The SmarK Retro Repost – No Way Out 2000

The Netcop Rant for No Way Out 2000

– As a note for those of you who like to take these sorts of things under consideration for my rants, I ended up watching the show three times tonight, with the rant coming on the third viewing, so I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the show as a I write this.

– Live from Hartford, CT, airdate Feb. 27/2000

– Your hosts are Jim Ross & The King

– Opening match, Intercontinental title: Chris Jericho v. Kurt Angle. Y2J controls to start and they slug it out. Angle drop toeholds him onto the bottom rope, but gets backdropped over the top. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick and they fight on the floor. Jericho hits a nice Lionsault off the steps, kicking Kurt in the face. Back in, Angle crotches him and hits a belly to belly superplex for two. Suplex gets two. Crowd tells Angle that he sucks during a chinlock. Jericho comes back with a double-arm backbreaker for two. Angle gets a release german suplex for two. Single-arm DDT gets two. Nice psychology, as Angle works the arm. Jericho blocks a blind charge with a leg lariat, then hits a face jam. Flying forearm gets two. Angle tries a rana, which is blocked into the double-powerbomb for two. Angle suddenly reverses the pin attempt into a cross-armbreaker, but Jericho makes the ropes. Reversal sequence leads to the Right Angle (or “Olympic Slam”, as JR calls it) but it only gets two. Angle grabs the IC title belt, but Jericho catches him with the Walls of Jericho. Angle makes the ropes. They fight on the floor, and Angle grabs the European title belt. Chyna gets in the way and gets wiped out, thus distracting the referee long enough for Angle to block a Lionsault by nailing Jericho with the IC belt on the way down, and thus getting the pin and the title at 10:12, in what has to be deemed a pretty shocking upset. Darn good match, though. ***1/4 I imagine this will build to a Wrestlemania rematch. Glad to see the WWF give them 10 minutes to build with, as well.

– WWF World tag team title match: The New Age Outlaws v. The Dudley Boyz. A rare production slip sees this match deemed an “Intercontinental championship” one. Buh Buh gets the full-nelson drop quickly and they do the flying headbutt to the groin spot. Gunn messed up his shoulder on Smackdown, so I don’t expect much participation from him. Road Dogg basically takes a pounding for a few minutes and hot tags Gunn, who gets the Fameasser on D-Von for two. Buh Buh pulls him out of the ring, however, and nails him in the shoulder with a lead pipe to justify the injury. Back in, 3D on Road Dogg finishes the match, and probably the Outlaws’ run as tag title contenders, at 5:19 and gives the Dudleys the WWF tag titles. Who’d have thunk it when they debuted months ago? Certainly not me. Match was pretty much a squash, and quite rightly so. *

– Viscera v. Mark Henry. The very definition of a time-filler. Slugfest to start as JR warns people such as myself that this probably won’t have a very high star rating, in those words. Well, DUH. Or should I say, well, DUD. Crowd chants “boring” with no real prompting. Viscera gets a Samoan drop, Mae Young runs in and almost gets splashed, but she moves and Henry hits the BODYSLAM OF DOOM for the pin at 3:45. Well, it was somewhat quick at least. DUD

– Edge & Christian v. The Hardy Boyz. Terri joins us at ringside, along with the Acolytes, whom she paid for protection. Jeff misses a corkscrew moonsault to start, but they quickly double-team Christian. Backdrop suplex gets two for Matt. Christian fights them off but get pounded. Flying dive is followed by a lariat for two. Jeff gets a springboard moonsault (which hits the knees in actuality) for two. Pancake gets two. Christian escapes a powerbomb and hits a neckbreaker. Jeff tries the senton but Christian gets the feet up to block. Hot tag to Edge and highspots follow. Edge cradles Jeff for two. Jeff plays Ricky Morton, getting caught with an inverted powerbomb for two. Christian drop toeholds Edge, who headbutts Jeff in the groin for two. Pinning sequence leads to a nasty piledriver for two. Jeff comes back with a rana that almost kills both men. Edge follows with an equally nasty snap powerbomb. Resting and double knockout leads to a quick melee. Matt nails Edge and Jeff gets two. Edge spinebusters Jeff and goes upstairs, but gets dropkicked coming down. Hot tag to Matt, who hits the drop sleeper on Christian for two. Neat double-pin sequence gets a double two count. Edge it out and the Hardyz hit Rolling Thunder on Christian for two. Edge spears Jeff in mid-air, but falls victim to a Hardy Cutter from Matt. Jeff goes for the senton, but Terri suddenly turns on them and pushes him off! Matt goes over to give her what for, and gets slapped, allowing Christian to hit the Impaler (tomikaze) for the pin and the #1 contendership at 15:03. Chicks dig Edge, I guess. Wicked match, though. ***3/4 The Acolytes destroy the Hardyz after they try to go after Terri, including a spectacularly fucked-up Dominator on Jeff.

