Grilling JR - SummerSlam 2000 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

SummerSlam 2000

Coming off Fully Loaded 2000 which featured a main event of The Rock retaining his title over Chris Benoit via a dusty finish, Triple H pinning Chris Jericho and The Undertaker pinning Kurt Angle. We also covered Raw from the Georgia Dome on a Watch Along as we move on to SummerSlam 2000!

Wrestling Observer 8/7/00:

Smackdown 7/25: They teased more problems with Stephanie McMahon and HHH. This time HHH bought her flowers and everything was great. Then Foley ordered a mixed tag with Stratus teaming with HHH. Stratus came in and asked HHH to show her some holds. He actually did a pretty good job as a guy pissed off having to show someone who has no business in the ring some moves. So in practicing a hammerlock escape, she was bending down and he was behind her when Stephanie walked in the room and threw a temper tantrum. The other major angle was after Jericho & Lita beat Benoit (replacing HHH, who stormed out of the building after the Stephanie incident) & Stratus with Jericho pinning Benoit clean, Benoit attacked Jericho in a very violent looking attack including smashing a garage door down hard on his ribs and Jericho did the bleeding from the mouth gimmick. 

How awesome was the HHH - Stephanie - Trish - Angle storyline? The transition of Benoit and Jericho to a feud against each other is something that’s good for both as they’re familiar with each other and you know you’re going to have a great match.

Regarding the plight of the former Radicalz in WWF, most of the thoughts about any of them having second thoughts about making the move to WWF are created rumors.

Do you think the Radicalz had any regrets?

WWFE revealed in its annual report filed with the SEC that the World Fund of Nature has filed a copyright infringement suit in the English High Court seeking an injunction and unspecified damages claiming a breach of contract dating back to a 1994 agreement the two sides signed.

Oh man did this end up being a much bigger story 18 months later. Were people in general not worried about this?

Wrestling Observer 8/14/00

What was described as a very emotional funeral service was held for Gordon Solie on 8/5 in Tampa. The WWF also sent videotaped tributes by Dean Malenko, Pat Patterson and Jim Ross.

How tough was this to do and how tough was it to not be there?

Dwayne Johnson and L.Brent Bozell had a short appearance together from the Republican Convention on 8/2 which aired on CNN. Johnson probably came off slightly better, but it really didn't accomplish anything. Bozell went on the offensive saying how Johnson attacked a woman (spinebuster on Trish Stratus) on TV earlier in the week, which was a remarkably weak point given what could have been brought up about WWF content, even as it pertained to Monday's show, to attack Rock or WWF. Johnson mainly did the "If you don't like us, switch the channel" argument.

How annoying was the PTC and how much did the Rock breaking through to this type of mainstream audience was important?

Raw 8/7 in MSG

After a bunch of vignettes leading to this with HHH not wanting to talk with Stephanie, Stephanie came out explaining she and Angle were just friends and apologized and admitted she was wrong and was jealous of Trish. Stephanie still can't act. Fans didn't want HHH to forgive her, but they hugged and kissed while the fans booed. Stephanie said her last request was for HHH to shake Angle's hand. Angle came out. Foley came out and ordered and said since both wanted to get the title shot at SummerSlam (HHH also asked Foley for the shot), that they could wrestle later in the show. 

Was this some of the best creative from this era?

Tazz came out and, exactly 18 years to the day, and reprising the angle is probably no coincidence but I'm sure nobody knew it was August 7, 1982 when it was done most famously, Tazz started bullying Jim Ross. Tazz tried in the ring to get the New York fans to boo him since he got some cheers saying he's from New York. They really didn't boo him. He went to the announcers desk and started bad mouthing Ross, finally knocking his cowboy hat off. He goaded Ross into slapping him. There was a very subtle Bells Palsy remark that probably could have been done without since the angle would have been just as good without it. Tazz dared Ross to slap him again, but as Ross stood there and decided, Lawler punched Tazz. The set up and timing made it an awesome angle since people didn't see it coming. The 1982 angle had Tazz as Don Muraco, Ross of course was Gordon Solie, and Lawler was Roddy Piper. And for history, both Piper and Muraco were soon out of the territory so they really got no sustained business from the angle. 

