The UKFF Awards 2000!

[tiger_rick]

Worst Match of 2000: Tank Abbott vs Big Al - Skins match at Superbrawl, I have no idea who thought this was a good idea the two of them didn't have a clue, and then there was the nonsense with the knife after the bout.

Was the end of that match with the knife at Al's throat supposed to happen? Did Tank lose the plot?

Vince Russo will love that question. You've just vindicated him, Baz!

[PowerButchi]

Back to the Benoit thing I preffered him as a brawler to him as a tedhnical worker anyway. To say "Technical wrestling isn't the be all and end all" insinuating he was just a technical worker is well off the mark.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Got any examples of Benoit matches where he was predominantly brawling? Genuine question, I've got the Hard Knocks DVD, and pretty much every match I can recall watching, he gave wrestling clinics.

[PowerButchi]

The Sullivan matches. The Raven and DDP series. The bouts with Public Enemy. Him and Meng beating fuck out of each other. WCW cage matches not vs Dean Malenko. He's got loads.

 

He's tremendous at intense hate filled brawls. Well, was.

[tiger_rick]

There is no way anyone can discount Benoit as wrestler of the year for 2000. He was incredible. He was the most believable wrestler on the planet. He had aggression in bucket-loads (so not like real life) and ridiculous amounts of charisma in his work.

 

People bought into him and loved watching him. Whether it's through promos, acting, wrestling or what - that's the #1 aim of a pro-wrestler.

 

I don't think anyone will ever get over like that again when they emit so little personality in interviews. Amazing that he did really.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Ah, WCW, that's why. I think a Sullivan match is on the DVD, but beyond that, haven't seen any of those.

 

I'm at the point where I can watch Benoit without feeling too uncomfortable. Watched WMXX yesterday, and while the ending isn't as feel-good as it was in 2004, it's still a great match to watch.

 

Benoit aside, this thread's inspired me to find some more 2000s WWF- and to pretty much never seek out 2000s WCW. ECW was a load of fun then too, currently watching Living Dangerously 2000, very chaotic show, the last thing I saw was New Jack and Grimes nearly killing themselves falling from a scaffold.

[Chris B]

Best Pro-wrestler of 2000:

 

Triple H. The Foley feud was fantastic, and it was just the start of his year. Absolutely believable and he was having great matches left, right and centre. Wasn't it 2000 where he had a great match with Taka Michonoku? Funny as fuck when he wanted to be as well - the whole stuff with Trish was hilarious.

 

Best Match of 2000:

 

Triple H/Foley at the Royal Rumble. Still one of my favourite matches of all time. Triple H was on form, but this was the one that won everyone over. I still remember that nasty injury to his leg as well. Even despite the rubbish handcuffs and magically-refreshing barbed wire, it was still great.

 

Best Event of 2000:

 

Royal Rumble 2000. I didn't know that Channel 4 had bought rights to some WWE shows, so I was absolutely gutted that I didn't have Sky Sports and couldn't watch it - then a friend mentioned it was on Channel 4 that night. I thought he was pulling my leg and couldn't believe it when I found out he was telling the truth. Great tag match, great title match and a really fun Rumble. As embarrassing as it was at the time, I now love Mae Young being batshit insane in it.

 

Greatest Moment of 2000:

 

The Cactus Jack reveal. It added to it that Foley was still wearing a bloodstained shirt. In Foley is Good, he mentions that he had to get the delivery right on who the substitute was, because if he'd paused for too long, the fans would have started guessing The Rock.

 

Funniest Moment of 2000:

 

"Hey, is that my chicken suit?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

 

Best Tag Team of 2000:

 

Edge and Christian. They just clicked so well on everything, but the tag division was great at this point. I even liked Test and Albert. "Sorry, Lillian. You're pretty, but I'm beautiful."

 

When E&C went to do the Kennedy assassination five second pose, it was glorious heat.

 

Breakout Star of 2000:

 

Kurt Angle for all the reasons everyone's said. There's no way he should have been that good that fast.

