wrestling / Columns

Forgotten Favorites 04.04.10: Fully Loaded 2000 – Val Venis vs. Rikishi

April 4, 2010 | Posted by Jim Grimm

Do not lose hope, wrestling fans. True, WrestleMania has come and gone, and we will not know its unspeakable greatness for another year, but you’ve got something to hold you over in the mean time. That’s right, great wrestling exists year-round within the world of Forgotten Favorites. And here we are with another week of awesomely neglected action.

Since I write for 411 and my opinion might almost mean something, I feel that I should make it clear at this point that I thought WrestleMania was excellent all around. I could’ve gone for a little more Punk-Rey and a little less Diva action, but those are the only minor complaints I can come up with for what was all-in-all a fantastic wrestling show. The title matches more-than-delivered, Bret-Vince was totally surreal, and as for Shawn-Taker … well, there’s not much more that can be said. For the sake of every wrestling fan on the planet, I hope that this isn’t the end for the Heartbreak Kid. Even at his age, the man is still the absolute best performer in the (history of the?) business, and it’s for this reason that I can’t see him hanging up the boots just yet. He knows how good he is, and he knows he’s got plenty of classics left in him.

At least that’s what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. I don’t think I can live in a wrestling world without HBK.

Only thing is … somehow I did it before. There was a time that I accepted completely that I’d never watch Shawn Michaels wrestle again. And it was the same time period as this week’s match.

(Segue ownage!)

And so, wrestling fans, let us travel back to a time between the periods of HBK-domination. It was the year the robots didn’t revolt and God didn’t kill us off, the turn of the century, the year 2000.

So who wants great wrestling?


Fully Loaded – July 23, 2000
Steel Cage Match
WWF Intercontinental Championship

Val Venis vs. Rikishi

HOW IT WENT DOWN

The year 2000 was a milestone in the ever-evolving morality of the United States. Finally, millions of Americans had a musical outlet for which they might voice their most intense inner desires and fascinations. It was the year that a silver-haired prophet spoke the words that infected the psyche of America: “Let me see that thong.”

Yes, that thong, th-thong, thong, thong.

In a twist of fate that only fools would label coincidence, at the same time this musical masterpiece was dominating the charts, there was a particular thong-enthusiast who was quickly ascending the ranks of the World Wrestling Federation. He was no longer a mad Headshrinker or a mysterious Sultan, for he had traded all that in for some skimpy tights and dancing shoes when he became the fun-loving Rikishi Phatu.

Forming an alliance with Too Cool’s Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay, Rikishi developed an enormous following, becoming one of the company’s most popular stars. His song-and-dance routine (literally), along with a pop-heavy moveset, made him a breakout star in 2000, with many seeing him as a guaranteed future contender for the WWE Championship.

The move towards the title seemed imminent, but as the summer season got underway a King of the Ring throne seemed even more imminent. Kicking off on May 29, the 2000 KOTR Tournament featured a mind-boggling (at least by today’s roster standards) thirty-two competitors. The first and second rounds were determined on television, with the remaining eight men vying for the honor of being called King at the PPV event.

Standing in Rikishi’s way, however, was a dude who had recently grown tired of being the guy who told the dick jokes. Val Venis was a former Intercontinental Champion who realized he’d never recapture his previous successes if he kept focusing on pleasing the audience/ladies, and so he developed new heelish outlooks towards the world and entered into a business relationship with the fairly-new Trish Stratus. Trish, who was already managing Test and Albert in the wonderfully named T&A, promised to take Val to the next level.

One of the first times that Val would cross paths with Rikishi was also one of the first times he teamed up with fellow business partners Test and Albert, taking on Too Cool and Rikishi in a six-man tag on the June 5th edition of Raw. Trish’s boys picked up the victory, although their opponents had the last laugh after the match when mayhem resulted in Stratus receiving the dreaded Stink Face.

Trish was so devastated by the incident that she called upon Val to avenge her on the following SmackDown, promising that championship gold was in Val’s future if he delivered. Venis and Rikishi met one on one, resulting in a DQ from Stratus-ference, but the real fight came after the match. The two men traded blows outside the ring, fighting all the way up to the top of the entrance ramp, where Rikishi connected with a sidekick that sent The Big Valbowski off the stage and down to the arena floor. And then, in a definite “Holy Shit” moment, the big man leaped from the stage and dropped all of his weight down onto Val with his own version of the Money Shot.

