Dark Pegasus Video Review: No Mercy 2000

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.13.2008

Attempted vehicular manslaughter, clumsy Samoans, and a weakness in the Crossface?

No Mercy 2000
by J.D. Dunn

October 22, 2000

Live from Albany, N.Y..

Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Dudley Invitational Table Gauntlet: Lo Down vs. 2 Cool.
Lo Down is D'Lo Brown and Chaz. Once Russo, who was a big D'Lo proponent, left, Brown's career stalled and he was finally just paired with Headbanger Mosh. Neither man was particularly helped by that alliance, and the addition of manager Tiger Ali Singh just made them look like bigger jobbers than they were. Big "D'Lo sucks" chant. They dominate the match with D'Lo going low and hitting the Sky High. Scotty blocks a superplex and shoves Chaz through a table. D'Lo misses the Lo Down and puts himself through a table to let 2 Cool advance. 1/2*

2 Cool vs. Tazz & Raven.
Raven came in with a lot of fanfare, but they immediately made him a generic ECW guy rather than creepy cult leader, which is where he made most of his money. 2 Cool attacks before the ECW guys can get in. Tazz catches GMS in the Tazzmission. GMS' feet accidentally break a table, but they ignore it. Scotty gets the Worm under a table, but Tazz has no patients for tomfoolery, and he and Raven suplex Scotty through a table to eliminate them at 7:41. 3/4*

Tazz & Raven vs. The Dudley Boyz.
Tazz takes the Bubba Bomb early, and the Dudz give Raven the WAZZUP drop. Tazz T-bones Bubba, but the Dudz take over, and D-Von legdrops Tazz through a table at 10:32. 1/4*

The Dudley Boyz vs. The Right to Censor.
Bull Buchanan and the Goodfather are reppin' the RTC tonight. Bull misses a swing and takes out the ref. Bubba goes low and powerbombs Bull through a table, but the ref is out. Goodfather sneaks in and nails Bubba with a chairshot. He puts Bubba in the wreckage as Jack Doan wakes up. He calls for the bell at 13:44. Oh, but a second ref comes in and tells Doan what's what. Doan restarts the match, and the Dudleyz 3D the Goodfather through a table at 13:38. Generic opener. *1/2

Rikishi caresses his sledgehammer. Gee, that's not a tip off to who was behind the whole thing.

In the back, Trish Stratus promises to let the tits fall where they may.

Recap of the APA/T&A feud. See, they were all playing poker in the back, but T&A ran out of money, so they started betting Trish's clothes. It wasn't long before she had to strip completely, and Faarooq and Bradshaw became transfixed by the power of the snizz. It was the same look Tim Roth had when he opened the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. T&A used that opening (no pun intended) to attack the APA and lay them out.

Mixed Six-Person Tag: The APA & Lita vs. T&A & Trish Stratus.
The match never gets underway, as T&A crush Bradshaw under some equipment and lay out Faarooq. That leaves Lita all alone. Test & Albert let Trish have her way with her until the Hardy Boyz make the save. [N/R]

Edge & Christian discuss the heinosity of their nuts.

Cage Match: Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac.
Jericho buries the whole DX concept and X-Pac along with it. He tries to yank X-Pac into the ring, but Pac slams the cage door on his head. X-Pac goes up, but Jericho crotches him and tosses his face into the mesh. X-Pac tries to toss him into the cage in retaliation, but Jericho just jumps to the top of the turnbuckle and tries to climb out. X-Pac catches him but eats a missile dropkick. JR meanders around in his own thoughts for a while and calls Edge & Christian "literally nuts." Okay then. Jericho backdrops Pac into the cage, but X-Pac pounces on him. He hit the Broncobuster and covers, but there are no pinfalls. I'm not sure if he's just selling the stipulations or if he's high. Really, it could go either way. Pac goes up, but Jericho recovers and SUPERBOMBS him to the ring. Cool. Jericho goes up but gets crotched. X-Pac does the slowest crawl you'll ever see towards the door. Jericho grabs his ankle, but X-Pac drags a chair in with him and waffles Jericho with it. He goes up, but Jericho crotches him on the top of the cage. Jericho tries a Liontamer on the top of the cage, which is pretty stupid even in theory. Pac kicks him back into the ring and starts to slide down. Jericho recovers, though, and dropkicks the cage, making it unstable enough to crotch X-Pac on the cage door. OUCH! That allows Jericho to walk out and win at 10:37. Nothing wrong with the match, but Jericho was wasted after his feud with Benoit. ***

Steve Blackman joins us from WWFNY. He's a party animal.

Rikishi demands to know where in the hell Austin is. Commissioner Mick Foley doesn't know, but he promises to raise Rikishi's hand in victory if Austin doesn't show.

