Summerslam 2000 - Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, Raleigh North Carolina, August 27th, 2000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but one of the all time great opening video packages! And it welcomes us to the 13th annual Summerslam! The WWF gets classy with some opera and I got goosebumps.

Jerry Lawler and JR talk about the upcoming matches but King stops everything to check in on JR’s eye after the injuries caused by Tazz on Smackdown. But we will get to that later.

The Right to Censor (Bull Buchanan, The Goodfather and Steven Richards) vs. Rikishi and Too Cool (Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty, w/ Victoria and Mandy)

The PPV debut of the Right to Censor group which began just before the King of the Ring with Steven Richard’s gimmick change.

I’ve alluded to this in the build but let's get into it here while Richards cuts his opening promo. The RtC was a (not very subtle) parody of the Parents Television Council, which was targeting the WWF in real life. They were especially focused on Smackdown due to that being on Network television rather than cable like Raw was. The issue wasn’t so much the violence, it was the sexual content and so this group actually provided a storyline reason to discontinue the Godfather’s pimp gimmick. The WWF made some concessions on specific things mostly to appease advertisers but in general didn’t tone anything down. So the Right to Censor parrot the real life’s PTC viewpoints while the WWF portrays them as hypocrites and heels and allows the babyfaces and especially the commentators to fire back at them with Vince McMahon-scripted rebuttals. Mick Foley dedicated a huge chunk of his second book to talking about this and arguing back against the PTC. The WWF had addressed this issue before - having JR and Michael Cole read out written statements in response to the PTC’s leader and founder L.Brent Bozell III previously. In the end, the PTC were sued by the WWF/WWE for defamation, a court case the WWE won as most of the things the PTC claimed were exaggerations or flat out lies. Specifically he blamed the WWE for the death’s of multiple children who died while attempting to “copy wrestling moves”, which was disproven as more than one of the children cited had never watched wrestling in their lives, according to their bereaved parents.

ANYWAY, to the match. Victoria and Mandy are two of the Goodfather’s former hoes who have popped up on TV a few times since his own change of heart protesting (Save the hoes) and being powerbombed through a table!

It’s a good fun opener with a lot of tags and trading of big moves. It’s hard to really recap but as the match breaks down, Scotty has Bull set up for the Worm. He hops around the ring and…right into a superkick from Steven Richards who scores the victory for the RtC. They will continue to “fight the good fight”. 

It was all kicking off on Heat this month, as Kurt Angle arrived at the arena and was questioned by Jonathan Coachman on his taking advantage of a knocked-goofy Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Later Stephanie arrived and learned that her husband wasn’t there yet - they seemingly haven’t spoken since Smackdown! Finally, Kurt was seen going into Stephanie’s locker room with a smirk on his face.

What’s all the drama about? Well in the closing moments of Smackdown while Triple H was being beaten up in the ring, Kurt forced a kiss on Stephanie! And it seemed like she liked it! The soap opera love triangle storyline seems so silly in hindsight but it was insane how over this angle was at the time. Everyone was emotionally engaged - even all the jaded teenage boys watching WWF.

Roaddogg vs. X-Pac

Aren’t these two tag team partners? Well yes, yes they are. They began a friendly rivalry - a sort of stakeless bet - over who the better singles guy was. Over the past month they’ve continued to win as a team and score their own victories while bickering and laughing at each other getting Stink Faces but it escalated last week when X-Pac shoved Roaddogg and he accidentally fell off the apron and through a table, and in return Roaddogg walked out on X-Pac in a match against Undertaker on Smackdown. 

Officially at this point, these two plus Triple H are still officially in D-Generation X, and The Game has interacted with them a little since King of the Ring.

Both men are wearing DX colours and wrestle fair and square with headlocks and hip tosses and it's all very cordial. 

Roaddogg blocks a spinning heel kick (you don’t need to know X-Pac particularly well to have seen that coming) and avoids a Bronco Buster.

JR says the crowd is mixed which isn’t true - the fans really hate X-Pac.

He works over Dogg for a bit until he’s finally had enough and rallies back with punches, foregoing the wrestling. He hits his shake-rattle-and roll punches and the two counter each other’s finishers but when Roaddogg goes for a second Pumphandle slam, X-Pac counters it with a swift, undetected low blow and an X-Factor to win the match! 

