by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

Jericho had plenty of help along the way, however:  an assist from Vince McMahon helped him overcome the Rock in his first match, and then McMahon, Nick Patrick, and Booker T all got involved in Jericho's title unifying win over Steve Austin.

Thanks to the jerk-asses at Time Warner cable, I had to watch this show at a local sports bar...  I wasn't taking notes or anything, so if these results are spotty, cut me some slack.

Here are the results of the just-completed WWF Vengeance PPV:

- In a show-opening interview, Vince McMahon made it clear that his humiliation at the hands of the Rock would not go unpunished.  "He who laughs last, laughs loudest," was Vince's thinking.  Eventually, Ric Flair came out to cut Vince off, leading to the first wrestling action of the evening.

-  Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert got a win over Test and Christian in an unscheduled bonus match.  All the trademarks spots got incorporated into this brief match, but it was the Baldobomb from Albert on Christian that resulted in the finish.  It felt more like a SmackDown! throw-away match than a PPV-ready one, but it certainly wasn't bad or anything.

-  Edge successfully retained the IC Title from William Regal.  This one was a really pleasant surprise, as the divergence of styles was not an issue.  The two men worked well together, and even got the crowd into the match ("Regal Sucks" was a popular chant).  Before the match, the ref thoroughly patted Regal down in search of brass knuckles, but didn't find them.  That's because Regal had stashed them under the ring where he could get them later.  After 12 or so quality minutes -- most of which consisted of Regal on offense -- Regal got frustrated with his inability to finish off Edge (who was kicking out of everything Regal tried, even a pair of powerbombs) and went for the knux.  But before he could use them, Edge rallied and hit a spear for the pinfall win.  Good stuff here.

-  Jeff Hardy defeated Matt Hardy when referee Lita counted three even though Matt's leg was on the ropes.  They started out on the mat and eventually built things up to more of the usual high-risk Hardy style.  Matt was definitely in full-on heel mode, taking advantage of Lita's five count and doing a lot of eye gouging and trash talking.  The storyline within the match centered heavily on Jeff's knee, which was "injured" by a fluke move and then assaulted non-stop by Matt.  The finish had Matt attempting a Twist of Fate off the top rope, but Jeff shoved him off and followed up with a Swanton Bomb.  Matt was near enough the ropes that he draped a leg over, but Jeff quickly hooked that leg back, and Lita never saw it.  Interesting little finish that gives this brother versus brother feud plenty to build on...  a sound match that told its story well, though I'm sure even bigger and better things are on the horizon between these two.

-  The Dudleys retained the Tag Titles, defeating the Big Show and Kane.  Another pleasant surprise here, with lots of action and a big finish...  early in the match, the Show and Kane did a total destruction job on the Duds, but the champs eventually recovered.   Mid-match highlights included Kane diving from the top rope onto both Dudleys (who were on the floor), and Big Show delivering a spanking to Stacey Keibler's bare bottom.  However, things fell apart for the challengers when Kane accidentally hit Show with a clothesline.  The dissension got worse, as Show later accidentally tackled Kane, knocking him from the ring apron.  The Duds were then able to isolate on Show, hitting a double Snake Eyes-type move into the exposed steel turnbuckle for the win.  Nothing spectacular, but another solid match that was better than I expected it to be.

-  The Undertaker beat Rob Van Dam to win the Hardcore Title.  This one degenerated into an all-out, all-over-the-arena brawl very early.  In the crowd, Taker made use of some fans' flag to choke out RVD (he must have been reviewing some old ECW tapes to prepare for the match!)...  RVD also hit a huge cross body block, leaping from the balcony level to the floor.  From there, they brawled into the backstage area, and eventually out onto the main entrance stage.  Chairs and trashcans were used liberally throughout this extended segment.  Finally, Taker hit the decisive blow, when he ducked a Van Daminator, and chokeslammed RVD off the stage through two tables on the floor.  Taker and the ref descended to the floor, where the three count was made.  A damned entertaining brawl, though I have no idea in hell where you go with Taker as the Hardcore champ.

-  Trish Stratus defeated Jacqueline to hold on to her Women's Title.  Nothing particularly memorable here...  it was quick and to the point, with Trish winning via a backslide out of nowhere.  The two women shook hands in the Display of Mutual Respect after the match...  I couldn't hear the commentary at this point, but I'm betting a body part that Jerry Lawler was probably begging them to "kiss and make up" at this point.  

