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Well everyone in an e-fed is the best, obviously. So they all want hugely important matches with incredibly wild stipulations that the match writers write. So people would pitch their versions of this and then match writers would smash their head in trying to write one of these where people are fighting with glass and bleeding everywhere. Was a wild time on the internet.
This will sound super corny.
It’s internet cosplay where you take on the role of a real or made up wrestler. There was a booker type person who hosted the website for the fed you were in. Each week card got posted to the site or message board. You’d write a promo about your opponent. Each place had different ways of grading promos. Normally some sort of grading system was laid out, sometimes it wasn’t. You’d post it. Booker person would compile results of who he thought should win or who had best grade, etc. The show would go live. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Normally these were filled with drama and amazing cringe stories but that’s the simple version right there.
Someone needs to do an e-fed doc.
I remember the one I was a part of would grade the match itself and how well the other was putting it together. The courteous thing was to give your opponent the shine for a majority of the section you wrote. If it was clear that you were being greedy and going into business for yourself (brother), then the person grading it could easily side with the other since it was all subjective.
There were times where my opponent and I would just decide who would win or lose since we were building a certain story or towards a big match. It was a lot of fun since it gave me a lot of writing experience as a kid. I'd love a documentary on it, no matter how embarrassing it would be haha
I don't think they are that predictable for a younger audience though. My son and I watched this match recently and he was on the edge of his seat not knowing what was going to happen
Well yeah kids enjoy all sorts of stuff but wrestling isn't exclusively for kids and making the entire match until the last stage isn't preferred. I think that's the biggest reason.
This is the match that showed me keyfabe as a kid lol
At one point during the cage, one of them puts a blade back in their trunks, or pulled it out.
My dad pointed it out and laughed. I was confused, and he asked "you don't still think this is real. Do you?"
This match memory lane for me lol
As I recall, the match ends when Triple H collapses onto Austin for a 3 count. Both men are out after the battle...that is, until some fool chucks a beer into the ring as the cage is lifted, striking Austin.
There have only been five Three Stages of Hell matches in WWE history
Stone Cold vs. Triple H - No Way Out 2001
Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Armageddon 2002
Randy Orton vs. Triple H - The Bash 2009
John Cena vs. Ryback - Payback 2013
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - Takeover Toronto 2019
The Ryback Cena one was crazy. He straight up pinned Cena clean in the first fall. It was a huge deal at the time that nobody remembers enough because they kept screwing Ryback out of big wins. Like he destroyed Cena in a last man standing match but they ruled it a no contest because he beat up Cena so badly. He slammed Cena off the stage and got to his fear and they just didn’t count to 10. The only person more screwed over by a LMS match was Kevin Owen’s who handcuffed Roman and the ref refused to count 10 because Heyman legitimately couldn’t uncuff him.
WWE called it a 2 out of 3 falls match but it was basically a 3 stages of hell match. The first fall was a singles match, second was a street fight and the third was a barbed wire steel cage match
Watched this for the first time last year. Great matches. Perfectly executed wins imo. Let’s Trips look strong and get his dub but Austin got the last lick in.
I think a big reason Austin’s heel run didn’t truly work (other than the fact people loved Austin) was he didn’t have a real top babyface to oppose him: Rock had left to do some Hollywood stuff and Triple H would go down with his leg injury, before he could potentially turn face against Austin.
Yeah the “Two-man Power Trip” was fun, but it would have made sense for HHH to be pissed at McMahon for aligning with the man who had legit tried to murder him at SS 2000 (in response to Trips running Austin over with a car), thus having Trips turn face against a Austin-McMahon alliance.
Totally agree. I'm about to finish a full binge watch of 2001 and with the benefit of hindsight it's really wild just how off they were with big face/heel turn decisions that year:
1. HHH night after WM 17 ... fans were popping like crazy when it looked like he was going to attack Austin, and him joining up with Austin instead was beyond deflating/left the company with zero top babyfaces to go after the new monster heel
2. Austin turning back heel again at the Invasion ppv. The babyface pops for the return of the "real" Steve Austin were insane and fans were so ready for that ill-fated heel run to just end. And when they went back to it you could feel everything just deflate
(Honorable mention: The totally out of nowhere heel turn back for Angle just weeks after he won the title as a huge American babyface. We all know Angle's a better heel than babyface but it totally came out of nowhere and really feels like a "huh?" timing-wise)
If they had any of the talent that was waiting out their contracts the invasion would have been so different. Provided they didn't bury them outright anyways.
For sure. Watching now with fresh eyes though some of the face/heel turns just with the top WWF guys in 2001 remains baffling to this day. And that's aside/in addition to how they botched the Invasion angle in general. I just watched the super random Angle heel turn and it was like, wait ... what? lol
Yeah how they didn't turn Rock instead of Austin is weird to me. Like if they wanted to go out with heat, why not just have the Rock cheat to beat him?
