Live Feed Mania – WWF Smackdown 08.15.00
By Maffew Gregg on 1 March 2026
WWF @ Worcester, MA – Centrum – August 15, 2000
We’re a week away from Summerslam 2000, let’s see if the satellite feed is hot or not!
Mick Foley career retrospective video plays, set to Sarah McLachlan’s I Will Remember You. Elbow off the roof, King Of The Death Match, Mr. Socko, it’s all here. Unsure why this was airing now, he’d retired months earlier and was firmly in the Commish position. Still a good video to get the fans hyped but I’d have been worried about Foley being dead if I’d seen this months after relevance.
On Raw, Kurt Angle vs. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho ended with HHH and Kurt both pinning Jericho so they’re *both* facing The Rock for the title at Summerslam. Rock responds by giving Steph a Rock Bottom. On Smackdown, Foley booked Angle & HHH vs. Undertaker & Rock. Steph doesn’t want to get involved cos she’s in enough pain. Undertaker destroys Angle so HHH leaves him to it. Steph tries to stop him, so Undi nearly gives her a chokeslam. HHH runs out to then take all the finishers because he was OK with getting attacked every week if it was good for the storyline. I miss 2000 HHH.
On Raw, Taz threatens J.R. and knocks his hat off before landing the immortal line “I was going to slap your face but I see God already beat me to it.” J.R. slaps Tazz with Lawler mauling him for good measure too. On Smackdown, Taz smashed a candy jar over Lawler’s face as this sounds like a blood feud on paper but ended as nothing.
Dark Match
The Haas Brothers (Charlie & Russ) vs. The Dupps (Bo Dupp & Jack Dupp)
This isn’t listed on Cagematch. Maybe it was once but some editor was like “this can’t be right, there’s no way these two teams faced off this many times in dark matches. I’d better remove a few dozen.” Volume is all the way down for this. Haas’ perfunctory offence is broken up by an indielicious handspring horsebox vault.
Jack gets a blind shot in so Charlie can get worked over. Bo sticks to yelling at fans. Charlie takes standard offence as crowd turns on this. Ruus is a Haas on Fire as he suplexes his foes around while Jack forgets how to take a clothesline. Ruus powers Charlie over the ropes for a shoulder tackle double team a la Bret/Anvil. Moonsault/leg drop combo should end this but it doesn’t cos The Dupps are going over with a double Alabama Slamma. Haas Brothers looked serviceable, The Dupps should have been refused service.
Rock’s duet with Wyclef Jean and Melky is played for the fans and it’s way better than I remember. Oh then the lads themselves sing it live and pre-recorded just in case there’s a Milli Vanilli moment. Goes off without a hitch.
Black Adam didn’t return a profit? IT DOESN’T MATTER.
Forgot you were booked for Wrestlemania? IT DOESN’T MATTER.
Joey Abs vs. Bob Evans
ROH’s very own Brutal Bob. He’s very new to wrestling and it’s impressive he got called for this. Mean Street Posse are officially dead but are trying their own thing, like Wyclef after The Fugees. Bob lands a fancy DDT-but-if-you-landed-the-other way before flexing before flexing manically after an elbow smash. Bob looks better here than when I watched him in ROH. Vader Bomb lands on Bob’s knees but crowd can’t be talked into cheering for Joey. Bob misses a moonsault before running into a powerslam (complete with squealing in mid-air). Splash Mountain wins it for Joey at 5:38. I’d have signed Bob and traded Joey to anyone that would have taken him.
Kevin Kelly and Michael Cole head out for commentary duties. We can’t hear them, bah.
