Happy Saturday Everyone!
This week and next week we’re going to be covering “one match shows”, which are wrestling events that tend to be remembered for one match and one match only, sometimes even by design. This week we’ve got WWF Armageddon 2000, and next week we’ve got a WCW show that can also wear the moniker.
The one match in this instance is a big six man Hell in a Cell match, which means some of the under card is going to be left a little thin. Still, hopefully the undercard isn’t too much of a slog.
You can check out the card by clicking below;
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2177&page=2
The event is emanating from Birmingham, Alabama on the 10th of December 2000
Calling the action are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
We get the dramatic opening video package set to “The End” as stock footage shows things blowing up interspersed between clips of guys in the Main Event being in pain.
“Sweet Home Alabama” hasn’t been retained for this one on WWE Network/Peacock, as I guess that costs more than “Ace of Spades” did last week?
The commentary team show us footage of Commissioner Foley promising to resign as commissioner if someone gets seriously hurt tonight. And as that’s going on, Vince McMahon shows up, walking with a cane after the babyfaces battered him on TV. Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe greet him, as Vince seems ready for bother later.
Opening Match
Six Person Elimination Tag Match
The Radicalz (Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero) w/ Terri Vs Team Xtreme (Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy and Lita)
This match came about because Dean Malenko won a date with Lita and then got beaten up in a hotel room. Matt’s “champagne Dean?” reminds me of “More turkey Mr. Chandler?” and gets me every time. Interestingly, from reading their book, The Hardyz didn’t really enjoy working with these guys and turned down being able to work with them longer, even though you’d think most of the roster would want to work with them due to their ability to raise most of their opponent’s games.
Jim Ross seems more offended that Malenko would wear his socks in bed, even though it’s a good way of keeping warm sometimes when it’s chilly in winter. They do have winter in Oklahoma don’t they? Maybe your bed is warmer when you deep fry the sheets though, who knows. Anyway, this is a fun match to start, although there does seem to be some chemistry issues so maybe The Hardyz just didn’t really gel with these guys? Jeff comes off the top with the Swanton on Eddy and that’s our first elimination.
Eddy Guerrero Eliminated by Jeff Hardy (1) – Swanton Bomb
The eliminations keep coming quick and fast, as The Hardyz try their “jump off the other guys back into a leg lariat in the corner” spot but Saturn catches Jeff out of mid-air and then drills him with a Spicolli Driver in a slick sequence to up the three.
Jeff Hardy Eliminated by Perry Saturn (1) – Spicolli Driver
There are some more nice counters as the match progresses, with Matt turning a Saturn head-scissors into a side slam at one stage and then following up with the Twist of Fate for three, as they continue to fly through this one.
Perry Saturn Eliminated by Matt Hardy (1) – Twist of Fate
Terri doesn’t like that her man has been pinned and comes in to complain to Matt (who the commentary team don’t bother to mentioned used to be managerial clients of hers at the start of the year) which leads to the CAT FIGHT between her and Lita. In the commotion Malenko is able to bundle Lita out of the ring and roll up Matt to eliminate him.
Matt Hardy Eliminated by Dean Malenko (1) – Roll Up
So Lita is all alone with the dude she embarrassed, with the implication that he’s now going to get his revenge by battering her, in a situation that would NOT fly in modern WWE whatsoever. Lita actually gets a flurry of offence in on Malenko and the crowd gets behind her, but she is unable to pick up the win and ends up taking a big superplex. Malenko could win it at that point but he decides to punish her some more before going to the Texas Cloverleaf.
Lita Eliminated by Dean Malenko (2) – Texas Cloverleaf
WINNERS: THE RADICALZ
MOST ELIMINATIONS: DEAN MALENKO (2)
RATING: **1/2
This was breezy and perhaps could have done with more time so that they wouldn’t have had to rush as much, but overall it was a peppy opener for the most part. That being said, the story of the spurned dude giving a woman a brutal beating at the end felt like something you would have seen during the dark days of Russo’s booking in the promotion
Malenko refuses to release the hold following the match before finally doing so, although Lita would eventually defeat him in a singles match, which was the match where Lita and Matt Hardy finally kissed on-screen I believe?
WWF Champ Kurt Angle is warming up backstage and is too distracted to talk to Lilian Garcia. Angle tells her that he beat Bulgarians, Czechoslovakians and Turks to win his Olympic Gold Medal, so he’s going to win tonight. Err, I think it was already the Czech Republic by 1996 Kurt; they got to the final of Euro 96 and everything. Boy I sure hope whichever writer came up with that line was given an atlas for Christmas. Aside from that, this was an excellent promo from Angle, as his delivery was on point and he got some good zingers in, such as calling the fans “inbred hicks”.
