Monday Night Raw – November 5, 2001: Who Jumps This Week?

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 5, 2001
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

We’re two weeks away from Survivor Series and we have most of the teams set for the Winner Take All match. Angle jumped ship last week to further WWF-ize the Alliance roster. The WWF is in chaos right now and the main event tonight is Jericho vs. Rock for the WCW Title because the person that holds that title is really going to help the WWF in their war right? Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Test and Booker T beating Jericho and Rock for the tag titles, taking away the only reason they had to not kill each other.

We actually hear about Rebellion, the British PPV, where Rock and Jericho got in yet ANOTHER fight.

Here’s Vince to open the show of course. He immediately makes Jericho vs. Rock for the WCW Title later tonight so we’re automatically off to a better start than most of his promos. He wants them to beat each other up once and for all so that they can concentrate on Survivor Series. On to more important things though, as Vince says that at Survivor Series, someone is going to jump to the WWF. Apparently it’s going to be Austin. Well they certainly took the swerve out of that swerve pretty quickly.

Cue Austin who tells Vince to shut up. He didn’t believe Vince when he started and then he heard the name Steve Austin. Austin said what and wondered who Vince thought he was. He doesn’t like Vince implying that he’s jumping ship back to the WWF. Earlier Vince said he had to be Vince McMahon so Austin says he has to be himself and Stuns Vince. Austin leaves and Vince is smiling a lot.

Back from a break and the Alliance glares at Austin who says he’s not turning his back on them.

Ivory vs. Lita

It has to be better than Stacy’s match last week. Another good pop for Lita too. Ivory jumps her during the posing and takes over quickly. Legdrop gets two and Ivory stomps away some more. Lita comes back with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. Ivory sends her into the buckle and hits a bad bulldog for the same result. This is really dull so far. Flapjack gets two for Ivory. I think Lita starts her comeback with a headscissors and leg sweep for two. Lita hits perhaps the worst clothesline I’ve ever seen as Matt and Lance Storm come out. After they do nothing of note, Ivory hits an X-Factor for the pin.

Rating: D-. What in the world was the point of this? The girls were almost wrestling in slow motion and the crowd was DEAD. That clothesline was so bad that it made some of the ones I’ve seen NFL guys use that were better. Hardy and Storm didn’t add anything and the match was just bad. It’s probably the worst Lita match I’ve ever seen.

Shane comes in to see Austin and Austin doesn’t like having to defend himself against accusations. Shane thinks someone is jumping ship at the PPV and he thinks he knows who that is. Angle comes in and Shane looks at him, prompting Angle to say that he doesn’t think Austin will jump. Kurt asks Austin if he has his back against Undertaker tonight. Austin wants to know where the hat Austin gave him is. Steve doesn’t like it but he has Kurt’s back tonight.

Intercontinental Title: Edge vs. Test

Edge challenged Test last night on Heat for some reason. He jumps Test on the floor to start and they head back inside for a lot of punches from both guys. Edge tries to speed things up but walks into a tilt-a-whirl slam for two as Test takes over again. After a suplex Test chokes away with the boot in the corner but walks into a spear out of nowhere. Both guys are down and it’s Edge up first.

He hits the spinwheel kick but walks into an elbow to put him down. The big boot misses and the Edge-O-Matic gets two. Edge rolls through a powerbomb for two and hits a tornado DDT for the same. He goes up again but Test shoves the referee into the ropes to crotch the champion. Test cradles Edge and puts his feet on the ropes for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. The match was about as good as a five and a half minute match with practically no story (Test cost Edge a match last week apparently) was going to be. That’s beside the point though. At this point in WWF, there were three midcard titles (IC, US and Euro), two world titles, two tag titles, a hardcore title and two lightweight titles.

This change means nothing because Edge would just pick up the US Title a week later and unify the two midcard ones at the PPV. These title changes don’t mean anything as Edge had only held the belt 13 days so it’s not like this was the end of a long reign or something. At the end of the day, so what if Test is IC Champion? He would lose it in two weeks anyway. Oh and he’s a double champion now too.

Speaking of pointless title changes, Christian won the European Title from Bradshaw. Yeah he was European Champion for like a week. Christian defends against Hurricane tonight so here’s reporter Gregory Helms who wants to know how Christian can be considered the greatest European Champion ever when he hasn’t faced Hurricane. Helms says you might not like Hurricane when he’s angry.

Vince has an ice pack on his neck when Rock comes in. Rock wants to know what’s up with that (sorry, had Hurricane on my mind) Austin thing earlier. Vince should bring Austin back because Rock has been waiting.

European Title: Christian vs. Hurricane

So is Hurricane WWF now? Did I miss something? Christian wears a Diamondbacks jersey to rub in the World Series loss to the New York crowd. Apparently Christian won the title back on Smackdown in a dark match. See how crowded this company was around this point? Christian jumps him to start as the fans chant for the Yankees.

He pounds away and hooks an abdominal stretch but Hurricane arm drags out of it. Hurricane puts the cape on and hits the cross body for two. Christian throws him over the top but the challenger lands on his feet. Superkick gets two for Hurricane. Eye of the Hurricane is countered and the Unprettier ends this. Short and nothing.

Ad for the WWF on the Weakest Link, which was a quiz show back in the early 2000s.

Regal addresses the Alliance and says Austin won’t defect. Booker thinks RVD is going to defect so Regal makes a match between them later on.