Kurt Angle vs. Matt Hardy (w/ Lita)
We’re starting off with King Kurt? Good decision as crowd are molten for these two. Matt manages a modified cradle to take down the Olympian who I’m sure was thrilled. Kurt sends Matt over the ropes on a 360 splat, but Matt comes back with his bounce-off-the-ropes DDT spot he likes doing on the outside. Matt lands the yodelling leg drop so Kurt gives him the 2.999 kick-out, annoying the crowd. Matt takes a belly-to-back suplex but Kurt takes too long yelling at the ref which allows Lita to come to Matt’s aid by landing a Frankensteiner off the top to blow the roof off. Angle responds with the 3.0 kickout to really piss everyone off. Matt’s standing moonsault only gets 3.1 as the crowd are ready to kill. Lita pulls Kurt’s legs out from a completely legal and normal Bridging German Suplex so he goes after her. Matt uses this opportunity to try a Twist Of Fate but karma hits him harder than his post-TNA employment options as he’s sent into Lita who takes a bump to the floor. Stephanie McMahon heads out to throw Lita into the ring steps. Good, I’m glad she was there. If Lita had aimed for the ring steps, she’d have landed in the river. Kurt smash Matt with Steph’s Women’s Title and wins with the Angle Slam just to be a dick at 5:50.
Hell of an opener considering the star power and overness of everyone people involved. I enjoyed the crowd not enjoying Kurt’s razor sharp kick-outs.
Chris Jericho joins us on the stage. He’s been attacked on a daily basis but asks the Jerichoholics to stop worrying about him. He’s fine because he’s feeling wacky after all the abuse Benoit has given him these past few weeks, so he’s nuts enough to take him on in the 2/3 falls at Summerslam. Jericho feels like it won’t be their last and he looks forward to attacking 73 year old Benoit in his wheelchair. If I type what I’m feeling, I’ll have to pay Jericho $5,000 as an apology. Jericho says all of Benoit’s kids will be missing teeth regardless and he’ll beat Benoit “and that’s a fact jack.” Chris was over even if his material was lacking.
Right To Censor (Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather) (w/ Steven Richards) vs. T & A (Test & Albert) (w/ Trish Stratus)
Angle, Jericho and now Albert? Will there be any stars left for Smackdown?
Steven trips on the ring steps so he decides to kidnap Trish and take her to the back. They removed it from the broadcast so enjoy this exclusive extremely note-worthy content.
Crowd chant for Hos as Test throws his sweaty foes around with neckbreakers. Goodfather tags in to really quieten the crowd. Bull and Test completely flub a Flying Nothing spot off the top so they re-do it and everyone notices.
Albert lands the Baldo Bomb as the match falls apart until Test hoofs Bull with the Big Boot. Steven runs back out in time to break up the pin before Stevenkicking Albert for the Bull win at 4:30. I’m a Test defender but this was pushing it.
Lo Down (D’Lo Brown & Chaz) vs. Al Snow & Just Joe
I must have watched more Just Joe matches than Just Joe’s Just Mam. D’Lo mocks Al’s lack of talent and tell them this match means nothing to them. Sadly the crowd agree as they’ve realised they’ve reached the Sunday Night section of Sunday Night Heat. Al reluctantly tags in Joe who lands an unnecessarily fancy version of the duck-down by facing the other way. D’Lo doesn’t care and leg drops the try-hard. Chaz gives Joe a jackhammer because he’s bald with a goatee so I guess he’s in the club. Cold tag Al so he can land the Snow Plow on Chaz but he can’t win because this is a televised match so Saturn runs out to crotch Al, allowing Lo Down to land the Superplex/Frog Splash combo win at 4:00. It was impressive they were able to fit two different storylines into a mid-card SNH match.
