WWF Survivor Series 2000 11/19/2000

November 19, 2000
Ice Palace
Tampa, Florida
Attendance: 18,602
Buyrate: 1.0
Announcers: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

1) Steve Blackman, Crash Holly (Mike Lockwood) & Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald) defeat T&A & Trish Stratus when Molly pinned Stratus with a sunset flip at 5:02

Fun Fact: Molly Holly trained under Dean Malenko in Tampa, bounced around the independent circuit and even did job duty for both WWF and WCW before reaching the big time. She got her first major break in late 1999, when she debuted as Miss Madness in WCW, as part of Randy Savage’s bevy of women. Behind the scenes, Molly and Madusa trained the other women at the Power Plant. After Savage turned on Miss Madness, she turned face and went by the name Mona. She had brief feuds with Madusa, Little Jeannie and Asya and also battled Independent female wrestlers who were also brought in just to wrestle Mona. WCW would release Mona in August of 2000 as a cost cutting move. She was quickly scooped up by the WWF and sent to their Memphis territory where she was christened Lady Ophelia and became a valet for William Regal. She remained in the role until the 11/6 Raw when debuted as Molly Holly, a third Holly cousin. The victory here was her first televised win.

Scott: An interesting opener as we have another debut. Molly Holly was Miss Mona in WCW, now she arrives in the WWF as one of the Holly cousins. She definitely carries Trish when they’re in the ring together, and are both involved in the decision. Crash and Steve Blackman have had a busy year, both being multiple Hardcore champions, and providing very entertaining matches. T&A have been the black sheep of heel tag teams, being in almost every PPV this year, yet they really haven’t been taken seriously as a team that could be champions. They disband soon. Trish is still learning the ropes, and getting better. Grade: 2.5

Justin: An energetic little intergender tag match to get our show up and running. Steve Blackman was still on a roll here and brought a good vibe to his matches, which helped keep the crowd into them. I enjoyed the heat segments as Test and Albert used their power offense on Crash. The match was fairly well worked and Trish is starting to show some signs of improvement in the ring, a trend that would continue over the next few years. She and Molly were in there at the end and, while it got a bit sloppy, they still held it together enough to keep the crowd going and finish the match on a good note. While it was nothing too memorable, the match accomplished its goal and got Survivor Series off the ground. Grade: 2.5

*** Kurt Angle makes plans with Edge & Christian to celebrate after their matches tonight. Edge & Christian make up some excuses so they don’t have to help Kurt against Undertaker, but he says he doesn’t need any help tonight as he has things under control. ***

2) The Radicalz defeat Billy Gunn (Monte Sop), Road Dogg (Brian Armstrong), Chyna (Joanie Laurer), and K-Kwik (Ron Killings)

Survivors:
Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit

Eliminations:
Perry Saturn (Perry Satullo) pins Chyna after Eddie Guerrero hits her with the Intercontinental Title at 2:30
Billy Gunn pins Eddie Guerrero with a Drop Sleeper at 6:00
Chris Benoit pins K-Kwik with a German Suplex at 7:12
Perry Saturn pins Road Dogg with the Rings of Saturn at 8:49
Billy Gunn pins Dean Malenko with a Fame-Asser at 10:59
Chris Benoit pins Billy Gunn after Saturn blocks a suplex at 12:43

Fun Fact: Ron Killings had a rough life growing up. His dream was to earn enough money to rent a recording studio to produce his debut album, so he turned to dealing drugs to get it done. Being just short of the necessary funds, he was going to do one last deal to get him over the top. On his final deal, police were tipped and he was arrested and jailed for thirteen months. After being released from prison, he ran into promoter Jackie Crockett, who tried to talk him into becoming a wrestler. Killings turned him down to focus on music, this time robbing drug dealers to help pay the bills. After finding little to no success in music, he called Crockett and said he was interested. Killings trained with Manny Fernandez for three years and then made his debut for NWA Wildside in 1999 under the name K-Krush. He eventually submitted a tape to WWF and got signed to a developmental deal in 2000. After Billy Gunn went down with injury and Road Dogg saw his singles career going nowhere, he requested to be placed into a new tag team. Thus, the bookers called up Killings to the big time and renamed him K-Kwik. He and Road Dogg would record a rap song entitled “Gettin’ Rowdy” which they would sing on their way to the ring. Killings debuted on the 11/13 Raw, attacking William Regal during a match with Road Dogg.

