Reviews of every WWE “B” PPV event from 2000 including Armageddon

Let’s discuss the WWE “B” PPV events from 2000, when things really changed in WWE. You started to see a major shift in the quality of the pay-per-views because of the arrival of various superstars.

No Way Out 2000

At the end of 1999, you had Chris Jericho and you had the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian rising to the top. Then WWE acquired The Radicalz from WCW — Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn — and all of a sudden the WWE undercards were red hot. Let’s not forget Kurt Angle as well. The WWE roster got to probably its strongest point around early 2000 and the product was just red hot.

No Way Out was a really, really strong pay-per-view from start to finish. You had Kurt Angle beating Chris Jericho to win the IC Title and becoming the dual champion — the Eurocontinental Champion — continuing his rise as a top star in WWE.

The Dudley Boyz beat the New Age Outlaws to win the tag titles, and Billy Gunn was injured. This would end up being the last hurrah for the original run of the New Age Outlaws. Billy Gunn would come back, but he and Road Dogg were not teaming together in WWE for a very long time — maybe not until years later.

You had Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz — another good match. You had The Radicalz against Too Cool and Rikishi — that was a good match. Big Show beat The Rock with the help of Shane McMahon, and that would set up the WrestleMania main event.

Then you had the Hell in a Cell match, which was awesome: Triple H vs. Cactus Jack. They had a lot to live up to and it was a tremendous brawl. Mick Foley took a bump similar to Shawn Michaels in ’97 off the side of the cell. Then he brought out the barbed-wire 2×4, set it on fire, and hit Triple H with it. The crowd was going crazy.

He went for a piledriver or something, but Triple H back body-dropped him and Foley went through the cage. This time they had it set up so that when he went through, the ring actually collapsed. In a way it was better because it broke his fall, but it still looked really spectacular. The crowd was going, “Holy crap!” Triple H got back in the ring and beat him. He went for the pin and Mick Foley still kicked out, so Triple H hit one more Pedigree and that was the end of Cactus Jack — at least for this time. He was “retired,” but we all know how retirements go in wrestling.

Still, an amazing match. Hats off to both guys and hats off to Mick Foley for making Triple H look like the heel of all heels. He made Triple H look like a million bucks in this match and the previous month at the Royal Rumble. An all-time classic Hell in a Cell match.

Backlash 2000

Next up we have Backlash from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Another really strong pay-per-view event.

A very solid undercard: you had Dean Malenko vs. Scotty 2 Hotty for the Light Heavyweight Title. You had a fun Hardcore Title six-way match — this was when Crash Holly was doing the Hardcore 24/7 rule.

You had Big Show vs. Kurt Angle — or should I say The Showster vs. Kurt Angle. Kind of sad to see Kurt Angle doing a job to Big Show dressed up like Hulk Hogan, but this was when WWE was in the mood to give Big Show a monster push while he was doing the comedy gimmick. It was a lot of fun, and the announcers were funny saying that Big Show’s Hulk Hogan was getting a better reaction than Hulk had gotten in years and that he was performing in front of a bigger crowd than he had been in years. They were just taking every shot they could at Hogan and WCW — fun stuff.

Then you had the beginning of the Dudley Boyz turning into one of the top tag team babyfaces in the company when they fought T&A and Trish Stratus was there. When it was over, you had Bubba Ray putting Trish through a table and cementing the Dudleys as fan favorites. Really entertaining stuff.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Essa Rios was a good match. Eddie was developing the Latino Heat persona around this time. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho was another solid match.

Then you had the WWE Title match, The Rock vs. Triple H, with all the odds stacked against The Rock. Shane McMahon was the referee, you had the McMahons interfering, but The Rock had “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in his corner. Throughout the show, they were teasing that Austin would not make it, but of course he did. This was during Austin’s healing process — he was injured, had neck surgery in November, and they did that angle at Survivor Series. Austin came back for this pay-per-view, but clearly he wasn’t ready to return to the ring yet. He looked a bit out of shape, but he was in good enough condition to come out, swing the chair, and hit everybody in the head with a steel chair.

The Rock wins the title — really fun match. One of the highlights is when The Rock does a double Rock Bottom to Triple H and Shane McMahon through the announce table. Really, really fun match — typical Rock vs. Triple H, highly entertaining stuff.

Judgment Day 2000

Next up we have Judgment Day 2000. The most noteworthy match on this show, of course, was the main event: the Iron Man match, The Rock vs. Triple H, one hour.

I thought this was a really good one-hour match — in my opinion, more entertaining than the Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels Iron Man match. You had several falls, something like 5–5 going into the final minutes. Lots of brawling, lots of pinfalls, lots of submissions, DQs — a whole bunch of different things happening in this match.

At the very end, it was tied up. You had the McMahons interfering and DX getting involved, and then all of a sudden you see the video package with the creepy children and out comes The Undertaker, making his big return after about a six or seven month absence. Undertaker with his new American Badass persona, coming out on the bike and laying out everyone with chokeslams.

He ends up chokeslamming Triple H with a few seconds left on the clock and there’s a little bit of confusion. I think they mistimed the finish a bit, but he did chokeslam Triple H before the time expired and then gave him the Tombstone. Shawn Michaels was the referee for this. This was an interesting choice by WWE because several months earlier Shawn Michaels, as a referee, had screwed The Rock against Triple H on the very first SmackDown, and they played that up in the storyline.

But Shawn Michaels played it fair here. However, he had no choice: when Undertaker chokeslammed Triple H, he had to call it as a DQ, and Triple H won the title back.

You also had Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho in a submission match — another solid match from those two. Shane McMahon beating Big Show — Shane was really entertaining as the “Giant Killer.” This was a really solid show.

