Review of WWF Judgment Day 2000

-Well, well, well…look who’s back. Bet you thought I was gone for good huh? You only wish, I am back and I’m ready to spread the REAL truth on professional wrestling with some of the worst jokes, terrible puns, and ramblings than any other person out there on the net. I am also unapologetically biased towards anything Pittsburgh, so you’ll have to deal with that. As always, any feedback, comments, questions, or whatever else goes to DLman91@hotmail.com

-Allow me to just say I am happy to be back and doing what I love to do, which is watch wrestling and make jokes about it. Hopefully, you guys enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them…but enough crap, ON WITH THE SHOW!

-We start off with a bunch of stats about what occurs within 1 hour, which YOUR hype-theme for the main event of the evening. They show The Rock back in the Rocky Sucks days, and wow did that pineapple haircut look terrible.

-Cut immediately to DX and Vince hanging out and eating grapes, and we have our first X-Pac sighting of the night as I shudder. Hey, there’s the original Tori! Reigning Hardcore Champion Gerald Brisco shows up and gets barked at to go get coffee, as we learn that X-Pac likes his with ice because he’s a big girl. Vince and DX promise to beat those damn Dudleys, the Big Show, and The Rock all night long.

Have you seen me?

-Brisco is jumped by the Headbangers en route to getting the tasty beverages, remember the 24/7 rule? That was an awesome concept until the WWF did what it always does, and that’s take a good idea that fans like and pound it into the ground over and over and over and over and over again until they get sick of it and turn on it (See: Austin vs. Evil Authority Figure).

-Cut to Shawn Michaels wearing some of the gayest looking shorts I’ve ever seen. Heartbreak Kid indeed.

Kurt Angle, Edge, and Christian vs. Rikishi and Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay)
The awesome original heel Kurt Angle (from my alma mater of CLARION UNIVERSITY and Pittsburgh of course HAHAHA) comes out and reveals that teenage girls think he is “all that”. But, never fear, Kurt promises to stick to his abstinence stance. He was a little shaky on the mic, but the potential was definitely there. Edge and Christian come to a decent “girl pop” and then mispronounces the name of the town, marking the first appearance of a 70s heel technique. And now, for the benefit of those with flash photography, all three pose for the “Jug Band” picture, which obviously involves dressing like hicks to mock the Kentucky people…the hat on Kurt is worth the price of the video alone. Too Cool’s pop is ridiculous, and how Rikishi ever got this over is a mystery to me. The heels jump them to start, but Rikishi throws them all into the same corner and Kurt escapes before Rikishi can smash him with his huge ass. Grandmaster takes over on Edge and nails him with a nice enzuguri, before a missile dropkick from the second rope brings out the dance moves. In comes Scotty and some choreographed double teaming ensues. Edge goes to the eyes to take control and tags in Christian, who engages in a nice wrestling sequence with Scotty and takes a suplex. Scotty kips up, and moonwalks like an idiot, so he gets jumped from behind. Christian chops away in the corner and Canadian Whips him to the other side, but Grandmaster is there to block the corner with his own body so Scotty can get a reversal. Edge tries to do the same with his partner, but of course he screws up and gets crotched. Cute spot. Lots of double teaming ends with Edge headbutting Christian in the balls as the crowd chants for the fat guy. In a somewhat uncomfortable moment while the heels are on the outside, Sexay and Scotty argue about penis size and Grandmaster reveals he wears white Speedos. Don’t ask. Christian interrupts that weird spot, but doesn’t notice Rikishi getting tagged and gets destroyed. The big man cleans house and finally gets his hands on Kurt Angle before Angle takes over by moving when Rikishi tries to sit on him. Rikishi gets worked over in the corner, but fights back and tags in Scotty, who tries to get the worm before Kurt breaks it up to some SERIOUS heat. The heels seem annoyed by the constant double teaming and kick the sh*t out of Scotty to start the face-in-peril portion of the contest. Crowd is just electric to for this as Scotty takes a Pittsburgh Whip to the corner as the people let Kurt know that he sucks. Kurt gets 2 off of a suplex and Christian comes in to get his kicks in but Scotty catches him coming into the corner. Nice reversal sequence to a stungun has both men crawling to the corners, of course Rikishi comes in and is (in Vince’s immortal words) a house of fire. Rikishi stacks the heels in the corner and crushes them all, as Kurt falls into the terrible position of getting Rikishi’s giant ass rubbed in his gold medal winning face.

