Emanating from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler

and frankly he’s bored with his competition. So, he issued an open challenge. The mystery, however, wasn’t very tricky as the New York crowd start chanting his name as Angle gives his pre-match spiel. Yes, it’s ECW’s own Tazz and he receives a monster pop as his music begins to play. Tazz comes in, pounds away on Angle and then backdrops him out of the ring. Angle avoids a suplex and delivers one of his own to Tazz on the floor. After a belly-to-belly suplex, Angle goes up top, but Tazz gets up and crotches him. Tazz suplexes Angle off the top rope and covers, but Angle barely gets his foot on the rope before 3. As Tazz argues with the referee, Angle gets him in a small package for 2. Angle gives Tazz a German suplex into a pin for another nearfall. Tazz comes back and delivers a series of suplexes to Angle. Tazz locks on the Tazzmission and Angle passes out to give him the win.

Postmatch: An unconscious Angle gets the stretcher treatment.

Bottom Line: Not so much a match as it was an event. For that moment, Tazz’s arrival was huge and they played it to perfection. Angle and his undefeated streak were a good foil to use for Tazz’s debut win. The crowd also helped as there was no better place for him to debut than NYC. This also helped Angle as he claimed Tazz’s submission hold was an illegal choke and therefore he was still undefeated. The match itself was too short to be great, but adequately showed why Tazz is the human suplex machine. **

- Michael Cole interviews the Hardy Boyz about their upcoming tables match. Jeff Hardy tells Terri Runnels that she is not to come out with them due to the extreme nature of the match. Is it really that they’re afraid for her safety, or is it that they’ve been burned by so many managers, they have a better chance of winning without her there.

To win, a team has to put both of their opponents through tables consecutively. The two teams meet in the aisle and begin brawling. The Dudleyz bring a table into the ring and set it up. Bubba Ray backdrops Jeff and Matt barely moves the table out of the way before Jeff comes down. Scary spot there. As Jeff and Bubba Ray battle on the floor, Matt and D-Von tease putting each other through the table in the ring. Jeff lays out Bubba Ray with a chairshot and lays him on a table. He then runs across the guardrail and charges at him. However, Bubba Ray gets up and throws the table in Jeff’s face. Ouch. Matt grabs a ladder and uses it on both Dudleyz. On the floor, Bubba Ray receives another chairshot and then is placed on a table. Then Matt, from the ladder and Jeff, from the turnbuckle, leap off and land on Bubba Ray to put him through the table. The Hardyz set a pair of tables up using the ring, the guardrail and steps. They place D-Von on one and Matt leaps off the turnbuckle, but D-Von moves and Matt crashes through it himself. D-Von tries to recover by the other table, when Jeff dives through the ropes at him. D-Von moves again and Jeff goes through that table. Great sequence. Since the Hardyz put themselves through the tables, the match continues. The Dudleyz set up another table in the ring and powerbomb Matt through it. All four men are now fighting amongst the crowd in one of the aisles. The Dudleyz have stacked tables 2 high in the aisle. Jeff and Bubba Ray are now fighting on the balcony above the aisle. Jeff delivers a chairshot to Bubba Ray and he falls backwards through the stack of tables. Matt takes one of the unbroken tables and sets D-Von on it. Then from the balcony, Jeff does a swanton bomb and puts D-Von through the table for the victory.

BL: Man, what a fight that was. Oddly enough, I thought some of the chairshots looked more brutal than the table spots. Still, both teams went all out and delivered an awesome match. If the No Mercy ladder match “made” Edge & Christian and the Hardyz, then this match “made” the Dudleyz and brought them up to the level of those other two teams. If I was to find one fault here, it would be that the match was too short. However, I would like to think that this was just the appetizer and the main course of table matches was yet to come. One last thing, I want to add that the “put consecutive opponents through tables” rule is the best way to do table matches, as opposed to just putting both men through tables, or worse having just one guy go through a table to win. ****

- As EMTs check on Angle, he rambles on about an illegal choke and still being undefeated. Looks like at the moment, one of Angle’s Three I’s should be incoherence.