We get a Hell in a Cell moment from 2000, where Cactus Jack gets back body dropped through the roof down to the ring.
They play a lot of those moments on this show in an attempt to really get the Cell itself over, which was a smart tactic because the Cell gimmick itself was the main thing selling this entire show.
Match Two
WWF European Title
Champ: William Bloody Regal Vs Hardcore Holly
It’s funny as Bryan Alvarez would always refer to this belt as the “UK Title” and then WWE would actually retire this belt and introduce a UK Title many years later! The story here was that they went to a DQ finish back at Survivor Series and now Holly has a rematch for the belt in his home state, which probably doesn’t bode well for him under standard WWF/E rules of how hometown heroes are often treated.
Regal makes sure to insult the crowd before the match starts, just in case Hardcore Holly is such a sour jerk that even his home state doesn’t like him. Got to cover those bases! This is one of those matches where most of the enjoyment comes from musing as to how hard they are hitting each other and whether Holly would be daft enough to try any of his usual tricks with a guy who literally used to fight for a living at carnivals before going pro full-time.
The crowd reactions are actually kind of disappointing outside of the initial pop Holly gets for his entrance, although there are some chants when Regal cuts him off and puts him in some submission holds. They don’t really have much in the way of chemistry and we never get the big chop/forearm/uppercut battle that would make this interesting, although Holly does lay some clotheslines in at one stage.
Holly eventually makes the comeback, and even gets an Alabama Jamma at one stage for two, so he’s clearly feeling it tonight. Regal gets the Regal Stretch applied at one stage, but Holly makes the ropes to break and then clobbers Regal with his surgically repaired arm. Whilst the ref checks on Regal though, Raven runs in with the Evenflow DDT on Holly which allows Regal to get the pin. I’m not sure whether that feud ended up going anywhere.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: WILLIAM REGAL
RATING: *1/2
This didn’t really tell much of a story to be honest and the action wasn’t the snug strike fest you might hope it to be
We get clips from Smackdown where Kurt Angle attacked Rikishi with his WWF Title belt. Rikishi then has promo time with Kevin Kelly, where he says he isn’t afraid about his buddy Triple H turning on him in the Cell tonight, because he’s going to win regardless.
Match Three
Val Venis w/ WWF Women’s Champ Ivory Vs Chyna
This was actually the last time Chyna ever wrestled a man on a WWF pay per view, as after this the Right to Censor “broke” her neck with a piledriver and she ended up having to wrestle women instead. The build-up for this one was Venis throwing Chyna over a commentary table, with Ivory getting her own shots in, so now Chyna is coming for payback and has requested her buddy Billy Gunn stay backstage.
Chyna had done a Playboy spread and The RTC hadn’t liked it because they hated smut so much, so that had led to a natural feud, with the eventual payoff being Chyna destroying Ivory at WrestleMania X-Seven. This match is kind of just a match though, with not a lot of crowd reaction, as Venis cheats and occasionally chucks Chyna out to the floor so that Ivory can get some cheap shots in when the opportunity arises.
Chyna actually doesn’t do too bad of a job selling, although it always kind of looked like she was smiling when she was trying to sell that she was hurt or angry. I guess a “resting smile face” is better than a “resting bitch face” at least. Chyna eventually makes the comeback, with Venis taking some nice bumps for her, including some pub brawl style kicks to the gut whilst Venis is prostrate on the mat. Ivory keeps getting involved though and that eventually leads to Venis getting a Seaman’s Suplex for the three count.
WINNER: VAL VENIS
RATING: *1/2
Kind of a nothing final inter-gender singles match for Chyna there and not an especially auspicious way for her to leave the men’s division
Chyna drags Ivory back into the ring following that and goes for a powerbomb, but Venis makes the save and helps Ivory to the back.
Hell in a Cell moment is Cactus Jack setting a 2×4 on fire.
Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley wants to talk to Vince McMahon because she’s afraid for Triple H’s health in the Main Event later on.