One week later on SmackDown, infuriated and embarassed over being stretchered out of the arena seven days earlier, Val Venis called out Rikishi. When the big guy met him in the ring, the former porn star totally lost his mind. In a fight that spilled outside the ring, Val brutally assaulted Rikish with the announcer’s television monitor before destroying him with a steel chair. It was at this point that, as they say, shit got real.

As Val and Rikishi were developing a rivalry, the King of the Ring Tournament was moving along. Thirty-two men became sixteen men which eventually became eight men. Having defeated Shane McMahon and good friend Scotty 2 Hotty in the first two rounds, Rikishi was scheduled to face Chris Benoit in the Quater-Finals at the KOTR PPV. But things were shaken up a bit on SmackDown just days before the PPV, when Rikishi pinned his Quarter-Final opponent to claim the Crippler’s Intercontinental Title. When the PPV match rolled around, the Rabid Wolverine was still stewing over his title loss and, in a move that cost him the match, he put the hurtin’ on the big man with a steel chair. And so, Rikishi advanced to the Semi-Finals.

Rikishi’s Semi-Final opponent was decided in another Quarter-Final match, where European Champion Eddie Guerrero — in full-on, Chyna-loving, Mamacita-calling, Latino Heat stereotype mode — took on (surprise!) Val Venis. Trish Stratus was watching ringside when Val pinned the European Champ with one mighty-fine bridging Fisherman’s Suplex, advancing into the Semi-Finals against his recent rival.

Unfortunately for Val, this was night to be his night, as the IC Champ was able to pin his adversary’s shoulders to the mat and move on to the Finals. Even more unfortunately for Rikishi, this wasn’t to be his night either, suffering a loss to the rookie Kurt Angle in the Final round.

The following night on Raw, we got two KOTR rematches, both being fought for championships and both resulting in disqualifications. Rikishi gave Chris Benoit his IC Title rematch, but the bell sounded after Tazz inexplicably interfered and attacked Rikishi with a chair. Later that night, Eddie Guerrero put his European Title up against Val Venis, where Chyna’s interference led to a disqualification (albeit title-less) victory for Venis. All feuds blended into one days later on SmackDown when Val and Benoit teamed up to take on Rikshi and Eddie. As you might expect, the match resulted in a disqualification, being thrown out after Too Cool-ference led to an all-out brawl. Of course, this didn’t stop Too Cool and Rikishi from recruiting Eddie and Chyna for some serious dance-party action after all was said and done. See for yourself …

The rivalry between Rikishi and Val Venis reached new heights one week later on SmackDown, when Rikishi put his Intercontinental Title on the line against Trish’s hired gun. With an assist from the recently interference-crazed Tazz (who had still yet to explain his seemingly random involvement in a number of matches), Val picked up the victory and claimed his second Intercontinental Championship.

Rikishi was aiming to win back his belt on Raw a few days later, being booked into a Triple Threat title match against Val and fellow challenger Kane. However, a heel will do anything to hold onto his belt when the going gets rough, and that’s just what Val did, clocking his large-assed rival with the IC Title and taking the DQ. You can catch the conclusion of this match below …

The Rikishi-Val war raged on in the following weeks, with the two rivals standing across the ring in various six-man tags. The two men were signed on to settle their differences at the Fully Loaded PPV, where Val’s IC Title would be up for grabs inside a Steel Cage. On the final Raw before the PPV, Val assaulted Too Cool’s Scotty 2 Hotty, tossing him off of the entrance stage in an attack similar to the one he suffered at Rikishi’s hands weeks earlier. Val took to the microphone to remind fans that he hated Rikishi so passionately because the big man cared so much about the adoration of the audience, just as The Big Valbowski had used to do. But now, with a new attitude and a belt around his waist, Val was finally doing things the right way.

And so it was. The multi-month feud was set to explode inside the Steel Cage at Fully Loaded. Could Rikishi reclaim the Intercontinental Championship, or would Val Venis continue his heel breakout and prove his worth as Champion?

WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

For many of the top superstars of the last twenty-five years, the Intercontinental Title has been an enormously helpful tool in getting to the next level and achieving the ultimately desired goal, the WWE Championship. I’m talking about guys like Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels. Guys like The Rock, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Steve Austin. From Angle to Guerrero to Edge to Orton, all of these former WWE Champions won their first major singles gold in WWE in the form of the Intercontinental Title. Most of them moved onto the WWE Title within a year or two of first winning the IC strap, and most of them ended up winning the big one on multiple occassions. With the exception of a select few (Hogan, Undertaker, Foley, Cena), nearly every major WWE Champion of the modern era saw his career skyrocket to the main event scene after first winning the Intercontinental Title.

Not everyone who wins the IC Title makes it to the top prize, but a whole lot of them do. With such high odds for success among IC Champions, we have naturally often watched title feuds that ended up being played out one more time once the rivals reached the top of the card. Michaels/Hart, Austin/Rock, and Angle/Benoit are just some of the legendary WWE Title match-ups that were first fought with the Intercontinental Title on the line.

I don’t know about you guys, but I like me a good midcard championship feud. And my reason for taking so much midcard joy is because of all the historical statistics I just covered. Whenever a well-built feud between two young guys over the IC Title arises (which is rare these days), I get all smarktastically dorky about considering the same confrontation happening down the road with greater championship implications. Sometimes it happens, where both guys move on to meet again for the WWE Title (Rock-HHH); sometimes it halfway happens, where only one guy moves on to the promised land (Orton-Shelton); and then sometimes it doesn’t happen at all, leaving both men to wander in midcard limbo for wrestling eternity.

Such was the case for Val Venis and Rikishi.

Over the course of a few months, Val and Rikishi were caught up in an intense rivalry that elicited some pretty damn strong reactions from the WWE audience. Looking back now it may seem slightly ridiculous to suggest that anyone ever pondered the possibility of a Val Venis vs. Rikishi main event for the WWE Title, but for a brief period of time their rivalry stood the chance of becoming a productive longstanding feud that could’ve very strongly benefitted both men. In the summer of 2000, the fans bought into the hatred between these two guys, and (more importantly) they bought into them being the best that the IC division had to offer. Whenever you’re watching a hot feud fought for gold between two guys on the verge of the upper-level (on PPV and in a Cage, no less), you MUST entertain the thought that both men might be at the top of their sport one day. When the crowd is that hot to see two guys beat the hell out of each other, they automatically seem — if only for a brief time — bound for the main event.


“Five… five dollar… five dollar footlong…”

The most incredible part of all this is that the IC Title didn’t even enter the picture until several weeks into Val and Rikishi’s feud, meaning that for a few weeks the E booked a plain old singles blood feud between two non-champion midcarders. This is inconceivable by today’s main-eventer-focused booking standards, where midcard titles mean nothing and a midcarder without a title means even less.

But before the established former World Champions were all that the E cared about, there was a time when every level of the roster was given its proper due. Rikishi was growing more and more ridiculously over as time went on, and Val was just starting to (re)carve out his spot as a worthwhile threat in the midcard division. Rikishi needed a mid-level heel to work with in order to keep building steam, and Val needed an over babyface to make miserable and display his newfound mean streak. It made sense to put these two against each other, and it worked perfectly.

A concept that has become all but dead these days is the idea of getting two young guys over by simply feuding them against each other. WWE’s star-making techniques over the last few years have shown that the writers have quite a narrow view of how a company might go about making a star. It’s always one guy at a time, and it’s always a rehash of what we’ve seen before. It’s either a series of squash matches that no one cares about or it’s giving a guy a belt too early when no one takes him seriously carrying it. And this happens while one talented wrestler after another is released, being told that creative doesn’t have anything for him.

Whatever happened to putting two guys in the ring and seeing if they can get themselves over? Pro wrestling is not complicated at all. It’s all about two guys beating each other up. Whenever two wrestlers step into the ring, they are doing their job, and therefore it is in their best interest to perform to the best of their ability. Whether or not there’s a title on the line, every match should be important, especially for a lower card guy who wants to turn some heads. All of this is basis enough for two guys to develop a rivalry that fans can become interested in. You don’t always need a championship at stake, nor do you need to build every single young guy through squashes.

