the crowd go wild in anticipation of the REAL worm. He hits it on Edge, but Christian is in with one of the belts and tries to behead Sexay! The Grandmaster ducks and rolls out of the ring. Scotty holds Edge in position, allowing Sexay to don his goggles and fly from the top with a big legdrop! The referee delays the pinfall to get Scotty back to the apron...and Christian runs in to smash Sexay over the head with the title belt! He bails and Edge rolls on top....1...2...3! NEW CHAMPIONS! Elimination #3: Too Cool (by Edge and Christian) Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: Edge and Christian 3/5 – A very decent match made out of what could easily have descended into clusterfuck territory. The Hardys (particularly Jeff) carried the first half of this match, Edge and Christian the latter. I’m pretty jubilant that the boys are champs again. As much as Too Cool are a nice pair of novelty babyfaces, I find E&C infinitely more entertaining and deserving of the gold. Scotty is SEETHING in the middle of the ring! I’ve never seen him so emotive. 6. King of the Ring Semi Final: Rikishi vs Val Venis Rikishi sells the post-match beating from Benoit earlier as he makes his way to the ring. Val comes out with Trish, who has had a LOT of work to do tonight for a valet. What the hell!? A short video package reveals that Rikishi and Val have had major beef over the past few weeks. And not normal run-in attacks on one another. This is some next level poo poo. We see Rikishi splashing onto Val from atop the stage one week, and slamming him through the announce table the next! We also see Val opening up Rikishi’s forehead with a TV monitor. Jesus Christ! The bell rings and Rikishi just kicks the poo poo out of Venis for a minute or two. He takes him to the outside and smacks him into the ringpost and steps. He brings him back in and squashes him in the corner. He drills him with the occasional big right. This is heading for squash city until Val manages to attack ‘Kishi’s weakened arm (or Benoiarm? Sorry.). He works over the arm for a while before planting Rikishi with a DDT and heading up for the Money Shot – or THAT Money Shot, as JR refers to it. Rikishi springs to his feet, however, and Val confirms himself to be the stupidest superstar on the roster, jumping off anyway with the feared Flying Nothing. Rikishi catches him and hits a belly to belly for the three. Hey Val, if your finishing move is a splash, don’t try to hit it on a standing opponent, okay? Cool. Winner: Rikishi 0.5/5 – Really short and simple, with a very unexpected ending. No mistakes at all from either men, just not much to award points for either. Rikishi progresses to the final, where he’ll meet either Kurt Angle or Crash Holly. Trish is livid and leaps onto the back of Rikishi. He slams her to the mat and begins to drag her by one arm to the corner. There’s something very disturbing in that image. King is all “Oh no!” while JR seems to be quietly relishing the impending Stink Face, but when Rikishi actually sets her up for the Banzai Drop he changes his tune. Suddenly both commentators have their serious voices on, but Val rushes in with a low blow right to Rikishi’s venis, putting a stop to that. Val goes apeshit, grabbing a set of ring steps and ramming them right into the Samoan’s weakened arm. He then drapes the arm across the steps and crunches it with a chairshot. 7. King of the Ring Semi Final: Crash Holly vs Kurt Angle So how long can Crash survive here? I’m saying this doesn’t go longer than 3 minutes, and that’s generous. This one starts a lightning pace, and Crash is keeping up with Angle move for move! Angle soon takes the advantage however, suplexing Holly around and occasionally stiffing him in the corner. The pair take turns going crazy with right hands in the corner, and just as Kurt winds up for a huge one, Holly manages to duck out of the way and gain control of the match. Now it’s his turn to toss Kurt around a little bit, but he soon abandons that idea in favour of going up top and hitting a big missile dropkick! 1...2...OOOH! So very close to a three. The crowd gave an audible gasp, as did JR and King. Crash charges, but Angle hotshots him face-first into the top rope. Olympic Slam on the rebound! This one’s in the books. Winner: Kurt Angle 1.5/5 – Not a very long match by any stretch of the imagination, but an incredibly fine performance by both men. Credit to Crash for sticking with Angle throughout, matching him for speed and intensity. Kurt’s in the final. Kane is in the back with a terrified Michael Cole. He claims that tonight’s main event is all about one thing: him becoming the WWF Champion. Undertaker is elsewhere backstage with Coach, and he claims that it’s actually about HIM winning the title. Nobody is interviewing The Rock. Perhaps he hasn’t arrived yet, so we can get a shot of him WALKING through the parking lot later on. That’s always the part of a PPV I look forward to the most. We get a video package of the blood feud between Patterson and Brisco now. First we see Brisco celebrating his regaining of the Hardcore title with Patterson, only for Pat to smash a champagne bottle over his head and cover him for the belt. Later, Patterson hides out in the divas’ dressing room disguised in drag, so Brisco throws on a wig to get in there as well. The pair brawl in their dresses, and Vince angrily breaks them up. He then makes the worst decision of his career, scheduling the match we’re about to witness. Hold on to your hats. Five stars incoming. 8. WWF Hardcore Championship Evening Gown Match: Pat Patterson (c) vs Gerald Brisco Brisco comes out to ‘Real American’ in a black dress, wig, heels, the works. He’s also carrying – I think – a 2x4. Patterson comes out looking scarily like Mae Young (although King thinks it’s Moolah) in a red dress and sunglasses, pushing a cart full of pillows, toilet paper, and a teddy bear. His theme is ‘The Stripper’. Can we get this over with? Patterson grabs a mic and begs for a truce. He says that he knows everybody wants the pair of them to go at it real bad (I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Pat), but he has a better idea. He offers to lay down for Brisco, forfeiting the belt to him. The pair hug it out, AND PATTERSON KNEES BRISCO, right in the Geralds. Pat pulls a banana out of his cleavage and stuffs it into Brisco’s face for some reason. He rips the challenger’s wig off and...wow. In perhaps the worst spot I’ve ever seen in any wrestling match, Patterson removes a sanitary towel from his underwear and rubs it in Brisco’s face. He prepares for a stink face, but Gerald low blows him hard. The pair stand and brawl messily in the middle of the ring, and here come the “boring” chants. Brisco whips Patterson into the corner and hits a horrible Bronco Buster as JR tries to stay professional, stating “Brisco’s a southpaw. If that matters.”. I’d enjoy if this match slowly escalated to steadily more vicious spots, ending with both men covered in blood and hitting one another with piledrivers, punts to the head, and so on. This looks unlikely, as the pair begin to rip at one another’s dresses. The crowd give a mild cheer, more out of relief than anything, as Crash runs down with a trashcan to kick some old man rear end. save_us.crash. He beats both men around for a few seconds, before braining Patterson with the trashcan and putting this match out of its misery with a successful pinfall. Winner and NEW WWF Hardcore Champion: Crash Holly DUD/5 – Terrible. Dreadful. Offensively bad. What were they thinking? They could have had a Blackman match instead. Crash grabs his title and gets the gently caress out of there, leaving the ring full of carcasses, wreckage, and the stench of shameless booking. As if we haven’t had enough, Brisco jumps Patterson as he walks down the ramp, and the pair brawl in their bras and panties as refs try to break it up. JGKing fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 26, 2013 18:32
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 3 We now see a video package of the Dudleys/DX feud, beginning with Tori’s escape from table-based doom at Judgement Day. Tori is then shown splashing Bubba through a table on a following episode of Raw! Nice going, Tori! She got pretty good hangtime on the move as well. The Dudleys want revenge on the following Smackdown, but Edge and Christian interfere on DX’s behalf. The heels load the Boyz into a dumpster and push it off the edge of the stage. Vince decides “gently caress it”, and a handicap tables AND dumpsters match. I’m not sure whether the stipulation means the tables and dumpsters have to feature in order to win the match, or whether the teams are just encouraged to use them. Let’s find out. The Dudley Boyz are backstage, and D-Von is getting Bubba hyped about their upcoming match against DX. Bubba moves slightly, revealing that he has spray-painted “Tori” on a nearby table. The pair laugh evilly and carry the table out of shot. Those chirpy babyfaces. 9. Handicap Tables and Dumpsters Match: Degeneration X and Tori vs The Dudley Boyz JR handily answers my question as DX make their entrance. For the Dudleys to win, they must put all three members of DX through tables. For DX to win, they must put the Dudleys in the dumpster and close the lid. Fun fact for any Americans reading: in the UK we call dumpsters “skips”. It gives them a deceptively light-hearted feel. Bubba and Road Dogg start off in the ring as the crowd break into an immediate “X Pac sucks!” chant. Poor guy. Bubba gains an advantage over the DX man with a superkick (not sure if I’ve seen him do one of those before) out of the corner , before tagging in a very hyped D-Von. X Pac is in soon after and flips out of an attempted slam. Instead of following up with an actual wrestling move, he simply tells D-Von to “SUCK IT!” and gets his head clotheslined off his shoulders. He fights back with a spinning heel kick and drags D-Von to the corner, tagging in Tori. She throws some pretty pathetic kicks while JR claims she trains in a “Japanese women’s dojo”, which I somehow doubt. Also, is that a dojo for women ran by Japanese people, or a dojo exclusively for Japanese women? Both male members of DX crash the ring and beat on D-Von, but he takes them down with a jumping double clothesline. Bubba gets the hot tag and clears house, but there hasn’t really been any urgency to this match so far. That looks to change as Road Dogg gets hooked in a full nelson and DRILLED with the Bubba Bomb! Bubba powerslams Road Dogg and holds his legs open for D-Von’s headbutt. X Pac rushes in to make the save, but is the victim of the same move again! Tori now rushes in and aims a slap at Bubba, but it’s blocked. She goes for a kick to the groin, but he catches it and hits her with a third powerslam. D-Von’s up top, and we get our third diving headbutt in succession. Oh. D-Von decides to leave his head down there for an UNCOMFORTABLY long period of time. Creepy. The Dudleys head to the outside, presumably for tables. No, for once it’s not. They actually go to fetch DX who are retreating up the ramp. Road Dogg and X Pac reverse a couple of Irish whips into the dumpster – which has been rolled up to the apron – and begin slamming the Dudleys’ heads into the metal. They drag them up onto the apron and open the lid, throwing the Dudleys inside. JR and Lawler are delighted to find that there’s a camera inside the dumpster, which shows our heroes’ limp bodies fall into the garbage. DX slam the lid shut and celebrate in the ring, but the ref is on the outside tending to Tori! The Dudleys crawl out of a pair of side doors in the dumpster and crawl under the ring while DX go to fetch the ref. They open the lid to show him...that there’s NOBODY INSIDE!? Comedy at its finest. Bubba and D-Von emerge from the opposite side of the ring and roll in with chairs. WHAM. DX are laid flat, and Bubba calls for the tables as the crowd go wild. They set up one table on top of another on the outside, and place a set of steps inside the ring. Bubba stands on the steps and D-Von lifts Road Dogg so tenderly into his arms, before he’s dropped over the top rope and through both tables below! He drew the short straw in having to take that bump, even with the extra table to cushion the fall. Suddenly, out of nowhere, X Pac is kicking everyone’s rear end, back suplexing Bubba off the steps and hitting a spinning heel kick on D-Von. He sets up a table near the corner and drags D-Von onto it, before scaling the turnbuckles. Bubba runs into the ropes, however, crotching Pac on top. D-Von clambers up and hits a superplex (Does a middle-rope version still count as a superplex? Maybe a semi-superplex) through the table! Only Tori left now, and Bubba points at her menacingly. Tori runs across the ring and...cements her place as Idiot of the PPV, climbing into the dumpster to escape. The Dudleys stride over and open the lid, and prove themselves to be just as idiotic, peering inside to find her while teetering precariously on the apron. Yup, DX take full advantage, braining both Dudleys from behind with stereo chairshots – although X-Pac gets an extra shot in on Road Dogg’s man, just because he was taking a while to fall in. He always has to be the loving centre of attention doesn’t he? DX slam the lid closed, winning the match. Winners: Degeneration X and Tori 1/5 – Very poor, and I had high hopes coming into this. For some reason I was expecting a high-octane brawl, culminating in some wicked bumps and hardcore action. Well, we got one good bump from Road Dogg, but apart from that this match was really quite boring. But wait! Further shenanigans are afoot. Let’s go back to ringside... Road Dogg strides victoriously up the ramp, but X Pac is lingering. He asks the ref where Tori is, but the official has absolutely no idea. The Dudleys emerge from the dumpster with Tori in their grasp, and X Pac is all like “Oh no!” on the ramp. Road Dogg, hilariously, is more interested in selling his injuries, and doesn’t seem shocked or concerned at all. The Dudleys start to set Tori up for something, but X Pac charges in and eats a 3D for his troubles. Road Dogg rather slowly slides in now (he certainly took his sweet time) and takes a second 3D. The coast is now clear for extreme woman-beating, everybody. Bubba backs Tori into a corner and...ugh...licks the tip of her nose. Delightful. D-Von fetches the “Tori” table from the outside, her name still spray-painted on it, and Bubba does the rest. You know the drill. Smash! We get a brief interview with Kurt Angle who states his intention to win King of the Ring, and go on to take Triple H’s WWF Championship. JR and Lawler recap Rikishi’s various post-match beatings tonight, emphasising the disadvantage he faces here. 10. King of the Ring Final: Kurt Angle vs Rikishi Rikishi comes out with his right arm strapped up, but it doesn’t stop him from calling Angle out to brawl on the ramp. He beats the Olympian all the way down to the ring, and continues the assault once the bell rings. Angle tries a powerslam but strains his back trying to lift the big Samoan, and Rikishi shows him how it’s done properly. He clotheslines Angle into the turnbuckle, and Kurt collapses. The crowd sense a Stink Face, but Angle hits a low blow (I think. The ref didn’t seem to mind) to get out of it. Angle takes Rikishi to the outside and slams him into the ring steps, while JR and Lawler go over some great previous Kings of the Ring. Owen Hart gets a mention, as does Austin and the beginning of the Attitude Era. And then we learn that last year’s winner was...Billy Gunn. The pair stand and brawl in the ring for a while, but Rikishi is only able to use lefts due to the weakened nature of his injured arm. Angle wins the exchange with some right hands, but Rikishi regains control with an instinctive clothesline...and immediately clutches his shoulder in pain. This match has been far from a classic so far in terms of wrestling, but I’m enjoying the developing story. Angle springs to his feet and charges, but Rikishi lifts him into a one-armed Samoan drop. Lawler and JR emphasise how great it is that he hit it one-handed, but he actually used his injured arm. Hmm. Rikishi is visibly wincing now, but hits a strong cutter on Angle. He can’t hook the legs however, and Kurt kicks out at one .This is great storytelling. Rikishi crushes Kurt in a corner of the ring and is able to hit the Stink Face at the second time of asking. JR genuinely says this – “That’ll smell worse than the body odour from that Iranian in the 1996 Olympics”. Wow. Rikishi stands up and strides to the centre of the ring, the crowd behind him...but ANGLE DASHES OUT OF THE CORNER AND HITS THE OLYMPIC SLAM! 1...2...no! Rikishi bravely kicks out. Angle can’t believe it, but dives quickly into a sunset flip attempt...but Rikishi sits down on his chest hard! 1...2...THE CLOSEST OF TWO COUNTS! Angle really is the master of kicking out at the last possible second. Rikishi foolishly heads to the top rope, but Angle is quickly up after him. He tees off with a few forearms...before delivering a BELLY TO BELLY SUPERPLEX! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW King of the Ring: Kurt Angle 2.5/5 – A fine match, although not the best of the tournament. That goes to Angle vs Jericho from earlier in the show. The storytelling was good throughout, the finish was unique (if a little sloppy, but how gracefully can you expect Angle to throw a man of Rikishi’s size from the turnbuckles?). Great work by these two throughout the night, Angle in terms of consistent workrate, Rikishi for telling a gradual story with his injuries. Angle celebrates in typically over-the-top fashion, dropping to his knees in jubilation and rolling out of the ring with arms aloft. Unfortunately we don’t get to see his coronation, which JR explains will take place the following night on Raw. We cut backstage now to Triple H, Shane, Vince and Steph. They’re making their way to the ring for the main event, and Trips doesn’t seem very confident in Vince at all. He has every right to be worried, as his title is on the line even if Vince or Shane are pinned. Vince is incredibly cocky, stating again his belief that the faces will be unable to work together.
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Dec 26, 2013 19:32
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King of the Ring – June 25th 2000 PART 4 Kane is stalking to the ring. Undertaker is chilling on his motorcycle, and prepares to drive it to the ring. I find this hilarious. Do you think the backstage workers all get really pissed off at having to clear a path from the parking lot to the ring? Do they wish he was the deadman again? Because I loving do. I remember this being really confusing for me as a child, because I’d certainly been aware of the Undertaker before I became interested in wrestling, and I knew vaguely what his gimmick was about. Then, when he finally returned from injury, he was a loving biker. My first experience of Mark Calaway was as BikerTaker. Pity me. The Rock is WALKING~! to the ring. 11. WWF Championship Six Man Tag Match: Triple H (c), Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon vs Kane, The Undertaker, and The RockThe heels have a team talk before the bell rings, while the faces stand separately. It’s Shane and Kane to start, and the McMahon cheap shots Kane with his back turned. Kane backs him down into a corner, but Shane convinces the Big Red Machine to give him a free shot. Kane agrees? He sticks his chin out and Shane winds up...and clocks him in the face. No-sell! Shane ducks the return blow and peppers Kane with jabs, but the monster grabs his fist and lifts him into a choke. Vince is wearing the expression of a man who has only just realised that his team is heavily outmatched here. Shane bails out of the ring, but Undertaker throws him back in immediately, and Kane continues the assault with a big clothesline. He presses Shane over his head a few times before dropping him face-first onto the canvas. Shane gets set up for a chokeslam so Vince runs in to save him, but also finds a hand wrapped around his throat! Triple H is in to save the day. The Rock blind tags himself in and peppers the McMahons with rights, before entering into a staredown with Triple H. Trips starts to retreat slowly to his corner, but Rocky tells him to just bring it. Hunter takes the bait and re-enters the ring, but cleverly jaws with the Rock long enough for Shane to recover and hammer him in the back. Shane takes control as the ref clears everybody else from the ring. He backs the Rock into a corner and mocks his style of laying the smackdown, spitting into his own palm and slapping Rocky across the face. The crowd don’t like that. Neither does the Rock, who springs into action and tees off on Shane, before throwing him over the top rope. He goes to follow him out, but ‘Taker blind tags himself in (it was actually more of a hard forearm to the back than anything), and goes after Shane himself. Undertaker sets to work on Shane, beating him around and rolling him back into the ring. Oh my god, he has the worst trash talking ever. The camera catches him saying “Hello Mr Turnbuckle” just before he Shane’s head right into it. You’re fighting somebody, ‘Taker, not narrating a children’s book. BIG chokeslam to Shane and he’s out. 1...2...The Rock breaks up the pinfall! Vince’s stipulation looks to be working as the two faces argue, allowing Triple H to tag himself in and blindside the Undertaker. ‘Taker soon regains control with a big back body drop, boot to the face, and a nice running DDT. He covers the Game, but now Kane breaks up the pinfall! The two brothers square up to one another, and the Rock takes advantage by blind tagging himself in again. Triple H crawls to his corner and tags in Shane, who wants no part of the Rock. He stays on the apron and wastes time, but Rocky gets bored and launches him into the ring by the head. He decides to lay the smackdown on everybody, knocking Vince and Triple H off the apron to the delight of the crowd. The heels display great teamwork, as Shane is able to whip the Rock into the ropes just as HHH pulls them down, sending the Rock tumbling to the outside. The three heels crowd around and stomp away at the people’s champ, but ‘Taker and Kane stomp over to even the score. Everybody pairs off, and Rock goes straight for the champ, smashing his head into the Spanish announce table over and over. He marches over the JR and Lawler and strips their table down, but Triple H puts a stop to his plans with a clothesline. The pair get back in the ring and exchange a few fast paced counters, ducking under clotheslines and so on. Suddenly HHH catches Rock with a kick to the gut, and drills him with the Pedigree! 1...2...The Rock kicks out of the Pedigree! PPV resiliency is back! Undertaker drags the champ out of the ring and launches him into the ringpost. He and Kane both climb back onto the apron, desperate for a tag from Rocky. Rock staggers to his feet and looks very weakened, but refuses to tag out. Triple H comes back onto the scene and drops him with another clothesline. He tags Shane back in – bad call, man – and it’s worth noting that Vince hasn’t been entrusted with the legal man position yet. Shane takes Rock down with a high spinning heel kick (white boy’s got hops) and decides to juke and jive while hitting him with jabs. He goes for a big right, but Rocky blocks it and hits the ropes...where Triple H immediately kills his momentum, dropping his head into the top rope. Shane catches Rocky on the rebound with a big clothesline and tags in Vince. He delivers a single punch to the Rock and tags in Triple H. Good job, McMahon. Trips hits a vertical suplex and neckbreaker on the Rock, and Kane has to come in to break up the following pinfall. Vince gets the tag now, and clearly remembered to put his swag on this morning as he taunts Kane and the Undertaker. Rock gets a surge of energy and smacks Vince down, before knocking the other two off the apron...but turns right into a flagrant low blow from the boss! The ref actually saw it coming and turned away to miss it. Pet peeve of mine, right there. Triple H tags in and he and Rocky exchange blows in the centre of the ring. The champ charges, and Rock takes him over with a Samoan drop. Shane rushes in to break up the ensuing pinfall, and it all breaks down as everybody jumps in after him. Kane and ‘Taker clear the McMahons out of the ring while Triple H gives Rock a facebuster. We cut quickly to a great little shot of Kane uppercutting ‘Taker and throwing him into the ringsteps. So merciless! Rock catches Triple H with a spinebuster and sets up for the People’s Elbow, but Kane is watching on menacingly from the outside. Rock goes through all the theatrics...and Kane dashes in to catch him with a Chokeslam! Stephanie cheers from the outside as Triple H gives Kane the thumbs up. It was their plan all along! The Game bends over to taunt the downed Rock...and KANE SCOOPS HIM UP FOR A BIG TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER! 1...2...Undertaker pulls Kane out of the ring! He grabs Lawler’s chair – “He didn’t take it, I gave it to him” – and brains his big red brother with it. Shane has climbed up to the top, looking for a high flying move on Rocky...but Undertaker goozles him from the apron AND DRIVES HIM ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Dammmmn! That spot was sick! Vince takes advantage of all the carnage to set up for a People’s Elbow on the Rock. He runs the ropes...and Rocky was playing possum! He springs to his feet and hits the Rock Bottom! 1...2...3! Triple H is going to be pissed... Winner and NEW WWF Champion: The Rock 3.5/5 – Not the best technical match by a long stretch of the imagination, but one with a very entertaining ending sequence. Although the first half was pretty lethargic and slow (only the Rock and Triple H really looked bothered at first), everything kicked into a higher gear once Kane turned on the Undertaker. Also, that spot with ‘Taker, Shane and the announce table was so outrageously well executed that I’ve added a bonus .5 for that alone. The Rock grabs the title and celebrates in the ring while Triple H storms furiously to the back. Kane and Undertaker depart reluctantly, while Vince staggers to his feet...only for Rocky to drop him with a shot from the title belt. The show ends with the new champion, one foot planted on Vince’s chest, standing triumphantly with the championship held aloft. Lovely stuff.
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Dec 26, 2013 22:29
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KING OF THE RING 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Triple H, Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon vs Kane, The Undertaker, and The Rock - For the first time since No Way Out, the main event gets match of the night. Not a technical classic by any stretch of the imagination, but the latter half was extremely entertaining. Despite his slightly one-trick-pony style, I'm always a big fan of masked Kane in the main event scene. He's just so terrifying. It's great to see 'Taker back in the ring too, even if it is during that silly biker gimmick. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Kurt Angle - An easy decision. Turned in two excellent performances, and a fairly even - for a squash - match against Crash Holly. 2. Chris Jericho - Y2J gets second place for the second event in a row. A fantastic display against Angle. Perhaps should have gone further in the tournament. 3. Rikishi - The best we've seen from Rikishi since his dominance of the early Royal Rumble stages. Good work in his three showings. 4. Eddie Guerrero - A brilliantly fluid display from the Radical, single-handedly dragging his match with Val Venis halfway to respectability. 5. The Undertaker - Although nobody stood out particularly in the main event (it's success very much a shared effort), 'Taker's spots were the most memorable. The chokeslamming of Shane through the announce table was outrageous. I really regret not being able to put anybody from the tag title match in this month's top five. Jeff and Christian were particular frontrunners. Additional possible inclusions are The Rock and Triple H, who put in a great effort as always. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 17 2. Chris Jericho - 13 3. Triple H - 10 Jeff Hardy - 10 Eddie Guerrero - 10 4. Mick Foley - 9 5. Christian - 6 Chris Benoit - 6 6. Edge - 5 7. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 Rikishi - 4 8. The Rock - 2 Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 9. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Angle races four points clear at the top, while the consistently impressive upper-midcarders such as Jericho and Guerrero are beginning to edge above the rest of the pack. KING OF THE RING SCORE: 7/10 I considered giving this a 6.5 out of 10, as I felt it lay somewhere between No Way Out and Judgement Day, but decided to keep decimals out of it. King of the Ring deserved to get rounded up to a 7. Despite one of the worst matches ever (Brisco vs Patterson), everything else ranged from great to purpose-serving. The short matches were short for a reason, and the longer matches were all enjoyable. The tag title match, Angle vs Jericho, and - against all odds - a McMahon-heavy main event were very entertaining, even if they varied in terms of actual quality. The main event is a classic example of great storytelling and booking, with Kane's betrayal, 'Taker's brutality, Vince's arrogance, and the Rock's resilience all tying together to make for a satisfying conclusion. JGKing fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Dec 27, 2013 02:05
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That Taker-Shane chokeslam is one of my favorite spots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wkAVeulVu4
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Dec 27, 2013 02:44
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This thread owns a lot. Always a great read, I really enjoy your detailed write-ups and explanation of your thought processes.
