The Perfect PPV – WWE 2003

With my 2003 PPV Rambles all posted on the site, it’s time for another Perfect PPV!

 

The rules remain the same; 8 matches, no repeated superstars, and all titles must be defended (except for the women’s title because I tend to skip all those matches lol). That being said… I DID have to break 1 rule this time around. The WWE Tag Team Championship match will not be taking place on my card. Why? Well, unfortunately, while Smackdown in 2003 was on a pretty big roll in terms of match quality… the best matches from the year were usually all involving the same few people. Meaning some guys bounced around different title divisions, making it impossible to include ALL the SD titles.

 

The Card

 

WWE United States Championship Match – Eddie Guerrero Vs Chris Benoit – Vengeance – ****1/4 – 6

Nothing like kicking off a Perfect PPV with a tremendous match that actually was the opening match from the PPV in the first place! For my money, this is their best match together in the US, and one of the top US title matches in WWE history! These two guys being used here is one of the few reasons I ended up scrapping the WWE Tag Tiles match, as both men are involved in the 2 matches on PPV, and Eddie is the only wrestler to have the US title on PPV until he loses it to Big Show, who never defends it on PPV until WM XX!!! I say it often in these things, but sacrifices must be made to benefit the rest of the card. The WWE Tag Team Championship match would have screwed up a US title match AND the upcoming CW title match too. BUT like I already said, it’s for the best, as the US and CW title matches combined are better than both WWE tag title matches combined!

 

World Tag Team Championship Match – The Dudley Boys Vs La Resistance – Unforgiven – *** – 2

Not much to choose from with the World Tag Team titles, but thankfully the tag division guys didn’t effect any other title matches so it was easier to add to the show. Not a great match, but certainly the best tag match from the Raw side of things in 2003 on PPV. And hey, if a LA RESISTANCE match gets *** then it definitely deserves a spot on the card!

 

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match – Tajiri Vs Rey Mysterio – No Mercy – ***3/4 – 4

What a tremendous contest this one was! Rey is awesome, Tajiri is awesome, and combined they are SUPERMEGAEXTREMEAWESOME. Trufax. And I’d MUCH rather have this match on the card that sacrifice Rey by sticking him in the WWE Tag Title Match which would have screwed up my whole card. The CW division around this time on Smackdown was killing it every week, and these two are important figures in the division for helping the quality of matches. Stick them together and they absolutely cannot disappoint! Just a wonderful match with some incredible KICKS by Tajiri!

 

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match – RVD Vs Randy Orton – Armageddon – ***3/4 – 4

Randy really started to come into his own by the end of 2003, and would go on to have one hell of a run for the next couple of years. And hey, if you are relatively new to wrestling (he’d been in the business for what, 2 years at this point?) AND can get a great match out of RVD, you deserve a fucking MEDAL. Not to say RVD was bad in this match though, he pulled his weight for a change, and between the two of them, we got a great contest. IC title matches in 2003 were rarely anything to talk about, so the last PPV of the year ending with a quality match like this for the belt was awesome.

 

World Heavyweight Championship Match – Triple H Vs Booker T – WrestleMania – ***3/4 – 4

Oh boy. Picking a good WHC match in 2003 wasn’t hard at all, because most of them absolutely SUCKED. Triple H was in his reign of terror days, single handedly burying the old WCW roster (Steiner, Booker, Nash, Goldberg). Thankfully, the stars aligned at WM 19 and somehow we were blessed with a terrific WHC match!!! An often overlooked match unfortunately mainly due to the finish, as many people believed a) Booker T should have won and b) HHH taking as long as he did to make the cover make Booker T look like shit. Good points, but Booker T IS shit usually so him not winning wasn’t exactly a bad thing for me. Anyway, despite all the negativity surrounding the match, both guys pulled out great performances and helped make WM 19 the best PPV and WM ever imo.

 

High Profile Match – Chris Jericho Vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania – ****1/4 – 6

Speaking of WM 19 being awesome, here’s another match from the show! HHH mainly dominating WCW stars for the WHC on PPV allowed us to have a nice selection of great quality high profile matches to choose from, and I was happy this one was available as it really adds to the card. Y2J facing off against one of his wrestling idols who was making his return to WM for the first time in 5 years. Jericho was out to prove that HE was now the Showstopper, The Main Event, and even Mr WrestleMania, while Shawn was out to prove that he was STILL all of those things. I might not like it quite as much as I did back in the day, but the fact it still holds up as a classic after all these years is a testament to both men.

