The Ice Palace in Tampa, Florida; November 19, 2000
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Championship’s roll call: WWF Champion: Kurt Angle… Intercontinental Champion: Eddie Guerrero… European Champion: William Regal… Tag Team Champions: Right to Censor… Light Heavyweight Champion: Dean Malenko… Hardcore Champion: Steve Blackman… Women’s Champion: Ivory
Crash, Molly Holly & Steve Blackman vs. T&A & Trish Stratus inter-gender six-person tag: Test and Albers are wearing APA shirts; I assume they are feuding with them. Jim Ross reminds me that when T&A formed they attacked the APA and put them both out; so they left Crash in charge of the “office”, which explains his presence. Blackman starts off with Albert and gets clotheslined; Blackman comes back with a back sweep kick and tags in Crash. He leaps off the top but Albert catches him; Blackman offers a dropkick to assist Crash and gets a nearfall. Albert comes back with a clothesline. Trish tags in and they try a double team move but Crash avoids and Albert winds up taking a kick in the jimmy. Crash tags in Molly; Trish runs away and tags in Test. Crash returns and tries to take on Test. He uses his speed to confuse Test and hits a slingshot hurracanrana for a two count. Crash runs the ropes and gets KILLED with Test’s big boot; T&A double up on Crash and hit a double flapjack then Albert hits a hangman. Test returns and tries a pump-handle slam but Crash slips over the back and shoves Test into Albert. Test rebounds into Crash for a double KO. Trish blind tags in and misses an elbow allowing a tag to Molly; she hiptosses Trish and slams her. She drops some elbows and hits the ropes but Test grabs her hair and floors her. Referee Teddy Long reprimands him but doesn’t disqualify him; Molly is okay though and blocks a suplex and hits her own. Blackman tags in but Long missed it so he disallows it. Trish drags Molly back to the T&A corner; she commands the men to hold Trish for her to pummel. T&A look for some kind of press-slam/top rope move to poor Molly but Blackman and Crash run in and the match breaks down. The men wipe each other out leaving Trish and Molly in the ring. Trish chokes Molly and hits a second-rope bulldog for two. Trish tries for a superplex but Molly blocks and pins her with a second-rope sunset flip. 3/10 Bland opening match; T&A were an odd team as they should have been devastating but they just didn’t click. It’s hard to believe that Trish would go on to be one of the best workers in the female division.
Kurt Angle approaches Edge and Christian they think he wants help beating the Undertaker tonight and try lame excuses. Kurt doesn’t need help he just wants to go out and party (non-alcoholic style) after they all win their matches.
Earlier Tiger Ali Singh and Lo Down try to get into the building but they are “not on the list”.
Road Dogg, K-Kwik, “The One” Billy Gunn & Chyna vs. The Radicalz (w/Terri Runnels) elimination tag match: K-Kwik is R-Truth before he got over; he briefly teamed with Road Dogg as a hip hop team. I like all of the Radicalz wearing matching yellow attire. Billy and Perry Saturn start off and Saturn pummels him in the corner; Billy comes back with a boot and tags in Chyna. The hit a double vertical suplex; Chyna beats on Saturn in the corner and chops him. Chyna whips Saturn into a powerslam and a flapjack. She tries the handspring elbow but Saturn catches her in a reverse wastelock; he looks for a suplex but she low blows him. She nails Eddie on the apron and hits a DDT on Saturn but Dean Malenko makes the save. Billy runs in and attacks Malenko and the match breaks down. While referee Tim White is busy with Gunn and Malenko, Guerrero sneaks in the IC belt and waffles Chyna with it and Saturn get the pinfall; Chyna is ELIMINATED.
Road Dogg runs in and slams Saturn for a nearfall; he pummels Saturn in the corner but he comes back with a backdrop suplex and tags in Eddie. He hilos in over the top and plays to the crowd. The Radicalz quadruple team Road Dogg in the corner as Billy keeps running in and distracting the referee. Road Dogg tries to comeback with the Shake, Rattle and Roll but Guerrero hits a low dropkick; he works the leg and tags in Malenko. Dean holds the leg for Eddie to splash over the top rope. Eddie heads up to the top, but dillydallies a little too long, and gets superplexed. Billy tags in and leaps into the heel corner, like an idiot, and all four Radicalz beat the crap out of him. Eddie turns to the babyface team and taunts them just as Billy fights back; he turns and Gunn beats him and press-slams him. Billy plants Eddie with the One and Only and gets three to ELIMINATE Eddie Guerrero.