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Dec 27, 2013 05:21
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Your star ratings are VERY different than mine, but this thread rules. Keep it humming.
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Dec 27, 2013 05:34
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Supreme Allah posted:That Taker-Shane chokeslam is one of my favorite spots DEAR loving LORD WHY SHANE
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Dec 27, 2013 05:58
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Ty1990 posted:DEAR loving LORD WHY SHANE For as carny as Vince still is, and all of the lousy things that he has done, Vince absolutely knew when the crowd wanted to see him get his comeuppance, and he had no problem doing it. Shane followed in his footsteps by having absolutely no fear in getting thrown the gently caress around when he was out there.
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Dec 27, 2013 06:03
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That's one of the big differences between Vince and HHH. Vince knows that the heel needs to show his rear end.
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Dec 27, 2013 06:30
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mkay0 posted:That's one of the big differences between Vince and HHH. Vince knows that the heel needs to show his rear end. 
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Dec 27, 2013 08:48
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Yeah, Shane was no great shakes as a wrestler but he made up for it by being an absolutely ridiculous bumper. His match with Angle at KOTR 2001 is one of the single most uncomfortable things I've seen in wrestling. Also this thread rules.
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Dec 27, 2013 10:05
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CarlCX posted:Yeah, Shane was no great shakes as a wrestler but he made up for it by being an absolutely ridiculous bumper. His match with Angle at KOTR 2001 is one of the single most uncomfortable things I've seen in wrestling. That loving second window spot - the first one was bad enough, the second one made me seriously uncomfortable for the state of Shane's vertebrae.
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Dec 27, 2013 10:08
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Cool thread but, man, your ratings are super harsh.
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Dec 27, 2013 10:57
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Good match really enjoyed it lots of good spots and chain wrestling and good drama throughout but still it wasn't very good 2/5.
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Dec 27, 2013 12:14
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jfjnpxmy posted:Good match really enjoyed it lots of good spots and chain wrestling and good drama throughout but still it wasn't very good 2/5. I'm guessing a few of these matches are getting lower ratings than you'd assume from the writeup because they're undercard matches and aren't treated as important by the announcers and crowd as opposed to a main event.
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Dec 27, 2013 12:31
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jfjnpxmy posted:Good match really enjoyed it lots of good spots and chain wrestling and good drama throughout but still it wasn't very good 2/5. This did make me chuckle. From looking back at the thread I do agree that my ratings are harsh, although I think I've subconsciously weighted them in a different way. It looks as though I give 2/5 for an average match, and anything below that is flawed to some degree. So my 2/5s aren't the same as 4/10s, as stupid as that sounds. I'm still not apologising for my low score for the Iron Man match. I really couldn't stand it.
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Dec 27, 2013 13:20
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Very enjoyable reviews! As an Englisher it was this year that WWF was actually shown on normal free-for-all TV for the first time, including some of the PPVs, so that Royal Rumble was my re-introduction to wrestling (other than terrible WWF C-shows, fun video games, and occasional videos. How WWF managed to be so huge over here in the 90s I really can't quite fathom). Funny what you (I) remember; from all these PPVs, of the ones that were shown on TV my most vivid memories are things like the bloodied and dazed X-Pac after being annihilated with the ring bell, Hardcore Holly smashing Crash with the sweetie-jar. I remember that things like HHH fighting the Rock in pretty much every main event, and Edge and Christian, Dudleyz and Hardyz had loads of tables/ladders matches, and I remember they were excellent but the actual goings-on don't stick in my head. Another thing I remember is Essa Rios' match vs Eddie, because we also got HEAT on Channel 4 so Essa Rios was a staple feature on the show, and Essa Rios had this one major spot which involved a lot of bouncing in the corner while holding his opponent's hand, which always drove the crowds wild and got them on his side, but he completely botched it in that match, lost Lita and basically faded into nothing. Who knows, maybe if he'd hit the spot flawlessly as usual he'd have gained some more fans and remained popular for a while longer, but I guess that's the true dilemma of the spot-monkey. Also sad to see so many names of stars that have now passed on- were any of them even 50 or older by then, or even as young as 40? Hell, even the dude from the Green Mile (Michael Clarke Duncan). And calling the Bossman Slam the Black Hole Slam, you ought to go to lock-up in Cobb County, Georgia for that one. Aww well. I can't quite remember where the PPVs head from here, but I'm going to optimistically hope that we get one without HHH headlining soon!
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Dec 29, 2013 21:09
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Squalitude posted:Wave of nostalgia. I remember learning that wrestling was fake at the age of about 8 while watching an episode of Heat on Channel 4! They were showing a recap of a Raw or Smackdown match where Kane was just beating the poo poo out of Kurt Angle. I vividly remember Angle being choked out over the ropes and my dad exclaiming that if this was real they'd have the police out there to arrest Kane. I don't think he meant to spoil it for me, probably just a throwaway remark as he passed the TV. I spent barely any of my time as a wrestling fan thinking it was real. It was never real to me, dammit. Aside from Channel 4 Heat, the main wrestling I remember from TV was WCW Worldwide on Channel 5. It was atrocious, but I loved some of the wrestlers. I was a big fan of Chris Kanyon in his gimmick where he pretended to be DDP all the time (why!?), and thought the Misfits In Action were great. Looking back, I was really too young for that sort of thing. I didn't get the Hugh G. Rection joke at all, and their valet was loving Major Gunns! As atrocious as WCW was at the time, it did make the Invasion storyline doubly exciting for me as I couldn't believe guys like Lance Storm and Booker T were mixing it with my WWF favourites. I remember being one of the only kids at school who liked Booker at all. He got a lot of hatred for his feud with The Rock, but I thought he was awesome just because I had prior knowledge of him already.
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Dec 31, 2013 04:02
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THE 2000 STEVE BLACKMAN UNSUNG HERO AWARDS: SECOND QUARTER Oh it's time. It's drat time. quote:Backlash 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Insurrextion 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Judgement Day 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees
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Dec 31, 2013 04:54
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 – Dallas, Texas PART 1 If you can peel your eyes away from that awful poster for second, allow me to introduce you all to the third (and final) instalment of the WWF's Fully Loaded PPV. Fully Loaded occupies something of a middle-child position in the Pay Per View lexicon. It's not one of the big four, nor does it have any particular associations or atmosphere. Armageddon is, in my mind, to be thought of as a particularly brutal PPV. Backlash is the WrestleMania fallout show. Fully Loaded is one of those Vengeance, No Mercy, Judgement Day-esque PPVs with no signature style, and is perhaps even worse off due to its especially short lifespan. Let's hope the card makes up for the slightly underwhelming sense of occasion. JR screams his welcomes and proclaims that we have THREE main events in store! He refuses to elaborate on them at all, so I'm forced to get stuck into Wikipedia - scrolling hastily to the "background" section to avoid spoilers - to find out what we have in store. Benoit appears to be the first of the upper-midcarders to break into the main event scene, as he'll face The Rock for the WWF Championship later on. Triple H and Chris Jericho will also mingle, having feuded their way into a Last Man Standing match (my prediction for match of the night). Our third main event is a clash between Undertaker and Kurt Angle, completing a trio of main events which I think have the potential to make for an incredible show. Fingers crossed...  1. Intergender Tag Team Match: T&A and Trish Stratus vs The Hardy Boyz and Lita This match seems centred around an ongoing feud between the two divas involved, with Trish getting the better of it. Lita comes out clutching her ribs, an injury picked up from a combination of falling through a table and being whipped by Stratus. Jeez. Give her a win, guys. Lita makes a beeline for Trish at the bell, but Test cuts her off and she returns to her corner. Albert and Matt start us off, the bigger man hurling the Hardy around with ludicrous ease. Hopefully Matt can get back into this with the power of yelling. He fights his way up to the top rope and comes off with an armdrag, but I can't tell how good it is because the truck monkeys decided to cut to a reaction shot of Jeff and Lita. Get it together, guys. Test is in and looks INTENSE, but Matt manages to shove him to the canvas and hit an "AAAAAARGH" legdrop frop the middle rope. Jeff gets the tag to the delight of ladies everywhere, but Test catches his charge and hits a spinning sidewalk slam! Nice! He looks to have turned up today. They head to the outside but Jeff scoots back in and dropkicks Test through the middle ropes, but hangs on and swings himself back in...CROSSBODY TO THE OUTSIDE! I sometimes forget how good Jeff was. Matt is back in and gets a two count with an inside cradle, but this only angers Test who hits a MASSIVE big boot. These guys are putting on a show! Trish gets the tag now, and slaps Matt across the face while Test holds him up. She rears back for a second slap...but Matt ducks out of the way and she cracks her partner! Roll up on Trish! 1...2...Test just breaks it up in time! He lays out Matt and Trish goes for an elbow drop, but Hardy rolls out of the way and makes the tag to Lita. She comes in to a massive ovation - wow she's over - but Stratus gets the gently caress out of there and tags in Albert. Lita suddenly wants no part of this and takes off running, but Albert's in hot pursuit. The "Boyz" intervene and hit a beautiful Poetry in Motion on the big man, followed by a double suplex. Test is in and they hook him up for one as well, while Lita simultaneously catches Trish in position for a suplex of her own. The two set-ups link arms! Big group suplex to the bad guys, hooray! Matt and Jeff pull their shirts off, as does Lita after a momentary pause. They're all for equality in the WWF. Albert is back up and puts a stop to the party in emphatic fashion, gorilla pressing Jeff all the way to the outside! It all breaks down into a mass brawl, but the ref regains control surprisingly quickly and we're left with the two MVPs of the match so far in the ring. Jeff rolls up Test for a near fall, but the big man retaliates with a hellacious full nelson slam! I'd buy that as his finisher. Jeff has to battle back again, but Test kills his momentum for good, catching his headscissors attempt with a MASSIVE powerbomb! Test and Jeff are absolutely balling. Test decides it's time to commit and actual murder and heads to the top rope, but Jeff rolls out of the way of his diving elbow attempt! He struggles to reach the corner but Test grabs his leg...and Jeff does that twisting jump-kick thing! You know the one. Nevermind. Matt's in with a diving clothesline from the top rope, and this match is just leaving everybody breathless. I can barely type fast enough as Test plants Matt with a pumphandle slam the Road Dogg could only dream of. 1...2...JEFF HITS A SWANTON TO BREAK IT UP! Slight gripe here: the ref started his count way too early here and probably could have made the three, but it's a minor fault. Albert's in to sort this poo poo out, but Matt counters his powerslam into a tornado DDT! Lita hits one of her own off the top rope onto Test, before leaping into a crossbody onto Albert on the outside! She heads back up top a third time...and hits a hurricanrana on Test, who sells it to perfection! 