What did you think of this angle with Tazz and was it based off the Muraco - Piper & Solie angle? Did you have any say in the creative here?

Jericho was thrown into the main event with Angle and HHH. After all this time, the crowd was pretty dead since HHH and Angle were kept apart (although it hurt this as a match, it was the right thing for business). Jericho worked real well but the fans wanted Angle vs. HHH so bad they didn't want to see him. Finally, both guys did a double back superplex on Jericho and both pinned him simultaneously to both win. Finish was totally flat live but I guess it had to be done like that for storyline. To try and end the show hot, Rock came out and gave the rock bottom to HHH, Angle and finally Stephanie

Trying to keep HHH and Angle apart was the right thing for business. Do you think there’s not enough of that in the business now?

For Smackdown 8/10, Foley was out with Angle and Shane. Angle said to restore the title to the credibility it had in the days of Bruno Sammartino, that he should get the shot. HHH & Stephanie came out. Stephanie said due to a back injury suffered when Rock gave her the rock bottom, she's injured and won't be able to defend the title. Foley announced a three-way for the title.

Was the three-way the right main event?

Dudleys beat Edge & Christian via DQ in a title match when Edge hit Bubba with a chair. As E&C left, Hardys came out and threw them in the ring. D-Von got a table and Hardys got two ladders. Matt & Jeff came off each ladder onto Edge, Matt a legdrop and Jeff a splash. Buh Buh power bombed Christian off the middle ropes through a table.

The amount of chemistry between these 3 teams was felt and good creative kept a program going for a very long time with all time entertaining matches. It’s hard to find that at any point in history with 3 tag teams.

Tazz and Lawler argued. Tazz hit Lawler with a headset and Lawler juiced. Lawler got up and attacked Tazz and they brawled int he ring with Lawler getting the better of it before they were pulled apart.

Did Lawler and Tazz have any issues doing this program?

Nora Greenwald (who worked as Mona in WCW before recently being let go) has agreed to terms to start and is expected to sign in the next week or two. She's 22, and with her gymnastics ability, has a good athletic base and has a pretty face.

What did you think of the future Molly Holly when you signed her? Was the differences in her something that made her stand out in the T&A world of the Women’s Division at this point?

There is a very tentative 8/28 debut date set for Steve Regal. Regal and Bruce Prichard will be scouting wrestlers soon at the UPW shows in Southern California

Here we are in 2000 and Regal is scouting wrestlers. How good an eye for talent did Regal have and still does?

Wrestling Observer 8/21/00

Steve Austin this past week received medical clearance from Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to return to active wrestling in eight weeks, most likely at the October PPV.

How excited were you to get this news? Was creative just waiting at this point to get him back into the fold?

It has been discussed for Austin to return to television on 9/25, which would be the date that Raw debuts on TNN, although that is far from a definite. As far as returning as a television character, he could return at any time but it really wouldn't make sense given how strong business is, to put him back on television until he's ready to build for a major angle. The TNN debut has two good arguments to be his start, the first, obviously, is to get the new station and viewing habits made from the debut show by heavily advertising Austin's return so people see it as a can't miss show and the viewing patterns of finding the new station to most WWF fans to watch on Monday night with casual fans get established right away. The second is because as the timing seems to work out, the October PPV looks to be when he'll have his first in-ring match.

These are all things that do eventually happen and make sense as it gets a great TV return for the first Raw on TNN and than an October PPV that normally is down can be spiked up with his in-ring return.

In a huge surprise, News Corporation, run by Rupert Murdoch, which includes the FOX network, outbid Viacom to purchase BHC Entertainment including Chris Craft in a $5.35 billion stock and cash deal that, according to many media experts over the weekend, will likely spell the end of the UPN Network and affect its top show, WWF Smackdown in some form.

Was there fear that Smackdown would be cancelled and not get picked up after this announcement?

