Dark Pegasus Video Review: Backlash 2000

Backlash 2000 by J.D. Dunn April 30, 2000 Live from Washington, D.C.. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Opening Match, WWF Tag Team Titles: Edge & Christian vs. X-Pac & Road Dogg (w/Tori). Debra is your special guest announcer, slurring through the intros. Vicodin and Texans don’t mix. Edge & Christian were in the midst of a drawn-out heel turn that involved them using insider terms like “heel” and “run-in.” Interestingly, Road Dogg is still over as a babyface while X-Pac is drawing HUGE heel heat although not quite “X-Pac Heat.” The Blonds dominate early, but Roadie snaps Christian’s throat on the rope as he’s going for the mounted pummel in the corner. A false tag allows DX to stomp a mudhole in Christian. Big heat for that. This is one of the best crowds the WWF ever had as we’ll see (and hear) throughout the night. This is sooooo R&R vs. Midnights. I know that all big tag matches try for that formula, but this one actually makes it work. Edge hits a Benoit-ish diving headbutt behind the ref’s back. Edge gets the tag and cleans house. Roadie goes for the Anal Sex Slam, but Christian jumps him from behind and goes for the Unprettier. X-Pac hits a spinning kick but tries to dive off the apron. Edge spears Road Dogg. Tori gets wiped out in all the chaos, and X-Pac hits Edge with the X-Factor. The ref is on the outside trying to break up a brawl, though, so Christian hops in and smashes X-Pac in the head with the ringbell to give the champs the win (and a HUGE pop) at 9:24. Excellent, hot opener. ***1/4 The Rock arrives in his limo. WWF Light-Heavyweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Scottie II Hottie. The LHW title is a precursor to the recently retired Cruiserweight title that shared its lineage with the more prestigious WCW Cruiserweight Title. Scotty blocks a powerbomb but gets cut off why trying the facebuster. Malenko zeroes in on Scottie’s knee, stomping away at it and dropkicking it out from under him. He wraps the leg around the post drawing a lot of heat. Cool spot as Malenko ducks an enzuigiri and drops an elbow on Scottie’s knee all in one motion. Big heat for that. Despite what revisionists might tell you, Malenko was hugely over from 1997-2000, even if he didn’t get a lot of mic time. Scottie eventually does hit that enzuigiri. Malenko goes back to the leg with a dropkick, though. He’s like a surgeon in this match, methodically dismantling Scottie’s leg. Although, why a surgeon would want to methodically dismantle a healthy man’s leg is beyond me. Malenko tackles Scottie through the ropes. Scottie goes up but gets superplexed. Malenko misses a swing and gets backslid for two. Scottie reverses the Cloverleaf to a small package for two. Malenko goes for a powerbomb, but Scottie slips out and hits a bulldog. That leads to the WORM (with Scottie hopping on the bad leg, grrr). Malenko gets caught using the ropes in a play on their Smackdown match. He hits a Lygerbomb gets two, and Malenko snaps Scottie’s neck on the ropes. Dean goes up but gets caught. Scottie tries his own superplex, but Dean reverses to a DDT in mid-air! Ever want to see 15,000 people put their hands on their heads and go, “OH!”? Well, there you go. Malenko gets the pin at 12:56. The finish was awesome as was Malenko’s legwork. Scottie screwed it up by just going through with his moves anyway, but that only knocks off a bit. This would be the peak of the title before Dean was relegated to Heat and a feud with Jacqueline. ***3/4 In the back, Vince McMahon welcomes the Stooges back into the fold. The Acolytes vs. The Big Bossman & Bull Buchanan. Poor Bull got saddled with so many bad gimmicks that he never was able to recover. Thank God for Japan. Bull looks good here, actually working in a flip off a backdrop attempt. Bossman plays heel-in-peril for a while before running over Faarooq and making the tag. Team Law Enforcement beats on the black guy, of course. Ross says that people should just behave themselves so they can avoid being beaten up by the Bossman and Buchanan. Okay, excepting the whole police brutality thing, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Bossman pick a few fights with people who were minding their own business. What