they show a clip of Venis attacking Eddie on the last episode of Smackdown. Then as Eddie is getting into the ring Lawler mentions that "Well, he knew he was going to be facing Eddie here in the Quarter Finals" or something like that. Thanks for introducing me to another great moment in WWE stupidity”

I admit, I didn’t catch this while reviewing the show, but I’m not surprised it happened. When it comes to the fine details, the announcers have difficulty sticking to a lie.

I also had some *gasp* hate mail this week. Matt emailed me and had this to say: 

“I usually like your reviews, but your KOTR 2000 review wasn't one of your finest. You let your personal opinions about a few guys get in the way of your review. I quite liked the show, including the match between Eddie Guerrero and Val Venis, and the Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle match. Crash Holly was a nice story, and they needed a big figure for Kurt Angle (heel) to topple in the finals.

Fair enough, I’ll admit to pushing the bookers vs. common sense tally a bit far, but as I started to see the trend, I decided to run with it. It may have been a bit gimmicky, but that’s the ol’ writer’s prerogative.

As for the brackets, here’s what I would have done. In the opening round, I would have had Benoit/Rikishi, Jericho/Bull, Eddie/Val, and Angle/Crash. In the semis, I go with Benoit/Jericho and Eddie/Angle. Benoit and Jericho had been feuding for the past few months, so why not continue their feud here and finally have Jericho get a win? Then you have Jericho/Angle in the finals. This puts each of their involvement with Stephanie in a more high profile situation. This is pretty similar to the tournament they held, yet it seems to make a whole lot more sense in the scope of how feuds were going previous to this show.

OK, it’s now time for this weeks review. Let’s see if I can get back into the good graces of my readers with this one.

Emanating from the Reunion Arena in Dallas, TX

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

The video package tells us this is mostly about Lita vs. Trish and the men are just window dressing. We begin with the men duking it out and Lita chasing Trish. Before she can catch her, Test stops Lita in her tracks. Meanwhile, Matt and Albert slug it out in the ring. Albert blocks a DDT and heaves Matt off of him. As Matt charges at Albert, he gets backdropped out of the ring. Matt was supposed to land on the apron, but fell to the floor instead. Matt delivers a legdrop from the second rope onto Test and then tags Jeff. Test catches Jeff coming off the ropes with a sidewalk slam. After baiting Test outside, Jeff climbs back in, hits him with a baseball slide and then launches himself over the top rope onto him. As the Hardyz double-team Test, the fans chant for Lita. Test comes back and takes off Matt’s head with a big boot. Trish gets tagged in and she slaps Matt. A second one misses and she accidentally slaps Test instead. Matt rolls up Trish for 2. Trish misses an elbow, which allows Matt to tag Lita. Crowd is super hot for this confrontation, but they don’t get it as Trish quickly runs over and tags Albert. Lita tags out and both Hardyz come in and double-team Albert. Everybody’s in the ring now and the Hardyz and Lita hit a double suplex on Test and Trish. Awesome spot. All three faces now take their shirts off. Cute. Test nails Jeff from the apron and then Albert press slams him to the floor. Ouch! As T & A double-team Jeff, they nearly fuck up a back bodydrop spot. Jeff avoids a charge by Test and rolls him up for 2. Test stops Jeff’s momentum with a full nelson slam. Test catches Jeff coming off the ropes with a powerbomb. Instead of covering, Test goes up top and tries to do a big elbow, but he misses. Jeff makes the hot tag to Matt, who takes it to Test. Test connects with the pump handle slam, but as he covers, Jeff comes off the top rope and hits him with the swanton bomb. Lita is tagged in and she hits Test with a tornado DDT. Then she does a high crossbody onto Albert on the outside. Now it’s a hurricanrana for Test. Lita covers and gets 2. Albert nails Lita as she runs to the ropes and then Test powerbombs her. Trish comes in and covers, but Lita kicks out at 2. A running bulldog by Trish gets another nearfall. Trish goes up top, but Lita catches her. Lita climbs up and gives her a superplex. Lita covers, but Albert breaks up the pin. As T & A and the Hardyz brawl on the outside, Lita connects with the moonsault on Trish. She covers and gets the win.

Postmatch: T & A come back in and destroy the faces. The beatdown ends with Trish whipping Lita with a belt.

