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This was my very first PPV purchase ever. It is probably just behind Westlemania 17 as my second most watched show of all time, back in the glorious days of VHS and taping stuff. I have always enjoy watching it, but haven't seen it in a while and wanted to see if it still holds up.

 

This is also weird for me because I haven't re-watched it since Benoit I don't think. Will be interesting re-watching it in that reguard.

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I remember the top three matches being seen as a kind of old guard vs. new guard theme at the time.

 

Also remember seeing it live at a movie theater and a little kid in front of me absolutely losing his mind (in a good way) over the main event finish.

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This was my very first PPV purchase ever. It is probably just behind Westlemania 17 as my second most watched show of all time, back in the glorious days of VHS and taping stuff. I have always enjoy watching it, but haven't seen it in a while and wanted to see if it still holds up.

 

This is also weird for me because I haven't re-watched it since Benoit I don't think. Will be interesting re-watching it in that reguard.

I remember watching the show as a thirteen year old and thought it was really good. Jericho and Benoit both looked really strong and like legitimate threats in defeat. That said, I think they lost a little bit of heat by not really being presented as main eventers until the spring of 2001, and even that was only for a little bit. I think Angle should have beaten Undertaker by a roll up or some other fluke/cheap way and then have him celebrate how he killed the dead man or something else absurd.

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I still own the live recording on VHS. One of the best PPV's from the Attitude Era. This has the best Triple H/Chris Jericho match, Last Man Standing. I have a question, are Edge/Christian's promo and The Undertaker saying "Fuck you" to the referee on the WWE Network version of the show?

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So, only finished up the opening 6-Person tag match.  Damn that was better than I remember it was.  Trish and Lita just went and stepped up, and damn if Test and Albert didn't bump like pinballs for Lita.  

 

But Jesus tapdancing Christ was Lawler fucking insufferable during the Attitude Era.  The crowd was fine except for the "we want puppies" chants, but that was Lawler's fault.

 

And shit was Goofy Angle great.

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Okay, first time reviewing a full show, but since I nominated it, I feel like it should

 

Test, Albert, and Trish Stratus vs. The Hardy Boys and Lita

 

It's almost kinda easy to forget how good of a tag team the Hardys were, and it's easy as shit to forget that Test and Albert were actually pretty damn awesome. Seriously, they could have been one of the better tag teams in the era if they stayed together. I never saw a match with them where I didn't think they were incredibly impressive as a team.

 

This also is a weird situation as it's a WWE intergendered match where the women could be in the ring with the men, and I can't even remember the last time they did that without it being something for a heel GM to punish said woman for the gimmick.

 

Anyway, Jeff Hardy bumps like mad all match, and I really miss Jeff before his body started to turn on him. T&A both have some very impressive power spots, the Hardys fly like mad, and then Lita gets the hot tag and it's easy to remember why the crowd loved the hell out of her. Then Test powerbombs the fuck out of her, and Trish comes in for a cover. I actually think this is Trish's first match, and she's raw as all hell, but you can see some potential there. This was much more fun then I remember it being, just really good shit.

 

Also gotta say Trish Stratus in 2000: Holy Fuck. Just had to get that in somewhere.

 

We get some some more fun Mick Foley/ E&C interaction the era was known for. Christian is sick! Also, Undertaker chasing Kurt Angle down in his building with a bike.

 

 

Tazz vs. Al Snow w/Head

 

Hey look, it's a match that also took place on this show! JR and King can't bring themselves to care about this match, neither can the crowd, and honestly, neither can I. Tazz wins via how Tazz usually wins.

 

 

Eddie Guerrero w/Chyna vs. Perry Saturn w/Terri Reynolds for the European Title

 

Another interesting dynamic in this match, but Chyna interfering on Eddie's behalf in spite of Eddie being a face kinda works cause it was a feud and Chyna is Chyna, but there's a lot of awkwardness in the early going. 3rd Match of the night, 3rd Moonsault of the night, which is... um, something that shouldn't be happening. Saturn closelines Chyna and the fucking announce table breaks. That draws Terri back out, and low blows Eddie while the ref is distracted, and Saturn wins. Not much of note, but solid enough.

 

I usually don't like talking about backstage segments in a show review, but the backstage segments on this show are A: Really Good and B: Effect the show itself.

 

 

Edge and Christian vs. The A.P.A. for the Tag Team Titles

 

For those who are curious, the Christian J.F.K. stuff is not cut.

