The Dusty Shelf: WWF Backlash 2000

The Dusty Shelf: WWF Backlash 2000
By: Stuart James

Note on The Dusty Shelf: The Dusty Shelf is a look back at forgotten gems that some people underrate for whatever reason. Alternatively, these DVD reviews can be events which have a good reason to be at the back of a cupboard, never to be viewed again. This article bases its report on the match quality, booking quality and overall fun and flow of the show before finally deciding if the DVD belongs on the shelf, or should be a part of all wrestling collections and watched regularly. So let’s get started with …

WWF Backlash 2000
Washington D.C.

Backlash is one of the most consistent cards in all of wrestling. Historically, its almost always had something good to offer, sometimes even surpassing that of Wrestlemania. One example was last year, 2007, where Backlash, at least in my opinion, was far superior to Wrestlemania itself – this coming from somebody that thinks Wrestlemania 23 was far better than people give it credit for.

It’s widely regarded that Wrestlemania 2000, which occurred the month prior to this event, was a huge disappointment. A lacklustre main event headlined a card with only one standout match, which made the careers of six men (which would become obvious at this Backlash). It was surprising, due to the great and emotional rollercoasters of the Royal Rumble, and No Way Out.

Therefore it was important that they bounced back with a pay-per-view that made up for the disappointment of Wrestlemania. With the roster WWF had back then, with Triple H at the best he ever was, The Rock hitting his best, and a wonderful undercard with the likes of Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and a fast developing tag team division, it was clear that the potential was there to give some of the greatest pay-per-views of all time, such as the Royal Rumble 2000.

The main angle of Backlash was the ongoing feud between The Rock and Triple H. Triple H and Vince McMahon once again reigned supreme at Wrestlemania, where HHH walked away still the WWF Champion, the first heel to do so at ‘Mania. They would continue their feud at Backlash, with a one-on-one match with Shane McMahon as the referee, and HHH having Vince McMahon in his corner, and The Rock would have the returning Stone Cold Steve Austin in his corner.

The main undercard angles were the ongoing feud between the Canadian Chris’, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, as they fought over who was the better wrestler. Kurt Angle was frustrated at Big Show for not being serious during their tag team title match, and turned on him, thus turning Big Show face and having him seek revenge. Bubba-Ray Dudley was involved in a storyline where he was putting women through tables, but he couldn’t do it to Trish Stratus as she flirted with him, and hence leading to a match between the Dudleyz and T&A.

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler.

The show opens with Debra, then wife of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who will be the ring announcer for the opening contest. This would prove to be a fairly poor decision on the WWF’s part, since she was clearly wasted half way to kingdom come, so she does an extremely horrible job doing her thirty second announcing duties. And that’s the bottom line … not the best way to start the show.

Opening Match:
WWF Tag Team Championships: D-Generation X (Road Dogg & X-Pac) vs. Edge & Christian©

This is quite a treat for me, personally, as this puts two of my least favourite wrestlers during this time period up against my two favourites (Edge & Christian). I do have to say, though, I love the entrances for both these two teams.

Edge and Christian were coming off a career victory in a terrific ladder match at Wrestlemania 2000. It raised the bar of all ladder matches, and without it, such classics as The Briscoes against Steenerico could never have happened in quite the same way. The result was obvious, since they came out to a huge applause at Backlash, much bigger than any pay-per-view previously. While this may be because they were facing X-Pac, it is still blatantly obvious they were the crowd favourites. X-Pac on the other hand, and to a certain extent Road Dogg, came out to riotous jeers from the crowd, because people generally don’t like X-Pac.

In my opinion, this is the perfect choice for the opener. Both teams provide a good, formulaic tag team match, with the heels getting a decent heat section in this nine minute match, and Edge & Christian countering with neat high-flying offence. In the end, Edge and Christian pick up a much favoured victory, resorting to nefarious means (the ring bell to X-Pac), which allowed Christian to pick up the win. A fine opener, which set the tone for the rest of the night. And to top off my night, X-Pac does a blade job for the shot. Good stuff all round. Now the crowd has a taste of blood, and they want more.