Fun Fact II: Billy Gunn’s swank “The One” entrance music makes its PPV debut here. Jim Ross incorrectly states this is his first PPV since No Way Out. He was in a tag match with Chyna at No Mercy.

Scott: The Radicalz get back together for a nice traditional Survivor Series match. The “artists formerly known as DX” have a debut on their team. K-Kwik was a farmhand brought up to give Road Dogg an “urban” partner to keep his fading gimmick going. As for the Radicalz, they’re all clicking in the ring. Benoit has had an awesome year, and it would only get better next month. Guerrero has been in a high profile storyline, although he’s jobbing more than he probably should. Malenko’s shelf life has gotten smaller, but he’s still bringing it in the ring. Billy Gunn is still shit, but has the swank opening theme. This was a cute little match. Grade: 2

Justin: In our first classic Survivor Series match, the Radicalz reunite and look like they have not missed a beat. There were a few plot points here that get hit on along the way. The first is the rebuilding of Chris Benoit. The Wolverine had taken a few high profile losses throughout the fall and needed a few dominant wins to reestablish himself as a top threat. Here, he runs through the face team and survives the match and looks super crisp in doing so. One particular example is a nasty German suplex that he crushes K-Kwik with to knock the rookie out of the match. He would step it up another rung next month. The second plot point was a push for Billy Gunn. Along with his new theme music, Billy is made to look the strongest on his team. He would eliminate both Guerrero and Malenko and be the remaining member of his team before he finally fell to Benoit. And even in losing, he was kept strong, as it took Saturn tripping him up and hooking his leg to keep him down. The final plot point is the continuation of the Eddie/Chyna feud. Eddie pins Chyna here to get the last laugh, but Billy would get revenge for his friend by knocking Eddie out of the match a few minutes later. K-Kwik and Road Dogg don’t get much face time here, but Kwik looked good in his brief time out there. Road Dogg is sputtering towards the finish line and wouldn’t make it into the New Year as a member of the WWF. Finally, Perry Saturn also has a good showing here after bouncing around aimlessly since the summer. I enjoyed this match quite a bit and the Radicalz worked so well as a team that it was a joy to watch them master their craft. This was a good showing for Gunn, Benoit and Saturn and a nice win for the reunited Radicalz. Grade: 3

*** In the parking lot, Lillian Garcia is waiting for the arrival of the Rock. When he finally shows up, he blows off Lillian and heads into the arena. ***

3) Kane (Glen Jacobs) defeats Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) with a chokeslam at 12:34

Fun Fact: This feud started on an episode of Raw when Jericho accidentally spilled coffee on Kane backstage. Kane took serious offense to it and assaulted Jericho. Kane would later go on a rant about how he wanted to be accepted by the beautiful people like Jericho, but never could because of his disfigurement and the spilt coffee was a reminder of that. Kane would lay a series of beatdowns on Jericho in the ensuing weeks, including tossing him through a window backstage. The coffee spilling is often remembered as a silly storyline spark, but the follow up was sort of intriguing as we got another glimpse into Kane’s fragile psyche.