 

You know when Bradshaw was at his best pre JBL? Pissed of that someone insulted Texas mode. The promos pre-match is probably more interesting then the match itself. The intentional DQ finish worked for there gimmick, but kinda sucked. It was used more to set up Rock Benoit being a match that if Rock is DQed, Benoit takes the belt.

 

... And I'll get to the rest of the show later.

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Stepping back into Attitude Era WWE is so jarring.

 

Man on Woman violence, unprotected chair shots,  the aforementioned promos, the fact that Beniots face is projected on the entrance screen for 1/3rd of the show.

 

That Bradshaw promo totally made up for the DQ finish.

 

Undertaker chasing Kurt Angle all show is so awesome.

 

That Rikishi dive off the cage is insane for a dude his size.  Once thing I've learned from this show is NEVER lead with your head when trying to exit a cage.

 

JR apology count is at 2 now after 'Taker yelling "Fuck you" at the ref being caught in a close up.  That's as far as I've gotten for now.

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Trish started to go down hill in looks sometime in 2001 post Mania.

 

I remember this show being a favorite of mine and one of the few PPVs I ordered. It delivered and I hope it still holds up. Watching Raw now, but definitely excited to see Angle being completely nuts, Taker punking out Angle, Trish pre 2001 fall-off, and  Chris Jericho before his act got tired.

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Trish is so green in this match that she hasn't even figured out how to do a proper cover. Everybody in the match is unafraid to bump like a motherfucker, though. Albert should've been bigger in the states than he was, and Test drops so much better an elbow than Punk did.

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I attended this show live, and it was my first live WWE PPV in quite a long time.  It was a great event with a wired crowd the whole night.  Though I was pretty pissed that Jericho lost to HHH.  I mean I was expecting Benoit to lose in the main event and he and Rock had a great match anyway.

 

The only thing I thought was lame was to have Undertaker squash Kurt Angle so quickly.  It seemed weird to me that WWE was so intent on pushing Angle, yet they still booked him in squash matches against like Big Show and Undertaker on PPV in 2000.  I realized that Angle was playing a rather chickenshit heel.  Undertaker was still in his lame brawler American Badass phase where his matches were generally ugly to watch.  I recall he did this stupid rapid punch thing to the abdomen as he was like hulking up and it always looked fucking idiotic and ridiculous.

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I attended this show live, and it was my first live WWE PPV in quite a long time.  It was a great event with a wired crowd the whole night.  Though I was pretty pissed that Jericho lost to HHH.  I mean I was expecting Benoit to lose in the main event and he and Rock had a great match anyway.

 

The only thing I thought was lame was to have Undertaker squash Kurt Angle so quickly.  It seemed weird to me that WWE was so intent on pushing Angle, yet they still booked him in squash matches against like Big Show and Undertaker on PPV in 2000.  I realized that Angle was playing a rather chickenshit heel.  Undertaker was still in his lame brawler American Badass phase where his matches were generally ugly to watch.  I recall he did this stupid rapid punch thing to the abdomen as he was like hulking up and it always looked fucking idiotic and ridiculous.

 

Ha, I was at that show too.  My first WWF PPV ever.  HHH-Jericho remains one of the top 5 live matches I've ever seen.  HHH bleeding a gusher at least compensated for Jericho losing.  And I agree the Taker-Angle match was pretty bad.  And my section at least popped like a bunch of little kids when we thought Benoit had won the title.  I'm a little biased, but I do think it was top to bottom one of the WWF's better shows.  We even brought a cynical non-wrestling friend, and even HE begrudingly admitted he had a good time.

 

And Rikishi's Jimmy Snuka tribute doesn't get nearly the love that it should.  That was a true HOLY F**K moment that not only would Rikishi do it, but Venis would take it.

 

The only negative was the kid sitting above me who leaned down and asked our group during a "Stephanie swallows" chant:  "What does THAT mean?"

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For sure, and that's what I liked about a lot of the 2000 events.  It felt like there was good stuff spread throughout the card and even the midcarders would get a nice chunk of time.  

 

The opening tag match was a solid opener and a lot of fun.  It was when the Hardyz and Lita were really starting to get over huge.

 

Rikishi and Val Venis was really good.  I recall at the time that Venis, despite joining T&A, had basically all but ditched the porn star gimmick and was mostly a serious heel and I liked that.  He kind of fizzled out after this match before jobbing the title to freaking Chyna and then being relegated to RTC, one of the lamest stables ever.

 

But even stuff like Guerrero vs. Saturn was fun and got a decent amount of time.

