(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: The Rock vs. Triple H – WWF Judgment Day 2000

Who would’ve thought that, when this match took place, these two men would become the two most powerful men in the wrestling business.

When these men clashed in the ring no one knew how big both of them would become. Although The Rock came from a venerated wrestling family no one expected that, come 2024, he’d be worth over $800 million and would sit on WWE’s Board of Directors.

As for Triple H, his time in WWE has seen more ups and downs than a Game of Thrones character. He was loathed for a very long time, became a legitimate go-away-heat-having monster, and is now among the most beloved people in the industry.

With Vince McMahon gone from the company, Triple H has assumed more or less complete creative control of the company. Under his leadership WWE has seen a surge in popularity not seen since 2000 which, incidentally, was also quite possibly the best year in modern WWE history. There’s still plenty to be happy about WWE in the present, but how well does the company’s last peak year hold up to a modern lens?

The Story

The Rock won the 2000 Royal Rumble and earned the right to face then-WWF Champion Triple H. Their match got complicated and turned into a four-way elimination match which ended with Triple H standing tall after Vince McMahon, who had been aligned with The Rock, turned on him and joined HHH to create the McMahon-Helmsley Regime. The Regime used any and every means at their disposal to try and keep the title around HHH’s waist, including numbers games, constant interference, and bringing each other into matches whenever possible. But despite cheating whenever possible, Triple H lost the title to The Rock at Backlash 2000 when Stone Cold Steve Austin returned and helped Rock win.

Naturally Triple H wanted a rematch and was granted one at Judgment Day. But this time it wouldn’t be everyone-and-their-mother-versus-The Rock. Instead, it would be an ironman match with Shawn Michaels acting as guest referee and HBK vowed to call the match down the middle in spite of his previous history with HHH. Additionally, although the McMahons accompanied HHH to the ring for his entrance, he asked all of them to leave for this match and vowed to beat The Rock all by himself. So maybe underneath all that ego was a competitor that wanted to prove that he could indeed win on his own when called to do so.

The Match

This took place on May 21, 2000. It was rated **** out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This is a 60-minute Ironman match for Rock’s WWF Championship. There’s a long stare-down to start things off. Then when they lock-up the crowd pops bigtime. Long collar-and-elbow tie-up followed by some macho shoving and posturing. It might be more inaction than action but the crowd’s pretty riled up all the same. Rock applies a headlock for a long time but HHH counters into an overhead armlock. HHH powers Rock down to the mat but Rock fights up and back into a headlock. HHH frees himself but Rock lands a shoulderblock for a one-count. A second gets a two-count and then Rock counters a kneelift with a flipping schoolboy cradle for another two-count.

HHH bails up the entrance ramp and stalls for a bit as HBK keeps Rock at bay. Rock fights out of a deep headlock but HHH shoulderblocks him down. Rock leapfrogs over HHH and drops him with a big right hand. More stalling. And yet, all HHH has to do is look at the crowd on different sides and many fans stand up, shout, and flip him off. My God, imagine someone today having that kind of heat. Where have all the good fans gone?

Another headlock/drop-down spot occurs and this time Rock stops short of a leapfrog from HHH and drops him with another punch. He sends HHH into different corners but then HHH blocks a corner clothesline with an elbow and a clothesline. HHH works Rock’s left arm for a while until Rock fights out/ Rock sends HHH into the ropes and goes for a back body drop but HHH counters with a falling armbreaker for a two-count.

HHH works the arm some more but Rock powers him into a corner and referee HBK has to force them apart. Rock lands more punches but his next attempt at a back body drop is met with a kick. HHH goes to capitalize but Rock counters with a Rock Bottom. One, two, three! There’s the first fall after 10:42!

The Rock = 1; Triple H = 0

HHH rolls to ringside but Rock chases him down and starts throwing him around. HHH fights back as they brawl up the entrance ramp and then Rock counters an Irish whip that sends HHH into the barricade. HHH counters a face-first drop onto the barricade and then HHH breaks the ring count to continue the brawling. HHH gets a running start and goes for a jumping knee but Rock sidesteps and HHH hits his knee on the barricade.

