Cactus Jack vs Triple H (WWF - 1/23/2000)

Awesome match that shot Triple H into absolute superstardom. A hot New York crowd who wants to see Jack climb back to the top and HHH doing anything he can to knock him back down. Sick spots and brutal bumps and a disturbing finish. Lovely, lovely stuff.

A contender for Greatest WWF Match of all time and Foley's masterpiece. No self-indulgent bullshit just true hardcore violence.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs Cactus Jack - Royal Rumble 2000 Street Fight



Is there anyone better at selling Mick Foley's transformation into Cactus Jack than HHH? He knocked it outta the park in 1997 and again in 2000. I had never seen the video package before the match and it really shows how well the WWF was clicking at the time. It can be stated enough how important Mick Foley was to that roster. He was just so damn loveable in a way that Austin and Rock could never be. He was the underdog that everyone could rally around. He was also sadistic enough to be used to cement championship reigns (Taker 1997, Austin 1998, Rock 1999 and HHH 2000). Undoubtedly, HHH needed more help than the rest of those wrestlers who grew organically from a groundswell of support. HHH was the first of many artificially pushed wrestlers, which is now the commonplace in the WWE. He was also an interesting experiment in pushing a heel hard as a mainstay in the main event besides one off stints with Superstar Graham and Yokozuna, the WWF had never attempted before. It was an innovative paradigm shift that I think was worth the experimentation even if not everyone agrees with the results. There was no better wrestler to cement the position of the new ultimate bad guy than the ultimate underdog, Mankind. After HHH fired Mankind and then was forced to reinstate when presented with a locker room walkout, he beat the living shit out of Mankind. Only for Mankind to announce, Triple H would instead be facing Cactus Jack and that angle looked red hot with HHH selling fear perfectly and Cactus opening a can of whoop ass.



This match was one of my favorites growing up, but I have not watched it probably 4 or so years. It holds up in a big way and it remains one of the best 2000s WWF/E matches of I have ever seen. Upon this viewing, I realized that was HHH's performance not Cactus' that makes this match so incredible. Don't get me wrong when you have a match as excellent as this one, both wrestlers are wrestling at a very high level. The way Cactus was wrestling, so aggressive, so sadistic, so forward, he could have easily heeled himself. HHH sold, bumped and stooged his way to one of the best heel performances ever. It was as if the Creature of the Black Lagoon was unleashed upon the most vile, reprehensible human. Normally, you would feel sympathy for HHH, but not in this case because he was so cowardly after he had been such a prick to Cactus. In a lot of ways this match reminded me of the Foley/Orton match, but what makes this one better is HHH's performance in ensuring Cactus is always 100% the babyface. In fairness, I think the Orton match did exist to set up Orton's face turn in August of 2004. I love the beginning shine of the match where Cactus just kicks HHH's ass for a good 10-15 minutes. There is a great moment where HHH swings the ring bell wildly and then runs for the high ground of the ring with a chair. You can sense his fear. Foley just shakes off the bell shot and then takes a wicked chair shot to the face and shakes off that. It is that horror movie moment when HHH realizes he will not be able to keep the incensed monster down. He is selling and bumping the whole way for Cactus. The Barbed Wire 2x4 was an excellent climax to the babyface shine. It got a great pop, it was a great escalation in violence, it allowed for a mini battle over an item within the larger scheme of the match. There was drama over who would score the big blow and then HHH bled buckets. Cactus getting the nearfall off the bat shot to the face was excellent. I thought it was a little weak that they did the back drop off the piledriver and instead of going to heat segment they regressed back to the barbed wire bat, which seemed like a step backwards instead of forward. Cactus took his two usual, nasty, nasty, nasty knee related bumps into the steps and HHH went to town driving the barbed wire bat into the knee. HHH's staggered selling never relented and he looked someone trying to survive by any means necessary rather than a proud champion exactly as a heel should be. I liked the handcuffs in this match because it actually set up for a really nice run of hope spots: headbutt to the balls and biting HHH in the cut. If you did not believe it before, you did now Catcus Jack hates this muthafucka and will do everything in his power to hurt and maim him. The Rock was definitely necessary and a perfectly acceptable way to get the handcuffs off Jack. The thumbtacks was another great way to escalate the violence. Stephanie was effective in distracting Cactus long enough for HHH to back drop Cactus into tacks so not a clean victory. The first Pedigree kickout was HUGE! Really put Cactus and the match over. Pedigree onto the tacks still after the six times I have seen it makes me cringe, grimace and a little queasy. Helmsley retained the championship, but it was a Pyrrhic victory as he is stretctered out only to have Cactus catch up to him and slam him back out.



I think the one misfire was that they should have had Stephanie or someone physically interfere to set up the rematch, but still Cactus did get his heat back and HHH looked like he was barley alive by the end of it so it is a small critique.



Overall, holy shit, this was fucking awesome. Even better than I remember it, which was just a violent street fight. It is so much more. It builds so well to the mid-match climax of the barbed wire bat then to the handcuffs and finally to the finish with thumbtacks. The characters are perfect. Cactus is a crazed monster that is always moving forward whether it is being slammed with a chair or handcuffed. He was out to destroy HHH. That's the difference between the bump machine of the early 90s and this Cactus, who has matured as a performer. He did not have this match by himself like he did with Sting. His bumps made sense, but more importantly he was out to hurt HHH and win the match. HHH knocked it out of the park in this one as he gave one of his best heel performance. He looked completely overwhelmed by the all out assault of Cactus. He was sold it like he shit a brick and he tried to hide behind weapons, but nothing was doing for him until he got a lucky break using Cactus' own momentum into the steel steps and then following that right up. Cactus took the vast majority of the match, but HHH earned his stripes by taking this beating. The heat segment was great and still featured a bunch of hope spots. The finish was a perfect climax to the his violent masterpiece. Holds up 100% and this match is HHH's best match (though I have the Daniel Bryan match as a close number two). *****

I read that Mick thinks the Backlash 2004 match with Orton was his favourite match. This (RR 2000) match is waaaaaay better. I'm no Triple H expert, but I think that this is his best match too. Maybe not quite Mick's, though.