did Pepper ever do to him? Bradshaw gets the hot tag and cleans house, but Buchanan catches him on top and superplexes him. Buchanan misses a charge and eats a Clothesline From Hell! Bossman hits Bradshaw in the face with the nightstick, leading to the Scissors Kick from Buchanan at 7:39. Not surprisingly, this had the least amount of heat as any match on the card. *1/2 In the back, the Hardyz display their After School Special acting skillz as they agree to work together unless it comes down to the two of them for the Hardcore Title. Conversely, Crash Holly asks Hardcore Holly if they can work together, and Hardcore slaps him upside the head. Funny stuff. Hardcore Title: Crash Holly vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy vs. Tazz vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Saturn. Someone has to pin Crash, or Crash has to pin someone else for the match to end. Everyone takes turns trying to pin him, so he runs off and tries to escape up the hooks on the entrance super-structure. Matt follows him up and then dives off onto the pile. Big “Holy Shit!” chant for that. Jeff one-ups him by swinging along the structure into a rana on Saturn. They head back to the ring where Tazz destroys people with trashcan-lid shots before eating a Poetry in Motion. Saturn hops in and puts Crash in an abdominal stretch. Well, that’s not too bright. Tazz boots him in the face and NAILS Crash with a clothesline. The brawl spills to the floor, and a bunch of nearfalls follow. Tazz grabs some wood panel and goes to town with it. Hardcore chokes out his own cousin. Matt and Jeff hit everyone with cookie sheets, including Saturn who was minding his own business. Jeff slingshots into a moonsault for two. Hardcore saves and hits a superplex and then a FALCON ARROW ON THE CHAIR! The Hardyz bring in a ladder and clothesline people with it. Matt hits the Twist of Fate, and Jeff adds a Swanton off the ladder, but they start fighting over who should get the pin. Tazz ends that in a hurry by taking them both out. He’s about to choke out Crash with the Tazzmission, but Saturn nails him with a stop sign. The Hardyz wipe out everyone else, and Crash rolls over on Tazz for the win at 12:21. As clusterfucks go, this was great. *** Jonathan Coachman, who was not nearly as cool as he is now (and *that’s* saying something), asks Shane McMahon if he can be impartial in the Rock vs. Triple H match. To his credit, Shane keeps a straight face while delivering his answer. The Big Show vs. Kurt Angle. The Big Show was a McMahon ally until he decided to be goofy for his own amusement. He was supposed to be Angle’s partner when they went after the WWF Tag Titles, but he showed up as Fat Bastard from The Spy Who Shagged Me and just wanted to have fun. Angle blamed him for losing what should have been a surefire victory. This would be the infamous match where the Big Show dressed like Hogan and came out to “Real American,” then cut a promo where he said “dude” a couple dozen times. It would be surpassed only by Shawn Michaels “brother, brother, brother” promo a few years later. Angle jumps Show from behind, but Show hulks up and hits the legdrop. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! IMPOSSIBLE! Angle clips Show’s knee. Sadly, they forgot to do a spot where Show picks up Angle but hurts his back. Angle works the leg, so the fans chant “Hogan” to get behind Show. Hilarious. Ross screams, “More people are chanting ‘Hogan’ than have in years!” Show finally gets pissed and finishes with the chokeslam at 2:38. Hilarious comedy match that would have been more fondly remembered had they not started slurping Hogan two years later when he came back. * Recap of Bubba Ray Dudley putting women through tables for the sexual thrill – THE SEXUAL THRILL!!!! Despite his best attempts, he couldn’t put Trish Stratus through a table because she kept using her feminine wiles. Trish joins us with T&A to talk about Bubba venting his frustrations. It’s weird how she is so clearly playing a bimbo character here, and how much more entertaining she was as herself. Elsewhere, D-Von chastises his brother for losing focus. T&A (w/Trish Stratus) vs. The Dudley Boyz. HO-LEEEEEEE FUCK IS TRISH HOT! Sorry, I try not to be such a sexist pig, but