Malenko rushes in and gets pressed but Saturn smartly clips Billy’s legs and the professor takes over. Dean telegraphs a backdrop and Billy tags in K-Kwik. Malenko tries a hiptoss but Kwik flips over it and they run the ropes with Malenko avoiding a monkey flip with a cartwheel. They run again and Kwik hits a standing STO. Benoit tags in and Kwik floats over in the corner and hits a leg lariat; he then drops a flying head scissors and a Japanese arm drag. Benoit ducks another leg lariat and ENDS Kwik with a German suplex. K-Kwik is ELIMINATED.
So it comes down to three Radicalz versus the (former) New Age Outlaws; they kick the crap out of Road Dogg and Saturn drops an elbow for a nearfall. Malenko bodyslams him and brings Saturn back in; Road Dogg fires back with forearm shots but Saturn catches him with a nice Northern Lights suplex and gets a surprising three (even by Survivor Series standards). Road Dogg is ELIMINATED.
Billy really is “the one” now; Gunn attacks Saturn with his “Billy Gunn punches” but Malenko runs interference from the apron. Gotta love Benoit, stomping on the eliminated Road Dogg, from the apron, as he is rolling to the floor; all sorts of chaos ensues and Saturn cuts Billy off with a forearm. Malenko chokes Gunn in the corner; Saturn hotshots Gunn’s neck off the top rope and then Benoit low-bridges Billy to the floor. The heels miscommunicate on the floor and Benoit eats Saturn’s superkick but Malenko rights the ship with a baseball slide. Back in the ring, Billy quickly nails a Fameasser on Malenko to ELIMINATE him.
Saturn comes in and gets caught with a pretty crappy Jackhammer, but Benoit made sure Saturn isn’t getting pinned with a botched move, especially one showcased by a the guy who was dominating WCW. Benoit tags in and slams Gunn; he heads up top to drop the swandive head-butt… for two! Benoit is annoyed at White’s slow count. Billy comes back with a reverse elbow and sends Benoit into Saturn; Benoit rolls to the apron and Billy tries to suplex him back in but Saturn pulls a Bobby Heenan, grabbing Gunn’s boot and Benoit gets the pinfall. Billy Gunn is ELIMINATED and Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn are the survivors. 5.5/10 Not bad but too rushed; good thing they got Chyna out of there quick as possible as there is no way she could hang with any of the Radicalz, the same could be said for the rest of her team as well.
Lillian Garcia tries to interview The Rock as he arrives to the arena and gets ignored. Michael Cole talks to Chris Jericho about his match with Kane; he claims it isn’t about a spilled cup of coffee but if his rage and monster side.
Chris Jericho vs. Kane: Kane threw Jericho through a glass window on Raw and then chokeslammed him through the announce table on SmackDown the week prior to the PPV. Kane misses a clothesline and Jericho tries to punch him; Kane floors him with a knee and punches him in the corner. Jericho grazes Kane’s mask with a dropkick; grazed him hard enough that Kane falls over the top backwards. Jericho hits a running pescado and nearly brains himself on the landing. Kane takes over on the floor and punches and punches. He tosses Jericho into the steps. He catches Kane with a springboard dropkick as he is trying to reenter the ring; he props the steps next to Kane and dropkicks them into him. He leaps off the top rope but gets caught and powerslammed for two. Kane takes over again but Jericho keeps fighting back; Kane press-flapjacks him. Kane punches, kicks and chokes in the corner. Jericho flips out of a back suplex but eats an uppercut. Jericho fights back but gets hit with a big boot. Kane applies a reverse choke lift and rams him into the buckles. Kane continues to punch and kick and then removes the turnbuckle pad; Jericho blocks the buckle shot but so does Kane. Jericho runs into a punch and then gets choke tossed to the floor. They continue the battle there but Kane press-slams Jericho back into the ring. Kane to the top but Jericho crotches him; Jericho joins him on the top but Kane shoves him off. Kane leaps for the lariat but Jericho dropkicks him in midair for a brief double KO before Kane sits up. Jericho battles with him and trips Kane up; he heads to the top for a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Kane catches Jericho and nearly gets the Tombstone but he counters and shoves Kane into the exposed turnbuckle for a close nearfall. Jericho tries the Walls of Jericho and Kane struggles for a while until he grabs the ropes. Jericho tries to maintain the hold and they get entangles in each other’s’ feet. Jericho hits a bulldog and a tries a Lionsault but Kane catches him in a goozle and chokeslams him for the pinfall. 3/10 Kane was on his usual late-year heel push but Jericho got a lot of offense in; they tries to sell the match as “Jericho has no chance but keeps fighting back” aka the plucky babyface.
