Gimmick Some Lovin': Last Man Standing

My Rating

From earlier in 2000, a spot (and a feud) far more befitting this match stipulation.

I liked this match, but it wasn't the match I wanted. It furthered the WWF's ability in 2000 to put on competitive and athletic contests which provided a lot of ooh's and ahh's, and it had its fair share of pro wrestling contrivances to make it fun (like Jericho's Lionsault onto Kane with a steel chair sandwiched in between the two men).

However, this wasn't a good Last Man Standing Match. The image above comes from Jericho's Last Man Standing Match versus Triple H from July of 2000, and just a glance at that scene shows what a match with this gimmick should look like.

Including the table and barrel spot at the finish, there was very little hardcore brawling to this one; we had the attempted murder spots at the start, and, only after a methodical submission doesn't put Jericho down like Kane had hoped, a few chair spots in the ring, but that's it.

The match is a lot like Jacobs's political career: it makes more sense than it probably should, and works pretty well on some levels, but it's still a head-scratcher as to how and why it came to be in the first place.

As far as feuds go, starting with spilled coffee and adding in some simmering resentment after the fact is only a slightly better genesis than subtweets and Twitter beefs (in the case of Jericho's newest feud, though, good sense and good booking says that New Japan will let a standard one-fall contest settle those differences).

Because it was enjoyable enough, but didn't live up to the stipulation it was given, my rating for this match is the definition of damnation by faint praise: 6/10

Meltzer Says

Meltzer gives this one two stars, which means he's probably saving the other 4.25 for Jericho's Wrestle Kingdom debut.