Happy Saturday Everyone!
I reviewed a bad WWF/E show last week so let’s redress the balance by reviewing a better one in the form of No Way Out 2000. The big selling point for this show is that Cactus Jack is putting his career on the line in a Hell in a Cell match with WWF Champion Triple H. Aside from that, we’ve got Rock putting his WrestleMania 2000 Title shot on the line against The Big Show whilst European Champ Kurt Angle tries to win the WWF Intercontinental Title from Chris Jericho in order to become the third Euro-Continental Champion in company history.
Vince McMahon apparently credited this as the only buy rate Mick Foley ever drew, which seems a bit unfair when you consider how Foley played his part in more than one major pay per view match during the WWF’s hot streak.
Let’s see if this one holds up. You can view the card by clicking below;
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2117&page=2
The event is emanating from Hartford, Connecticut on the 27th of February 2000
Calling the action are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
We get the usual great intro, where Mick Foley talks about how he’s been chasing a dream all his career and tonight he wants to live that dream and earn a place in the WrestleMania Main Event.
Opening Match
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champ: Chris Jericho w/ Chyna Vs WWF European Title Kurt Angle
Jericho and Chyna had feuded in the autumn and winter but had formed a respectful alliance following the Royal Rumble pay per view. Chyna would turn on Jericho eventually when Eddy Guerrero unleashed his Latino Heat upon her. Angle was on a meteoric rise up the card and had already won the European Title just a few months into his main roster career. He’s looking to join D-Lo Brown and Jeff Jarrett as wrestlers who have held both belts at the same time by winning this opener.
Angle does his customary pre-match promo, drawing some good heat from the crowd in the process, especially when he insults the local fans about their hockey team leaving. Chyna actually gets her own entrance here, which seems a little out of whack seeing as she’s the Champ’s backup, but then this whole storyline often involved making Chyna look good at Jericho’s expense and he was quite happy when he finally moved onto feuding with Benoit later in the year and didn’t have to deal with Chyna anymore.
Jericho gets the babyface shine to start and the crowd is into it, with Angle doing a nice job bumping around with it. Angle doesn’t really get to do much in the way of wrestling here, instead focusing on throwing punches and dodging Jericho’s attacks. Jericho tries an Asai Moonsault off the ring steps at one stage, although he doesn’t quite get it and I’m not sure Angle was close enough to catch him properly. Angle manages to jam the ropes back inside and then delivers a Suplex off the ropes for the cut off to give us our Heel heat segment.
The crowd reactions continue to be good here, with the crowd chanting for Jericho whilst Angle works him over. Angle was shockingly competent for a guy with his level of experience here, but he wasn’t fully formed as a worker yet and he mostly relies on basic offence like chokes and rest holds here. It’s absolutely fine as a heat segment and Jericho sells it well, but this isn’t the Angle that would be generally considered to be one of the best on the planet just a year later.
Jericho eventually makes the comeback, getting a very nice Tito Santana styled flying forearm at one stage, that the crowd actually buys as a near fall because it looked so hefty. Jericho actually busts out the old double power bomb move as well, which he didn’t normally do outside of video games, but Angle goes to a cross arm breaker following that and Jericho has to make the ropes. The crowd didn’t really understand that as a submission tease though as MMA wasn’t as widely popular in 2000 as it would go on to be later in the decade.
Angle manages to get an Olympic Slam following the arm bar attempt, which gets him a two count, leading to Angle heading outside to bring one of the Title belts in. The ref dis-arms Angle though and Jericho uses the distraction to apply THE DREADED YOUNG LION BOSTON CRAB, which forces Angle to make it to the ropes to break the hold. Chyna tries to stop Angle using another belt, but that leads to her getting squished against the steps outside the ring. As the ref checks on Chyna, Angle uses the other belt to clonk Jericho mid-LionSault and that’s enough for three.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: KURT ANGLE
RATING: ***
Good opener there, with solid action and a hot crowd for the most part. Angle won but they protected Jericho in the finish and left the door open for rematches
Earl Hebner and Tim White argue over the result but we don’t get a Dusty Finish™ and the result stands.