1...2...ohhhh so close! This loving match! Lita is on a roll, but Albert digs her in the spine as she nears his corner. She staggers into Test...and he straight up murders her with a powerbomb! Trish demands the tag to finish things off, but Lita weakly throws a shoulder up on the stroke of three. Trish looks annoyed, but regains her composure to hit a bulldog, perhaps the first non-awesome move of the match so far. Aghhh Trish, don't gently caress up this match! It's been awesome so far. Trish looks completely out of her depth, so Lita takes control and whips her hard into her own corner. Stratus fights back with an elbow and hesitates for an AGE before heading to the top rope. Lita's up and slaps Albert off the apron, before scooting up to punish Trish for almost making GBS threads up the match with a superplex! 1...2...Albert pulls Lita off. The Hardys run in and take T&A out of the ring, leaving Lita and Trish alone. Lita heads up top...Moonsault! 1...2...3! Jesus Christ! Winners: The Hardy Boyz and Lita 4/5 – Why have I never heard about this match before!? It's as if some of the main eventers were laughing at these guys beforehand or something, because they came out as if they had something to seriously prove. Test was as good as I've ever seen him, with Jeff very close behind. Lita shone, Matt and Albert did their jobs, and Trish's involvement was thankfully kept to a minimum. The best undercard match I've seen in this thread so far. It reminded me of a really fun Chikara match, big spots popping off all over the place. One final point: what's the deal with Stratus? I always thought she was regarded as decent in the ring. Was this before she learned how to wrestle? Hmmm. Lita jumps up and celebrates, but Albert's in behind to knock her down. Boooo. The Hardys jump in to save her, but T&A down them with slams and big boots. Trish pulls a belt out of somewhere and whips Lita for a while, before the heels march triumphantly to the back. Really curious booking there. I'd rather the faces had their moment to celebrate a huge win. That's really put a dampener on things. Still, we got a match that was ten times better than it had any right to be. Commisioner Mick Foley is backstage (he's the commish now, okay?) and Edge asks if he can speak to him. He thinks Christian has food poisoning. Foley thinks this is awfully convenient, considering they're defending their titles later tonight. Edge swears he's telling the truth. Mick agrees to send for a doctor, but seems quite sceptical. Undertaker rumbles into the backstage area on his motorcycle, and asks if anybody has seen Kurt Angle - his opponent later tonight. A backstage dude remarks that he's right there, and we see Kurt stride into view in the distance. He sees 'Taker and pulls the best "oh poo poo" expression, before turning and running. 'Taker drives right through the building after Angle (which conveniently consists of one long, straight corridor), who tries to hide in his locker room. Undertaker cruises right into the room after him, but Kurt scoots around and heads right back up the corridor. 'Taker sits and revs his bike. What a badass. Those last two segments were pretty hilarious, but I only think the first one was meant to be. 2. Tazz vs Al Snow Aw poo poo, it's Tazz. Tazz's insistence on no-selling a lot of poo poo has really made me dislike him over the course of this thread. The best we can hope for here is a Steve Blackman run-in. Al looks all business as he heads straight into the ring and goes after Tazz with right hands! The only build up to this match consisted of a short video package of Tazz attacking random face superstars during their matches for no reason, so I can only assume that Snow is pissed off at the injustice of this. Al is BEATING on Tazz, and in fairness his attacks are being sold convincingly. Tazz rolls out of the ring for a breather, but Snow is right after him to continue the assault. Tazz fights back in the ring and goes for a suplex, but Snow pushes him off and slides under a clothesline...ooooh superkick to the mush! Lawler is bewildered by Snow's dominance so far, as he slams Tazz down for a two count. Snow gets whipped to the corner and tries to vault his legs over a charging Tazz, but the ECW alumnus counters into an Alabama Slam type thing. This match is alright, but everybody seems burned out by that amazingly hot opener. Al seeks to change that with a powerslam...followed by a BIG legdrop from the top! He got surprising airtime. He goes back up and...hits a moonsault! Everybody seemed certain that Tazz would get out of the way, but he instead has to kick out at two. Oh no, I hope this isn't another "Tazz is so resilient! He kicks out of everything!" sequence of events. The crowd are chanting "BORING, BORING" and it's really undeserved! The match has lacked a little bite, but it's motoring along perfectly well. Snow crawls over to the corner to grab Head, but Tazz chop blocks him back down. Tazz takes control and I really can't get into his style of wrestling. It's very wooden. Al manages to block a couple of strikes and hooks the arms, drilling Tazz with repeated headbutts. I've always thought that spot should be more damaging. In a real right that would destroy somebody. Al hits a leg kick, then a body kick...but Tazz catches the head kick and suplexes Snow over! He stalks him for the Tazzmission...blocked! Al grabs Tazz's arm and drags him over, before grabbing him as he rises for a German suplex. Tazz blocks it and scoots around the back, and THIS TIME applies the Tazzmission! Uh oh. Al struggles, but Tazz drags him to the mat. He can only tap out. Awwww Winner: Tazz 2/5 – Short, but very nice. Dampened a little by a dead crowd and Tazz's...Tazzness, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Fully undeserving of its "boring" chant. Is everybody going to perform beyond themselves at this PPV!? I am shocked by the quality of both matches so far. We go backstage to Edge waiting outside a toilet cubicle. Christian is inside making loud vomiting noises. Foley is here with a doctor to check him out, and Christian emerges looking a little worse for wear. The doc says that, in his opinion, Christian can't fight tonight. Christian hilariously says things like "But we have to defend our titles tonight" and "We're the fightingest champions of all time", while Foley apologises to Edge for not believing him. He gives the champs the night off. I absolutely love E&C. Have I mentioned already? We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Steph and Triple H are...watching what just happened on a monitor. Trips chuckles at Christian's illness. So, does this mean they're now watching themselves!? I'm confused. Anyway, a gopher arrives with "more flowers" for Stephanie, which he adds to an already overflowing table. Triple H is all like "Alright, enough's enough! Who are these from!?", and Steph is hilariously disappointed to find they're not from him. He backtracks and said he WAS going to send her some. Am I the only one who thinks that Triple H is an okay husband? See the previous Steve Blackman Awards for one example in particular, but he generally seems to go out of his way to get Stephanie out of trouble whenever she decides to interfere. Triple H finds a card attached to the flowers and reads it out in a brilliantly pissed off tone. "Stephanie, best of luck to you and your man tonight. It's true. It's true." I think it's fantastically in-character of Angle to fall in love with Steph after her interference in his match with Jericho at King of the Ring, so I really hope that's the thinking behind this. Trips isn't happy. Stephanie is bewildered. 3. WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Perry Saturn I am delighted to announce that my boy Perry Saturn has not only managed to bag himself a title match, but also a valet in the form of Terri (last seen wasting everybody's drat time at 'Mania and Insurrextion). Chyna is staring daggers at Terri as she heads to the ring. Apparently the she-devil got a few cheap shots in on the ninth wonder on the previous Smackdown. Oh man! Chyna stalks down to the ramp to confront Terri and Saturn gets in her way. He throws a punch, but Chyna blocks it and KNOCKS HIM ON HIS rear end! Terri takes off running, but Chyna catches her further up the ramp and grabs her by the hair. Perry is on the scene to nail her in the back, but finds himself attacked in turn by Guerrero. Terri runs to the back (worst valet ever), while Eddie beats Saturn all the way back down to the ring. King and JR bring up the history of the Radicalz, explaining how Eddie pretty much abandoned the group for Chyna. Speaking of Chyna, she turns Saturn inside out on the outside with a big lariat! I didn't know Perry could sell like that! It's much more funny when he's dreadful. Saturn crawls back into the ring and Guerrero wastes no time in hitting a picture perfect frankensteiner from the top. Perry gets sent back to the outside and Chyna throws him into the ring steps! Saturn is really hurling himself around here. This is nearing squash territory. Eddie heads up top and hits a crossbody all the way to the floor! Back in the ring he hits a flying hurricanrana with unnerving precision. The man's an acrobat. Guerrero hops up onto his opponent's shoulders again, but Perry's had enough and flattens him with a powerbomb. The pair rest for a while, but Guerrero reasserts his dominance with a tornado DDT. He goes for a hurricanrana again, which he hits, and then ANOTHER which Saturn counters into a powerbomb. Eddie Guerrero isn't acting like Eddie Guerrero here. He's acting like Eddie Guerrero controlled by an Eddie Guerrero fan on a Smackdown game, who just keeps doing the most Eddie Guerrero spots he can think of. Perry heads to the top and hits an attempted moonsault, but Eddie rolls out of the way. That's three moonsaults so far, and Saturn's is comfortably the worst. Are they having a bet backstage or something? All three moonsaults have happened from the same turnbuckle as well. Bizarre. I can only pray that Angle busts out one against the Undertaker. His is the most beautiful of them all  .Eddie hits a very hard vertical suplex - "Almost a brainbuster" says JR - and heads to the top to get froggy. Saturn rolls out of the way, but Eddie is able to break his fall with a forward roll. Saturn drops the champ and heads to the top himself, but Eddie is up and dropkicks him to the outside! Perry has taken some serious bumps in this match. Bravo. Chyna stomps over to Saturn on the outside, but he's finally had enough of her bullshit and drills her in the face. Chyna staggers...and Saturn clotheslines her onto the Spanish announce table, breaking it in half! Hahahaha. I hope that wasn't being saved for a later match. That was the most underwhelming Spanish announce tale spot I've ever seen. Amazing. Terri finally decides to make her return to ringside, but Perry doesn't seem impressed. He grabs her to use as a human shield, and the chivalrous Eddie hesitates to attack. Terri rewards him with a boot to the crotch, and Saturn sends him into the ringpost. Guerrero's weakened, and Saturn throws him back into the ring before FLYING from the top with a big elbow drop to the back! Oh my god, could it be!? 1...2...3...YES! PERRY SATURN IS YOUR NEW CHAMPION! Winner and NEW WWF European Champion: Perry Saturn 2.5/5 – I hate to say it, but Perry probably deserves this. He bumped like a madman for a good portion of this match, while Eddie did his Eddie thing, and it all came together quite nicely. Again the crowd seemed quite dead, but big spots such as the (accidental?) Spanish table breakage and the low blow brought them back into it. Hopefully this leads to a Guerrero push further up the card, because he's unquestionably great. Good job everybody. Perry swaggers back up the ramp and poses with Terri. Good GOD he's ugly. I think my favourite thing about Saturn is the way his facial expression never changes. Backstage (in the lesser #HeelLockerRoom?) Edge and Christian are celebrating their duping of Foley while they pack their bags for the night: "He's so totally gullible! Food poisoning rules!". Mick comes in and catches them celebrating, and decides he might have suddenly changed his mind. Christian claims his sickness has come back, and he runs to the toilet. Foley follows him, and ignores his cries of "Mick don't come in here! I'm like totally barfing!" to peer over the top of the cubicle. The camera pans down to show Christian pouring a cup of water repeatedly into the toilet while simulating puking noises. He slowly looks up and realises he's busted. Foley admits that while he's not a doctor ("although I have spent quite a lot of time in emergency rooms"), in his humble, medical opinion...the pair of them are going to get their asses kicked when they defend their titles tonight. Well, that's the end of part one. What a surprisingly great show so far! With those three big main events lined up, I'd say this PPV has an excellent chance of surpassing No Way Out to become the best show of the thread. JGKing fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 21:29
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I've never seen a Test match rated so highly! You go, Andrew "Test" "The Punisher" Martin
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Jan 2, 2014 21:58
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triplexpac posted:I've never seen a Test match rated so highly! You go, Andrew "Test" "The Punisher" Martin It was an incredibly breathless match and took me completely by surprise. Almost every move Test gave or received was done with such impact. It reminded a little bit of Batista in the midst of his first push, when everything he did seemed so forceful.