Sir, please do not eat the belt, it’s the last one we have.

-Rikishi gets jumped, but Kurt and Christian ignore the cardinal rule of wresting a Samoan guy, which is piledrivers or DDTs do no damage whatsoever. Rikishi pops up and nails them, but Edge hits a spear and then gives a piss poor attempt at The Worm. Scotty gets up and gives the people the real deal as Kurt eats a superkick from Sexay. Rikishi has Edge up for the Rikishi driver, but Christian sneaks in and nails the fat guy with the ring bell. Referee is distracted and Sexay comes onto Edge with a legdrop from the top rope and Rikishi gets the pin.
Winners: Rikishi and Too Cool

-Talk about a hot opener, as these guys went nuts for the crowd and the people responded. The magic sunglasses get put on and Rikishi gives the people a little dance number. We’ll call it **1/2 for a nice fast-paced opener.

-Michael Cole is back with the self-proclaimed “greatest world champion” ever, Shawn Michaels. He promises that he will just do his job and basically makes Cole his bitch.

Even my kids don’t really like me.

-Eddie Guerrero (RIP) and Chyna arrive earlier tonight on HEAT, and Eddie has the POWER OF THE MULLET. Is it sad that Chyna looks, almost, somewhat doable? Have you seen her recently? She looks like a transsexual who got the hell kicked out of her. Dean Malenko and Saturn interrupt the party and tell Chyna to stay out of the former Radicalz business. Perry Saturn has the charisma of my left ass cheek.

What happened here?

Triple Threat Match for the WWF European Championship

Eddie Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn vs. Dean Malenko

The Radicalz EXPLODE! All 3 men came over with Chris Benoit in January at RAW (in Pittsburgh!! Hahahaha) and immediately turned heel, although Benoit and Eddie were the only ones to do anything really great in singles. Saturn is so roided up here, it’s not even funny. Malenko is the Light Heavyweight Champion, but it’s not on the line…like the title meant anything anyways. For God’s sake, it’s like the only title in wrestling history that a company FORGOT it had. Brawl to start with Dean and Perry laying the boots to Eddie and getting a nice double team move. They shake hands, and I’ll give that about 20 seconds before that’s over. Eddie goes to the corner, and Perry clotheslines Dean for two. So much for that. Dean counters with a leg lariat, but Saturn takes over and drops both men on their asses. Interesting spot as Eddie goes low on both men at the same time (wow, the gay undertones of that sentence are STUNNING). Eddie unloads on his buddies and gets a leg lariat of his own. Hurricanrana sends Dean down, and then gives one to Saturn for the hell of it. Small “Eddie” chant breaks out as Dean dumps EG with a sidewalk slam for two. Saturn jumps from behind but gets nailed with a tornado DDT out of the corner from Eddie for two. Dean is back up and catches Eddie with a knee before a nice sit-down powerbomb that gets two. Chyna’s boobs are ridiculously fake. Dean tries a powerbomb again, but Eddie rolls him up, which is reversed by Dean into the Texas Cloverleaf. He barely gets any time before he has to clothesline Saturn to stay in control. Eddie reverses a whip to the corner, and tries for a superplex before Saturn breaks it up and puts Eddie on his shoulders, a la the Legion of Doom, before dumping him onto the top rope and nailing Eddie with an overhead suplex. Dean fights Saturn off, and Eddie joins him on the top rope. Brief scuffle ensues before Dean nails Eddie with a NASTY looking gutbuster from the top rope, OUCH! Saturn dumps Dean and nails a nice look splash from the top before Dean breaks up the count. Eddie comes back with a brainbuster and Dean locks on a crossface before Eddie dropkicks him in the face. Lots of spots here with no real flow to them. Now it’s Saturn turn to comeback before he gets dumped to the outside and Dean hits a back suplex. Dean goes up top and gets his own splash before Saturn comes back in and German suplexes BOTH guys at the same time. Chyna, however, nails Saturn with a dozen loaded red roses and he’s out cold. Maybe she knocked his eyes back straight. Dean catches Chyna trying to nail him with the flowers of doom, but she trips him up and he ends up falling face first on them and Eddie rolls him up for the pin.