-  Steve Austin advanced to the main event by vanquishing Kurt Angle in a WWF Title defense.  They started slow with some mat wrestling, and it actually didn't take more than 5 minutes or so before Angle worked his way to an anklelock on Austin.  Austin was able to make it to the ropes, though, and eventually steered the match more towards a brawling style.  They toured ringside, using the posts, the stairs, and the Spanish Announce table.  Angle even reprised an old Bret Hart trick, using the Figure Four around the ring post on Austin.  In the ring, Austin hit a series of German Suplexes, but Angle was able to kick-out.  Austin returned the favor by kicking out of an Angle Slam.  A frustrated Angle decided to try the Stone Cold Stunner, but Austin was able to counter it, and hit a Stunner of his own for the win.  Nothing we haven't already seen a couple times already on PPV, but good enough, I guess.

-  Chris Jericho upended the Rock to advance to the main event as the new World Champion.  Like the Austin/Angle match, this one started out slow before building up to an outside-the-ring brawl.  Jericho was in full dickhead mode, even stopping to display a double biceps pose while standing on the Rock's chest.  Jericho used a sleeper, mid-match, but of course, the Rock dramatically revived before his arm could drop a third time.  He also kicked out of the bulldog/Lionsault that soon followed.  Jericho decided he was going to Rock Bottom the Rock through the announce table, but Rocky countered and hit a DDT through the table, instead.  Jericho rallied, though, and hit the Breakdown back in the ring.  He also mocked the Rock by attempting the People's Elbow, but Rocky avoided that by grabbing Jericho's leg and cinching in the Sharpshooter.  But again, Jericho was able to rally, counting first with his own Sharpshooter, and then with the Walls of Jericho.  Rock made the ropes, and was able to hit a Rock Bottom out of nowhere, though he didn't have enough energy to attempt a cover.  Vince McMahon ran out at this point, and distracted the referee while the Rock eventually covered Jericho.  Rock gave up on the pinfall attempt, and went after Vince, but in the ensuing melee, Jericho was able to hit a low blow and then a Rock Bottom to score the win.

-  Jericho's celebration was cut short when Austin immediately made his way out to the ring.  But before Austin could do too much damage, Angle returned to the ring to waylay him with a chairshot.  Rock evened things out by chasing off Angle and putting Jericho down with a Rock Bottom.  With both men down, the match officially got started.  No "slow start" here, really, however, since this one went outside early, where they brawled on top of the Spanish Announce Table (which did not, however, get broken), and where Austin suplexed Jericho onto an exposed patch of concrete.  In the ring, Jericho locked in the Walls of Jericho for a while, though Austin was able to make the ropes to break the hold.  An errant flying burrito from Jericho KO'ed the ref at this point, which is when things really got exciting.  Jericho hit a low blow, and then a Stone Cold Stunner, and before you knew it, there was Vince McMahon leading evil referee Nick Patrick (now wearing the WWF's colors) to the ring.  Before Patrick could make a count, though, Ric Flair was out.  Flair knocked out Patrick, and then Vince knocked out Flair.  Vince stood by and watched as Austin got on a streak, and locked Jericho in his own Walls of Jericho;  Jericho was tapping out, but again, no ref was there to see it.  There was also no ref to see it when Booker T ran out of the crowd to blast Austin in the head with the World Title belt.  At that point, Vince hoisted ref Earl Hebner into the ring, where he was just in time to make the slow, dramatic three count in Chris Jericho's favor.  Good match, hot crowd, super loaded finish...

There were no real holes at all on this PPV...  though the opener was pure filler and the women's match was utterly forgettable, they were short diversions on a show that otherwise featured uniformly quality action.  And the big finish with Flair, Vince, Patrick, and Booker getting involved in a match that saw Chris Jericho unexpectedly walk away with all the gold lent the show that elusive "big time" feel.

I had indicated in my Friday preview that I thought the final match would be stripped down and decided between two men to give the new undisputed title some "old school" credibility...  I'm pleased to say that even though they went 180 degrees in the opposite direction, the end result was still very effective.  Lots of storyline possibilities exist coming out of the show, thanks to the actions of Booker and Patrick, and the physicality between Flair and Vince.

No match of the year standouts, and only time will tell if the Jericho title win is something we mark down in the history books or if it'll just be a quickly-abandoned experiment...  but a good show by any measure.  Unless, I guess, if you're an embittered Triple H fan who foolishly thought FOR SURE that he'd appear on the show even though no such thing was even hinted at by the WWF.

Get over it...  he'll be back soon enough.  And in the meantime, I've got no reservations about calling Vengeance a Thumbs Up show.  Be sure you check back on Monday for Scott's PPV Rant, as well as more thoughts and fall-out from the show...

E-MAIL RICK
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