Forgotten Favorites 04.13.10: Royal Rumble 2001 – Kurt Angle vs. Triple H

Welcome back, wrestling fans, for another week of your most unforgotten favorite, that being the greatness that is Forgotten Favorites. We are now in the AGE OF SWAGGA’ and I’ve got to say that this is the shot in the arm that WWE desperately needs. The All-American American will soon be a featured player in the world of Forgotten Favorites, as I become more and more of a mark for this guy every week.

And big news, my most devoted of readers, for this week I ordered my tickets for the Extreme Rules PPV. My last wrestling show was the decent-yet-not-great Survivor Series last year, and my last PPV before that was SummerSlam in ’05, which owned all kinds of things that can be owned. Will Extreme Rules be as great as Hogan-HBK or the time I met Rick Steamboat at a live event? Probably not. But it’ll still rule, because I’m ‘gon get CRUNK anyway. And yes, if I see you carrying a Jim Grimm sign I will definitely shake your hand and let you buy me a beer.

And now that I’ve wasted enough of your time with my personal life (did I mention I’ve almost finished tabbing all of Alkaline Trio’s new album?), I figure it must be time to get to what 411 doesn’t pay me to do.

So who wants great wrestling?

Royal Rumble – January 21, 2001
World Wrestling Federation Championship
Kurt Angle vs. Triple H

HOW IT WENT DOWN

We’ve all been in this situation before. You know, the one where you’re maybe focusing too much on winning the World Wrestling Federation Title and not paying the old lady enough attention, and then all of a sudden some Olympic Gold Medallist comes along and tries to sweep her off her feet. It’s a fairly common occurrence.

Unfortunately for Triple H, it seems no one warned him of this frequently occurring scenario, leaving The Game to be caught quite off guard in the summer of 2000. Earlier in the year, Trips had dominated the WWF Title division, standing tall over guys like The Rock, Mick Foley, Kane, and The Big Show. But while the McMahon-Helmsley Era was running strong, there was a relative newcomer who was quickly ascending the ranks of the Federation.

After debuting in November of ’99, Kurt Angle had been tearing through the competition like nobody’s business, racking up victory after victory, title after title. Within a couple of weeks’ time in early 2000, he picked up both the European and Intercontinental Championships. In June he lifted the year-long Assman Hex placed upon the King of the Ring throne by winning the once-again prestigious KOTR tournament. And then from here on out, his focus became the WWF Championship.

Enter The Game.

Triple H didn’t care what Angle wanted, because as far as he was concerned The Game was the only man worthy of the upcoming SummerSlam title shot. Needless to say, HHH was none too happy when his number one contender’s triple threat with Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho went to a split decision, leading to SummerSlam’s main event becoming a Triple Threat between HHH, Angle, and WWF Champion The Rock.

Indeed, Triple H had problems enough with Angle considering he was forced to share his SummerSlam title shot. But to make matters even worse for the esteemed son-in-law, in the midst of all the title chasing and smacking-downing, the Olympian was starting to move in on his wife. And that’s a no-no.

Check out the build to SummerSlam below, including the debut of Kurt Angle’s stunning Greco-Roman Liplock.

SummerSlam delivered with one hell of a Triple Threat match, featuring some sick bumps (some intentional, some not) and great action. The Rock was able to capitalize on the drama between the challengers and retain his title, picking up the pinfall over Triple H.

However, the war over Stephanie McMahon was far from over. Angle’s newfound mean streak took his rivalry with HHH to a new level of intensity, and it was all set to explode in a match officated by Mick Foley at September’s Unforgiven.

After a sound victory for Triple H at Unforgiven, the rivalry waters were cooled for a while, and each guy moved (sort of) in his own direction. Angle shocked the world when he won the WWF Championship from The Rock one month later at No Mercy. Triple H left our planet earth equally stunned when he revealed that he had all along hatched the evil plot that saw Rikishi motor down Stone Cold Steve Austin. Survivor Series saw Angle retain his title against Undertaker, with Triple H being dropped from a forklift by Stone Cold to close the show. All paths would cross at December’s Armageddon, when Angle put the WWF Championship on the line in Hell In A Cell against Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, and Rikishi. Amazingly, the champion retained that night in a fight that would put his recent adversary on the shelf for a few weeks.