The Undertaker-Kane match was set up on a last-minute angle on 8/14 when the WWF sent Big Show home as a disciplinary measure. There are numerous reasons involved. Management believes Show is terribly out of shape and pushing him sets a bad example for the rest of the crew (I know you can bring up Undertaker and Rikishi aren't in tip-top condition and don't get heat for it). He was sent to Louisville to get back in shape and threw up in training. He worked the house show on 8/12 in Detroit and was given Benoit as tag partner against Undertaker & Kane in the main event with the idea Benoit would work most of the match and he'd only have to go in for spots since he wasn't ready to perform, but still blew up quickly. He showed up the next night in Springfield, MA, but early in the night, had back spasms and couldn't wrestle in his main event and Albert, who wrestled in a six-man tag earlier in the show, was put in the match teaming with Angle against Undertaker & Kane. Where he wound up with tremendous heat, is whether this was real or not, and being wrestling, nobody trusts anyone, is that after the show, his back spasms cleared up and he left the building fine. He showed up the next day in Providence for Raw and they had an angle planned for him and the back spasms acted up. The decision was made to take him off the active roster, and fill in for his SummerSlam spot by doing an Undertaker-Kane angle for the millionth time. There are many complaints that Show, who in many ways is a protege of Hogan, can't get away from the Hogan training and diet regiment and is obsessed with getting bigger, which is actually humorous if you think about it, which takes away from his ability to perform in the ring because he's carrying excess weight. When his back problems subside, the plan is to send him full-time for the Mark Henry treatment at Ohio Valley Wrestling until his conditioning it as what they consider acceptable levels

How frustrating was Big Show at this point in time? Is this story accurate and how it went down or is there anything that Meltzer missed?

Raw 8/14

They did a show-long Acolytes/Kaientai skit where Kaientai took them out for a night of drinking, the little Japanese children-like characters couldn't handle their liquor and got rude and obnoxious and eventually Funaki threw up on Bradshaw and they beat them up. A totally racist segment on many levels.

These skits were horrendous and hindsight makes this worse.

RTC beat Lita & Hardys when Goodfather pinned Lita after a shoulderbreaker. Richards also superkicked Lita. 

Way too much man on woman violence in this era don’t you think?

Kane came in and did the angle choke slamming Undertaker through the ring. The ring didn't break the first time so they had to do it again. 

That couldn’t have been fun.

Tazz choked out Crash quickly, and then stole J.R.'s hat and shoved him down. Lawler made the save to a huge pop.

Hopefully this doesn’t happen in AEW soon and this doesn’t bring up bad memories. Don’t think Excalibur is gonna be Jerry Lawler in this scenario...or would it be Tony Schiavone?

Angle and HHH were about to go at it in the parking lot when a limo showed up. Both got in. Finally the guy in the limo came out, and it was Vince who scolded both like a parent and told them they had to team. Angle & HHH & Shane had no finish with Rock & Dudleys. Edge & Christian hit the Dudleys with chairs, taking them out. Angle gave Rock his Olympic slam and HHH gave him a pedigree. Their music just played and the show ended without them doing a pin. I guess someone couldn't figure out a way out of getting them to do their finishers on Rock but couldn't get Rock, or the company, to pull the trigger on Rock doing another job so they just did nothing

Just an odd finish.

Dave Hebner (Earl's twin brother who works as a road agent) underwent an angioplasty to clear up blockages in three arteries leading to his heart after suffering a mild heart attack on 8/7 at Madison Square Garden.

Did you know this was happening at the time and what is a favorite Dave Hebner story?

Smackdown opened with Shane, Stephanie, HHH and Angle out. HHH and Angle apologized but kept the tension going.

They were both very good in this angle. We’re a year after Kurt Angle’s first WWF Title win but this feels like he’s at his biggest wouldn’t you agree?

Main was non-title with Rock vs. HHH. Angle hit Rock with a chair setting up HHH's clean win with the pedigree, which explains why they didn't do the pinfall the previous night because I guess they felt Rock getting pinned two straight nights was enough. Angle and HHH celebrated. 

Was it smart to do this finish here this soon?

