10 Best WWE Matches of The Year 2000

WWE was arguably at its peak in popularity in the year 2000. Despite Stone Cold Steve Austin being out of action for most of the year, WWE pay-per-view buys remained high, ratings for RAW and SmackDown were through the roof, even ratings for the likes of Sunday Night Heat would make today's RAW ratings blush and WWE slaughtered WCW so bad in every way possible.

And while the characters and storylines were a major high point, the in-ring action was also incredible. WWE had many excellent matches throughout the entire year, with some even being the very best in company history. Here are what I feel were the top 10 best WWE matches of the year 2000.

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#10 The Rock vs. Triple H - Backlash

With a little help from a rattlesnake

We had a lot of hype going into this match. Triple H had been the WWE Champion since the first RAW of the year and had surprisingly retained it over The Rock at WrestleMania 16, the previous month.

Then much like now, The Rock wasn't facing just Champion Triple H but the entire McMahon family, they were going to make it impossible for The Rock to come out on top. But today he had help, from someone who hadn't been seen in 5 months, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The match was as good as you could expect from these two, at this point The Rock was having terrific matches with anyone and Triple H had been the best wrestler of that entire year, so this was a solid encounter.

The live audience was into every minute of it, as well as eagerly anticipating the late arrival of Austin, whose entrance gave one of the loudest pops in WWE history. With help from Austin, Rock overcame his enemy to raise the WWE Championship.

#9 Armageddon Hell in A Cell - Armageddon

A shame we didn't have any more of these

This was a pretty interesting match. The Hell in A Cell match was three years old by this point and WWE wanted to try something new and unique with it.

Reigning WWE Champion Kurt Angle defended his title against The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Rikishi, and of course, The Undertaker.

The first half of the match didn't have the most entertaining cell moments in history, but it wasn't boring either. A lot of back and forth exchanges and several near fall attempts. Vince McMahon provided some entertainment outside the cell as he entered with a pick-up truck, attempting to deconstruct the cage.

In the most memorable moment, The Undertaker Chokeslamed Rikishi off the cell, onto the truck. A lot more action in the Cell was provided by the rest until Kurt Angle took the win.

#8 Triple H vs. Chris Benoit - No Mercy

Forgotten gem, even before 2007

With the tragedy of the death of Chris Benoit and his wife and son, all Benoit matches are now overlooked and attempted to be forgotten about. What was interesting about this one however is that it was a great match that was just forgotten about anyway, long before 2007.

This was just a very strong wrestling match. After a tie-up started things, both men quickly turned very physical in the corner. Triple H attacked Benoit's knee for a few minutes, before Chris finally battled back. Some great pace between them as they went to the outside and a series of submissions, counters and suplexes back in the ring.

Some great psychology here. After a long Crippler Crossface, Stephanie McMahon ran out to distract Chris with a slap. After Chris countered an attempted Pedigree into another Crossface, The Game gave Benoit a low blow and Pedigree to end this gem.

#7 The Rock vs. Triple H - Judgement Day

One incredible hour

The Rock and Triple H worked so well together, always delivering A + matches from 1998 - 2000. After several one-on-one matches, a Ladder match, a Cage match and being in the main event of WrestleMania, it all led to this. A 60 minute Iron Man match at Judgement Day.

There was also a big addition to the match, The Game's best friend Shawn Michaels as guest referee. And with HBK having refereed another WWE Championship match between these two on the inaugural SmackDown episode in 1999 and costing Rock the match, could he be trusted this time around, having given his word to Linda McMahon?

The live audience were hot for this one. This was The Rock at his most popular, the roof nearly blew off the building from his thunderous ovation. The two went back and forth all match long. Rock pinned Triple H after a Rock Bottom just after the first 10 minutes. The pacing of this match was great. A lot of counters, physical action and submissions from The Game.

Finally, at just over 25 minutes into it, Triple H evened the score with a Pedigree to his first three count. Not even one minute later, Triple H took a second fall with an inside cradle. Triple H then took a third fall after a piledriver another 7 minutes later. Big turn of events. At just over 40 minutes into it, Rock took his second fall after a DDT.