In the back Terri Runnels tells the Radicalz that Triple H has arrived and the plan shall go accordingly, they all laugh about it. Muhahahahaha!
WWF European Championship William Regal vs. Hardcore Holly: This is shortly after Regal re-debuted in the WWF; he was the British goodwill ambassador and chastised Americans for having poor manners. Pre-match, Regal complains about the Floridians ability to elect a president and then chides everyone for lacking manners. Holly is returning from a nasty broken arm from a mistimed moonsault by Kurt Angle. Holly punches away on Regal in the corner; Regal fires back with European uppercuts. Holly knocks him down with a shoulder and Regal outwrestles him for a while with a leg trip and facelock. Hardcore backs him into the corner and runs into a boot; Regal posts Holly’s bad arm and wraps it around the ringpost. Regal works the arm with an arm wringer; Holly tries to come back with a suplex but Regal punches the arm to break. He applies a cross-arm breaker. Holly makes the ropes; Regal continues to kick the arm while waiving at the crowd. Regal works the overhand wristlock; Holly fires back with a crossbody but Regal maintains the arm to keep control. He now entangles Holly in the ropes and works it some more; the referee frees Hardcore and he takes over. Holly retreats to the floor and grabs the European title and waffled Regal with it drawing a DQ. Post-match, Holly mounts Regal and pummels him. The referee tries to stop him and gets shoved down. 2/10 Regal tries to reinjure Holly’s arm until he snaps and gets himself disqualified; that would seemed to happen to him in every one of his big matches. Neither of them were over so the match suffered from heatlessness.
Kurt Angle is in the back and Trish Stratus wander in and offers him some “special” assistance. Angle totally misses her innuendo and says he needs no assistance with the Undertaker tonight and leaves.
The Rock vs. Rikishi: Rikishi was revealed as the person who ran Steve Austin over last year but claimed that the Rock directed him to do it, the infamous “I did it for da Rock, I did it for da [Samoan] people” promo, it wound up being Triple H all along; the Rock is coming to clear his name here. The Rock and Rikishi are in fact related, actually. Rocky sprints to the ring and attacks Rikishi and Samoan drops him as the crowd is finally alive. The Rock heads to the floor for a chair but referee Tim White prevents him from using it; Rikishi uses the distraction to level him with a superkick. Rikishi methodically stamps the Rock and hits a legdrop. He continues to pummel the Rock until he fires back in the corner but Rikishi cuts it off with a sidewalk slam. The Rock reverses whip and momentums Rikishi to the floor; Rocky joins him there and tosses him face-first into the steps. He tries to ram him against the timekeeper’s table but it is countered. Rikishi lifts him and clotheslines him off the retaining barrier; he whips the Rock and accidentally wipes the referee out. Rikishi gets the sledgehammer from under the ring. He lines up and… the Rock nails him with a right hand and hits Rock Bottom for a double KO. Tim White revives and slides back into the ring as the Rock crawls to a nearfall. The Rock punches him and fires up but Rikishi breaks it up with a head-butt to Rocky’s chest. He hits a running head-butt to a downed Rock. Rocky fires back though but he runs right into a Samoan drop and Rikishi then SITS on him but Rocky kicks out. He hits the reverse Samoan butt splash in the corner; Rikishi mocks the crowd and hits the Stinkface. Rocky EXPLODES out of the corner with a clothesline (complete with Marty Jannetty sell from Rikishi). Rocky ducks a superkick and hits a spinebuster; he hits the People’s Elbow and crawls… to… a… cover… for three! That made Rikishi look bad. Post-match, Rikishi superkicks the Rock and drops four Banzai Drops on him to try to retain at least one drop of heat after that loss. He roughs up a couple of referees upon his exit. 4.5/10 The Rock hits the People’s Elbow and took forever to cover and still got the pinfall; I understand it is the Rock but this loss totally killed Rikishi’s credibility as a main event threat despite the extracurricular activities.
