Quick Recap

Cactus Jack returned on Smackdown while tensions continued to mount between The Rock & Big Show ahead of the Royal Rumble.

WWF Raw Is War 17/1/00

Quick Results

Cactus Jack opens the show with a passionate promo, hyping up the title match with Triple H at the Royal Rumble. He challenged HHH to a brawl, which drew out the rest of DX. The Rock tried to make the save, but Big Show attacked him. Show then fought with DX himself, before the Acolytes joined in the fray.

Test defeats Big Bossman to win the Hardcore title. Albert took out Bossman and Test in turn accosted Albert for getting involved in his business. Test hit a top rope elbow drop (Nightstick in hand) on Bossman for the pin and the title. Bossman and Albert later brawled backstage, with Albert winding up in Tori’s lockeroom. You can guess where that leads.

Godfather and D’Lo Brown defeated Edge & Christian. Christian accidentally knocked over one of Godfather’s ho’s, so Edge went to check on her. This left Christian exposed to D’Lo’s Sky high for the win.

Kurt Angle pinned Steve Blackman after British Bulldog’s interference.

There’s a gathering of all the divas participating in the Diva swimsuit contest at the Royal Rumble. Mae Young tries to strip. Mark Henry makes the save!

The Acolytes beat Triple H & X-Pac by DQ after the New Age Outlaws interfered. A 4-on-2 beatdown left the Acolytes laying.

Jeff Hardy defeated Bubba Dudley with a Swanton for the pin. Post match the Dudleyz 3D’d both Hardyz, before Bubba powerbombed Matt onto Jeff through a table.

Rikishi beat Chris Jericho by DQ after the Holly Cousins and Chyna interfered. Too Cool made the save.

Kane obliterated Albert and finished with a Chokeslam for the win.

The New Age Outlaws beat The Rock & Big Show after Rock decked Show with a chair, the two failing to co-exist against DX.

Elementary Promo work- Foley, Hunter and Rock are a class apart.

Foley’s opening promo was truly a thing of beauty, a classic promo from one of the most creative and intuitive minds the industry has ever seen. He explained how he reverted back to the Cactus Jack persona after he just couldn’t take anymore of the constant torment of Triple H. He explained his career in a nutshell, talking about the sacrifices he’s made to get to this point, such as sleeping in $10 motels, sleeping in the back of a clapped out Ford and having his ear ripped off in Japan among other things, and described how the forthcoming clash at Madison Square Garden would be even more brutal than the last time they met in the same building in 1997.

It was as if Mick had described his whole career and recent state of mind in one epic promo. For those unfamiliar with the Cactus persona he’s now firmly established while long time Foley fans will be delighted at the return of such a twisted genius and his shying away from the more cuddly Mankind persona.

This was all about Cactus, but Triple H’s retort was full of piss and vinegar in itself, declaring that as sadistic as Cactus is, he’ll be that much more sadistic and evil in order to beat him. Soon we get a cracking mass-brawl involving the rest of DX, The Rock, Acolytes and the Big Show. This further showcases the big three rivalries going into the Rumble, with Rock/Big Show and the Acolytes/Outlaws also getting some coverage. This was tremendous all round.

Later, Rock cut his own promo regarding the Rumble and tonights main event. After wishing Steve Austin well from his neck surgery, Rock proceeded to verbally obliterate Big Show ahead of their tag team main event.

Rock, HHH and Foley really were at the peak of their promo powers and it was a joy to behold. All three of them could have the crowd in the palm of their hand throughout any broadcast. The top of the card from this generation is such a tough act for the modern equivalent to follow purely because it was such an exceptional band of brothers, if you will.

Finally for this section, special mention must go to the New Age Outlaws for their traditional pre-match introduction. It’s one of the most memorable pastimes of the attitude era and something that TNA’s Mr.Anderson no doubt took plenty of inspiration from, though he doesn’t get the crowd going nearly as well as these two. They were tag team champions for a good reason at this point, though it wouldn’t be long before they’d be surpassed. While we’re on the subject of the Outlaws though, they had great chemistry. Billy was the more athletic, but that D-O-Double G brought great entertainment and timing as well as the brawling prowess.

Momentum- Test, Rikishi, Kurt Angle and Kane keep strong.

Momentum is the name of the game here with several of the midcard/upper midcard acts getting good coverage and important wins this week:

Test’s momentum in the midcard continued after he took Big Bossman’s Hardcore title. In 2000 brawls through the backstage area were quite frequent and while many purists would look down on it, you can’t deny that they were tremendous fun. Bossman wasn’t doing anything with the title at this point so it made perfect sense for his rival Test to come in and take the gold here. Albert and Bossman’s latest scuffle also furthers that newly created rivalry. Test’s popularity grows on a show by show basis and putting the Hardcore title on him certainly wasn’t doing him any harm.