 

High Profile Match – The Rock Vs Steve Austin – WrestleMania – ****1/2 – 7

Oh look, ANOTHER match from WM 19!!! And it’s a favourite of mine. WM 17 is often the match people think of first when the Rock/Austin rivalry is mentioned, but for me THIS is the cream of the crop from their series. Wonderful story to the match, and Rock gave perhaps THE best performance of his entire career (right up there with Judgment Day 2000 in the Iron Man match). Austin, despite being broken down and knowing this would be his last match, was still able to put on one hell of a show too, but this is definitely Rock’s match. The promo before hand, and then the symbolism of Austin taking THREE Rock Bottom’s to lose was just perfect. A hell of a match!

 

WWE Championship Match – Brock Lesnar Vs Kurt Angle – SummerSlam – ****1/2 – 7

Finally, the main event! A match I used to consider to be *****. Not quite there any more, but still clearly the best WWE title match on PPV that year! At WM 19 they had a great match, but Angle’s neck was fucked. Come SummerSlam, Angle was healthy (or as healthy as a guy like Angle can be), and Lesnar was now a heel with Vince McMahon in his corner, and everything came together perfectly to create one heck of a show. Angle being a face now against a monster heel Lesnar worked so much better than Angle heel and Lesnar as a face, and boy did it show here. They worked a beautiful wrestling match filled with great holds, moves, counters and reversals, AND managed to hold it all together with a story! Far too often that last thing is forgotten about, but thankfully they included it here, and it’s the glue that holds everything together. A must watch match imo!

 

And there is my Perfect PPV for 2003!!! On the CAL SCALE, it gets a MASSIVE 40 points! Making it THE best Perfect PPV thus far! Not only that, but it’s a whole 10.5 points ahead of the actual best PPV (WM 19) from 2003! For a year where Raw suffered, those few Raw WM matches along with the great contributions from Smackdown all come together to give us something truly special!

The Perfect PPV – WWF/E 2002

Well, I’m back with another Perfect PPV! Finished posting my 2002 PPV Rambles so what better time to put together the WWF/E 2002 Perfect PPV?

 

The rules, as usual, is for me to only have 8 matches, with all titles being defended, and no wrestler can be used more than once. A simple enough concept, that can get quite tricky when you are trying your best to put as many truly GREAT matches all on one card!

 

The Card

 

WWE Tag Team Championship Match – Edge & Rey Mysterio Vs Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle – No Mercy – *** – 2

I have little doubt that many people would NOT want to list this match if they did a similar project to me. Given that this happened in October and was the debut of the belts, there isn’t much else to choose from really. With other people I think it would be picked because they think it’s great, but for me it was mainly out of necessity, as the match I WOULD have wanted to use was unavailable due to one of the wrestlers appearing elsewhere on the list. I’m not too high on this bout as I once was, but it’s still a good match and I’m happy with it making my card!

 

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match – Tajiri Vs Jamie Noble – No Mercy – ***3/4 – 4

Another match from No Mercy making it’s way onto my list! And this one IS truly great! Tajiri + Cruiserweight matches in WWE = AWESOME most of the time. Tajiri kicking the hell out of people adds STARS~! to practically any match to begin with, but stick him in the ring with a great worker like Noble and KICKS are just one of the parts that makes the match awesome. Tajiri made the CW/LH title match in my 2001 Perfect PPV, and I have a sneaky suspicion that he’ll appear in the CW title match again for 2003. All hail the king of kicks!

 

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match – Eddie Guerrero Vs Rob Van Damn – Backlash – **** – 5

Oh man, a favourite match of mine no doubt. Eddie had just returned to the company a few weeks prior after dealing with all of his drug and alcohol problems, and seeing him come back in great shape and winning the IC title straight away with one hell of a performance is great for me and any other Eddie fans. RVD is not exactly a favourite of mine, but Eddie works his arse off to put on a tremendous IC title match that continues to hold up every time I see it. No better pick for the IC title match in 2002 on PPV!

 

World Heavyweight Championship Match – Triple H Vs Kane – No Mercy – **1/4 – 1

This is one of the “sacrifice” matches I have to add to these Perfect PPV’s a lot. Simply put, the WHC scene in 2002 was AWFUL. There was, imo, only ONE good match involving the title… and unfortunately it was the Elimination Chamber match from Survivor Series, which featured SIX people. As much as I wanted to use it (and TRIED to use it), it just used up too many people who I wanted for other matches. So in order to have some better matches in the rest of the card, I had to settle for the next best match in the WHC division… and this was it. It isn’t awful-awful… but it isn’t good.

