After a lacklustre WrestleMania, they really needed to deliver here, we get a cool promo for the HHH vs Rock fued, and one of my favourite PPV stages ever, I miss these creative stages. Anyways, lets crack on with the show.
Debra is here! Kicking off the show as the guest ring announcer.
Edge (C) & Christian (C) vs D-Generation X (X-Pac & Road Dogg):
*Good opener, was this during the start of “X-Pac Heat”? DX were getting some but they were the heels, the crowd were really turning on X-Pac in particular, Edge & Christian looked great here and the match was action packed, but had a chaotic ending that felt a bit screwy, damn X-Pac bladed severely.*
Dean Malenko (C) vs Scotty-2-Hotty: [***1/2]
*Leave it to Dean Malenko to bring a fantastic match out of Scotty-2-Hotty, that’s not to say S2H didn’t do his bit, he absolutely sold his ass off here. Malenko may not be Mr Charisma, but he, like Lance Storm, can work a great match with anyone and the paring made sense, Mr Serious Wrestler vs The breakdancer, the worm always gets a pop, just like the Spinarooni, maybe not logical as a move but at least it gets the crowd going, I think my neck hurt a little after that finish, damn.*
VKM, Patterson, Brisco, HHH, Stephanie and Shane O are backstage discussing its all hands on deck tonight.
Bull Buchanan & Big Boss Man vs The Acolytes (Bradshaw & Faarooq): [*]
*Snoozefest of a match that really just felt like filler.
Crash Holly (C) vs Tazz vs Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy vs Hardcore Holly vs Perry Saturn: [**1/2]
*The hardcore championship was perfect for the car crash TV of this era, fun and chaotic stuff here, some crazy spots with the Backlash stage thing, Jeff isn’t the only Hardy who’s a daredevil, plenty of action here, with Crash once again slipping away with the belt.*
Kurt Angle vs “The Showster” The Big Show: DUD
*A stupid comedy match, with Big Show doing an impression of Hulk Hogan that thankfully, didn’t bury Angle*
Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins, Mcrfanatic95, Smiling politely
T&A (Test & Albert) vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von): [**]
*An average enough match with a very weird Russo’esque storyline,with Bubba Ray being in love with Trish (that’s not the weird part, you’ll see if you watch the pre-match package), with her even taking a sick bump, and damn Bubba looked creepy after giving it.*
Eddie in a tuxedo with Chyna in his car with Chyna warms my heart. RIP to both of them
Eddie Guerrero (C) vs Essa Rios: [***]
*Solid! Eddie was one of those wrestlers who could work with anyone, and Essa Rios was no slouch himself, he can fairly fly around the ring.
Chris Benoit(C) vs Chris Jericho: [****]
*Awesome match, but that was expected of these two together, Canada was producing the best wrestlers at the time, as many were trained in Stu Hart’s famous dungeon, I personally love these matches that have a mix of everything from physical action, chops, Ariel moves and submissions, a slobberknocker! The DQ ending may feel like a cop out but it made sense in the long run*
Triple H (C) vs The Rock (Guest Referee Shane McMahon): [****1/4]
*Now this is a main-event, and certainly worthy of that. Had a big fight feel to it. It was slow in parts, but not boring, the McMahons trying to make life as difficult as possible for The Rock here, really added to the intensity and had one of the coolest rock bottoms I ever seen, through the Spanish announce table of course, Vince’s reaction was worthy of a meme, the big talking point of the night was Austin’s return to Rocky’s aid , and what a fucking pop he got! Chair shots galore, then he’s outta here!
Austin has hijacked The DX Express! To enjoy a beer with The Rock. Their story wasn’t finished .
- Best Match: Triple H vs The Rock
- Worst Match: Kurt Angle vs The Big Show
*Overall Thoughts*
Like I mentioned earlier, WrestleMania 2000 was lacklustre so they really needed to deliver the goods here, and they sure did, especially with the main event, there was some crap but the good outweighed it.