The search for a new number one contender was underway following Armageddon, and five of the top contenders (plus William Regal) were all gunning for a title shot on the January 1st edition of Raw. That night, three matches determined the combatans for a Triple Threat match to take place on the following SmackDown. Undertaker went over Rikishi, Kane benefitted from Angle-ference in beating The Rock, and William Regal got a fast count over Stone Cold with a little help from guest referee Stephanie McMahon.

And so it was supposed to be Undertaker vs. Kane vs. Regal on SmackDown to determine the next number one contender. Only problem was that Stone Cold didn’t want to watch that match at all, and he saw fit to bring about some positive change.

I’m a sucker for a Stone Cold ass-kicking, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to include one of his most baddasserific beatdowns…

Out of fear of the Rattlesnake targeting the Billion Dollar Princess next, Vince McMahon gave Austin what he wanted and allowed him Regal’s spot in the Triple Threat. With Vince refereeing and delivering a surprisingly clean count, Austin won the match that night to earn a title shot on the following Raw.

When Stone Cold stepped into the ring with WWF Champion Kurt Angle on Raw, it seemed that another title reign was in the Texas Rattlesnake’s future. But just when Austin had Angle down for the count, the returning Triple H poked his rather large nose into the affair and reminded the world that he was certainly not too fond of Steve Austin. The match was declared a No Contest, and post-match activities saw HHH dominate Austin before debuting his now trademark Motorhead entrance music.

On the following SmackDown, Vince McMahon — considering Steve Austin as having received his fair title shot — announced a new number one contender for the WWF Championship, declaring it would be Kurt Angle vs. Triple H at the Royal Rumble. Vince’s reasoning for naming his son-in-law? Apparently it was just because the dude is indeed that damn good.

And so for a brief period of time Angle and HHH revisited their rivalry. Only this time around, the focus wasn’t so much on wife-stealing as it was a desire to be the top guy in the company.

So… would Kurt Angle’s first reign as WWF Champion continue, or would The Game add another title victory to his growing list of accomplishments?

WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

Since his debut at the Survivor Series in 1999, Kurt Angle has cemented his spot as a legend of the business. In fact, you might even say that Angle achieved legendary status less than twelve months into his career, having accomplished more in his rookie year than many wrestlers in their entire careers. Indeed, the original All-American American AMERICAN has enjoyed tremendous success as a professional wrestler, and his proven status as a draw means that even a good amount of outsiders to the sport still know who Kurt Angle is.

So, you may wonder, what exactly could anyone have FORGOTTEN about the only Olympic Gold Medallist in WWE’s history?

Well, wrestling fans, I say now that it is WWE who is at fault for forgetfulness most foul, and I’m referring to Angle’s reigns with the top prize(s) in the wrestling business, the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships.

Here’s an interesting little fact that slipped under my radar until I started researching this week’s column: After Royal Rumble 2001, a heel Angle would not retain a World Title on PPV until almost exactly two years later against Benoit at ’03’s Rumble installment. And then after that? Never again. At least not in a company that matters.

Angle was no stranger to the World or WWE Titles while under the employment of one Vincent McMahon. But if you look at the length of Angle’s title reigns, the dude was never given the ball to run with for any seriously extended period of time. WWE always booked Angle as one of the best wrestlers in the company(/world), but for some reason they never put him over the top as one of their most dominant World Champions. And even when he WAS dominant, it was either as a face or a shades-of-grey tweener, not so much as the crafty heel persona he’s also become known for. Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Edge, and Randy Orton were all given extended title reigns that saw numerous successful title defenses, all despite the fact that they were soullessly evil villains. But Kurt Angle? Not really.

