Review: WWF-WWE Judgment Day 2000 (Tagged Classic DVD)

 

Brett Mix’s- WWF Judgment Day 2000 Review:

Demonic Girls: “Now BACK….from the dead……“

(Voice over: Are you scared…he`s here….)

“MY GOD!!! It`s…….It`s….It`s………… THE UNDERTAKER!” -Jim Ross

 

 

 

 

 

1) Opening Contest- Six Man Tag: Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty, Grand Master Sexay and Rikishi) vs Team ECK (Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle

2 Cool were mega over as Babyfaces that the whole Angle-Edge-Christian segment to gain heel heat was unneccessary before the match began, although I`m glad they did it as it was quite humerous for all.

While 2 Cool Danced in the ring the match finally began when Edge-Angle and Christian jumped them from behind and the bell rang but 2 Cool took control from the get go besides being jumped.

Rikishi Irishwhipped all three to the corner and then whipped Taylor and Christopher into the corner and Rikishi slapped his ass cheeks but the three got out of the ring and the fans booed.

Settling down now, Grand Master Sexay with a side headlock, then ducked Edge, Edge flipped over him, caught GMS`s leg but he hit Edge with a spinning heel kick before slamming his head off the top turnbuckle, then goes to the top and dances and the crowd popped huge and came off with a high impact move. He tags in Scotty and the two double team as well as dance in that hip 2000 way while they double team Edge. It doesen`t take Edge long to tag in Christian who takes it to Scotty 2 Hotty.

Scotty 2 Hotty though hit Christian with a shoulder block and then countered Christian`s attempted offensive move and hit a vertical suplex, before dancing some more and the crowd just goes nuts for these spots. Scotty was on fire as after all he was coming off his best match he`d ever have versus Dean Malenko at Backlash 2000. He would never have a better match.

So much action with all six men, extremely hard to keep up but it was all entertaining.

Edge then got caught with his groin on the top rope and JR says Edge`s personal life was going to be effected. Good thing he hadn`t met Dumas yet, or had he…..oh well, another story for another day.

Crowd chant for RIKISHI but Grand Master Sexay looks like he had his pants unzipped by Scotty 2 Hotty while he signals he had a small penis, weird moment. Rikishi got the tag and took it to Christian, Edge and Angle and flipped him over into the ring.

Rikishi man handling the Olympic winner and Angle tried for a Sunsetflip but Rikishi stood tall then tried to drop all his power to Angle but he moved out of the way, as King says “Say no to crack!“

Angle wisely tagged in Christian but Rikishi took it to him, hit an irishwhip to the buckle and then Scotty got tagged in, hit a bulldog tried for the worm but Angle came in and clotheslined Scotty! King said he was wormless…hilarious and lively action!

Edge then with a right hand to Scotty and continued that trend and tagged in Angle. Angle choked out Scotty on the side ropes as he was gasping for air.

Angle slammed Taylor`s head in the turnbuckle and went crazy on him as the fans chanted that Angle sucked. Angle set up Scotty 2 Hotty and hit a nice vertical suplex on him.

Christian tagged in by Angle as THOSE two showed some great continuity and these fans are electric, WOW. Claps in union, and Christian hit a drop kick to Scotty before attempting a powerbomb Scotty reversed and sent Christian backwards with his upperbody hitting the top of the rope. Scotty made it to Rikishi and then all three of the HEELS got taken down by thunderous right hands and clotheslines.

Rikishi sent all three heels into the corner and then hit a huge ass splash. Quite literally and the fans go wild.

Kurt is in Stinkface territory.

Rikishi then gave Angle the Stinkface!

Christian and Angle then gave Rikishi a double DDT but it had no effect and as they clap hands Rikishi double clotheslines both of them.

Edge from behind with a DDT to Rikishi then mocks Scotty`s worm, only for Taylor to come up behind Edge and give him a bulldog and then the Real Worm to a wonderful ovation.

What excitement!

Christian ran in the ring with the ring bell and hit Rikishi in the head. Edge covered behind the ref but then Grand Master hit him with a leg drop from the top catching Edge from the back of the head behind the officials back.

Scotty then covered Edge after the Grand Master interference and you`d think Austin just won the WWF Title, what a pop. The fans applaud the opener and they love the dancing….what a match..attitude entertainment at its finest.

So at the end of the match Scotty pinned Edge after Sexay hit a Hip Hop Drop at 9:46.

Yeah, this was REALLY that good.

*** 1/2 doesen`t come easy but non-stop entertainment, non-stop comedy, non-stop great action all around with a magnificent crowd and this was just booked tremendously.

AMAZING OPENER.

*** 1/2

 

 

 

2) “Latino Heat” Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna) vs Perry Saturn vs Dean Malenko in a Triple Threat match for the WWF European Championship

Three Radicalz members all going at it for the European title!

Saturn is the only Radical to not have gotten a title to this point.

Malenko comes out to no pop…criminal but of course he never really did so it`s no change there.

This SHOULD be a good one with double teaming and every man for himself mentality.

From the get go Dean and Perry double team the tweener Eddie Guerrero who with Chyna by his side was pretty popular with the audience.

Dean Malenko and Saturn double-team Eddie holding him with Saturn coming off the top, then a hard irishwhip into the corner.

Malenko and Saturn got it on together as there unity didn`t last long and Malenko hit a dropkick to Perry Saturn. Saturn hit Malenko down and suplexed Guerrero up but Eddie hit clotheslines to both after landing on his feet.

Eddie dodged Saturn`s quickness and hit some explosive offense to both, as he gave a roman knucklelock to Saturn and then a hurricanrana to both Malenko and Saturn.

Eddie places both in the corner and then the action gets so fast it`s amazingly hard to call.