Brian Gewritz is the name of the writer who deserves a lot of the credit for the scripting of the HHH/Angle/Stephanie segments

Gerwitz is getting the first mention of any kind in the Observer. When did you first meet Brian? What were your thoughts on him? What was he like back then and did you enjoy his writing and stories?

2000 NCAA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar became the third former NCAA champion (with Kurt Angle and Sylvester "Collector" Terkey) to debut under the auspices of the WWF on 8/13 at the Ohio Valley Wrestling show in Louisville before 60 fans. Lesnar, who had only been in camp less than two weeks before being put in the ring, which is awfully fast for someone under Jim Cornette tutelage (Kurt Angle actually debuted under Dory Funk's tutelage after just one week of training) and was said to look very good in his debut against B.J. Payne.

How excited were you about Brock and how excited was everyone else about Brock?

Wrestling Observer 8/28/00

One can certainly see the signs of a potential storyline where HHH and Stephanie split up, with Stephanie aligning with Angle, and Chyna and Guerrero splitting up, linking Chyna back with HHH since the public seems to "want" that anyway as a strong babyface pair

Obviously this is speculation on Meltzer’s part but was there any hint about this happening in the office?

Raw 8/21

The hardcore title match with Shane vs. Blackman ended up with Test, Albert, Edge and Christian all attacking and laying out Blackman. Shane finally came in and scored the pin with a kendo stick to the head. Foley then ruled Shane would have to defend the title at SummerSlam against Blackman. Shane got so scared he wanted to lay down and let Edge or Christian have the belts and had them cover him. Foley counted to two, then said he was waiving the 24/7 rule until after the PPV.

This is a great gimmick and angle for all involved but it ends up making the title look like a joke don’t you think?

Terri attacked Kat at WWF New York and gave her the stink face.

Roll tide.

Edge & Christian NC Dogg & X-Pac when Dudleys came in. This was very strange. They announced during this match X-Pac vs. Dogg at SummerSlam. Then a few minutes later, after the match the two argued and X-Pac head-butted Dogg, who fell backwards through a table. X-Pac seemed remorseful at what he'd done. Wouldn't it have made more sense to do the angle and then later announce the match, because this way the angle came off too forced and contrived.

4:20 booking?

Finally Lita beat Stephanie to win the women's title. This went 5:06, which meant the fact Lita is only good doing high spots and Stephanie has no business wrestling on TV was shoved down everyone's throat. Stephanie, to her credit, tried to do high spots, and once nearly killed herself going over on a huracanrana by Lita. HHH, Angle and Hardys were all at ringside. Angle tried to interfere but Rock took care of him. HHH came in after Rock. Angle ran in with the belt to hit Rock, who moved, so he hit Angle. Rock laid out HHH and Angle and then gave Stephanie a spinebuster to allow Lita to score the pin after a moonsault, which got a pretty big pop

Lita’s running pretty hot at this point. Stephanie isn’t a wrestler. Everyone’s over. Makes sense here and continues all the stories.

Smackdown 8/24

They did a parking lot angle with Ross, Tazz and Lawler. Tazz spray painted "13" on Lawler's car. Tazz trapped Ross in his car and smashed the windows with a pipe. Ross was covered in blood and Lawler and Tazz fought. 

You have to be the announcer who’s gotten the most juice in the history of the business...so Hall of Famer and most juice. Are your juicing days over?

The main event was Rock & Lita against Stephanie and either HHH or Angle. She couldn't decide who her partner would be, so she flipped a coin and Angle won. Stephanie was then knocked out on the steps. HHH came out and carried her off. HHH later attacked Rock and KO'd the ref for a DQ. Angle and HHH surrounded Lita but Hardys came out and attacked them. Rock then made a comeback on Angle and HHH. Angle walked off from Rock, leaving HHH with Lita, Hardys and Rock and Rock gave him the rock bottom and people's elbow. Angle and Stephanie kissed for about ten seconds afterwards although Stephanie acted shocked.

What...an...angle.

Raw is being moved to 11 p.m. Eastern time for 8/28 and 9/4 due to the U.S. Open tennis coverage on USA Network, which has of late been a pet peeve of the WWF since the U.S. Open will probably do about one-fourth the audience of Raw in that slot. On the West Coast, Raw will air at its regular 9 p.m. time slot

How annoying was this for the office?

