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Yeah, these are great. I don't post much in this thread, but that's because there's not really much for me to say. Your writeups say it all.
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Jan 8, 2014 00:23
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 2 Shane is on his way to the ring and gets stopped by a backstage interviewer. She wants to ask him about his opinion on the whole Steph/Kurt scenario, but he explains that he's about to defend his Hardcore belt. There's a clang of metal and his challenger strides around the corner, trash can and kendo stick in hand. Shane takes off running. GUESS WHO IT IS!  5. WWF Hardcore Championship: Shane McMahon (c) vs Steve Blackman We flash back briefly to Shane winning the hardcore title by interfering in a massive clusterfuck of a match originally between Test and Blackman. Albert, Christian and Edge all get involved, before finally Shane sneaks onto the scene to crack Blackman over the head with a kendo stick and steal a pinfall. Blackman storms down the ramp and into the ring, and Shane immediately scampers to the apron. King mentions that there's glass all over the place. JR denies knowing anything about it. Shane doesn't want to get in the ring. Blackman throws him his kendo stick. Shane throws it back. Blackman lays it on the mat and turns his back, offering a free shot. Shane takes it, but Blackman turns around and catches the blow, because he is god. Shane hightails it out of the ring and leaps into the crowd, but Blackman heads up the ramp and into a separate crowd entrance to cut him off. BAM! Trashcan to the head. Blackman beats Shane back through the crowd to the ringside area and throws him over the railing. He stands on the barrier and waits for McMahon to turn around...and NAILS him with a jumping kick to the solar plexus! They get back in the ring, Blackman stopping to grab an assortment of trash can lids from under the ring. He whips Shane into the ropes...and smacks him in the knees on the rebound! Ooooh. He lifts Shane by the hair and holds his head, screaming "This is my house!". He gets a cheer! He's come so far since those "Blackman sucks" chants at the Rumble!  Ouch! Spinning trashcan lid shot to the back of the head! Shane gets the trashcan itself placed over his head, and Blackman goes to town on him with two smaller sticks. Shane drops to his knees, still wearing the trashcan...CLANG. Side kick to the head. Blackman grabs a leather strap and wraps it around Shane's neck, using it to whip him into the corner, and then yank him from the second rope to the canvas. He applies some kind of leglock (maybe a half Boston crab?), but simultaneously uses the strap to yank Shane's neck off the mat, and it looks BRUTAL. Oh no...here comes the cavalry. Test and Albert crash the party, and Blackman gets dropped with the Albert bomb. Test wedges the trashcan into the turnbuckles and uses Albert to squash the challenger in that corner. Blackman staggers out and gets DROPPED with a lid shot. Albert places the lid on his chest, and Test goes up top and drops a HUGE elbow right onto him! Shane seems to be enjoying the match a little more now. I, on the other hand, am furious.T&A hold Blackman's arms while Shane peppers him with jabs. He picks up a trashcan lid and dances around with it, before moving to clock Blackman with it...BUT BLACKMAN KICKS IT BACK INTO HIS FACE! Aghhh, Test and Albert quickly regain control of the situation, and Shane LEAPS into a jumping shot to the face with a road sign of some sort. The leather strap gets put over Blackman's head, and Shane drags him up the ramp to the side of the stage - the area full of sound and lighting equipment. Blackman gets laid down underneath a stack of two huge amplifiers...and HOLY poo poo! Test pushes the top one off, and Blackman only narrowly rolls out of the way! That was a legitimately dangerous spot! Imagine if that had gone wrong! He's a brave man. T&A still have control, however, and Albert measures Blackman with a kendo stick...but Test gets dragged in the way! CRACK! Suddenly Blackman has the stick, and he goes nuts on the pair. I am having the best fun, but Shane spoils everything by flying out of nowhere with a clothesline. Blackman gets up with vengeance in his eyes, and Shane turns and runs. He proves himself to be an absolute idiot by choosing to flee...up the lighting rig? Blackman goes straight up after him, kendo stick in hand. Shane reaches the top and (surprise, surprise) hits a dead end. Blackman is up alongside him now, and hits him with several shots to the spine. Shane teeters...AND ONE MORE BLAST FORM THE KENDO STICK IS ENOUGH TO SEND HIM FALLING WAYYYYY BACK DOWN TO THE STAGE AREA! Jesus Christ! He obviously landed on a crash mat, but even so that took serious balls. Blackman could just climb down and pin him now, but apparently he's way too much of a loving hero for that. He descends about a third of the way, pauses, and THROWS HIMSELF INTO AN ELBOW DROP ONTO SHANE! He lands perfectly next to him and the referee is on hand to administer the three count. What the gently caress did I just witness!? Winner and NEW WWF Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman 2.5/5 - The second "holy poo poo" ending to a match in a row, this one less feel-good and more flat out ridiculous. As a wrestling contest this was largely sloppy and poor from the moment Test and Albert arrived on the scene, but the first few minutes were fun in a squashy sort of way. That ending totally saves it though. Shane needs his head checked for volunteering to throw himself BACKWARDS off scaffolding, and Blackman adds unnerving accuracy to his list of superpowers. That elbow drop could have resulted in disaster had he landed a foot in the wrong direction. Amazing scenes. I didn't realise 2000 was such a big year for sick bumps. We had Mick Foley suffer all kinds of thumb-tacky, cell-breaking poo poo in the first two PPVs, followed by Jeff's infamous Swanton at 'Mania. Now in the past two events we've had THIS loving thing, as well as Rikishi's splash from the top of the cage onto Val Venis! AND we've got that TLC match coming up later in the show. I'm worried somebody's going to do themselves a mischief (is that a British saying only?). Shane does the stretcher job as we cut back to JR and King at the announce table. Lawler still hasn't put a shirt back on after his match! You're a disgrace, Jerry! Anyway, they do a good job of selling the shocking nature of Shane's fall. JR mentions that Foley's infamous plunge from the cell roof was only half as high as Shane's fall, so surely the latter is more dangerous. I'll field that one for you, Jim. As dangerous as Shane's fall looked - and unquestionably was - he pulled it off in a very controlled manner. We see him push himself away from the scaffolding and land pretty much flat on his back. Undertaker just loving heaves Mick Foley over the edge like a sack of potatoes. Add to that the fact that Shane fell onto a fairly large surface designed to break his fall, and Foley had a single announce table, and you kind of see why Mankind's is the one that has gone down in wrestling folklore. I don't want to take too much away from Shane's spot though. It was still pretty death-defying in its own right, and I certainly wouldn't do anything like it. #DontTryThisAtHome (Actually, I think they've shortened it now to simply "Don't try this", which probably stops kids from doing it in the playground or whatever, but robs the message of its previous domestic charm  )We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Steph is worried sick. Kurt comes in and she asks him frantically if he's heard anything about Shane's condition. Um, it literally just happened Stephanie. Is Angle some kind of backstage roving reporter? He replies that he thinks Shane "just got the wind knocked out of him" and he'll be alright, before going in for the comforting hug. Hahahaha, Angle you are such a slimy bastard. Foley interrupts and the embracing pair spring apart. He takes Stephanie away to check on Shane's condition. A video package shows the growing hatred between Benoit and Jericho. It sticks to the basics at first, with the pair jumping one another after matches, backstage, and so on. But then we get Y2J's infamous rhyming promo, which is well worth seeking out if you haven't seen it before. He'll fight Chris Benoit on a boat, he'll fight Chris Benoit with a goat. He'll also fight him when the score is tied, or fight him as a blushing bride. 6. Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit The pair brawl messily to start, their hatred for one another apparently defying their usually excellent wrestling abilities. The ref tries to break it up, but ends up caught in the middle as all three tumble from the ring. Jericho continues to beat on Benoit on the floor, but the ref finally manages to pull him away. Y2J pays little attention and charges at Benoit, who instinctively hoists him up face-first into the ringpost. Back in the ring Benoit hits a drop toe hold and tries to slap on an STF, but Jericho battles out and almost reverses into the Walls! The Crippler is too strong, however, so Jericho settles for slingshotting him into the nearest turnbuckle. OH MAN! Nice release German suplex by Jericho. It only gets two, and Benoit gets scooped up into the Tombstone position. Jericho falls backwards and gets lifted himself into the same position, but Benoit has to settle for a shoulderbreaker (otherwise the Undertaker would be sad. Even though he's currently using the Last Ride instead). Jericho backflips out of a suplex attempt and hits a running bulldog. He goes for the Lionsault but takes a pair of knees to the ribs. Benoit is back up and Jericho swings wildly...BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER SWING WILDLY AGAINST CHRIS BENOIT! Y2J gets immediately dragged down into the Crippler Crossface, and he's absolutely stuck in the middle of the ring. Lawler screams for Jericho to tap out, thus preserving his strength for the rest of the match, and Y2J eventually does. 1-0 to Benoit, and I think some of the crowd may have thought that was the end of the match. There was a slightly shocked gasp there, as if to say "What the gently caress!? That's it!?". They play Benoit's music, which is something I didn't realise usually happened in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The ref tries to raise his hand, but he goes right back down looking for a second Crossface! Jericho tries to beat him away, but eventually falls into the clutches of Benoit's finisher again! JR really sells to danger of the move, urging Y2J to tap out to preserve the bright career he has ahead of him. Jericho manages to crawl over to the ropes, however, and the hold is broken. Benoit hangs him in the tree of woe and heads out of the ring, using his lower position to yank Y2J's shoulders painfully back. Usually I get easily bored by the slow working over of a particularly body part, but these guys are managing to tell that story while keeping the match interesting. Triple H take note. Jericho gets dragged out of the ring and whipped shoulder-first into the ringpost. Benoit wrestles like a wild animal, especially in the rough looking way he drags his opponents around. He's like the anti-Eddie, but in a good way. Back in the ring Jericho has to resort to a huge slap to the face to halt Benoit's assault, but decides to follow up with some wild rights. You weren't listening Y2J. NEVER swing wildly against Chris Benoit. This time he doesn't get caught with the Crossface, but with a nasty German suplex. Benoit tries to hold on for a second, but can't quite lift Jericho. Y2J kicks his legs and manages to roll forwards, quickly sprining to his feet and ensnaring Benoit's legs with the Walls of Jericho! The Crippler crawls doggedly to the ropes but Y2J walks him back to the middle of the ring, drawing a big pop from the crowd. Benoit has to tap and even the score at 1-1. Jericho presses the advantage with a backbreaker, followed by (WOO!) a big chop. This could get painful. Oh, a chop battle doesn't emerge after all. Y2J instead heads to the top rope, flooring Benoit with a flying back elbow. He hooks up the Wolverine for a powerbomb, but Benoit backdrops out of it...and lays down on Jericho with the arms still hooked! 1...2...JERICHO BRIDGES OUT! Incredible strength! Jericho goes for a backslide but Benoit turns around and hoists him into a sick Dragon suplex! He bridges for the pinfall but it only gets two. He signals that it's time for the match to end and heads up for the Diving Headbutt, but Jericho is able to crotch him on the turnbuckle and head up after him. loving HELL! Jericho leaps HIGH to wrap his legs around and pull Benoit into a Frankensteiner! This has been an outrageous showing from Y2J. Both men are down for a while, but Jericho is first to his feet and builds momentum with clotheslines and a spinning heel kick. He drops Benoit with a nice elbow shot and heads to the ropes...the Lionsault connects! But his weakened shoulder got hurt upon landing. Look at that relevant callback to an earlier part of the match. Smark heaven. Jericho lights Benoit up with another hard slap, before hitting the ropes and...rolling up Benoit into a pinfall! 1...2...Benoit rolls on top! He grabs the bottom rope and the ref doesn't see! 1...2...3! Winner: Chris Benoit 4/5 – An utterly fantastic match on paper, and it delivered. Although Benoit was obviously impressive, this was the Jericho show from start to finish. He came to play, and put on the best performance I've seen from him in this thread so far. The cheap finish works well here, especially as its execution wasn't at all botched (if I had a pound/dollar for every sloppy rollup reversal I've seen...) Benoit gets the hell out of there while Jericho is left frustrated in the ring.
