[2000-07-23-WWF-Fully Loaded] HHH vs Chris Jericho (Last Man Standing)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Triple H vs Chris Jericho - WWF Fully Loaded 2000 Last Man Standing

 

Triple H wants Chris Jericho's ass. How do I know this? He said it on four separate occasions in the video package. This is a battle of probably the best heads of hair in pro wrestling history (Big Sexy Kevin Nash would also be in contention). I miss both these guys with long hair. Jericho's Bon Jovi 2000 look is lame and HHH just is not the same without Pantene Pro-V hair. This is only the SECOND Last Man Standing match in WWF history at the time. Wow! I know this is just a Death Match without the need for covers, but thats pretty crazy and it was so fresh at this point.

 

The angle is Jericho kissed Steph and was calling her names. This got HHH hot and bothered and now he really wanted Jericho's ass. He injured his ribs with a sledge hammer attack. I think the biggest problem babyface Jericho faced was he never really had a chance to prove himself in an asskicking feud. As I have said in the past, it is critical to position young, pretty boy babyfaces against violent brutes so they can prove their mettle as a man (Fabs vs Moondogs, Fans vs Herders etc...). Jericho was better suited as a heel given his offense capability. Jericho only seemed to bring out his asskicking against Benoit. JR did a fabulous job putting over Jericho's toughness and manliness in this match, but honestly I dont think it came through in the performance. The Benoit matches were better suited for that story, but they were too technical to not put over Jericho as an asskicker. The beginning of the match saw Jericho come out hot, which was nice. His punches were fine. I liked his springboard dropkick, but not much in the way of next level violence. HHH hotshotted Jericho onto his ribs on the barricade. HHH does a pretty good job working on the ribs. There were some HHH-isms like looking too strong at times, but he did work hard on top and was focused on the ribs. The Lionsault into the knees was the perfect hope spot. Love it! Jericho firing up and giving Trips the crotch chop was an excellent act of defiance. HHH pounces on him with a Pedigree in a great spot of urgency. Jericho wont stay down! Trips gets a chair, but dawdles and Jericho low bridges him and then busts him wide open with a chair. I really wanted Jericho to make that comeback that would really cement him as a main event player, but he just did not have it in him. The layout was pretty shaky in the closing stretch. They cut the comeback short to do a double knockout spot with monitors, which was lame. Jericho's only real big offensive weapon is Walls so he gets that, but his heat was dissipated by cutting him off too quickly. Now putting Steph into Walls (she sold into the post-match) was a fucking excellent spot. I think they should have led with that as the climax to the shine. The finish is pretty weak with HHH hitting a standard back suplex into an announce table. and getting up at 9.99 and then collapsing.

 

I don't think HHH intentionally tried to bury Jericho in this. Look at the finish, it was clearly constructed to protect Jericho. HHH sold huge for Jericho. He was selling like he did for Cactus at the Rumble. The layout here just did nothing for Jericho. Jericho just did not have the offense to be taken seriously as an asskicking babyface. The finish run was weak. Heat segment was very well-executed. I say it falls short of greatness. ***3/4

[Matt D]

I wrote this up on DVDVR a couple of years ago. Reposting here with a few edits as it was for a very specific project:

 

I think the video package before the match is really well done. I don't remember too much of this stuff, to be honest, but one of the knocks against Hunter in general is that he didn't "make" too many people, and I realize at the time the entire internet was enamored with Jericho due to his 98 WCW run, so the idea that someone had to "make" him was probably considered absurd, but that's exactly what Hunter did here. This was set up with Jericho getting one over on him three times before he fell into the numbers game and a Horseman-Style Beatdown. From the looks of it, it was really, really good pro wrestling and allowed for the escalation that made a Last Man Standing match necessary. Hunter let himself be humiliated in order to get Jericho over as a fiery worldbeater, and it worked.

 

Jericho deserves credit for the opening stretch. He brought a real fire and all of the stuff on the outside looked good. The fans completely buy it. If I had any critiques on him they'd be that the mounted punches on the inside were pretty weak and I would have loved to see some selling of the injury after the flying back elbow off the top, especially since that came right before Hunter started on the ribs. That could have been a really great overzealous moment leading to the transition. As for Hunter here, I think he was good at fighting back just enough. I didn't like his clothesline bumps at all. They looked terrible but he more than made up for it on the bump to the outside and the super stylized bump from the shoulder thrust into the ring.