After the bell, X-Pac grabs the mic and says that now that they know who the better man is they can still be a great team. He helps Roaddogg up, who kicks X-Pac low and hits the pumphandle slam! (complete with simulated doggy style sex) I don’t think Roaddogg agrees who the better man is, and didn’t appreciate the low blow.

So this is the end of D-Generation X. Triple H’s connection to them had been getting gradually more tenuous for the past couple of months anyway but this break up quietly dissolved the group that had been going non-stop in one form or another since October 1997. DX’s impact on the attitude era has been written about at length but the reality is that they had about six good months as babyfaces, and a lot of time treading water as mid-card heels. By this point in 2000, no one would miss them and as a kid I don’t remember me and my friends even acknowledging the end of the group.

D-Generation X would have a comeback in 2006, but only so Triple H and Shawn Michaels could sell some merch. This 2000 era of DX isn’t particularly well remembered or spoken about and Tori and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley’s months long memberships to the group are entirely forgotten. As far as history is concerned, Chyna was the only female member and as I said multiple times through 1998 and 1999, she was by far the most popular member when the group was at its height. 

On the PPV they advertise Vinnie’s steakhouse which is local to the arena. I’ve no idea why as the people watching at home aren’t IN North Carolina so they can’t go for dinner there? They advertised the exact same steakhouse the last time Raw was in this arena. Vince must owe the owner money. 

Backstage, Eddie Guerrero and Chyna talk about their tag team match and that neither of them minds if the other wins the Intercontinental title. I’ll comment on it because it’s undeniable here - Chyna looks incredible. Her ring gear seems to be getting smaller as she grows in confidence. 

Intergender Tag Team match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Val Venis © and Trish Stratus vs. Eddie Guerrero and Chyna

If Eddie or Chyna score the winning pin fall or submission on either Val or Trish, they win Val's Intercontinental title.

Val Venis has been Intercontinental champion for a couple of months now making this one of the longer IC title reigns of the attitude era. In truth it was rare for someone to hold a title past their first PPV defence.

Eddie and Val start the match off and the action is fast and crisp with the first near fall off a Northern lights suplex. Eddie counters a spinning powerbomb into a hurricanrana. Eddie Guerrero is VERY good but that isn’t news.

Chyna was always a somewhat limited performer and that won’t have improved with her having barely wrestled for the past few months but she throws a stiff clothesline and a flapjack for her own nearfall. 

Chyna dominates Val but thanks to a distraction from Trish, he takes control and lays out Chyna with a suplex and then a bodyslam. 

Chyna fights back with a DDT and tags in Eddie who speeds the match up and gets a near fall with a rope walking springboard hurricanrana. Val comes back again with a spinning powerbomb but has no one to tag. He has no choice and needs a rest and so he tags in Trish. She covers Eddie which only gets a near fall. She lays in a couple of kicks but Eddie grabs her ankle and trips her before tagging in Chyna.

The 9th Wonder of the World slams Trish around and sets up a running handspring elbow in the corner but Val pulls her hair and stops that.

Eddie trips Val as he runs the rope and pulls him out of the ring and with the champion down on the outside, Chyna lifts Trish in a military press slam, dunking her from 6 or 7 feet in the air and pins her to win the match and win Val Venis’ Intercontinental Championship.

Chyna is now a two-time Intercontinental Champion. Or a three time if you include her co-champion reign with Chris Jericho at the start of the year. 

Eddie Guerrero happily hands the title belt to Mamacita and cheers her on while she celebrates. Not a great match but a nice moment for Chyna.

There’s a recap of the Radio WWF event, live from WWF New York. WWF New York looks like a good time but the reality was that it was only ever full during the live TV shows and PPVs.

The highlights were Mick Foley attempting a worm, Chyna complimenting his worm (innuendo) and The Rock calling in and singing Smackdown Hotel with Foley. The Rock even laughed, which never happened on TV back then.

Backstage at the arena, Jan the makeup lady asks Stephanie is Kurt is “a hunk or a hotty” which doesn’t really make sense? Those are both compliments. Stephanie sheepishly says Angle is a good kisser.

Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Tazz

This match gets a pretty awesome video package. Tazz comes across as a total dickhead, and Lawler looks like a babyface hero standing up for his commentary partner. 