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Jan 11, 2014 00:48
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 3 Uh oh. Triple H has arrived and he's looking mean. We see a recap of Kurt kissing Stephanie on Smackdown, followed by Steph's distraught reaction to Shane's fall earlier tonight. A video recap of Edge and Christian's glorious title reign is shown, as well as the ultra-violent rivalry between the three biggest teams of the tag division. A lot of weapons are used; a lot of bodies get hurt. Foley sets up the first ever TLC match. 7. WWF Tag Team Championship TLC Match: Edge and Christian (c) vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz The Hardys are last out and run straight into the fray, as JR mentions their status as hometown favourites tonight. Edge and Christian attempt a sneak attack with chairs, but the Hardys rip them away and use them to dominate the early exchanges. Matt sets Bubba up in a corner and hurls the chair into his face! He then drops to his knees for Jeff to jump off with the poetry in m-BUBBA SWATS HIM OUT OF THE SKY WITH A CHAIR! This match is going to be brutal, isn't it? E&C take control, Christian drop-toe-holding D-Von into an unfolded chair. Edge brings a ladder into the ring and rests Bubba against it on the ropes. He charges, but Bubba steps aside and cunningly nudges the ladder into the onrushing champ's face. Christian eats a DDT and Bubba is the first to try and scale the ladder to grab the belts. The Hardys powerbomb him HARD to the canvas, allowing Jeff and D-Von to climb alongside one another on a ladder each. Edge dashes up behind and hits a double Russian legsweep to take both back down to the mat, and I'm pleased to announce that nobody has died yet. Now Bubba and Christian climb...and Bubba hits a massive Bubba Bomb on the champion! Now Jeff tries his luck, but Edge shoves him off onto a see-saw contraption set up by two other ladders on the canvas, sending one flying up into Matt Hardy's head (It's the same kind of spot that utterly wrecked Joey Mercury's face). Edge and Christian pick up a couple of chairs and swing for Jeff, but he ducks out of the way and the champs clash steel. They're dazed from the impact...and Bubba comes along to absolutely steamroll both men with a horizontally held ladder! Jeff snatches up a chair, but Bubba bulldozes him into the corner with his weapon. Construction vehicle metaphors work particularly well when Bubba's involved, it seems. Bubba stalks Edge and hits him with a scoop slam while D-Von scales a ladder in the corner...and he hits the Wassup headbutt from a height! Bubba (and the entire crowd) scream for D-Von to get the tables, and the poor guy looks under the ring despite tables lining the entrance ramp behind him. He finally realises where they are, and poor Christian gets hit with the 3D! "D-Von! Let's kill them" yells Bubba, which is a unique twist on the ol' catchphrase I suppose. Both Dudleys set up a stack of tables at the foot of the entrance ramp (two tiers of two) and head back into the ring. Bubba grabs Jeff - "Come here, pretty boy!" - and sets him up for a powerbomb right over the ropes...but Edge is in to save the day with a chair. He goes nuts on both Dudleys, leaving them down and out in the middle of the ring. Before he can think about setting up a ladder, however, Matt Hardy scoots in from behind in hits the "AAAAAAAAAAAH" Twist of Fate! The Hardys head up a ladder and take turns droppin' legs on the incapacitated Edge, much to the delight of their hometown crowd. Matt wedges Edge inside a prone ladder, just as Christian climbs a turnbuckle looking to blindside the Hardy. Matt sees him, and SPLASHES him onto his own partner trapped inside the ladder! JR and Lawler miss this, but as that whole spot takes place, Jeff utterly DESTROYS Bubba on the outside with a ladder to the head. He places the Dudley across two tables and scales a ladder, looking to perhaps repeat his amazing spot at WrestleMania. He heads right to the top of the ladder and comes off with the Swanton Bomb...BUT BUBBA STANDS UP AT THE LAST SECOND! Jeff crashes and burns as refs rush to his aid, leaving Matt pretty much flying solo. Bubba staggers out of the way to the announce table area, but Edge is waiting for him and BRAINS him with a chairshot. The remaining Hardy sets up a ladder under the belts, but Christian is up after him and the pair crash to the canvas. Edge and D-Von try their look, but pull one another down and jar their necks on the top rope. Everybody's down now, leaving a very shaky Bubba to drag himself back into the ring and up the ladder. He nearly reaches the belts...but Edge and Christian topple the ladder, sending Bubba over the top rope and through the huge stack of tables he set up earlier! It's a marvellously destructive spot, with bits of broken table strewn all over the bottom of the entrance ramp. The champs are alone in the ring now, and climb up a side of the ladder each. It looks as though they're going to retain their titles...but here comes Lita out of nowhere! She dashes into the ring and pushes the ladder over, crotching both men over the top rope! Lita screams for Matt to get up, and he obliges, dragging himself up the ladder towards the belts. D-Von's up now, and tilts the ladder over from the front! Matt flies directly backwards, over the top rope and through yet another set of tables on the outside! Lita is horrified, and dashes over to check that he's okay...EDGE WITH A SPEAR ON LITA! So dastardly! Meanwhile, D-Von and Jeff (he resurrected himself somehow) are climbing towards the belts. The champs dash in and yank the ladder away, leaving both men swinging from a belt each! Jeff manages to kick D-Von down, but E&C swat him out of the air with the ladder! They set it up and climb, and this time there's nobody to stop them from retaining their belts. Winners and STILL WWF Tag Team Champions: Edge and Christian 4/5 - I preferred the original at WrestleMania, but this was absolute chaos in its own right. Bubba, Jeff, and Matt all took extremely dangerous bumps, and Lita's cameo provided an interesting twist. A great spectacle. Backstage in the #HeelLockerRoom, Triple H is demanding an explanation from Stephanie. She claims that the kiss meant nothing, even claiming that Kurt took advantage of her. Trips warns her to stay away from Kurt Angle, and that after tonight he won't be a part of their lives ever again. Steph tells him that he's the only man her for. It doesn't really soften Hunter's expression. I'm quite angry too, after hearing the announcement that our run of great matches is about to be ended by the first ever... 8. Thong Stinkface Match: The Kat vs Terri We see a flashback to Smackdown, where the Kat encouraged Rikishi to give Terri a Stinkface. Terri gained a measure of revenge, jumping the Kat at - of all places - WWF New York, and giving her a return Stinkface. Kat is out first in white lingerie, accompanied (for whatever reason) by Al Snow. Terri makes her entrance in a black dress, which she immediately strips out of on the ramp. Lawler seems happy, but Perry Saturn rushes out from the back with a towel to cover her. They get in the ring, and Kat immediately rips Terri's towel away. She hits her with a bodyslam, before whipping her (sort of) into a corner. Terri immediately falls into position for a Stinkface, but Saturn yanks his lady out of the ring and begins to carry her away, but Al is on hand to knock him down and shove Terri back into the ring. She tries to crawl away, but Kat stands astride her and decides to spank her as she shuffles around on her hands and knees. Where did the wrestling go? Terri gets dragged into the corner, and Kat hits her with a Bronco Buster. That's very impressive, but just hit a loving Stinkface so we can move on. Kat begins to back up, but Saturn leans over the ropes and shoves her to the canvas. Terri pulls herself up and hits the worst bulldog I've ever seen. She sits astride Kat and does some sort of taunt, but Kat pushes her away and runs at her with a clothesline...type thing. Terri regains control and drags Kat into the corner by the hair, stunning her with a slap to the face. I'm worried my commentary is making this sound better than it really is. Imagine what I'm describing, but performed in a consistently shaky, disjointed, sloppy, uncoordinated manner. Terri prepares to hit a Stinkface, and YOU KNOW WHAT!? MAYBE IF ONE OF YOU JUST WENT AHEAD AND DID THE loving MOVE, RATHER THAN SPENDING ABOUT TEN SECONDS TAUNTING BEFORE EACH ATTEMPT, THIS MATCH WOULD ACTUALLY BE OVER BY NOW. Terri backs in, but Kat kicks her out of the corner. Terri accidentally headbutts the ref in the crotch, allowing Al to toss Head into the ring. Kat catches it, and blasts Terri across the face. Terri's out, allowing Kat to finally, finally put her in a corner and sit on her face. Happy now Vince? Winner: The Kat DUD/5 – I don't particularly want to acknowledge this match's existence with a summary. Saturn hoists Terri over his shoulder and carries her to the back while Snow and Kat celebrate in the ring. Hype video now for Kane vs 'Taker. It all started when Kane rushed out to save Undertaker from a Benoit Crossface, chasing away the Crippler before helping his brother to his feet...and planting him with a Chokeslam. And then, just to make sure, a second Chokeslam, this one making a hole in the ring. Here's a quick piece of JR mathmamatics for everybody. In his lingo, the distance from the beginning of a Chokeslam to a simple crater in the ring is equal to "all the way to hell". The following Smackdown Kane explains why he turned on his bro. He says it's because he's a MONSTER. Which I think means that the writers couldn't really think of anything. Undertaker is similarly frustrated, and storms down to the ring for answers. Kane doesn't give any, instead sucker punching his brother and wailing away on him with a chair. 9. The Undertaker vs Kane 'Taker storms up the ramp to confront Kane during his entrance, and the pair brawl like the big loving hosses they are. 'Taker drags Kane up onto the apron and tries to rip his mask off, but it's still a few years until that angle, so Kane manages to keep it on. It does anger him though, and he shoves Undertaker into a corner and begins to beat the hell out of him. He goes outside and grabs a chair (I don't think this is no DQ, but who's really going to stop these two?) and prepares to blast 'Taker with it, but his brother fights back with punches while on his knees. A big uppercut sends the chair flying out of Kane's hands, allowing Undertaker to grab it and smash the Big Red Machine in the spine. Kane falls and 'Taker's on him, snatching at the mask. He rips off a section of the mask, exposing some of Kane's forehead. Kane rolls out of the ring and Undertaker follows him, but gets his read repeatedly smashed into a set of ring steps. Kane picks up the steps and runs at 'Taker, but the Deadman dodges the blow, leaving his brother to clonk into the ringpost. Now 'Taker picks up the steps and hurls them into his bro's head, the first good spot of this match sadly. They return to the ring and Kane looks to be busted open slightly, at least from what we can see of his head. Undertaker drops him with a few rights, but Kane hits a low blow to regain the advantage. Kane begins to turn the tide now with some big rights of his own. A lot of big rights, even. Almost as if neither man wants to actually hit a wrestling move. One last big right sends Undertaker falling into the ropes, but he rebounds with...sort of a clumsy tackle. He mounts Kane and rains down punches, before going for the mask yet again. He can't quite get it off, and Kane struggles back to his feet. Both brothers grab one another's throats simultaneously, looking for the Chokeslam, but Undertaker breaks the stalemate with a boot to the crotch. Kane falls and 'Taker snatches his mask off! Kane covers his face and bails...and Undertaker's music plays? He wins by count-out or something, I guess. Winner: The Undertaker DUD/5 - Really really bad. I'm not sure what the point of this was at all, but it fell very flat. Too short, too slow, no actual wrestling, no fun. The ending was just confusing. I'm sort of intrigued where they go with the storyline, but this would have been a horrible TV Match, never mind the second highest bout on the SummerSlam card. But hey, at least we got that Stinkface match to make up for things. Kane hides his face and skulks to the back while 'Taker remains in the ring, holding his brother's mask aloft in triumph. JGKing fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 03:09
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SummerSlam – August 27th 2000 PART 4 Angle is backstage texting somebody, presumably John Laurinaitis or Kevin Nash. Oh, no he's not. He's just musing over whether to call somebody or not. He eventually decides to go through with it. We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Triple H is gearing up for the main event. Steph tells him that she's certain he's going to destroy The Rock and become champion again...when the phone rings. Oh no. Stephanie answers and her eyes widen. She pretends she's talking to her mother - "I'm just here with HUNTER.  " - but Triple H seems eager to talk to her. Stephanie passes the phone over and Trips says hi, but "she" hangs up immediately. Aw, he seems genuinely sad he didn't get to talk to Linda. A video package goes over the build up to the main event. We see Triple H and Kurt Angle simultaneously pinning Jericho to both become number one contenders, so Foley books the match as a triple threat. Trips and Stephanie's marriage seems to be breaking down, especially when Steph walks into the #HeelLockerRoom to find her husband and Trish Stratus in a very suspicious position (he was actually just teaching her a hammerlock). Kurt takes this opportunity to get closer to Steph, although both claim that they're just friends. On Smackdown Kurt saves Steph from Bubba Ray Dudley and a date with a table, resulting in a big hug in the middle of the ring - much to Triple H's chagrin. Vince drops by to warn both men that if either one of them upsets Stephanie again, neither will even want to be in the WWF. With a little urging from Shane McMahon, the two contenders bury the hatchet and begin to work as an effective team, decimating The Rock on an episode of Raw. The following week however, Triple H allows Kurt to get beaten down by the Acolytes, not wanting to risk his own well-being to save a rival for the title. Angle later accidentally hits Trips with a belt shot meant for The Rock, and the pair's fragile partnership completely breaks down. Triple H wants to make amends on the go-home Smackdown, and after carrying a hurt Stephanie to the back during a tag match with Kurt, returns to the ring to save Angle from a beatdown led by Rock and the Hardys. The Game finds himself outnumbered and overwhelmed, while Angle sneaks to the back and plants a kiss on a dazed Stephanie. Fantastic build up. Despite my love of Angle, I quite want to see him get destroyed for all his slimy behaviour. Our Olympic hero is out first and grabs a mic. He explains that while everybody might be expecting him to apologise for kissing Stephanie, he'll only apologise for not doing it a heck of a lot sooner. He explains that he's a giver. He gives his all in the ring every night. He gave his all for the USA in the Olympic games. And he gave Stephanie the kind of passion her husband couldn't give her if his life depended on it. Of course Triple H's music hits immediately as he says this. 10. WWF Championship Triple Threat Match: The Rock (c) vs Kurt Angle vs Triple H Triple H storms down to the ring and goes after Kurt with rights. The Rock hasn't entered yet, so no bell rings. A clothesline takes Angle down, and he tries to roll out of the ring to safety only for Trips to drag him back by the foot. Kurt gets shoved into a corner and stomped repeatedly. Earl tries to pull Triple H off, only to get pushed to the mat for his troubles.  Angle charges from the corner and downs the Game with a clothesline, before a second attack takes both men over the top rope to the floor. Triple H gets his head bounced off the ring steps, but gains revenge with a hard whip into the same structure. It's perhaps worth noting that JR is very much on the Game's side here, while Lawler is sympathising with Kurt. Trips strips down the Spanish announce table and drags Angle up there with him. He sets him up for the Pedigre...and THE TABLE COLLAPSES! Holy poo poo that looked dangerous. Not a botch that can be explained as either man's fault, but a dangerous one nonetheless. Triple H seems to be fine, dragging himself from the wreckage and fetching his sledgehammer from under the ring. It all looks bleak for Kurt..."IF YA SMELLLLLL" The crowd come unstuck as the champion finally strides out from the back. Triple H awaits him in the ring, but misses with a swing of the sledgehammer. The Rock peppers him with rights, followed by a huge clothesline and a Samoan drop. The arena is bouncing. Rocky takes Triple H outside of the ring and sets to work stripping down the remaining announce table, but the Game puts a stop to that, lifting the champ and dropping him face-first onto its surface. They re-enter the ring as we cut briefly to Angle sitting on a chair by the wreckage of the Spanish announce table, a pair of EMTs tending to him. Triple H knocks Rocky down with an elbow, before turning to watch as Angle is stretchered out of the arena. The Rock charges, but Trips hoists him onto the top rope, and the champ takes a painful looking bump down to the outside. Instead of pressing the advantage, the Game chases the EMTs up the ramp and drags Angle's trolley back down to ringside. He's about to dish out some further punishment, but The Rock comes along and drops him with a clothesline. Back up the ramp they go, Rock and Triple H smashing one another into various parts of the set. Trips is in extra pissed off mode, and sets Rocky up for a piledriver on the hard floor, but the people's champ is able to trip his legs and slingshot the Game into a part of the set. He drags Triple H all the way back down to ringside and...just punches him right in the nuts. The Rock taking full advantage of the triple threat no DQ rule there, and seeming to enjoy it quite a lot. We cut back to Angle, his trolley having now been wheeled back to the top of the ramp. Stephanie is out to check on the Olympian (despite Triple H's instructions to remain backstage) and accompanies the EMTs to the back with him. Trips and Rock exchange clotheslines and slams on the outside, before sliding back into the ring to continue the brawl. Steph is back out now to cheer on her husband, who jabs a finger in her direction and says "don't screw with me". Rocky begins to battle back with rights, but Triple H takes him down with a wickedly fast knee to the face. He instructs Steph to get the belt, and she does so with aplomb, SLAPPING the poor guy whose job it is to look after the championship. The Game holds the Rock steady as Steph measures him, but the Brahma Bull sidesteps her blow at the last second...and she blasts her husband in the face! It only gets a two count, but Rocky grabs Steph by the hair as she drops to the outside! Triple H drags his carcass over and manages to low blow the champ, before commanding Stephanie to "just go!". Poor guy. He's having girl problems; I feel bad for him, son. Rock begins to take control with a few punches, but again Triple H is able to reassert control, this time with a nice neckbreaker. He heads back outside to grab his sledgehammer, crashing a hard shot into the ribs of the champ. Earl snatches the weapon away and throws it out of the ring, but the damage is done. UGHH Trips follows up with a merciless punt to the ribs! And another! He props Rocky in the corner and drives his head into the champ's ribs a few times. It's a good choice, because the Rock is particularly fantastic at selling damage to the torso. Has anybody else noticed this? Trips hits his facebuster for a two count, before working over the ribs some more in that methodical fashion of his. Rock begins to turn the tide with a swinging neckbreaker, before both men head up top and the champ hits a thunderous superplex! We cut suddenly to the back, where Steph is asking a dazed Kurt Angle to get back out there and help Triple H. He agrees to do it ("I'll do it for you, Steph"), and rises shakily from his stretcher. Meanwhile The Rock has covered the Game...who JUST kicks out at two. A belly-to-belly gets another CLOSE two, and here comes Stephanie, dragging Kurt down the ramp with her. She brings him down to ringside and urges him to get involved, and he obliges, snagging the Rock's leg as he runs the ropes. That's all the distraction Triple H needs to hit the Pedigree! 1....2....ANGLE DRAGS HIM OUT OF THE RING! Ohhhhh! Trips gets whipped low and hard into the steps, and Angle crawls in to cover the Rock...who just about kicks out at two. Both men are up, and now Angle's going toe-to-toe with the champ. Belly to belly suplex drops Rocky for a two count, before the champ hits a HIGH one of his own in retaliation! DDT gets two, and Triple H has just about managed to drag himself back onto the apron now...only for the Rock to whip Angle into him and send him right back down. Rocky catches Kurt on the rebound...ROCK BOTTOM! 1...2...OHHHH! Triple H reaches in an snags the Rock's trailing leg, dragging him to the outside. A massive right hand knocks the champ down, and now Trips tells Stephanie to fetch his hammer. She obliges, sliding it into the ring, but Angle kicks Triple H away as he bends to pick it up. The two scuffle over the weapon and Steph jumps in the ring, presumably to help her husband(?). Angle ducks under a Triple H right hand, and the Game accidentally decks his own wife! He bends down to see if she's okay, and Kurt takes advantage to blindside Trips with a sledgehammer shot to the head! 1...2...The Rock breaks it up! Oh man, the Rock lays the smackdown on Angle HARD, and sends him tumbling out of the ring. He takes a look at the prone Game...and nudges his arm with his boot! The crowd come alive as Rock sets up for the People's Elbow, hurdling both Triple H and Stephanie as part of the theatrics! It connects...1...2...3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 3/5 - Nothing spectacular in terms of wrestling, but the booking here was compelling throughout. It was a little too clusterfucky for me to award it a really high score, and suffered a little from the stop-start nature of the action, but still served as an exciting, emotionally charged main event. High drama - not the best in terms of match quality. Rocky hoists his gold high and departs victoriously. Angle drags Steph under the bottom rope, leaving an unconscious Triple H alone in the middle of the ring, and tries to rouse her. The show ends with Kurt carrying a limp Stephanie to the back while her husband lies flat out on the canvas. I'm guessing poo poo's going to go down on Raw...