 

The only other match that really disappointed me was Edge and Christian vs. APA because Edge and Christian were such a hot act at the time and this match got a ton of buildup.  Unfortunately, the match felt cut off with the non-finish because they didn't want to job Bradshaw in his home state and Edge and Christian were just too big to lose the titles at that time.

 

What I remember the most about the crowd is all sorts of vulgar chants directed at Shane and Stephanie McMahon throughout their matches.

 

To whoever said that Trish Stratus went down in looks after 2001:

 

f4HOxDZ.gif

 

I disagree.

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Going through this tonight - hoping to finish it right after Impact. Got through it. There was nothing really bad on the show, but Taz-Snow was nothing, Val-Rikishi was hurt by Tazz, Taker-Angle was largely boring, and Benoit-Rock was an abomination due to being overbooked and Shane being all over the fucking match. Jericho-HHH was great though - that's held up quite well, as did Eddie-Saturn and the intergender tag.

 

I don't think I've ever seen this show in full, although I'm sure I've at least seen Rock-Benoit on a DVD at some point. Boy have video packages gotten better over the years - this one peaks with a wacky image of Steph screaming and/or crying all wackily. This could not have a more bland set - it's just a crucifix of video walls. A fan has an awesome Rock logo inside the Superman logo sign. Trish and T and A are out to face Lita and the Hardys. Trish's ass looks quite fine in these hot pink shorts. The video for this shows Lita doing the worst legdrop off the second rope ever to Trish, oh and hey guys are in this video too. Lita's bump off the ladder through a table has held up really well. I've seen this within the past few years on a DVD. More close-ups of Trish's ass, less shots of Albert. Wacky lucha armdrag off the top from Matt. Nice spot there. Jeff and Test work well together. It's a shame Test didn't get further, because he was a super-athletic big man and never quite reached his potential. Crowd's going crazy for Lita here. Test sold an accidental slap from Trish hilariously - doing a wacky selljob for it. A missed elbow from Trish lets Lita come in...BUT TRISH TAGS OUT! Hardys save Lita from Albert. Test and Trish get suplexed by Team Extreme! Press slam from Albert to Jeff TO THE FLOOR. Crazy. Hardys take control against the heels and Lita comes in to take Test out with a tornado DDT. DIVE OFF THE TOP TO THE FLOOR TO ALBERT. Wow. LITACANRANA to Test gets a 2.9. This is a better X division match than anything in the X division in a while. Powerbomb lets Trish come in for a 2. Bulldog gets 2. Superplex from Lita gets 2 thanks to Albert. Moonsault gets the win, but Albert attacks her afterwards. Test's big boot ruled. Trish is whipping Lita with Albert's belt, but the Hardys save her. This was quite good and a perfect choice for an opener.

 

Edge met with Mick and his weird-looking shaved head. Christian's got food poisoning, poor guy's like totally puking. Taker's chasing Kurt through the building without a helmet. Boy does Kurt look odd with hair. Taz's theme hits showing off the triple main event graphic. They showed Tazz attacking random mid-carders because he's pissed off. Well, he's facing Al Snow, so that's understandable. Al's in good shape - very slim compared to how he looked even during his Euro title reign. Moves. Moves. Moves. Nothing really going on here. Al gets the arm-trap headbutts that bring the crowd to life to some degree. Head and arm tie suplex leads to AL SNOW COUNTERING THE TAZ-MISSION. Taz gets it the second time and wins. Why on Earth you'd have Al Snow counter his finisher in this, I'd have no idea - it's supposed to be Taz's big return and AL FREAKING SNOW is able to avoid his finisher. Christian is sick and Mick believes him. YAY ANOTHER SKIT, with Steph and HHH in the back. HHH's black and silver getup rules. She's got flowers, but they're not from Hunter. Kurt sent them, and he's none too pleased. 

 

