It was beginning to become obvious by October of 2000 that the WWF's creative team were beginning to run out of steam, as often happens in the company near the end of each year. The reveal of Rikishi as the man who attempted to cripple "Stone Cold" Steve Austin by running him down with a car was met with confusion by many, as turning the big man heel after he had been one of the most popular acts in the company seemed entirely nonsensical. If you ask me, it's yet another piece of evidence that Vince McMahon believes that to be a true main event player, you have to have an entirely serious character, no comedy allowed. It's a huge part of the reason why the company struggles so much to create new top faces, since comedy so often gets over in wrestling. Aside from the strange clash between Austin and Rikishi, this card is incredibly soft, easily the weakest for any 2000 pay-per-view I've seen, though King of the Ring was significantly worse. Still, even if the card wasn't particularly strong, there's still plenty to talk about, so let's get to it.
- No Mercy 2000 comes to you from the Pepsi Arena(now Times Union Center) in Albany, New York, and you may not believe me when I say this, but this is a historic venue for the WWE. This was the host for the 1992 Royal Rumble, featuring Ric Flair's legendary world title victory, plus Edge cashing in the first Money in the Bank contract in 2006 on John Cena. Perhaps the most important moment came about a year and a half prior to this night, when Steve Austin threw his infamous "beer bash" on The Rock and Vince and Shane McMahon, coming just before WrestleMania 15. While the action to come on this show might not be as memorable of any of that, we do have yet another historic world title win to come in the main event.
- The opening contest of the night is an elimination tables match, where five teams look to put at least on of their opponents through a table to stay alive in the match. Too Cool, now operating on their own, quickly take out D'Lo Brown and Chaz, before going down to Tazz and Raven. That new team then faces off with the Dudley Boyz, who put out the invitation to all the other teams to compete, which gets quite a few ECW chants from the crowd. D-Von leg drops Tazz through a table, as it comes down to the Dudleyz and Right to Censor representatives The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. Bubba powerbombs Bull through a table, and after some shenanigans with a chair, he and D-Von officially end it by hitting Goodfather with a 3D. If you enjoy watching guys go through tables, this was the match for you, but it got a little old for me after a while.
- We were scheduled to have a six person intergender tag team match up next, with the APA and Lita teaming up to face T&A and Trish Stratus, but Test and Albert jump Bradshaw and Faarooq backstage. That leaves Lita on her own against the three heels, though Matt and Jeff Hardy are able to make the save before she takes too much damage.
- For the second month in a row, it's time for a Steel Cage match, as Chris Jericho and X-Pac settle their feud. This match really struggle to match the action for the tag team steel cage affair last month, but did get really good down the stretch. Jericho manages to hit X-Pac with a big powerbomb off the top of the cage, which was bonkers, before he attempted to apply the Walls of Jericho on top of the cage, which was never going to work. X-Pac manages to get free, sending Y2J crashing into the mat. X-Pac looks to escape, but with the door hanging open, Jericho delivers a dropkick that sends X-Pac on the door, crotch first, allowing Chris to escape and win. Again, not on the level of what we got last month, but filled with enough big spots to at least make it interesting.
- Eddie Guerrero and Chyna have officially split after he was caught cavorting with some of The Goodfather's former Hos, while she has been the recent target of Right to Censor, who don't approve of her Playboy photo shoot. Billy Gunn, fresh off rotator cuff surgery, stands up for Chyna, and now teams with the "Ninth Wonder of the World" to face Steven Richards and Val Venis. The crowd are mostly dead for this one, only popping for a Chyna hot tag, while Jerry Lawler, as always, gets incredibly creepy and lustful on commentary. Eddie interferes to attack his Mamacita, hitting her with an old staple of theirs, a bouquet of roses containing a lead pipe. Val gets the pin.
- It's time for Rikishi and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to meet in a No Holds Barred match, and I'll start by saying that this is a very strange sight. The WWF are desperately trying to get the fans to buy Rikishi as a sadistic heel, even giving him new theme music that literally declares that he is a "bad man doing bad things", it's an absolute dumpster fire of a theme song by the way, but it's just not working. The crowd do at least pop big for Austin driving his truck right down to ringside, but quiet down for the elongated period of brawling. Austin gains the upper hand with a couple vicious chair shots that send Rikishi into the truck bed, and he drives off with the big guy in tow. The brawl now transitions to the streets outside the arena, with Rikishi bleeding buckets. Austin absolutely loses it, attempting to actually f***ing murder Rikishi with his truck, but a police car makes the interception, and Austin is arrested, technically ending the match. This did get over a more psychotic character for Austin, which was crucial for the next year or so of programming, but it did nothing for Rikishi, who looked like an absolute chump in the biggest match of his career. Again, I sort of doubt there was anything that could be done to salvage his heel run at this point, as the crowd just doesn't care, but you could've tried.