Winners and STILL WWF Tag Team Champions: Edge & Christian
Match Rating: ***

Match Number Two:
WWF Lightheavyweight Championship: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko©

This match really does infuriate me when I rewatch it. It proves to me that, when WWF/E try, they can pull off amazing ligtheavyweight or cruiserweight matches. I mean, you have this match, Taka Michinoku vs. Great Sasuke from Canadian Stampede, Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero from Great American Bash 2004 – all tremendous cruiserweight matches, all from different times. So it proves that WWE can have great cruiserweight matches, they just need to assert themselves. And you can’t exactly say that WWE don’t have the talent for it: imagine this match nowadays, having somebody like Jimmy Wang Yang playing the Scotty role, and Jamie Noble playing the Dean Malenko role. They could easily pull it off.

That aside, this is greatness. Scotty 2 Hotty really brings his A-Game and sells is ass off for Dean Malenko’s offence. Lets face it, Malenko was awesome, he was just as good a technical wrestler as anybody I’ve ever seen and he brought the greatness to this match. For my money, the best lightheavyweight championship matches since Sasuke and Taka at Canadian Stampede.

Scotty plays a great role of a face-in-peril, while Dean Malenko publicly dissects his leg, which is great psychology against a high-flier. It’s a mixture of technique, power wrestling, babyface comebacks and quick wrestling, and is just a fantastic match to watch. The two wrestlers had superb chemistry at this time, and it really paid off in the end because what we got was a great lightheavyweight match.

Some highlights are Scotty’s babyface comebacks, but in the end, the technical master Dean Malenko was able to counter a superplex into a simply spectacular tope rope DDT. Friends and family, we are here today to celebrate the life of Scott Taylor … That finish has aged so well. This match could have been even higher rated, had Scotty sold the leg work a bit more by hopping on the other leg for the worm, but that is a minor gripe. Its still a great match to see. Easily Scotty’s best match ever, and probably Dean Malenko’s best in WWF.

Winner and STILL WWF Lightheavyweight Champion: Dean Malenko
Match Rating: ****1/4

Match Number Three:
APA (Bradshaw & Faarooq ) vs. Bull Buchanon & The Big Bossman

This one wasn’t very pretty to watch. For starters, the totally wrong people went over. Like it or not, the Big Bossman wasn’t very over at any point in his career, despite multiple pushes. Yes, he had an awesome gimmick, awesome theme music and solid matches, but he wasn’t too over. Don’t get me wrong though, I am a fan of his work. As well as this, Buchanon was only ever over when in Right to Censor, the finest lower midcard stable ever (I don’t even know if I’m joking there). On the other hand, the APA were very over indeed, because of their gimmick, backstage stints and great charisma. So putting Buchanon & Bossman over seemed a bit strange, since they still weren’t over after several failed pushes.

The match consists mostly of punching and kicking, and sloppy brawling for the most part. Nothing really of note happens, and it does tend to drag on. Although nothing is really bad enough to drag it down to DUD territory. Buchanon does his trademark agile spot he could do competently, and a night stick shot leads to the APA’s demise.

In all honesty, after the awesomeness of the lightheavyweight title match, you were never going to follow it up with something as good, so the logic is good. Get this one out of the way.

Match Winners: Bull Buchanon & The Big Bossman
Match Rating: 3/4*

Match Number Four:
WWF Hardcore title: Crash Holly© vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Perry Saturn vs. Tazz

This match is very interesting because of the background. Crash Holly was sneaking out of every title match without losing his hardcore title. So they put him in this match, where the rules are as follows: the match is contested under hardcore rules, but the only way the match can end is by Crash Holly getting pinned, or Crash Holly pins somebody else.

This match, can be defined as just fun. The Hardys provide great high-risk spots, especially at the start of the match towards the stage. Hardcore Holly provides really good storytelling, Tazz is your hardcore guy, and Perry Saturn is the man that holds it all together.

The whole match is pure enjoyment, from start to finish, and tells a wonderful story of Crash getting his ass handed to him and sneaking in a pin. There’s something really likeable about this match, and is good solid way to spend ten or so minutes.

Winner and STILL WWF Hardcore Champion: Crash Holly
Match Rating: ***1/4

Match Number Five:
Kurt Angle vs. Big Show

This match was three minutes long and saw Kurt Angle getting squashed pretty decisively. Therefore, I should be pretty pissed? No, the only pissing that happened was my pants because this was so freaking funny to watch! Kurt Angle comes out, and does his shtick before the match begins, which was hilarious listening to. For an Olympian (which, in all honesty, should mean he gets cheered) to get such great heel heat is a credit to the man’s work. Kurt Angle is God.

