[2000-08-07-WWF-Raw] Chris Jericho vs HHH vs Kurt Angle

[soup23]

Angle meets with Foley and wants to present his case as the #1 contender for SummerSlam. HHH arrives and tells Steph that he needs his space. HHH pleads his case as #1 contender to Foley. HHH then gets into Stephs face and says this is his shot and that if he sees Angle in the building, he is going to kick his ass. Steph and Angle are chatting backstage and Steph is polishing Kurt’s medals. Kurt says HHH should be more sensitive and Steph thanks him for being such a good friend. We cut to the arena and learn we are in MSG. Joe informs HHH that Angle may be the one guy to take out HHH. Joe also talks to Kurt and gets him riled up. Now, Steph comes to the ring and publicly apologizes to HHH and assures him that Kurt and her are just friends. Hunter comes out and Steph apologizes again and says that she loves him. They hug and make up and this is actually when King is pretty funny on commentary. Once they reconcile, Steph switches gears right away to business. Steph now invites Angle out and JR is giddy at the prospect of this confrontation. Angle tries to reiterate the friend line. HHH says that Angle may have his naïve little wife fooled but he knows that Angle is full of shit. That gets a huge pop from the MSG crowd. Steph says if HHH really loves her, he will shake hands with Kurt. Foley makes his prescience known as he strolls to ringside. Mick shows the video from Thursday and then makes a #1 contenders match for the Raw main event to see who faces Rock at SummerSlam. Shane and Benoit are backstage after the title match talking to Foley and demanding retribution against Jericho. Foley has a punishment that seems fitting and it is adding Jericho to the #1 contenders match. HHH is stretching backstage and here comes Jericho to attack HHH. There is so much shit going on but it is all so engaging and they have done a wonderful job interweaving all of the principle players.

 

We get to the main event match now. The action is good with HHH and Angle being kept mostly apart building up the tension between them squaring off. Rock is on commentary for this. Angle gets drop toe hold into HHH’s crotch in a fun spot. Angle and HHH prove that when they can get on the same page, they are a force to be reckoned with as they end up getting the double pin on Jericho after a back suplex from the ropes. King gets in a good line that with Hebner as the referee, anything can happen now. Rock has had enough and he gives a Rock Bottom to both HHH, Angle and Steph as the show goes off the air. Everyone is confused as to who the actual winner is and we have our three way SummerSlam main event. **1/2

[AstroBoy]

Something about Jericho. It's like he either needs to be more sympathetic or more of a valiant asskicker during matches like this and somehow falls just short of both. So he just ends up feeling like a popular charismatic guy that can't quite break into the upper echelon in the context of a match with other main eventers.

 

The playing off of HHH-Angle is nice as Jericho pits them against each other in a few fun spots and HHH and Angle both have moments of competition and rivalry that help set Jericho more apart from them. The backdrop finish felt a little weak but it's a fine logical finish to the next part of the story.

 

**1/4

[GSR]

‘Commissioner’ Foley’s ‘office’ this week looks to be a fork lift truck!  Kurt Angle approaches him backstage and wants a quick word in regards to Summerslam.  Angle says how he won his Olympic gold medal in the Summer of 1996, so it’s prophetic that he should win the WWF World title at Summerslam and begs Foley to give him a title shot.  Mick doesn’t make a decision but is going to take his request under advisement.

With rolls reversed, it’s Stephanie who is now waiting in the back of the arena for Triple H to arrive.  A limo pulls up and out gets ‘the Game’ as Stephanie says how she needs to talk to him, still insisting that there is nothing going on between her and Kurt Angle.  Triple H tells her that they do need to talk, but not right now, he needs some “space” as all this stuff in their personal life is starting to interfere with their business life.

The Commissioner is on the telephone when he’s interrupted by Triple H.  He’s heard about The Rock facing Chris Benoit tonight and doesn’t care who wins that match, but he wants what is rightfully his and wants to be the number one contender at Summerslam.  Foley tells him that Kurt Angle has beaten him to the punch, and while he hasn’t promised him anything, he did ask first.  After a bit more thought he decides to take his request under advisement too.

Stephanie’s sat in the dressing room shining up her belt when Triple H enters with his bags ready to get changed.  She still wants to talk about Kurt Angle but Hunter’s pissed that he’s gone to Mick Foley and asked to be the number one contender.  Stephanie doesn’t see anything wrong with that, however Triple H thinks he has no right asking for anything to do with the World Wrestling Federation title and that’s his spot.  He’s sick and tired of Kurt Angle, is done talking about him and if he sees him anywhere in the building tonight, promises to kick his ass.

Kurt and Stephanie are in another dressing room, comparing gold, and Kurt thinks it won’t be long before he has a championship belt of his own.  Sensing an opportune moment Steph brings up Triple H being angry with him; not only over their celebration on Smackdown, but also because he went to Mick Foley asking to be the number one contender at Summerslam.  When she says how mad he is about the situation, Angle questions “he didn’t raise his voice at you did he?”  Steph replies “not really” although Kurt thinks she’s playing it down and that Triple H needs to undergo “sensitivity training” and that he should be more sensitive to her.

