Steve-a-Mania Reviews: Vengeance 2001

The first ever Vengeance PPV under the WWE banner was sure to be a historic one taking place in San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California. Historical errors aside for the first time ever there will be An Undisputed champion.

9 December, 2001

Attendance: 11, 800

Your commentators for the evening are Jim Ross and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler

– Vince McMahon opens up the show with one of his 15 minute promo’s that we all love so much, he talks about how he wasn’t going to kiss anyone’s ass on Smackdown and then talks about being threatened by Austin. He reiterates something Ric Flair (50-50 owner of WWF at this point) said about any WWF superstar interferes in tonight’s matches then they will be fired. He also goes on to mention about getting a mouthful of Rikishi’s ass and that “he who laughs last, laughs loudest” which is said numerous times throughout the show, telegraphed ending maybe? We’ll see.

– Ric Flair’s music hits which causes a chorus of Wooooo’s throughout the arena and he calls for the show to get underway and for Vince McMahon to shut up.

Albert & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Test & Christian

Apparently the reason for this match is that Scotty called Test a horse face, so that’s the reason for this bonus match.

Scotty is put in the role of face in peril for this match as we get the all too familiar and boring tag team formula, Scotty reverses a big boot from Test and hit’s a super kick making the hot tag to Albert. He takes down both Test and Christian and gets a near fall from hitting the Giant Swing on Christian. Scotty 2 Hotty connects with the bulldog and The Worm but Christian quickly enters the ring and goes for an Unprettier but Albert saves Scotty and hit’s the Baldo Bomb on Christian for the win. (6:20)

Nothing stood out as being too good in this match, but nothing was too offensive either it was decent for what it was. It was a competent but lacked excitement and wonder though. The finish with Albert pinning Christian was puzzling as it was Scotty and Test who had the problem with each other, despite not doing much with each other in the match.

Winners:Albert & Scotty 2 Hotty
Rating:*½

-Backstage Jonathan Coachman is interviewing William Regal as he questions Regal’s methods of his victories lately, Regal gets defensive and puts it down to nothing more than distrustful Americans and his means of winning are perfectly acceptable.

Edge vs. William Regal- WWF Intercontinental Championship

Regal is able to gain the upper hand early on with various submission holds. Regal is knocked to the outside and seeing the perfect opportunity Edge dives off the apron going for a spear, but Regal side steps him and Edge gets sent shoulder first into the steel steps! Regal goes around the corner and from under the ring grabs brass knuckles and tucks them inside his tights. Probably could have stuffed them in there before the match, unless the referee is Pat Patterson its unlikely he’ll be searched.

Edge kicks out after two underhook power bombs, in disbelief Regal stomps the hell out of Edge but the referee drags him away. Behind the referee’s back he gets the brass knuckles out of his tights but Edge surprises him with a spear, for the win.(9:06)

Pretty good match and served well in their roles of Regal being the aggressive antagonist whilst Edge being perfect at this time as the resilient protagonist, it worked very well.

Winner: Edge (retains)
Rating: **¾

– Ric Flair is in the back and on the phone but in walks Kurt Angle, talking about all the accomplishments that Flair has achieved he’s never been an Olympic Gold medalist or been Undisputed champion, Angle keeps saying he’s gonna win it tonight which Flair keeps saying its awesome.

– Lita is backstage when Matt Hardy walks into the room and talks to her about how important tonight’s match with Jeff is and how sorry he is that he dragged her into it by being the referee tonight.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy, Special Referee: Lita

last month at Survivor Series in a steel cage match against the Dudley Boyz, there was an opportunity for Jeff to win the match for the Hardyz he instead opted to take a risk and dived off the cage, which helped Dudleyz win the match, and leading up to Vengeance Matt Hardy talks about how Jeff’s risky style is costing them matches, I won’t be too picky with the flaws of this attitude Matt has, as the story of the match is pretty much pre-written leading to this, they just have to execute it now.