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Jan 11, 2014 05:24
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SUMMERSLAM 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit - Chris and Chris served up a classic two out of three falls match which was thankfully afforded a good chunk of time. The pair blended intense brawling with a clinic in grappling and mat wrestling, with some amazingly inventive sequences and reversals popping up throughout. The ending was cheap, but relevantly so. Here's hoping this feud continues a little while longer. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Chris Jericho - Outrageously good in the match of the night. One of the best individual performances I've seen since the start of the thread. 2. Chris Benoit - Benoit plays second fiddle in the MotN for the second event in a row, which stands testament to both his consistency and versatility. 3. Jeff Hardy - The main ragdoll/punching bag of another brutal TLC match. Took some wicked punishment and looked awesome doing it. 4. Bubba Ray Dudley - A force of nature while on the attack in the opening stages of TLC mayhem. Also took the centrepiece bump, crushing a few tables in the process. 5. Triple H - As so often, the glue of the main event scene. Held everything together in the chaos of the triple threat match and wrestled well, as we expect him to. It broke my heart not to be able to include Steve Blackman on here, and Shane probably deserves something too, just for his crazy bump off the SummerSlam scaffolding. The rest of the TLC guys turned in great performances too, and I was tempted to shoehorn Matt Hardy onto the list as I felt his bump was actually far more dangerous than Bubba's (although Ray's overall performance was too good to ignore). Eddie had another good showing, but was lumbered with a poor supporting cast once again. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Chris Jericho - 18 2.Kurt Angle - 17 3. Jeff Hardy - 14 Chris Benoit - 14 4. Triple H - 13 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 7 8. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. 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 Jericho takes the lead, while Benoit rockets from nowhere up to third on the back of two strong outings. Jeff Hardy is still mixing it up there with wrestlers he has no business being anywhere near, while Angle is still very much in contention despite yet another scoreless event. SUMMERSLAM SCORE: 8/10 Two huge matches - the TLC match and Benoit vs Jericho - made this card great, and were perhaps guilty of slightly overshadowing the main event. Unfortunately it was dragged out of classic territory by a couple of stinkers. Whoever decided to afford the Kat and Terri yet more PPV time needs firing, and the Kane/Undertaker match was as baffling as it was disappointing. A host of fun moments make this an easily enjoyable show however, most notably Shane and Blackman flirting with suicide. JR saving Lawler is up there as well. Definitely worth a watch.
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Jan 11, 2014 05:46
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If memory serves, Angle was knocked completely loopy during the table botch, which explains the main event being a bit of a shemozzle.
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Jan 11, 2014 10:57
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They ran well with it, though, so well done to all involved (especially Kurt). I couldn't remember if the table collapising pre-pedigree had happened yet so I'm glad I didn't post and ask if that was happening soon like I was tempted. Out of interest, have you seen all of these PPVs before, or are you watching some for the first time? And did you watch the Old Skool RAW last week? I watched the Too Cool part, I was surprised that Scotty 2 Hotty looked quite different, but seeing the Worm again was magnificent. Plus, he's a firefighter now- talk about living the gimmick (it is a pun based on his name)!
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Jan 11, 2014 14:38
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Squalitude posted:Out of interest, have you seen all of these PPVs before, or are you watching some for the first time? And did you watch the Old Skool RAW last week? I watched the Too Cool part, I was surprised that Scotty 2 Hotty looked quite different, but seeing the Worm again was magnificent. Plus, he's a firefighter now- talk about living the gimmick (it is a pun based on his name)! This is the first time I've seen most of these PPVs, and the ones I have seen were too long ago for me to really remember much. I do remember certain moments and matches however, having seen footage of them (or if they've just stuck in my mind). I remember things like Blackman knocking Shane off the Tron, and I've definitely seen a clip of the announce table breaking underneath Triple H and Angle, but I couldn't tell you which PPV each spot or match belonged to. I didn't watch Old School Raw, but I read somewhere that Sexay is looking more and more like Lawler the older he gets.
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Jan 11, 2014 15:53
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That shane/blackman spot off the tron sounds insane
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Jan 11, 2014 16:27
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania PART 1 Another month, another horrendous poster. Just look at that photoshopped piece of poo poo. ANYWAY, welcome to Unforgiven! Our card here seems to be a continuation of the storylines birthed at SummerSlam, and we have some potentially awesome matches to look forward to. The main event sees Chris Benoit, Kane, and The Undertaker compete for Rock's WWF Championship in a fatal four way match, while Triple H takes on Kurt Angle in a no-DQ bout (I'm expecting an ungodly amount of blading). We're also getting the long-awaited return of Austin - for the first time on PPV since his interference at Backlash - who will be searching for the identity of his vehicular assailant. If you know who it is please don't post any spoilers. I know who it turns out to be as well, but just in case anybody reading this thread doesn't want to find out until the reveal, please refrain from doing so. I'll give a little clue though: it's somebody we've seen quite a lot of in the thread so far. I'm not sure if the reveal actually happens on this show, but we're going to see some Stone Cold either way. A shitload of pyro kicks off the night, and I should mention that we're in Philly. I'm hoping for a very outspoken crowd. JR tells us that Shane McMahon claims to have footage of Austin's running down, including the identity of the driver. All that can wait for now however, as we hear a shrill whistling sound to signify the arrival of those drat Dudleys. 1. The Dudley Boyz and The Acolytes vs Right To Censor We see footage of the tag division uniting to beat down Right To Censor on a previous Smackdown, as Too Cool, the Dudleys, and the Acolytes all shared a dance party in the middle of the ring. Newsflash: Bradshaw can't dance. This is an eight-man tag match, and RTC looked to have secured the services of Val Venis to bolster their ranks. It's Goodfather and D-Von to start, but the Dudley boy quickly tags in his brother, finding himself outmatched for strength. Bubba gets shoved into a corner but dives out of the way of an attempted Ho Train (does he still call it that?), and hits a big back suplex. Goodfather hits a backdrop on Bubba and tags in MAH BOY Bull Buchanan. Big clothesline to Bubba, big punches in the corner, and yet all I want is to see Bull fly again . Bubba regains control with a clothesline and tags in Bradshaw. Bradshaw does some of his terrible, terrible offence. Does he get any better during his later career resurgence? I didn't follow wrestling too closely around that time. He whips Bull towards a corner and BUCHANAN TAKES TO THE AIR! He plants one foot on the top turnbuckle and springs off, nailing a twisting clothesline on Bradshaw! Lovely. Aghhhh he ruins everything by tagging in Val Venis. Val and Brashaw brawl, and it's very messy. Venis tries to speed things up, coming off the ropes with a crossbody attempt, but Bradshaw catches him! BIG fallaway slam, and Faarooq gets the tag. He hits a shoulder block and immediately tags in D-Von. Great contribution there buddy. D-Von actually brings a little bit of mobility into this matchup, flying around the ring with clotheslines and shoulder blocks. Maybe he just looks fast compared to the other competitors in this match. Goodfather's in now, hitting a high-angle back suplex on D-Von for a two count. Venis gets the tag and misses and elbow drop, allowing D-Von to make the hot tag to Bubba. Clothesline to Val! Backdrop to Val! Bubba Bomb to Val! Sidewalk slam to Goodfather! DDT to Buchanan! Richards is the only one left, and he gets hooked up for the Bubba Bomb...but Venis is back on his feet to save his boss. D-Von and the APA storm the ring and clear out the RTC members, causing a big brawl on the outside. In the ring, Bubba hooks Venis up on his shoulders...and D-Von flies from the top with the Doomsday Device! 1...2...Goodfather crawls in to break it up. Bubba throws him out of the ring and turns his attentions to Val, but here comes Richards with the Superkick (or Steven Kick, as JR calls it)! He's out cold, and Venis pounces on him for the three. Winners: Right To Censor 1/5 – An unsurprisingly slow, cumbersome match, given the participants. The Dudleys injected a little bit of energy, but this was mostly tedious stuff to watch. I do like Richards' role in the RTC however, the cowardly boss who lingers on the apron all match before scuttling in and hitting a superkick for the win. RTC try to beat down the faces after the bell, but the Acolytes clear the ring. Richards is left stranded, and is hit with D-Von's diving headbutt to the groin. Bubba orders him to get the table, which he does, but RTC recover to save Steven from a powerbomb through the wood. Bradshaw lays out Goodfather with a Clothesline From Hell, while Faarooq hits his ugly-rear end spinebuster on Venis. D-Von sort of ushers Buchanan out of the ring. That was weak. The APA grab Richards and Bradshaw hits a really stiff few kicks. That's notorious ECW-hater Bradshaw, ladies and gentlemen. Hmm. Finally Bubba hooks up the RTC leader and smashes him through the table, and everybody's happy. We cut to the #HeelLockerRoom where Triple H is nursing some injured ribs. Stephanie tells him that she's worried, but he vows to destroy Kurt Angle and leave him lying in the centre of the ring. He needs to know if Steph has any intentions of coming down to the ring to defend Kurt, but she promises that she's behind her husband one hundred percent. She thought Angle was her friend, but maybe she was wrong. Triple H mocks her - "MAYBE? Maybe you were wrong!?" - and asks if her friend would take a sledgehammer and smash her husband's ribs in, or if her friend would do what he's done to the pair of them for months on end. He asks if her "friend" was worth it and storms off. We cut back to Lawler and JR who debate when Austin is going to show up, but are cut off by Jerry's theme music. It looks like he has another bout against Tazz, this time a strap match. I'm not sure about this. It seemed like last month was a great place to end the feud. 2. Strap Match: Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Tazz Win by pinfall, submission, or touching all four turnbuckles in succession. Here we go. Tazz immediately drags Lawler to the canvas and stomps away, before hitting a back suplex and screaming at Jerry to get up. They head to the outside where Tazz chokes out Lawler right on JR's announce table. He looks around for any weapons Jim might have hiding back there and gets into a shouting match with the announcer, allowing Lawler to wrap him up from behind and choke him with the strap. King doubles over the strap and begins whipping away at Tazz's back, rather like one would whip a government mule actually. Back in the ring Tazz regains control with a boot to the crotch, and now it's Jerry's turn to get whipped about. Lawler blocks a punch and fights back with lefts of his own, followed by a right to knock Tazz down. He scoops him up and nails the Piledriver, but Tazz gets right back to his feet. Undeterred, Lawler hits a second Piledriver! Again Tazz gets up, and AGAIN Lawler hits a Piledriver! Tazz gets up...wobbles...and falls flat on his face! Jerry drags Tazz around, touching three of the turnbuckles, but the ECW alumnus grabs the ropes on his way to the fourth. Lawler tries to choke him out with the rope, and Tazz flails his legs, inadvertently knocking down the referee. Jerry's almost made it to the fourth corner when....the Philadelphia crowd comes unstuck because RAVEN IS IN A WWF RING! Evenflow DDT to King! Raven hits his pose and saunters out of the ring, leaving Tazz to slap the Tazzmission on Lawler. He passes out, and that's all she wrote. Winner: Tazz 1/5 – Boring match, but WOOO RAVEN! I take back my reservations about this feud continuing. Tazz keeps on the submission long after the bell has rung, and a gaggle of referees come down to drag him off. King is helped to the back. We cut to Steve Blackman doing some weapony poo poo in the back, ready to defend his Hardcore title, and then switch over to the parking lot where Kevin Kelly is awaiting Austin's arrival. Stone Cold drives into view and hops out of his truck. Kelly asks how he feels, and Austin says he's not here to answer questions. He shoves Kelly into the wall and strides off. Michael Cole has joined JR at the announce table in King's absence, and next up is the Hardcore battle royal. Al Snow is out first, and is the current European champion. Looks like Perry isn't a champ anymore . Apparently Snow has taken to representing one European country per appearance, and tonight is Italy. He comes out in a leather jacket, dark shades, and a guerra hat (Head is wearing one too), and has gifts for the two announce tables. The Spaniards get a pizza, while JR and Cole get a framed picture of Tony Danza. 3. WWF Hardcore Championship: 10 Minute Hardcore Battle Royal We have Al Snow, Crash Holly, Test, Perry Saturn, Funaki, and the champion (and hero of our hearts) Steve Blackman. I'd like to remind everybody of the last time we had a hardcore battle royal back at 'Mania. It was disgustingly bad. Luckily they seem to have realised this, and the time limit of this match is only ten minutes as opposed to fifteen. Also, whereas last time we had people like Viscera, Hardcore Holly, and ALL THREE members of the Mean Street Posse, at least here we have guys who could actually be mistaken for wrestlers - like Test and Al Snow. Perry Saturn instantly recaptures my heart for the umpteenth time, diving straight through the middle of the ropes as Blackman makes his entrance. BAM, instant trashcan lid to the head. What a brilliant start, Perry. Test presses Funaki over his head and drops him over the ropes onto the champ, but Blackman recovers quickly and faces the giant in the ring. Test hits a gutwrench powerbomb and makes the cover, but Al Snow breaks it up with a lid shot. Crash breaks up HIS pinfall attempt with a road sign, and Saturn breaks up Holly's effort by charging over and dragging him off. Pick up a weapon, Perry! Wow...Saturn surprises everybody with a nice bridging northern lights suplex on the champ, but Funaki breaks it up with yet another trashcan lid, this time to the ribs. Crash, Blackman and Funaki battle on the outside, while Snow, Saturn and Test fight in the ring. JESUS CHRIST! NICE superkick by Saturn on Test! The valets are up on the apron now, Terri for Saturn and Trish for Test. Al Snow grabs Head and measures Perry, but Terri snatches it out of his hands and tosses it to her man. He measures Al who ducks...and Trish gets smacked off the apron! Test is furious and grabs Head out of Perry's hands. He swings and this time Saturn ducks, and Terri gets knocked off this time! Snow has Head now and sidesteps a Test big boot which flattens Saturn. Test gets dropped by Head, and this actually hasn't been too bad so far! Blackman slides back in and goes to work on Snow, before Crash FLIES off the top and...hits some kind of botched headscissors on Al. I'm not sure whose fault that was, but I bet both are thinking "poo poo! I'll never get on JGKing's top five list now!". Funaki hits a flying crossbody on Blackman for two. Crash and Funaki team up to clear the ring, hitting a double clothesline on Snow, ducking a flying big boot from Test, and hitting tandem dropkicks on Blackman. They celebrate and high five, but Funaki turns on his new ally with a mule kick. Crash rolls out of the ring and everybody's battling at the foot of the ramp. Plancha time, surely! Funaki doesn't get a chance to, instead finding himself dragged out of the ring as well. Who's left to dive onto everybody!? PERRY SATURN WITH A CLUMSY-rear end MOONSAULT FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE OUTSIDE! I LOVE YOU PERRY! Everybody battles on the outside apart from Snow and Crash who return to the ring. Perry drags Funaki all the way up the ramp to the back, with Terri in pursuit. I wonder what they're up to. JR points out that Test is the only smart contender in the match, as he's the only one who has remembered to focus on Blackman, the only man who can be pinned for the title to change hands. OH poo poo! Blackman picks up a trash can but eats a FURIOUS big boot from Test who came flying down the ramp! Crash weighs in with a few traschan lid shots to Test's cranium, and steals a pinfall on the champ! 1...2...3! Crash grabs the belt and sprints towards the back, but there are still six minutes left for him to defend the title. PERRY SATURN COMES OUT FROM THE BACK WITH A TRASHCAN! CRUNCH! 1...2...3! Perry's the champ! Superkick to an onrushing Funaki, and Saturn has turned up to play! He hands off the belt to Terri, but should probably have kept it for his own self-defence as Al Snow comes flying up the ramp and smashes a trashcan lid over his head! Terri screams and runs for cover as Snow tries a pinfall, but Saturn just kicks out at two. The match degenerates into a messy brawl on the the ramp, with traschans flying everywhere. Everybody moves slowly around to a side-entrance to the crowd, and brawl slowly down a pathway to the ring. I'm sure the fans sitting near there love it, but for everybody else (including me) this kind of sucks. Test tries to be original, stealing somebody's drink and sloshing it in Al's face, but apart from that it's just a boring procession back to ringside. Al steals a drink now (although the camera catches him politely asking the fan if he can use it), and throws it in Blackman's face. FINALLY they begin to spill back out of the crowd at ringside, and Saturn grabs a kendo stick. He stands alone in the ring awaiting any challengers, and Blackman obliges, grabbing his two smaller sticks from under the ring and sliding in. Meanwhile, Al Snow hits Test over the head with a pizza box. Um, that wouldn't hurt at all Test. You should probably get up buddy. Blackman goes to town on Saturn with the sticks, pausing momentarily to deal with Al Snow who tries to get a piece of the action. Steve grabs the kendo stick and takes out pretty much anybody who sets foot in the ring, before one final big shot to the head of Saturn downs him for the three count. Blackman has his belt back with a minute to go, and bails to the ramp. He turns to the ring and yells "It's still mine!", but everybody rushes him! They beat down Blackman on the ramp, but keep breaking up each other's pinfalls! Time runs out, and the belt stays where it is. Winner and STILL WWF Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman 1/5 – This was actually entertaining at the beginning, but just about everything from the crowd segment onwards was poorly executed. The three standouts here were Test, Blackman, and (amazingly) Perry Saturn, who actually stole the show. You keep on rocking, Perry Saturn. You keep on rocking.