Austin made a surprise appearance with Debra and Jim Ross at WWF New York on Thursday. Austin and Debra are scheduled to be married over the next few weeks

How much did you know about the nuptials and were you excited for the two of them? Did you think it would last?

Wrestling Observer 9/4/00 - Summerslam 2000

As the bar raises once again, the question becomes when does the bar hit the breaking point.

But the match that stole the show was the tables, ladders and chairs match with Christian & Edge, The Dudleys and the Hardys.

There were numerous spectacular bumps from the top of the ladders, both in the ring, and over the top rope through tables. Although everyone involved was probably plenty sore the next morning, nobody was seriously hurt. Earlier in the show, Shane McMahon did a spectacular looking stunt bump, falling backwards some 30 feet into what was apparently a very safe crash bad in a garbage bin. It's already a given that not just independent wrestlers, who imitate what they see in the big-time, but kids in their backyard, are going to imitate what the WWF does.

Was there anyone at any point saying this is too much? What about the children? 

SummerSlam, after a slower than expected advance early, still sold out the Raleigh, NC Entertainment and Sports Complex on 8/27 to the tune of 17,002 in the building, which was 15,603 paying $1,151,940 as well as another $147,815 in merchandise. It was the seventh highest live gate in the history of American pro wrestling, and the first million dollar gate for an event other than a WrestleMania.

That’s an amazing feat being the first million dollar gate outside of a WrestleMania.

There was also an ad on the show for Vinnie's Restaurant in Raleigh, which is actually a restaurant named after Vince McMahon, who was involved in the original financing of the place, which explains the plug.

Ever been there?

1. RTC (Stevie Richards & Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather) beat Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty & Grandmaster Sexay) & Rikishi in 5:12. Not much to the match. Goodfather threw down both ho's. Scotty set up the worm on Bull Buchanan, but was cut off by a missed superkick by Steven Richards and was pinned. *

Not much to an opener.

2. X-Pac (Sean Waltman) pinned Road Dogg (Brian James) in 4:42. This was the most disappointing match on the show, largely because the two are long-time friends and both good workers capable of providing a hot match. Time was a limitation, but they even got boring chants and little happened until X-Pac delivered a low kick and got the pin with the X-factor. After the match, X-Pac wanted to shake hands, but Road Dogg instead gave him a modified pump handle slam. 3/4*

Was this the end of both of them as serviceable workers without issues?

3. Eddy Guerrero & Chyna defeated Val Venis & Trish Stratus in a match where Chyna captured the IC title by being the one who scored the pin in 7:13. Chyna was really laying everything in on offense. She was wearing flat boots instead of high heels, which make her look shorter, but probably give her a much better base to wrestle on so she looked much better than usual. Guerrero is always one of the smoothest workers around. They kept Stratus out until the finish. Obviously she doesn't have the training to be much more than a slightly better version and more willing bump taker than most of the other interchangeable women. Chyna pressed her overhead and pinned her to capture the title. **

Chyna pins Trish to win the IC title. What were your thoughts on this?

4. Jerry Lawler pinned Tazz in 4:24. The crowd was very into Lawler, who still, at age 50, came off the top rope with his fist drop and did his trademark moves. After Tazz no-sold a piledriver and a ref bump, Tazz got the choke on but Lawler made the ropes. When Tazz wouldn't break it, Jim Ross got off his chair and smashed a glass jar of candy on Tazz' head. Tazz, who has only gotten color a few times in his career, bled, as did Ross' hand, from the breaking of the glass. Lawler scored the pin to a gigantic pop. It was kept short and the people got what they wanted out of it. *1/4

Non-gimmick glass? Why Lawler over Tazz? Who did this benefit in the long run?