 

, but this is a match where it really pays off to talk about the rib-work. It was set up so well in the angle leading up to the match. The transition is pretty awesome as Hunter uses his usual reversal to the back body drop but does it to the ribs instead. They tease a little hope spot of Jericho immediately fighting back, but then Hunter drops him right on the rail and then the stairs and he doesn't really look back. His kicks on the inside are vicious. His shoulder thrusts are good. The image of Hunter rolling Jericho around the ring with the tape is pretty memorable.

 

When it comes to bodypart work it's all about keeping it interesting and believable by the person on offense and the selling by the person taking it. Hunter does a pretty good job of varying what he's doing (stomps, knee drops, kicks, knee lifts, the thrusts, the abdominal stretch w/ clubbering, etc), breaking it up a little bit with gimmicks (the tape choking, and the Stephanie slap, the suplex on the floor, grabbing the rope on the abdominal stretch, the ref pushing). I think maybe there are too many gimmicks actually. Jericho does a solid job selling the pain. He's no Ricky Morton but he has both the story to lean on and the fans behind him. He has a decent amount of hope spots that are logical (generally based off of him getting enough space due to rolling into the ring or Hunter arguing with the ref) and okay but really not milked enough to really get the fans really into them. Hunter's cut offs are good though, especially the lionsault counter. I don't think he executed the Stretch well at all but it almost didn't matter too much since it still looked painful on the midsection. It was noticeably weird however. The bodyscissors during the sleeper is extremely smart and plays into both the story of the match and the LMS gimmick (Steph doing the Daniel Bryan YES hand motions at each count is great).

 

Then we shift into WWE storytelling mode. The key stretch is when Jericho gets up post Sleeper/Body-scissors and shows defiance leading into the super-mean Pedigree and then Jericho getting up again. There are parts of this I like: just how mean the Pedigree is, the crotch chop, Hunter hanging out on the corner arrogantly, Steph being pissed off during the post-Pedigree where she was jubilant on the post-sleeper one. Obviously the getting up from the Sleeper is a tease for the real moment, Jericho getting up from the Pedigree, but I think it might have worked better if he was in it for longer. The one major issue so far is that we haven't had enough time with Jericho in pain. Hunter's two submissions were ones that covered up his face and Jericho's body language hasn't quite been up to task. Anyway, I don't think he quite nails the "getting up at 9" moment with the right body language either. He's just sort of meandering towards the ropes as Hunter rushes out of the ring pissed off to get the chair that he kills Jericho with. We needed some blood out of Jericho's mouth or something here. Were they leading to some sort of ref strike gimmick or something? I forget. It seems weird that arguing with the ref in a NO DQ match would lead to two Jericho comebacks, including the big one; maybe if it was a special ref but whatever.

 

Jericho's low blow is really good for what it's worth. Very glad he went with that and not just a double leg takedown or back body drop. Jericho's chairshot on Hunter is huge, right in the middle of the ring with a giant noise. It had to be big enough to completely turn the match around and I think they frame it well Jericho sells excellently on his comeback and it lets Hunter almost get back in it a few times which is really good stuff. I think Jericho's offense is okay but sort of out of touch for the point of the match they're in. This isn't the part of the match where you want to see so much light, flying stuff, if that makes sense, even if it's done onto a chair. There's a bit of meandering once Hunter takes a powder too, until we get the slightly contrived ribs (execution issue. There wasn't the sense of Hunter aiming him) into the steps spot.

 

I like the consistency of Hunter trying to Pedigree Jericho on hard objects and this time the backdrop works and Hunter takes a big bump off the stairs. The double video monitor shot is pretty silly but it works for a double tease. I kind of like how they entered the match into an environment where the Spanish announce table was already busted.

 

Anyway, they head back into the ring and we get the Walls and the visual tap. I feel like Jericho needed more offense in his comeback to get to this point, to be honest. He had that one stretch but other than the chairshot I wasn't super happy with it. Hunter's shouting and body language is actually extremely effective here as was the rope stuff. We get the big Steph moment to break it, another mini rib transition which sets up the missed sledge hammer spot and I don't totally love how all this is laid out but I do like the high concept at least. It goes back to the over-gimmicked nature of the earlier part of the match. I think that comes into play here too. There are almost too many "moments." It starts diluting everything. Jericho gets to get up from the Pedigree, gets the tap, gets Step, gets a sledgehammer shot in (though one that's ultimately meaningless). etc.

 

And what was up with that kind of lame suplex finish? I think after the two attempts to hit a Pedigree on something, he should have just finished it with one on the table.

 

Alright, I think that Hunter did a lot of good work here and Jericho mostly held his own but both guys' had flaws (micro and macro) that hurt the match. I especially liked Hunter's bodypart focus. Very strong middle section. That said, I think the match was a little too clever for its own good when it could have been tighter and more primal with only a few changes. I'd call it bloated but with a lot of strong elements that didn't fully come together.