King was slowly but surely turning babyface anyway. Standing up for JR and feuding with Tazz, his open hatred of heels Right to Censor and just generally calling matches with a little more fairness.

Tazz comes out in a cowboy hat and sunglasses, with a blind man’s cane. He’s mocking JR getting glass in his eye on Smackdown, as seen in the above video package. He heads over to the desk and mocks JR and the match begins quickly when Lawler just punches him in the face.

In the ring King uses a dropkick (wow) and mounted punches before choking the former human suplex machine on the ropes. 

He bodyslams Tazz and dives off the second rope with a punch. 90% of King’s offence was punches even in his prime. He misses a second diving punch and Tazz takes over with stomps, punches and clotheslines. It’s not a flashy match but its oddly emotional.

Tazz throws King out of the ring right in front of JR and stops to taunt him for a bit which just lets Jerry get back into the right with more big wind-up punches. 

Tazz no-sells Lawler’s trademark piledriver, and then as the two run the ropes the referee gets knocked down.

Tazz tells JR he’s going to choke out Lawler, and then choke him out too! He locks Lawler in the Tazzmission, but with the referee down JR is free to stand up and smash his glass candy jar over the top of Tazz’s head! Lawler rolls into a cover as the referee wakes up and The King wins this match…thanks to JR! 

King celebrates with JR as Tazz cries and complains he might have glass in his eye. Wonderful poetic justice and full credit to Tazz for throwing himself into this and making the best of it. 

King re-takes his seat on commentary, out of breath and a little sweaty but happy to have won the match.

Michael Cole approaches Shane McMahon backstage and asks his thoughts on his friend Kurt Angle kissing his sister, a married woman. Shane gets no time to reply as Steve Blackman approaches, banging trash can lids together and proclaiming it to be play time. 

WWF Hardcore Championship

Shane McMahon © vs. Steve Blackman

Shane sprints right down to the ring, looking over this shoulder and afraid of Blackman. Shane only won the title six days prior on Raw with a lot of help, and Commissioner Foley booked this rematch out of spite. Mick even suspended the 24/7 rule to make sure Shane made it to Summerslam.

Blackman has been a great Hardcore champion, bringing unique weapons and regular defences. Michael Cole and Jim Ross on commentary have been good in calling him a breath of fresh air, and the most dominant Hardcore champion of all time which is probably fair. 

Blackman throws a kendo stick to Shane and offers him a free shot, but easily blocks it and chases Shane off, who runs like hell and jumps into the crowd.

Shane sneaks around, avoiding Blackman but runs into a trash can shot from the Lethal Weapon. 

Blackman beats Shane up through the crowd and back to the ring, hammering him across the knees and then the back of the head with trash can lids. He doesn’t go for any covers, wanting to punish Shane for the five on one beating he got on Raw.

Blackman puts the trash can over Shane’s head and drums on it with sticks and then martial arts kicks it right where Shane’s head would be.

Blackman gives Shane his stick-assisted back suplex which he’s used as a finisher lately, and then wraps a leather strap around his neck, whipping him around the ring and then off the top rope! He ties Shane up into a submission hold with the strap and you’d think that would end the match via submission but his sometimes buddies, always hit-men Test and Albert attack Blackman from behind. They’ve had their own issues with the Lethal Weapon but ultimately Shane pays for protection. It’s nice seeing Test and Shane in the same match after their incredible street fight at Summerslam last year.

The three men beat Blackman down, including with a trash can shot to the head and then the three of them drag Blackman up the ramp, seemingly trying to set up the same thing they did to Big Show at Judgment Day. He’s down and held in position as Test tries to shove a heavy speaker onto Blackman’s legs but he moves at the last second. Finally, Blackman avoids a kendo stick shot and recovers the stick, hammering Test and Albert and fighting them off. 

Shane is scared and runs away, climbing up the Summerslam stage. He climbs…and climbs and climbs! He moves up and gets to legitimately about 50 feet in the air, clutching the scaffolding with Blackman following the whole time.

Blackman swings with his kendo stick, catching Shane in the back and the back of the head until finally - in an absolutely INSANE spot - Shane lets go of the scaffolding and falls backwards 50 feet all the way to the arena floor, crashing into a huge wooden platform. It’s a very well disguised crashmat in truth, and Blackman slides down the scaffolding to around half way and dives off after Shane with an elbow drop to pin Shane and reclaim his Hardcore Championship.

