Royal Rumble 2000

[Guest treble charged]

WWF Royal Rumble 2000

-Original air date: January 23, 2000

-Live from New York, New York

-Hosts: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

 

Kurt Angle's music starts up and out he comes, looking about 10 years younger than he does today, despite just over 2 years having passed.  Mostly due to his receding hair line, I guess.  His intro as "the greatest athlete to ever grace a WWF ring" is cool, too bad they still don't use it.  Anyway, he goes on about how today, he will be New York's hero (no one would even try to make that claim, today), as waiting for the Knicks to win a championship will take too long.  At this point, Angle is undefeated.  He runs down his "mystery opponent", and out comes Tazz (wearing his old tights, plus the towel) to a big pop for his WWF debut match.

 

Kurt Angle vs. Tazz

Angle takes Tazz to the outside and they brawl in the MSG aisle way, where Angle gets in a suplex on Tazz.  Back inside, Angle takes Tazz into the corner, gets in some punches and a choke, after which Tazz falls out of the corner, and Angle climbs to the top.  Back up, Tazz knocks down Angle, and Angle gets crotched.  Suplex off of the 2nd turnbuckle gets 2, as Angle puts his foot on the rope.  Angle then gets an inside cradle for 2.  Back up again, Angle gets a german suplex for 2.  Tazz then gets up and throws out suplexes that for some reason he isn't allowed to throw anymore, which is too bad, since they are mighty cool, and what helped get him over in ECW in the first place.  Tazz then puts Angle in the Tazzmission (not called that by JR, though, who calls it "a version of the sleeper").  Announcers play up the fact that it is a choke hold as Angle's arm falls 3 times for the win for Tazz at 3:16.  ** The EMTs attend to Angle as Tazz leaves.  Now, see, if they had let Tazz keep doing this, as well as cutting kick-ass promos, he could've been a much bigger asset to the WWF, but, I guess they were just too short-sighted (pun intended).

 

The announcers look at the buildup to the Tag Team Tables match, and a thrilling backstage interview with the Hardyz lets it be known that Terri will not be accompanying them to ringside, since it's just too dangerous for her.

 

Tag Team Tables Match: Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz

Dudleyz out first, running down the people of New York and proclaiming John Rocker as their new hero and the best pitcher in baseball history.  Dudleyz cut off Hardyz during their entrance and there's a brawl outside to begin.  Inside, Jeff was being set up by the Dudleyz to be put through a table, but Matt moved it out of the way at the last second.  Jeff takes Bubba outside as Matt and D-Von continue inside, teasing suplexes through a table, but neither go through.  Bubba, back inside, sets up Matt on a table and goes up top, Matt gets up and crotches Bubba on the turnbuckle and him and Jeff set Bubba up for a double suplex through a table, but D-Von moves the table out of the way at the last second.  A ladder is brought in, and Jeff uses it to hit Bubba to the outside.  Matt sets up a table in the aisle, put Bubba on it, and him and Jeff put Bubba through the table with a double splash, with Jeff coming off of the ladder, and Matt coming off of the ring barrier (I think).  Crowd chants "Holy Shit" for that, which, given the table spots they had seen by then is understandable, but today, it wouldn't warrant one of those.  Hardyz move around the ring steps, and set up a table laid across them and the ring.  Trying to put D-Von through the table, the Hardyz put themselves through, which is OK, since it needs to be an offensive move in order for someone to be eliminated.  Inside now, with the ring steps in there, the Dudleyz set up a table across them, and double powerbomb Matt through it, leading JR to say, "erection destruction", which I find disgusting.  Back outside, the teams continue to brawl, and Bubba gets a chairshot on Matt.  Bubba then stacks up tables in the entrance way and set Matt up on them, and hit him with another chairshot.  Jeff and Bubba brawl into the audience above the entrance, and a Jeff chairshot sends Bubba falling through 2 tables to the ground.  Matt sets up D-Von on another table and Jeff with a Senton (not yet Swanton) off of the entrance way puts D-Von through for the win at 10:15. ***  Since this came before all of the TLC matches, the spots were not quite as elaborate as they would become, but still pretty cool in its own right.