Triple H hit Rock with a chair shot and Shawn gave the fall to The Rock. An irate Game then pinned Rock for a 4-3 lead. Triple H went up another fall when Rock passed out to his sleeper hold. With just 5 minutes left, they went to the outside where Rock gave Triple H a Pedigree of his own through the announcers' table to get a count out to make it 5-4 to The Game.

Vince, Shane, Stephanie and X Pac and Road Dogg interfered to help Triple H, before The Undertaker made his long-awaited return and debut as the American Badass. The Crowd went beyond insane. Exactly how they did the month before when Austin helped Rock out at Backlash. Rock was disqualified after Taker's attack, giving Triple H the win and WWE Championship back at 6-5 falls.

#6 Triple H vs. Chris Jericho - Fully Loaded

Should have been Y2J's launch

This is widely considered one of the best WWE pay-per-views ever. Many like to think of the epic WWE Championship main event between The Rock and Chris Benoit as the best match, but it pales in comparison to this fantastic match.

This is a common trend you should notice in this list now. This is the fifth consecutive match to feature Triple H. But that isn't surprising as 2000 was easily the greatest year he has ever had as an in-ring performer. The build-up to this match was actually on and off as Triple H had also been feuding with The Rock in between. Still, though, The Game hadn't forgotten about Chris Jericho 'defeating' him for the WWE Championship on RAW, nor his kiss to Stephanie at King of the Ring.

This was everything that their good yet disappointing WrestleMania X8 main event should have been. Triple H worked Jericho's 'injured' ribs to start it off, but was quickly pummeled by rights and lefts in retaliation. They went back and forth, had a series of goes at each other, a lot of Triple H working Jericho's ribs, great psychology and chemistry between them. The crowd was super behind Jericho.

They fought all over outside the ring, eventually leading to Triple H hitting Jericho with a back body suplex through the announce table. Triple H won as he stood up while Jericho remained knocked out from his head meeting concrete below the tab

#5 Dean Malenko vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

Underrated gem

A classic that no one saw coming. When former WCW and ECW star Dean Malenko joined WWE in 2000, the match possibilities were endless, dozens of 5-star matches waiting to happen with all the biggest stars. So it is pretty crazy to think that Dean Malenko had all his best WWE matches with the dance-loving Scotty 2 Hotty.

Now Scotty 2 Hotty was nothing to joke around with, sure it was a hip-hop dancing gimmick, but no dancing gimmicks (and there has been a lot) will ever get over like Too Cool did, and Scotty was a pretty good and heavily underrated performer. And on this night, he had the best performance of his career.

Scotty and Dean had several matches over the previous few weeks, trading the Light Heavyweight Championship each time, and although the matches were generally strong, they were often short. Tonight they had just shy of 13 minutes to work with and put on the best match possible with it. The action was fast paced and had a particularly rough ending, as, in mid-air, Dean reversed a top rope superplex into a DDT for the 3.

#4 Triple H vs. Cactus Jack - No Way out

Mick's original retirement

Going into this one, it was to be the retirement match for Mick Foley, after one hell of a career. As it turned out, like most performers who retired, this wouldn't be the final time the Hardcore Legend stepped into the ring, in fact, his next match occurred just one month later at WrestleMania. Despite that, this was still one incredible and emotional performance.

Triple H makes an appearance on this list yet again, damn he had one hell of a year in 2000. Some back and forth action started it, but it wasn't long before Triple H was thrown outside and Jack began to seek weapons. Already a lot of use of the steel chair and steps from The Game to Cactus. Jack fought back and they eventually ended up back outside where he busted Triple H open.

Jack threw the steps at The Game but it broke the Cell wall and they found themselves outside the structure. Triple H tried to retreat up the cage but was followed by Jack and his trusty barbed wire bat. Almost as soon as he reached the top, Jack was sent crashing through the announcers' table from above. Jack climbed back up and set his barbed wire bat on fire. He attempted to piledrive Triple H on it but was instead back-body dropped through the Cell to the ring below and went right through it.