HHH lands a desperation gut-shot and sends Rock into the ring. Rock lands a big right hand followed by an over-the-rope suplex for a two-count. Rock goers after HHH’s injured knee by smashing it into a ringpost and into the side of the ring. Then he lands a knee crusher on the ringsteps and tosses HHH back into the ring. HHH tries to hold onto the ropes but Rock pulls him up and tosses him down. He works the knee and HHH tries fighting back but Rock knocks him down easily. Figure-4 leglock by Rock. This goes on for a VERY long time with HHH barely kicking out of falls when on his back and struggling to reverse the hold. He manages to reverse it eventually but Rock gets a ropebreak seconds later.

Both men fall to ringside but Rock maintains control by smashing HHH into a commentary table. HHH reverses an Irish whip into a barricade and drops Rock with a clothesline. Moments later the fighting spreads into the crowd. Triple H maintains control despite the lack of feeling and power in his left knee. For what it’s worth this match makes it abundantly clear how much lither HHH was pre-quad tear. HHH lands a vertical suplex followed some elbow drops for a two-count. HHH does for more power covers but Rock kicks out at two each time. Rock fights out of a corner by kicking HHH’s bad knee but then HHH sidesteps and sends Rock flying over the rope and to the floor.

HHH tries sending Rock into a corner but Rock reverses and HHH hits the steel ringsteps knees-first instead. HHH holds onto the ropes for dear life in the ring so Rock drops his knee onto the back of HHH’s. Rock grapevines HHH’s left knee but HHH fights out by raking Rock’s eyes. HHH lands more punches but Rock answers with a knee breaker. Rock tries another Figure-4 but HHH kicks him into a corner. Rock bounces out and HHH lands a Pedigree, bad knee and all. One, two, three! The score’s tied up at 25:26!

The Rock = 1; Triple H = 1

HHH lands some more punches and goes for an Irish whip but Rock reverses it. Rock goes for another back body drop but HHH counters this one with an inside cradle/small package and gets a quick three-count out of nowhere at 26:26!

The Rock = 1; Triple H = 2

The crowd boos HHH’s win and start chanting for The Rock. Rock lands some punches but HHH dumps him ringside. They brawl up the entrance ramp (with HHH suddenly moving more smoothly) as HBK argues with him. HHH goes for another Irish whip but Rock reverses it, sending HHH back-first into a metal piece of the stage. Rock goes for a suplex on the ramp but HHH reverses it and lands his own. Both men struggle to their feet and stagger to the ring. HHH tries a sneak attack but Rock counters with a back suplex on the ramp. Rock sends HHH into the edge of the ring moments later and then hits a back body drop still on the ramp. And for anyone wondering why HBK isn’t counting, he goes over to JR and Jerry Lawler to tell them that there will “not be any BS count-outs”. Ok, then.

Back in the ring HHH shuts down Rock’s attempt at a comeback with his single-knee facebuster. It looks like he goes for another Pedigree at first but then he surprises everyone by hitting a piledriver which is enough for another three-count at 32:22!

The Rock = 1; Triple H = 3

HBK pulls HHH out of a corner for a moment and Rock capitalizes with a clothesline. HHH shuts down his comeback with another reversal and a back elbow for a near-fall. He climbs a turnbuckle but Rock cuts him off and throws him down. both men get up before the down-count of ten and Rock wins a punch exchange. HHH reverses another corner whip but Rock elbows out and gets a two-count off an inside cradle. HHH regains control with a high knee and gets another two-count. Yet another Irish whip reversal by HHH followed by a sleeper hold. Rock sinks down as HHH tightens the hold. Rock’s arm doesn’t sink down so HHH uses the ropes for leverage while maintaining the sleeper. HBK doesn’t notice it but he suspects cheating all the same. They do the arm drop spot again and Rock keeps fighting while HHH keeps cheating. This time HBK notices and kicks HHH’s legs off instead of calling for the bell instantaneously like a pansy. HHH gets in HBK’s face and then eats a flurry of punches from The Rock. Another Irish whip reversal and another sleeper attempt, but this time Rock counters that with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Then Rock ducks a clothesline and hits a huge DDT and it’s enough to get a three-count at 40:33!