Michael Cole is backstage with The Dudley Boyz, who say they earned their Tag Title shot by putting people through tables and the belts are going back home with them to Dudleyville. Bubba was still doing his faux-redneck accent at this stage but they’d drop it eventually in 2001 when they finally admitted that they were from New York.
Match Two
WWF Tag Team Titles
Champs: The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) Vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von)
Both of these teams are ostensibly Heels, but Gunn was injured and would soon be written out so that kind of makes The Outlaws the de-facto babyfaces here so that The Dudleyz can take him out. This was also a kind of passing the torch match as well, as The Outlaws would essentially be done as a regular team in WWF/E after this outside of some brief nostalgia runs in the 10’s, and as far as I know I don’t think they ever got this win back (unless it was in TNA, and who really cares about TNA?) so The Dudleyz essentially won the feud and then broke them up for good measure.
Gunn can’t even raise his left arm here, although they haven’t let on to it. I think he might have injured it by giving Bubba a Rocker Dropper through a table on Smackdown as it looked Gunn landed awkwardly on the arm on the way down. There’s actually a faint “EC-Dub” chant here, as Connecticut was in ECW’s North East territory and I believe they used to run Danbury quite a bit, so there are probably some ECW fans who have come to this one.
The Dudleyz work over Road Dogg for a bit, with Road Dogg selling in a manner that is designed to elicit sympathy from the crowd, although it doesn’t really work and the match is pretty flat from a crowd reaction perspective, outside of some faint chants for The Dudleyz and some scattered boos for them as well. Gunn eventually gets tagged in and makes a nice one armed comeback, which is clearly positioned as a hot tag, but Bubba eventually drags him outside and hits him with a metal pipe whilst the referee is distracted. 3-D follows to Road Dogg and the torch is passed.
WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: THE DUDLEY BOYZ
RATING: *
Not much of a match due to Gunn being hurt, but it worked as a way to get The Dudley Boyz over
The New Age Outlaws argue following that and Gunn would get kicked out of DX on Raw so he could go away and get surgery.
Kurt Angle is celebrating amongst the fans with his belts.
We get clips of Viscera beating up Mae Young, leading to Mark Henryattacking Viscera on Sunday Night HeAT.
Match Three
Viscera Vs The Walking Root Canal Mark Henry
Henry had been romantic with Mae Young in storyline and Viscera had attacked her, leading to Henry trying to get revenge for his woman. I must say that Henry’s quest for revenge is undercut somewhat by his “Sexual Chocolate” ring entrance music. I never really got why they broke up Viscera and Mideon because they could at least use them up in one segment instead of spreading them out across the card and they were a serviceable lower card Heel team.
This match is awful, because Viscera is sloppier than a Sloppy Joe in tracksuit bottoms and a greasy t-shirt whilst Henry was greener than turtle excrement at this stage in his career and an absolute chore to watch. The crowd quickly treats it as a bathroom break match too, even though it’s supposed to be a heated grudge bout. Henry does take a few good bumps at least, so I don’t have to give it a DUD rating.
Viscera takes a lot of the match actually, possibly because Henry is winning, including burying Henry under the ring steps at ringside at one stage. The crowd is soon chanting that they’re bored, which is very rude and harsh on the wrestlers, but I also can’t imagine a universe where anyone would actually want to watch this match in 2000. Mae Young eventually shows up to cheer on her beau, getting the best reaction of the whole match. Viscera tries to squish her again, but Henry hits him with DA POUNCE (Period) and a slam for three.
WINNER: MARK HENRY
RATING: ½*
Thankfully it was short
Henry and Young leave together following that. At least they let Henry get his revenge I suppose. If he’d had that awful match and then also lost in a quest to avenge his missus then he would have been even deader in the water.
Lillian Garcia is backstage with Chris Jericho, who doesn’t blame Chyna for what happened earlier and instead says he’ll be focusing his ire on Kurt Angle instead.
Billy Gunn is really hurt backstage and can’t move his shoulder. They smartly blame it on the pipe shot in order to make The Dudleyz seem even more dangerous.
