IWF Unforgiven (2000)

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Current revision as of 06:54, 23 February 2023

The 2000 Unforgiven was the third annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). It took place on September 24, 2000, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eight matches were contested at the event.

The main event was a Fatal Four-Way match for the IWF Championship. The Rock defended the title against Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, and Kane. Benoit originally won the match by pinning Undertaker but since Undertaker's foot was on the rope and the referee did not notice it, the match was restarted and Rock pinned Benoit after a Rock Bottom to retain the title.

The undercard featured Triple K versus Kurt Angle in a No Disqualification match with IWF Commissioner Jon Foley serving as special guest referee, Eddie Guerrero versus Rikishi for the IWF Intercontinental Championship, Edge and Christian versus The Hooper Boyz (Matt Hooper and Josh Hooper) in a Steel Cage match for the IWF Tag Team Championship, Chris Jericho versus X-Pac, a 10-Minute Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship, Tazz versus Jerry Lawler in a Strap Match, and Right to Censor (Steven Richards, Val Venis, Bull Buchanan, and The Goodfather) versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) and The Acolytes Protection Agency (Faarooq and Bradshaw) in an eight-man tag team match.

This event also marked the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin after a ten-month absence, with the exception of his appearances at Backlash as well as Raw is War and SmackDown! episodes building into the late April pay-per-view.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

Unforgiven was first held as the 21st In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998; In Your House was a series of monthly PPV shows first produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE) in May 1995. The In Your House branding was retired following February 1999's St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House event, as the company moved to install permanent names for each of its monthly PPVs. Unforgiven then returned in September 1999 as its own PPV event, thus establishing Unforgiven as the annual September PPV for the promotion. The 2000 event was the third event in the Unforgiven chronology and took place on September 24 at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[edit] Storylines

Unforgiven featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw is War and SmackDown!—International Wrestling Federation's (IWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The main rivalry heading into the event was between The Rock, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker and Kane over Rock's IWF Championship. On the August 28 episode of Raw is War, Undertaker cost Kane a title opportunity against Rock. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown!, Undertaker and Benoit wrestled in a number one contender's match which Undertaker won by disqualification after being attacked by Kane. However, due to earning the victory by disqualification, Undertaker was not made the number one contender. This led to a number one contender's match between Benoit and Kane on the September 4 episode of Raw is War. Benoit was disqualified again for hitting Kane with a chair and the position of the number one contender remained vacant. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, Benoit and Kane defeated Rock and Undertaker in a tag team match. After the match, the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley announced that Rock would defend the title against Benoit, Undertaker and Kane in a fatal four-Way match at Unforgiven.

Another predominant rivalry heading into the event was between Triple K and Kurt Angle. At SummerSlam, The Rock defeated Triple K and Angle in a Triple Threat match to retain the IWF Championship after Angle received a concussion at the hands of Triple K. Angle had started taking a liking to Triple K's on-screen wife, Kaila Matteson which made Triple K, jealous of Angle. On the August 28 episode of Raw is War, Angle interfered in a match between Eddie Guerrero and Triple K by attacking both men with a chair. Guerrero's valet and Triple K's former on-screen girlfriend, the IWF Intercontinental Champion Chyna checked on both men and hugged Triple K. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown!, Angle showed Matteson, a video of Triple K and Chyna hugging each other to create differences between Triple K and Matteson. Later that night, Triple K was arrested by police officers before his scheduled match against Guerrero and Angle. On the September 4 episode of Raw is War, Test was revealed to have complained to the officers to have Triple K arrested. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, Angle interfered in Triple K's match with Chris Jericho and distracted Triple K, causing Triple K to leave the ring and chase Angle. Later that night, Angle attacked both Triple K and Matteson after his Handicap match against T & A (Test and Albert). As a result, the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley announced that Triple K and Angle would wrestle at Unforgiven.

At SummerSlam, Edge and Christian defeated Hooper Boyz (Matt Hooper and Hooper) and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) in the first-ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match to retain the IWF Tag Team Championship. The following night on Raw is War, Edge and Christian mocked Hooper Boyz and Dudley Boyz by bringing out four midgets portraying the Hardyz and the Dudleyz. This caused the Hooperz to come out and attack Edge and Christian. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, the Hardy Boyz defeated the Dudley Boyz in a number one contender's match for the Tag Team Championship. On the September 14 episode of SmackDown!, the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley announced that Edge and Christian would defend the titles against Hooper Boyz in a steel cage match at Unforgiven.

