WWF SummerSlam 2000

Coming into SummerSlam 2000 the WWF was on a hot streak, both critically and commercially, with the Attitude Era shifting away from ‘Crash-TV’ booking and putting more focus on a physical, in-ring oriented product.

From Raleigh, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

  
Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Too Cool v Right to Censor: The RTC jump Too Cool during their pre-match dance routine, but that's TOO FAR, and Rikishi cleans house. Scotty 2 Hotty starts with Bull Buchanan once the dust settles, and hits a flying bodypress after a criss cross. Tag to Grandmaster Sexay for a double-team suplex, but they waste time dancing, and Buchanan passes to the Goodfather. Sexay manages to backdrop him to the floor for some of his former hos to get revenge - only for Goodfather to (quite viciously) shove them on the floor. He gives Sexay more of the same, and Buchanan tags back in with a big boot for two. Backbreaker, and he tags Steven Richards to powerbomb Sexay for two. Richards goes to the top, but gets crotched, and superplexed off, and Sexay passes to Rikishi. He's a house of arson, but Scotty wastes too much time dancing during the six-way brawl, and Richards superkicks him for the pin at 5:12. Energetic opener. ½*

X-Pac v Jesse James: After Triple H broke off as a solo act, the rest of Degeneration-X started falling apart - though by this point both of these guys were total self parodies, and fan interest in a feud was non-existent. X-Pac wrestles him to the mat quickly, but a power exchange doesn't go as well, and he ends up on the floor. Back in, X-Pac tries a standing side-headlock, but James counters with a clothesline, only to miss a blind charge, and take the lightning kicks in the corner. He dodges the Bronco Buster, so Pac tries a sleeper instead - which looks hilarious, because his arms are so skinny. He goes with a more logical spinheel kick to soften Jesse up for the Bronco Buster instead, but takes too long showboating, and Jesse unloads his dancing punches. Kneedrop gets two, but Pac counters a pump-handle slam into the X-Factor for the pin at 4:41. The match was a mess - they had a better one in 1995 when James was still a rookie, in fact. This was effectively the end of DX until a revival during Shawn Michaels' return a couple of years later. DUD

WWF Intercontinental Title Mixed Tag Team Match: Val Venis and Trish Stratus v Eddie Guerrero and Chyna: Venis is the Intercontinental Champion here, and if either member of the opposing team scores a pinfall/submission, that person wins the title. Val starts with Eddie, and wins a slugfest, so Eddie hooks his ankle from the mat, then whips him into the ropes for a dropkick. Northern Lights Suplex gets two, but he walks into a backelbow, and Venis drops a knee for two. Backbreaker, but Guerrero passes to Chyna as Val whips him into the ropes, and a double-team flapjack gets two. She throws Val around with ease, but a distraction from Trish allows the Intercontinental Champion to side suplex a woman. Hanging vertical suplex, but a 2^nd rope elbowdrop misses, and Chyna blows him low. She hits a DDT before passing back to Eddie, and he backdrops Venis and hits a springboard rana for two. Another try gets him stungunned in the corner, and Val follows with a sitout powerbomb before tagging Trish in. She unloads a series of kicks, but Eddie shrugs her off and tags. Chyna unloads a series of clotheslines, but Val breaks up an attempt at the handspring elbow - triggering a four-way brawl. Eddie and Val end up on the floor in the chaos, so Chyna goes for the kill, and press slams Stratus for the title at 7:13. Well paced, but as always, awkward during the intergender portions. I don't want to see a bulked up wrestler hitting a woman, and the Val didn't seem comfortable with it, either - working super loose. *

Jerry Lawler v Tazz: Lawler doesn't even get a proper entrance, instead attacking Tazz as he makes fun of Jim Ross during his entrance. Into the ring, Lawler dropkicks and slams him to set up a 2^nd rope fistdrop. Tazz blasts him with a clothesline to takeover, but gets caught up hassling Ross on the floor, and Jerry decks him again. Piledriver, but Tazz completely no-sells it, and the referee gets bumped as he throws Jerry into the ropes. Tazzmission, but Ross has had enough of Tazz, and drops his headset to break a candy jar over Tazz's head, and allow the King the pinfall at 4:24. DUD