Wrestling is a sport where two guys who don’t like each other battle it out. Val Venis and Rikishi were wrestlers who did not like each other. Baddaboom, you have a feud. And it was a feud that worked out so well that it eventually had its stakes raised by way of the Intercontinental Championship. Had the feud continued, it might have led to even greater things for both guys. However …

WHY IT ISN’T REMEMBERED

As hot as the feud was, it was apparently not meant to last. Rikishi-Val peaked at Fully Loaded and the feud was never revisited again. Eddie Guerrero, having moved up from the European Title division, emerged as the next challenger to Val’s IC Title. At SummerSlam the championship was decided in a unique(/retarded) mixed tag team match, where Val and Trish took on Eddie and Chyna. More retarded was Chyna getting the win and being crowned the new champion. Even more retarded was her dropping the belt to Eddie immediately after the event, which (if it was the originally desired result) might have easily been accomplished at SummerSlam, thus avoiding giving Chyna one more reason to think she revolutionized the business. But I digress…

Once Val dropped the belt, his mini-push suddenly became a thing of the past. All of the progress they had allowed the dude to make in the past several months had all ended up being for nothing, as he was pushed back down the card into obscurity. Within a couple of years he was back to twirling his towel and professing his love of vagina, leaving many fans without any memory of the time when he stopped telling jokes and started kicking ass. Even when there seemed to be hope with the emergence of the Chief Morley character, the dude ended up coming out to the sax yet again in just a few months. His second run as IC Champ while feuding with Rikishi was one of the highlights of Val’s career, really showing what the guy was capable of when the ball was thrown in his direction. It just sucks that he never again got the chance to mark his territory like he did that summer.


“Hellllooooooo midcard!”

Rikishi wasn’t hurt in any way by coming up short against Val at Fully Loaded, nor was he hurt by the abrupt halt to their feud. He remained solidly over, with the fans still losing their minds at the thought of a giant Samoan ass being rubbed against the face of their most hated villain. But soon enough WWE would move Rikishi in such a new direction that the memory of his feud with Val was gone mere months after it had taken place.

You see, instead of capitalize on the insane pops that Rikishi was getting for his entrances and his moveset, WWE decided that it would be best to turn him heel. And, more than that, they thought it would be best to make him the focus of a year-long storyline (which began before he even returned to the company) with the most popular wrestler of all time. Yes, wrestling fans, I’m referring to the curve ball of the century: Rikishi ran over Stone Cold! And he did it for The Rock!

Now, none of this was as horrendous (at first) as historians may tell you. The idea of a guy helping out his family to ensure his oft-overlooked Samoans finally get the opportunities they deserve is an acceptable motive for a heel. But the fact that it came out of nowhere (and the fact that Rikishi was still mega-over as a face just before this) destined the whole angle to end in miserable failure.

Regardless of how things turned out, I can’t see Rikishi ever having made it to the WWE Championship, but he (here it comes) could’ve been a contender. Giving him the belt would’ve been a mistake, but WWE might have pushed him to the level of a top babyface contender, maybe having him challenge Triple H or Kurt Angle on PPV. Unfortunately for Rikishi, none of that happened, and I think it’s got a whole lot to do with his bizarre and unnecessary heel turn. It killed all of the momentum he’d been building for the last year, made him Austin and Rock’s bitch, and he was never able to recover. Even when he turned back into the fun-loving, dancing fat guy later on, he was still stuck in the midcard, reduced to a comedy act. Rikishi’s ship had sailed.

And so two guys who had excited fans with a blood feud over the IC Title in the middle of 2000 were reduced to absolute nothingness in 2001. Sometimes life just isn’t fair.

– –

Feedback! (or, Proof That The World Knows I Exist!)

Yep Wrestlemania…How am I hyped for thee!

Posted By: Arnab

I hope you were as satisfied with the outcome as I was. It was a fine show from top to bottom. Michaels-Undertaker was legendary stuff.

The best part of the wedding segment was Trish coming down and insulting Lita (while wearing the HELL out of some white boy shorts)

BTW-you have issues.

Posted By: Guest#0684

Trish was an awesome heel and her interaction with Lita was always highly entertaining stuff. And yeah, I have issues … of old WWE magazines! LOLZZzzzZZ!!!1!