Eddie's out with Chyna in his awesome red, gold, and black gear. That's some of his best-looking stuff ever, and it fits the title too. Shame it's not the even better-looking black and gold on each side instead of one side having old and the other black. They showed Chyna and Saturn getting into it from SD. Saturn's flying elbow ruled. Terri's hard nipple act ruled. Saturn bumped for Saturn on the floor.  King made a Uranus joke about Saturn, and then Eddie hit a nice flying rana off the top to Saturn mid-ring. Saturn got busted open a bit from something. Saturn misses a really sweet moonsault leading to a brainbuster from Eddie. He did the frog splash counter tumble, then Saturn leapfrogged and they messed up a victory roll attempt in theory, but saved it with a quick electric chair drop for 2. Saturn attacked Chyna and clotheslined her over the SAT. Terri kicked Eddie in the balls leading to a gorgeous flying elbow to the back for 3. Hot damn was Saturn's elbow amazing. Saturn got his first WWF Title win here - shame he never quite got to the IC Title-level - I always kept him there WM 2000 and No Mercy, although I thought he would've made a fine World Champion in WCW at some point. He always seemed to have traction there. E and C were caught saying Christian wasn't sick. The bit with Christian TOTALLY BARFING and getting exposed was here. "Hey Mick, I don't know who put that bucket in there!" Christian was great. Another wacky brawl with Kurt and Angle before E and C face the Acolytes. The heels flew around and were fine chickenshits. Bradshaw WENT UP TOP and hit a flying tackle to Christian. Edge got DQed using the belt. Well, the skits were better than the match. Yet another skit with HHH and Steph...God these are like Dixie skits.

 

They showed clips hyping up Val Venis-Rikishi, with Val going on a tear with cameras and tossing Scotty off the ramp. Bland Val with no gimmick, no color in his gear, and just a blah look overall with a generic techno mix of his theme came out for this cage match. He's managed by Trish...V, T, and A...okay then. Val's taking awesome bumps for Rikishi here. Low blow counters the stinkface. Now they're brawling on the top rope leading to a flying elbow from Val off of it. Didn't look good, but still better than Punk's. More top rope brawling and now Val's busted open off a cage shot. Trish recreates the Flair-Kerry cage match finish to give Val an upper-hand. Money shot off the top gets 2. Lita's down to take Trish out with a belt...and to strip her of her shirt. I'm fine with this. More top rope-cage brawling led to the memorable Superfly dive OFF THE TOP OF THE CAGE BY A 400 POUND MAN. He landed that perfectly - his kids definitely got the dive from him. Now Tazz is out to attack Rikishi with a camera...boy does that ever sound like a random match. And Val retains. Yikes. The title went from feeling like a possible big deal with Rikishi holding it to Val just being a dude with a belt.

 

Another backstage brawl with Kurt and Taker. Yet another Hunter skit with him being pissed. Hunter bullied Harvey Wippleman. Jericho sent the flowers and of course kicked Hunter's ass off-screen. Shane came out for an opening Raw promo and called out the Rock. And then Benoit cut a promo and tore up Rock's clothes. Well, this sure doesn't exactly scream main event build. Recap of the Angle-Taker feud being caused by Angle accidentally hitting Taker with a hammer. "I'VE BEEN AFRAID OF A MAN WHO RIDES A BICYCLE!" Kurt attacked Taker with a giant wrench he apparently got from Double Dragon on SD, and came out with it here. Crowd brawling to start. About a minute in, they did a tease where Taker could have won but picked Kurt up. Taker's inaudible "fuck you" was shown. Taker whooped some ass in the corner and J.R. apologized for the cussing. Kurt did a wacky comedy sleeper and got rammed into the corner. Angle's finally going for the knee and they're not really doing a ton. Basic kneebar from Kurt gets countered into a knee smash on the canvas. Body shot>uppercut combo gives Taker an edge leading to a chokeslam, but he doesn't want a cover - he wants to send Kurt on his last ride. That got the win, and getting that over as a finish probably extended Taker's career quite a bit since he didn't have to do tombstones all the time. Recap of the clothes-tearing...we saw earlier ON THIS SHOW, and Rock lamenting the loss of his clothes. 

 

Jericho-HHH recap gets some awful narration by Kevin Kelly. Brooklyn Brawler pinning HHH was shown. Lots of talking from HHH about "wanting Jericho's ass". The sledgehammer and DX played a big part in the video, teasing them as part of the finish. Steph came out with the women's title and wow was Hunter's physique completely different here. HHH's "My Time" theme was quite great. JR hyped this up as only the second last man standing match in WWF history, with the first being between HHH and Foley. Wow. Nice brawling to start, leading to holds later - like an abdominal stretch. Lionsault led to the knees going up. Well, that's just a stupid move to try with bad ribs. Jericho counters a pedigree with a low blow. Protected chairshot to the head from Jericho. HHH gets a gusher on that one. Facebuster to the chair leads to another count and a great shot of HHH's hair being coated in blood. HHH took the wacky over the top corner bump. A pedigree tease on the steps leads to a backdrop. Walls are locked on, and HHH is chewing gum during it. HHH got the ropes, but there aren't any rope breaks. This led to Steph breaking it up, but getting the walls and a brief underboob shot because of the top she's got on. The original angle had a lot more of that, but a bit made it through here. Sledgehammer to the gut from Jericho. Shitty back suplex off the barricade through the announce table leads to a victory for HHH. HHH gets helped out by medics.

