End of the Year Rankings/Awards
Top 5 Matches of the Year:
5. HHH vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (No Mercy, WWF title, No Holds Barred): This match was just fun to watch. There's really not a dull moment in it. HHH gets a lot of shit (some of it, rightfully so) but the man knows how to take a good ass whooping when he wants to. The finish was a bit wacky and kinda took away from it but I'd still recommend the match. Very nice precursor to what they would do in 2001 with the Three Stages of Hell match.
4. The Rock vs. Stone Cold (Backlash, WWF title, No Holds Barred w/ special ref Shane McMahon): You know, it's weird. With both of the Austin/Rock matches in this year, they both had the same formula. The first half was kinda boring/kinda nothing, the second half was pretty damn good before ending on a great note. If nothing else, that shows the importance of ending on a high note since some fans still remember these matches as incredible matches that showed why Austin/Rock was a legendary feud. Both matches are similar (with lots of interference in both) but I'm giving the nod to the Backlash one as being stronger. I feel like the first half was
slightly better than the one at Mania (although that's not saying much) and that the second half was more interesting in this one.
3. The Rock vs. Mankind (St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, WWF title, Last Man Standing): These guys have such great chemistry together. They didn't quite recreate the magic of their Royal Rumble match but they came damn close as this was a wild give-and-take brawl that had the fans invested the entire way through. Really, the only critique I have of the match is the finish but even then, I understand why they did it.
2. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boys (No Mercy, Finals of the T.I.T., Ladder Match): It says something about the quality of this match that even with all the insane ladder matches we've seen over the past 15 years, I still found this match to be spectacular and one of the better ladder matches I've ever seen. It's a real stunt show at times but if you've never seen this one, I'd highly recommend going out of your way to see it. Awesome, awesome match that really put both teams on the map and got both of them over, especially the Hardys.
1. The Rock vs. Mankind (Royal Rumble, WWF title, I-Quit Match): Yeah, no real surprise. In terms of drama, storytelling, and intense action, it's a legit ***** match IMO. If you've never seen it, the f*** are you doing with yo life, brah?
Top 5 Worst Matches of the Year:
5. The Rock vs. The Undertaker (King of the Ring, WWF title): Easily the worst WWF title match on PPV during this year. Overbooking and nonsensical match planning are what really killed this one as ref bumps were overused and there were a few interference spots that were totally unnecessary (HHH running in to attack Rock only for Rock to kick out and then IMMEDIATELY lose anyway stands out). Taker had some real stinkers in 99' (that god-awful match against Ken Shamrock still haunts me) but this was the cherry on the dookie sundae.
4. Big Show vs. Kane (King of the Ring, Quater-Final match): There was a 90 second choke hold spot where both guys just stood still and did absolutely nothing. It didn't even lead to the finish of the match or affect the finish in any way. f*** that spot and f*** this match.
3. Ivory vs. B.B. vs. Miss Kitty vs. Jacqueline (Armageddon, Four Corners Evening Gown Pool Match, Women’s title): You realistically can't even call this a match but f*** it, WWF billed it as one so it falls here. Trashy pro-wrestling at it's finest that was basically an excuse to get 4 hot women to show off their "assets" right before Miss Kitty went full frontal and showed her boobs to the world. The only reason why it's not 2 or 1 is because it was fairly short.
2. Goldust vs. “Bluedust” (St. Valentine’s Day Massacre): This was the opener of this show. Wowzers. Awful "comedy" match where both guys do next to nothing outside of ass slaps. If this was just buried in the middle of the show, I probably wouldn't have even cared but starting out the show with this left a bad taste in my mouth. This is the type of match that I'd be embarrassed to show people when they know I'm a fan of wrestling.
