Fully Loaded 2000 - Reunion Arena, Dallas Texas, July 23rd, 2000

Fully Loaded has a few meanings but this PPV doubles down on the gambling aesthetic. The opening video package is narrated and draws a tenuous line between gambling and the WWF. It’s fine.

A Triple Main Event a.k.a No Main Event. Is it weird that Stone Cold Steve Austin is on the poster? Yes. Did it make people at the time think he might show up on this show? Yes. Did he? Spoiler alert but no, he did not. 

The show wastes zero time and goes right into T&A and Trish’s entrance. I guess nothing was kicking off on Sunday Night Heat (™ me) this month. 

The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) and Lita vs. T&A (Test and Albert) and Trish Stratus

This match gets a little video package too and focuses on Trish and Lita’s feud which has been the meat of the build. Lita is still selling her ribs from both being driven through a table by Trish, and whipped with a belt (which was tough to watch). Both incidents are in the video package.

The fans are red hot behind The Hardyz and Lita and this is very much the teams final form after suffering through Michael Hayes, Gangrel and then Terri as their manager. Lita is the one, and I believe by this point was dating Matt Hardy off screen too. 

Matt fights off both Albert and Test and uses his trademark leg drop off the middle rope (which King insists is called the Drop Shot, a name which never caught on) and tags in Jeff and the female screams for Jeff are extremely loud. No doubting who the hotter brother was (and still is, let’s be fair).

The Hardyz use double teams on both bigger opponents and the crowd love it, and explode for them pulling their tops off. Lita follows suit (she has a sports bra on) and the crowd and King lose their MINDS. It felt like they were building to the finish but the match breaks back down and after Albert throws Jeff over the top rope to the floor, he and Test begin working him over and wearing him down, including with a very nice full nelson into a slam by Test.

Jeff rallies and gets a tag and Lita divses from the top rope onto Albert on the floor, and then a diving hurricanrana on Test in the ring for a near fall! The fans are exploding for Lita - she is insanely popular now. Trish gets a cheap shot in on Lita and then Test lays her out with a powerbomb. Trish confidently tags in to steal the pin but amazingly Lita kicks out! 

Trish gives Lita a running bulldog and shows off her wrestling training. The action between the women is heated and they’re both trying but the fans are far too busy chanting “we want puppies” to give them any credit. 

Trish climbs to the top rope but Lita stops her and gives Trish a superplex into the ring! The fans are exploding for Lita’s every move during this one, it’s incredible. 

The Hardyz go after T&A and Lita follows up with a top rope moonsault on Trish for the pin and the victory! Lita pins Trish to win this very good opening match! This was great fun and everyone looked good.

They get no time to celebrate as Albert hits Lita from behind and then T&A lay out both Matt and Jeff with some brutal double teams and big boots to the face. Just like on Smackdown, Trish whips Lita with a leather belt across the back. Lita’s screaming in pain is really effective - it’s tough to hear. The fans loudly boo until Matt and Jeff stumble to their feet and stop the pain.

Backstage, Edge approaches Mick Foley and says that Christian is too ill to compete tonight. Commissioner Foley is understandably sceptical given how many times they’ve pulled this trick now to avoid The Acolytes but Edge is deadly serious and tells him to bring a doctor and check him out. I’ll talk a bit more about Commissioner Foley and his first PPV in the role later in the show.

The Undertaker arrives and is already looking for Kurt Angle. He spots him and rides his motorbike into the arena and chases the Olympic Hero down the hall.

Tazz vs. Al Snow

There’s a helpful video recapping the various people Tazz has attacked for no reason lately. He still refuses to explain his motives. Al Snow begged for this match and was granted it.

Snow starts aggressively but Tazz weathers the storm and fights him off but Al keeps coming back and gets a near fall with a spinebuster.

Even King is impressed and praises Snow who continues to pour on the offence with a pair of slams and then a top rope leg drop, followed by a top rope moonsault for another near fall. 

The match is pretty heatless and gets a “boring” chant which is very unfair.

