Dark Pegasus Video Review: Judgment Day 2000

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.02.2008

The hour.

Judgment Day 2000
by J.D. Dunn

May 21, 2000

Live from Louisville, Ky.

Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Cool opener shows all the different things that happen during an hour to put the Iron Man Match in perspective. Kudos to the Danny Elfman-ish music too.

Backstage, the McMahon-Helmsley Regime chills out. They send Hardcore Champion Gerald Brisco for coffee, which leads to…

…Brisco getting jumped by several midcarders as they try to take advantage of the 24/7 rule and win the Hardcore Title.

Opening Match: Kurt Angle, Edge & Christian vs. Rikishi Phatu & II Cool.
Sadly, this is probably most remembered for "The Jug Band" pose by the heels, which is hilarious, but the match is also quite good. Speaking of jug bands, why don't they ever show Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas on HBO anymore? The heels attack from behind but get squashed in the corner. Scottie hits a suplex and busts out the moonwalk. SHAMON! Sexay blocks Scottie from getting whipped to the corner. Edge tries the same trick, but it backfires. Edge's face gets drop toeholded into Christian's crotch. Sexay has a wardrobe malfunction, allowing Christian to jump him from behind and mock the dance. BLASPHEMY! Rikishi misses a buttsplash and gets pummeled in the heel corner. Scottie hits the bulldog, but Angle cuts off the WORM with a clothesline. Scottie gets out of trouble with an Alley Oop clothesline. HOT TAG TO RIKISHI! And I do mean *hot* tag because the fans are NUCLEAR for just about every move. Kurt winds up taking the Stinkface. He and Christian team up to double DDT Rikishi, but he no-sells it. He sells the Spear, though. Edge tries his own version of the Worm, which is cut off by the real thing. Rikishi goes for the Rikishi Driver, but Christian nails him with the ringbell. Oh, but Teddy Long is still distracted, so Grandmaster Sexay comes off the top with the Hip Hop Drop (Guillotine Legdrop). Kurt is moments too late in his save attempt, so the faces win a hot opener at 9:46. The faces bust a righteous move after the match. In an interesting note, all three heels would go on to be World Champions. In fact, as I write this, TNA, a company which is two years from even existing at the time of this match, is prepping for Angle versus Christian while Edge is trying to outsmart Teddy Long, the ref for this match, as he tries to retain his World Heavyweight Title. Funny how things work out. ***1/4

Shawn Michaels denies being jealous of the Rock and promises to call things down the middle. Why should you not believe him? Because the last time he reffed a match between Rock and Triple H, he superkicked the Rock right out of the title.

Earlier on Heat, the Radicalz got snippy with one another.

European Title, Triple Threat: Eddy Guerrero (w/Chyna) vs. Dean Malenko vs. Perry Saturn.
If they had cut Saturn out of this, the match could have been awesome. This is part of the breakup of the Radicalz, a stable that was anything but. Dean and Perry team up against Eddy, turning him face. They hit a Decapitation move and shake hands. Saturn is the first to doublecross Malenko, doing so with a clothesline. Eddy goes low on both guys and hits a huracanrana on Dean. He tries a satellite headscissors, but Dean faceslams him. Malenko goes for the Cloverleaf but drops it to nail Saturn. Dean and Eddy fight over a superplex, but Saturn comes in and drops Eddy on the top rope and the belly-to-bellies him. Dean knocks Saturn off and gives Eddy the Super Press Gutbuster. Saturn adds a frogsplash to Guerrero and then a Texas Cloverleaf to Dean. Cheeky bastard. Eddy sends Saturn over but walks into a backdrop suplex. Dean adds a pretty poor splash but can't cover because Saturn has recovered. They work in a spot where Eddy and Dean get German Suplexed at the same time. That spots commonplace now, but at the time it was insane. Chyna knocks out Saturn with her bouquet of roses. Hmm. He must have a glass jaw. Dean tries to wrest them away from her but winds up knocking himself out with them. Eddy Oklahoma Rolls him for the win at 7:56. Eddy reveals a lead pipe in the flowers. Good match, but it was obvious that the WWF only wanted Benoit and Eddy and the other guys were already being phased out. **3/4

Recap of Gerald Brisco winning the Hardcore Title from a sleeping Crash Holly. Funny stuff.

