Smackdown – July 20, 2000 – Watch This Main Event And Take Notes. It’s AWESOME.

Smackdown
Date: July 20, 2000
Location: Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York
Attendance:
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

This is another request. It’s the go home show for the Fully Loaded 2000 PPV which has the Rock vs. Benoit for the title if I remember right. It also had the Flying Samoan as Rikishi jumped off the cage and crushed Venis but somehow lost the match. Other than that I have no idea what the request is for but let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Raw where Benoit clocked Rock with a chair but Rock went into the locker room and drilled him with the same chair. They fought through the back with Rock destroying him for a good while. Rock Bottom onto the hood of a limo ended it.

Here’s Commissioner Foley to open things up. Mick talks about how he sucks up everywhere but this is his hometown. He says that on Monday, everything turned violent. That of course gets cheers. He enjoys being backstage but that isn’t his job. The thing he needs to deal with tonight is the Rock situation. Rock is going to go all insane on Sunday and likely get himself disqualified about two minutes in. Therefore, if Rock gets disqualified, he loses the title. The violence must come to an end.

Cue Jericho who has taped ribs and is ticked off. Jericho likes the idea of getting rid of the rest of the violence, but he wants just a little more. HHH hit him with the sledgehammer recently and it made him wacky. He feels like a hunter now and wants to join the “I just beat HHH within an inch of his life and left him almost dead” club, of which Foley is a member. There’s going to be a last man standing match on Sunday between them, but he wants to be in the club tonight.

Cue Benoit as this segment is getting long, especially when the ending is very clear from a few miles away. Oh and Shane is managing Benoit at this point. Benoit yells about Rock attacking him on Monday and Rock Bottoming him on the hood of a car. He says he’s awesome and makes fun of Jericho. Shane says Rock can’t beat Benoit and everyone knows it, including the people. He wants the PPV title match with the same stipulations tonight.

Cue HHH and Stephanie now to keep this going. In the distraction, Benoit puts Jericho in the Crossface. HHH runs down and Pedigrees him but here’s the champ. Rock runs off Benoit and clears the ring other than Foley. Foley makes the obvious tag main event for later. Somehow that took 18 minutes to get to. Teddy Long really is a model of efficiency.

European Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko vs. Perry Saturn

Eddie is defending and has Chyna with him here. Perry turned on Eddie on Monday, possibly due to Terri’s instructions. Eddie and Perry start fighting before Malenko gets here. Dean is Light Heavyweight Champion at this point and comes out with two women on his arms. Dean gets knocked to the floor and Chyna pops him in the face. Eddie is still in his t-shirt.

Eddie vs. Dean at the moment with Perry on the floor. Scratch that as he’s back in and it’s a two way now with Dean down. This is certainly in the usual triple threat formula already. They all fight at once for a nice change of pace but Saturn is knocked into Dean who Eddie rolls up for a fast pin to retain.

Rating: D+. It’s hard to complain when they only have about three and a half minutes to do anything here. The Radicalz were an interesting bunch because they could fight so many times but you could mix them up just enough so that things wouldn’t get too boring. The fast ending was a nice touch here too.

Post match, Perry clotheslines Chyna and hits his finisher, a modified Jackhammer. A top rope elbow is saved by Eddie, who takes it for Chyna.

We go to a pub where Edge and Christian are celebrating a win over the APA on Monday. They want to invite the Acolytes down to drink with them.

Just Joe comes in to visit the APA and can’t quite get it right.

Kurt Angle vs. Kane

This is a challenge by Kurt who gets Taker on Sunday. He wants to know why he’s been afraid of a man that rides a bicycle. Angle goes after him in the aisle which doesn’t go that well for him. Kane is still in the old school attire that he debuted in. Taker is watching in the back. Kane’s powerbomb is countered but a powerslam hits. He loads up the chokeslam but has to settle for a big boot instead. Kurt goes for the knee and Kane is in some trouble. Kane fights him off, so Kurt goes out and gets a chair which draws a DQ.

Rating: D. Too short to be anything but this was a pairing that didn’t usually work all that well. Their match at Mania a few years later never did anything for me either. That being said, this was more about Taker than anything else and that’s fine. It’s a perk you get when you have Kane around. Weak match though.

Angle destroys Kane’s knee/ankle post match.

A guy in the back asks HHH for his autograph and then asks for an autograph from Rock. HHH goes off on him. Well that happened.

Dick Butkus is going to coach an XFL team. That takes about five minutes to explain.

Hardcore Title: Steve Blackman vs. Al Snow

Steve is champion. Blackman kicks him down to start and goes to the floor to grab a trashcan lid. A fire extinguisher shot gets Snow out of trouble as well as a bucket full of sodas. Snow brings in more weapons and they do a sequence resulting in Snow’s head going between Blackman’s legs. A DDT onto a trashcan gets two for Snow. Snow loads up the bowling shirt but takes too long and gets beaten down.

Out to the floor and into the crowd now. Up by the stage and Blackman hits him in the head with a monitor. Crash Holly pops in and goes after Blackman. He takes Steve back to the ring where Blackman destroys him with nunchucks. Now Snow comes back but here’s Taz, Snow’s opponent on Sunday, to choke Snow out. Blackman pins the out cold Snow to retain.