– Tazz v. Big Bossman. Prince Albert runs in for the DQ at 0:44. Thank you, drive through. Beatdown follows to emphasize how tough Tazz is. Whatever, I’ve got Benoit now, I don’t need the orange midget anymore. DUD

– No Holds Barred: Kane v. X-Pac. Quick backbreaker and a clothesline sends X-Pac scurrying, but Kane chases him and they fight at the entranceway. Why is there a trash can right beside the entrance, anyway? That’s almost as bad as WCW’s planted concession stands down on the floor where the fans aren’t allowed to be. Kane stalks him back to ringside and drops him on the railing. The ringbell turns the tide for X-Pac. Bearer and Tori get into a chase. Back in the ring and X-Pac gets the kick combo and Broncobuster, which is basically shrugged off by Kane. X-Pac works the leg, but they badly blow a dragon screw legwhip. I mean, it wasn’t even close. They go outside and back in again, where X-Pac hits a leg lariat and goes upstairs. Kane catches him, but X-Pac wriggles free and hits the X-Factor after a low blow. He stops to dispose of Paul Bearer, but Kane comes back with a flying clothesline and a chokeslam. Tori comes in and gets tombstoned, but when Kane charges at X-Pac with the stairs, X-Pac dropkicks them and pins him at 7:47. This was okay. **1/4

– The Radicals v. Too Cool & Rikishi. Someone tell Saturn to get black boots – he’s disrupting the black-and-blue color coordination with those white ones. Eddy gets sent back to the dressing room after trying to nail Rikishi with his trusty steel pipe. Grandmaster Sexay starts out with Saturn, and Benoit quickly comes in and gets bulldogged for two. Scotty 2 Hotty suplexes Benoit and brings in Rikishi, who makes Benoit toss his salad in the corner. Sadly, that repulsive spot is very over. He goes for the Rikishi Driver, but Dean clips him from behind. Radicals work the ankle like Horsemen 2000. Scotty comes back in and gets clobbered by Dean in mid-Worm. He plays face-in-peril, getting beat on by Benoit. Sweet double-team stuff from Benoit & Malenko leads to a Malenko & Saturn backbreaker-kneedrop combo ala Demolition, except 10x nastier. Benoit chops away. Scotty reverses a suplex for two, but Saturn comes in with Eddy’s senton for two. They work Scotty in the corner, but Scotty & Benoit knock heads. Hot tag to Rikishi, who cleans house. CHEEKS OF FIRE! Rikishi Driver sets up the Worm, which is a good way to use it because the Driver is a feasible way to knock someone out for the ridiculous amount of time needed for that move. Malenko clips Rikishi again, then AGAIN, seriously pissing off the crowd. Sexay hits the Def Jam, but the ref is distracted, and Benoit drops the headbutt to break it up. Big brawl sees Too Cool, Benoit & Saturn all fighting on the floor. Malenko continues working Rikishi’s ankle, but he gets hit with the Rikishi Driver and butt-splashed for the pin at 12:40. Man, that ending seemed like it was attached at the last minute with a rivet gun, but the rest of the match was awesome. The ending SHOULD have seen Rikishi’s ankle collapse on the ropes and Malenko get the pin, but I can’t fault the work of anyone involved. **** And then we dance…