But then, “I Am A Real American” hits the loudspeaker and the whole place goes nuts, as The Showster comes out, in bright yellow, pointing his finger and dancing around like a lunatic. Absolutely hilarious stuff already, and then Big Show gets out the microphone, and then the awesome begins. He mimics Hogan’s mannerisms completely, making a mockery of Hogan, with “dude, brother, dude, you know somethin’!?” Unbelievably funny stuff.

Afterwards the promos, the match begins, and Big Show gets annoyed, takes off the fake mustache, and kills Angle with a chokeslam for the inevitable victory. But don’t feel too bad about Kurt Angle. By the end of the year he’ll have been a WWF Champion, AND he got to kick out of the Hulk Hogan legdrop on this night. That man is a winner.

Match Winner: The Showster, The Big Show
Match Rating: DUD (but ***** entertainment)

In the back, Bubba-Ray looks stoned and Trish Stratus is popping out of whatever she is wearing. Guess its another good ol’ WWF show!

Match Number Six:
Test & Albert vs. The Dudley Boyz

This match came about because of Bubba-Ray’s infatuation of Trish Stratus and his inability to put her through a table. D-Von was telling him that he was insane, while Test & Albert, who were managed by Trish back when it was cool to like Test, beat down on the Dudleyz.

This match is extremely similar to the APA vs. Bossman & Buchanon match, in that its mostly brawling, but its longer and more of a formula tag team match. Not to mention there’s a few extra moves in it as well. The crowd was very hot for this, even compared to the rest of the night (and they were a good crowd). To me, its sort of like the Marc Mero & Sable vs. Luna & Goldust match from Wrestlemania XIV in that: we don’t know how or why, but this match has an insane amount of crowd heat for such a mediocre storyline. I guess WWF bookers knew something we didn’t.

The main crowd pops are for Bubba-Ray and Trish, naturally, since they’re the centre of the whole storyline. There’s some good storytelling towards the end, as Trish distracts Bubba to allow Test to get the big boot and its over. Afterwards, Trish fights and struggles, but Bubba has had enough and destroys her with a rather sick powerbomb through a table – it just looked vicious. To top it all off, Trish gets a stretcher job for that one.

Winners: Test & Albert
Match Rating: *1/2

Eddie Guerrero is going to wrestle the next match in a bow-tie with prom trousers and shoes. That man was everything right about wrestling.

Match Number Seven:
WWF European Title: Essa Rios vs. Eddie Guerrero©

Eddie Guerrero is my hero. I loved the guy wrestling, even before he really broke out way back in 2004, and it heads all the way back to his WCW days. I’ve not seen a match I haven’t liked of his, And honestly, what’s better than watching Eddie Guerrero wrestle in a bow tie?

These two guys took a while to gel together during this match, and the opening portion had absolutely no heat, even despite Essa Rios’ wacky hairstyle. They began with some simple mat work, but it was fairly sloppy initially as they traded holds that just looked rather awkward.

However, as the match progressed, they started hitting everything crisply, and pulled out the big, high-impact moves. They told a nice story of Eddie overpowering Rios with huge, power moves, while his opponent flew around the ring. Eventually, they got the crowd behind them, which just goes to show – in an eight minute match, which is easily enough to build a story, you can easily get the crowd into any match. What an interesting concept, isn’t it?

Personally, I probably enjoyed this match way more than I should have, which seems to be a running theme in this event. Its also a really good match because, we’ve already had a basic tag team match, a fast and technical lightheavyweight match, a couple of brawls, a hardcore spot-fest and a pure entertainment match. So this lucha-libre-esque match is well placed on the card.

Also, Lita takes quite the nasty bump in this match.

The match end with Eddie Guerrero getting a clean victory after a well fought effort. A nice Gory Bomb ends a very nice eight minute battle.

Winner and STILL WWF European Champion: Eddie Guerrero
Match Rating: ***3/4

After the match, Chyna gets undressed by Lita because of the bump earlier, and gets a good round of applause for her incredibly manly physique. Whatever floats your boat, I guess …

And in other news, Chris Jericho is awesome on the stick, and Chris Benoit cuts quite a nice promo, which can be quite rare to find.