Bottom Line: They overcame some sloppiness early on to put on a real hot opener. It’s weird seeing Lita as the wrestling pro and Trish as the non-worker, given their status these days. Lita was super over here and they used her and Trish effectively in the match. They were involved enough to make the crowd happy, but kept it limited enough, so as not to expose their weaknesses. This was a really good opener. *** ½

- New WWF commissioner, Mick Foley is talking with an arena worker, when they are interrupted by Edge. He informs Mick that Christian is ill with food poisoning and won’t be able to fight tonight. Mick is more than a little skeptical over this claim. I, on the other hand, think Christian really is sick. I mean, he’s Canadian. He probably just ate some bad elk or drank too much Molson.

- Meanwhile, the Undertaker drives his motorcycle into the arena and spots Kurt Angle. He begins chasing Angle throughout the back of the arena on his bike. Isn’t there some sort of law or ordinance against this kind of thing?

Since Tazz came back from injury, he has been randomly attacking people in their matches. How that translates into him fighting Snow, I’m not sure. I’ll assume Snow was one of his victims along the way. Snow comes in and goes right on the attack. A Russian legsweep by Snow causes Tazz to bail to the floor. A modified spinebuster gives Snow a nearfall. As Snow tries to escape out of the corner, Tazz catches him and slams him to the mat. Snow knocks down a charging Tazz with a clothesline. He follows that up with a top rope legdrop. Snow then connects with a moonsault. That gets 2. A “boring” chant breaks out and I don’t blame them. Snow grabs Head, but all of a sudden, Tazz chopblocks Snow in the knee. Tazz goes on the attack, but fails to follow up on the injured knee. Snow goes for a kick, but Tazz catches him and gives him a suplex. Tazz tries to put on the Tazzmission, but Snow blocks it. Tazz is able to get it on in his second attempt. Snow tries to get to the ropes, but can’t and is forced to tap out.

BL: What an exercise in futility that was. Since this was Tazz’s first official match after his injury, why wasn’t he given a credible opponent? And if you’re going to put him against Snow, why didn’t Tazz squash him? Snow got way too much offense in here. They did Tazz no favors in trying to reestablish him with this match. A lousy match that never seemed to get on track. ¾ *

- Backstage, Foley and an indy worker dressed as an EMT check out the seemingly ill Christian. In the indy worker’s “medical opinion”, Christian is unfit to wrestle tonight. See, I told you Mick. By the way, vomiting so does NOT reek of awesomeness (although, it does reek of other things).

- Elsewhere backstage, Triple H and Stephanie are lounging when Harvey Whippleman comes in and delivers more flowers to Stephanie. HHH asks who they’re from and Stephanie is hurt that they didn’t come from him. HHH reads the card and all indicators are that they came from Kurt Angle. HHH, to say the least, is not happy. Our Olympic Casanova better watch himself. He’s got enough problems dealing with Taker right now.

Chyna knocks down Eddie before the match and runs after Terri Runnels. She punches Saturn and then grabs Terri. Before she can do anything, Saturn is back up and attacks her. Eddie comes down the aisle and he knocks down Saturn. As Saturn and Eddie fight back towards the ring, Terri runs backstage. An elbow by Eddie knocks down Saturn to the floor. On the outside, Chyna delivers a clothesline to Saturn. Back inside, Eddie gives Saturn a hurricanrana. Saturn is again thrown outside and again Chyna attacks him. Now Eddie leaps off the top rope and onto Saturn on the floor. Another hurricanrana by Eddie gets a nearfall. Saturn gets Eddie on his shoulders and then turns him around for a powerbomb. Eddie comes off the second rope with a tornado DDT. That gets a nearfall. Saturn catches Eddie in the corner and throws him to the mat. Eddie goes for another hurricanrana, but this time Saturn turns it into a powerbomb. Saturn goes for a moonsault, but comes up empty. Eddie comes back with a brainbuster. Eddie goes for the frog splash, but when Saturn moves, Eddie is able to roll through the moves. After slamming Eddie, Saturn climbs up top. Eddie climbs up with him and then dropkicks Saturn to the floor. Chyna tries to attack again, but Saturn blocks it and clotheslines her onto the Spanish announce table, which somehow breaks. Meanwhile, Terri has come back out to ringside. Saturn uses Terri as a shield and then Terri kicks Eddie in the nuts. Saturn follows that up by throwing Eddie into the post. Back inside, Saturn delivers an elbow from the top rope onto Eddie’s back. Saturn covers and gets the 3 count. New champion!

BL: I’m not a fan of Saturn going over Eddie, but this meant bigger things for Eddie, so I guess it’s ok. As for the match, it wasn’t very interesting. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety in either man’s moveset. These two couldn’t find a good rhythm. I don’t want to name names, but I’m guessing it wasn’t the guy with the Latino heritage’s fault. * ¾

- Foley goes back to Edge and Christian’s dressing room and finds out Christian was faking. What? I’m shocked and appalled by this turn of events. Next thing you’ll tell me is that Milli Vanilli weren’t actually singing their songs. Preposterous!

