Dunn’s Countdown to Summerslam: Summerslam 2000

Summerslam 2000

April 27, 2000

Live from Raliegh, NC

Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Match: The Right to Censor vs. Rikishi & Too Cool (w/Ho’s).
Gee, that Ho that’s accompanying Rikishi sure looks familiar. Odd thing: Victoria debuted as a “ho,” then left to join Rikishi when the Godfather became “The Goodfather.” Later, she wound up with RTC leader Steven Richards. Too Cool dominates until the Goodfather gets upset and piefaces Victoria down. Steven Richards gets two off a powerbomb, but Sexay crotches him. Rikishi cleans house, and Victoria tosses a retreating Richards back in the ring. Buchanan breaks up the Stinkface with an axe kick. Scotty is about to finish with the worm when Richards sneaks in and hits a superkick for the win at 5:12. 3/4*

Earlier tonight, Kurt Angle refuses to answer questions about kissing Stephanie McMahon and then went into her locker room. Of course, this is a result of Kurt kissing a semi-conscious Stephanie on Smackdown a few days earlier.

Shane McMahon is trying to explain that he loves his sister and will stick by her when Steve Blackman interrupts and chases Shane away.

The Road Dogg vs. X-Pac.
Both guys are heels here, but they have some friction due to losing to the Undertaker in a handicap match. Ross actually references Fully Loaded of 1999 to put this match over. He almost never does that kind of stuff for under-carders anymore. X-Pac takes Dogg down and rides him amateur-style. Dogg kicks him to the outside, so X-Pac comes back in and misses a Broncobuster. The Pac finally gets his Broncobuster but spends too much time gloating, and Road Dogg is able to get the Shake, Rattle & Roll. Road Dogg blocks an X-Factor, but X-Pac lowblows him and finishes with a real one at 4:41. Yes, these two were the ones to kill off DX. 3/4*

Eddy Guerrero and his mamacito Chyna make plans for later.

Their opponents Val Venis and Trish Stratus argue over Chyna and Trish’s lack of focus.

Intercontinental Title: Val Venis & Trish Stratus vs. Eddy Guerrero & Chyna.
Eddy tries a huracanrana, but Val counters and drops a knee. Chyna and Eddy team up for a double flapjack like their the Midnight Express. Chyna doesn’t do much but a couple of clotheslines, which Val sells like he got hit by the Undertaker on steroids. Val gives her a delayed suplex. She lowblows him behind the ref’s back and DDTs him. Eddy gets the hot tag and hits Val with the wristlock into a huracanrana. Val gives Eddy a Blue Thunder bomb, and they knock heads. Val makes the desperate tag to Trish, who gets two. Chyna tags in, but Val recovers and breaks up the handspring elbow. Chyna press slams Trish to win her second Intercontinental Title at 7:14. *3/4

Everyone has a good time on Radio WWF.

In the makeup chair, Stephanie admits Kurt is a good kisser.

The Tazz vs. King recap package shows us just how far Michael Cole has come.

Tazz vs. Jerry Lawler.
What a difference six years make. Tazz still had some badass credibility left coming in to this match. Lawler was actually coming to Jim Ross’ defense after Tazz had problems with him and nearly cost him his eyesight. Tazz comes down with a cowboy hat, sunglasses, and a cane to make fun of Ross’ blindness. Lawler does all of his usual Memphis stuff, and Tazz begs off. Tazz misses a senton (!), and DOWN COMES THE STRAP! Tazz no-sells a piledriver and tosses Lawler into the ref. Tazz locks in the Tazmission, prompting JR to hit him over the head with a bottle of candy. Lawler recovers and gets the win at 4:25. Tazz would get revenge six years later when Joey Styles helped him beat Lawler. Things come full circle. Tazz would fall off the map as a serious singles wrestler after this. *