Scott: This stems from Jericho accidentally spilling coffee on Kane during a backstage segment of RAW. Jericho has had a interesting 2000. He’s lost some big matches, but bringing it every night on every show. Y2J fans don’t care about wins and losses. They care about being entertained. Kane started off feuding with X-Pac in a hot feud, but then loafed around like a sloth for a few months, had a half-assed match with Undertaker at Summerslam, and now starts a feud with Y2J. The match started off pretty good, but slowed down to a crawl at the end. Why Kane had to win here is beyond me, but he did. They rematch next month, thank the Lord. Grade: 2

Justin: The battered and bruised Jericho entered to a huge pop as he was set to take on Kane. I think this storyline is often panned as being over a cup of coffee, but it got a bit deeper and the focus ended up being Kane attempting to disfigure Jericho in attempt to make him ugly so he could suffer like Kane. Jericho did have a funny line before the match when he said they should have a “Sanka on a Pole match”. The match was pretty stiff, but did get a bit sloppy here and there. Kane used some good power offense and I think this was actually his best televised match in a while. While the match started off hot, it did slow down a bit during the heat segment, but it did pick back up again as it wrapped up. The storyline throughout the match was simple and it was effective in making Kane look like a vicious monster. He looked strong throughout, especially when he survives the Walls of Jericho for a prolonged stretch. The finish was creative as well as Jericho goes for the Lionsault, but Kane catches him by the throat, sits up and plants him with the chokeslam for the victory. Jericho could have used the win here, but Kane actually needed it a bit more to get rebuilt as a monster. I wasn’t expecting much heading in, but I actually ended up liking the psychology behind the match. Grade: 2.5

*** Terri comes into the Radicalz’ dressing room to tell them that Triple H has arrived, and will meet with them shortly. ***

4) William Regal (Darren Matthews) defeats Hardcore Holly (Robert Howard) by disqualification at 5:49 to retain WWF European Title

Fun Fact: Hardcore Holly was on quite the roll in 2000, even having a close fought WWF Championship match with Triple H on the June 18 Heat. He was as over as he had ever been, but it all came to a halt on the June 30 Smackdown in a match with Kurt Angle when Angle broke his arm with a Moonsault. Holly was put on the shelf and wouldn’t return until the 11/13 Raw when he saved his cousin Crash from a beating at the hands of Angle. His next match would be here. Holly’s famous theme music debuts here and Crash and Molly Holly took the Holly theme song that the whole family was using.

Fun Fact II: This match was made official on Heat prior to the show when Holly interrupted Regal, who was giving another lesson in manners to the live audience.

Scott: William Regal, who was renamed because there can only be one wrestler named Steve, takes on a guy who he has zero chemistry with. Holly has been a hardcore division badass, but now he’s moving on to some straight wrestling feuds. Regal is trying to get back in the swing of things after being away from the camera and getting his life back together. This match is ok, nothing much. Holly gets frustrated of the restholds, and whacks Regal with the belt for the DQ. This is another feud that continues next month. Grade: 2

Justin: William Regal was continuing to take a hard stand on manners and took Florida to task for botching the election, but he was cut off by Bob Holly and stuck into a title match with him. The match is technically fine as Regal worked the arm throughout, but the crowd just wasn’t digging it and seemed as if Holly had lost a lot of the crowd heat he had prior to his injury. The ending was pretty poor too as Holly just grabs the belt and smacks Regal to draw the DQ. Regal was settling into a groove in the mid-card, but was now 0-2 in delivering a classic PPV match. Grade: 1.5

*** Trish Stratus visits Kurt Angle, and she asks Kurt if he wants any “assistance” in his match with the Undertaker tonight since Stephanie isn’t here. Kurt naïvely declines thinking she was offering the assistance of Test and Albert. We also get a classic XFL cheerleaders promo promoting the impending debut of the fledging football league. ***

5) The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) defeats Rikishi (Solofa Fatu) with the People’s Elbow at 11:19

Fun Fact: This obviously stems from what happened both before and at No Mercy. First when Rikishi admitted that he was driving the car that ran over Stone Cold at last year’s Survivor Series, then tried to implicate the Rock in it. Then at No Mercy Rikishi tried not once, but twice to help the Rock keep his WWF Title, but instead cost the Rock the Title against Kurt Angle. Rock was in no mood for any kind of apologies or explanations and was only looking for revenge when he hit the ring.