- Michael Cole interviews the Undertaker and asks him about his opponent, the Olympic hero, Kurt Angle. Cole uses air quotes when he says “hero”. What’s that all about? Last I checked, Angle won a gold medal with a broken frickin’ neck. Sure sounds like a hero to me. Anyways, as Taker is talking, he sees on a monitor that Angle is messing around with his bike. Taker no like that, so he goes off chasing Angle. Angle is seemingly forgetting to use one of his 3 I’s today: intelligence.

Edge and Christian rip on Dallas’ sports teams and the JFK assassination, but sadly, the Acolytes interrupt before they can do their 5-second pose. Booo! Bradshaw gets on the mic and gives one of his inspired, “I love Texas” speeches. Now the ass-kicking begins, as the Acolytes attack Edge and Christian on the floor. Inside, Christian leaps onto Bradshaw, but Bradshaw catches him and delivers a fallaway slam. The Acolytes make frequent tags to work over Edge. As Bradshaw goes to powerbomb Edge, Christian comes off the top rope with a dropkick. Now the heels are able to double-team Bradshaw, as Farooq argues with the referee. A neckbreaker by Edge gets a nearfall. Edge and Christian try to do a double superplex, but Bradshaw shoves both of them to the mat. Bradshaw follows it up with a shouldertackle on Edge. Bradshaw tags Farooq, who takes out both of his opponents. All four men are in and the Acolytes are in control. As Farooq hits Christian with the Dominator, Edge comes in and blatantly hits Farooq with a tag belt, right in front of the referee. That draws the obvious DQ.

Postmatch: The Acolytes continue beating up Edge and Christian all the way to the back.

BL: It’s amazing how bookers can be smart and stupid at the same time. They were smart enough to keep the titles on Edge and Christian, but stupid enough to put them in a PPV match with the Acolytes in the first place. What resulted was a lame disqualification finish on a PPV. Not surprisingly, the action leading up to the finish was your typical slow and plodding effort that you normally see in an Acolytes match. We’ve really hit the skids since the opener. *

- HHH is still huffing and puffing backstage about Angle and the flowers. Finally, Stephanie tells him to go find Angle and find out for sure whether he sent them or not.

- HHH may have trouble finding Angle, however, as he’s currently being chased backstage by Taker. As Taker looks for him, Angle comes from behind and nails him in the knee with a wrench. Hey, maybe Angle is using some intelligence after all.

Val won the Intercontinental title from Rikishi a few weeks ago when Tazz attacked him with a video camera. Val immediately tries climbing out of the cage, but Rikishi quickly pulls him down. Rikishi gives Val some rough cage treatment. Rikishi climbs up, but Val stops him. After a back suplex, Rikishi tries to go out the door. Val runs over and clips him in the knee. Rikishi whips Val to the corner and follows it up with a clothesline. Rikishi goes for the Stinkface, but Val low blows him. A clothesline by Val spins Rikishi 360 degrees. Both men climb up and Val rams Rikishi’s head into the cage to knock him off. Val follows that up with a top rope elbow. That gets 2. Val gets halfway out before Rikishi grabs him and brings him back in. As both men fight on the top turnbuckle, they both end up getting crotched. Val charges at Rikishi, but Rikishi throws him into the cage. Rikishi follows it up with a Samoan Drop and a splash in the corner. Rikishi hits the butt splash and covers, but Val gets his foot on the rope. So Rikishi decides to go out the door, but Trish slams it on his head. Val connects with a neckbreaker and then hits the Money Shot. Val covers, but Rikishi somehow kicks out at 2. All of a sudden, Lita comes out and begins whipping Trish with a belt. The two ladies head all the way to the back. Meanwhile, both men begin to climb again. Rikishi knocks Val down and he goes crashing into the referee. Rikishi climbs to the top of the cage and decides to do a Superfly Splash on Val. Wow! As Rikishi tries to go out the door, Tazz appears out of nowhere and hits him in the head with a video camera. Val manages to crawl over and get the pin to retain the title.

BL: A solid cage match, especially considering the participants. Some will say it was overbooked, but it worked for me. Crowd was really into it up until that finish. Props to Rikishi for doing the splash. It provided a highlight to make this match something memorable. *** ½

- Backstage, we see the Undertaker erase the number on the “Days without incident” board. Nice.

- Also backstage, HHH sees Whippleman with more flowers and asks him where they came from. Whippleman points out the room and HHH goes in. We hear a lot of noise and then see Jericho emerge with HHH laid out. Man, all those Canadians are sneaky. You can’t trust any of them.

