Monday Night Raw
Date: November 19, 2001
Location: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Well the Invasion is over and I don’t think anyone is really complaining that it’s done. Tonight we basically hit a big reset button tonight as things get back to “normal” for the first time in months tonight. I have no idea what to expect with this show. Well ok I do as I remember watching it and the big surprise on it but it makes for a better intro if I say that. Let’s get to it.

We open with Foley and Vince on a plane earlier today. Foley says he knows that he’s getting fired, but Vince only says Have a Nice Day. That’s the last we would see of Mick Foley in the WWF/E for over a year and a half.

Here’s Vince to open the show and you know he’s happy after last night. He thanks Angle for ending the Alliance and says that ECW is dead. Until there was an opening due to high DVD sales of course. The WCW Title is now the World Championship, which is different from the WWF Championship because…..because this is called the World Championship. Also tonight, someone is going to become the inaugural member of Vince’s special club. That person gets to keep their job (along with the champions as they get to keep their jobs too).

That brings Vince to the leader of the Alliance. As soon as Austin arrives here tonight, Vince’s plans go into effect. There’s one more change: we have an empty seat on commentary. Vince brings out Paul Heyman who sits on the commentary desk, but Vince never said that Paul was the new commentator. Vince calls him into the ring and Heyman immediately starts sucking up.

McMahon says he’s a first amendment guy (Heyman: “And one of the best ever sir!”) and using his first amendment, he says that Heyman is fired. Heyman wants to fight but as the jacket comes off, Heyman runs. Heyman walks on the floor and then lunges at JR, who beats the tar out of him. Security pulls Heyman off and takes him out. Vince calls out Lawler to be JR’s partner again. That just feels right.

Women’s Title: Lita vs. Trish Stratus

Trish is defending after winning the title last night in a Six Pack Challenge. Last night Trish was seen coming out of the Hardys’ locker room when only Matt was in there so there’s some heat here. Trish is AWFUL at this point so don’t expect any kind of a good match here. Fifteen seconds in and they HORRIBLY botch a wristlock.

Spear gets two for Lita as does a sunset flip. Trish sends her into the middle rope for two before hitting an awkward slam. Lita hits a bad flapjack for another near fall before Trish kicks her in the chest to take over. An elbow misses for Stratus but she manages to shove Lita off the top to the floor. Trish kicks Lita into Matt so Matt throws Lita back in. Trish backslides her to retain. This was HORRIBLE.

Vince goes to see the Dudleys, Stacy, Test, Van Dam and Christian. These are the people who aren’t fired for being either champions, immune, or gorgeous. Vince punishes Van Dam for not accepting his offer to join the WWF a few months ago by making him face the Dudleys in a handicap tables match. The three of them and Stacy leave so Christian can suck up to Vinny a bit. That gets him nowhere.

Rob Van Dam vs. Dudley Boys

Jerry has to make up his flirting jokes about Stacy so he fires off a bunch to start. Van Dam has to fight them both off at once and makes D-Von clothesline Bubba by mistake. Rolling Thunder hits D-Von but Rob walks into a Bubba Bomb. Rob comes back by spearing Bubba into the corner, only to walk into a neckbreaker out of said corner from D-Von. Here are a pair of tables, one on the mat and one in the corner. Rob grabs a rope to avoid 3D and sends D-Von to the floor.

A kick takes Bubba down and a Van Daminator takes him down even more. D-Von comes back in and takes some kicks of his own, sending him onto a table. Van Dam goes for what would have been the longest Five Star ever, but he leaves it short (no shock) and breaks the table WITH HIS FACE. FREAKING OW MAN!!! The Dudleys pick up the dead body that used to be RVD and 3D him onto the table, as it doesn’t break. The second 3D wins it and I think Van Dam needs a doctor.

Rating: C. Van Dam has earned this rating on his own. It’s not that the Dudleys didn’t do anything, but those landings with Van Dam were SCARY, especially the Frog Splash. There was no point to this, but the handicap tables match was the signature “punishment” match in 2001. Van Dam should have gotten a bigger push in 2001.

Angle is here and he’s still smug.

Linda McMahon is at WWF New York, likely looking for Connecticut registered voters.

Angle goes in to see Rock and wants his thank you for the company still being in business. Rock isn’t amused and wants to know when Angle was planning on letting the WWF know when he was a mole. Angle spent a month blasting WWF guys with chairs but Angle says it was worth it. Rock agrees and says Angle should try to beat him up now. Angle says he’ll do it for the title. Rock will never trust either Angle or Vince again. I don’t think Rock accepted the challenge for the title match but maybe that was implied.

 

Shane and Stephanie arrive in a rental car. Stephanie could always make a living if she wore those dresses on the street.

 

Vince is in the ring again and apparently the acceptance of the match was implied as Vince says it’s happening. Austin isn’t here yet so let’s deal with his kids. Here they are and Vince says he likes hearing Stephanie called a w****. Shane tells Vince that he won and that he (Shane) lost to the better man. Shane leaves and that’s that.

 

Stephanie plays the daddy’s little girl card, calling herself young and naive. She blames Shane for everything that happened, including Linda getting slapped. It was Shane that made Stephanie slap Linda and tell Vince that she wanted him to die. She says she’s sorry and tries to cry. Vince calls for security and Stephanie is literally dragged away. Vince starts the goodbye song.

Jericho comes in to see Vince (notice his name coming up a lot tonight?) and Vince yells at him for putting the WWF in jeopardy last night by attacking Rock. Jericho says that it was due to his ego which Vince isn’t happy with. Vince doesn’t like big egos, but he loves MASSIVE egos. Oh and Jericho gets Kane tonight.

Mr. T. is here.

World Title: The Rock vs. Kurt Angle

Rock is defending. Kurt gets in some early right hands to take over and Rock gets stomped. Rock comes back with punches of his own but he gets sent to the floor very quickly. Back in and a belly to back suplex gets two for Kurt. There’s the ankle lock but Rock quickly breaks it. The countering doesn’t last long as he walks into a belly to belly to take him down again. Another belly to belly gets two and Kurt pounds away.

They’re clearly just going through the motions here but since tonight is pretty much resetting everything, it’s pretty much ok as the matches are just there to fill time until they figure out what they’re doing next. Angle goes up but gets crotched and Rock hits a belly to back superplex. Kurt clotheslines him down but Rock nips up and makes his comeback. Spinebuster looks to set up the Rock Bottom but Kurt counters into the Slam for no cover. Ankle lock is countered into a rollup for Rock to retain.

Rating: D+. Like I said they were going through the motions here and it didn’t do anything at all. They basically took the night off here and that’s ok. Angle threw in some suplexes to make it look like he was trying but they were clearly in very low gear. Angle would do nothing of note until he went to Smackdown in the Brand Split while Rock kept being Rock.

Angle attacks Rock post match and Jericho comes out to help him. Both use their submissions on Rock.

Here’s Vince for the 12^th time tonight for the Club stuff. The first inductee: William Regal. Regal offers to be a gopher for Vince but Vince says he meant the title of this club literally. Vince has Regal get on his knee and Vince takes his pants down. We’re watching one of Vince’s fantasies aren’t we? Vince takes his underwear down too and makes it dance. Oh wait Regal has to use chapstick first. Vince bends over a bit and Regal kisses it. Someone send Linda’s Senate opponent this clip NOW. The election will be over.

Regal gets laughed at by people like Taz, who still has a job because….someone help me out here. Regal slugs him.

Chris Jericho vs. Kane

Kane speeds things up to start and sends him into the corner. Jericho sends him into the rope and slingshots Kane’s throat into the bottom rope to take over. A swinging neckbreaker misses for the most part but we’ll count it anyway. Jericho grabs a chair which is quickly knocked out of his hand. Kane goes up and jumps into the chair for the DQ. This was nothing.

Jericho beats on Kane and puts him in the “Walls” (they couldn’t quite get it right either time they tried) and no one makes the save. Wasn’t Undertaker the one preaching about being a unit?

Creed Desire video.

Angle yells at Edge but Edge says he saved his own job by winning the IC Title last night. Edge accuses Angle of playing both sides last night. Their feud wouldn’t start for about six months if my memory is right.

William Regal vs. Taz

Taz punches, Tazmission is broken up, Regal Stretch ends this in less than a minute. Taz has a job because of being a commentator. Ok then. The arena is all smoky from Taz’s pyro.

Kurt is melancholy over not being thanked for saving the company, so Vince offers him the WWF Title.

Vince and Angle go to the ring and Vince tells the fans to thank Kurt for what he did last night. Vince says Austin can stay wherever he is because we need a dignified champion. This is a very fast heel turn by Vince who was the nicest guy in the world all night so far. Vince says that as the sole owner of the WWF, he’s going to….be interrupted by some very familiar music.

RIC FLAIR walks out (notice the location of the show) and the place goes bonkers. Vince calls Flair a has been but Flair is very happy. He says he bet on a winner last night when he bet on the WWF. Flair says Angle should win the world title in the ring like he’s capable of doing.

Vince keeps trying to get Flair out but Flair says that this morning when Shane and Stephanie sold their stock in the company (what stock? They had bought WCW and ECW, which in storylines were different companies. What stock would they still have in the WWF? I guess the idea is that Flair bought it in June, but he flat out says he bought it “this morning”. Eh it’s WWF logic so we’ll go with it) this morning, Flair bought it, so now he and McMahon are partners. The look on Vince’s face is GREAT.

Cue Austin who beats the tar out of Angle and runs him off. Flair hands Austin the title as Austin is a good guy again. A beer bash ends the show.

Overall Rating: D. The only good stuff to come out of this was in the last ten minutes, but it raises A TON of questions. First and foremost, WHY DIDN’T THEY BRING FLAIR IN SIX MONTHS AGO??? A Flair owned WCW and a Heyman owned ECW (what a strange business partnership that would have been) vs. the Vince owned WWF would have been a very interesting story, but instead that whole thing is gone, it appears to be Austin vs. Vince again, and Rock vs. Jericho is going to light things on fire for awhile. That’s one heck of a reset.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 12, 2001
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

It’s the final Raw of the Alliance Era and I bet they’ll talk about the Winner Takes All match this Sunday. The fact that this is ending in less than six months has never ceased to blow my mind. There’s no reason for things to have wrapped up that fast, but then again I’m not Vince McMahon so what do I know about how to run a story that could have drawn billions and run for years? Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Smackdown with Taz saying that he doesn’t trust Austin anymore, earning himself a beating. The Alliance walked out on Austin. Angle told Austin to shove his hat and Austin Stunned him as well.

