This week, we will be publishing two Royal Rumble PPV flashback reports every day going back to 1997 leading to this year's Royal Rumble PPV. At 11:00 a.m., we'll be publishing an even-numbered PPV. At 5:00 p.m., we'll be publishing an odd-numbered year.

Monday - 1997 Rumble
Tuesday - 1998 Rumble & 1999 Rumble
Wednesday - 2000 & 2001 Rumbles
Thursday - 2002 & 2003 Rumbles
Friday - 2004 & 2005 Rumbles
Saturday - 2006 & 2007 Rumbles
Sunday - 2008 & 2009 Rumbles
Sunday night - Live PPV coverage of 2010 WWE Royal Rumble PPV

***

Royal Rumble PPV Flashback Report - 2000
January 23, 2000
New York City
Originally published: Torch Newsletter #586 (VIP Sign-Up)
Report by Wade Keller, Torch editor

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the event.

(1) Tazz beat Kurt Angle via submission at 3:14. They brawled at ringside early, then Tazz took over in the ring with a series of suplexes. He then applied the Tazzmission for the clean win. Angle had to be helped from the ring on a stretcher. Ross tried to play it up as if a serious injury may have occurred. Good debut. (*1/2)

(2) The Hardy Boys beat The Dudleys at 10:17. A total stuntfest with numerous innovative table spots and a lot of table spots we've seen before. Some of the set-ups for the stunts were laborious, but the payoff was usually pretty good. Buh Buh plunged backwards off the balcony through a table In the end, Matt flipped off the entryway balcony onto D-Von smashing him through a table on the floor. (***)

Backstage a paramedic informed a groggy Angle what happened. Angle said chokes are illegal, therefore technically he's still undefeated.

(3) Mae Young won the swimsuit competition over Ivory, Barbara Bush, Luna, Terri, Jackie, and The Kat. The ringside judges were Freddie Blassie, Johnny V., Sgt. Slaughter, Fabulous Moolah, Tony Garea, and Andy Richter (from NBC's Late Night). During Heat the promise was pretty much made that a woman was going to expose her breasts. After all of the women showed off their bodies in skimpy swimsuits, Young came out. She said the crowd wanted to see her puppies. She then took off her top. Mark Henry ran into the ring to cover her up, but she slipped out of his way and a couple of times for a second exposed her "Picasso painting" breasts. The most disturbing moment in PPV history. In a way, pretty funny, but definitely sick and wrong. The judges picked Young as the winner.

(4) Chris Jericho pinned Chyna at 7:27 in a three-way match with Hardcore Holly to become the single holder of the Intercontinental Title. Decent action some of the time, pretty sloppy at other times (for which Chyna is one-third to blame, not 100 percent). Chyna and Jericho kept sabotaging each other's chances to win. In the end, Jericho hit Chyna from behind when she had the camel clutch on Holly. Jericho then hit his athletic but completely harmless-looking Lion Tamer for the three count. (*3/4)

Michael Cole interviewed The Rock who gave a very good promo. New phrase: "You need a big glass of shut up juice." Kids across America will be saying that tomorrow at school. He vowed to win the Rumble and become WWF Champ at WrestleMania.

(5) The New Age Outlaws beat The Acolytes when Gunn pinned Bradshaw at 2:30 to retain the WWF Tag Titles. In a cool move, Bradshaw caught Road Dogg in mid-air, then lifted a leg to give a charging Gunn a boot to the face. Faarooq showed some personality in mocking Road Dogg. X-Pac interfered leading to the finish. Good while it lasted. (*3/4)

(6) Triple H pinned Cactus Jack at 26:51 to retain the WWF Title. On TV it didn't seem Cactus got the reaction he was expecting from the fans. Very good match, but not flawless, deserving of four stars. At 2:30 Triple H nailed Cactus with a grossly stiff chairshot. Twenty seconds later Cactus was back on offense not showing any lingering signs from the blow. That is a match-killing 30 seconds because why take violence seriously if the first really violent blow has zero consequences? From there it was always entertaining, but somewhat of a farce because of the brutality and lack of long-term selling. At 5:00 they brawled toward the entryway and did some spots on some crates. In the process Triple H suffered a gash on his calf that bled. Cactus pig squealed like in his WCW days, but it didn't have quite the resonance of old. Foley nailed Triple H with a trash can. At 8:40 they introduced a barbed wire two-by-four into the mix. Triple H bled heavily from the forehead from blading. There were some nearfalls, but Ross hurt them by always saying "This is it! It's over! No it's not!" The only pin attempt that he didn't declare "must" be the end of the match was the one that ended the match. I knew it was the pin because Ross didn't say "It's over." Why be so predictable? Joey Styles does the same thing all the time. Cactus took some crazy bumps into the ringside stairs. They used handcuffs late in the match. At 23:00 Rock nailed Triple H with a chair for no apparent reason when Triple H was brawling with Cactus near the entryway. Rock quickly returned to the back. Foley then poured a bag of thousands of thumbtacks onto the mat. You knew Triple H wasn't going to take a bump onto them. He backdropped Foley onto them. Foley stood up with tacks sticking all over his body. Triple H gave Foley a Pedigree for a two count. A moment later he gave him another Pedigree, this time sickly on top of the tacks. He scored a three count. Foley had tacks stuck to his forehead. He could have poked his eyes. Triple H was stretchered out because of his loss of blood. Foley chased him down and rolled him back into the ring and dumped him at ringside. He hit Triple H with the barbed wire again. The crowd seemed into the match, but not especially into the "Cactus Jack" character. (****)