They actually have judges for this thing, including: Sgt. Slaughter, Tony Garea, the Fabulous Moolah, Johnny V., Classy Freddie Blassie and Andy Richter?!? (How’d he get roped into this thing?). The contestants are Ivory, Terri Runnels, Jacqueline, B.B., Luna and the Kat. The faces all strut their stuff, while the heels reluctantly show the goods. The Kat’s suit would have to be labeled as a disappointment after last month’s flashing. She built it up as if it would be something better than last month, yet her bikini is bubble wrap that covers up all her naughty bits. Booo! As Lawler is about to announce the winner, Mae Young comes waddling out. Not only does she showcase her bikini, but she goes one step further and takes down her top to reveal some nasty floppy tits. Lawler’s look of horror is priceless. Somehow Mae’s display earns his a unanimous victory from the judges (Oh Andy…). Bleech, I need to give myself the Ace Ventura treatment after witnessing that.

- In the WWF’s new restaurant, WWF New York, their newest interviewer Johnathan Coachman tries to do a piece on the place, but all of the screaming fans around him drown him out. Even from day 1, the fans were smart enough to know it wasn’t worth it trying to listen to what he said.

- Backstage, Chris Jericho and Chyna argue over who should wear the belt out to the ring. As they bicker, Dave Hebner comes up and settles it by taking the belt out to ringside for them. Somebody better make sure he actually does take it to ring. If we’re not careful, he’s likely to go out to the parking lot and try selling it to some random fan.

In a really stupid move, Jericho and Chyna fought for the IC title, pinned each other and were named co-champs. In recent weeks, Holly has beaten each of them in non-title matches, which is how he found his way into the mix. To begin, Holly shoves Chyna out of the way and goes after Jericho. Everyone trades slaps with each other to prove their manliness. Chyna is dumped to the floor, so the men-folk can go at it. Jericho gets Holly in the Walls of Jericho, but Chyna comes in and breaks it up, which gets soundly booed. As Chyna and Holly fight on the floor, Jericho springboards off the ropes and lands on Holly. In the ring, Chyna connects with the handspring elbow and a DDT on Jericho. She covers, but Holly breaks it up. Holly tries to use a chair on Chyna, but Jericho stops him, which allows Chyna to dropkick the chair in Holly’s face. Chyna and Jericho both splash Holly from the top rope and cover, but Holly kicks out. Now Jericho and Chyna argue over who should win the match. Chyna escapes a suplex attempt and lowblows Jericho. Then she nails Holly with the Pedigree. He somehow kicks out of that at 2. Methinks Jericho was supposed to break up that cover. As Chyna begins to climb up top, Holly puts her on his shoulders. Then Jericho comes off the top rope with a crossbody on her as she’s still on Holly’s shoulders. Jericho covers and gets a long 2 count. As Jericho tries to superplex Holly, Chyna comes over and crotches both of them. After nailing Holly with a chair, Chyna applies a Boston Crab on him. From behind, Jericho nails Chyna with his crappy bulldog. He follows that up with the Lionsault on Chyna and pins her for 3 to become the undisputed Intercontinental champion.

BL: Some workers can make the awkward nature of a triple threat match work. That cannot be said about these 3. While there had been some chemistry between Jericho and Chyna when they fought one-on-one, none of that was seen here tonight. This just never clicked and it was apparent by the lack of crowd reaction. Thankfully the co-champ experiment is over, as well as Chyna’s existence in the IC title hunt. * ½

- Michael Cole asks The Rock if there is anyone he’s concerned about facing in the Rumble tonight. The Rock says two people worry him: Crash Holly and Headbanger Mosh. The Rock is wise to be fearful of them, but he shouldn’t underestimate Scotty 2 Hotty, he’s a worthy adversary as well.

They actually have a video package for this match, despite the fact that there’s no real story behind the match and no one cares about either team at this point. The Acolytes run out and immediately attack the Outlaws on the floor. The Acolytes are just dominating the Outlaws in these opening minutes. Farooq goes for the Dominator on Road Dogg, but Gunn pulls him to safety. Road Dogg tries for the shaky legs kneedrop, but Bradshaw pulls him down by the dreads from the apron. Gunn misses a corner splash and then is nailed with the Clothesline from Hell, but Bradshaw isn’t legal so no cover is made. Farooq delivers a spinebuster to Road Dogg and covers, but Gunn pulls the referee out of the ring. Bradshaw comes over and knocks down both Gunn and the referee. The Acolytes hit a tandem powerbomb on Road Dogg, but there’s no referee. X-Pac comes out, but Farooq quickly gives him a spinebuster. However, in all the confusion, Gunn is able to hit Bradshaw with a Fameasser. The referee is back in and makes the 3 count to give the Outlaws the cheap win.