Raven is seen looming in the background at WWF: New York. Back at the arena Steve Austin arrives an hour and a half late! Elsewhere, Triple H is hanging out with the Radicalz when Commissioner Mick Foley arrives and bans the Radicalz from ringside and makes the main event no disqualification.
WWF Women’s Championship Ivory vs. Lita: Ivory is repping the Right to Censor, who does not approve Lita’s choice in underwear. Lita runs in and kicks the crap out of her. She misses a charge but recovers with a hiptoss. Ivory telegraphs a backdrop and Lita hits an enziguri. Ivory comes back with punches but misses a clothesline. They try an O’Connor roll reversal spot but Lita is too slow in recovering and Ivory has to march at her looking like Frankenstein for Lita to hit a clothesline. That looked really bad and contrived. Ivory fires back and chokes Lita on the ropes. Lita took a hardway punch to the eye and is bleeding pretty bad. Ivory continues to stomp and kick the downed Lita; Ivory with a single arm suplex. She tries a sidewalk slam but Lita counters into a hurracanrana. Ivory retreats to the floor where Steven Richards, the RTC leader, runs down to cheer for Ivory… and to help cushion Lita’s fall when she leaps off the top with a plancha to both of them. Back in the ring, Lita heads up top again and hits a top-rope crossbody for two. Lita heads up top for the moonsault but Steven pulls Ivory to the floor causing Lita to splat. Steven then distracts the referee allowing Ivory a free shot with the title belt… but she misses and Lita counters into a back suplex. Lita pulls her top off and tries the moonsault again but Ivory, either got her knees up or used the title belt, I can’t tell which and neither can the commentators, anyway it gets a three for Ivory. 1.5/10 Nothing special but Ivory’s arrant punch really messed up Lita’s eye.
Jonathan Coachman gives up a report from The Rock’s dressing room; apparently he is coughing up blood. Elsewhere Kane is meandering around the back when Chris Jericho attacks him with a chair and tosses him into a garage door; he beats him with some lead pipes and a 2×4.
Undertaker tells Michael Cole that ten years ago today the Decade of Destruction began. He says Kurt Angle is taking his last ride tonight.