 

Best Non-Wrestler of 2000:

 

Foley as commissioner. I wish they'd kept that going for even longer. I can't remember what it was, but there was one time HHH was having to do his angry snarly face just to avoid laughing. I think it was when he was doing his intense face-to-face stare, and Foley was just looking at anything else other than him.

 

Worst Pro-wrestler of 2000:

David Arquette. I don't think it was even the poor sod's fault, but it's worth bearing in mind that at the same time this was going on, WWE were setting up the Iron Man match. Really shows how differently both companies were moving.

 

Worst Match of 2000:

 

The evening gown match. Christ, that was painful to watch.

 

Worst Event of 2000:

 

Slamboree.

 

Biggest Anti-climax of 2000:

 

The payoff to Angle/HHH. Such a stupid decision, which I think cost them in the long-run. I really think they'd been getting an increasingly large audience of women on the back of the love triangle, and this just threw away the opportunity to do more with that audience.

[Accident Prone]

Fantastic thread! Here's my picks:

 

Best Wrestler: Chris Benoit. I'm okay with watching his matches (i don't know what that says about me as a person). Brilliant stuff from him all throughout the year, a true highlight of every show. He held your attention without relying on the typical tropes that other guys on the roster were doing.

 

 

Best Match: The Triangle Ladder Match from WrestleMania. Crazy, bat-shit insane match that had flowed together beautifully. It still holds up tremedously when compared to more modern ladder matches. The blueprint for a perfect spot-fest.

 

Best Event: I'm going to go with Fully Loaded 2000 as i had it on VHS as a kid and i watched the shit out of that tape. The top three main events were quality and the undercard featured some good stuff too. Rikishi's cage splash made the event an automatic ***** for me.

 

 

Greatest Moment: Austin returning to help The Rock defeat Triple H for the title. Me and my friends went insane, damaging the carpet with several spilled cups of fizzy drink.

 

Funniest Moment: Jericho's rundown on Benoit before their SummerSlam encounter. "I would fight Chris Benoit on a boat, and i would fight Chris Benoit with a goat!"

 

Best Tag Team: The Hardy Boyz. Loved them as a teenager, love them as a 25 year old. Pure babyface magic.

 

Breakout Star: What hasn't been said about Kurt Angle all ready? A great year for him.

 

Best Non-Wrestler: Foley, Foley, Foley. Absolutely hilarious on every single level. His skits with Edge and Christian had even the most ardent fan in stitches and it seemed like it was crafted with some genuine thought and wit put into it.

 

Worst Pro-wrestler: Any of the Mean Street Posse. Bored me to absolute tears.

 

Worst Match: The Hardcore Rumble from WrestleMania. What an absolure clusterwank this was. They would top it at Backlash by actually having some fun spots in it but this was just a bunch of hacks and fuck load of cookie sheets. Depressing.

 

Worst Event: I remember King Of The Ring 2000 having almost nothing going for it. The post-Summerslam PPV run was extremely dissapointing, with only one or two matches per card having any real value to them. King Of The Ring tops them all by having absolute tosh in almost every orofice.

 

Biggest Anti-climax: The 'big bump' of the Armageddon 6-man Hell In A Cell. They built and built, teased and teased to a massive cell bump only to have Rikishi fall onto a crash mat. Fuck sake. Nothing would of been better than that! A crappy sequence that adds disdain to a near-classic brawl.

[kickin it wit the kliq]

Worst Match of 2000: Tank Abbott vs Big Al - Skins match at Superbrawl, I have no idea who thought this was a good idea the two of them didn't have a clue, and then there was the nonsense with the knife after the bout.

Was the end of that match with the knife at Al's throat supposed to happen? Did Tank lose the plot?

 

I remember reading about it in Powerslam at the time and they said that it wasn't planned and everyone was freaking out backstage.

 

Who was booking WCW that week, was it Sullivan?

[PowerButchi]

I loved the Posse! After all, they were meant to be shit.