Here’s Angle to open the show. He talks about how there was a team that had a chance to win it all, but infighting broke that down and now they’re losers. They would be the Red Sox from this season of course. Angle wants Austin here right now, but instead he gets Edge. Edge calls Angle a coward and wants a US Title match RIGHT NOW.

US Title: Edge vs. Kurt Angle

So not only can all three McMahons and both Commissioners make matches, but wrestlers can too. Sure why not. Edge immediately dropkicks him down but Angle takes him to the mat. Edge speeds things up again and takes Kurt down before doing Kurt’s signature pose. They go to the mat again and Edge grabs the arm to control. The half nelson bulldog that edge stopped doing when he got to be a bigger star gets two.

Angle grabs a belly to belly to send Edge up and over to the floor and the challenger is in trouble. Back in that only gets two but Edge is reeling. Edge comes back with a quick flapjack but Angle rolls him down to the ground and it’s off to a chinlock. Edge tries to go up but he jumps into a belly to belly suplex. The moonsault misses and both guys are down.

Edge makes his comeback and the Edgecution and Angle Slam are both countered. Edge-O-Matic gets two and a victory roll gets the same for the challenger. Angle Slam hits and there’s the ankle lock but here’s Kane. Or rather just his entrance for a distraction so Edge can spear Angle down for the pin and the title in a major upset.

Rating: C-. As good as these guys would get over the next year or so, this really didn’t click for the most part. Edge wasn’t ready to beat Angle here so the cheating finish helps, but it still wasn’t much to go on. They were getting there though and their feud in 2002 basically brought Edge up to a new level.

Post match here’s Kane to beat up Kurt. Kane puts him in the ankle lock until some Alliance jobbers come in to get beaten up instead.

Taz has challenged Austin to a non-title match tonight because he’s all ragey.

WWF Tag Titles: Hardy Boys vs. Booker T/Test

The Hardys slide in but get jumped immediately. A suplex puts Jeff down and gets two for Booker. It’s quickly off to Test but Jeff pounds him back. A gutwrench powerbomb stops the comeback but Test’s big boot misses. The not hot tag brings in Matt who cleans house, hitting the middle rope legdrop on Booker for two. There’s the Twist/Swanton to Jeff but Test kicks Jeff’s head off. Everything breaks down and Lita hits the rana on Booker so Jeff can roll him up for the titles.

Rating: D+. YAY the Hardys are champions again! This matters…..why? No really why does this matter? Everything ends on Sunday so this is like the proverbial changing deck chairs on the Titanic. Who cares if the Hardys get another tag title run or if Edge is US Champion? There was nothing here either as it was barely long enough to grade.

Chavo Guerrero and Hugh Morrus come to Vince and ask for jobs if the Alliance loses. Why would I care if they have jobs or not?

Steve Austin vs. Taz

Austin is in jean shorts and a sweatshirt. Taz jumps him as he comes in and pounds on Austin in the corner. A low blow breaks up the Tazmission and the Stunner gets the pin. This didn’t even last 45 seconds.

Shane comes out and tells Austin to get off Taz. The Alliance is waiting in the back for a speech from Austin apparently.

The Desire video is about Undertaker. It still sounds like a perfume commercial.

Stephanie addresses the Alliance and I’m liking the leather jacket on her. She fires Morrus and Guerrero and Austin comes in. He yells at Angle but Shane yells at Austin, saying Austin needs to worry about The Rock. Booker gets yelled at for no apparent reason and this turns into another “we need to come together” pep talk. Then Shane leaves and it turns into an argument.

WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Scotty 2 Hotty/Albert

Scotty gets jumped but Albert (currently Tensai) in a stupid hat makes the save. Stacy gets in for no apparent reason and hits on Scotty but Albert rips her skirt down. That would be more valuable than all of his current WWE run combined. They load up the Worm but the Dudleys pull Stacy out and pull her out and leave. No match I guess.

Jericho complains to Vince about how Rock is too obsessed with the People. Vince tells Jericho to get over it because the match on Sunday is more important.

Regal is warming up when Christian comes in. They have some tea and Regal casually tells him he’s facing Big Show tonight. Christian panics and Regal whispers something to him which calms Christian down.

Hardcore Title: Undertaker vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam is defending and he fires off strikes in the corner to start. Taker comes back with right hands in the corner as well but Van Dam clotheslines him to the floor. Van Dam dives at Taker but gets caught and rammed into the post. They go up to the stage and Taker misses a boot so that his leg gets caught in part of the set. Van Dam climbs up said set and dives off with a cross body for a very delayed two.

Rob knocks Taker over to the edge of the stage but Taker knocks him back for the sake of avoiding death. Taker pounds away and slams Van Dam into the set again. The Last Ride is loaded up but Booker runs out to break it up. Booker and Van Dam pound Taker down and they head back inside. Taker fights back but Booker takes him down again. Booker goes up but gets crotched and superplexed. Van Dam comes in out of nowhere and hits the Five Star while Taker is down to retain.

Rating: D. This show is AWFUL. The matches have no thought or effort into them at all and it’s sucking the little life they had left out of the building. Weren’t Booker and Van Dam having issues recently? Well apparently they patched things up off camera because they’re fine now. Nothing to see here and it’s very clear that no one cared at all.

Rock comes in to see Vince and Vince tries to make peace with Rock and Jericho. Rock wants nothing to do with a “moose hunting Twisted Sister wannabe.” Somehow this took almost five minutes.

Here’s Mick Foley for a promo I remember being very sad to see back in the day. Foley says that he’s out of a job no matter what happens on Sunday because about three days after he became Commissioner, Vince came back and made him worthless again. Foley has a lot of things he wants to do with the rest of his life and answering to Vince isn’t one of them. If the WWF wins, Vince can take his job but he can’t take his pride.

Foley goes on a rant and a half about how the title he has in his closet (the WWF Title he won on January 4, 1999) means nothing anymore because EVERYONE has a title anymore and none of them mean anything at all. With the power he has for a little while longer, he’s going to get rid of some titles. Before he tells us how, he goes on another rant about how at Raw and Smackdown last week, he was told he wasn’t needed. I mean, why put Mick Foley on TV in Long Island? “Maybe I’m not needed on the program, but the program sure needs something and more titles isn’t it”.

On Sunday it’s Edge vs. Test in a US/IC unification match (Foley gets the respective titles wrong but that kind of reinforces his point. Neither guy had held their belts for even a month so does it matter?) and the Hardys vs. the Dudleys in a cage to unify the tag belts (for the second time in three months of course). That brings him to the Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Titles. “Well X-Pac is MIA. No one knows where he is and no one really cares”. Since Pac doesn’t exist anymore, Regal will face Tajiri instead and that’s that.

I want to talk about this promo for a minute. First and foremost, he’s absolutely right about almost everything he said. At this point, there were 10 championships in the company, and that’s counting the tag titles as one title instead of two. Think that that. On top of that, this was Mick Foley, one of the top stars the company has ever had and one of the nicest guys in the history of wrestling, just erupting on national TV because of how awful things had gotten. This was just over seven months after the best show in wrestling history and it’s fallen this far. Let that sink in for a minute.

Christian vs. Big Show

Non-title of course because Big Show can’t be bothered trying to win the European Title. Show shoves him down to start and throws on a bearhug. Christian is knocked to the floor and DDP comes out. That goes absolutely nowhere as he can’t even get in the ring. Christian brings in a chair but Show hits it into his face for the pin at 1:27.

This is EXACTLY what Foley is complaining about: a champion just got destroyed in less than 90 seconds and why? Christian is defending his title on Sunday but do you think his opponent was even mentioned? Big Show is in the main event of the PPV but he’s here squashing Christian in short order? Why? Does this make him look like a threat in the main event? He’s Big Show, a former world champion and a guy that has main evented Wrestlemania.

Why should Christian need to get crushed like this for the sake of Big Show? There are a dozen guys in the Alliance that you could do this to who don’t have belts, but we just HAD to have Christian get beaten up right? At the end of the day, I doubt very seriously that the WWF could have answered that back then, or they would say it doesn’t matter, which is a big part of the problem.

Anyway the Dudleys come out and break a table over Show’s head before the APA shows up for the save. Not the Hardys, as in the team that the Dudleys are facing on Sunday, but the APA, a team that is in a yet to be mentioned on this show battle royal for immunity from being fired. Little things like that are the way you can tell no one is paying attention or thinking at all.

No one is at WWF New York.

Rock is walking in the back and goes into a room. That’s it. Seriously, that’s all they showed here.

Edge was at a Rob Zombie concert in New Mexico. Riveting indeed. Edge just started using Rob Zombie as his entrance music so we see Zombie perform the FULL SONG. I like the song but if I wanted to watch a music video, I’d watch a music video.

Rock is in his locker room when Jericho comes in. Jericho complains about what Rock called him earlier and Rock complains about Jericho complaining about the people. This is pretty much the ONLY thing that was interesting on Raw at this point. Taker comes in to yell at them and complains about getting double teamed while no one came to help him. I guess when Kane and Big Show, as in the other two members of Team WWF, were getting double teamed earlier, Taker was busy having a meatball sandwich and watching Days of Our Lives, because he certainly didn’t help them out.

Kane comes in and gets yelled at too. Taker yells at the team for not being unified. Big Show is never mentioned at all during this speech. Rock and Jericho, two of the biggest mouths ever, have nothing to say to this. Oh wait Rock says they’re a team and what Taker says is clear. The tall guys leave and Jericho wishes Rock luck. Rock says he’ll be waiting for Jericho.

WCW World Title: The Rock vs. William Regal

Rock didn’t even bother changing into trunks for this. Regal jumps Rock to start and they head to the floor for a bit. Back inside and Regal hits the knee trembler for two. Off to a fast chinlock but Rock comes back with a belly to belly suplex and a DDT for two. They head outside again but Tajiri comes out to Mist Regal. You know, because Rock can’t beat Regal on his own. Spinebuster and Sharpshooter get the win for Rock. This was nothing AGAIN.