 

High Profile Match #1 – The Rock Vs Hollywood Hogan – WrestleMania – *** – 2

Another match I can easily see many other people using if they created their own Perfect PPV for 2002. While as usual I don’t think as highly of it as most people tend to, I am pleased that I was able to include it on my list as a High Profile match. The majority of the top matches that took place on PPV in 2002 were title matches, so filling out the rest of the card could have been difficult, but luckily for me I still had this match available and it’s filled with oodles of STAR POWER. So while my rating doesn’t rank it as anything too special, there is no denying how BIG the match was and how FUN it still is to watch. A worthy addition to the card imo regardless of my “low” rating.

 

World Tag Team Championship Match – The Dudley Boys Vs Lance Storm & William Regal Vs Booker T & Goldust Vs Chris Jericho & Christian – Armageddon – ***3/4 – 4

Oh wow, I am SO fucking glad I was able to use this match. If I had gone with the Elimination Chamber match for the WHC match, I would have lost out on both the IC title match and this awesome tag, and honestly the card is better off with these two matches rather than just the one great chamber match and 2 very, very subpar IC and WTT title matches. The talent involved in this is fabulous, and the match absolutely clicked for me on so many levels. Some fine tag team wrestling on display here, and should be remembered fondly by more people!!!

 

High Profile Match #2 – Ric Flair Vs Mr McMahon – Royal Rumble – ***1/4 – 2

Again, I’m glad this was available to use as a High Profile match. Like I said, after the title matches, there wasn’t much else left that was anything special that didn’t already involve the talent I’d used up. So when I saw that THIS was still available I just HAD to include it. Old Man Flair during his 2000’s run in WWF/E is one of my favourite periods of his career. And with the evil heat magnet Mr McMahon and his willingness to bleed more than even Flair to make a match memorable, I’m not sure this could have happened and NOT been good. Ever. They could book it for WM 31 and it’ll still be good. I’m always amazed that this match tends to get forgotten while the Vince/Hogan WM 19 match gets love, despite the fact that this match is great and the WM 19 match is awful!

 

WWE Championship Match – Brock Lesnar Vs The Undertaker – No Mercy – ***** – 9

Wow. Just wow. Always thought this match was incredible, but after seeing it again to ramble on, I ended up throwing the full ***** at it and I absolutely DO NOT regret doing so. Worthy of main eventing any WM in history, never mind a “B” PPV. I didn’t even consider any other match for my Perfect PPV Main Event. It simply HAD to be this match. The brutality, the selling, the story, the feud, the EVERYTHING. It’s a work of art, a masterpiece, and the only HIAC imo to come close to the original. Wrestling doesn’t get much better than this.

 

And there you have it! My WWF/E 2002 Perfect PPV!!! On THE CAL SCALE, it gets an impressive 29 points! 5 points ahead of the best PPV that ACTUALLY happened in 2002 (SummerSlam)!

 

Do you agree with my card? Think I could have done better? Let me know by adding a comment below!

The Perfect PPV – WWF 2001

Well, I re-did my WWF 2000 Perfect PPV, so time to move on to 2001!

 

Before I start, just a quick reminder of the rules:

 

1. Only 8 matches
2. All titles must be defended, no repeated title defences
3. Each wrestler can only be used once

 

For 2001, we had MULTIPLE titles on the go thanks to WCW showing up and bringing along some of their titles too, which would make… 11 titles in total if my brain is functioning properly today lol. So I’m going to have to exclude some of the lesser titles in order to stick within the rules, leaving just the following titles to be defended:

 

WWF

WCW

WWF Tag Team

WWF Intercontinental

WWF Light Heavyweight

WWF Hardcore

 

Women’s title was killed off just before the Invasion angle started and only really produced one match the entire time it was around worth seeing anyway, so it was an easy pick to leave off. European title took a backseat throughout the year too, and the WCW US title was only defended something like twice on PPV that year too (in WWF). WCW Tag Titles were mostly defended in terrible matches or basically unified with the WWF tag belts, even before they were officially unified, so again no point in having them here. WCW CW title was quickly merged with the Light Heavyweight title so that’s gone too.

 

With only 6 titles being defended, that leaves me with 2 match spots open, which I’ll use for High Profile matches! Well, that’s that out of the way, onto the show!

 

The Card

 

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Match – Tajiri Vs X-Pac – SummerSlam – ***3/4 – 4

This was actually for the LH AND CW title, so does a nice job of adding an extra title into the mix haha. Match rules. Both guys have great martial arts backgrounds, and can both throw some wicked KICKS. Strange seeing a WWF Vs WWF match for a WWF and WCW title on PPV during the Invasion angle, but X-Pac had that “X-Pac Heat” and was booed regardless of the fact he was on team WWF. Tons of great action, great KICKS, and a nice unification match too!

