Repost - WWF No Way Out 2000

The Furious Flashbacks – No Way Out 2000

In the weeks leading up to this it had been established that Mick Foley was going to either win the WWF title and go on to main event Wrestlemania or Mick Foley would end his career inside the devastating Hell in a Cell. Mick had every intention of going up to the top of the Cell and diving off onto the prone Triple H. They’d already wrestled a 5 star classic at the Royal Rumble and this is the sequel.

This PPV will be graded according to the Furious Grading Scale. FGS grades are as follows -

A One of the greatest matches anywhere, ever.
A- Damn near perfect
B+ Excellent
B Very Good
B- Good
C+ Average
C Mediocre
C- Bad
D Terrible
F Hulk Hogan
U or Ungraded = Hacksaw Jim Duggan v Ultimate Warrior v Goldberg in a submissions only Ironman match. My worst nightmare.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcome us to No Way Out and tell us that Cactus Jack must win tonights main event or his career is over.

IC title – Chris Jericho (c) v Kurt Angle

Angle is already the European champion and is on the rise to greatness. Chyna is in Chris Jericho’s corner (because of the mutual respect they gained from Jericho breaking her thumb with a hammer). Jericho cuts a face promo that was just begging to be a heel one. Angle drop toe holds Jericho onto the bottom rope in a cool spot. Jericho back drops him to the floor and hits a springboard drop kick. I’ve just noticed that one year later Angle was WWF champ and 2 years later Jericho was. Jericho gets whipped towards the ring steps and instead jumps onto them and hits an asai moonsault off the steps except he comes up a bit short and lands head first. Angle with a belly to belly superplex. Angle pops off another suplex for a 2 count. Double arm backbreaker from Y2J for a 1 count. German suplex from Angle and a “woo” to the crowd. Another 2 count for Angle. Jumping arm breaker from Angle and he’s working over Jericho’s left arm. Angle runs right into a spinning heel kick though. Bulldog from Jericho. Flying forearm from Jericho straight into a cover for a 2 count. Angle goes for a hurracurana so Jericho powerbombs him and then powerbombs him again without letting go. Nice use of psychology afterwards because he injured his own arm. 2 count for Jericho but Angle pops straight into a brutal armbar. Jericho rolls through and Angle slaps on a cross armbreaker. Angle Slam but Jericho kicks out. Angle gets upset and bails to get his belt. Angle walks right into a Walls of Jericho. Angle makes the ropes. Angle grabs the IC belt on the outside and goes to waffle Chyna with it but she ducks. Jericho shoves Angle into Chyna and she’s hurt herself on the ring steps. Jericho suplexes Angle back in and hits the Lionsault but Angle has the belt still and hits Jericho in the face as he comes down. Cool. Angle pins at 10.13 and is now the Euro-continental champion. Match rating – B+. Really good match for an opener.

WWF tag titles – New Age Outlaws (c) v The Dudley Boys

Billy has a torn rotator cuff coming into this match so don’t expect to see much of him. He’s actually holding his arm down at his side. Road Dogg and Buh Buh start it out with Buh Buh no selling Road Dogg’s shaky punches and hitting the Buh Buh bomb. D-Von hits the top rope groin butt and RD is isolated already. RD gets a 2 off a sunset flip. D-Von hits his spinning back elbow and the Dudleys have made plenty of tags. RD with a superplex on Buh Buh. Billy tags in and hits a couple of back drops one handed. FameAsser on D-Von but Buh Buh breaks the count. Buh Buh hits Billy in the arm with a lead pipe and that’s the end of him. 3-D on RD and it’s over at 5.21. Match rating – C. Poor tag match which was mostly the WWF’s fault for putting an injured Billy Gunn in this match.

We cut to Kurt Angle celebrating in the lobby with a load of fans. Is it Angle celebration day already?