Scott: After his extensive WWF Title reign ended last month, Rock will take it out on the man who helped cost him the strap. Rikishi was trying to get on the Rock’s good side for quite a while. He was paid by someone, who we’ll discuss in a minute, to hit Steve Austin one year before, to help that man in his quest for WWF gold. He played it off by saying he was trying to help the Rock. He tries in different ways to get on his good side, including interfering in the No Mercy title match. Now, Rock has had enough. The crowd was surprisingly off the hook for this match. The brawling was pretty damn good. Some of the booking in the match was a little iffy, including Rock winning with a weak People’s Elbow. On top of it, Rikishi hits Rock post-match with four Samoan Drops. Why not have him lose anyway? Both become part of the main event next month. Rock wins, but gets his ass kicked for it. Good effort by both. Grade: 3.5

Justin: This match is a bit of a lost classic. Heading in, Rock was hurting as Rikishi and his accomplice had laid a sledgehammer into the Rock in the weeks leading up to the show. Rikishi had also laid the People’s Champion out with a Banzai drop to add some more pain to the Rock’s chest. The crowd was rocking the whole way through this one and you could actually feel the emotion in the match as the storyline was solid and Rock is the very best at delivering emotional performances in the ring. After a fast start, things slowed down a bit, but the match was still pretty good and the crowd stayed with them. I was pretty shocked when Rock actually took a stinkface, but he has always been a pro in the ring. Rock did a stellar job selling his injured sternum and JR and the King sold the injury well on commentary. The match could have used a better finish and I always hated when they had matches end with the People’s Elbow as it is just a weak finisher when used on its own. I think a desperation Rock Bottom would have been better suited to finish off the kind of match this had been. The beatdown at the end was effective in putting the heat back on Rikishi and keeping him above water in the main event scene. I have always liked this match as both men bust it and deliver an emotional battle. Grade: 3.5

*** We see Austin arrive and then we go to Triple H’s locker room, where he is hanging out with the Radicalz and Terri. A perturbed Commissioner Mick Foley barges in to tell the Game that the Radicalz aren’t allowed at ringside, and the match is now no disqualification. Triple H didn’t seem too upset about either announcement. ***

6) Ivory (Lisa Moretti) defeats Lita (Amy Dumas) to retain WWF Women’s Title with a moonsault at 4:52

Fun Fact: Ivory would become the final member of Right to Censor, joining the faction on the 10/23 Raw. She would don a conservative attire, comprised of a white shirt and long black skirt. Ivory won the Women’s Championship on the 11/2 Smackdown when she defeated Champion Lita, Trish Stratus and Jackie in a Fatal Four way.

Scott: Ivory, the lone woman in the Right to Censor, retains the Women’s Title with a pretty poor win over Lita. She’s off tonight, almost killing Ivory with a rana. Ivory does potato her in the face to bust her eye open, but that doesn’t mean that she has to blow every move. Bad match. Grade: 1.5

Justin: The month’s women’s championship match is a bit sloppy and loose, other than the stiff shot Lita catches to bust her open hardway. Ivory had some decent offence and the highlight was a Lita cross body out to the floor. The ending picked up a bit with Steven Richards getting involved and aiding Ivory and helping her steal the win. Lita was pretty damn over at this point, so the loss doesn’t hurt her too much. Grade: 1.5

*** The Coach reports that the Rock is being tended to by the trainers, and he’s coughing up blood. ***

*** Chris Jericho pearl harbors Kane backstage with a steel chair and beats the hell out of him near a garage entrance with a 2×4 and some steel pipes. ***

7) Kurt Angle defeats Undertaker (Mark Callaway) to retain WWF World Title with a roll-up at 16:47

Fun Fact: Undertaker earned this title shot by winning a four way match on the 11/6 Raw against Kane, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit.

Fun Fact II: Heading into this show, the WWF Championship had changed hands at last six Survivor Series. This point was brought up throughout the show. This is also the eleven year anniversary of the Undertaker’s debut and the one year anniversary of Kurt Angle’s debut.

