The show kicks off with The Right To Censor (Steven Richards, Val Venis, The Goodfather, and Bull Buchanan) taking on The Dudleys and The APA in an 8-man tag. Nothing too interesting or exciting here, but the Philly crowd was into it. Val Venis is noticeably the only one wearing white pants instead of black - which makes me think that he was probably looking for a way to stand out in the group after seeming to be on the brink of a major push just a year or two prior. Venis, like Billy Gunn, had size and look, but the porn star gimmick was impossible for him to break free from and, in the RTC, he was just a body. The only other notable thing is how nasty Bradshaw strikes Richards with a kick to the back towards the end. Its an unprofessional, overly stiff kick and served no real purpose beyond Bradshaw just being a bully. The Dudleys were really good at opening up pay-per-views, but the crowd was mostly interested in tables and chanted for them within the first minute. A passable match, nothing too special but also inoffensive aside from Bradshaw being a prick. (2/5)
Backstage, Kevin Kelly is awaiting the arrival of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The story of the show was all about the solving of the "mystery driver" angle that had started at Survivor Series 1999 when Stone Cold was struck by a truck.
Tazz had debuted at the Royal Rumble in January of 2000 but hadn't found much success in the WWE for a variety of reasons that have been rumored over the years. He had come in as a face, but then got injured and, when he came back, started attacking babyfaces. Jerry Lawler had always been a vocal hater of ECW so this made for a natural conflict and opportunity to put Tazz over as a despicable heel. This is a strap match, but can also be ended via submission and pinfall for some reason. Its crazy to think that Lawler continued to wrestle for 20 years beyond this point. Tazz no sells a bunch of Lawler's piledrivers, which I found to be gratuitous and unnecessary. This match should've been Tazz just absolutley destroying Lawler in under a minute, choking him out quickly and then tagging the four corners. They could've done that without also sacrificing Lawler's finisher. Raven shows up towards the end to help Tazz for some reason and Raven's appearance is the best part of the match/segment because the crowd goes crazy. I forget whether or not it was well-known that Raven was coming into the WWE, but this was a terrific debut in hindsight. This wasn't as terrible as some reviewers rated it over at Cagematch, but it certainly isn't good either. (1.5/5)
Next up, another match that seems to be designed to pop the Philly crowd...but then isn't? The WWE Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman defended his gold in a Hardcore Invitational against Al Snow (who, because he was the European Champion, came out with a pizza), Crash Holly, Test, Funaki, and Saturn. This was your basic hardcore garbagefest but definitely leaned more into comedy than the wild brawls of ECW's heyday. I liked how this one had a 10-minute time limit, but kinda wish they had kept the clock on the screen to add to the suspense as, without it, the viewer just kinda had to guess how much time was left for most of the match. This wasn't too bad and (obviously) didn't go too long, but it wasn't "must see" or anything. (1.5/5)
Backstage, Kurt Angle has his first on-screen run-in with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This is a great segment, though I can definitely see how having Austin take out Angle so quickly and easily could be considered some sort of "burial" for a future World Champion. That's the thing about Angle in his rookie year, though - he wasn't the world-beater that people tend to think he was when they look at his accolades. Dude got punked a ton that year and his naivete and inexperience was part of his gimmick. Sadly, things don't necessarily click with Austin's other segments on this night. (+1)
Chris Jericho and X-Pac have a good-but-sloppy match next. Jericho may have been knocked loopy at some point or was just not in the zone, but there's some really questionable kickouts sprinkled throughout this match that are noticeable enough that JR has to cover for at least one of them on commentary. This match feels cold at times despite the work being the best that the show had to offer up to this point. It goes 9 minutes but feels longer than that because of the amount of big spots they threw into it. This was the best bout of the night up till this point, but still wouldn't make it anywhere near either guy's top 20 or 30 list. (2/5)
Backstage, Kurt Angle is informed by Mick Foley, who will be serving as the special guest referee in the Angle/HHH match, that his bout is now going to be No Disqualification.