Oddly enough, Angle’s most kayfabe-ishly dominant title reign as a heel was his first run with the belt, before the dude had even established himself as a worthwhile draw for the company. Over the course of a few months, Angle turned back the singles challenges of The Rock, Triple H, and Undertaker, not to mention the fact that he went over nearly every major Attitude Era star in ONE MATCH at Armageddon 2000. His most historically significant reign as a heel was likely the one that ended at the hands of Brock Lesnar, simply because it led Angle to his first WrestleMania main event; however, that particular reign’s list of successful title defenses leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Historical, but not quite what Angle deserves

And so when we look back at a career that has mostly been defined by heelishness, we see that Kurt Angle has surprisingly only been the WWE’s top bad guy twice in his career. And the only time they ever booked him as a consistently dominant heel champion over a respectable stretch of time was well before the dude reached the God-like levels that made him legendary. To quote a future TNA Champion, wassupwitdat?

Maybe it’s because of the new levels of World Championage that Chris Jericho has reached in his second WWE run. Maybe it’s because I think Angle has more to offer than trying to make Kennedy look good. Or maybe it’s because I don’t take TNA seriously in any way. But really, Kurt Angle NEEDS to come back to the company that made him a (pro wrestling) star, because Angle NEEDS to prove that he can stand atop the biggest wrestling company of the world for more than two or three months.

Carrying TNA on his back for years and years is fine and all, as long as Kurt knows that in the long run it will have meant absolutely nothing. Sure, he’s been able to have fresh matches with both the younger generation (Styles, Joe) and the old (Jarrett, Sting), but in the end it has earned him nothing but an easier work-schedule. If that’s his goal, more power to him. But if his goal was to add to his legacy, make young guys into stars, or establish TNA as legitimate competition to WWE, well… sorry, Kurt. None of that has happened. As good as AJ and Joe are, they are still nonexistent to the casual fan, just like TNA itself.

And so, I do declare that Kurt Angle MUST return to WWE sooner rather than later if there’s any chance of re-solidfying his legacy while also achieving the further greatness that I know he’s capable of. His first title reign being his most dominant is completely unacceptable considering the leaps and bounds the dude made over the course of the rest of his WWE career. This week’s Royal Rumble match showcases just how good Angle was barely over a year into his stay in WWE; if WWE was willing to give him such a dominant run THEN, there’s no question that, with how good he would eventually become, that he has deserved much, much more since his initial reign.

WHY IT ISN’T REMEMBERED

It’s a terrible awful heartbreaking tragedy of wrestling that one of the best in the world is wasting his time in the minor leagues, especially when he’s still got so much left to offer. If you had told me in 2006 that Kurt Angle would still be in TNA four years later, well then I would’ve punched you in the mouth. I hated the cruel injustice of the world when Angle left WWE, and I hate it even more whenever I see the guy mixing it up in a TNA ring.

But here we are in 2010, with Kurt Angle still earning his paycheck from someone not named McMahon. And thus, Angle’s legacy has suffered greatly. WWE hasn’t completely avoided the great American hero, as he has popped up on the occassional DVD retrospective, but the E is not going to go out of their way to make sure their fans still remember Kurt Angle. At this point, WWE is primarily concerned with the fans holding onto two particular memories of Angle, those being his WrestleMania jobs to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.

So really, there’s no reason for WWE to keep the memory of their Kurt Angle alive much at all, let alone a match like the one at the 2001 Royal Rumble. WWE gains nothing by reminding fans that a current TNA wrestler once retained the WWE Title over the almighty Triple H. They also gain an equal amount of nothing by reminding fans of any portion of Angle’s first title reign, where Kurt went over some of the biggest names in WWE history.

If we throw all of the TNA stuff to the side, there still remains other reasons why this Royal Rumble match has sort of gotten the shaft over the years. The most glaringly obvious reason is because of the event at which the match took place, which is a PPV usually built almost entirely around the Royal Rumble match itself. Except for some extremely awesome exceptions (Foley’s ’99 and ’00 epics come to mind), the Royal Rumble is not usually remembered for its WWE Title matches. And of course this is all understandable considering it’s the beginning of the Road to WrestleMania, and the Rumble is usually reserved for a predictable title defense where the goal is simply to make the champion look stronger. For every classic like Rock-Mankind, we’ve got five abortions like Lesnar-Holly.