A lot of counters, reversals, and aerial counters make for some interesting watching. Eddie elbows Saturn in the head and then hit a nice tornado DDT.

Eddie with a ton of momentum but only got a two on Saturn as Malenko broke up the count. Dean then got sent by Eddie to the ropes and these two put on two of the best matches ever in ECW together so there chemistry goes back and Dean hits a nice powerbomb to Eddie.

Eddie down and Malenko talking trash to him, while sending Saturn to the corner.

Nice spot when Dean Malenko tries to powerbomb Eddie but he counters with a sunset flip, then Dean Malenko counters that into a Texas Cloverleaf that Saturn interupts but gets knocked down again by Malenko.

Malenko Irishwhipped to the buckle by Eddie, then Eddie goes up high and hooks him from the top but Saturn came from below Eddie and had him on his shoulders with Dean up high and for a moment it looked like a potential Dooms Day Device, but Saturn dropped Eddie onto the top rope and he sprung off, then Eddie from the top got amazingly dropped by Malenko from the top with an unreal back breaker in mid-air.

Nice.

Malenko is amazing…. wow, just wow.

Saturn comes off with an Eddie Style Frog Splash to Eddie but Dean interupts the count.

Saturn then puts a Texas Cloverleaf on Malenko using HIS hold this time as he is very Eugeneish here until Eddie breaks it up.

Malenko with an abdominal stretch until Eddie hits a backslide into Dean`s face.

Holds, near-falls, moves, all broken up by the other man who is free. What action. What a pace.

Unreal.

Saturn sent to the outside and now it left Dean and Eddie in the ring, wish it was 1995 but hey they were both great in 2000 as well!

Eddie then with a splash off the top then broke his own count attacking Saturn who was coming back in. What wrestling and the crowd barely appreciates it…for a 2000 crowd anyway.

A DOUBLE SUPLEX by Saturn to both Malenko and Eddie.

Chyna then Smashes flowers to Saturn on the outside and he looks to be out of it.

Eddie from the outside apron sunset flips Malenko, but Chyna hits him with flowers behind the ref`s back and Eddie hits a roll-up on Malenko and it`s over!

So in the end Eddie Guerrero retained his European title after he pinned Malenko after a Roll up after Chyna hit him with a lead pipe that was hiding in the flowers at 7:57.

Which thankfully gives us some explanation of why those flowers looked so powerful.

For 8 minutes, these three rocked the boat and put on a pure clinic. Amazing stuff!

Two matches so far, both over three stars. Tremendous start but it is the year 2000 so….

*** 1/4

3) Shane McMahon vs The Big Show in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

Shane-O-Golfer with a tremendous leap of faith on Big Show to begin this one over the ropes. Wow his agility always amazes me.

No DQ`s here so when Traylor runs from the back and hits Big Show with his night stick nothing the ref can do about it.

Show eventually hits Bossman down and then scooped him up and hit a jackknife powerbomb to the man who dragged his dead daddy`s casket around!

T and A intereferes but Trish doesen’t enough screen time unfortunately.

Shane crawling on his hands and knees to the back but Show catches up with him and scoops him up high and slams him eight feet in the air into the steel railing, and his head bounced off!

Show takes apart some of the Judgment Day Structure and then with the steel in the air, Shaen jumps and dropkicks Show with it until T and A double team Show.

They level him with big time right hands and then Shane tells Test and Albert to place Show over in the corner on the concrete while he sets up on his own.

T and A then pick up Show and Shane drives the metal rigth into Show. Shane covers him but Show kicks out and powers out big time by elevating him high in the air.

Big Show then elbows everyone in his path and then grabs Albert and sents him hard into the steel. Test even took a bigger bump into the steel head first.

Shane climbed up high and Bull Buchanan then hit Show with a night stick and Shane climbed down and people boo. Right because Shane is going to jump 40 feet every PPV….right….get real.

Shane then grabbed a BLOCK and smashed it over Big Show`s head and that`s all as SIMBA according to Lawler won the match!

In the end Shane pinned Big Show after hitting him in the head with a cinder block at 7:12.

Overall, Albert, the Big Bossman, Bull Buchanan and Test interfered in the match on Shane’s behalf.

The Spots, the interference, the fact it never got boring made it pretty entertaining so I need to give it at least a DECENT rating.

However it was nothing overly special overall.

** 1/4

 

 

4) “The Rabid Wolverine” Chris Benoit (c) vs “Y2J” Chris Jericho in a Submission match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

These two could have a normal match and it could be gold, but add the Submission stipulation and we could be looking at a classic.

Hardcore Holly at the time had beaten the hell out of Benoit on Raw`s and SD`s including on the latest Smackdown! Episode had beaten Benoit`s knees with a chair so the story here was if Jericho was going to capitalize on that area of Benoit in attempt to become the new IC Champion.

Jericho gets an amazing ovation as expected, while Benoit gets great heat as expected.

It`s on and I can`t wait.

This is Wrestling!

Benoit in a Submission match just makes me jacked, as the wrestling fan I am.

I LOVED King always taking shots at Stu Hart and when JR said both these guys trained in the Dungeon which is another reason this match comes off so great….King groans after Stu is brought up…hilarious.

Jericho and Benoit tie up and Benoit corners Jericho and both men are absolutely agressive as they break up in the corner and the fans chant for Y2J.