 

Miss Rumble 2000 Bikini Contest

The judges are: Sgt. Slaughter, Tony Garea, Moolah, Johnny V. and Freddy Blassie.  The contestants are: Ivory, Terri, Jacqueline, BB, Luna, and the Kat.  Andy Richter is then announced as another judge.  Ivory is the first, reluctant participant, taking off her yellow WWF New York fleece to reveal an aqua coloured bikini.  Terri is next, wearing a fleshtone "thing" that is not quite a bikini.  Jacqueline is next, wearing a silvery version of what she wore at Fully Loaded '98.  BB is next wearing a blueish coloured bikini.  Luna refuses to participate, despite the fact that you can see her bikini through her robe, but who cares.  The Kat is next, wearing a bubble wrap bikini, which the crowd likes.  The judges are about to make their decision, when out comes Mae Young, who begins to flash her "breasts".  The point of this, I don't know, and whoever came up with this retarded idea should be shot.  Mark Henry is out to cover her up, but when the judges make Mae then unanimous winner, Mae flashes us all again.  This is just plain stupid.  Anyway, all the contestants, minus Ivory and Luna, plead to the judges to no avail and we move on.

 

The Coach gets mobbed at WWF New York.

 

Jericho and Chyna, Intercontinental co-champs at this point argue over who should wear the belt to the ring until Dave Hebner comes up takes it from them.

 

Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship:  Hardcore Holly vs. Chyna © vs. Chris Jericho ©

As just mentioned, Jericho and Chyna are co-champs at this point, and Holly was thrown into this match for some reason I don't remember too well, I think it was something to do with being a chauvinist.  Holly shoves Chyna, and Jericho and Holly start.  Chyna then bitch-slaps both of them and takes Holly to the corner.  Holly is stomped on in the corner by Chyna, who is then taken out of the ring.  Holly dropkicks Jericho, which is followed by some stalling.  A flying forearm by Jericho gets a 2 count.  Holly then tries a hurrincanrana on Jericho, who reveres it into the Walls of Jericho, which is broken up by Chyna.  Holly is then taken outside by Chyna, followed by a baseball slide.  Holly stands up, only to be wiped out by Jericho, who came off of the tope rope.  Back in, Jericho and Chyna fight and Jericho is taken to the corner.  Handspring "elbow" by Chyna into a DDT, which gets a 2 count before Holly breaks it up.  All 3 of them spill outside, where Jericho breaks up an attempted chair shot by Holly on Chyna, who then kicks the chair in Hardcore's face.  Inside, Jericho and Chyna both go the top rope, and both splash Holly, which gets a 2 count.  Jericho and Chyna then argue over who's pin it was, which leads to them trading punches and Chyna gets in a low blow on Jericho.  Holly then wanders in, and Chyna gets in a Pedigree for 2.  All 3 back up as Chyna gets on Hardcore's shoulders in the corner, and Jericho gets cross-body on her for 2.  As Jericho falls outside, Chyna superplexes Holly, and goes for a Boston Crab.  Jericho breaks it up with a bulldog, which leads to a Lionsault and the 3 count at 7:29. **  It was smart of them to keep Chyna outside for most of the match, but it still wasn't very good.

 

Michael Cole talks to the Rock.  Nothing new here.  Rock says that he's worried about 2 guys in the Rumble:  Crash Holly and Mosh.  He then runs down Big Show, and gets coins a new phrase, "A tall glass of shut up juice", that I haven't heard since.

 

Tag Team Championship:  New Age Outlaws © vs. The Acolytes

Brawl to start with outside.  Back inside, Billy Gunn and Bradshaw start off as Bradshaw gets in a fallaway slam.  Other partners are tagged in, and Farooq works over Road Dogg.  Dogg gets in his punches on Farooq, and as Billy Gunn tries to interfere, he is greeted by a Clothesline from Hell by Bradshaw.  Farooq gets a Spinebuster on Dogg, but Gunn, back up, breaks up the pin at a 2 count.  Ref bump as Acolytes double-powerbomb Dogg, but there is no ref to make the count.  X-Pac makes the run-in, and gets a kick on Bradshaw, only to be given a Spinebuster by Farooq.  As Bradshaw is getting up from the X-Pac kick, Gunn sneaks in for a Fameasser and the win at 2:35. * Not very long, which is probably a good thing, since the longer it went, the worse it probably would have gotten.