 

WWF Hardcore Championship Match – Jeff Hardy Vs RVD – Invasion – ***3/4 – 4

The only title to be defended on the Invasion PPV! And man oh man what a fucking match! Both guys have a reputation for being crazy bastards, willing to do insane spots to entertain the crowd. So from a “hardcore” match perspective this was likely a dream match for someone familiar with both men. Me, I didn’t really know who RVD was so that was lost on me, but the match on it’s own is still tremendous that you don’t NEED to know both men and consider it any kind of dream match. Made me an RVD fan back in the day, just a shame I didn’t stay an RVD fan for long haha. Match is an awesome, hard hitting SPOT heavy match that was perfect for the title involved. A close call between this match and the Undertaker/RVD match as to which was gonna make the PPV, but I actually prefer this match ever so slightly! Plus, it allows me to use Undertaker later on.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match – The Dudley Boys Vs Edge & Christian – Royal Rumble – ***1/4 – 2

Not my first choice for a tag title match, BUT I had to made a few “sacrifices” here and there in order to use other people in other matches to make the best card I could. Despite not being the BEST tag title match of the year, it’s still a great match and one I’ve always had so much fun with. The crowd were into the match, and any time we got a combination of the Hardys, Dudleys & E&C, be it 2 on 2 or 2 on 2 on 2, we always got magic and this is no different. Nice title win for the Dudleys, and was just another stepping stone in their big tag rivalry that would give us another TLC match at WM!

 

High Profile Match #1 – Stephanie McMahon Vs Trish Stratus – No Way Out – *** – 2

Again I had to make sacrifices in order to get a better all round card, and with all the “top players” from the year used up in title matches, finding a highly rated NON title match that didn’t feature someone I already planned to use was proving difficult. Until I remembered this! And with the women’s title being out of action for most of the year it was nice to be able to add a GOOD women’s match to the card, even if it wasn’t for the belt. Always been a fan of this, and I’m still surprised by how great it turned out given that Trish was still green as grass and Stephanie was never fully trained to be a wrestler. These two mostly NON WRESTLERS at the time showed up the rest of the female roster by having a better match than any of them could dream of having. Hell it still holds up today as one of the better women’s matches in WWF/E history imo!

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match – Chris Benoit Vs Chris Jericho – Royal Rumble – ****3/4 – 8

The single greatest ladder match in history for me. And the best IC title match ever too! Incredible wrestling, great use of the ladder, and one hell of a way to cap off their incredible feud that started almost a year earlier. To this day I still remember the sickening suicide dive from Benoit right into a steel chair that Jericho held up, as well as the awesome sight of Jericho locking in the Walls of Jericho to Benoit ON THE LADDER. WM X ladder match might have been the measuring stick for matches like this, but this one is the evolution of how a ladder match should be worked.

 

WCW Championship Match – The Rock Vs Booker T & Shane McMahon – Unforgiven – ** – 0.5

Another one of those “sacrifices” matches. The WCW title didn’t exactly have many great title defences on PPV… and the few that it DID have both featured guys I wanted to use for bigger and BETTER matches. Jericho/Rock No Mercy was better, but Jericho was already used for the IC title match which was WAY better than the WCW title match. And then Jericho/Angle from Rebellion was again better, but Jericho was still being used for the IC title match, and Angle is being used elsewhere. We also had Jericho/Austin from Vengeance when the titles got unified, which was barely better, but again used guys I planned for elsewhere. So I had to settle for a below average match in order to benefit the rest of the card. Still, there is SOME fun to be had here. Mainly from Shane. In fact, ALL from Shane. He was the MVP of the match no doubt. A small blemish on this Perfect PPV, but done for the greater good, I swear!

 

High Profile Match #2 – The Undertaker Vs Triple H – WrestleMania – ****1/4 – 6

I was originally planning to use Undertaker in the hardcore championship match, freeing up Jeff Hardy for the TLC II match at WM for the tag titles, but then that would have really screwed me over with these high profile matches lol. And since I actually preferred the Hardy/RVD hardcore title match and the RR tag title match is only just below the TLC match, I decided to again do what’s BEST FOR BUSINESS and keep Undertaker for something better. Plus it allows me to actually use HHH, who wouldn’t have made it on otherwise! Despite some hate this match gets these days, I’m still a huge fan of it even though I DO see the problems with it (mainly that damn ref bump lol). I love the brawling on the outside, the chokeslam to hell, the use of the Sledgehammer, and Motorhead playing HHH’s theme live. Everything combines to make one of my favourite matches of the year!