Rock calls out Austin and here’s the bald one after a break. They stare each other down and Rock says they go back to Wrestlemania. Rock remembers that night and the next night as well as earlier when Austin says he can beat Rock. Rock hopes Austin jumps to the WWF so Rock can beat Austin up in the WWF for the WWF Title. He says FINALLY but Austin takes the mic out of his hand. Now Austin wants to say FINALLY but Rock takes the mic. Rock tries to say it again but Austin pulls the mic away again. He makes fun of the people chanting Rocky and says FINALLY, but Rock pulls the mic away again. Now Rock makes fun of WHAT. It’s so clear they have NO IDEA how to fill in this time so they’re just messing around.

Austin WHAT’S the crowd for a bit and the fans applaud. Austin says that’s the bottom line but Rock steals the mic before Austin can finish. Rock says what (complete with a stutter that sounds like WOO WOO WOO beforehand) but Austin takes the mic away for about the 9 millionth time. Rock says Austin’s breath smells like strudel. Austin says he (as in Austin) has a beer belly and it’s fuel for fighting but he’s not going to do that right now. Austin says Rock has hurt his feelings and it looks like they’re finally about to fight but instead Austin wants to sing. Yes I said SING.

Austin talks about a rock band called Boston but he doesn’t remember any of their songs right now. Instead he’s going to sing Delta Dawn (complete with a shout out to a fan in Texas with a busted up leg. Ok then) and he does in fact sing the song. Rock counters with The Gambler by Kenny Rogers and we’ve officially entered the point where I have no idea what to think anymore. Rock: “That make you feel better?” Austin: “I feel like crap.” And now, TIME FOR A DUET!

They sing Margaritaville as I’m trying to remember these two singing in front of nearly 68,000 people in Houston. Oh scratch that as that was a thirty minute blood bath in the classic main event of the greatest show of all time. Instead they’re here talking about a lost shaker of salt. Aren’t they supposed to be fighting for their jobs on Sunday? Rock says he’ll never forget and Rock Bottoms Austin. Angle comes in and the big brawl between the teams ends the show. Jericho makes the save with a chair and stands behind Rock but he doesn’t swing it.

Overall Rating: F. I am in awe of what I just spent 90 minutes watching. The last fifteen minutes of this show was a singing contest between two of the three biggest stars in wrestling history. You know, as in the guys that have had the only main event trilogy at Wrestlemania ever. Now don’t get me wrong: the segment was kind of entertaining, but when it goes on for FIFTEEN MINUTES at the end of a dreadful show, it’s only going to be so good. These guys are supposed to hate each other and they look like they’re at a comedy club. Horrible show with a freaking bizarre ending.

Here’s Survivor Series if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/10/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-2001-the-end-of-the-alliance-thank-goodness/

Also here is an article I wrote about the Invasion and my thoughts on why it didn’t work and what I would have changed:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/01/28/i-want-to-talk-a-little-bit-about-the-invasion/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Backlash 2001
Date: April 29, 2001
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
Attendance: 15,592
Commentators: Paul Heyman, Jim Ross

 

I’m not doing Backlash just yet but I’m coming up on this one in the Raw 2001 reviews so I figured I better knock it out so I don’t have to do it later. There are two big matches here as we have Benoit vs. Angle in an Ultimate Submission match (iron man match, submissions only) and HHH/Austin vs. Kane/Taker in a match where are the titles are on the line. Let’s get to it.

 

Opening video talks about how he who has the gold has the power. Fitting start considering the main event has all the titles in it which is rather stupid indeed but whatever.

 

Dudley Boys vs. X-Factor

 

Six man tag here with all three Dudleyz vs. X-Pac, Credible and Albert. Dang they go from one of the most famous tag matches ever to a six man opening a PPV four weeks later. Brawl to start with the Dudleys clearing the ring. They launch Spike onto Pac and Credible on the floor which is always fun. Spike and Credible start us off with Spike getting a crucifix for two.

 

Off to Albert who counters the Dudley Dog to take over. Back to Justin and the white socks of fear. Powerbomb out of the corner gets two as this crowd is red hot. Double tags bring in D-Von and Pac and Albert cheats, allowing Pac to kick D-Von’s head off to take over again. X-Factor minus Pac puts D-Von’s balls against the post as this is a rather fast paced match.

 

Pac gets two off a legdrop and we hit the chinlock. D-Von tries a comeback but walks into a Boss Man Slam to keep him down. Off to Albert who hits a pretty sweet delayed butterfly suplex for two. After a double clothesline it’s hot tag Bubba who cleans house on all three guys. What’s Up to Justin and it’s table time. Albert kills D-Von though and the distraction allows Credible and Pac to hit a double superkick on Bubba for the pin.

 

Rating: B-. Pretty solid opener here with some fast paced stuff. They got the crowd into the show (ok so this is Chicago so it’s not like it was that hard) and the ending worked. Nothing wrong with having heels win the opener as the match was good enough to get the fans over it. Also the lack of feud prevents the whole emotional damage.

 

X-Factor tries to put Bubba through a table but due to the laws of wrestling, Pac goes through it instead.

 

The Duchess of Queensbury, a guy in drag, is here for the match later with Regal and Jericho. This was one of those weird ideas that isn’t talked about after this show. Regal in a collared shirt and trunks is a weird looks.

 

Angle says he’s confident and that’s fine.

 

We get a clip of Jerry Lynn winning the Light Heavyweight Title on Heat with a handful of tights which was rather surprising.

 

Hardcore Title: Raven vs. Rhyno

 

Rhyno is champion. This is considered one of the best hardcore matches ever so let’s see if it lives up to its hype. Rhyno tries a Gore immediately but Raven drop toeholds him into the stop sign. Trashcan shot gets two. Rhyno takes over with a running shoulder in the corner and the beating begins. Raven gets a trashcan up to block a running charge but it hurts him even more. He falls out to the floor and gets covered for two.

 

Rhyno sets up the steps and puts Raven in a chair. He tries a run up the stairs to set up a dive, only to crush the chair. Raven uses the same setup but gets a clothesline off the steps for two. Back inside for half a second as Rhyno takes over again. Raven gets his head taken off by a trashcan lid and a sign shot gets two. Back into the ring and Rhyno hits him with a shopping cart. Whatever works I guess.

 

Drop toehold puts Rhyno into the cart and down he goes. A bunch of sign shots take Rhyno down and a LOUD one does it again. Bulldog out of the corner gets two. Rhyno picks up the shopping cart but Raven gets a trashcan shot in to have the cart fall on Rhyno for two. Cart goes into Rhyno’s ribs but Rhyno gets a sign shot in to get two. Momentum shifts back and forth a lot in this match. Rhyno tries the Gore into the shopping cart but misses and Rhyno is stuck inside the cart. We go to a replay of it and during that the Gore ends Raven. That fits the move as the move is supposed to come out of nowhere, which it did there.

 

Rating: B. Well they were right, this was good. The key thing here is it never got silly. This was more about violence than the weapons if that makes sense. Most of the time there would be comedy spots in something like this but here, it was all about the violence and the brutality out there, making for a far better and more entertaining match.

 

We get a clip from Smackdown where Shane read a book called Shane and the Beanstalk to Big Show. Funny stuff here. The idea of the feud is that Vince is mad at Shane for being all rebellious and for destroying him at Mania and buying WCW, so he sent Show out to kill him. That one piece swimsuit was deadly indeed. The story is actually kind of funny. It’s last man standing by the way.

 

Shane is about to talk but Stephanie comes up and says he should apologize to Vince. Stephanie, you look great, but your acting is uh….bad.

 

Austin gets here.

 

Coach tries to find out the rules of the Duchess of Queensbury match. The Duchess doesn’t know who Coach is. Regal breaks it up and yells at Coach.

 

We recap Regal vs. Jericho with the exact same video from Mania. Basically Regal is commissioner and Jericho said he was boring so Regal tormented him. This is the second match and no one knows the rules of this match but Regal. Gee, think there’s a swerve coming?

 

William Regal vs. Chris Jericho

 

Either Regal got taped up in record time or that Duchess thing was taped earlier. This is a Duchess of Queensbury Rules match. He brings out the Duchess after some donkey-hole chants. The Duchess has the whole old school British stereotype stuff on. There’s even a throne there for her. Jericho makes fun of Regal pre-match. There’s the bell and there’s still no idea what the rules are. Technical stuff to start as Jericho speeds things up. Out to the floor with Regal being besmirched a lot.

 

Back into the ring and the missile dropkick misses, giving Regal the advantage. Off to the chinlock which doesn’t last long. Regal goes up but Jericho gets a dropkick to slow him down and a rana to bring him back down. Lionsault hits and the bell rings before the count even begins. That’s the time limit for round one so the match has a break. Regal immediately grabs a rollup for two.

 

Jericho misses a dropkick and Regal hits a slingshot to send him into the top rope throat first. The Englishman hits a German to the Canadian as the Oklahoman complains. Regal Stretch goes on but Jericho grabs the rope. Jericho rolls through a rollup into the Walls and Regal taps immediately. And if you really believe that’s the ending, you have no business reading this. You can’t win by submission apparently, which clearly explains why Regal had the hold on a few moments earlier.

 

Jericho goes after the Duchess and Regal pops him with her scepter. It’s No DQ of course though, because that’s how the Duchess rolls. That only gets two back in the ring as Regal takes over again. Butterfly suplex gets two. Enziguri takes down Regal and Jericho stomps a mudhole in the corner. Jericho sets for the Walls but kicks Regal in the balls instead. Regal heads to the floor and a baseball slide sends Regal’s face into the Duchess’ royal vagina. The Duchess goes into the Walls and Regal pops him with a chair three times to end it.

 

Rating: D+. Pretty weak here as the ending was about as obvious as you could ask for. Also, this doesn’t really mean anything given that Jericho isn’t champion anymore. Granted the Alliance was coming soon so all of this would be forgotten. Not much going on here but it wasn’t terrible, just stupid.

 

Vince tells Show to hurt Shane.

 

We recap Angle vs. Benoit. Do you really need an explanation here? It’s an Ultimate Submission match with Benoit and Angle. There’s your explanation.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

 

30 minute time limit, most submissions win. Angle says Chicago is full of fat sweaty pigs and needs winners. He makes fun of the city which is kind of funny. There’s a thirty second rest period between falls. After some feeling out stuff to start, Angle takes it to the mat and Benoit is all cool with that. Ankle lock doesn’t work so Kurt hits the floor to think for a bit.