Mark Henry v Viscera

This is happening because Viscera splashed the “pregnant” Mae Young. This whole storyline was just a complete waste of TV time. This is just ugly. JR points out that if you’re rating this match it won’t score many stars. So true. Big Vis clotheslines Henry out to the floor. Henry gets whipped into the ring steps. Vis sets up the ring steps on their end and whips Henry into them again. Crowd is chanting “boring”. Vis with a samoan drop which should bring the crowd back into it but I think they’d had enough. Mae Young comes out. Belly to belly slam on Henry (from Vis not Mae). Vis shoves Mae over and goes for the splash but Henry puts him over and slams him for 3 at 3.45. Match rating – F. Uglier than a bowling shoe.

Backstage Jericho threatens to put an end to Angle’s celebrations. Billy Gunn is telling paramedics that he can’t move his arm and that he’s not a very good wrestler. Ok, I made that second bit up.

Number one contender match – The Hardy Boyz w/Terri v Edge/Christian

Terri is back after being put through a table by the Duds. The APA are at ringside to protect Terri. Jeff misses his corkscrew moonsault in the early going. Hardyz hit a double team drop kick and lose the shirts to a girly pop. Matt with a nice side suplex on Christian. Jeff leaps in over the ropes so Christian drop kicks him out again. Air Hardyz onto Christian. Jeff with a springboard moonsault which gets a 2 count. Hardys with a double flapjack type move. Matt goes for a Razor’s Edge but Christian gets out and hits a neckbreaker. Christian springboards over the ropes onto Matt while Jeff gets rolled up for 2 by Edge. Spinning pancake bomb from Christian on Jeff. Christian drop toe hold’s Edge into Jeff’s groin. Interesting. Edge slaps on a dragon sleeper. Edge and Jeff run through a sequence of reversals before Edge spikes Jeff with a piledriver. Jeff comes back with a hurracurana. Jeff goes for another but Edge reverses into a massive Tiger Bomb. Christian tags in and hits a powerslam. Edge tags back in and we have a Matrix style double hair pull thing. Matt drops an elbow on Edge while the ref is distracted. Edge comes back with a spinebuster on Jeff. Edge comes off the top and Jeff hits a drop kick upward to cut him off. Matt hits a neckbreaker and a sleeper slam after tagging in against Christian. Edge hits a roll up on Matt while Jeff hits a crossbody on Christian and we have a double pin but both guys kick out. No idea who is legal here. The Hardyz hit a splash/leg drop combo from the ropes and Edge breaks up the pinfall. The Hardyz go for Poetry in Motion (or Air Hardyz whatever) and Edge spears Jeff as he comes off Matt’s back. Sweet. Edge misses a spear on Matt and Matt counters into the twist of fate. Christian goes for the Unprettier on Matt but Matt counters into an atomic drop. When did Matt become the master of counters? Jeff heads upstairs and Terri pushes him off. Terri slaps Matt and Christian hits the Unprettier. It’s over at 15.17. Match rating – B+. Another fine match. Shame Terri had to interfere but that was the end of their little interaction.

After the match Faarooq nearly kills Jeff Hardy with a gutwrench powerbomb. He landed on his neck. Damn. The APA kicked the Hardyz asses because they were bothering Terri and Terri paid for protection. JR calls Terri “a little bitch”. Edge seems happy with the win backstage but Christian seems worried about how they won. Big Show complains about having beaten the Rock at the rumble (because Rock botched the spot at the end of the match) and having to wrestle here again tonight.

Tazz v Big Bossman w/Prince Albert

I forget why Albert has been put with Bossman here but they assaulted Tazz earlier on Sunday Night Heat. Tazz made a huge debut a month earlier but has already been dropped down to face these 2 zeros. “ECW” chant breaks out early. Avalanche from Bossman and the crowd is so dead. Clothesline from Tazz and a t-bone Tazzplex. Tazzmission. Albert does a run in to save Bossman jobbing clean in a minute. So? Match time – 1.11. Huge heat from the crowd for the run in and Tazz fights against both men after the bell. Match rating – F. The crowd is still chanting “bullshit”.

Angle is still celebrating, up in the cheap seats, with a megaphone. Angle is so excellent.