We fire off some pyro to get the crowd excited again for:
WWF Light Heavyweight Title
Dean Malenko (c) vs. Essa Rios
Dean is accompanied by some women and he looks as comfortable with them as he does with a normal hairline. Rios enters the ring to meet Dean’s boots, followed by taking a pounding from suplexes and slams. There weren’t many superstars Dean got to body around but Essa is like three of them. Essa gets a mid-slam dropkick and then lands hard on the floor as he plummets into Dean’s general direction. Essa lobs Dean into the ring steps where they hilariously don’t budge which is why you didn’t see that spot very often in Light Heavyweight matches. Sunset Flip out the corner only gets two for Essa, with Dean countering a headscissors beautifully into a sidewalk slam…that no-one pops for. If I was Dean, I’d have a face like a slapped arse too. Absolutely no heat for any of this until Essa is pushed off the top rope to the guardrail, and then Malenko baseball slides through his legs to bonk him. Then the crowd claps politely then goes back to holding their breath. Rios and Malenko have good chemistry together too, with Dean halting a Frankensteiner into a Powerbomb which is turned into a sit-out butt drop which is rolled into the Texas Cloverleaf for the submission victory at 5:01. I don’t look forward to seeing sad Dean working hard for spare change
While the ring gear is switched over, Chimel shills the new Mankind and Austin 3D Big Sipper cups.
I would 100% still own and drink from these if I’d bought them in 2000.
Pyro and ballyhoo and sadly no commentary because it must be on a different audio channel.
Shane McMahon, HHH, Stephanie and Kurt all head out together to Shane’s theme because he thinks he’s important. “What word do you think when you hear the word McMahon?” asks Shane. “ASSHOLE” replies the crowd. “No, not that.”
Shane explains his family is important, and not just Steph but extended family like Brother-In-Law HHH and Professional Family member Kurt! Crowd think Shane’s a pussy so he pauses so the production can edit it out and not have the PTC hammering on the door.
On Monday Night Raw, The Rock got mauled by Shane’s Family. Shane adds the shot of him, Kurt and HHH stood over Rocky’s body will be the front of their Xmas card this year. Steph takes over and the heat for her is unreal. Steph the only thing better than Rock beat up is the idea of HHH and Kurt shaking hands in the middle of the ring.
Neither guy looks thrilled. Kurt starts and says he apologised for saying HHH used to wrestle in hog-pen matches and wasn’t a huge success early on like Kurt is. Ha! HHH is also sorry for calling Kurt a jerk, an Olympic twerp, crying like a broad on the podium, saying Kurt’s never come even close to winning the WWF title. “It’s not your fault, not everybody can be as cool as me.” Both lads are sincerely sorry so they shake hands.
CAR CRASH can only mean Foley is here dressed like my Dad on a Sunday. Foley plugs his upcoming Xmas Book (“coming out soon”) and he shares his Xmas Card cover: Kurt kissing Steph on Raw! Look at Foley un-doing all the hard work.
Foley passes a note from The Rock to request a match tonight. Foley says it wouldn’t be fair to give someone a WWF Title match so close to Summerslam so he wants to know who wants him for pride tonight?
HHH bungles the line here and asks “You mean one of us gets a shot at the title tonight?” and Foley replies “Uh I just said no title shot tonight.”
Foley asks the crowd who Rock should whoop tonight with Steph the popularity vote. Foley shoves a Survivor reference in and tells them to figure out who is getting the match and who is getting shipped off the island. Long decent segment even with Shane’s lack of interest visible.
We head backstage to a close-up of Terri’s breasts. The Kat walks in and they both call each other trash until Terri informs her “their match will be over quicker than your career.” That was prophetic.
Backstage, Shane’s Mates debate who should face The Rock tonight.
WWF European Champion Perry Saturn & Terri vs. Rikishi & The Kat
I don’t know why they put Terri and Perry together but I know Perry couldn’t look less arsed about having her around. She bends over and stretches during her entrance and Perry looks like he’s thinking about the groceries he needs to pick up after the show. Just zero chemistry.
Terri and Kat have been feuding since before Wrestlemania. The French and the English haven’t beefed for that long. Kat somehow manages a monkey flip out of the corner in heels which is impressive. Perry lands a top rope clothesline but Rikishi no-sells it so Perry gets him over with a Northern Lights Suplex! Which Rikishi pops up from. Perry delivers a clothesline which is also ignored so he can Samoan Drop Perry. Perry gets kicked in the balls by Kat who lariats her down allowing Terri to get the win at 2:01. This was like four different matches cut together at random.