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Jan 11, 2014 21:35
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 2 Angle is backstage showing a couple of unfortunate passers-by his gold medals. He bids them farewell and strides down the corridor whistling happily, but is stopped in his tracks by a passing Stone Cold. Kurt says it's an honour to meet him and offers a handshake, which Austin ignores. Angle says that he wants to present Austin with a honorary gold medal, in celebration of his hard work and courage in returning from injury. He brings out a medal and hangs it around Stone Cold's neck. Angle apologises that it isn't as big as either of his medals, but Austin didn't really do anything to earn it. Stone Cold says he appreciates the medal, and promises to store it in a very special place: "Right up your rear end". Angle eats a big right hand and falls to the floor where Stone Cold begins to stomp a mudhole. Some backstage workers rush to break it up, and Austin stomps away down the corridor. He's not in the best of moods tonight... 4. X-Pac vs Chris Jericho JR reveals that X-Pac has been attacking Jericho from behind the past few weeks, but doesn't really explain why. A video clip shows Pac beating down Y2J with a pair of nunchucks, leaving our Wrestler of the Year points leader in a bloody mess. Pac bails out of the ring to avoid a charging Jericho as Cole goes into the feud in a little more detail. Apparently X Pac's mean streak began during the friendly rivalry with Road Dogg, and since then he's even shoved best buddy Triple H down in the middle of the ring. The pair start off at a rapid pace, Pac missing with a headscissors attempt and being knocked down by a chop block. Jericho fires off a chop to the chest, before missing with a clothesline to the corner. X-Pac kicks Y2J down and signals for the Bronco Buster, but Jericho explodes out of the corner with a big clothesline! A nice spinning heel kick knocks Pac to the apron, but he recovers in time to shove Y2J as he jumps to the turnbuckles. Jericho flies and crashes into the crowd barrier, giving X-Pac the chance to grab the top rope and flip into a senton to the outside. Y2J finds himself whipped pretty much into JR's lap, before going for a ride right into the poor timekeeper as well. It seems that Pac's been taking lessons from Edge's performance at Fully Loaded. Cole theorises that jealousy may play a part in X-Pac's change in attitude, envying the success of the other DX members. JR points out that DX isn't really a functioning organisation at the moment, yet X-Pac is still wearing their colours. "What's up with that!?". I don't know, JR. I just don't know. A great spinning heel kick (better than Jericho's, #controversial) flattens Y2J, but Jericho battles out of the subsequent chinlock and whips Pac into a corner. He looks for the bulldog, but X-Pac has it scouted and whirls around onto his back with a sleeper hold. Jericho fights out and clamps on a sleeper of his own, but X-Pac immediately counters with a back suplex for two. Y2J gets dragged into the corner and hit with the Bronco Buster, but Pac unwisely stays in position and taunts the fan favourite, who lifts him onto his shoulders and carries him halfway across the ring for a powerbomb! Now it's X Pac's turn to get dragged into the corner, and Jericho smirks before hitting a Bronco Buster of his own. He misses a follow-up charge into the corner, however, inadvertently ramming his shoulder into the ringpost. X-Pac heads under the ring and pulls out that set of nunchucks. He flips them around for a while before measuring Jericho and missing with a wild swing. Roll up! 1...2...X-Pac kicks out just in time. The ref shoves the 'chucks out of the ring and misses Y2J suffering a flagrant boot to the groin. X-Factor connects! 1...2...JERICHO GETS THE SHOULDER UP JUST IN TIME! Looks like he's over enough now to benefit from The Rock's favourite trait: Babyface PPV Resiliency. Jericho gets whipped into the ropes and Pac looks for a hurricanrana...reversed into a powerbomb, and an immediate transition into the Walls of Jericho! Pac is quick to scuttle over to the ropes, however, and Y2J has to break the hold. Welp, that's both finishers used. I guess we won't be getting a clean finish... Jericho complains to the referee a little, and turns into a beautiful crescent kick from X-Pac! 1...2...another near fall! Both men are on their feet and X-Pac eats a bulldog! Does the Lionsault count as a finisher!? I forgot about that one! Jericho goes for it...and gets knees! X-Pac heads to the second rope and waits for Y2J to get to his feet. What's Waltman got in his locker here? Oh, it's the Flying Nothing! X-Pac hits a beautiful Flying Nothing on Jericho, who immediately slams him into the canvas and applies the Walls! X-Pac taps! Winner: Chris Jericho 2.5/5 – A decent match, as expected due to the quality of both men in the ring. Jericho was his usual impressive self, while X-Pac looked a little sloppy at first but picked his game up as the match progressed. A little bit of a weak finish, but certainly the best match on an unimpressive card so far. Jericho keeps the submission hold locked in long after the bell, but releases it just as the customary gaggle of referees arrive to break it up. They lecture him for being a naughty boy, giving Pac the chance to slip out of the ring and grab his nunchucks. CRACK! Jericho goes down. Here's a quick thought. Maybe if they want to discourage attacks after the bell, they should stop playing the assailant's music after his cheap shot has succeeded. Nevertheless, X-Pac leaves to the sound of his own theme tune while Jericho lies hurt on the outside. Cole and JR muse over why Pac has become so sadistic in recent weeks. Foley is backstage in his referee shirt, practising his pinfall counting. Looks like he'll be reffing the Angle vs Triple H match later tonight. Kurt storms into the room complaining about Austin's earlier attack. Foley doesn't seem very sympathetic, but Angle bravely announces that he'll still compete later. He brings up his Olympic victory and explains that the night before he suffered from a head cold; competing hurt is nothing new to him. Mick has little sympathy for Kurt, reminding him that he injured Triple H's ribs with a sledgehammer this past week. The Rock is lacing up his boots in the #FaceLockerRoom. It's kind of like Triple H's #HeelLockerRoom, but without the leather sofas and potted plants. There's a knock at the door and in walks Austin. The crowd go nuts. There's a long staredown, but the tension is diffused with a handshake. Stone Cold knows that it wasn't Rocky who ran him down, but it WAS the Brahma Bull's rental car. He asks if the Rock can remember anybody snooping around backstage that night who might have stolen his keys. Rock believes that it could have been anybody, as there were a lot of wrestlers milling about. A second knock at the door is heard, and in walks Just Joe. For those of you who don't know, Just Joe was a character whose entire gimmick seemed to be stirring up rumours and trouble backstage. He didn't last long, unsurprisingly. Joe tells Austin that he heard some stuff flying around the locker room that Austin might want to hear about. Austin retorts that he heard something too; he heard that Just Joe was a sorry son of a bitch. Joe eats a few right hands and gets shoved out the door while The Rock watches on with a smirk. Austin leaves. We get a flashback to Smackdown and an incident between The Hardy Boyz and E&C. The Hardys watch from the ring as the champs appear on the Tron, and roll old promo footage from the Hardys' adolescent backyard wrestling fed. Oh my god, Edge comes out with maybe the funniest line of the entire thread so far: "Let's go to a clip of Matt Hardy - as High Voltage, explaining what he's going to do...TO WOLVERINE". It's said with such amazing sincerity. The Hardys (and Lita) storm backstage to find the champs, but it's all a trap, and they end up blindsided and beaten with chairs. I think Lita just got knocked to the floor without a chairshot. E&C aren't quite at the "Hitting divas with weapons" point on the heel spectrum. 5. WWF Tag Team Championship Cage Match: Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz The Hardys spring through the cage door and kick off a brawl, but Christian takes control of Jeff with his inverted facelock slam thing. You know the one I mean, right? He uses it as a transitional move all the time. Matt hits Edge with a DDT, and the Hardys double team Christian for a while. Jeff holds his legs as Matt heads to the middle rope and hits an "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" legdrop. That was a long yell there dude. Christian gets sat on the top rope, his back resting against the cage, and Jeff hits a unique version of the Poetry in Motion. It's also a really unwise one, as he gets all tangled in the ropes as he falls. The Hardys go for an escape over the top of the cage, but E&C recover to stop them. They should really have let one of them go, and then double-teamed the other for the rest of the match. But I digress. Matt gets elbowed to the canvas by Christian, while Edge pursues Jeff. The Hardy stands right on top of the cage and signals for the Swanton. What are you doing!? There's nobody in position! Edge rightfully punishes his stupidity, shoving in the midsection. Jeff falls over the other side of the cage, grabs the top, hangs for a few seconds, but finally lets go and falls hard to the canvas. Edge peers down at him and grins evilly. Holy poo poo! They just did exactly what I said they should do! If Jeff's fall was deliberate, at least. It looked kind of messy, but Edge's expression was one of an evil plan coming together. Matt drags Edge down and crotches him on the top rope. Christian eats a few rights and gets whipped into the cage wall. He rebounds back to Matt, who hooks him up and hits the "aaaaaah" Twist of Fate. A shorter, sharper yell there. I think he grasps the urgency of the situation. He covers Christian, but Edge breaks it up at the count of two. Christian begins to scale the cage from a nearby turnbuckle, but Matt takes Edge down and slingshots him into his own partner. Meanwhile, JR and Cole are disagreeing over whether Jeff is allowed to re-enter the cage and help his brother. JR sides with the babyfaces, of COURSE. Christian ends up in the Tree of Woe position, and Matt wisely ties Edge's arms up in the ropes. He heads for the top of the cage with both champions trapped, but they recover just in time and head after him. Both champs balance on the top rope and yank Matt's head towards them. Uh oh...BIG DOUBLE SUPERPLEX FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE! All three men are down, but Edge drapes an arm over Matt for a near fall. The champs scoop Hardy on their shoulders and ram him into the nearest wall, while Jeff begins to climb from the outside. Edge spots this, and boots the cage to knock him down immediately. Jeff tries again, and this time E&C whip Matt HARD into the wall to knock his brother halfway up the entrance ramp (slight exaggeration maybe, but he flew). They beat down Matt some more, but forget about Jeff who is able to almost make it up to the top of the cage this time. Christian stands on the top rope and hammers away with rights...and Jeff falls all the way back down to the floor! Ouch! That drew a few screams from his admirers at ringside. Pretty boy bastard. Real women prefer classically handsome men - the Saturns, Blackmans and Buchanans of this world. More double teaming occurs, but by now Jeff has lost his poo poo. He grabs a nearby referee and slams him into the cage, before robbing him of a key. I WONDER WHAT IT COULD OPEN! He grabs a chair and opens the door, and again shows that he's having an off night. He throws the chair in the ring, and Christian dashes over to slam the door in his face. Jeff's still on the outside (and suffering from a door-related head injury), and the champs now have a weapon. I bet Matt hates his bro right now. Christian briefly takes a trip outside of the cage to fetch a second chair while Edge busts Matt open with right hands. He totally steals my thunder by mocking Matt's trademark yell. I've been doing that since this thread started, you dick. The champs lock the cage door again, and Edge makes a big show out of storing the key down the front of his tights. Turns out he was a sleazy bastard long before the Rated R gimmick. Edge drops to his hands and knees, and Christian flies off his back with a crossbody to Matt. The champs grab a chair each and measure Hardy for the conchairto, but he ducks just in time, and the chairs clash into one another. Matt runs the ropes and hits a big double clothesline, and he's bleeding pretty badly now. He heads up top and is almost out of the cage, but E&C follow him up and just stop him in time. Christian ends up hanging on the outside of the cage due to his efforts in keeping Matt in, but he tries to get back over to the inside now...and FINALLY Jeff does something loving useful! He fetches a ladder from under the ring and throws it into Christian's spine, causing the tag champ to fall the outside and eliminate himself from the match! It's down to Edge and Matt now. The pair battle atop one turnbuckle, and Edge hits a flying bulldog to gain the advantage. Jeff sets up the ladder on the outside and uses it to climb alongside the cage wall, while rendering Edge unable to knock him off. He climbs from the top of the ladder up to the top of the cage just as Matt hoists Edge off the ropes with a big back suplex, and the champ lands in prime Swanton territory. OH WOW! Jeff doesn't hit his finisher, instead twisting his body into an UNBELIEVABLE corkscrew moonsault! It takes down both men inside the ring and brings the crowd to their feet! Christian begins to climb Jeff's ladder on the outside, but here comes Lita dashing down the ramp! She climbs the cage wall adjacent to Christian and launches off with a headscissors takedown, sending both crashing to the floor! That looked like a brutal landing for both. Back in the ring, Edge throws a chair right into Jeff's face. He climbs slowly to the top of the cage, but the Hardys catch him with a chair each. All three men sit astride the top of the cage...CONCHAIRTO TO EDGE! He falls backwards and crashes right in the middle of the ring! The Hardys throw down their chairs and climb down the outside of the cage for the feel-good win! Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: The Hardy Boyz 3.5/5 – This would have been a pretty lacklustre bout if it only consisted of what in-ring wrestling action we saw, but the unique booking of the match and a few huge spots made it pretty compelling by the end. This is also an example of the beneficial effects of a lengthy title reign. The pop the Hardys got for finally dethroning Edge and Christian was huge. Good work from Matt and Edge, who had the most to do, and great work from the other three (that's including Lita) in taking some dangerous looking bumps. The Hardys and Lita give each other forceful happy hugs, kind of like the hug that Danny and Kenickie give each other in Grease. They head victoriously up the ramp while Edge is helped out of the ring by Christian and a few stray referees.
