WWF Royal Rumble 2001

By the time 2001 rolled around, the WWF was the indisputable king of the wrestling mountain. With the Monday Night Wars winding down, and WCW on death watch, the WWF began their build to WrestleMania X-7 without having to look over their shoulder for the first time in the shows history.
 
From New Orleans, Louisiana; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.


Opening WWF Tag Team Title Match: Edge and Christian v The Dudley Boyz: Big brawl as the bell sounds, so E&C bail to the floor (in a cool, double-slingshot spot) rather than get outmatched by the Dudley's. Inside, Christian gets slammed by D-Von Dudley, and flapjacked by Bubba Dudley. He manages a headscissors takedown, but Edge walks into a powerslam from D-Von on the way in. Still outmatched, Christian fires off a cheap shot from the apron to ground Dudley, and the match slows down dramatically as E&C cut the ring in half on D-Von. They try a spike piledriver to finish, but D-Von flings Edge into Christian with a slingshot, and cradles him for two. E&C try a Conchairto (sandwiching him between two simultaneous chair shots), but Dudley ducks it, and gets the tag to Bubba. He's a house of arson, and Edge takes the Wassup Drop (a flying headbutt to the nuts, covered in a dated reference), and that's enough to trigger a four-way brawl. The champs try their own Wassup Drop, but the Dudley's counter with the Dudley Death Drop, and win the titles at 10:00. The heat segment on D-Von was a little dull, but the rest was all good fun. * ¼

WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Chris Benoit v Chris Jericho: Big opening slugfest goes Jericho's way, and he pushes the champ into the corner for some chops. An attempt at a lariat has Benoit catching his arm for the Crossface, but Jericho fights to maintain a vertical base, and counters into the Walls of Jericho - which Benoit shoves off before he can get it applied. Benoit with a shoulderbreaker, so Jericho tries a springboard dropkick - only for Benoit to dodge him. That puts them both on the floor, and up the aisle to get the ladder, and Benoit's the first to get hold of it. Jericho tries to respond by baseball sliding the ladder into his face as he brings it into the ring, but Benoit sidesteps that, too, and rams his challenger into the steps for being a smartass. Now alone, Benoit is free to climb the ladder in peace, but Jericho runs in to take him down with an electric chair before he snags the title belt. Jericho throws the champion into the corner, then throws the ladder at him so he doesn't get lonely. Whip into the ladder gets reversed to send Jericho flying to the floor, but Benoit's attempt at a tope has Jericho blindside him with a chair on the way down - a brutal and visually impressive spot. Jericho drapes him across the rail to try riding the ladder down onto him, but Benoit dodges, and uses the ladder as a battering ram. Inside the ring, Benoit rams Jericho into the ladder, but a second try gets reversed, and Jericho follows by hanging him on the ladder, and then climbing to the top rope to Russian legsweep it down. Battering ram, but Benoit shoves it in his face, and side suplexes him. Another whip into the ladder gets reversed (Benoit selling the bump wonderfully - like Bret Hart's chest-first cross corner bump, only with his face and a ladder), and Jericho climbs - only for Benoit to side suplex him to the floor to stop the effort. Benoit climbs, but Jericho follows him up, and (in one of the more visually impressive ladder spots I've ever seen), hooks him into the Walls of Jericho while straddling the top of the ladder. Just insane. That leaves Benoit dead, but he manages to use his last burse of energy to tip the ladder before Jericho can grab the belt. Jericho still manages to recover first, but Benoit keeps tugging at his ankles as he climbs, so a frustrated Jericho tries to dive at him - only for Benoit to seamlessly catch him in the Crossface. Jericho's tapping out, but submissions don't count, so Benoit just keeps it locked until he's satisfied. Both men end up climbing, so Benoit slugs him off, and tries a flying headbutt from the top of the ladder - only for Jericho to roll out of the way. Jericho starts unloading chair shots to put the champ on the floor, before making a successful climb at 18:44 - Benoit struggling to stop him until all along the way. Fantastic match - filled with crazy bumps, unique spots, and realistic battling over climbs and saves. ****