The Rock = 2; Triple H = 3

Both men brawl ringside and smash each other’s heads onto the timekeeper’s table. HHH grabs a chair but HBK pulls it away. Rock takes advantage by sending HHH into the ringsteps shoulder-first this time. Rock sends him back-first into a barricade, then ducks a counterattack and lands a swinging neckbreaker. Back in the ring HHH grabs the chair from earlier and cracks Rock in the head with it, which causes a disqualification at 43:30.

The Rock = 3; Triple H = 3

This is all part of HHH’s master plan as he covers Rock and uses the ropes for leverage to get another pin at 44:06.

The Rock = 3; Triple H = 4

Rock is bleeding as HHH puts him in another sleeper. Both men sink down and Rock’s arm goes limp once…twice…thr – NO, Rock still has fight in him. Rock tries fighting back again but HHH goes back to the sleeper once again. This time his arms sink down three times in a row so HBK calls for another decision at 47:25.

The Rock = 3; Triple H = 5

HHH doesn’t break the hold right away so HBK pulls him off by the hair. We get a short shoving match between the two “friends” which teases a potential DQ. The crowd loves this. This sequence gives Rock critical time to recover enough to begin his comeback. He hits several big punches and a reverse Irish whip to send HHH to the floor and onto a cameraman.

Back in the ring Rock lands more punches but HHH cuts him off with a sudden DDT for a near-fall at the 50-minute mark. HHH goes to the top rope but Rock hits the ropes to get him off balance. They brawl in the corner and Rock lands a superplex for a very close near-fall.

Eight minutes left.

Rock lands more punches and then the action spills to ringside once again. Rock slingshots HHH face-first into a ringpost but then HHH reverses an Irish whip (story of the match) to send Rock shoulder-first into a different set of ringsteps.

Five minutes left.

HHH dismantles one of the commentary tables and goes for a Rock Bottom on The Rock. But Rock counters and Pedigrees HHH onto it. The table doesn’t collapse so both guys take a much harder landing. This time HBK decides that count-outs DO matter and he counts HHH out at 56:05.

The Rock = 4; Triple H = 5

Blood pours from HHH’s head as well as the McMahon Family make their way down to the ring. HHH makes it into the ring at the count of 9.75 with just under three minutes remaining. Rock lands more big punches and answers a corner whip with a clothesline. He answers another Irish whip reversal with another DDT and then knocks both Vince and Shane off the apron. HHH rushes him but Rock lands a spinebuster. Thousands of fans jump to their feet as Rock lands the People’s Elbow. One, two, and three! Rock evens the score at 57:59!

The Rock = 5; Triple H = 5

Two minutes left.

Shane pulls HBK out of the ring so HBK decks him and then Vince as well for good measure. There’s some weird rumbling noise as Road Dogg and XPAC interfere on HHH’s behalf while an Irish whip reversal knocks Rock into HBK down. Rock hits a Rock Bottom but Road Dogg and XPAC attack him right away. Then some creepy music starts playing. Shane decks Rock with a chair while D-X hold him in place. It’s four-on-one when suddenly someone comes in to save The Rock. IT’S THE UNDERTAKER! The Undertaker’s back with a new look. The crowd’s going absolutely nuts as the final minute counts down.

Undertaker drops XPAC and Road Dogg and chokeslams Shane. Big right hand to Vince. More bodies get thrown around. Stephanie confronts the Undertaker and he goozles her. HHH saves his wife with ten seconds remaining. Undertaker chokeslams HHH and then prepares a Tombstone while staring at Shawn Michaels. As the chaos ends Michaels goes to the announcer Howard Finkel who announces that HHH has won the fall via disqualification since Undertaker attacked him before the bell ran out. Since the title could change hands via disqualification then Triple H has won the title.