WWF Hardcore Title Match: Shane McMahon v Steve Blackman: Blackman stalks him with a kendo stick, leaving McMahon refusing to enter the ring - even when Steve passes it to him. He turns his back to lure Shane in, but a sneak attack fails, and Blackman chases him into the crowd. Catching Shane, Steve takes him back to ringside with a bicycle kick, and into the ring, Blackman blasts him with a trashcan lid. Not one to be wasteful, Blackman makes use of the rest of the can as a hat for Shane, which he makes sure is on tight by pounding it with sticks. Side suplex, and Blackman ties a belt around his neck to literally whip in around. Half-crab draw Test and Albert in to make the save, and they destroy the challenger as Shane recovers in the corner. They end up tying the strap around Blackman's neck to drag him over to the entrance area, and Test tries tipping a big speaker over on him - but he rolls out of the way, and grabs the kendo stick to take out McMahon's backup. Terrified, Shane climbs a piece of the entrance set, but Steve follows, and they end up at the top of the arena - Shane with nowhere left to climb or run. Right on his tail, Blackman starts whipping him with the kendo stick, until Shane takes an insane suicide dive off from essentially the ceiling. A big air mattress breaks his fall, but it was still one of the more visually impressive bumps (captured wonderfully by the camera crew) I've seen. Blackman follows up with a flying elbowdrop from the scaffolding, and that's enough for the pin at 10:08. Shane's crazy, death defying bumping is always a thrill ride, even if the rest of the match was nothing. ¾*

2/3 Falls Match: Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit: Jericho attacks as Benoit enters the ring, triggering a schoolyard style exchange of rights and lefts on the mat. They spill to the floor with it (the referee desperately trying to break them up), until Benoit posts Jericho. Inside, Benoit hooks an STF, but Jericho counters into the Walls of Jericho, but Benoit fights him off, so Jericho fires him into the corner with a slingshot, and hits a German suplex for two. Tombstone, but Benoit reverses, only to have a side suplex follow-up countered with a bulldog. Lionsault, but Benoit lifts his knees to block, and hooks Jericho in the Crippler Crossface to take the first fall at 3:14. The referee forces a break between falls, but Benoit goes right back for it, and hooks it on again - really wrenching back. Jericho nearly dies to make the ropes, so Benoit teaches him a lesson by hanging him in a tree of woe, and pulling at his neck from the floor - nearly cracking Jericho's spine in half. Benoit throws him into the post a couple of times to wreck the shoulder, but Jericho impressively counters the rolling German suplexes into the Walls of Jericho for a submission at 8:39. Jericho keeps after the back with a backbreaker, and a flying backelbow is good for a two count. Backdrop, but Benoit counters into a powerbomb, countered into a sunset flip from Jericho, and into a bridging pinfall reversal sequence ending in a Benoit German suplex for two. Benoit goes to the top to finish him, but Jericho meets him up there with a rana for two. Criss cross allows Jericho a diving forearm, and he fires off a series of clotheslines to daze Benoit for a spinheel kick. That gets two, and the Lionsault hits - but Jericho bangs up his shoulder on the way down, and doesn't cover. He still recovers before Benoit, but loses another pinfall reversal sequence - Benoit cradling him for the pin at 13:21. This was great, non-stop, hard-hitting stuff. Great psychology with bits like the shoulder/neck work from Benoit, as well as the psychology of the match type coming into play with either guy submitting in their opponent’s finishers a bit quicker than they might normally, knowing they need to save strength for another fall. *** ½   

WWF Tag Team Title Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match: Edge and Christian v The Dudley Boyz v The Hardy Boyz: They waste no time warming up to it: the Hardy's charging into the ring with chairs, and blasting Bubba Dudley in the corner. Not to be outdone, E&C give D-Von Dudley the same treatment, and Edge brings a ladder into things. Bubba ends up throwing it in his face, and he makes the first climb attempt, but the Hardy's pull him off, and Jeff Hardy climbs, but D-Von follows up with a second ladder. Edge brings them both down with a Russian legsweep off of the ladders, and that leaves Christian and Bubba to climb - Dudley bringing him down with a full-nelson slam. With three ladders now in the ring, Jeff makes another climb attempt, but Edge shoves him off - crashing onto another ladder, which see-saws up to crack Matt Hardy in the face. E&C reach their feet first, but an attempt at a conchairto for Jeff gets dodged, and Bubba Dudley takes all three of them out. He and D-Von give Edge a ladder version of the Wassup Drop, but instead of climbing for the belts, decide it's time to bring the tables into things. Christian takes a Dudley Death Drop through one, but not satisfied, the Dudley's set up a pair of double-table stacks, but Edge unloads with a chair before they get around to using them. He ends up taking flying legdrops from both Hardy's, and Jeff finds the supersized ladder under the ring. He sets it up on the floor to try and Swanton Bomb Bubba through a table, but Dudley moves, and Jeff wipes out on the floor. Matt tries for the belts, but everyone gangs up to stop him, and without Jeff there to help out, he gets tossed. With everyone else down, Bubba climbs the super-ladder, but Edge manages to tip it over - sending him crashing through the table stack he and D-Von set up earlier. Edge and Christian both climb, so Hardy bitch Lita runs in to literally tip things in her boys' favor. Matt climbs, and actually manages to touch the belts before D-Von pushes the ladder over - sending him crashing to the floor through a pair of tables. Jeff and D-Von climb, and each grab a belt - but the ladder gives out, and they're left dangling high above the ring, each trying to kick the other off. Jeff manages to knock D-Von off, but he's still dangling, so E&C help him out by swatting him off with a ladder. They set the super-ladder back up, and both climb opposite sides to retrieve their belts at 14:49. A good follow-up to the WrestleMania 2000 match, but having to follow that act was obviously weighing on their minds throughout – and it came across in the performances. Not that this wasn't another insane spotfest in its own right, but it was working so hard to try and raise the bar that they set that it completely lacked any flow or psychology. It’s still really entertaining today, but stuff like this was so obviously choreographed (bits like the Dudley's passing up tables at ringside for ones they had to walk way up the aisle for in order to leave them stacked up for other spots probably the most noticeable), this felt less like a battle for the titles than just an attempt to steal the show. *** ¼