 

WWF Championship Match – Steve Austin Vs Kurt Angle – SummerSlam – ***** – 9

Without a doubt THE best match of the year. I finally went all the way and gave it ***** on last watch because even WITH the finish it absolutely deserved it. I kinda see why people don’t go this high on the match BECAUSE of the finish, but for me I felt the finish was absolutely perfect for the story of the match and what they were trying to achieve with the characters of Austin and Angle too. Angle would never give up until he brought back the WWF title, and Austin would do ANYTHING to make sure he kept it. So when Angle kicked out of multiple Stunners despite taking an arse kicking most of the match and bleeding like crazy, Austin had to do everything in his power to keep the title, even if it meant he technically lost the match. I wasn’t exactly a “smart” fan back when this first happened, but even then I KNEW this was fucking great and was able to appreciate it on a level beyond “cool moves” like I was probably more prone to do at the time. And watching it now, being all “smarky” or whatever term you want to throw at me, I love and appreciate it even more than ever. Quite possibly the best WWF/E Championship match EVER.

 

And there you have it! My Perfect PPV – WWF 2001 card! A total of 35.5 on the CAL SCALE, which puts it a whole 12.5 points ahead of the actual best PPV in 2001!!!

 

Do you agree with my card? Think I could have done better? Let me know by adding a comment below!

The Perfect PPV – WWF 2000 (Re-Done)

So I started this new feature with WWF 2000 already, however since then I also started weekly PPV Rambles, and have managed to get through 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 so far (not all on the site yet as I put 1 on a week). So by seeing matches again for the first time in years, some ended up not being as great as I once thought, and some managed to be even better. I was originally going to just go straight to 2001 with these Perfect PPV’s, and do each year as I finish posting all the rambles on the site, but then I decided to re-do 2000 mainly just for formatting reasons as I believe (at the time I’m typing this haha) only ONE match would actually change from the original (http://wrestlingview.co.uk/?p=725).

 

A quick update on the rules:

 

1. Only 8 matches
2. All titles must be defended, no repeated title defences
3. Each wrestler can only be used once

 

So here is the slightly upgraded version of the Perfect PPV – WWF 2000!

 

The Card

 

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Match – Dean Malenko Vs Scotty 2 Hotty – Backlash – ***3/4 – 4

I used to think slightly higher of this match, so when I re-watched it some things weren’t QUITE as good to me this time around… however it’s still a fucking awesome match, and by far the best thing to come out of the Light Heayweight division since it started. Malenko’s best WWF match, and probably the best match Scotty has ever been in. Huge fan of the finish too… TOP ROPE DDT!!! Shame that the title never made it onto PPV again for 2000 (well maybe one of the “UK PPV’s”), but I guess if it absolutely HAD to be on just one PPV the entire year, I’m glad it got THIS kind of match!

 

WWF Women’s Championship Match – Ivory Vs Lita – Rebellion – *3/4 – 0.5

Well this is a change I actually didn’t expect. I had their Survivor Series match on my list last time, and honestly probably forgot this even happened. Match isn’t great, but it’s better than any of the other… 3 women’s title matches on PPV in 2000 (more than the LH title though!). At least we have a women’s match on the card that was an actual match, I think my only other option would have been a thong stinkyface match lol.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship Match – Shane McMahon Vs Steve Blackman – SummerSlam – *** – 2

The hardcore title had 2 halves in 2000. The first part of the year saw guys like Crash Holly and the Mean Street Posse using it as a comedy prop rather than a title. And it was fun. I love those crazy matches that took place anywhere and everywhere. But then Blackman won it… and things changed. Now it was more serious (to fit with Blackman’s character). He held onto the title for longer than most guys did with combined title reigns. He was dominant, and he had challengers beyond just the comedy characters. So when Shane took it from him thanks to about 10 guys interfering on his behalf, Blackman was determined to get it back… and what we got is a crazy, violent and GOOD match with Blackman beating the hell out of Shane, fighting off a bunch of corporate goons, and pulling out some crazy spots. I still remember Shane falling off the titantron like it was yesterday!

 

WWF European Championship Match – Eddie Guerrero Vs Perry Saturn – Fully Loaded – *** – 2

This is the match I thought would be the only change until I got to the women’s match lol. Amazing how much I used to love Eddie Vs Essa from Backlash… until I re-watched it. This match however was one I didn’t think too much of before, and while it does have its problems, overall it’s a good match and fun to watch. Plus it features the greatest steel steps bump ever LOL (check out my FL 2000 Ramble for a gif of it!). Eddie was good in this, Saturn was good, Chyna had her moments on the outside too, and I’m a HUGE fan of Saturn’s top rope elbow! If you do check out this match, just keep in mind it isn’t your average WWF formula match. If I’m remembering correctly Eddie controls the entire thing until right up to the end where he… gets beat haha. But I still enjoyed it and thought it was unique for the company at the time to work a match like this especially on PPV and for a title.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match – The Hardy Boys Vs The Dudley Boys Vs Edge & Christian – WrestleMania – ****1/4 – 6

