5. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack (Street Fight) - Royal Rumble 2000
The year that turned out to be arguably one of the best in ring years in WWE history started out with a bang when Triple H got together with Cactus Jack at Madison Square Garden. This match main evented the 2000 edition of the Royal Rumble and would decide the WWE Championship. Mick Foley and Triple H had a long and storied history, as both allies and enemies. It was Triple H and the rest of DX that celebrated with Foley on RAW IS WAR in December of 1998 when Foley won the WWE Championship for the first time, and it was also Foley who went head to head with Triple H in a cage at SummerSlam 1997 in one of the more memorable matches of Triple H's early WWE career. The Royal Rumble 2000 match was built up over Foley's conflicts with the new McMahon-Helmsley regime, which was running rampant across the WWE throughout late 1999 and early 2000. Many wrestlers, including Foley, were being given unreasonable matches to participate in, and Foley's Mankind character was a vocal critic of the faction. He was eventually fired, but the Rock held a protest on an edition of RAW IS WAR where all of the superstars came to the ring demanding Foley be re-instated. When Foley returned, he came back as his old Cactus Jack character and asked for a street fight with Triple H at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Title. The match itself was one of the most brutal and bloody matches that Triple H had been involved in to that point in his career. This was the attitude era, so no limits were placed on the match when it came to weapons, blood, or violence. A barbed wire two-by-four, an old standby for the Cactus Jack character, made an appearance in this match, but the most memorable spot came when thumbtacks were brought into the ring. In the end, Foley was Pedigreed on to the tacks as Triple H retained his belt.