Godfather and D’lo continued to impress as a tandem with a win over Edge & Christian. This was mainly to play up to the fact that Edge is engaged, yet the ho’s are all over him after the match. They don’t really play up to the storyline much more than this. Still, good little match all the same. I like the D’Lo/Godfather pairing and I don’t think it was ever fully exploited in terms of involving the ho’s and rebuilding D’Lo as a pimp in training.

Kurt Angle and Steve Blackman ended their alliance after they were pitted together by HHH. Again, we had a fine match and Blackman got more of a chance here to showcase his unusual style. Angle, meanwhile, gained a new ally in the British Bulldog, who cost Blackman the match to help retain Angle’s undefeated streak. It just makes Angle all the more slimier, he’s obviously got no gratitude for all of Blackman’s recent help and instead he’s just found a replacement. He’s so deliciously dislikable.

Chris Jericho came up against the might of Rikishi, someone who’d been lighting up the television shows since the turn of the year. The diverse styles here made for a decent enough match, but we’ve seen better from both. The Holly Cousins continued to make their presence felt in the IC title picture and Too Cool get some plaudits for saving the day at the end. The Rikishi/Too Cool dance never gets old. JR does a good job of hyping up Rikishi’s chances in the Rumble match, which is welcome even though every man and his dog can see that Rock is winning it.

Kane vs Albert was mainly a vehicle for Kane to show off his talents ahead of his forthcoming turn in the Rumble match. Albert was merely fresh meat for the grinder here but he served his purpose well.

Table for two?- The Dudleyz send a message to the Hardyz

The Hardyz and the Dudleyz kicked off what would become an intense and memorable rivalry. After decking both Hardyz individually with a 3D, Bubba then powerbombed Matt through a table with Jeff Hardy laying on it. Ouch! This segment effectively lit the torch for the greatest period in the history of the WWF’s tag team wrestling, if you don’t mind me saying so. In the weeks to come Edge & Christian will also get involved in the skirmish.

I keep saying it, but it’s segments like this which are altering the course of the WWF’s tag team division before our very eyes: as good as the Outlaws were, you could already sense the tide turning with emerging teams like these taking over the mantle.

United we stand, divided we fall- DX abide, Rock & Big Show collide

Triple H & X-Pac had stiff and entertaining contest with the Acolytes. We already know about the qualities that X-Pac and the game possess, but this was all about showcasing the roughneck capabilities of Bradshaw & Faarooq, and they certainly accomplished this. They may have ended up falling victim to the numbers game once the Outlaws got involved, but it was still a fine showing from them. Kudos as usual to HHH for making his opposition look really strong via some expert bumping.

The main event turned into something of a handicap match between Rock and the Outlaws, but it was a vibrant main event all the same which kept up with the rivalries established earlier in the night. After the recent fraction within the group, DX were a much tighter unit and I think this was a good move heading into one of the biggest shows of the year. Rock standing tall at the end and staring down at the rest of DX was a good way of subtly giving fans a clue to how the rest of year would look at the top of the card.

Overall

The best show of the year so far. Obviously we’re only into the third week of January so that’s not the most bold of statements, but virtually everything on this show deserved a thumbs up this week except for that poor divas segment. DX and their various enemies coupled with Rock & Big Show’s new rivalry are making for great TV and Smackdown should further showcase this.

Worth a watch for…

Track down the opening promo if you can, and also Rock’s promo on Big Show. There wasn’t a standout match but all of them were solid TV bouts which accomplished everything storyline-wise that they’d set out to do.

Follow me on twitter: @Nick_Sellers

#CactusJack

#MaeYoung

#SteamingStinkingPileOfGradeAMonkeyCrap

Cookie	Description
_pxvid	This cookie is used for detection of the browser and distinguishing whether it is a real user or malicious bot.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Non Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	This cookie is used to keep track of which cookies the user have approved for this site.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-preferences	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Preferences".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-uncategorized	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Uncategorized".
CraftSessionId	This cookie name is associated with the Craft web content management system, where is functions as an anonymous session identifier.
csrftoken	This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
DSID	To note specific user identity. Contains hashed/encrypted unique ID.
JSESSIONID	Used by sites written in JSP. General purpose platform session cookies that are used to maintain users' state across page requests.
PHPSESSID	This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Description
b30msc
btc
CMST
cref
d
gpl
i
icts
ig_did
mdata
na_rn
na_sc_e
na_sr
na_srp
session_depth
visitor-id