January 2003’s WWE Title Number One Contender

Furthermore, quality WWE Title matches at the Rumble are rare, but quality WWE Title matches between heels are even moreso. In fact, any kind of heel vs. heel matchup has become a rarity in WWE. This past year’s Sheamus-Orton confrontation (at the Rumble, no less) was the first time in ages that I can recall two heels clashing over the WWE Title on PPV. The reason for this is WWE’s hesistance to throw two villains in the ring against each other, a hesistance that existed even in the Jerry Springer-esque insanity of the Attitude Era. Angle-HHH was just as rare in 2001 as Sheamus-Orton was in 2010, and I have a feeling that this past year’s title match at the Rumble stands as good a chance of being remembered as 2001’s.

Since heel vs. heel is not an oft-explored dynamic, WWE isn’t going out of their way to remind you of any instances where it happened. Not only that, but, unless the heels have some sort of rivalry, it makes the booking look confused, cluttered, and poorly executed. Angle vs. HHH was a well-booked feud in 2000, because Angle’s wife-stealing-ness made the heel HHH into the babyface by default. Yet immediately after it “ended,” HHH became the super evil genius who had orchestrated the hit-and-run on Steve Austin, and he was once again (despite Angle being the Champ) the top heel in the company. When the 2001 Rumble rolled around, HHH and Angle were most certainly both villains, and a rivalry that had been built on deep personal issues just months earlier had turned into what seemed to be a last minute pairing. Don’t get me wrong, these guys had a great title match (or else I wouldn’t write about it), but the build beforehand has kind of hurt whatever lasting impact the confrontation may have had.

And then, even more than that, if fans are going to remember Kurt Angle and Triple H locking up, they’re going to remember their matches from months before the Rumble. The Angle-Steph-HHH drama was Kurt’s first major storyline and it was a hell of a hit with the audience. When you’re looking back at the Angle-HHH rivalry, you’re probably going to pop in a tape of 2000’s SummerSlam or Unforgiven, not their title match at 2001’s Rumble. And this comes back to my earlier point about the not-so-fantastic build to their heel/heel matchup.

Unfortunately, it looks like WWE’s got more reasons to keep this one out of our minds than on our DVD sets.

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

The best part of that match was the interference from Tazz and how that idiot tripped over the camera’s cord like six times.

Posted By: Alfredo Lara Jr. Mows My Lawn

This foreshadowed his tendency to trip over his words throughout nearly all of his commentary-focused career.

As much as I’d like to agree that the cage match is a forgotten favorite…I’d be so bold to say that Fully Loaded 2000 as a show is worthy of the title.

In a great year for WWF PPV (outside of WM 2000 sucking in ways we never thought possible), that show isn’t as remembered as it should be. Having the best Last Man Standing match up till Royal Rumble 2004, and one of the Rock’s best in-ring performances, it’s really a great PPV event.

As always, great column.

Posted By: nastrodamus

At the time I crapped all over this PPV because of the results of the three majorly advertised matches, where Jericho, Angle, and Benoit all jobbed out to HHH, Taker, and Rock. I thought it was a miscarriage of justice that all three veterans went over in matches that could’ve really helped to establish the younger guys had they won. Turns out those three young guys ended up doing pretty well for themselves in the long run.

Looking back now I think I can appreciate this show a lot more for what it is: an awesome wrestling event. This was a time when WWE was extremely effective at organizing their roster and spacing guys out, giving everybody from the lower card up to the main events the proper build and recognition. The result is a hell of a show where everything actually matters.

Thank you for coming back,this column is great.Can u please do CM Punk vs Elijah Burke at Judgement Day 2007,it was an awesome match for 2 ECW stars proving how good they are.

Posted By: Guest#5880

I remember this coming up before, and I’ve definitely got it on the list of stuff to cover. Punk/Burke kind of falls in with my discussion of the IC Title making stars, since the ECW Title sort of became the “new” IC Title for a while there (think Punk, Morrison, Swagger). And it would be interesting to take a look at why Burke never got his fair shot in the E. Patience, 5880th Guest; this day will soon come.