At SummerSlam, Chyna and Eddie Guerrero defeated the IWF Intercontinental Champion Val Venis and Trish Stratus in a mixed tag team match by pinning Venis for his IWF Intercontinental Championship. The next night on Raw is War, Chyna and Guerrero involved themselves in a rivalry between Triple K and Kurt Angle as Guerrero and Triple K had a match, in which Angle interfered and attacked both men. After the match, Chyna and Triple K hugged. Angle tried to create differences between Chyna and Guerrero, leading to a title match between Chyna and Angle on the September 4 episode of Raw is War. However, Guerrero wanted to second Chyna but the IWF Commissioner inserted him into the Intercontinental Championship match, making it a Triple Threat match. Angle knocked out Chyna and Guerrero accidentally pinned her as he attempted to revive her. After the match, Chyna and Guerrero argued and Guerrero tried to return the belt to her but she refused and they hugged. It was followed by a vicious smile by Guerrero, creating a doubt that Guerrero was plotting this to win the title. He would follow by sneak attacks on Chyna's allies, Road Dogg and Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty). Following Guerrero's assault on Too Cool on the September 11 episode of Raw is War, Too Cool's ally Rikishi came to rescue the team but was attacked by Chyna. On the September 14 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero cost the team of Rikishi and Scotty, a tag team match against Right to Censor (Val Venis and Steven Richards) by attacking Rikishi. This led to an Intercontinental Championship match between Guerrero and Rikishi at Unforgiven. Through out all of this, tension was building between Eddie and Chyna, with Chyna being uncomfortable with Eddie cheating to retain his title, and Eddie being upset over Chyna posing for Playboy, even going to the Playboy Mansion to stop the photos from being released. On the September 18 episode of Raw, Eddie faked an illness to get out of a match with Rikishi, who ended up facing Chyna instead. Eddie would come down to ringside at the start of the match and spray Rikishi in the eyes with mace. When Chyna attempted to check on him, Rikishi attacked her to goad Eddie into the ring and hit the Banzai Drop, but Eddie wouldn't make the save. On the September 21 episode of SmackDown, Eddie would apologize to Chyna for all the horrible things he had done over the past month, but Rikishi would expose Eddie with a security video of Eddie trying to break into Playboy Headquarters to stop Chyna's Playboy spread from being released. After seeing that video, a heartbroken Chyna was about to leave Eddie for good, but Eddie quickly pulled Chyna back into his clutches by proposing to her.

At SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler defeated Tazz in a standard wrestling match. The following night on Raw is War, Tazz had a scheduled IWF Hardcore Championship match against Steve Blackman. Tazz began attacking Lawler, causing Lawler and Jim Ross to interfere in the match and cost Tazz, the title opportunity against Blackman. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown!, Lawler cost Tazz, a match against Chris Jericho. On the September 4 episode of Raw is War, Lawler and Jericho defeated Tazz and Mideon in a tag team match when Lawler pinned Tazz. After the match, Tazz attacked Lawler with a leather strap. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, Lawler cost Tazz a IWF European Championship match against Al Snow and after the match, Tazz decided to quit IWF. However, on the September 14 episode of SmackDown, the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley convinced Tazz to stay in IWF and announced that Tazz would wrestle Lawler in a Strap match at Unforgiven.

On the September 7 episode of SmackDown!, X-Pac defeated Chris Jericho in a standard wrestling match. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, X-Pac interfered in Jericho's match against Triple K by attacking Jericho and causing Triple K to get disqualified. Later that night, Jericho cost X-Pac, a IWF Hardcore Championship match against Steve Blackman. On the September 18 episode of Raw is War, Jericho ruined the returning Steven Regal's ceremony and X-Pac attacked Jericho from behind. This would lead to a match between Jericho and X-Pac at Unforgiven.

At SummerSlam, Right to Censor (Steven Richards, Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather) defeated Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty, Grand Master Sexay and Rikishi) in a six-man tag team match. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown!, RTC helped Val Venis in defeating Rikishi. On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, Goodfather and Buchanan defeated Acolytes Protection Agency (Faarooq and Bradshaw) in a tag team match. After the match, Venis attacked APA and joined RTC. On the September 18 episode of Raw is War, Goodfather and Buchanan defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) in a tag team match through the same way. After the match, RTC began attacking Dudley Boyz until APA came out to rescue Dudley Boyz. This would lead to an eight-man tag team match between the team of APA and Dudley Boyz against Right to Censor at Unforgiven.

On the September 21 episode of SmackDown!, Steve Blackman defended the IWF Hardcore Championship against the IWF European Champion Al Snow. During the match, Funaki, Test, Perry Saturn and Crash Holly interfered and attacked Blackman to take advantage of the 24/7 rule. Blackman pinned Funaki to retain the title. This set up a title defense for Blackman against Funaki, Test, Saturn, Holly and Snow in a Hardcore Battle Royal for the Hardcore Championship at Unforgiven.

