I refused to cover WrestleMania 16(I'm not calling it 2000, sorry Vince) for a number of reasons, but mostly due to the overbooked main event, the one that infamously featured a McMahon in every corner. That 'Mania still did extremely well, business wise, despite being panned by most critics, which I think Vince took as a challenge to produce a show that could be both commercially and critically successful, which leads us to Backlash. This show remains one of the most beloved B-level pay-per-views in WWE history, and somehow achieved the 2nd highest buyrate of the year, an incredible accomplishment that was mostly due to the promised appearance of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the main event. Austin made his first WWF appearance in 6 months on the go-home edition of SmackDown!, destroying the D-X Express and promising to bring Hell with him at Backlash. Ladies and gentlemen, find your comfiest chair and grab some popcorn, because it's about to get wild. Here's my review of one of the greatest WWE pay-per-views ever produced.
- Backlash 2000 comes to you from the MCI Center(now Captial One Arena) in Washington, D.C., a venue that has just exploded in popularity in recent years, hosting the Capitals during their historic Stanley Cup triumph in 2018 and AEW's first episode of Dynamite in October of last year. I can certainly see why AEW chose this to be their host, this place was absolutely rocking throughout this event and provided one of the greatest atmospheres I've ever witnessed for a WWE show.
- We open in style, as Edge and Christian defend their tag team titles against X-Pac and Road Dogg, who are representing D-Generation X. This is technically a heel versus heel match, but the crowd really hates X-Pac, so Edge and Christian are sort of just faces by default. The action is solid, really picking up down the stretch as the two teams trade near falls with the crowd just exploding when Christian brains X-Pac with the ring bell to retain the straps.
- In what might very well be the greatest Light Heavyweight title match ever, Dean Malenko defends against Scotty 2 Hotty. As mentioned in my No Way Out review, the Radicalz and Too Cool made some real magic with each other in 2000, and this is another great clash with representatives of those two groups. Malenko's rough, no-nonsense technical style meshes perfectly with Scotty's more theatrical offense, and once again, the action really gets good down the stretch. The finish is unbelievable, as Scotty attempts a superplex, which is countered into a DDT off the top rope(!) that allows Dean to retain his title. Huge props to both guys for executing that move so safely, that was incredibly risky on paper but these guys are both absolute pros and it looked absolutely brutal, one of the best finishers I've ever seen.
- Time for a real cooldown, as the APA take on the Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan. This match is slow and plodding and only really exists to give everyone a chance to breathe. Bull gets the win with a scissors kick.
- The 24/7 rule has just come into effect for the Hardcore Championship, created by champion Crash Holly, though it doesn't play into this show at all. Instead, Crash is defending against cousin Hardcore, Jeff and Matt Hardy, Perry Saturn and Tazz, one fall to a finish. This is absolute mayhem, just as expected, and starts near the stage, as the Hardyz and Saturn take turns using the awesome swinging blades on the set to do some diving attacks, which the crowd pops big for. Jeff and Matt are definitely at home in this kind of environment, and provide the biggest highlight of the match with a Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb off a ladder combo. The Tazzmission is applied to Hardcore, but Saturn hits Tazz with a stop sign and Crash manages to steal the win by pinning Tazz. I always appreciate when the Hardcore title is defended in an actual match rather than just resorting to backstage shenanigans, and this was one of the better title matches in the history of the belt, a chaotic and innovative 12 minutes that got just about everyone over.
- Big Show is the middle of an impersonation gimmick at this time, one of those tried and true gimmicks that seems to always get over in the WWE, and delivers a terrific Hulk Hogan parody in his match with Kurt Angle. I suppose he did work with the Hulkster for a couple years, and really nails the voice and has a significantly better leg drop than Hulk, though I'm sure with his size that type of move couldn't have better a regular part of his moveset. Angle kicks out of the leg drop, which stunned the crowd and did make him look pretty good, before he quickly falls to a chokeslam. This was one of the more entertaining squash matches I've seen as the crowd loved Big Show's parody and were very eager to see Angle get his a** kicked.
- Bubba Ray Dudley has just been on a rampage over the past couple months, slamming women through tables left, right and center, which led to a storyline between him and the recently debuted Trish Stratus. I have no idea why Trish decided to continually taunt Bubba and encourage him to try and put her through a table, but it definitely didn't work, as she goes through a table here. That moment follows a solid tag match between the Dudleyz and T&A, and I thought it was a good example of inter-gender violence done well. Trish really heels it up for most of the match so Bubba's attack seems mostly warranted, though him continuously calling her a b**** while she's being stretchered out was maybe a bit too far and got a little uncomfortable. Also, I really didn't appreciate Lawler's lecherous commentary after the post-match attack, this was supposed to be a serious moment not a time to go extra horny. Still, I thought this storyline was a good way to establish Trish as a real villainess and gave Bubba and D-Von something interesting to do outside of the title picture.
