2000 Discussion

Discuss Raw in 2000.

HHH, X-Pac, Malenko, Saturn and Benoit vs. The Rock, Cactus Jack, II Cool and Rikishi (2/7/2000)
This was one of the best segments on the history of Raw imo. Just a red hot tag match with an insane crowd and a great angle to end the show. Match only goes about 10 minutes, but it's nonstop action with said crowd eating up every second of it. This is a lock for top 50.

****1/4

Admin wrote:

HHH, X-Pac, Malenko, Saturn and Benoit vs. The Rock, Cactus Jack, II Cool and Rikishi (2/7/2000)
This was one of the best segments on the history of Raw imo. Just a red hot tag match with an insane crowd and a great angle to end the show. Match only goes about 10 minutes, but it's nonstop action with said crowd eating up every second of it. This is a lock for top 50.

****1/4

I'm nominating this one too. I love hot tags like this that blend in with big time feuds, give balls to the wall action, have that chaotic feel and work as a top angle as well as a top match. Great booking with the faces sticking it to HHH and evening up the odds, with all of them out to prove a point and serve it up to the sadistic prick and his bully partners. It's simple, but works on so many levels. Of course the amazing crowd heat makes it so much better. So much hate, energy and fire from everybody - particularly Rock and Foley.

There's a heap of excellent contrasts between the teams - passion vs cunning, rage vs desperation, heart vs strategy, ass kicking vs survival. Simply awesome good guys vs bad guys concepts worked to a tee. It's wildly successful in not only playing off current feuds/angles, but also building them up even further. This is the peak of the all of the good parts of the attitude era and it's hard to imagine a current match creating this type of atmosphere. A whole lot of fun to watch, a memorable match and is the type of thing that makes the WWF/WWE a special product to watch when it's on fire like this.

****

Triple H, X-Pac, Perry Saturn, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko v The Rock, Cactus Jack, Rikishi & Too Cool (2/7/00)
- I love this more and more every time I see it. Already spoke about it and rambled on it in the past enough times for people to know where I stand, but I will say that I might have had this top 10 with a better finish (the finish itself isn't really the problem; more the execution and timing of it). I'll still have it high regardless. ****

The Rock, Cactus Jack & Kane v Triple H, Kane & X-Pac (2/21/00)
- Also rambled about this in one of the Drink and Rambles, so I won't bother going into it (you can find what I said about it for yourself if you care enough), but it's also really good. Not quite as RED HOT AND AWESOME as the Dallas match, but one watches this and pines for the days of yesteryear. ***1/4

The Rock v Chris Benoit (3/6/00 -- Cage Match)
- Good little TV cage match. Neither guy spends enough time on offence for it to sustain any kind of real structure or anything, but it's a good collection of spots and, at worst, feels like a short war of attrition. Helmsley and the faction get involved so this is similar to a lot of these RAW matches in that it has an angle surrounding it playing a part, but it doesn't really hurt what's going on. Five more minutes with both guys just going one-on-one could've been great, though. Benoit takes a nasty powerbomb in this, too. ***

Triple H v Taka Michinoku (4/10/00)
- Booking overdrive here, and the result's a fun little match that actually had the crowd buying a title change might go down, which certainly wouldn't have been the case had they decided to wrestle a clean 8 minute match. Feels like half the roster gets involved at some stage. Trips actually sells really well for Taka's offence, which is the one thing I had always remembered about it. At the start of the poll I was considering throwing my number 100 spot to this just for the fact it came off despite the inherent goofiness. I gave up on that idea a long time ago, and there's a few matches from RAW not too long after this that are better goofy, overbooked spectacles, but this is still really interesting if nothing else.

Triple H v Chris Jericho (4/17/00)
- This is kinda tough to rate and/or rank, because it's a nifty little match that is tied together with an angle so well that they almost become a single entity. As a match I'd say it's just about ***, but as an overall angle it's much better, and since they're woven together so nicely it's gonna be a bitch for me decide what to do with it. I'll most likely leave it off my list anyway, but this is the kinda thing I'd love to add to my bottom 5. Jericho was over HUGE at this point, btw.