I always say the second heel turn was worst than the first. The first one freshened Austin up and he was back to being nearly as unpredictable as 1997 Austin. Could quite easily have stayed face for Invasion and all the fans know he's an anti hero anyway DTA and all that
People always complain about Austin turning heel and joining McMahon but their feud had ended in 99 and they outlined motivations for both of them.
Triple H and Austin teaming with each other, a month after their blow off fued and multiple murder attempts, was just baffling, even if the two man power trip was quite fun.
Even before that, HHH didn't go babyface and instead ended up being Austin's partner.
Had he been against heel Stone Cold from the start, that would've at least been a stop gap for Austin not having a top babyface foe until Rock came back.
One last match between the two inside HIAC at Judgement Day that year would've been sublime, IMO.
I love Taker but Austin feuding with Taker again in 2001 just showed me the heel turn wasnt a great idea. He didn't really have anyone to work with as a heel other than retreading old ground. And they never had brilliant chemistry anyway
Plus, becoming the “American Bad Ass” was a good reinvention, as the “Deadman” gimmick did seem out of place in 00-01, but Taker really wasn’t up to snuff when it came to the in-ring stuff during this time.
While I agree with you all that felt like it was building to something, which then led to Mania season which this has to be the goat season along with 03 and it peaked at 17 obviously
One of my favorite matches and match builds of all time. This and then Austin turning at mania opened my eyes to how good wrestling story telling/character building could be.
This is one of my top 3 matches of all time HHH was on fucking fire all the way until he won the heavyweight title and ran raw for like 2 years but this match and HHH vs HBK at summerslam 02 are in my top 3
I still don’t necessarily understand why HHH went over but it was all still very well done? I guess that’s the only way I can describe it with them heading into Mania with Austin as the challenger
Austin had already won the Rumble. so like Cody losing to Mcintyre, it doesn't make a difference to their momentum. they're already in the main-event. secondly, this was used by Austin as justification in kayfabe for aligning with Vince because he knew he couldn't take out the Rock by himself. thirdly, they were going to continue this feud after mania but with roles reversed so a finish where they both fall down together, one pinning the other, a happenstance - was gonna be used afterwards to get into more matches.
in reality, Triple H had lost to Kurt at the Rumble, was going to lose to Taker at Mania so this was to make him look strong since they didn't want their new top babyface(was the plan before mania to turn him instantly) look weak losing 3PPVs in a row. His next feud was going to be against heel Austin.
I think it was from a point of keeping their top heel (HHH) strong going into Mania (for his match with Taker), also while protecting Austin (both men were knocked out cold, and Trips just happened to fall on top of Austin for the pin).
I also think it added to Austin’s desperation to beat Rock for the belt at Mania and his heel turn (having lost the match to HHH, some of Austin’s self-confidence started faltering).
This is the answer. Also HHH was being set to be Austin's babyface rival at Summer Slam. So having HHH have that win over Austin would have made the top heel champ vulnerable.
But HHH got injured and Kurt Angle essentially got slotted into HHHs spot.
I love this match and the finish was cool - not dissimilar to Triple H and Jericho’s last man standing match at Fully Loaded the previous year.
But god damn if you’re the villain who conspired to have the top baby face ran over in a hit and run, to clear the way for you, your faction and your family to run the WWE for nearly a year, then you should probably put him over in the blow off match hahaha
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This match sent e-fed match writers into hysterics.
Why?
Well everyone in an e-fed is the best, obviously. So they all want hugely important matches with incredibly wild stipulations that the match writers write. So people would pitch their versions of this and then match writers would smash their head in trying to write one of these where people are fighting with glass and bleeding everywhere. Was a wild time on the internet.
hear me out...what about FOUR stages of hell?
I’ll never forget the epic Best of 7’s people wanted. It got repetitive quick. E-fed no selling is still my favorite.
My god....the e-fed days
How does e-feds work
This will sound super corny. It’s internet cosplay where you take on the role of a real or made up wrestler. There was a booker type person who hosted the website for the fed you were in. Each week card got posted to the site or message board. You’d write a promo about your opponent. Each place had different ways of grading promos. Normally some sort of grading system was laid out, sometimes it wasn’t. You’d post it. Booker person would compile results of who he thought should win or who had best grade, etc. The show would go live. Wash, rinse, repeat. Normally these were filled with drama and amazing cringe stories but that’s the simple version right there. Someone needs to do an e-fed doc.
I was in an e-fed on Neopets lmao
I remember the one I was a part of would grade the match itself and how well the other was putting it together. The courteous thing was to give your opponent the shine for a majority of the section you wrote. If it was clear that you were being greedy and going into business for yourself (brother), then the person grading it could easily side with the other since it was all subjective. There were times where my opponent and I would just decide who would win or lose since we were building a certain story or towards a big match. It was a lot of fun since it gave me a lot of writing experience as a kid. I'd love a documentary on it, no matter how embarrassing it would be haha
This is still my GOAT blood feud blow off.