 

Build-up for the Cactus Jack/Triple H street fight.  Shows the transformation of Mick Foley from Mankind to Cactus, including the "Have a Bad Day" vignettes, the fake Mankind, and the Rock's threat of a walkout unless Foley was re-instated.  Highlights of the Cactus/HHH match from the September '97 MSG RAW are also shown, as well as footage of Foley in the Japanese deathmatches.

 

Sreet Fight for the World Wrestling Federation Championship:  Cactus Jack vs. Triple H ©

As HHH and Stephanie come out, I realize that 2 years later, both Steph AND HHH have bigger boobs, and none of it is due to natural reasons.  Stephanie goes out just as quick as she came in and the match starts.  Cactus punches to start, but HHH fights back to punch Cactus into a corner.  Cactus charges out and knocks down HHH with a clothesline and takes HHH into the corner.  Cactus beats down HHH is said corner, and then goes back to set up for the knee in the face, but HHH falls out of the ring, so Foley stops.  Cactus baseball slides to the outside and hits Triple H with a swinging neckbreaker.  Foley gets back in and waits for HHH, who is met with a leg drop to the back of the head and falls back outside.  Cactus takes control on the outside, smashing HHH's head into the steps, as well as the ring bell.  HHH recovers, though, and hits Cactus with the ring bell and throws a chair inside the ring.  HHH stands inside waiting for Cactus to join him, which he does eventually, and is greeted with a chairshot.  HHH goes to the corner to untie the turnbuckle, but Cactus is back up, and as HHH turns around he is clotheslined.  Cactus lays the chair across the head of HHH, and hits a legdrop, which gets a 2 count.  Cactus continues his beat down of HHH and they both go to the outside.  They brawl through the crowd, which eventually leads them to the entrance way, where HHH is suplexed onto some wooden pallets.  Cactus hits HHH in the head with a trash can, then repeatedly smashes him into the door in the entranceway.  HHH recovers from this to suplex Cactus into the tartan which is now lying on the ground.  They now trade punches up to the ring, where Cactus again smashes HHH into the steps.  More Cactus punches leads to Cactus doing the charging knee to HHH's head which is up against the steel steps.  Under the ring, Cactus pulls out a barbed wire 2X4.   By now, they are back inside, where Cactus goes to use the 2X4, only to be stopped by a low blow from HHH.  HHH then takes the 2X4 and uses it to attack Foley's stomach and back, before Foley blocks a final attempt, takes the 2X4, and nails HHH with it below the belt.  A double-armed DDT gets a 2 count, while the ref hides the 2X4 under the Spanish announce table.  Once Cactus realizes that he can't find it, Earl Hebner stooges off where he hid it, so Foley attacks one of the announcers until the another announcer gives him the 2X4.  Back inside, Cactus hits HHH in the face with the barbed wire, knocking him down, then driving the 2X4 into HHH's face, causing him to bleed.  Pinfall gets a 2 count.  Cactus then rakes the barbed wire across the face of Triple H.  They both go outside, where Cactus continues the beatdown of HHH, leading them to the English announce table.  Cactus goes for a piledriver, but it is countered into a backdrop, but the table does not completely break, just bends a little.  Crowd chants "Foley", I don't really know why.  Back inside now, HHH takes control and goes for a Pedigree near the corner, but Cactus counters it into a slingshot.  HHH staggers out of the corner and has his face slammed into the barbed wire, which is followed by a 2 count.  They both go the outside, where HHH hiptosses Cactus into the steps, injuring his knee.  Back up, Cactus is then irish whipped into the steps and HHH chopblocks his knee.  Back inside, Cactus' knee is chopblocked again and HHH goes outside to get some handcuffs.  Going to handcuff Cactus, he only gets one hand done before Cactus blocks it.  Wrapping the other half of the cuff around his hand, he uses them Regal-style and punches HHH.  HHH then kicks Cactus' injured knee again, and when he's down he finishes the cuffing, ala the 1999 Rumble Mankind/Rock match.  HHH gets in some punches on the helpless Cactus, and then goes outside to get the ring steps, which he then throws in the ring.  HHH goes to hit Foley with the steps, but Foley counters with a drop-toe hold and HHH's head goes smashing into the steps.  Foley gets in a low blow on HHH by falling on to his nether regions.  Hebner then has to pull Cactus off of HHH, who is biting his face.  Back up, HHH gets a clothesline on Cactus and drives a chair into his stomach.  Foley gets up, only to get hit with more chairshots, Foley falls outside and stumbles up the aisle, where he is met with more chairshots.  Foley, on his knees, yells at HHH to hit him one more time, which HHH has no problem with and winds up, only to be hit with a chair by the Rock, who leaves just as quickly as he came out.  While HHH is down, at cop comes out to unlock Foley's cuffs (how did HHH get the cuffs in the first place?), so Cactus takes control.  They fight over to the Spanish announce table, where Cactus this time gets a piledriver in, but, again, the table doesn't break.  Foley throws HHH back in, and goes under the ring to pull out a bag of thumbtacks, which he then spills all over the ring.  Steph comes back out to distract the ref, while Cactus punches HHH, who teeters over the thumbtacks, so Cactus takes a step back to charge at him and knock him down, but HHH backdrops him onto the tacks.  Foley gets up and walks into a Pedigree, which only gets a 2 count.  HHH is beside himself, and argues with the ref while Foley gets up.  This time, a Pedigree onto the tacks (ouch!) gets HHH the win at 26:48. *****  Not much you can say after that.  A classic brawl that kicked off an awesome 2000 for HHH, and definitely cemented his place at the top of the card.

