#5
Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin vs. The Rock vs. Rikishi vs. The Undertaker vs. Triple H
Armageddon 2000
I believe this is the most chaotic main event in the long history of WWE PPV, and really, isn’t that what Hell in a Cell is all about?
Just look at the talent amassed in this incredible match.
- Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medalist and current WWF Champion.
- Steve Austin, the face of pro wrestling.
- The Rock, see above.
- The Undertaker, a legitimate legend and the last of the true 90’s era mega-stars.
- Triple H, former world champion and stand-out star of the new generation.
- Rikishi, 425-pound Samoan at the peak of his popularity.
There wasn’t a single second of downtime in this entire match, which ended up raging on for almost 32 minutes. They used the inside of the cell, then Vince McMahon ripped off the door and they used the outside of the cell. They used the stage set with a dozen old cars, trash cans and some broken glass for good measure. They used the top of the cell, the sides of the cell, some tables, and a flatbed truck.
Honestly, my only complaint about this outstanding brawl is the way it ended. I love Kurt Angle, who will go down as one of the best two or three in-ring wrestlers of all time, but he did next to nothing offensively in half an hour of violent competition. I’m OK with him retaining – as Jim Ross stated to send the PPV off the air, the battle for the richest prize in the game intensifies – but the way he did was so anticlimactic.
This is the kind of street fight that makes you realize how different the current wrestling product is, and how limited everyone today feels in comparison. It’s not just the blood, which everyone was sporting by the end. We’re never going to get six guys fighting on top of the cage again. We’re never going to see a giant thrown 20 feet down to the earth again.
More importantly, there aren’t six guys (five and a half, really) on the current roster that reached the level of success that this collective had. The rich, chaotic atmosphere and certainty that “anything could happen” is so completely lost on the modern “softcore” product, where guys would rather fight plastic dolls and spray green mist at each other than cover their bitter rivals in a crimson mask.
