Judgment Day 2000
May 21, 2000
Louisville, KY
Reviewed on April 8, 2014
Background: WCW was just coming off a period where David Arquette was the World Champ. That alone should tell you everything about were the WWF vs. WCW war was at.
This is an interesting time period for the WWF. Stone Cold’s future was in doubt. Other than Backlash, we hadn’t see Stone Cold and again wouldn’t until September. Vince had put all of his eggs in two new baskets: The Rock and Triple H. The Rock was more natural here, he was already megaover and there was a good chance that if Austin never had to take time off that Vince would have run with him in 2000 anyway. HHH was more of the question mark. He was already being groomed as a top heel in 1999, in fact he was champ when Austin went out, but it always did (and still does) feel a little forced. It’s not as if the WWF had a choice though. They needed new top guys. Austin and Undertaker were hurt, Mick Foley was retired, Kane still wasn’t quite there and Big Showwasn’t grabbing the opportunities being thrown at him. So Rock vs. HHH was a natural on top.
In terms of the in ring product…the WWF was arguable in the best shape ever. Acquisitions such as the Radicalz, Chris Jericho and the Dudley Boyz bolstered the midcard. In addition homegrown talent like Edge, Christian, the Hardyz and Kurt Angle were just as good as those acquisitions if not better. Gone were the days of guys like DOA and Bluedust piling up in the midcard. The WWF arguably had the best pure wrestling in the world at this point.
WWF was now rolling. Let’s see how it continued to go.
The Card
McMahon-Helmsley Faction runs down the card for the most part. They also make Hardcore Champ Gerald Brisco get them coffee. Good stuff.
Brisco gets attacked by the Headbangers! He gets away I think.
Totally forgot about the HBK as the ref dynamic.
Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian vs. Rikishi and Too Cool
Angle stutters a lot in his promo.
Story: E and C had just turned heel and joined up with Angle. Too Cool was chasing them for the tag belts.
5 Second Pose! The Jug Band!
It’s amazing how in the span of a month Edge and Christian went from bland faces to amazing heels.
Crowd is hot for all six guys here.
Real creative save from Grandmaster on the irish whip to the corner to Scotty.
It’s amazing how over Too Cool was.
Huge Rikishi chant.
Angle gets the Stinkface!
Edge even had a spear in 2000, how about that.
Rikishi and Too Cool win when Rikishi pinned Edge in 9:46. Rikishi goes for the Rikishi Driver, but Christian whacks him with the ring bell. Grandmaster though drops the Hip Hop Drop…and Angle is just too late to break up the pin. Really fun opener. Matters so much when all six guys are over.
Michael Cole interrogates HBK.
WWF European Championship
Eddie Guerrero© vs. Perry Saturn vs. Dean Malenko
Story: Well, the Radicalz got their contracts, and now it is each man for themselves. Guerrero was with Chyna here…and was the face.
The WWE fans never really got Malenko or Saturn.
Match is wrestled well, but no one cares about anyone that isn’t Eddie here.
Top rope gut buster from Malenko to Eddie! Nice!
Saturn just steals everyone’s moves.
Eddie Guerrero wins when he pins Malenko in 7:57. Chyna takes out Saturn with a shot with the flowers…then drops Malenko face first on them. Of course there’s a pipe in there. Eddie rolls Dean up for the win. Fans were not really into it, but popped for Eddie’s win. Decent match, but disappointing considering who was involved.
Replay of Brisco winning the Hardcore title when Crash was sleeping.
Now we get Brisco all paranoid. I don’t like 24/7, but the Brisco stuff was hilarious. Brisco shits himself when he sees himself in the mirror…and then punches the mirror anyway. Great stuff.
Falls Count Anywhere
Big Show vs. Shane McMahon
Story: Big Show went Hollywood and wanted to have fun after Wrestlemania. Shane was pissed that Show was eliminated 1st in the title match at Mania which embarrassed Shane. Shane called Show a fat, unmotivated slob. Considering how this played out, I wonder how much real life played into this feud.
Big Show has that Aggression theme. I actually liked it for him here.
Show beats the crap out of Shane for a few minutes…but here comes the Bossman!
T and A out here as well to help Shane.
Funny moment as Big Show breaks a part of the stage to hit Shane…but he sells it as something really heavy. A few seconds later Test picks it up like it’s nothing.
Shane McMahon pins Big Show in 7:12. Shane tries to escape by climbing up the titantron, but Show catches him. Bull Buchanan comes in and beats Show up with a nightstick. Shane pushes a huge amp on Show’s leg, then smashes a cinderblock on Show’s head for the win. I usually hate Shane McMahon matches, but I like this one. Shane McMahon should never have any offense in matches against top guys, and he didn’t here. This was the only way he could win. Other than the Conspiracy angle a couple months later, Show was practically gone till Royal Rumble 2001. He was supposed to lose weight, but he returned fatter somehow.
Brisco tries to get a moment of sleep, but the refs move in to win the title. Brisco was upset.
HBK-HHH backstage discussion. Quite casual.
Intercontinental Championship: Submission Match
Chris Benoit© vs. Chris Jericho
Story: Jericho’s been chasing Benoit’s title. Jericho messed Benoit’s eye up at Backlash. Benoit asked for the submission match. So what’s the better submission, the Walls or the Crossface? Benoit has a brace because Hardcore Holly smashed Benoit’s knee with a chair on Smackdown.
Benoit works on the shoulder of course.
Jericho goes for a pin! Know the rules Jericho!
Jericho gets the brace off!
Jericho then beats the crap out of Benoit with the brace!
Awesome Walls of Jericho in the ropes! Benoit screams in pain!
Benoit counters a Walls with a brace shot to the face.
