WWF Fully Loaded (July 2000)

From Dallas, Texas; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Six-Person Tag Team Match: Lita and The Hardy Boyz v Trish Stratus and T&A: Brawl to start, with the dist settling on Matt Hardy and Albert. Matt uses his speed advantage to control in the early going, but quickly gets overpowered, and backdropped out of the ring - ending a sloppy sequence on Matt's part. Tag to Test to whip him around some more, but Matt blocks a superplex, and hits a 2^nd rope legdrop. Tag to Jeff Hardy for some quick tandem stuff, and Jeff outmaneuvers Test to get him on the floor for a baseball slide and a plancha. Matt tags, but runs into a big boot, and now Trish wants in. She gives Matt a hard slap, but ends up getting schoolgirled for two. Test helps her take over, but she misses an elbowdrop, and Lita tags - Trish bailing for Albert. He tries to corner Lita, but the Boyz save and hit poetry in motion, then a double-team suplex. That effort gets cutoff with a cheapshot from Test, however, and Albert press-slams Jeff all the way to the outside, in a nice bump. Test tosses him back in for Albert to double-underhook suplex for two, and they double-team Jeff for a high elevation backdrop. They cut the ring in half on Jeff, but Test misses a flying elbowdrop, and Matt gets the tag - diving in with a flying clothesline. It quickly breaks down into a brawl from there, with Lita taking everyone out with various high flying moves before getting gutwrench powerbombed by Test. Trish comes in for the kill, and hits a bulldog for two. To the top, but Lita brings her down with a superplex for two, and a flying moonsault finishes at 13:12. Very good opener, with hard work from everyone. Amazing how much the ladies improved over the years, too, as Trish especially looked really awkward and unsure of herself, and we now regard these two are perhaps the best wrestlers of the Divas era. ** ½

Al Snow v Tazz: Snow goes right at him with a flurry of rights, and a Russian legsweep, so Tazz bails to break the momentum. Al goes right after him for a beating on the floor, but gives up the high ground on the way back in, and Tazz is able to control a slugfest - only to walk into a superkick. Sitout powerbomb gets two, but a headscissors is countered by Tazz with a whiplash, but he can't keep it going, and walks into a bodyslam. Al follows up with a nice flying legdrop, and adds a flying moonsault for two. Al decides to grab Head to finish him off, but takes too long playing to the crowd, and Tazz clips the knee. Brutality follows, as Tazz unloads a long series of unanswered fists, but a suplex is blocked with trapping headbutts by Snow. He tries a series of kicks, but Tazz counters with a head-and-arm suplex, then quickly gets the Tazzmission on for the submission at 5:21. The crowd was giving them nothing here, but it was a very decent match, with both guys working hard, and the bout not overstaying its welcome. *

WWF European Title Match: Eddie Guerrero v Saturn: Chyna goes after Terri on the floor before the bell, and the distraction allows Eddie to sneak attack his challenger. Side suplex sets up a slingshot somersault senton, and a diving backelbow knocks Saturn out of the ring - Chyna ready with a clothesline before rolling him back in. Eddie is on him with a swank rana off the top for two, and a clothesline sets up an armbar. Something looks off here with Saturn - like maybe he's gassed. Eddie tosses him to the floor for Chyna to beat on again, and the champ follows out with a nice flying bodypress. Eddie with a flying rana on the way back in for two, but another rana is countered with a powerbomb. Saturn fails to capitalize, and takes a tornado DDT for two. Headscissors, but Saturn counters with a spinning-toss facebuster, then adds a flapjack for two. Another flapjack is countered with a rana, and Eddie cradles him for two. Yet another rana, but Saturn counters again with a powerbomb - only to miss a flying moonsault. That allows Eddie a brainbuster, but a flying somersault senton misses, and Saturn powerslams him. He goes up, but Eddie is ready with a dropkick to knock him out to the floor, so Terri kicks him in the latino heat machine, and Saturn finishes with a flying elbowdrop for the title at 8:10. Guerrero was looking good, but Saturn was off his game tonight - looking lost, and gassed. Eddie managed to drag a decent match out of him anyway, but it was disappointing. * ½

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Edge & Christian v The Acolytes: E&C poke fun at Texas before the bell ('if JFK had to stay in Dallas five more minutes, he'd have killed HIMSELF), triggering a long, passionate response from native Texan Bradshaw. Good deal, as now the crowd is molten for what would otherwise be a really heatless match. Acolytes attack with the ring steps right away, and Bradshaw delivers a blockbuster off the top for fun. The challengers take turns kicking the shit out of Edge, but Bradshaw gets too cocky (I'm shocked too), and hit with a missile dropkick by Christian. They cut the ring in half on the Texas rose, but Edge ends up taking a flying shoulderblock, and Faarooq gets the tag. He's a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl, and the Dominator looks to finishes Christian, but Edge whacks Faarooq with the title belt to draw a DQ (and save the title) at 5:32. Energetic, but not much else. ½*

