On Rewind-A-Wai #50, Wai Ting and I will review the WWF’s Royal Rumble card from January 2000.
This was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Tony Arthur.
Leave us your feedback and/or questions related to this show & time period.
The show will be released on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd for all Patrons.
WWF Royal Rumble 2000
Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000
New York City at Madison Square Garden
*Triple H vs. Cactus Jack in a Street Fight for the WWF title
*Chris Jericho vs. Chyna vs. Hardcore Holly for the Intercontinental title
*New Age Outlaws vs. The APA for the WWF tag titles
*Kurt Angle vs. Tazz
*The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardys in a Tables match
*30-man Royal Rumble match
Alexander from Portland
Great showing from the WWF, every match delivered. Highlight of the show was King getting incredibly excited about wanting to see the replay of Taka Michinoku’s elimination. One of my favorite wrestling tropes is when the audience is chanting for someone to make an appearance, and that superstar showing up. Angle’s open invitation elicited a “We Want Tazz” chant and Tazz came out to a great pop. As someone that’s never seen a Chyna match before, her utilization was great. She was made to look like an equal to the men, a credible threat to anyone, which is the exact opposite of whatever that women’s segment was. I know we live in different times than 2000, but considering the treatment of the women on the show how the hell was Chyna not women’s champion during this? I’m incredibly curious at how Andy Richter got his spot on this show. Did he specifically ask to appear? Did WWF reach out to him?
One trope that I greatly dislike in pro wrestling is the match involving a lot of participants where you know the winner in advance. The Royal Rumble was essentially a showcase for The Rock and The Big Show. Heading into this match it wouldn’t have surprised me if 90% of the audience expected Rocky to win. It’s understandable, as he was the most charismatic performer in the match. His pop was electric, and I have no idea who got the second biggest pop in that match. However it made me less excited to watch the match essentially knowing The Rock was going to win. If you know the winner of a 30-man match in advance, why even have the match?
This leads me to my question: do you think the predictability of the Royal Rumble winner is a bad thing? In past years we knew that guys like Alberto del Rio, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins were going to win their rumble. These rumbles may not have been bad, but it makes for a less than exciting match when it’s basically one superstar, their rival in the match, and 28 others. It’s difficult to get behind a certain wrestler in the Rumble when you know weeks in advance that the Rumble win is going to someone else. A second question: with it seeming like Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar will both retain their titles until WrestleMania, do you think this coming year’s Rumble winner will be more predictable or not?
Duane, Ireland.
This show is to blame for me still following this shit 20 years later! In January of 2000, Channel 4 picked up Sunday Night Heat along with 4 PPVs, and this was the first. This show completely blew me away in terms of the violence, far removed from the wrestling I’d been exposed to in the past, and I was hooked. The Streetfight remains one of my favourite matches to this day.
Unfortunately, the violence also caught Channel 4 unaware as they received a torrent of complaints over the content of this show. As a result, Heat was relegated to the middle of the night and future PPV’s would air on a 50 minute delay. As if sitting up to 1am wasn’t late enough!
9 Puppies out of 10!
Jesse from the 6
I would say the 2000 Royal Rumble was probably the best ever complete Royal Rumble show. Tazz’s debut was probably my favourite WWE debut match ever, the Hardy’s vs. Dudley’s was a legendary if reckless match, and you could argue that Jack vs Triple H made Hunter as a top guy. The Rumble itself was just OK as you knew the Rock would win, but his promo beforehand was funny and that dance spot was fun. Also, the promo video for the title match set to Carl Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana is one of the greatest wrestling hype videos ever.
You guys first reviewed this show back in January of 2011, so I can imagine this review will be quite different. But I wonder if:
You two will discuss John’s trip to Jamaica (in kayfabe only; he hadn’t actually gone yet)
Wai will explain to John the difference between a blood choke and a wind choke
John will talk about Jeff Hardy’s promo before his match at the Tokyo Dome against Tetsuya Naito (pronounced “Nay-ee-toe”)
Wai’s opinion on Lawler’s mocking of Kaientai will have changed (in 2011 Wai saw it as amusing and unoffensive)
On an unrelated note, do you know when Big Show turned heel before this show? I was watching wrestling at the time but I don’t recall this. He was a babyface champion surfing coffins in December, lost the title in early January on Raw to Hunter (I think) and by the Rumble he’s heel. Why? He hadn’t been in the company a full year yet and this was his second turn.
Take Care
Michael from Newfoundland.
I threw this on in the background while gaming.
It was better than I remember. The crowd was hot and the matches were good. I’ve forgotten how bloody the Cactus Jack/HHH match was. Even the rumble was fun for what it was. But that women’s segment did not age well. Watching back and considering where we are now, I cannot believe what was acceptable for women’s segments at the time. I sincerely hope that WWE doesn’t revert back to parading women out as decorations.
David from Washington
I think this probably had the best undercard of any Rumble show. Great wrestling and sadly some moments…or moment we don’t want to remember. This show started my opinion of Triple H being just tough as nails. The cut on his leg could not have been easy to work through. This was just one injury he worked through along with his crushed larynx and torn quad in later matches. The Hardy promo was hilarious when it wasn’t meant to be. The Rocks promo I always loved when he said Headbanger Mosh and Crash Holly were his biggest challenges. The Rumble match was.fine but it was one of the Rumbles where.it was clear as day who would win so the drama wasnt quite there. Overall a 9 out of 10 show