Match Four
Number 1 Contender Match for Tag Team Titles
Edge and Christian Vs The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) w/ Terri Runnels
Terri had been tableised by The Dudleyz and it had begun a Heel turn for her where she would eventually split from The Hardyz. Faarooq and Bradshaw are standing in the aisle here ostensibly to protect Terri, meaning she can relax and focus on managing. This is the usual good match between these two teams, with some quick-paced action, with The Hardyz kind of playing Heel, with Matt even talking trash whilst stomping away on Christian at one stage.
The Hardyz essentially get the heat on Christian, getting all of their tandem offence, which Christian does an excellent job selling. Christian eventually manages to slip out of a Splash Mountain Bomb and gets a neck breaker on Matt before dodging a Jeff Swanton, leading to the Edge hot tag. Edge kind of chases The Hardyz around during the hot tag rather than just standing in the middle and letting them come to him, but he gets the upper hand and that leads to E&C working some heat on Jeff.
This has been an effective match at displaying that both teams aren’t just pretty boys and instead have a bit of an edge (pun not intended) to them, which was a good thing to do seeing as we were going to get more ladder antics between them at WrestleMania following this. The crowd reactions have been a bit disappointing considering the action has been so good, but I think that might be more down to the crowd not really wanting to boo one of the teams.
There is one mildly scary moment where Edge counters a Jeff rana attempt into a powerbomb and loses him a little bit, leading to Jeff SPLATTING on the mat, but thankfully no one ends up hurt and it looks devastating enough that they actually show a replay of it. Jeff and Edge end up getting dual face busters on one another, which leads to Christian coming in to the ring. Matt fights Christian off and then comes off the top with an elbow to Edge to give Jeff a near fall in a nice sequence.
Edge tries coming off the top with a dropkick not too soon after that, but Jeff catches him with a dropick on the way down and that leads to the hot tag to Matt. Matt gets a nice hot tag on both of E&C, leading to a really exciting finishing stretch where both teams have chances to win it. Terri ends up cheating her team though, although she’s not aligned with E&C. I think they explained this by her being annoyed that they didn’t visit her enough in hospital for her liking. Christian pounces with the Tomikaze on Matt during the confusion and that’s enough for three.
WINNERS: EDGE & CHRISTIAN
RATING: ***3/4
The crowd heat was a bit disappointing and there was the odd sloppy moment in the bout, but aside from that this was a lot of fun, as these two teams had great chemistry together and they were given enough time to cut loose and have a good match here, which they duly delivered
Edge and Christian want none of Terri at the end and refuse to celebrate with her, but they’ll be happy to take the win if nothing else. The Hardyz are of course miffed at Terri’s actions, but she has paid for protection so Faarooq and Bradshaw give them a kicking when they try and get some revenge. The Hardyz got kind of buried in the post-match there, but
Michael Cole is backstage with Edge and Christian, where they tease their eventual Heel turn as Edge is unremorseful about how they won.
Big Show is backstage with Lilian Garcia, where he says he’s unhappy that the fans have sided with Rock over him in their feud, even though he has footage that clearly shows that Big Show won the Royal Rumble. Big Show guarantees that he’s winning tonight.
Match Five
The Big Boss Man w/ Prince Albert Vs Taz
Taz had debuted in impressive fashion back at the Royal Rumble but he’s already just a guy here, feuding with The Boss Man and his fuzzy pal. Getting beaten up constantly by two lower card guys like this was doing nothing for Taz, even though the idea was that him getting beaten up over and over and still coming back was supposed to make him look tough. After a certain point though you stop looking tough and start looking dumb.
We get another faint “EC-Dub” here in this one, and I wonder if they turned the crowd audio down and it was actually louder in the building because it cuts off pretty abruptly. Boss Man does at least take some nice looking bumps for Taz here, which means Taz doesn’t look like he’s too small or anything, but the finish is absolute arse as Albert immediately runs in for the DQ.
WINNER: TAZ BY DQ
RATING: N/A
Not enough match to rate, although Boss Man didn’t make Taz look weak in that he was happy to bump off a clothesline for him as well as taking a Taz-Plex at one stage
Boss Man and Albert do a post-match beat down, as Taz refuses to stay down and keeps trying to fight back. This would have been way more effective if they were doing it with two Heels who were over and not seen as undercard for life like Boss Man and Albert were. If The Dudleyz or The Outlaws were doing this and Taz kept getting up then it might have actually got him over.