BL: Someone must be looking out for me because this was mercifully kept short. This had no business being on the PPV, but they were stuck since the Acolytes won the title shot for the Rumble specifically. Hindsight shows they probably should have scrapped this and given everything else a couple more minutes. Thankfully, just like Chyna in the Intercontinental division, the Outlaws reign in the tag division would soon come to an end. ½ *

- With Stephanie McMahon turning on her dad last month at Armageddon, she aligned herself with HHH and the “McMahon-Helmsley Era” began. It kicked off with a bang by having HHH regain the WWF title from the Big Show. However, some people weren’t too thrilled with their leadership, namely Mankind. HHH and Stephanie made a point of making Mankind’s life a living hell, even going as far as putting him in a “Pink Slip on a Pole” match, which he lost. Their power trip was getting out of hand, so The Rock rallied the roster and threatened a walk-out if they didn’t rehire Mankind. Mankind was rehired and given a title shot against HHH for the Rumble. After HHH brutally attacked Mankind on an edition of RAW, Mankind realized he wasn’t capable of facing HHH in a street fight. So he chose a suitable replacement…Cactus Jack. Now HHH must fight the hardcore legend in a street fight. All in all, this was a great story heading into this match.

The two slug it out to begin and Cactus wins that battle. HHH tries to take a time out, but Cactus follows him outside and delivers a neckbreaker. The two fight over by the announce table, where HHH belts Cactus with the ringbell. HHH taunts Cactus with a chair. Cactus charges and HHH blasts him with it. Let’s not have a repeat of last year’s Rumble. Cactus gets back up, however, and knocks down HHH. Cactus lays a chair over his face and then delivers a legdrop. That gets 2. On the floor, HHH charges at Cactus and gets backdropped into the crowd. The fight heads to the aisle, which is designed to look like a NYC back alley. Cactus sets up some wooden pallets and then suplexes HHH on them. As Cactus tries to take HHH back into the ring, HHH gives him a back suplex on a garbage can. Cactus comes back by doing a running knee to HHH, as he was propped up against the steps. After putting HHH into the ring, Cactus goes underneath and grabs a 2 x 4 wrapped in barbed wire. As Cactus approaches him, HHH delivers a lowblow. HHH grabs the 2 x 4 and uses it numerous times on Cactus. Cactus finally stops the attack and then crotches HHH with the board. Now the referee takes the 2 x 4 and puts it over by the Spanish announce table. Cactus goes looking for the board and when the Spanish announcers give it to him, the barbed wire has magically been rewound around it. Fake barbed wire perhaps? I think so as Cactus hits HHH with the 2 x 4 in the face a couple of time. Cactus covers and gets a long 2 count. HHH is now a bloody mess. On the outside, Cactus tries a piledriver on the announce table, but HHH backdrops him through the table instead. Back inside, HHH goes for a Pedigree, but Cactus blocks it and catapults him into the turnbuckle. Then he bulldogs HHH onto the barbed wire. Another long 2 count for that. On the floor, Cactus charges at HHH, but HHH powerslams him onto the steps. Ouch! Then HHH whips Cactus back into the steps. In the ring, HHH uses the 2 x 4 on Cactus’ knee. HHH has a pair of handcuffs now and cuffs Cactus’ hands behind his back. HHH grabs the steps and charges at Cactus, but Cactus manages to do a drop toe hold and HHH falls onto the steps. Cactus tries to stay on the offensive, but HHH knocks him down with a clothesline. Now HHH is wearing out Cactus with a chair a la the ’99 Rumble. As HHH attacks Cactus in the aisle, The Rock comes out and nails HHH with a chair. Then a cop comes out and uncuffs Cactus. On the Spanish announce table, Cactus piledrives HHH, but the table doesn’t break. Double ouch! Cactus goes under the ring again and this time pulls out a sack full of tacks and pours them all over in the ring. Cactus punches HHH, trying to knock him down in the tacks. Cactus then charges at HHH, but gets backdropped onto the tacks. Wow! HHH then gives Cactus the Pedigree and that’s it. No wait! Cactus kicks out at 2. Crowd loves it. But it’s short-lived as HHH now pedigrees Cactus onto the tacks! Unbelievable! HHH covers and this time gets the 3 count. Dammit.

