Some Backlash 2000

All of this was on a best of 2000 PPV set, which is why the whole PPV isn't here. Probably wouldn't have bothered watching the whole PPV, anyway.


Dean Malenko v Scotty Too Hotty (Backlash, 4/30/00)

Good match that would've been better had Scotty bothered to sell 7 minutes of leg work for 7 seconds. You can watch 6 Malenko matches and you can pretty much guarantee at least half of them will have him tearing at some guy's leg for ages. I tend to groan every time, because I don't recall any instance where that happens in a match and i) the opponent sells it well, or ii) Malenko bothers to actually pay the hours (read: minutes) of leg work off even if the opponent does bother sell it. It then becomes an exhibition in killing time with fancy leg work, and while fancy is fancy and fine and dandy, I don't care much for it. That said, we get a nice opening with Scotty frustrating Dean before Dean takes over with the leg work, and the leg works comes to a halt when they both go tumbling out to the floor, which is a nice "reset spot", to be fair. I get a kick out of goofy shit like Scotty's Worm, but him doing his little hop on the leg Malenko just spent hours (read: minutes) working over was pretty annoying. Minus the blown off leg work the finishing run is good. They tease Malenko winning by putting his feet on the ropes similar to the Smackdown! previously, where he actually won the title, and after that you can buy Scotty being able to go on and pick up the win. Then Malenko KILLS him dead with a top rope DDT. If you're going to have your babyface challenger lose clean as a whistle, that's the way you do it.


Dudley Boys v T&A (Backlash, 4/30/00)

Fuck did this come from? I totally wasn't expecting this to be much of anything, but I wound up liking it a lot. It's worked like a southern tag and I'm a sucker for that, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Nutty storyline going into this with Bubba being obsessed with putting Trish through a table, only Trish keeps managing to avoid it by seducing the poor fella. Bubba often finds himself entranced by her and D-Von is losing his patience. Plenty of "wood" jokes to be had all round. This is definitely one of the best Test performances I can recall. He's just a surly big trash talking mofack that's happy to boot the Dudleys right in the teeth. Great moment where he fly kicks D-Von in the face and audibly calls Bubba a "motherfucker". Then he turns around and pins D-Von and Bubba's yelling "Kick out, D-Von! Kick out!", so when D-Von kicks out Test kinda looks at Bubba and throws his arms up like "Hey, man, what the fuck?" Also loved Bubba in this. He reminded me of Flair at times in the way he'd shout as loud as he could so everybody in the back row can hear it. At one point he walks up to the ropes and shouts out to Trish "I'll get you, you little bitch!" Finish is pretty cool as the Dudleys are about to hit the 3-D when Trish gets up on the apron and takes her robe off, so Bubba freezes and that lets T&A KO D-Von for the win. Post-match Bubba gets a hold of Trish and is set to put her through the table when she plants the lips on him. Bubba lets go and appears to be entranced again so Trish starts strutting away, but then Bubba gets this awesome "Aw fuck naw, not this time!" look on his face, grabs her back by the hair and eventually puts her through the table. Crowd thinks this is the best thing ever, as well. Great close up of Bubba as he's walking up the aisle shouting "I got you this time you bitch! I got you this time you bitch!" I laugh heartily.


Eddie Guerrero v Essa Rios (Backlash, 4/30/00)

Kinda had this on in the background since I watched it not too long ago when I was going through the Eddie set. I recall it being pretty good.


Chris Benoit v Chris Jericho (Backlash, 4/30/00)

This was stiff as Hell at times, both guys just tearing at each other's chest with chops. The opening spell is particularly stiff with Jericho popping Benoit with a running forearm right to the face at one point. Some of it actually felt pretty Benoit/Finlay/Regal-esque in that it looked all uncooperative and potatoey and shit. Loved the first big transition into Benoit's control segment with him whipping Jericho into the steps and Jericho jumping over them only to turn around and have Benoit dropkick them into his thighs and midsection. There's some weird moments in this that seem to come about because of communication errors, like Jericho hitting the Lionsault and just lying there for a 9 count before rolling over and pinning Benoit. I'm assuming Jericho was intending for this to be a hope spot that Benoit would counter by getting the knees up, but it obviously didn't turn out that way. The ref' bump in this was really good, too. A lot of ref' bumps you can see coming a mile away, but this one reminded me of the bump in the Eddie/JBL Judgment Day match in that there were no signs of them setting it up and the babyface and ref' just happened to be unlucky in colliding like they do. Thought it was a cool DQ finish as well. I used to love their Judgment Day match, so I'm looking forward to checking that out again.


HHH v The Rock (Backlash, 4/30/00)

Fuck man this was AWESOME. I really love these big overbooked spectacles nowadays, and this is one of the better ones the company's ran. Pretty much a perfect "the deck is stacked" type match. Think it goes about 20 minutes, and Helmsley controlling about 15 minutes of a 20 minute match isn't something I'd expect to work, but there's always something going on, so it totally does. Rock's great at breaking it up with his hope spots, and when he actually does manage to get control there's always a McMahon there to fuck it up for him. JR on commentary is disgusted at it all and it's hilarious. Way too many instances of something happening that I loved to mention, but I had to rewind more than a few times. Patterson and Brisco coming out and JR dropping a gay parade line was outstanding. And Austin... the POP for THAT shit. Fuck, man. I wasn't sure what I'd make of this after so many years, but I loved it.