Kurt Angle is still celebrating his win amongst the fans.
Match Six
No Holds Barred
X-Pac w/ Tori Vs Kane
X-Pac and Kane had been tag team partners but they had split up in the autumn of 99 and have feuded since, with X-Pac upping the ante by stealing Kane’s girlfriend Tori from him. Paul Bearer has returned to manage Kane due to the breakup with Tori really messing him up. Maybe we can chart Kane’s descent into pro-fascism all the way back to Tori breaking his heart back in 2000? I’m sure Vladimir Putin wouldn’t put up with his bird ditching him for a scrawny crotch pheasant like X-Pac. Might makes right at the end of the day!
Kane spends most of the early stages battering X-Pac from pillar to post, with even the managers getting involved at points. The crowd pops pretty big for Bearer attacking X-Pac at one stage actually. X-Pac takes some big bumps in order to make Kane look scary but also eventually manages to dropkick Kane off the top rope in order to get a bit of heat. Kane shakes off the Bronco Buster though, so X-Pac starts kicking away at the leg instead, which brings him some mild joy until Kane returns to clobbering him.
Kane eventually gets the Choke Slam on X-Pac and that looks to end things, but Tori runs in to attack him to no avail, leading to her taking a Tombstone. Kane goes to grab the ring steps following that, but X-Pac dropkicks them down on top of him and then quickly grabs the pin for three, which is a finish they reused between Kane and Matt Hardy in 2004. It’s also the finish I would have used if Jon Moxley was to beat Brock Lesnar in that Mania match they had.
WINNER: X-PAC
RATING: **
They smartly just had Kane mostly batter X-Pac here until X-Pac got lucky at the end, which is really the only way you could book a feud between these two considering the size discrepancy
Send your cable bill in and you can get a t-shirt of Triple H doing a Mr. Olympia pose. Sign me up!
The Radicalz are backstage with Michael Cole, and say that they aren’t nervous about their WWF pay per view debut. Eddy Guerrero will be there for “moral support” later.
Match Seven
The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn) w/ Eddy Guerrero Vs Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty, Grand Master Sexay and Rikishi)
The Radicalz had recently debuted and gone Heel a week in. This was yet another nail in WCW’s coffin as now they no longer had the best roster of in-ring performers now the WWF had poached these four. Eddy had injured his elbow in his first match so he’s at ringside here with his arm in a sling, even though they’d already had him get squished by Rikishi on Raw for some reason. They made the WCW contingent do quite a few jobs once they came in but they’d actually start pushing Eddy and Benoit, and to a lesser extent Saturn. Maleko was boned due to being a Cruiserweight though.
Rikishi ends up hitting Eddy with his own international object (it looks like a piece of the titantron) and that leads to Eddy bailing, leaving us with it being 3 Vs 3. Rikishi’s leg is all taped up here, and I can’t remember if that was a worked injury or a real one that they just worked into the storyline, but it comes into play at points as Rikishi is slowed down by it and the Heels attack it. Too Cool get a nice shine on the Heels once the match starts actually, with The Radicalz knowing how to bump and sell for them in order to make them look good.
This is quite an entertaining match, with Rikishi doing a good job selling the injured appendage and Scotty doing a really good job whilst on the defensive in the heat segment. The Radicalz of course look excellent on offence, with their work being crisp and Scotty being a good crash test dummy for them to throw around. Having workers of this calibre really was the final piece of the puzzle that the WWF needed during the Attitude Era, as prior to this they’d had the characters but the wrestling hadn’t been too hot. Now they had over characters AND good wrestling and WCW was royally boned as consequence.
Eventually Rikishi gets the hot tag and runs wild, but he makes sure to still sell the leg and limp a bit whilst doing so in a nice touch. The crowd is very into Scotty doing the W-O-R-M onto Saturn at one stage, with Saturn doing a hilarious shudder sell of it for good measure. Things breakdown following that, with everyone going at it and all of the wrestlers getting a chance to hit a big move of some kind. Malenko goes after Rikishi’s leg inside the ring whilst everyone else sells outside, but Rikishi kicks him into the ring post and gets the Rikishi Driver and Bonzai Drop for the three count.