Definitely keep out of the towwwn, hi

Posted By: Brian

This sounds angry, but then the greeting at the end throws me off. Therefore I label this of the creepy and/or spooky variety.

Bridemaid Trish is one of the hottest things to ever grace this planet.

Posted By: Zingy

I only wish I hadn’t broken her heart years ago. We had something special. But I was putting in sixty a week at the factory and we slowly drifted apart. Then she met Test and Albert. The rest is history.

yea Kane deserved a lot of great honors like winning the royal rumble 2001 and beating triple h for the world title before he was unmasked.

Posted By: Guest#3524

I don’t know about Kane winning the Rumble match itself that year, but WWE should’ve at least capitalized on his strong showing. He displayed record-breaking dominance in the Rumble, and yet it ended up meaning nothing. He was still stuck in the midcard chasing the Hardcore and IC Titles while he was even more stuck in the role of Undertaker’s sidekick.

“The best part of the wedding segment was Trish coming down and insulting Lita (while wearing the HELL out of some white boy shorts)”

Trish was amazing…

‘So, open your heart. Just like you opened you legs.’

Posted By: Eboney

All this love for Trish and now I’m thinking she might not be such a bad choice for a future column.

The whole storyline with Kane killed Lita’s career. I know everybody says the affair with Edge did, but I think this was it. She really started looking trashy at this point, and her shitty acting just took away whatever made her “cool” in the first place.

Trish, as awesome as she is, was lucky to never get saddled with such a stupid storyline. After the infamous angle with McMahon in 2001, she got dream booking for the rest of her career. Don’t get me wrong, she is a million times classier than Lita, and deserves every accolade she has recieved. But being booked like the female Cena sure as hell helped her along.

If you want to see how one or two bad angles can kill a diva, I got two words for you: Piggy James. Mickie was never that much of a star anyway, but that ruined her. She is totally irrelevant now, and will probaly spend whatever time she has left in WWE being Beth’s sidekick.

Posted By: Guest#7035

I don’t think anything really killed Lita’s career. She was still quite over when she left WWE and, if she were to return, she’d probably pick up where she left off fairly easily. From what I remember reading, Lita was burning out on wrestling and tired of playing the notorious whore. If you want to say that WWE’s insistence on booking her as a notorious whore is what “killed” her career, since it may have influenced her decision to leave, then I guess you’re right.

But still, remember that there have really only been two points in Lita’s career in which she was SIGNIFICANTLY over, those times being her first couple of years with the Hardys and then her last couple of years with Edge. There was a big stretch of time between the recently-debuted, thong-endorsing, high-flying cool chick and the allegedly deviant homewrecker that she was to become. Before her pairing with Edge, Lita had suffered through years of stale or absurd (See: Last week’s column) booking, and the Rated-R duo pushed her back to the forefront of major events in WWE. Her last couple of years might actually be considered the highlight of her career, seeing as how she was the very-over valet of a very-over multi-time WWE Champion. Of course, throughout all of this, she had to portray the slutty character that she was apparently not too fond of, but even then, she was paired with the WWE Champion.

I don’t think Mickie James’s career is beyond repair, but I don’t think WWE cares enough to make those repairs a reality. Mickie just fell victim to the uncreative approach that is taken to booking the women’s division, wherein the number one face spot is rotated amongst all the hot, passable-workers. Each face Diva is assigned the same bland, one dimensional character, and after they’ve run no more than three of the same one dimensional feuds against the rotating roster of heel Divas, the creative team gives up and moves on. Mickie’s character was fresh and interesting when she debuted, and now she’s a regular, “just-happy-to-be-here” Diva without much of a unique personality.

Well that 2nd video was certainly an acting masterclass. I wonder if that segment won a grammy?

Posted By: The_horrible_fanfare

Kane could never outperform the scene when he poured his heart out and walked us through the events of that most tragic night when Katie Vick passed on. I get emotional thinking about it now.

There’s tons of cool stuff up and down (and near) our coasts, but then there’s this black hole in the middle of our country where no one comes out alive. Or with anything over a fifth-grade reading level.

*****

Thanks Jim.