 

A Benoit video on him being callous and cruel is sure uncomfortable to watch now. Rock saying that Benoit doesn't deserve a title shot is just stupid. They brawled, and brawled, and brawled and brawled and brawled. Benoit came out in a weird cut up long-sleeve shirt looking like a Euro douchebag in a club. Ah, it's one of the Rock's shirts...looks ridiculous on him. Shane in wacky shades makes it impossible to take this seriously. They started this brawling, and then Rock attacked Shane. This is really just Rock-Shane with Benoit as Shane's surrogate. Super back suplex from the Rock fairly early on. Floor brawling...stairs...I'm really numb to the stuff on the show that's been done to death since this era. Rock got a figure four, BUT THANK GOD SHANE WAS THERE TO SAVE THE GUY HYPED UP AS THE GREATEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER IN THE WORLD. Spine on the pine leads to the People's Elbow, BUT THANKS TO SHANE, Chris is saved. THANK HEAVENS FOR SHANE. Good God is he a detriment to this match, and Benoit as well. They have no chemistry together at all. Shane takes the ref out, because that's a logical thing to do when you want your charge to win the world title. Rock got the crossface, which looks terrible because the Rock's arms are too long. They're saying Benoit tapped, but not playing Rock's theme. Benoit apparently wins via DQ, and gets the title as a result...for some reason. The ref DQed Rock because he thought he hit him with the chair. Wow. Benoit winning the title this way would've been terrible for many reasons, so it's a good thing Foley restarted this. Triple Germans lead to the crossface, but Rock makes the ropes, so he just pulls him back. Rock gets the ropes again, punches him, hits a Rock Bottom and wins. This didn't do much for me. It was overbooked to hell and Shane hurt it in so many ways.

 

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I will say one final thing about Trish and then drop it. I am not a fan of women who lose their curves. Her build in 2000 was super human. In 2006 (or whenever that gif is from), she was just the normal WWE Diva. Jaime Koeppe circa 2003 and Dawn Marie circa 2004 were more attractive to me than Trish around the same time. My next comments about Trish in this thread will be related to her involvement in this show and nothing outside of this show.

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Trish and Lita were on another level of hotness here, both polar opposites in terms of character as well which made them a great fit for each other. Albert circa 2000 seems like a bad person to work a complicated knocklelock sequence with. That little episode seems to provide the theme for the match, which is mostly really sloppy, but the crowd is hot enough and there's a fair bit of drama to keep it interesting. The guys in crowd are super in to the idea of Lita vs Trish, and the girls love them some Jeff. Matt throws some great punches, even back in 2000.

Big pop for Taz, this crowd seems pretty great. Considering it was Taz's return match, Al Snow got a lot in on him, and looked better a lot of the time. There wasn't much to this, pretty much just a sprint through a bunch of moves, albeit some cool looking ones including Taz's sweet head and arm suplex. Al had some nice looking punches, but I'd have prefered a squash.

Being used to WWE in 2014, it's mental to see old footage with guys casually beating up girls. This was mostly a bunch of moves again, but Eddie and Perry do it way better than Al and Taz. Highlight had to be Saturn somehow managing to clothesline Chyna through the Spanish announce table. In fairness, the finishing run was pretty exciting but Saturn has little to no charisma to get the crowd in to it.

Bradshaw cuts a pretty great pro-Texas promo on Edge and Christian, namedropping the Von Erichs, Dick Murdoch and the Freebirds amongst others. This was really fun for a short match, since going back and watching a bunch of pre-JBL stuff I'm getting to think that Bradshaw was actually pretty damn good the whole time. Had they won the belts here, the crowd would have gone mental, but we just get a lame DQ finish. Decent match though, Simmons wasn't much but he was kept to the bare minimum. The E&C promo referencing JFK was mental, that would never even be suggested as an idea now.

Rikishi vs Val Venis was the best match on the show so far, Val pinballed himself into the cage a bunch early which looked pretty great. Rikishi did his somewhat trademark somersault off of a clothesline, which seems a little ridiculous but always look really impressive. Not as impressive as him walking along the top of the cage and then jumping off the top, but still pretty awesome. Lita's run-in was some nice closure from earlier in the night too.