 

This is going to be a long one as the clock is on the screen the entire time. Back in the ring and Angle takes Benoit down which gets him nowhere. Back to the mat again and this time to the floor. Benoit gets the Crossface out there and Angle taps but they’re outside so it doesn’t count. Five minutes in and no falls yet. Angle tries to bring in a chair as we stall a bit. With half an hour I can understand that though.

 

Back in and Angle is holding his shoulder a lot. And never mind as he was faking since he charges straight in and grabs the ankle lock for the quick tap. You could argue Benoit tapped early to prevent further damage but it still looks kind of weak by Benoit. Angle works on the ankle/knee but charges into a Crossface attempt. That doesn’t work so Benoit shifts to a cross armbreaker to tie us up.

 

Benoit rams Angle’s shoulder into the post and there’s the armbreaker again but Kurt leans forward to avoid a lot of the pressure before making the rope. Shoulder breaker by Benoit and he goes after Kurt, only to take out the referee at the ten minute mark. Angle gets a chair shot to the head and the ankle lock makes it 2-1. Angle jumps him during the rest period and you can’t really DQ him I guess.

 

Angle puts on a Crossface seconds later to make it 3-1. Maybe 10 seconds between the end of the rest period and the tap. Kurt hammers him some more and rams his face into the announce table. Benoit backdrops Angle to the floor but doesn’t take the time to breathe. Kurt’s shoulder goes into the post but Benoit’s everything goes into the steps. Ankle lock goes on but it’s still on the floor, meaning Benoit tapping doesn’t mean anything.

 

We go back in with fifteen minutes left and a 3-1 lead for Kurt. Benoit avoids a cross armbreaker by Kurt which wastes some time. Off to an abdominal stretch which Benoit counters into another cross armbreaker attempt but he can’t get the tap. Out of almost nowhere Benoit gets a Sharpshooter, only for Kurt to make the ropes again. A German is countered into a half Liontamer by Benoit (he used it before Jericho in WCW) for the tap to make it 3-2.

 

Kurt heads to the floor and it’s time to play defense. Benoit catches him pretty easily and sends him into the steps. Kurt tries to run again and the fans aren’t thrilled at all. With ten minutes to go Angle catches Benoit coming in and they slug it out a bit. Benoit can’t get back in for a bit and Kurt stomps him when he does. Angle hits a snap suplex back inside and keeps trying for the ankle lock.

 

Out to the floor again and they chop it out. Back in and Benoit gets a dragon screw but can’t hook the ankle. Benoit misses a dropkick and Angle locks in some freaky looking hold before going to a chinlock. Five minutes left as Benoit gets his arm up before a third drop. With four minutes left Benoit breaks the hold with a jawbreaker. And never mind as Kurt takes his head off with a clothesline.

 

Belly to belly by Kurt which is scary considering how long they’ve been out there. Another hits with three minutes left. Benoit manages to grab some Germans but gets reversed into an ankle lock which he reverses into an ankle lock of his own to tie it up at 3 with just over two minutes to go. The clock keeps running during the thirty second rest. Chop block by Benoit with 1:20 to go. Minute left and it’s German time again. Low blow by Kurt breaks that up but the ankle lock is broken quickly. Ankle lock goes on fill with 8 seconds left and we’re done. Benoit taps after the bell ends in a draw.

 

Just like in 96 though with Shawn and Bret, it’s time for some overtime, first submission wins it. If it continued though, why wouldn’t the tap just after the bell have ended it? Angle hammers him and the fans aren’t thrilled with him. They go to the mat and Angle grabs an abdominal stretch down there. There’s a Crossface out of nowhere and Angle taps for the ending. Like Benoit was losing in sudden death.

 

Rating: B. It was entertaining, but the main idea of Benoit vs. Angle is all about having them go back and forth with insane counters until one of them finally gets caught in something. That was taken away here and it brings the match down a lot. To be fair it’s still good but by comparison it’s definitely not as good.

 

Taker is mad at Kane but we can’t hear them. HHH and Stephanie are watching and say they’re coming up with excuses for tomorrow on Raw.

 

We recap Shane vs. Show which we’ve been over already so I’ll spare you from repeating it.

 

Big Show vs. Shane McMahon

 

Show hits the ropes a few times before Shane comes out. Shane comes out to a version of Here Comes The Money here. He has that stupid book with the fable in it with him also. Shane hides under the ring but pops out with a kendo stick to get in some solid shots. Big old clothesline takes him down though and we head back into the ring. Shane gets some solid chair shots and finally takes Show down.

 

Shane goes to the floor and gets a bag. He puts a surgical mask on and some gloves before grabbing a rag to put over Show’s face. This works for the most part and Show goes down to his knees. Now down to his stomach. The fans are completely behind Shane here. At about five Vince runs down and pops Shane with a chair. Show, ever the genius, pulls Shane up at about 8.

 

Final Cut puts Shane down again as we wait around more while the referee counts. That’s a large portion of most last man standing matches and it takes too much most of the time. Show picks him up again and drops him with a chokeslam. He picks Shane up again despite Shane being mostly dead. Torture Rack goes on but here’s Test to pound on Show. They had a thing on Smackdown so this works.

 

Show beats him down also and the big men go to the floor. Up towards the stage and Test gets in some weapon shots to slow him down a bit. Show beats on him some more and here comes Shane again. After some sign shots by Shane, Show finds a pipe from somewhere. Shane climbs the set to escape and Show goes after him. Test pulls him down and beats him up, allowing Shane to hit a HUGE dive, as in literally 25 feet or so to crush Show with an elbow. Test holds Shane up with a boom mic and we’re done. That spot was insane beyond belief.

 

Rating: C. You can only get on Shane so much for these, but the whole thing is basically Show beats on him, Shane is dead, Show picks him up, repeat. That took twelve minutes somehow. The big spot was cool but it didn’t really save the match. Also the replays showing that he totally missed didn’t help.

 

Vince is ticked off about Shane so Stephanie gives a badly scripted speech to chill him out. Vince declares HHH his only son.

 

Steve Blackman is at WWF New York and is impressed by the big dive. Grandmaster Sexay pops up to make me want to go on a shooting rampage.

 

European Title: Matt Hardy vs. Christian vs. Eddie Guerrero

 

Matt is champion, having beaten Eddie sometime between this show and Mania. Apparently it was three days ago. Good to know. Matt fights off a double team to start and that doesn’t last long at all. Matt is tossed to the floor so Christian jumps Eddie as a result. Powerslam gets two for the Canadian. Eddie snaps off a rana and pounds on Christian a bit more. Matt back in now and everyone is down.

 

Matt takes Christian down with a clothesline for two. Eddie is off somewhere, probably looking for a taco. Ah there he is and he pulls Matt to the floor, only for both of them to be taken down by a baseball slide by the Canadian. Matt gets a tornado DDT on the floor but is pulled back in by Eddie who hits a brainbuster for two. There goes Matt’s shirt and there go the teenage screams.

 

Christian saves Matt from taking a rana for some reason and Matt drops Christian onto Guerrero. Matt takes over and Christian accidentally takes out Eddie. Middle rope legdrop gets a big pop and a close two on Eddie. Edge pops up out of nowhere to spear Matt in the aisle and toss him back in for two for Eddie. Edge gets in but here’s Jeff to cancel him out. Unprettier to Eddie but Jeff mostly misses a Swanton to rbeak that up. Twist of Fate ends Christian and Matt retains.

 

Rating: C. Just kind of there really but this could have been on Raw. That being said, it was pretty good for a buffer match between the big ones as only the main event is left. Not a horrible match at all but at the same time it wasn’t all that great. Just kind of there which isn’t something you want on a PPV. I’ve seen worse though.

 

Ad for WWF New York.

 

We recap the main event. Basically HHH and Austin are the monster heel team with Vince in their corner and they destroyed the Hardys for fun. Taker and Kane are their first real challengers and are tag champions. HHH is IC Champion and it’s one of those matches where all the titles are on the line and whoever gets whatever fall gets whatever title.

 

WWF World Title/Intercontinental Title/Tag Titles: HHH/Steve Austin vs. Undertaker/Kane

 

Kane has a bad elbow/arm here so that’ll likely play into the ending. Oh and if HHH wins he’s a Grand Slam Champion. The heels stall a lot and Austin can’t even throw his vest into the ring. There’s the bell and it’s time to go. Kane gets a shot into HHH’s head and we stall even more. HHH finally gets in alone and down he goes again. They’ve been on the floor about three minutes now.

 

Finally the tall dudes go out to the floor and the slugout begins. HHH goes into the announce table as Austin and Taker are actually in the ring now. They switch off with HHH and Kane in the ring now. No idea if anyone is legal yet. Kane chokes both guys but his arm is hurting. Ok so HHH and Kane are the official starters now. There’s the jumping knee and down goes the big fried freak.

 

HHH brings in Austin but Kane gets the tag and Austin tries to run. His reward is having a mudhole stomped into him. Taker destroys him for a bit and Austin offers a handshake. This is the guy that a month before was at war with Rock. Wow indeed. Taker reluctantly tags in Kane, which makes sense here. Back off to Taker and HHH and Old School hits. Old School to Austin also and Taker clears the ring.

 

The Two Man Power Trip tries to leave but Kane makes the stop. Back in the ring and HHH breaks up the Last Ride. Double mudhole is stomped into Taker in the corner and we head to the floor again. Austin vs. Taker now in the ring and make that HHH instead. The challengers (kind of) are tagging in and out rather well. Taker fights out of it and gets a DDT on HHH but won’t tag. Not can’t, but won’t.

 

Austin hits a Thesz Press but the middle finger elbow is caught in an attempted chokeslam. HHH makes the save but Taker gets a double clothesline to put all three guys down. Kane tags himself in and hammers on Austin. Another chokeslam is broken up by HHH and Kane avoids a Stunner. HHH finally wakes up and works on the arm. This is kind of a mess. Austin gets a chair shot to the arm and it’s an ARMBAR in the ring by the Game.

 

Kane’s face is pounded on a bit more but Kane reverses to pound on Austin a bit more. HHH makes another save as it keeps seeming like this is a handicap match rather than a regular tag. Top wristlock goes on which Kane fights out of again. HHH gets tossed to the floor where he’s able to break up a tag. Austin comes in sans tag and he and Kane botch something badly. It looked like it was supposed to be a clothesline but Austin didn’t go down or anything like that.