This is perhaps the highest profile and most famous Hardcore title match of all time, and Shane’s fall was as impressive as Mick Foley off the hell in a cell (though with a more controlled, safe landing). 

Shane McMahon is loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the arena, but Blackman is up on his feet and leaves on his own power even after his own 20 feet drop with that elbow job. 

Backstage with Shane on a stretcher being tended to, Stephanie is shown stressing out and worried about her brother. Kurt Angle goes in to speak to her and is far more focused on getting a hug and talking about them, dismissing her concern. He’s not a good guy. 

Two out of Three Falls match

Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

This match gets a good video package and despite basically being a reheat of their feud over the Intercontinental title earlier in the year has gotten very intense.

It seemed like Benoit would be involved with the WWF title at this PPV and I’ll talk about it more during the Undertaker and Kane match but there’s a real vibe of last minute booking changes, and Benoit’s would-be stable with Angle, Big Show, Edge and Christian having been abandoned. 

Benoit would have had Shane with him at ringside but he is obviously out of action for the night at least.

The two lock up and start trading punches and lockups and tumble to the outside with the referee going with them. Benoit lands awkwardly on his head in a scary spot, and the referee has to get in between them and physically separate them. 

Jericho charges in and Benoit flapjacks Y2J into the ring post to slow things down and give him the control.

In the ring, Benoit locks in the STF but Jericho quickly counters out into the Walls of Jericho. Benoit won’t turn so Jericho slingshots him to the corner and hits a nice looking reverse German suplex for a near fall.

Jericho attempts what looks like a tombstone piledriver but Benoit counters out and hits a shoulder breaker.

There’s no selling in this match at all as Jericho immediately rallies back with a bulldog, but misses his Lionsault and runs right into a Crippler Crossface! 

Jericho quickly taps out, smartly realising that this is 2 out of 3 falls and he’s better to submit and get the hold broken than to risk being more hurt. Benoit is up 1-0 and with no rest period, goes right back into the Crossface. Jericho can’t tap out this time or he loses the match and after struggling for a few moments manages to get to the bottom rope.

Benoit continues to punish Y2J and work on his shoulder, using the ring post for an awkward submission hold and stomping him down on the outside.

Jericho absorbs a lot of punishment but counters a German suplex into a roll through and locks in the Walls of Jericho. Benoit crawls to the ropes but when he’s close, Jericho walks him back to the middle of the ring and Benoit submits! Jericho evens it up at 1-1 and focus his attention on Benoit’s lower back.

They battle and Jericho gets a near fall with a top rope hurricanrana and runs through Benoit with a series of clotheslines and a spinning heel kick for another near fall. He pours on the abuse with punches and a back elbow and then the Lionsault but his shoulder is in too much pain to follow up with a cover.

Jericho rolls through Benoit with a schoolboy but Benoit turns that into a rollup of his own and grabs the bottom rope for additional leverage to get the three count. Benoit wins this match 2 falls to 1. 

This was good, but too short to be great and JR and King declare Benoit the unofficial number one contender to the WWF title which is probably fair. The finish protected Jericho too, and I’m sure this feud will continue (which it did, but not for a while). 

Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championships

Edge and Christian © vs. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) vs. The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy)

The build for this match was intense and logical and with all three teams using their own trademark weapons, the TLC stipulation made perfect sense. That's kayfabe though and in reality, this is a rematch of the amazing triangle ladder match from Wrestlemania, but with tables and chairs very much included in the rules this time. The first team to climb a ladder and grab the tag team championship belts will be the WWF Tag Team Champions.

This show is in The Hardyz hometown so it felt like a no brainer they’d win the gold here. 

This is going to be a nightmare for me to cover but I’ll do my best!

Chairs make an appearance first as Edge and Christian use them to take out both challenger teams and Edge quickly introduces the first ladder. He pays for it as Bubba uses the ropes to slingshot it into his face.

The title belts are very high above the ring and it seems like they won’t be able to reach them with the normal ladders.

Christian hits a side-Russian leg sweep on Matt Hardy off a ladder and begins his own climb but Bubba brings him off with a sit-down atomic drop (which he’d later call the Bubba-bomb). 