On the September 7 episode of SmackDown!, Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had been out of action for almost ten months since he got run over by a car at the previous year's Survivor Series in Detroit, appeared in an interview and announced that he would be returning at Unforgiven to find out who ran over him.

[edit] Event

[edit] Preliminary matches

The first match on the card was an eight-man tag team match pitting Right to Censor (Steven Richards, Val Venis, Bull Buchanan, and The Goodfather) against the team of The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) and Acolytes Protection Agency (Faarooq and Bradshaw). Richards did not tag into the match but interfered in the match on several occasions. On one occasion, Dudley Boyz hit Venis with a Doomsday Device, which they called Dudleyville Device and attempted to pin Venis, but Goodfather interfered and broke up the pinfall attempt. Richards interfered in the match and hit Bubba Ray with a Steven Kick, allowing Venis to pin Bubba Ray for the victory. However, after the match, the Dudley Boyz and Acolytes Protection Agency attacked Richards and slammed him through a table.

The second match was a Strap match between Tazz and Jerry Lawler. The first person to pin his opponent, make his opponent tap out or touch all the four corners of the ring would be declared the winner. Lawler attacked Tazz and beat him on, executing a Piledriver on Tazz three times. Lawler dragged Tazz around the ring to touch the ring corners. He touched the three corners but as Lawler was about to touch the fourth corner, the referee was knocked out. Lawler began choking Tazz until Raven debuted in IWF and interfered in the match by hitting Lawler with his finisher, the Raven Effect. Tazz took advantage and applied the Tazzmission on Lawler. Lawler passed out to Tazz, giving Tazz the victory. After the match, Stone Cold Steve Austin returned to IWF after a ten-month absence. He was last seen at Survivor Series, where he was run down by a car. He entered the arena and began questioning everyone to check out that who was the culprit that ran him down. Interviewer Kevin Kelly tried to interview Austin but Austin tossed Kelly into the wall.

Next was a Hardcore Battle Royal for the IWF Hardcore Championship. Steve Blackman defended the title against Test, Perry Saturn, Crash Holly, the IWF European Champion Al Snow and Funaki. The rules stated that the title would change hands throughout the match when a champion was pinned. The champion at the end of the time limit of the match–10 minutes, would be declared the final Hardcore Champion at Unforgiven. All the wrestlers attacked Blackman in attempt to pin him. Holly successfully pinned Blackman to win the Hardcore Championship. He tried to escape with the title but was hit with a trashcan lid by Saturn, who pinned him for the title. Shortly after, Blackman grabbed his kendo stick and attacked all the other competitors of the match with it. The champion Saturn was one of them and Blackman pinned Saturn to win the Hardcore Championship and tried to escape to the locker room. All the wrestlers chased after him and began attacking him until the time limit expired. As a result, Blackman was declared the final champion for Unforgiven. After the match, Kurt Angle ran into Stone Cold Steve Austin in a backstage segment. Angle introduced himself to Austin and offered him an "honorary medal" but was attacked by Austin.

The fourth match was a standard wrestling match between Chris Jericho and X-Pac. The match went back and forth between the two as the two hit their cruiserweight style moves on each other. Jericho hit X-Pac's signature move Bronco Buster on X-Pac and then applied his own finishing submission maneuver, an Elevated Boston Crab, which he calls Walls of Jericho. X-Pac tapped out to the hold but after the match, he attacked Jericho with a pair of nunchakus. After the match, Kurt Angle complained to the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley over Stone Cold Steve Austin's attack on him. This angered Foley and Foley made Angle's match with Triple K, a No Disqualification match. Later on, Austin approached The Rock in his locker room and the two exchanged words with each other until Joe interfered in their talk and was attacked by Austin.

Next was a steel cage match for the IWF Tag Team Championship. Edge and Christian defended the title against The Hooper Boyz (Matt Hooper and Josh Hooper). To win, both members of a team had to escape the cage. As the match started, the two teams attacked each other until Josh fell out of the cage. Matt was left alone and needed to escape the cage or pin anyone of Edge and Christian to win the match. Edge and Christian took advantage of the situation and double-teamed Matt. Josh tried to re-enter the cage but Christian knocked him out of the cage. Josh knocked out the official outside the ring and took the key to the cage door and entered the cage but as he tried to enter the ring, Edge and Christian smashed his head with the cage. Edge took the key to the cage and dropped it under his tights. Matt started bleeding until Edge and Christian tried to hit Matt a Double chair shot but Matt avoided and hit a Double clothesline on Edge and Christian. Matt tried to take advantage by attempting to escape the cage. However, he was pulled back into the ring by Edge and Christian. Josh grabbed a ladder and threw it on Christian, who was knocked off with the cage outside the ring. Josh jumped onto the top of the cage through the ladder and delivered a Whisper in the Wind on both Edge and Matt from the top of the cage. Christian tried to climb the ladder but the Hooper Boyz' valet Lita delivered a Hurricanrana on Christian from the top of the ladder. Edge recovered and tried to escape the steel cage but Hooper Boyz hit him a Con-chair-to on the top of the cage, knocking him down on the mat. Hooper Boyz escaped the cage to win the Tag Team Championship.