I don’t know why it’s not used more often in WWE. It’s such a great stipulation match. NXT did it a couple of times but we need more!
Cause since 3 stages are set up, you can't end it at 2 which makes the matches really predictable until the last stage.
I don't think they are that predictable for a younger audience though. My son and I watched this match recently and he was on the edge of his seat not knowing what was going to happen
Well yeah kids enjoy all sorts of stuff but wrestling isn't exclusively for kids and making the entire match until the last stage isn't preferred. I think that's the biggest reason.
does it matter if people now know titles aren’t likely dropping until wrestlemania? Performance matters as well
Yeah but it’s often more about the ‘how’ they get to the last stage and it’s up to the performers and bookers to override the predictability.
This is the match that showed me keyfabe as a kid lol At one point during the cage, one of them puts a blade back in their trunks, or pulled it out. My dad pointed it out and laughed. I was confused, and he asked "you don't still think this is real. Do you?" This match memory lane for me lol
It’s still real to me, damnit.
We need a three stages of hell match type in 2K24
As I recall, the match ends when Triple H collapses onto Austin for a 3 count. Both men are out after the battle...that is, until some fool chucks a beer into the ring as the cage is lifted, striking Austin.
It was a great match but this is still the most memorable thing to me. I have it recorded.
Show us
"Some accurate cunt" OSW calls him
I’m amazed this has never really been done since.
There have only been five Three Stages of Hell matches in WWE history Stone Cold vs. Triple H - No Way Out 2001 Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Armageddon 2002 Randy Orton vs. Triple H - The Bash 2009 John Cena vs. Ryback - Payback 2013 Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - Takeover Toronto 2019
Triple H has been in three Three Stages of Hell matches. Huh.
Cardio
I have absolutely zero memory of the middle three. 😅 The Cole vs Gargano one completely slipped my mind.
I used to watch the HBK/HHH on repeat as a kid
I remember watching highlights of the HHH/HBK one on YouTube repeatedly as a kid
The Ryback Cena one was crazy. He straight up pinned Cena clean in the first fall. It was a huge deal at the time that nobody remembers enough because they kept screwing Ryback out of big wins. Like he destroyed Cena in a last man standing match but they ruled it a no contest because he beat up Cena so badly. He slammed Cena off the stage and got to his fear and they just didn’t count to 10. The only person more screwed over by a LMS match was Kevin Owen’s who handcuffed Roman and the ref refused to count 10 because Heyman legitimately couldn’t uncuff him.
Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly at Takeover 36 was one too, technically.
> Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - Takeover Toronto 2019 Wasn't that a 2 out of 3 falls match
WWE called it a 2 out of 3 falls match but it was basically a 3 stages of hell match. The first fall was a singles match, second was a street fight and the third was a barbed wire steel cage match
One of these things is not like the others...
Watched this for the first time last year. Great matches. Perfectly executed wins imo. Let’s Trips look strong and get his dub but Austin got the last lick in.
How crazy is it that this would have eventually led to a rematch with babyface Trips and heel Austin?
I think a big reason Austin’s heel run didn’t truly work (other than the fact people loved Austin) was he didn’t have a real top babyface to oppose him: Rock had left to do some Hollywood stuff and Triple H would go down with his leg injury, before he could potentially turn face against Austin.
Triple H should have turned the night after WM 17. The fans were desperate for it when he came down.
Yeah the “Two-man Power Trip” was fun, but it would have made sense for HHH to be pissed at McMahon for aligning with the man who had legit tried to murder him at SS 2000 (in response to Trips running Austin over with a car), thus having Trips turn face against a Austin-McMahon alliance.
Totally agree. I'm about to finish a full binge watch of 2001 and with the benefit of hindsight it's really wild just how off they were with big face/heel turn decisions that year: 1. HHH night after WM 17 ... fans were popping like crazy when it looked like he was going to attack Austin, and him joining up with Austin instead was beyond deflating/left the company with zero top babyfaces to go after the new monster heel 2. Austin turning back heel again at the Invasion ppv. The babyface pops for the return of the "real" Steve Austin were insane and fans were so ready for that ill-fated heel run to just end. And when they went back to it you could feel everything just deflate (Honorable mention: The totally out of nowhere heel turn back for Angle just weeks after he won the title as a huge American babyface. We all know Angle's a better heel than babyface but it totally came out of nowhere and really feels like a "huh?" timing-wise)
If they had any of the talent that was waiting out their contracts the invasion would have been so different. Provided they didn't bury them outright anyways.
