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Triple H & The Rock winners at No Way Out

John Powell

 

A simple question. How do you close come to ruining a perfectly good pay-per-view main event? A simple answer. Have a 7’2″ tall, 500-pound uncoordinated ox carry out a pointless run-in. Such was the case at the WWF’s No Way Out pay-per-view airing from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Challenger, The Rock, and WWF World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle, were wrestling a dynamic match when from out of nowhere The Big Show stuck his nose in. It was bad enough that The Rock and Angle had to follow a ferocious, bloody contest between Triple H and Steve Austin. To have The Big Show put a noticeable pause in their momentum almost sabotaged what The Rock and Angle had put together. To make matters worse, the conclusion of the match came off as very awkward too.

At approximately seven minutes into the main event, The Big Show (with his entrance music announcing his arrival to everyone involved) choke slammed Angle, The Rock and the official. As mysteriously as he came in, The Big Show left. No explanation was offered by the announce team as to why Big Show decided to do what he did. Angle covered The Rock but there was no referee to slap the count. He was being carried out by two of his colleagues. When one of the officials remembered that there was a WWF World Title match going on, he clambered into the ring to assume control.

The Rock, who surprisingly didn’t make one reference to himself during his short pre-match promo (Whew!), cracked Angle upside the head with the title belt. Angle kicked out. What followed next was The Rock and Angle escaping each other’s finishing moves. Angle popped out of the People’s Elbow and was able to make his way to a corner so he could remove the turnbuckle pad exposing the steel bolt underneath. Angle hit his Olympic Slam. The Rock powered out of that. Angle was thrown into the bolt and The People’s Champ caught him with a Rock Bottom. Though viewers couldn’t see because of the positioning of the camera, Angle was said to have lifted his shoulder off the mat before the three count was laid down. The referee appeared to have made a judgment call in order to save the finish of the match turning what should have been a three count into a two count. So, The Rock gave Angle another Rock Bottom taking the WWF World Heavyweight Title from Kurt Angle.

Commentator and WWF Vice-President Jim Ross confirmed that The Rock would be going to WrestleMania to face “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as many insiders and fans had speculated would happen. What could cast some doubt over J.R.’s statement are The Big Show’s run-in, which could possibly indicate that he feels he should be in the WrestleMania main event and not Austin, and the fact that Austin lost his No Way Out bout with Triple H earlier in the broadcast. Could we be seeing a four way match or a mini WWF World Heavyweight Title tournament at WrestleMania? It’s too early to say. WrestleMania is still more than a month away and anything can happen between now and then.

Austin and Triple H’s Two-Out-Of-Three-Falls event on the show can only be described as extraordinarily cruel. Both competitors didn’t fare too well in the “ungimmicked”, first fall portion of the match, however, they sure did go all out after that. Triple H and Austin flubbed many of their moves leading up to the first fall. In the final sequence, Triple H climbed up to the top rope looking to deliver an axe-handle or some such move. With Stone Cold standing mid-way in the ring, there was no way Triple H could’ve leapt that far. Triple H landed on his feet, received a kick to the gut and a Stunner. Austin collected the first fall at 12 minutes and 22 seconds.

From this point on, things got real ugly. Austin suplexed Triple H not once but twice on the steel rampway. Breaking a television monitor over The Game’s head, Austin threw three or four steel chairs into the ring. As Triple H lay prone on the canvas, Stone Cold beat him over and over again with a steel chair. Swiping it from underneath the announce table (What? Are J.R. and Lawler the keepers of the plunder now?) Austin brought a 2×4 wrapped with barbed-wire into the ring and used it on Triple H’s head.

In a unkind spot, Triple H was backdropped from J.R. and Lawler’s table through the one used by the Spanish announce team. Like Austin, Triple H pulled out a sledgehammer out from it’s hiding place behind Lawler and J.R.’s desk. That announce team is sure hardcore. Back in the ring, Austin failed at a Stunner and Triple H dropped him with a sledgehammer to the head and a Pedigree winning the second fall at 28 minutes and 11 seconds.

Down comes the steel cage for the third and final fall. Austin and Triple H used the barbed-wire 2×4 and the steel cage on each other. Stone Cold kicked out of the Pedigree. Triple H escaped the Stunner. Austin, holding the 2×4, and Triple H, holding the sledgehammer, swung and connected with each other simultaneously. Triple H fell on top of Austin to score the third fall. Austin then Stunned Triple H from behind.

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