Snow grabs Head and that does get a cheer but he’s distracted too long and Tazz comes in with a chop block to the knee and some mounted punches.

Tazz dumps Snow with a brutal looking overhead suplex and attempts a Tazzmission. Snow blocks it, but Tazz keeps going for it and does manage to power Al down to the mat and lock it in. Snow quickly taps out, but Tazz holds on until he passes out.

Tazz wins his first match since his injury in dominant fashion.

In Edge and Christian’s locker room, Edge watches on as Christian vomits loudly in the bathroom stall. He stumbles out, looking all sweaty as Foley has the doctor check him out. The medical staff agrees that he is too ill to compete tonight, just as Christian runs off to be sick again.

In the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, a large bunch of flowers arrives by courier. There was a first set on Sunday Night Heat too. Stephanie thought they were from Triple H and didn’t look for a card, but they are not and when The Game looks for a card finds one. “Best of Luck to you and your man tonight. It’s true, it’s true”. Triple H jumps to the reasonable conclusion that the flowers are from Kurt Angle, that being one of his catchphrases which is a fair assumption. 

WWF European Championship

Eddie Guerrero © (w/Chyna) vs. Perry Saturn (w/Terri)

This match between former Radicals came out of nowhere as Saturn, seemingly sick of doing nothing and perhaps motivated by his new woman Terri, attacked Eddie out of the blue and got physical with Chyna too. Nothing wrong with wanting to be champion and so attacking the champion. It is in fact exactly what Chris Benoit did to The Rock to get his title match tonight. 

Eddie goes after Perry fast and is focused on revenge for Mamacita. He drops him with suplexes and a heel kick and when Saturn goes to the outside, Eddie distracts the referee so that Chyna can drop him with a clothesline and send him back inside.

Eddie follows with a top rope hurricanrana.

Saturn goes to the outside and is thrown into the ring steps this time. JR correctly points out that when you cross Chyna you pay and pay and pay.

Eddie dives from the top rope and lands on Saturn, throwing him back into the ring and taking a moment to kiss Chyna’s hand. Latino Heat is a gentleman.

The actual action is disjointed but is good and Saturn counters a hurricanrana into a stiff powerbomb which looks great. 

The two go back and forth trading big moves and Saturn climbs to the top but Eddie stops him and dropkicks him down to the floor. Chyna tries another cheap shot on Saturn but he clotheslines her up and over the announce table, which collapses. This was a botch which upset people backstage - everyone was told to stay away from that announce table as it was rigged to collapse for the Last Man Standing match later but Chyna didn’t get the memo.

With Chyna down, Terri comes back to ringside and Perry uses her as a human shield and gets the jump on Eddie. Terri kicks Guerrero low, and then Perry follows up with a top rope elbow drop right across Latino Heat’s lower back to win the European title! 

For the Attitude era, Eddie had a long reign having held the title since the night after Wrestlemania so this was a big deal.

Backstage, Commissioner Foley goes to check on Christian and discovers he and Edge laughing about having escaped another title defence. Christian panics and runs back to the bathroom stall where Foley peeks over the top and finds Christian throwing fake vomit down the toilet and making pretend retching noises. They are so totally busted! The Tag Team title match is on. This was funny, but the camera work and placement gives away that it was all pre-taped.

Michael Cole interviews The Undertaker who gets distracted by Kurt Angle toying with his motorbike on a monitor. The Undertaker takes off to get Angle who stalls the bike, and runs off when he sees Undertaker coming.

WWF Tag Team Championships

Edge and Christian © vs. The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq)

The Tag Team Champions make a bunch of jokes about the local sports teams, and end on some classy jokes about the JFK assassination. The Acolytes enter and Bradshaw is so fired up about Dallas and Texas he screams a promo at them about Dallas’ sports history. He’s so worked up he trips over his words a couple of times but it’s certainly emotional and exciting.

I mentioned it during the build up to the show but there was a period where the APA (Acolytes Protection Agency) gimmick seemed to have been dropped in favour of them just being the plain old Acolytes again. That was proven wrong on Smackdown and is for the best. People love the cigar smoking, beer drinking, poker playing, protection racket running version of this team. 