Jeff Hardy climbs the ladder and Edge brings him down, crashing onto a ladder which was propped up on another, see-sawing it up into Matt’s face!

With all three teams trading big moves, Bubba and D-Von get a ladder each and knock down all of their opponents, and then scoopslams Edge for the “Wazzup” headbut to the crotch with D-Von jumping off a ladder! 

With everyone down, Bubba sends D-Von to set up some tables, culminating in a 3D to Christian through a table in the middle of the ring.

On the outside, The Dudleyz build a scaffold of four tables, stacked up two by two and Bubba readies to powerbomb Matt out of the ring onto them.

Edge appears with a steel chair and a pair of stiff shots to the head of both Bubba and D-Von! Matt gives him a Twist of Fate, and then both Matt and Jeff follow up with leg drops from the top of a ladder down onto Edge - Jeff’s looked awesome as he leapfrogged the ladder from the top rope, falling about 10 feet into the leg drop.

Matt sandwiches Edge inside a ladder, and then throws Christian off the top rope into a splash on his own partner across the Christian. 

Jeff Hardy has Bubba laid out across a table at ringside and sets up an enormous ladder - so tall that even on the outside it comes up higher than the ladder in the ring - and dives with a Swanton Bomb but Bubba moves out the way! Jeff Hardy crashes violently from 20 feet up through two tables to the floor. That seemingly leaves Matt all alone in this match, and he tries to win setting up the giant ladder in the middle of the ring. 

Edge and Christian use chairs on Bubba and climb the ladder to stop Matt and D-Von and they do, with all four men coming off the ladder and landing in the ring.

Bubba takes a moment to position the ladder and climbs and as he reaches the top, Edge and Christian tip over the ladder sending him flying all the way to ringside and crashing through the four tables that he and D-Von set up earlier! That was spectacular, and it would seem that both Bubba Ray and Jeff Hardy are down and out of the match.

Edge and Christian climb as the fans rain boos down on the champions, until Lita appears and shoves the ladder over sending them both to the ropes! She screams and cheers for Matt Hardy to get up and climb the ladder and he does…until D-Von Dudley tips the ladder over sending him falling backwards off the ladder and through a table at ringside. That was another loooong fall. Lita goes over to check on Matt and as she does, Edge gives her a BRUTAL spear where the back of her head hit one of the ladders at ringside. Sick, and Edge was visibly checking on her condition afterwards.

Aamazingly, Jeff Hardy is back up and he and D-Von climb the ladder and manage to grab the belts! Christian pulls the ladder out from under them leaving both men suspended high above the ring!

Jeff kicks at D-Von and he falls and crashes to the mat! Edge and Christian throw a ladder at Jeff, frantically trying to stop him getting the belts and it does, Jeff falling to the mat like a broken pinata. 

Edge and Christian have cleared the field and climbed the ladder retrieving their Tag Team title belts and retaining the championships.

This was an insane match with both Hardys and Dudleyz especially taking some truly incredible risks and bumps. Fittingly the two men who took the fewest bumps are the ones who won, and the fans give all six men a standing ovation afterwards as Matt and Jeff hobble to the back with Lita, and Bubba is helped by a couple of referees. 

Like I said at Wrestlemania, these matches between these three teams raised the bar and caused young wrestlers to have to escalate their risk and violence and innovation to pop the crowd. It was a game of diminishing returns and it shortened careers and desensitised the fans but my God is it still spectacular to watch. 

In the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Stephanie tries to reassure and calm down her husband. She makes it clear that she was knocked goofy and that Kurt Angle took advantage of her. 

Thong-Stink Face match

The Kat (w/ Al Snow) vs. Terri (w/ WWF European Champion Perry Saturn)

The Kat having Al Snow with her has not been explained but he has attempted to wrestle the European title away from Perry Saturn lately.

It’s very difficult to talk about this match while being respectful and I’m certainly no Jerry Lawler (who is as insufferable during this match as you’d expect him to be) but if you’re interested - The Kat is wearing very thin, white cotton underwear and Terri is wearing a shiny red string bikini. They're both beautiful women so obviously look fantastic but this feels very seedy. Perry Saturn uses a towel to cover up Terri, not wanting her to show off her body to the crowd.

The action is terrible, but the “match” is only three minutes long. The cameraman does a good job of showing off everything you’d want to see so if this is your cup of tea then it’s worth seeing. You pervert.