- Eddie Guerrero and Chyna have recently formed an absolutely dynamic and much beloved on-screen relationship after Chyna helped Eddie win the European Championship from her old rival Chris Jericho. Eddie's defending here against Essa Rios, who has appeared on my reviews before under a mask as Aguila, and he has Lita in his corner. The future Hall of Famer has been the driving force to set up this match, accidentally splashing Eddie a couple times during tag matches to draw the ire of Chyna. I have to say, however you feel about how these women are presented on screen, it's at least a huge upgrade over how they've been treated in the past, as they have actual characters and actual motives with important storylines revolving around them, with the guys mostly an afterthought. I'll just say that maybe we should give more credit to the year 2000 for starting the women's revolution, although now I've just remembered the bikini contest at the Royal Rumble so maybe that's a step too far. Eddie and Essa put together a very entertaining lucha match, filled with lots of big bumps and high flying that wows the crowd, although they don't tell much of a story. There's no real build towards the finish, as Eddie hits a weird spinning neckbreaker thing for the win, a huge downgrade from his iconic Frog Splash. After the match, Lita strips Chyna over her dress, much to the delight of the crowd, Eddie and Lawler. Yeah, this isn't the most progressive company in the world, but Chyna is so rarely treated as eye candy that this was at least different, I'm not sure if it was good.
- Oh hell yeah, time for Chris Benoit against Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship, the match I was really looking forward to on this card. This is a really good match, shocking I know, these are only two of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, though not quite as memorable as the battles they would have later on. I do love the physicality of this match, as both men spend several minutes trying to chop the other man's flesh off in a stirring display that really gets the crowd going. The finishing stretch is ridiculously good, as Benoit gets the Crippler Crossface applied, which Jericho manages to fight his way free of and counter smoothly into the Walls of Jericho. After forcing a rope break and a ref bump, Benoit hits Jericho with his belt, but Y2J kicks out to a monster pop. Benoit attempts to end it with the diving headbutt, but at the last minute, Jericho knocks him unconscious with the belt, which the ref sees and calls for a disqualification. A bit of a lame way to end it, but a great callback to Angle beating Jericho at No Way Out by using a belt shot and a way to set up the possibility of future matches between the two, which I really wanted so I'm happy.
- Main event time, as The Rock challenges Triple H for the WWF Championship, though he'll have to go through the entire McMahon-Helmsley Regime in order to get the gold. A lot of the early part of the match is a bit slower, as both guys know they're going about 20 minutes and need the drama to really escalate later on. Shane is the guest referee and does normal heel guest ref things, including refusing to count after a terrific DDT from the challenger. His reward is a Rock Bottom through the announce table alongside Triple H, an incredible spot that I've never seen before that sent the crowd into a meltdown and stunned Vince and Stephanie. Rock manages to kick out of a Pedigree, and Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson run down in ref shirts, as I think Shane is just dead after going through that table, we never saw him again after that spot. Just when you think Rock is going to be screwed out of the title again, just when all hope seems lost, the sound of glass shattering plays over the loudspeaker and the entire arena explodes in one of the loudest pops in WWE history. Steve Austin has a chair and wipes out everyone with chair shots, before Linda makes her way to ringside along with Earl Hebner, who was fired after helping Chris Jericho win the WWF title a couple weeks ago. A Spinebuster and a People's Elbow(the most devastating move in wrestling) later, and we've got a new champ. Austin brings out the burned remains of the DX Express and shares a toast with Rock to close the show as the crowd is absolute full roar the entire time. What a way to close an incredible night of action. Yeah, this may not have been the greatest match of either man's career, but it was entertaining and Triple H really made Rock's offense look great by bumping his a** off, so full credit to him. I think this match proves that intricate booking really isn't necessary in wrestling, you just need the right players and a story that makes the crowd care. I do really need to commend whoever booked this match for the timing of Austin's interference, that was absolutely on point, coming just long enough into the match to make you think it wouldn't happen but still believe it could. This was great.
10/10
This was a really, really fun show to watch. Several absolutely terrific matches with only one real skippable match that only lasted 7 minutes anyway, complete with one of the greatest crowds ever and a terrific final celebration that remains of the most joyous moments in WWE history. Even the pay-per-view set was one of the best ever, I love those swinging blades and they even got used in the hardcore match, that was a genius piece of booking. If you haven't watched Backlash 2000 yet, what on Earth are you waiting for? This is an absolute must-watch for any wrestling fan.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Judgment Day 2000. See you soon.
- Henry
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