[2000-08-14-WWF-Raw] Chris Jericho vs Val Venis

[soup23]

Benoit and Jericho brawled backstage with Jericho having Benoit’s locker room door locked and then pounding on him in the hallway. Good four minute tv match although Val again is just not quite there as a worker or character compared to the other people he is mixed up with. Life comes at you fast and in 1998 he would have shined. Jericho hits the lionsault but Benoit comes out and he beats down Jericho again. They are making this feud really personal. A 2/3 fall stip is weird for the angle that has presented but we will see how the SummerSlam match is worked. *3/4

[AstroBoy]

Venis is not clicking with the crowd on the level of the people he's been with but they're trying and his work is solid. It's a fun if underwhelming little TV match but again just sort of spinning tires to get to the Jericho-Benoit match at Summerslam. They HAVE done a good job building that into a meaningful match for that show.

 

**

[GSR]

We get a clip of what happened earlier when Chris Benoit arrived at the arena and was jumped by Jericho who was laying in wait for him in his locker room.

Intercontinental title match and Jericho with those hard knife edge chops of his.  Val runs into a back elbow but then catches Y2J in a sleeper.  Jericho shoots him off and applies a sleeper of his own which Venis escapes out of with a ‘Blue Thunder Driver’.  A vertical suplex for a two count and Val follows that with a ‘camel clutch’.  Jericho blasts him with an enziguiri and comes off the top with reverse elbow for a near fall.  He whips ‘the Big Valbowski’ into the corner but Val side steps the charge and a drop toe hold sends Y2J head first into the bottom turnbuckle.  Jericho flips over on the belly to back suplex, hits a bulldog, lands the Lionsault when out runs Chris Benoit for the DQ.  Y2J is about to put him in ‘the Walls’ when he’s nailed from behind by Val who then leaves ‘the Crippler’ to dish out a bit of payback for earlier.  Benoit straddles him over the top rope, stomps away on him and shoves a couple of referees before leaving.  He gets a few yards down the aisle and has a change of heart, returning to the ring where he ties Jericho up in an STF.