I remember this purely for Rikishi’s big Superfly Snuka like splash off the top of the cage. That Rikish was crazy, he even got chokeslammed off the hell in a cell onto a car.

Posted By: Nevermore

Rikishi’s taken a lot of heat over the last few years and has somehow gotten the reputation of a guy who’s only looking out for himself. I don’t see how that argument can hold up when you take a look at Fully Loaded or that Cell spot from Armageddon. Or even the dive off the SmackDown stage that I covered last week. These are all risks that he did NOT have to take and that no one EXPECTED him to take. A guy who is Rikishi’s size is not at all expected to take high risks or dive off of cages, and yet he did it because of the insane crowd reaction it got. He didn’t have to, but he did. And he did it to entertain wrestling fans.

fully loaded was the best wwf ppv produced in 2000. simply awesome even better than wrestlemania 2000

Posted By: Guest#1949

It’s hard for me to pick the best, but Fully Loaded, WrestleMania, and Royal Rumble were all pretty fantastic that year. I’m leaning towards the Rumble, just because HHH and Foley had one of the best WWE Title matches in history.

why was austin on the front cover if he wasnt there at the time and was returning a few months later?

Posted By: nemz08

I remember being confused about this at the time, and I can’t recall if there was ever any explanation. I feel like Austin was rumored to be returning at the event, but I don’t remember any hints of that on WWE programming. The DVD cover (or VHS cover, more than likely) looked different, featuring Taker, Rock, and HHH, but that Austin poster was definitely the official one for the PPV ahead of time. Anybody have more info on this?

+2 for intelligent analysis of Rikishi and Val Venis
-1 for unwarrented Chyna hate.

Posted By: The Celt

Any shred of fame Chyna has left is all STILL owed completely to Vince McMahon and professional wrestling. She appeared to have started her career as someone who (seemingly) cared about wrestling, and then she became someone who thought that she was more important than wrestling. Based on everything I’ve seen/heard/read of Chyna, she went from being someone who acknowledged the debt she owed wrestling to someone who thought that wrestling owed a debt to her. She did NOT revolutionize women’s wrestling, as it’s in basically the same state it was 15 years ago. And she did NOT revolutionize the idea of the girls fighting the boys, since wrestling fans will NEVER EVER NEVER EVER seriously buy into women being able to hold their own against men. Maybe this makes me an ignorant misogynist, but it offends me that Chyna was a MULTI-TIME Intercontinental Champion. Intergender wrestling will NEVER work outside of infrequent attraction matches.

And yet despite all of this — and I base all of this off of not knowing Chyna and relying only on what I’ve seen and read — she seems to think that she gave more to wrestling than wrestling gave to her. And for that reason, any wrestling fan hating on Chyna is totally warranted.

Don’t know why Rikishi never, at least became a champ. Was it because of his health and fitness or was it because it was the wrong time (ie no brand split yet)? Nowadays, he would have at least had 1 reign as champ on Smackdown.

Posted By: Bleh

I think it was a combination of it being pre-brand-extension and the horrible handling of his heel turn. If it was going to happen, it should’ve been as the mega-over dancing babyface, and WWE threw all that out the window with the retardation of Rikishi running over Austin for Samoans or Triple H or the San Diego Chargers or however they butchered the angle from week to week. If they kept Rikishi babyface and continued to build him, he might have been a valuable asset in the Invasion storyline, probably becoming a regular in the ranks of the WWE Title in 2001.

This article made me cry, Val Venis was one of the greatest. God bless you Val!

Posted By: Chungles

Damn right. I always thought that Val could’ve made it to the main event if WWE could’ve only taken him seriously for an extended period of time. Unfortunately I think they always just saw him as a decent worker who was better off performing a joke gimmick, which is mad unfair considering they saddled him with the joke gimmick in the first place.

heel val was awesome. not many realized his alliance with test and albert was a deeper sexual innuendo. T,V, & A.

Posted By: rey

I believe Total Vaginal Annhiliation was the originally desired name but they had to drop it because Russo was preparing a new match concept in WCW with a similar name.