(7) The Rock eliminated Big Show at 50:29 to win the Royal Rumble and earn a WWF Title match at WrestleMania. D-Lo Brown (1) came out and wrestled Grand Master Sexay (2) to start. A new wrestler entered every 90 seconds. Mosh (3) came out next followed immediately by Kaientai who were dropped from the Rumble - and they weren't happy about it. Christian (4) came out followed by Rikishi (5). Rikishi cleared the ring of everyone but Sexay. Sexay wanted Rikishi to dance with him. Rikishi thought about throwing him over the top. Then Scotty Too Hotty (6) came out and convinced Rikishi to dance. The crowd popped bigger for the dancing than anything else on the card, including Cactus Jack. Rikishi danced, but then clotheslined and eliminated Too Cool. Steve Blackman (7) came out and hit Rikishi with a series of thrust kicks. Rikishi, though, turned the tables and eliminated him. Viscera (8) came out next, but missed a corner splash. Rikishi then kicked him three times and leveraged him over the top rope. Big Bossman (9) played it smart by stalling at ringside for 90 seconds waiting for the next wrestler to come out. Test (10) came out and attacked Bossman. British Bulldog (11) then entered the ring and attacked Rikishi while Bossman and Test fought. Gangrel (12), Edge (13), and Bob Backlund (14) were next. Backlund was an unscheduled surprise, wearing workout shorts and looking to be older and heavier, but in decent shape. At 21:30 Rikishi eliminated the six wrestlers. Chris Jericho (15) came out and quickly eliminated Backlund. Backlund left through the crowd.

Crash Holly (16) came out next. When Crash was a kid he played the part of Elroy Jetson in the '60s Jetsons cartoon series. Chyna (17) followed. She eliminated Jericho with a suplex over the top rope. Bossman kicked Chyna over the top rope right afterward. Faarooq (18) came out; the Mean Street Posse illegally entered the match and attacked him. Road Dogg (19) and Al Snow (20) were next. It was down to Test, Crash, Bossman, Gangrel, Edge, Road Dogg, and Snow at this point. Val Venis (21) came out. Masa Funaki of Kaientai then ran out to interfere indiscriminately. Prince Albert (22) entered and eliminated Edge (unfair trade). Hardcore Holly (23) then entered followed by Rock (24), who quickly eliminated Bossman and Crash. Billy Gunn (25) came out followed by Big Show (26), who eliminated Gangrel and Test. Bradshaw (27) came out, so the Posse attacked him. The Outlaws eliminated Bradshaw. Kane (28) came out and eliminated Val. Godfather (29) and X-Pac (30) rounded out the entrants. Kane eliminated Albert. Funaki ran back into the ring. Gunn eliminated partner Road Dogg. Kane eliminated Gunn.

The final four were X-Pac, Kane, Show, and Rock. Rock tossed X-Pac over the top rope; X-Pac took a huge flat back bump onto the floor. X-Pac returned to the ring, apparently because the ref didn't see him get eliminated. Kane gave Show an enziguiri. Kane bodyslammed Big Show. X-Pac kicked Kane over the top rope, then gave the Bronco Buster to Show. Show eliminated X-Pac. Rock then gave Big Show a People's Elbow, but Show came back with a big chokeslam. Show then flipped Rock over the top rope, but Rock took Big Show with him. Big Show hit the floor; Rock didn't. Rock skinned the cat back into the ring. As Rock did his post-match spiel, Big Show attacked him. (***1/4)

[Torch photos credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE FLASHBACK: Kane character debuts 18 yrs. ago today in first-ever Hell in a Cell match - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

HIAC FLASHBACK: Kane beats Undertaker in HIAC match 5 yrs. ago today, plus Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for WWE Title

ROH FLASHBACK: The aftermath of Joe vs. Kobashi 10 years ago today