I really dug Undertaker vs Angle, the vignettes throughout the night were so much fun and Angle was so much better in my eyes during 2000 than he was in his latter years. His legwork was pretty basic, but consistant and Taker sold well for him throughout. The finish was a little anticlimatic as I thought Angle would counter the second chokeslame attempt but it just kind of ended there. Still, this was lots of fun and made me want to dig up some more old Angle stuff, both matches and goofy vignettes/promos.

I really liked Triple H vs Chris Jericho, although it may have gone on a few minutes too long. This was only the second Last Man Standing match in WWE history, and so it was more about selling and emotion rather than tons of big bumps  leading to  9 count. HHH was really mobile, his quad injury the next year clearly fucked him up something fierce as he was bumping way more for Jericho here than he would do as a heel just a couple of years on. It's a laboured point by now,but still pretty shocking in retrospect to see that amount of blood in a WWE match, or indeed any match. Jericho put on a pretty awesome babyface performance, and I like that the finish wasn't one of either guys main moves, but it still worked as the perfect killshot. Looked pretty brutal for Jericho to take too.

Main event is a pretty good match, but very much of it's time - I really don't see them running a big title match on a pay per view with this much outside interference any more. Foley coming down was kind of a buzzkill, since Benoit winning the title was kind of a big deal and the DQ finish was actually done really well I thought - sometimes it's pretty obvious what they're going for when a company tries a finish like this, but the crowd bought in to it hook, line and sinker. Having only seen his comeback matches recently, I'd forgotten how fast and athletic Rocky was. People's Elbow still sucks though, no matter when the footage is from.

I liked a show a bunch, although it wasn't as greast as I remember it being from my repeated borrows of the VHS from the library back in the day. Triple H vs Chris Jericho was easily the best match, and I definitely came out of the show with a new appreciation for early Kurt Angle. Cage match rocked as well, and it was nice to see most of the mid card matches being over with the crowd whereas I can't imagine anyone giving a shit about the 2014 equivalent of Al Snow vs Taz.

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This show still holds up.

 

Trish and Stephanie both look great on this show. Terri was just collecting a check after her Marlena days and Lita looks like she smells like the trash found at a campsite. Angle is awesome throughout the entire show. I can imagine a young Bo Dallas taking copious notes during the build up to the Angle/Taker encounter. The over-sized cartoony wrench was great and just added to the whole serious/comedy thing Angle was doing at the time. I forgot how much edge Taker had at that point in his career before the old man 'Get Out Of My Yard' phase of his career which included those terrible 'ham-bone' punches to the mid-section.

 

Edge/Christian is another highlight of the show. Two heels doing ANYTHING to get out of the title match find themselves busted. Not only did they have to compete that night, but a fired up Bradshaw promised to shove his foot between their ears so they couldn't hear anything. Just great heel work from Christian and Edge. I have never been a fan of "I'll show you I can work!" WWE Al Snow. Both guys went through the motions and their efforts are met  with a BORING chant which strangely came after Snow hit a leg drop off-the-top-rope followed by a moonsault!? WWE 2000 crowds were not fucking around. They wanted to see cool stuff and Venis/Rikishi delivered. I marked out as a kid watching this and still marked in 2014. I believe in one of Venis shoots he says the spot was easy to take as Rikishi took most of it. A big man who can promo, dance, and take crazy risks? No wonder the guy was fucking over. Rikishi in 2000 was one of the top 5 most popular babyfaces on the card and that's saying something considering The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, and The Hardys were all signed talent at the time.

 

Chris Jericho wearing the DDP tape got a chuckle out-of-me as did the video package showing HHH on 3 different occasions saying "I want Jericho's ass!". The fucking match is still aces in my book. Jericho/HHH had some great matches (I can remember one match from Raw being their best) during this time frame and hopefully the rest still hold up as well as this one. Benoit earlier in the night had a fit of ROID RAGE and tore up some of Rock's 500 dollar shirts. This of course pissed of Rock and lead to a great main event. This show is definitely a watch and I would recommend it to anyone.

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Watched some of this show not too long ago but glad to rewatch it in full, always an old favorite. Loved the triple main event theme to it and this show is a great example of the under/midcard stuff all having stories making mostly everything that much more meaningful.

