Dark Pegasus Video Review: Judgment Day 2001

Judgment Day 2001 by J.D. Dunn May 20, 2001 Live from Sacramento, Cali. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman. Opening Match: Commissioner William Regal vs. Rikishi. Rikishi goes for the Stinkface early, but Regal goes low. Regal goes to work in between gentlemanly waves to the crowd. ‘Kish comes back with an avalanche and an extended Stinkface. Regal freaks out the entire front row by nearly spewing all over them. Steve, if you’re gonna spew, spew into this tiny cup. Back in, Rikishi hits a thrust kick but posts himself on a corner charge. That leads to Regal hitting the Regal Neckbreaker at 3:58. People liked the Stinkface and dancing, so this was just to get Rikishi out there to warm everyone up. * Kurt Angle interrupts Edge & Christian to ask for advice on ladder matches – not that it’s going to three falls. Elsewhere, Vince McMahon questions why Triple H would screw around with Sara, the Undertaker’s wife. Recap of Chris Benoit stealing Kurt Angle’s Olympic medals and keeping them near what were apparently very shrunken testicles according to the autopsy. Gold Medal Match, 2/3 Falls: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle. First Fall, Pinfall: Angle jumps Benoit and hits ROLLING GERMANS. He tries a Swandive Headbutt, but Benoit rolls out of the way and hits the Angleslam at 1:06. Funny. Second Fall, Submission: Benoit grabs a Crippler Crossface, but Angle gets to the ropes and pulls himself out. Angle gets tossed into the post facefirst. He ducks a chop and tosses Benoit’s nuts into the post. Back in, Benoit blocks a charge and counters an Anklelock to his own. Angle rolls through, but Benoit rolls through *that* to a Crossface attempt. Big pop for that. Angle makes the ropes, though. Heyman objects to Benoit being considered a babyface because he called himself “the Crippler” for so many years, which is kind of an inside joke because Heyman is the one who came up with that name for him. Angle gets the belly-to-belly suplex. He tries it again, but Benoit rides him down into the Crossface. Angle makes the ropes, so Benoit switches to a cross armlock. Angle is still in the ropes, though. Angle hotshots him to catch his breath and wrenches in the choke that he used in their submission match. Benoit works in the Liontamer, but Angle forces out of it. Benoit takes him down again and locks in a sloppy figure-four. Angle makes the ropes yet again, so Benoit starts splashing his leg against the ropes. A kneebreaker sets up the Dragon Screw. Angle takes them to the floor next to the drunken frat boy section. Back in, Angle takes a DDT but reverses a whip to the Angleslam and locks in the Anklelock at 13:27. Third Fall, Ladder Match: They fight it out on the floor, and Angle gets the advantage. He hauls out a baby ladder, but Benoit knocks it out from under him. Benoit gets a man’s ladder and goes up. Angle yanks him down, though. Angle charges with the ladder, but he misses the shot and gets backdropped over. The ladder goes flying. Benoit retrieves it and goes up, but Angle goes low to stop him. Benoit catapults Angle into the ladder. He tries to whip Angle into it, but Angle runs up the ladder in the corner. He’s at the top, so Benoit just shoves the ladder over on him. In retrospect, that was not such a good plan by Kurt. Benoit wedges the ladder in between the ropes but winds up going into it. Angle snap suplexes him on the ladder, but Benoit see-saws it into his face. They work in the spot where Benoit sets up the ladder on top of Kurt and goes up. Angle tips it over, though. Benoit takes him down into a Crossface, apparently hoping to knock Angle out and then go up. Edge & Christian run down and beat up Benoit, keeping him occupied long enough for Angle to scurry up and pick up the medals at 28:01. The ladder match portion didn’t really seem to suit these guys, but the second and third falls were still tremendous. Oh, and don’t worry. This is not the last you would hear from Benoit on this night. **** The Undertaker threatens William Regal into making the title match “No Holds Barred.” At WWFNY, Jerry Lynn complains that the Light-Heavyweight Title isn’t being defended on PPV. He seems to blame JR for his lot. Meanwhile, Kane beats up a tunnel with his chain. Hardcore Title: Rhyno vs. The Big Show vs. Test. Rhyno was just kind of wedged into the feud between Show and Test. Show and Test start before Rhyno even gets out there. Rhyno finally runs down and gets into a fight with the ringsteps. Rhyno and Test team up against Show, and they fight all the way through the crowd to the back. Test tries to strangle Show with a