 

I had come in thinking I'd be bored by Hunter's offense and that wasn't the case at all, though he did make some choices I didn't totally agree with. No, if anything the problem was big picture excess. It was still a pretty interesting match.

[mprice]

The blood that spurts out of HHH's head post chairshot is just disgusting, only really surpassed in later years by Vince at WM 19 and Eddie at Judgment Day 04.

[soup23]

The build absolutely helped this match for me and elevated it from something I thought was great before to a low level MOTYC. The work on top by HHH really shined for me as he is honed in on the ribs that play into the build. He varies things up enough and utilizes very logical moves that affect the body part and also play into the LMS stipulation. Jericho on the bottom created a good bit of sympathy and had a strong comeback with the low blow and chairshot where HHH opens up a gusher. The finale is dramatic between the double monitor shot and the sledgehammer coming into play. Jericho is able to get a good bit of revenge by having Steph in the walls and hitting HHH with the sledgehammer. The finish worked for me in being a brutal looking back suplex that again was a point of emphasis on the ribs and back of Jericho. It doesn't feel like HHH as much as he just survived. This really raised Jericho even more and he should have been destined to be a main event player from this point forward. ****1/2 (9)

 

We add in the promo from Raw on the last night. This is a neat bit of angle development as Jericho talks about the toll that was taken on his body last night. He wants a piece of HHH now however. HHH is on the big screen and gives Jericho credit while also admitting that he is the game and that he proved he was the better man. This was a great promo to show that this issue was over and would be revisited at some point down the road.

[bradhindsight]

We watched this as part of our July live watch so my running steam of consciousness notes flow like this:

 

-HHH bumping face first off a shoulder to the gut through the ropes is fantastic.

-Like the rib work and I love a good irish whip into an abdominal stretch (not being snarky)

-I like the first count centered around the ribs after all the work he did.

-Hunter's disgust over the pedigree not getting the 10 count really gets the match and Jericho over

- Excellent transition - Low blow -> chair shot -> Jericho still selling on offense and taking it to HHH

-Terrific finish booking-wise. Table spot looked rougher than i remembered (poor HHH's knee essentially took the brunt to break it).

 

Loved everything they did count-wise there. Terrific match still 17 years later. ****1/4

[AstroBoy]

I found myself torn watching this at first. Triple H goes on a long control segment and I find myself thinking this should be worked more like a back and forth brawl instead of a heel on top slow burn. But it builds and builds and really gets the crowd to come around for Jericho's big low blow and subsequent comeback. Just to clarify I had a style of match I found myself *preferring* they would have worked compared to what they did and in reality the match they worked was fantastic.

 

HHH and his blade job was totally disgusting and stands as a big enough moment to symbolically turn the tide in this. There's enough bullshit with Stephanie and the ref mixed in with the violence. I can understand criticisms of Jericho not being enough of an urgent asskicker here but what he did worked for the people in the crowd and worked for me too. Honestly I feel like HHH gave a ton and put in a really strong performance to get over Jericho at this level. The finish is simultaneously unsatisfying while also making perfect sense. I expected this to lose a lot from when I saw it years and years ago but if anything I feel it holds up better now.

 

****1/4

[ohtani's jacket]

I remember being into this match back when I was a dyed-in-the-wool WWF fan. Like a lot of fans, I was desperately hoping that Jericho would become a main eventer and that VInce would prove, once again, that he could make anyone a star. Looking back on it, it's not that memorable a fight. The nuts and bolts of the bout aren't bad but it lacks that visceral hatred you'd expect from a man whose wife has been assaulted. The ideas where there, they just failed to ratchet up the emotion. Hunter is usually pretty good at that sort of thing but it wasn't one of his better performances. Jericho was all right but his star didn't shine. Their TV match where Jericho won the title was more electric than this.

[cactus]

So Jericho forced himself on Stephanie and Triple H wants to destroy Jericho, but somehow Jericho is the babyface?! That element of this program hasn't aged very well, but at least the match still rules! Jericho actually brings the hate here, so that automatically gets a thumbs-up from me. Triple H dominates the first ten minutes by going after Jericho's taped-up ribs. It's not the most exciting control segment, but at least it's logical and Triple H looks like a right sadistic fuck enjoying his handiwork. After arguing with the referee one too many times, Triple H eats a low blow and a chair shot in a great transitional spot. The fans pick right up and Triple H bleeds a gusher. I enjoyed the finish and I thought that it protected Jericho. Yes, Trips wins the match, but he was only able to do so by the skin of his teeth. ★★★★¼