Kurt Angle vs. Triple H

[4.0] "This Match wasn't that Bad, but it was an overbooked nonsense. Probable the loudest Pops were when Stephanie and Trish started fighting, and Austin's interference., and that proves the crowd wasn't really into it. This Match felt too long and kinda boring, sure could it been better."

[6.0] "The match was good and okay, but the action didn't kept up to what it meant, too many work on Angle's leg from Triple H and then the interference of Stone Cold and the McMahon family Novel, a match that is good but too much extra to keep it good. 6/10 [***3/4]"

[8.0] "Pretty good match ruined by McMahon shenanigans. And honestly, while Trish and Stephanie were cat fighting on the outside, I was wondering what on God's green earth were Kurt and Triple H doing, the camera wasn't on them for like 4 minutes. But other than that, solid back and forth bout between 2 greats. It isn't easy to pull off a good heel vs heel match but they managed to. Austin getting a huge pop at the end and Angle retaining was just perfect to me. I guess it could've been reduced by 4-5 minutes, but this match was perfection."

[2.0] "So, so, so incredibly boring. Triple H works over Angle's leg which leads to a whole lot of nothing, it's just painfully slow for the sake of being painfully slow. Austin interferes and adds some much needed urgency to this match, hitting Triple H with a Stunner which leads to Angle picking up the win. Stephanie and Trish come to blows in the later stages of the match, with Trish being dragged off by Vince."

[7.0] "This was a pretty good match from two of the best WWE superstars ever. Hunter was at his best and Angle was already amazing early in his career. I think doing a heel vs. heel match is difficult, but they made it fun and entertaining while also going long at over 20 minutes. There were times when the crowd wasn't reacting to the match although it did pick up by the end. The spot with Stephanie and Trish worked very well because the intensity picked up from there. The finish was cheap with Austin getting involved due to his long-term story with Hunter that would lead to an amazing match at No Way Out 2001. It also protected Hunter by not having him take a clean loss. It's okay to have non-clean finishes to further other stories. The first half of the match isn't great, but everything after the women's brawl is a lot of fun to watch."

[6.0] "A lot of slow working over Angle's leg to fill time before the ridiculous McMahon family soap opera shenanigans before finally kicking into third gear towards the end. Lots of silly ref nonsense as to be expected from a heel vs heel match where everyone's cheating to win. Some great spots in that segment too, the moonsault, the many nut shots, the interference, great stuff. Takes a bit too long to get there for me."

[7.0] "Good match that elevates Kurt Angle closer to the main event. Angle looked good and Triple H did a great thing in making Angle look credible. The stuff on the outside with Vince, Stephanie, and Trish was also a lot of fun."

[8.0] "I honestly liked this match a lot. I thought it was especially good for a Triple H match. A lot of stuff going on outside the ring between Trish and Stephanie as well as Austin helping Kurt get the win. A fun and entertaining championship match."

[6.0] "Not bad tbh but on paper? It should've been better than this, good technicality but still it felt like a missed opportunity to bring an amazing match here, so it felt like a big stone in the middle of the road. **3/4"

[8.0] "It's a really good match when it actually gets the focus as even the pre-match video was all about the Trish and Steph rivalry so it was obvious that was a big cat fight waiting to happen and it got a big reaction. Vince falling over trying to separate them was just funny as hell. Triple H takes a big shortcut early on in the match where he literally wraps a chair around Angle's knee on the ring post and he's pretty much like a surgeon targeting it and uses the classic Ric Flair tactics like the chop block and he softens him up with a figure four and grabs on to the ropes when the ref is out of position which caused the cat fight. Angle gets a bit of a break and starts to come back with counters and he does some great selling even on offense. I honestly have no idea how Hebner missed that low blow Triple H got in though. He got a nasty bump into the stairs and Austin beats the crap out of him and busts him up and gives him a stunner and the ref recovers for the slow 3 count. The work is really good between them as you'd expect and there was big improvements with Angle here compared to the match at Unforgiven, but there wasn't a whole lot of heat between the wrestlers themselves with all of the outside factors being the main story."

[2.0] "It was truly a horrible and interminable match... Nothing is going right, from the promo clip where we already feel the scam when they have to sell us the match and instead we prefer to focus on the rivalry between Stephanie McMahon and Trish Stratus. The match itself has a jerky pace, I couldn't connect. Not a fan of the chemistry between the two wrestlers, and yet I love them. And then comes the moment when Stephanie and Trish bicker and there for more than 2 or 3 good minutes we have no plan on the match and we prefer to focus on the two women and Vince McMahon. Then back to this infamous match which is not interesting. And finally my savior Stone Cold arrives to put an end to this horror. Why didn't he intervene before? (1*)"

[6.0] "A victim of overbooking and overlong Triple H match boredoms. Gets good towards the ending but not enough Angle to salvage this one."