Rikishi gets ready to Stinkface Perry but Terri does her best to stop it by spanking him. Rikishi wonders who he should stinkface before deciding to be a gentleman and leave the ring…until Kat convinces him to do it to Terri. Crowd loses their mind at Rikishi’s fantastic pantomiming. “Well I guess I should leave the ring without doing any-” NO NO PUT YOUR ASS IN THAT WOMAN’S FACE DO IT DO IT.
Backstage, Shane of Shane’s Mates fame decides he will wrestle The Rock because he’s the toughest. I don’t think he was aware the camera was on.
WWF IC Title
Val Venis (c) (w/ Trish Stratus) vs. Eddie Guerrero (w/ Chyna)
The short-lived Serious Val Venis heads out with new music, generic trunks, Trish Stratus and no pop. Chyna and Eddie are very over.
Eddy bashes Val over the ring steps but he comes back with a press slam to Eddy and an unnecessary slap on Chyna. Val had his working boots on during this time which is why that Rikishi feud ruled. Fast paced match sees Chyna brutally Powerbomb Venis off the apron and roll him back in for two. Trish smashes a water pitcher over Chyna’s head and in the confusion Eddy got rolled up. I’m guessing, the cameras missed whatever happened in the ring at 3:25. Venis was trying here but no-one gave a damn about him without his dick puns and it’s no wonder they shoved him into RTC not long after this.
Backstage, Steph suggests she should wrestle The Rock because it would be champion vs champion. These lot are usually more entertaining than this.
Backstage, Chyna sees Foley in his portable office. Chyna demands a match against Trish which Foley doesn’t approve of because it’s not fair so he books a tag match for Summerslam instead. Which will be fair! Foley not booking an unfair match like David Stern blocking Chris Paul’s move to the Lakers.
The Acolytes are here with…Crash Holly? On Raw, Kai En Tai couldn’t keep up with The APA’s drinking abilities at The Friendly Tap so Funaki spaffed all over Bradshaw so they got wrecked in the venue WWF No Mercy made famous. Bradshaw dumps a Lethal Weapon 3 pinball cabinet over them which is the best thing that film ever gave us. So it’s a Six-Man Tag match tonight with…
The Acolyte Protection Agency (Faarooq & Bradshaw) & Crash Holly vs. Kai En Tai (Sho Funaki & Taka Michinoku) & The Big Boss Man
Boss Man tells The APA how disappointed he is with them being bullies to his mates.
Boss Man: I’m here to support my Chinese friends.
Kai En Tai: We’re not Chinese, we’re-
Boss Man: SHUT UP I’M TRYING TO TALK.
Crowd don’t appreciate the racial humour and chant “BOSS MAN SUCKS” loud as the chants for Rocky. Kai En Tai have to double team Faarooq to get him to fall over but he throws them around with no issues anyway cos they’re small. Crash eagerly tags in to attack a downed Funaki but doesn’t like Boss Man tagging in. APA land their neckbreaker backdrop combo onto Boss Man which is enough to make him leave the match. Kai En Tai land the camel clutch/basement dropkick on Crash before APA wander in and destroy the poor bastards with Dominators and Powerbombs. Crash gets the hyperactive pin at 2:35 with APA immediately leaving cos the job is finished.
Just a thrown-together match featuring the wrestlers not good enough for Summerslam. It’s always funny seeing Japanese wrestlers being presented as bad at drinking when we know how much alcohol and smoking they have go through just to stay in their training schools.
Backstage, Shane’s Crew debate some more. The script for this probably said “more squabbling” and that was it.
Wildline recording backstage airs with Jericho fixing a blunder during Sunday Night Heat.
