WWF - Royal Rumble 2000 (DVD)

...of the scope of the WWF the opponent was a huge shock and a bit of a legend in his own right. The fight was quite a short one in all honesty but a brilliant one to open the show.

It was followed by the match that helped fuel the fire of the Hardy v Dudley fued that would help form one of the mainstays of the tag team fued of the early 2000's. The stipulation was a table match, in which you had to put your opponents both through a table. ...
...of the night, for the WWF Title the fight would see Cactus Jack versus HHH in a "Street Fight". At the time this was part of the major storyling which saw most the "Faces" (good guys) fighting off against the McMahon-Helmsley faction headed by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. This fight in particular had been personal seeing the good fun natured Mankind reveal his alter ego Cactus Jack, a violent hell bent sort of fighter, After ... more

Of all the wrestling shows I've watched over the past 15 or so years (I'm not saying I've seen every show from the, just I've seen a fair few) my favourite WWF/WWE one was Royal Rumble 2000. Funnily I've always felt after this Wrestling started to go down hill and it rarely seemed to capture the magic of much of this show, this was also one of the first shows to be caught on British free to air TV (Channel 4).

The show started the way it would continue, with high action and great wrestling as it pitted the then unbeaten Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle (a genuine amateur Wrestling star) against a "surprise" opponent. I won't ruin it for those who still haven't seen the event, but for those who at the time looked outside of the scope of the WWF the opponent was a huge shock and a bit of a legend in his own right. The fight was quite a short one in all honesty but a brilliant one to open the show.

It was followed by the match that helped fuel the fire of the Hardy v Dudley fued that would help form one of the mainstays of the tag team fued of the early 2000's. The stipulation was a table match, in which you had to put your opponents both through a table. The pairing of the Hardy's (Jeff and Matt) who would later become Team Extreme showed what they would later be known for, dare devil dives whilst the Gimmick of tables, tables and more tables would go on to be part of the Dudleys gimmick. Though it was carried over from ECW and is now part of TNA the Dudleys use of the tables was extreme as the match became a "spot fest" rather than what you would perhaps call a typical wrestling match. For those who aren't "smarts" a spot fest is effectively a hightlight reel fight with falls and flying bodies. Overall a great match for the casual fan, though those who believe wrestlingis about submissions and suplexes may not enjoy it as much as I did.

A horrid "Miss Royal Rumble 2000" segment followed, for those who intend to buy the DVD this is worth fast-forwarding through. What could have been a glorified swimsuit contest turned into a poor segment allowing an old woman to flash and little else of note to happen.

The Third match of the card was a triple threat fight (a 1 v 1 v1) match for the intercontinental title which at the time was seen as the second level singled title (only behind the "World" title). The match saw Bob "Hardcore" Holly a rather straight toughman type of guy facing co-champions Chris Jericho and Chyna who had managed to share the title. Overall it was a good fight that helped showcase the talents of Chyna (probably the greatest woman Wrestler of all time, definately as far as the WWF/WWE is concerned) and future Undisputed Champion Jericho. Although Holly's never one I was a fan of he helped the fight using the experience in the ring he has to help solidify the match. Despite it being a failry solid contest it fails to stand out in the memory due to what followed it.

The Tag Team Title was on the line as the New Aged Outlaws (Badass Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg Jess James) put their title up against the Acolytes (Farooq and Bradshaw). This is another one that failed to stand out despite being solid mainly due to again what was to follow. The Outlaws had at the time been part of D Generation X a stable of wrestlers that had been the bases for much of the WWF's fight back against WCW in the late 1990's. At that point in time they had joined onto what would become the McMahon-Helmsley faction due to affiliation with Tripple H.
The match was highlighted by the return of one of the other members of DX who had been absent for a fow a while leading upto the event.

The match that followed was arguably the highlight of the night, for the WWF Title the fight would see Cactus Jack versus HHH in a "Street Fight". At the time this was part of the major storyling which saw most the "Faces" (good guys) fighting off against the McMahon-Helmsley faction headed by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. This fight in particular had been personal seeing the good fun natured Mankind reveal his alter ego Cactus Jack, a violent hell bent sort of fighter, After being pushed to the edge by the actions of Triple H and co. Mick Foley (the man behind the Mankind mask) had snapped feeling Mankind was unable to vent the frustrations he felt he'd brought out Cactus.
The Street Fight rules we're that there was no rules, use what ever was needed to beat your opponent and score a 3-count. Effectively it was a glorified name for a hardcore match but used the set for Royal Rumble, which looked a bit like a dark alley as the street setting. The fight was a brawl with liberal use of weapons, Thumbtacks, handcuffs and chairs. To those wanting a technical "rasslin'" match they should look else where, go find some Jushin Liger, Jericho, Benoit, Maleno or Gurerro stuff from Japan for your technical kicks. This was a brawl, a hard hitting take no prisoners fight that had a great story behind it and was a brilliant to watch contest, that stands the test of time solely as it was the sort of fight that WWF used to be able to do regularly.

The main event of the evening was the annual Royal Rumble match. For those unaware of what the Royal Rumble is all about, it's a 30 man over the top battle royale which sees a new entrant after a specified time. Last man standing in the ring wins a shot at the world crown at Wrestlemania. The match was most memorable for the number of interferences by none entrants (mainly Kaientai who came down numerous times, though the Mean Street Posse had a bit part as well). Although the interferences had little of value they did add some comic relief to proceedings.
Overall the rumble was fun as all rumbles are, but it was unmemorable until the final few participants and in fact the ending which it's self was controversial and provided an after show storyline between the final two participants over the following nights TV.

Overall the show was brilliant and still my favourite WWF PPV the Table match and the Street Fight we're exceptional. Though a few matches seemed to disappear in the middle of the card this wasn't due to them being bad, but due to how good the street fight was and although the rumble wasn't the best or the most surprising what it was was fun (seeing the Japanese tag team thrown out of the ring on numerous occasions was hilarious).
 

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