 

HHH tries to comes off the top but Kane gets a foot up but still can’t tag out. He picks up Kane’s leg and Kane looks like he’s setting for an enziguri but he just hops for awhile and HHH takes him down. Pedigree hits and HHH tags out for no apparent reason. During the confusion Taker comes in and chokeslams Austin. Stephanie distracts Hebner so he shoves her down and counts two on Austin.

 

Kane hits the enziguri this time which makes me think they blew the spot earlier. The referee goes down for a bit and doesn’t see the hot tag to Taker. Taker pummels them both and it’s a Last Ride to Taker but he’s not legal a minute after being tagged in. Low blow by Austin to Taker and a Stunner to Kane. Taker and Austin brawl into the crowd and HHH gets a tag title belt, only to get it kicked into his face. Chokeslam is loaded up but Stephanie comes in, only to get kicked in the face also. Vince runs in with a sledgehammer which HHH gets for a pair of shots to Kane, one in the head, for the tag titles.

 

Rating: D+. This was about half an hour long and the whole thing didn’t work for the most part. It was just a big mess with everything going all over the place and nothing of note going on other than the arm work. It was more about everyone doing random moves instead of a coherent match, which is rarely a good thing at all. Not a good main event.

 

Overall Rating: D+. Didn’t really do it for me here. Not really anything great at all on the whole card. There was some good stuff here but at the same time it didn’t work for the most part. The lack of titles other than at the end hurt it a lot as it usually does. The company fell down quickly after Mania and the Alliance only helped for a little bit.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 29, 2001
Location: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

With Survivor Series only a few weeks away, we really have no idea what to expect from the show. None of the matches have been announced, the kind of match that the Winner Take All match is totally unclear, and we have no idea who is going to be in it. We practically have to fill in some blanks by the end of the night. Then again there’s a good chance the WWF didn’t know anything about the PPV at this point either. Let’s get to it.

We open with Vince bringing out the WWF roster. Vince talks about how the Alliance will die at Survivor Series, but there’s something else to get to first. On Smackdown, Shane held Linda’s arms back while Stephanie slapped her. Tonight in the street fight, Vince will teach Shane some respect. Vince introduces Team WWF for the ten man elimination tag team match. Well we have some details now. Vince brings Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and The Rock.

Cue Stephanie who shows us a video from Smackdown where Linda got slapped by Stephanie, apparently into unconsciousness. Stephanie says that if they’ll do that to their mom, what are they going to do to Vince and the WWF at Survivor Series? She dedicates the street fight tonight to Linda. Cue Shane, with Stephanie dancing to his music. There’s something creepy about that. Shane says someone from Team WWF is defecting to the Alliance tonight.

Post break Shane and Stephanie are excited about someone turning tonight. Even Regal and Debra don’t know who it is.

Intercontinental Title: Edge vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam is Hardcore Champion but here’s challenging here. Feeling out process to start and Edge this his flapjack to take over. The monkey flip is countered by the Canadian but he walks into the stepover kick. JR calls Edge Test for some reason and we go to the outside. Van Dam hits the Five Star off the apron but he can’t get Edge back in to cover. Back in and Edge gets in a clothesline followed by a backdrop.

Spinwheel kick takes Van Dam down but one from RVD takes Edge down in turn. Split legged moonsault hits knees and they trade near falls on some rollups. Van Dam channels his inner HBK with a superkick and Rolling Thunder gets two. Edge-O-Matic gets the same and we’re almost at a standstill. Van Dam rolls into the corner but gets speared down for two. The Five Star hits knees and the Edgecution gets the pin to retain.

Rating: C+. This was fine. Edge was a rising star at this point and a clean win over a guy that was a bigger deal than he was at this point was only going to help him. That’s what you call a rub from Van Dam and it’s something that we could use more of in today’s product. This worked pretty well all things considered and if I remember right they would have better matches in the future.

Austin laughs at Van Dam losing when Taz comes in and wants to know who the jumper is. He gets why Debra doesn’t know but why not Taz? Austin implies Taz speaks Spanish and throws him out. Taz came off like a clueless schmuck here. He leaves and Austin still won’t tell Debra.

The APA says they’re going to beat up the jumper tonight. Saturn is playing Go Fish too. Teddy comes in and says Jericho has called a meeting of the WWF guys which the APA isn’t happy with.

Molly Holly/Hurricane vs. Torrie Wilson/Tajiri

Torrie is looking extra curvy tonight. The guys start us off and Tajiri takes over. Molly gets spun around too but Hurricane gets in a shot to Tajiri’s head to take over. Tajiri escapes a suplex but the high kick misses. Eye of the Hurricane is countered and there’s a hard kick to Hurricane’s face. The girls come in and Torrie shows off her “skills”. She stumbles through a handspring elbow and slaps Hurricane, only to get clotheslined down. Tarantula to Hurricane but Molly rolls up Torrie for the pin. Next.

We go to the meeting and Jericho is complaining about working in WCW in ECW. He isn’t about to stand around while the company gets screwed and wants to know who is going to screw the company. Rock pops up and Jericho makes fun of him for being late. Rock wants to know who Jericho thinks he is to call a meeting.

Jericho says he became the leader of the WWF when he beat Rock for the WCW Title. Does that sound as stupid to anyone else as it does to me? Rock says he was winning big ones when Jericho was losing to Juventud Guerrera on Nitro. Rock is the WWF and no one here is stupid enough to jump ship, other than maybe Jericho. The meeting is adjourned. Rock came off like a total jerk here which is the whole point of the feud. Good stuff here.

There was a Smack Down Your Vote rally today.

Austin criticizes the meeting when Regal comes in. Regal gets sent away but Austin tells him to send Angle here.

Jericho yells at the Brothers of Destruction so Taker yells at him. Jericho implies Kane is the one jumping.

Here’s DDP for a chat. JR makes fun of his teeth which isn’t really funny. Page says he has a surprise for us: he knows who is jumping. Apparently it can be anyone in the WWF, not just on Team WWF. Page says it’s Big Show and insults him a lot for some reason. Here’s Big Show with a chokeslam for Page. Can we PLEASE get Page an opponent not seven feet tall?

Angle comes in to see Vince about the meeting with Austin tonight. Kurt has no idea what Austin wants and then goes into a rant against Vince when Vince looks at him strangely. Vince gives him a 2×4 to take with him.

WWF Tag Titles: Booker T/Test vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock comes out last which is interesting. He starts with Booker and a Samoan Drop gets two. Off to Jericho who chops away and hits a middle rope dropkick for two. Booker comes back with a kind of Alabama Slam and it’s off to Test. The power guy takes over and pounds away in the corner before hitting a suplex for two. Off to a quick chinlock followed by a full nelson slam for two.

Book comes back in again and hits a slam for two. Jericho hits a kind of enziguri to break up the devastating slam based offense. The unhot tag brings in Rock who cleans house. He suplexes Booker and punches Test, but accidentally hits the tiny Canadian. Spinebuster looks to set up the Elbow but Jericho jumps Rock from behind.

Jericho hits him with the Breakdown (Skull Crushing Finale) but breaks up the count from Test. Test takes a Breakdown and now Chris wants the tag. Rock tags him and hits the Rock Bottom on the WCW Champion. He breaks up the pin by Test (Heyman: “WILL SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE UP THEIR MIND???”) and everything breaks down. Booker accidentally kicks Test’s head off and the Walls make Test tap.

Rating: C+. This was far more about drama and story building than the wrestling and that’s ok. Jericho vs. Rock was a huge feud and was completely awesome with both guys hitting on all cylinders. Rock continues to come off as a total jerk and Jericho continues to have the title, signifying that he beat Rock for the big one. Good stuff here.

Angle goes into Austin’s locker room with the 2×4 pulled back. Austin isn’t looking for a fight and offers Angle a spot in the Alliance right now. Angle: “What?” Angle asks who is joining the Alliance tonight and thinks it’s Rock. Austin won’t tell him who is jumping and only tells him good luck. Angle turns him down.

Rock is mad and Cole makes him madder by pointing out what Angle just implied. Rock goes a Kurt-Hunting.

Lita vs. Stacy Keibler

I could look at Dudley Stacy all day. Lita hits a quick side slam for two but Stacy comes back with her bad kicks. Snap suplex gets two for Lita and she throws Stacy to the floor, possibly resulting in an ankle injury. Lita dives at Stacy but hits the barricade. Matt comes out to put her back in and Stacy slaps him. Matt pulls back a right hand but elbows Lita in the process. That gets two for Stacy and a quick Twist of Fate gets the pin.

Lita yells at Matt post match and walks away from him.

Rock comes in and yells at Angle. He implies Kurt might be turning but Angle denies it, citing permission from Vince. Angle says it’s not him but Rock doesn’t seem convinced.

Mick Foley is at WWF New York and plugs his new children’s book. He agreed to make Jericho/Rock defend the titles in exchange for the Brothers getting a title match against the Dudleys.

My Sacrifice video. For those of you that don’t remember, My Sacrifice is a Creed song that was used for the WWF’s Desire campaign. What’s the Desire campaign you ask? No idea, but we saw it every five minutes at this point.

US Title: Kurt Angle vs. William Regal

This should be good. Angle is defending and Regal jumps him as he’s posing in the corner. Angle comes back with a series of clotheslines to take it to the floor. Back in and Angle backdrops him for two. Regal comes back with the knee trembler and a chinlock. Kurt tries a crossbody but Regal crotches him to counter. The champion comes back with some suplexes before picking the ankle for the submission.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here as you would expect more from Regal vs. Angle. The match was basically filler but it wasn’t a bad match or anything. Regal would keep doing nothing for a few months before doing nothing for years. Angle would stay in the main event for like ever and unfortunately these two never had a big match.

Vince comes in to see Taker but Taker yells at him for thinking Taker or Kane are jumping. Kane comes in and Vince gets caught between them. Vince says good luck but Taker says he doesn’t need it, which is the same thing Angle said earlier.

WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Undertaker/Kane

The Dudleys are defending. Kane and D-Von get us going and the big man slugs him down very quickly. A side slam brings in Taker who beats up both Dudleys with ease. Ray low bridges the Dead Man and sends him into the steps to give the Dudleys control. Ray clotheslines him down back inside and brings in D-Von again.

Kane gets drilled so there’s no Fried Freak for Undertaker to tag. Taker kicks Ray down and it’s a double tag to D-Von and Kane. Everything breaks down and Kane chokeslams D-Von. Stacy slips Bubba a belt which takes Kane’s head off for two. Taker loads up Old School but Bubba sends Kane into the ropes to crotch Undertaker. 3D pins Kane to keep the titles in Dudleyville.

