[Mr. Pike Central]

[SIZE="3"]#4

Triple H vs. Cactus Jack
Street Fight for the WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 2000)[/SIZE]

Full Match:

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One of the best feuds in the Attitude ERA. What an amazing story. HHH's match with The Rock at SummerSlam may have helped boost HHH's career, but this match is what really cemented it. HHH was not going anywhere. He was one of the Gods. And it's all thanks to this match. I'm surprise Hunter doesn't think highly of him. Actually, I'm not but I do think its absurd. Foley is one hell of a talent. He should be getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.

2000 was such a great year of the WWE. If you look into their 2000 catalog, most of the those PPVs were worth seeing. The WWE had gotten it right. They had compelling characters and amazing talent to entertain the best of both worlds: entertainment and wrestling.

This is one of those brutal matches in WWE. Foley introduced a lot here.

. The introduction to the barbed wire bat
. First wrestler to eat it face first into thumbstacks
. One of the rarest times, a heel would win cleanly EVER!!!


An what a compelling story this was. You see, this feud all started around December Christmas Eve. HHH had just beaten Vince McMahon in a match at Armageddon 1999, so he and Stephanie McMahon claimed it the McMahon/Helmsley ERA. Of course, they power trip and force Mick Foley and The Rock to fight in a Pink slip on a Pole match. Mick lost and he was therefore fired. To add further to the humility, HHH starts putting hilarious promos of Mideon acting as Mick Foley. That was hilarious. They were funny enough to make you laugh and yet still sympathy for poor old Mick Foley. He was kinda great like that.

The Rock comes out the following with the whole roster and promises that they'll walk out unless they reinstate Mick Foley. HHH gave him in The Rock also added the condition that they face each other at The Royal Rumble. HHH takes advantage lays an ass whooping on Foley. Mick knows he's no good. He decides not to wrestle but to offer a substitute instead. CACTUS JACK!

HHH knows something about Cactus Jack. They first met in 1997, ironically enough, in a street fight. That was Cactus Jack debut. Even more ironic, this match was Cactus Jack's finale with the same opponent..... until he came back four years later. This is wrestling, people. C'mon. What did you expect?
Needless to say, HHH was pretty petrified and he knew he was going to be in the fight of his life. He knew. Mick knew. We all knew.

HHH, like a boss, comes out with Steph and then he sends her to the back because he does not want her to see this. HHH brawled nasty here. This was just the beginning for HHH brawls. He's actually pretty good at them. Just watch the match. It tells the whole story. Fake Mankind-Mideon and all. HHH does his best impression of Jesus ala Passion of the Christ. One of the nastiest bladejobs ever. It actually looks like Kane's career mask. He even gets a gash on his leg from the barbed wired. Cactus delivered on his word and gave HHH one of the biggest fights of his life. I even love that he tries to recreate the handcuff thing ala Rumble 99. He was so desperate in trying out what could work to keep him down, but Cactus kept coming back.

HHH may have been world champion about 3 times by that time but he still wasn't being taken seriously. HHH prevailed and pinned Cactus CLEAN. CLEAN! WHO DID THAT? NO ONE! It showed that HHH was the real deal and he was here to stay. He could compete with the greats. He was now one of them. It was all thanks to Mick.