Benoit drives Benoit to the ropes in a tie up then elbows Jericho then drives his left knee that has a brace into Jericho. Jericho gets planted in the corner and Benoit hits a chop. These two are crisp, smooth moves. Jericho hits a running bulldog to Benoit then corners him and applies some chops of his own, flesh on flesh. Jericho keeps it up and irish whips Benoit to the corner before faking a Bulldog attempt and instead hooks on an armbar since it is a submission match, but a beautiful counter by Benoit as he flips over and tried to give Jericho a piledriver, Jericho then flips over, then Benoit flips over, reversal after reversal. Benoit then expertly gets the better of that exchange and hits a shoulder breaker to Jericho which is a great strategic move as it sets up for a potential crossface. Benoit fies beautifully off the top Dynamite like and htis Jericho before hooking a shoulder submission hold on Jericho, hooking the right shoulder of Jericho until he fought out of it and kicked Chris Benoit in the mid-section, went for the walls but Benoit countered with his leg strength, but Jericho came off the ropes with a flying forearm Michaels like, then with Benoit on the apron, Jericho jumped off the top and hit a dropkick to Benoit to the outside. Jericho then gets whipped on the outside SHOULDER first into the steel steps.

JR says there is a METHOD to the MADNESS by Benoit as he is targetting Jericho`s shoulder, with brilliant psychology.

Jericho also with brilliant psychology, improvises and utilizes Benoit`s sore knee and scoops him up and plants him knee first on the outside onto a vertical steel step set up on it`s side on the mat. Benoit had intended to drive Jericho`s shoulder there but Y2J reveresed those fortunes.

Jericho in the ring hitting a back breaker to Benoit, then a chopping war breaks out in the corner.

Jericho irishwhips Benoit into the corner, but as he charges for Benoit he missed him and Jericho hit his already sore left shoulder hard into the ring post.

Benoit very vicious rips off the top turnbuckle pad or attempts to, and got it half off and whipped Jericho`s hurt shoulder into it twice. All steel ramming Jericho`s hurt shoulder twice. Amazing stuff, then another shoulder breaker to Jericho and he torks the right shoulder again with a nice hold.

Awesome work by both men considering it`s a submission match, very fast paced.

Jericho out of desperation hits an armdrag takedown with his good arm but no effect on the Rabid Wolverine as he chops the hell out of Y2J once up and then hits a beautiful snapshot vertical suplex. Benoit then with a powerslam followed by him driving the knee into Jericho`s hurt shoulder.

I miss Benoit after material like this. The man was truly like no other.

Benoit then hooks Jericho`s shoulder at a 90 degree angle as he hyper extended the elbow with everything he had in the dead center of the ring but somehow Jericho slid over time to the ropes and put a leg up there.

Benoit hit the exposed buckle, and Jericho hit Benoit knee first into the canvas as a window of oppurtunity opened up briefly until Benoit kicked at Jericho, but Jericho with a nice leg takedown as he caught it in mid-air. Jericho then brutually nailing Benoit with a bunch of blows as Jericho continues to work on his knees and relentlessly goes to take the brace off to further expose Benoit`s leg injury out of desperation.

Jericho then finally gets it off and the place pops and he uses it on Benoit as a weapon and whips it to his leg. Jericho flies off with a flying forearm and hits the brace to the head of Benoit. Jericho goes to twist Benoit`s leg but he kicks off the figure four attempt and kicks with his good right leg, but Jericho hits a drop kick to his bad left knee, then a springboard lionsault. Jericho then hooked Benoit over the top rope and applied a Walls of Jericho over the top rope from the ring apron! Such power by Y2J and tork to the already hurt legs of Benoit.

Chris Benoit with beyond amazing power sits up in mid-air with the bad knees and fights Jericho with rights and lefts to get out of this mid-air over the rope, aggrivating predicament.

 

Benoit with kicks to Jericho`s face and hits him to the bridge of his nose and Jericho comes back right to Benoit`s injured knees but Benoit with his good leg hits a spinning heel kick, a summersault on the canvas then hits two german suplexes as he held onto the waist lock. Now a belly to back suplex and he viciously struck the back of Jericho.

Jericho with a Walls Attempt out of no where to Benoit`s bad knees but he just hit Jericho right in the face with a knee brace!

Benoit rolled Jericho over and locked in the Crossface!

Jericho was screaming in pain and Jericho with his bad shoulder couldn`t move towards the ropes and had no choice but to give in to the crossface after Benoit stretched the hold on for a longer period of time as he stretched him to the center of the ring. Jericho didn`t give up easy as Benoit squeezed it on a number of times and this lasted a good minute, Jericho had no choice but to tap out and Benoit went over here cleanly despite not tapping due to the Ref stopping the match.

So the official ruling was Jericho was unconcious, so at the end of the match Benoit retained the IC Title at 13:27 when he forced Jericho to submit with the Crippler Crossface.

King calls it the greatest submission hold ever!

Benoit holds up the IC title and SURPRISINGLY a good amount of people pop for him despite him being the villain and Jericho being the mega face, this still put Jericho over big as he didn`t quit Austin style at WM 13, while King calls Benoit a Gladiator…a Warrior.

Good stuff by Benoit after all though as this was a Submission Match……… might as well use one of the best submissions, especially when it`s your finishing move. 😉

What

A

Match.

These two never cease to amaze me.

The psychology by Jericho with all the innovative offense was beautifully executed to Benoit`s knees, awesome story telling with awesome counters.

Benoit`s movement, and game plan to hurt Jericho`s left shoulder which helped determine the finish was amazing.

For a match with this gimmick it was amazingly fast and it makes me bump it to the whole four.

A Classic and a truely underrated gem! Just add it to all the other incredible material these guys had in 2000.

This might be the very best of the bunch which in itself says a whole lot.

****

 

 

 

 

5) D-Generation X (Road Dogg and X-Pac) vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) in a Double Tables match

 

Object is to put both both guys through a table here.

This during the time D-X were in one of there newer runs and it consisted of Road Dogg and X-Pac as they were friends with the McMahon Helmsley Regime and they came out to RUN DMC`s version which was quite awesome.