Hardcore Match: Shane McMahon vs. Steve Blackman.
To show you what a role the WWF was on at the time, they managed to turn Steve Blackman into a star. Shane used T&A, E&C, a Kendo stick, and the 24/7 rule to beat Blackman for the title. Now, it’s payback time! Shane tries to run away, but Blackman chases him down and introduces weapons into the match. Is that Ron Jeremy in the front row? Blackman slams a trashcan lid on Shane’s head and plays him like a drum. T&A run in to keep Shane from tapping out. They doubleteam Blackman, and Test hits him with an elbowdrop. Blackman comes back, and they brawl all the way back to the entrance. Albert accidentally takes out Test with a Kendo stick shot. Blackman takes out everyone and chases after Shane who, for some unintelligible reason, decides it would be a good idea to climb up the scaffolding to the top of the Titantron. Blackman starts hitting him with Kendo stick shots until Shane falls 50 feet to the production equipment. Blackman drops down a bit and hits a diving elbow from about 20 feet up for the win at 10:07. They were going for something like the Test vs. Shane match from the previous year, but it didn’t have quite the drama. It did have those two big spots, though, and that’s what people remember. The match was okay before that, though. **3/4

2/3 Falls: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho.
First Fall: They get chippy right away, taking the referee with them as they spill to the floor. Benoit launches Jericho into the ringpost. Back in, Benoit counters a Tombstone to a shoulderbreaker and blocks the Lionsault. CROSSFACE! Jericho has to tap out at 3:13.

Second Fall: Jericho is still injured, so Benoit reapplies the hold. He really WRENCHES it back too. Jericho makes the ropes this time, though. Benoit ties him in the tree-of-woe and locks in a sort of upside-down Full Nelson. Back in, Benoit tosses Jericho all the way to the post, hurting his shoulder even more. Jericho tries to fight back with his good arm but winds up in ROLLING GERMANS! He rolls through the final one into the WALLS OF JERICHO! Benoit taps at 8:39.

Third Fall: Jericho goes for a piledriver, but he can’t get him up because of the injured arm. Benoit counters to a DRAGON SUPLEX! It gets two. Jericho catches Benoit on top and hits the Top-Rope Frankensteiner. The flying forearm sets up a clothesline and spinning wheel kick. LIONSAULT! It gets two. Jericho reverses a kneelift to a schoolboy rollup, but Benoit reverses *that* into a cradle while holding the bottom rope. That gets the pin at 13:21. Too short and the first two falls felt more like filler than setting up the far-superior third fall. ***1/2

Recap of Chris Kreski’s tremendous Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon/Triple H love triangle that Stephanie would later repeat ad nauseum once she took over later in the year.

WWF Tag Team Titles, Tables, Ladders & Chairs: Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz.
Big brawl to start. Matt tosses a chair right into Bubba’s face in the first of many “Holy Shit!” moments. Jeff charges, but Bubba tosses the chair right back at him. Christian springboards off a chair to splash D-Von. Edge charges, but Bubba steps aside and tosses a ladder into his face. Two ladders are set up. D-Von and Jeff go up, but Edge Russian leg sweeps both of them off. Christian goes up and gets caught by Bubba. FULL NELSON BOMB OFF THE LADDER! Jeff goes up, but Edge pushes him onto two other ladders, creating an intricate see-saw effect that WHACKS Bubba in the face. Edge and Christian go for a Con-chair-to, but Jeff ducks out of the way. Bubba and D-Von get the Whazzup Drop on Edge. D-Von sets up a table, and they 3-D Christian through it. The Dudz set up a stack of tables on the outside. Edge takes them out with chairshots before anything bad can happen. Matt jumps Edge from behind. The Hardyz each deliver a legdrop onto Edge — with Jeff leapfrogging the ladder to do so. Matt accordions Edge in the ladder, then slams Christian off the top onto the ladder. Insane! Outside, Jeff sets up a HUGE ladder and Swantons off of it. BUBBA MOVES! Jeff winds up putting himself through a table. Matt goes up, but Chrstian reverse DDTs him off the ladder. Edge and Bubba fall off the other side, clotheslining themselves on the top rope. Bubba goes up the big ladder. Edge and Christian recover in time to push the ladder over sending Bubba all the way out of the ring, through the tables. That’s probably the most memorable spot of the match. Edge and Christian go up, but Lita comes out to push the ladder over, buying time for Matt and Jeff. Matt goes up, but D-Von recovers and shoves the ladder backwards, tipping Matt into another set of tables. Lita runs over to check on Matt. Edge makes her pay with a spear (nearly hitting her head on one of the ladders). Jeff and D-Von climb up, each grabbing a title belt. Edge and Chrtistian pull the ladder out from under them, creating a chicken fight between Jeff and D-Von. Jeff wins, but can’t pull the belts off. Edge and Christian SMACK him with the ladders until he falls all the way to the mat. Edge and Christian climb up and retain their titles at 14:49. Just insane action from start to finish and, most importantly, it escalated to the finish. *****

Backstage, Triple H wants an explanation on how Steph could let Kurt Angle kiss her. He tells her to stay away from Kurt from now on.

