August is traditionally Summerslam month in WWE, and this month for our retro PPV review, we’ll be looking Summerslam 2000. Certainly a mixed bag of a show, some poor matches mixed in with one fantastic one, it certainly had the anything could happen, Attitude Era feel to it. Taking place right in the middle of the WWE boom of the late 90s, early 2000s where WWE took full control of the Monday night wars and were putting on great show after great show. This show had the three best tag teams of the era (and possibly of all time) going at it in the first ever TLC match, brother v brother, memorable moments and a star studded main event for the WWF Title. So without further ado, let’s take a look back at Summerslam 2000
Venue: Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Centre
Attendance: 18,000
Buyrate: 570,000
Commentators: JR & King
Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel
RTC (Steven Richards, Bull Buchanan & Goodfather) v Rikishi & Too Cool
There wasn’t much build for this one, Rikishi & Too Cool were accompanied by some of Goodfather’s ho’s, one of whom ended up being future Women’s Champion, Victoria. The match was short as was the case with a lot of Attitude Era undercard matches. Rikishi’s hot tag was fun, and moments like this were seldom for the big man to come, as he would execute a poorly timed heel turn weeks after. Scotty’s Worm attempt also got a huge pop but other than that the action was minimal to say the least. In the end, Steven Richards intercepted The Worm with a Super Kick and pinned Scotty 2 Hotty.
Our Rating: 1.75*
Match Highlight: The triple ass hit in the corner from every member of the babyface team which got a decent pop from the crowd.
Road Dogg v X-Pac
This was built as a friendly rivalry match between the two members of DX, this was also at a time where X-Pac was getting the trademark “X-Pac sucks” chants which firmly placed Road Dogg as the babyface. Again, like the previous match, the two didn’t get a lot of time so couldn’t really do much in the ring. X-Pac hit an excellent Spin Kick (as he often did) but other than that, Road Dogg hit his patented Shake, Rattle and Roll, went for his finisher only for X-Pac to hit a low blow and an X-Factor for the cheap victory. Not much to say again as a lot of the undercard matches in the Attitude Era often didn’t get a lot of time, and were quite frankly, poor matches. This was another example of that.
Our Rating: 1.25*
Match Highlight: There wasn’t much to pick from, although Road Dogg’s Shake, Rattle and Roll always got a good reaction from the crowd.
Val Venis (c) & Trish Stratus v Eddie Guerrero & Chyna (Intercontinental Championship)
An interesting stipulation for this match, where Val’s IC Title was on the line, and if either Eddie or Chyna got the fall, they would become champion. The story was that Trish wasn’t a honed wrestler by this point and she was the weak link in the team, Val even told her to stay out of the way before the match. Chyna, as always, looked at home wrestling the men, almost like it was completely normal and natural when she would Body Slam Val. Much to Val’s despair, Trish would get the tag and get destroyed by Chyna for the easy pin, and Chyna would become Intercontinental Champion once again. Again the match was nothing to write home about, but a fun affair nonetheless.
Our Rating: 2*
Match Highlight: Chyna’s two awesome Clotheslines on Val as she showed why she belonged in the ring with the men.
Jerry Lawler v Tazz
The feud for this match was essentially Tazz being a dastardly villain, picking on JR and King and even attacking the popular play by play announcer which led to King jumping to his friend’s aid. Tazz was almost abhorrent in this feud, properly showing his heel side here. Like previous, the match was short, but effective. Tazz taunted JR until King had enough and went for Tazz. The match was more about story than an actual match, as was shown by the finish where Tazz had the Tazzmission on until JR jumped from the commentary desk to hit the Brooklyn native in the head with a glass jar, which led to King picking up the win in a feel good moment.
Our Rating: 1.5*
Match Highlight: Easily JR jumping off commentary to nail Tazz, it got a big pop from the crowd
Shane McMahon (c) v Steve Blackman (Hardcore Championship)
This match was about one spot, a very famous one at that. We’ll get to that, but for now the build for this was taking place through the evening as Blackman would stalk Shane throughout the night, and the boy wonder would run as fast as he could away from him. Again this wasn’t much of a match as Blackman just wore Shane out for most of the match with trash can lids and a leather strap. As usual for Attitude Era matches, the interference began as T&A came to Shane’s aid and it became a rather dull 3 on 1 handicap match. Eventually Blackman fought back and chased Shane up the scaffolding that was part of the stage. Then came the spot. Although Shane’s landing looked soft, the fall was absolutely insane and a real spectacle to watch. Shane fell right from the top of the scaffolding, in what looked like a 50 foot drop, a truly breathtaking visual. Blackman leaped off from a lower part to hit an elbow drop on an incapacitated Shane, to score the win and win the Hardcore Title.