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Jan 12, 2014 05:43
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 3 Stephanie is alone in the #HeelLockerRoom and is paid a visit from Austin. He asks after Triple H, but Steph says he's gone to talk with Foley. She welcomes him back and says he looks in great shape. As a token of well-wishing she gives Austin a gift. It's the cap he was wearing on the night he was run down. Austin isn't thrilled - "I haven't found the sumbitch who ran me down, but at least I've got my hat back. I guess I can go home now". Steph asks why he's bothering to carry out his own investigation tonight when Shane has conclusive video footage of the assailant. Austin says you can be sure of three things in this world: death, taxes, and don't trust anybody around this place. Triple H is in Foley's office, and they reminisce over watching old footage of Angle crying atop the Olympic podium together. The weird grudging respect thing these two have going on is quite endearing. Suddenly Trips gets serious. He wants to know that Mick will call the match right down the middle and not interfere, because he wants to end Angle's career tonight just like he ended Foley's. Mick says that - since the match is no-DQ - his only job is to count the pinfall. Triple H warns him that he'd better stick to his word. We're back at ringside and Lawler's music plays. He's back out looking quite sheepish after his loss to Tazz (with a lot of help from Raven). Cole gets the hell out of the King's chair and scurries to the back. JR sends us to a video package involving the current Intercontinental champ, Eddie Guerrero. Eddie's behaviour has turned quite heelish recently, attacking Too Cool during one of their post-match dance parties, and spraying something into Rikishi's eyes on an episode of Smackdown. He also "accidentally" wins the Intercontinental belt from Chyna, accidentally covering her during a triple threat match while making sure she's okay. We see an argument backstage between a livid Eddie and a distraught Chyna. She claims he used her to get to the top. Eddie is furious, and demands to know if she has his back like he had hers when she was the champ. We cut to Eddie apologising the following night, but Chyna says he needs to learn to control his temper. The following Raw, Eddie is admiring Chyna's figure, saying she should be in pictures. Chyna reveals that she is going to be in "pictures" actually, as she is due to appear on the cover of Playboy. Eddie flips, and we see him in a hilarious looking skit where he tries to storm the front door of the Playboy Mansion, only to be stopped by security. He later gets out of a title defence against Rikishi by pretending to have the flu, and Chyna steps in as his replacement in a non-title match. Rikishi kicks the poo poo out of her. Chyna says she is sick of Eddie and is about to break up with him. Eddie proposes as she is about to leave the ring, and she says YES! This can't end well. 6. WWF Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Rikishi JR and King plug Chyna's issue of Playboy, and it's loving weird to hear JR doing so. "She's buff, she's beautiful, the artwork is classy, and it's on sale tomorrow". Rikishi dominates the early going, throwing Eddie out of the ring and whipping him into the steps. Back in the ring Guerrero goes for a sunset flip, but Rikishi stays on his feet and ALMOST sits right down on the champ's head. Guerrero just nips out of the way in time, and seems to have had enough. He beckons to Chyna that they're leaving - "Did you see that? He almost killed me, man!" - and begins to stride back up the ramp. Chyna chases him down and tries to persuade him to stay and fight, but Eddie's having none of it. OOOH, Chyna shoves him back into the ring. Backdrop by Rikishi, and Eddie gets squashed with a big clothesline in the corner. Uh oh, he drops down to a sitting position. Rikishi slowly backs into the Stinkface, but Chyna drags Eddie to safety just in time. Rikishi gets out of the ring to argue with her, allowing Eddie to sneak up to the top rope and leap off with a HUGE crossbody to the outside! Rikishi goes for a ride into the steps, before being shoved back into the ring. FROGSPLASH...misses, and Rikishi squashes Guerrero on the corner. A wicked Samoan drop puts Eddie down, and Rikishi drags him into the corner for the Banzai Drop! 1...2...Chyna dashes into the ring and grabs the ref, pleading with him not to count the pinfall. So he doesn't!? He's angry at her, but he doesn't count the loving three. What the hell? Rikishi shoves Chyna down and hits her with a Superkick as she returns to her feet. THE REF CALLS FOR THE BELL!? What the gently caress? Winner and STILL WWF Intercontinental Champion: Eddie Guerrero 1/5 - The action was fine here, but I didn't enjoy the booking of the match at all. Chyna's method of interference was weird - pleading with the referee to not count the fall? - and the subsequent DQing of Rikishi for taking revenge on her seemed an inconsistent decision, even for professional wrestling. A waste of a potentially good match. Rikishi squashes Chyna with the Banzai Drop and leaves. He should be more pissed at the referee. Eddie seems to be crawling over to help Chyna, but he hilariously rolls right past her and grabs his title belt first. The story here is that Guerrero has retained thanks to Chyna's reluctant heelish behaviour, but the crowd seem utterly dead. Undertaker is in the back with Coach. He says that Kane, Benoit, and The Rock are all going for a ride tonight. Everybody forgot while he was away that the ring was his yard, and that he's the big dog who runs it. He says that his three opponents better hope that the ride isn't going to be their...LAST RIDE. I see what you did there, Mark. Really lovely promo though. Kurt is in the back bemoaning his bad luck of late. He has to face Triple H in a no-DQ match, Austin attacked him backstage, and Stephanie is still mad at him. Trish Stratus comes along and tells Angle that if he needs anybody to talk to, "just as a friend", she'll be there for him. Kurt, ever the naive one, completely misses her advances. He snaps to his feet and exclaims that he has an idea, breezing past Stratus and out of the room. We see a video recapping the Triple H/Angle feud. The night after Summerslam, Trips has Kurt set up for the Pedigree but Steph grabs him from behind to stop him. Triple H thinks she's the ref, and swings an elbow back which knocks her clean out. He's devastated, and begins to carry his wife to the back. Angle takes the opportunity to crack a right hand into Trips' face, knocking both the Game and Stephanie to the floor. Triple H demands a match from Foley, and on the next Smackdown mocks Angle's "sissy" ways, dropping to his knees and pretending to cry like Kurt when he wins a match. Angle snaps and hits the Olympic Slam, before bringing a sledgehammer to the ring and smashing it into Triple H's ribs. Stephanie tries to slap the Olympian, but he blocks it and forces a kiss upon her. 7. No Disqualification Match: Kurt Angle vs Triple H (Special Guest Referee Mick Foley) Angle has a mic and reveals that it's his "good friend" Stephanie's birthday. He tries to get the crowd to join him in a rendition of Happy Birthday To You. It's wonderfully sickening. Triple H is out with heavily taped ribs and Stephanie in tow. Kurt goes straight for the ribs, but Trips battles back with a clothesline. A backdrop sends Angle over the ropes to the outside - careful around those announce tables Kurt. Triple H adopts the strategy of smashing Angle's head into pretty much anything nearby: the ringpost, the announce table, the guardrail. Trips seems to remember back to SummerSlam, and the revelation that Angle was allergic to Spanish announce tables, as he strips it down for use. Kurt is able to recover, and whips Triple H into the barrier before clocking him with a clothesline. Back in the ring, the Game tackles Angle down and rains down right hands. He heads to the second rope, but Kurt blocks the attempted axe handle and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Triple H fights back with a DDT for two. He complains to Foley about the speed of the count, and Kurt shoves him into the ref! German suplex! Foley recovers and counts...but Triple H kicks out at two. Angle gets in Foley's face, and Mick momentarily loses his cool and shoves the Olympian down. He instructs Angle to concentrate on the Game, and the match continues. A back suplex take Triple H down for a pinfall attempt, but he rakes Angle's eyes to break it. Triple H fights back with right hands and a neckbreaker, before hitting his jumping knee to the face. He drops a knee right onto Angle's head, but Kurt is able to fight back to his feet and launch Trips right over the top turnbuckle to the floor. I think I mention this whenever it happens, but he takes that bump so well! They fight on the outside, and Angle crashes into the steps to the delight of Stephanie. I don't think she'll be interfering too much on Kurt's behalf this time. Owww, Angle tries a vertical suplex on the floor, but Triple H reverses into a heavy one of his own. The Game grabs the timekeeper's chair and smashes it into Kurt's spine! Lawler: "I don't think that's actually an Olympic move, JR". Trips climbs onto the English table and sets up Angle for the Pedigree, but Kurt saves himself with a low blow in desperation. He gets to his feet and...HOLY poo poo! HE GRABS TRIPLE H AND SUPLEXES HIM FROM ONE TABLE TO THE OTHER! Trips crashes clean through the Spanish announce table, and suddenly Kurt looks like a loving beast! He throws his arms out and celebrates, while Stephanie rushes to her husband's aid. They return to the ring and Angle goes to work on Triple H's ribs again, before sending him falling under the bottom rope with a baseball slide. Trips crawls back in and is bleeding, but Kurt has little sympathy and rams his shoulder into those injured ribs. He backs off, but the Game beckons him to continue. Angle obliges, but Trips moves out of the way and Kurt crashes and burns in the corner! They both head to the top, and Angle hits a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope! He won the King of the Ring with that move, if you recall. A lot of this match has consisted of Triple H getting chucked around like a jobber. It's great. Angle slaps on an abdominal stretch and cranks away, and Triple H passes out from the pain. Mick checks the arm once...twice...and three times it falls! That's the end of the match! Just kidding. Of COURSE Triple H gets the arm up at three. He battles out, but Angle heads to the top and FLIES WITH HIS BEAUTIFUL MOONSAULT! Triple H rolls out of the way just in time, but drat that's a gorgeous moonsault. Facebuster by Triple H! Angle's reeling. Trips sets up for the Pedigree...but he can't quite hook both arms, such is the pain in his ribs! He settles for a one armed version of the move, but falls to the canvas himself as well. He calls Stephanie in the ring and tells her she has to choose. She looks conflicted, but goes around the back of Kurt and kicks him low down! He falls forwards into Triple H....PEDIGREE! It's over. Winner: Triple H 3.5/5 - Not really the massacre I was hoping for (with the exception of that amazing table spot), but the pair still put on an admirable show. Lots of suplexes, lots of wearing down the ribs, and a nice return of Triple H's sadistic streak towards the end there. He was starting to look a little too babyface-like for my taste. Disappointing to see Kurt lose again though. It looks as though every time he builds momentum, a comprehensive defeat stops him in his tracks. This was way closer than the Undertaker squash though. Stephanie looks confused as to why Triple H made her do that. He kicks Angle out of the ring, before planting a very forceful kiss on a surprised Steph and striding to the back. Intriguing developments.
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Jan 12, 2014 19:43
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Unforgiven – September 24th 2000 PART 4 "No Chance" hits the speakers and here comes Shane McMachon, who claims to have video proof of Stone Cold's assailant. Shane claims he was hoping Austin would have privately asked him who the driver was, rather than conducting his own investigation. He says that, regrettably, he now has to call out the culprit. He claims that the perpetrator is not necessarily somebody we would suspect, but somebody who does indeed have a history of vehicular assault. The Tron rolls footage which Shane tells us is about a year old. It's from the parking lot of an episode of Raw, and we see Steve Blackman reversing a car into Ken Shamrock. Is that it!? That's his conclusive evidence!? This feels like Shane trying to pin the blame on his current nemesis. He says that Blackman is cold, callous, and not to be trusted, "and that's the bottom line, 'cause Shane O'Mac said so". The crowd are sceptical, as is JR. Shane is about to leave the ring, but Blackman's music hits and HERE HE COMES! He enters the ring and Shane bails to the outside. *SMASHHHHHHH* Austin is out to a thunderous ovation. The difference in magnitude between Blackman's pop and his really depresses me. Even worse, it's not even the regular Stone Cold theme. It's the awful version by Disturbed. Steve is out and poses on all four turnbuckles. Blackman doesn't look intimidated, but still protests his innocence as Austin struts around. I'm excited that Blackman has been injected into this storyline, but he's ludicrously out of his depth. He tries to get at Shane, who is taunting him from behind Austin, but Stone Cold maintains the staredown. STUNNER OUT OF NOWHERE! Aghhhh, down goes Blackman . Shane is jumping for joy and helps Austin roll Blackman out of the ring. He brings a case of beers into the ring and throws a couple to Stone Cold. Shane, you're such an idiot. Have you never seen wrestling before ever. Just get out of the ring while you can.The pair down a few beers on the turnbuckles. Shane looks a lot less cool in doing so. They return to the centre of the ring and clash their cans together, but only Shane drinks. He stops and notices Austin glaring at him. Uh oh. STUNNER TO SHANE! He spits beer everywhere and the crowd go crazy. Shane unwisely staggers to his feet and eats a second Stunner. Austin leaves. Nothing is solved in terms of the identity of the driver, but everybody seems happy. JR jizzes over Stone Cold for a while, and we cut eventually to a video package for the main event. It's a fairly paint-by-numbers video package, showing a montage of everybody hitting their finishers on one another in previous weeks. Earlier footage of the Benoit/Rock and 'Taker/Kane feuds are used as well, such as Kane chokeslamming Undertaker through the canvas, and Rock locking Benoit in his own submission manoeuvre. Emphasis seems to be on how much the odds are stacked against Rocky, and we close with clips of him being chokeslammed through the announce table by Kane, given the Last Ride by Undertaker, and locked in Benoit's Crossface. Rock vows to layeth the Smackethdown on AAAAAAAALL their candy asses. I wonder what happened with that Kane/Undertaker thing at SummerSlam by the way. Was the mask removal ever explained or followed up on? It seems weird that it hasn't even been mentioned here at all. Cole is interviewing The Rock in the back. Finally he's come back to Philadelphia, etc etc. Cole says that all three of his opponents desperately want the WWF Title. Rock asks how he can possibly know what they want. Maybe Kane just wants a box of matches so he can light his big red rear end on fire. Maybe Benoit wants a pet wolverine so he can lick its left testicle. Maybe he Undertaker wants to hop on his motorcycle and ride around the Union Centre a few more times because it gives him that...funny feeling. The crowd are eating this up, but I suspect if Cena was making the same jokes nowadays he'd be getting quite a lot of hate for it. Rock closes by saying that he's going to shove all three men's heads so far up their asses, that they'll have to cut holes in their little nipples just to be able to see. If ya smelllllll......and so on. 8. WWF Championship Fatal Four Way Match: The Rock (c) vs The Undertaker vs Chris Benoit vs Kane As the four make their entrances, it strikes me how remarkably no-frills Benoit is compared to the other three. Rock squares off with Kane, while 'Taker and Benoit brawl at the bell. The Deadman and the Brahma Bull gain advantages and break off to stare at one another in the middle of the ring...but Kane and Benoit jump them from behind and knock them to the canvas. Benoit takes Rock to the outside and they brawl into the crowd, leaving the two big men alone in the ring. Rock punches the Wolverine back over the crowd barrier to ringside just as Kane comes off the top rope with a big right to his brother. Undertaker leaps into a huge clothesline to regain the advantage, while on the outside Benoit takes the Rock to school with some knife edged chops to the chest. Big boot to Kane earns a two count for the Undertaker, before the competitors all switch partners. Rock hits Kane with a Samoan drop, but the Big Red Machine retaliates with a huge one-armed powerslam. Kane crushes Rock the corner with a clothesline, while on the outside, Undertaker gorilla presses Benoit and drops him head first onto the guardrail. He returns to the ring and briefly teams up with the Rock, the pair taking Kane down with a pair of elbows and knocking him out of the ring with a double clothesline. Rock begins to tee off with rights, but the Undertaker retaliates with a few big strikes of his own, knocking Rocky to the apron. A lethargic looking snapmare brings the champ back over the top rope into the ring. 'Taker's been looking generally lethargic since the start of the match, actually. 'Taker heads to the top rope looking to go Old School, but the Rock yanks him back down to the mat. Undertaker gets removed from the ring with a clothesline, but the champ has no time to rest as Kane comes back in with a big forearm to the face. Rock shoves Kane right into Earl Hebner, incapacitating the poor ref, before spiking the monster with a DDT. Undertaker takes advantage of the lack of a match official, bringing a chair into the ring and SMACKING the Rock over the head. Benoit follows suit with a chair of his own, knocking 'Taker down and making a pinfall. The ref regains consciousness. 1...2...3!? What the gently caress!? Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Chris Benoit Wait a sec... Deja vu, anyone? Benoit grabs the title and storms up the ramp victoriously, but here comes Mick Foley from the back just like at Fully Loaded. He rips the belt away from the Crippler and orders him back to the ring. Benoit turns and sees the other three waiting for him on the ramp. I guess this match is continuing. Rocky shoves Benoit backwards all the way to the stage, and he, Kane and 'Taker take turns throwing the Wolverine headfirst into a part of the set. All four men brawl back down to the ring and Undertaker makes a cover on Benoit. 1...2...Rock pulls 'Taker out of the ring, but he was about a second too late. That could definitely have been a three. Ugh, all the energy has been sapped from this match, and these sloppy mistakes aren't helping at all. OHHHH, we see a replay of the pinfall and it shows that Undertaker JUST managed to drape a leg over the bottom rope in time. I missed that upon first viewing. Rock decides to kick things into another gear, picking up the ring steps and driving them into Undertaker's head. He enters the ring and faces Benoit, and finally we have a little urgency and speed in this match. The pair whip one another around the ring, ducking clotheslines and the like, before Rock hurls Benoit with a high-octane belly to belly. That's more like it. Rock misses with a wild right and suffers three German suplexes, but kicks out of the third just in time. Benoit heads up top and FLIES with a huge Diving Headbutt! Rocky just about kicks out in time, and slaps on a surprise Crippler Crossface! Benoit holds on long enough for the Undertaker to return to the ring and break it up, and Rock gets clotheslined to the outside. Kane's in now...CHOKESLAM TO THE UNDERTAKER! 1...Benoit breaks up the count. Kane beats down Benoit and a returning Rock, but the champ switches the momentum in his favour with a big spinebuster. Off comes the elbow pad...bounce...bounce...CHRIS BENOIT with a clothesline to stop the People's Elbow! Rock gets back up and lays the smackdown on Benoit, sending him tumbling over the top rope and out of the ring. He turns around right into the clutches of the waiting Undertaker...LAST RIDE TO THE ROCK! 1...2...Kane breaks it up just in time. The pair brawl to the outside and Benoit blindsides them with a chair, sending both men down with hard shots! The Wolverine races into the ring and slaps the Crossface on the Rock! He holds it in for a lonnnnng time, screaming at Rocky to tap, but eventually the Undertaker ambles back into the ring and breaks it up with a stomp. Chokeslam to Benoit! 1...2...Kane drags Undertaker out of the ring! The brothers tee off on one another, exchanging slow, heavy right hands. Back in the ring, Rock and Benoit stagger to their feet....ROCK BOTTOM! 1....2....Kane and Undertaker get in each other's way as they try to return to the ring....3! Winner and STILL WWF Champion: The Rock 3/5 - This was shaping up to be a horrible main event, but the latter half of the match unquestionably saved it. That false-finish nonsense with Benoit and Foley was very strange and pointless, but once everybody started to hit their big spots and finishers on one another, the bout shifted into a higher gear. Decent. The Rock grabs his belt and celebrates. No post-match shenanigans, just another successful title defence for the Brahma Bull.