WWF Heavyweight Championship Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker: This is the feud is where the Undertaker first dubbed the ring “his yard”. Angle, the champion, enters first; I hate that. One year after his debut at last year’s Survivor Series, Kurt’s the champion. Pre-match, Kurt asks the fans to reflect on their favorite Kurt Angle moment. He says that he was going to have the Floridians vote for their favorite moment, but that sets up the second shot of the night on Florida’s inability to count votes properly; obviously referencing the 2000 United States Presidential Election debacle. Taker is wearing light snakeskin colored pants and it looks good… on Trish Stratus, but not on the “American Badass”. Angle stalls at the bell… forever. Undertaker gets annoyed and gets a chair and tosses it at Angle; Kurt seizes the opportunity and waffles Taker with it. Angle gets a few punches in and stomps in the corner. Angle is winded from “punching himself out”; Taker quickly shrugs off his offense and pummels Kurt in the corner. Taker hits a big boot and leg drop but he PULLS ANGLE UP AT TWO! He continues the onslaught with a bodyslam and elbow drop and pulls Angle up on two again. He shouts Old School and then lands it; Taker looks for the chokeslam but Kurt retreats to the floor. Taker stalks him on the floor and then stomps him as he is trying to reenter. Taker no-sells it and continues to pummel him. Angle catches him in a release German suplex for two; Angle clotheslines Taker to the floor. Angle leaps off the apron but gets caught and posted, twice. He tosses Angle back into the ring and punches, a lot. He misses a running boot in the opposite corner and Kurt works it over and wraps it in the ropes. Taker keeps punching back, Kurt keeps kicking the leg. Angle charges into a Fujiwara armbar which draws Edge and Christian to ringside. They distract the referee as Angle taps; Taker lunges at Christian and gets hung off the top rope. Taker recovers and goozles Kurt, he kicks the leg to take over, and applies a leg grapevine. Edge and Christian remain in Kurt’s corner as he continues to apply pressure on the Undertaker’s leg. Taker kicks himself free and goes out after Edge and Christian and beats them up drawing referee Earl Hebner to the floor to extricate them from ringside. Taker returns to the ring and chokeslams Kurt; Hebner takes a while returning to the ring since Edge and Christian are still detaining him. Hebner counts two; Taker stalks Hebner for not counting three and Angle sneaks in a schoolboy for two. Undertaker clotheslines Angle down to retain the advantage; a side Russian leg sweep gets two again. Kurt rolls to the floor and pulls Taker down by the leg and rams it against the ring apron. Back in the ring, Angle applies a figure-four leglock; Taker struggles but eventually reverses the hold. I don’t know how that really reverses the pressure though; I’ll have to consult Dr. Michio Kaku on that one. Taker recovers and powerslams Angle but Kurt goes back to the leg and slaps on the ringpost figure-four. Taker fights back from his knees and stunguns him off the turnbuckle. Now Taker is giving Kurt more respect in the match; Angle gets a BLATANT low blow, somehow the referee missed it. Angle tries a powerslam but Taker reverses and nearly hits the Tombstone; Angle flips over again and winds up tumbling to the floor. Taker comes out after Angle so he crawls under the ring; Taker pulls him out and tosses him back into the ring. Undertaker hits the Last Ride and gets a one… two… the referee stops counting. The building thinks that Earl sold out again at a Survivor Series (yeah, they still reference it); Taker confronts Hebner about it but he points to his face and then Angle’s. All of a sudden, the real Kurt Angle reappears from under the ring and schoolboys Taker with tights and gets three. The “fake” Kurt was his brother Eric Angle who looks almost identical to Kurt. Hebner realized it mid-count that it wasn’t Kurt. Post-match, the real Kurt Angle runs out of the building and speeds off. 4.5/10 The match wasn’t awesome or anything, that’d happen in 2006, but the ending sure proved that Kurt is intelligent. The match was booked to make Kurt appear he was nowhere in the same stratosphere as the Undertaker; at least in the end Taker looked to be giving him a teensy-weensy bit of respect. Unfortunately, this happens to a ton of first time champions in the WWF/E; Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, The Miz, Sheamus, (yes, even) Randy Orton… better wrestling days would be ahead for Kurt.
Hardy Boyz & Dudley Boyz vs. Edge, Christian & The Right to Censor (w/Val Venis) elimination tag match: The Right to Censor was Vince McMahon’s potshot at the Parents Television Council, a group that was protesting the WWF at the time for too much sex and violence on network television; it was led by Steven Richards in a very David Koresh-like way; Val is wearing all white, which I thought was cool because it made him stand out for possible deflection purposes, but he eventually switched to the black slacks like the rest of them; every member of the RTC wore black slacks and a white shirt with solid black ties, which I believe was a parody on Mormon missionaries, everyone picks on the Mormons. I totally forgot that they held the tag titles (Bull Buchanan and the Goodfather). This is during the second coming of great tag teaming in the WWF, 1986-1990 being the other, not saying that all of the other times tag team matches sucked, just the quality of teams were greater during these periods. Bubba Ray starts with Buchanan; the Bull pummels him in the corner but gets clotheslined. D-Von tags in and hits the spinning reverse elbow. Bull reverses a whip and boots D-Von down; the Goodfather tags in and hits some shoulderblocks. Christian comes in and continues the punishment on D-Von; he fires back and hits the Saving Grace and tags in Matt Hardy. Edge also tags in and Matt handles everyone; he drops Edge with a Flash Back but Christian breaks it up and it’s breaking loose in Tulsa! The babyfaces hit quadruple DDT on RTC and Christian and clear the ring. The Hardyz rip off their shirts to reveal Dudley camouflage and then hit Poetry in motion on Edge. Matt looks for the second-rope legdrop but Val Venis interrupts allowing Edge to drop Matt in the (unnamed) Edge-O-Matic for three, ELIMINATING him.