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Jan 2, 2014 22:06
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 2 We go backstage to Michael Cole, currently being dwarfed by The Undertaker. He asks for his opinion on Kurt Angle. Undertaker spits on the floor - because he's a biker, you see - before explaining that Kurt Angle's going to need a doctor to remove his foot from his rear end. A handily placed TV monitor shows Angle climbing onto 'Taker's bike, and the American Badass isn't happy. He stomps over to the parking lot and catches Kurt attempting to start the engine. Angle sees Undertaker and shits himself, jumping out of the seat and running for the hills. 4. WWF Tag Team Championship: Edge and Christian (c) vs The Acolytes You think you know them. Edge and Christian are out to defend their titles, but grab a couple of mics first. They insult the home crowd. Edge cuts a hilariously generic heel promo, beginning with "What is up with Dallas' professional sports franchises?". Christian brings up the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories, claiming that it doesn't make a difference because "if JFK had spent five more minutes in Dallas, he'd have committed suicide anyway". Edge prepares to unveil their five second pose, but the Acolytes are out to interrupt them. Bradshaw grabs a mic himself and is furious, being a Texan boy. He brings up Dallas' "FIVE SuperBowl championships" and the fact that teams from Texas have collectively won every major sports championship there is. However, I know for a fact that no Texas team has won the FA Cup, the oldest association football championship in the world, especially not in 1937 or 1973, the years in which it was won by the mighty Sunderland AFC. But I digress. Bradshaw's still going. He runs down Canada and brings up the Dallas Stars' Stanley Cup win, but I'm struggling to pay attention. This promo is nearing Steiner levels of volume and incoherence. Thankfully he stops talking, and the Acolytes leave the ring to lay down a whoopin' on the champs. Bradshaw smacks Edge around with right hands, while Faarooq lays into Christian with the ring steps. Finally the action moves to the ring, where E&C try for their own version of the Poetry in Motion (ending with a crossbody rather than a flying heel kick), but Bradshaw catches Christian horizontally and sticks him onto the top turnbuckle. He repositions himself, scoops up the champ, and hurls him backwards overhead into the centre of the ring. Big spot. OHH big boot to Edge as well. Boys, what happened to you being good at wrestling? You're getting squashed. Bradshaw beats Edge around for a while before spiking him with a huge powerbomb. He sets him up for a second...and Christian flies from off-camera with a missile dropkick! That got almost no reaction but it was insanely well executed! Edge takes control and a neckbreaker gets two, before tagging Christian in. The pair do a few double-team moves in the corner and set Bradshaw up for a double superplex, but he shoves them into the ring and flattens Edge with a diving shoulder block. Faarooq gets the hot tag and comes in like a house on fire! Powerslam to Christian! Spinebuster to Edge (man I hate Faarooq's spinebuster)! 1...2...Christian breaks it up. Bradshaw takes Edge to the outside and drags him over to the timekeeper...and Edge uses the timekeeper himself as a weapon!? He rams Bradshaw right into the unfortunate official, and grabs one of the title belts. Meanwhile, Faarooq hits the Dominator on Christian and covers him. 1...2...Edge drags the referee away and smashes his belt into the back of Faarooq's head. Winners: The Acolytes 1/5 – A filler match with a few nice spots (the missile dropkick and Faarooq's hot tag), but everything else was pretty ordinary. A screwy finish tops off this below-average showing. E&C grab their belts and head to the back, but the APA jump them on their way up the ramp. They beat the champs up the ramp and all the way backstage. In the #HeelDressingRoom we see Triple H pacing angrily. He explains to Stephanie that he's annoyed he has to think about Kurt Angle sending his wife flowers while he should be focusing on his last man standing match with Jericho. Steph gets angry and tells Trips that if he thinks Angle sent the flowers, maybe he should go and ask him himself. The Game decides to do just that, and storms off. Kurt is not having the best of nights. Speak of the devil, we cut to Angle still being pursued by an angry Undertaker. Kurt backs away and repeatedly apologises, but 'Taker is having none of it. Angle leads him down what looks to be a dead end, but he scoots around the back and blindsides undertaker with a wrench to the knee! Oh my god, it was all an ingenious plan! He leaves 'Taker down and hurt in the back. 5. WWF Intercontinental Championship Steel Cage Match: Val Venis (c) vs Rikishi A steel cage match, oh boy! We see a recap of Venis winning the title from Rikishi on an episode of Smackdown, thanks mainly to interference from Tazz - who has been attacking faces for no reason, remember. We also see Val attacking Rikishi's buddy Scotty 2 Hotty, throwing him off the stage on the previous episode of Raw. Couple all of this with the poo poo we saw Venis do to Rikishi in the run up to King of the Ring, and at the PPV itself, and I'd say the Samoan has a pretty big reason to be pissed off with him. Val is out to his awful techno remix with Trish in tow. The ref locks them in, and Val goes immediately for an escape, but Rikishi drags him back down. Venis gets whipped into the cage walls a few times, allowing Rikishi a chance to escape himself. Val goes up after him and gets swatted back down with an elbow, but he cunningly goes for the door instead. Rikishi has to abandon his own escape attempt to drag Val back by the feet. I am not a fan of the whole cage door thing at all, I must confess. Rikishi gets driven headfirst into one of the walls and I'm just waiting for him to blade, but he instead regains the upper hand, squashing Venis in a corner of the ring. Val falls into prime Stink Face territory and...manages to low blow the Samoan away! He crushes Rikishi with a running clothesline, turning the challenger inside out. I always enjoy when Rikishi pulls out that particular type of bump. It looks so impressive. The pair climb one side of the cage, but Val knocks Rikishi back down to the mat before leaping off with an elbow drop. He again goes for an escape and makes it halfway over the top of the cage, but the 'Kishmesiter General is there to drag him back. The pair take an age standing on the top rope, slowly bouncing one another into the wall, before both men fall and crotch themselves over the top rope. This isn't exactly the bloody brawl I was hoping for. Just as I say that, the camera reveals a cut over one of Val's eyes. Val freaks out on Rikishi with right hands, something Lawler attributes to the effect of seeing his own blood (nice commentary), but the challenger whips him HARD into one of the walls. BIG Samoan Drop, BIG squash in the corner, and Rikishi is rolling. He climbs up to the middle rope and hits the Banzai Drop, but Val just about drapes a leg over the ropes at two. Rikishi heads for the door...and Trish slams it onto his head! Venis climbs up top and hits the Money Shot. 1...2...Rikishi kicks out! Suddenly Lita runs out from the back, strap in hand and revenge on her mind! She whips Stratus to the floor and rips off her top, before lashing her all the way up the ramp to the back. Back in the ring, Val and Rikishi are battling AGAIN on one of the top ropes. This match has been sort of repetitive. Val gets knocked down, taking the ref out along the way. Rikishi climbs all the way to the top and looks to be on his way down the other side...but he slowly turns...and SPLASHES ONTO VAL FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE! Jeeeeesus. Rikishi is slow to get up, but clambers towards the door of the cage. Suddenly Tazz is on the scene, and smashes a TV camera into the challenger's head! Rikishi falls back into the ring, where Val is able to roll over and cover him for the three count. Winner and STILL WWF Intercontinental Champion: Val Venis 2/5 - This was quite a boring and repetitive match to be honest, but I've given it a 0.5 bonus for Rikishi's ludicrous splash from the top of the cage. Even so, this dragged, featured way too much interference, and probably didn't do a great deal to put either man more over. We cut briefly to The Undertaker limping around backstage. He doesn't look happy. Neither does Triple H, who is stalking the corridors in search of Kurt Angle. He runs into a gopher carrying a bunch of flowers, and demands that he take him to the sender. The man leads Trips to a closed door, and the Game braces himself before declaring "Kurt Angle's about to get his rear end kicked". He storms into the room and the door slams. We hear an almighty commotion from inside while the poor backstage worker looks confused. He wonders what Triple H meant by Kurt Angle, just as the door opens and Chris Jericho emerges triumphantly! That sneaky genius. We see Triple H lying dazed inside the room as Y2J takes off. Shane McMahon's music hits and he strides out to the ring in a Rock t-shirt. Nice touch. He claims he's about to call out The Rock to face him one on one. He tells the champ to "just bring it", and sure enough, the Brahma Bull's music hits. Rocky looks wary and claims that he knows this is a set-up. He demands to know where Benoit is. In the rafters, under the ring, stuck up Shane's candy rear end? Suddenly Benoit appears on the Tron and assures The Rock that there'll be a new champion come the end of the night. The camera zooms out to reveal that Benoit is standing in the champ's locker room, and he proceeds to rip shirts off their hangers, tear pants in half, etcetera. The Rock looks mildly annoyed and storms out of the ring. Well, that was one of the worst examples of that type of segment I've seen. My favourite is probably one of Austin's, although Kofi trashing Orton's ridiculous stock car was great as well. Hype video now for the Angle/Undertaker feud. We see Angle interfere on behalf of Edge and Christian to help them retain their tag titles on Raw, costing 'Taker and Kane in the process. We also see Kurt accidentally trashing the motorcycle with food and drink thrown from a catering table during one of his typically over-the-top celebrations. Angle apologises: "As they would say on the streets, 'my bad'". He brings 'Taker a replacement bike. It's a bright white scooter, which Undertaker pushes over the edge of the stage. Very ungrateful. Kurt then interferes in another of 'Taker's matches on an episode of Smackdown, accidentally clocking the American Badass with a sledgehammer shot made for Triple H. I'm not sure why he'd want to nail the Game; no feud has really been mentioned yet, although one seems to be brewing. Anyway, Kurt later has a revelation and decides that he's no longer scared of the Undertaker. He proves this by pouring a bucket of slop all over the motorcycle and blindsiding 'Taker backstage with a wrench. 6. Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker Kurt comes out clutching a wrench in hand, and jumps in fear as his own pyro goes off. Amazing. 'Taker comes out early while Angle's music is still playing, driving his bike halfway down the ramp and leaping off in pursuit! Kurt aims a wrench shot right at Undertaker's face, but the American Badass blocks it and punches Angle right over the crowd barrier. He beats Kurt around the crowd, and then around the ringside area for a while, before the referee ushers them into the ring so the match can start. Angle fights back briefly with a few rights, but 'Taker hits a big boot and (probably equally big) elbow drop. The ref counts two, but Undertaker lifts Angle's shoulders so the match can continue. Are we really supposed to believe that would have been enough for the pinfall already!? That's not the Olympic Hero I know. A vertical suplex results in the same outcome, 'Taker sparing Angle the three count to continue the beating. Why are the burying him so much!? Dammit, WWF. Interestingly, Undertaker hasn't sold the beating his leg has taken backstage at all. Angle gets taken to the corner and socked in the mouth, but manages to stick a boot into 'Taker's grill when he charges. Kurt leaps onto his back and clamps on a sleeper, but Undertaker backs him hard into the corner. A clothesline follows, as does a sidewalk slam with authority. 1...2...and this time Angle kicks out of his own accord, thank gently caress. Kurt goes for a ride out of the ring, but is able to snatch up his wrench and stiff 'Taker in the knee as he approaches. Back in the ring Angle eats a few more humongous rights, but chops away the bad leg and slaps on a leglock. 'Taker battles free and the pair exchange blows in the middle of the ring. Undertaker slaps on a goozle, but Angle kicks him in the leg and trips him Judo-style. He slaps on an incredibly long leglock (seriously, it takes like two minutes for 'Taker to reverse it), before Undertaker regains control and begins to dominate with brawling once again. He whips Angle into the ropes and catches him on the rebound with a BIIIG Chokeslam! The ref encourages Undertaker to cover Kurt, but he refuses. Angle is scraped off the mat and smashed with the Last Ride, and finally that's enough for the three. Winner: The Undertaker 1.5/5 - A third disappointing match in a row. I didn't really agree with Undertaker's whole "I could pin him if I wanted to" thing at the start of this match, and nothing about it stood out as remarkably good. Perhaps given more time these two could have produced something special, but given the two matches above this on the card I can understand why not. Still, I'd have expected a better showing from both men. When Al Snow and Tazz deliver a more entertaining match than 'Taker and Kurt, something's not quite right. We cut backstage to The Rock discovering his torn-apart wardrobe. He looks at it with the same slight annoyance as earlier before storming off. What a man. JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 00:41
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For the record, Jericho goes over in Undisputed that the Spanish Announce Table was being saved for him and Triple Hs Last Man Standing match, and they have to do a very risky spot to go through the other one. The Jericho/Triple H match is also pretty drat amazing overall.