The challengers beat up the champions around the ringside, no-selling Edge and Christians offence and get some near falls off big slams and clotheslines.

It does fall into a proper tag team match with Edge being isolated and worked over by Bradshaw and Faarooq but thanks to a cheap shot from Christian, the Tag Team Champions reverse the advantage and start to work over Bradshaw in the corner with double teams and quick tags. 

Faarooq gets a hot tag and connects with a Dominator on Christian and has the victory but Edge grabs one of the Tag Team title belts and hits Faarooq in the back with it, causing a disqualification.

A cheap end to a not-very-good match, but Edge and Christian retain the tag team titles and JR and King are quick to point out that if that happens in the WWF title match later The Rock will lose the WWF title.

Back in the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Triple H is still angry about the flowers from Kurt Angle. Stephanie is sick of listening to him and tells him to go and confront Kurt himself.

Elsewhere, Kurt Angle is still being chased by The Undertaker. Kurt loops around some equipment and manages to get behind Taker, hitting him in the knee with a steel wrench just like on Smackdown! 

Steel Cage match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Val Venis © (w/Trish Stratus) vs. Rikishi

These two have actually had a very heated rivalry going back a couple of months, until before King of the Ring. They could have given us a great video package but instead we just get some highlights from the past two weeks.

Rikishi starts fast and Val bumps around for him but the new, short haired, serious Venis takes control and runs Rikishi into the cage a couple of times to get control.

Rikishi reverses a whip into the corner and flattens Val before going for a Stink Face but Val counters it with a low blow and then a diving clothesline to the back of the head off the middle rope.

Val hits the ropes fast and cuts right through Rikishi with a clothesline which he flips and bumps for. That particular flipping, spinning bump has become known in some circles as the “Rikishi bump” and looks great. 

Val tries his first climb out but Rikishi follows him up and the two fight on the top rope. Val runs Rikishi’s head into the cage sending him backwards into the ring, and then walks the ropes and bounces into a nice elbow drop off the top, which Rikishi kicks out of. 

There’s two referees - one in the ring to count the pins and call for the bell on a submission, and one on the outside to man the door, and rule whether an escaper has properly reached the floor.

Val climbs up and gets onto the very top of the cage but Rikishi stops him and drives his head into the cage a few times before dragging him back inside. Val loses his balance and falls, straddling the top rope which causes Rikishi to do the same, and both men collapse back into the ring. Val is now bleeding from just above the eye from all those shots to the cage.

Rikishi crawls for the door, which the referee opens for him but Val stops him and the match continues. 

The big man builds up some momentum and sends Val into the cage, follows up with a Samoan drop and then a Banzai drop but Venis gets his foot on the bottom rope to break the pin. Rikishi goes to climb out the door and Trish grabs it and slams it shut on Rikishi’s head instead. Val follows up with a neckbreaker and then a Money Shot splash off the top rope but Rikishi amazingly kicks out.

With both men down in the ring, Lita runs down to the ring and attacks Trish, pulling her top off and whipping her with a leather belt. She beats Trish black and blue as Trish crawls up the entrance ramp. She tries to choke her too and the two women disappear into the back.

Val climbs to the top rope and Rikishi follows. He bounces Val off the cage and he falls back into the ring and knocks out the referee. Rikishi then climbs to the top of the cage and in an incredible spot, the 400lbs Samoan dives off the top of the cage with a splash onto Val Venis, crushing him!

There is no referee in the ring to count a cover and so Rikishi crawls to the door instead. He gets close and then Tazz appears at ringside, grabbing a TV camera. He smashes it over Rikishi’s head, knocking him out cold. Tazz leaves and Val crawls into a one-armed cover as referee Teddy Long wakes up to count the three. Val Venis retains the Intercontinental title in a very good cage match, thanks to Tazz.

Of note is that after Tazz screwed over Rikishi, JR was especially brutal about him on commentary calling him scum and a piece of garbage. That’ll be important later folks. This is what you call foreshadowing. 