Rating: D+. These matches continue to kind of suck, which is a running theme for both this and the 1998 series. I think the ending here is supposed to go along with the idea of someone jumping as I guess Kane and Taker didn’t get along here but it wasn’t really that bad. Can we just look at Stacy more please?

Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon

Street fight. Shane meets him on the floor and Vince pounds him down onto the apron to start. Vince hits him with some sort of sign and sends Shane knees first into the steps. He chokes Shane with a cord and sends him inside. Vince throws in some garbage cans as Paul talks about Linda being an abusive mother. Shane comes back with a bad low blow and a series of garbage can lid shots.

Shane puts the garbage can on Vince’s chest and tries a Shooting Star but only hits can. You can’t say the guy didn’t try different stuff in the ring. Vince fires off some kendo stick shots and clotheslines Shane out to the floor. Vince loads up the announce table but Shane comes back with a monitor shot to the face. Unlike at Wrestlemania, this time the elbow puts Vince through the table in a great looking crash.

Everyone is down now as JR does his traditional panicking over a big move. Shane gets up first and tries to drag Vince back into the ring as his dad is dead weight. That only gets two and the fans aren’t all that thrilled by the kickout. Shane loads up the Coast to Coast but Vince throws the can into Shane on the way across the ring. Booker and Test run in to beat Vince down but the Brothers come in to even things out.

Test and Kane kick each other down and Booker takes the Last Ride. Regal takes out Taker but Rock beats him down. Austin comes out and Stuns Rock until Angle comes down with a chair….and hits the incoming Jericho. He hits every WWF guy and it’s Angle that is jumping. A horribly botched Stunner from Austin lets Shane get the pin.

Rating: C-. Obviously the match wasn’t the point here and it’s hard to grade the match after the parade of run-ins began. The ending worked pretty well with Angle being a nice surprise for the turn (kind of) and a good way to end the show. The match was a far cry from Wrestlemania’s version, but Freedom Hall is a far cry from the Astrodome.

The Alliance celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This is a very hard one to grade. The wrestling was just ok but there was some good drama with the mystery of who was jumping going on. That being said, Angle turning doesn’t really mean much. At the end of the day he’s another WWF mercenary being brought in to try to legitimize the Alliance which doesn’t work in the slightest. It’s a good shock moment but when that’s all you have, the show is going to suffer, which is what wound up happening.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 22, 2001
Location: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

Since I had already done the October 15 show I’m jumping ahead to this one (see the October 8 review for the link to the October 15 show). It’s after No Mercy and the major change is that Jericho is now the WCW Champion, having finally won the big one over Rock. We’re on the way to Survivor Series in four weeks which is the final burying place of the Alliance. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Austin retaining over Angle and RVD last night, pinning Van Dam.

Here’s Vince to open things up and he’s got Linda with him. Vince says that he’s been off recovering and has been watching Shane and Stephanie dismantle the largest wrestling empire ever. That’s not going to happen though because Vince isn’t going to let it. He needs a charge though and goes to kiss Linda but here are the kids. Stephanie tells the old prunes in the ring to dry up and blow away. Vince says they’ve thought about that but they’re not ready to go yet.

Shane and Stephanie have been handed everything unlike Vince and Linda. They got where they are by way of calculated risks. Vince is tired of the Alliance and the Invasion, so he wants to bring it all to a head at Survivor Series in a winner take all match. Shane tells him to take the bass out of his voice and the match is made.

Vince is tired of all the titles being with the Alliance so tonight they’re coming home. He suggests Austin defending tonight but Shane stops that dead because Austin isn’t here tonight. Vince says that it’s Jericho/Rock vs. the Dudleys for the WWF Tag Titles. Shane wants to fight Vince right now but Regal stops him. Linda wants to know where she and Vince went wrong. Oh sweet merciful goodness don’t tempt me like that. Their daughter is a maneater and their son is a wuss.

Lita/Trish Stratus vs. Ivory/Mighty Molly

Molly has the signature Hurricane music now. She offers a handshake to start but gets headscissored to the mat instead. Off to Ivory who gets double teamed by Lita and Trish. I never thought I’d like to be Ivory. Trish stays in now and chokes in the corner. Her offense wasn’t all that well rounded yet to put it mildly. Ivory slams her down and it’s back to Molly. A suplex looks to set up the Molly Go Round but Trish crotches Molly and hits the Stratusphere to put both girls down. Hot tag brings in Lita but Poetry In Motion with Trish on all fours (loudest pop of the night) is broken up. Twist and moonsault pin Ivory quick.

Rating: C. Trish was starting to get going in the ring but Lita was on fire around this time. The match was sloppy at times but the energy in it blows away everything that the girls today have. It’s amazing what happens when they actually have some fire in them instead of just smiling all the time.

Vince and Linda meet RVD in the back and Vince tries to recruit him. Van Dam isn’t sure but he likes just being RVD. Vince says ok then, but tonight he’s defending the Hardcore Title against Big Show.

Matt goes to celebrate with Lita but finds Trish in a towel (second biggest pop of the night) instead. Awkward chatter abounds and Trish goes to take a shower. Matt likes what he sees when Lita comes in. She goes to take a shower but Matt stops her so he won’t get caught looking at Trish.

Mick comes in to Regal’s office and thinks they should watch together. Foley has made Bradshaw vs. Hurricane for the European Title later tonight. He thinks there should be all clean finishes tonight and there might even be a Connect Four game.

Angle and Edge are chatting and Angle says he never liked Christian. Rhyno pops up out of nowhere and Gores Edge into a steel wall. Angle gets held back by referees.

Foley makes Rhyno vs. Angle for the US Title.

Cruiserweight Title: Tajiri vs. Billy Kidman

Billy won the title last night over X-Pac. Kidman ranas Tajiri down to start but misses a corner charge and gets drilled by an enziguri. Out to the floor for a second but Tajiri misses a top rope dive. Kidman hooks a chinlock which is broken in just a few seconds. Tajiri’s rana is countered into a powerbomb for two.

A LOUD chop sends Kidman into the corner and kicks put him down. A spinwheel kick gets a near fall. There’s the handspring elbow for another two count. Kidman comes back with a DDT but Tajiri comes back with a slam. That’s not exactly what I expected but ok. Tarantula goes on but the Buzzsaw Kick misses. Sky High gets two for the champion and they hit the mat for a second, resulting in the Buzzsaw Kick and a new champion.

Rating: C-. There were some awkward spots in there and it brought things down a bit. This was so much more entertaining than the Pac vs. Scotty match, because it was MUCH faster paced and therefore more exciting. That’s my problem with Pac for the most part: he wrestles like a small heavyweight instead of a Cruiserweight, the latter of the two being FAR more entertaining.

Here’s DDP for a chat. He talks about how a lot of people (including the hometown Kansas City Chiefs) have lost lately but that’s a good thing. When you lose, you learn to eat smarter, train harder and to improve your lives. Cue Kane with slightly remixed music. Page says that Kane having a messed up face is good, because it’s almost Halloween. Chokeslam takes care of Page, because CLEARLY the way to get over a new character after the old one got killed by Undertaker is to have the new one get killed by Undertaker’s BROTHER.

US Title: Kurt Angle vs. Rhyno

The fans chant USA and Heyman finally asks the important question: are you sure they’re cheering for Angle? Rhyno is from Michigan, which is in the USA. Angle immediately grabs a German but he can’t roll them. He can however hit a belly to belly, followed by punches and chops in the corner. A cross body gets two. Rhyno comes back with a freaking airplane spin into a TKO for two.

Rhyno puts him in Shattered Dreams position but spears him in the corner instead. Angle makes a brief comeback but walks into a spinebuster for two. Out to the floor and Angle rams him into various things. Back in Rhyno takes him down again and hooks a quick chinlock but Angle quickly gets out and hooks the ankle but Rhyno escapes. Back to the chinlock followed by a belly to belly, getting two for the champion.

Angle sends him to the corner and pounds away, hitting another cross body for two. An overhead belly to belly sends Rhyno flying and it’s Rolling Germans time. It’s a standard set of three but Rhyno sends him chest first into the corner. Angle Slam hits out of nowhere but Kurt can’t cover. The delayed cover off the belly to back suplex (that’s all it was) gets two. Moonsault misses and Rhyno Gores both of them to the outside. That gets two back in the ring and there’s the ankle lock for the quick tap out.

Rating: B-. This was a decent match as Rhyno continues to be a very steady hand to have out there. He consistently had decent to good matches every time he was out there in this period. Angle going from the world title to the US Title in two weeks wasn’t the best thing in the world but it worked here pretty well. Quite good match.

European Title: The Hurricane vs. Bradshaw

Hurricane keeps doing his posing and Bradshaw keeps knocking him down. Out to the floor and Molly glares at him. Hurricane tries a dive but Bradshaw….”catches” him I guess you could say, in a fall away slam. By that I mean he tries to and drops Hurricane down on the floor. Back in the ring and Hurricane hits a superkick but it can’t even put Bradshaw down. Suplex is countered by Bradshaw and both guys are down. A neckbreaker puts Hurricane down and Molly dives at Bradshaw which goes as well as you would expect. There’s the fall away slam for her and the Clothesline gives Bradshaw the title. Too short to rate but it was nothing.

Foley makes fun of Regal in the back and wins Connect Four.

Undertaker/Kane vs. Booker T/Test

Taker and Test start us off and Taker will have none of these punches in the corner. A big boot and a clothesline put Taker down and it’s off to Booker. Side slam and knee drop combine for no cover by Booker. Taker comes back with a clothesline and it’s off to Kane. Booker kicks him down and it’s off to Test. This is your usual power brawl so far. Taker comes in and does his arm lift to Booker but walks into a big boot from the Canadian.

Out to the floor and Booker rams him into the steps. Back in and the beating continues. Yes, Undertaker is actually selling some of this stuff. The ax kick misses and the side kick is caught in a slam move. Double tag brings in Test and Kane with the masked one cleaning house. Kane hits a big boot to both guys but Booker breaks up the chokeslam to Test. Booker and Taker go to the floor as the other two hit big boots at the same time. Chokeslam to Booker and after Taker saves Kane from the pumphandle slam, the Tombstone by Kane pins Test.