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Jan 3, 2014 07:38
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 3 Video package now detailing the rivalry between Jericho and Triple H. Beginning with his forced kiss on an interfering Stephanie at King of the Ring, Y2J has been a thorn in the Game's side for weeks. We see him cost Triple H a number one contender's spot, as well as causing him to receive a Stinkface from Rikishi and - my personal favourite - costing him a match against the Brooklyn Brawler. Triple H gains revenge on a following Raw, using Road Dogg and X-Pac to lead Jericho into an ambush, before decimating him with a sledgehammer. The heels wave a bloodied Y2J onto an ambulance. This causes a vengeful Jericho to demand the match and stipulation. 7. Last Man Standing Match: Triple H vs Chris Jericho JR claims that this is only the second Last Man Standing match in WWF history (whaaaaaaaat!?), the first taking place in 1999 between The Rock and Mick Foley. Jericho has taped ribs but comes out swinging, stomping a mudhole in Triple H in a corner of the ring. He dropkicks the Game to the outside and hits a flying follow-up when Trips tries to clamber back onto the apron. They brawl in the wreckage of the Spanish announce table and Y2J hits a few disrespectful slaps to the face. Back in the ring the smaller man hits a nice diving elbow from the top, but Triple H regains control with a slightly sloppy version of his facebuster. A brutal clothesline takes the action back outside, but it's not long before they return to the ring. Triple H rips some of Jericho's bandaging away and goes to work on the ribs. Mannn this is an extensive working-over of the midsection, while JR delivers the biggest Smackdown of the match to Lawler: "You know what's running through the mind of Triple H right now, JR? Those disgusting words that come out of Jericho's mouth when he calls his wife a 'trashbag' and a...and a 'bottom feeder'. How would you like it if somebody called your wife a trashbag?" "...Triple H going to work now on the-" "How would you like it JR? How would you like it if somebody called your wife a trashbag?" "I WOULDN'T LIKE IT, DAMMIT! How many times are you going to ask me that? How would YOU like it if somebody called ALL YOUR WIVES trashbags?" I am gobsmacked at the sickness of that burn. Meanwhile, Triple H hooks the arms of Jericho on the outside, allowing Stephanie come over and get a few free slaps in. Hard vertical suplex on the ramp, and the Game looks in control. He gets up at the count of five and returns to the ring, where Triple H...applies an abdominal stretch. I'm all for telling the story of a match, but this is going on for quite a while. FINALLY Jericho breaks out with a brave hip toss, but immediately collapses clutching his ribs. Triple H loses his cool with the ref and enters into a shoving match, allowing Y2J to wipe out the Game with a beautiful jumping heel kick. He goes for the Lionasult...and eats knees! A DDT puts Jericho down for six or seven seconds, but he gets back up...and immediately rushes into a sleeper hold from the Game. That puts him down for a further nine, but he drags himself up via the ropes and defiantly urges Triple H to keep going. Trips blasts him with a right hand, but he pops back up and eats another. They're doing a good job of selling Y2J as the valiant underdog, and I'm just waiting for him to get a big reversal. Oh...the opposite actually happens; Jericho gives HHH the DX crotch chop, and Triple H straight up Pedigrees him in the middle of the ring! Merciless. The referee administers the count while Triple H lounges across the top turnbuckle like some kind of decadent warrior-king. Jericho just about manages to beat the ten count, and Trips can't believe it. He storms over to ringside to grab a chair and rams it into Y2J's ribs, following up with another shot across the back. He sets up Jericho for a Pedigree onto the chair, but the referee jumps in and tries to stop it. Slight gripe here - I HATE when refs go overboard in stopping heels from pulling off damaging moves. Fair enough, protest and wave your arms. But trying to physically force the heel to gently caress off is a stage too far in my opinion, especially when they never put the same amount of effort into stopping a face from killing his rival. Case in point here as Jericho low blows the game, snatches up the chair, and WAFFLES him with an outrageous chairshot to the head! I believe that may be the first Jericho chairshot we've seen in this thread, at least the first that looks like it could kill a man. He is loving brutal with them. OH MY GOD Triple H has given himself a ridiculous bladejob, although I suppose it fits with the brutality of the chairshot. I'm half considering a use of that "Well, that escalated quickly" meme from Anchorman, because it really has. Jericho builds up a head of steam and hits a sweet missile dropkick from the top. JR talks up his heart and resiliency, how he refuses to quit, but right now Triple H looks in a far worse state. Jericho hits his bulldog right onto the steel chair, but breaks up the referee's count at six to administer more punishment. Nice to see the remnants of his vindictive streak, even in his current babyface persona. Jericho whips Triple H clean over the top turnbuckle - he always takes that bump well - and the pair brawl over to the announce area. Jericho gets whipped into the steps before being set up for a Pedigree directly onto them. He's about to get his face rearranged...but backdrops the Game off the steps just in time! The pair stagger to their feet and grab a TV monitor each from the one remaining announce table (after Chyna so selfishly FELL THROUGH IT during Eddie's match). They measure one another and hit simultaneous shots to the head! Both men beat the count at nine and roll slowly back into the ring. Triple H goes for another Pedigree...SWIFTLY COUNTERED INTO THE WALLS OF JERICHO! Triple H screams and taps out, but Jericho doesn't release the hold. Trips drags himself to the ropes and grabs one, but the ref is powerless...and Jericho drags him back into the middle of the ring! Stephanie runs in and drags Y2J off by the hair and he grabs her. Is he going to kiss her again? NO, he trips her legs and slaps on the Walls! The crowd go wild as Triple H runs the ropes and smashes Jericho off his wife. They brawl back to the outside and Triple H grabs a sledgehammer from under the ring. He hides them everywhere, doesn't he? He swings and misses, hitting the ring post as Y2J ducks out of the way. Jericho snatches up the weapon now, and nails Triple H in the midsection. He topples backwards onto the announce table, and Y2J gets up on the tiny timekeeper's desk! Is he going for the Lionsault!? Triple H prevents what would have been a crazy spot with a desperation low blow. He climbs up alongside Jericho and, using the crowd barrier for balance, vaults both men backwards through the table with a thunderous back suplex! That looked dangerous as hell. The referee counts and both men look to be completely out...but Triple H staggers to his feet on the stroke of ten! Winner: Triple H 3.5/5 – A great match. The constant rest holds and slow wearing down of Jericho towards the start of the bout were quite a drag, but a necessary one as the match was then able to kick into a higher gear. Neither man put a foot wrong here; the only reason this doesn't get a 4/5 was because the ending spot looked fairly sloppy. I'm not sure how much of the blame for this can be put on the wrestlers themselves (see Onmi's above post), but it didn't damage the match too much anyway. Both men come out looking strong. Triple H collapses as soon as the bell rings and looks to be out cold, his face covered in blood. Stephanie rushes to his side and a couple of referees help him to the back, broken but victorious.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:50
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Man, HHH was so good in 2000. You might even say he was That drat Good™
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Jan 3, 2014 21:28
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triplexpac posted:Man, HHH was so good in 2000. You might even say he was That drat Good™ Unfortunately he's merely been "ok" in the following 14 years. 2000 Triple H is amazing its sad he never reached that height again minus a couple specific moments that are few and far between.
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Jan 3, 2014 23:22
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12 year old me loving hated Triple H. My favourite wrestling moment of all time is when Austin returned at Backlash 2000.
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Jan 4, 2014 00:56
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Fully Loaded – July 23rd 2000 PART 4 We get a hype video for the upcoming main event, and it looks to be based around a refreshingly simple feud. The Rock has the gold. Benoit wants the gold. We see Benoit jumping The Rock on various occasions, beating him down with chairs and the help of new ally Shane McMahon. I think this is an interesting move from Shane. Perhaps we're supposed to entertain the idea that he's moved to align himself with the next big thing after Triple H lost the belt. There's a montage of Benoit beating people up while Cole screams his negative traits in the background: "Benoit is ruthless...unfeeling...no emotion...dangerous". In hindsight it actually makes for quite disturbing viewing. The Rock agrees to put his title on the line, not because Benoit has deserved or earned a shot, but because he has "made it personal". The pair then seem to spend the rest of the month beating the crap out of each other in various backstage locations. Rocky seems to have the final word, Rock Bottoming Benoit onto the hood of a limo. However, Commissioner Foley turns the tables by ruling that the title CAN change hands on a disqualification. Oooooh. Potential shenanigans incoming. 8. WWF Championship: The Rock (c) vs Chris Benoit Everybody looks intense as they come out (Shane included), and for a second it looks as thought they're going to do the Big Fight Announcements. It's not to be, as Shane sneaks into the ring while Rocky poses on the turnbuckle. The champ turns and sees him, but as Shane scampers away Benoit is able to slide in from the back and club snatch Rock's arm. He's going immediately for the Crossface! The Rock fights him off and hits a big running elbow, so Benoit slides out for an immediate breather. Rock is pumped up though, and follows him straight out to jam his head into the ring steps! I should mention that the Rock is currently in that phase where the logo on his trunks is red rather than white. I find that particularly year 2000. Shane leads the champ on a merry dance around the ring, and I think they're going to do that spot where the dastardly manager cuts through the ring and allows the heel to cut off the face with a clothesline...but THEY TOTALLY GO THE OTHER WAY WITH IT! Rocky ploughs right through the Rabid Wolverine and continues out the other side of the ring to chase Shane some more. Hah. I loved that spot for some reason. They dash back into the ring and Rocky gives Benoit an atomic drop, before tripping him and slingshotting the Canadian right into Shane on the apron! Shane tumbles into the announce area, which looks like a demolition site by this stage of the evening. Rock tries to apply the Crossface, but he can't get it properly locked in! Benoit scrambles to the outside and waits, the atmosphere slowly building. The challenger returns to the ring and begins to take control. They spill to the outside where Benoit gives Rock one of his STINGING chest chops, and to make matters worse for poor Dwayne, his head cracks into a lurking TV camera as he whips himself back. Shawn Michaels wouldn't stand for that poo poo. That cameraman would be getting petulantly dragged into next week. Back in the ring now...and oh look. There's some of Triple H's blood on the canvas. Quite a lot, actually. Rocky lifts Benoit up and drops him stomach-first over the top rope, before NAILING him with a straight up kick to the grill. Or "XFL punt", as Lawler describes it.  Benoit goes up top, but Rock swipes one of his legs away and joins him up there for a (surprisingly perfect) back suplex. The champ's looking really good.That last move keeps both men down for a while, giving Shane a chance to place the title belt just inside the ring before calling the ref over to a different corner. He's putting in a shift out there. Textbook heel managing. Benoit grabs the belt and lays out Rocky, but it only gets a 2. Remember, Benoit, the Rock has PPV resiliency on his side. He's like one of those Pokemon whose trainer keeps feeding healing potions to just as you think you've got them beat. SNAP suplex from Benoit interrupts my rambling. The challenger starts to get his suplexes on, and the Rock is getting thrown around like a ragdoll. AHH, I was waiting for this to happen. Benoit is a Canadian heel, so of course he brings out the Sharpshooter (maybe even our first of the entire thread; I'm not sure). The Rock struggles and manages to crawl over to the nearest set of ropes. Benoit goes to apply the hold again, but Rock fights back with punches from the floor! He hauls himself up and gets whipped into the ropes...where Shane is on hand to pull them down and send the champ tumbling out of the ring. Benoit comes out to continue the rear end-whipping, but finds his own rear end getting whipped as the champ lifts him up, driving him crotch-first into the ringpost. Back in the ring, just as he did during the Iron Man match with Triple H (oh god, the flashbacks!), Rock slaps on a half-decent figure four leglock. Don't do it Rocky! The Undertaker will be down on his bike to gently caress things up any second now. Benoit makes the ropes and clotheslines the champ over the top rope. He tries to follow him out but Earl stops him (why?), so Shane comes SPRINTING around the ring to flatten Rocky with a big clothesline! I love Shane McMahon. A second clothesline takes the Rock over the crowd barrier - while a VERY conspicuous security man shields the crowd way in advance of the actual spot happening. I noticed him about five seconds beforehand, thinking it was Albert doing a run in. The dude was HUGE. Benoit clambers into the fray, but the oh-so-resourceful Rock grabs somebody's drink and throws it in his eyes. A fat guy next to them takes a lot of it as well, and gives out a huge cheer. So happy to be involved.  Benoit gets clotheslined over to ringside, but manages to deal out some punishment of his own with a vertical suplex over the barrier. They brawl back into the ring and Benoit looks to be gaining control, but Rock hits a DDT out of nowhere! It only gets two though, and the challenger regains momentum with a backbreaker and neckbreaker. All the breakers. You can tell Triple H is more experienced, because he mixes up the breakers with an occasional buster or two. If a dude starts busting out drivers you know he's done some serious time in the indies or Japan.Aghhhh a botch!? This match looked the least likely of all to have one of those. Luckily it actually looks alright, as Rock scoops up Benoit for some sort of powerbomb, but stumbles backwards and drops him right onto the ropes. Ouch. Benoit sells it well - or is actually in pain - but that could have been a lot worse. Benoit slams the Rock down and goes up top...Diving Headbutt connects! The Rock is out, but Benoit hurt himself on the move as well. Both men rise slowly and tee off in the middle of the ring. Rocky whips Benoit into the ropes...SPINEBUSTER! The crowd lose their poo poo as the Rock hits the People's Elbow, but Shane times his distraction of Hebner perfectly. Rock has Benoit covered for a good five seconds before Earl turns around, but the challenger is JUST able to throw a shoulder up in time. Benoit battles back and hits a lovely superplex, and both men are out again. The subsequent pinfall attempt only gets two, and Benoit's had enough. He heads to the outside and takes the timekeeper's chair. The referee is having none of that poo poo, and tries to wrestle it away from him...but it's all a plan! Shane slides in with another chair and blasts...the referee in the back!? Unorthodox, but let's go with it. Rocky gets his second wind and knocks Shane down with a right hand. He lays the Smackdown on Benoit in the corner before turning his attentions back to the McMahon, who flees from an attempted chairshot. Rock hilariously catches a downed Earl watching him, and drops the chair over the top rope immediately. He turns around...right into a charging Benoit...but catches his arm and takes him down into the Crossface! Yay stolen finisher! Benoit won't tap, but Earl rings the bell anyway. Uh oh. The crowd think Rocky's won, but they might be disappointed. Yup. The Fink announces that... Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Chris Benoit - Wait a second. Here comes Foley... Alright, well Foley doesn't come out immediately. First we see the Rock's bulging, disbelieving eyes, followed by one of Shane's sick chairshots to knock him down. The heels celebrate all the way up the ramp while some cups and stuff get thrown into the ring (what is this, WCW?), and NOW Foley comes out. He grabs a mic and announces that although he said the belt could change hands on a DQ, he sure as hell didn't see one. He orders the match to continue, and the Rock is back up in the ring. Oh man, he's busted WIDE open. He does the "just bring it" motion to Benoit and the crowd goes wild! Benoit strides down the ramp and hands the belt off to Shane, the opponents shouting trash-talk to one another furiously. drat, this is awesome! Benoit rolls in and is IMMEDIATELY taken to school with right hands. The Rock spits into his palm and swings, but the Wolverine ducks underneath and hooks him up for three big German suplexes! The third is bridged, and JUST kicked out of. Benoit apples the Crossface, and it's in tight. Rock has his Austin moment, bleeding profusely in a Canadian's submission hold. But unlike Austin, Rocky is fully babyface at this point, so OF COURSE he makes the ropes! It takes him a while, and Benoit tries to drag him back down into a second...but Rock uses his snagged arm to pull the challenger into his clutches! ROCK BOTTOM! 1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 4.5/5 - Woooooo! What a match! I felt dubious about the booking when Foley first came out, but the reaction of the wrestlers and crowd made it an awesome moment. The Rock's earlier botch aside, both men were absolutely superb here. Even Shane was fantastic throughout, not just in his interferences, but in his reactions and mannerisms. I'm glad they didn't take the belt off the Rock so soon (as they did just one month after he last won it at Backlash), and I'm not sure Benoit was established enough to hold it just yet. Great match, good booking. Great show! The Rock grabs his belt and holds it aloft, face bloodied, as Foley looks on smiling from ringside. Shane and Benoit stagger off into the distance as JR muses whether we've just witnessed the beginning of a rivalry for the ages. What a way to cap the Pay Per View! Summary to follow.