Well, I STILL prefer this match ever so slightly to the first TLC match at SS later in the year. By SS, all 3 teams were pretty damn established in the company and their matches were more about keeping up their momentum by that time imo, while THIS match was all about them BUILDING that momentum and finally establishing themselves in the company. All 3 teams had interacted with each other in 2 on 2 action, and finally at WM we got all 3 teams meeting in a match for the first time (outside of I *think* a Survivor Series team match in 99) with the tag titles on the line at the biggest show of the year. It was their time to steal the show and put themselves on the map permanently… and boy did they ever! They managed to combine the likes of the No Mercy 1999 ladder match and Royal Rumble 2000 tables match and create similar spots with different people, then unique spots that might have been based off of things they’d already done, and we ended up with pure MAGIC. Also really love the platform they built with 2 ladders and a table, especially with how it fit into the finish (that table SMASHING was awesome). TLC matches were born out of this, and all 6 men’s careers were essentially born out of this too in the WWF!

 

High Profile Match – Steve Austin Vs Rikishi – No Mercy – ***1/2 – 3

Oh look, yet ANOTHER change haha. Originally I had a #1 contenders match between Rock and Big Show, which was I guess a version of a High Profile Match. On a re-watch I didn’t like it AS much, and then I discovered this match! Good GOD this is one hell of a fucking brawl. Rikishi ran over Austin and put him out for a year, so Austin is back and wants to KILL Rikishi. Quite literally. He tries to crush him with his car until the cops show up!!! Rikishi bleeds like a motherfucker, Austin looks like the baddest man on the fucking planet, and together they give us a very real feeling FIGHT. Tremendous.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match – Chris Benoit Vs Chris Jericho – Backlash – **** – 5

So glad this match held up! The beginning of their great rivalry in WWF, and while they had a triple threat at WM, this was the first real match in that feud, and as great as it is, it isn’t even their best! Certainly their best in 2000 though, hence it being on the card instead of say, JD Submission match (which is almost as awesome). I love how they mix up straight up wrestling while still showing the world that they HATE each other. The best IC title match for 2000 on PPV (and likely TV too), and one of my favourite IC title matches too. Big fan of their feud (even if their SS match sucks haha), and this was the perfect way to start it. Finish is something I can see people not liking (mainly due to the commentary making it seem like it was confusing as fuck… when anyone with EYES and a functioning brain knew exactly what happened…), but I loved it!

 

WWF Championship Match – Triple H Vs Cactus Jack – Royal Rumble – ****3/4 – 8

MOTY for 2000, and just perfect for this card that it happens to be for the WWF Championship and can be my main event! An incredible street fight that put HHH on the map as a main eventer and showed the world that Mick Foley could still fucking GO even if he was hurting and looking to retire at the time. Originally he WAS supposed to retire here, and that would have been a perfect ending tbh. Violent, sickening and awesome. Cactus looked like a mad man, and HHH was finally seen in a different light, as someone who COULD go up against a crazy hardcore bastard and come out on top in the end. And this was the SECOND time Foley helped MAKE Triple H too!

 

So there is my revised WWF 2000 Perfect PPV card!!! A few more changes than even I was expecting, but it is what it is haha. A total of 30.5 on the CAL SCALE, which is 5.5 more than the best show of the year! Honestly I was expecting more, but unfortunately the majority of truly great matches from 2000 PPV that could have added more points were WWF title matches, or featured the same few guys, so I was unable to use most of them!

 

Do you agree with my card? Think I could have done better? Let me know by adding a comment below!

WrestleMania Week – The Perfect WrestleMania

The Perfect WrestleMania

 

“Perfect PPV” is a fairly new written content idea for my site, and I have so far only done one. I chose the year 2000 for WWF, and I put together the best PPV card using matches that took place that year on PPV (see that here: WWF 2000: The Perfect PPV). The rules being that I had to have every title defended, couldn’t use a wrestler more than once, and had 8 matches on the card. So for WM Week, I have put together a similar event, only using WM matches to create THE perfect WM event of all time! Slight change of rules when it comes to title matches, as a lot of belts were only around for a couple of years (European and Hardcore titles for example) or haven’t been defended enough to really matter (US title). So for my Perfect WM event, I have decided to only include the WWE title, WHC, Tag Team titles, IC title and women’s title, with 2 “high profile” matches and 1 Streak to bring the match count up to 8. This is what I came up with!