Jerry Lawler says that Edge wanted to debut that move tonight and officially names it the Edge-O-Matic. D-Von and Jeff look for a double back suplex but Edge flips out. They hit a tandem swinging neckbreaker; Christian blind tags in but they nearly collide and then get wiped by a D-Von double clothesline. Buchanan interrupts D-Von running the ropes allowing Christian to hit the Unprettier to ELIMINATE D-Von Dudley.
Bubba Ray heads in and levels Christian with a clothesline and a really high backdrop; Jeff tags in and hits a springboard moonsault. Hardy blind charges in the corner and Christian kicks him and sends him midsection first into the ringpost. Buchanan tags in and press-slams Jeff. He punches and kicks a lot, no wonder he never got over; he charges Hardy in the corner but misses and tumbles over the ropes to the floor. Bubba returns as Bull reenters the ring. Bubba, in succession, bodyslams Buchanan, side slams the Goodfather, flapjacks Edge, and backdrops Christian. Nice sequence, simple but effective. Bubba then sidesteps Edge who nails Bull with a spear; Bubba steals the pinfall and Buchanan is ELIMINATED.
Bubba hits the Bubba Bomb on Edge and then Christian tries to come off the top but Bubba moves and he splashes Edge; Bubba extricates Christian and hits an elbow and it’s a classic Survivor Series ELIMINATION for Edge.
The odds are even now; Goodfather tosses Jeff and then saves Christian from another Bubba Bomb. All sorts of confusion follows, but the Goodfather manages to drop Bubba with a Death Valley Driver, and ELIMINATE him.
Jeff runs in and gives it a go two-on-one; Christian tosses him into a Goodfather boot. A weird sequence starts with, what looked like, an accidental collision between Jeff and the Goodfather standing on the apron; he sidesteps a charging Christian who posts his shoulder. Hardy goes up quick and drops a Swanton Bomb to ELIMINATE Christian.
The Goodfather runs in and tries the former Ho Train but it misses. Venis mistimes when he hops up on the apron and the RTC collide; Jeff falls on top and gets a three on the confused Goodfather to ELIMINATE him. Jeff Hardy is the sole survivor. Post-match, the whole RTC run in and beat on Jeff; Val Venis hits the Money Shot and then the Dudleyz and Matt Hardy run out and they all hit finishers on the RTC. Wood is requested and the crowd EXPLODES! They set up a pair of tables; Matt legdrops Val through one table and Bubba powerbombs Steven Richards through the other. 5/10 The match was fun but it was like someone gave them a sign and everyone got eliminated in like thirty seconds.
