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Taker costs Rock the title at Judgement Day

John Powell


The WWF featured his “brother” Kane in all the ads leading up to the event yet it was The Undertaker who acted as the harbinger of doom at the Judgment Day pay-per-view live from Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Absent from the mat wars for many months due to reoccurring injuries, The Dead Man returned Sunday night to support The Rock in his sixty-minute Iron Man match against Triple H. His actions backfired and The People’s Champion left the Hall without the WWF World Heavyweight Championship around his waist. Coincidentally, the unfortunate outcome leaves The Rock (Duane Johnson) with mucho time to finish filming his part as a half-man, half-scorpion villain in the sequel to The Mummy.

Not even coming close to a similar match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 12 or one not so long ago between Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude in WCW, the Triple H – Rock Iron Man bout in which a winner is determined by a wrestler getting more decisions than his opponent in a sixty-minute period, underscored the shortcomings of both WWF superstars. Though the wrestler’s work rate was high and the match was captivating at times, it relied too much on rest holds, brawling outside the ring and walk outs to seriously post a challenge to past Iron Man bouts. The Rock and Triple H’s impressive SummerSlam Ladder Match still stands as their best contest to date.

Shane, Stephanie and Vince McMahon ushered Triple H to the ring. He acknowledged their backing with thanks then sent everyone to the back stating that he had something to prove and that he wanted to “go it alone”. Vince questioned Triple H’s decision as he and his family split. The Rock logged in the first pinfall at 10 minutes and 43 seconds when he Rock Bottomed Triple H. Approximately fifteen minutes later, Triple H evened the score Pedigreeing The Rock. Stunned by The Game’s finishing maneuver, The Rock fell behind by a fall two minutes later as Triple H pinned him using an inside cradle roll-up.

For his part, special guest referee – Shawn Michaels – called it right down the middle pulling a steel chair away from his pal – Triple H, stopping him from getting an unfair advantage by using the ropes and refusing to give him more time to recover outside the ring. This sense of fairness would eventually lead to a shoving match between the two friends.

Triple H made the running count three-to-one spiking The Rock with a piledriver. The People’s Champion won the next two decisions. During the first, he hit a DDT on The Game. In the second, Triple H was disqualified for binging The Rock in the head with a steel chair. The Rock bled for a few minutes following the chair shot then the blood on his face and forehead mysteriously stopped flowing. Strange. Either the People’s Cut was really a special effects blood bag broken on the People’s Forehead, it healed up or The Rock closed the wound when we weren’t looking. Whatever the case, things were tied up with three a piece at fifteen minutes to go.

Not wasting precious minutes or the damage the chair shot caused, The Game used the ropes as leverage pinning The Rock. The People’s Champ submitted to a Sleeper Hold at 47 minutes and 22 seconds. Triple H now led four decisions to The Rock’s three.

Pedigreed by The Rock on J.R. and Lawler’s announce table that didn’t break upon impact, Triple H was counted out so that Rocky could notch another point. Once again, the grapplers’ scores were deadlocked. Triple H’s Sleeper Hold pushed him into the lead until The Rock launched an offence flurry punctuated by a People’s Elbow at just two minutes shy of the time limit.

The McMahons rushed to ringside. By the way, shouldn’t Stephanie McMahon be forced to forfeit the WWF Women’s World Heavyweight Title. I am sure she hasn’t defended it in the thirty days since she won it. Someone call the Continuity Department. Anyhow, Shane yanks Michaels out of the ring. HBK clobbers Vince and Shane. DX descends on The Rock too laying the smackdown on him. Suddenly, a new version of Taker’s entrance music plays. He comes riding in on a motorcycle dressed in a long, black trench coat and a bandanna around his head. Sort of what he looks like on his days off.

The Undertaker clears the ring and is about to Choke Slam Stephanie McMahon. Triple H makes the save. As the clock clicks down to less than five seconds left, the timer disappears from our television screen. Clever. However, Taker clearly Choke Slams Triple H on the zero second mark then he Tombstone Piledrives him. In the ensuing chaos, The Rock is disqualified for outside interference. This puts the final tabulation at Triple H with six decisions and The Rock with five. Triple H wins the WWF World Heavyweight Title even though he was never disqualified for the McMahons and DX interfering on his behalf. Mighty strange ending. Did anyone get a hold of the Continuity Department yet?

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