In the bathroom, Brisco is so paranoid that he attacks his own reflection. Hilariosity ensues.

Falls Count Anywhere: The Big Show vs. Shane McMahon.
Show was Shane's representative at WrestleMania, and he was also the first man eliminated in the main event. Show decided he just wanted to have fun and screw around in the ring after that, so Shane chastised him for embarrassing him. That led to Show getting righteously pissed off and killing everything in his wake. Shane tries a tope con hilo off the bat, but Show just catches him and tosses him up against the ringpost. He stomps Shane's hand and steps on it. The Big Bossman attacks with the nightstick, but Show turns the tide and powerbombs him. Test and Albert also try, but Show quickly dispatches them. Trish Stratus goes low on the Big Lucky Bastard, but he no-sells and tosses her out on T&A. Shane escapes to the entrance area where Show rips apart some of the scaffolding and prepares to toss it at Shane. Shane, the ever-resilient Simba, uses the Titantron and dropkicks Show in the face. T&A jump Show from behind again. Shane goes up the set to run away, but Show catches him. Bull Buchanan runs out and hits Show with a nightstick. They team up to shove a speaker over on Show's leg, and then Shane hits him in the head with a cinderblock to pick up the pin at 7:12. It took a six-on-one, but Shane finally did the improbable. Fun match, more for the wild booking than the work involved. **

In the back, Gerald Brisco tries to hang out with the referees, but they have the look like they're going to bash his brains in and ride his carcass down the mountain to safety. Brisco freaks out and runs away.

Elsewhere, Triple H and Shawn Michaels shoot the breeze. Shawn's disturbingly tight trunks are brought up.

Intercontinental Title, Submission Match: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho.
On Smackdown, Hardcore Holly turned on Benoit and destroyed his knee. Chops to start, and Jericho rides Benoit down into a Fujiwara Armbar. They exchange Tombstone reversals until Benoit hits a shoulderbreaker out of it. That actually makes more sense given the rules of the match. Benoit adds a diving headbutt to Jericho's shoulder. Jericho dropkicks him to the floor, but Benoit reverses a whip and sends him into the steps. Val Venis looks on backstage. Benoit sets up the steps, but Jericho drops his knee on them instead. Back in, Jericho forgets and goes for a pin. They chop it out again, and Jericho misses a charge, posting his already-injured shoulder. Benoit tosses his shoulder into the buckle a few more times. Jericho tries to chop his way back but gets snap suplexed. Cross armlock, but Jericho makes the ropes. Hardcore Holly watches from his own locker room. Jericho comes back with a flapjack and takes off Benoit's kneebrace. Then, he starts beating Benoit's knee with his own brace! He knocks Benoit cold with the brace and hits the Lionsault, but there are no pinfalls. Jericho locks in the rope-assisted Tarantula, which should not be legal. It doesn't matter because Benoit kicks his way out of it. Back in, Benoit misses an enzuigiri but hits a German Suplex. Jericho tries to roll him over into the Walls of Jericho, but Benoit worms his way over to the brace and knocks Jericho silly with it. CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Jericho starts toward the ropes, so Benoit pulls him back to the center and reapplies the hold, choking Jericho unconscious at 13:28. Yeah, I know. We're just gonna have to deal with it. Anyway, this was an excellent match that brought back psychology in a way that hadn't been seen since Bret Hart jumped to WCW. ****

In the back, Brisco gets *really* paranoid and attacks the concession vendors.

The Rock threatens to whip Shawn Michaels' monkey-ass if he doesn't call the Iron Man Match down the middle.