Backstage after a shot of an angry Undertaker limping and talking to himself about how much he’s going to kill Kurt Angle, Triple H goes to find Kurt himself over his apparently sending flowers to his wife. He goes into a locker room to find the man who sent the flowers but it’s not Kurt Angle, it’s Chris Jericho who launches a sneak attack on Triple H (there’s a lot of banging inside the room) and he leaves The Game laying.

Out in the arena, Shane McMahon enters much to everyone’s surprise. He’s dressed to compete too and he challenges The Rock to a match right now. He says not for the WWF title, which wouldn’t be fair to Chris Benoit who is going to win the WWF title later. He mocks the Texas fans and tells The Rock to “Just Bring It”. The Rock doesn’t need to be asked twice and heads down to the ring looking ready to beat Shane McMahon silly, Humorously The Rock ends up doing a lap of the ring visibly looking for the ring steps to walk up - they’ve already been moved out the way for The Undertaker’s entrance on his motorbike. Shane bails out of the ring but The Rock isn’t being fooled - this is a setup, so where is Benoit? Is he under the ring? Hanging from the rafters? Stuffed up Shane’s Candy ass?

Chris Benoit appears on the titantron. Rocky was right - it was a setup, it was a ploy to get The Rock out of his locker room and Benoit destroys The Rock’s shirts and personal belongings, tearing his clothes to pieces and snapping his sunglasses, pouring some fluid all over everything too. He’s trying to get The Rock so angry he’ll get himself disqualified tonight, and the title can change hands on a disqualification! The Rock heads to the back to find Benoit. During his little promo, Benoit used what is apparently his new catchphrase “that’s just the way it is” which he’s ended a few promos with lately. It is…not an impactful catchphrase. So much so that I’ve only just realised that’s what he’s going for. 

The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle

There’s a great little video package for this one showing Kurt go from accidentally crossing The Undertaker multiple times, to apologising, to then deciding that he’s unafraid of the American Badass. When Kurt enters, he’s startled by his own pyro and looks very nervous but is carrying the huge metal wrench he used as a weapon on Smackdown and early. The Undertaker’s music doesn’t even play (which is good really because I’m sick of the dubbing on the WWE Network) and he drives to the ring and attacks Angle!

He throws Kurt into the security wall, into the crowd and then back to ringside, running him into the ring and the ringsteps all while Kurt is still wearing his gold medals! 

After a bit of brawling he throws Kurt into the ring and the bell rings. Kurt tries to mount some offence but takes a big boot and a stiff elbow drop. Taker covers but we’ll never know if its a three count as he lifts Kurt at two, wanting to keep the beating going. He does the same after a cover from a delayed vertical suplex, and then mouths “fuck you” at referee Tim White. He IS a Badass.

Kurt counters a corner charge with a big boot of his own and hops onto Taker’s back with a sleeper hold but that doesn’t last long and Taker muscles him off, runs him into the corner with a clothesline and follows with a sidewalk slam. This time Kurt does kick out on his own steam so Undertaker launches him over the top rope. He follows out and while the referee is busy climbing out to follow them, he gets a cheap shot into Undertaker’s knee with the wrench. That allows Kurt to get a little big offence as he takes him back into the ring and looks to work on Taker’s leg but Undertaker just is not selling anything. Kurt makes him sell with a chop block and logs in a leg grapevine and drops a few elbows. 

Taker fights out of it and Kurt gets a chance to show his own toughness, trading punches with a man who’s main gimmick is that he’s a prolific striker before Angle goes back to the knee and wears him down some more. Kurt was utterly dominated in the early going but he is getting to show some toughness and his in ring intelligence with this leg assault.

Taker counters by using his strength to turn Kurt over into a single leg boston crab and mounts a comeback with punches and quickly drills Angle with an awesome looking one-armed chokeslam. He doesn’t go for the cover and instead finishes off the Olympian with the Last Ride powerbomb, a move which he’s only recently started using and only just got its name. It looks awesome as he lifts Kurt for the extra height by his tights and drives him hard to the mat. That is enough for the victory, and The Undertaker wins a short, mostly one-sided match with Kurt Angle.