Postmatch: HHH gets a stretcher job until Cactus grabs him and brings him back to ringside. Cactus lays out HHH with the 2 x 4 one more time and then gets an ovation from the crowd.

BL: Just an absolute war here. Once again, Mick Foley goes above and beyond the call of duty to provide a memorable match. HHH should thank Foley every day for solidifying him as a main eventer from this feud. Unlike the ’98 Hell in a Cell, this was brutal, but had great drama as well. You really thought until it was over that Cactus had a chance of winning it. This has to be seen, but its brutality makes it tough to do repeat viewings. **** ½

- Again from WWF New York, Coachman interviews Linda McMahon. She doesn’t say much, but warns HHH that even though he’s the champ, things will be run “the McMahon way”. Are we supposed to be happy or afraid by that announcement?

D’Lo Brown and Grandmaster Sexay have drawn #1 and #2 respectively. A pretty boring opening two if you ask me. Sexay dances, so D’Lo attacks him. Good move. D’Lo goes to powerbomb Sexay, but in a scary looking spot, Sexay reverses it into a hurricanrana. We don’t need another Droz incident, thank you very much. Sexay tosses D’Lo, but he hangs on. Mosh comes out at #3. Soon after, Kaientai, who were snubbed from the Rumble, come out and try to attack the combatants. However, they’re quickly disposed of. Sexay sloppily bulldogs D’Lo, who lands right on Mosh’s leg. Mosh appears to have legitimately hurt his ankle. #4 is Christian, who is greeted by Mosh. Not a whole lot happening thus far. Rikishi is the #5 entrant and he receives a big pop. Rikishi comes in and quickly eliminates Mosh. Then Christian suffers a similar fate. D’Lo gives Rikishi a legdrop, but that is no sold and Rikishi gets up to give him the Rikishi Drop. He easily eliminates him after that. Just a Rikishi starts to go after Sexay, Scotty 2 Hotty comes out at #6. Instead of fighting, the three decide to dance. I find this moronic and stupid, but the crowd eats it up. After busting a move, Rikishi grabs both Sexay and Scotty and tosses both of them out. Well, that almost made up for the dancing. The unfortunate next entrant is Steve Blackman at #7. Blackman gets some brief offense before suffering a Rikishi Drop himself. Just like that, he’s gone too. I think we have our Diesel push right here. The competition gets bigger at #8 with Viscera. The two slug it out and then Viscera drops Rikishi with a belly-to-belly suplex. Rikishi comes back with three stiff kicks and then a shoulderblock to knock him out of the ring. The Bossman comes out at #9 and you just hear this audible groan from the crowd. The Bossman refuses to get into the ring, but Test comes out at #10 and attacks him. He sends him into the ring, where Rikishi beats him up.

#11 is the British Bulldog and he goes after everyone. We’re paired up now as Test and the Bossman duke it out and the Bulldog tries to eliminate Rikishi. At #12 Gangrel comes out, but that doesn’t matter, because right out behind him is Kaientai. They try to interfere again, and once again they’re unceremoniously dumped. As Test and Gangrel battle in the corner, Rikishi gives them a butt splash. We see on a double feature that Taka Michinoku took a nasty face first bump when he was tossed out. Edge comes out at #13 and is almost eliminated by the Bulldog within his first 30 seconds in the ring. Then, in a shocker, who shows up at #14? Bob Backlund! Sweet! He gets in and is jumped by the Bossman and the Bulldog. All of a sudden, everyone teams up and dumps Rikishi from the ring. Crowd doesn’t like that one. A big pop for the #15 entrant, Chris Jericho. He makes an immediate impact by dropkicking Backlund out of the ring. Back to the campaign trail for Bob. Here comes one of the Rock’s worries, Crash Holly at #16. The Bulldog and Edge grab Crash and try to eliminate him, but he crawls back in under the bottom rope. Chyna is the #17 entrant and she goes right after Jericho. Jericho backdrops her to the apron, but then she suplexes him out of the ring. As she gloats, the Bossman bumps her off the apron to quickly end her night. As Farooq comes out at #18, the Mean Street Posse, also snubbed from the match, come out and jump him. The Posse are thrown out, but so is Farooq. Not quite sure what’s going on there. #19 is Road Dogg and he goes after Test. The Bossman tosses Crash, but again he crawls back in under the bottom rope. As Al Snow comes in at #20, the Bulldog goes out at the hands of the Road Dogg. Everyone seems to be sluggish right now waiting for the next mass exodus.