The rules, if there are any, is that the first woman to perform a Stink Face wins.

Kat dominates and kicks Terri into the corner and hits a Bronco Buster which doesn’t even get a cheer, it gets a guteral manly “groan” which is gross. Kat goes for a Stink Face and Perry shoves her down from the outside. 

The referee accidentally gets a low blow when Kat kicks Terri into him, and Al Snow throws Head to Kat which she uses. He then uses Head on Saturn himself, and Kat actually parts her bum cheeks when delivering her Stink Face to win the match. That was…graphic. 

The Kat wins, and as Al Snow celebrates with her after the match he puts her on his shoulders and then turns her around so she’s in his face and…yeah. I’m glad it’s over. This is the kind of match you watch alone at night with the lights off. 

MEANWHILE, the APA are at WWF New York and toast Vince McMahon as they steal his beer from behind the bar.

Kane vs. The Undertaker

The video package for this match makes it into something but in truth this reeks of functional booking. The Big Show returned just after Fully Loaded and he turned heel, aligned with Shane McMahon seemingly forming a stable with Benoit, Angle, Edge and Christian and hospitalised both Undertaker and Kane (and Chris Jericho). It seemed likely that Show and Taker would be feuding and wrestling at this PPV, with Kane still on The Undertaker’s side but Big Show disappeared after three weeks apparently injured by The Undertaker. The reality was that management were unhappy with Show’s weight (which is unfair because while he was bigger, he looked fine to me) and sent him off to work out and train some more.

So with Big Show gone and the makeshift Shane McMahon led stable on ice, Kane turned heel and reignited his feud with The Undertaker. These two have been involved with each other almost since Kane’s debut. Doing a little rough maths, this is the 30th PPV event I’ve covered since Wrestlemania 14 and beginning this jaunt through the attitude era and of the 30 PPVs The Undertaker and Kane have been in the same match 10 times but more amazingly have been involved with each other’s stories at 15 of those PPVs. And The Undertaker was out of action for 7 of those. So that means that out of the 23 PPVs where both men were actively on the roster, they were involved in each other's business at 15 of them. Isn’t that insane? And that trend isn’t going anywhere by the way.

The Undertaker enters first and then goes out to meet his younger brother on the ramp.

The fight is familiar but certainly more intense than it has been in their previous matches. They brawl back to the ring and The Undertaker blasts Kane with a steel chair right in front of the referee which doesn’t cause a disqualification. He tears at Kane’s mask, managing to tear a chunk off it. Kane has, by the way, debuted entirely new ring gear here and is wearing a singlet with see through mesh sections.

The Undertaker hit’s Kane with the ring steps and with a chunk of his mask torn off and hanging loose, we can see that Kane is bleeding.

In the ring, Kane uses a low blow to get himself some breathing room and as he flips his hair back we see the most of Kane’s face we’ve ever seen as his forehead is mostly exposed. 

The brawl continues and Undertaker blocks a chokeslam attempt with a low blow of his own, and manages to pull Kane’s mask entirely off! 

Kane quickly leaves, covering his face and almost tripping over Undertaker’s bike!

Officially this match is a no contest, and for the first time ever Kane’s mask has been removed in the arena in front of the crowd. 

As a kid, I paused and rewound my VHS copy of this show to try and see Kane’s face. It’s hilarious now when Glen Jacobs has been unmasked for so long but at the time the idea of seeing Kane’s face was a huge draw for people.

As Kurt Angle and Triple H get ready for their main event WWF title match separately, Kurt Angle makes a call. Stephanie’s phone rings and she pretends its her mother Linda. Triple H asks to speak to her but “mom” hangs up. Kurt continues to flirt with danger. 

No Disqualification, No count-outs Triple Threat match for the 

WWF Championship

The Rock © vs. Kurt Angle vs. Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley)

The video package for this WWF Championship focuses a great deal on the love triangle between Stephanie, Kurt and Triple H. The Rock has been somewhat of an afterthought since Fully Loaded, which is a crazy thing to say about the WWF Champion never mind the biggest star in the company. It is a good video package though and an engaging story. I’ll talk about it a lot more next month at Unforgiven.