X-Pac took it to D-Von early until he tagged in Bubba and then he took it to X-Pac.

Bubba with chops to Waltman in the corner and irish whipped him hard into the corner and then X-pac caught a boot in the corner as he charged towards Bubba and he lifted the foot.

Bubba hit a high impact move to Pac before tagging in D-Von and he “Wazzz Up`d“ HIM.

D-X walks to the back as the crowd chants for tables.

The Dudleys do the regular spot of running to the entrance way to catch the opposition (cowardly heels who walk away) and then bring them back to the ringside area.

X-Pac back in the ring gets in control and hit a Bronco Buster to D-Von Dudley and then both him and Road Dogg choke out D-Von in the corner while Bubba had no choice but to look on pissed.

I actually fondly remember Road Dogg and X-Pac being a very good and very credible heel tag team in the year 2000. They might have flied under the radar due to so many teams being awesome in the year 2000, another reason the year just OWNED.

Road Dogg and Pac using that tag team utilization and stomped on D-Von in there own corner keeping him grounded. Waltman with a spinning heel kick then told Bubba to Suck It which got no reaction because it was the year 2000, yet it`s cool to say it in 2006..or even 2009….okay.

Bubba FINALLY gets tagged in and hits a beautiful side walk slam to X-Pac, then a full nelson into an atomic drop to Road Dogg, then a Samoan drop to X-Pac.

Bubba yells for D-Von and the place pops!

D-Von gets the tables and three are now placed in the ring.

Bubba and D-Von place the tables in each respective corner.

D-Von on the outside got slammed into the steps by Road Dogg as the match turned hardcore.

Road Dogg then with his signature pumphandle slam to D-Von through a table off the steps on the outside, there`s 1! Bubba when giving fists always says “EAT THIS!“ which is hillarious, he did it a couple of times and JR said he`s doing commentary.

Bubba chokes out Road Dogg and then on the inside X-Pac is beating on D-Von who already had been put through a table. X-Pac went for a bronco buster into the table on a sitting D-Von against a vertical table in the corner but Bubba caught him from the hair. Then Bubba powerbombed X-Pac through a table.

It`s 1-1 and Tori can`t believe this. Remember when she was Raven`s NINJA….neither do I.

Bubba then with a hiplock to a ref through a table in the corner…funny stuff.

Gerald Briso who was the Hardcore Champion at the time walked down to the ring and he had defeated Crash in his sleep to become champion with the 24-7 rule, funny stuff.

The Dudleyz 3-D`d Road Dogg through a table but with the ref out he didn`t see it.

Bubba grabbed Tori in the ring and JR hystericallly says Tori is going to get serious wood tonight.

The Damn Dudleyz then powerbombed Tori through a table or were about to before Brisco broke it off and X-Pac hit the X-Factor to Bubba through a table but the ref saw THIS.

Weak ending but it made sense from a screwjob point of view.

Nice spots, but it wasn`t that great, just pretty good.

In the end D-X won the tables match at 10:55 when X-Pac hit the X-Factor to Bubba through a table from the top rope.

Brisco then told the Dudleyz to Suck it with the chop then the Dudleyz worked him over and gave him a 3-D through a table to please the fans after they were shafted due to no Tori going through a table.

** 1/2

 

 

 

 

 

6) Main Event- “The Game” Triple H vs The Rock (c) (with HBK Shawn Michaels as special guest referee) in a 60 minute Iron Man match for the WWF Championship

This was clearly one of the biggest rivalries in WWF history between The Rock and Triple H in the year 2000.

What made matters better was the fact they added a gimmick to this match that not just EVERYONE could do, an IRONMAN Match.

As well as the addition of a very special referee. This wasn`t the only match HBK would be the ref between Rock and Hunter and that was fresh in Rock`s mind.

If anyone remember on the first OFFICIAL Smackdown in August of 99 with the blue ropes, HBK superkicked Rock and gave Hunter the win.

Also…you could make an argument, who was wrestler of the year in 2000. Most think Hunter and I would agree, but it could very well be one of these two men, after-all Rock did amazing carrying Austin`s ball while he was gone.

As stated in the pre-ppv notes, the current WWF Champion The Rock had won the WWF Title from the previous champion, The Game Triple H at Backlash which was the last PPV before this one in April. The McMahon Helmsley Regime was dead set on getting the title back in there faction after Steve Austin helped Rock win the title at Backlash. To add spice to the feud they threw in Shawn Michaels as the ref, and with Michaels`s history with Hunter in D-X, and how he had turned on Rock once before the previous year had people pondering the possibilities of the finish. The two men would meet in an IRON MAN MATCH FOR THE WWF TITLE, a match Shawn Michaels won his first WWF Title in at Wrestlemania 12.

The cards seemed stacked against The Great One in retaining his championship on the night just the way McMahon and company wanted it.

Rock had a talk with Shawn backstage as did HHH on the night in a couple of backstage segments.

Awesome little pre-match video saying “HIS JUDGMENT DAY IS HERE” and King and JR speculate what that was all about.

I had actually originally forgotten that was put there as a teaser or foreshadowing if you will without giving too much away, just psyching up people even more. PERFECT.

That`s how it SHOULD be done.

We even got to see the clips of HBK Super Kicking Rock on the first OFFICIAL Smackdown main event when Rock met HHH for the title and there was a lot of speculation who`s side HBK was going to be on as said.

Could Rock and HHH go for the full hour….that was the question. Usually technical specialists like Flair-Bret, Bret-Shawn, Angle-Lesnar can do this but Rock and Hunter…many people wondered what a punch and a kick hour like match could be like but let me tell you something…this might be the best Ironman match of all time. So don`t judge a book by its cover.