They start off with some wrestling holds keeping it at a steady pace, Jeff is sent to the apron and Matt Hardy dives over to power bomb Jeff to the floor but Jeff reverses into a hurracanrana! Jeff makes his way to the top rope, but is cut off by Matt and he looks to hit the Twist of Fate but he is pushed off the top rope Jeff then hit’s the Swanton bomb and goes for the cover, Matt puts his leg on the rope for 2 and hooks it for 3.(12:32)

Within the actual story of the feud this match was illogical, it was supposed to be about Matt Hardy’s intelligence in his matches vs. Jeff Hardy’s style of taking risks. But if anything they took as much risk as each other and Matt did work on the leg for a bit, but was forgotten towards the end, without a decisive finish nothing was resolved from this. It wasn’t bad as a match itself despite an awkward moment or two just failed to deliver the story they set up, the spots that were high risk though proved to be exciting. This match should be used as an example of why these two should never be against each other, but some people never learn.

Winner: Jeff Hardy
Rating: **

Dudley Boyz vs. Big Show & Kane- WWF Tag Team titles

This would be the first of many times that Big Show and Kane would attempt to form a tag team over the next 10 years, which really has Big Show living up to a moniker of being a veteran of make shift tag teams.

In the early going Buh Buh struggles to make anything of an impact being thrown around the ring by Big Show. There’s some miss-communication between Big Show and Kane exploiting their inexperience versus the long experience of Dudleyz when Buh Buh moved out of a Big Show clothesline which knocks Kane off the apron. Buh Buh removes the turnbuckle padding and Dudleyz hit a double Flap jack for the 3.(6:49)

This really wasn’t impressive, and although I wouldn’t expect it to be a great match, even this one is a let down. Kane and Big Show never looked like a team but just came across as two singles competitors being forced to team up on a Raw event. And thanks to that, it made the eventual result too predictable.

Winners: Dudley Boyz (retain)
Rating: *¾

Rob Van Dam vs. Undertaker- Hardcore Title

Undertaker turned heel weeks prior to this match in an incredible segment when he made Jim Ross kiss Vince’s ass, for several weeks Undertaker went on a tirade demanding respect from people.

Straight from the bell they brawl through the crowd with Undertaker grabbing a flag from a fan and choking RVD with it then squashing a guard rail over his face. RVD grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays Undertaker in the face with it, because it wouldn‘t be a Hardcore title match without a fire extinguisher. RVD goes up to the cheap seats and dives off hitting a cross body!

Making their way to the stage RVD hit’s a Van Daminator as Undertaker is sat up right on the Vengeance setting. Being closer to the stage RVD goes for another Van Daminator but Undertaker moves out of the way and choke slams RVD off the stage through a table! Undertaker covers RVD for the win.11:04

I don’t really like matches that have brawls which spend the majority of time away from the ring but with Undertaker being such a great performer and RVD’s style and unique ability to use the surroundings like no other, they were able to make this into a good little match. Especially with RVD really taking it to Undertaker which played out the whole wanting respect thing as Undertaker’s facial expression at the end made it clear RVD had earned his respect, despite that being completely ignored by commentators.

Winner: Undertaker (New champion)
Rating: ***

Trish Stratus vs. Jacqueline- WWF Womens title

After a pretty lacklustre 3 minutes Trish gets the win with a backslide, Jacqueline was impressive in the match with using kicks to cut off Trish when she got some offence in. I don’t know whether it was Trish was just bad at this point or it was an off match for her, but she screwed up some spots and looked unconvincing when doing something simple like hitting the ropes, her bumping throughout though was a positive, but there was just too many mistakes to ignore.

Winner: Trish Stratus (Retains)
Rating:¼*

Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle- WWF Championship

It’s no secret that at this point Austin’s head wasn’t in it as well as his injuries catching up with him and his body on the verge of breaking down. But it got off to a good start with each guy trying to lure the other into going with their respective styles.

