Throwback Thursday: Looking back at WWE Backlash 2000

Each and every Thursday I will look back at a different pay-per-view event from the past via the WWE Network. Want to see a certain event covered? Send your suggestions to @VaughnMJohnson on Twitter.

Last time, I covered the WWE No Way Out 2004

WWE Backlash 2000

Date: April 30, 2000

Venue: MCI Center (now the Verizon Center), Washington, D.C.

Some random notes

This was the second annual Backlash event. The first was held in 1999 as the final In Your House pay-per-view.

This may sound a tad bit biased (maybe a lot actually), but this event will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first pay-per-view my mother ordered for me when I was a kid.

By the year 2000, I was 11 years old and knee-deep in wrestling fandom, but for whatever had never seen a pay-per-view live. I had seen some VHS tapes after the fact, but never live.

That was until Backlash. Why this was the first? I honestly have no idea, but in hindsight I'm so glad it was. My first live pay-per-view could have easily been WrestleMania the month prior, but thankfully it wasn't.

That show had one very good match, a bunch of overbooked messes and one very, very unsatisfying ending. Costing about $30 back in 2000, WWE pay-per-views were sort of expensive to order on a monthly basis, meaning I had to pick and choose my spots. Again, for some strange reason, this was the first.

I had a blast watching it at the time and as the years have gone on, it has remained as one of the most memorable pay-per-views of that era, mostly because of its ending.

It was kind of funny seeing Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins in the front row for this event considering the position he in today as president of TNA Wrestling.

TNA Wrestling isn't really competition for WWE because really has no competition in the wrestling industry, but it is a company trying to step up to a level where maybe it could be a viable No. 2 to WWE. That spot is currently occupied by Ring of Honor, in my opinion.

With that said, let's get to the matches.

WWE Tag Team championship – Edge & Christian def. X-Pac & Road Dogg

I'm not sure why Debra was the special guest ring announcer for this match. Apparently, she had been gone from WWE and was making her return. She apparently had left the road to tend to the ailing Steve Austin, whom she had already married by this point in 2000.

Although Edge and Christian were already tag team champions, but they weren't yet the entertaining heel duo they would eventually become.

At this point, Edge and Christian were still entering the arena through the crowd. Once they turned heel, they put a stop to the crowd entrances.

The match was pretty standard with tag team action wrestling fans have seen hundreds of times before.

However the ending intrigued me with Edge and Christian cheating by using the ring bell to retain their titles despite the fact that they were still babyfaces at this point.

X-Pac, the recipient of the ring bell, was busted open as a result. He left quite a bit of blood in the ring.

WWE Light Heavyweight championship – Dean Malenko def. Scotty 2 Hotty

Scotty 2 Hotty, as was Too Cool as a unit, were massively over in 2000. When people mention the tag teams of the Attitude Era Too Cool is often overlooked and I'm not totally sure why.

Maybe it's because they didn't take part in the famous Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches like the Dudley Boyz, Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian, but they were very popular with the fans and would get some of the loudest reactions of anyone in the company at that point.

I distinctly remember as a kid playing in the school yard before class and during recess and doing wrestling moves to each other. Every kid would try the stunner and other famous moves, but we would also trying doing Scotty 2 Hotty's worm move.

None of us could actually do the worm, but the move was so over it had a playground full of kids trying to reenact it every morning.

This match was a lot longer than I had remembered. It was also very, very good. Malenko spent the majority of the match working on Scotty 2 Hotty's knee. Despite that, he was still able to hop around on one leg in order to set up the worm.

The finish was very unique, but also very dangerous. Scotty 2 Hotty attempted to deliver a super-plex to Malenko, but the man of 1,000 holds turned the tables and countered it into a DDT from the top rope.

The result looked awesome, but also looked quite risky. There wasn't much room for error there.

Big Boss Man & Bull Buchanan def. The Acolytes

I loved Big Boss Man's darker transformation that began in 1998. It made perfect since given the more edgy programming WWE was producing at that point.

In watching this match, I wondered what it would have been like if Big Boss Man — real name Ray Traylor — had lived to see the formation of The Shield.

The similarities between the two parties are obvious from an aesthetic standpoint. I wonder if he could have been a mouthpiece of sorts for the trio. It's not that Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns needed one. They were just fine on their own, but it's fun to wonder.

Speaking off Boss Man, he used his trusty nightstick to bash Bradshaw in the face, which led to a scissor kick from the top rope from Buchanan to pick up the win.