We all know what these two are capable of.

But could they go the length and at the pace they wrestle, this is going to be interesting.

Both guys need to be aplauded as that`s no easy thing to do.

Person with the most decisions WINs the match after the one hour.

Decisions can be made by a count Out, a DQ, a Submission, or a Pinfall.

Shawn Michaels came out as the Special Ref first of all to a good pop.

Jim Ross referenced the WM 12 match with Bret and Shawn appropritately and pointed out how we saw no falls in that match, reminding us that those two NEVER really wanted to do a job for the other person.

HHH came out with his Regime and he looked pumped and ready after posing. Almost forgot Stephanie was the Women`s Champion during this time.

The Game awaits The People`s and WWF Champion`s entrance in the ring as the two will go at it for the FULL HOUR for the most prestigious title in the industry, back in the days when there was just ONE.

Hunter gets on the Mic and says he wants to do this ALL BY HIMSELF. He tells the McMahon`s to leave.

HBK reminds HHH the rules while the McMahon`s head to the back.

Great war awaiting.

As we`ll see here!

The two wrestlers of the year 2000, both good and evil square off for the big prize for one hour! Here we go!

“Rock” chants heard all over the arena as HHH paces and looks on in disgust then The

Rock comes out to an amazing ovation! Just a brilliant ovation!

As expected of course, Rock in the PEAK of his popularity and becoming a great in ring talent as well as this match will further prove, in there with a guy who is also amazing in the ring during this era as said as well before just a moment ago.

The atmosphere makes the hair stand up on your neck says Lawler, and JR says the surpreme gut check.

Hilarious Lawler says save your energy quit pacing. Huge ROCKY chants while Hunter wisely drinks up a ton of water on the outside and the hour starts.

It`s on!!!!!

 

 

The crowd is ELECTRIFIED as two of the best in the business if not the two best were face to face at the beginning of the one hour main event!

Awesome rivalry indeed JR, awesome Rivalry indeed!

Hunter pushed Rock.

Trips, the challenger cornered Rock and HBK called for a break.

Hunter the bully pushed Rock, Rock pushed him back as the two stared down some more.

The brilliant thing about this is the fact they set the pace well with stare downs, trash talking, not using all there strength but at the same time didn`t stall and make things boring. Rock with a side headlock on Triple H and wears him down in the middle of the ring.

See this is how you kill time wisely. Ross calls it a Derby day like atmosphere, since it`s in the homestate of the Kentucky Derby which is 58 minutes shorter for the record as Lawler points out.

Rock does hold this move for about 45 seconds until HHH counters and pushes him down. King with an interesting statistic that Rock`s longest match before this was just half the length of this match, 30 minutes at Fully Loaded 98 with none other then Triple H. Big test here for the great one cardiovascular conditioning wise.

Rock with shoulder blocks off the side ropes twice then got a nearfall. Rock with a nice inside cradle to Hunter and HHH seemes overwhelmed by Rock`s offense and near falls so he takes a breather on the outside.

HHH took his time getting back in the ring and once back in ducked Rock`s jump but he caught a huge right hand by The Great One and the fans cheered. HHH went to the outside for another breather as he didn`t expect this type of offense from Rocky and he didn`t want to lose a fall due to a countout as HBK was near a 10 count so Hunter got back in the ring. Trips then stared down Rocky and he did the same back as both men catch there break.

Nice pacing here, very intelligent.

Hunter then tied up with Rock again as Rock hit another side headlock takedown and Rock kept it on until Triple H tried for the same reversal, couldn`t hit it but caught a right hand by Rock, he levelled Trips with a right hand into the turnbuckle. Triple H then ducked a clothesline and levelled The People`s Champion with a thunderous clothesline to begin an offensive advantage on the WWF Champion.

Now we see the technician side of The Game for the first time in the match working over the left arm. Hunter then cornered Rock and dropped his arm on the top corner pad and then hit him with a bunch of blows in the corner.

Triple H in control here and he continued to stretch the left arm of The Rock in an upwards direction while HBK asked if Rock quit but he wouldn`t give in. Nicely done by Trips, this reminds me of there 1997 match from February on Rock`s DVD that I rated higher then most at ** 3/4 considering how GREEN ROCK was at the time.

Rock tried desperately to get back in the match, got out of the hold but Trips hit a nice arm bar take down! Trips then back in control nearing the ten minute mark and it`s gone relatively fast as Trips hyperextends the elbow of The Rock.

Trips then holding it but The Great One tries to power out.

He does eventually and scores with right hands, bends down for a back body drop but Trips hits him in the face, but Rock doesen`t sell it, then he catches Trips out of no where off the side Ropes and hits the Rock Bottom!

The Rock Bottom! Fans explode!

Rock pinned Triple H after a Rock Bottom at 10:42 to score the first pinfall of the Ironman match and the place went insaaaane!

Rock then took Hunter to the outside up 1-0 in the match as the defending champion!

Both Hunter and Rocky face to face on the outside now and Rock took Trips and bashed his head on the security wall!

Triple H then got irishwhipped into the security steel railing on the entrance way. HBK followed along and there is 47 minutes left in the Ironman match that Rock leads 1-0.

Trips on the outside with a reversal and dropped Rock face first onto the security rail and that bought The Game a little bit of time. Hunter then gave Rock some devistating blows and then he leaped up and hurt his knee on the barricade before hiting right hand to the people`s jewels. Rock got back insie the ring and scored with a right hand to Trips on the outside of the ring apron, then Rock hit a vertical suplex from outside of the apron back into the ring and HBK counts a near fall. Nice move though by Rocky.