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Jan 12, 2014 23:46
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UNFORGIVEN 2000 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz - The cage match pips the no-DQ match to the post due to its incredibly clever and unique booking. All four guys (plus Lita) played their roles to perfection, but the fact that the burden of carrying the match was so evenly shared between everybody means that none of them cracked the top five for this event. It feels wrong, but I went back and looked at what each guy did. Jeff, Christian and Edge all had one big spot each, while Matt sold the bulk of the offence but didn't do anything spectacular. A great team performance, if that makes sense, but not a match in which any one particular individual shone. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Kurt Angle - Angle tops everybody yet again for his role in the no-DQ match. Great offence throughout, and looked like an rear end-kicker despite losing (he suplexed Triple H through the announce table like it was nothing!). 2. Triple H - Sold the damage to his ribs consistently, and bumped around like crazy for Kurt. Looked as strong as ever when the time came for him to take control of the match. 3. Chris Benoit - The star of the main event. Great intensity and sharpness throughout, and stood out the most despite having the plainest gimmick out there. 4. Chris Jericho - A perfectly flawless, yet sadly short performance from Y2J, carrying a slightly sloppy X-Pac to a decent match. 5. The Rock - Succeeded in injecting the main event with a dose of energy whenever Kane or 'Taker stunk up the joint for too long. Special mention must be given to Edge, Christian, and both Hardys for combining to create the match of the night. Crazily, Perry Saturn almost gets on the list by stealing the show in the Hardcore battle royal, while Undertaker's lack of form is baffling me. He hasn't looked good since chokeslamming Shane through the announce table in his first match of this thread. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Kurt Angle - 22 2. Chris Jericho - 20 3. Chris Benoit - 17 Triple H - 17 4. Jeff Hardy - 14 5. Eddie Guerrero - 10 6. Mick Foley - 9 7. The Rock - 8 8. Christian - 6 Bubba Ray Dudley - 6 9. Edge - 5 10. 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 Jericho's brief reign at the top is ended by a resurgent Kurt Angle, while Triple H and Chris Benoit continue to make moves. UNFORGIVEN SCORE: 6/10 No Way Out got 7/10 because it had an average undercard and a great main event, while SummerSlam got 8/10 for its fantastic undercard and okay main event. Unforgiven, sadly, falls short of both of these two. A lot of the matches were average and short, and it quite reminded me of the Royal Rumble show from the start of the thread. The cage match, no-DQ bout, and main event were all pretty good, but none of them stood out as especially brilliant. Aside from those three, the rest of the card ranged from average to bad. Eddie and Rikishi's match had potential, but was ruined by a stupid ending, while Jericho and X-Pac could have delivered a much better bout given more time. Stone Cold's return was unquestionably electrifying, but didn't really achieve anything. I'd have rather seen more time given to some of the matches on the card. JGKing fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 00:23
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THE 2000 STEVE BLACKMAN UNSUNG HERO AWARDS: THIRD QUARTER quote:King of the Ring 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:Fully Loaded 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees quote:SummerSlam 2000 Unsung Hero Nominees
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Jan 13, 2014 02:59
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JGKing posted:I didn't watch Old School Raw, but I read somewhere that Sexay is looking more and more like Lawler the older he gets. He is, back in 2000 you really had to look closely at the guy to see that he was Lawler's son. A lot of people in the IWC didn't believe he was Lawler's son when told until they took that look. Today, holy crap, I was stunned at how much he looks like his father nowadays. I was also glad for Sexay that he didn't have to repeat his incredibly awkward return from 2011. I told a buddy not too long ago that the reaction Sexay got in 2011 is literally the most awkward entrance I have seen in my 15 years of watching wrestling.
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Jan 13, 2014 06:25
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Justin Godscock posted:I was also glad for Sexay that he didn't have to repeat his incredibly awkward return from 2011. I told a buddy not too long ago that the reaction Sexay got in 2011 is literally the most awkward entrance I have seen in my 15 years of watching wrestling.
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Jan 13, 2014 06:34
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Sexay today and Lawler of the 90s could be twins.
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Jan 13, 2014 06:35
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Wait, why did Foley reverse Benoit's win at Unforgiven?
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Jan 13, 2014 07:34
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Endorph posted:To be fair, didn't Miz bring him out that time? During the middle of his feud with Lawler? I think it was Michael Cole (also feat. The Miz). It didn't seem that awkward when I watched it a couple of months ago, it just wasn't anything that exciting. I think he gets credit for doing his entire ring entrance but let's face it no-one ever went crazy for Too Cool for BL. TNA's first ever ep from 2002 was shown over here last week as well, and it had Brian Lawler in it, obviously treated like a main event player simply because he was from WWE. How things change!
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Jan 13, 2014 10:41
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Beef Jerky Robot posted:Wait, why did Foley reverse Benoit's win at Unforgiven? A few lines underneath the false-finish I mention that we see a replay of Undertaker draping his leg over the bottom rope. It takes them a long time after Foley restarts the match to show the replay, and the whole thing really disrupts the flow of the match. I'm not sure why they did it.
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Jan 13, 2014 14:54
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I've run into a slight snag with the next PPV, No Mercy. I can't find footage of the full show, but I've tracked down individual videos of each of the matches apart from two on the undercard (that's the Dudley Boyz' invitational tables match, and William Regal vs Mideon). I have, however, found a highlights video which would show some of the key moments from those bouts. I'm probably going to describe briefly what happens in those two matches and award NA/5 ratings. It's annoying, but what can you do? I'm hoping the videos of the other matches include backstage goings on and video packages, but some things will probably be missed out.
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Jan 13, 2014 22:21
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Foley coming out to constantly take away Benoit's wins really annoyed me. WWE had some really hypocritical points around this time. Why did Foley only police some finishes, and not others? Why did announcers get so mad at Edge & Christian for cheating, but Lita had free reign to interfere in all Hardy Boys matches? I know it's the face/heel thing, but even when I was younger and not so smarky this kind of thing bugged me.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:08
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Sorry, ignore.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:29
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triplexpac posted:Foley coming out to constantly take away Benoit's wins really annoyed me. WWE had some really hypocritical points around this time. Why did Foley only police some finishes, and not others? Why did announcers get so mad at Edge & Christian for cheating, but Lita had free reign to interfere in all Hardy Boys matches? JR is probably the biggest offender when it comes to this. I've noticed that if a heel so much as looks sternly at an interfering female babyface, he's incredibly quick to drat them as the worst person in the history of professional wrestling. But earlier in the thread he was whooping it up whenever Bubba Ray smashed Trish or whoever through a table. At one point he actually urged Kane to tombstone Tori, his justification being that she's a "drat Jezebel".
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Jan 14, 2014 02:45
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This thread owns.
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Jan 14, 2014 04:14
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JGKing posted:A few lines underneath the false-finish I mention that we see a replay of Undertaker draping his leg over the bottom rope. It takes them a long time after Foley restarts the match to show the replay, and the whole thing really disrupts the flow of the match. I'm not sure why they did it. Ah, looks like I read right over that detail. Sounds dumb.
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Jan 14, 2014 06:41
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JGKing posted:JR is probably the biggest offender when it comes to this. I've noticed that if a heel so much as looks sternly at an interfering female babyface, he's incredibly quick to drat them as the worst person in the history of professional wrestling. But earlier in the thread he was whooping it up whenever Bubba Ray smashed Trish or whoever through a table. At one point he actually urged Kane to tombstone Tori, his justification being that she's a "drat Jezebel". Gotta balance out King's ridiculously biased heel gimmick, though he had toned it down a bit by this point.
