2000 Royal Rumble Review

Still one of my personal favoite WWF ppvs to date. The 2000 Royal Rumble far exceeded that lousy 99 show. Right off the bat I can tell you that atleast two matches on here are walking out with atleast a 4 star rating. Live from MSG, your hosts are JR and Lawler.


Match #1

Kurt Angle Vs ?????


Angle does his little speech and inadvertantly knocks on New York. The smarks in the audience spoil the suprise debute of Tazz and were underway. His debute match was probably Tazz's biggest WWF match. It was all downhill from here pretty much. Angle with a blind charge and he's backdropped to the floor. They fight in the entranceway and Angle gets a vertical suplex on the floor. Back into the ring where Angle gets a belly to belly then he goes up top but gets crotched and Tazz super overhead suplexes him to the mat. Angle with a german suplex bridge for 2 then Tazz gets the release dangerous german suplex that they kinda telegraphed on the first attempt then a head and arm trapping suplex followed by a t bone knocks the snot out of Angle and puts on the tazzmission for the KO at 3:15. Angle does the stretcher job. Very short but I liked all the suplexing and Angle taking that nasty german suplex that can break someones neck. Im going 1 1/2 star.


Match #2

Tables Match

The Hardy Boyz Vs The Dudley Boyz


Jeff and Bubba fight outside and Jeff runs the rail but gets a table in the face on the landing. They try superplexing Bubba through a table but D-Von moves it. Jeff almost gets backdropped through a table but Matt moves it. They brawl outside and Bubba gets propped on a table, Matt climbs a ladder and legdrops Bubba while Jeff comes flying off camera for a double splash through the table. Crowd chants holy **** for that one. Dudleyz set up some stairs in the ring and a table then they superbomb Matt through them which leaves Jeff or D-Von to go through a table. Two tables get set up in the aisleway under the taxi cab that hangs over the entrance door. Bubba and Jeff fight up to the balcony area and Bubba loses a punching match, falling backwards through the stacked tables. Matt gets D-Von on a surviving table and Jeff swanton's off the balcony onto D-Von through the table to win at 10:14. Very good. 3 1/2 stars.


I don't count the bikini match. I just don't wanna sit through THAT again.


Match #3

Intercontinental Championship Match

Chris Jericho Vs Chyna Vs Hardcore Holly


So Jericho and Chyna became co champs through a referees stupidity. Holly shoves Chyna because he's a redneck prick and it's a chopfest. Y2J gets the Walls of Jericho, but Chyna breaks it up. Holly takes a poweder and Jericho and Chyna fight. Holly and Chyna fight it out on the floor, and Chris springboards onto Holly. Back inside Holly and Jericho do some stuff. Chris gets sent outside then Chyna hits the pedigree on Holly but it's stopped at 2. Holly gets Chyna in the electric chair position and Jericho comes off the top with the crossbody in a nice spot, only 2 1/2 for Jericho. Chyna is back up and she fights Holly up top which she wins with the superplex but Holly does the small package spot right after for a 2. Chyna whacks Holly with a chair and the referee would have to be Stevie Wonder to miss it. Chyna goes to the walls and Jericho hits the hairgrab bulldog and the lionsault for the title at 7:27. Good. 2 1/2 stars


Rock cuts a promo and says if he can get by Crash and Mosh he's gotta pretty good chance to win:)


Match #4

Tag Team Championship Match

The Acolytes Vs The New Age Outlaws


This is the last ppv for the Outlaws to walk out with the belts. Acolytes hand them their asses for all of 2:38 when the ref goes down and X-Pac makes the run in and Billy gets a suprise fameasser for the pin on Bradshaw to retain. That battle royale from the previous ppv becomes meaningless. 1/2 star.


Match #5

World Heavyweight Championship Street Fight Match

HHH Vs Cactus Jack


Cactus attacks and HHH bails, he grabs a chair but Foley gets it and drops him with it then puts it on his face and legrdops on it. They fight to the entranceway and Jack suplexes HHH on a wooden pallet. Jack finds a 2X4 with barbwire on it and the ref tries to stop him because he's stupid and HHH steals it and whacks Jack. Foley gets it back and knocks HHH down and elbowdrops with it then busts him open and gouges with the barbwire. Jack goes for a piledriver on the announcers table but HHH desperately backdrops out of it. Into the ring HHH goes for a pedigree but Jack counters with a slingshot and gets the 2X4 in the face. Back outside, Jack charges and gets hiptossed into the steps. Back in and HHH works on the leg that hit the steps HHH has a pair of handcuffs and were doing the 99 spot. HHH brings in the steel steps and chages but Jack gets a suprise drop toehoeld and HHH goes face first into them. HHH is up first and gets a chair then starts whalloping Jack ala RR 99 style, Jack retreats outside as HHH stalks. Then in a surpising and ironic moment the Rock pops out of the entranceway and whacks HHH with a chair in the head to drop him and a policeman unlocks the cuffs. Crowd loves that one. Jack stalks him back to ringside and theyre back on the announcers table and Jack with the pulling piledriver but the table won't break. Jack finds a bag of thumbtacks and scatters them in the ring. Stephanie joins us at ringside. Cactus runs at HHH and gets backdropped on the tacks, and HHH gets the Pedigree.........ONE.........TWO!!!.........HE KICKS OUT!!! Crowd starts chanting Foley, but Jack walks into another Pedigree, face first into the tacks and that does it at 27:11. Great Match. 4 stars.