Earlier today, The Undertaker relives some of his Hell in a Cell moments with Kevin Kelly, as they continue to try and get the Cell itself over. This wasn’t a bad segment but it would have been smarter to do it on the go-home Raw or Smackdown rather than on the pay per view itself and give the extra time to some of the wrestling matches tonight. This did do a great job of making Undertaker look like the scariest dude in the world when he fights in Hell in a Cell. They actually get the order of Foley’s bumps the wrong way around here, as it was off the side first and then through the roof. Strangely they didn’t show him hanging The Big Boss Man, which is probably the best way to make him look scary because it was quite literally attempted murder. Oh well, they basically ignored it at WrestleMania XV almost instantly so expecting them to remember it nearly 18 months later is pretty optimistic on my part.
We then get MORE non-wrestling on this wrestling pay per view we bought to watch wrestling on, as Vince McMahon and the stooges join us for promo time. Vince had just recently demanded a divorce from Linda McMahon on Smackdown, causing her to go into a drug induced stupor until she awoke at WrestleMania X-Seven and kicked him right in the Johnny Ace’s. Anyway, Vince is here to demand that the Hell in a Cell match be cancelled, because he’s a humanitarian you see. Those jokes kind of write themselves don’t they? Vince is almost evangelical here, which makes me think they could have easily had him join Right to Censor as the leader behind it all. The fans want to see the Hell in a Cell though, so Vince storms off in a huff. Kind of a wasted segment there, they could have easily done that on HeAT or something.
Match Four
Last Man Standing
Kane Vs Chris Jericho
This is another Survivor Series rematch, with the feud originally starting when Jericho spilt coffee on Kane. Since then they’ve tried to push that Jericho is getting more intense and angry in order to deal with Kane’s constant attacks. It was something for Jericho to do until WrestleMania Season™ at least, and this kind of match stipulation suits a show with this name pretty well.
This one starts as a brawl and stays that way, with both men fighting in the aisle and in the backstage area until they eventually get into the ring, where we get the meat of the contest. The main story of the match is that Kane keeps trying to put Jericho down but Jericho is too gutsy/stupid to stay down and keeps pulling himself back up to his feet somehow. It’s not dissimilar to Jericho’s LMS match with Triple H earlier in 2000 at Fully Loaded, except they don’t do any blood in this one.
It doesn’t have close to the drama as the Triple H Vs Jericho match did, but that was possibly the best Last Man Standing match ever so that’s not a massive surprise. The crowd does get behind Jericho as he continues getting up, although they’ve been kind of muted in this one for the most part, which suggests that they don’t really see this as a particularly big feud. It did kind of feel like a placeholder feud for both guys actually.
Eventually a chair gets involved, with Kane using it until Jericho snatches and gives him a taste of his own medicine, leading to our first proper count tease on Kane. The whole idea with Kane here is that he’s a MONSTER, so Jericho isn’t going to be able to keep him down with regular offence, so he has to use the chair for things like his Lionsault in order to do some extra damage.
They fight outside of the ring again and head down to the entrance way. Interestingly they’ve edited out an I AM THE TABLE styled botch where Jericho tries to put Kane through a table by the stage but it doesn’t work at first. Instead they just splice in the second attempt, and to be honest it’s a bit of sloppy edit really and the original helped make it look more of an intense fight. Jericho pushes some barrels over on top of Kane following that and Kane can’t get back up, although he does reach an arm through in movie monster fashion until getting counted down.
WINNER: CHRIS JERICHO
RATING: ***
This wasn’t an amazing match for anything, but they did a good job of giving Jericho an obstacle to overcome and then eventually finding a way for him to do it without hurting Kane’s monster aura, so it ended up being a good match when all was said and done. I know some hate the finish of this one, but I’ve always seen the ending as Kane not having enough space to stand up as opposed to him actually being crushed by the barrels, so it’s never really bothered me that he lived to fight another day
Debra (Commissioner Foley’s assistant at the time) sends Jonathon Coachman in to interview Foley. Foley stands by his decision regarding the Main Event as the fans want to see it, and he’ll stand by his promise should someone get injured.
Shawn Michaels is at WWF New York, as we get more Hell in a Cell hype. Bloody Hell, at this rate I’m surprised they didn’t just have the Cell itself pin Kurt Angle tonight and make it the Champion. Michaels says six guys being in this match makes it really hard to predict a winner, and he goes on to do a good job putting both Undertaker and the match itself over.
Another Hell in a Cell moment, as Mankind gets Choke Slammed on tacks.
Some American Footballers are at ringside, but sadly no real footballers are to be found.