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Jan 6, 2014 03:52
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FULLY LOADED 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night The Rock vs Chris Benoit - It seems to me that The Rock has always been on the verge of delivering a quality match since the beginning of this thread, and here he finally delivers. This was fast-paced, incredibly intense, and full of memorable moments. Even little spots (like the drink-throw, or Shane tumbling off the apron into the area where the announce tables used to be) stick in the mind, and helped make this an incredibly fun main event to watch. The false-ending had me worried, and would have probably ruined the match had they not hit everybody with the double-bluff, but it ensured that the actual finish was full of excitement. Wrestler Of The Night 1. The Rock - Excluding his one botch - which we'll excuse, as it didn't look too bad - Rocky was the star of the show, as he should be. 2. Chris Benoit - Took a backseat to the brilliant Rock, but delivered a performance oozing with typical Benoit technique and intensity. 3. Test - The main reason that the opening match was such a banger. Delivered some of the most thunderous spots I've seen since the TLC match, and he didn't even need to use weapons! 4. Triple H - Started slowly in his match with Y2J, but everything he did from the bladejob onwards was psychologically superb. 5. Jeff Hardy - Test's partner in crime. Dished out damage and bumped like a madman in equal measure. A very exciting showing. Chris Jericho gets about as close as you can to the top five without actually entering into it. I nudged Jeff ahead because Triple H was really the centrepiece of the Last Man Standing match, and although Jericho did a perfectly good job, I wasn't awed by anything he did apart from the nasty chairshot. Jeff and Test, on the other hand, went through some of the most entertaining, breathless sequences I've seen since the beginning of the thread. Lita was going to be on here if the main events had been stinkers, as she turned up to fly. I also toyed with the idea of giving Rikishi a spot for his splash from the top of the cage, but the rest of his match was very average compared to those featuring the wrestlers in the top five. Definitely the hardest top five I've had to order so far. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 17 2. Chris Jericho - 13 3. Triple H - 12 4. Jeff Hardy - 11 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 Chris Benoit - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 7 8. Christian - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. Bubba Ray Dudley - 4 Rikishi - 4 11. Test - 3 12. Matt Hardy - 2 Scotty 2 Hotty - 2 Dean Malenko - 2 13. Kane - 1 Esse Rios - 1 The Undertaker - 1 Triple H and Jeff Hardy inch towards the leading pair, while Benoit and The Rock leap up from their relatively low positions. Test gets himself on the board, leapfrogging a host of rookies - including both Brothers of Destruction - in the process. Angle still leads fairly comfortably however, his earlier consistency serving him well in a non-scoring month. FULLY LOADED SCORE: 9/10 A wonderful show from top to bottom. There were three great matches on here, as advertised, although maybe not the exact three the WWF had in mind. The Last Man Standing and WWF Title matches were great, while the opening intergender tag match was a shock barnstormer. Even the filler matches on this card exceeded expectations (you know it's going to be a good night when Al Snow and Perry Saturn are balling), and the only disappointments are perhaps the monotonous cage match - which admittedly gave us Rikishi's amazing high risk spot - and the Undertaker's squashing of Angle. Kurt was on such a roll up until now
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Jan 6, 2014 04:23
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Strange to read in the Carnie thread that HHH used to absolutely reject any possibility of jobbing, when by this point he seems okay with taking losses to guys like the Brooklyn Brawler. Even if he did get the win over Jericho in the end...
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Jan 6, 2014 21:08
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HHH didn't mind jobbing to people that weren't a threat. He could look bad against a Taka for example without being worried about the guy being elevated and becoming a threat.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:10
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Skinty McEdger posted:HHH didn't mind jobbing to people that weren't a threat. He could look bad against a Taka for example without being worried about the guy being elevated and becoming a threat. Dave talked about this a bit... guys like Nash and Hogan would "put guys over" in a way that was clearly not meant to establish a new star. Then they could say "but I jobbed to THIS guy" whenever someone got on their case about being assholes. HHH wasn't so mocking in the way he put guys over, but yeah it wasn't like he was trying to make a new star out of TAKA.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:44
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 – Raleigh, North Carolina PART 1 Hello and welcome to the second of the “big four” PPVs of 2000! SummerSlam is probably my third favourite of the four (behind the Rumble and WrestleMania at first and second respectively), although if they ever did Survivor Series justice, maybe I’d prefer it. It’s a wonderful concept, but they never seem to get it right. Poor Survivor Series. Anyway, SummerSlam is traditionally regarded by the WWE as its second biggest show, although that’s a very arguable point. Here, for example, we aren’t really seeing the culmination of any big feuds. It feels more like the starting point for a lot of new storylines, as The Rock and Triple H handily dispatched their foes at Fully Loaded, and Undertaker dealt with Kurt without really breaking sweat. I was expecting a follow-up to the Benoit/Rock storyline, but instead – according to one of the three marquee matches – we’ll be having a triple threat match for the WWF Title featuring Kurt and Triple H. The feud there seems to have sprouted from Kurt’s growing friendship with Stephanie, and the fact that both men have their sights set on The Rock’s shiny shiny gold. The whole jealousy storyline throws an interesting dynamic into the match, which could lead to some pretty entertaining fireworks. Here’s a question; this is WWF booking 101. What do you do if Kane and Undertaker have no current storylines? THAT’S RIGHT, you feud them. If previous feuds between the two are anything to go by, this match should be high on theatrics and low on quality. That being said, it does have the potential to be good. Undertaker can go with the best of them, and Kane is about as solid as wrestlers come, so I’m staying hopeful. The only other announced match is a beautiful example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The bookers saw how outrageous the triangle ladder match was at WrestleMania and decided to just do it again, this time under the stipulation of a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. Nowadays the TLC match is everybody’s favourite injury-fest waiting to happen, but I believe that this is the first ever example of such a stipulation. It would be an understatement to say that I am rabidly anticipating this one. JR and King scream their lovely welcomes to us, and the set looks great. Is SummerSlam always purple and green, or only some years? I can’t remember. Anyway, I like it. JR reveals that there are four championships to be decided tonight, but King heart-warmingly cuts him off to wish him well. Apparently JR was viciously attacked by Tazz on the previous Smackdown, and King is scheduled in a match to get some payback for his announcing buddy. Aww, those guys. They may bicker constantly, but deep down they’ve got each other’s back. And hello, what’s this!? NEW THEME MUSIC!?Well, music is a loose term. What we instead get is a constantly wailing siren and the emergence of one of my favourite heel groups ever, Right To Censor. They are an ingenious concept. In the Attitude Era, who could possibly be a more hateable bunch of villains than a stable of fun-spoiling do-gooders, their mission to ban everything gratuitous and sexual from the WWF. I hope whoever came up with them was rewarded; they are bloody fantastic. Stevie (sorry, Steven) Richards, The GOODfather, and my main man, the man with the plan, he’s as big as a van, I’m his number one fan, Bull Buchanan stride out to the ring. Richards grabs a mic. He claims to be disappointed and shocked that here, in the Bible Belt, Right To Censor’s lessons in morality are not applauded. He begins a tirade against Rikishi, but is immediately cut off by the music of Too Cool. 1. Right To Censor vs Too Cool and Rikishi Rikishi strides out with a former member of the Goodfather’s ho train on either arm. I’m assuming he ditched them as part of his heel turn; the pimp lifestyle probably doesn’t mesh well with employment as Steven Richards’ morality-dispensing henchman. JR reveals that one of the ladies was recently thrown through a table by the Goodfather, and that her name is Victoria. Holy poo poo! A closer look reveals that it’s Victoria as in THE Victoria. So this is where she got her start! That’s one of the main reasons I like doing these reviews; you find out so many little things. Too Cool have a dance party in the ring which RTC don’t approve of, and the bad guys jump them before the bell. Rikishi dispatches Goodfather over the top rope with a clothesline and the match settles into Scotty vs Buchanan. Mr 2 Hotty climbs to the second rope and fakes diving off, causing Buchanan to hesitate (great spot, I remember Christian and Orton mastering this a couple of years ago). He gets all elusive and slides under a big boot to the outside, tripping Bull’s legs and dragging his crotch into the ringpost. Goodfather and Sexay receive tags, and Grandmaster just about ducks his head out of the way of a devastating clothesline. He hooks the ropes to avoid an equally vicious big boot, before rolling a charging Goodfather up and out of the ring. Sexay jumps out after and restrains the Goodfather, calling for Victoria to slap him. She winds up...but Goodfather breaks free and shoves her to the floor to huge boos. Surely that’s acting in a more pimp-like fashion than when he actually was a pimp. Sexay gets double teamed in the ring by Richards’ two henchmen, before the boss gets tagged in himself. He hits a really nice powerbomb on Grandmaster for a two count. Was Richards a good wrestler!? I never got into ECW, and the only real memory I have of him was despising this very gimmick as a child. He heads up top but gets caught by Sexay, and the former tag champ hits a high-angled superplex. Both men are down but Grandmaster gets to his corner – with the help of a quick enziguri on Steven – and here comes the big man! He rocks Richards with a few big rights and sends him out of the ring. The RTC leader tries to make an escape up the ramp (possibly because his shirt came untucked. That would throw my game off too), but Victoria chases him down and drags him back into the ring to the fans’ delight. Rikishi sets up the Rikishi Driver, but Goodfather and Buchanan rush in to break it up. Rikishi takes them all on and whips all three into the same corner. A butt-splash from Scotty drops Goodfather, and a second from Sexay sends Bull out of the way, leaving Rikishi to squash Richards. Steven drops to the floor in prime Stink Face position, but his boys are back up to save the day. Goodfather charges Rikishi but eats an instinctive Samoan drop. The big man is slow to get up, however, allowing Buchanan the time to drill him with an axe kick to the back of the head. But now Scotty comes out of nowhere with a bulldog! The crowd come alive! W...o...r...RICHARDS OUT OF NOWHERE WITH A NICE SUPERKICK! 1...2...3! Winners: Right To Censor 2.5/5 – Perfectly good opening match. I love RTC’s gimmick unconditionally. We see footage of Angle and Stephanie on the previous Smackdown, hanging out alone in the #HeelDressingRoom. Kurt tells Steph he really cares about her and he’s sorry for letting her get attacked (she got Rock Bottomed earlier). She says thank you and he goes in for the kiss. What a dog. Stephanie struggles at first but seems to succumb. They break apart and Steph looks confused, while angle has the creepiest grin on his face. Kurt is the best heel. Just the best. We cut to the interview area, where Cole is standing by with Shane O’Mac. Shane has won the Hardcore title! Good for Shane. And he’s defending it later tonight against...oh my god...  2. Road Dogg vs X-Pac This match apparently came about as the result of a “friendly rivalry” turned nasty. On the previous Raw, Pac and Road Dogg got into a shoving match, and Waltman ended up accidentally shoving his partner off the apron through a table. The following Smackdown saw the pair in a handicap match against Undertaker, and Road Dogg abandoned his partner midway through. Needless to say, Pac lost. Road Dogg comes out first and does his usual spiel, ending it by throwing the mic back to the Fink who hilariously fumbles. X-Pac takes Road Dogg down with some amateur wrestling skills and keeps him on the mat with ease, before popping back up to taunt his partner. Audacious. Road Dogg gains the upper hand now – perhaps fuelled by the thunderous “X-PAC SUCKS” chants. He ducks under a leapfrog and boots X-Pac in the backside, sending him tumbling out of the ring to jeers. Pac slides back in and builds momentum with some nice martial arts kicks (he was always good at those), but Road Dogg has the final spinning kick scouted and catches his leg. I like spots like that, where the opponents have one another’s moves scouted. RD throws some crazy knees into the equation to the delight of the crowd, before releasing Pac’s foot and flooring him with a hard clothesline. They go to the corner where X-Pac gains control with a few more kicks, knocking Road Dogg to the floor. He almost goes for the Bronco Buster, but Road Dogg scoots out of the ring just in time, remarking “I know that trick”. He runs the ropes, but X-Pac leaps onto his back and clamps on a sleeper. Road Dogg fights out and hits the ropes again, but Pac takes his head off with a spinning heel kick! He drags his partner over to the corner and this time the Broncu Buster comes off. X-Pac turns away and plays to the (near silent) crowd, but Road Dogg no-sells the attack and measures him from behind. He hits the dancing punches, before draping Pac over the middle rope and leaping butt-first onto his neck! Wow. The crazy knee drop gets two, and Road Dogg sets up for the Pumphandle Slam. X-Pac reverses, but Road Dogg fights out of his attempted X Factor. He goes for his own finisher again, but this time X-Pac sweeps his foot back and hits a sneaky low blow! X Factor connects! 