 

WVWMWeekPerfectPPVTagTitles

 

#1. Tag Team Title Match – The Hardy Boys Vs The Dudley Boys Vs Edge & Christian – WrestleMania 2000 – ****1/4

I’m sure a lot of people would pick the TLC match featuring these 3 teams from the year after, but I personally much prefer this match to that one, and honestly I can’t name a better tag match in WM history. So for it being a tremendous match and such fun to watch, I just HAD to pick it as my tag title match.

 

WVWMWeekPerfectPPVWomensTitle

 

#2.  Women’s Title Match – Trish Stratus Vs Mickie James – WrestleMania 22 – ***1/2

Let’s face it, there aren’t exactly many women’s title matches in WWE history that have been any good. This is, and imo is the best they’ve ever had. The fact it happened at WM makes it all the more special, and helps prevent my Perfect WrestleMania card from having a terrible match on it!

 

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#3.  High Profile Match 1 – Cody Rhodes Vs Rey Mysterio – WrestleMania 27 – ****

Admittedly this wouldn’t have been my first choice, but all of the other matches ahead of this all featured either a title on the line or numerous wrestlers that were already used up for the rest of the list. However, it doesn’t make this a bad inclusion by any means, because it’s awesome.

 

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#4. IC Title Match – Randy Savage Vs Ricky Steamboat – WrestleMania 3 – ****1/4

Perhaps this match gets a little overrated in that people call it one of the best matches of all time and a 5 star classic, but there is no denying how great it is and the fact it is quite easily the best IC title match to happen in WM history!

 

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#5. WHC Match – Triple H Vs Booker T – WrestleMania 19 – ***3/4

Definitely a match I would consider underrated. One of the absolute best Booker T matches of all time and while not THE best WHC match at WM, it’s definitely up there. Ratings wise there are better WHC matches I could have picked, but like the first High Profile match my picks were limited due to wrestlers repeating, but again this is still a great match and I’m happy to have it on my Perfect WM event!

 

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#6. High Profile Match 2 – Bret Hart Vs Steve Austin – WrestleMania 13 – *****

Do I even have to explain my choice here? Of course not! One of the best matches of all time and one of the best WM matches of all time. An excellent pick.

 

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#7. WWE Title Match – CM Punk Vs Chris Jericho – WrestleMania28 – ****1/2

IMO this is definitely the best WWE title match in WM history, so it wasn’t just a case of me not being able to use something like Rock/Austin WM 17 because I already used Austin for the second high profile match. I adore this match and think it is a perfect pick for the WWE title match on my perfect WM event!

 

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#8. Streak Match – The Undertaker Vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 26 – *****

The best WM match and one of the best matches ever is without a doubt my pick for the Streak Match of my perfect WM AND the match I would put as the Main Event. It main evented the WM it took place at, and it’s main eventing mine!

 

So there is the card for my Perfect WrestleMania event! On the CAL SCALE it would get an astounding 50 points!!!  Do you agree with my picks? How would YOUR Perfect WrestleMania Event look? Feel free to leave a comment below with your own perfect WM!

The Perfect PPV – WWF 2000

Ok, so a new written content series I’m trying :). Basically, I’m going to take a year of wrestling for one company, look at all the PPV’s from that specific year, and put together an 8 match supercard! There are some rules though:

  1. Only 8 matches
  2. All titles must be defended, no repeated title defences
  3. Each wrestler can only be used once

Simple! So, to start this new series, I’ll go with my absolute favourite year in wrestling; WWF 2000!

 

The Card

Light Heavyweight Title Match

Dean Malenko Vs Scotty 2 Hotty (Backlash) – Lets face it, until Rey showed up in 2002, any kind of LH/CW title in WWF/E meant absolute shit lol. So even in a great year like 2000, LH matches worth mentioning are few and far between. Malenko was champion for the majority of the year, but rarely defended it. In fact, I think this is the only PPV match the title got, so no surprise that its on my supercard. That being said, it absolutely deserves to be here because its AWESOME. Probably the greatest match S2H has been involved in, and without a doubt the best Malenko match in WWF.

Womens Title Match

Ivory Vs Lita (Survivor Series) – You know something, I actually believe the womens title got more exposure in 2000 than the LH title! Stephanie won it early in the year and just kinda had it. Then Lita came along, got as over as any guy on the roster, and main evented a Raw to win the title! Some defences here and there against the likes of Ivory and Jacqueline prior to this match, but I don’t recall anything on PPV until this one. And with the only other one I can remember being at Armageddon and lasting about 2 minutes, I had no choice but to use this match. Its ok, nothing special. Lita blades like a champ. That’s about it.