The Rock & Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit & Triple H (4/24/00)
- This is such a great little TV sprint. Only goes 7 minutes, but it's AWESOME for the time given. Doesn't let up once. Benoit and Jericho chop the shit out of each other and Benoit is a stoic motherfucker that'll cave your face in and he and Hunter take a few minutes to pound on Jericho. Rock's hot tag is a fucking HAWT TAG and he hates HHH with the fires of a thousand suns. This has a guest ref' angle and interference and all that craziness that's present in just about every single TV match I've seen from that year featuring the man that supposedly brought technical wrestling back to the forefront of WWF after the Attitude Era booking (I'm talking about Triple H, btw), but it's a great little lead-in tag that sets up the two big PPV matches nicely. The star rating doesn't really do this justice (read Mike and Crossface's awesome posts on the subject from the Homework thread) because this is better than a lot of matches rated higher, thus I'm nominating it and strongly considering it for my bottom 5. ***1/4

The Rock v Shane McMahon (5/1/00 -- Cage Match)
- Now THIS is a fucking blast. Booked 16 ways from Sunday and is just all around hectic, but fuck if I didn't love it. It's the night after RAW so the regime are desperate to get the belt back off Rock, and their answer is to throw Shane in a cage with him while having Patterson as the ref' as everybody else surrounds the ring to help out. JR has a couple great gay jokes that are directed at Patterson through this, btw. Basically too much insanity going on for me to try and cover everything, but the crowd are typically molten and everything comes off clean as a whistle. I could see someone hating this as much as I found myself loving it, but I'm nominating it and I'm probably gonna have it as my #100. ***

HHH v Chris Jericho (6/12/00)
- Great sub-10 minute TV match. Really energetic, but nothing seems rushed, and the crowd are pretty red hot for all of it. Jericho's over like crazy here, coming out to a huge pop. He's really not too far off Rock in terms of crowd support at this point, btw. The place is nuts for all of his spots, especially the Walls of Jericho, and there's a couple great nearfalls off of stuff like a missile dropkick and a running bulldog. Hunter's good in this as well, taking some stuff that I don't recall him taking any other time, like a top rope hurricanrana, and really makes Jericho look like he's on his level. It's a shame, then, that Jericho kinda faded away after the Fully Loaded match a month later, because the crowd definitely take to him as one of the top guys. The fact they completely turn on the belt shot finish is a pretty good indication of it. Nice moment in this where Hunter gives Jericho something like 10 stiff shoulderblocks to the ribs while he's caught in the corner, and we also get "semi-KO'd guy falls forward and accidentally headbutts other guy in the stones" spot. Not going to vote for this, but as a match this is better than the 4/17 "title change". That has a stronger angle going for it, though. I'd still rather watch this than lots of stuff that's "better"; stuff thatll no doubt get a vote while this won't. ***

The Rock v HHH v Kurt Angle (6/26/00)
- This is really, really good. *Might* even be my favourite triple threat in company history, even if it's not the most ambitious or as high on the snowflake scale as something like the Vengeance 2002 or Wrestlemania XX matches. I'm not a fan of the whole triple threat formula at all, mostly because you're always going to get one guy sitting out for a spell before he comes back, at which point one of the other guys takes a turn at twiddling his thumbs. That's not really a problem here for two reasons: i) it's short at 9 minutes. ii) HHH and Angle spend most of the time taking turns beating on Rock, so if one guy's not doing anything, it's because he's letting the other get his shots in while he takes a breather. The "breather" fits with the story, as opposed to having to sell something for an extended period of time... something you wouldn't ordinarily have to sell for that long. Just seems less predictable, I think. I'm probably bothered by that more than most are, though, so I could understand someone thinking I'm on crack for considering voting for this. Rock's great at getting in his hope spots; Hunter and Angle just as good at cutting him off. You see signs of dissention between them, but they manage to co-exist for longer than I was expecting. The eventual spot where one guy turns on the other is great, with Hunter letting Kurt go for the cover, Kurt obliging, and Hunter breaking it up by kicking him square in the nuts. From that point it's every man for himself. Couple really good nearfalls towards the end, and we get Jericho hitting the ring to stop Hunter from picking up the win, which in turn allows Rock to hit the Rock Bottom on Angle for the three. Honestly, this is worked about as smartly as I could hope for. I'm not expecting it to wind up on my list at the end, but there's so much stuff I'm considering for the lower spots on my ballot that nothing's really out of the realms of possibility. The fact this is probably my favourite example of a match of its type does give it a good shot, though. ***1/4