Tag Team Table Match: Road Dogg & X-Pac (w/Tori) vs. The Dudley Boyz.
They show Tori putting Bubba through a table on Raw. If I recall correctly, she actually had to do that spot twice because the table wouldn't break. The DX thing was clearly winding down here, as Tori doesn't even give much effort with the crotch chop. This is basically a rehash of the same angle they did the month before only with a manager that isn't nearly as hot. Tori inadvertently distracts the ref while the Dudz hit the diving headbutt to the crotch spot. The Wazzup commercials hadn't aired yet, so it didn't have a name. Bubba goes after Tori, though, allowing Roadie and X-Pac to doubleteam D-Von. X-Pac hits the Broncobuster. They work in a false tag that leads to D-Von taking a beating. Bubba gets the hot tag and cleans house. Road Dogg and D-Von brawl on the floor, and D-Von gets put through a table with the pump-handle slam. X-Pac sets up to Broncobuster D-Von against a table. I'm not even sure how that would work, but it doesn't matter because Bubba breaks it up and POWERBOMBS X-Pac through a table. Bubba & Road Dogg slug it out and then through the ref through a table. Gerald Brisco stomps down as the Dudz put Roadie through a table with the 3D. Tori storms in and goes tit-to-tit with Bubba. WRONG FUCKING MOVE, JOAN RIVERS! Brisco saves Tori, and X-Pac gives Bubba the Super X-Factor through the table to pick up the win at 10:55. Post-match: The Dudleyz 3D Brisco through a table. I'm not sure why they bothered with all the tagging because it's not like they could get disqualified. It just felt like your average Smackdown match. **

Creepy little girl promo. It actually made me want to listen to "American Badass." NO ROGAINE AND THE PROPANE FLOWS!

WWF Heavyweight Title, Iron Man Match: The Rock vs. Triple H.
First Fall: Your special guest referee is Shawn Michaels because he was in the first canonical Iron Man Match. Bret vs. Flair and Bret vs. Owen don't count. Hunter comes down with his entourage, but he wants to do it alone so he sends them to the back. Nose-to-nose trashtalk to start, leading to a stiff tie-up. Rock grabs a headlock for a while, and they work off that. Rock gets several nearfalls off shoulderblocks and then a rollup to fluster Triple H. Hunter bails to think things over. Back in, Rock pastes him with a right, so Hunter bails again and objects. Shawn misplaced his cryin' towel, though. Finally, Hunter blocks a charge and takes Rock's head off with a clothesline. Hunter kills some time with a stepover armbar. A single-arm DDT gets two, and Hunter goes back to the stepover armbar. Rock doesn't give a clean break and hits the Rock Bottom out of nowhere at 11:07.

Second Fall: They take things up the aisle, and Hunter drops Rock on the barrier. Rock recovers and wraps Hunter's leg around the post. He works the knee even more with a kneebreaker on the steps. Back in, Rock busts out the figure-four. Hunter sells it like a champ, screaming and falling back for a couple of nearfalls. Finally, he rolls it over and reverses it. They make the ropes and brawl out into the crowd for a bit. Back in, Hunter drops a pair of elbows for two and keeps going for the pin. Rock goes after Hunter's injured knee but gets tossed over the top. To the floor, Rock reverses a whip and sends Hunter's knees into the steps. Rock brings back a sick spot where he puts Hunter's knee on the rope and then hits a jumping kneedrop on it. Rock hits another kneebreaker and goes for the figure-four, but Hunter kicks him into the post and hits the Pedigree on the rebound to even things up at 25:55. The match is tied at 1-1.

Third Fall: Rock is out of it, so Hunter is able to catch him going for a backdrop and reverse to a small package at 26:54. Good idea there.

Fourth Fall: Rock slugs his way back, and they brawl up the aisle again. Hunter reverses a suplex for a double KO. They stagger back toward the ring at the mid-way point. Rock delivers a backdrop suplex and a back bodydrop. Shawn refuses to count them out because a double countout wouldn't affect the score anyway. Back in, Hunter hits a facebuster and a piledriver to go up 3-1 at 32:50.

Fifth Fall: Shawn admonishes Hunter, allowing Rock to explode with a clothesline. Hunter goes up but gets dragged off the top by the Rock. Rock blocks a charge and works in La Majestral cradle for two. Well, you can't say he's not stepping it up. He runs right into a high knee for two, though. Hunter catches him in a sleeper and uses the ropes for leverage. Shawn catches him and breaks the hold, though. Hunter tries to go back to the hold, but Rock reverses to a belly-to-belly suplex. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! The People's DDT brings Rock to within one fall at 40:40.

