Armageddon 2000: One Giant Hell in a Cell Carries an Uneven Card

The opener has enough pace and personality to rise above its eight-minute runtime. Team Xtreme begin fast, with Jeff Hardy eliminating Eddie Guerrero before Perry Saturn cuts him off and evens the numbers. Matt Hardy answers by eliminating Saturn, but Dean Malenko becomes the through-line of the finish by pinning Matt and then isolating Lita. The final stretch is uncomfortable by design, with Malenko repeatedly pulling Lita up before finally forcing the submission with the Texas Cloverleaf. As an elimination match it is compressed, but the constant changes in advantage keep it lively and give the Radicalz a meaningful win.

Regal and Hardcore Holly work a compact title match built around straightforward physicality. Holly cuts off Regal's pre-match talking and immediately turns the bout into a fight, while Regal gradually slows him by using the ring post and more deliberate offense. Both men trade believable near-falls, including Regal's superplex and Holly's belly-to-back suplex, but the match never receives enough time to become more than a solid undercard defense. Raven's late interference and DDT give Regal the pin, which protects Holly but also ensures the finish feels like setup rather than resolution.

Chyna and Val Venis are given less than five minutes, and most of the match exists to advance Right to Censor's hostility toward Chyna. Ivory interferes repeatedly from ringside, creating distractions whenever Chyna begins to take control. The finish follows the same pattern: Chyna chases Ivory, Venis intercepts her and lands a Fisherman's suplex for the pin. The post-match powerbomb keeps the feud moving, but the wrestling never has enough uninterrupted time to establish a stronger story. It feels like a television segment placed on a pay-per-view rather than a complete match.

Jericho and Kane finally get a stipulation designed to end their feud, and the Last Man Standing format gives the match a clearer purpose than their earlier meetings. They brawl through the aisle and backstage area before returning to the ring, where Jericho survives the Chokeslam and uses a low blow and Lionsault to stay alive. The finish comes in the technical area when Jericho knocks a stack of barrels onto Kane and keeps him buried for the ten-count. The match is uneven and sometimes slow, but the decisive finish at least provides the rivalry with an actual endpoint.

The four-way tag title match is crowded, but the ten-minute runtime forces everyone to move quickly and keeps the action from getting bogged down. The Dudleys generate the strongest crowd reactions and appear close to winning before Steven Richards interferes, only for the chaos to create an opening for Edge and Christian. Edge spears Bubba Ray and Christian follows with the Unprettier to take the championships. The match is more sprint than classic, yet it succeeds because the teams are distinct and the title change gives the frantic finish real consequence.

Benoit gives the Intercontinental Championship match a clear technical spine by targeting Billy Gunn's leg and forcing the champion to wrestle from underneath. Gunn still creates credible power-based near-falls, including the Fame-Ass-er, but his injured knee repeatedly limits how long he can maintain control. Benoit returns to the Crossface after Gunn reaches the ropes the first time and eventually traps him again when the knee buckles. Gunn submits, giving Benoit the championship in a finish that feels earned by the body-part work rather than by outside interference.

The women's title triple threat lasts barely more than two minutes, which makes it impossible to develop much beyond a few quick exchanges and outside involvement. Molly Holly gets the most sustained offense, while Trish Stratus and Ivory briefly work together before the match collapses into rushed pin attempts. T & A interfere near the finish and Ivory escapes with the championship. The post-match involvement from Crash Holly and the Acolytes turns the segment into a larger brawl, but the title match itself is too short to have meaningful pay-per-view value.

The six-man Hell in a Cell match is the reason Armageddon 2000 remains memorable. WWE places nearly the entire main-event scene inside one structure and spends more than thirty minutes turning overlapping rivalries into controlled chaos. Vince McMahon's attempt to tear down the cell introduces a major mid-match angle, but the match survives because the wrestlers keep returning to the championship rather than letting the spectacle completely replace the competition. The defining visual is Undertaker chokeslamming Rikishi from the roof into the truck bed below. Inside the ring, Rock, Austin and Triple H trade finishers until Angle steals the pin on Rock to retain. It is violent, ambitious and overbooked, but the scale matches the stakes.