[2000-06-18-WWF-Sunday Night Heat] HHH vs Hardcore Holly

[soup23]

Good chance for both here to pad out their 2000 resume. I liked how HHH had a more brawling aspect throughout this match and when Holly pounds him down in the corner, he gets a big face reaction. Even with the sidewalk slam, that is presented as a decent nearfall. HHH has worked well at playing towards the strengths of his opponents in 2000 so far. The action goes to the outside and HHH flies Holly into the ring post. HHH takes over and is good on offense. I liked him adding the little kiss to Steph mid match for more heat. HHH gets into it with Tim Dwight. Holly has a good bit of offense at the end when Steph gets on the ring apron. Jericho rushes down and pulls her down and then beats up both HHH and Holly hitting each with the belt. The Jericho vs HHH feud is really fun and so was this match. *** (5.9)

[GSR]

For one night only, as he’s facing the World champion, Bob Holly is the defacto face, although this is a non-title bout. Holly with a snug side headlock, HHH shoots him off, ‘Hardcore’ gets the better of the shoulder tackle and the crowd come unglued. A stiff right hand and Hunter takes to the floor to try and compose himself. The two trade blows and Holly comes out on top, unloading with a flurry of rapid punches and then stomping a mud hole in ‘the Game’ who crumples in the corner. Sideslam for two and Holly complains about a slow count before clotheslining Triple H over the top rope and to the outside. Hunter drags him out with him, but ‘Hardcore’ blocks having his head rammed into the ring steps and does it to HHH instead. Whip to the ring post is reversed though as Holly goes crashing into it. High knee to the face. Triple H measures the knee drop and Holly kicks out of the cover at two to a great response. Now ‘the Game’ is complaining to the official about the count but Tim White is taking no shit tonight and, when HHH shoves him, shoves him back letting him know who is in charge here. ‘Hardcore’ escapes the sleeper and hits a belly to back suplex. Picture perfect dropkick and Steph’s face is a picture as she realises her man is in trouble. Scoop powerslam and HHH gets a shoulder up at the last split second. Hunter’s backing off, but Holly telegraphs the backdrop and a facebuster by ‘the Game’. The pedigree is countered as Holly catapults Triple H into the turnbuckles, however there’s no-one home on the running splash and he goes flying into the top one. Steph is up on the apron distracting White and behind his back she throws the World title belt towards HHH. Before he’s able to get his hands on it though, Chris Jericho sprints out and into the ring, picks up the belt and waffles Triple H with it. He clobbers Holly with it too for good measure and then celebrates with the belt raising it above his head as the crowd go wild.

 

The finish was weak but I suppose that it at least forwarded the HHH/Jericho storyline. Despite that though the match was a pleasant surprise, going over ten minutes and Triple H doing such a strong job that it looked like Holly might actually win this. The crowd were super hot throughout and I don’t know it that was due to the job they had done on elevating Holly with the Chris Benoit stuff or whether they just flat out hated HHH. I’d veer more towards the latter but this is a really strong match for Heat.

[Calvin]

Hardcore Holly was not defeating Triple H on Sunday Night Heat, but damn did they try hard to make us believe he had a fightin' chance. Hunter continues to excel at stooging and, hilariously enough, making his opponents look good.

***