Match #6

2000 Royal Rumble Match


D-Lo is #1 and Granmaster Sexay is #2, they do a little match and #3 is Mosh sporting cones, Kai En Tai who were nixed from the Rumble along with the Mean Street Posse show up and are quickly pitched. Sexay with a bulldog on D-Lo accidently lands on Mosh's ankle and he's hurt. #4 is Christian. Rikishi is #5, and he superkicks Mosh and throws him out. Christian turns into a belly to belly suplex and gets thrown out. Then D-Lo drops Rikishi and hits the shakey legdrop which Kish no sells and hits the rikishi driver and throws Brown. Sexay stalls and #6 Scotty 2 Hotty shows up and we get one of the best Rumble moments as they do a dance number with the crowd clapping along. Rikishi ends up clotheslining both and throwing them both out then makes peace and does a solo number. Blackman is #7, he drops Kish with a kick but the driver puts him out. Viscera is #8, and he gets a pretty big ooohhhhh. Vis with the belly to belly and a legdrop but he missed an avalanche and three superkicks and a shove put him out Big Bossman is #9. He won’t get in, pissing off the crowd, so what??? Test is #10, and he jumps Bossman and they both get in and lowblows all around. Bulldog is #11. He tries hoisting Rikishi but as JR said "dead weight" Gangrel is #12. Kai En Tai hit the ring and are ejected and Taka takes one of the worst rumble spills spinning to the floor and bouncing his face off the mats which gets replayed throughout the match as Lawler laughs. Edge is #13 and he almost gets eliminated a few times, then Rikishi banzai drops Bossman. Bob Backlund is a surprise entrant at #14 and gets a monster pop. He looks pretty much the same. Backlund almost gets squashed in the corner by a charging Rikishi and the group dumps him out and the crowd hates it. Jericho is #15 to a big pop. He hits a dropkick on Backlund and he's gone, Backlund goes up through the crowd to god knows where. Crash Holly is #16 and is in immediate trouble on the ropes and Edge spanks him. Cute. Chyna is #17 and she and Jericho fight on the apron, she suplexes Jericho out then Bossman bumps her off the apron with an elbow. Faarooq is #18, and The Mean Street Posse run in and distract him and Bossman tosses Faarooq. Road Dogg is #19, and he does one of the smartest things in Rumble history, grab the bottome rope in the corner and don't let go. Al Snow is #20. Road Dogg sneaks up and eliminates Bulldog. Val Venis is #21. Funaki makes a run in and gets dumped, Taka can't make the run in from the hospital. Prince Albert is #22, as Venis gets rid of Edge. Hardcore Holly is #23 but he and Crash don't work together. Rock is #24 and the place goes nuts, he tosses the Bossman. Mr. Ass is #25. Crash gives it a go but gets the rock ddt and the heave ho. Big Show is #26. He picks off Test with a big boot and tosses Gangrel to thin out theyre numbers. Bradshaw is #27, and the Posse hit the ring again and I laugh as Pete Gas clotheslines himself trying to do the run and slide into the ring as Bradshaw throws them out viloently before the Outlaws sneak up and dump him. Acolytes beat the Posse back to the dressing room. Show walking over everyone. Kane is #28, Val meets him and gets a glove smacked around his neck and tossed. Godfather is #29 and Kane dumps Prince Albert. Funaki runs in again but gets thrown out by the hoes. X-Pac is of course #30 thanks to DX influence. Snow takes out Holly. Show kicks the **** out of the Godfather and eliminates him, he did nothing. Rock dumps clotheslines Snow out. Road Dogg laughs at Snow like an idiot and Mr. Ass dumps his partner. The Outlaws argue and Kane punches Billy out on his ass as Snow decks Dogg for laughing at him. Final four is Rock, Show, Kane and Pac. Outlaws pull out Kane and they brawl as Rock throws Pac clear of the top rope and he goes down 12 feet on his back but jumps right back in as the refs didn't see it. Kane and Show have a showdown and Kane wins with an enzuiguri and a big bodyslam but Pac with a spin kick puts out Kane. He rubs his balls in Shows face which amazingly doesn't keep the monster down. Show press slams Pac out with ease. Rock and Show have the inevitable showdown and Rock gets a spinebuster and the People’s Elbow, but Show comes back with a chokeslam and gets booed bigtime. Show carries Rock around and the ring and asks the crowd where to dump him, but as he does Rock hangs onto the top rope and hooks Show somehow and the big ape ends up on the floor as Rock wins at 51:47. 4 stars. Way better than 99.


Overall Opinion: This is still one of my favs. Probably in my top 25 WWF ppvs list. The Rumble itself is the best one going back to 1992 by my ratings which is saying something. That's quite a few Rumble matches. This show is alot like the 1990 Survivor Series. A great ppv with a horrible comedy moment that everyone wishes never happened.


Final Score: I give this show a nice 6.6