Kurt Angle enters first and has some words for us. He says that people are expecting an apology from him and he would like to apologise…for not doing it sooner! He is an Olympic Gold Medalist! He doesn’t back down and doesn’t second guess himself. He’s proud of what he did and tells Triple H that he gave his wife the kind of passion he never could even if his life depended on it!

Triple H’s music hits and there’s an awesome intensity and atmosphere as everyone assumes The Game will kill Kurt! He rushes right to the ring, forgoing his usual entrance and the two start to fight before The Rock has even entered. The match has not officially started and Triple H beats up Kurt and shoves the referee down! The two fight around the ring and in a very famous botch as Triple H sets up a Pedigree on the announce table, the desk breaks before either man is ready and Kurt’s face violently hits the table surface, knocking him goofy. It was neither man’s fault. You can see him trying to get up and Triple H having to tell him to stay down. Kurt was knocked legitimately loopy and had a very bad concussion and The Rock finally entered.

The Rock and Triple H fight in the ring and the bell finally rings as officials and medical staff check on poor Kurt, who is now sat up in a steel chair and being talked to. As it happens this was the booking plan anyway - Kurt would be driven through the announce table with a Pedigree and then taken to the backstage area until the finish. It just happens that the injury he’s suffered is now legit. 

Triple H dominates The Rock in the ring but gets distracted watching Kurt Angle be stretchered out of the arena which gives The Rock a chance to fight back. Triple H actually takes off after Angle and drags him back to the ring but stops half way down the ramp, I think realising he wasn’t in any condition to continue. He throws a couple of punches but thankfully The Rock is there to fight with him and allow the officials to get Kurt to the back. Triple H and The Rock brawl around the top of the ramp and run each other into the metal scaffolding and railings. 

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley - who was told by her husband to stay away from this match and definitely away from Kurt Angle - comes out to check on Kurt and follows him being stretchered to the back before returning to ringside.

Thankfully Triple H and The Rock have amazing chemistry and so with the original booking, whatever it was, out the window they can still work seamlessly together and put together a good match.

Triple H tells his wife to get him the WWF title belt. She slaps the time keeper while doing so and gets in the ring with it. Triple H holds The Rock for her to hit, but he ducks and she hits her husband! The Rock turns his attention to Steph and Triple H follows up with a low blow before telling her to go to the back and not come back! 

Triple H dominates and gets his sledgehammer, which he uses to hit The Rock in the guts as he runs the ropes. JR pleads with someone to get rid of the sledgehammer, which by now is very much The Game’s signature weapon.

Triple H works over the champion's ribs and stomach and looks like he has his fifth WWF Championship well in hand. 

The Rock fights back and after a near fall from a DDT and a Samoan drop, the two are at a stalemate. The Rock yanks Triple H off the top rope into a big crash landing and with both men down, Stephanie is shown backstage begging Kurt to come back down to the ring and help Triple H. He groggily replies that he’ll do anything for her.

Back in the ring The Rock gets another near fall with a belly to belly and as both men sell and kill time, Kurt Angle is dragged back down to the ring by Stephanie. He looks so out of it, and given that he had a very real concussion this is the kind of very unsafe thing that would never fly these days.

Kurt trips The Rock, Triple H hits a Pedigree and covers…but Kurt pulls The Game out of the ring and tries to win the title himself! He throws Triple H to the ring steps and covers…but The Rock kicks out! Stephanie’s plan has backfired as Kurt amazingly wrestles and gets near falls off of clotheslines and a belly to belly suplex! 

Kurt Angle on autopilot is still very good and he moves and bumps so smoothly around the ring. 

Triple H gets back onto the apron but he's knocked off and Kurt stumbles into a Rock Bottom! But The Game stops that pinfall too! It’s now - 17 minutes into a 20 minute match - that all three men are involved for the first time. 

Triple H calls for Steph to hand him his sledgehammer. She puts it in the ring but Kurt gets to it first. Triple H rears back and aims a punch at Kurt but he ducks and The Game punches Stephanie’s lights out! 

Kurt hits Triple H with the sledgehammer, but The Rock stops that pinfall attempt, throws Kurt out of the ring and finishes an unconscious Triple H with a People’s Elbow and retains his WWF Championship in a chaotic triple threat main event!

As The Rock celebrates in the ring and with Triple H flat on his back, Kurt Angle scoops up an unconscious Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and carries her to the back, looking back at her downed husband with a smirk!