This was Angle’s first major loss really since his double champion run, and winning the King of the Ring. Have no fear though, our Olympic Hero had plenty more good coming his way in 2000.

This isn’t the last time these two would meet on PPV in 2000, but I do want to make special mention of their match in 2006. Kurt Angle defended the World Heavyweight title against The Undertaker (who by then was back to being the Deadman) in a babyface vs. babyface match at No Way Out 2006 and it is legitimately incredible. One of my all time favourite matches and universally hailed as being both one of Angle’s and one of Undertaker’s best ever matches. 

Last Man Standing match

Chris Jericho vs. Triple H (w/WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley)

This is a very intense feud, and the video package does it justice. Jericho kept taking verbal shots at Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley (which is Vince’s fault, remember when he kept trying to screw over Jericho?) and it was finally too much for her husband Triple H to bear. 

I’ve mentioned Triple H’s physique before but during his entrance he looks absolutely enormous, and chiselled out of granite. Say what you want about alleged steroid abuse during this era but based on appearances whatever The Game was doing was definitely working for him. He looked like a Greek God and stood out even on this roster of other men who were in incredible shape. 

A subtle push for Jericho as he enters second - the more important role. This is only the second Last Man Standing match in WWF history with the first one being The Rock and Mankind’s draw for the WWF title in February 1999. 

He gets in the ring - ribs still taped up from Triple H’s sledgehammer attack last week - and they start trading punches. Jericho gets the better of the exchange and stomps Triple H down in the corner before running through him with a pair of clotheslines and then a dropkick sending the former WWF Champion out to the floor before following with his trademark springboard dropkick off the apron.

Back in the ring Jericho comes off the top rope with a spinning back elbow which looks great but Triple H stops the onslaught with a knee to the face and a clothesline out of the ring. 

The two fight around ringside while the fans chant “Stephanie swallows” which is always pretty funny. Triple H takes control while Y2J sells his ribs, driving him into the ringsteps and the security wall. 

In the ring, Triple H launches a long assault on Jericho’s ribs and strips the bandages off him. He never leaves Y2J alone long enough for the referee to start a count as he continues hammering Jericho’s injured ribs. He takes him to the outside and after letting Stephanie get in a couple of slaps suplexes him on the concrete entrance ramp.

The referee begins his first standing ten count as The Game goes for a little kiss from his smiling bride. Jericho gets up at five or six and Triple H takes him back to the ring and locks Jericho in an abdominal stretch, raining punches down on his exposed ribs as he does so. There’s no submissions of course, and Jericho manages to muscle out of it with a hop toss. Triple H is back up before Y2J and argues with the referee, getting into a shoving match. Amazingly the referee getting involved isn’t Earl Hebner for once - it’s Mike Chioda. 

Jericho gets a little come back and tries a Lionsault but Triple H gets his knees up into the ribs and then drops Jericho with a DDT. 

Y2J gets back up at seven, so Triple H locks him in a sleeper and puts him out. The referee begins a count again and as Jim Ross implores Jericho to stay down and fight another day, lest his career be ended by Triple H tonight, Jericho gets up at nine and taunts Triple H, even throwing a DX crotch chop at him. Triple H loses his cool and spikes Jericho with a Pedigree and that would seem to be enough.

The Game assumes that this one is over and confidently taunts and lays up on the top rope as the referee counts. Jericho again gets up at nine and so Triple H grabs a steel chair. 

He drives it into Jericho’s ribs and then a stiff shot across the back. In a moment that makes no sense, the referee continually gets in Triple H’s face and tells him off for it. The match is no Disqualification ref, back up. 

Triple H sets up a Pedigree onto the steel chair, but Jericho comes back with a low blow and follows up with a big swinging chair shot right to The Game’s head! The referee counts and both men get back up but Triple H comes up bleeding badly, blood pouring down his face.

Jericho has a chance and the two trade big blows and punches. Jericho has control now and with a running forearm and a missile dropkick has The Game on the ropes. He’s breeding SO heavily, and Jericho comes out of the corner with a running bulldog onto the steel chair. 