Rating: D. The ending was decent but man was the rest of this dull. The match wasn’t bad I guess, but this is the same thing we’ve seen time after time which doesn’t make it interesting. All it does is make it repetitive and clear that they have no idea what to do with these four guys or anyone else they’ve had out there in this position.

RVD and Big Show don’t say anything to each other.

Hardcore Title; Rob Van Dam vs. Big Show

RVD is defending. Show immediately knocks him down as the RVD chants get louder and louder. He crushes Van Dam in the corner and a big boot puts him down. There go the straps but the chokeslam is countered by a high kick. Van Dam gets draped over the top rope and we go to the floor. Rob manages to get to the corner and hits a kick off the apron to slow Big Show down. Here come the weapons but Show starts crushing him again. Trashcan lid shot does nothing so RVD grabs a fire extinguisher. Show gets a chair to block it but takes the Van Daminator and Five Star for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was basically a squash until the end where Van Dam hit two moves out of nowhere to retain. That being said the ending was at least a smart one with there being a reason for Show to have a chair in front of his face, which hardly ever happened. Nothing great here but it could have been a lot worse.

Maven is at WWF New York and says he’s going to the WWF farm system when Taz beats him up.

Foley makes Taz vs. Snow for Smackdown before taking some jabs at Regal.

Jericho is in the back when Rock comes in. Rock congratulates the new champion on winning the big one. He’ll be coming back for his title though. Jericho insists he’s still WWF after Rock accuses him of defecting for some reason. Rock goes to leave but Jericho stops him to give him the name plate from when Rock was WCW Champion. Rock has a gift for him too: a chair for when they have a rematch so Jericho can have a chance. Jericho won with a chair shot last night. See how easy this was? The chair was a focal point of their feud and it comes back here. That’s not hard!

WWF Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Chris Jericho/The Rock

Jericho and D-Von get us started with Jericho speeding things up. Middle rope dropkick gets two and it’s off to Rock. DDT gets two as well. Off to Bubba who hits a side slam for two. Rock comes back with a Samoan Drop for the same before tagging the new champ back in. D-Von comes back in as JR criticizes WCW for never giving Jericho a title match. Rock comes in with a glare to the Canadian.

The challengers are tagging very quickly here as it’s already back to Jericho. Stacy offers a distraction to allow the Doomsday Device to shift the momentum. D-Von hooks a chinlock and talks to Jericho loudly in the process. Powerslam gets two. Rock gets drawn in and the beating continues. Jericho enziguris Bubba down and it’s off to Rock vs. D-Von. Bubba breaks up the Elbow but Rock nips up in a cool spot. The Elbow hits for two but Bubba makes the save again. Jericho’s missile dropkick hits Rock but he breaks up 3D a second later. Rock Bottom to D-Von changes the titles.

Rating: C-. Just a main event tag match here and it furthered the Rock vs. Jericho feud as well. It’s a Russo standard with the wacky partners so maybe he did have an influence of some sort. Thankfully this reign wouldn’t last that long and we could get back to Rock vs. Jericho tearing the house down again.

Rock gives Jericho the WCW Title post match.

Vince and Linda celebrate all the title wins with Vince wanting sex out of it.

Overall Rating: B-. Was it good? Yes. Does it really change anything? Not really. The problem here is still clear: these title wins mean nothing and considering WWF’s total and complete dominance over the Alliance so far, having them win three titles back in one night isn’t going to make people think that the Alliance has a better shot at winning at Survivor Series. Good show for the short term, but it doesn’t do much for the long term.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 8, 2001
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 9,204
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

We’re 13 days away from No Mercy but more importantly tonight, Angle defends against Austin in a match with NO, I repeat NO, interference at all. You know, so they can guarantee interference. Other than that there isn’t much to do here but we’re getting set for the PPV too. Since there isn’t much else to say, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap from Smackdown where Angle fought RVD with Van Dam winning to earn Austin a shot tonight on Raw.

Dudley Boyz/Tazz vs. Big Show/Tajiri/Spike Dudley

DUCHESS OF DUDLEYVILLE! YES! Stacy Keibler is now managing the Dudleys and has the gray camo skirt and the tied off Dudleys t-shirt with the glasses. For me, this is the hottest she EVER looked, which is covering a lot of ground. It’s a brawl to start until Tazz and Spike get us going. Spike gets suplexed over and D-Von comes in, only to get taken down by his half brother. Tag to Big Show who cleans house. Taz breaks up a double chokeslam with a low blow and a kick to the head from Tajiri gets the pin in maybe 90 seconds. What in the world was the point of this match?

Post match Spike tries a Dudley Dog on Bubba but gets thrown to the floor. Torrie gets powerbombed through the table while Tajiri is forced to watch. Big Show got shoved to the floor in case you were wondering. Yes, six men were used to further Stacy vs. Torrie at the PPV. Let that sink in for a minute.

Torrie gets checked out in the back.

Here’s Stephanie looking great in a leather top and a short leather skirt and thigh high boots. She wants to know why it’s such a big deal that Torrie got put through a table when Jericho beat Stephanie up two weeks ago on Smackdown. We see her being put in the Walls and getting hit two more times after that. She’s better now and she thinks she can do anything, so she’s going to watch the main event tonight.

Cue Jericho to cut her off. We get the required Stephanie jokes but here’s Shane to interrupt him. Stephanie dancing like a stripper for her brother’s song is both nice to see and also strange at the same time. Shane says Jericho’s usual long list of insults for some reason and says he’s funny. Stephanie is freaking out and Shane says that if Jericho actually focused, he could be the top guy.

Instead, Jericho is a choke artist who does comedy relief. Jericho thinks it would be comedy to see the McMahons team up against him tonight. Stephanie says she knows Jericho wants to get his hands on her body but she’s not that stupid. Instead it’ll be Shane/RVD vs. Rock/Jericho. How much money was there to be made by Jericho turning heel and admitting he treated Steph like this because he was in love with her but refused to admit it?

RVD is watching in the back when Test/Booker come in to congratulate him for his success. Booker was happy RVD won but he could have beaten Angle a lot faster. Booker is a five time champion, which RVD says means Booker lost the title five times. Ok then.

Some chick tries to be DDP’s student but is clearly reading off lines, which is the idea. This went nowhere.

WCW Tag Titles: Hardy Boyz vs. Booker T/Test

The champs (Booker/Test) jump the Hardys during their posing time but the brothers clear the ring. Test and Matt get us going but Booker kicks Matt in the back of the head to give the Canadian the advantage. Off to Booker who hits the forearm to the head for two. Test comes back in quickly and walks into a tornado DDT. Off to Jeff who speeds things up and everything breaks down. Bookend to Jeff and here’s Lita with the rana. Twist of Fate takes down Booker but Test breaks up the cover. Test throws Lita into the crowd and here comes the Spinarooni. Undertaker comes in and hits the Last Ride so the Swanton can get the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a coherent match for a minute and then everything fell apart. The titles being switched again doesn’t really mean anything but it would set up Dudleys vs. Hardys again because we haven’t seen that in a few months I guess right? Pretty boring match but again with about 3:45 to work with and two people interfering, how much could they do?

Booker and Test fire each other up and say they’ll get the belts back.

Lita says they’ll celebrate later and leaves to run into Hurricane and Molly who chastise her. Molly vs. Lita later.

Christian comes out for commentary.

US Title: Rhyno vs. Edge

Rhyno is defending and charges Edge into the corner almost immediately. Edge comes back with an atomic drop and some right hands. Rhyno knocks him right back down and drops a leg as Christian gets off commentary. Edge goes after him and avoids a charging Rhyno, hitting the Edge-O-Matic for two. The champ hits a spinebuster to put Edge down and finally takes his t-shirt off. Edgecution hits as there isn’t much selling in this match. And never mind as Christian pulls Edge out for the DQ.

Post match the Gore misses and Edge spears Christian.

Rob Van Dam/Shane McMahon vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock and RVD start things off with Rob firing off kicks in the corner. A moonsault out of the corner misses and Rock takes his head off with a clothesline. Off to Shane who gets punched in the face, allowing Rock to bring in Jericho. Jericho destroys Shane and sets for the Lionsault but Van Dam kicks him down off the ropes. RVD comes in legally and hits Rolling Thunder for two.

Back to Shane because that worked so well for the Alliance team the first time. A jumping back elbow gets two for the Boy Wonder and it’s time to dance. An enziguri to Shane allows the tag to Rock and things speed up. Shane tags in RVD who is quickly put in the Sharpshooter. Jericho knocks Shane to the floor and pulls Rob out too, putting him in the Walls on the floor.

Shane comes out of nowhere to bulldog Jericho into the steps and I think bust him open. Back in the ring the Five Star misses the Rock and it’s punching time. He pulls Shane in for the Elbow but RVD makes the save. Rock reverses a whip into the Rock Bottom but Shane saves. Jericho comes in with a chair but blasts Rock with it by mistake, allowing Van Dam to pin Rock.

Rating: C. Not bad here and we get the start of both a big feud as well as Jericho’s heel turn that led him to his first world title. Van Dam beating Rock I believe would lead to him getting a title match (against Austin) on PPV in a triple threat. Shane would go on to do nothing new, but that’s probably a good thing.

The Alliance celebrates with Van Dam, but it’s in front of Austin’s dressing room, meaning he’s not happy.

Chris Benoit was at WWF New York last night and predicted Angle getting the win.

Lance Storm and Ivory are at WWF New York tonight and says Benoit doesn’t speak for all of Canada.

Jericho gets his cut looked at when Rock comes in. He wants to know what Jericho was thinking, to which Jericho says that it was to get at Shane. Rock isn’t happy and Jericho says even Rock makes mistakes every now and then. Jericho says he was trying to win the match which Rock isn’t happy about. Rock wants Jericho to live up to his mistakes, so Jericho says maybe he should have knocked the People’s Eyebrow off his face. Rock says try it now and the fight is on.

Light Heavyweight Title: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. X-Pac

Pac is defending. He starts with his bouncing headlock but Scotty comes back with very basic offense. Pac gets sent to the floor but he kicks Scotty’s head off in retaliation. Back in and Scotty takes over again as this is going nowhere. Bulldog sets up the Worm for the pin but Pac’s foot was on the ropes. And there’s the X-Factor for the pin.