Match Five
WWF Tag Team Titles
Champs: Right to Censor (Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather) w/ Steven Richards Vs Edge and Christian Vs The Dudley Boyz (D-Von and Bubba Ray) Vs K-Kwik and The Road Dogg
RTC was Vince’s way of getting back at the Parents Teacher Council, a group who had been campaigning against the WWF product. The WWF would eventually defeat them in court and thankfully that meant RTC were finally disbanded. Kwik would leave the WWF in 2001 but would eventually return as R-Truth. He’s aged amazingly well, actually, and he looks good in this one when he gets the chance to do something.
Richards is limping here following him getting put through a table on Smackdown after The Dudley Boyz pretended to join RTC. Interestingly you could have anyone join RTC on WWF No Mercy for the N64 as you could edit people’s attires and entrance music. I think I put Steve Blackman and Mark Henry in it on my version of game, with them becoming “The Non-Lethal Censor” and “Sexual Censor” respectively.
Road Dogg wasn’t long for the company I believe, as he ended up having some issues with personal demons and was banished to WWA and NWA:TNA for a decade. This is one of those matches where the wrestling itself isn’t bad, but the crowd doesn’t really care about any of the teams other than The Dudleyz, so it has a pretty flat atmosphere as a result. RTC do seem to have very little interest in selling for anyone either, which is kind of dumb as neither of them were really seen as big tough guys even though Goodfather was known to be a good brawler in real life.
Edge and Christian eventually cut Kwik off and work him over in their corner, with Kwik selling it well. It’s a shame for Kwik that his partner was gone so quickly following this as it left him pretty aimless and on Jakked/Metal most weeks. He had potential too as his time in TNA showed, he was just raw and needed seasoning. Kwik ends up bleeding from the mouth as E&C and the RTC take it n turns to batter him.
Kwik eventually manages to catch Edge with a neck breaker and it’s hot tag to Bubba, who runs wild on the Heel teams with a nifty comeback, as the crowd finally wakes up. The match breaks down into all 8 wrestlers going at it, with Goodfather even busting out his old Papa Shango shoulder breaker on Kwik at one stage. The Dudleyz run wild on Edge and then take out RTC with a table. Dudley Devastation device gets two on Edge when Christian breaks the count up, but 3-D’s then abound for RTC.
The crowd is very much into the idea of The Dudleyz winning the belts here, but Richards ends up giving D-Von a DDT out on the floor to take him out of proceedings, which leads to E&C doubling up on Bubba in order to give them the three count.
WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: EDGE & CHRISTIAN
RATING: *3/4
It picked up from the hot tag onwards, although the finish completely killed the crowd. The Dudleyz would finally win the belts again at Royal Rumble 2001, almost a year after winning them for the first time
Backstage Triple H tells Stephanie that the belt means more to him than anything else, including her (although he doesn’t use those exact words).
Another Hell in a Cell moment is Cactus Jack going off the side through a table.
Match Six
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champ: The One Billy Gunn Vs Chris Benoit
The WWF were trying again to push Gunn as a singles star, and it didn’t really take, even though young Mike bought in enough that I actually thought he had a chance to win the Royal Rumble in 2001 when he made his way to the final four. I was very dumb in my mark days. This match and feud almost felt like they were kind of sending Gunn a message actually, as Jim Ross essentially slags Gunn off for not living up to his potential and fpr and having the temerity to wear earrings in the ring. Considering Gunn is a babyface it’s very odd to hear the babyface play by play guy giving him a hard time like that.
Gunn gets a babyface shine to start with standard stuff like arms drags and whatnot, but the fight heads to the floor and Benoit flings him into the ring steps for the cut off. Benoit dismantles Gunn back inside by working over his legs, which Gunn does a good job selling, as Jim Ross still can’t get over the earrings. Was it planned for him to be this disgruntled about Gunn’s choice of jewellery or did Gunn wear them about permission and Vince McMahon was screaming in Ross’ ears over the head sets to bury Gunn for wearing them?
The crowd doesn’t really get behind Gunn that much, and even Woooo’s when Benoit goes to a Figure Four at one stage. Gunn eventually makes a bit of a comeback by fighting out of the corner with punches, but his leg slows him down and means Benoit is able to move when Gunn tries a Stinger Splash, which is a clever spot actually. Benoit punishes Gunn with the multiple German Suplexes and then heads up for the head butt, but there’s no water in the pool as Gunn is able to move.