Fully Loaded 2000 was a great ppv. Only Backlash and Summerslam were better that year.

Posted By: Spaghett

Again, I say, Royal Rumble! But still, it’s hard to pick the best when the whole year was pretty phenomenal PPV-wise.

I fully agree w/ this article, I actually have old VHS tapes from mid ’99 to mid 2000, and I gotta sa I get a kick out of watchin’ them here and there every time. The crowd was so much more electric and you knew stuff was great when even a Crash Holly vs Viscera & Test vs Joey Abs matche got great response

Posted By: SS87

Like I was saying earlier, the E really knew how to book the ENTIRE roster at this time. It was stacked with great characters, from the Hardcore division up to the main eventers. Like you said, nearly every match on an episode of Raw or SD at the time got amazing heat from the crowd. Those were the days.

I did it for The Rock.

Posted By: Rikishi

I did it for the DRUUUU-UUUGGS!

Sorry, I was fifteen again for a second there.

+2 for intelligent analysis of Rikishi and Val Venis
-1 for unwarrented Chyna hate.

Posted By: The Celt (Guest) on April 04, 2010 at 08:37 AM

No such thing as unwarrented Chyna hate.

Posted By: Blanky (Guest)

Agreed. Scroll up for my reasons for agreement.

It’s rare for WWE to build a feud like that in the midcard unless one of the guys is already a main-eventer

Posted By: K. Bett

Which is something I wish they still cared to do. The only way they can think to build new guys now is by putting them into feuds with established main eventers. That method can work just fine, but it’s not the only method. I’m having flashbacks to the drawn-out Kennedy-Taker feud that benefitted absolutely no one.

They did it for The Rock. They did it for the people.

Posted By: The Rock

They did it for the DRUUUU-UUUGGS!

Sorry.

you should review a fatal four way between billy kidman psychosis rey mysterio and juventud guerrera

Posted By: la parka

I’m not familiar with this one, but then again I’m not familiar with a lot of WCW. Although I do want to make a point to step outside my comfort zone and cover some WCW eventually, so maybe this one could work out.

Wow, I don’t remember much of the older stuff being so young at the time, but this is what the WWE should go back to.

Midcard rivalries, stipulation matches for titles other than WWE and WHC. Managers, interference, excited crowds, big spots, etc. And last but not least, matches that last more than 7 minutes 😛

Posted By: Jordan

WWE ain’t got no respect for that midcard these days. It’s a shame. In the ratings-crazed time of the Raw/Nitro war, they made it a point to make every segment of the show worth watching. Now that quarter-hour breakdowns mean next to nothing, WWE doesn’t care about anything except the main event.

Woop woop! Nice Sisqo reference and I like how your column’s got a goofy, light-hearted tone. Too many serious columns on this site.

Val and Kishi were both really underrated talents, especially here in the IWC. This match proved with the oppurtunity both could go. Who can forget Rikishi’s crazy-as fatman splash from the top?

And yeah, you bring up a very good point in that the IC title is very important to build up stars, can give us good midcard feuds, and give lower-end talents something to do. too bad they have devalued it lately and seem to remember only every 3 months that Miz holds it.

Posted By: Holla

Ah, an extraordinarily appropriate slip-up with Miz there. There is no difference between the IC and US Titles, and it doesn’t matter who holds it or for how long. I used to be able to (on the fly) rattle off the last few years’ worth of IC Champions as well as the major title changes, but now I’m lost without consulting a title history. Since I get hazy after Orton, I feel pretty confident in saying that his was the last IC Title reign that actually mattered.

And I’m glad someone picked up on the reference of my fellow Baltimore-native, Sisqo. The man made some craptastic music, but he at least called an awesome place his home.

To me, Rikishi and Val are prime examples of them being popular due to their gimmicks, not because of the matches they had. You basically covered the two things Rikishi was known for, his dancing and failed heel turn. Val only really had one memorable feud against Kaientai, and that’s basically remembered because of the “Choppy Choppy Your Pee Pee” line that was inducted into Wrestlecrap years ago. Otherwise, he’s known for the porn gimmick and his stint in Right to Censor. I had completely forgotten about Chief Morley until you mentioned it here.