 

Royal Rumble Match

D'Lo Brown in #1, while Grandmaster Sexay is #2.  The 2 trade punches, and GMS gets a dropkick in on D'Lo.  In the corner, D'Lo sets up for the running powerbomb, but that is countered into a hurrincanrana.  Mosh comes out as #3, and he beats down GMS.  Kaientai is out for their first run-in of the night, and they are promptly "eliminated".  D'Lo gets in a Sky High on Mosh, as Christian comes down as #4.  Mosh goes to eliminate both D'Lo and GMS, but is unsuccesfull, and is then taken into the turnbuckle.  Rikishi comes out as #5, and quickly eliminates both Mosh and Christian.  D'Lo walks into a Rikishi Driver, and then is thrown out by Rikishi, leaving just him and the Grandmaster.  Scotty 2 Hotty is out as #6, and Too Cool and Rikishi dance, before Rikishi eliminates both of them at the same time, but everything's "cool".  Rikishi dances some more before Steve Blackman comes out as #7.  Blackman gets some kicks in, but eventually falls victim to the Rikishi Driver (which, BTW, is a good move, and should never had been disallowed by the WWF, those bastards) and is eliminated quickly.  Viscera is #8, which is greeted by a loud "groan" from the MSG faithfull.  The 2 big men trade punches, with Viscera eventually getting in a belly-to-belly suplex and a legdrop in on Rikishi.  Back up, Rikishi gets in 3 superkicks on Viscera, before using his momentum to eliminate him.  Big Bossman is #9, but he stalls outside the ring until Test comes down as #10.  Those 2 brawl outside the ring before Test throws Bossman inside.  The 3 of them fight until the British Bulldog comes down as #11.  Rikishi pairs off with the Bulldog as Test and Bossman battle.  Gangrel is #12, while he is double teamed by Test and Bossman.  Kaientai does run-in #2, and are quickly eliminated again, with TAKA injuring himself on impact with the floor.  The other 4 men fight as Rikishi stands waiting in the other corner.  Edge comes out as #13 to a big pop and by now there are too many men in the ring to keep track of what is happening.  Bulldog attempts to get rid of Edge, but a poke to the eye stops that from happening.  Meanwhile, Bossman is Banzai Dropped by Rikishi.  "Hail to the Chief" strikes up as Bob Backlund is #14 and he comes out to a huge pop.  Inside, Backlund is triple teamed by Edge, Gangrel, and Bossman.  All 6 men then focus their attention on Rikishi, and eliminate him, which the crowd doesn't like.  Jericho is #15, and he eliminates Backlund with a dropkick.  Crash Holly is #16 and he is attacked by the Bulldog.  Then, they team up to take on Edge, who low blows Bulldog to stop the attack.  Chyna (who's face looks like that of an old lady's) is #17 and she goes after Jericho.  Suplex from the apron gets rid of Jericho, and while she gloats, Bossman comes up from behind and pushes her off, eliminating her.  Farooq is #18, and is attacked by the Mean Street Posse, as it is their turn to run-in.  Bossman gets rid of Farooq in quick order.  Road Dogg is out as #19, as Gangrel and the Bulldog double team Edge.  Al Snow is #20.  Once in, Al goes after Crash.  Bulldog is eliminated by Road Dogg, while Edge gets in a cross body on the Bossman.  Val Venis comes in at #21 and him and Test start to fight.  