Triple H vs. Cactus Jack
WWE Royal Rumble 2000
New York, New York - Madison Square Garden
January 20, 2000
Triple H, Cactus Jack, and Earl Hebner (courtesy of wwe.com)
Imagine the Attitude Era as a three-act play.
Act 1 would begin with 1997’s debut of Raw Is War; Act 2 was WrestleMania XIV; and Act 3 started with Triple H interrupting the wedding of Stephanie McMahon and Test. Vince Russo abruptly left for WCW. WWE needed a pay-off to the Steph and Test romance in Russo’s absence. The super push and desperation to christen Hunter as the new lead protagonist as opposed to Vince McMahon was a year-long endeavor. But like many a successful plays and Tony Award winners on Broadway, WWE conducted an understated and subtle storyline wherein Triple H gave Stephanie a date rape drug and took her to a Las Vegas drive-thru wedding chapel only for Hunter to use his expert ventriloquy to say yes on Stephanie’s unconscious behalf therefore leaving her vulnerable to his consummating the wedding multiple times without her consent only for Stephanie to fall for the rebel and turn heel (remember Russo was long gone at this point!). Triple H was the top guy, but he needed that extra push to be the main event tippy-top guy. Enter Mick Foley.
Mick Foley was having something of his own renaissance heading into the year 2000. His excellent memoir, Have a Nice Day, became a legitimate pop-culture sensation, shockingly skyrocketing to a New York Times Best Seller, starting an entire genre of wrestling books. Have a Nice Day, was and is the greatest wrestling memoir in history. It told a relatable underdog story of a nice guy improbably working his ass off to get to the top. But lurking underneath the niceties was an undercurrent of self-mutilation from Mick’s unfathomable willingness to put himself through considerable suffering for our entertainment. By 1999, Foley was nearing retirement after breaking down physically.
As expressed in previous articles, I’ve never been hardcore into hardcore. But this match is historic and important for a multitude of reasons, especially in light of what they were going up against coming into it. Foley put over The Rock to build The Rock and get him ready for WrestleMania a year prior. Foley was tasked with doing the same with Triple H, but Triple H didn’t have quite the heat The Rock had and Mick wasn’t in the best shape, (or so we thought on both points). Also running the risk of a retread, was back in 1997 Mick Foley already brought out the hibernating Cactus Jack persona to beat Triple H in the same venue, Madison Square Garden, in the same match, a street fight. It delivered. To get this to a 5 star classic level, it took weapons, brutality, blood, but all of it was logical. The match was paced expertly, and crescendoed to a climax where Triple H’s capacity for violence exceeded his villainy.
The match’s first act started off slow, with Cactus getting the early advantage after a legdrop on a chair, on Triple H’s head. Cactus got his trusty 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire—funny/ridiculous to even write this in hindsight—back when a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire was a threat in a hardcore match. They jostled for control over it, with Cactus giving Triple H his back to show the barbs were real by tearing his shirt. Earl Hebner pulled the ol’ switcheroo with that 2x4 for a gimmicked one underneath the Spanish announce table. For some, it was a blatant continuity error that the wrapping was noticeably different. I couldn’t give the match a demerit, as I’d rather they use a rubber tipped one for headshots. Triple H began to bleed profusely, as Cactus Jack rubbed the barbed wire all over Hunter’s face.
There was a great, tight, close-up of Triple H’s forehead right as the blood began to stream down his forehead. This was the moment in my teenage wrestling fandom when I put it together why some wrestlers bled just a little and why guys bleed like Triple H did here. He was huffing and puffing and purposely breathing heavily. Anytime he exhaled, it’s like the bleeding got worse. I watched this match on the fucking amazing, fan friendly, Most Memorable Matches of 2000 VHS compilation tape, and this match, along with Hunter’s other great outing against Jericho at Fully Loaded 2000, featured him bleeding harder by exhaling in such a forced manner. At least 14 year old me didn’t think they used Halloween costume store blood or catsup.
