Henry's World

 With the pay-per-view product starting to falter at the end of the year, the WWF decided to swing for the fences at Armageddon, tossing all of their biggest feuds into one chaotic Hell in a Cell match. WWF Champion Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Triple H, Rikishi and The Rock would all enter the Cell, creating one of the wildest matches in company history. It's only been attempted one other time since then, and that was a dark match following a Monday Night Raw in 2011, making this the only televised six man Hell in a Cell match in existence. Could this one unique attraction give the WWF some momentum to finish 2000 off right?  - Armageddon 2000 comes to you from the Legacy Arena in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama. Those weren't the names being used for the arena or the complex at the time, but I'm just using the current names to ease confusion, as they've used lots of names over the years. This is the first and to date, la...

 As I mentioned in my No Mercy review, the WWF product was starting to cool off by the unbelievable heights they had reached earlier in 2000, and that drop-off in quality is very evident by the time Survivor Series rolled around. For evidence of that point, look no further than the build to the match between Chris Jericho and Kane, which somehow started over spilled coffee. Then you have the extremely messy feud between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Rikishi, which completely failed to cement the big man as a legit world title contender, forcing the company to toss Triple H back into the mix as the real brains behind the vehicular assault on Austin. Pretty much the entire card for this show felt completely thrown together, with very little on it that most fans would actually care about. That being said, there is still some fun to be had in watching it, even if you have to sit through quite a bit of filler.  - Survivor Series 2000 comes to you from the Ice Palace(now Amalie Are...

 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 ...

Tonight, the love triangle between Kurt Angle, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon comes to a head, as the two men face off with Commissioner Foley as the referee. Hunter, for the first time in a couple years, is sort of working face at this time, as Angle is so disliked that just about anyone could get over against him. Triple H got some big cheers in a segment that has not aged well when he cast doubts on Angle's sexuality, causing Kurt to snap, affronted at the implication. The Attitude Era, ladies and gentlemen. In addition to the Angle-Triple H grudge match, we will also see The Rock defend his WWF title in a fatal four way against brothers Kane and The Undertaker, plus old nemesis Chris Benoit, who almost took the belt away from Rocky back at Fully Loaded. Coming off a pretty well regarded SummerSlam, with a stacked card, how did Unforgiven fare?  - Unforgiven 2000 comes to you from the First Union(now Wells Fargo) Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, home of the 76ers and Flyers...

 Alright, so I'm back to reviewing WWE pay-per-views. Though there were parts of my time reviewing TNA content that I enjoyed, I think a lot of the WWE stuff is just easier for me to watch and review, with more well-defined characters and storylines. I'm still not happy with what the actual company is doing in real life, especially taking profits away from talent who use third party platforms, that's a real dick move, but if I'm going to writing these reviews, I need to be watching the best catalog. Like it or not, that's the WWE.  When we last left off in the year 2000 at Fully Loaded, you can check out my review here , The Rock had just retained the WWF Championship against Chris Benoit, while the Kurt Angle-Stephanie McMahon-Triple H love triangle was in it's infancy. That storyline dominated WWF television in the build to SummerSlam, where the two men would challenge Rocky for the strap. Much to my surprise, the company seemed to play it completely straight,...

 I have a confession to make: I didn't understand the Slammiversary pay-per-view name for almost a decade, from when I first discovered TNA in the early 2010s up until watching Hard Justice a couple days ago, when it finally clicked. But yeah, Slammiversary marks the three year anniversary, to the exact day, since the debut of TNA with their first weekly pay-per-view back in 2002. In retrospect, the most notable aspect of this show was the debut of Samoa Joe, who had dominated Ring of Honor for the past couple years, and would go on to one of the most defining stars of TNA's history. It also features the second King of the Mountain match, a very convoluted gimmick match, but one the company turned into an annual Slammiversary tradition for the rest of the 2000s. The card may not have been terribly strong, but the first Slammiversary was a very fun show and more than worthy of a watch.          -  Slammiversary '05 comes to you from the Impact Zone, wit...

Hard Justice 2005 was sold on the prospect of seeing AJ Styles crowned NWA Champion in front of the biggest audience TNA had ever mustered to this point. With the strap going to the biggest fan favorite in the company at the end of the night, TNA, never a company who embraced subtlety, decided to put together their own version of WrestleMania 14, bringing in Tito Ortiz to officiate the main event. That match, plus the involvement of Ortiz, would have to deliver in major fashion, as the rest of the card was incredibly weak. Let's see how it went.  - Hard Justice comes to you from the Impact Zone, with Don West and Mike Tenay on the call. Say what you will about TNA, but their opening tribute to the recently passed Chris Candido was very touching. A chair sits in the middle of the ring, holding his signature towel, one of the NWA tag belts and a framed photo of Candido, with a pair of boots sitting below the chair, for the ten bell salute. This was absolutely perfect, and very classy...

 On paper, the idea of Lockdown as not just a recurring event for TNA, but one of their most prestigious events is absolutely ridiculous, and makes for easy fodder when it comes to mocking the company. That being said, if the inaugural version here in 2005 is anything to go by, I think the concept of an all-cage pay-per-view sort of works, especially if you have talent in your locker room that are creative enough to continue to find interesting uses for the cage. I definitely suggest checking this one for yourselves, it's available in it's entirety for free on Impact's YouTube channel, since it's not just an exciting event, but also provides something very different if you're used to the standard WWE pay-per-view fare.  - Lockdown 2005 comes to you from the Impact Zone, with Don West and Mike Tenay on the call. I love the opening video package for this one, with a child creepily singing "Ring a Ring o' Roses" while a woman sells you on the brutality of...

 For the most part, every TNA pay-per-view, at least of the monthly variety, had something on it to make the event interesting. But the first Destination X wasn't so lucky, as a very weak card lent way to a dull night of action, punctuated by some trademark LOLTNA nonsense. I really don't get why this wasn't focused more heavily on the X Division, which had more than enough depth to carry a show and was clearly the inspiration for the name of the event. TNA would eventually get around to focusing Destination X around the X Division, but unfortunately that was way too late to save the 2005 edition.  - Destination X 2005 comes to you from the Impact Zone, with Don West and Mike Tenay in the booth. Apparently, someone behind the scenes realized the same thing I did, as reportedly there were plans to center this show around the X Division with a one night tournament reminiscent of the Super J Cup in Japan. That sounds awesome, but must've been vetoed because Jeff Jarrett wa...