This one's probably not gonna be up much longer because of copyright stuff, so get a gander quickly. This one has been chosen for a couple of reasons. One, SummerSlam is right around the corner, and why not prepare by viewing one of the most highly regarded matches from the event of all-time? Two, back when I asked for requests, commenter "I'm Not Your Buddy, Pal" wanted to see some of the WWF's midcard scene, specifically the Intercontinental and Hardcore Championships. I've actually never seen this match before now, so it was a good eye opener.
It starts off with the DX theme being performed live for Triple H's entrance. Not a bad performance at all. I always liked the original DX theme. For as much as I hate Trips, since forming DX, he's always had great theme songs. Rock comes out with Mark Henry. If you would have told me back then that Mark Henry would develop into one of the best wrestlers in the WWE today, I'd have probably slapped you in the face and said you were crazy. My, how perceptions change.
Match starts out very quickly, which seemed to be indicative of the Russo booking. Teased finishers and signature moves are out in the open within the first couple of minutes. Rock tosses Trips out of the ring and goes for the ladder, but Trips intercepts him. The process is repeated vice versa with interspersed brawling. It's funny how symmetrical the WWF/E's booking can be in big matches. It's much more noticeable towards the end, especially with telegraphing blocked or kicked-out-of finishers, but in Part 1, it's there. You have Rocky going for the ladder and Trips decking him from behind, and then a few minutes later, the process is reversed almost to a tee.
A few tasty nuggets from Part 1 include a much younger-sounding Jim Ross shilling the Superstar Line and the ubiquitous-in-1998 "Rocky sucks!" chant. Oh you fans you, you didn't know what you had with The Great One, who for my money became the best wrestler the company had by 2000. That's right, better than Angle, better than Benoit, better than Austin, better than Guerrero. Better than Jericho.
Part 1 ends with Trips taking a mid-level bump into the ladder (mid-level as far as ladder matches go anyway) and we're into the meat of the match which actually has a lot of Rock on offense. It's amazing how good he looks, how crisp his shots and how fluid his motions are. The way he's working Trips' injured leg is amazing. I always thought that the "Rocky can't wrestle" wrap was because he was sloppy, but it doesn't show here. Just goes to show that some people don't appreciate a match with fewer than 5 "moves" in it.
I have to say that Trips is bumping and selling like a champ here too. He goes out of his way to make it look believable, and some of the stuff he took, especially the kneebreaker on the ladder at around 5:10 of Part 2, was made by his reactions. I've always said that I didn't begrudge Trips a main event spot period, because even without banging Steph, I thought he had the potential to make it.
Alright, into the home stretch we come, and it's time for the big spots. Baseball slide with the ladder from Trips to Rock. People's Elbow on the ladder. Rock Bottom. Pedigree. All the big spots. It's shaping up to be a great ending, but predictably with the Russo era, there has to be shenanigans with the finish. Henry throws powder in Trips' eyes, and then Chyna low-blowing Rock off the ladder leads directly to the finish. I know it was the style of the time, but I still don't care for it. I mean, it's not as bad as the Jericho/Cena finish from the 4/20 RAW, where Edge caused the blatant DQ, but it still gives a little bit of the wrestling blue balls. I mean, the story of the match is that Triple H fought valiantly and intelligently against the arrogant blue-chip Champion. I would have liked a clean finish there.
Still, this holds up as a great match. There's minimal interference before the finish. As stated before, Rock on offense and Trips bumping and selling make this match. Trips shows off what makes him the Cerebral Assassin better than any amount of overselling that JR could do for him ever would, and JR and King call a good match. Finally, it harkens back to a time when the Intercontinental Championship and the midcard actually meant something. Even in the days of Russo Crash-TVing everything up, you could tell that he at least cared about what happened sub the main event.
Moral of the story, it ain't perfect, but what is? Fantastic match. Enjoy it now, because it may not be here for that much longer!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
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