by Rick Scaia  
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

WWF Judgment Day --/-- May 21, 2000
Originally Published by WrestleLine.com on May 21, 2000

WWF Judgment Day was a night of returns... it saw the return of the Undertaker, and it saw the return of the WWF championship belt to Triple H. Undertaker returned during the final stages of the Iron Man Match for the WWF Title to attack the McMahon/Helmsley Regime, and in the process, inadvertently caused a disqualification decision to be awarded to Triple H as time expired.

In other matches: Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit retained their respective titles in good matches, while DX stole a win from the Dudleys in the night's table match.

Detailed segment-by-segment results of the just-completed Judgment Day PPV:

• After being sent out to get coffee by the McMahon-Helmsley Regime, Hardcore champ Gerald Brisco was attacked by the Headbangers. Brisco's adventures backstage continued throughout the show, and included run-ins with referees, vendors, and others before his involvment in the semi-main event.
   
• In the first in-arena match, Rikishi and Too Cool got the win over Kurt Angle, Edge, and Christian. The tag champs got on the fans' bad sides early when they mocked the Kentucky crowd with a jug band pose. Funny, and it meant Rikishi and Too Cool had no problems getting the crowd fired up and on their side. Lots of good action (with Scotty Too Hotty "playing Ricky Morton" for a large part of the match) leading up to a finish that saw the good guys recover from Christian's use of the ring bell as a foreign object; Rikishi pinned Edge for the win.
    
• Eddie Guerrero retained his European Title in a three-way match against fellow Radicals Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. More good action in this match, though the crowd was less fired up than in the opener. There was one cool three-way spot, as Malenko suplexed Guerrero and Saturn suplexed them both, all simultaneously. The finish had Chyna take out Saturn with her loaded bouquet; then Malenko thought he'd neutralized her by stealing the roses, but wound up braining himself on the bouquet when Chyna tripped him up. Eddie rolled Malenko up with a Magistral's cradle for the win.
   
• Shane McMahon scored the upset win over the Big Show, but only thanks to copious outside interference. Lots of gimmicks and neat spots populated a match that saw the involvement of the Big Bossman, Bull Buchanon, Test, Albert, and Trish Stratus. Far from being a pure wrestling match, this 6 minute contest ended with Show buried under an amplifier and KO'ed with a cinder block across his head. Under the "falls count anywhere" stipulation, Shane made the pinfall near the entrance stage. Show was taken out in an ambulance.
   
• Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit had perhaps their best match to date, as Benoit retained his InterContinental Title after locking Jericho in the Crippler Crossface. The story of the match had Jericho targeting Benoit's injured left knee with a non-stop offensive onslaught. However, just when things seemed worse for Benoit, he locked on the Crossface, and then managed to re-apply it every time Jericho was able to make the ropes or briefly escape. After several minutes in the Crossface, Jericho was out, and the ref called for the bell.
   
• In a tables match, X-Pac and Road Dogg got a win over the Dudley Boyz. D-Von Dudley went through the first table, courtesy of a pump handle slam from Dogg. X-Pac was next through a table, as he was powerbombed through one by Buh Buh Ray. With the next table slated to determine the winner, Road Dogg was 3-D'ed through a table, but unfortunately, the referee was out. Defender of Women's Rights, Gerald Brisco, ran in to stop Tori from being put through a table and also to swing things in favor of the DX crew. Thanks to Brisco's help, X-Pac was able to X-Factor Buh Buh through a table, which was seen by the revived official. After the match, the Dudleys got a small measure of revenge by putting Brisco through a table.
   
• By a final tally of 6 falls to 5, Triple H defeated the Rock in the main event Iron Man Match for the WWF Title. Falls were scarce in the opening half hour as the two conserved energy and kept the pace slow. Rock struck first, scoring a fall after a Rock Bottom 11 minutes in. Then, at the 26 minute mark, things picked up. HHH got on the board with a pinfall win following a Pedigree. He followed it up just 1 minute later, rolling up the still-groggy Rock to take a 2-1 lead. Good, if a bit methodical up to this point, things sped up and a typical main event brawl kicked off, as the momentum went back and forth for the final half hour.

  HHH's lead became commanding at the 33 minute mark, when he scored another fall after a piledriver. About 41 minutes in, the Rock got back to within 3-2 after a DDT. With around 15 minutes left in the match, HHH was disqualified for pasting the Rock with a chairshot (it appeared to bust the Rock open hardway on the back of his head), but immediately after the DQ, he pinned the KO'ed Rock to maintain a one fall lead. Triple H expanded his lead, putting the Rock down 5-3 with around 10 minutes to go.  Crowd was really getting into it now, trying to rally behind the Rock.

  Rocky responded by taking that  brawl to the outside of the ring. Triple H was preparing to Rock Bottom Rocky through an announce table, but the Rock countered with a Pedigree on the table. HHH was counted out by ref Shawn Michaels to close HHH's lead to 5-4. With only three minutes on the clock, the Rock tied the match up at five falls apiece after a spinebuster/People's Elbow combo.

  As the match's final moments approached, the McMahon/Helmsley Faction (who had been ordered to the back by Triple H at the top of the match) hit the ring and tried to interfere on HHH's behalf, but the Rock fended them off. In the fracas, Shawn Michaels was knocked out, and missed much of the DX run in.

  With 90 second remaining in the match, the "His Judgment Day is NOW" video played on the TitanTron, and the Undertaker stormed the ringside area. He assaulted the McMahons, then as ref Michaels regained his senses, he laid out Triple H exactly as time expired. Though the buzzer to end the match may have sounded before Taker administered a Tombstone, Michaels still called for a disqualification, granting the final fall -- and thus the match -- to Triple H.

  There can be little doubt that the Rock and Triple H made the most of their opportunity to take center stage for a full hour... after a slow start, their match picked up for the incredibly dramatic and intense final 35 minutes and ended with the crowd on the edges of their seats. The big finish, featuring the return of the Undertaker was the satisfying climax a match of this magnitude deserved. The controversy of the ending will now doubt make for some interesting developments in coming weeks, and positions the Taker right back at the top of the company.

  The Undertaker's new look and the fact that he can reasonably have programs against either the Rock (who will be upset at the Taker for causing the match-costing DQ) or Triple H (who will be upset at Taker for whipping his ass) should combine to make sure that that UT will enjoy one more run as a main eventer after last year's slow decline from that status into a tag team program with The Big Show.

  Obviously the main event that took up nearly half the PPV will heavily influence opinions of the overall show.  But it came off really well, maybe even a bit better than I would have expected, and definitely better than most critics were predicting. An outstanding contest by any measure, and one that could easily have propped up a weak undercard.  But that was not even necessary, as the IC Title match and tables match both provided a lot good action and drama that seemed to work well with the live crowd, while the six man tag and three-way matches were also fast-paced and exciting... those contributions shouldn't be overlooked as I give Judgment Day an overall Thumbs Up.
   

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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH.  He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.

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