Being from Kansas, I’m pretty sure that means I have a fifth grade reading level. So I assume that means that The Contentious Ten can’t be one of your favorite columns. Since you, know, it’s written by me.

Anyway, good match. I’m surprised to see that Kane wasn’t carried to a good match: Michaels didn’t do much other than his big spots and laying around. One of Kane’s better performances.

Posted By: Who Needs Personality?

Don’t go trying to disprove my ignorant, coastal-biased logic. Eastern Standard Time has been telling me all my life that my part of America gets the sun first everyday. And since my life is geared towards pleasing the sun, I will respect and glorify his decisions by hailing the East Coast. And on a side note, I never said that fifth graders couldn’t produce enjoyable reading material.

On a further side note, The Contentious Ten is superior to my column.

Great column. Kane is verrrry underrated when it comes to straight up sports entertainment.

Posted By: BlackMark90

Kane really is the total sports-entertainment package. He’s got a unique character that he portrays well and he’s more than able to hold his own inside the ring. He’s neither HBK in the ring nor Flair on the mic, but he’s got just the right amount going for him in every area that matters. In the character-heavy era of Hogan, Kane would’ve likely seen much more success.

Being reminded of all those angles, it’s clear why I don’t remember this match at all. I might check it out again now though.. HBK matches are always a good time, and hopefully I won’t be too reminded of all the bullshit storylines.

Posted By: Guest#1546

Confused, oddball storylines are not necessarily bullshit, but to each his own. I did cry bullshit at the time of the neverending Kane/Lita/Matt/Snitsky/Edge saga, but looking back now it didn’t really hurt anyone’s character or future on the card. Ridiculous as it all was, it actually got everyone involved (more) over, even Snitsky. WWE dropping the ball with Kane, Matt, and Snitsky shortly after is a different story.

There’s tons of cool stuff up and down (and near) our coasts, but then there’s this black hole in the middle of our country where no one comes out alive. Or with anything over a fifth-grade reading level.

*****

Thanks Jim.

Being from Kansas, I’m pretty sure that means I have a fifth grade reading level. So I assume that means that The Contentious Ten can’t be one of your favorite columns. Since you, know, it’s written by me.

Anyway, good match. I’m surprised to see that Kane wasn’t carried to a good match: Michaels didn’t do much other than his big spots and laying around. One of Kane’s better performances.

Posted By: Who Needs Personality? (Guest) on March 28, 2010 at 05:07 PM

Aaron Hubbard is a virgin.

Posted By: Guest#7873

I hope not. Or else, if he doesn’t put the moves on Robin soon, the sexy MILF vampire is going to make him one of her own. I mean… he could just wait until the Halloween deadline… but not after the Countess kidnaps Robin after the high school dance!

I miss the days when Comedy Central had limited programming and would show Once Bitten every morning. Ah, those were the days.

If you go just slightly further into this angle, it got even weirder where somehow Lita choosing Edge over Kane somehow made her the heel. Granted, fans probably were just getting into the backstage drama of the whole Lita/Edge/Matt Hardy affair, but if you didn’t know about it turning Lita heel didn’t make sense either.

Posted By: JLAJRC

It made no sense whatsoever to fans who weren’t in the IWC loop. I can only imagine what a casual fan made of Lita’s turn on Kane and the growing “WE WANT MATT!” chants. Paul Heyman’s “MATT FRIGGIN’ HARDY!” moment at One Night Stand probably added further fuel to the confusing fire.

But even the transition from Lita/Matt/Kane to Lita/Edge/Matt upon Hardy’s return was insulting to the IWC crowd in a way. It’s like WWE was telling us, “Okay, that Kane and Lita baby stuff was fake, and yeah, Lita turning on Kane to side with Edge was fake, but THIS stuff with Matt Hardy is REAL!” They did their best for a while to make Matt into the renegade who came back for retribution, but the fact that they had basically started the angle WITHOUT Matt (and with Kane in the IWC-understood role of Matt) made it awfully awkward when Kane was eventually replaced with the rehired Hardy.

– –

Another week, another bastardized match to remember. Think YOU have a superior pick for Forgotten Favorites? Well, then YOU should enlighten the rest of us, big shot. I welcome any and all suggestions and/or critiques.

Until next time, stay safe and out of Dundalk.

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Jim Grimm

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