WWE Hardcore championship – Crash Holly def. Hardcore Holly, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Perry Saturn & Tazz

The only rule of the match was that the only way it could end if someone pinned Crash Holly or if he pinned someone else.

Realizing he was a marked man, which was nothing new, Crash Holly attempted to escape on many occasions. On one occasion, he fled to the entrance structures, which were the awesome swinging hooks (Please bring these back, WWE). He then climbed the hooks. Needless to say, it didn't turn out so well for poor Crash.

It was inevitable that Crash would be thwarted in his ascent. It was also inevitable that either Matt or Jeff Hardy would climb up and jump off. Matt Hardy got out of the way very quickly.

The Hardy Boyz also broke out a ladder, which the crowd was definitely in favor for.

After taking a hellacious beating throughout the match, Crash just so happen to be in the right place at the right time to roll over and cover Tazz, who had knocked out by a stop sign, for the win.

Crash grabbed the Hardcore title from the referee and literally crawled his way backstage.

Big Show def. Kurt Angle

This was a period where Big Show was still trying to find himself as a character in WWE.

A month after taking part in the main event of WrestleMania, Big Show became a fun-loving giant that danced and impersonated other wrestlers, including Val Venis and The Godfather.

Angle took exception to Big Show's antics, which set up this match. Big Show had shown his serious in the weeks prior to this match, but on this night, he showed up dressed like Hulk Hogan circa 1989.

Before the match, Angle ripped into Washington, D.C. for re-electing former mayor Marion Barry. I actually side with Angle on this. What in the world were they thinking?

Big Show cut a promo of his own before the match, as he channeled Hogan. He then began match by hulking up on Angle. He even hit the big boot and the leg drop. The crowd bought every single moment of this.

The antics eventually ended, as Big Show ripped off the Hogan headpiece and got serious on Angle. Big Show hit the choke slam and ended the match in quick fashion.

T & A def. The Dudley Boyz

Bubba Ray Dudley went from having a speech impediment to going into what was described as "orgasmic trances" after he power bombed women through tables.

Why he got saddled with those two characters is beyond me.

The reason why this match even existed was because Bubba Ray's next target was Trish Stratus. Despite having many chances to go through with his sick fantasy, Stratus would always find a way to escape by planting kisses on him, which would seemingly send him into another world of ecstasy or something.

After all of the anticipation, the payoff to this wasn't the match. It was seeing Bubba Ray send Stratus through a table.

The Dudley Boyz lost the match, but Bubba Ray finally got his wish by putting Stratus through the table, making her the real loser on this night.

Stratus was then stretchered out of the arena and loaded into an ambulance, but one thing led to the next.

Side note: It's a crazy to think that a man once known as Prince Albert is now the head coach of WWE's entire developmental system. Only in wrestling can something like that happen.

WWE European championship – Eddie Guerrero def. Essa Rios

So here's the story: Guerrero had apparently just recently received his General Educational Development diploma (GED) and decided to go to the prom for the first time.

I didn't know that they had proms for GED recipients, but whatever.

It just so happen his prom was on this particular Sunday night — the same night he was scheduled to defend his European championship against Essa Rios.

Guerrero, along with his mamacita Chyna, arrived late to the arena in a low rider and were still buzzing over the good time they had at the prom.

However, a referee, who just so happen to helping Stratus out of the arena, quickly rained on their parade by informing Guerrero and Chyna that if the champion didn't get to the ring immediately, he was going to be forced to forfeit his title.

For the first time I can remember, Guerrero pulled up to the ring in one of his low riders. It was sign of things to come Latino Heat.

The eventual match was actually a lot of fun because of the athleticism displayed by both Guerrero and Rios. Guerrero retained his title thanks to a spinning neck breaker.

After the match, Lita jumped into the ring and tore of Chyna's evening gown. Chyna was embarrassed at first, but eventually shrugged it off thanks to Guerrero's charm.

WWE Intercontinental championship – Chris Benoit def. Chris Jericho via disqualification

These two had tremendous chemistry together, which is why they were constantly put against each other and eventually teamed up to win the tag team titles.

Their matches together helped make the Intercontinental title means something. It was because it was two guys that were already over vying for the company's second-most prestigious prize.

In today's WWE, going after the Intercontinental title means you're not that over so here's something to do.

During the course of the match, Jericho inadvertently hit the referee, which allowed Benoit to hit him with the Intercontinental championship belt.