[insert_name_here]

I loved the Posse! After all, they were meant to be shit.

I'm still clinging to the hope that they'll make a one-off return to challenge The Shield... Or The Wyatt Family... Or 3MB

Fuck it i just want them back.

[PowerButchi]

Worst Match of 2000: Tank Abbott vs Big Al - Skins match at Superbrawl, I have no idea who thought this was a good idea the two of them didn't have a clue, and then there was the nonsense with the knife after the bout.

Was the end of that match with the knife at Al's throat supposed to happen? Did Tank lose the plot?

 

I remember reading about it in Powerslam at the time and they said that it wasn't planned and everyone was freaking out backstage.

 

Who was booking WCW that week, was it Sullivan?

 

Yeah it was Sullivan. Story as he tells it is he told Abbott to find a gimmick to threaten Al with after the match thinking Abbott's just going to get a pair of brass knucks or the wrestling stand by of just a load of tape around something to look like a foreign object. Instead Tank got a knife and Sullivan shat himself thinking what Time Warner S and P would say about this one so Schiavone said, thinking on his feet, that they were scissors and he was going to cut Al's beard. Which is actually brilliant thinking on the feet, to be fair to Tony.

[kickin it wit the kliq]

Worst Match of 2000: Tank Abbott vs Big Al - Skins match at Superbrawl, I have no idea who thought this was a good idea the two of them didn't have a clue, and then there was the nonsense with the knife after the bout.

Was the end of that match with the knife at Al's throat supposed to happen? Did Tank lose the plot?

 

I remember reading about it in Powerslam at the time and they said that it wasn't planned and everyone was freaking out backstage.

 

Who was booking WCW that week, was it Sullivan?

 

Yeah it was Sullivan. Story as he tells it is he told Abbott to find a gimmick to threaten Al with after the match thinking Abbott's just going to get a pair of brass knucks or the wrestling stand by of just a load of tape around something to look like a foreign object. Instead Tank got a knife and Sullivan shat himself thinking what Time Warner S and P would say about this one so Schiavone said, thinking on his feet, that they were scissors and he was going to cut Al's beard. Which is actually brilliant thinking on the feet, to be fair to Tony.

 

That's brilliant, I never knew that, fair play to Big Tony on that one

[CTXRussomark]

Worst Match of 2000: Tank Abbott vs Big Al - Skins match at Superbrawl, I have no idea who thought this was a good idea the two of them didn't have a clue, and then there was the nonsense with the knife after the bout.

Was the end of that match with the knife at Al's throat supposed to happen? Did Tank lose the plot?

 

I remember reading about it in Powerslam at the time and they said that it wasn't planned and everyone was freaking out backstage.

 

Who was booking WCW that week, was it Sullivan?

 

Yeah it was Sullivan. Story as he tells it is he told Abbott to find a gimmick to threaten Al with after the match thinking Abbott's just going to get a pair of brass knucks or the wrestling stand by of just a load of tape around something to look like a foreign object. Instead Tank got a knife and Sullivan shat himself thinking what Time Warner S and P would say about this one so Schiavone said, thinking on his feet, that they were scissors and he was going to cut Al's beard. Which is actually brilliant thinking on the feet, to be fair to Tony.

Well it would have been, had Al actually had a beard......

[Carbomb]

Benoit had more than just technical brilliance, he had the rare ability to make technical wrestling look vicious and primal. He was good in angles, and in 2000 he was definitely contender for wrestler of the year, because he looked like an absolute psychopath. I was always mystified they didn't put the belt on him around that time when he was feuding with The Rock, because his work at that point was, in my opinion, better than the work he did for his title run. He didn't need to be good on the stick, because he had a physical presence and ability to get people into whatever he was doing.

 

That said, even if I didn't discount him for jobbing out his family, he still wasn't the best wrestler of 2000 - that accolade belonged to either Triple H or The Rock, and I tend towards Triple H. Simply put, the guy had it all in 2000, it was almost impossible for him to put a foot wrong.