WINNERS: TOO COOL
RATING: ***1/4
Though it was kind of odd to have The Radicalz lose in their pay per view debut like this, the show kind of needed a babyface win to pop the crowd as there had been quite a few downer endings during the show already and it was at least a competitive back and forth match with one of the company’s most over acts. It was good fun and the crowd dug it, so it was a win overall
Too Cool dance following that to pop the crowd further, as I’m kind of amazed they really didn’t capitalise on just how over Rikishi was during this period. The Heel turn on Stone Cold really cooled the crowd on him and he was never really a big deal every again.
Kurt Angle is STILL celebrating.
Semi-Main
WrestleMania 2000 WWF Title Shot on the line
The Big Show Vs The Rock
Rock had won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Big Show but his feet had actually hit the ground first so Big Show successfully petitioned for this match, with the winner getting the Main Event slot at WrestleMania 2000. Rock was actually kind of a jerk during the build to this one as Big Show kind of had him to rights with video evidence that Rock didn’t really win but Rock still dodged the rematch until Heel authority figures Triple H and Stephanie had to force him into it.
This one has decent energy and is fun in the early going, with both men fighting to the floor and brawling in the crowd. Thankfully they’ve rationed this sort of stuff elsewhere on the show so it feels fresh here and adds to the match, rather than feeling like a tired trope to elongate the bout. Both men take some nice bumps out there, with Big Show getting back body dropped over the ringside barriers onto the floor and Rock getting press slammed onto them soon after.
Big Show works some heat following that, which Rock sells well, and Big Show does a good job of working like a big man by using his size to punish Rock, such as standing on him at points and throwing big chops. Big Show makes a mistake by trying to use a chair however, which Rock dodges leading into the ref getting bumped, meaning that there is no ref when Big Show gets the Choke Slam. Earl Hebner and Tim White start fighting for some reason, which leads to Shane McMahon returning after months away to cost Rock the match with a chair shot.
WINNER: THE BIG SHOW
RATING: **1/2
This was a solid match and it built some intrigue into WrestleMania. Sadly the eventual payoff was a McMahon in every corner at Mania in a fatal four way, when really it should have just been Triple H Vs The Rock with this being a momentary bump in the road that Rock had to overcome
Shane McMahon and Big Show celebrate following that, whilst Rock looks on disgusted in the ring and the commentators ponder why Shane did what he did.
We get an impressive Hell in a Cell hype video, which succeeds in making it feel like a big match and stipulation. They really need to go back to that as making it a yearly event really took away some of its lustre and it worked far better when it was treated as a big stipulation that could be pulled out as and when a big feud required it.
Kurt Angle is leaving following his win earlier but he gets jumped by Chris Jericho and Chyna leading to them trapping him in the boot of a car.
Main Event
Lucha de Apuestas
Title Vs Career
Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Title
Champ: Triple H w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley Vs Cactus Jack
Triple H maintains that no one put him over on his way to the top of the card, but that really wasn’t the case as Mick Foley played a big part in Triple H becoming a top guy by essentially letting Triple H steamroll him in this feud. Cactus has put his career on the line here because in storyline he wants to be able to finally Main Event a WrestleMania.
It’s amazing to watch this and think that Mick Foley was actually younger here than I am currently and I wasn’t even a teenager yet at the time it happened, which is a testament to how the road will own you. Cactus wants to get out of the cage early on because he promised that he would be coming off the top of it with an elbow drop onto Triple H, but it’s pretty heavily padlocked, meaning Cactus has to focus on brawling with Triple H inside the cage instead.
As was usually the case with these two, they have a good believable looking fight with liberal use of punches and weaponry. Cactus of course makes sure to take his trademark big bumps, such as getting knocked off the apron into the cage wall and getting flung legs first into the steel steps. Triple H even straight up throws the steps at Cactus at one stage, which is foreshadowing to something that is coming later.