5. Steve Blackman regained the hardcore title pinning Shane McMahon in 10:08. Match was nothing special until the stunt man finish. Blackman did put a garbage can on McMahon's head and dented it up with fighting sticks. Test & Albert did a run-in with Test using an elbow drop off the top with a garbage can lid. The finish saw McMahon climb a ladder at the set with Blackman behind him. Blackman hit him with a cane and McMahon fell backwards some 30 feet into what appeared to be a crash pad in a garbage bin. Ross and Lawler were hovering between 50 and 75 feet as their estimate of the fall. Blackman climbed down a little, and from about ten feet, flew off with an elbow drop onto McMahon in the garbage bin for the pin. McMahon did a stretcher job afterwards. This was used as storyline as Stephanie was understandably freaked out about her brothers' "injury" and later when Kurt Angle walked in, he showed no concern at all. **1/4

50 to 70 feet...good god almighty. This is a lot for someone to be taking this bump in general but the boss’ son shows he’ll be up for anything. Is this still safe? Why after all this...Steve Blackman still couldn’t get over? Why Blackman here instead of a bigger star? Who was a big fan of Blackman in the office to keep trying to get him over?

6. Chris Benoit won two of three falls from Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) in 13:02. Of course it was a good match, but it was missing something, and seemed rushed. They may have been given longer. First fall saw Benoit win in 3:15 with the crossface. Second fall with Jericho came back with a nice roll through into the walls of Jericho at 5:10 (time of the fall, not elapsed time of the match). Third fall saw them deliver big moves including a dragon suplex by Benoit and a Super Frankensteiner by Jericho off the top rope as well as a lionsault. Jericho sold his shoulder much of the fall. It seemed to be building well, but then abruptly ended with Jericho going for a cradle and Benoit reversing it and holding the ropes for the pin at 4:37 of the fall. ***1/4

Seems like not a lot of time for two great workers to do 3 three falls. Still a good match.

7. Edge (Adam Copeland) & Christian (Jay Reso) won the three-way tables, ladders and chairs, oh my match over Dudleys (Mark Lomonica & Devon Hughes) and Matt & Jeff Hardy in 14:51. This will no doubt get a lot of Match of the Year votes. All kinds of sensational spots. Jeff actually went into the match with a bad ankle. There was a spot where Christian gave Matt and D-Von a russian leg sweep backwards from high off the first set of ladders (that appeared to be about seven feet). Bubba did a full nelson sit out slam high off the ladder onto Christian. Christian threw Jeff off the ladder and on the teeter totter spot, the ladder nailed Matt. Dudleys came out with the first table to a big pop and gave Christian the 3-D through the table.  Bubba set up a double decker of two sets of tables for a base for a later stunt. Chairs came into play. Matt used the twist of fate on Edge. Matt did the legdrop off the ladder on Edge and then Jeff leapfrogged over the ladder for another legdrop on Edge. Jeff outside the ring leapt off a 15-foot ladder with a swanton, but I believe it was Buh Buh that moved and Jeff crashed through a table, laying him out for a while. Christian did a reverse DDT on Matt off the high ladder. In one of the more spectacular bumps,  Bubba was climbing and the ladder was tipped off and he flew, jumping to hit his target taking out the four tables he set up. Edge & Christian seemed prime to win, but Lita showed up and tipped over the ladder. Both were supposed to crotch themselves on the way down, which Edge did, but Christian seemed to land on the inside of his thigh. Matt climbed, but I believe D-Von tipped the ladder over and he took a bump onto two more tables on the floor. Edge speared Lita, whose head came dangerously close to hitting another ladder on the floor while taking the bump. D-Von and Jeff climbed and got to the top to grab the tag belts but were knocked off, with Jeff selling his ankle. D-Von and Matt then climbed. E&C pulled the ladder away. The finish saw D-Von and Matt kicking at each other while holding onto the straps held from the ceiling that were holding the belts. D-Von first took the bump. E&C then hit Matt with the ladder and he took the bump. E&C climbed up and got the belts, portrayed as if it was the other two teams who took the majority of the risks and punishment during the match, but when they were both worn out, E&C grabbed the belts to win. ****1/2

My god in heaven this match. This is the second of their three classic matches on three straight big PPVs. How much money were these matches but also how much did this take off these men’s careers?