[6.0] "this was a overbooked mess while it was a fine match the overbooking brings it down to me, vince and women, Austin ref being down for 5 mins just terrible over booking but the match itself was fine"

[4.0] "Very disappointing match between these two, it appears the match was booked more as a vehicle to show the rivalry between Trish and Stephanie. Match was very uncreative with no moments of note, only saving grace was Austins run in at the end to set up future matches with Triple H."

[3.0] "Didn't enjoy this at all sadly. Watching Triple H doing limb work to start with Kurt Angle did not end up being an entertaining watch, and it only got worse when the overbooking began with the outside happenings and whatever that freakish McMahon storyline was."

[6.0] "A match that was definitely longer than necessary especially when Stephanie and Trish get involved. Kurt is as amazing as ever though"

[8.0] "It did went a bit too long than it really shouldve, but its a real good match between both men and had really great heel vs heel psychology between them."

[7.0] "Well, it's a Triple H match, which means it's too long, with an extended heat section. About halfway through Trish and Steph fight each other with Vince trying to break it up between them. A distraction from the boring heat, but a distraction nontheless. We do get a beautiful Kurt Angle moonsault though. There's a dumb ref bump, and we get an overbooked finish. Despite the length, it's still a Kurt Angle match, so it's still pretty good."

[3.0] "Hollow overbooked bullshit that is only saved by the fact that Angle retains and is not totally disrespected by this trainwreck nothing of a match. Boring work, boring story. Does not feel like a PPV championship match, feels like a below average TV main event. Long Live Kurt Angle, Death to Triple H."

[7.0] "It was very good apart from the dumb McMahon drama attached to it. Triple H worked on Angle's leg for the whole match and Kurt sold it very nicely, which prevented him from pinning Hunter fast enough in the latter stages of the match. In the end Stone Cold got involved to keep HHH looking strong which I didn't mind, plus Angle really stepped up his game in this one."

[6.0] "Average match that had too much outside distractions to really be a classic with Trish, Stephanie, Vince & Steve Austin all being a part of this match. Kurt Angle being on television for a year and change at this point is pretty insane given how poised he is in the ring and in his character. 2.5 star match."

[4.0] "Weird one, a cool moment here and there but mostly just adequate and didn't feel like a world title bout. The excessive length, annoying Vince/Trish/Stephanie stuff, and shitty ref bumps (the more I see of him, the more I think Earl Hebner was just not good) drag it down. (**1/4)"

[9.0] "This match is criminally underrated, both guys put on a great showing, was great psychology from Triple H throughout and Angle was made to look like a main eventer alot more than he did for the rest of his reign"

[3.0] "Triple H PPV special. He works over Angle's leg foreeeever. Trish and Stephanie get into a fight, Vince came out and sent them to the back while HHH and Angle do nothing in the ring. Angle's moonsault an arm drag off the top was cool. The ref bumps were comedically bad, Austin does a fun run-in and Earl takes a whole day to count the pin - *1/2"

[6.0] "I was excited for this match and really wanted to like but it was way overbooked (go figure). Too much outside story to get what could have been a fantastic match. Kurt's moonsault was AMAZING."

[7.0] "I felt like there was too much stuff here that was distracting away from the match, this match could have been better if the two men just straight up WRESTLED."

[8.0] "I think this match is very good it set up to austin vs triple h and the match itself is attitude era fun . ****"

[5.0] "Was hoping for this to be a wild Attitude Era-style brawl for the championship. Unfortunately, what was presented didn't quite live up to those expectations. What we got was a pretty slow, uneventful 24 minute match with few truly outstanding moments sprinkled in. Angle's moonsault and fantastic top-rope arm drag come to mind as highlights. Not much else to say to be honest. Feels more like a super long TV match than a PPV header."

[7.0] "At 5 minutes shorter and with a clean finish this would have been a great match, as it was the length and finish were important to the long term character work and storytelling so it's not a big issue, especially as Austin's interference would affect the main Royal Rumble match."

[7.0] "A really solid title match that was slightly brought down by the Trish/Stephanie/Vince stuff going on outside the ring. Austin coming out did bring the match back though it felt weird for a babyface champ like Angle to win with someone else's help."