Hardcore Title Match

Shane McMahon Vs Steve Blackman (SummerSlam) – FUN. That’s the best way to describe this one. The Hardcore title was never a big deal once Mankind first lost it back in… late 98/early 99. It was passed around the boys more than Melina. Crash Holly made a name for himself by holding it a million times, and for introducing the 24/7 rule that made for some great TV. The Blackman got hold of the belt… and actually made it credible. He defeated all comers, and was able to tap into his martial arts background in a way he never could before, which made him pretty darn popular at the time. Shane ended up winning it after being helped by half the roster, but before he could celebrate Foley announced he would defend it against Blackman at SummerSlam… and the 24/7 rule would be put on hold until the match so he couldn’t drop the belt before hand and back out! Anywho, the match is a ton of fun. Crazy spots, lots of run-ins, and then THAT spot. Insane. Maybe not the best hardcore match of the year, but certainly the best on PPV and a worthy addition to this super PPV!

European Title Match

Eddie Guerrero Vs Essa Rios (Backlash) – Match #2 from Backlash, and I have a sneaky suspicion that there will be another (and by “sneaky suspicion” I mean I actually know. Because I made this list 😛 ). Hell, the Backlash PPV is pretty much a perfect PPV for 2000 on its own. But hey, where’s the fun in that? So this match. Eddie was transitioning into a babyface at the time thanks to his association with Chyna, and to help, they started tagging Eddie and Essa together. Unfortunately Lita kept screwing things up for the team and Chyna got pissed, so the MEN had to sort things out! Lol. Really good match, nice mix of the Mexican style as well as some more mat based technical stuff too (from Eddie). Finish seemed a little odd if I’m remembering it correctly, but the rest of the match was good. Chyna gets stripped afterwards, which is a shame. Should have been Lita, but Chyna stripped her on Smackdown the week before or something, so this was Lita’s revenge.

Intercontinental Title Match

Chris Benoit Vs Chris Jericho (Backlash) – Told you! Another Backlash match :). And a tremendous match at that for the IC title. Benoit and Jericho wrestled numerous times in 2000, both on TV and PPV. Triple threat with Angle at WM, Submissions match at JD (close call between that match and this one), and a 2 out of 3 falls match at SummerSlam (a little disappointing tbh). Not only could these guys wrestle well together, but they really knew how to bring out the HATE~! in each other and into their matches, which made their feud really fun to watch. From their matches in Japan, WCW and WWF/E, I’d say this is their best match behind the 2001 RR Ladder match. Some people don’t like/are confused by the finish, but I dig it.

Tag Team Titles Match

The Dudley Boys Vs The Hardy Boys Vs Edge & Christian – Triangle Ladder Match (WrestleMania 2000) – Oh man, the amount of great tag matches to come out of 2000 both on PPV and TV is pretty insane. Easily the best tag division in the company since the mid to late 80’s. And at the centre of this amazing division were these 3 teams. They all had fantastic chemistry with each other, and no matter the match type (normal, ladder, table, TLC, cage), they put on a great match. Very close call between this and TLC from SummerSlam, but I went with this one because in all honesty its just my favourite. SS *might* be a little better (not by much if any), but I love the WM match. A lot of people get confused and think its a TLC match because they use tables and chairs, but its just a triangle ladder match that gave the company the idea for TLC in the first place. The table walkway set up on top of two ladders is something I’d never seen before, and I don’t think I’ve seen since either. Very creative (though for all I know they did it in ECW or something lol) and very cool. The way the table below it absolutely SHATTERS into pieces at the end when someone gets thrown off the walkway through it is amazing too.

#1 Contenders Match

The Rock Vs The Big Show (No Way Out 2000) – Well, 7 titles to be defended on an 8 card show means I needed to find something else to fill the gap. I did want an Undertaker match to fill the gap here, but unfortunately the only PPV matches worth going on a supercard like this were for the WWF Title, which can’t be used twice, and unfortunately there are better title matches in the year. So after looking over all the PPV cards, I managed to find the best non title match with wrestlers not already used up. Always liked this match, and I LOVE the finish too. Never been a fan of Rock, but he worked well with Show here. If I could repeat wrestlers on the card then this match wouldn’t have made it, but I can’t go breaking my own rules, so this will have to do. But hey, at least its still good!

WWF Title Match

Triple H Vs Cactus Jack – Street Fight (Royal Rumble) – Best WWF/E Title Match ever? Probably. Only other that comes close off the top of my head is Punk/Bryan from Over the Limit 2012 and Punk/Cena from Money in the Bank 2011. This match is just incredible. Foley’s performance was outstanding. HHH, despite having won the title a couple of times at this point already and had changed his style from a more “technical” style to brawling, still wasn’t seen as a “tough guy” and credible champion UNTIL this match. Foley essentially MADE The Game here, and looked better himself than he’s ever looked before too. Without a doubt THE only choice for Main Event and WWF Title Match on my Perfect PPV in 2000!