The match is 15 minutes in and Rock is in control here even though Hunter has had momentum, Trips has worked over Rock`s left arm while Rock goes for the legs of The Game.

Rock then smashes Triple H`s leg against the steel ring post on the outside trying to change the whole complection of the match.

The Rock then threw him back into the ring but with his legs hanging outside, he lifted up Hunter`s legs and smashed them on top of the apron. Smart psychology by Rocky, great innocative moves, he did his homework here and as said contuinally improves. Rock then dropped Hunter`s left knee on the steps. Rock sent HHH back in the ring and keeped working on his left knee. The Great One attempted to Charlie Horse the thigh muscle, which JR elludes to as the biggest muscle in the body. Rock continued to expertly apply pressure to Hunter`s legs and he gave him the figure four leglock, HHH`s idol Ric Flair made the move famous. This was a great move by Rock because it wasn`t just a random hold by a non-submission wrestler like Rocky, this set the pace well for both men to catch a breather and it followed the storyline of the match. It was perfect! Rock then continued to have it in and with Hunter`s back to the mat HBK counted a two but The Game sat up but still as in the Figure Four Leglock.

After all that pressure, after all that pain, Hunter somehow, someway, changed the complection here and reversed the figure 4!

Triple H now with hurt legs applies it on Rock with a beautiful reversal!

Rock grabs the ropes, HBK breaks the hold and the two men go to the outside again. Rock then and HHH both hurt from the figure four`s, and HHH reversed Rock`s irish whip but Hunter cought him with a big time clothesline. Triple H is limping towards Rocky as he is still selling the leg injury and then he tosses Rock over the security wall and the two go into the crowd to fight. Rock and HHH then battle it out exchanging right hands with each other while HBK plays Mr. Security and tries to get them both back in the ring. They do eventually go back towards the ringside area and Trips has Rock as JR states Hunter got the better of that exchange on the outside.

Hunter tries to shake off his leg injury. 39 minutes, 40 seconds to go and Rock is up 1-0.

HHH in the ring with Rocky and hits a beautiful snapshot vertical suplex to Rock.

HHH then goes to the corner and hits a beautiful ELBLOW DROP, such great execution by simple moves. He drops another elbow to Rock and gets a nearfall as Trips is a little frustrated.

The Pacing of this match is quite brilliant and better then HBK-Bret from Wrestlemania 12 even!

HHH kept getting near falls as he desperately wanted and felt obligated to tie the score here in the Ironman Match! Triple H picked up Rock slowly and then slammed his head into the top of the turnbuckle and pounded away on Rock in the corner. Rock then with boots back in desperation and attacked the knee intelligently considering he applied the figure four leglock earlier in the night. HHH though didn`t let it phase him as he wanted to dictate the pace and he tossed Rock over the top rope to the outside.

Hunter limped to the outside which bought Rock some time, and The Rock returned the favor to Hunter and Irish Whipped him into the steel steps hard!

Both guys have took an amazing pounding! It`s unreal!

Rock to the outside, Hunter to the steps. Rock`s body is in pain and he`s got to be fatigued nearing mid-match, and HHH`s legs-knees are in a lot of danger as Rock has the advantage there, awesome psychology by Rock which is not something we see much but with this all this time he tells a great story.

Rock then doesen`t spend all his energy with blows like King points out so you need to credit Rocky for working over Hunter`s knees, but HHH with his one good right leg kicks out as he hit Rock`s face and bought himself a bit of time.

Both men then slowly to there feet as the match took a toll on both.

Rock with a brilliant knee breaker and tried a figure four again but he got kicked to the turnbuckle and then got hit with The Pedigree!

The Game then evened up the score of the Ironman match when Triple H pinned Rock after a Pedigree at 25:27.

Hunter despite the bad legs crawled over and applied a blatant choke to Rocky until HBK pulls him off. Hunter with an uppercut, a mean uppercut to Rock with the score tied at 1 a piece.

Triple H Irish whipped but applied an inside cradle!

So not even long after the first fall for Hunter, he would take advantage of Rocky once again in this state and did so with an inside cradle at 26:28. The crowd is not satisfied as just before the halfway mark The Challenger is now in the lead 2-1, ALL OF THE SUDDEN….two falls in less then one minute to the Champion as Rock was still feeling the effects of Hunter`s Pedigree!

Unbelievable turn of events!

Crowd chant for The Rock as he begins to fight back with the right hands and the crowd love his guts and determination.

Hunter though now in the lead 2-1 as the challenger tosses Rock to the outside for the third time, Hunter is a fucking beast in this year, just WOW. He remembers to sell all the time, the damage had been done to his legs but he still takes it to Rock and chases him down the entrance way slowly and then catches up delivering a hard shot to the back of the head of The Game. Rock then Irishwhipped The Game into the Steel of the Entrance Way and then followed it up with a clothesline. Rock then with a vertical suplex attempt on the carpet over the concrete floor which isn`t much padding, but HHH reversed it and hit the move himself and both men down!

HBK encouraged them to both get back to the ring but he is not counting either out right now.

Exactly mid-way through the match now and HHH is in the lead 2-1 as the challenger in this WWF Title match.

Right here is officially the record for The Rock and it`s now his longest match as King says at the halfway point and you can see despite him pacing himself, the mentality and physicality took a toll and both men are amazingly fatigued due to the full throttle action for the most part.

Rock cought a back body suplex to the carpet over the concrete, after he got up Rock hit another high back body drop to HHH on the floor.

Amazing brutality here.

Rock slowly picks up Hunter and gets him back in the ring and HBK is now happy. He found his smile! Rock stomps away at Hunter inside the ring and keeps this up for a bit to keep The Game grounded considering all things, his bad knees, the fact Rock needs to play catch up, etc. Rock hammers him with a hard right hand and it`s slow since both men are pretty tired. HHH hit a face buster out of no where, and then went for a pedigree but instead hit a Piledriver!