Winner and STILL Champion: Eddie Guerrero

-You know, I just didn’t just get behind this one. It was just spot, rest, spot, rest, spot. There really wasn’t a flow to link the spots together, they just did one, laid around, then another guy did a spot. I’m gonna go ** and chalk it up to a disappointment.

-Recap of Gerald Brisco winning the Hardcore Title on Smackdown by pinning Crash Holly while he’s taking a nap. The hushed commentary is awesome.

-Back live with Brisco hiding in the bathroom and establishing that he is terrified of everyone.

-Recap of Big Show going through his phase of “having fun” after a stint on Saturday Night Live revealed that he actually was a pretty funny guy. His impression of Hulk Hogan at Backlash is still funny today. Shane, on the other hand, doesn’t think it’s so funny and thinks the Show is unmotivated and slob, which actually makes the Big Show cry. Not a good way to get a giant over, Vince. Show freaks out and tries to kill Shane, and thus begins Shane’s “quick like the cat” speech, which leads to “Shane’s a pussy (clap clap clapclapclap)” chants all over the country. See? Wrestling fans are clever too. Shane chokeslams Big Show with the help of 6 other guys.

No Disqualification Match

Big Show vs. Shane McMahon

Only in the WWF could the 20-something, chubby, non-wrestling trained son of the owner compete in a match against someone who outweighs him by 300 lbs. and has a foot on him. Show is rockin’ the remixed theme tonight from the WWF Aggression album, which is essentially rap versions of all the themes. I didn’t buy it. Shane dives over the ropes at Show like a total idiot and gets caught and rammed into the post twice for his stupidity. Show runs Shane into the steps on the outside, then slams him on them. Paul Wight looks absolutely ripped compared to how he looked in WWECW. Shane gets dumped into the right OVER the top rope and Big Show literally kicks his ass. Show talks trash while kicking his ass and Shane just bumps like a madman for him. AND CUE THE RUN INS! Bossman is our first contestant, and works the Show’s leg over with the nightstick. Show has had enough and delivers a few headbutts before a powerbomb sends Bossman to the hills. Next up is Test and Albert (affectionately known as T&A) with balloon-boobed Trish Stratus before she learned how to wrestle. They bring chairs to the ring, but that’s not enough as Show cleans house and sends them running as well. Trish gets into the ring and tries a low blow (I’d probably pay a good $200 for Trish to low blow me), but Show apparently has BALLS OF STEEL and feels no pain.

Paul shows how many balls he has after Trish’s shot

Trish gets dumped on top of Test and Albert, I’m convinced he could have tossed her little ass into the 9^th row with no problem. Shane is busy trying to get away during all this, but Show catches up to him at the entranceway and tosses him into the steel structure. Show does a little housecleaning and grabs some scaffolding, but Shane gets a nice counter by using the set like monkey bars and kicking back in Show’s face. T&A take advantage and beats Show down…and I don’t think if you added all 3 of those people’s wrestling abilities together you would get Ric Flair. Shane runs a cart into Show and covers for a two count. Show comes back as Test tries to hit him with a freakin cinder block, where did that come from? Shane is climbing for his life, but run-in #6 has Bull Buchanan coming in with another nightstick. I think we’ve established the nightstick as an effective weapon. Show is laying on an obviously gimmicked pile of rubber wires, and Shane pushed a sparking speaker onto his leg. OH COME ON! That doesn’t even look like part of the set…what the hell is the point of 60 extension cords laying on top of one another? Anyways, Bull sits on the speaker to keep Show down, while Shane BREAKS A CINDER BLOCK OVER SHOW’S HEAD. Ok then…that gets the pin.

Winner: Shane McMahon

-What the hell was that? They did a good job of putting Show over as a giant in the first 5 minutes, but then they busted out Wile E. Coyote spots with sparking, oversized speakers and a cinder block that crumbled to dust when it hit the Show’s head. Let the record show that Big Show is up and walking out 30 seconds after getting hit on the head with a 40 lbs. piece of stone. The whole mess gets * and doesn’t get called the next day.

-The guy behind JR and the King has a really fat arm and an ugly tattoo on it to boot. That doesn’t stop him from showing it off, what an idiot.