Eddie Guerrero v Chris Benoit (7/3/00)
- Doesn't even go five minutes, and if you've seen enough WCW the chances are you'll have seen something extremely similar on Nitro, but this is really just a balls out sprint that's a ton of fun. The opening sequence is beautiful in its execution, and other than a slightly botched variation of a headscissors takedown, everything looks crisp as can be. Benoit in 2000 did everything with such snap and vigour. Was there a better worker in the company that year? Or the world for that matter? Can't think of anyone better off the top of my head. Match features one of the best knife edge chops I've seen Benoit throw. King screams "Oh my God!" and then he throws ANOTHER one right from the seediest pit of Hell. Guerrero looks like he's legit ready to pass out. His retaliation to this torment is to throw a couple of his own that MAKE YOU WEEP. Finish is of the "meh" variety, but post-match Benoit goes postal and puts Chyna in the Crossface. You can kinda see that Benoit's poised for a shot at the big belt soon.

The Rock & The APA v Chris Benoit & Edge & Christian (7/17/00)
- Really nice little six man tag here. Too short to be anything worth voting for, but they hit all the points they need to in the five minutes they're given. General overview is that Rock hates Benoit; Benoit hates Rock; Acolytes hate Edge & Christian; Edge & Christian want no part of the Acolytes; Shane McMahone's a pussy. Yeah. Cal, since you made this comp I'm assuming you'll know the answer to this: where did the "Shane's a pussy" chants start? Did it just come about one time with a crowd spontaneously chating it (awesome) or did one of the wrestlers say something (possibly Rock) and it happened to catch on? Bradshaw's the FIP in this, even if it's only for a couple minutes, but he gets a sweet spot in where he's holding Edge in preperation to hit a fallaway slam and at the same time boots Christian right in the teeth when he tries to run at him. Ron fuckin' Simmons hits a spinebuster better than Triple H. Finish comes about when Rock can't wait any longer and runs across the ring to attack Benoit, ramming his face into the announce table a few times before Shane jumps him from behind, and that allows Benoit to swing a chair right off his face like the Hellspawn of George Herman motherfuckin' Ruth. He then swings it at Farooq's kidneys and Edge scores the win after a DDT. Post-match is immense as Rock goes nuts and tries to murder Benoit, busting him open with a chair and giving him a Rock Bottom on the hood of a his limo, cursing and calling him a chiken shit as the driver speeds away. Not voting for this, but it's pretty damn good. Uhhh, ***?

HHH & Kurt Angle The Undertaker & Kane (7/17/00)
- This is a pretty good representation of why I like Angle as a goofy rookie more than a snowblind psycho. He's totally shit scared of Undertaker here and adds a ton of character to this. Undertaker just want to kill the snotty little bastard, but he's lucky if Angle stays in the ring for more than ten seconds before tagging in Hunter. Great spot where Hunter manages to ware down 'Taker, so Angle tags in and literally punches him one time before sprinting over to tag Hunter back in before bailing right into the crowd. It's not something you could even call a tag, because I don't think Trips is actually out of the ring yet. Soon enough big Mark says fuck it and attacks Angle anyway, which results in Kurt trying to run, leaving Kane and Triple H in the ring together. I'm assuming Hunter had beaten the shit out of Chris Jericho earlier in the night, because he hits the ring towards the end and winds up costing Hunter the match, as well as returning the favour for earlier. Haven't seen this full episode of RAW (at least as far as I can remember), but this and the previous match did a pretty great job setting up the PPV 6 days later. Match is good enough, but not something I'd expect anybody to have anywhere near their list.

Edge & Christian v The Hardys v The Dudleys (7/24/00)
- Short and sweet, but the match from 2/21 with the Outlaws included is better. Most of it is more or less a Dudleys v E&C match with the Hardys biding their time on the apron. I always remembered the Hardys being over pretty big at this stage, but the Dudleys are quite easily more so, at least pre-TLC. There's a couple more examples from around this time where the crowd are fairly silent for anything Hardy.