Gunn finally gets some sustained offence following that with four big high impact slams and throws, ending with the Rocker Dropper for two, although Gunn sold his leg a little bit before making the pin in order to explain why it wasn’t a three. Benoit shrugs that off and tags Gunn down with the crossface though, although Gunn makes the ropes. They end up botching a slam of some kind, with Gunn losing Benoit in some fashion, although thankfully no one gets hurt as a result of it. Gunn gets a desperation roll up following that but Benoit kicks out at two and then goes back to the crossface for the immediate submission win.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: CHRIS BENOIT
RATING: **3/4
Even in my younger days I thought it was strange that Benoit essentially dominated Gunn as much as he did here. It very much felt like the WWF were saying they had no immediate plans for Gunn anymore, so they just let Benoit take him apart. Gunn got enough offence in the closing stretch that you couldn’t call it a squash, but it also kind of felt like one of those opening matches from Madison Square Garden in the 80’s or 90’s where they’d let someone like Koko B. Ware get a bit of offence on a star like Rick Martel or Greg Valentine before they got beaten clean. My only real critique was that Benoit went after the leg all match and then won with the crossface. If they’d paid it off with a Sharpshooter win or something then it would have worked a lot better, especially as Gunn did a decent job selling the bum wheel as the match progressed
Earlier today, Stone Cold Steve Austin does an interview with Jim Ross, where he talks about how he’s hyped up on caffeine ahead of the match tonight because he didn’t get any sleep, as they continue to put the Hell in a Cell over like nobody’s business here. Austin cuts a great promo here, where he says that Triple H and Rikishi being in there is motivation for him as he hates them for trying to put him out of wrestling, but he also states that he can’t let it distract him too much either.
Semi-Main
WWF Women’s Title
Champ: Ivory Vs Trish Stratus Vs Molly Holly
Ivory and Stratus are both Heels but Stratus likes getting her kit off so that naturally places her at odds with the prudish Ivory. I think this was only Holly’s second pay per view appearance in the WWF after jumping from WCW. There was a subplot going on here where Test, Albert and Trish had taken out Faarooq and Bradshaw and assumed control of their protection agency, with Crash and Molly Holly trying to regain control of the office for their friends.
Holly is by far the best wrestler in this one, with them doing a great spot where Holly gets monkey flipped onto her feet, only to then eat a clothesline from Ivory. By the standards of the time, this was better than the usual bra and panties diva nonsense you got form this era, as Holly is a good wrestler and Ivory had been wrestling long enough that she could have a decent match when in there with someone good.
Stratus was still very green here, but she does take a very impressive sit out powerbomb from Holly, which leads to Ivory doing the usual WWF triple threat shtick by stealing the pin to retain her Title.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: IVORY
RATING: *
This was very short but not terrible
Test and Albert try and attack Molly Holly and Crash Holly following that, but Faarooq and Bradshaw make their return to clear the ring and get a good pop as a result. I think they blew this one of the next night on Raw and then Albert turned on Test to break the team up, leading to Test getting a renewed push a babyface whilst Albert got teamed up with X-Pac and Justin Credible as the group X-Factor.
Our final Hell in a Cell moment is Mankind getting thrown off the Cell through a table at ringside.
The Rock has interview time with Kevin Kelly (interesting that he got top billing here) where he cuts his usual great promo to hype the match up. It’s more serious than normal, thus befitting the stipulation.
Main Event
Hell in a Cell for the WWF Title
Champ: Kurt Angle
Vs
Triple H
Vs
Rikishi
Vs
The Undertaker
Vs
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Vs
The Rock
The story for this match is that Angle and Taker are feuding, Rikishi and Rock are feuding, and Triple H and Austin are feuding, with the feuds interlocking and causing mayhem across the WWF Main Event scene. This has led to Mick Foley putting all six of them inside Hell in a Cell in an effort to resolve things once and for all, with Foley promising to retire if someone gets seriously injured. Vince McMahon tried to stop it, leaving to a funny segment where Austin, Rock and Taker all battered him on Raw to send the message that they clearly wanted to be in the match.
They do a fun spot at the start of the match where Angle refuses to get into the Cell, until Austin attacks and throws him in to start the match. Limp Bizkit has survived the WWE Network dubbing machine, as I believe this was the first time he ever used the theme? They quickly pair up here, with Triple H and Austin going at it, whilst Rikishi and Rock battle and Angle gets to spend some quality time with The Undertaker. This much star power in one place means that the match has a great atmosphere and there’s always something going on so it never gets dull.
