[2000-08-21-WWF-Raw] HHH & Kurt Angle vs The Acolytes

[soup23]

I guess this was before WWF just refereed to this town and building as the Cajun Dome to forgive the embarrassment of having to say they are in Lafayette. Rock was funny in his promo saying he was going to spread some gumbo and jambalaya on his boot before sticking it up Angle’s candy ass. Foley comes out and gives Rock the night off to a chorus of boos. Angle comes out and introduces his new friend, HHH. HHH then comes out as they call him an asshole and Stephanie a slut. HHH says that Thursday Angle made him proud and showed him a lot of integrity. Foley takes the opportunity to set them up in a tag match. He also makes Rock the special referee for Lita vs Steph. Backstage, the McMahon-HHH regime says they have to stay together. Steph points out that she is the only champion among them which HHH dismisses. This tag match was better than I would have imagined. Acolytes are great gatekeepers in that they are competent enough to be presented as ass kickers but also could take a loss if you want to continue the HHH/Angle being able to coexist thread. Bradshaw in particular had good punches throughout this. Finish was pretty rudimentary as HHH dispatches of Bradshow on the outside and then hits a pedigree on Faroqq for the win. Afterwards, we get a nice angle as the Acolytes attack Kurt who celebrated too long and HHH acts like he is going to help and then thinks better of it. Pretty smart way to continue the build to SummerSlam. **1/2

[AstroBoy]

The positioning of the Acolytes here is a great example of the top to bottom strength of the WWF at this time. Acolytes are strong enough asskickers to be believable but just low enough on the card to succumb to Angle and Triple H. It's so nice to have someone like this in that spot to plug in and advance the storyline in a strong way without burning through the same combos. And the match is worked smart with the Acolytes dominating at first before the two superior wrestlers start to use teamwork and pick out weak spots to get the win. Post-match walks a good subtle line and shows that HHH doesn't care about saving Angle.

 

**1/4

[GSR]

The Rock is looking very dapper with his open shirt and slacks.  He runs through some catchphrases, adapting them for the Louisiana crowd and then turns his attention to Triple H and Kurt Angle.  He knows that they’re not united as both want to take away his WWF World title at Summerslam and both want to win the hand of the biggest piece of two dollar rancid slut meat the Rock has ever seen!  He’s not thinking about Summerslam though, he’s thinking about payback and he’s thinking about it tonight.  Here comes the ‘Commissioner’ and JR wonders if he’ll make the Rock’s wish come true?  Foley says he knows exactly how the Rock feels, but with Summerslam only six days away and this much pent up anger, challenges can be issued, tempers can flare and titles can be lost.  He’s therefore making an unpopular decision and giving him the night off.  Needless to say that doesn’t go down well with the fans and also brings out Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon.  Kurt says how Mick Foley tried to split him and the McMahon-Helmsley family apart last week.  He tried to get him to turn his back on his friends and it almost worked, however when he came back for the Rock and HHH’s match and bashed the Rock over the head with a steel chair, that proved he was a man of integrity as he picked loyalty over selfishness.  The Rock may have lost the match but he gained a friend, Triple H.  Hunter says how Kurt showed him plenty of integrity Thursday night the way he stood by his side, while nothing will endear him more to someone than watching them wrap a steel chair around the Rock’s head!  As he has his family problems behind him, he can now get back to doing what he does best, beating the Rock’s ass!  He says that if he’s that upset by everything and feels like putting the title on the line, he would be more than happy to come down to that ring, kick his ass and once again become the World Wrestling Federation champion.  It looks like Rock is about to accept when Foley interrupts and tells HHH that it’s unfortunate his ears aren’t as big as his nose or else he would’ve heard he gave The Rock the night off.  As he and Kurt are buddies, like a team, he’s going to pit them against two other good friends, the Acolytes, before announcing two more championship matches for tonigh: Shane McMahon vs Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley will put her Women’s title on the line against Lita.  Steph seems extremely confident that the official will raise her hand in victory so, Commissioner Mick, sensing how this is clearly going to be a pier six brawl that could get way out of hand, appoints a special referee to keep order and call it right down the line, The Rock.

Triple H gives the family a quick pep talk about how they’ve got to have unity and have got to stick together.

Kurt and HHH call the Acolytes on as they make their way down the entrance way, although immediately come out on the wrong end of things, Bradshaw clotheslining Hunter over the top rope to the outside and they then run through Angle with a double shoulderblock.  Huge spinebuster by Faarooq and Kurt wants no more, crawling to his corner and tagging in ‘the Game’.  Bradshaw with a fallaway slam and now its HHH who's crawling back to the corner.  A big boot takes Angle’s head off and Bradshaw gets a near fall following a couple of elbow drops.  Combination belly to back suplex/neckbreaker forces Hunter to break up the pin.  The two of them look to team up on Bradshaw, having no success, while Faarooq is being held back from helping his partner out by the official.  Kurt eventually clips his knee out and then goes to work on it.  HHH with a figure four however, before he can fully lock it on, Bradshaw kicks him off sending him crashing into the turnbuckles.  The backdrop is telegraphed though and Hunter with a facebuster for a two.   Desperation shoulder tackle and he’s able to make the tag to Faarooq.  Big powerslam on Angle but again HHH is there to break up the count.  A Bradshaw right hand sends ‘the Game’ to the floor and he follows him out.  Triple H reverses the whip sending Bradshaw flying into the ring steps.  Faarooq has Kurt up for ‘the Dominator’ when Hunter boots him in the mid-section and hits the pedigree for the win.  HHH and Kurt celebrate, showing no sign of dissension, as JR says how they look like they’re brothers in there.  Angle celebrates for too long though and gets levelled with a clothesline from hell.  Triple H doesn’t realise what’s going on at first then looks back to see the Acolytes giving Kurt a double spinebuster.  He goes to help, then thinks better of it as Angle is left laid out after a double powerbomb.

Kurt confronts HHH in the dressing room wondering what happened.  He thought that they were in this together, he came back for him but he can’t do the same?  Hunter pretty much fobs him off saying how they’ve got to think about Stephanie now as she has a big match coming up and he’s not going back to being selfish Kurt Angle who thinks all about himself is he?  For the sake of Steph he lets it go but you can clearly tell it’s still bothering him.