Kurt Angle changes the momentum of the match and he locks in the ankle lock, but Austin is able to make his over to the ropes. Outside of the ring Angle lures Austin to walk over to him and Angle grabs at Austins legs and bashes them against the ring post, sneaky bastard.

Angle is able to hit an Olympic slam but only gets a two, he waits for Austin to get up and goes for a Stunner, Austin pushes him off to the ropes and hit’s a stunner of his own for the 3 count.(15:05)

Like I said Austin’s head wasn’t in it at this point and it definitely showed, Angle did well to make this enjoyable for what it was but it didn’t feel like Austin was going all out at any point, so that’s pretty underwhelming considering the occasion.

Winner: Steve Austin (retains)
Rating: **½

The Rock vs. Chris Jericho- WCW Championship

I think the pressure really was on these two to put on a match that was on par with their No Mercy contest due to how the match prior to this one went on. It starts off with a great pace that carries on throughout the match, Jericho hit’s a springboard drop kick on The Rock knocking him to the floor. Jericho follows him outside and slams his head on announce table, Bam! Rock’s head bounces of the table like a basketball.

Back in the ring, Jericho mockingly goes for the peoples elbow but its uniquely reversed into a sharp shooter, but Jericho is not going to take that and reverses into one of his own, Rock gets to the ropes. Jericho pulls The Rock into the centre of the ring but Rock gets an inside cradle for a near fall! The Rock then hits Rock Bottom on Jericho but is too worn out to make the cover straight away.

Vince comes down to the ring though as The Rock has got the cover on Jericho, Rock knocks Vince off the apron though and turns around giving Jericho the spine buster. He signals for the people’s elbow, bounces to the ropes but Vince is on the apron, Rock drags Vince in the ring and levels him with some of the people’s punches. Jericho taking advantage hit’s a low blow and for an extra insult hits Rock Bottom for the three!(19:08)

This was a great match and they do have great chemistry with each other as opponents, it had great pacing from the beginning to the end it was either excitement or the building towards excitement, every move mattered which is a Jericho a trade mark by now. Could have done without the interference from Vince, but it didn’t harm the quality for me.

Winner: Chris Jericho (New champion)
Rating: ****¼

Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin- Undisputed title

Austin wastes no time at all and goes to the ring immediately, he goes on the attack not giving Jericho the time to get up. But, in comes Kurt Angle and he hits Austin with a chair, blinding his lights. Jericho makes it to his feet but gets a rock bottom, he see’s Kurt Angle on the outside and chases him off. Jericho recovers but only gets a near fall, Austin goes for a stunner but Jericho escapes to the apron but is knocked off by Austin.

Austin removes the padding on the outside revealing the concrete which proves to be a downfall as Jericho causes him to hit the back of his head on the concrete, ouch! Back in the ring Austin hits an Irish whip to Jericho, he bounces back, Austin moves out of the way and Jericho leaps in the way taking out the referee! And here’s Vince again, woo hoo. This time he has brought referee Nick Patrick to the ring with him. Flair comes down to the ring and pulls the referee out and hits Nick Patrick, Vince then runs riot over Flair throwing him into ring post.

In the ring Austin has the Walls of Jericho locked in on Jericho, but Booker T enters the ring with the WWF title in hand and hits Austin in the back of the head with it. Vince quickly pushes referee Earl Hebner in the ring and Jericho covers Austin for the win!(12:31)

A combination of a non committal Austin, a worn out Jericho and interference galore caused this to be very under whelming.

Winner: Chris Jericho (First ever Undisputed champion)
Rating: **¼

The 411: With only one great match on the card and the rest being either dull, underwhelming or just damn right horrible, this didn’t make for such a special occasion as it has been hyped to be, a lackluster event to really tie up a lackluster presence which WCW had in WWF.
Final Score:  4.5   [ Poor ]