- Now we’re joined in the ring by Shane McMahon, who decides to call out The Rock for an impromptu match. The Rock comes out and says he knows this is a trap and questions where Chris Benoit is. See, The Rock heard what I just said about crafty Canadians. Benoit shows up on the Titantron and tells The Rock that before he strips him of his title, he thought he would strip him of his wardrobe. Benoit then proceeds to rip up and destroy all of The Rock’s fancy clothes in his dressing room. Way to play mind games Benoit. Man, when you put a Canadian and a McMahon together, you create the ultimate mastermind.

A series of accidents, like Angle dumping milk on Taker’s bike, drew the ire of Taker, which led to this match. Taker doesn’t wait for his music and drives out as Angle is still heading down to the ring. Angle tries to use the wrench, but Taker stops him and dumps him into the crowd. Taker attacks Angle all around ringside. In the ring, Taker boots Angle. Taker covers, but pulls Angle up at 2. That can’t be good for Taker. Taker delivers a delayed suplex, covers, and again pulls him up at 2. Angle boots a charging Taker and then applies a sleeper. Taker escapes and hits Angle with a sidewalk slam. That gets a nearfall. On the outside, Angle nails Taker with the wrench in the knee. Back inside, Angle tries to work on Taker’s injured leg. Taker goes for a chokeslam, but Angle kicks him in the knee and goes back to work on the leg. Taker finally escapes and then the two slug it out. Taker connects with a chokeslam and then the Last Ride. That combo is enough to put Angle away for good.

BL: A highly disappointing match as a rising star like Angle got the squash treatment here. Angle’s offense was limited to him putting a grapevine on Taker’s leg. It is fortunate that Angle was able to maintain heat after this, because an uneven fight like this could have been costly. There is no reason why Taker should have gone over clean here. ** ¼

Jericho enters and the two immediately slug it out. A dropkick by Jericho sends HHH outside. As HHH tries to come back in, Jericho hits him with a springboard dropkick. Now the two fight on the floor and use parts of the destroyed Spanish announce table as weapons. HHH stops Jericho’s momentum with a facebuster. HHH clotheslines Jericho to the outside and they continue to brawl out there. HHH begins to work over Jericho’s previously injured ribs. Now HHH chokes out Jericho with the bandages that were wrapped around Jericho’s ribs. On the outside, HHH holds Jericho so Stephanie can slap him. HHH connects with a suplex on Jericho in the aisle. Jericho stays down for a count of 5 before HHH pulls him up. In the ring, HHH locks Jericho in an abdominal stretch. Jericho finally powers out of the hold and then connects with a spinning heel kick. Jericho goes for the Lionsault, but HHH gets his knees up. A DDT by HHH keeps Jericho down for 7. HHH applies a sleeper to Jericho and then also puts him in a body scissors. HHH lets go and the referee begins to count. Meanwhile, HHH goes over and kisses Stephanie. Awww. Jericho is back up at 9 and taunts HHH. HHH keeps knocking Jericho down and he keeps getting back up. Jericho gives HHH a crotch chop, so HHH retaliates by giving him the Pedigree. Somehow, Jericho gets back up before 10. Frustrated, HHH grabs a chair and wears out Jericho with it. HHH tries to give Jericho another Pedigree on the chair, but Jericho lowblows him. Now Jericho gives HHH a wicked chairshot. That has busted HHH wide open. Jericho connects with a flying forearm. After booting HHH, Jericho goes up and delivers a missile dropkick. Now Jericho does his crappy bulldog and rams HHH’s head into the chair. Jericho whips HHH to the outside and follows him out there. HHH reverses a whip and sends Jericho into the steps. HHH tries to give Jericho the Pedigree on the steps, but Jericho reverses it into a back bodydrop. Both men grab a TV monitor and hit the other. Both men get up at 9 ½. Inside, Jericho blocks another Pedigree and puts HHH into the Walls of Jericho. HHH is tapping out, but that doesn’t matter. HHH makes it to the ropes, but Jericho just pulls him back. Stephanie comes into the ring to try and stop Jericho. Jericho grabs her and puts the Walls of Jericho on her. HHH gets up and knocks Jericho down from behind. Back outside, HHH grabs the sledgehammer and swings at Jericho, but he only hits the ringpost. Then Jericho catapults HHH into the post. Jericho grabs the sledge and hits HHH in the stomach. Jericho looks to do the Lionsault on HHH on the announce table, but HHH gets up and gives him a lowblow. Then HHH delivers a back suplex, which sends both men through the table. The referee counts both men. HHH barely gets up at 9, but Jericho remains down to give HHH the win. HHH collapses again right after 10 to emphasize the brutality of the match.