The quality of the wrestling is mostly really good actually, with Angle not quite at his peak yet but still being very good for someone with his level of experience, whilst Triple H, Rock and Austin were all in their prime and regularly having great matches during this period. It’s not long before some claret starts flowing, as Austin grates Triple H’s face on the mesh of the cage, actually dragging him all around cageside at one stage, which leads to a funny visual of everyone else politely getting out of the way so that Austin can complete the spot.
Rikishi rescues Triple H eventually and the two have a moment, only for Triple H to betray Rikishi with a Pedigree, leading to Finisher Madness™ where everyone gets into the ring to hit a big move for a near fall until someone else comes in to hit a move of their own, leading to the spot repeating itself with someone else. As usual the sequence gets over like a treat, and no one ends up getting pinned when all is said and done.
Vince McMahon and The Stooges eventually join us in a tow truck that conveniently has a big bale of hay in the back in order to hide a crash pad for later. Vince’s plan is to tear the Cell down, starting with the door, but Commissioner Foley puts a stop to that by punching Patterson and Briscoe before some security comes down to carry Vince off. However, the door remains removed, which leads to all six men gradually filing out of the Cell, leading to them brawling in the entrance area.
The entrance way has been made to look like a dystopian wasteland, complete with trashed cars and trucks, which of course leads to all of the wrestlers brawling on them. Austin even busts out his old gag of swinging the boom camera at Triple H. Triple throws Austin face first through the window of the truck in retaliation though, which leads to Austin doing a blade job. I think by the end of the match the only one NOT bleeding is Rikishi, with this being one of the first times Angle ever got some colour in a match.
Triple H takes a fantastic bump at one stage when he gets catapulted into one of the cars, whilst Undertaker clobbers Angle with the ring announcers microphone to get an impressive *thud* at one stage. We of course eventually get guys climbing up the Cell, which the crowd pops big for. Triple H of course does his Flair Tribute spot at one stage by having his trunks pulled down to show his bum whilst he tries to climb. Austin eventually decides to climb up the over side and lays a whupping on Triple H atop the Cell as the crowd goes nuts.
Rikishi even manages to drag himself up the Cell, which is impressive considering he had to be bordering on 400 pounds at this stage, and it ends up being Rikishi that takes the big bump off the Cell, as Undertaker pushes him down onto the truck. Thankfully it’s a padded landing and Rikishi ended up being okay, but he does a fantastic job of selling it by not overdoing it. Undertaker basically collapses out of blood loss on top of the Cell following that, leaving us with just Angle, Triple H, Rock and Austin left.
We get the big WrestleMania X-Seven tease as Rock and Austin go at it at one stage, and they would do another one in the 2001 Royal Rumble match as well that almost mirrored Warrior and Hogan colliding in 1990. Of course at the time I didn’t recognise that they were laying the table for Mania with that brief brawl, it should have been pretty obvious really, especially with Mania being in Texas that year. It shouldn’t have shocked me for Austin to be Main Eventing in his own state.
Angle was kind of a Honky Tonk Man figure with this WWF Title reign, and that’s kind of accentuated here as Austin ends up hitting Rock with the Stunner, but Angle manages to steal the pin when Triple H and Austin knock each other out. Although that sort of regular booking made Angle look like a pretty weak Champion, this was an excellent way for Angle to retain here, as he got battered all match but then managed to drape an arm in the closing moments to steal the win.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: KURT ANGLE
RATING: ****1/2
I think it would have been impossible for this to be anything other than great when you look at the talent involved. It ended up delivering on all the hype for the Cell, as everyone was left bloody here except for Rikishi, and he ended up taking a big scary bump to make up for that. After a whole show of them hyping up Hell in a Cell as a wild scary match where people get hurt, they delivered a wild scary match where people got hurt. You can’t really argue with that can you?
Austin delivers a Stunner to Angle following the match to ostensibly send us all home happy, but they probably should have just let Angle celebrate his win there because him doing pretty much the least damage of anyone in the match but still going on to win and then doing the big celebration would have been totally in-line with his character and probably would have been pretty great.
In Conclusion
All of the Hell in a Cell hype got borderline ridiculous after a certain point, especially when so much was dedicated to it at the expense of the under card. However, it served its purpose of making the match feel like a big deal and the match then went on and delivered, thus making the Cell match THE stipulation for a generation of fans.
This is still definitely a one match show, but the under card wasn’t terrible and the Main Event ended up being an Attitude Era classic, so for that reason I’ll go thumbs up for the show as a whole, although you’re not going to lose out on too much if you skip the under card.
Mildly Recommended Show