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Jan 14, 2014 12:00
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 – Albany, New York PART 1 Hello! Are you ready for No Mercy? I am sure as hell not! As mentioned above, I couldn't find a full video of the PPV - I'm relying instead on individual videos of the matches. Unfortunately I couldn't find footage of two of the matches, so apologies to William Regal, Mideon, and the participants of the Dudleyz' Invitational Tables match - you will all be receiving ratings of NA/5. Luckily I have found a highlights video of the event, so I'll be able to run through some of the spots in these two matches and piece together what went down. No Mercy is quite an important show due to its positioning here. We've just come off the back of a trio of good shows in King of the Ring, Fully Loaded, and Summerslam, only to have their momentum spoiled by a very average Unforgiven. Can No Mercy render Unforgiven nothing more than a hiccup, or will we see a negative trend as we move towards the end of the year. We have three big main events tonight. Angle finally his his shot at The Rock's title, a deserved reward for what has been a fantastic début year for the Olympian (his first appearance coming in November 1999). Benoit has therefore been moved out of the title scene for now; he'll face off against Triple H, who is just coming off the back of his exciting feud with Kurt. The third big marquee match is a no-DQ bout between Stone Cold and his mystery assailant, or at least it was. IT now turns out that his identity isn't exactly a mystery anymore, having been revealed on an episode of Raw. I'll keep that quiet for now but elaborate when the match rolls around. Hopefully a lot of you will have opinions on the reveal. The opening video concentrates solely on the revenge Austin plans to get on his assailant. I get that everybody wants to see him get vengeance, but is it wise to totally neglect the other matches on the card? Just splice in some brief shots of The Rock and Angle or something. Aghhhh. Unfortunately the first bout is one of the two I wasn't able to find. It's a shame too, because it sounds like it could be a really fun match. 1. The Dudley Boyz' Invitational Tag Team Tables Match Remember this is from a highlights video only, so expect this recap to be brief. This looks like it'll run as a gauntlet, with two teams facing off and eliminating one another until one remains. The first team out are Too Cool, and they'll be starting off against Lo Down. Oooh, new team! It's two wrestlers we've already seen, however, although not for a really long time in this thread. We all know D'Lo Brown, but has anybody heard of Chaz? Wikipedia informs me that it's Headbanger Mosh, except without any of the unique features of that gimmick. He's just a bald dude with long black pants on. Yeah that'll really propel him up the card. Good job, WWF. The hairless duo seem to dominate, D'Lo hitting his big powerbomb finishing move on Sexay, but Too Cool manage to scrape through to the next round. Scotty pushes Chaz from the second turnbuckle through a table, while Sexay simultaneously avoids an attempt from Brown to splash him through a second table. Next up we have the ECW boys, Tazz and Raven. They gain an early advantage, but Raven succumbs to the Worm. The heels regain control however, and eliminate Too Cool by hitting Scotty with a double vertical suplex through a table. The Dudleys themselves are next, and pretty much kick rear end by the look of these highlights. Tazz gets Bubba Bombed, and Raven takes the wassup diving headbutt. Tazz gets a nice suplex in on Bubba, but D-Von finishes the job with a guillotine legdrop onto a table holding a weakened Tazz. The final pair are Right To Censor, here represented by The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. It seems to be a hard hitting affair, but the Dudleys despatch the heels without too much hassle, hitting a 3D on Goodfather for the feel-good opening win. Winners: The Dudley Boyz NA/5 – It's good to see the Dudleys winning the match they specialise in, especially one they organised. A loss would have been pretty embarrassing. Isn't that right, Undertaker? Mr "Buried Alive Matches Are My Speciality". You ALWAYS lose them dude. Stop lying to yourself. Luckily, although this match looked fun, it didn't seem the type that would contain a top five worthy individual performance, so I don't think I'm wrongly missing anybody out! Woohoo! T&A and Trish are getting ready in the back. They have a match next against The Acolytes and Lita. Test ponders whether Stratus' breasts are going to fall out of her revealing ring attire. Albert sniggers and tells him not to say it like it's a bad thing. For two hulking, terrifying monster men, T&A really do have a juvenile sense of humour. Austin's assailant waits in the back, sledgehammer in hand (that's not my attempt at a sneaky clue. It's not Triple H). I'm don't think even an army of sledgehammer-wielding heels could stop Austin going over in his comeback match, but we'll see. JR and Lawler mention that he's promised to run Austin down again tonight, time and time again. Referees get jumpy whenever somebody tries to use a chair in a no-DQ match. I can't imagine their reaction if that plan works. Lawler mentions to JR that Stone Cold hasn't shown up yet. Jim guarantees that Austin will be here. I swear the same thing happened for the entirety of Backlash. In between every single match we'd have a brief moment of Jerry doubting Stone Cold's balls, and JR responding with "He'll BE here. If I know the Rattlesnake, he'll be here. You can bet your rear end he'll be here". A quick few videos show the brief rivalry between the APA and T&A. It begins with Test and Albert losing a poker game to the Acolytes on Heat, and betting items of Trish's clothing in an attempt to win their money back. They continue to lose and Trish almost has to get naked, but the heels beat them down before it can happen. The following Raw, Trish tries to distract Bradshaw during his match with Albert, but he pulls a leaf out of Jericho's book and kisses her to make her get off the apron. On Smackdown, T&A interfere to help Trish beat Lita, but the APA run in to prevent a post-match beatdown. 2. Intergender Tag Team Match: The Acolytes and Lita vs T&A and Trish Stratus Lita is out first with her shiny new Women's championship. That's probably a good call. She's the best diva I've seen in this thread so far, although her competition consists of Stephanie, Trish, Terri, Tori, and The Kat. Oh, and Mae Young and Moolah. So yeah, an easy decision in my eyes. The Acolytes' music plays, but nobody comes out. Lita looks pissed off. We cut to the back and see T&A beating down Bradshaw in that storage corridor that seems to be used for about half of the backstage scenes. You know the one. It's a long grey corridor with boxes piled against the walls. That's about all there is to it. It's quite low down on my list of favourite backstage ambush locations - you can't beat a good parking lot brawl, and the catering area is always good for a few comedy spots. Anyway, Faarooq runs in for the save, but Test takes him down with a tire iron. The heels drop a box onto him, and both APA men are pretty much down and out. Back at ringside, Lita is heading up the ramp to check on her partners. Suddenly T&A step out from behind the curtain and stop her in her tracks. They stare her down and she backs slowly away...but Trish runs in to blindside her from behind! She boots Lita down the ramp and drags her into the ring. The bulldog connects, and it looks a lot sharper than the one she did back at Fully Loaded, thank god. Albert slingshots Lita, sending her neck-first into the middle rope, before scooping her up and holding her in place for Test to do some damage from the top turnbuckle. He doesn't get the chance to however, as the Hardys run out to a big pop and clear the ring. The heels look pleased as they back up the ramp. Winners: No Contest NA/5 – Well that didn't make anybody look good. Oh dear. Edge and Christian are in the back complaining that they didn't get to compete in the table gauntlet. UNFORTUNATELY they came down with a case of food poisoning from some bad peanuts. A very convincing excuse from the boys. They make lots of nut-based puns, the loving scamps. Austin's assailant is still in the back, and he still has a sledgehammer. Why do I get the feeling that they're going to ram this angle down our throats until it overshadows the rest of the Pay Per View? 3. Steel Cage Match: Chris Jericho vs X-Pac Jericho is out first with a mic. He says he and Pac have been feuding for so long that he can't even remember why he hates him. I don't think that's the problem Chris, I just think we never really got a proper reason. He claims that their feud will be ending tonight inside this steel cage, or as he calls it, the "Y2Jail". Superb. Often there are feuds in which the less popular guy should win, thereby receiving a boost in the eyes of the fans. This is not one of those feuds. Jericho needs to pick up the W here and get the gently caress out of this rivalry. Pac pauses at the door of the cage and poses for the crowd, but Y2J wastes no time and clips him with a baseball slide. Jericho beats X-Pac around ringside for a little bit, but Pac grabs a chair and almost takes his head off in retaliation - Jericho just ducking out of the way in time. Y2J tries to drag X-Pac through the door into the ring, but gets the steel slammed shut onto his head. Pac enters and chokes Jericho out in the corner, before trying to get back out the door. Y2J grabs his foot, but eats a snappy enziguri for his troubles. Pac hits that nice jumping spin-kick of his and begins to climb one of the walls, but Jericho springboards from a tunrbuckle with a dropkick to the legs, leaving Pac crotched on the top rope. Nice Spot. Jericho hits a vertical suplex and chucks Pac into the cage wall. X-Pac's actually performing well here. He looks a lot less lazy than usual. A bulldog sends X-Pac down, but he recovers and whips Y2J towards the corner...but Chris keeps running! He clambers all the way up the side of the cage in an instant, and X-Pac has to scramble to stop him from disappearing over the top. Pac gets kicked down to the canvas...NICE missile dropkick from Y2J. He goes for the Lionsault but only gets knees. In fact, he was slightly off with that. X-Pac barely had to move his legs; Jericho was almost aiming straight for them anyway. Y2J gets whipped hard into the steel a few times, but counters with a backdrop right into the cage wall! X-Pac falls down in between the ropes and the cage. That looked like a painful landing. The pair trade right hands, but X-Pac hits the ropes and hits a nice spinning heel kick. They really are his forte, aren't they? Pac goes for a pinfall, but apparently this match is escape rules only. Instead of ignoring his mistake, he sells how stupid he's being, grabbing his hair. I like that. Most wrestlers would have just carried on as if nothing had happened. X-Pac knocks Jericho down in the corner and hits the Bronco Buster. He heads to the top of the cage and almost makes it, but Y2J recovers beneath him and hooks his legs for a massive powerbomb! X-Pac goes for a couple more rides into the steel, but calls for a time out as he returns to his feet. Y2J answers that with a clothesline and heads for the top. Pac just about drags him down, right onto the top rope. He crawls towards the door, but Jericho dives and lands on his feet just as he's almost out of the cage. He drags Pac back in, but the sneaky bastard grabs a chair from the outside as he is pulled. WAFFLE! X-Pac heads for the top, and is almost out. He stands on a corner of the cage...OH MY GOD JUST CLIMB DOWN! YOU'LL WIN! Y2J is up now, and yanks Pac's feet out. JESUS CHRIST! He crotches himself on the top of the cage, and that looks precarious. Jericho slowly moves into position and tries to hook in the Walls of Jericho on top of the cage! No! X-Pac kicks him off, and Y2J falls back down into the ring! X-Pac wins! No wait, no he doesn't! He decides to showboat, raising his arms to the crowd. He lowers his feet until he's standing on the top of the open cage door beneath him. Jericho's up...dropkick into the cage wall! X-Pac falls from the impact and crotches himself on the door! His balls have taken a hammering in this match. Jericho crawls out of the door and wins! Winner: Chris Jericho 3/5 - Better than I expected from X-Pac. He put in a great effort all match, and Jericho was solid as usual. The ending sequence was very exciting and inventive, although I'm not sure it completely makes up for all the filler this match had. Still, a great effort, and the best match on this show so far (by default). Jericho grabs an unsuspecting security guy and uses him for support up the ramp. I'm not sure if he actually did hurt his back, or if it's just great selling. The next match pits Billy Gunn and Chyna against Steven Richards and Val Venis of the RTC. I think this match was potentially supposed to involve Eddie, but apparently he's unable to compete due to injury. Apparently Eddie and Chyna have finally broke it off, with footage airing of Guerrero showering with two of the Godfather's ex-hos. As if he couldn't piss off his fiance anymore, Eddie also decides to choke her with a crutch on an episode of Smackdown. The marriage is off. I suppose that makes him fully heel now, huh? Billy Gunn (or Mr rear end, as the WWF insist upon calling him around this time) is playing the role of Chyna's white knight, saving her from beatdowns from Right To Censor and Eddie. Right To Censor are involved because they object to Chyna's Playboy appearance. Chyna and Billy are backstage with Coach. He asks what Chyna thinks of Eddie's injury. She says that she'll get her hands on him soon enough. Gunn then cuts a hilariousl old-school, underprepared face promo. You know the time. "YOU KNOW SOMETHING, AS FAR AS RIGHT TO CENSOR ARE CONCERNED, THEY JUST MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THEIR LIVES". Apparently that biggest mistake is "getting introduced to the most beautiful woman in the World Wrestling Federation, and Mr rear end", which will result in them getting "AB...so...LUTely deSTROYED!". Amazing. 4. Right To Censor vs Chyna and Billy Gunn The faces dominate the early goings, and I've JUST remembered that Billy and Chyna would be familiar with each other from their time in DX. It all makes sense now. I'm glad there's at least a tenuous reason for his involvement. The faces dominate the early stages, Billy and Chyna taking turns to pick apart Venis while Richards watches on from the sidelines. Billy knocks Val to the outside and he gets whipped HARD into the steps by Chyna. Richards tries to jump Gunn from behind in the ring, but the ref stops him and he slinks back to the apron. Venis and Gunn return to the ring, and make tags to Richards and Chyna. The Ninth Wonder slings Steven around by his tie. Val shouts abuse from the apron, and Chyna retaliates by...by shoving his face into her boobs!? Yeah, that'll teach him. It does give Richards the chance to attack from behind, and Venis holds Chyna's arms back while he prepares to clock her. She ducks....but Richards pulls his punch just in time! He turns around...dropkick from Chyna connects, knocking Steven into Val, and Val from the ring! Comedy at its finest. Gunn gets the tag, but Richards gains the advantage by working over his shoulder. Channel the strength of your pre-match promo Billy! Channel that fury! HE DOES! DDT to Val leaves both men down in the ring, and they crawl to their respective partners for the tag. Chyna rushes in and begins to destroy Val with clotheslines. Aghhh. He staggers into the corner and she does her STUPID somersault-back-elbow thing. I hate that move. King shouts that he loves that move. gently caress off Jerry, you popularized the piledriver. Don't pretend you love that monstrosity. Richards runs in and swings with a clothesline...but Chyna ducks and nails a low blow! Fame-Asser to a bent over Richards! I swear Chyna cheats more than most heels in her matches. Always low-blowing and stuff. Chyna hits a neckbreaker on Venis while Billy rushes out of the ring to intercept and onrushing Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. The three brawl outside the ring, and Richards joins in, leaving Chyna and Val alone inside. She sets him up for the Pedigree...it's been a while since we've seen her use that...but Eddie Guerrero is here out of nowhere! He nails Chyna in the back with a bunch of roses (I'm assuming they're loaded), and Venis covers her for the three count. Winners: Right To Censor 1.5/5 - This was never going to be a classic, given the participants involved, but they managed to avoid a disaster I suppose. I just can't look past how rigid Chyna's movement is in the ring. It really disrupts the flow of matches she's involved in. Billy clotheslines Venis out of the ring, but the RTC are happy to retreat up the ramp in victory. Gunn picks up the bunch of roses and pulls out a lead pipe. OH EDDIE! You card.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:25
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JGKing posted:Winner: Chris Jericho 3/5 - Better than I expected from X-Pac. He put in a great effort all match, and Jericho was solid as usual. X-Pac rules  Seriously he is pretty consistent in having solid matches.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:41
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Every time you mentioned X-Pac crotching himself, I couldn't help but wonder how much all that taint-focused distress contributed to his recent injury.
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Jan 14, 2014 23:47
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Memento posted:Every time you mentioned X-Pac crotching himself, I couldn't help but wonder how much all that taint-focused distress contributed to his recent injury. So Hogan is probably going to paralyze himself doing a leg drop, X-Pac might paralyze himself with a Bronco Buster.
