Judgment Day (2000)


Judgment Day was the first annual Judgment Day professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on May 21, 2000, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The previous edition was an In Your House event held in October 1998. As a result of Owen Hart's death at Over the Edge in May 1999, Judgment Day was brought back in 2000 and was rebranded as an annual WWF pay-per-view event.
The main event was an Iron Man match for the WWF Championship and featured Triple H facing The Rock with WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Triple H defeated The Rock to win the championship by 6 falls to 5, after a disqualification in the final seconds by Shawn Michaels as a result of interference by the returning Undertaker. Featured matches on the undercard included a double tables match featuring D-Generation X defeating The Dudley Boyz. The other featured match on the undercard was a Submission match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, which Benoit won to retain the championship.

Storylines

The main event of the evening was a 60-minute Iron man match between former World Wrestling Federation Champion Triple H and the current title holder at the time, The Rock. At WrestleMania, Vince McMahon turned on The Rock and helped Triple H retain his title, joining his daughter Stephanie and son Shane in the McMahon-Helmsley Faction with Triple H and D-Generation X. In the weeks leading up to Backlash The Rock and Triple H's hostility had reached its climax it seemed. At Backlash, with the help of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock defeated Triple H. The next night on Raw Triple H stated that he wanted to take The Rock on in a 60-minute Iron man match for the World Wrestling Federation title, Shawn Michaels also got involved, requesting to be special guest referee.
In the meantime, Shane McMahon began a rivalry with the Big Show. Leading into WrestleMania Shane had actually aligned himself with Big Show, who at the time was feuding with The Rock over the finish to January's Royal Rumble. Shane interfered in their match at No Way Out in February and helped Big Show win, which earned Show the #1 contendership and a match with Triple H, who had won back the WWF Championship Big Show had taken from him at Survivor Series in November 1999, at WrestleMania. The match eventually grew to include The Rock and Mick Foley, and Big Show was the first wrestler eliminated from the ensuing elimination fatal-four-way main event. After WrestleMania, with Shane now siding with the defending champion, Big Show began a brief period where he would imitate other wrestlers in a comedic role. This earned him ridicule from Shane, so the two began a rivalry that led to a match at Judgment Day.
Another feud involving the Faction was DX's feud with the Dudley Boyz, which had started when they had defeated the New Age Outlaws at No Way Out for the WWF Tag Team Championship and caused the breakup of the Outlaws. Although the Dudleys did help out the Faction at times, they eventually turned on them and became heroes in the eyes of the fans. At the time Bubba Ray Dudley had taken to powerbombing many of the WWF's female wrestlers through tables and was keen on doing so to Tori, who was X-Pac's storyline girlfriend. This led to a tables match being set for Judgment Day.
The ongoing rivalry between Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho over the WWF Intercontinental Championship began at WresleMania 2000 where Benoit and Jericho along with Kurt Angle faced each other in a two fall triple threat match for both Angle's Intercontinental Championship and European Championship. Benoit won the Intercontinental Championship after pinning Jericho while Jericho won the European Championship after pinning Benoit. Jericho lost the European Championship to Eddie Guerrero the following night on Raw is War after Chyna turned on Jericho for Guerrero. Benoit defended the Intercontinental Championship against Jericho at Backlash where Benoit won by disqualification after Jericho used the title belt to defend himself from Benoit's Diving headbutt and was disqualified as a result. Benoit and Jericho had a rematch for the title on the May 4 episode of Smackdown! where Jericho won after hitting Benoit with the title belt then hitting him with the Lionsault while referee Earl Hebner was thrown out of the ring by Benoit. After aiding The Rock, confronting and insulting the McMahon-Helmsley Faction, Jericho was forced to defend the Intercontinental Championship on the May 8 episode of Raw is War. After retaining the title against Kurt Angle and Big Show, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Benoit after special guest referee Triple H purposely got distracted by his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley while Benoit tapped out to the Walls of Jericho and after Jericho hit him to get his attention Triple H hit Jericho from behind causing Jericho to be locked in Benoit's Crippler Crossface before Triple H called for the bell and awarded the title to Benoit despite Jericho not submitting. Benoit later announced that he would give Jericho a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship at Judgment Day in a submission match.