-Show gets loaded into an ambulance complaining of his knee injury, and totally ignoring the massive concussion he should have.

-Back with The Gerald Brisco Comedy Hour, as Gerry travels to the referee locker room to hang out and try to stay safe. Of course, the 2 referees in there try to jump him as soon as he falls asleep.

-HHH and Shawn are doing the male bonding thing in the back, before HHH reads my mind and makes fun of Shawn’s shorts.

-Recap of the sweet feud between Jericho and The Wrestler Who Must Not Be Named. They highlight the Walls of Jericho against the Crippler Crossface.

-On Smackdown, Hardcore Holly destroys Benoit’s knee with a chair, probably because Benoit called him Sparky Plugg.

Submission Match for WWF Intercontinental Title

Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho

How the hell did no one know that Benoit was on steroids? Y2J chant starts as they both fight over a lockup before Benoit takes over with some hard, awesome chops. Jericho comes back with a running bulldog and gets some MANLY chops of his own. Jericho goes for an armbar early, but Benoit rolls out of it and tries a tombstone piledriver as Jerry Lawler makes a 69 joke. They fight over the move before Benoit gets a shoulderbreaker to setup the Crossface later on. Benoit gets a diving headbutt onto the shoulder, ouch. No wonder he had so many concussions. Benoit slaps on his first submission move, but we all know there is no way. Jericho fights out and goes for the Walls, but it’s too early and Benoit fights out of it. Jericho keeps Chris down with an elbow, and then a dropkick sends Benoit to the floor. Cut to Val Venis watching in the back, as he gets the winner on RAW the next night. Out on the floor, Jericho meets the steps shoulder-first and Benoit sets the steel steps upright. Jericho counters though and drives Benoit’s knee into his own step section…IRONY! Back inside, Jericho gets a double arm backbreaker and they start chopping the sh*t out of each other again. Anytime two Canadian guys want to beat each other senseless, I’m all for it. Jericho charges in the corner, but meets the post with his shoulder and Benoit takes the pad off of the turnbuckle, but struggles a bit. He sends Jericho’s shoulder into the bolt and I’m digging the psychology of this one. Jericho fights out of another submission hold, more chopping cause it rules, and Benoit gets his awesome Dynamite snap suplex. Benoit drops a knee on the shoulder, and you notice there is not one move that doesn’t concentrate on the shoulder, that’s why Benoit was so awesome, he doesn’t drop a knee on the shoulder and then go for a Boston Crab or something stupid like that. Fujiwara armbar has Jericho in trouble, but he fights to the ropes as we cut to Hardcore Holly watching the match and wearing no shirt for some reason. Benoit charges in the corner, but bangs his knee off of the exposed bolt and now Jericho is in control. He gets a dragon screw leg whip and rips the knee brace off of Benoit’s hurt knee. The crowd doesn’t seem to be into this for some reason. Jericho whips Benoit with his own medical brace, which is like 3 different levels of cool. He tries the figure four, but Benoit basically kicks him as hard as he can in head. Dropkick to the knee sets up the Lionsault, which means nothing in this kind of match. Jericho attempts to dump Benoit, but it ends up with Jericho getting the Walls of Jericho on the ropes of the rings, which looks painful as hell. Benoit fights out as Jerry makes a freakin’ XFL REFERNCE. Benoit misses a enzugri, but comes back with his german suplexes. Jericho comes back and tries the Walls, but Benoit finds the knee brace on the mat and smacks Jericho in the face, then locks on the Crippler Crossface. Jericho is fighting it, so Benoit lets go of the move so he can drag him to the middle of the ring and lock it on again…sweet. Benoit lets go again and now locks the move on so it’s a choke. Jericho legitimately turns purple in the face as Benoit looks like he’s trying to kill him. Jericho passes out and the ref calls for the bell.

Winner: Chris Benoit

-Well, the crowd wasn’t into it because it didn’t feature a fat Samoan guy, but man I was FEELIN IT. ***1/4 for great psychology, good back and forth stuff, and Jericho almost dying to get a finishing move over. They go for the attempted standing ovation spot as Jericho fights to his feet, and gets a decent reaction.

Ralphus knows who the man is still.