Chris Benoit makes Chris Jericho pass out to retain the title in 13:27. Benoit has the Crossface. Jericho tries to escape, but Benoit turns it into a choke crossface and Jericho passes out and the ref calls it. While I thought the finish was bad ass at one time…obviously it’s kinda uncomfortable to watch now because of what Benoit ended up doing. Anyway, match was hard hitting and quite good…and the worst Jericho and Benoit would have in the WWE. Which says a lot about those two. But good match, told a good story.
More Hardcore Champ action! He beats up a couple of vendors. Proactive champ!
Rock tells HBK that he better call it down the middle. They were playing off HBK screwing The Rock back on the first Smackdown.
Tables Match
DX (X-Pac and Road Dogg) vs. the Dudley Boyz
Story here: The Dudleyz wanted to put Tori through a table. Tori actually splashes Bubba through one. And here we are.
I love the Aggression DX theme.
Tori distracts the ref when the Dudleyz do the Wassup headbutt (pre-wassup though). I hate that. It’s a tables match, who cares if the ref sees?
Again I don’t get the normal tag rules. Lawler points out that the Bubba should just run over the ref. He’s 100% right you know.
Road Dogg drives D-Von with the Armstrong Slam through a table. That’s 1 Dudley.
Bubba powerbombs X-Pac through. So 1 vs. 1 table wise.
Bubba AND Road Dogg hip toss the ref through a table! GREAT! Ref was annoying.
Hardcore Champ Brisco is here.
3D through a table…but the ref is out!
DX wins in 10:55. Bubba tries to put Tori through a table, but Brisco saves her. Ref sees the X-Factor through the table and DX wins! Hated the structure of the match…as a regular tag match made no sense here. But the finish was fun and set-up a “rematch” (if you include dumpsters) the next month. Brisco gets driven through a table. No one tries to take his title though.
“As I lay me down to sleep…my soul is mine to keep etc. etc.” His Judgment Day is Coming! I wonder what that means?!?!
WWF Championship: 60 Minute Iron Man Match
The Rock© vs. Triple H
Story here: This was the feud of the first half of 2000. Rock vs. HHH. Rock won the title at Backlash. This is the rematch. HBK as the ref was supposed to play off what he did on the first Smackdown and the fact he was in the first ever 60 minute Iron Man match at Mania 12.
They kept the Finkel botch in this version! Finkel announced HHH as the WWF World Champion here. I think it is said he was reading the result.
HHH tells the Faction to go to the back…because he wants to do this on his own.
Lawler’s telling a great story early on about conserving energy.
The Rock hits a Rock Bottom out of nowhere in 10 minutes for the first fall. That is the only thing I dislike about this match…HHH shouldn’t go down to a random Rock Bottom in 10 minutes.
Figure Four by the Rock!
HHH gets his first fall at the 25 minute mark. Makes a lot more sense, as Rock can go down to a Pedigree in 25 minutes.
HHH rolls up a dazed Rock for a 2nd fall! Great booking there! Use that clock!
When we pass the 30 minute mark, Lawler says this is the longest match both Rock and HHH have ever had. Well, they both have lasted 50 minutes + in Royal Rumbles at this point…
Piledriver! HHH goes up 3-1! I like how once that Pedigree hit Rock’s health was very low and doesn’t recover. That’s how an Iron Man match should work. Half the match still to go.
The way this match is being built, every move, even a sleeper, matters. Just awesome.
They start to build up HBK not allowing HHH to break the rules. This will matter soon.
Floatover DDT gets a 2nd fall for the Rock. It was botched though, and just a regular DDT. Weird how I like HHH’s falls a lot better than Rock’s.
HHH blasts Rock with a chair in HBK’s clear sight at the 46 minute mark! We are tied! And HBK called it!
HHH then pins Rock to get the 4-3 advantage. Amazing spot. Fans got excited for Rock to tie…just for him to be in a worst spot now. Great stuff.
Sleeper works this time for HHH! Two fall lead with 13 minutes to go!
HHH’s Harley Race flip takes out a camera man. Still, can Rock get 2 falls in 12 minutes?
HHH kicks out of a superplex…which was masterful as it looked like a must win for Rock there.
Rock Pedigrees HHH on the Announcer’s Table! It gets a count out and Rock is within 1 fall! HHH makes it back just in time to avoid a 2nd fall. Three minutes to go!
McMahons are back!
People’s Elbow with 2 minutes left…we are tied!
All hell breaks loose now. HBK takes out Shane and Vince, but he gets knocked off the apron. DX gets in there…but the nursery rhymes begin. The Undertaker has return and he kicks the crap out of everyone! Huge pop!
HHH wins the title, winning 6 to 5. With 8 seconds to go, Taker chokeslams HHH, which HBK does see and later segments would show video evidence of this. I do think the finish is a little messed up, but it works enough. HBK calls for the DQ, and HHH wins. Incredible match. Best of Rock’s career. One of the best of HHH’s. Still the best Iron Man match in WWE history. It was sixty minutes of non-stop action that actually told a story throughout. Undertaker’s return was also a huge moment.
This PPV owns. You’ve got no bad matches and only one that’s merely ok (Tables). Opener was good. Euro was decent. Shane vs. Show was booked correctly and entertaining. IC was very good. Main event was absolutely top notch with a classic sports entertainment finish. Match also showed that Rock could go sixty minutes, which was a damn surprise…and I’m sure HHH gained tons of respect after this one.
Historically, this show didn’t matter other than the Undertaker comeback (Rock would take back the title the next month, and Benoit and Jericho didn’t move up the card yet). But sometimes a damn good show is just a damn good show. Bonus points for awesome main event, of course.
Final Grade: A