- There may not be a more underappreciated wrestler in the history of the WWE than William Regal, who excelled at both character work and mat wrestling but was never treated as a serious threat, possibly because he never had the type of look Vince McMahon craves. That being said, I don't have to like Regal to know that he deserves far, far better than working Naked effing Mideon. That's right, Naked Mideon is challenging for the European Championship, because life isn't fair. At least he lost.
- After losing their titles to the Hardy Boyz at Unforgiven, Edge and Christian have now found themselves banned from challenging for the belts as long as Matt and Jeff are the champions. Soon after, Los Conquistadors, a short-lived team in the late 80s who did compete at one pay-per-view, Survivor Series 1988, which I have reviewed, made their return to the company, quickly becoming number one contenders. The joke here is that Edge and Christian are very obviously the two men under the masks, but until someone actually unmasks them, there's no proof. Matt Hardy attempts to do that multiple times during this title match, eventually succeeding, but the man he unmasks is wearing a second mask underneath. The other Conquistador pretty much confirms he's Christian by dropping Matt with the Unprettier to become the champions. Nothing special to be found in the actual wrestling, but I enjoyed this storyline, which would wrap up the following night on Raw, when Matt and Jeff took the Conquistadors' disguise to win back the belts.
- I never knew Triple H had a short face run during this year, but he's getting some fairly massive cheers heading into his match with Chris Benoit. This was set up by Benoit harassing Stephanie McMahon on multiple occasions, which drew Triple H's ire, though he's told Steph to stay in the back to avoid any potential danger. These two work a very deliberate, technical style for this one, with lots of limb work and virtually no big spots to be found. The crowd didn't really care for it, and I'll admit to being a little bored at points, but the finish was very intense and drew me back in. Benoit tenaciously fights to apply the Crossface, while Triple H just about manages to stay out of it with his massive power advantage, with the crowd rallying big time behind "The Game". Stephanie decides to interfere despite her husband's warning, but it still works in Triple H's favor, as with the ref distracted, Hunter connects with a low blow and the Pedigree for the win. I thought Stephanie's involvement here was completely unneeded, as I liked the idea of watching these two terrific athletes fight it out to determine who was better. As far as I'm aware, there were no real plans for an extended face run for Triple H at this time, which is a shame as this match definitely proved that the fans would've been receptive to it.
- Main event time, as Kurt Angle challenges The Rock for the WWF title. Stephanie is once again at ringside, as she's guaranteed that Angle will walk out champion tonight, and she gets heavily involved in this match. It's definitely a lot more of the sports-entertainment type of fare than the last match, which the crowd seems to like, though I grew tired of Stephanie's constant interference pretty quickly. After she stops Rock from hitting a People's Elbow, the champion hits her with a Rock Bottom, triggering a Triple H run-in. He attacks Angle for failing to protect his wife, then gets revenge of Rock by hitting him with a Pedigree, which is thankfully the end of all McMahon-Helmsley involvement for the night. We get some very close near falls, as Kurt just barely kicks out of a Rock Bottom, stunning the crowd. Rikishi makes his way to ringside, intent of once again helping Rocky, which is what he claimed he was doing by running down Austin. The big man's interference backfires, as he accidentally splashes Rock in the corner before dropping the "People's Champion" with a Savate Kick. This is Kurt Angle's moment, as he hits Rikishi with the Angle Slam, then delivers one more to The Rock, which the crowd actually pops for, sensing the shock title change. Indeed, Angle makes the cover, and wins his first of four WWE titles, completing one of the greatest rookie years, not just in WWE but in all of wrestling history. This match did lose me at points thanks to all the run-ins, but had me hooked by the end, and provided a momentous title swap, which is always fun.
7/10
This show has little to make it stand out, and a lot of pretty terrible fare that really drags it down, especially the Naked Mideon BS. That being said, I think it still can be a pretty enjoyable watch, especially for Angle's big win in the main event. WWE always struggles to keep up the momentum towards the end of the year, and while 2000 might be their best year ever, it's very much following that same trend.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 2000, where Kurt Angle defends his WWF Championship against The Undertaker. See you soon.
- Henry
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