[7.0] "Angle gets a hip toss and HHH bails. Back in, HHH beats Angle down in the corner, but Angle backdrops him and goes to the arm. Brawl outside, which HHH wins. Inside HHH drop toeholds Angle Indian death lock. HHH works over the leg then Angle gives him an enzuiguri to break. HHH goes back to the knee and JR and King yak about Man On The Moon sucking balls. Brawl outside, HHH meets the stairs. Back in, Angle misses a blind charge and gets posted, and HHH chair shots the knee. He drops Angle knee first on the stairs and it's gonna be dead in a few moments I think. HHH goes does a death lock variation, and Angle fights out, but walks into a face buster. HHH slaps a figure four on him and uses the ropes, but Trish gets involved and suddenly a cat fight with Stephanie erupts, and the crowd pops louder than the actual match. Vince struts out to stop them. They continue fighting right around him, drawing a big pop from the crowd. Vince picks up Trish and carries her out, but Steph knocks them over and goes to town again, before everyone eventually makes it back to the dressing room. Angle gets a small package for two. He shoves HHH to the post on a figure four attempt, and it's a punch out. DDT gets 2. Atomic drop and german suplex get 2. Russian leg sweep and Angle goes up top but HHH stops him and gets the razor's edge for 2. Pedigree is blocked with a slingshot. Angle goes up top and actually hits the BIG moon sault but whacks that bad knee on the canvas. Hunter posts Angle and goes to the top but Angle arm drags him off, no ref. Angle goes to help him up, but HHH sandwiches him between the steps and Angle pretty good. Back inside Angle gets a belly to belly. HHH comes back with the Pedigree, no ref. Austin is here! He rolls the ref in stuns HHH and Angle gets a pin to retain yet again. Angle was a lot like The Honky Tonk Man at this time. This makes 3 ppvs in a row where he retained through pure luck or sneakiness. Fun match despite the McMahons trying to make it about them at times."

[7.0] "This had a weird heel vs heel dynamic with neither man really trying to work as the face. The highlight of this had nothing to do Angle/HHH, moreso the Trish and Stephanie fight. Triple H focused on Angles leg most of this matchup, overall I felt it was a solid match. Angle wins due to outside interference from Austin.***1/2"

[6.0] "In the moments without overbooking, of which there were few, the match showed potential and in the end could have turned out quite well. But again, it was typical Attitude Era overbooking, which did a great disservice to Kurt Angle and the world title. Not only was a significant portion of the match devoted to the storyline between Trish Stratus and Stephanie McMahon, which could have been done with a backstage segment or at the next RAW, but Angle didn't win the match clean, and the feud between Steve Austin and Triple H seemed more important than the company's world title."

[9.0] "All in all better than I expected. The wrestling portion of the match was great with Angle leading the way. Then, the usual mess with all the interferences added to the drama of the match and made for a great viewing. The heel v heel dynamic didn't really show."

[5.0] "A dull Triple H attempt at an epic that just gets boring. He spent 20 years trying to do a match like this and they always drag as he is just not very good with the limb work. The Steph/Trish stuff was nonsense but this is the attitude era after all"

[8.0] "A smartly worked WWF Title match with Attitude Era Style Booking added in for good measure. Kurt Angle has said in interviews that Triple H knows how to do it all, and it's great seeing both men work an air tight match. There are some moments that are monotonous, but the Trish and Stephanie stuff is fun and Austin coming out at the end is entertaining and helps progress stories."

[5.0] "Boring. Boring, boring, boring. The Stephanie-Trish angle gets the crowd back into the match. Outside of that, pretty lame. It's bullshit what they did to Angle with that lame finish. Plus, this is the beginning of Triple H having Triple H-led matches (hot start, brawl, slow it down, slow it down, slow it down, finish)"

[4.0] "The heel vs heel nature of this match really hurt it. The pacing was slow and the crowd wasn't into it at all. Needed the Austin run-in to get any reaction. Overbooked like crazy, as was the style at this time. Didn't feel like a worthy World title defence."

[5.0] "When a catfight overshadows the match itself, that's probably not a good thing. Overall this match was pretty slow, plodding and too overbooked to be anything but average."

[8.0] "The action itself is quite good. I could have done without the lengthy digression for a catfight, but can't fault Angle and HHH for that. Austin coming in made sense as far as it went, didn't mind that. Ending felt a little anti-climactic perhaps but still a fairly excellent match all things considered."

[7.0] "It's too overbooked to get it right, but I believe it was intense enough for a World Title defense. Steve Austin helps the match with his run-in, giving an inconclusive end to continue his feud with Triple H, when Angle does not appear as a top star from the match. ***1/4"

[7.0] "A good match. I do have a few issues though as both the WWF title and WWF champion are afterthoughts in the story with it being much more about McMahon family drama and Steve Austin vs HHH which is no way to treat the most prestigious title in the company and the man who holds it. Besides that it was a good match with some good mat work at the beginning and turned into a great brawl with some nice suplexs, plus there was some great leg work by HHH. My rating ***1/2."

[7.0] "It was very good at best but it was kind dull at times and the storyline of the match seemed to be more focused on the McMahon's and Trish Stratus so Angle as the champion was just an after thought. ***1/2"

[7.0] "this match cud have been better than what it was, given the two in the ring. it was still better than decent but the finish gave not much to say about this match."