Austin walks into The Rock's locker room. The crowd pops big seeing these two stars shaking hands, but this feels like a lost opportunity to tease more tension between the two - especially as The Rock did benefit from Austin getting run of over and is the reigning WWE Champion coming into tonight's show.
Back to the ring we go for Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE World Tag Team Championships. This is a weird match because it feels like they're promoting it as the final battle between these two teams after at least a year or two of them feuding almost non-stop...but the feud didn't really end here as these two teams (and the Dudleys) would end up putting on a sequel to their TLC match at WrestleMania XVI at WrestleMania XVII. Also, the layout of the match is outright confusing as Jeff Hardy basically gets eliminated/halfway wins the match within the first couple minutes and the commentators make their confusion known as to whether or not Jeff is allowed back into the match or if he is required to stay on the outside (as one way to win the match is to escape the cage). Its one of those times where I'm guessing Matt Hardy - known for being "the brains" behind many of his team's stipulation matches over the years - got a bit too clever and forgot that great matches don't necessarily need to be innovative or different to be great. Jeff tries to get back in, but Edge and Christian want to maintain their advantage. Jeff takes out the ref - which, even in a cagematch, seems like it would warrant a DQ? - and then idiotically slides in a chair, which gets captured the heels. Its 2-on-1 but Hardy valiantly fights back and escapes a Con-Chair-To attempt, the tide now turning as Jeff Hardy climbs the cage and hits a Whisper in the Wind onto Edge (and Matt). During the fracas, Christian had ended up outside of the cage, but he gets taken out by a hurricanrana from Lita. Edge climbs the cage, but the Hardys follow him up and deliver a Con-Chair-To of their own...which would be a huge, crazy cool spot if it wasn't immediately tarnished by Edge inexplicably falling backwards into the ring in a clearly choreographed/staged manner. I'm not sure if it would've looked better if Edge had just somehow slunken across the top of the cage or whatever, but his fall defies the physics of the double chairshot in a noticeable way. As negative as this review sounds, the story - while muddled to hell - is still fun and engaging. Matt Hardy bleeds a gusher. Edge and Christian's teamwork is wonderful at times. They pack a ton of action into a little over 10 minutes and the crowd is into every second of it. To call this match "unsuccessful" would be denying the fact that this match did work for the audience in attendance that night and, if you could overlook the glaring flaws highlighted above, both teams (and Lita) shined here. (3/5)
The Intercontinental Champion, Eddie Guerrero, defends his title against Rikishi in the next match. There were two storylines dovetailing here a bit as Rikishi had been chasing the Intercontinental Championship for a while and Guerrero was going through rocky times with his former co-champion/manager/girlfriend Chyna (who had just been announced as the next WWE Superstar to pose for Playboy). I wrote about the Guerrero/Chyna relationship in my review of the pay-per-view before this (or was it two before this?), noting how good of a duo they could've been as evil heels, completely forgetting where this angle went - which was kinda nowhere as it was revealed Eddie had cheated on Chyna and then they feuded and it was just the same story that we had seen before (and one that noticeably made Chyna look "unwanted" in a way that I don't think Vince would've ever booked Trish or Lita to be). Anyway...there's more character work here than actual wrestling and I'll go on record as saying that it has always been hard for me to buy Rikishi's "serious" runs due to his ring attire and signature moves. The ending is interesting as Rikishi attacks Chyna for getting involved in the match and preventing him from winning the championship. The audience isn't sure how to react, which makes sense because it is completely out of character. I'm guessing this was done to foreshadow Rikishi's heel turn in the coming weeks...but why even do that? Also, when Rikishi did turn heel, I'm not even sure he changed his ring attire or stopped doing the Stinkface, which is just awful, awful producing/booking/whatever. This was more like a TV match than a PPV match, but it did provide some variety to the event and Eddie was entertaining as usual. (2.5/5)