Match Number Eight:
WWF Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit©

God bless Vince McMahon for this match, and this feud to allow to happen. It’s just wonderful in everyway. Chris Benoit was in his badass “prove me wrong” persona, while Chris Jericho was one of the hottest acts in the company. Actually, its quite a shame WWF didn’t take a chance and give Jericho the WWF Title belt in 2000, because he was insanely over at that point.

This match is glorious because they do practically every style of wrestling known to man. Its just a wonderful match all round, and a pleasure to watch good upper midcarders fighting over the intercontinental title.

The match starts with some grappling, but then quickly moves to the outside. Benoit does an awesome suicide dive to the outside, and JR says something along the lines of: that’s a sure fire way to shorten your career. King then says he’s bound to have a concussion. Awkward …

Once again, it’s a match where everything just flows so perfectly, everything hits pretty crisply, and the psychology is pin point. Benoit hits a diving headbutt onto the title belt that Jericho held up, leading to a disqualification to a perfectly great match. Give that match a finish and you have a MOTYC, but for now, we have just have a brilliant match that is so great to look back on.

Winner and STILL WWF Intercontinental Champion: Chris Benoit
Match Rating: ****1/4

Main Event:
WWF Championship: The Rock vs. Triple H©

And here we go with the match most people believe should have happened at Wrestlemania 2000. Vince McMahon, prior to the match announces that Stone Cold will not be here, and JR has been saying this all night, thus giving away the ending straight away.

The simple way of summing up this match is that its your typical 2000 WWF main event brawl, definitely above average. For my money, it’s the clear match of the year for this event, which (as you can see by my star ratings) is quite a feat in and of itself. Its just Triple H totally on his game, and The Rock utilising his ability to time his comebacks to perfection.

The match is mostly brawling which totally works in the context of the match, and they had quality storytelling as Shane McMahon, who was the special guest referee, was trying to screw the Rock. The crowd wanted Austin, and after a few ref bumps and the overbooking finish kicks in, the glass shatters and the place freaking blows its roof! Unreal how over Stone Cold Steve Austin was. For anybody that claims The Rock, Austin and Hogan were all equally popular and it was impossible to distinguish, this sort of thing should be a clear indication that Austin was just far and away bigger than The Rock. Hogan is another matter altogether.

For me, I loved this match so much. While the Stone Cold run-in seems like a cheap imitation of the famous Mick Foley title win (which includes the biggest pop in the history of wrestling), it did its purpose and the crowd absolutely erupted. Austin, in the end, takes everyone except The Rock out with a chair, and leaves The Rock to make the academic pin after the People’s Elbow.

After the match, Austin and Rock celebrate. Great booking, storytelling and in-ring work, as well as a sick table spot with The Rock rock bottoming Triple H and Shane McMahon through the announce table! can only equate to one thing …

Winner and NEW WWF Champion: The Rock
Match Rating: ****1/4

Final Thoughts:

This is up there with the very best pay-per-views the WWF ever did. They were on an awesome streak of great events in 2000, with every PPV (bar Wrestlemania 2000) up to SummerSlam being good or great. This event, has three matches over four stars, and usually one or two is enough for an easy recommendation, so that just brings it to very rare territory. On top of all this, there is a nice undercard, with a couple of matches that can, admittedly, be avoided, and a very hot crowd to top it all off.

In a way, this is a lot like Backlash 2007, where it actually outshines Wrestlemania. Imagine if this card happened at Wrestlemania, and then put in the tag team ladder match from Wrestlemania 2000 to the card? That’s four four-star matches, which puts it into Canadian Stampede, Wrestlemania X-Seven or GAB 1989 territory. Its quite unbelievable to think that Wrestlemania 2000 could have been so disappointing in that respect, especially with the roster they had at that time (I still believe 2000 WWF was the best place for wrestling in Northern America, although I do admit I wasn’t alive for NWA 1989).

Nevertheless, this gets an absolutely enormous recommendation and a massive thumbs up. If you don’t have it, try and find a copy pronto!

Peace Out

Stu

The 411: The Dusty Shelf: This one needs to be taken off the Dusty Shelf and popped into your old video player. It’s a solid three hour show, one of the best of 2000 (probably only behind the Royal Rumble, No Way Out and Judgment Day), with lots of great matches that have aged tremendously. If you don’t have it, its well worth buying to add to your collection.
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]