Triple H returned to the ring and hit the Pedigree for an amazing win.

#3 Triple H vs. Cactus Jack - Royal Rumble

Brutal violence

The Hell in A Cell at No Way Out was a brutal and fantastic match, but for me, just gets beaten by this one from a month earlier. The Game and the Hardcore Legend were having some of the best back and forth verbal thrashings on television and the tag team matches between them also delivered but the Royal Rumble would bring a huge test as the match was announced as a Mick Foley specialty -- a 'Street Fight'.

Triple H was still pretty new to the main event scene by this point and Mick Foley was going to have a lot to live up too after having an incredible WWE Championship 'I Quit' match with The Rock at the previous Rumble event. And he may just have done it in brutal fashion.

Foley decided to go one step further with this match by bringing Cactus Jack, his craziest persona yet. WWE had become pretty hardcore in recent years embracing violence now more than ever and in this match, it certainly showed.

Triple H and the hardcore legend threw everything at each other but the kitchen sinks as the match featured everything from thumbtacks to a barbed wired bat to a handcuffed Cactus Jack, the violence came in drones here and is remembered as one of the best matches of both men's careers.

As Foley was close to his retirement, the right call was made for Triple H to go over in this one. And one final appearance for Triple H, this was by far his best match of an amazing year for him.

#2 Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz - SummerSlam

Round 2 of an insane PPV trilogy

A rematch of their Triangle Ladder match at WrestleMania earlier that year, this would be the very first official Tables, Ladders & Chairs match.

This was absolute carnage. The Hardyz and Dudleyz double teamed Edge and Christian at the beginning before it became every team for themselves. Jeff Hardy hit a springboard over top of the ladder from the top turnbuckle with a leapfrog onto Edge.

Jeff then from the top of a 20 foot ladder hit a Swanton Bomb and went straight through a table but Bubba Ray moved just in time. As Edge took out Bubba on the outside, he entered the ring for him and Christian to climb up but were met by Matt Hardy and D-Von.

Christian flew off with Matt with a DDT from the ladder, while D-Von threw Edge off and they hit the top of the ropes. Bubba attempted to reach for the titles but was pushed from the top of the ladder through four tables on the outside of the ring. As Edge and Christian attempted to take the gold, Lita emerged and pushed both men off the ladder.

D-Von then sent Matt flying during his attempt as he met some tables outside. As Lita was checking on him, Edge Speared her, with the back of her head smacking off a ladder to a sickening thud.

As it seemed like Jeff Hardy was about to pull the titles down, Edge and Christian took him out and took down the gold.

#1 Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz - WrestleMania

The ultimate trendsetter

The first ever TLC match between these three teams at SummerSlam was insane, but this one was the real Tables, Ladders and Chairs trendsetter. D-Von Dudley has said that he considers this to have been the real first TLC match, and he isn't wrong.

This match was designed when the tag team Ladder match from No Mercy 99 with Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz, and the tag team Tables match with the Hardyz and Dudley Boyz from the Royal Rumble both went over so well.

A big brawl started it off. The ladder was used as a weapon by everybody. Jeff Hardy crashed on the ladder after a missed 450 Splash, everyone performed various other moves, some successful, some like Jeff's sore landing. Chairs and tables were soon introduced. As all three teams were on the ladders, Matt Hardy and Christian both got elevated to the outside of the ring and they fell on the concrete over the top rope for a very rough landing.

As Matt and D-Von went crashing to the tables, Jeff set up the most infamous spot of the show. Jeff climbed to the top of a giant ladder that must have been 20 ft, and Swantonned Bubb through it.

Back in the ring, Matt gingerly climbed up two ladders to a table that had been set up as a platform on them. He looked like he was about to take the Tag Team gold before Edge and Christian emerged and flipped him down to a table below and lifted their first WWE Tag Team Championships.

Match of The Year!