Cookie	Description
__gads	This cookie is set by Google and stored under the name dounleclick.com. This cookie is used to track how many times users see a particular advert which helps in measuring the success of the campaign and calculate the revenue generated by the campaign. These cookies can only be read from the domain that it is set on so it will not track any data while browsing through another sites.
__stid	The cookie is set by ShareThis. The cookie is used for site analytics to determine the pages visited, the amount of time spent, etc.
_ga	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, camapign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assigns a randoly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_60765351_1	Google uses this cookie to distinguish users.
_gid	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
ad-id	Provided by amazon-adsystem.com for tracking user actions on other websites to provide targeted content
demdex	This cookie is set under the domain demdex.net and is used by Adobe Audience Manager to help identify a unique visitor across domains.
DigiTrust.v1.identity	Registers data on visitors’ website-behaviour. This is used for internal analysis and website optimization.
dmvk	This cookie is set by DailyMotion who display videos, it registers statistical data of visitors' behaviour on the website.
gid	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
GPS	This cookie is set by Youtube and registers a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location
is_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
is_visitor_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
sc_is_visitor_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
v1st	This is set by DailyMotion to display videos.

Cookie	Description
__asc	This cookie is used to collect information on consumer behavior, which is sent to Alexa Analytics.
__auc	This cookie is used to collect information on consumer behavior, which is sent to Alexa Analytics.
__qca	This cookie is associated with Quantcast and is used for collecting anonymized data to analyze log data from different websites to create reports that enables the website owners and advertisers provide ads for the appropriate audience segments.
_cc_aud	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_cc	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_dc	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_id	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_kuid_	The cookie is set by Krux Digital under the domain krxd.net. The cookie stores a unique ID to identify a returning user for the purpose of targeted advertising.
_px2	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
_pxff_tm	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
_pxhd	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
ab	This cookie is generally provided by agkn.com and is used for advertising purposes.
ad-privacy	Provided by amazon-adsystem.com for tracking user actions on other websites to provide targeted content to the users.
ayl_visitor	This cookie registers data on the visitor. The information is used to optimize advertisement relevance.
bafp	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bafp_t	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_pl	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_rf_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_rt_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_t_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_td_2d31c94105a0aa6d1ceaea0c86c6b656	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bito	This cookie is generally provided by bidr.io and is used for advertising purposes.
bitoIsSecure	This cookies are generally provided by bidr.io and is used for advertising purposes.
bsc	The cookies is set by ownerIQ for the purpose of providing relevant advertisement
CMID	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
CMPRO	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
CMPS	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
dc_id	This cookie is used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator's permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers.
did	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
didts	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
dpm	The cookie is set by demdex.net. This cookie assigns a unique ID to each visiting user that allows third-party advertisers target that users with relevant ads.
eud	This cookie is from Rocket Fuel and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
euds	This cookie is from Rocket Fuel and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
everest_g_v2	The cookie is set under eversttech.net domain. The purpose of the cookie is to map clicks to other events on the client's website.
evo5_popin_instance	Prevents an interaction from reoccurring for visitors not accepting 3rd party cookies.
id	This cookie is set by DoubleClick (which is owned by Google) to build a profile of the website visitor's interests and show relevant ads on other sites.
IDE	Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
io.narrative.guid.v2	This cookie is generally provided by io.narrative.io and is used for advertising purposes.
KADUSERCOOKIE	This cookie is generally provided by pubmatic.com and is used for advertising purposes.
KTPCACOOKIE	This cookie is generally provided by pubmatic.com and is used for advertising purposes.
matchliveramp	This cookie is provided by w55c.net and is used for advertising purposes.
mc	This cookie is associated with Quantserve to track anonymously how a user interact with the website.
mxpim	This cookie is generally provided by mxptint.net for advertising purposes.
na_tc	This is a Social Media sharing tracking cookie.
NID	This cookie is used to a profile based on user's interest and display personalized ads to the users.
nnls	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
pxrc	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
pxvid	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
rlas3	The cookie is set by rlcdn.com. The cookie is used to serve relevant ads to the visitor as well as limit the time the visitor sees an and also measure the effectiveness of the campaign.

Cookie	Description
__jid	Cookies set on the website by the third-party commenting platform Disqus.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
disqus_unique	These cookies are set by Disqus so that users can comment on website/platform.
G_ENABLED_IDPS	The cookie is used by Google and is used for Google Single Sign On.
mid	The cookie is set by Instagram. The cookie is used to distinguish users and to show relevant content, for better user experience and security.
na_id	This cookie is set by Addthis.com to enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
ouid	The cookie is set by Addthis which enables the content of the website to be shared across different networking and social sharing websites.
ov	This is a generic functional cookie that provides enhanced functionality and personalisation.
ts	This cookie is generally provided by PayPal and supports payment services in the website.
vuid	These cookies are used by the Vimeo video player on websites.

WWF Raw Is War 17/01/2000