Triple H gets a lot of offence in here, which was again by design as the whole point of this feud was to put Triple H over as the top Heel in the company by having him brutalise a beloved figure like Mick Foley over and over again until he ended his career. It was a very effective storyline and it helped that the matches between the two were so good, with Foley being very selfless in order to maximise the gains Triple H would get from the feud.
Cactus does eventually get some offence in of his own, including a DDT on a chair, leading to the famed forearms in the corner, but when Cactus tries to follow with the running knee Triple H counters with the Raven drop-toe-hold onto a chair that just happens to be set up in the corner. This whole match has been about Triple H being one step ahead of Cactus from the opening bell onwards, with Cactus getting flurries here and there but Triple H mostly controlling the bout.
Cactus eventually manages to give Triple H a slingshot into the cage wall, which leads to Triple H doing his Ric Flair tribute by blading. That gives us some cheese grating spots on the cage, which Triple H sells really well, with Stephanie doing a good job outside the cage selling that she’s worried about what’s happening to her husband. We get a call back to the previous spot where Triple H threw the steps, as Cactus tries it and Triple H dodges, leading to the steps making a hole in the cage so that Cactus can take the fight outside after all, drawing a big pop from the crowd as they realise.
Cactus gives Triple H a piledriver on the English commentary table and then looks up to the top of the cage in order to tease him coming off with his promised elbow, but Stephanie puts a stop to that by grabbing his leg, which allows Triple H time to recover. Cactus finds his 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire under the timekeepers table, which leads to Triple H trying to run away in a great spot as he remembers what that did to him in their previous match at Royal Rumble, getting the weapon over as dangerous and something to be feared.
Triple H flees to the top of the cage and Cactus follows, but Triple H manages to head him off at the pass and then knocks Cactus off the side of the cage through the Spanish commentary table, which would seem to spell the end of the match. Cactus delivered his fall off the cage at least, although he didn’t get to hurt Triple H with it like he wanted to. Cactus manages to drag himself to his feet following that somehow and then tries to throw a chair up to the roof but he’s too beaten down to make it happen, which was a shoot I believe.
Cactus decides to just make do without a chair and climbs up to fight with Triple H, where he finds some 2×4 shots waiting for him. I’m guessing he would have used the chair to fend Triple H off? They manage to improvise anyway, with Cactus kicking Triple H right in his Performance Centre before clobbering Triple H with punches, leading to a scary moment where the cage roof starts to give way under their weight. One good thing about the modern HIAC matches is that they reinforce the crap out of that thing to ensure stuff like that doesn’t happen.
Cactus grabs the 2×4 and does an old spot from Japan/ECW where he sets it on fire, leading to Triple H taking a flaming 2×4 shot to the head in and impressive spot for the WWF in 2000. Cactus took care of Triple H with it of course, but it still was a pretty scary thing to take. Cactus tries to piledrive Triple H on the 2×4 but Triple H counters with a back body drop and Cactus goes flying through the rope into the ring, which has thankfully been gimmicked in order to break his fall safely.
Triple H climbs down following that and it looks like Cactus is done for, but when Triple H kicks at the corpse Cactus starts to move like the monster in a slasher movie, leading to Triple H following up with the Pedigree to put Cactus away and win the feud once and for all. THAT’S how you make a star ladies, gents and non-binary friends!
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: TRIPLE H
RATING: *****
This was a fantastic match, with Triple H winning decisively after dishing out a shedload of punishment to Cactus, with Cactus getting to go out with some trademark big bumps. Next time Triple H tries to pretend no one put him over on his way to superstardom then show him a tape of this match to jog his memory
Triple H and Stephanie leave so that Cactus can have his moment, as he leaves the ring to cheers from the crowd with tears in his eyes. This was a great moment that was lessened somewhat by Foley coming back for WrestleMania 2000 but he took nearly four years off following that show at least in order to make it feel important.
In Conclusion
This is very much a “Heels Over” show, but the WWF was on a hot streak at the time and the match quality was good, so they got away with it. The build to WrestleMania 2000 wasn’t the best and the event itself was one of the weaker Manis events overall, but this was one of the better shows during the build, with good wrestling and solid storyline advancement.
Recommended show!