– The Rock v. Big Show. Slugfest to start, which goes badly for Rock. He gets a quick floatover DDT for two, however. Rock Bottom is blocked with an elbow that sends him flying outside. They brawl outside, where Show eats stairs. Rock backdrops him over the railing, but Show presses him onto the ailing in retaliation. Back in, powerslam gets two. Show boots him around for a bit. Rock comes back with a Russian legsweep for two. DDT gets two. Show hits a sideslam for two. He grabs a chair but Rock comes back. Ref is bumped and Show hits aaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHCHOKESLAM for two as a second ref, Tim White, runs in. He and Hebner get into a shoving match, and who else should join us but Shane-O-Mac! Big pop for that. Rock nails Big Show with the chair and goes for the People’s Elbow, but Shane comes in and absolutely BLASTS Rock with a chairshot on the way by, and Big Show GETS THE PIN (?!?) at 9:40. Well, I guess they had to do SOMETHING to add intrigue, and that was a pretty gutsy move. Match was okayish. *1/2

– Jericho gains a measure of revenge for his loss, as he and Chyna jump Angle (who is still humming “We are the Champions”) and shove him in a car trunk.

– WWF World title v. career match, Hell in a Cell: HHH v. Cactus Jack. The door is pretty clearly chained shut here, preventing Jack from reaching the top of the cage. Jack hammers HHH to start, then futilely tries to open the door. They fight on the floor, then back in where HHH gets the upper hand. Facebuster, but Jack backdrops him to the floor and grabs a chair. HHH uses the knee and sends Jack crashing into the cell. He tosses Jack into the stairs and into the ringpost. Jack gets up, so HHH tosses the stairs and beans him right in the head. Ouch. HHH pounds the stairs with a chair for good measure. Back in, HHH batters Jack with a chair for two. DDT gets two, as do two more attempts. Cactus gets a low blow and a DDT on the chair for two. Russian legsweep on the chair gets two. Jack seats HHH in the chair, but charges and takes a drop toehold into the chair for two. Back outside, HHH rams Jack into the cage a couple of times. Jack responds by slingshotting him into the cage, drawing blood. HHH does his Ric Flair impersonation, as Jack rubs his face on the mesh to draw more blood. Jack drops a chair-assisted elbow onto HHH on the floor. He tosses the stairs at HHH, who then ducks, and the stairs break through the cage. BINGO! Jack sees his chance and sends HHH crashing out of the cage, and piledrives him on the announce table. He climbs the cage, but Steph pulls him down. Mick shoves the timekeeper aside and finds his favorite toy: The barbed-wire 2×4. And this one ain’t fake. HHH takes it in the face, and climbs to the top to escape, and BOY does the crowd start to buzz. Mick follows, and gets shoved off onto the Spanish table. Crowd rewards HHH with the “asshole” chant. Jack blades. He tries, and fails, to toss a chair onto the roof. He climbs up, and HHH goes to town with the 2×4 on him. They slug it out on top, with HHH teasing a fall through the cage. Foley suplexes him and DDTs him. So what could be worse than a 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire, Lawler asked earlier in the match. Answer: A FLAMING 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire. Well, if you gotta do it, do it with style. HHH takes one of those to the head, and Mick tries to piledrive him on it, and that proves to be his undoing. HHH backdrops him off, and the cage gives way, sending Cactus plummeting to the mat below, which then BREAKS. Crowd chants “holy shit” for that one. Thank god they gimmicked the ring to break his fall. HHH drops down, and is horrified to see Mick crawling out of the wreckage like Frankenstein. It would prove to be an empty comeback, however, as a Pedigree is enough to finish him at 23:55 and rip the hearts out of everyone watching. That’s the first retirement match where I can honestly say that I had absolutely no idea who was winning until the moment the ref counted three. And at least it was clean, without any of the shenanigans theorized by sheet writers so they can “un-retire” Mick on RAW due to a technicality. Well, if this is the end, it was a hell of a match to go out on. *****

The Bottom Line: Watching live, we were a little disappointed, but with two further viewings by myself my enjoyment and appreciation of this show grew rapidly. Four matches over *** (with two over **** and one close to that) makes this two amazing shows in a row for the WWF. Somehow I doubt we’ll see HHH v. The Big Show at WM2000, so I’ll reserve comments on Foley’s retirement until all the pieces are in place leading up to Wrestlemania.

Thumbs up.