Stinkface Match: Terri v The Kat: Terri's one of those rare women who seems to get hotter with age - she looks better here than she did in WCW during the early 90s. The object here is for one woman to shove her ass into the other's face. And God bless them, because when you're fifteen that's more than good enough. Both girls are in thongs for the occasion, and Kat attacks her at the bell with a bodyslam. She sets her up in the corner for a Stinkface, but Terri dodges that ass, and they catfight on the mat. Kat spanks her into the corner for a Bronco Buster, but Terri dodges that ass again, and bulldogs her. Kat with yet another bodyslam, and Terri takes the Stinkface at 3:04. I got hard - good enough. DUD

The Undertaker v Kane: 'Taker jumps him in the aisle for a slugfest, and drags him into the ring by the mask. Kane counters with a necksnap across the top rope, but an attempt at using a chair gets reversed. Undertaker mounts him for some punches, and goes for the mask again - managing to tear it some, so Kane bails to the floor to ram him with the steps. That gets reversed too (what a series of reversals!), and he goes for the mask again - this time tearing it apart, and sending Kane scurrying away to avoid exposing his face at 6:25. Really horrible match before the mask bit, though in 2000 'Kane without the mask' was still intriguing. DUD

Main Event: WWF Title Triple Threat Match: The Rock v Triple H v Kurt Angle: The main issue here was Kurt and HHH feuding over Stephanie McMahon's vagina, with the Rock's WWF Title sort of an added bonus should one of them win. And they don't even wait for the champ before getting into it, HHH beating Angle into the corner and stomping a mud hole. They quickly spill to the outside for Hunter to whip him into the stairs, and HHH preps the Spanish announce table. Unfortunately, his foreplay was a little too effective, and the table snaps as HHH tries a Pedigree - dropping Angle right on his head, and legitimately knocking him out. With Kurt unable to continue, Hunter goes for a sledgehammer to kill time, and out comes the Rock to take some attention off of Angle while EMTs check him out. He slugs it out with his challenger on the floor, but gets slammed into the English language announce table. Back in, HHH hits a backelbow, and both guys stall as Angle is getting wheeled out of the arena on a stretcher. HHH chases him up the aisle to drag him back (the EMTs shooting him great 'are you fucking crazy?!' looks), but Rock runs over before Hunter can do too much damage. He fires HHH into the entrance set with a slingshot, and levels him with a lariat. He and HHH head back to ringside as the medical team tries to figure out what to do with Angle - deciding to wheel him out. Meanwhile, Hunter blasts the Rock with a lariat of his own on the floor, as Stephanie heads out to watch from ringside. In the ring, Hunter with a high knee for two, but Stephanie's attempt at whacking Rock with the title belt backfires, and HHH goes down for two. Triple H grabs the sledgehammer to turn the tide, and he starts pounding the champs back - posting him on the floor. Inside, HHH keeps stomping at Rocky - looking completely lost, and unsure what to do. Meanwhile, Stephanie talks Angle into coming back out as Rock hits a superplex and a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Angle breaks up a Pedigree to get himself back into the game, and gives Rock an overhead suplex for two. HHH grabs his sledgehammer again, but Angle gets it away from him and in the chaos, Stephanie ends up getting hit. Rock takes the opportunity to throw Angle out of the ring, and the People's Elbow finishes Triple H at 20:12. The match fell apart when Angle got injured, leaving them clumsily improvising, though they did their best with it, as a lot of guys would have just sat around in restholds before segueing to the end. Good effort or not, these two were not guys conditioned to call a main event match on the fly, and it suffered for it. *

BUExperience: Though the main event fell apart, a good effort from everyone top-to-bottom, along with a couple of really good/entertaining matches in the midcard make this a winner. Though the show has generally been forgotten by fans (SummerSlam ’91, for example, is less solid as a card, but most wrestling fans could probably write an essay on it without thinking), likely because most of the better matches here were done better elsewhere. **