Funaki does a run-in by himself, with TAKA having been taken to a hospital.  After he's thrown out, Val Venis and Edge start to double team Al Snow.  Prince Albert is #22.  Edge is now gone.  Albert goes after Bossman and a fight ensues.  Hardcore Holly is #23, and he also goes after Test.  Rock is #24, and he gets rid of the Bossman (too bad).  Hardcore goes after the Rock, as Test powerbombs Crash.  Billy Gunn is #25, and he goes after the Rock.  Rock gets away from Gunn, hits a DDT on Crash, and eliminates him.  Big Show is #26, and he eliminates Test and Gangrel quickly.  He then headbutts Venis and Snow, and stomps on the Rock.  Bradshaw is #27, and another Posse run-in beats him down, but he ends up getting rid of them, but then the Outlaws come up from behind Bradshaw and eliminate him.  Kane is #28, and he throws Venis out of the ring.  Rock gets in a clothesline on Hardcore, before the Godfather comes in at #29.  Kane eliminates Albert, before another Funaki run-in.  X-Pac is the last, at #30, while Al Snow eliminates Hardcore and Big Show eliminates the Godfather.  Rock then eliminates Al Snow, and Road Dogg taunts him before Gunn comes up from behind at eliminates him, but before long, Kane eliminates him and we're down to the Final Four (Kane, Show, Rock, X-Pac).  Kane goes under the ropes and brawls with the Outlaws outside.  Rock eliminates X-Pac, but the refs are busy with Kane and the Outlaws that they miss it, so he comes back in.  With everyone back inside now, Kane kicks the Rock, and X-Pac hits Rock with a spinning heel kick.  Kane then gets an enziguri on Big Show, before slamming him, but then gets eliminated by X-Pac.  X-Pac then gets a Bronco Buster on Show, but Show gets back up and eliminates X-Pac.  Big Show turns around into a spinebuster from the Rock, followed by a People's Elbow.  Show gets up and chokeslams the Rock.  Show puts Rock over his shoulder, and then runs towards the rope to eliminate him, but Rock grabs the top rope and keeps both his feet from hitting the ground, while Show is eliminated to end the Rumble at 51:47. ***  Good enough Rumble, with very little slow parts in the middle, mostly just around the Rikishi stuff.

 

Rock gets on the mic and declares that he is going to "WresssssstleMania", before Big Show comes back out and throws him over the top rope for good measure.

 

Final Thoughts:  A really good show that I really enjoyed when it first came out.  The show, however, really isn't too historically significant, as the winner of the Rumble lost the #1 contender's slot at No Way Out the next month, before finally a 4 Way match was made the main event of WrestleMania.  Anyways, not too many low spots during the show, and, save for the moronic Mae Young stuff, the booking made sense.

[Guest treble charged]

This is my first attempt at something like this, so any feedback would be appreciated.  Thanks guys.

[Guest nWoScorpion]

Pretty good for a 1st time. Sounds like youve been doin these before. Of course, it comes natural to us greats. hehehe.

[Guest treble charged]

Well, I wouldn't call myself a "great", but I have read a whole lot of reviews/recaps, so I guess I kind of borrowed styles from other people out there.  Thanks though, I really appreciate the feedback.