08/15/00 Sunday Night Heat tapingChris Jericho stumbles over his final line, re-records it an hour later, line fixed for TV airing 08/20/00
— maffew went to MAGFest and didn't get the flu (@maffewgregg.bsky.social)2026-02-14T00:16:17.324Z
On this week’s TV Guide there’s four WWF covers featuring Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Rikishi and….The Kat??? Who’s she screwing to…oh right.
Chris Jericho heads out to commentate and even in his second appearance tonight he still gets a crazy reaction.
On Raw, Benoit ruined Jericho’s chances of beating Venis for the IC title by absolutely stretching him with an STF. It looked like me trying to snap a Toblerone.
WWF Hardcore Title
Steve Blackman (c) vs. Chris Benoit (w/ Shane McMahon)
Shane hasn’t been on this show enough so I’m glad he’s back out to hog someone else’s spotlight.
Benoit batters Steve who remembers it’s a Hardcore match so he balances things with a spinning back trash can lid elbow. Only Steve could get that silliness over. Benoit starts choking Blackman with a belt as I wonder about GIFing it so I can kill the Blog with one post. Lucky for Scott’s ad revenue, Blackman is too tough for the Grim Reaper to take while awake so Steve recovers and kick Benoit on his arse. Blackman throws Benoit’s weapons outside where they bounce into the crowd and everyone looks worried then move on. Benoit lands the rolling Germans but Blackman shrugs it off. Shane twats Steve over the back of the head so Jericho buggers the back of Benoit’s head with a chair shot to help Blackman retain at 4:53. Perfectly decent action here and I appreciate this period’s ability to combine two feuds into one segment with no-one losing any respect even with a loss.
Jericho chases Shane to the back leading to a furious Benoit stretching Blackman with the Crippler Cross Face until Sgt Slaughter and the rest of the G.I. Joe’s save the day.
Backstage, Angle leaves the arena as his feelings are hurt. Steph wants him to stay because he’s part of the family and is genuinely upset when he leaves. This is more like it.
Lugz Boot Of The Night Presents: Lita getting kicked right in the head by Steven Richards. Oh I’m sure Lugz were thrilled with that. Unless Steven was wearing one of their trainers when he did it.
Edge and Christian show up to let us know they do not like Foley’s idea for Summerslam and refuse to call it Tables, Ladders and Chairs. Crowd: “oh my!”
WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian vs. D-Von Dudley (w/ Bubba Ray Dudley) & Jeff Hardy (w/ Lita & Matt Hardy)
Non-title match. Matt Hardy and Bubba aren’t wrestling because they took con-chair-tos on Raw. Also Matt was on Heat earlier so shhhh. Bubba is displaying an ugly black eye and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was real because these guys were destroying each other during this period.
This is a tornado of hair to start with everyone flying around like daft buggers. D-Von helps Jeff do the Poetry In Motion, Jeff helps D-Von land the flying headbutt. Jeff cuts off a Flying Nothing with a sit-out dropkick, D-Von lands his angled Reverse DDT but Jeff accidentally lands the Swanton to D-Von leading to Edge rolling him up to retain at 2:00.
These lads were given two minutes of time and decided to fill it with as many bumps as possible. Bubba is furious with Jeff’s lack of aim so the Dudleys brawl with the Hardys as the refs separate it and E & C yell “great job guys!” from the ramp.
Backstage, Kane is here! That’s it, that’s all that happens.
Right To Censor head out to officially announce Bull Buchanan as their newest member. Bull tries to explain how upset he is that he can’t allow his daughters to watch him on TV because the product is too lewd for them. Bull fights back the tears as he hopes his daughters will understand how his Dad tried to make life a purer place for them. The Goodfather and Steven talk and talk and talk but they can’t follow Bull and probably the best promo of his entire career. Congrats on being the Danny Green of crap stables (Truth Commission, RTC, Boss Man’s Mate Who Dresses Like Him, Cena’s posse). Steven vows to take out Rikishi’s arse for the good of the world. Never-ending segment but Bull was good (no, really).