Triple H takes on Kurt Angle in a grudge match next. This doesn't quite live up to the promise of the storyline - which saw Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon become close friends much to Triple H's chagrin. At the time, much of the blame got heaped onto Triple H as Angle was the hot new talent (and an instant "smart fan" darling) and the Triple H/Stephanie McMahon pairing had arguably run its course by this point. Watching the match, Triple H doesn't show nearly enough anger and brutality, basically working this match as the cool, confident heel he had always been despite this being far more "personal" than any match he'd had before. Despite the match being No DQ and featuring Mick Foley, this is fought "straight up," which seems like a lost opportunity. Similarly, because of how established Triple H was (and how over Angle was with his naive dope gimmick), the crowd is into this match but popping more for the big spots and signature moves than clearly in the corner of one guy over the other. The match goes 15+ minutes and is engaging from beginning to end, but not necessarily "great," with the coolest moment being an awesome suplex from one table through the other. The finish comes when Triple H demands that Stephanie choose which side she is going to take and she kicks Angle in the balls. Its a definitive decision and moment, but there's little to no suspense to it because Stephanie had been cheering Triple H the whole match and showed no real trepidation. Another lost opportunity that seems to have been designed to make it clear that Stephanie would never leave her man - and while that may be true in real life, in a storyline, its uninteresting. Instead of making this match 50% brawling and 50% wrestling, I think they should've built the match around Triple H trying to take Angle out with merciless use of weapons or by lacerating him (back then, getting "color" was no issue) and then Angle turning the tide and being equally unrelenting to Triple H until Triple H managed to score the W with Steph's help. Then, in the sequel, they could've hyped up how Angle had lost in a fight but that he was the better wrestler, and they could've built the next match around wrestling. This would've been a flip of the usual, but it would've given a distinct flavor to the matches themselves. A match that is rightfully forgotten. (3/5)
Shane McMahon makes his way down the aisle and reveals that Steve Blackman was the man who tried to run over Stone Cold. Nobody buys it, but I do like how McMahon was trying to get revenge on Blackman for shoving him off the Titantron at SummerSlam. Austin comes out and stuns Blackman, which is kind of a heelish move but Austin was all about the "DTA" so it makes sense and the crowd pops for it. Shane is happy, but ends up getting stunned 3 times himself as Austin has a beer bash to pop the crowd. This was a fine return and the Philly crowd loved it, but didn't feel like anything new or fresh, which is probably what predicated Vince wanting to turn him heel at WrestleMania XVII.
Main event time - The Rock defending the WWE Championship against Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, and Kane in a Fatal Fourway. This is smartly laid out, but The Undertaker, despite taking some months off earlier in the year, does not move very well and his segments with Benoit and Kane are noticeably worked at a slower speed than what Benoit and The Rock were capable of. Speaking of Benoit, he gets yet another cheap "victory" that gets overturned by Commissioner Foley in a repeat of what happened at the previous pay-per-view. The Rock is the most over act in the match by a country mile and eventually gets the clean W by hitting Benoit with a Rock Bottom while Kane, idiotically, prevents The Undertaker from stopping the pinfall - which would've given him the opportunity to win the championship. That's just dumb booking. Not a bad main event, but nothing special. (3/5)
With an overall Kwang Score of 2.44-out-of-5, this show had promise on paper but underdelivered throughout. Angle/Triple H were given the time to have an impact, but told a story that didn't jive with the match's build. The main event was fun, but uncreative and ended with a finish that made Kane look like an idiot and didn't help Benoit much either. Austin's return could've been used to put another interesting twist into his storyline, but as we'd soon find out, Vince hadn't really thought through the angle and it would only get worse from here. The Tag Title match is probably the best of the night but is marred a bit by the confusing "elimination/half-victory" of Jeff Hardy in the early going. This is the kind of show that, watching back, I'm not surprised left me cold on the product and eventually led to me taking 3-4 years off of wrestling entirely.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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