Rating: C+. This was your run of the mill hardcore match. The run-ins were nicely done though so that adds a little to it. They did their thing though and it really wasn’t all that bad. These matches could do some entertaining stuff if you turned off your brain, which you almost had to here.

The same autograph seeker is still bothering HHH and says the Rock autograph is for his son. HHH says bring your son back here and he’ll see what he can do.

Hardy Boys/Rikishi vs. T&A/Val Venis

T&A&V? Make your own jokes. This is happening because there was something involving a ladder on Monday as Trish and Lita went up. Trish shoved Lita off and through a table so the redhead is gone for tonight. Val is IC Champion and is defending against the Fat Samoan on Sunday. Val and Jeff start us off. Off to Albert quickly and the Hardys start double teaming. T&A use their power and double team Matt down.

Off to Val who misses a dropkick to give Matt control. They’re moving very quickly out there. Val grabs a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. A powerbomb is countered into a Twist of Fate and it’s hot tag Rikishi who cleans house. He and Val fight up the aisle and the two tag teams have a small match of their own. Albert is knocked to the floor as Test hits the pumphandle slam on Matt. Jeff breaks up the cover with a Swanton though and Matt gets the pin.

Rating: C. I liked this as they were moving out there. This was a very fast paced match which is what you want in something like this. Combining two feuds into one like this is always a good thing as you can cover a lot of ground at once. The PPV matches were pretty good on top of that.

T&A destroys the Hardys post match until Lita comes out….and is promptly destroyed as well. Trish whips Lita’s bad back with a belt.

The autograph dude brings the kid to the back and HHH won’t give his kid one. Instead here’s the Fink who is going to ask about Rock’s autograph instead because Rock doesn’t like HHH.

Edge and Christian are still in the bar waiting for the APA.

The autograph seeker (he’s a production guy apparently) is with his son when Rock comes in to sign something for him. Rock signs but Benoit and Shane sneak in and put him in the Crossface. HHH stands over him because he’s an evil person.

Bull Buchanan vs. Godfather

It’s still the pimp version but he’d turn soon enough. Buchanan has just joined up with Richards it seems. Richards goes on a big rant about how you have to have rules or everything would be chaos. Godfather stands up for freedom and women before the match and now we’re finally ready to go after five minutes of chatting beforehand. They start off fast with Godfather hammering away on Buchanan in the corner. This is far more of a brawl than a match. The girls go after Richards and Stevie gets in, kicks Godfather and allows Bull to get the pin. Too short to rate but I think it did what it was supposed to do well enough.

Joe goes to talk to the APA again and Faarooq finally says let him say what he wants to say. He tells the guys about what Edge and Christian are saying. They throw Joe out and then decide to go get some beer, at a bar.

Big Bossman vs. Undertaker

Taker pounds Bossman into the corner to start and here comes Angle about 15 seconds into the match. Taker sees him and Angle runs. He comes back and has something in a bucket with the word caution on it. Kurt pours it over and it sizzles the bike. Hot wax maybe? Taker goes after him and it’s a countout.

In the back Taker goes after him but Angle jumps him with a wrench. Kane hobbles in for the save.

The APA get to the bar and the Canadians are gone. The other patrons try to fight them which fails. The APA walks out and chats for a bit before Edge and Christian jumps them from out of an alley and drive off.

Chris Benoit/HHH vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock and Jericho sprint in and here we go. The matches on Sunday pair off and it’s a war outside. Jericho and his bad ribs are dropped onto the table as the other pair is in the ring. Rock and Benoit officially start it off but the Game is in quickly. That’s a pairing that never gets old. Jericho is up on the apron and in now to pound HHH down. Trips gets in a shot to the ribs and the heels take over again.

Benoit comes back in and they work on the ribs even more by draping Jericho over the top rope. Back to HHH and the rib work continues. See how easy psychology is? Go for the injury that is right there in front of you! Jericho gets in a shot but the Lionsault eats knees. HHH takes him to the floor and slams him into various things which gets two back inside.

Jericho tries to get something going but walks into a facebuster. Now here’s a fine example of someone thinking in the ring. You’re all familiar with HHH’s facebuster where he grabs the guy’s head, jumps, and rams the opponent’s head into his own (as in HHH’s) knee. Well here HHH rams the knee INTO THE RIBS. Now THAT is a sign that someone is thinking out there. I love that. Rock finally has had enough and comes in to break up a Pedigree. Benoit takes a spinebuster but there goes the referee for the DQ.

Rating: B+. I really liked this. They had a lot of stuff going out there and the psychology was flowing and flowing hard, especially from the ring general that is HHH. He was absolutely on fire at this point and it was definitely his best period. Very fun stuff here and they even add in the ending to play up the main event on Sunday. THIS is how you book a frantic main event tag match and how it should go.

Shane comes in and gets knocked around. Rock Bottom to Benoit and there’s the Walls for HHH. Crossface to Benoit and the place is going manic. Both heels pass out to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. It took awhile to get there, but sweet Christmas I was loving the last 15 minutes of this show. The main event angles here tonight were just nailing it and I want to watch Benoit vs. Rock now, and that was a great match in its own right. Very good ending here, but the rest of it was pretty ho-hum. I want to watch the PPV now though, and for a one off show that’s pretty good.

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