WWF Women's Title Match: Ivory v Chyna: Despite having the high ground, Ivory gets destroyed as Chyna enters the ring - getting blasted with a series of clotheslines, and hairpull slams. Chyna casually dumps the champion to the floor, and Ivory tries to bail into the crowd, but gets press slammed back to ringside. Back in, Chyna keeps destroying her with slams, but the handspring elbow aggravates her neck injury, and she falls motionless on the mat for Ivory to cover at 3:28. Afterwards, Chyna still isn't moving, and the ring starts filling with WWF Officials (including Jerry Lawler and Billy Gunn) and EMTs, as Jim Ross starts bemoaning the tragedy in his most somber voice. The EMTs put Chyna in a neck brace for a stretcher job - setting up an angle for her to make a miraculous recovery for WrestleMania. It was a work, but the WWF did everything they could to pass it off as a real 'not part of the show' injury - evoking memories of Owen Hart's in-ring death with Jim Ross' tone of voice, and Jerry Lawler abandoning his post at ringside to check on Chyna. Injury angles are what they are (and they're fine), but reenacting Owen Hart's final moments on earth for a storyline was tasteless and unpleasant. ¼*

WWF Title Match: Kurt Angle v Triple H: Hunter makes the mistake of trying to tradeoff on the mat with the Olympian, and ends up in an armbar before Kurt clotheslines him to the floor. HHH regroups out there, and shifts gears into brawling with Angle - but Kurt backdrops him, and derails him by going back to the armbar. Series of snap suplexes get two, and Hunter rolls back to the outside to kill the momentum. Angle doesn't give him much of a breather before following out after him, but HHH reverses a whip into the rail, and slams Kurt onto it. Inside, Angle tries to throw Hunter off his game by throwing closed fists, but HHH takes him down into an anklelock. He tries a leg whip, but Kurt catches him with an enzuigiri for two - only to have Hunter fire off another shot at the leg to prevent a follow-up. Hunter posts the leg, and adds a chair shot to it for good measure - leaving Angle sprawled out on the floor. Hunter goes right after him with a kneebreaker onto the steps, and rolls the champ in to clip the knee. Triple H keeps after the knee, and hooks a Figure Four at center ring - leaving Angle howling in pain. Trish Stratus tries to break it up, so Stephanie McMahon gets into a catfight with her on the floor until Vince McMahon makes his way down to pull them apart, and drag them to the locker room. Meanwhile, HHH goes for the hold again - but gets cradled for two, and Angle manages a DDT for two. Inverted atomic drop sets up a German suplex for two, and a Russian legsweep hits, but an attempt to go to the 2^nd rope gets him slammed down in a Razor's Edge for a series of two counts. Pedigree, but Angle blocks, and blows him low. Flying moonsault hits, but it hurts Kurt's knee in the process, and by the time he can cover, it's only worth two. Kurt rolls to the floor to regroup, and the referee gets bumped in the process - missing Angle covering HHH after an armdrag from the top rope. Kurt goes to the floor to revive the Official, but that just gets him posted, and Hunter hits the Pedigree - but there's still no referee. He goes to the floor to revive him, but he's met by Steve Austin, and a Stunner allows the battered Angle to retain at 24:15. Much like Hulk Hogan, Triple H is severely underrated by a lot of people jealous of his position in power, but it isn't fair. He could work psychological thrillers with the best of them - turning in a great, nuanced performance even while surrounded by overbooking, and Angle selling brilliantly along the way. *** ¼

