SUMMERSLAM 2001
August 19, 2001 San Jose, CA
Compaq Center
2001 was the year of The Invasion.
WCW and ECW had closed having been swallowed by Vince and the WWE machine. Creative hotshotted the potentially HUGE money making angle of the “outside” talent making a play for control of the WWF. With no huge WCW main eventer on board, they transplanted Steve Austin to be the lead heel to give them some backbone and was placed into a feud with newly turned babyface Kurt Angle.
The Rock, after taking a short sabbatical, was back feuding with Booker T. over the WCW title and even then, the WWF didn’t think Booker could carry his end and gave him Shane McMahon to get more credibility with the WWF fanbase.
Elsewhere, Edge won his second Intercontinental Championship after beating Lance Storm as Lance became the latest victim to The Curse of the IC Title. Rob Van Dam continued his connection to the fans as he beat Jeff Hardy in a Hardcore Title Ladder Match and the Brother of Destruction destroyed DPP and Kanyon in a title vs title tag team match.
To give thir views on this PPV are…
Greg De Marco: Greg plies his trade doing The Wrestling 5 & 1 every Sunday and can also be found has a regular contributor to But & Sell and he also has his very own podcast. Greg is a very busy cat.
Michal Ornelas: Michael started out at 411 review RH when they were doing their weekly show on HDnet. He currently hosts the Match of the Week column and also provided play by plays to DGUSA and the occasional ROH PPV.
Intercontinental Mtach: Lance Storm vs. Edge Winner: Edge via pinfall to regain the IC Championship. Time: 11:16
The Acolytes & Spike Dudley vs. Test & The Dudley Boyz Winner: Test & The Dudley Boyz via pinfall. Time: 7:19
WCW Cruiserweight & WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Unification MatchX-Pac vs. Tajiri Winner: X-Pac via pinfall to unify t he titles. Time: 7:33
Chris Jericho vs. Rhyno Winner: Chris Jericho via submission. Time: 12:34
Hardcore Championship: Ladder Match – Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam Winner: Rob Van Dam to win the Hardcore Title. Time: 16:33
WCW Tag Team Championship vs. WWF Tag Team Championship: Cage Match – The Undertaker & Kane vs. Dallas Page & Kanyon Winner: The Undertaker & Kane via pinfall to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Time: 10:13
WWF Heavyweight Championship – Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle Winner: Kurt Angle via DQ. Austin retains. Time: 22:30
WCW Heavyweight Championship – Booker T, vs. The Rock Winner: The Rock via pinfall to win the WCE Heavyweight Championship. Time: 15:19
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Best Match: Edge vs. Lance Storm – This was a tough call over RVD-Jeff Hardy, but I liked the psychology in this match more than I liked the spots in the ladder match. This match featured Lance Storm at his best, complete with a rarely used front suplex and the most appropriate use of an abdominal in the history of wrestling. Storm was so underappreciated in his WWE run—by the company at least. Worst Match: DDP and Kanyon job like hell to The Undertaker & Kane – What a waste of a unification angle AND a steel cage match. There were politics behind this match as DDP was being punished for allegedly having a bad attitude back stage. He should have held his ground…in 2011 that gets you a huge push! Taker & Kane basically let Kanyon run away and destroy DDP, finally ending this match after 10 minutes. It was about 9 minutes too long. Highlight: Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match – This was dubbed a “hardcore” ladder match, and I’m not sure why. Aren’t all ladder matches hardcore? Well, except the 5-minute ones in TNA. This featured a bunch of good spots and a few well-placed moments of ladder match psychology. Hidden Highlight: Chris Jericho vs. Rhyno – Jericho went over largely thanks to his storyline association with Stephanie, but Rhyno proved himself worthy of a long-term WWF run. Which is exactly what he got. MVP: Steve Austin & Kurt Angle – If not for the DQ finish, this match would be the best of the night. Angle pulled one hell of a blade-job, he and Austin both delivered a great match including Angle’s use of the Million Dollar Dream reversal. The DQ finish was stupid, even if it was heel-WCW Austin. Overall Rating: 9/10 – Three 4 star matches in Angle-Austin, RVD-Hardy & Storm-Edge, an arguable fourth in Booker-Rock and this is a can’t miss show.