Winner and NEW WWF Champion after 60:00 with a score of 6-5: Triple H

Review

Before we get into the meat of the review, there’s something to acknowledge with the ending. If you believe Dave Meltzer’s reporting then the match’s ending was all kinds of messed up. There was plenty of mistiming towards the end with all the interference. The biggest issues, allegedly, were that Michaels wasn’t supposed to see Undertaker’s chokeslam on Triple H; Rock was supposed to have enough time for a babyface comeback and have a visual cover but for the time to run out; and that if the rules were followed to the letter, Rock should’ve retained here. But given how many moving parts were involved in at the end, and since there were no re-takes in this live performance everyone involved had to ad-lib on the spot. And while we could nitpick about whatever was originally planned, the actual end result matters a lot more.

Overall the match had more positives than negatives. The crowd was nuts for most of the match and they exploded during the final five minutes. The match had an incredible pacing with the action progressing so smoothly over sixty minutes and then culminated in a wild and exciting final three minutes. Triple H lived up to his Cerebral Assassin moniker by putting roadblock after roadblock, challenge after challenge, in front of The Rock and made him fight for every step forward. Shawn Michaels didn’t overstay his welcome as special guest referee and added enough drama to the match without shifting the focus onto himself. The falls came about randomly and at times without much build to really give this match a greater sense of unpredictability. While some might question why a DDT would get a three-count in 2000, it made sense given how badly these men were beating each other up. This kept the match compelling and prevented it from having any lulls that would compel someone to leave or shift their attention elsewhere.

As for the Rock, he showed that he could actually wrestle and not just brawl by working HHH’s leg for a long time which slowed him down significantly. It’s a bit of a shame that Rock didn’t actually get the ultimate payoff from all that legwork in the form of a submission fall, but that’s more wishful thinking than it is a genuine mark against the match itself. Besides, I’ve seen a ton of 90s All Japan and 2010s New Japan matches that had the same extended Figure-4 leglock spot in them and it was definitely something good to have since it helped explained one guys’ subsequent slowness. For the Rock, I don’t think he has ever had a better match in which he showcased everything he could do. At the same time he also showed just how adept he was at the most out of so little. He spent most of the match fighting from beneath with Triple H outsmarting and out-wrestling him at almost every turn. He didn’t execute all that many moves and limited his comeback offense to punches and the odd slam or DDT. He wasn’t a MOVEZ guy in the slightest but a storyteller with simplistic signature moves and a knack for doing whatever was most appropriate for the story.

The only reason this match isn’t remembered as that much of a classic is because things seemed to fall apart at the conclusion. It felt rushed and muddy. It got extremely repetitive during the final twenty minutes. Shawn Michaels’ officiating got less consistent towards the end with what he allowed and what he didn’t. All the various storyline threads either peaked too early or fell apart with the giant clusterfuck that composed the ending. There was much less drama than expected with the McMahons plus D-X interfering on HHH’s behalf. Rock didn’t have all that much time to milk his heroic comeback with all these odds now stacked back against him. It became a matter of having all the right moving parts but then missing the forest for the trees at the end: these guys all got so caught up in creating this intricate and indeed ‘overbooked’ conclusion that the match ended with a case of too much too soon.

Final Rating: ****3/4

It’s extremely difficult to keep a live audience entertained for a full hour nonstop but these guys (and all the support characters involved) pulled it off. Despite having one of the more chaotic finishes of its time, this is still one of the best ironman matches you’ll ever see. It’s a defining match of the Attitude Era and of 2000: when Triple H was at his physical peak and hadn’t ballooned both in terms of physique and ego. It was also one of the best matches of The Rock’s career: he really shined here as a badass who overcame multiple threats and still looked strong down to the final moment.

Though both men have had better matches (interestingly, both were within a month of each other, Triple H’s was against Austin at No Way Out 2001 and The Rock’s was at WrestleMania X-Seven) this is definitely a solid and exciting match in its own right. Had this match happened at WrestleMania 2000 instead of that that four-man elimination match, then both of these guys would’ve been able to add even more to their respective laundry lists of accomplishments.

Thanks for reading.