WWF Intercontinental Title Cage Match: Val Venis v Rikishi: This is pinfall or escape rules. Val decides to use his speed advantage right away, and runs for an escape before even making contact, but Rikishi pulls him back, and unloads. Well, points for effort, I suppose. Val gets launched into all four sides of the cage, and Rikishi makes a climb attempt of his own, so Venis decides to go for the door - forcing Rikishi down to stop him. Loving Val's psychology thus far. He returns the favor by tossing Rikishi into the mesh a few times, but a cross corner clothesline gets reversed, and Rikishi goes for the stinkface, but gets blown low, and hit with a 2^nd rope flying bulldog. Hey, he had it coming. The rape stops here! Val sends him spiraling to the mat with a lariat for two, and he climbs, but Rikishi follows, and they slug it out on the top rope. Venis manages to knock him off, and decides to follow with a flying elbowdrop for two. He climbs again, but Rikishi manages to follow, and another slugfest on the top ends with Val busted open, and both men crashing down to the canvas. Rikishi tosses him into the cage and drops him like a Samoan to set up an avalanche, then finishes the job with a banzi drop. He goes for the door, but Trish Stratus slams it in his face to stop the effort, and Val recovers with a neckbreaker. Money Shot gets two, so Trish teases interfering again, but here comes Lita with a belt in hand to spank the idea out of her head. Meanwhile, both men climb, and Rikishi bashes his head into the mesh to knock him down. He has it won, but decides to turn around at the very top of the cage, and leap at the champ with a Superfly Splash! Alright, that was pretty crazy. He crawls for the door to finish, but now Tazz runs down, and bashes him in the head with a TV camera - Venis scoring the fall off of it at 14:11 to retain. I could have done without a run-in finish in a cage match, but it was far better than I expected overall, with both guys putting in a strong effort, and ended up delivering an entertaining match. ** ½

The Undertaker v Kurt Angle: Angle attacked Undertaker with a wrench to the knee backstage earlier on, and 'Taker is PISSED - chasing him down the aisle on his motorcycle, and kicking his ass through the crowd. In, he blasts Kurt with a big boot and a legdrop, but pulls him up at two. Hanging vertical suplex gets two - again pulled up by Undertaker. 'Taker misses a cross corner charge to allow Kurt a sleeper, but the hold is quickly broken, and Undertaker hits a cross corner clothesline, followed by a sidewalk slam for two. 'Taker tosses him over the top like he's a jobber in a battle royal, but following backfires when Kurt whacks the knee with the wrench. Inside, Angle tries to shoot at the leg, but 'Taker shrugs him off, and tosses him around some more. Kurt clips the knee to setup a leglock, but Undertaker escapes - only to have the chokeslam blocked with another shot to the knee. Angle goes back to the leglock, but Undertaker escapes, then wins a slugfest. Chokeslam and the Last Ride finish at a brisk 7:37. This one drew some pretty severe outrage from smart fans at the time, as Undertaker just went out and casually squashed Angle like a jobber, and even with the benefit of hindsight, it's STILL quite frustrating. This could have gone a lot of different ways with the same end result, but 'Taker seemed insistent on making Angle look weak - probably over some bullshit backstage respect thing, like Angle not squeezing hard enough when shaking 'Taker's hand, or some crap. ½*