Scott: In Kurt Angle’s first PPV title defense, he faces the Deadman. This begins one of the worst years of Undertaker’s career in terms of ring performance. He’s struggling to keep up with the very fast style that the WWF has become, plus he’s not staying in great shape and he’s being put in matches he has no business being in. Angle, to his credit, tries to keep things going here but it’s awfully difficult. The ending is what really makes me laugh about this match. After escaping a tombstone, Angle hides under the ring. Taker goes outside, grabs Angle, and gives him the Last Ride. However, Eric Angle kicks out. No, that’s not a typo. Kurt Angle’s brother was hiding under the ring. The confused Taker doesn’t see Kurt come out from under the ring, grab him for a roll-up, and retain his title. All in all, the psychology was very detached, and the action was average. Grade: 2.5

Justin: With six years of title change history behind him, the Undertaker hit the ring ready to challenge Kurt Angle and was ushered down by his new theme music: “Rollin’” by Limp Bizkit. The storyline here was simple: Kurt was the champion, but he was considered to be a heavy underdog heading into the bout. Angle grabbed a chair to start and attacked Taker, but the Deadman fought it off and took control. What I liked about this match was the constant ebb and flow throughout as there were no long heat segments, but rather a series of them as both men traded offense throughout. When Kurt had control, he focused on breaking Taker down and working his knee over and garnered some good heat while doing it. Angle also nails Taker with a really nice German suplex as well. Towards the end of the match, Taker locks Kurt in a submission hold and he actually taps, but Edge & Christian had hit the ring and distracted the ref. Kurt later would get pinned as well, but E&C saved him again. I didn’t really care for those parts as they made Kurt look somewhat weak, but it didn’t really hurt him that much in the long run. Plus, he got to look strong at the end as he completely outsmarts Taker by using his brother to help him retain the belt. We hadn’t had this kind of heel champion in a while, so it was good to see. Overall, the match was better than I remembered and much better than the Fully Loaded disaster, as Kurt actually got to get some offense in here. Grade: 2.5

8) Hardy Boys & Dudley Boys defeat Edge, Christian & Right to Censor

Survivor:
Jeff Hardy

Eliminations:
Edge (Adam Copeland) pinned Matt Hardy with an Edge-O-Matic at 3:59
Christian (Jay Reso) pinned D-Von Dudley (Devon Hughes) with a Tomikaze at 5:10
Bubba Ray Dudley (Mark Lomonica) pinned Bull Buchanan when Edge accidentally spears him at 7:32
Bubba Ray Dudley pinned Edge with a power bomb at 8:06
Goodfather (Charles Wright) pinned Bubba Ray Dudley with a Death Valley Driver at 8:40
Jeff Hardy pinned Christian with the Swanton Bomb at 9:39
Jeff Hardy pinned Goodfather after a missed Ho Train at 10:05

Fun Fact: Goodfather and Bull Buchanan won the WWF Tag Team Titles from the Hardy Boys on the 11/6 Raw. The Hardys, dressed as the Conquistadores, had defeated Edge in a Handicap match to win back the Tag Titles on the 10/23 Raw. The whole situation was a bit confusing, but Mick Foley allowed the title switches at No Mercy and the night after to stand, meaning the Hardys were back on top of the tag team mountain.

Fun Fact II: The 10/30 Raw saw one of the greatest comedic moments in WWE history. With Stephanie McMahon out of action with the flu, Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle were celebrating Angle’s birthday in Triple H’s locker room. It was here, that Edge & Christian broke out their world famous kazoos and sung Kurt’s theme song for him before the Game threw them out.