The opener was really hot: Too Cool and Rikishi against Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle. The crowd was just red hot. Too Cool and Rikishi were probably at the peak of their popularity at this time, so it was really fun to watch. Overall, this pay-per-view was really good.

Fully Loaded 2000

Speaking of really good pay-per-views, Fully Loaded in July 2000 was another really strong pay-per-view outing by WWE.

The Hardy Boyz and Lita vs. T&A and Trish Stratus was a hot opener to kick off the show. You had the cage match with Val Venis and Rikishi — this match is noteworthy for Rikishi doing the big dive from the top of the cage. Just a spectacular spot, especially considering Rikishi’s size — a guy of his size doing a big splash like that.

Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle was fun. The Last Man Standing match, Triple H vs. Chris Jericho, was excellent — a really, really strong match. Triple H just barely won the match. Both guys went back and forth and then they both went through the table. Triple H managed to barely get up at nine and a half to win the match, and then he collapsed again. This was a really strong match, one of Triple H’s better matches and one of Chris Jericho’s better matches. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it.

The WWF Title match, The Rock vs. Chris Benoit, was also very good, with the tease of Benoit winning the title only for it to be taken away by Mick Foley and the match restarted so The Rock could retain the title. Another really good match, and it was well booked to protect Benoit and keep him in the running for a title shot.

There were some goofy segments on this show, like Undertaker chasing Kurt Angle backstage on a bike and Edge and Christian with Christian pretending to be sick in the bathroom, throwing up, and Mick Foley looking over the stall at him, plus the camera from Foley’s perspective. It was a bit goofy and over the top with the backstage segments, but overall a really, really solid pay-per-view.

Unforgiven 2000

Next we have Unforgiven 2000. This pay-per-view is noteworthy for the big return — the official full-time return — of Stone Cold Steve Austin, coming out to find out who ran him down. They had several backstage segments with him and Kurt Angle and various people, and Austin came out stunning Steve Blackman, stunning Shane McMahon, drinking beer, and raising hell. It was basically Stone Cold’s reintroduction into the storylines.

You had Tazz beating Jerry Lawler due to the debut of Raven — Scott Levy, obviously in WWE before as Johnny Polo, but this was his debut as the Raven character in WWE. Another entertaining Hardcore Battle Royal with Steve Blackman defending the title. Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac was a good match.

You had the cage match for the tag team titles — really good match in my opinion — Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian. Really fun match with lots of cool spots. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rikishi was entertaining, with the storyline between Guerrero and Chyna, them having their problems, then he proposes to her and then screws her over again. Entertaining stuff.

Triple H beating Kurt Angle — to me this was a little bit disappointing because they had done such a good job building up the love triangle storyline with Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Stephanie, and then it just abruptly ends here with Stephanie being told to make a decision and choosing to side with her husband. But then the next month she’s managing Kurt Angle. So yeah, it was a little bit disappointing how this storyline payoff wasn’t as exciting as I was hoping it would be, but it was still a good match.

The WWF Title match, a fatal four-way with The Rock defending against Benoit, Kane, and The Undertaker, wasn’t an excellent match. It was probably too short to be an all-time classic, but it was still a good match. However, like I said, this pay-per-view was really about the return of Steve Austin.

No Mercy 2000

Then we have No Mercy from October 2000. Steve Austin vs. Rikishi.

This was an interesting match. You had Steve Austin come out in his truck and they had a crazy brawl, but it just ended in a no-contest. Austin took Rikishi out to the parking lot and literally tried to run him down. Then he was arrested, but of course he’s not charged with attempted murder; he’s back on television and the feud continues. It was a bit over the top and goofy in my opinion.

Looking at this card, you had more solid matches. Jericho vs. X-Pac in a steel cage was good. You had a tag team Elimination Challenge which was entertaining. William Regal vs. Naked Mideon — this match is entertaining for Regal’s reactions to everything that’s going on with Mideon. Regal was great in that regard.

Edge and Christian as The Conquistadors beating The Hardy Boyz — this was a really fun storyline with Edge and Christian under the masks. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit was a very good match.

The WWF Title match, Kurt Angle vs. The Rock, saw Kurt Angle winning his very first WWE Title with help, of course, from Stephanie. This was a really solid match. So yeah, this was a good pay-per-view — not as good as some of the previous ones in 2000, but still some solid stuff.

Armageddon 2000

The main event was tremendous — the Hell in a Cell Match, a six-person Hell in a Cell match: Angle vs. The Rock vs. Steve Austin vs. Triple H vs. Rikishi and The Undertaker. It was just a crazy brawl. You had Vince coming out trying to tear down the cage, and as a result the cage was opened. Everybody went outside, they were brawling all over the place, and then they ended up fighting on top of the cell.

Then you had the big spot where Undertaker chokeslammed Rikishi off the top of the cage onto the farming truck that Vince brought out. At least they were able to do a big spot — it was very safe but still looked cool. You also got a little bit of a tease for WrestleMania 17 with The Rock and Austin going at it, and somehow Kurt Angle managed to get out of there with the WWE Title.

This is an all-time classic, and some would say it’s very underrated — and I would agree with that. This was a really fun match, and it’s just a shame WWE doesn’t do more of these multi-man Hell in a Cell matches. This one was wild, out of control, and a lot of fun.

There were some interesting things on this show: you had Road Dogg and K-Kwik, you had The One Billy Gunn, and others on the card. It was a solid card overall. I wasn’t a big fan of Chris Jericho vs. Kane in the Last Man Standing Match — not nearly as good as the Jericho vs. Triple H match. I also thought the storyline was dumb because it was based on Jericho spilling coffee on Kane.

The opening match was entertaining with Eddie Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko against The Hardy Boyz and Lita. Overall, it was a decent show but not one of the better undercards. The show was carried by the main event.