The Rock & Kane v Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit (7/24/00)
- Man, Rock and Benoit were fucking awesome in sub-10 minute TV matches in 2000. This is another awesome little tag with a rabid crowd. Rock and Benoit still hate each other with the fire of a thousand suns and they're constantly at each other's throats, even when they're not in the ring together. The start is great because they just lay into each other as soon as Rock gets in the ring. One spot in particular I really liked was where Benoit had Rock in the corner chopping him to bits, but Rock blocks a big winder, tosses Benoit in the corner and starts punching him in the face, only for Benoit to block Rock's big punch (the one where he spits on his hand before throwing it), leading to both guys smacking each other around some more. Couple great camera shots of them on the apron later on, with Rock calling him an asshole and Benoit giving him this look like he wants to rip his fuckin' head off. Kane's pissed off since Angle, Shane and Big Show smashed a cinder block over Undertaker's leg earlier in the night and he wants to tear Angle a new one. Angle wants no part of that shit and tries to get the fuck outta dodge any way he can, but eventually he and Benoit manage to cut Kane down to size and work over his leg. Match gets thrown out once Shane and Big Show hit the scene, but there's a big brawl with Rock putting Benoit in the Crossface before Angle pelts him with a chair. Dug it heaps. Not voting for it, but still. ***

The Rock v Chris Benoit (No DQ Match, 8/7/00)
- Another great little sub-10 minute match featuring these two. This has a cool little story to it with Shane being an utter pest of Hell, jumping in and taking cheap shots at Rock any time he seems to be building some decent momentum. Great spot in this where Rock eats two Germans before countering the third by hitting one of his own, landing Benoit right on the back of his fuckin' head. Finish sees Jericho hit the ring to a massive pop (Benoit had put him out of action a couple weeks beforehand) while Benoit has Rock in the Crossface and gives Benoit a double powerbomb on a chair before chasing Shane through the crowd for being a cheapshotting little bitch while Rock sticks Benoit with the Rock Bottom. I hate the double powerbomb spot, btw. It's so glaringly cooperative, even for pro-wrestling standards. Only guy I think I've ever seen do it well is Brock Lesnar, because that motherfucker could pick a guy up without them having to clasp his arms to help him. Super fun otherwise. ***

HHH v Chris Jericho v Kurt Angle (8/7/00)
- This is to decide the number one contender for Rock's belt at Summerslam. Actually kinda similar to the awesome triple threat earler in the year only this time with Jericho in Rock's place. Not as good as that one, but still nice enough. Finish is pretty weird, because the crowd aren't expecting that move that ends it to... well, to be the move that ends it., and thus are pretty confused by it all. Post-match Rock cleans house and gives Steph a Rock Bottom to a massive pop.

The Rock & The Dudley Boys v HHH, Kurt Angle & Shane McMahon (8/14/00)
- Only goes about 5 minutes, but as a vehicle to establish the fact Hunter and Angle could do some serious damage if they can co-exist, it does its job. Nice spot where Rock gets the tag and Shane literally jumps half way across the ring to make the tag to both Angle and Hunter. Both come in and argue over who gets to stay, so Rock does his just bring it taunt to both of them and the crowd mark the fuck out like psychos. Finish also does its job going into Summerslam.

The Rock v Kane (8/28/00)
- This is really good. Not something I'm considering for my list, but it's one of the better Kane singles matches I recall seeing. Thing that makes it stand out is both Rock and the booking's willingness to make him (kane, obv) look like a legit monster. Rock is happy enough to let Kane more or less dominate him for most of it, sticking in his comeback spots at the right moments while Kane knows when to cut him off at the right times. Couple great nearfalls, with Rock kicking out of the chokeslam and Kane getting to kick out of a People's Elbow and a Rock Bottom. They brawl into the crowd for a brief spell and that's used to allow Rock to stay out in the crowd for a minute so Undertaker can hit the ring and tussle with Kane. No idea why Hebnar stays with Rock instead of throwing the match out, but whatever. Undertaker hits a chokeslam and Kane kicks out of that as well. Eventually a second Rock Bottom puts him away, but as a match this does a great job of making Kane seem like a force, setting him up for a run at the title heading towards the September PPV. ***