Recap of Eddy Guerrero getting injured and being unable to defend his Intercontinental Title against Billy Gunn. Instead, we get…

Mr. Ass & Chyna vs. Steven Richards & Val Venis.
I'm not sure why Val went with the Good Humor Man look instead of the black pants, but it throws everything off. Billy was on his way to yet another failed singles push, and it would be his last serious one as he stalled out in the Winter of 2000. Chyna, not surprisingly, is the over one on the team. Billy plays face-in-peril for a while as they work his shoulder (he was coming off surgery). Chyna gets the hot tag and cleans house on the boys. That sets up the Fameasser, but Stevie rolls to the floor. Gunn chases him out and gets into a brawl with Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather. That allows Eddy Guerrero to run in and hit Chyna with a lead pipe. Val covers and gets the win at 7:17. 1/2*

In the back, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley begs Triple H to let her come down to ringside during his match. When permission is not forthcoming, she gives him a tape of Benoit applying the Crossface, and she thinks there is "something interesting" about it. Stephanie also works for the New England Patriots. HHH warns her that he's holding Kurt Angle responsible for her safety tonight.

Rikishi comes out to demand Austin show or forfeit. I'm not sure whose idea it was to have him wear that silly muumuu when they were trying to put him over as a bad-ass heel, but they need to be tested for drugs immediately. Of course, Austin shows up at the last second.

No Holds Barred: Steve Austin vs. Rikishi.
Austin stomps the Kish down and tosses him into the steps. He tries to strangle him with an extension cord, and they brawl up into the aisle. Rikishi backdrops him, but Austin takes his belt off and whips Rikishi all the way to the ring. I'm sensing a pattern already. Rikishi tosses Austin over the Spanish table, but Austin no-sells it and hangs him with a piece of rope. Rikishi swings a chair but misses, and Austin shows him how it's really done. Rikishi bleeds. Austin continues wearing him out with a chair, stopping briefly to put on JR's hat for fun. A sledgehammer shot misses, and Austin winds up denting his own truck. Instead, he tosses Rikishi into the back of the truck, pops open a Steveweiser and drives out of the arena. Remember kids, don't drink and drive. He dumps Rikishi out of the truck and tries to run him down, but a police car interferes. I guess Albany doesn't cotton to vehicular homicide. That's your Sports Entertainment finish at 10:00. See, they couldn't job Austin, and they couldn't job Rikishi, so… [N/R]

We watch the EMTs load the officer that Austin rammed into the ambulance. Thankfully, he decided not to press charges or sue in exchange for tickets to the New York/New Jersey Hitmen vs. The Las Vegas Outlaws opening night football game.

European Title: William Regal vs. Naked Mideon.
Naked Mideon is actually not naked tonight, which means he's just Mideon… as a babyface. He's wearing breakaway pants, though, so I do not like where this might be going. Regal goes about dismantling Mideon. Mideon bails to regroup and OFF COMES THE SHIRT! Suddenly, he's a house of fire. Regal cuts him off and hits a double-underhook suplex. Mideon bails again and OFF COMES THE PANTS! So that's what Mideon's penis looks like. Huh. To top it off, he kisses Regal. Man, that guy's got a lot of balls. He just goes nuts with offense. Regal gets testy and crotches Mideon on the top rope. He refuses to apply the Regal Stretch for fear of accidental insertion and, instead, hits the Regal Cutter at 6:10. 1/4*

Earlier on Heat, Kurt Angle, via the use of creative editing, got the Rock to confess to having Rikishi run down Austin. Kurt would later go to work for CNN and interview John Cena.

WWF Tag Team Titles: The Hardy Boyz vs. The Conquistadors.
Edge & Christian ran out of chances to take back the tag titles, so the Conquistadors made their triumphant return and won a #1 contenders' battle royal. This would be their first PPV appearance since 1988. I'll just refer to them as Conquistador E and Conquistador C. They don't fare very well, which is not surprising if you ever watched the Conquistadors back in the 1980s. The Hardyz hit Poetry in Motion and drop toehold E into C's crotch. The ref gets distracted, allowing the Conquistadors to use shenanigans to take over. Jeff plays face-in-peril, of course. Conquistador C accidentally catapults Jeff into Conquistador E. Conquistador C misses a flipping senton, allowing Matt to get the hot tag. The Hardyz clean house with doubleteams. Jeff runs the rail and wipes out E. C hits a familiar springboard crossbody. Matt comes off the top but wipes out his own brother. Oops. Back in, C hits the Reverse DDT on Matt, but Jeff breaks up the count with a Swanton. Matt hits the Twist of Fate on E and takes off his mask, revealing… another mask! C uses that opening to hit the Unbonita-er to pick up the win and the titles at 10:51. The match was boring until the finish. The angle was a lot of fun, though. **

In the back, Triple H sees the chink in the Crossface's armor.