-Recap of Gerald Brisco’s night, just in case you changed to another PPV channel. Michael Cole now interviews him, as some random concession workers plot in the background like evil henchmen. Brisco catches them and kicks the food in their face.

-The Rock lays down the law on Shawn Michaels and promises to kick Shawn’s ass if he screws him over.

Tag Team Table Match

DX (Road Dogg and X-Pac) vs. The Dudley Boyz

DX gets an anemic pop on its way out, but has the AWESOME Run-DMC entrance music tonight. Recap video shows Tori putting Bubba Ray through a table with a splash from the top to the outside. Tori’s boobs are huge and she has a nice stomach…but she also happens to look like a dude in the face. D-von promises she will pay for her sins and she will TESTIFY MY BROTHER! Dogg’s rapping seems forced at this point and the crowd is all like “meh”. Looking at the record, it’s hard not to proclaim the Dudleys as the best tag team of all time, which is funny considering they started in a bingo hall. Dogg and D-Von start out, as Dogg jumps him from behind but gets caught with a shoulderblock. Elbow sends Road Dogg to the ground, but he takes over and tags in X-Punk. D-Von hits another shoulderblock, showing he did not bring the moveset with him to Kentucky. Bubba Ray comes in and pounds away but eats a spinning heel kick. X-Pac goes for the tables, but Bubba has other ideas as he drags X-Pac’s greasy ass into the ring and chops the hell out of him. Bubba misses a blind charge, but stays in control with a clothesline. WAAAAAAAAASSSSUP groin headbutt hits both members of DX as Tori distracts the ref, but it’s not like they are going to get disqualified or something, they have to put them through a freakin TABLE! DX tries to take a walk, but the Dudleys are all like “UH UH!” and drag them back to the ring for some more. Bubba checks out Tori and gets that weird look in his eye, called “getting wood” by the WWF of course. Meanwhile, D-Von is getting the sh*t kicked out of him in the ring and X-Pac hits his Bronco Buster in the corner. Dogg goes for a boring front facelock to continue the heat segment, and the Dudleys get the classic “face teams gets a tag but the referee didn’t see it” spot. D-Von comes back with a double clothesline and gets the hot tag to Bubba, who curses out X-Pac before slamming him. Bubba Bomb for Road Dogg, Samoan drop for X-Pac and it’s “DEEEEEEEVON! GET THE TABLES!” Three tables get involved, and the Dudleys set them up in opposite corners. D-Von gets run into the steps, and Dogg sets up a table outside and dumps D-Von through it to take lead 1-0. Both members have to be put through a table of course, but they don’t even tell the crowd that D-Von was put through one. The table spot was kinda weak anyways. Bubba is biting Road Dogg, which can’t possibly be hygienic as X-Pac sets up D-Von against another table, why? I have no idea. X-Pac tries for a hurricanrana on Bubba Ray, but gets powerbombed through a table for his trouble. Now we’re at 1-1 and anytime X-Pac gets hurt makes a good match. Dogg comes back with the Shaky Legs punches and Bubba fires back, the referee gets in the middle of them so the Dogg and Bubba throw the referee through a table. There’s a stolen ECW spot. Dogg is very happy and Bubba celebrates by DDTing him as YOUR Hardcore Champion Gerald Brisco makes his way out. 3-D through the table looks to end it, but the referee is out cold so no bell rings. Let me get this straight, 15,000 people, 100 employees, millions of people on PPV all saw Dogg go through a table, but since 1 guy in a striped shirt didn’t see it, it’s like it never happened? The logic I’ve accepted as a wrestling fan is absolutely mind-blowing. Brisco pulls Dogg out as Tori comes in to shake her ass some more. Bubba grabs Tori and the Dudleys set up for a superbomb from the top rope, but Brisco makes the save. Bubba is sitting on the top rope and X-Pac gets a decent looking X-Factor through the table for the win. Crowd doesn’t like THAT one.

Winners: D-Generation X

Bubba=stunned

-Post-match, Brisco gets his as the Dudleys jump him and put him through a table. Does that count as a Hardcore Title Match? It wasn’t really a normal wrestling match, and it wasn’t an all-out brawl, which the Dudleys are so good at. It was just kinda there, which means ** is all it gets.