Scott: This was almost a Vince Russofied match from 1998: An eight-man elimination tag match that only goes ten minutes? Yikes, there was a pin every ninety seconds. It really doesn’t forward any storylines, except to get the fans salivating for RTC to leave. They all get put through tables in the end. Not much more to say here, except it was a fun, fast match. Grade: 3

Justin: Our next match is another classic Survivor Series battle, this time consisting of the tag division. In some cool team unity, the Hardys decked themselves out in camo, like the Dudleys. The match was basic and hummed right along, but I think the crowd was starting to get burnt out a bit, especially coming off a pretty hot World title match. Early in the match, the face team hit a cool looking quadruple DDT to take control. However, the heels struck right back and picked up two quick eliminations. The RTC strength reared its head again, as Val Venis got involved and caused Matt to be pinned. Despite the somewhat choppy action, Edge & Christian looked strong early and, even though they weren’t the champs, you could tell they were the Alpha dogs of the division. Jeff also looked strong as he hung in at the end and ended up picking up the victory for his team after some RTC miscommunication. After the match, the entire RTC started beating down Jeff, but Matt and the Dudleys made the save and put the entire RTC through tables. The crowd popped bigger for the post match fight than the match itself as they were off the hook for the tables. In the end, it was a decent elimination match that put the focus on Jeff, Edge & Christian but was just too choppy and short to ever start clicking. Grade: 2

*** Before heading to the ring, Triple H has one more meeting with the Radicalz to ensure that the plan is set. ***

9) Steve Austin (Steve Williams) and Triple H (Paul Levesque) wrestle to a no-contest when Austin drops Triple H from fifteen feet in a car off a forklift at 25:00

Fun Fact: On the 10/26 Smackdown, Steve Austin was assaulted backstage by a mystery assailant. He recovered in time to brawl with Rikishi to close out the show. Then, on the 11/2 Smackdown, the Rock confronted Steve Austin and told him he had nothing to do with running him over. Austin said that the only person he trusts is himself. Rikishi then appeared and said that, because the Rock’s merchandise sales were dropping, Rock came to him and asked him to run Austin down. Rock denied it and told Austin that everything he has done has always been right to Austin’s face. Austin would eventually drop Rock with a Stunner and Rock would retaliate with a Rock Bottom to close out the show. Finally, on the 11/6 Raw, it all came out. In the main event of the show, Austin teamed with Triple H to take on Angle and Rikishi. Rock was originally slated to be Austin’s partner, but he was injured backstage prior to the match. A few minutes into the bout, Triple H pasted Austin with a sledgehammer and told him that he was behind Rikishi’s hit and run the year before as he had the most to gain with Austin on the shelf.

Fun Fact II: Triple H used an adjusted version of his theme music at this and the next show. It will make it on the WWF Anthology CD set and was a fusion of his current theme and his future one.

Scott: The long awaited end to the “Who hit Stone Cold” storyline ends with a dud. There was speculation for months about who was behind the attack. Rikishi admitted to driving the car, but there was someone who paid him to do it. One memorable night on RAW, Triple H whispered to Austin in the ring during a beatdown “Your search is over”. Hunter used great philosophy when explaining his action. Whose character benefited the most from Austin’s absence? Triple H and the Rock did. Well, Rikishi pretty much bailed Rock out by saying he did it for him. Plus, Rock was such an over face, heeling him out would have been asinine. So, who do you pick? The obvious one. So, Austin goes to get him some. The match is sloppy, as Austin isn’t quite back in game shape yet, and Triple H is trying to help him along. The inclusion of the Radicals coming out to beat Austin down helps the whole story that Hunter is getting help from everyone. The brawl was fun, but again not the best from either of them. By their rematch in February, they’re just fine. Grade: 2.5

Justin: After a year of twists and turns, Austin’s assailant is finally revealed. Triple H admitted to hiring Rikishi and taking Austin out of action. Hunter seemed to be on the verge of a major face turn after Summerslam, but he balked and wanted to stay heel, so they put him behind the Austin attack to rev up the heat on the Game. Heading into the match, Hunter had a bad back, and that became a focal point of Austin’s attack. He started off on fire and controlled most of the early part of the match, which was mainly just the usual main event brawl. The matched slow down a bit when Hunter took over after they brawled all around the arena. The match definitely fit the feud, though, as it was just a hate filled brawl with no concern for victory. Triple H also did a nasty bladejob, which added to the brutality. After battling back, Austin drills the Stunner, but doesn’t want the pin. Instead, he grabs a chair and hooks it around Hunter’s neck and was set to Pillmanize it, but Triple H was able to escape. They fought backstage, where Austin was attacked by the Radicalz. While Steve was fighting them off, Hunter ducked out a back door and jumped into his car. Austin was able to take out Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko, but Benoit was still standing and he attempted to bait Austin into the parking lot. After running around like a goof while Hunter yelled at him, Benoit went back to find Austin and caught a beating in doing so. As Hunter sat patiently in his car, Austin jumped into a forklift and pulled up next to the Game. Austin loaded up the car, raised the lifter and dropped the car, crushing it. The ending was really silly and it is too bad, as the match was actually quite good. Sure, Austin wasn’t back in prime shape, but the hate and emotion throughout the match carried it until the finish. With a better ending, I think this match would be remembered much more positively. Grade: 3