 

The opening 6 tag is awesome. Lita & Trish are absolutely great in it, I loved the big superplex as a huge spot for the women to take. Hot crowd and everyone ruled here. Taz/Snow was pretty quick, Eddie/Saturn was pretty good but also quick. I remember Jericho writing in his book about Saturn/Chyna accidentally breaking the table meant for Jericho/HHH.  APA/EC was fun while it lasted, finish reminded me of an 80s Road Warrior style finish to a hometown tag title match. Great Bradshaw promo too.

 

Rikishi/Val was great and one of the matches I remember standing out the most from this show. Rikishi's dive is still fantastic. I love JR's "you'll regret this for the rest of your life!" Taker/Angle was surprisingly short but the buildup throughout the night was hilarious. Angle was awesome here and Taker chasing him on the bike ruled. Jericho/HHH holds up well, great bloody war that was. Enjoyed Rock/Benoit and thought the false finish was pretty well done. Definitely an overall very enjoyable show.

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I watched this tonight and it brought back a lot of memories. The opening 6 person tag was fun as hell. Wasn't that Trish's first match? She was already better than Aksana is now with years under her belt. Saturn/Eddie and the tag title match were good too. It's insane how small Eddie was in 2000 compared to like 2004. Also Bradshaw was huge and his promo rules. I also loved Val Venis techno remix of his theme. I remember liking the cage match it doesn't hold up very well. Jericho/HHH and Rock/Benoit hold up very well though. I can't believe they bleeped out Shane calling himself a pussy? Fun show with almost everything meaning something and a hot crowd.

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I remember this VHS being in my local video store, sitting alongside the 2000 Rumble, Mania and Summerslam. Ah, memories.

 

Nostalgia aside, this is probably one of the better PPVs of the year. Aside from Snow/Tazz, everything felt like it had a purpose and was at the very least entertaining. The opener was a fun little match that reminded me of the Hardys in their prime and also that Test and Albert were a pretty fun team. It's a shame neither guy really went all that far. And yes, Trish and Lita were both in top form looks wise. I always find it incredible how far Trish came as a wrestler from her humble roots where she could barely correctly pin someone.

 

The middle portion of the card was solid. There may be some complaints about the Tag Title match but the ending fit with E&C's cowardice and made sense when facing the APA. Saturn/Guerrero was fun but I wish they had gotten more time. Give them the 5 minutes that Tazz and Snow took up and it could have been even better.

 

The Val/Rikishi match... what can I say? I still remember watching the highlights on Raw the next night. They showed that splash and my dad and I yelled "Holy Sh*t!" in unison.

 

Angle/Taker was alright but knowing the wars these two would go on to have (NWO 06 being the best), it doesn't hold up particularly well. It's more like a footnote on their future matches.

 

I have a hard time objective about the top two matches, as these four guys were among my favorites when this aired. The LMS match was actually booked very well, as it made sense for HHH to beat the hell out of Jericho early on. If someone kissed your wife, wouldn't you do the same? This sort of match would never be pulled off today, as the Attitude Era brutality really elevated it.

 

Rock/Benoit was a great coming out party for Benoit and you had to take him serious as a contender after this performance. It always puzzled me that he never got a reign with the title that year, as they had plenty of time to give him the belt between Rock and Angle. Both he and Jericho were ready at this point. 

 

Like I said to open, I think this is one of the best events of 2000. The show really highlights the future of the company while still retaining some of the crazy Attitude Era elements. Consider this: 8 guys on this card would eventually become world champion, some as soon as later in the year (Angle) and others much later in the decade (Jeff Hardy). That just adds to an already must see event.

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Fully Loaded 2000

 

I'm excited for this one, I remember loving it when I watched it live and I hope it holds up.  Between here and the beginning of the invasion may be their best in ring run ever. 

 

T & A with Trish Stratus vs. The Hardy Boys and Lita in a "This Description is Shorter than the Actual Description" match

 

Trish is wearing hot pink booty shorts, and I think a 13-year-old in the first row just grew a beard.  He looks like Moses after he came back from the burning bush with the 10 Commandments.  Matt Hardy and Albert start, and Matt blows about 23 spots in the first 3 minutes.  Lita is one of my least favorite Divas in the looks department, not that she was ever bad looking, but she looks pretty good here.  T & A are much better than I remember, Test and Albert have some really good power moves, and the Hardys are bumping around like flubber.  Lita hits a superplex on Trish, who is still green as grass, and this is a pretty fun opener.  Lita gets the pin on Trish after a moonsault, followed by a heel beatdown.  That was probably 250% better than I thought it would be.