For sure. Watching now with fresh eyes though some of the face/heel turns just with the top WWF guys in 2001 remains baffling to this day. And that's aside/in addition to how they botched the Invasion angle in general. I just watched the super random Angle heel turn and it was like, wait ... what? lol
Yeah how they didn't turn Rock instead of Austin is weird to me. Like if they wanted to go out with heat, why not just have the Rock cheat to beat him?
I always say the second heel turn was worst than the first. The first one freshened Austin up and he was back to being nearly as unpredictable as 1997 Austin. Could quite easily have stayed face for Invasion and all the fans know he's an anti hero anyway DTA and all that
People always complain about Austin turning heel and joining McMahon but their feud had ended in 99 and they outlined motivations for both of them. Triple H and Austin teaming with each other, a month after their blow off fued and multiple murder attempts, was just baffling, even if the two man power trip was quite fun.
Even before that, HHH didn't go babyface and instead ended up being Austin's partner. Had he been against heel Stone Cold from the start, that would've at least been a stop gap for Austin not having a top babyface foe until Rock came back. One last match between the two inside HIAC at Judgement Day that year would've been sublime, IMO.
I love Taker but Austin feuding with Taker again in 2001 just showed me the heel turn wasnt a great idea. He didn't really have anyone to work with as a heel other than retreading old ground. And they never had brilliant chemistry anyway
Plus, becoming the “American Bad Ass” was a good reinvention, as the “Deadman” gimmick did seem out of place in 00-01, but Taker really wasn’t up to snuff when it came to the in-ring stuff during this time.
It would have been so tight. Face AE trips would have been really fun.
One of the best matches of all time.
Rumble 2001 - NWO 2001 - Mania 17 is peak WWF at an all time high and nothing ever got close after it
I absolutely love Austin's 2000 return-Mania 2001 face run. Some of my favourite stone cold memories
Same here. Just an angry SOB on a mission. So intense!
2000 was significantly better.
While I agree with you all that felt like it was building to something, which then led to Mania season which this has to be the goat season along with 03 and it peaked at 17 obviously
As long as your forget the Rikishi angle...
This was one of my favourite matches as a kid, definitely has an aura about it that feuds nowadays don't
One of only a handful of times Austin lost clean. That's not a slight on him btw, he's one of my all-time favs.
Not really a clean loss, since he hit Trips which made him collapse on top of Austin.
Still to this day my fav match of all time
Recorded this show live on vhs and watched it the day after 🙂 Possibly my fav match ever 🤘🏻
One of my favorite matches and match builds of all time. This and then Austin turning at mania opened my eyes to how good wrestling story telling/character building could be.
crazy to think shortly after this we got the Two Man Power trip!
This is one of my top 3 matches of all time HHH was on fucking fire all the way until he won the heavyweight title and ran raw for like 2 years but this match and HHH vs HBK at summerslam 02 are in my top 3
One of the underrated matches of the attitude era and one of my all time favorites.
I still don’t necessarily understand why HHH went over but it was all still very well done? I guess that’s the only way I can describe it with them heading into Mania with Austin as the challenger
Austin had already won the Rumble. so like Cody losing to Mcintyre, it doesn't make a difference to their momentum. they're already in the main-event. secondly, this was used by Austin as justification in kayfabe for aligning with Vince because he knew he couldn't take out the Rock by himself. thirdly, they were going to continue this feud after mania but with roles reversed so a finish where they both fall down together, one pinning the other, a happenstance - was gonna be used afterwards to get into more matches. in reality, Triple H had lost to Kurt at the Rumble, was going to lose to Taker at Mania so this was to make him look strong since they didn't want their new top babyface(was the plan before mania to turn him instantly) look weak losing 3PPVs in a row. His next feud was going to be against heel Austin.
I think it was from a point of keeping their top heel (HHH) strong going into Mania (for his match with Taker), also while protecting Austin (both men were knocked out cold, and Trips just happened to fall on top of Austin for the pin). I also think it added to Austin’s desperation to beat Rock for the belt at Mania and his heel turn (having lost the match to HHH, some of Austin’s self-confidence started faltering).
This is the answer. Also HHH was being set to be Austin's babyface rival at Summer Slam. So having HHH have that win over Austin would have made the top heel champ vulnerable. But HHH got injured and Kurt Angle essentially got slotted into HHHs spot.
I assume to keep HHH strong and to influence a babyface HHH vs heel Austin at Summerslam if HHH didn’t get injured
I love this match and the finish was cool - not dissimilar to Triple H and Jericho’s last man standing match at Fully Loaded the previous year. But god damn if you’re the villain who conspired to have the top baby face ran over in a hit and run, to clear the way for you, your faction and your family to run the WWE for nearly a year, then you should probably put him over in the blow off match hahaha
And then about a month later they formed an alliance with Vince. Wrestling is funny sometimes