In many ways, the year 2000 was the best calendar year for WWE in terms of quality. Their roster was incredible and the storylines were on point.
The tide had turned in the Monday Night War and WWE never relinquished their stranglehold over WCW again.
WWE had finally shed many of the issues that they had had during the Attitude Era to this point. What remained was a stellar product with great storytelling and even better matches.
Thankfully, many of those great matches took place on pay-per-view and as such we get to talk about them here.
These are the eleven best WWE pay-per-view matches of 2000.
11. Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle – SummerSlam
First up is the main event of SummerSlam 2000. This match is not without its problems, but thankfully the pros involved were able to pull through.
Kurt Angle and Triple H were engaged in a rivalry over Stephanie McMahon and started fighting before the match. The intensity was high but that led to Angle being badly concussed when the announce table gave way beneath them.
Angle was able to be walked through the rest of the match but it was The Rock and Triple H the rest of the way.
Thankfully, The Rock and Triple H were great together and the match still managed to be great despite its flaws.
10. Triple H vs. The Rock – Backlash
Speaking of Triple H and The Rock, when people talk about great Backlash matches this one often gets brought up.
This was the match that should have main evented WrestleMania 2000. With The Rock challenging Triple H for the WWE Championship, the highlight was the return of Steve Austin.
Austin assisted The Rock in capturing the title in an excellent moment of Attitude Era insanity.
9. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit – No Mercy
2000 was the year that WWE effectively solidified their upper mid-card. With the arrival of The Radicalz from WCW, WWE gained some of the best workers in wrestling overnight.
The one that made the most immediate impact was Chris Benoit. Benoit had a number of big matches against WWE’s main event stars in 2000 with his match against Triple H at No Mercy was one of his best.
Triple H was on top of his game in 2000 and will be making more appearances on this list, but this was a great preview of the matches the two would have four years later.
8. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle – No Mercy
The Rock, Triple H and Kurt Angle was a great three-way rivalry with great singles matches sprinkled throughout.
Angle’s matches with The Rock sometimes get overlooked compared to his excellent work with his other rivals but matches like this one show why that is a mistake.
On the same show as the last entry, Kurt Angle won his first WWE Championship in a No DQ match.
There was a lot going on in the match with Rikishi, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon all getting involved but Angle was still able to look strong, hitting an Angle Slam on Rikishi and The Rock before winning the title.
7. The Rock vs. Chris Benoit – Fully Loaded
There are few better examples of a WWE-branded megastar taking on a hardcore fan’s superworker than this match between The Rock and Chris Benoit.
This was another of Benoit’s earliest classic matches against main event WWE stars and he proved why he should have been a main event talent in WCW all along.
The main event of Fully Loaded 2000 saw Benoit and The Rock have a classic match, another in a long line of matches The Rock had in 2000 when he was the most popular wrestler in the world.
As far as straight up singles matches go, this is one of The Rock’s best.
6. The Hardys vs. The Dudleys vs. Edge & Christian – WrestleMania 2000
The Hardys, Dudleys and Edge and Christian made a legacy for themselves in Ladder matches and TLC matches in 2000 and 2001.
This was the first of their trilogy and while great, there was still room for improvement.
At WrestleMania 2000, the three teams competed in a Triangle Ladder match, the precursor to the TLC match. This was an insane spotfest per the stands of the time, with Jeff Hardy hitting a brutal Swanton Bomb off a ladder through Bubba Ray Dudley.
While the spots were very impressive, but even the men involved have admitted that the psychology of the match was lacking.
They would more than make up for this in their later matches but this is a fascinating look at where it started.
5. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho – Fully Loaded
Chris Jericho has said that he was not feeling himself in WWE until he wrestled Triple H.
This was in regards to his match on Raw in Penn State but this match at Fully Loaded illustrates how Jericho was able to completely get back on his game at the time.
This Last Man Standing match was Jericho’s best match in WWE to this point. He had yet to be portrayed as a main event star and while there was still a long way to go on that front, wrestling to a draw with Triple H in 2000 was pretty huge.
Fully Loaded had a pair of fantastic matches on top and this was one of the better ones of the whole year as well.
4. Kurt Angle vs. Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Rikishi – Armageddon
The Armageddon 2000 Hell in a Cell match is very silly but it is also very fun. Filled with the five biggest WWE stars at the time and Rikishi, this is the most star-studded Hell in a Cell match ever.
All of the year’s biggest storylines combined at this show into one massive match. Steve Austin’s return and feud with Triple H and Rikishi, as well as The Rock and The Undertaker’s quests to be WWE Champion were all on display in this match.
This is most remembered for The Undertaker pushing Rikishi off the cage onto some sawdust but the match is actually really good. Everyone does their part well and this match feels properly chaotic.
Vince McMahon tries to ruin the fun as he often does, but his interference allowed for a unique way to escape the cage.
3. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack – No Way Out
Just as 2000 ended with a Hell in a Cell match, it began with one as well. Triple H’s rivalry with Mick Foley was arguably the best work of his entire career and it culminated with this match.
With Foley’s career on the line, he put Triple H over as the biggest heel in the business. This is when Triple H was at his best, and this match helped establish Hell in a Cell as Triple H’s match for the next decade.
This was pure Attitude Era violence. There was barbed wire and fire, both men were bleeding, and the finish was Foley get body dropped through the roof of the cell through the ring.
Thankfully the ring was gimmicked and not as deadly as Foley’s match with The Undertaker, but it was still a jaw-dropping finish to a fantastic match.
2. The Hardys vs. The Dudleys vs. Edge & Christian – SummerSlam
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… OH MYYYYYY! Thank god Michael Cole was not on commentary to run that line into the crowd in 2000.
While these three teams began their trilogy at WrestleMania 2000, at SummerSlam they introduced the world to the TLC match and surpassed their previous performance in every way possible.
The stunts were crazier, the pacing was better, and the story told was smarter. Additionally, there had been several more months of storytelling and the characters of the three teams were more clearly defined.
The Hardys were the hometown favorites and extremely popular while Edge and Christian were detestable heels.
Everything about this match raised the stakes from their previous encounter and the teams solidified their legacy with their performances.
1. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack – Royal Rumble
While their Hell in a Cell match was a thrilling end to their rivalry, Triple H and Mick Foley’s Street Fight at the Royal Rumble absolutely cemented Triple H as a superstar and a great top heel.
Mick Foley had made his name in hardcore matches and it was no surprise that he could hold his own but Triple H was another story. Triple H hadn’t been tested in WWE to this point, at least not to this extreme.
Thankfully, he proved himself capable and left the ring that night as a complete badass, able to conquer Foley in his own environment.
Triple H’s best matches have almost all come with a stipulation attached to them and this was a huge example of that.
He had not had a match of this caliber to this point in his career and Foley proved to be a perfect opponent for him.
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