-Creepy ass nursery rhyme proclaiming that Judgment Day is here…think you know who THAT video is for? SAVE_US.222 has nothing on this one.

-Recap of Rocky FINALLY ending HHH’s reign as champ at Backlash. I must say I was very afraid of this match when it was first announced, because a few years before this, these two did an Ironman match and it was basically chinlock after armbar. I must say though, I remember this match and it absolutely rules. Both HHH and The Rock warn that if Shawn screws either of them, he’s dead.

60-Minute Iron Man Match for WWF World Title

The Rock vs. HHH

60-minute time limit, most decisions at the end of the time limit is the World Champion. Of course, Shawn Michaels is YOUR special guest referee and yes he is still wearing those terrible shorts. HHH sends the McMahon-Helmsley Faction to the back because he wants to do this himself. Rocky gets a hell of a pop on the way out. They go to the staredown to build up the crowd, and then fight over a lockup. Rocky snags a headlock and then they fight back and forth over a wristlock before a shoulderblock gets two. Rollup off the ropes gets another two count, and HHH says “WHOA WHOA WHOA” and rolls to the outside. Back in, Triple H gets a headlock but a right hand from Rocky sends him to the outside again and HBK refuses to break the count. Rocky goes back to the headlock and then runs HHH into the corners before missing a charge to the corner and taking a clothesline. HHH goes to work on the left arm of the Rock and grabs an armbar, Rocky fights out of it but takes an armbar takedown for two. HHH stays on the arm as the 10-minute mark passes with no falls so far. Rocky backs him into the corner and sends HHH off the ropes before catching him with a Rock Bottom from out of nowhere for the first fall (Rock 1-0).

Do it.

HHH rolls to the outside and Rocky follows him out. HHH meets the barrier surrounding the ring a few times, but HHH reverses and introduces the Rock to the barrier as well. HHH makes a mistake though and a running knee hits the barrier, and the Rock suplexes him back into the ring for a two count. Rocky starts to go to work on the knee, wrapping it around the post and driving it into the steel steps. In the ring, Rocky stays on the knee, using the Mr. Perfect spot of kicking HHH’s knee out from underneath him. Rock locks in the figure four (WOOOOO) and HHH is in trouble. Hunter eventually reverses the leglock and they tumble into the ropes for a break. To the outside again and HHH meets the announce table with his face, but gets caught with a clothesline. They fight into the crowd and two girls absolutely FLIP OUT at the sight of the Rock. A backdrop sends Rocky back to ringside and back into the ring as the 20-minute mark goes by. Textbook suplex by HHH and a big elbow drop gets two. HHH tries the pinfall over and over again, which makes a lot of sense in the context of the hour long match, making the Rock expend energy to kick out each time. In the corner, the Rock goes to the knee but gets tossed over the top rope. HHH follows him out, but that ends up being a stupid idea as Rocky reverses a whip into the steps and HHH’s knees slam into them. Back inside, the Rock wraps HHH’s legs in the ropes and then jumps on them in a cool looking spot. Rocky slaps a leg grapevine on and tries for the figure four again, but gets kicked off into the turnbuckle. HHH catches him on the rebound and its Pedigree time to even it up (Tied up 1-1). Rock is still woozy and tries to fight back, but HHH catches him with a very sloppy looking inside cradle for another pin (HHH 2-1). Rock gets sent to the outside, as Shawn’s referee shirt is actually longer than his shorts…they seem to be getting smaller by the minute. They fight up to the entranceway and HHH gets sent into the steel set and takes a clothesline. HHH gets a suplex for a double-KO spot on the floor, and Shawn is counting them both as we are halfway through at 30 minutes. They make their way back to the ring and Rocky hits HHH with a back suplex and backdrops him onto the floor. Shawn informs the JR that he’s not counting any of these guys out. Finally, we’re back inside and the Rock gets caught with his head down and HHH delivers a sweet looking piledriver for another pin (HHH 3-1). I love that the pins in this match are coming off of things other than finishing moves or giant table spots or something.

The Original HHH approves.