rope, but Rhyno shoves some trunks into them to break it up. Show tries to pin Rhyno up against a wall, but Test saves. Rhyno returns the favor, saving Test from a chokeslam. They brawl back down to the ring where Rhyno DDTs Test into a garbage can lid. Show returns and chokeslams Rhyno. Test boots Show for two and pulls out the fire extinguisher. He smokes them both and grabs the ringsteps. Rhyno knocks him into next week with the garbage can and gores Show for the win at 9:14. Rhyno was just starting to get a cult following here. ** In the back, William Regal doesn’t want to tell Austin that tonight’s match is no-holds barred. Turns out he was worried for nothing because Austin doesn’t care. Elsewhere, Lita does some stretching. Allllll riiiiiiiight. Eddy Guerrero offers to give her some pointers on defeating Chyna, but Lita wants to do this on her own. Funny look on Matt’s face as he gets all possessive when Eddy’s around. “Hmm. I don’t trust him. Maybe I’ll ask Adam to keep an eye on her. Just to be on the safe side.” WWF Women’s Title: Chyna vs. Lita. Big hugs to start. Chyna tries a press slam but gets sunset flipped for two. Lita offers her a hand up but gets small packaged. Chyna slugs her to take over. Lita comes back with a Tornado DDT and pummels her. A flying clothesline gets two. Lita grabs a wristlock, knocking Chyna’s puppy out of her top. That’s the biggest pop you’ll ever hear for a wristlock. Chyna comes back with a press slam, but she picks Lita up at two. Lita suddenly spins her over into a cross armlock. Chyna reverses to a headscissors. Eddy Guerrero comes out to observe. Ross doubts his motives. Lita counters the powerbomb to a huracanrana, but Chyna blocks the Twist of Fate and hits the powerbomb at 6:31. Interestingly, both Chyna and Eddy would be gone by the next PPV. ** Kurt thanks Edge & Christian for rooting him on while he beat Benoit all by himself. Edge waits until he’s gone and says that Operation: Never Have To Listen To Kurt Bitch About His Medals is complete. Intercontinental Title, Chain Match: Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) vs. Kane. Hunter goes right after Kane’s injured arm before they even get tied together. He smashes the arm with a chair and then puts the chain on. Hunter comes off the top with a double ax-handle and goes back to the arm. Kane yanks him into a chair and wraps the chain around Hunter’s face. He throws him over the top and hangs HHH by the chain. Kane goes up for the clothesline, but Hunter yanks him off. They fight near the crowd, and Kane slams him off the barrier to the mat. Hunter goes low and sets up for the Pedigree, but Kane counters. CHOKESLAM! Steve Austin runs down, but Kane tosses him. That allows Hunter to go low, though. Austin grabs a chair but accidentally nails Hunter. Oops. Kane covers and gets the win and the IC Title at 12:24. Big pop for the K-bomber. The match was just kind of a series of spots rather than a real match. ** Chris Jericho assures us that he has a tag team partner, and he’s a real party animal. Elsewhere, Triple H is pissed because Austin’s interference backfires. Vince promises to get everyone on the same page. #1 Contenders Tag Team Turmoil: The APA vs. Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn (w/Terri). This is rushed, of course, because of the turmoil format. Faarooq plays face-in-peril for about a minute before hitting a spinebuster and eliminating Saturn at 1:31. 1/4* The APA vs. The Dudley Boyz (w/Spike Dudley). The APA attack from behind. Faarooq powerslams D-Von as the APA switches to the heel role. Fans want tables. Bubba catches Bradshaw with a sideslam for two. Bradshaw catches him with a Fallaway Slam, but the Dudleyz hit the Dudleyville Device. Faarooq takes the Wazzup Drop. D-Von gets the tables, but The Hollys run down. Hardcore puts D-Von through the table, distracting Bubba long enough for Bradshaw to give him the Clothesline from Hell at 4:57. *1/4 The APA vs. X-Factor (w/Albert). Faarooq tries to snap X-Pac in half with a backbreaker. Bradshaw just starts tossing people around until Albert hits him with the Bicycle Kick. Faarooq actually assumes the face-in-peril role, though. Bradshaw sets up for the Fallaway Slam on X-Pac, but Albert trips him up from the outside, putting X-Pac on the win at 3:46. * X-Factor (w/Albert) vs. The Hardy Boyz. X-Factor gets whipped together. X-Pac yanks down the ropes, sending Jeff tumbling to the floor. They crotch him on the post to take over. Jeff takes the Broncobuster. Matt gets the hot tag and drops a leg for two. X-Pac takes the Swanton, but Albert pulls Matt to the floor. Jeff totally wipes him out with a somersault plancha. That allows Justin and the Pac to hit stereo superkicks at 3:11. *1/2 X-Factor (w/Albert) vs. Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit. To no one’s surprise, Chris Benoit agreed to be Jericho’s partner. X-Factor shits a collective brick. Jericho springboard dropkicks Albert but gets rammed into the post. Benoit plays face-in-peril. He avoids the Broncobuster and tags in Jericho. Jericho cleans house on X-Pac, but he accidentally nails the ref with a flying forearm. Albert stomps the hell out of Benoit on the outside, allowing Justin and X-Pac to hit double thrustkicks. They set up for a doubleteam, but Benoit recovers and saves. The Canucks toss Albert and turn X-Factor over into their respective finishers at 5:16. ** Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit vs. Edge & Christian. Jericho gets hung out to dry and plays face-in-peril. Edge hits the chinlock. Jericho avoids a dropkick but opts to go for a Lionsault instead of the tag. Edge gets his knees up. D’oh! E&C’s version of Poetry in Motion backfires, and Benoit gets the hot tag. Benoit is a suplexin’ fool, hitting Christian with a Snap Suplex and a German for two. The faces team up for a missile dropkick Doomsday Device. Cool. Edge DDTs Benoit, and the heels go for chairs. Benoit and Jericho dropkick them back into their faces, though. Edge saves Christian from a Conchairto, and the heels set up for their own. Benoit ducks and rides Christian down into the Crossface at 7:12. Not surprisingly, this got more time and was the best match of the turmoil series. Jericho and Benoit would go on to win the titles from HHH and Austin in one of the all-time great Raw matches. **3/4 Recap of the silly Austin versus Taker feud. Austin sent in an anonymous call that Taker’s wife, Sara, was in a car accident. Taker didn’t take it too well when he find out the truth and attacked Austin in the back of an ambulance. Hmm. That seems familiar. WWF Heavyweight Title, No Holds Barred: Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker. Vince McMahon joins the announce team and totally leaves some guy in the audience hanging on a handshake. Taker intercepts Austin at the entrance, and they fight up the aisle to the ring. Taker does the Old School Forearm off the barricade. They fight back up the aisle and back down again. Well, this is going nowhere fast. Taker tosses in a chair, but Austin hits a swinging neckbreaker out of nowhere. A chairshot misses, and Taker hits his flying clothesline. He counters the Stunner to a big boot. They brawl over by the announce table where Taker stops to glower at Vince. That allows Austin to clip him from behind. Back in, Austin goes to work on his leg in between stomping on his nuts. Big “Austin sucks!” chant. Taker fights back and chokeslams Austin through the announce table. He stops to go after Vince, allowing Austin to nail him with the monitor. Austin gets a Thesz Press and pummels the Taker with a smile on his face. Austin goes low for two. Ross and Heyman argue over who knows Austin better. Ross has to be reminded that Heyman not only managed Austin but the Undertaker as well. A VILE chairshot puts the Taker down. He defiantly flips off Austin, so Austin gives him a Stunner. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Taker goes low this time and hits a chokeslam. He wears Austin out with a chair, drawing out Triple H. Taker gives him some too. Vince breaks up a pinfall attempt and takes a beating from Undertaker. Austin tries to save and hits Vince by mistake in a replay of the Intercontinental Title match. HHH recovers and nails Taker with the sledgehammer to break up the Last Ride. Austin covers and gets the win at 23:08 as Kane runs down too late. Heyman spends the last few minutes of the show noting that HHH saved Austin and should be considered the MVP of the PPV. This had a lot of peaks and valleys thanks to the limitations of both guys. Austin had to learn how to be a heel in a post-Attitude environment, and Taker was having a hard time doing anything outside of brawling. **3/4

The 411: Benoit carried the day on this PPV, wrestling in what amounts to five matches. I'm not a big fan of the booking of the main event scene because it was using the PPV to build to TV. Not only that, but whatever rift they were planning between Austin and HHH became moot when HHH tore his quad the next night. I'll recommend it for the Benoit stuff and the effort from Austin. Most of the angles here wound up being tossed out when WCW arrived, though, so don't expect a lot of long-term meaning to any of these matches. Mild thumbs up.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]