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Jan 15, 2014 00:07
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 PART 2 In the #HeelLockerRoom, Stephanie wants Triple H to let her accompany him to ringside for his match with Benoit, but he says it's too dangerous. She reluctantly agrees, and gives him a tape which apparently might contain information on countering the A video clip takes us back to Survivor Series 1999, where we see Austin get hit by the rental car and left for dead in the parking lot. We flash forward to his return, and his indiscriminate assaulting of various members of the roster (heel and face). Foley announces that he is free to conduct his investigation any way he sees fit, but mustn't interfere in any more matches. Austin ignores this, interfering in a RTC match and stunning Steven Richards. Foley explains that he has no choice but to suspend Stone Cold indefinitely, which earns him a stunner in retaliation. All evidence seems to point to The Rock. It was his rental car, and he had the most to gain from stepping into Austin's vacated spotlight. That angle would have been awesome. I wish they'd gone for that. Later, Foley reveals that it was Rikishi who ran down Stone Cold! The big Samoan shockingly confesses, and explains that he did it for...The Rock!? No, not under The Rock's instructions (that angle would have been awesome as well), but for The Rock and Samoans in general. He claims that islanders are constantly held back by the WWF, and he was making a stand against this injustice. I'm going to pause for a second here and welcome you all to put forward your views on this reveal. What do you think? I personally think it's horrendous. Rikishi hadn't even made his television debut when Austin was ran down (something that Foley actually acknowledges), and I'd have much preferred it to be somebody who had legitimate beef with Stone Cold himself. I think The Rock storyline would have been awesome if they'd gone with that instead. Anyway, back to the video. I guess Austin's suspension is lifted, because we see him back in the ring at the Joe Louis arena (the venue of the assault upon him). Rikishi is on the Tron and beckons Stone Cold to the parking lot if he wants a piece of him. Austin storms to the back and almost gets run down again, but this time manages to dive out of the way. Rikishi leans out of the window and says "Austin. This Sunday. No Mercy" before speeding off into the night. Foley takes matters into his own hands, making the match no holds barred. The feud escalates over the next few weeks, but Austin is never able to get his hands on Rikishi. We see the Samoan take a sledgehammer to Austin's truck, which looks like the slowest car-trashing scene in WWF history. Man he's slow. 5. No Holds Barred Match: Rikishi vs Stone Cold Steve Austin Rikishi is out first in a traditional-Samoan looking shirt. I feel ignorant just blindly assuming that, but it would make sense given the context of the angle. Unfortunately, his happy Too Cool music has been replaced by some slow, generic rap music. It's a shame. Wouldn't it be hilarious to see the most evil man in the company stomp out to "YOU LOOK FLY TODAY!". He grabs a mic and calls out Mick Foley. He knew Stone Cold wasn't going to show up, and tells everybody that Austin is too scared to face the man who ran him over. He demands Foley come to the ring and declare him the winner of the match. Mick's music hits and he comes out looking saddened. He grabs a mic and is about to say something when... SMASHHHHHH! Austin's music hits, and here he comes in the same pickup truck that Rikishi took a sledgehammer too, damaged windscreen and all! He drives it right down to the apron and Rikishi bails out of the ring to meet him with rights. Stone Cold quickly gains the advantage, and JR wastes no time in plugging the name of the event: "Austin is showing NO MERCY to Rikishi". Stone Cold whips Rikishi into his truck a few times, before opening a door hard onto the Samoan's head a few times. Rikishi gets beaten around the ringside area and launched into the Spanish announcers' laps. Austin jumps over and chokes Rikishi with a cable, before knocking him over the barrier into the crowd behind the tables. The battle up into the crowd (although it's not much of a battle - it's all Austin at the moment), but Rikishi finally gets a shot in by throwing a drink into Stone Cold's face. I wonder if that beverage was warm, or if it was...stone cold.  They fight back towards the railing, but not before Austin sets up Rikishi for something. A piledrivder? We never get to find out, as the Samoan backdrops Stone Cold onto the concrete. Austin takes his belt off and starts to whip Rikishi back down to ringside. He goes under the ring and bulls out some sort of bullrope, but Rikishi whips him over the Spanish announce table...AND AUSTIN COMES RUNNING BACK WITH A RIGHT HAND! Great intensity from Stone Cold, as you'd expect. Austin finally gets in the ring, but it's only so he can use it as a platform from which to choke Rikishi with the rope. He does so for a while, before sort of getting bored and deciding instead to smash his assailant's head into the announce table. He grabs a monitor, but Rikishi is able to fight back with rights. Good ones, actually. I think my favourite thrower of right hands on this roster is The Rock, but Angle's are up there too. A left-footed superkick knocks Stone Cold down, and Rikishi grabs a chair. Austin hits a boot to the gut and snatches the weapon away...BAM. BAM. A couple of headshots take the big man down. Stone Cold beckons Rikishi to his feet...and a third gets driven HARD into his head. Rikishi's bleeding now (JR always mentions that somebody's busted open before I spot blood myself. He's amazing at spotting wounds), and Stone Cold shows no signs of letting up. He grabs JR's hat and wears it for the next couple of chairshots, but it falls off somewhere around ringside. I hope Jim gets that back Rikishi gets beaten with chairshots all the way around the ring to Austin's truck, and Stone Cold grabs a sledgehammer. He misses with a shot to the downed Samoan who rolls out of the way, leaving Austin to smack the hammer into his own truck. Rikishi crawls around to the back to try and escape, but Austin opens the tailgate down onto his back. The Samoan slowly rises - and is bleeding pretty heavily now - and one final chairshot from Stone Cold sends him into the back of the truck. Austin slams the tailgate shut and reverses up the ramp, beer in hand. You can't drink and drive, Stone Cold! That's too far. He drives Rikishi out of a side entrance to some sort of outdoor area. I think they're just outside of the parking lot. Austin beats Rikishi down on the curb and gets back in his truck. Rikishi s dazed and helpless as Stone Cold backs the truck up...accelerates towards the Samoan...but crashes right into an intercepting squad car. About five or six more cars arrive on the scene, and a ludicrous number police officers drag Austin out of his truck and cuff him. Seriously, there's about five of them trying to cuff him at once. Work as a team, guys. Stone Cold gets loaded into the back of a car and taken away, sirens blaring. What the gently caress was that? Winner: No Contest 0.5/5 – A straight up brawl, high on intensity but very low in quality. That finish was ridiculous as well. We didn't even get to see a single Stunner. An ambulance arrives to take Rikishi away. DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK, SUNSHINE! Next up we have the first appearance of William Regal in this thread. Unfortunately, it's one of the two matches I was unable to find, so we'll be using very brief highlights. Although, given his opponent, that might be a blessing in disguise. The story behind this match is that Regal refuses to fight a naked opponent, so Mideon is actually wearing clothes. 6. WWF European Championship: William Regal vs Naked Mideon This looks to be a very short match. It consists of the pair fighting back and forth, occasionally pausing for Mideon to strip off a layer of clothing. Eventually he's left in just a thong and boots, and decides to plant a huge kiss on Regal. Poor William is disgusted, and fights back by crotching Mideon on the top rope. Regal thinks about using the Regal Stretch, but doesn't really want to touch Mideon too much. He opts instead for a Cutter, which is enough for the win. Winner and STILL WWF European Champion: William Regal NA/5 – I suspect we haven't missed out on a five star classic. Next up we have the first PPV title defence of the Hardys' regin. Apparently they defeated Edge and Christian in a television match, with the stipulation that if E&C lost they would never be able to challenge the Hardys for the belts again. In unrelated news, Los Conquistadores look awfully like Edge and Christian. Speaking of Los Conquistadores, here they are getting interviewed in the back! They charm us with some Spanish ("Arriba." "Si senor".) and head off for their match. 7. WWF Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boys (c) vs Los Conquistadores Los Conquistadores are out in their fabulous gold costumes and masks. So dashing. They enter the ring and do some forward rolls, which I think is their attempt at lucha libre. Matt Hardy's confused face is hilarious. The Luchadores leave the ring and converse for a little with the Spanish announcers, who don't understand a word they're saying. JR points out that the back of their masks seem to be bulging, as though they've got a lot of hair underneath there. Matt demands that they take their masks off. You NEVER ask a masked wrestler to remove his mask, Hardy. Are you insane!? The bell rings, and Matt accuses his opponent of being Christian!? Where on earth did he draw that conclusion from? The luchadore forward-rolls under the champ's attempted lock up and celebrates his agility with a team-talk in the corner. He and his partner exchange kind words, and he forward rolls back towards Matt...who clotheslines him down and goes straight for the mask! The Conquistador hastily exits the ring, and his (slightly taller) partner helps him reattach the mask at the back. The taller Conquistador gets the tag, and he and Matt exchange headlocks. He backs Hardy towards the ropes, and Jeff takes the opportunity to blind-tag himself in. He flies into a nice clothesline as Matt ducks out of the way, and begins to dominate his masked opponent with a headscissors takedown and dropkick. JR describes Los Conquistadores costumes as looking like "gold enemas". Thanks for that image Jim. The shorter Conquistador tags in, but the two luchadores suffer a miscommunication when Jeff leapfrogs over one, leaving the pair to crash into one another. Oh the japes! The legal luchadore thinks he's nailed Jeff with a backdrop, but Hardy manages to flip out and land on his feet. He aims a kick at the Conquistador who grabs his foot, but Jeff does a nice...twisting kick thing (I should really learn the name of that move) to take him down. Matt gets the tag and the Hardys do their double elbow-legdrop spot. I always feel sorry for Matt during that move. His role is far less spectacular, while Jeff gets to do a front flip and everything. Matt takes the Conquistador down with a nice discus punch, and tags Jeff back in. NICE poetry in motion connects, and Matt trips the onrushing taller Conquistador into his downed partner's crotch! The taller luchadore gets tied up in the ropes, and the Hardys go for his mask to his horror. I'm not surprised that he's panicking! Do the Hardys realise the dishonour that comes with losing one's mask!? Luckily his partner is there to make the save, and Los Conquistadores hit glorious double dropkicks to send the Hardys out of the ring. HAHAHAHA! The challengers pretend to go for huge planchas to the outside, but simply hit the ropes and roll back to the centre of the ring. The Hardys aren't amused and whip Los Conquistadores right into one another. JR muses that the challengers don't have to be from Mexico. They could be from anywhere south of the border. "Mexico, Argentina, Toronto...". One Conquistador slingshots Jeff into the other, but Hardy manages to turn the move into a pinning predicament...but it only gets two. I've loving lost track of which Conquistador is which now, but I don't think either will be cracking the top five this time, so it's probably fine. One of the Conquistadoes (the shorter one?) wears Jeff down and heads to the top rope, as a true luchadore should. He misses with a senton, and Matt is desperate for the hot tag. He gets it, and does the whole hot tag sequence of moves, but kind of in slow motion. As funny as this match has been, it hasn't been great in terms of quality to be honest. Jeff battles the other Conquistador on the outside and nails him with a flying clothesline from the crowd barrier. OH poo poo! The shorter Conquistador dives from the top turnbuckle onto Jeff on the outside, but pretty much misses and lands face-first! loving ouch! He seems alright somehow, and Matt climbs to the top to jump off and nail all three (although in all honesty he pretty much catches Jeff only). The shorter luchadore and Matt get back in the ring, and the challenger has obviously been studying tape of Edge and Christian's previous reign, as he hits Christian's inverted facelock slam. 1...2...Jeff breaks it up with a Swanton Bomb! The taller Conquistador is in and hurls Jeff to the outside, but Matt hooks him up with the "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHH!" Twist of Fate! Instead of going for the pin, he tries to rip the mask off. He does so, and reveals...another mask! Matt is baffled, giving the shorter Conquistador time to sneak up behind and spike him with the Unprettier! 1...2...NEW CHAMPIONS! Winners and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions: Los Conquistadores 2/5 - Not a great wrestling match, but very drat funny. Los Conquistadores didn't seem quite as...mobile as usual, but I'm not sure if that was due to the shittiness of their masks. They may have struggled with their ability to see. The new champions scurry to the back while Lawler celebrates. JR is far from amused. Probably due to his racism or something. JGKing fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Mar 21, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 16:48
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First off, I love the stuff you've been posting in this thread, keep it coming! Second, when you say you "couldn't find" the Regal match, are you not watching complete shows? If so I might be able to help both with No Mercy and future PPVs if you give me your contact details.
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Jan 15, 2014 18:25
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He said he had a couple matches he couldn't find for this one.
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Jan 15, 2014 19:30
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TomWaitsForNoMan posted:First off, I love the stuff you've been posting in this thread, keep it coming! I am watching complete shows, but No Mercy has been the first one I haven't been able to track down in full. I've already checked ahead though, and should be able to watch full versions of the rest of the PPVs in 2000 at least. Beyond that I'm hopeful, but who knows?
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Jan 15, 2014 20:02
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JGKing posted:I am watching complete shows, but No Mercy has been the first one I haven't been able to track down in full. I've already checked ahead though, and should be able to watch full versions of the rest of the PPVs in 2000 at least. Beyond that I'm hopeful, but who knows? Ah ok cool. Well if you have any problems down the line just let me know
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Jan 16, 2014 02:57
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TomWaitsForNoMan posted:Ah ok cool. Well if you have any problems down the line just let me know Will do, thanks man 
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Jan 16, 2014 03:38
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No Mercy – October 22nd 2000 PART 3 Triple H is in the back studying the tape Steph gave him. It shows the last moments of the match between the Game and Benoit, which ends with Trips tapping out to the Crossface. He watches intently for a few seconds, and then a faint smile crosses his face. Looks like he's spotted a solution. I really liked that little segment for some reason. It was cool. A video package shows the feud between Benoit and Triple H. It starts when Benoit headbutts Stephanie in the middle of the ring, before they stumble upon one another backstage on the following Raw. The Wolverine asks how her head feels with a smirk, and she slaps him hard across the face. He laughs it off evilly. Benoit goes on to interfere in a HHH vs Angle number one contender's match, although it's only to get back at Stephanie. Triple H tries to defend his wife but eats a chairshot, allowing Kurt to hit the Olympic Slam and score the pinfall. A lot of the remaining build-up seems to revolve around Trips' inability to escape from the Crossface. 8. Chris Benoit vs Triple H Benoit is out first, all business as usual. Sign in the crowd: "Benoit, I have your tooth". He tries to jump Triple H during his water-spit thing on the apron, but the referee holds him back. JR and Lawler muse over Stephanie's "business relationship" with Kurt Angle, explaining why she's accompanying him tonight rather than her husband. How very strange, especially considering the events of the last PPV. Hopefully all will be revealed in the build up to that match. Big "Triple H" chants to start things off. He seems to be almost fully babyface here. They lock up and struggle in the corner briefly, but it degenerates into a slight brawl as the pair tee off on one another. Triple H gains the advantage with a stomp to Benoit's knee, before ducking an attempted enziguri and slamming the same knee into the mat. He cracks it into the apron next, before sliding to the outside and wrapping Benoit's leg hard around the ringpost. Trips continues to work the knee while JR points out that he can still use the Crossface, whether his leg hurts or not. He CONTINUES to work it over; this is really methodical stuff, and Benoit's selling it well. He lifts the Crippler onto his shoulders, but Benoit slides down the back into a sunset flip! The Game immediately rolls out of it, ducking the subsequent attack and going right back to the injured knee. He does that spot where he wraps his own leg around the opponent's and throws himself to the mat, wrenching their knee in the wrong direction. It looks brutal here. He looks to be about to repeat the spot, but instead bridges his own body backwards and wrenches back on Benoit's neck! Very inventive. Benoit manages to duck a clothesline and back suplex Triple H over the top rope, but the Game hooks his head on the way over and both men spill to the outside. Benoit is able to trip Hunter and slingshot him into the ringpost, before running with him headfirst into the steps. Back in the ring the Wolverine hits a few chops and an armbar takedown. Benoit looks to be working the shoulder, whipping Triple H right into the ringpost arm-first. A bridging belly-to-belly gets two and they head back to the outside. Triple H gets introduced to another set of ring steps and the announce table in quick succession. A lone dude in the crowd shouts "do it again, do it again!", but they don't. They just return to the ring. Poor guy. A weird quirk of JR's in this match has been personifying the environment. Both men were early described as using the ringpost and steps like tag team partners, while the announce table just became "Benoit's ally" for that spot. A snap suplex gets two, and Benoit goes right back to work on the arm. He locks in an armbar, or "cross armbreaker" in this crazy pre-MMA explosion world. The Wolverine heads up top and hits the Diving Headbutt, right into the arm of the Game! Very clever. This match has sadly slowed down after an intriguing start, but Triple H looks to pick things back up by seizing momentum with an inside cradle for two, followed by an inverted facelock suplex. Benoit ducks a clothesline but eats Trips' high knee. Neckbreaker, and now Triple H is going through his finishing spots. Oh, this is a unique one for the Game! He hoists Benoit onto the top turnbuckle and hits a massive superplex! He goes for the Pedigree, but Benoit backdrops out and hits two German suplexes. The Game elbows out of the third but Benoit hooks him up with a (slightly sloppy) bridging dragon suplex. 1...2...Triple H tilts his body and puts a leg on the middle rope! OHHH, Benoit drags him to the middle of the ring and hits one there! 1...2...HE JUST kicks out. That was an interesting sequence of moves. Benoit hits the ropes but Hunter counters with a facebuster! He charges with a clothesline...BENOIT SLAPS ON THE CROSSFACE! Triple H struggles...and slowly stands up to break the hold!? Ohhh I think it's the injured knee of Benoit that the Game targeted. He can't properly clamp down on the arm. Jesus, would it kill JR and Lawler to make this clear for us? Benoit hits a few furious clubbing blows to Triple H's back and tries again with the Crossface, but again Triple H is able to rise to his feet. ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT! Okay, okay, death valley driver. Either way, it's exciting. Stephanie runs out from the back! Benoit leans through the ropes to recover from the driver and she cracks him across the face. He turns around right into Triple H who sets up for the Pedigree...but Benoit fights out and looks to apply the Crossface! Triple H reverses back into the Pedigree, and Benoit reverses THAT back into a Crossface attempt! Stephanie distracts the referee and the Game hits a low blow, and that's FINALLY enough for him to nail the Pedigree. 1...2...3! Winner: Triple H 3/5 – Something about this match was a little off for me. It was technically very good at the beginning and end, but the middle section dragged quite a lot. It was still a good contest, which should be expected given the two participants, but perhaps not as good as it could have been. I'm also going to disagree with the booking here. The past few PPVs have given the popular upper-midcarders a chance to mix it up with the top stars, but it feels as though the established stars come out on top every time. We'll see how Kurt vs Rock goes down. That might help change my opinion. Stephanie strides to the back, a self-satisfied smile on her face. Triple H has his hand raised by the referee and looks exhausted, while JR and King put over how even a contest it was. They also mention how valuable an asset Steph proved to be, despite Hunter's earlier request for her to stay away from ringside. HAAAAHAHAHAHA. Backstage Edge and Christian celebrate with Los Conquistadores, and arrange a title match between the two teams tomorrow night on Raw. Amazing.
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Jan 16, 2014 04:34
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The Rikishi reveal was weird then, and has now become a forgotten footnote. I have no idea why they didn't just go with the most obvious choice (The Rock), or why they thought turning Rikishi heel would work at all. I also remember that Rikishi's main event push died shortly after this, even before his injury.
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Jan 16, 2014 05:21
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