Rumble 2000

Hi Scott,


Loving the blog as always. The Rumble is now around the corner and I was watching old ones and had a handful of questions for you when coming across the 2000 edition:

1. Do you think 2000 is unarguably the best Rumble card of all-time?

​It was certainly pretty damn good up and down. ​

2. I know this has been touched on before, but do you think WWE is underrating the importance of special entrance stages? The stage at the 2000 Rumble is phenomenal, probably one of their best with the taxi cab in the stands and the back alley street set up. The detail with the graffiti brick walls and manhole covers is awesome. It made the event feel bigger in my opinion.

​Oh yeah, we’ve touched on this a million times, but their new philosophy of just using big LED boards to change themes is great from a cost-cutting perspective but shitty from a creative one. ​

3. When you watch a match like the tables match between the Hardys/Dudleys and it’s 10 minutes of unprotected chair shots to the head and guys flying through tables, is it harder for you to watch now? I still love it. I’d feel worse if they weren’t being paid well.

​Chairshots absolutely greeble me out now, for obvious reasons. We just know too much about concussions to watch them smash each other in the head like that. ​

4. For your money, is Cactus Jack/HHH the best street fight of all-time? I mean, pedigree on THUMB TACKS.

​When you combine the awesomeness of the match with the fantastic storyline leading up to it and the way that it made HHH into the biggest star in the business, there’s certainly that argument to be made.​

5. With the Rock/Big Show finish in the Rumble, how set were the plans at that point? Show went to the back, Rock cut a small promo, then Show comes back and throws him over the top to keep the angle going. Were they flying by the seat of their pants or was it planned at that time for a multi-man match a Mania?

​There was a rough plan for HHH v. Rock but it was looking like it was so hot that they decided to gamble and push it back to Backlash instead, but I don’t think they were quite there yet at the point of the Rumble. It was more around ​the February show where plans changed for real.

6. When’s the last time you watched this show? Any chance of a re-rant in the next month? It would be interesting to see your take nearly 16 years later.

​I’ve watched bits and pieces since then. I’ve seen HHH v. Cactus a few times since then and a couple of other matches from the show. It definitely holds up.​

Thanks and take care.