Don’t get me wrong. They were good wrestlers. But that is all. They didn’t put on classics or anything. In fact, you could say that for alot of memorable midcard wrestlers.

Posted By: JLAJRC

In all fairness, most of the major names in WWE have gotten over due to gimmicks, not classic matches. But once the gimmick gets a guy over, it’s his skills inside the ring which determine his longevity. I won’t argue that Val and Rikishi’s gimmicks are what initially got them over, but I will say that I don’t think they were given enough opportunities to prove their worth between the bells. Rikishi had a popular, recognizable moveset, and Val showed flashes of technical greatness here and there. Given the proper opportunities I think both of these guys could’ve gone down as more than just really over midcard gimmicks.

Val Venis also got a push when he feuded with Mick Foley for a little bit and actually beat him on PPV with a modified Socko Claw.

I am not sure of the year, but I remember it was during the British Bulldog’s comeback where British Bulldog wore jeans. Val Venis looked like he was going to be a main eventer but it never happeneded.

Rikishi and his heel turn were cool I though. It was out of nowhere but it made perfect sense. But the problem was when he got his PPV match with Austin, all it was was Stone Cold beating him to death and trying to kill Rikishi by running him over with his jeep while Rikishi was sitting up against a wall.

Rikishi litterally got no offense. If they made him look tough against Austin and others, maybe he would have been more succesful, and when turned back into good Riksihi again, the fans would love him but also respect that he is not be mess with in the ring.

Posted By: Samsonite

Val’s victory over Foley was at No Mercy ’99. I vaguely remember something about Val throwing Mick’s autobiography in the garbage and Foley was all like “Oh no he didn’t” and this was apparently reason enough to fight on PPV. I was always a big fan of Val, and I hated it whenever they’d tease us with possibly pushing the guy furhter up the card.

And yeah, Austin completely owned Rikishi. And then WWE itself owned Rikishi when the angle took an even more ridiculous turn and it was revealed that TRIPLE H was actually behind the whole vehicular assault. Not that Rikishi hadn’t done it anymore … it was actually Rikishi and HHH all along! Which makes perfect sense!

Not even the power of my urn could have resurrected Venis’ and Rikishis’ careers. OHHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Posted By: Paul Bearer

I wasn’t aware you survived the Concrete Crypt of Handicap-Match-Main-Eventing-Worthlessness. And a certain southern neighbor of the United States is going to try and do what your urn allegedly cannot. VIVA LA VENIS!

And yeah, you bring up a very good point in that the IC title is very important to build up stars, can give us good midcard feuds, and give lower-end talents something to do. too bad they have devalued it lately and seem to remember only every 3 months that Miz holds it.
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That’s actually the US Title. McIntyre holds the IC, but really that just furthers your point.

Posted By: Cyrith

Seems I wasn’t the only one who noticed the slip. Midcard singles titles are in a sad state in McMahon Land.

It’s nice to look back at when WWE was actually good. Been a long long while since those days.

Posted By: Vince McArsehole

It’s a give and take with historical perspective. Yeah, they cared a lot more about producing well-rounded shows consistently, but now we (on average) get FAR superior action inside the ring on a regular basis. Rarely would you see a televised match in the Attitude Era that went over ten minutes, if it even made it to ten minutes at all. Some stuff’s better, some stuff’s worse. One thing they had then that they desperately need now? Two words: Duane Gill.

Great article, its crazy to think of the STACKED roster the WWE had in 2000 and you had Val and Rikishi at the top of the IC title picture. That shows how over and good they were at the time.

Also fully loaded 2000 is one of my all time favorite PPVs

Posted By: ripstamps

That’s exactly the point I wanted to make. The midcard roster was loaded with guys who would go on to dominate WWE in the years after, and yet for that one summer it was Rikishi and Val who were kings of the midcard scene. It’s easy to say now that Jericho, Angle, Guerrero, and Benoit were the ones destined to break into the main event, but who knows what Val and Rikishi could’ve accomplished if given more attention?

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Until next time, stay safe and out of Dundalk.