Random Royal Rumble Wrestling Match Review (January 28, 2012)

The Royal Rumble is this Sunday. I own volume 3 of the Royal Rumble Anthology DVD which contains the Attitude Era Royal Rumble events (1998-2002). I also have a few other Royal Rumble matches on DVD so I made a list of Royal Rumble matches that I own on DVD and my list has 35 matches. That is enough to randomly pick a match from that list and review it. My nameless Random Number Generator gave me the number 15. The Royal Rumble match I will review is...

Kurt Angle vs. Tazz (Royal Rumble- January 23, 2000)

I'm happy with this pick. I didn't feel like reviewing one of the six 30-Man Royal Rumble matches on my list. This match is a somewhat well-known match because it is Tazz's debut match but it is obscure enough that I'm sure there are many wrestling fans who have never seen it. I have many famous matches in my DVD collection but I also have many matches that are not very well-known so it's nice to review matches that people may have never seen before.

The Facts:

• This match took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City on January 23, 2000. The attendance was 19,231. 
• This match had a 03:16 time length.
• Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler were the announcers for this match.
• This was Tazz's WWF debut. He left ECW in November 1999.
• This was Kurt Angle's Royal Rumble debut. He made his WWF debut November 14, 1999 at the Survivor Series.
• Kurt Angle was undefeated in the WWF at the start of this match. 
• This was the opening match of the event.

The Match:

Kurt Angle cut a promo before the start of the match. Angle said that Madison Square Garden deserves to have a true champion performing in it. He then dissed the Knicks by saying that if the fans were waiting for the Knicks to win a championship, they would probably be waiting forever. The Knicks are a professional basketball team in New York. Angle said he decided to be New York's champion. Angle said that his unnamed opponent must be nervous because Angle is an undefeated American hero. It sounds like the crowd is chanting, "We want Tazz". I didn't know New York was so smarky in 2000. Angle said, "Come out here and give it your all." Tazz's entrance music starts playing and Tazz gets a huge pop!

Tazz starts attacking Kurt Angle before his music stops. Tazz almost immediately tosses Angle out of the ring. While Tazz fights Angle outside the ring, the fans are chanting "E-C-W E-C-W". Tazz tries to suplex Angle but Angle avoids the suplex and hits Tazz with a suplex outside the ring. Angle then gets Tazz back in the ring. Angle takes control of the match. Angle hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Angle climbs to the top turnbuckle and prepares to jump off it, but Tazz runs into the ring ropes which causes Angle to lose his balance. Angle is now sitting on the top turnbuckle. Tazz climbs up to the second rope and hits Angle with a suplex. Tazz goes for the pin and almost gets the win but Angle gets his foot on the rope right before the three count. The crowd thinks Tazz won but the ref immediately points to Angle's foot on the rope.

While Tazz is talking to the ref about the near-fall, Angle attacks Tazz and executes an inside cradle pin. Tazz kicks out. Angle hits another suplex and doesn't release Tazz after the suplex. Tazz's shoulders are pinned to the mat but Tazz kicks out at two. Angle goes for the Olympic Slam (also known as the Angle Slam) but Tazz reverses it and hits Angle with a nice suplex. Angle gets up and Tazz hits another suplex. A lot of suplexes in this match! Angle gets up and Tazz hits a suplex again! All three suplexes looked different. Lawler says, "I've never seen suplexes like this!" Tazz applies a choke hold on Angle that is Tazz's version of a sleeper hold. I think it is the Tazzmission but this is Tazz's debut so that name hasn't been created yet. The referee stops the match and Tazz is the winner!

Winner: Tazz

Rating: **3/4

This was an entertaining match. It was less than four minutes, but a lot happened in that short amount of time. I wish this match was a little bit longer because this match had the potential to be a great match. Although Kurt Angle is a WWE Legend right now, Angle was still a WWF rookie during this match. Angle is a future Hall of Famer so it is strange to see Tazz defeat Angle so easily. Angle had some offense in this match but Tazz dominated most of the match. I wonder why Tazz never got a big push after this match. Beating an Olympic gold medal winner should be a big deal so I don't know why Tazz never became a main event superstar. Kurt Angle ended up having a much better WWE career than Tazz. Angle was one of the most decorated champions in WWE history and Tazz was only a four-time title holder in the WWE (three-time Hardcore Champion and one-time Tag Team Champion). If Tazz ever got his own WWE DVD, this match would definitely be on it. Good match and a very impressive debut. I thought Tazz did really good in this match but when I think of Tazz as a WWE wrestler, I only think of this match and his match with Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam 2000. Tazz is now more known as a former WWE announcer than a former WWF wrestler. I was watching wrestling when Tazz was an active wrestler in the WWF and I missed most of his announcing career in the WWE so I will always think of Tazz as a wrestler. I wish he had more impressive WWF matches like this match.