Triple H gets back up at an eight count and the fight leads to the outside of the ring. Triple H manages to defend himself, reversing a whip into the ringsteps. He tries to Pedigree Jericho onto the steel base of the ring steps but Jericho backdrops him up and over and down to the mats at ringside. Triple H crawls and both men pick up TV monitors, unknown to the other. They both swing and hit each other simultaneously in the head with the TV monitors off the announce desk. It’s a big tease that this match - just like the first one - will end in a draw but both men manage to crawl to their feet at the nine count. 

Back in the ring, Triple H tries a Pedigree but Jericho turns it into a Walls of Jericho!

The Game taps out but its meaningless in this Last Man Standing match. Triple H screams and roars in pain and gets to the ropes, but that doesn’t break the hold in a no disqualification match and Y2J drags him back to the middle of the ring, trying to break Triple H’s back! 

Stephanie gets in the ring and grabs Y2J’s hair, breaking the hold. She tries a slap which Jericho blocks and he locks Stephanie in the Walls of Jericho! The crowd loves it, but it gives Triple H a chance to get back to his feet and stop it with a clothesline to the back of the head.

On the outside, Triple H gets his sledgehammer from under the ring and swings but Jericho ducks and it clangs off the ringpost. Triple H slingshots Triple H into the ring post and then hits him in the ribs with his own sledgehammer! Triple H is laid out on the announce desk and Jericho tries a moonsault off the timekeeper's desk onto Triple H but The Game stops him with a low blow, and then back suplexes Jericho off the timekeeper’s desk through the announce desk! Both men are down and not moving and as the referee counts, Triple H stumbles onto his feet at the nine count, and then immediately collapses as the referee counts ten. 

Triple H technically wins but for all intents and purposes, this was a draw. Both men are down and out, both covered in Triple H’s blood.

This was a great match and unlike the Mankind/Rock Last Man Standing match which was filled with weapons and violence, this match was a lot more story driven and focused on the toughness of Jericho. It worked well for them and even in a loss, Jericho comes out of this match very much on Triple H’s level. If he hadn’t had a rib injury and Stephanie working against him, he might have even won! 

As Triple H is helped to the back by several referees, I am left wondering what the original finishing spot was supposed to be. As I mentioned earlier, Chyna and Perry Saturn accidentally collapsed the gimmicked announce table earlier in the show.

WWF Championship

The Rock © vs. Chris Benoit (w/Shane McMahon)

If The Rock is disqualified, he loses the WWF Championship

The video package for this one is pretty great, but it does really highlight the “cold, calculating, merciless, ruthless” nature of Chris Benoit so you might find it an unpleasant watch depending on your feelings on Benoit and the atrocities he later committed. 

When Benoit enters, he’s wearing one of The Rock’s now tattered shirts that he tore up earlier, and Shane is wearing a pair of The Rock’s sunglasses. You can’t fault the strategy - they want The Rock to get himself disqualified. They did this gimmick a bunch more times over the years but it was never done as well as this match and build to it, in my opinion. JR also points out that The Rock actually did lose the WWF title because of a disqualification once before in the Iron Man match at Judgment Day. 

I don’t know exactly what it is, but the fans are more subdued for the entrances for this match than I expected. I think its probably a mix of no one really believing Benoit would win the title from the legit biggest star in wrestling at this point and them being exhausted from what has been a brilliant show for the past two hours.

Shane gets in the ring and goads The Rock which allows Benoit to jump him from behind and that's how the match begins.

Shane runs around the ring and has The Rock follow for another sneak attack from Benoit but The Rock isn’t having it and runs through his challenger with a clothesline, and then a spinebuster, slingshotting him into Shane on the apron and sending the boy wonder flying. Shane is working OVERTIME here, running around the ring and keeping the early going lively. 

In the ring, the match breaks down properly and Benoit takes control with a knee to the gut and a gut wrench into a gut buster across his knee. Shane gets a couple of cheap shots in with his elbow and punches while the referee is distracted. 