Kane v X-Pac – no holds barred

Kane has Paul Bearer in his corner and X-Pac has Tori in his corner after X-Pac turned on Kane and then Tori turned on him. Poor bugger. We get a recap of Kane tombstoning Tori on an episode of RAW. I remember that. Good show. Kane starts out violently and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. They fight out to entranceway where X-Pac waffles Kane with a trashcan until Kane takes it off him and bends it over X-Pac’s head. Kane just beats on X-Pac like a red haired step child. Kane grabs the ring steps but misses waffling X-Pac with them. X-Pac nails Kane with the ring bell. Paul Bearer decks X-Pac. Bearer chases Tori around the ring. X-Pac drop kicks Kane while Kane is setting up for the top rope clothesline. X-Pac hits the bronco buster. Kane back up with a huge clothesline. X-Pac drop kicks the knee cap in a clever move. Chant of “X-Pac sucks” breaks out. X-Pac hits a spinning heel kick, a low blow and an X-Factor. X-Pac levels Paul Bearer and Kane is straight back up. Flying top rope clothesline from Kane. Chokeslam on X-Pac. Tori does a run in and gets tombstoned. Kane grabs the ring steps and goes to waffle X-Pac but X-Pac catches him coming in with a spinning heel kick and uses the steps to pin Kane for the upset win. Match time – 7.47. Match rating – C. Not good by any stretch of the imagination.

Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit/Perry Saturn w/Eddy Guerrero v Rikishi/Too Cool

This is the first time the “Radicals” have competed on PPV since their jump from WCW. Rikishi is carrying a bad ankle injury which is heavily taped. Guerrero has brought in a lead pipe but Rikishi takes it off him and waffles him in the dislocated elbow with it. GMS hits an early hip hop drop kick on Saturn. Inziguri to follow up but Benoit comes in. Bulldog on Benoit. Double faggot elbow drop from Too Cool. Scotty with a big suplex on Benoit. Rikishi comes in and cleans house except Malenko who just bails. Stinkface on Benoit. Malenko takes out Rikishi’s bad leg as he’s going for the Rikishi driver. Rikishi is selling the bad leg but still hits a superkick on Saturn with it. Stupid Scotty bulldog on Saturn and he signals for the worm but gets his ass kicked by Malenko. Big suplex from Benoit on Scotty. Drop toe hold with dropkick to the head combo from Malenko and Benoit. Malenko with a double arm suplex on Scotty. Backbreaker from Malenko and Saturn drops a huge knee onto the prone Scotty. Hurracurana from Saturn. Scotty counters a Benoit suplex for a 2 count (what the hell is this? The WWF signs 4 of the top guys from WCW and has them job to these 3 losers). Malenko with a pretty jumping calf kick on Scotty. Rikishi driver on Saturn and everyone is in. Scotty hits the worm on Saturn. Malenko takes out the leg of Rikishi again. GMS with the hip hop drop on Saturn. Diving headbutt from Benoit. This has gotten real messy. Everyone is down out on the floor while Malenko works the leg of Rikishi. Rikishi driver and a bonzai drop. That’s the end of the Radicals first WWF job at 13.32. Match rating – C-. Truly appalling considering the talent on one side of the ring. Rikishi and Too Cool just sucked the talent and heat out of this match.

Kurt Angle is still celebrating. Hehe. He’s wackier than a pet coon.

Wrestlemania main event qualifier – The Rock v The Big Show

Rock looks for a russian legsweep but Show powers out. Rock with a DDT. Rock goes for the Rock Bottom after less than a minute but Show powers out. Outside Show gets put into the ring steps. Earl Hebner isn’t calling for any count outs here but this match has spilled into the crowd. Rock back drops Show back into the ringside area. Show with a big powerslam. Rock blocks a russian legsweep and hits one of his own. Hey, psychology. Cool. Another DDT from the Rock. Show comes back with a sidewalk slam. Show gets a steel chair (this isn’t a no DQ match). Earl Hebner gets bumped. Big boot from Show. Slowstopper slowslam from the Big Slow. Timmy White and Earl Hebner argue over the cover and out comes Shane McMahon. Rock Bottom on Slow. People’s Elbow but Shane hits Rock with the chair in the middle of it. 3 count at 9.27. Show is going to Wrestlemania with Shane McMahon. Match rating – D.