Angle is getting ready when Stephanie comes up to him. She says she trusts him and they share a look. This would go nowhere.

US Title: Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle

Taker jumps him on the floor to start and drops some elbows for two. He takes him down in an attempt at an armbar but Angle gets to the ropes. Taker does the wristlock lift followed by a modified short arm scissors. Old School puts Angle down again but Kurt goes for the legs. He rams it into the apron a few times as Taker is being chopped down. The announcers are talking about Austin of course because the match is good, and that’s not something we can talk about.

Back in and a chop block puts Taker down. If I remember right this is around the time that Angle made Kane tap so the idea of Taker tapping isn’t that insane. Ankle lock goes on but Taker kicks away very quickly. A suplex gets two on Taker and it’s off to a front facelock. Taker is like screw this and picks Angle up for a chokeslam. He lifts the bad leg which helps a bit. Angle pops back up because the move didn’t have the same snap to it which is fine. Ankle lock goes on for a good while until Taker reverses into one of his own….and here’s Austin for the DQ.

Rating: B-. I was digging this one with Taker actually selling and the thinking being there with stuff like the lifting of the leg. The ending was about as obvious as you could get given what was said earlier, but at least the match was good up to that point. This is one of the better TV matches in a good while on this show.

Angry Angle says Austin is loyal to the Alliance (man there’s a lot of alliteration tonight). Cole suggests that what Austin just did is the same thing Angle would do to remove suspicion. Angle has to think about that one.

APA/Jacqueline vs. Dudley Boys/Stacy Keibler

This is a tables match. The Dudleys bring out the table with Stacy laying on it in a nice touch. Bradshaw and D-Von start us off because you have to tag in a match that only ends with people going through tables. The girls come in and after some cheating, Jackie gets stomped on. Everything breaks down and Bradshaw breaks up What’s Up on Farrooq before hitting a fallaway slam off the top to D-Von.

The APA brings in a table but Bubba breaks up Bradshaw’s superplex attempt on D-Von. Bubba’s powerbomb doesn’t work as Farrooq moves the table. Jackie hits Bubba low and D-Von takes the Clothesline from Bradshaw. Bubba sets up another table but has to stop to deal with Jackie. Farrooq hits the spinebuster to put Bubba through the table for the win.

Rating: D. What in the world did this match exist for? Was there a story to it that just wasn’t worth talking about? Wasn’t Bradshaw a singles champion last week at this time? Either way the match didn’t go anywhere because no one cared about it and the girls didn’t add anything either. This was pure, uninteresting filler and nothing more.

Rock says Jericho won the big one once, so let’s see you do it again tonight.

The new team of Billy and Chuck is at WWF New York.

Wrestlemania tickets went on sale this past weekend.

Hardcore Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T

Regal is on commentary for some reason. Booker takes him down almost immediately but Van Dam gets a knockdown of his own. Spinwheel kick gets two for RVD, who is defending if that isn’t clear. Van Dam’s top rope kick puts Booker down and Rolling Thunder gets two. Tajiri comes out to beat up Regal but Booker goes out to make the save. Regal gets up and powerbombs Tajiri on the floor as Big Show comes in to clean house. The referee rings the bell and throws out the HARDCORE match. See why this whole period is considered such a mess?

Jericho says he was born on Long Island which doesn’t get much of a reaction at all. He’ll win tonight.

Desire video.

WCW World Title: The Rock vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho is defending here. He slaps Rock to start and knocks him into the corner. Rock comes back with a jumping clothesline but Jericho takes him right back down again. A Samoan Drop gets two for Rock. Jericho comes back again with a middle rope dropkick for two. Rock Bottom is countered as are the Walls. Jericho dropkicks him to the floor and follows him out. This has been very back and forth so far.

Rock gets dropped on the barricade but Jericho gets crotched coming back in. A superplex brings the champion back in but it only gets two. They slug it out and Rock clotheslines him down for two. A Jericho DDT puts both guys down and Jericho hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. A backbreaker puts Rock down and Jericho chops away. The champ tries a dropkick but gets caught in the Sharpshooter.

Jericho makes the rope but walks into the spinebuster. The People’s Elbow gets loaded up but Jericho moves out of the way. Rock takes a Rock Bottom from Jericho but it only gets two. Jericho throws him to the floor and then into the steps for good measure. The champ loads up the announce table and hits the Breakdown through said table, with Rock’s head being a good six inches away from contact.

Rock is bleeding a bit as Jericho takes off the buckle pad. For some reason the referee never counted at all. Back in and Jericho sends him into the exposed buckle which doesn’t even put Rock down onto the mat. There are the Walls and after a good awhile Rock makes the rope. Jericho goes for the hold again and gets rolled up for the pin and the title for the Rock.

Rating: B. This was good but it was the abridged version of their match at No Mercy, which was much better by a few thousand miles. Jericho losing here doesn’t really make a lot of sense as he could hold the title over Rock but now there’s almost nothing at all that he can brag about. That would be somewhat resolved post match but I don’t get the idea here for the most part.

Jericho blasts Rock with a chair shot to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was almost all about building to the PPV which is a good idea, but when the build isn’t that good it doesn’t really mean much. I’d also like to point out that we’re 13 days away from the PPV and we have one match announced. The idea is supposed to be that Austin is going to jump but there isn’t much you can do to build to that before Survivor Series. This was a better show than lately but it still was nothing great.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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