 

Tazz vs. Al Snow in a "These Two Should Have Stayed in ECW" match

 

This is pretty much all Al Snow, which is strange, before he stupidly goes to get head.  This is a Tazz match with one suplex…who thought this was a good idea?  Tazz wins with a Tazzmission in a short match that should have been on heat.

 

Eddy Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn in a "These Guys Look Totally Unmotivated" match

 

They seem to be going at 65% speed and it just isn't clicking, which is strange because you'd think these two would be able to have a pretty good match.  It just disjointed and disappointing.

 

Edge and Christian vs. Acolytes in a "Who Wrote Christian's Lines" match

 

I think this is before the A.P.A.  which was one of the most fun gimmicks ever.  This is about 5 minutes before Edge intentionally gets DQ'd.  Two of the last three matches should have been cut all together, because none of them had enough time to serve a purpose. 

 

Rikishi vs. Val Venis in a "Wrestling is the Only Place Where People Cheer For Fat Men in Thongs" match

 

I hate escape cage matches, because it never seems like the people are actually trying to escape.  I've never been hurt enough to be unable to dive out of an open door.  Val Venis has to be the king of guys who I just don't give a fuck about.  He isn't bad, he just has never done anything to separate himself from the pack.  Rikishi's dive off the cage should have been the finish, but Tazz comes out and hits Rikishi in the head with a camera.

 

Kurt Angle running from the Undertaker throughout the show has been pretty funny if only for Undertaker's goofy ass "That's your ass, boy."

 

Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker in a "That's Your Ass Boy" match

 

This is American Bad Ass Undertaker, which may be the worst version of the Undertaker.  I can't think of another wrestler in history who is better as an old ass man than he was in his prime.  If you look back on Taker's career there is probably twice as much shit as there is gold.  Matter of fact, I don't think he has ever been average he is either terrible or great which is hard to do.  This match was basically an extended squash that seems short sided based on where Angle's career was going.

 

Chris Jericho vs. HHH in a "Motherfucker, Did You Just Kiss My Wife" match

 

This is a last man standing match, that can sometimes be disjointed and poorly paced based on the 10 count rule, but I remember this one being pretty good.  2000 is HHH's peak and Jericho wasn't exactly a slouch.  HHH is really beating the shit out of Jericho's injured ribs he gave Jericho a series of about 75 shoulder charges in the corner.  Stephanie looks like a groupie for a hair metal band with her sparkly shirt and frizzy hair.  Where does she rank on the most natural heels of all time?  Has there ever been a time when you thought about cheering for her?  The only face pop I remember her getting is from the NXT crowd at arrival, and the NXT crowd is basically the nicest crowd in the world.  HHH dominates for quite a while, before getting cocky and getting a chair on a pedigree countered followed by Jericho hitting him with a nasty chair shot.  HHH is busted wide open, and I don't know if bleeding is necessarily a talent, but if it is HHH is amongst the best bleeders of all time.  He isn't quite Muta, but he is pouring blood.  This is a great brawl, the last man standing stipulation isn't too forced, because both guys would rather beat the shit out of the other than wait around for the ref to count.  They do a double shot with monitors leading to a double 10-count where both guys barely make it up at 9.  They brawl outside until HHH back suplexes Jericho through the Spanish announce table and gets up at 9.9 for the win despite collapsing at 10.1.  This was probably the best last man standing match I've ever seen mostly because they didn't do any standing around waiting for the ref to count for people who weren't really hurt. 

 

The Rock vs. Chris Benoit in a "You Don't Want to Know How Much I Loved These Two in 2000" match

 

Benoit is out wearing one of The Rock's $500 shirts that he destroyed earlier.  So between the shirt and the faux tears in his pants he looks like he was run over by a lawn mower.  They are working at an incredible pace to start, if they keep this up both guys will be blown up in five minutes.  The stipulation for this match is that if The Rock gets disqualified he loses the title, so Shane is out to provoke him to get DQ'd.  Why doesn't he just punch Benoit and we can all go home early?  Has Benoit ever done a moonsault?  Or is his vault up to the top rope only to be super back suplexed his version of the Ric Flair climb the ropes only to get slammed off?  I've seen a shit ton of Benoit matches and I don't remember him ever doing a top rope moonsault.  This is a really good match that could have been great if it wasn't for the constant Shane McMahon interference, sometimes you should just let two guys wrestle. 

 

This was a really good show, if they would have cut some of the nonsense in the first half of the show we could have had something special here.  The Last Man Standing match was the best match of the night, and the main event probably could have been without the screwy booking, but beggars can't be choosers, and I'll just sit here appreciating what I got.

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