Triple H vs. Chris Benoit.
Big "Triple H" chant as this was his brief flirtation with babyface status before he realized that he could either be a third-string babyface or the top heel in the company. That ain't no kind of choice. Hunter goes right after Benoit's knee off the bat, beating on it like he rents, owns and leases-with-an-option-to-buy the knee joint. He even busts out the Mutalock. Benoit finally suplexes them both over the top and catapults Hunter into the post. Back in, Benoit goes after Hunter's shoulder with a single-arm DDT. That sets up a Hammerlock Suplex. A Northern Lights Suplex gets two. A snap suplex gets two and sets up a cross armlock. At some point, Benoit's just going to have to rip Hunter's arm off and beat him with it. He hits another Hammerlock Suplex and the Swandive Headbutt. Hunter gets a desperation small package and an inverted suplex. MOVESET~! Hunter gets fired up and hits a superplex for two. Benoit blocks the Pedigree, though, and reverses to ROLLING GERMANS! Hunter blocks, but Benoit improves with a DRAGON SUPLEX! ONE, TWO, TH-Hunter gets his foot on the ropes. Undaunted, Benoit gives him another DRAGON SUPLEX! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Granted, the execution wasn't there on the suplexes, but the thought was good. CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Hunter… just… powers up… and hits a DVD! AWESOME! Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley runs out, slaps Benoit in the face, and dares him to do something about it. Oh, believe me, Steph, you DO NOT want him to follow up on that! Benoit and HHH take turns reversing finishers until the ref turns to scold Stephanie for nothing in particular. That allows Hunter to go low and finish with the Pedigree at 19:44. Stellar match, probably the best ever between these two. Great psychology, pacing, intensity, yadda, yadda, yadda. Even Stephanie's interference didn't hinder the match because it was in the context of the feud. ****1/4

In the locker room, Edge & Christian celebrate with The Conquistadors. I believe we've finally decided that they were Aaron Aguilera and Christopher Daniels. So, you could argue that Christopher Daniels was an unofficial tag team champion. He's at least as much of a tag team champion as Billy Gunn was when he stole one-half of the APA's titles.

WWF Heavyweight Title, No DQ: The Rock vs. Kurt Angle (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley).
Hunter called Steph a "liability" when she's at ringside, so Kurt naturally swooped in and asked her to be in his corner. Steph distracts the Rock just long enough for Kurt to jump him from behind. Rock shrugs it off and beats him all the way back to the entrance where he tosses him through the set. Note that it's a pretty thin material and not the indestructible glass that they use on the space shuttle that Kurt tried to put Shane through a year later at King of the Ring. Funny spot as Rock takes someone's Rock cardboard cut out, holds it over Angle's face, and punches it. They brawl back to the ring for more brawling. Rock gets a Dragon Screw and the Sharpshooter, but Steph has the ref distracted so he doesn't see Angle tapping out. Rock chases Steph around the ring, allowing Angle to catch him in a belly-to-belly. Rock elbows out of a chinlock and tosses Kurt to the floor. Angle gets tossed into the stairs and takes the Aquafina Mist (which, I believe causes the victim to feel refreshed and invigorated). Angle gets fired up and uses the belt (with Steph providing a needless distraction). Rock crotches Angle on the top and gives him the SUPERPLEX. Angle gets a German Suplex but disobeys Steph and goes up for a moonsault. It misses. Rock hits the People's DDT. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steph breaks up the People's Elbow and points to her juggies. Rock gives her the Rock Bottom, but that allows Angle to jump him from behind. Triple H comes down, attacks Angle and then Pedigrees the Rock for attacking Steph. Angle covers but only gets two. Another DDT gets two for the Rock. Rikishi comes down and attacks Angle. That allows Rock to hit the Rock Bottom, but he can't cover immediately and only gets two. Rikishi tries for the Buttalanche, but Angle pulls Rock in the way. Rikishi tries to make up for it with a thrust kick but accidentally takes out the Rock again. Angle gives Rikishi the Angle Slam and then gives one to the Rock to pick up the win and title at 21:50. Not quite as good as their No Way Out match a few months later, but still a fine main event match. They did a little too much brawling in this one, which is fine for guys like Steve Austin, but they proved later on that they didn't need to rely on that kind of all-over-the-place fighting, especially when it didn't add anything to the match. ***3/4

The 411: Not coincidentally, this was the end of the Kreski PPV era and the end of the WWF's creative hot streak. Not long after this, Stephanie McMahon would assume head writer duties, and the show stagnated. Benoit and Jericho, who were so hot in the Spring/Summer were put in meaningless feuds until fans believed it was never going to happen and just started getting apathetic. Angle was given the title, but that doesn't mean he was the focus of the show (much like Benoit in 2004). Instead, he was relegated to the third-string heel role behind Triple H and Rikishi. Also not coincidental is the fact that ratings started taking a tumble just after this show and continued falling until they bottomed out at the 3.5-ish range they are today. That should tell you what the audience thought of the WWF's "new" creative direction.

Mild thumbs up because the last two matches are so good, but the undercard is a total dog, so get ready to fast-forward.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]