[2000-07-27-WWF-Smackdown] Chris Benoit & Trish Stratus vs Chris Jericho & Lita

[soup23]

It seems like the honeymoon is over as HHH and Steph are bickering. We go into their dressing room and we have more flowers. In a nice swerve, they are from HHH which gets boos. HHH learns he is in a mixed tag with Trish as his partner and HHH has some huge sexist comments saying women know nothing about wrestling. Next we get the famous spot where HHH shows Trish some moves when Steph comes in. The payoff for the segment is great but I didn’t like HHH explaining things so rudimentary to Trish. She has been a manager for a tag team for almost six months after all. Steph’s freak out is great when she comes in. The match itself is turned into Benoit/Trish as HHH leaves. The match itself is only 3 minutes long but I am again appreciative of how serious they do treat the women and Lita gets all of her highspots off. Jericho gets the clean win on Benoit but then gloats about it and takes a big beatdown backstage including a chair right to the face. That is how they got Benoit off of the main event feud and into the feud with Jericho. *

[GSR]

Someone has bought some yellow roses for Stephanie. She immediately tells Hunter that she knows nothing about them, doesn’t know why they are here or who sent then. He thinks it might be another Chris Jericho angle and reads the card “the yellow roses of Texas pale in comparison to your beauty and grace”. Seemingly peeved with the words he hands the card to Steph, but it’s a swerve as the card is signed by him and he’s the one who sent them to her. Hunter the old romantic! Stephanie and he embrace as the cameras leave them to it.

 

We rejoin them later in the show and Triple H’s mood has changed because Commissioner Foley has put him in a mixed tag match “with that albatross” Trish Stratus. He says she has no business being in a wrestling ring and should be in a bar somewhere doing wet T-shirt contests. She knows nothing about wrestling “you, her, all these other women it’s the same thing, you know nothing about...” Uh oh! Steph takes exception his sexist remarks and storms off out of the room slamming the door as she leaves.

 

‘The Game’ is on his own mulling over his earlier words when there is a knock at the door, it’s Trish Stratus and not wearing much in the way of clothing. She realises that Triple H isn’t thrilled about having her as his partner, but wonders if he can show her a few basic holds so they can make the best of it. Trish has got the hammerlock sorted so they move on to the escape. HHH explains that the best way to do that is to reach down between her legs, grab his leg and sweep it so that he drops to the ground. Just as Trish is practising what he explained, in walks Stephanie catching the pair of them in a rather suspect looking position! She’s not waiting around for an explanation; thinking he’s up to no good she throws the roses at him before storming back out of there in tears. This was hilarious!

 

During a subsequent commercial break we find out that an irate Triple H has left the arena “to hell with Mick Foley, to hell with this match and to hell with my wife!” Trish is then shown in the Commissioner’s office using her feminine charms to try and get the match cancelled now that HHH is no longer here. Foley accuses her of sexual harassment and claims that he was going to give her the night off, but now he’s assigning her a substitute partner instead, Chris Benoit.

 

The match is finally upon us and an enziguiri by Jericho sends ‘the Crippler’ retreating to the outside. Lita with a clothesline on Trish and she too takes to the floor, however there’s no solace for her as Y2J whips Lita and she connects on a fairly average looking baseball slide dropkick. Benoit dumps Jericho over the top rope after a release front suplex then distracts the official so Shane can do some damage behind his back. Diving headbutt and Lita is in to break up the pin attempt. ‘The Crippler’ tosses her through the ropes to the outside, but he’s caught by a Jericho spinning heel kick. Flying forearm, facebuster yada, yada. ‘The Walls’ and this time Trish is the one saving her partner, grabbing Y2J by the hair so that he’s forced to let go of the hold. Bad move as Jericho puts her in ‘the Walls’. Great looking leaping rana off the top by Lita to Benoit which she follows with a pescado out onto Trish (Benoit had broken ‘the Walls’ prior to the rana). Jericho with a back elbow to ‘the Crippler’, Lionsault and he gets the clean pin on him. After the match Y2J is being interviewed by Kevin Kelly, making fun of Benoit, when he’s jumped by him. He does a number on Jericho trapping him under a steel gate and then cracking him over the head with a chair. Shane tells him that’s enough and Jericho is once more bleeding from the mouth by the time they’re done.

 

I’m sure everyone has seen the skit with Triple H demonstrating some holds with Trish and Stephanie walking in on them, but it makes me laugh every time. The match itself was on the short side, but fun. No new ground when it comes to the men and they do a lot of their regular stuff. The women were only in for a handful of spots and neither looked terrible (Benoit took the rana fantastically and Jericho was not holding back when applying ‘the Walls’ to Trish).