Hunter got momentum back by working on Mick’s knee in the match’s second act. Triple H propelled Foley’s knee into the steps, hit his knee with chop blocks, and used the barbed wire 2x4 to it. For some, this was a momentum killer or too slowing of the pace, but it made sense logically as Triple H had initially put Mick Foley out on extended medical leave the year prior to cover for Mick getting legit surgery on said knee. It marked the last time JR on commentary also put over the identity of Triple H as a great technical wrestler, something that seemed out of place even in January of 2000. More callbacks came in the guise of Triple H bringing out handcuffs to compromise Cactus. At the 99 Rumble, The Rock beat Mankind after handcuffing Mankind and blasting him with some dozen unprotected headshots. Cactus created separation and drama by avoiding the same scenario, and when Hunter did use a chair to dissect Cactus, the back of the chair serendipitously flew up as he came down to strike Mick, creating the impression of violence as chairshots seemed to be desensitized to a crowd if used on Foley.
Cactus stumbled out to the entrance way, showing the old MSG entranceway that old WWE fans grew up on and are nostalgic for. They also did a wonderful job creating unique sets in 2000, and with no room for the Titantron here, they used the cramped spacing to their aesthetic advantage by making it a New York City back alleyway, with pallets, trashcans and debris, all used by the wrestlers.
In the entrance/alley, Hunter went for the kill and had Cactus on his knees completely vulnerable. In a clever close-up captured by Kevin Dunn, Cactus screamed at Triple H and dared him to finish him off. Unexpectedly, and in a contentious moment, Cactus Jack was saved by The Rock coming out of nowhere to pelt Triple H with a chairshot of his own. It made sense in that The Rock was feuding with Triple H too, the Rock saved Mick’s job in storyline, it was a redemptive arc for The Rock to prevent Cactus from being brutalized by the chairshots as he was last years’ knowing perpetrator, and finally The Rock was the presumptive challenger to Triple H at WrestleMania when that was thought to be the main event. The only wrong note in this match, was a NYPD officer randomly appearing after The Rock’s interference to unlock Cactus from the handcuffs.
Freed, Cactus Jack was a lunatic in his comeback to begin the third act. Cactus did a snapping, pulling pile driver on the Spanish announce table. Cactus returned to the ring with a bag of thumbtacks, getting a huge pop not only for New York’s bloodlust, but the certainty that Foley would win in his hometown arena. As made cannon on WWE TV, the same Madison Square Garden Mick hitchhiked to see “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka splash off the top of the steel cage on Don Muraco, inspiring Foley to become a wrestler. The thumbtacks proved to be Jack’s undoing, as Triple H backdropped Cactus into them. Hunter hit the pedigree for a satisfying, obvious false finish, as the Garden “knew” Cactus would win. And as he and we’d grow accustomed to, Triple H took the air out of the arena with a shocking out-of-nowhere victory. Triple H gave Cactus one final pedigree, this time on the thumbtacks themselves. Cactus’s forehead was pasted with them. Instead of angering the fans, there was an acceptance as it was a credible win and something so unthinkable to be able to get up from.
I sometimes like to think of this match as a beguiling fork in the road for what could be. What if Mick had retired after this? The following month, Cactus Jack “retired” after a Hell in a Cell match. Of course he didn’t and would return multiple times over the next ten or so years, never recapturing the magic of this night. More interesting to think of, is what if Triple H never got injured in mid 2001 and infamously tore his quad? This match was not only his first undisputed great, great match, but it was the start of a blistering pace of 4 star plus matches he had until he went out. What if he kept it up? The goodwill starting from this match allotted him to get questionable title runs and (depending on whom you chose to believe in shoot interviews) squash any wrestler who was perceived as a threat to his much protected spot. The pedigree in the thumbtacks was such a visceral visual, that it gave Triple H the convincing win he needed, and it was so convincing by virtue of him beating Cactus at his own game that it seemed to blur more lines and give Triple H carte blanche to be booked less as a Machiavellian heel and more like a real life tough guy. And we all know how insufferable that became.