Main Event: #1 Contender's Royal Rumble Match: Two minute intervals this time around, and Jeff Hardy and Bull Buchanan draw the first two slots. Bull tries to use his size advantage to dump Jeff quickly, but Hardy rakes the eyes to block a press slam as reinforcements in the form of brother Matt Hardy come at #3. The Hardy's get rid of Bull in short order, and exchange waistlocks until Matt side suplexes him. I get that it's 'every man for himself,' and all, but this early in the match, they should use the break to conserve energy, and work together to get to the end. #4 draw Faarooq wastes no time in making my point, as he has no trouble beating both worn brothers by himself. He eventually gets overwhelmed in a double-team to get dumped, and the Hardy's go back to fighting as Drew Carey (the comedian) gets #5. He wisely hangs out on the floor while Hardy's battle to a double-elimination - sadly displaying better psychology than either of the wrestlers in the match. Drew is pleased as punch, but not so much moments later when #6 entry Kane plods down the aisle. Carey tries to talk the Hardy's into getting back in and helping him, but no go, so Drew offers Kane cash. That earns him a chokeslam, and he eliminates himself as #7 entry Raven runs in to keep Kane busy. He tries a fire extinguisher, but that draws #8 Al Snow out ahead of the clock to beat Raven on the floor. The ring quickly fills with weapons for a hardcore battle royal - Snow and Raven putting their differences aside to battle Kane. Saturn gets #9, as the ECW reunion continues. He makes it three-on-one against Kane, until #10 entry Steve Blackman makes the save. Kane thanks him with a Hallmark fist to the face as the match starts going off the rails. Grandmaster Sexay draws #11, and he passes out trashcan lid shots to all the kids in class. Kane finally gets sick of all of them, and starts going postal with a trashcan, dumping Sexay, Blackman, Snow, and Saturn in some much appreciated eliminations - both from the crowd, and me. Honky Tonk Man gets #12, but Kane does his best Ultimate Warrior impersonation, and finishes him in seconds as Honky tries to lead the crowd in a sing-along. The Rock gets lucky #13, and now Kane has some competition. Big slugfest ends with Rock hitting a jumping clothesline, but an elimination attempt gets him swatted, and blasted with a big boot. #14 is The Goodfather, but Rock teaches him to get involved by dumping him with a series of right hands. Kane gets a helping, too, but manages a sidewalk slam as Tazz enters at #15. Kane wants no part of another ECW reunion (we're still cleaning up after the last one!), however, and tosses him out as soon as he climbs in. That leaves him free to get back to battling the Rock, until #16 draw Bradshaw enters. He and Rocky double-team the big man, but Bradshaw quickly turns on the Rock with a clothesline. Albert gets #17, and turns into everyone's bitch by default. Hardcore Holly is #18, and he busies himself with trying to dump the Rock. No luck, but he doesn't get himself eliminated in the process, and that's a victory in its own right. #19 is K-Kwik, and he does nothing of note. Val Venis gets #20, and goes right for Kane - only to get caught with a spinebuster. William Regal draws #21, and K-Kwik gets to play his bitch through a series of uppercuts, and a suplex. #22 is Test, and that's the end of Regal's night. He turns his attention to former tag partner Albert for some mud hole stomping, as Rocky teases elimination by Holly. #23 is The Big Show, and that can't be good for the midcarders. Test is first to go, followed by K-Kwik, so everyone tries to gang up on him, and get individual sized chokeslams - all except the Rock, who blows him low, and eliminates Show on his own. Great sequence there. Everyone except the Rock is down as Crash Holly enters at #24. Meanwhile, Big Show is playing Montreal on the floor by destroying some monitors, and he pulls Rock to the floor (under the ropes) for a chokeslam through a table to express his displeasure. #25 is the Undertaker (and his motorcycle), and he and Kane immediately join forces to clean house. Down to the two of them (and Rock, who's still in a pile of rubble on the outside) they have a big staredown, but instead turn their attention to nervous #26 draw Scotty 2 Hotty. The Brothers of Destruction toy with him for a bit before casually dumping him. Wiser than the Hardy Boyz before them, they just stand shoulder to shoulder and wait for the next victim, while catching a breather. Next is Steve Austin at #27, but he never makes it into the ring, as Triple H jumps him in the aisle as a receipt for the earlier attack. Rock uses the distraction to reenter and attack the BOD from behind, as HHH beats Austin bloody at the entrance area. Billy Gunn breaks up the party at #28, but he's way out of his league, and gets destroyed by Kane in the corner. Haku draws #29, and he goes ballistic on Undertaker with a flurry of fists. Same for Kane, but Haku gets overwhelmed with both of them, so Billy Gunn tries to help a midcarder out (HMO). Rikishi rounds out the field at #30, and the Samoan to White Guy ratio upsets Austin enough to finally get into the ring. Haku is first to go, as Rock teases an elimination from the Undertaker. Undertaker gets into trading headbutts with Rikishi, but that doesn't go his way, and he's done for the night. Rikishi turns his attention to Rocky for a Banzi Drop, but a low blow stops that effort, and Rock shoves him over the top. Down to Austin, Rock, Kane, and Gunn - Billy the obvious choice to go first. With Kane down as the result of a DDT from the Rock, he and Austin get into a slugfest, and Steve counters the Rock Bottom with a Stunner like it's WrestleMania already. Another slugfest ends with a successful Rock Bottom, but Kane recovers enough to get back into things. Rock tries to dump him, but Kane redirects himself through the ropes to avoid elimination, and Rock turns into a near elimination on Austin. Austin teeters, but Kane runs back in, and shoves them both over - Austin hanging onto the apron, but Rock crashing to the floor. Kane with a chokeslam, but Austin blows him low, so Kane goes for a Tombstone - only for Steve to counter into a Stunner. Austin with a chair to stagger Kane into the ropes, and a clothesline eliminates him at 61:51. Really solid Rumble match - especially towards the end. It had some weak spots during the hardcore shit in the beginning, but once it going, their was plenty of excitement, and intrigue over who would win it. ** ½

BUExperience: A really great, to the point show – featuring solid to great wrestling from top to bottom, and little filler. It gets glossed over because the WrestleMania it set up eclipsed it in terms of critical and commercial appreciation and success, but it’s a hell of a show on its own – one of the handful of Attitude Era cards that holds up. ***