Last Man Standing Match: Triple H v Chris Jericho: Hunter tries attacking before the bell, but Chris is ready with a flurry of rights - knocking the Game into the corner for a beat down. HHH tries to reverse a cross corner whip, but it backfires when Jericho rebounds, and clotheslines him twice. Dropkick knocks Hunter out of the ring, and another keeps him there. Jericho won't even let him catch a breather - right on him with more fists - and he hits a flying backelbow on the way back in. HHH manages to fire back with a kneeling facebuster, and a clothesline puts Jericho on the floor - Hunter also immediately following with a stungun across the rail. Back in, HHH goes to work on Jericho's previously injured ribs - ripping the tape off, and kicking at them. He drops a knee onto the ribs, then tosses Jericho into the corner for a series of shoulder smashes into them. He decides to choke Jericho with his own rib tape for a bit, then tosses him out over the top for Stephanie to deliver that famous slap of hers. HHH with a vertical suplex in the aisle, then back in for an abdominal stretch - HHH making sure to pound the ribs while in the hold as well. The referee forces a break when HHH blatantly uses the ropes for leverage, and Jericho fires off a spinheel kick while Hunter argue with the official over the call. Springboard moonsault, but HHH lifts the knees - hitting Jericho right in the ribs. Looked stiff as hell, too. DDT earns him the first count of the match, but Jericho is able to answer at six. HHH goes for the kill with a sleeper on the dazed Lionheart, but that only earns him a nine count. That's... three more! Frustrated, HHH goes to the Pedigree to finish, but even that only gets nine. Now HHH is good and pissed, and he goes to grab a chair - unloading on Jericho with it. He decides to punctuate the beating with a Pedigree onto the chair, but Chris blows him low to block, and cracks him with the chair to draw blood. Really nice bladejob, too. Hunter beats the count for a slugfest - Jericho controlling, and hitting a diving forearm. 2^nd rope dropkick and a bulldog onto the chair hit, but Jericho breaks the referee's count himself, and sends Hunter flying out of the ring with a corner whip. He follows, but Hunter reverses a whip into the steps. Pedigree onto them, but Jericho backdrops free, so HHH grabs a monitor off the announce table. Chris responds by doing the same, and they both end up looking up at the lights - both making it up at eight. Inside, Hunter desperately tries for the Pedigree again, but Chris sweeps him into the Walls. HHH grabs the ropes to force a break (bleeding everywhere as he does), but it's no disqualifications, so Jericho refuses to let off. That draws Stephanie in to force him off, and she takes a Wall for her troubles - saved by HHH. Now that's a woman who stands by her man! They end up on the floor again, and Hunter grabs a sledgehammer, but it misses, and Jericho uses it! Chris tries a moonsault through the announce table, but Hunter grabs him with a side suplex through it, and barely makes it up at nine for the win at 23:13. The stipulations kind of hurt the flow of this one, but it was still a brutal, intense brawl from bell to bell, with great selling from both men, and better than their later WrestleMania main event to boot. *** ½

Main Event: WWF Title Match: The Rock v Chris Benoit: The title can change hands via disqualification here. Benoit tries a sneak attack, but Rock takes control, and knocks him out of the ring for a whip into the steps. Inside, Rock hits an inverted atomic drop, and tries for the Crossface, but Benoit manages to get out of the ring before he can lock it on. He stalls out there for a bit to break the momentum, then back in, manages to catch a charging champion with a kneelift. He goes after the midsection with a gutwrench gutbuster, and Shane McMahon (in the challenger's corner) gets in a few cheap shots as well. Another kneelift gets two, but Rock blocks something off the top with a side superplex. Unfortunately, he's too hurt to immediately capitalize, and Chris whacks him with the title belt, then snap suplexes him for two. Rock manages a powerslam to block a clothesline, but Benoit cuts off the comeback with a side suplex. Sharpshooter, but Rock makes the ropes, so Benoit drags him back, and tries again - but this time the champ blocks. Shane cuts off another comeback by pulling down the top rope to send Rocky flying out, and McMahon blasts him with a clothesline out there. Another clothesline puts Rock in the first row, and Benoit suplexes him back to ringside. Inside, Rock manages a DDT for two, but quickly takes a lariat and a backbreaker for two. Neckbreaker gets the challenger two, and a bodyslam sets up the flying headbutt for a dramatic two count. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, and Rock catches him with a spinebuster to set up the People's Elbow, but Shane distracts the referee to delay the count. Thank God he was there, otherwise I'm sure that elbowdrop would have finished Benoit for sure. Chris with a superplex for two, but Rock keeps fighting back, so Shane runs in with a chair. Rock manages to get it and wallop him, but that's a DQ, and Benoit wins the title at 20:00. However, WWF Commissioner Mick Foley decides that there was no disqualification after all, and restarts the match. That kinda goes against every 'the referee’s decision is final' precedent in history, but whatever. Benoit takes out his frustrations with a three-alarm rolling German suplexes for two, and he goes for the kill with the Crossface, but Rock gets the ropes. Chris tries for it again, but Rock Bottom's him to retain at 22:09. I remember being much more impressed with this one at the time (I gave it four stars in my HITMAN383 era review), but it doesn't hold up for me. It's still a good, well paced match, but in it seemed better in an era where we were still being weaned off of 'brawl through the crowd' main events, and rooting for Benoit to get a main event push. **

BUExperience: I remember this show being a big deal at the time, as smart fans nearly had a collective orgasm at the prospect of Benoit, Jericho, and Angle all battling the top stars on pay per view, and then a collective fit of rage when all three lost. While both emotions have cooled fourteen years later, the show holds up rather well from a workrate or entertainment perspective, with a solid (if unspectacular) undercard, and a very good Last Man Standing match.

**