-Rocky gets beat down in the corner, but he explodes out and catches HHH with a clothesline. Hunter reverses however and catches the Rock with his own clothesline for a two count. HHH decides to go up top (?!?) but gets slammed off a la Ric Flair for a double-KO. Rock nails him with good looking right hands and busts out La Magisterial for two, damn didn’t know Rocky had that in him. Off the ropes, HHH catches him with a high knee for a two count and grabs a sleeper on the Rock. Great move for a long match. HHH tries to use the ropes for extra leverage, but Shawn catches him and boots his legs off the ropes, and HHH doesn’t like that. HHH tries for the sleeper again, but Rocky counters this time with a belly to belly suplex for two. Off the ropes, they screw up a floatover DDT but it still gets the pin (HHH 3-2). 40 minute mark has passed and they head to the outside again. The Rock slams him into the timekeeper’s table, and then HHH returns the favor as Jerry is nervous about them being so close. HHH tries to use a steel chair, but Shawn rips it from his hands and Rocky whips him into the steps. Rock gets a neckbreaker and sends HHH back inside. HHH finds the steel chair however and SMACKS the Rock in the face with it and earns a DQ from Shawn (Tied Up 3-3). However, HHH reveals he is a genius and now covers the Rock for the pin to take the lead again (HHH 4-3). That’s awesome. Rocky is busted open and both men are exhausted at the point with 15 minutes left. HHH slugs away and then sends Rocky off the ropes before locking on the sleeper again. They go with the classic “lift arm 3 times to check if he’s still awake” spot and that wakes the Rock up. Rocky fights back, but gets caught in the sleeper again and this time it actually WORKS! (HHH 5-3) Shawn rips HHH off of the Rock by his hair, and they get into a shoving match about that, DX EXPLODES!! Rocky slugs back as the crowd is starting to sense the desperation, and HHH gets whipped OVER the corner and to the floor, taking out a cameraman in the process. Rocky brings him back inside and walks into a DDT for a two count as we’re past the 50-minute point. HHH tries going up top but gets crotched and Rocky brings him off with a nice looking superplex for the double-KO. Rocky…slowly…crawls and gets a LONG two count and there are only 8 minutes left. Rocky catches him with an elbow off the ropes and follows with a clothesline over the top and to the floor. The Rock slugs him down on the outside and then slingshots him into the post, which would be great if he were wrestling Mr. Perfect.

“I hate posts.”

-HHH reverses a whip into the steps and Rock is in trouble with only 6 minutes left in the match. HHH cleans off the announce table, but Rocky fights him off and Pedigrees him on the table which DOESN’T BREAK! Damn. Now HHH is busted open and he gets counted out with 4 minutes left (HHH 5-4). Now the McMahons make their return as they are getting a little nervous with this non-breaking table stuff. HHH almost gets counted out again but HHH stumbles back in with a little under 3 minutes left. Rocky gets beats the hell out of HHH and smacks him with a clothesline. DDT plants HHH, and now Shane and Vince both get punched in their heads. Rocky gets a spinebuster on HHH and the crowd is going NUTS, People’s Elbow ties it up with 2 minutes left (Tied up 5-5). DX makes their return as well and Shane pulls Shawn outside, but gets knocked out for his trouble. Road Dogg and X-Pac jump into the ring, and Shawn gets blasted in the melee. DX is all over Rocky when, out of nowhere, the nursery rhyme video from earlier plays. Crowd is stunned waiting until…THE UNDERTAKER RETURNS!

Oh Sh*t.

-Mark out city, baby. He comes out with his new American Badass character and the crowd is going batsh*t. He just beats the hell out of anything that moves and chokeslams everyone. Taker clears the ring and only HHH is left and he takes a chokeslam with 10 seconds left and the buzzer sounds to end the match. Wow, I’m breathless just WATCHING that ending. It looks to have the match end in a tie, but Shawn announces he has disqualified The Rock for Taker’s interference. (HHH 6-5)

Winner and NEW Champion: HHH

-Crowd absolutely HATES that one. Taker doesn’t like it too much either as he chases Shawn to the locker room and HHH is dragged to the back with the belt. Well, the match too a little bit to get going, but once they got in the groove, this match was SWEET. The ending was one of the most emotional I’ve seen, and I’ll go **** for a damn good match and an easy 60-minute one too watch.

This is one solid PPV up and down with some good matches all around, and a solid main event. Not to mention a really good IC Title match.

Definitely recommended.

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