Benoit then climbed to the top rope and attempted a diving head butt, but was met with a face full of title when Jericho held it up as a shield of sorts.

Unfortunately for Jericho, the referee came to and saw it all. He then disqualified him. Jericho, upset by the decision, put the referee in the walls of Jericho.

WWE championship – The Rock def. Triple H

One of the major reasons why this match is so memorable was because it was worthy of being the main event of WrestleMania.

As a matter of fact, it should have been, but for some strange reason it wasn't.

To me, the WrestleMania main event should be between the No. 1 babyface and the No. 1 heel going at that point in time. I know that it doesn't always work out this way, but if that option is available, I think its one WWE should take.

That option was definitely available for WWE in 2000. Triple H was by far the top heel in all of wrestling and was in the midst of one of the best years of his career.

With Austin on the shelf with a neck injury, The Rock assumed the role of the top babyface. He filled those shoes very, very well.

On top of that, The Rock and Triple H had never had a marquee match at WrestleMania and it just made perfect sense for these two to headline WrestleMania for the championship and for The Rock to triumph in the end to send everyone home happy.

However, that is not what happened. Instead WWE, insisted on having all four McMahons involved somehow and thought it would be a good idea to have fatal four-way with one in each corner.

The Rock and Triple H were logical choices for the match, but WWE also added Big Show, who wasn't quite ready for that spot yet and the recently retired Mick Foley, who was admittedly not in top form.

As if that wasn't enough, WWE made the horrible mistake of having the bad guy, Triple H, win in the end. That's not a good way to end WrestleMania.

WWE seemingly came to its senses after WrestleMania and shoved Big Show and Foley to the side and left the WWE championship scene to strictly the top heel and top babyface in the company, which brings us to Backlash.

The story of the match is not unlike other stories involving Vince McMahon during this era. With the entire McMahon family (sans Linda) on one accord, Vince McMahon attempted to stack the deck against The Rock by having Shane McMahon as the special guest referee, which happened for the second year in a row at Backlash.

Linda McMahon then stepped in as the voice of reason and put Austin in The Rock's corner. Austin had been away from WWE television since November of 1999 due to neck surgery.

However, he was still capable of being in The Rock's corner and probably helped boost ticket and pay-per-view sales.

The story of the night was Austin's whereabouts, as he wasn't in the building all day.

Before the match began, Vince McMahon said that because the card is subject to change, he regretted to inform the fans that Austin would not be appearing that night.

The match itself was mostly Triple H dictating the pace with the help of Shane and Vince McMahon. Shane McMahon attempted fast counts left and right and Vince McMahon got physical with The Rock on a few occasions.

Things picked up when The Rock landed a double rock bottom through the announce table to Triple H and Shane McMahon.

Because there was no official, Vince McMahon waved down another one, which turned out to Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco.

The McMahon-Helmsley Regime then began ganging up on The Rock until the glass shattered and Austin made his way to the ring. The crowd was immediately sent into euphoria.

What happened from here is some of the most amazing stuff in wrestling history and is definitely among WWE's hottest finishes.

Austin, who could not do the stunner thanks to his ailing neck, went to the ring with a steel chair. He hit Triple H. He then hit Patterson, then Brisco. He made his way into the ring and hit Shane McMahon and eventually hit Vince McMahon.

The crowd is still going crazy.

Austin then walks away from the ring. As he was leaving, Linda McMahon and fired referee Earl Hebner were walking to the ring. I guess Linda McMahon had hired Hebner back earlier that day because Hebner had his referee shirt on.

Before they could get to the ring, Stephanie McMahon got in her mom's way, but was quickly shoved down to the floor.

Just as that is happening, The Rock was setting up for the people's elbow. The crowd hasn't slowed down yet.

The Rock eventually hit the elbow and pinned Triple H. Linda McMahon then sent Hebner into the ring so could count to three and crown The Rock as the new WWE champion.

The fans, which had been cheering for maybe five consecutive minutes, got even louder once The Rock finally won. There were grown men in the crowd jumping around in celebration of The Rock's triumph.

When I watched this for the first time live, I remember throwing a bottle of water across the room and pumping my fist as if I was Michael Jordan after beating the Cavaliers in the playoffs.

I was just so happy. See how satisfying that was? Now why couldn't WWE make that happen at WrestleMania?

After the match, Austin returned, but this time came with the D-X Express bus he had destroyed on Smackdown. Austin grabbed a couple of beers, handed one to The Rock and toasted to the championship.