The Main Event Everyone Built Toward Gets Eaten by Backstage Segments – WWF Unforgiven 2000 Review

Stone Cold Austin arrives at the First Union Center, attacks Kevin Kelly in the parking lot, and spends the entire night demanding answers that nobody gives him. Tommy Blacha and Rob Pasbani review WWF Unforgiven 2000 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their verdict: the first pay-per-view since WrestleMania that delivers good, but not great.

Raven walks out during the Tazz and Lawler strap match, DDTs Lawler, Tazz wins, and Jim Ross says on commentary that Raven is not even on this roster. The ECW crowd pops accordingly. Jericho and X-Pac have the match of the night, it ends clean, no ref bump, X-Pac taps to the Walls of Jericho. Edge and Christian face the Hardys for the tag titles in a steel cage with convoluted rules, Jeff Hardy gets eliminated three minutes in, re-enters through a door, Lita does a hurricanrana from the top of the cage, and the Hardys win their first tag team championship.

Triple H and Kurt Angle in a No DQ match with Foley as special referee is the most anticipated match on the card. It runs short because backstage segments ate the time. Stephanie low blows Angle. Triple H wins. The hosts describe the finish as sweaty. Tommy, who wrote for WWF during this period, observes that the writers’ room was expanding, performers were becoming less empowered, and scripted lines were taking over. He ends with: “Boy, am I glad I don’t work there anymore.”

Other major discussion points include:

– RTC, the Dudley Boyz, and the Acolytes are thrown together into an 8-man tag with a Steven kick finish; everyone looks weak

– Al Snow represents Italy in the Hardcore Invitational with a Tony Danza portrait and a red cloth; Blackman wins; the 24/7 rule is suspended until RAW with no clear explanation

– Austin and Angle meet on screen for the first time; Angle offers him an honorary gold medal; Austin tells him where to put it

– Shane McMahon presents “evidence” involving old footage of Blackman bumping into Shamrock; Austin stuns Blackman (the hosts say this badly herbs him for a pop), then stuns Shane

– Rock survives the Fatal Four-Way against Benoit, Undertaker, and Kane; Benoit “wins” the title but his foot is on the rope; Foley restarts; Rock retains via Rock Bottom; the hosts hate the fatal four-way format

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0:00 Cold Open

0:53 Welcome / Unforgiven 2000

2:03 Pay-Per-View Value / Black Box

5:50 Card Overview / Show Impressions

8:31 RTC 8-Man Tag

14:29 Triple H / Stephanie Backstage

15:41 Tazz vs Lawler / Raven Debuts

26:34 Austin Arrives / Kevin Kelly

27:23 Hardcore Invitational / Blackman Wins

35:32 Austin Meets Angle

36:32 Jericho vs X-Pac

39:07 Foley’s No DQ / Rock and Austin

41:28 E&C vs Hardys Steel Cage

50:17 Austin / Stephanie Locker Room

53:36 Eddie vs Rikishi / Chyna

57:13 Triple H vs Angle (No DQ)

1:07:53 Shane McMahon’s Evidence

1:16:22 Tommy’s Insider Take

1:17:08 Fatal Four-Way / Rock Retains

1:21:09 Overall Assessment

1:23:45 Patreon / Sign-Off