Thong Stink Face Match: The Kat (w/Al Snow) vs. Terri (w/Saturn).
Funny thing: Stacy Carter (the Kat) asked ObsessedWithWrestling.com to take down her profile because she’s moving on from wrestling, and it’s hurting her business. Yet there are thousands of DVDs out there with her wearing high heels and thongs. Kat made Rikishi give Terri a stinkface, and Terri gave one to the Kat to set this up. Kat is mighty fine, but she’s better with the black wig and dominatrix look. Terri bails early, allowing Al Snow to grab a handful of ass as he’s throwing her back in. Kat gets a Broncobuster and goes for a Stinkface, but Saturn shoves her down. Kat gets the Stinkface at 3:06 after a series of reversals. I didn’t need to see them try and wrestle, but I am in awe of the asses. 1/4*

Undertaker vs. Kane.
Kane turned on Undertaker one week with no better explanation than “I’m a monster.” Then again, when Taker left in 1999, they were feuding, and we didn’t get any real explanation for why they were friendly again. This is the debut of Kane’s sleeveless look. Taker jumps Kane in the aisle and tries to rip off his mask. Kane grabs the steps but misses his charge and rams them into his own face. Kane’s mask is ripped in half, and he’s bleeding. He fights back, but Taker spears him down and pummels him. Taker lowblows him to counter a chokeslam. He finally rips Kane’s mask off, and Kane runs away so he won’t be seen. Taker, I assume, picks up the countout victory at 6:22. Ross tries to say there was no starting bell, but there clearly was. Also, Kane’s hair did not come off with his mask, but when he finally was unmasked, they made it seem as if his hair was just a cosmetic wig. Anyway, this was just a bunch of punching, and not on the level of either of their Mania matches. *

In the back, Steph gets a call from Kurt Angle, but she pretends it’s her mom. Hunter makes things awkward by wanting to talk to Linda.

Recap of the whole “just friends” angle that turned Hunter semi-face.

WWF Heavyweight Title, No DQ: The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Kurt Angle.
Is it just me or has Kurt’s voice changed considerably since his debut? This match is why it’s always good to have veterans like Rock and Triple H. Kurt and Hunter go at it, and the Spanish announce table breaks apart on a Pedigree, knocking Kurt loopy and taking him out of the match. The Rock finally hits, and he and Triple H improvise with their usual stuff. Well, they wrestled enough in 2000. They ought to be able to work together on the fly. Kurt has to be stretchered out as Hunter and Rock are going at it. Hunter actually stops to pull Kurt back out and pummels him, but Rock makes the save, and the officials get Kurt to the back. Stephanie bounces out and gets yelled at by Hunter. He starts calling the match to her on the fly. She accidentally hits him with a weak belt shot, and the Rock gets two. Sgt. Slaughter pulls her to the back, which is probably a good thing because she looked lost. In the back, Stephanie begs Angle to return, so he staggers back out and breaks up Triple H’s pin attempt. Well, that backfired on Steph…or did it? Angle covers Rock for two. Rock whips Angle into Hunter and hits the Rock Bottom on Angle for two. Steph hands Hunter the sledgehammer, but he accidentally hits HER with it! Angle takes out Hunter with the sledgehammer, so Rock just dumps Angle and finishes Hunter with the People’s Elbow at 20:10. It could have been a disaster, so give them credit for putting together an entertaining match without ruining the storyline. ***

The 411: This was the height of the WWF as former "Daily Show" writer Chris Kreski booked one of the more compelling soap opera angles in WWE history. Unlike what Russo did, Kreski's stuff was always streamlined so it never spun out of control or lost focus like so many Russo angles. Plus, with Jericho and the Radicalz in the WWF, there was now enough actual talent to put some wrestling on their wrestling show. Imagine that. Most of the matches are throwaways, but the right people were put in the right places to do the right matches, and that's where the entertainment comes from. Solid thumbs up.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]