The Rock & Undertaker v Edge & Christian (9/4/00)
- Kane does commentary here (!) and Ross is pretty tremendous playing off him all the way through. At one point Kane asks him if he'd like to experience something special and Jim's reaction is priceless. Actual match is really good. Undertaker plays a very nice FIP, which I wasn't expecting. Edge and Christian are great at walking the line between chicken shit heels and a couple of guys that know they're gonna have to use all of their tag team smarts if they want to keep their belts. The hot tag to Rock is just mind blowing. I mean... fuck, man. Finish is all kinds of crazy with Kane and Benoit getting involved and Rock eating a Con-Chair-To so Edge and Christian escape with the titles. Again. Watching through this set, you get a really good picture of how great those guys were at that practically the whole year through, especially when they got into full swing with their characters after Wrestlemania. Just so goofy and ridiculous and... hateable, really. People genuinely disliked them. Nowadays the heat heels get seems to forced. Rock continues to be the fucking man and every match I see of his that year the more convinced I am that he was better than HHH and just about every guy in the company other than Benoit. Undertaker's American Badass years are usually talked about as a period where his character was strong and he was cutting some good promos (I tend to dig all of his "I'll stab you in the fuckin' face" or "I'll knock your teeth so far down your throat you'll be able to chew your own ass up for pissing me off" promos at least to some degree) while his in-ring work generally ranged from passable to deplorable. I'm not about to argue his 2001 as being good from a work standpoint, but he was still really handy in 2000 and nowhere near as bad as some people like to make out. Maybe it's just because I've been watching him in short TV matches, but there's no evidence to suggest he was half-assing anything yet. Probably wouldn't put him in the top 10 workers in the company for that year, but that speaks more about the level of talent they had in 2000 more than anything else. Anyways, this was pretty sweet. ***

The Rock & Undertaker v Kane & Chris Benoit (9/11/00)
- I was really looking forward to this, but it only goes about 5 minutes and as a result it's too short to be anything noteworthy. Finish is sort of weird and the crowd kinda get taken out of it as a result. Does a good job building to Unforgiven at least.

The Rock v Undertaker (9/18/00)
- Short and to the point, but too short to be anything more. More or less used to set up the Unforgiven four way, with a pretty surprising finish to boot.

Edge & Christian v The Hardy Boys (Ladder Match, 9/25/00)
- I never even knew this match happened before this morning, and I'm guessing a lot of people are in the same boat as me, because you never hear this talked about despite the fact it features the famous spot from Wrestlemania 17 where Jeff's clinging on to the belts and Edge spears him from however high up, only at this point it's not famous. Obv. Match about 11 minutes, but things are pretty dull post-spear since they do an awful lot of crawling around before hitting spots. It's actually pretty good as a whole, though. Couple things I haven't seen before, too.

HHH v Kurt Angle (10/2/00)
- I've pretty much forgotten everything about this now, but I thought it was really good. Uh... I've got nothing else. Hunter chokes Angle with a bandage, I think... s'about all I can think of right now. It's good, though, honest.

HHH & Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit & X-Pac (10/9/00)
- Nifty tag match. Unfortunately the finish is crap. HHH and Jericho still hate each other and don't cooperate at all, but they hate their opponents more and figure they're better off beating the shit out of them instead of each other. With a better finish I'd have this top 30. Not really, but still, this was fun. ***

Kurt Angle v HHH v The Rock (10/23/00)
- Night after No Mercy and Rock wants his title back. Hunter's pissed all the time now and I'm convinced he's a better pissed off tweener that wrestles short TV matches than a heel or babyface wrestling long PPV matches while doing his best impression (which isn't very good) of a touring NWA champion from 25 years ago. Hunter and Rock take turns battering Angle's head off the announce table at one point and it's great. Angle fighting back by KOing Hunter with a ring bell is pretty good in its own right. Crowd are really itching for a reason to cheer Trips at this point, btw. They even BOO The Rock for breaking up his pin attempt after the Pedigree and CHEER for Hunter returning the favour. Hunter also does the stretcher shtick like Angle did at Summerslam, albeit on a smaller scale. Not as good as their awesome triple threat from June, but this is really good stuff. Post-match is utter insanity as Rikishi hits the ring and the match gets thrown out. Austin then comes out to murder Rikishi and tries to take Angle's head off while he's running down the ramp. Angle cheapshots him a couple minutes later, get stunnered for his shit, and at this point you realise Austin's back and the world's a better place for it. ***

Steve Austin v Rikishi (Cage Match, 10/30/00)
- Goes like 5 minutes bell-to-bell and it's more or less Austin squashing Rikishi. Not much to it other than that, although Austin slams the cage door right into Rikishi's face twice and both shots look HIDEOUS because it's the metal pole that hits him, not the mesh. Rewind that shit. You can probably skip the rest.

