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Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWF Backlash 2001
Loading...WWF Backlash 2001
April 29th, 2001 | Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois | Attendance: 17,154
I’ve always mentioned how weird this time period is. It’s after the incredible start to 2001 with an excellent first three Pay-Per-Views, but also before the Invasion began, which lasted most of the year. It’s an odd in-between area for it all. The booking got weird around here, with Triple H and Steve Austin joining forces after hating each other at the start of the year. And to boot, they put that unit in a feud with the Brothers of Destruction, which was unoriginal. This was the third Backlash event.
On Sunday Night Heat, Jerry Lynn beat Crash Holly for the Light Heavyweight Title and Lita defeated Molly Holly.
Very generic opening video package about how having the gold means you have the power. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman.
The Dudley Boyz vs. X-Factor
Spike is included in this Dudley Boyz group. X-Factor and their Uncle Kracker theme will always be funny to me. This started as a brawl that saw the bigger Dudleys launch Spike onto their opponents. Once it calmed down into something more traditional, Spike took some of the heat. D-Von got crotched and took a longer one. The fans chanted for tables, even though this match was a straight tag. Using tables would get your babyface team disqualified. Anyway, Bubba got the hot tag and cleaned house. They called for the tables, which made no real sense. Bubba missed a corner charge and took a tandem superkick from Justin Credible and X-Pac to lose in 8:00. SUPERKICK PARTY! This was a solid opener. Nothing special, but it had some decent action and the crowd was into most of it. [**¼]
X-Factor made the mistake of trying to put the Dudleys through a table after the match. The Dudleys turned things around, with big help from Spike, and X-Pac took a 3D through the table instead.
Backstage, the Duchess of Queensbury arrived and was greeted by William Regal. Elsewhere, Kurt Angle was calm about facing Chris Benoit because he felt like he had his number.
WWF Hardcore Championship: Rhyno [c] vs. Raven
Raven entered the previous PPV (WrestleMania X-Seven) as champion and lost it in one of my favorite Hardcore Title matches ever. Instantly, they got creative with the weapons. Rhyno ran up the ring steps for a Gore onto a seated Raven, only to miss and wreck the chair. I always forget that these were Falls Count Anywhere and get confused for a moment at a near fall outside. A shopping cart came into play, which allowed Raven to do his drop toe hold onto a weapon spot. The coolest spot came late, as Rhyno missed the Gore and went directly into the shopping cart. While trapped in there, Raven beat him with a sink, but only got a near fall. Rhyno came back with the Gore and retained in 8:11. A hot crowd and some innovative spots led to one of the better Hardcore Title matches I can recall. Fun stuff. [***¼]
LAST THURSDAY ~ On Smackdown, Shane read a story called “Shane and the Beanstalk.” WHICH WAY DID HE GO?
Shane was interviewed about his match with Big Show, but Stephanie interrupted. She told Shane he should apologize to Vince to avoid a beating tonight. Shane declined.
Steve Austin was interviewed as he and Debra arrived. He was confident that he wouldn’t lose the title in the tag team main event.
As if we didn’t have enough segments already, Jonathan Coachman tried to get a word with the Duchess about the rules of the match. William Regal showed up and chastised him for bothering her.
Duchess of Queensbury Rules Match: Chris Jericho vs. William Regal
Jericho beat Regal in a very good Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania. The setup here was that nobody knew the rules of this match except for Regal. After Jericho ran down Regal and the Duchess before the match, this got started with Jericho mostly in control. When he hit the Lionsault, the bell rang before he made the cover. It was announced that the time limit for the first round expired. Jericho fought through the round and made Regal tap to the Walls. BUT WAIT! You cannot win this match by submission. Of course, a pissed Jericho went after the Duchess for answers. Regal clocked him with her scepter and got DQed. BUT WAIT! There’s no DQ in this one now. From there, Regal held serve for a while. As they went outside, Jericho sent Regal into the Duchess’ crotch and threw her in the ring. He put her in the Walls, allowing Regal to nail him with a chair. He added two more shots to win in 12:34. I totally understood what they were going for, as it helped sell Regal’s power as Commissioner. However, it doesn’t quite work in this sense. The action wasn’t bad, you just could see where things were going far too often. [**]
Big Show and Vince McMahon laughed over what they assumed would happen to Shane in the Last Man Standing match.