HO-LEEEEEE FUCK IS TRISH HOT! Bubba chases Trish around the ring until Test nails him with a clothesline. Bubba hits Albert with a flying clothesline and screams, “I’m gonna get you, ya little bitch” at Trish. That guy has issues. T&A isolate D-Von and hit a few decent doubleteam moves. Test hits the gutwrench bomb and asks who the man is. Albert slams Test on top of D-Von. A false tag (the third of the PPV) allows T&A to deliver more punishment. D-Von comes back with a sunset flip but gets powerbombed again. Albert goes up but gets distracted by Bubba long enough for D-Von to recover and hit a superplex. Bubba gets the hot tag and cleans house. The doubleteam neckbreaker (incorrectly called a “3D” by Jim Ross) gets two. D-Von saves Bubba from Test’s flying elbow. The Dudleyz set up for the real 3D, but Bubba stops to look at Trish, who has taken off her robe. HO-LEEEEEE FUCK IS SHE HOT! Bubba turns around into a big boot from Test at 11:10. The match was just okay. ** After the match, the Dudz set up a table. Trish plants a kiss on Bubba (the lucky bastard), which is the method she used to avoid going through tables in the past. Instead, Bubba shakes it off and powerbombs Trish through a table. Trish does the stretcher job, which the EMTs probably demanded over her objections. “No, trust me. I have to strap you in. And, um, I need to find your heart… and you need a pelvic exam… and a rectal exam.” Recap of the problems betwixt Eddy Guerrero and Essa Rios caused when Lita kept botching stuff (no surprise there). This includes the awesome Eddy Guerrero tuxedo shirt and prom vignette. European Title: Eddy Guerrero (w/Chyna) vs. Essa Rios (w/Lita). HO-LEEEEEE FUCK IS LITA HOT! Eddy is wearing his bowtie from the prom he and Chyna went to. See, Eddy was studying for his GED and… well, do the math. Rios botches his double-slingshot armdrag and gets tossed to the outside. Eddy slingshots into a senton. The match gets awkward and bogs down. Rios gets two off a missile dropkick, but they don’t seem to know how to follow it up. Finally, Eddy decides to take over. You can tell because they work in all his usual spots. Rios reverse monkeyflips Eddy into the ropes. To the floor, Eddy sets up for a powerbomb. Lita goes up to jump him from behind, but Chyna shoves her off into the announce table. That’s quite the bump. Eddy is so distracted that Rios is able to backdrop out of the powerbomb. He hits an Asai Moonsault and a tope con hilo to wipe Eddy out. He goes up again, but Chyna crotches him behind the ref’s back. That leads to a superplex from Eddy. The brainbuster sets up a frogsplash attempt, but Rios pops up and armdrags him off the top. Essa Rios calls for the moonsault, but Eddy gets his knees up and finishes with the spinning Gory Special at 8:43. After the match, Lita strips Chyna and runs off with her dress. Chyna is irate at first but decides she’s got it and must, therefore, flaunt it. Sloppy in some spots, great in others. More good than bad, though. Lita would dump Essa Rios for the Hardyz, and the rest is history there. *** Triple H says “the Game” is not just a cheap catchphrase. Intercontinental Title: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho. This was the first one-on-one match for these two in the WWF, and in my mind, these two will always be interlocked in history like Bret and Shawn, Hogan and Andre, and Rock and Triple H. They get so aggressive on a tie-up that they fall to the floor. Benoit slaps him right in the face. Back in, they chop it out, and Benoit hits Rolling Germans. Jericho rolls to the floor, so Benoit tries a tope and lands right on his face. Benoit whips Jericho to the steps, but Jericho hops over them. Back in, Jericho misses a dropkick and lands on his head, so Benoit hangs him out to dry. They slug it out, and Benoit catches Jericho in an abdominal stretch. Lawler and Ross rightly point out what a wussy move that normally is, so Benoit starts pounding on Jericho’s ribs. Jericho fights out of it and hits the Lionsault, but he lands awkwardly and can’t get to the cover in time. Benoit gets pissed and starts chopping away. Jericho hits a leg lariat and the facebuster, but Benoit swats away the springboard dropkick. Jericho crotches him on top, but Benoit twists in mid-air to counter a backdrop superplex. They fight over a backslide, and Jericho turns it into the multiple powerbombs. Glad he dropped that. It looks stupid. Benoit counters the cover to the Crippler Crossface! Jericho squirms to the ropes. Benoit tries to reapply the hold, but Jericho rolls through and counters to the Walls of Jericho. Benoit makes the ropes this time. Jericho goes for the flying forearm but takes out referee Tim White when Benoit ducks. Benoit goes out, grabs the IC Title, and blasts Jericho in the face with it. White recovers. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Benoit snap suplexes Jericho on the title and goes up. DIVING HEADBUTT! Jericho holds up the title belt, and Benoit crashes right into it. The ref disqualifies Jericho at 14:46. Ross and Lawler are puzzled until they see the replay. Bad finish to this match, but it would set up another good match at Judgment Day. It’s interesting to see that many of the spots these two were doing back in 2000 have become clichés, but at the time, they were setting the standard. Jericho puts Tim White in the Walls of Jericho to put a little more bad in his bad-boy bank. ***1/2 WWF Heavyweight Title: Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley & Vince McMahon) vs. The Rock. The big question here is whether or not A) Austin will even show up, and B) whether Rock can trust him. Vince announces that Austin categorically will not be showing up. Shane McMahon is your special referee for the second year in a row. Trash talk to start, and they slug it out. Rock backdrops out of a Pedigree and stomps a mudhole. Shane pulls him off, though, and Hunter tosses Rock to the floor. Vince hauls him up and tosses Rock into the post. The high knee gets two. Hunter keeps covering, but Shane can’t count fast enough. Triple H with the sleeper, and this yet again brings up the question of why Shane wouldn’t just turn and ring the bell. Rock fights out of it but gets cut down with a clothesline. HHH pummels him in the corner and talks trash, so Rock drops him on the top turnbuckle. They clothesline each other for a double KO spot. Vince KOs the Rock with the title as he’s recovering. Hunter crawls into a cover ONETWOTH-NO! Rock battles back and tosses HHH. Hunter hurts his arm on the fall. Back in, Rock DDTS Hunter, but Shane won’t count. The People’s Punch sends Shane over the top. Hunter knocks him over and sets up for the Pedigree on the Spanish announce table. Rock goes low and counters to the Rock Bottom. Shane tries to put a stop to it, but Rock gives them BOTH the Rock Bottom through the table! Vince’s reaction shot is priceless. Back in, Vince attacks the Rock from behind, distracting Rock long enough for Hunter to recover and hit the Pedigree. Shane is out, though. Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco run out as co-refs. Rock kicks out on two, so the referees start beating him down. And I thought Austin had the deck stacked against him at Over the Edge ’98. Fans chant for Austin as Vince nails Rock in the head with a chairshot. THE GLASS SHATTERS! KICK WHAM CHAIRSHOT TO HUNTER! Ditto Patterson and Brisco. Another brain-rattling one to Shane. And there’s one for Vince. And another one for Hunter! Linda McMahon comes back with fired referee Earl Hebner and shoves bratty Stephanie down. Rock plants HHH with the spinebuster and finishes with the People’s Elbow. Hebner hops in! ONE, TWO, THREE!!! Rock *finally* gets the title win at 19:24. Austin and Rock toast each other in celebration as Vince mentally counts the money he’ll make when they face off again. This is a great example of the WWF doing what they do best in putting on a melodramatic, over-the-top match. It’s the wrestling equivalent of a Michael Bay film. Just sit back, eat your popcorn, and watch the explosions. ****

The 411: The best top-to-bottom PPV since Canadian Stampede nearly three years earlier and one of the best in WWF history. It still stands up well today, I think. Rock and Triple H had great chemistry, as did Benoit and Jericho. It had a little bit of everything – sports entertainment, high-flying, solid wrestling, and a big popcorn match at the end. What's not to love? Highly recommended.
Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]