Sixth Fall: Rock takes things to the floor where Hunter tries to use a chair. Shawn takes it away from him, though. Hunter gets sent into the steps again. Rock hits a swinging neckbreaker and tosses Hunter back in. Hunter grabs the errant chair and NAILS the Rock for the DQ at 44:07. That seems stupid because it ties the match, but…

Seventh Fall: Rock is out of it, so Hunter covers and puts his feet on the ropes to pick up a pinfall at 44:35. See, Hunter really is the cerebral assassin, going up 4-3.

Eighth Fall: Rock is still groggy, so Hunter applies a sleeper hold. Rock fights out of it once, but Hunter reapplies it and puts the Rock out at 48:03. Hunter is up 5-3, making his sacrifice of the DQ look like a brilliant strategic move.

Ninth Fall: Hunter refuses to break the hold, so Shawn pulls him off, drawing an argument between the two. Rock recovers and whips Hunter over the top into the cameraman. Back in, HHH hits a DDT for two. He gets crotched going up, and the Rock superplexes him off for a double KO. Rock rolls over and gets two. To the floor, Rock slingshots Hunter into the post. For once, the Rock gets whipped into stairs, and Hunter sets up the announce table. HHH sets up for the Rock Bottom, but Rock reverses and hits a SICKENING Pedigree on the table. Rock's back in! Shawn starts to count Triple H out of the ring. ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE! TEN! Rock pulls to within one with a COR victory at 56:08. The score is 5-4 in favor of HHH.

Tenth Fall: The McMahons return, and they all look very apprehensive now. A bloody HHH just beats in another count. Rock blitzes him with a clothesline and a DDT. Shane gets knocked off the apron. Same for Vince. Hunter runs right into a spinebuster. PEOPLE'S ELBOW! ONE, TWO, THREE! Rock evens things up 5-5 at 58:05.

Eleventh Fall: Shane pulls Shawn out of the ring, so HBK cleans house on the McMahons. Road Dogg and X-Pac run in, but Rock fights them off for a while. Suddenly, the little girls' nursery rhyme hits, and the Undertaker rides his bike down to a HUGE POP. Taker destroys everything in sight and goes after Stephanie. Hunter jumps him from behind only to take a chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver. Shawn signals for the DQ after the bell, but he actually saw the chokeslam around 59:55, so Hunter wins the final fall and takes the match 6-5. Okay, so it's a tad overbooked in the final two falls, but the first 55 minutes are pure gold. There will be people who point to the Bret-Shawn match and say that's how an Iron Man Match should go, and there will be people who prefer this. Personally, I like them both, and the booking here makes sense because these guys are definitely not Bret and Shawn. You can tell this match was heavily booked unlike the Mania match which felt more like two guys riffing off each other like jazz musicians for 60 minutes. This was a well-organized, well-structured match from start to finish. The interference at the end does knock off a bit because it defeats the purpose of the whole "let's go an hour to see who the better man is" concept, and it should have led to a #1 contender's match between Rock and Undertaker, but instead they wound up teaming at the next PPV. But, like the Shawn/Mankind match, the last two minutes shouldn't totally kill the enjoyment of the first 58. I remember loving this when it first happened, then souring on it in the mid 2000's because a lot of it just seemed so mapped out and mechanical, but time has allowed me to sit back and appreciate the fact that these two guys had a well-planned story set out and then just went out and executed it. This match shows just what a great ring general Triple H was when given an exciting talent to work with. ****1/2

The 411: A worthy follow-up to the stellar Backlash show. The main event and mid-card was stacked at this point and just about anything the WWF touched turned to gold in 2000. Even guys like Brisco and Patterson were returning to stardom. Unfortunately, instead of just going with what was hot, the bookers incomprehensibly tried to spread the wealth around at the next PPV and took a major step backwards. But that's another story. This show kicks the ass of just about every non-Big Four PPV since.

Thumbs way up.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]