Once again an entrance is overshadowed by extra participants. This time, it’s the #21 entrant, Val Venis, who is overshadowed by Funaki, who once again feebly tries to wreck havoc on the entrants. This gives Jerry Lawler another excuse to show the replay of Taka falling on his face. The #22 entrant is Prince Albert and nobody cares. Meanwhile, Snow and Val backdrop Edge out of the ring. For some reason, Road Dogg has grapevined himself to the bottom rope. Hardcore Holly is #23 and the ring is really starting to fill up now. Once again, Crash teeters on the brink of elimination. Finally, the crowd wakes up as The Rock comes out at #24. He goes right after the Bossman and eliminates him with ease. Sadly, Snow and Val stop The Rock from getting rid of anyone else for the time being. Our #25 entrant is Billy Gunn, who targets The Rock upon his entrance. The Rock DDTs Crash and then launches him out of the ring. This prompts Hardcore to come over and attack The Rock. The Big Show comes out at #26 and is immediately met by The Rock. These two have an issue after Show took offense with The Rock calling him a jabroni (*rolls eyes*). Show goes over by Test, who is on the apron, and boots him to the floor. Well, Test gets the longevity award for tonight. Now Show dumps Gangrel out of the ring. As Show continues his dominance, Bradshaw comes out at #27. Right behind him is the Mean Street Posse. Bradshaw fends them off, but then is tossed out himself by the Outlaws. Now the Acolytes and the Posse brawl down the aisle. We’re paired up again as it’s Val & Albert, Show & Road Dogg, Hardcore & Gunn, and The Rock & Snow. Through hellfire and brimstone, Kane is out at #28. He comes in and immediately throws out Val. Now he goes after Road Dogg, who is still clutching the bottom rope like a security blanket. Kane clotheslines Albert out of the ring, but no one notices because they’re all watching the Godfather come out with the hos at #29. One last time, our favorite Chinese (he’s Japanese!) guy, Funaki, comes out and one last time he’s thrown out of the ring. We close with a wimper rather than a bang as #30 is X-Pac.

We now begin to weed out the crap as Snow clotheslines Hardcore out of the ring. The Godfather charges at Show, but Show clotheslines him right out. Now The Rock eliminates Snow. Road Dogg finally gets up to, of all things, laugh at Snow and wouldn’t you know it, he gets dumped too…by Billy Gunn. Don’t understand that one. However, Gunn barely enjoys the moment before Kane clotheslines him to the floor. Our final four are now: The Rock, Big Show, Kane and X-Pac. The Outlaws drag Kane to the outside and attack him. As the officials try to stop them, The Rock tosses X-Pac out of the ring. Since no one saw that, X-Pac gets back into the ring. Kane and Show try to chokeslam each other to no avail. Kane is able to hit Show with an enziguri and then slam him. However, X-Pac comes over and hits Kane with a spinning heel kick that knocks him out of the ring. Then X-Pac gives the Bronco Buster to Show. Show quickly gets back up and press slams X-Pac to the floor. The Rock delivers a spinebuster to Show and then connects with the People’s Elbow. As The Rock tries to eliminate Show, he puts on the brakes and chokeslams The Rock. Show tries to dump The Rock, but The Rock hangs onto the top rope and propels Show to the floor. The Rock is 2000 Royal Rumble winner.

Postmatch: The Rock gets on the mic and says he’s going to Wrestlemania, but Show comes back out and attacks The Rock. We end the show with him telling The Rock that this isn’t over.

BL: There were a handful of fun moments here, but overall this wasn’t a great Rumble. Its main problem was a lack of suspense. The only two likely candidates were The Rock and Big Show and since Show was coming off an unsuccessful title run, it was pretty much The Rock’s to win. Since those were the two main candidates, I would have liked if they would have teased out the final minutes between them to add some more drama. Overall, an ok Rumble that was without a moment that has stood the test of time, unless you count Taka’s face splat. *** ¾

Final Thoughts: This is just about one of the best PPVs, the WWF has put on in some time. You have Tazz’s debut, which is memorable, the Rumble match, which is fun and two outstanding matches in the tables match and street fight. I don’t know what more you can ask for. Things drag a little in the middle, but it doesn’t weigh the show down. This gets a definite recommendation from me. Check it out if you can find the DVD.

Next time, I’ll show you why I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my barbed wire 2 x 4s flaming.