1. Sable vs. Tori (WM XV, Women’s title): No joke on nothing, one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Horrible match where virtually nothing goes right. If it was possible to screw something up, they screwed it up in this match. Never forget that chain wrestling spot:
Lou Thess just rolled over three times in his grave. According to Wikipedia, it went under 5 minutes but goddamn, it felt like it lasted 5 hours. Frankly, it's kinda amazing nobody got hurt in this because neither girl had any idea what they were doing.
Best PPV of the Year: No Mercy
I went back and forth between this show and Summerslam. I think initially, I liked Summerslam more but after thinking about it, this really was the superior show since it had two excellent matches. One of which (the Hardys match) was better than anything on Summerslam. The show also featured a strong Chyna/Jeff Jarrett match that's gonna get lost to the annuals of time due to Chyna being a punchline now (and Jeff not being far off in certain circles) but was actually really fun to watch. I feel like Summerslam had the better card up-and-down (and gives you a better look into why so many people remember the Attitude Era fondly) but No Mercy ended up being the stronger show because of those three matches.
Worst PPV of the Year: King of the Ring
Again, no real surprise here considering that two matches from this show made it into the top 5 worst list. A horrible show with several short, nothing matches that never really got out the starting blocks and a few downright shitty matches (Chyna/Road Dogg, Big Show/Kane, and Undertaker/Rock being the worst offenders). Literally the only thing resembling a good match is the main event ladder match between Austin, Shane, and Vince but that wasn't nearly enough to say this show. Say what you will about PPV's this year but I can't recall one being as bad as this show.
The Match That You Probably Don't Remember From This Year but You Should Totally Watch Right Now on the Network: Kane & X-Pac vs. Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown (Over the Edge, WWF Tag Team titles)
The best opener on any PPV during this year, this match was pretty sweet. In a lot of ways, it was the perfect opener. It was fast-paced from start to finish with no dull moments, had great crowd heat on a show that didn't have much of that due to obvious reasons, and it ended at exactly the right time without overstaying it's welcome. If nothing else, watch this match for Kane who really steals the show here as the big man was MOVING during this match. The spot where he hits the Kane Clothesline to the outside is just awesome. Check this out if you've never seen it before or just flat out don't remember it.
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
The Local Man of The Year: The Undertaker
This award is for the person that I feel really underachieved in proportion to their actual push and I had to give the nod to Undertaker. Man, I don't know what was going on with dude during this year but he was straight up stinking up the joint in his matches. He only wrestled on 6 PPV's during the year but all of those were top matches. With the exception of the Fully Loaded match against Austin, all of his singles matches were poop. God bless Taker but not a good year for the Deadman.
Most Valuable Performer: The Rock
Yeah, I didn't have to think twice about this one. He was basically the anti-Taker. He was in featured matches on nearly every PPV but each time, he delivered a good/great match. Literally the only outright bad match he had was against Taker at KOTR and that came down to the booking more than anything either guy did. FFS, just look at the "Best Of" match list. He was in three of them, including #1. Outside of Austin, he's the most over guy on the shows and regularly had one of, if not, the best match on the show. Rocky was that dude is what I'm trying to say.
Final Overview: These shows were...interesting to watch, if nothing else. Wrestling has changed so much from this year. Some of it for the better, some of it not so much. I'm not gonna sit here and say this was a great year quality wise because it kinda wasn't. There were several shows that were bad and several more that were just not all that great. Not bad shows by any means but if I had actually paid money for them, I kinda feel like I'd want my money back. Really, there were only two PPV's that I would call outright good (Summerslam & No Mercy). Still, these shows did have a certain entertainment value in the sense that they really stretched how outlandish pro-wrestling can be. If you've got time to kill and have never watched PPV's from this year, you might have fun watching them. I know I did.
Now that I've FINALLY finished this retrospective that I said I was gonna do ages ago, I can shill my new bullshit! For anybody interested, the first part of the new WCW series is up and the thread for that can be found right here:
www.freakinawesomenetwork.net/2015/12/from-the-rubble-to-the-ruins-wcw-souled-out-2000-part-1/