Steve Austin and Triple H head towards the ring for the main event. Hunter says something to the Radicalz before heading out. The quick backstory here; someone ran over Austin about and put him out of action for a year. When Austin returned, he went on a witch-hunt, searching for the perpetrator. It was revealed to be Rikishi driving the car, but he wasn’t over enough (no one bought him as a main event threat), so HHH did a quickie heel turn and became Rikishi’s “accomplice”.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Triple H no DQ: WWF Commissioner Mick Foley has banned the Radicalz from interfering in this match on behalf of HHH. They start off and punch the crap out of each other; this is how you start a blood feud match. Austin drops an elbow and rams him into all four corners’ turnbuckle pads. Triple H goes to the eyes to get a breather and then rams Austin into the buckles; Austin comes back with a knee to the gut. He continues to stomp away on the downed Hunter but HHH comes back with a facebuster; Austin scores with a Thesz press. HHH heads to the floor and Austin comes out after him they brawl in the aisle… well, more like Austin kicks the crap out of HHH in the aisle. Austin heads up to the stage and tries to hit the Game with a large scaffold-like structure that decorated the stage area. Hunter knocks him down and he drops the scaffold. HHH then punches Austin for a while and they battle into the tech area. They fight into the back and HHH hits him with whatever he can locate. They head into the back where HHH most likely has backup ready; Austin smartly fights HHH back into the arena floor. Austin tries to suplex HHH on the floor but Hunter blocks and reverses; Austin recovers and tries to drag HHH back to the ring. Hunter tosses him into the steps and then tosses him over the Spanish announce table. Austin reverses a whip and HHH sails through the steps. They fight into the timekeeper’s area and then he stomps Triple H on the floor right next to Jim Ross. Austin hits HHH with a television monitor busting HHH open. Austin picks up a beer cooler but elects not to hit HHH with it. DON’T WASTE ANY BEER! He stomps a mudhole instead. Austin takes the beer out of the cooler and then nails the Game with the cooler; Austin drinks the beer because he’s thirsty and then nails HHH with the empty can. He tosses Helmsley into the steps and flips off referee Earl Hebner because it’s no DQ. He grabs the ring bell as HHH heads into the ring; he catches Austin as he is entering the ring and they roll around on the mat and punch the crap out of each other. Austin tries the Stunner but HHH counters into a neckbreaker (and that was the first wrestling move of the match). HHH clotheslines Austin but gets a two; Austin tries to comeback but another neckbreaker gets two. Hunter, smartly, keeps going for pinfalls since he is badly hurt and is trying to escape with his life. Austin comes back with a spinebuster but he misses a second-rope elbow. HHH stomps and chokes in the corner. Back to the floor, they brawl in the aisle. This is getting monotonous. Triple H grabs the ring bell and chucks it into the ring; he looks for the Pedigree on the steel steps but Austin backdrops him through the announce table. He follows up with a powerslam on the remnants of the table. Back in the ring, HHH begs off but Austin “ain’t gonna have any of that” and stomps a mudhole. Austin hits the Stunner but elects to not cover instead going for a chair and tries to Pillmanize his leg. Austin changes his mind and decides to Pillmanize HHH’s neck. Hunter rolls to the floor to save his life and they brawl to the back. They fight into the bowels of the arena where the Radicalz attack. Triple H uses the distraction to run away; a gaggle of referees pull the Radicalz off Austin and he chases after HHH. Triple H gets into his rental car as Benoit and Austin are fighting. Benoit lures Austin outside where HHH is waiting in his car… but there is no Austin. Luckily for us Triple H rented a car with a microphone in it and we can hear him talking to himself. Benoit doesn’t know where Austin is and sends Benoit back into the building to find him. Triple H waits in the car but all of a sudden Austin appears in a forklift. He lifts the car up thirty feet in the air, HHH begs for his life, and then in a ridiculous moment, Austin tips the car over on top of itself (complete with HHH shouting “oh, shit”), completely smashing it… and that’s how the show ends! 2.5/10 I remember watching this live and was thinking “um, what? I guess he’s dead?” For what it was, a blood-feud, the match was realistic; generally you don’t see too many fights where someone leaps of a chair with a flying head scissors. Still, it still isn’t very entertaining, though. Triple H’s DEATH was downgraded to a few cuts and scrapes. The ending of the match was silly and way over-the-top to be even remotely realistic.
OVERALL 3/10 All of the matches on this show were either rushed, poorly booked, boring, or any combination of the three. Unless your name was Hunter, Steve, Dwayne or Undertaker you do not get to look good. Unfortunately for Kurt (the champion), Rikishi (newly turned heel threat), Benoit (very over), Eddie (see: Benoit, Chris), Jericho (refer to the previous two names) and everyone else in the WWF, it sucked. As for the fans’ perspective it dragged the company down and buyrates, ratings, attendance, and all other measurable things, began to plummet.