In the back Kurt Angle is still celebrating so Jericho and Chyna jump him and dump in the trunk of his own car.

WWF title/Hell in a Cell – Triple H (c) w/Stephanie McMahon v Cactus Jack

Cactus discovers real early that there are about 12 chains on the door. There’s no way out. Steph reminds Cactus that “there’s no way out”. Convient that it occurred at this particular PPV. Trips gets backdropped over the ropes to the floor (not as spectacular as HBK’s fall). We have a chair in the ring already. Mick takes his first bump from the apron at about 4 minutes and follows it up with a double knee first bump into the steel steps. Cactus gets posted. Trips throws the ring steps at Cactus and hits him in the damn head with them. Ring steps on top of Cactus and Trips waffles them with a chair. Couple of big chair shots to Cactus as he comes back into the ring. DDT from the Game. Cactus with a double arm DDT onto the chair and it could have been over but Trips kicks out. Russian legsweep onto the chair and another 2 count. A chair is set up in the corner and Trips takes a seat but gets off and drop toe holds Cactus into it. Trips takes it to the floor and just throws Cactus against the Cell. Trips goes for a piledriver on the ring steps but Cactus reverses and slingshots Trips into the cell wall. Trips is busted. Cactus grates Trips face on the cell wall. Cactus picks up a chair and comes off the second turnbuckle to the floor with a chair assisted elbow to chants of “Foley”. Mick just busted his own nose BTW. Cactus throws the ring steps at Trips and it breaks the cell wall. Cactus throws himself through the cell wall and then throws Trips through. The crowd has gone nuts because now they can go up. Cactus piledrives Trips on the announce table and you can see Cactus is bleeding badly from the arm. Cactus goes to climb the cell but Steph holds onto him. Cactus pulls out the barbed wire 2x4. Trips tries to run into the crowd but gets waffled by the barbed wire 2x4. Trips tries to get away by climbing the cell. Cactus chases after the Game with the barbed wire 2x4. Cactus throws the 2x4 up first and Trips picks it up. Trips with the barbed wire 2x4 in Cactus’s face and my God he’s fallen off. Straight through the announce table. Nice “Holy shit” chant breaks out and JR pretends to break kayfabe by saying that “Mick is hurt, get someone out here”. Cactus gets back up and tries to throw a chair up which he can’t do. Cactus climbs back up and Trips waffles him with the 2x4. Cactus hits a low blow and gets the 2x4. Trips back bumps on the cell (dangerous). Trips nearly falls through another section of cage. Cactus suplexes Trips on top of the cage. Cactus with a double arm DDT. Cactus goes back to the 2x4 and lights it up. We now have a flaming 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire. Cactus clips Trips with it. Ouch. Cactus signals for the piledriver but Trips backdrops out of it and goes through the cell. The ring breaks where Cactus falls and the crowd work in a big “holy shit” chant. Trips face is a picture (it’s the – “what have I done” face). Trips climbs down and kicks Cactus and he starts moving. Trips looks completely overwhelmed. It’s a false dawn though because Trips just beats Cactus down and hits the pedigree for the win at 23.59. Match rating – A-. Not as great a spectacle as either the street fight at the rumble or the previous Foley HiaC but it is hard to ignore the quality of the match.

Mick Foley gets a massive standing ovation as he walks out. As he’s about to leave he turns back and salutes the crowd for one last time and you can see the tears in his eyes. Nobody left until Mick did. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Best matches –
1. Triple H v Cactus Jack. Not as good as their previous meeting at the Rumble but this was still great.
2. Edge/Christian v The Hardys. Much better than I remember. It was like watching the ladder match at No Mercy only without the ladders. Still loads of bumps.
3. Chris Jericho v Kurt Angle. Excellent opener with good heat. No major blown spots and Angle threw a load of tasty suplexes.

Overall PPV rating –
C+. I would have given it a much, much higher rating but if you overlook the 3 matches above there really isn’t anything else going on. At least 2 of the matches were just dreadful.