The situation is stirred further by a stooging Just Joe.  He first of all fires HHH up by telling him how all the boys in the back think that Kurt Angle is the one person who can take him out, then goes to Kurt and claims that Triple H has been disrespecting him, his accomplishments and has been putting him down.  When he says how he’s reduced Stephanie to tears, that’s the final straw and he tells Joe to tell Triple H that when he gets here he’s going to wrap a submission on him and make him cry like a baby.

Stephanie walks out to the ring and would like to publicly apologise to her husband.  She’s so, so sorry for what happened on Smackdown and wants him to know that she and Kurt Angle are only friends, there’s nothing between them and she was just excited after pinning Lita.  She knows that he hasn’t talked to her since Thursday, but wants Hunter to come out now so that she can apologise to him in front of everyone.  Triple H joins her and Steph again apologises.  It’s difficult for her to say but she admits to being jealous and says that people in marriages fight and if they didn’t fight it would mean they didn’t care.  She couldn’t bear the thought of him with another woman, tells him that she loves him more than anything in the world and that she’s truly, truly sorry.  When she asks if he forgives here, an embrace confirms that he does.  With their personal life now sorted, she quickly changes the talk to business and how they need to smooth things out so business can be successful.  With that in mind she invites outKurt Angle.  That doesn’t sit well with Triple H, while Jim Ross thinks Stephanie won’t be able to prevent them from tearing each other apart.  Kurt says that what happened was just in the heat of the battle, he respects his wife and he also respects their marriage.  Triple H tells him that he may have his naive little wife fooled, but he knows he’s full of shit!  Hunter is ready to tear him apart when Steph stops him and reminds him that business is business and if he really loved her he would shake Kurt Angle’s hand, reiterating for the umpteenth time that there is nothing between them and has no feelings for him other than those of friendship.  Before they shake troublemaker Foley is out and replays the footage from Smackdown, doing his best to rile up Hunter.  He then sets up a number one contender’s match for later in the show with the winner getting the title shot at Summerslam.

We return from an advert break and see a replay of the ending to The Rock/Chris Benoit title match.  Shane McMahon is ranting at Foley backstage saying how Benoit should be the World Heavyweight champion and that Chris Jericho should be punished for what he did.  Foley says he will be punished and that punishment is he’s putting him in the number one contender’s match with HHH and Kurt Angle.

Final quick vignette before the match itself, where Jericho jumps Triple H in the dressing room as he’s preparing and a bunch of officials and referees do a pretty poor job in trying to separate them.

Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho are the first two entrants for the three way and Angle offers Y2J his hand, trying to make a pact before Triple H’s arrival.  Jericho’s not interested though, spitting in his face instead.  We get a surprise guest commentator in the shape of The Rock, wanting to find out first hand who is opponent will be at Summerslam.  HHH and Jericho starts us off and ‘the Game’ launches Y2J over the top rope to the floor.    Angle and he then square up to one another, exchanging shoves, but Jericho quickly returns and rams their heads together.  He clotheslines HHH to the outside and when Kurt charges at him, backdrops him over the ropes to the floor too.  Hunter and Angle are again shoving each other and Jericho takes them both out with a crazy tope, although hits the back of his head on the metal ramp way on landing.  He throws Triple H back inside, missile dropkick but Kurt breaks up the pin attempt.  Y2J counters the ‘Olympic Slam’ and locks on ‘the Walls’.  HHH has a smirk on his face seeing Angle in trouble, however doesn’t want him to tap so reluctantly has to make the save.  High knee to Jericho before he and Kurt take it in turns to put the boots to him.  After a facebuster, Angle pulls HHH off Jericho and slugs him.  Release overhead belly to belly and the pinfalls continue to be broken up by the spare man.  As Triple H and Angle fight it out, it gives Y2J the chance to recover.  He nails Angle with a couple of hard knife edge chops followed by a flying forearm and then turns his attention to ‘the Game’, flattening him with a spinning heel kick.  Drop toe hold on Angle sending him face first in HHH’s crotch.  Triple H cuts off the Lionsault and looks for the pedigree, but Jericho counters, slingshotting him into the ring post.  Double Lionsault onto both.  Y2J heads upstairs for a moonsault, however HHH pushes Earl Hebner into the ropes, causing Jericho to lose his balance and crotch himself.  Angle and ‘the Game’ work together for a change, hitting a double back superplex but both then drape an arm over Y2J who is counted down for the three.  Uncertainty reigns over who won as Hebner raises both men’s hands.  The Rock decides to not wait until Summerslam giving a ‘Rock Bottom’ to Triple H, to Kurt Angle and, after she slapped him, to Stephanie (boy do the crowd love to see her get it).  The show closes with JR wondering who the number one contender is and who is going to meet The Rock at Summerslam for the title.