[2000-04-02-WWF-Wrestlemania 2000] Big Show vs Mick Foley vs HHH vs The Rock

[soup23]

This really is probably the last time WrestleMania felt like it could be any other PPV in a given year. Even the three years of this decade where they aren’t in a stadium had plenty of other big moments and caveats that this show really didn’t. This could have been Backlash and everything would have been the same. That being said, this as a main event was a tale of two matches. I actually thought the four way stuff was really effective. Big Show is giving a good run where he looks strong with them knowing he is going out early. Once he is gone, Foley and HHH and Rock have a compelling three way with bonds being formed and broke. The history between these three is so storied that any iteration of the pairings worked and felt enriched. I thought Rock was really working hard bumping like crazy and being crisp on his strikes. Foley flubs his big spot but it does play right into his elimination which felt shocking at the time as I was certain he was winning with the good out of them having a tournament later. Foley coming back does feel cheap but this was his last match for nearly four years so it feels more genuine in retrospect than it does now when he has had 50 matches after this one. The HHH and Rock portions was my least favorite of the match with a ton of tropes that are less flattering including going around the stage set up and tables at ringside being broken. The Vince turn is also perplexing as they went to WAY too many extremes in fighting each other for it to believable as a big ruse all along on Vince’s part. HHH winning is innovative but the closing moment is Rock reigning supreme firstly and the McMahons secondly so he gets overshadowed there. Overall, I think a three way would have been more effective and I don’t know how to book out the Vince turn but it still is just awful. ***1/4

[Loss]

Rock's pre-match promo is more of a classic pro wrestling promo and it's amazing. You realize how much of an albatross Big Show was on the match (no offense to the Big Show, it's more that his storyline hook wasn't as strong) when you see HHH left alone with Rock and Foley. Rock suckering in HHH and making him think he was going to help him take out Foley was a great moment. Not crazy about HHH and Foley working together to take out Rock. Their feud was personal at a level that it's a huge stretch, even if it is super effective at building heat on Rock. I guess you could argue that it flips the dynamic from HHH as the outnumbered underdog to Rock as the outnumbered underdog, which makes more sense, so maybe they thought it was a justified sacrifice, considering Foley was done anyway. Foley missed his shot jumping off the table on Rock and this is just falling flat. His pedigree kickout doesn't get nearly the reaction it should because of Foley heeling on Rock. One match decision's loss is another match decision's gain. When we're down to HHH-Rock, I expected this to pick up a lot, and it probably would have if they hadn't stayed outside the ring so long, and by the time they got back in, the Vince vs Shane stuff was a huge distraction that killed the flow. The finish is what it is -- the ring got pelted with garbage and they tried to make good on it by Stephanie taking her first bump to end the show. Some people compared it to Starrcade '97 at the time. I always defended HHH winning and I'll do that again here. It was the right decision. They knew Austin was going to be able to do some limited stuff at Backlash, and they knew that they could get two huge PPVs out of this instead of just one, so it made sense to hold off a month. The match was pretty much the pits, even though there were good parts, but overall it was less a Wrestlemania epic and more a Raw main event that never ended.

[AstroBoy]

With the four guys here it gets tough to keep every character's motivations pure and likable. Agreed on the point that Foley vs. HHH vs. Rock created a weird dynamic that created a tough either/or type situation. The action here was fine enough and yes, the turn at the end was completely senseless. I will say I thought HHH worked very hard to get everything he could out of this match and he's doing a fine job during this run as champion.

 

***

[BigVanCrush]

I've always thought this match was way too long, bloated and didn't have anything particularly enjoyable to me outside of Foley's table jump. In terms of WrestleMania main events, this is probably near the bottom of the pile for me. The main event of the next PPV is the main event we should have gotten here. This is trash. *

[Laney]

This just atrocious booking. HHH vs The Rock seems like the obvious choice for the main event here, but we get this nonsense to fit the McMahon family in here. All four guys look like they try their best with what they are given, but the bad booking and outside shenanigans seems to overshadow everything. Does Stephanie really need to have a shocked look on her face every time the camera pans to her?

 

Credit to the four guys for working hard here and putting together a decent in-ring match with some good story-telling, but the Russo-esque swerve makes zero sense.

 

***1/4

[SAMS]

It was almost poetic that Mick Foley’s career (at least until he returned) would end unceremoniously by eating two Pedigree’s after he failed to reach the announcer’s table with a dive off the apron, previously launched himself in an attempt to elbow The Rock, only to fall significantly short and just plant his sternum directly into the edge of the table. It was a fitting microcosm of his final few months that after a disappointing in ring year in 1999 he managed a renaissance of sorts with the classic Street Fight with Triple H at the Royal Rumble only for the rematch at No Way Out to end up as a major regression. They tried too hard to rekindle the magic of Foley’s previous Hell In A Cell outing and the match ultimately came off as contrived and cartoonish. The opening section was pretty good with Big Show going strong until he succumbed to a three on one beat down but the middle section was dead, and especially after Foley was eliminated it really began to drag. I could have totally done without the McMahon drama, especially Shane and Vince’s fight, which required Triple H and The Rock to lie prone in the middle of the ring for several minutes. The heel turn is weird in hindsight considering how close it is to the finale of the main event to WrestleMania X-Seven, down to the chair shots and Vince pumping the air in time with the referee’s count. Not a bad match but way too overbooked and another casualty in WWE’s catalog of underwhelming multi-man matches. ***1/4

[cactus]

Even though 2000 was one of WWE's best ever years, the Wrestlemania main event was a sure misfire. Foley is back one month after his retirement and his heart is not in this at all and his entire appearance feels like such an afterthought. Show is eliminated quickly after a triple team attack, signalling the end for his main event run. Clocking in at over 36 minutes and with a Mcmahon in the corner for each wrestler, this was way too long and the overabundance of Mcmahon involvement hindered what could of been a great match between Rock and Triple H. 
★★¼