[edit] Main event matches

After the IWF Tag Team Championship match, Stone Cold Steve Austin continued his search of the culprit and entered Kaila Matteson's locker room. Matteson offered him the hat that he wore during the incident in which he was run down by a car. Matteson tried to convince Austin that neither she nor Triple K was the culprit. Austin refused to believe and left the locker room. In the next backstage segment, Triple K confronted the IWF Commissioner Jon Foley. Foley announced that he would be the special guest referee for Triple K's match with Kurt Angle, later in the night.

The sixth match featured Eddie Guerrero defending the IWF Intercontinental Championship against Rikishi. Guerrero tried to escape to the locker room but his valet Chyna prevented him from escaping and threw him back into the ring. Rikishi began beating on Guerrero and had nearly finished him after keeping him in the position of Stink Face. However, as Rikishi attempted to hit the move, Chyna pulled Guerrero out of the ring. Rikishi confronted Chyna and Guerrero took advantage by splashing Rikishi from the top rope. Rikishi hit Guerrero with a Seated Senton, which he called Banzai Drop and had pinned Guerrero until Chyna interfered on Guerrero's behalf, causing Rikishi to attack Chyna. As a result, Rikishi was disqualified but he continued to attack Chyna by hitting her with a Savate Kick and a Banzai Drop from the second rope.

The final match on the undercard was a No Disqualification match between Triple K and Kurt Angle. IWF Commissioner Jon Foley served as the special guest referee. Before the match began, Angle announced that it was Kaila Matteson's birthday and led the people into singing a rendition of "Happy Birthday to You". Matteson came out with Triple K to manage him. Angle began attacking Triple K's injured ribs and focused on them. Triple K attempted to hit a Pedigree on Angle on the main announce table. However, Angle reversed it and hit a Belly to Belly Suplex on Triple K on the Spanish announce table. Foley offered Triple K to quit the match but Triple K opted to continue the match. Angle continued to injure Triple K's ribs. After Angle missed a Moonsault from the top rope, Triple K tried to hit a Pedigree until Matteson entered the ring and low blowed Angle, allowing Triple K to hit Angle with a Pedigree for the victory. After the match, Shane Matteson returned after being injured at SummerSlam and tried to blame Steve Blackman for being the attacker of Stone Cold Steve Austin. However, Blackman came out to prove his innocence but before he could speak, Stone Cold Steve Austin came out and performed his Stone Cold Stunner on Blackman. Austin and Matteson began celebrating and drinking beers until Austin gave Matteson three Stone Cold Stunners.

The main event was a Fatal Four-Way match for the IWF Championship. The Rock defended the title against Chris Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker. As the match began, Rock battled Kane and Benoit fought with Undertaker. After taking down Kane and Benoit, Rock and Undertaker battled each other until they were attacked by Kane and Benoit. Benoit and Rock battled to the outside until Kane made the first pinfall attempt of the match on Undertaker after hitting him a Flying Clothesline but got a near-fall. The match went back and forth until Benoit hit Undertaker with a chair and pinned him to win the match and became the new IWF Champion. However, Undertaker's foot was on the bottom rope and the official was groggy, so he counted the fall. The IWF Commissioner Jon Foley reversed the decision and restarted the match. Benoit was attacked by all the three competitors on numerous occasions until all the four competitors continued to attack each other. Benoit attacked Kane and Undertaker outside the ring with a chair and returned to the ring to apply his submission maneuver, the Crippler Crossface on Rock. Benoit had nearly defeated Rock until Undertaker entered the ring and began stomping Benoit. Undertaker followed by chokeslamming Benoit but before he could make a pinfall, Kane pulled him outside the ring and battled with Undertaker. Rock took advantage and hit Benoit with a Rock Bottom, to win the match and retain the IWF Championship.

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Results

1. ^ The other participants were: Al Snow, Funaki, and Test (with Trish Stratus).

[edit] References

[edit] External links