BL: These two put each other through a war. I liked how the match was split evenly with HHH dominating the first half and Jericho coming back in the second. The way HHH used Jericho’s rib injury in the early parts of the match was great. I would have liked for them to play up the blood loss of HHH more later on and had him down for the count a few more times. I also liked the ending, as it was decisive, yet it could have gone either way. An excellent effort from both guys. **** ½

Someone will have to help me out with this one…last month they were pimpin’ how Angle would fight the champion at Fully Loaded. How did he lose that shot and Benoit gain it? The video package wasn’t particularly enlightening, but it did establish the fact that in this match Mick Foley made the rule that the WWF title can change hands on a disqualification. Benoit wears one of The Rock’s ruined shirts out to ringside. Nice. Shane distracts The Rock, which allows Benoit to attack him from behind. They go to the outside and The Rock throws Benoit into the steps. The Rock keeps chasing Shane and Benoit fails to capitalize on the distraction. The Rock catapults Benoit into Shane, who was standing on the apron. The Rock covers Benoit and gets a nearfall. The Rock tries to put Benoit in the Crossface, but Benoit bails to the outside. Benoit comes back in and nails The Rock with a knee to the midsection. Now Benoit really begins to work over The Rock’s midsection. The Rock drapes Benoit across the top rope and then gives him a stiff kick. From the top, The Rock gives Benoit a back suplex. Shane gives Benoit the belt and he nails The Rock with it. That gets a long 2. A snap suplex by Benoit gets another nearfall. The Rock catches a charging Benoit with a powerslam. That gets 2. Benoit comes back and applies the Sharpshooter to The Rock. The Rock makes it to the ropes, but Benoit continues the attack on The Rock’s knee. As The Rock goes to the ropes, Shane pulls the top one down and The Rock falls to the floor. On the outside, The Rock whips Benoit into the steps. The Rock picks Benoit up and crotches him on the post. Back in the ring, The Rock puts Benoit in the figure four leglock. However, Benoit makes it to the ropes. Benoit clotheslines The Rock to the floor and then Shane attacks him while the referee is distracted. The two fight in the crowd until Benoit suplexes The Rock back to ringside. In the ring, The Rock plants Benoit with a DDT for 2. Shane attacks The Rock some more as Benoit distracts the referee. The Rock picks Benoit up and then drops him across the top rope. After slamming The Rock, Benoit climbs up and hits The Rock with a diving headbutt almost all the way across the ring. The Rock comes back with a spinebuster on Benoit. The Rock follows that up with the People’s Elbow. Shane distracts the referee long enough, so that when he counts, Benoit is able to kick out at 2. Benoit sets The Rock up top and gives him a superplex. Man, has this match gone back and forth. After clotheslining The Rock, Benoit grabs a chair. As the referee argues with Benoit, The Rock takes the chair away from him. The referee continues to admonish Benoit and Shane comes in and nails the referee with the chair. The Rock then chases Shane out of the ring with the chair. Then The Rock puts Benoit in the Crossface. The referee gets up and calls for the bell. The Fink announces that the referee has disqualified The Rock; your NEW WWF Champion, Chris Benoit. Yes!! Replays show that the referee saw The Rock with the chair after being hit. Meanwhile, Shane hits The Rock with a chair and then celebrates with Benoit. Well, good night everybody. Oh wait…here comes Mick Foley. He says there was no DQ and restarts the match. Benoit comes back into the ring and hits The Rock with three German suplexes. Benoit tries to put on the Crossface, but The Rock grabs the ropes. A second attempt and this time Benoit gets it on him. Again, The Rock grabs the ropes. Out of nowhere, The Rock hits Benoit with the Rock Bottom and pins him for the victory.

BL: Things were going so well up until the finish. I don’t mind the Dusty Finish as much as the fact that after the match restarted, Benoit was in complete control and then an out-of-nowhere Rock Bottom is good enough to get the win. Too unrealistic in my book. Everything else was solid with some good back and forth action between the two. This one gets a rating that’s a notch below the Last Man Standing match because of the finish and less use of psychology. ****

Final Thoughts: The last two matches saved this show from being the second stinker in a row. There were also a couple decent undercard matches, especially the opener. However, things were dragging for a while. It was disappointing to see Angle, Jericho and Benoit all lose, but time has eased the sting of those losses. This show isn’t as good as others thus far in 2000, but it still gets a moderate thumbs up.

Next time, three teams fight in TLC, while Kurt Angle gives some TLC to Stephanie.