Triple H THEN took a big lead 3-1 when he pinned Rock after a Back to belly piledriver at 32:24. Triple H with three decisions in just 6 minutes and 57 seconds as he completely took the momentum from the Champion.

Unbelievable turn of events.

At one point in the match The Rock as up 1-0 half way through after a figure four and looked comfortable to try and get to 2-0. However HHH with three straight victories.

HHH kicks at Rocky in the corner and he levels him hard with right leg shots to the gut. See Hunter`s left leg is still hurt and he knows this and sells it like a pro. After HBK pushed HHH back it bought Rock some time to hit Rock with a clothesline. However the pace quickens and ROck comes off the side ropes and catches a reverse elbow from HHH! HHH then with 26 minutes left in the match takes a breather after that elbow to Rocky and limps on the outside apron to the top rope. The Game up on top and Rock with an arm drag takedown from the top rope to the middle of the canvas as you hear screams due to the offensive move by Rock.

Both men lying down now after one hell of a war.

Hunter up 3-1 with both men down and 25 minutes to go exactly.

Rock up to his feet first but slowly. The Rock then delivered a nice slap to HHH and hits him with a few more right handed blows and then another. Rock then grabbed Trips by the hair and then hunter reversed the irishwhip sending rock to the corner but rock caught him with a reverse elbow.

THEN OUT OF NO WHERE Rock with brilliant inside cradle and got a near fall. WHOA…Where did that come from…he`s like Benoit all of the sudden. Hunter though retaliates and hits a high knee but gets a nearfall!

HHH then pounds at Rock as he gets to his feet rather slowly but Rock with another slug to Trips. Both these guys with blows back and forth and JR questions how they are even able to stand!

HHH with a smart move and applies a sleeper to cut down the blood flow to the brain, to wear down the champion and attempt to go up 4-1, definately an intelligent strategic move by Hunter.

HBK asks Rock is he`s out but he is being not only fatigued but he is fading and fasing fast so he`s getting extremely exhaused however Rock does not give up and he gets energy despite using his legs for leverage on the side of the ropes. HBK clues in and HHH denies it and takes his legs off.

HHH still with the sleeper on Rock here as this is the one spot in the match where both guys deserve a breather and rightfully so considering the pace they`d given us till now! It also followed the story of Trips trying to wear him down.

Triple H used his legs for leverage again but HBK caught him and kicked his legs off! That got a good pop and bought Rock time and he came back with a belly to belly suplex! Fans pop as both mena re down again!

Both men just trying to get up and Rock covers HHH but only got a two.

Rock then scored with a DDT to Hunter as he got to his feet and the place explodes!

Rock then got back in the match and he pinned Triple H after a Flowing DDT at 40:35.

The Champion was now down 3-2.

Rock is back in the match and then on the outside slams Hunter head first into the steel steps! Rock somehow is overcoming the odds as he is doing all this after that long sleeper.

Rock then scoops up Trips and drops him head first on the time keeper`s table.

Trips grabbed a chair but Shawn grabbed it from him and warned him not to use it. Rock then threw HHH into the steel steps hard hurting his shoulder. Very hard impact, both these guys have bumped amazingly hard in this match.

Triple H then got thrown by Rock but he reversed it throwing Rock into the security wall, bent down for a back body drop attempt, but Rock countered and hit a swinging neck braker on the outside to the mat, Trips with another back drop to the mat hard, unbelievable!

HHH back in the ring now begging for Rock to stay away and then grabbed the chair and hit Rock with it!

Rock then tied the score up at 3-3 a piece after Triple H was disqualified after a chair shot at 43:44. The frustation of The Game was clearly setting in! Fans popped like crazy for Rock tying the match and in that fashion as well. Rock has been busted open!

Just 23 seconds later though, The Game at 40:07 took a 4-3 lead when he pinned Rock using the ropes for leverage! He was back in the lead. The Rock was still feeling the effects of the chair shot and Triple H used his legs on the middle ropes to get another fall. Great strategy even if it was a firty move by Hunter.

45 minutes in and Hunter the challenger has a 4-3 lead.

Trips cought Rock with another sleeper and Rock looks like he`s about to faint. Rock in a ton of pain after he was hammered with a steel chair. He`s BLOODIED from the shot, and this is the 2nd sleeper Rock had taken so he is completely dazed here by this point in the match. HBK then checks the hand of Rock but he does answer the three and he gets to his feet and fights back with shots to the stomach, Rock then working his way out but The Game relentless with the Sleeper and went right back to it and locked it in efficiently.

13 minutes left and Rock is a mess as HHH is killing him quite literally despite the great one`s attempt at getting back in the match. HBK lifts Rock`s hands twice, and then on the third time his hand drops again so HHH rings the bell as Rock can`t answer the count.

Triple H rendered Rock temporarily unconscious with the Sleeper Hold at 48:17, Triple H was now in the lead 5-3.

Not looking good for the WWF Champion again.

HHH wouldn`t let go of the hold and HBK and HHH get into a shoving war and the fans cheer.

This bought Rock some time, fantastic booking plus it was great entertainment for the fans. Shawn got in Hunter`s face in the corner.

Hunter then tightened up his padding but Rock scored with some right hands to Trips and Kentucky goes crazy as Rock sends Hunter all the way over the top rope and the camera man even goes down, as we get a vision like something out of The Bourne Supremacy, shaky cam.

Rock sends Hunter back in the ring to a chorus of Rocky chants. Rock then hammered on Trips in the corner and then Hunter with a resilient desperation DDT, and Rock dramatically kicked out of The Challenger`s high impact DDT.