Backstage, Kane is still here!
Right Guard Xtreme Sports presents: Kane saving his brother from Chris Benoit…only to then chokeslam Undertaker through the ring to turn heel. I still insist this was a mistake as Kane was dangerously over as a face so turning him to give Undertaker something to do because Big Show couldn’t stop eating Jolly Ranchers derailed a good thing.
Backstage, Road Dogg is upset at X-Pac laughing at him taking the Stinkface on Raw. That’s it.
Backstage, Kane is still here again.
On Raw, Tazz stole J.R.’s hat so Lawler ran out half-dressed to batter him. Lawler explains to Cole why he helped his friend, but Tazz interrupts to apply the Tazmission from behind. As opposed to the front. This leaves Cole alone to do commentary making Tazz the biggest small heel in the company.
Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay & Scotty 2 Hotty) vs. X-Pac & Road Dogg
X-Pac and Dogg are in a friendly feud around Rikishi’s arse which is so large that half the roster apparently orbits it. He’s seriously beefing with Saturn, Trish, what’s left of D-X and all of Right To Censor. If he starts feuding with Alex Riley for no reason, I’m going to start calling it Kevin Owens.
Too Cool land the W-O-R-M seconds into the match. Dogg tries the Stretch Armstrong Doggy Style Anal Sex Pump Handle Slam but X-Pac wants the X-Factor as Hotty is the filling in a D-X sarnie here. Dogg & Pac argue but WHO CARES HERE’S KANE at 1:30 to choke slam both degenerates to cheers. I think we were both running out of time and had nothing else to add to this storyline so this works.
Kane explains he turned on his brother because he’s finally accepted what he is on the inside: “A MONSTER!” Kane is talking more and more human now which isn’t enough to kill his aura compared to how he sounded in 2002. Undi and his giant leather duster finally show up to gets in Kane’s mask’s face. Kane acts like he’s not going fight his brother and goes to leave before landing a sucker punch. Kane dents a chair over Undi’s dopey adult goth jacket and leaves him bleeding. Even with the cheap shots, Kane was still getting massive cheers here.
WWF World Champion The Rock vs. Triple H
HHH won the argument, quelle surprise. Foley shows up and ensures this main event is non-title and non-McMahon at ringside. Oh and Foley makes matches for Monday because he heard the arguments backstage so Steph is defending her title against Lita, and Shane is taking on Blackman. OK I take back my criticism about those boring segments, I’ll allow boring if it’s for a reason.
Without the ringside fluff these two show how good they can be with a nice simple wrestling match for a nice simple crowd. Rock splats HHH outside and into the announce table but The Game comes back with a neckbreaker. The crowd stays alert the whole match rather than waiting for the next run-in even with it being non-title, and it only builds and builds as HHH pounds away on Rock with his dodgy sleeper and dodgier knees. Rock uses the power of the People to power out and Samoan Drop HHH. Ref gets in the way and gets sent outside, allowing Kurt The Liar to re-appear with a chair and surprisingly strike the Rock without accidentally hitting HHH. HHH follows up with a pedigree and ….pins The Rock at 7:28. Huh! I guess Kurt is a team player after all. Also there was a mild pop for HHH winning here against the biggest face in the company.
Kurt and HHH shake hands and leave together, smirking.
Post-Show: Rock tells Kurt & HHH that he isn’t done yet, leading to them immediately heading back out. The bad guys agree to get him in a pincer movement (with HHH letting Kurt go first so he can absorb the first punch) with Rock getting worked over…and we don’t see the feel-good moment as the feed stops so that’s all folks.
Overall: Not a bad episode of Smackdown but far from a memorable one. When Bull Buchanan’s promo is the thing that sticks with you after a show you know there’s issues. But WWF was white hot during this time and Summerslam ended up as maybe the best PPV of the year so 10/10 would steal Haitian charity funds again.
I’ve been Maffew.