Triple H v Kurt Angle (10/30/00)
- Not so much a competetive match as it's more of an extended beatdown. Hunter's still pissed off about something and pretty much whoops the shit out of Angle for 5 minutes until Tim White says one thing too many and gets tossed across the ring for his shit, leading to a DQ. Hunter's not done, though, and gives Timmy a Pedigree before swinging a chair off Angle, Edge and Christian's heads. As a beatdown, this was fine. I just question the decision to have your world champion thoroughly stomped in such a decisive fashion.

The Rock v Chris Jericho (10/30/00)
- Nice little match here. You get to see some of the stuff they'd do in their No Mercy match a year later, like the leg whip from Rock, and even thought it's only 8 minutes long they manage to build to a couple choice nearfalls down the stretch. Post-match Rikishi launches Jericho to the floor and jumps Rock, much to JR's surprise. Then he gets on the mic and says Rock was in on him running Austin down all along. The DRAMA of THIS, eh? ***

The Rock, Steve Austin, Chyna & Billy Gunn v Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko (11/13/00)
- Well, I thought this was pretty super. Not as good as the Dallas tag from 2/7, but it's more or less a "worse" version of that. Shocking as it may be, I loved Eddie in this. He was such a smarmy little fucker around this time, gyrating his hips and taunting Chyna whenever he can, taking cheapshots at everybody, running like a bitch, and generally doing whatever he can to make people hate him. Rock takes a brief stint at taking a beating from the Radicals after Saturn nails him with a superkick, but it doesn't last very long before he mows Eddie down with a clothesline and tags in Chyna. It's then Chyna, after some shady tactics from you know who, that takes a stint as FIP. Austin's awesome from the apron, taking no shit from ANYONE, going postal on the heel on a few different occasions for taking liberties with the ref' and as a result double and triple teaming Chyna (yeah... I get it). Great moment where Austin, Rock and Billy head around to the heels' side of the ring and brawl with them on the floor, and Austin just launches Perry Saturn across the announce table like he threw him down a slip-n-slide. Austin's the one that gets the hot tag, but by this point everybody's brawling all over the place, and Rock and Benoit have already wound up practically in the parking lot. Eddie, who's the IC champ, taking the pinfall seems a tad ass backwards, but other than that this was Hella fun. ***1/4

Steve Austin v Chris Benoit (11/20/00)
- Fucking great little match. I've always really loved this, and honestly, as far as sub-ten minute TV matches go, there's aren't that many better. Starts out with Austin taking Benoit down and riding him on the mat with TECHINCAL WRESTLING~, flipping him off as soon as they get back to their feet. From there, Austin barely throws a punch for about 5 minutes straight, instead choosing to work in and out of hammerlocks and such, working Benoit's arm. In a nice role reversal, it's Benoit that turns to brawling first, and after a back suplex he goes on offence. Austin makes a few comeback attempts, but Benoit's generally the one being the most effective with the brawling, at one point countering Austin's attempt to ram his head into the ring steps by blocking it and throwing *Austin's* head into them. There's one exchange towards the end of this that's fucking gorgeous as Austin finally manages to score an advantage with the Lou Thesz Press -- brawling; "what brung him" -- only for Benoit to hook his arms and get a roll-up, which Austin rolls out of into a roll-up of him own, which BENOIT then brushes aside and turns right into a Crossface. Happened so quick, it was fuckin' awesome. Finish is one of those sudden bursts where it comes across as one guy seizing an opportunity to hit his finisher as opposed to a finish that comes out of nowhere with a lack of build. I've got this in a low spot right now. I can't say I expect it to finish there, but it's the kind of match I'd love to leave on. ***1/2