9:57 to go and I`m even tired, I can only imagine the two men, what a fantastic effort!

Rock with right hands to Trips on the top of the rope and then Trips with one back sending Rock down to the canvas with 9:20 to go and Hunter up 5-3.

HHH then up high gets caught by a right hand by Rock, then The Rock with a nice superplex from the top rope, unbelievable! Fans pop as expected, rightfully slow, great move by Rock!

Both men layed down and Rock tried to get back after that wonderful superplex but he couldn`t get a three count due to the time that passed and Trips kicked out.

7:30 to go and Rock needs two victories to tie it up.

Rock a desperate man to keep his title and gave HHH a right hand and then sent him over the top rope with a big clothesline.

The Rock then slammed Hunter`s face into the steel steps hard. HHH then pushed back first onto the mat and ROck catapolted HHH face first into the ring post.

Rock has been bloodied for a good ten minutes now and by this point after the ring post spot would HHH blade yet was the question. 6 Minutes to go and HBK checking on Rock and Hunter still not bleeding, surprising. HHH shut down the offense of Rock and grabbed a chair again, has he not learned….clearly not. He pulls of TV monitors and goes for Rock and punched Rock sqaure in the face. HHH then dropped Rock flat on his back on the announce table with exactly 5 minutes to go in the match.

Triple H then goes for a Rock Bottom through the table to Rock but he elbows back then goes for a pedigree to HHH on the table and hits it! The table didnt even break so the Game`s face bounced back off of it and he was busted open.

HBK then counted HHH out!

Triple H was counted out after a Pedigree on the announcer’s table at 56:06 when the ref Shawn Michaels got to ten!

Rock was only down by one now!

Fans back into it going for Rocky obvioussly!

The McMahon`s come down to some boo`s, Shane-O-Mac, Steph and Vinnie Mac came down.

Three Minutes to go and HHH almost got counted out again but got back in a matter of time.

Rock with right hands to Trips in the corner and then both men bloody, and Rock clotheslined HHH hard in the middle of the ring before ducking a clothesline and hitting a double armed DDT.

Shane jumped on the apron as did Vince but they both got knocked down.

Wonderfully booked Ironman!

The Rock hit a resourceful spinebuster slam!

Rock hit his trademark move to tie the match!

Then FINALLY The Rock pinned Triple H after a Spinebuster and People’s Elbow at 58:02.

It`s all tied at 5, oh The Drama as the crowd explode!

Shane pulls HBK out of the ring and HBK knocks down Shane, then VINCE!

Rock and HHH are bloodied, all tied up go at it and Road Dogg and X-Pac take it to Rock after he hits a Rock Bottom to HHH which he completely forgets to sell!…Hilarious indeed.

THEN!……

The 3 Freaky Judgment Day Girls then appeared on the titan tron in the final minute of the chaos filled bout and they creeped me out I remember back when they used to show promo`s for this PPV. Hey, the Shining anyone….yeah.

They say a bunch of things I`d rather not repeat however I will say that they DO cap it off with…..

NOW BACK…FROM THE DEAD!…..` (some of the crowd pop)

“ARE YOU SCARED…HE`S HEEEEREEEE”

JUDGMENT DAY IS NOW!

Taker rides his bike down the entrance way in one of the best moments in the entire attitude era even if you liked the American Bad Ass Gimmick or not! What a moment!

Jim Ross: “Oh my god! It`s….THE UNDERTAKER!”

King: “Whaaaaat!”

Truly a spine chilling moment that`s always worth a re-watch (Youtube anyone….one of the loudest and best returns ever)

The Crowd went beyond insane. Exactly how they did the month before when Austin helped Rock out at Backlash, ahhh the year 2000.

The final minute of the Ironman match saw Undertaker give the mother of all chokeslams to X-Pac and then a shot to Shane and Vince followed by grabbing Steph by the throat, followed by a Chokeslam to HHH right before the buzzer rang and the match was over and HBK called for the bell right as Taker tombstoned HHH.

People loved Taker`s return but were a little confused by the finish.

In the end the final ruling by Referee Shawn Michaels was that Rock was DQ`d due to The Undertaking HITTING The Game at the 1 hour mark and eight seconds making Triple H win the Ironmatch 6-5.

Therefore The Game was now a 4 time WWF Champion with all four of his first title reigns within 8 months of each other.

Some fans POP while some throw trash in the ring.

Wait…this is hilarious.

Taker chases HBK down the entrance way in a ref shirt after he made a decision on a match….where have I seen THAT before…*cough* Summerslam 97

Road Dogg, X-Pac, Vince and Hunter with his 4th World Title walk out of Judgment Day in a good mood even if beaten up and battered.

JR plugs King of the Ring for the next month saying HHH is just that. Nice job Jim!

Seriously though…what an effort by Rock and HHH, this could be the best Ironman ever with WM 12 beside it. Unbelievable stuff.

Psychology by ROCK, inside cradles by ROCK. Stamina, Endurance, Technical ability by HHH, spots, bumps, booking, fan reaction, pacing, it`s all there.

This match is tremendous.

A CLASSIC and one of both men’s best ever for sure!

Brilliant.

Rocky doubled his time in the ring in this match, great job.

**** 1/2

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Final Rating for WWF Judgment Day 2000 = 8.5/10

This show was off the charts, the fact it had two matches in the two plus star range on only a 6 match card, however those were the worst two so everything was quality and it was capped off by a classic at **** 1/2 match not to mention the higher other matches. Just an instant amazing PPV as you could expect from the year 2000. Find this show if you can, it`s a true gem, I loved it! Classic PPV worth owning without a doubt.