Ultimate Submission: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle
I always loved this feud because, for the most part, there was no BS. Angle felt he was the best wrestler. Benoit felt he was the best wrestler. So they fought to prove who was the best. Simple. Angle won via underhanded tactics at Mania. This is a 30 minute Ironman style match, but with only submission falls. They spent the opening minutes grappling and trying to get the other guy in their signature submission. Angle went outside, frustrating Benoit, who put him in the Crossface out there. Angle tapped, but that obviously didn’t count. Inside, Angle caught him with a leg lock and Benoit tapped at 6:30 to avoid further damage. Though Angle avoided the Crossface, Benoit rolled it into an armbar of sorts to quickly tie this at 8:02. Benoit put the focus on Angle’s arm and shoulder. Angle used a chair and the Ankle Lock to go up 2-1 at 10:17, before making Benoit tap to his own Crossface at 11:02, taking a 3-1 lead. Now, if Angle were smart, he’d play a defensive game. Wisely, he took Benoit to the floor and applied the Ankle Lock again, continuing the damage. Once back inside, Benoit found small openings for hope spots. Some of those were used to weaken Angle’s arm and leg, giving Benoit two targets. He found a counter to set up the Liontamer and Angle tapped at 18:03. Benoit’s desperation showed as the clock wound down and he remained behind 3-2. Angle truly played a defensive game at this point. Benoit stopped a series of suplexes and connected on rolling Germans. Angle countered one into a Ankle Lock that Benoit turned into his own to tie this thing up at 27:49. The final seconds were pretty exhilarating. Angle put on the Ankle Lock as time expired and Benoit tapped just after 30:00. Though Angle was pissed, a sudden death overtime was announced. Kurt had Benoit in a guillotine stretch, only for Benoit to use the ropes to counter and apply the Crossface, getting the win in 31:33. There was some quality psychology throughout and some good drama late. However, it felt like an entire thirty minutes and never clicked the way their later matches eventually did. Having it be all submissions may have caused problems. Still, this was very good. [***½]
Backstage, Triple H and Stephanie watched Undertaker and Kane argue on a monitor.
Last Man Standing Match: Big Show vs. Shane McMahon
They had a PPV match a year earlier, but with the alignments reversed. Face Shane works better as he must fight from behind and use weapons to overcome Show’s size. I appreciated how he brought out the chloroform/ether rag. Vince came out and beat him down with a chair to give Show the upper hand. That was eventually cut off by a run-in from Test. The big men battled towards the entrance, with Shane following. Show ended up chasing Shane up the structure, making people remember SummerSlam 2000. Test cut off Show and beat him down with a sign of sorts as Shane stood at the top. In typical Shane fashion, he did the big Leap of Faith elbow off the structure onto Show. He can’t get up at ten, but Test helped prop him up with the camera platform thing at 11:55. This was fine. Show’s control segment was boring and drawn out. Parts of it felt like a retreat of their past match. [*¾]
In the back, Vince told HHH that he was his only real son.
At WWF New York, Steve Blackman was interviewed and Grandmaster Sexay interrupted to be annoying.
WWF European Championship: Matt Hardy [c] vs. Christian vs. Eddie Guerrero
I have zero recollection of this match. Eddie and Christian worked together on Matt in the early stages. Of course, that couldn’t last very long. Christian got sent outside, leading Eddie to deliver back to back brainbusters for two. Okay, you don’t see that every day. He wanted a top rope rana, but Christian held Matt in place to block it, only to get front suplexed onto Eddie. Christian eventually distracted the referee, allowing Edge to run out and Spear Matt. Eddie nearly stole the pin, but it wasn’t the end. Matt survived a lot, huh? Jeff Hardy showed up to take out Edge, leading to Matt beating Christian with a Twist of Fate in 6:37. I liked the energy of this match, but it felt like they had to rush. They attempted to cram a lot into under seven minutes and it showed. [**¾]
All Titles On The Line: WWF Champion Steve Austin and WWF Intercontinental Champion Triple H w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs. WWF Tag Team Champions The Undertaker and Kane
The rules here stated that whoever got the pin would win the title of the person who they pinned. For example, if Kane pinned Austin, he’d be WWF Champion. The heels opened this with tons of stalling. That instantly told us this was going to be a long match. Whenever they got in the ring for some action, Kane and Taker basically kicked their asses, so they’d take another powder. It was a bit much. The Two Man Power Trip finally took control and put the focus on Taker’s knee. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an era where Undertaker was very interested in selling or doing much of anything. Taker and Kane had a disagreement when Taker refused to take out due to Kane having an injured arm. Kane tagged himself in anyway, which led to a segment where his arm got worked over. They built to a hot tag to Taker, but the real highlight was Steph running into a big boot from Kane. In the end, Vince showed up and brought HHH his sledgehammer. He used it on Kane and got the win in 27:11. If this was about twelve minutes shorter, it would’ve worked better. Instead, they did what they could to stretch this out and it suffered. However, there was still some strong work from everyone and a bit of drama late. [***]