The challenger works over The Rock, bouncing him off the ring steps and with a snap clothesline as the fans shower him with “Benoit sucks” chants. 

The Rock comes back with a suplex across the top rope and a big swinging punt kick to Benoit’s chest, and then follows with a back-suplex off the top rope which deserved a big reaction but didn’t get one. The fans care - they’re chanting “Rocky” periodically - but they definitely aren’t as hot for this as I expected. 

Shane slides the WWF title belt into the ring and runs around the ring to distract the referee. Benoit blasts The Rock with the title belt and gets rid of the evidence for another near fall. A near fall which the fans didn’t pop for. Weird. 

The Rock comes back with a big scoop powerslam for a near fall of his own but Benoit quickly retaliates with a back suplex before locking The Rock in a sharpshooter.  He sinks it in deep as The Rock slowly crawls to the ropes to break the hold. 

Shane pulls the top rope down as Benoit whips Rock into them and that sends the champion tumbling to the floor. 

The two fight around the ring and The Rock lifts Benoit in a back suplex and drives Benoit groin and face first into the ringpost which could have been a disqualification. He throws his challenger back inside and locks him in the figure four but Shane distracts referee Earl Hebner so we’ll never know if it was a submission.

Shane gets a stiff clothesline to The Rock on the outside while Hebner is checking on Benoit, and then clotheslines The Rock up and over the ring barrier.

As King makes excuses for Shane and plays his normal McMahon loving heel character, JR asks King about how he raises his own kids and sarcastically says “oh you shouldn’t have robbed that convenience store!”. His son Kevin actually was arrested for aggravated burglary in 2020. 

Benoit works over The Rock and gets near falls off a snap suplex and a back suplex but The Rock mounts a comeback with a move he’s never used before - a powerbomb, but falling backwards and causing Benoit to get hung up on the top rope. 

Benoit retaliates with a clothesline and a bodyslam followed by his diving headbutt off the top rope but he’s too hurt to capitalise and cover quickly. 

The Rock fights back with punches and a spinebuster, followed by a People’s Elbow and The Rock has the match won but Shane distracts the referee for a bit and by the time Earl is able to count, Benoit has had enough time to recover and he kicks out at two! 

Benoit lights up The Rock with chops and a really nice looking superplex off the top rope and both men are down. 

Benoit stomps on The Rock in the corner but as he stops to argue with the referee, The Rock flies out of the corner with a clothesline. A frustrated Benoit goes to get a steel chair and as he argues with Earl Hebner over it, Shane gets into the ring with a chair of his own and hits the referee across the back with it! 

The Rock chases off Shane and as Earl turns over he sees The Rock holding the chair. The Rock locks Benoit in the Crippler Crossface and he taps out. The referee rings the bell and everyone cheers, assuming that The Rock has retained the title via submission but rather, Earl saw The Rock with the chair and assumed that he had hit him, not Shane! 

The referee declares Benoit the winner via disqualification, which makes him the new WWF Champion! 

Shane hits The Rock with a steel chair and presents Benoit with the WWF title belt and the two leave together in victory. This feels like the end of the PPV….until Commission Mick Foley appears. On the mic, he explains that he didn’t see a disqualification and neither did these people. Foley is having none of it and with The Rock now bleeding in the ring from Shane’s chair shot, he orders that the match continue. The fans love that, and The Rock gestures for Benoit to “Just Bring it!” The bell rings and this match continues. Benoit is not the WWF Champion.

The Rock lights Benoit up with punches but he turns it into a series of three German suplexes, the last one with a bridge for a near fall. 

Benoit is like an animal, desperate and focused on The Rock’s cut. He could easily still win the WWF title here. He locks The Rock in the Crippler Crossface and this should be a big, dramatic moment but the fans are really quiet for it again. The Rock fights and struggles and crawls and manages to get to the bottom rope to break the hold. 

That was Benoit’s last gasp and after that, The Rock quickly pulled Benoit into a Rock Bottom out of nowhere for the cover and the three count! 

The Rock retains the WWF title in a very good, dramatic main event and the PPV ends with him celebrating in the ring with his title, blood flowing down his face.