Our Rating: 2*
Match Highlight: Blackman’s back Suplex on Shane… of course it was the incredible fall from McMahon off the scaffolding
Chris Benoit v Chris Jericho (2 out of 3 falls match)
On paper, this looked like it would steal any show, especially in the Attitude Era when match quality was low, as evidenced by this show, with matches ranging from average to poor up until this point. That would change with the two Chris’ doing what they did best. The only down side was the time they got, with another 10 minutes the match could’ve kicked in to another gear, but they only got about 13 minutes, which didn’t allow them to properly flesh out the match. Even still, the feud was personal and the match was extremely well wrestled, as you can image from two of the best workers of the era. Crisp wrestling, fast counters and great psychology, especially from Benoit who worked on Jericho’s shoulder after the Crossface weakened it, which is what caused the first fall to go to the Rabid Wolverine. Jericho would fight back, and after the punishment, lock in the Walls of Jericho which turned into a Liontamer to get the tap out and even the score at one a piece. This could’ve led to a really great final fall where the two hit each other with everything they had until one couldn’t take anymore, the crowd were hot and ready for it too, instead they had a few minutes before the final fall came as Benoit reversed a Cradle and grabbed the ropes for the cheap victory. An anticlimax somewhat, to what felt like the first half of a classic match, still the action itself was very good and a technically very well wrestled match.
Our Rating: 3.5*
Match Highlight: Jericho hit a huge Hurricanrana off the top rope, it was picture perfect execution.
Edge & Christian (c) v Dudley Boyz v Hardy Boyz (TLC match for the WWF Tag Team Championships)
What. A. Match. Three of the best teams of this or any era, going at it in the first ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs (oh my!) match. Although the first of its kind, fans would probably have some idea of what to expect after their amazing triangle ladder match at Wrestlemania 2000. The match was an absolute car wreck from start to finish. They only had about 15 minutes but they packed as much carnage in as they could with some absolutely ridiculous spots. Matches like this were seldom seen at this time too, so this kind of match was truly memorable and paved the way for future generations to do similar. A Bubba Bomb, a wazza from Dudleyz, a Hardyz double leg drop, all off of the ladder, were just some of the spots in the first half of the match before the intensity really ramped up. People started flying off ladders, taking sick table bumps and just risking their health and safety for pure entertainment purposes, it really was an incredible display of death defying insanity from all three teams. A truly incredible match, probably the best match of the entire year for the company.
Our Rating: 4.75*
Match Highlight: Could’ve picked any number of spots as the highlight, we’re going to go with Bubba Dudley’s crazy fall from the 20 foot ladder in the ring, through four tables on the outside. Just go and watch this match.
Kat v Terri (Stink Face Match)
This was the calm down match in between TLC and the main events. Unfortunately for the women of this era, they were never showcased or used for their wrestling skill, rather for their assets, and this was no different. An awful match really between the ropes, poor Kat and Terri were wrestling in high heels. Thank god it didn’t last long (unless you wanted to stare at the half naked divas for longer). Al Snow, who accompanied Kat, threw Head to her, and she hit Terri in the head whilst the referee was down and proceeded to give Terri a Stink Face. Yep, this was the Attitude Era folks.
Our Rating: 0.25*
Match Highlight: I guess if you like women in skimpy clothes, that was a highlight.
Undertaker v Kane
This feud seemingly came out of nowhere, and kind of went nowhere. Kane was quite a hot babyface and he randomly made the heel turn on his brother which didn’t make much sense. Has anyone ever seen a good Undertaker v Kane match? This was yet another one that made the bad list. A match centred around Taker going to rip Kane’s mask off, which was not explained before and made little sense during the match. The match was slow and plodding and while it showcased good aggression, never really got going which left the crowd quite quiet. And then an awful finish ensued, as after many attempts from Taker to rip off the mask, he finally ripped it off which partially exposed Kane’s face and then Kane left and Taker’s music played. An incredibly strange match and ending where the match just got thrown out. Not a good encounter.
Our Rating: 1*
Match Highlight: Taker throwing the steps into Kane’s face was about it.
The Rock (c) v Triple H v Kurt Angle (Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship)
The story leading into this one really centred around Angle and Triple H’s love triangle involving Stephanie McMahon. The champion, The Rock really was an afterthought in terms of story, but as the most popular babyface of the year and champion, The Rock was a great foil for the two heels. Angle and Stephanie had grew closer (which included a kiss) and her allegiance to her husband, Triple H, was in doubt. The match itself started with Hunter and Kurt brawling and we’ll get straight to the big talking point which was Angle’s scary bump on the announce table which was shown in the “don’t try this at home” videos for a few years after. The Game went for a Pedigree on Angle but the table broke before they went up for the move and Angle landed face first on to the floor which gave him a wicked concussion. Angle was carried out and The Rock and Triple H basically improvised and had a singles match. You could tell they were thrown off a bit, but they improvised well and had a solid match which saw Triple H work on Rock’s ribs after a sledgehammer shot to them. The two worked well with each other as they always did, and the crowd were super hot for any of Rock’s comebacks, Rock underratedly played a good babyface in peril. After 20 minutes of solid action, Angle came back out at the behest of Stephanie and tried to steel the title for himself. In the end after some miscommunication from the two heels, which led to Triple H nailing Steph in the face with a right hand, and Angle cracking Hunter in the face with a sledgehammer, The Rock disposed of Angle and hit The People’s Elbow on The Game to retain his championship to a huge pop. A solid match which was probably overshadowed by Kurt’s horrific bump on the table.
Our Rating: 3*
Match Highlight: Hunter nailing Steph with the right hand really added to the drama and story of the match.
Author: Alex Bakothanasis