Final Analysis:

Scott: This show had its good and bad moments. The opener was a rudimentary six-man tag match that continued the maturation process of Trish Status into a serviceable female wrestler. We have a nice Survivor Series match involving the Radicals and the return of Road Dogg in his post-DX life. It doesn’t last long. As much as the backstory of the Kane/Chris Jericho feud was pretty lame, this match was ok, and their rematch the following month is better. William Regal is a success story in and of itself. From the “man’s man” debacle and a drug dependency problem, to being a “royal” pain in the ass and becoming a top notch ring performer again, my kudos to him. Rock/Rikishi was definitely the match of the night, as the Great One gets a big win and puts another guy over at the same time. However they never really finish this feud, even after the four Bonzai Drops Rikishi delivers after the match. The next two matches were tough, as the women’s match was horrible, and the World Title match was mediocre, mostly because Undertaker is an overweight sloth who suddenly lost all of his abilities but none of his backstage stroke. Kurt Angle did the best he could with what he had, and he deserved to go over here after having to lay down for the Deadman at Fully Loaded. The survivor match with the tag teams was good, and a great indicator of how the whole year was in terms of tag teams. All of them showed great ability and reckless abandon in telling their story. The main event was sloppy, but I give Steve Austin credit for shaking off his cobwebs after No Mercy and trying his hardest to keep up with the cooking Triple H. He’s had one great match after another, and here he helps out the returning superstar to a workable match. Overall a standard PPV that wasn’t outstanding, but not awful either. One more show and the unbelievable year of 2000 comes to a close. Final Grade: C+

Justin: Well, the final quarter of 2000 continues to surprise me when I take another look at it. I always thought these last few shows were boring and flat, but they all have been surprisingly entertaining. The crowds were all still rocking and into the action and a lot of the feuds were built on emotion and hate. Admittedly, things weren’t as smoking hot as earlier in the year, but the in ring action is still quite good, as are the majority of the angles. The Kane/Jericho feud is often joked about, but was actually a bit deeper than given credit for and the match worked within the angle. The Rock/Rikishi match was a unexpected gem and, outside of the lame People’s Elbow, Rikishi looked strong in losing and laid out the Rock after to keep his heat going. The tag division was starting to get a bit stale, so I can’t blame them for switching the titles off of Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boys, as they had dominated most of the year and the pairing was getting a bit played out. The Main Event was much better than I remembered it being, but the finish was just inexcusable. There is no way Triple H should have survived that fall, let alone be ready to wrestle a couple of weeks later, like he would eventually do. Luckily, the WWF was on enough off a hot streak to get away with something as ludicrous as that, so it doesn’t hurt them too much, but the continuation of that kind of silly booking would eventually start to take its toll. When you have two studs in their prime and in the midst of a hot story, I don’t see how you can justify not just having a basic blowoff to end what was a great brawl. Oh well, as I said, they will continue to roll on, but Vince and company need to pay a bit more attention to the realism that got them to the top. I wanted to give this show a bit of a higher grade because it was fairly entertaining, but that finish just pissed away a lot of the goodwill that had been built. Final Grade: C+

MVP: Rock & Rikishi
Runner Up: Steve Austin
Non MVP: The finish to the Main Event
Runner Up: Ivory & Lita