1...2...3. Winner: X-Pac 2/5 – Quite slow. The pair seemed a little unmotivated, but the action itself was alright. X-Pac grabs a mic and calls for the rivalry to be over. He says they found out who the better man was, now they can go back to being a great team. Road Dogg accepts his handshake...but kicks him in the gut! Pumphandle Slam! The crowd go wild for Road Dogg as he leaves to his theme music, leaving his partner down in the middle of the ring. We cut backstage to Eddie and Chyna. They’re both apparently competing for the Intercontinental title tonight in an intergender tag match. They talk about her being the new Playboy centrefold model, and Guerrero also mentions that if she wins the title, he’s not the jealous type. He’ll be pleased for her despite not having any gold of his own. We now see Trish Stratus and the current champ, Val Venis in their locker room. Trish muses whether people would rather see her as a centrefold as opposed to Chyna. Val seems stressed as gently caress. He slams her for even talking about that sort of thing, and says that tonight is all about him retaining is gold. He warns Trish to stay focused and do her part before storming off. That seemed a little over the top, Val. Are you okay buddy? 3. WWF Intercontinental Championship: Val Venis (c) and Trish Stratus vs Eddie Guerrero and Chyna Eddie and Val start us off, but not before we see a quick video of the last match between these two. Chyna powerbombed Val from the apron to the floor, and Trish smashed a glass over the back of Chyna’s head. Good clean family fun. Eddie takes control of the early stages with his superior speed, hurtling around the ring and smashing into Venis with a flying back elbow. Val lifts Guerrero up for a powerbomb, but Eddie backflips clean out of it. I’m going to put forward the suggestion that Eddie is, if not the best worker on the roster, then certainly the wrestler with the most fluid movement in the ring. Everything looks so smooth. Eddie catches a kick from Val and holds his leg, standing just out of range as Venis swings for him. Guerrero fights like some sort of comical swashbuckling Zorro. His partner doesn’t, however, as she tags herself in and takes Val’s head off his shoulders with a clothesline. The challengers hit a double flapjack, but it only gets two. Val and Chyna go through one of the slowest exchanges I can recall seeing, but she finally manages to slip out the back of a powerslam attempt and hits another HUGE clothesline. drat that looked stiff. Venis hits a few sloppy powerslams – he really doesn’t have the most imaginative moveset – but misses from the top rope with a big elbow attempt. Chyna goes for the tag to Eddie, but Val breaks it up and spits all over Guerrero. Eddie is livid and rushes in, but the ref dashes over to stop him. Low blow by Chyna! She sets up Val for a powerbomb but he backdrops out and hits the ropes...DDT from Chyna! Just loving make the tag already! Thankfully she does, and the match is finally injected with some pace as Guerrero takes Venis apart. Eddie grabs one of Val’s hands and looks as though he’s setting up for Undertaker’s Old School, but he instead hits a springboard hurricanrana! Lovely. The pair battle some more but neither is able to get the upper hand, and they both take one another out with simultaneous clotheslines. Val crawls over and Trish is calling for the tag. This could get ugly very soon. He makes the tag and Stratus covers Eddie...who just kicks out at two! She sticks a few boots into his ribs, but he catches one and trips her, before tagging Chyna with an awesome “go kick her rear end!” expression on his face. Chyna does her thing, which just seems to involve clotheslines and powerslams. She props Trish in the corner and...oh no...she’s going for her awful cartwheel finisher thing, isn’t she? Val senses my concern, and dashes over to yank her down by the hair. Eddie comes over to even the odds with a European uppercut, but Venis tosses him to the outside. He and Trish link arms and go for a double clothesline on Chyna, but Eddie yanks Val under the bottom rope, and Stratus simply bounces off Chyna’s body. Eddie sends Venis into the ring steps, and Chyna hits Trish with a big gorilla press slam! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW WWF Intercontinental Champion: Chyna 1.5/5 – The parts with Eddie in were decent, but the parts without him were outrageously slow. Easily the worst match of the night so far, but also curiously the match with the best individual performance. Guerrero’s back must be in agony after carrying these three for ten minutes or so. Am I right you guys? Eddie hoists Chyna in celebration while Val screams at Trish on the outside. The belt is handed to Chyna and Eddie volunteers to strap it around her waist. Is it wrong that I’m praying for him to blast her with it? He doesn’t, sadly, and they celebrate Chyna’s win. We see a recap of a baffling event that took place in New York prior to the show called WWF Radio, hosted by Michael Cole and featuring the guest appearances of Foley, Trish, and Chyna. They even got The Rock on the phone. And Too Cool came in and made Mick do their dance with them! Oh the hilarity. Oh the fun. Stephanie is backstage with a female assistant or worker or something. She asks Steph about kissing Angle last week. Steph stresses that she didn’t kiss him, he kissed her. The woman reveals that “the girls” were having a debate over whether Angle was a hunk or a hotte. Are those the only two options!? He’s doing very well in that case. Steph concedes with a mischievous smirk that he was a good kisser. Oh my god, everybody is so stupid. Do they KNOW who her husband is!? The huge, evil barbarian-looking dude with a dangerous love of sledgehammers? And they’re all just joking around as though everything will be fine. I am fearing for Angle’s life when the main event rolls around. Lawler vs Tazz is up next, and JR warmly wishes King the best of look. Awww. They bring up a jar of candy sat on their announce table for seemingly no reason. Chekhov’s gun, anybody? Lawler says he’s not worried at all and that he’ll be fine. We see a recap of Tazz beating up various babyfaces for no reason, and he decides to focus his bullying on JR. He knocks the announcer’s hat off on an episode of Raw, calling him a redneck scumbag. He says that he wishes he could slap JR across the face, but it looks as though God beat him to it. Wow. A little tasteless there. Jim seems to agree, and slaps him in retaliation. Tazz begs him to do it again, but Lawler instead shows JR how to throw a proper strike, and NAILS Tazz with a right hand. Jesus, that was huge! Tazz retaliates by splitting Lawler’s head open with a pair of headphones on Smackdown, but the King goes right after him in the ring with right hands. We cut ahead to Jerry jumping Tazz in a storeroom, sending a group of heavy boxes down on him from a high shelf. Tazz retaliates by vandalizing Lawler’s car, spraying “Thug Life” all over it. That’s not all. JR is trapped in the front seat, and Tazz smashes the window with a truncheon, sending glass all over the announcer. Lawler runs to the back to help his buddy, but as he tries to get glass out of JR’s eye, Tazz takes advantage and jumps King from behind, getting the last laugh on the run-in to the PPV. 4. Tazz vs Jerry “The King” Lawler Tazz comes out dressed as a blind JR, with a cowboy hat, dark glasses, and a walking cane. JR thanks the medical team for getting the glass out of his eye and remarks that Tazz’s antics aren’t a drat bit funny to him. The New Yorker strides over to the announce table and mocks JR, so Lawler springs out of his chair and flattens him with a right hand. JR goes right into calling the match (“And King with a right hand!”); what a goddamn professional. Lawler rips off his robe, revealing his singlet underneath, and pounds away with right hands in the ring. He hits a dropkick to the back! Nice. A “Jerry, Jerry” chant starts up as JR builds up Lawler’s veteran credentials. “He’s been in the ring with every great in the game, and that does not include Tazz”. King heads to the second rope and hits the fist drop, and it looks as though he actually makes contact with Tazz’s mouth! Ouch. He heads up for a second, but Tazz rolls out of the way and takes control of the match. Just as JR reminds everybody of Tazz’s toughness and athleticism, the man himself abuses him from inside the ring, calling for him to look at his fallen friend. JR cuts off his commentary abruptly and fights to remain composed. The dynamic of this match is fantastically unique. I’m loving it. Tazz hurls Lawler out of the ring and goes after him, pausing to throw some more trash-talk at JR. The crowd sitting in the front row behind Ross leap to their feet and hurl obscenities back, and it’s all quite heartwarming in a way. Jerry jumps Tazz from behind and rolls him back in, where the former ECW man begs off on his knees. Lawler pays no attention and strides over, but Tazz headbutts him in the groin! He hits a scoop slam and goes to the top, but Lawler JUST rolls out of the way of a senton attempt. Jesus, that was awfully close to a botch. They get away with it though, and Lawler hooks up Tazz for the PILEDRIVER! Wooo....oh my GOD Tazz no-sells it! I know I’ve complained about his no-selling on other shows, but it was actually really effective here and caught me completely off-guard. It catches Jerry unawares too, and he gets shoved right into the referee. Uh oh. Ref bump. Tazz shouts over to JR that he’s going to choke out Lawler, and then come for him next. JR manages not to completely poo poo himself (I would), and continues to call the match as Lawler misses with a big right and gets locked into the Tazzmission. Tazz takes King down to the matt and taunts JR through the ropes, daring him to come and save his friend. Oh! JR gets out of his seat! The crowd go wild! He marches over...AND SMASHES THE CANDY JAR OVER TAZZ’S HEAD! OH MY GOD I’M MARKING OUT. EVERYBODY IS! Lawler makes the cover just as the ref regains consciousness...1...2...3! I knew that candy jar was going to feature somehow! Winner: Jerry “The King” Lawler1/5 – Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Never destined to be a good match, but oh my god that was an awesome ending! I’m so happy! FRIENDSHIP WINS! JR returns to his seat and says that, while he might get in a hell of a lot of trouble, that son of a bitch got what he deserved. This is so great! Ahahaha, King milks the win as though it was all him, standing on the announce table and cheering. In a wonderful moment of karma, we see Tazz roll out the other side of the ring wailing about glass in his eye. King returns to his seat next to JR and they congratulate one another. I’m just so very happy! And on that ultimate “gently caress YEAH!” moment, we come to the end of part one. That was so awesome! JR and King rule! JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 22:25
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I've said this once but I'll say it again... I love reading your reviews, they're a blast! Keep it up. Can't wait to read more about Summerslam. I remember watching this one on VHS and it was awesome.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:55
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Der-Wreck posted:I've said this once but I'll say it again... Thanks a lot man, and thanks again for everybody's feedback in general. I have a blast watching and reviewing these shows but without everybody's responses I wouldn't be nearly as motivated to keep doing so.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:58
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JGKing posted:Thanks a lot man, and thanks again for everybody's feedback in general. I have a blast watching and reviewing these shows but without everybody's responses I wouldn't be nearly as motivated to keep doing so. I definitely enjoy these a lot!
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Jan 8, 2014 00:16
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