8. Kat (Stacey Carter) beat Terri (Terri Boatright) in 3:06 with the thong stink face match. It was bad, but at least it was short and again served its purpose to give some T&A after the extreme stunts of the previous match and thus avoided Undertaker and Kane having to directly follow it. Al Snow and Perry Saturn were in the respective corners. Snow squeezed Terri's butt when he threw her in. It was getting long enough to where the novelty of the women in thongs was starting to die out when the ref bump came. Snow threw head to Kat and she KO'd Terri with it, and then Snow hit Saturn with it. Kat gave Terri the stink face in the corner to win. When Snow and Kat celebrated, Snow squeezed Kat's butt. DUD

Jesus who cares?

9. Undertaker (Mark Calaway) went to a no contest with Kane (Glen Jacobs) in 6:28. They brawled. Undertaker threw the steps at Kane, who juiced. Match had no heat until Undertaker started going for the mask. Finally Undertaker unmasked Kane, whose face was covered by his hair and some blood, and he got out of the ring and Undertaker's music played. The story was that since the bell never rang, there didn't have to be a winner and a loser. 1/2*

Why this for these two? Injuries? Just seems so out of place on this show.

10. Rock (Dwayne Johnson) retained the WWF title over Kurt Angle and HHH (Paul Levesque) in 20:09. Actually it went longer since Angle cut a promo saying he satisfied Stephanie more than HHH could, leading to them brawling for more than three minutes before the match started. The brawl was supposed to end with HHH giving Angle a pedigree on the Spanish announcers table, which would break, and take Angle out of the match for 15:00. All that did happen, except the table broke early and Angle took a bad bump, and was knocked for a loop. Angle was taken to the back and HHH and Rock did their typical good match for 15:00. There was something about having seem them wrestle so much this year that made it seem like nothing special even though both worked hard and everything was good. There was supposed to be a spot where HHH would go to the back and tip over the stretcher and do a number on Angle. When he got there and realized Angle was hurt, he did very little and Rock recognized and came out and got him away from Angle quicker than scheduled. Stephanie, who was ordered by HHH not to come out, did so at 5:00. HHH told Stephanie to get him the belt. Stephanie attacked timekeeper Mark Eaton and grabbed the belt. Stephanie ended up hitting HHH with the belt when Rock moved but HHH kicked out. Rock went after Stephanie, but HHH came back with a low blow. HHH pulled out the sledge hammer for a second time (he teased it earlier on Angle) and hit Rock in the guts. Rock sold his ribs for several minutes (which apparently wasn't hurt since he legit hurt his ribs on taking a ringpost shot). Rock came back with a superplex. At this point Stephanie went backstage and told Angle to go to the ring to help HHH. Angle got off the stretcher and hit the ring. HHH hit the pedigree but Angle pulled HHH off the pin. Angle tried to jump on Rock to steal the pin and title but Rock kicked out. Rock hit a DDT on Angle for a near fall, and then a rock bottom, but HHH saved Angle, mainly to save the match for himself. HHH told Stephanie to throw in the sledge hammer. She threw it in the middle. HHH got it before Angle, so Angle kicked HHH in the face. HHH went to hit Rock, who moved, and KO'd Stephanie instead. Angle than hit HHH with the sledge hammer, but Rock threw Angle out of the ring and gave HHH the people's elbow for the pin. The show ended with Angle carrying a limp Stephanie to the back. ***¾

Angle's eyes were glazed after landing wrong when the Spanish announcers' table broke before HHH had fully executed the pedigree on him. While most of the main points of the storyline continued, Angle was taken to the hospital after the show and held overnight for observation. The CATSCAN came up negative in checking for a concussion from the information we were given, but on television they pushed the idea that he was suffering from a concussion and memory loss. Backstage after the match, before going to the hospital, Angle couldn't remember anything that took place in the match after his head hit the floor when the table broke causing him to land wrong.

How worried were you when the Angle bump happened? Was there any type of conversation about regret about letting Angle continue and go out and finish the match?

Fond memories of this show considering the amount of involvement you had and the memorable moments and matches on this?