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Best Match: The Hardcore Title match. RVD was OVER back in 2001 and really should have been pushed harder into the main event. I mean, he even had a win over Steve Austin on TV. Part of the big reason he got so over was his feud with Jeff Hardy and the natural chemistry (pun intended) and the fact he was made to look like a superstar by someone who was over and credible on the roster. The match itself was a fun little outing and does sit at the bottom of the “lost gem” drawer. Worst Match: The WCW vs. WWF Tag Team Title Match. No idea why but Undertaker and Kane seemed hell bent on destroying all the credibility Dallas Page and Kanyon had before they had a chance to really take hold. This much is filled with no selling, no fun and certain no jobbing by the undead. NO BUYS. Highlight: The intensity of the Austin/Angle match. While Kurt was already establish as a guy that could get good match out of almost anyone, I always felt he really took his main event worker mantle here and held I tight ever since. They just suplexed the shit out of each other here and it’s no coincidence both men have neck issues today Hidden Highlight: Edge winning the IC title. Yes I know he was a 2nd time champion here but that first reign was measured in a handful of days and is barely remembered. This was a big win, in a good match on a big stage. The credibility of Edge as a singles wrestler starts here. MVP: Steve Austin. His knees were gone, his neck was starting to bother him again and he was back playing a heel but by gawd did he work like a madman during this eriod upping his game to match Kurt and his dragging of the main event back into a more mat based, less brawly style. Overall Rating: 7 – This had the foundation of being a great PPV but the absence of that one great match is going to hinder this card from being considered anything but just really good. Only one match (the tag title match) failed to make an impression the rest were solid, entertainng and mainly fun.
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Best Match: Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle (WWF Title Match) – By far the best encounter these two ever had, and they had some really fine matches so that’s saying something. Literally the only thing that keeps me from going five stars on this match is the DQ finish, but otherwise this has remained one of my favorite WWF title matches since I first saw it live when it happened. This was Austin at his dick heel best, and Angle at his badass babyface best, and the resulting match was pure excellence from start to finish. Angle bleeds buckets but still manages to suplex the everloving fuck out of Austin all over the arena and comes just a hair away from beating him clean, but in the end Austin has to get DQed to walk away. Understandable ending that only slightly detracts from an absolutely outstanding match. Worst Match: Undertaker/Kane vs. DDP/Kanyon (Cage Match) – The *ahem* “blow off” to this feud was a disgrace and permanently buried DDP and Kanyon from ever getting a fair shot in the company again, which is a shame considering the talents of both men. They were made to look like total jokes from the start, and this only furthered that idea by having Kane and Taker squash the everloving fuck out of them in a cage and win so handily that DDP and Kanyon would never be taken seriously again. As if that wasn’t bad enough the match itself sucked too if you couldn’t tell. Highlight: The Invasion Heats Up – As much flak as the Invasion angle gets from people (and rightfully so), there was a point during that summer where things were really looking up and the angle was red-hot, and it produced another winner that year for their annual summer event. You’ve got all kinds of great “inter-promotional” matches on this show like Edge vs. Lance Storm, X-Pac vs. Tajiri, The Rock vs. Booker T, and RVD vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. This PPV was easily the highlight of the entire Invasion angle. Hidden Highlight: X-Pac vs. Tajiri – This title unification match was a lot of fun and was during a time when Waltman was still really quite good in the ring (shit he’s still good in the ring if you saw his 2011 match with El Generico). Just a fun high-flying contest that had me flashing back to Waltman’s great match against Hakushi years earlier at Summerslam 95. MVP: The Rock – I guess you’ve got to give it to The Rock here, because he was really the big selling point of the show, making his return after a several month absence since Wrestlemania. The crowd ate up his return like cotton candy and he had a fun match with Booker T to cap off the show, and he’s likely what got a lot of buys for the PPV, so you’ve got to give him the nod here. There’s a reason he was the main event here over even Austin. Overall Rating: 9.0 – Yet another classic show in a string of winners from the WWF at the time. Summerslam during this stretch really started to solidify itself as one of the best shows each year, and this was no exception with great matches all over the card, great angle advancement for the red-hot Invasion angle at the time, and a match of the year contender in the WWF title match. Another easy Thumbs Up.
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Best Match: Kurt Angle vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin – Some people may argue that the DQ ending to this match takes away some of it’s luster…but it worked here. It was a major story point in the match, so it was actually the perfect ending. Rock was booked to go over Booker, and they couldn’t have BOTH top championships in the WWF camp, so it worked. And what preceded the ending was a brilliant match between two of wrestling’s all-time greats. Definitely a SummerSlam classic. Worst Match: The Undertaker & Kane vs. DDP & Kanyon – The personalities in this match were all great, but at no point did I think the Brothers of Destruction were going to lose. It just makes it hard to get into a match when that’s the case. Highlight: The Rock’s return since he left to film The Scorpion King was a huge deal, and in the midst of the Invasion feud, he was a huge asset to the WWE. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere here and he was absolutely electrifying this night. Hidden Highlight:…during the Rhyno/Jericho match, you could see a “Steph McJugs” sign. It shouldn’t be that funny, but that made the show for me. MVP: Chris Kanyon Kurt Angle – This man sold the beating of a lifetime in one of the best portrayals of “babyface refusing to quit” that I’ve ever seen. Even though he came up short here, his stock rose significantly and for that, he earned the title of 2001 SummerSlam MVP. Overall Rating: 8.0 – Definitely one of the better SummerSlams. A lot of people aren’t fond of the Invasion angle, but it defined the first year of wrestling I ever watched, so I loved it. I was 12 when it happened, so cut me SOME slack. This had a great opener, a fun Rhyno/Jericho match, a ladder bout for the Hardcore Championship, and the title matches were both great watches.