Steve Austin v Kurt Angle (11/27/00)
- Similar to Austin/Benoit, although I don't think it's quite as good. Still, it IS good. The opening spell here sees Angle come out on top of the ground exchange, and Austin comes up with a smile on his face. Angle hits the floor to show Austin his medals because he's an Olympian and Austin won't beat him on the mat, so Austin flips him the bird and Angle takes offence. Austin's happy enough to give the ol' wrestling game another go, though, and locks in a headlock that frustrates Kurt. Nice spot where Angle tries to counter out of it by hitting a back suplex only to have Austin keep hold of it and wrech away at his head. The wrestling will only get him so far, though, and you see regular Stone Cold when he counters one of Angle's overhead belly-to-belly suplexes by punching him right in the face a buncha times. The thing that keeps this from being as good as the Benoit match is that the latter, despite being shorter, managed to establish a structure where one guy was able to maintain control. Here, it's a little more "my turn-your turn", and Angle isn't as good at working a control segment as Benoit is anyway. This also has a non-finish as Triple H hits the ring and costs Austin the match as payback for being dropped out of a forklift a couple weeks prior. Angle gets a couple cheapshots in, but Hunter wants Austin all to himself. Show closes with JR having an aneurysm. Austin's been back about two months at this point and he's already been in 3 of the best TV matches of the whole year. ***1/4

Kurt Angle v Chris Jericho (12/4/00)
- Really solid little match. You can see that this is around the time where Angle started to incorporate the suplexes into his moveset (it's especially apparent when you watch this set from start to finish), and what I think of him a couple years down the line is irrelevant at this point because he definitely looked like a comfortable and, above all else, really good worker here. A few years later you'd find that sometimes his matches seemed to have about 15 transitions since he was throwing out so much offence, but here the transitions are layed out well and hit at the right time. Jericho comes out like the house o' fire, but Angle catches him coming off the middle turnbuckle and hits an overhead belly-to-belly to kick off his run of offence. Jericho's hopespots are timed well, and Angle cuts him off well by using the suplexes. They actually seem like big weapons. There's a couple ref' bumps and a Kane run-in, but before that we get a few nearfalls that the crowd really pop for. This was good. ***

The Rock & Undertaker v Edge & Christian (12/18/00)
- I honestly had no idea Rock and Undertaker had ever won the tag straps together. This is pretty excellent for a couple reasons: the first is that the match itself is really good. It's a hugely spirited southern tag style sprint, and all four guys on definitely on point. The other reason is that the booking is great. Edge and Christian had been escaping all year by the skin of their teeth, and when Edge pelts Undertaker with the belt while Rock's out on the floor, you think they're gonna do it again. Then he kicks out, makes the tag to Rock, Rock cleans house, hits the People's Elbow, and gets the pin, clean in the middle of the ring. The chicken shit heels can't run from this one. Satisfying way to cap off a really choice tag match. I'd say this is definitely one of the better TV matches of the year (at least from RAW; haven't seen any Smackdown! yet). ***1/4

DX & The Radicalz vs. The Rock, Cactus Jack, & Too Cool - Raw 2/7/2000
I'm going to try my best to have this match stupidly high on my list. Can't believe I'd never gotten around to watching it before. Comparable to the JD00 match in its commitment to batshit-wild-funness, except bigger and better and all that. The match was supposed to be 5-on-2, but then 2Cool came out (I don't know why; I don't really want to know why), and there was some wild brawling, and then it "settled down" while still remaining insanely fun. EVERYONE is motivated. Well, X-Pac didn't do shit, but whatever. II Cool has the most entertaining shtick EVER. Or somewhere around there. Little shit like posing before doing a double elbow drop makes me laugh. Stephanie on commentary screaming, "This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen! What the hell is this?!" as Scotty set up to do the worm was totally awesome. Thought I'd hate Steph talking through the match, but I thought she was actually great.

Anyway, it's really awesome to see midcard guys and main event guys busting their asses all in the same match, and the crowd eats up every bit of it. They pop like crazy for Foley and Rock getting into the match. And everyone claps in unison to motivate GRANDMASTER in his FIP segment (which is pretty awesome. And it started when he hit a leg drop off the top rope (and put his FUCKING GOGGLES on before leaping!) and then jumped up to dance afterward but got tripped by someone from the outside). Just awesome moments peppered throughout the match, like Rikishi superkicking Hunter as he set Rocky up for a pedigree, followed by Perry Saturn superkicking The Rock. And of course it all dissolves into a brawl, leading to a semi-awkward/shitty finish, but I don't even care.

Kane comes out after the match and wrecks some betches. It's awesome. Star ratings don't really matter much with a match like this. I wouldn't even know where to put it, but I would say that if I wanted to watch a crazy/fun match that goes all over the place with a red hot crowd, I'd take something like this over those first couple TLC matches. And I like those TLC matches.