Event

Preliminary matches

The event opened with Team ECK facing Too Cool. Grand Master Sexay performed the Hip Hop Drop on Edge to win the match.
Next, Eddie Guerrero defended the WWF European Championship against Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko in a Triple Threat match. After Chyna hit Saturn with a bouquet of roses, Guererro pinned Malenko with an Oklahoma Roll to retain the title.
After that, Shane McMahon faced Big Show in a Falls Count Anywhere match. After interference from Big Boss Man, Test, Albert, Trish Stratus and Bull Buchanan, Shane hit Big Show with a cinderblock to win the match.
Later, Chris Benoit defended the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Chris Jericho in a Submission match. Jericho passed out to the Crippler Crossface by Benoit, meaning Benoit won the match and retained the title.
In the fifth match, D-Generation X faced The Dudley Boyz in a Tag Team Tables match. X-Pac performed a Super X-Factor through a table on Bubba to win the match.

Main event

In the main event, The Rock defended the WWF Championship against Triple H in a 60-minute Iron Man match with WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Rock performed a Rock bottom on Triple H to make the score 1-0. Triple H performed a Pedigree on Rock to make the score 1-1. Triple H pinned Rock with a Small Package to make the score 2-1. Triple H performed a Piledriver on Rock to make the score 3-1. Rock performed a DDT on Triple H to make the score 3-2. Triple H was disqualified for attacking Rock with a steel chair, making the score 3-3. Triple H pinned Rock using the ropes for leverage to make the score 4-3. Rock passed out to a Sleeper Hold by Triple H, making the score 5-3. Triple H was counted out after Rock performed a Pedigree on an announce table on Triple H, making the score 5-4. Rock performed a People's Elbow on Triple H to make the score 5-5. After Road Dogg and X-Pac interfered, The Undertaker returned and attacked Road Dogg, X-Pac, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon. Undertaker attacked Triple H with a Chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver as the time limit expired. Rock was disqualified for Undertaker's interference, meaning Triple H won the match 6-5 and the title.

Aftermath

The Rock continued his feud with Triple H, who now had to also contend with The Undertaker and, by association, Kane. This led to a six-man tag team match at King of the Ring the next month featuring The Rock, The Undertaker, and Kane against Triple H, Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon where if any member of Triple H's team was pinned, whoever scored the fall would win the WWF Championship. The Rock won the match for his team by pinning Vince McMahon.
DX and the Dudley Boyz continued their feud at King of the Ring as well, with a Table/Dumpster match with the same teams. DX won the match, but Bubba Ray got his revenge on Tori by putting her through a table.
Less than a week before King of the Ring, Chris Benoit would lose the Intercontinental Championship to Rikishi. Edge and Christian would lose the WWF Tag Team Championship to Too Cool. Crash Holly would regain the Hardcore Championship from Gerald Brisco, but would lose it back to him right before King of the Ring. Brisco would lose the title to Pat Patterson, starting a brief feud between the two.

Results

Iron man match

ScorePoint WinnerDecisionNotesTime
0–1The RockPinfallPinfall after a Rock Bottom.10:42
1–1Triple HPinfallPinfall after a Pedigree25:28
2–1Triple HPinfallPinfall with an inside cradle26:27
3–1Triple HPinfallPinfall after a Piledriver32:23
3–2The RockPinfallPinfall after a DDT40:35
3–3The RockDisqualificationTriple H was disqualified for attacking The Rock with a steel chair43:43
4–3Triple HPinfallPinfall using the ropes for leverage44:08
5–3Triple HSubmissionThe Rock passed out in a Sleeper hold by Triple H47:28
5–4The RockCount outTriple H was counted out after a Pedigree on a broadcast table by The Rock56:09
5–5The RockPinfallPinfall after a People's Elbow58:03
6–5Triple HDisqualificationThe Rock was disqualified after The Undertaker attacked Triple H with a Tombstone Piledriver with 1 second on the clock59:59