Rating: D. The match was ok enough I guess but it’s nothing of note at all. It’s pretty clear they had nothing else to do here so they threw the title out there for the sake of filling in some time. Then again, did ANYONE care about this title at all? Pac had the WCW Cruiserweight Title too so there was no division to speak of.

We’re supposed to talk to Austin but it’s Debra instead, looking as white trashy as you can get while still being both white and trash. She says Austin doesn’t want to talk and asks where Regal’s office is.

Lita vs. Mighty Molly

Molly quickly takes her down and drops some elbows for two. She puts Lita down again and poses too much, allowing Lita to take over again. Molly wants a handshake so Lita punches her in the face. Handspring elbow misses for Molly but she blocks the Twist of Fate. Molly gets a bridging rollup for the quick pin. Was there a point to this either?

Hurricane and Molly leave on the Hurricycle, but tonight it’s the Molly Mobile.

Regal is in his office when Debra comes in to beg Regal to let her be at ringside for the title match tonight. Regal say no way because there is NO interference tonight.

Angle says he isn’t worried about anything. Austin gave up at Unforgiven and he’ll do it again tonight.

WWF Title: Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle

Debra comes out before Angle so Regal comes out to throw her out. He’s even going to stay at ringside to ensure that no one interferes. If you don’t know what’s coming by this point, you have no business reading this. They start brawling on the floor and with the arena mostly full of smoke. They head into the ring and Kurt avoids a right hand to take over with chops. They’re moving very fast right now.

Austin hits the Thesz Press and the middle finger elbow for one. Now Angle hits a Thesz Press and more punches. That’s been the majority of his offense so far. Austin tries a kick to the ribs but Angle catches it into an ankle lock, but Austin immediately gets the rope. They go to the corner again and Austin wraps Angle’s leg around the post. Out to the floor with Austin going into the table and Angle going into the post in response.

Angle comes back and throws Austin over the table and peels back the mats on the floor. Austin fights back again to avoid being dropped on concrete and fires away with chops. Back into the ring and Kurt comes back as well but Austin rams the knee into the apron to slow your Olympic Hero down. Austin suplexes him down and stomps on Angle’s hands. Why don’t more people do that? Off to the chinlock which is quickly broken by a backslide from Angle for two.

Angle throws on a sleeper but Austin easily breaks that as well with a jawbreaker. Kurt doesn’t stay down long, so Austin’s shoulder is stronger than his head I guess? Now Austin hooks a sleeper but Kurt breaks it just as fast. A cross body and small package get two apiece for the champion. Austin tries a sunset flip of all things but Angle drops down onto him and fires away with punches.

Austin low bridges a charging Kurt to send him out to the floor. He goes for a chair but picks the one right next to Regal for no apparent reason. That gets taken away so Austin has to settle for a clothesline. Austin loads up a piledriver on the exposed concrete but Angle backdrops out of it. Back in the ring Angle gets put in a Boston Crab but makes the ropes relatively quickly.

Austin doesn’t like the decision to break the hold so he shoves Hebner. Angle comes back with clotheslines and chops and punches in the corner. Austin tries a double ax off the middle rope but Angle catches him in a belly to belly. Here are rolling Germans and Austin is in trouble. With the referee trying to get Austin to let go of the ropes he low blows Angle to escape. Angle Slam is countered and there goes the referee. Austin gets the belt but Regal takes it away, only to drill Angle with it. JR is SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU! That only gets two for Austin but a Stunner gives him the title back.

Rating: A-. Another great match between these two but Austin came to play here. What’s often forgotten about him is how awesome he was in the ring because of how great he was at talking, but this was more proof that he was excellent in the ring. Regal turning isn’t needed at all as the Alliance already had two people with match making abilities, so this is just more crowding in that area.

Overall Rating: B. Good show because of the awesome main event (with NO COMMERCIALS) and the start of Jericho vs. Rock, but there were some holes in this. Regal becoming Alliance Commissioner was a bad idea because it just wasn’t needed and it made things even more complicated, but it’s not a huge deal. This was a good show, but they needed to make some major changes to save the Alliance, although it was probably too late at this point.

I’ve already done the Raw from October 15 so here it is if you’re interested:

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 1, 2001
Location: Riverside Centroplex, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

This show almost has to be better than last week’s. Last week wasn’t really bad but it just wasn’t interesting in the slightest and nothing happened with it. This week hopefully Austin is back and we’re moving towards No Mercy and then Survivor Series. Based on the card, nothing is going to get any better this week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Smackdown with Rock and Angle trying to win the tag titles from the Dudleys but having Booker and Test run in for the save. Angle took a 3D through a table as did Rock.

After the theme song here’s Kurt for a chat. Angle says that he has business to finish with the Dudleys, but first of all Austin isn’t here again. Angle doesn’t quite believe that, but maybe it’s true. He’s not sure you see. Maybe Austin is scared. There’s nothing embarrassing about tapping out to escape the pain of the ankle lock. Angle doesn’t want to embarrass Austin but how about Austin comes out here right now.

Instead he gets the Rock for some reason. Rock doesn’t know or care where Austin is tonight. He does however care about the Dudleys after the pair of 3D’s on Smackdown. Rock thinks that maybe they should get together with the Dudleys tonight. It can be all of the Dudleys, even the more obscure ones which he lists for some decent laughs.

Here’s Shane who is in fighting clothes. Shane thinks that he’s going to put the Dudleys against Rock in a handicap tables match for the title. If Rock doesn’t do it, the belt is stripped from The Rock. Rock says cool, although he’s a little more colorful than that. Angle wants to talk about strudel.

Austin is a giant strudel and Shane doesn’t have a strudel of his own. Shane says he has a whole bakery down there, so tonight it’s himself vs. Angle for the WWF Title. How does he get to make that match? Shane comes to the ring but the Dudleys run in for the beatdown. Angle gets powerbombed through a table and Rock makes the save. That goes badly as he takes a 3D of his own. Did this segment really need seventeen minutes?

We get a fax at the announce table. I wonder if that’s the father of the GM Computer. It’s for Heyman from Austin and it says (complete with a graphic saying communicating by fax) that Austin won’t be here tonight because he resents Angle as well as the fans. It even includes WHAT’s, which is kind of awesome.

European Title: Spike Dudley vs. Hurricane

The word on the street is that Molly has turned villain by turning hero. Spike pounds on him to start but Hurricane comes back with a neckbreaker. Superkick by the champion misses and Spike goes up. Mike Awesome comes down for no apparent reason and Spike dives on him. Hurricane hits Spike and goes up but jumps into the boot. He loads up the Dudley Dog but Awesome trips him up. Eye of the Hurricane off the top ends this. Short and bad.

In the back Molly officially becomes Mighty Molly and joins Hurricane as they leave on the Hurricycle. Big Show pops up on the Tron looking like an IDIOT in a jean hat and jacket. He says on Smackdown that he’ll take Spike out on the town to meet a bunch of women. Show sounds drunk.

Booker T/Test/Rob Van Dam vs. Undertaker/Kane/Chris Jericho

Booker and Test beat the monsters for the WCW tag titles on Smackdown. Before the WWF guys come in we get another fax from Austin which says that he congratulates the new champions but RVD needs to remember that there’s only one leader of the Alliance. Jericho and Booker start things off. The Canadian starts with the forearm and chops Booker into the corner.

Off to Undertaker who gets very little reaction. I guess he listens as he tags back out less than ten seconds later. A hook kick lets Booker tag Test in and now Taker will fight for awhile. Taker works on the arm and hits Old School which gets a good reaction. Kane comes in with a side slam and the top rope clothesline. RVD walks into a big boot but as Kane tries the double chokeslam, RVD hits Kane low right in front of the referee who doesn’t do anything.

RVD is legal off that somehow and hits Rolling Thunder for two on Kane. Back to Booker and then Test very quickly. The Canadian beats on Kane for a few moments but gets caught in a belly to back suplex to put him down. Off to Taker who is moving quickly by his standards.

He beats up all three Alliance guys while Jericho just lets the three on one fight to continue. Van Dam superkicks Undertaker but RVD bulldogs him down. Everything breaks down and we have some heel miscommunication. Test kicks Kane’s head off but gets caught in an UGLY Last Ride. Booker knocks Taker to the floor but gets caught in the Walls. Van Dam hits a top rope kick to the face and rolls up Jericho for the pin.

Rating: C-. Basic six man tag here with some REALLY bad refereeing in there too. The idea of tagging was thrown out the window most of the time in this match and it got pretty annoying. Not a good match either but the combining of two feuds into one match is a pretty good idea in a period like this one.

We get a clip from Heat where Stacy and Torrie have a stupid argument. Torrie beats her up.

Stephanie and her rocking rack will be back next week. Jericho hurt her on Smackdown and we get a clip of the match where she got hurt in the Walls. Her in a tight blue halter top and leather pants WORKS.

Awesome talks to RD in the back when Shane comes in. He wants to talk about the Stephanie injury and implies it was RVD’s fault. This goes nowhere.

Oh geez it’s time for a Torrie promo. Thankfully Stacy jumps her before anything can be said. Lillian the interviewer yells in Spanish.

WCW World Title: Dudley Boys vs. The Rock

Tables match. Rock needs to put one through a table to win. Rock charges the ring and we’re off fast. They go to the floor and Rock sends both of them into the table and makes Bubba clothesline D-Von. Rock puts a table in the ring and hits a baseball slide to kick a different table into Bubba’s face. D-Von gets in but Bubba Rock up to give the team control. What’s Up to Rock and it’s one of those stupid matches where they have to tag.

D-Von is in legally first and there’s a table set up in the ring. Bubba kicks Rock in the back to put him down again and then tags in legally. Quickly back to D-Von as Rock comes back with punches. The reverse 3D takes Rock down and Bubba is in legally. The Dudleys set for something off the top but Rock comes back. He crotches Bubba but D-Von moves the table so Rock just slams Bubba onto the mat. D-Von sets up a second table for a 3D but Rock knocks D-Von to the floor.

Samoan Drop puts Bubba down as does a DDT. D-Von back in and he walks into a Rock Bottom but Bubba moves the table. Spinebuster puts Bubba down and here’s Shane. He puts Rock through the table but there’s no referee. Another Alliance referee comes in but a WWF one counters him. What authority would the WWF one have here? Bubba picks up Rock and gets caught in a Rock Bottom through the table so Rock can retain.

Rating: C-. So, again, we have a challenge of the week for Rock and there’s more interference by Shane which Rock overcomes. This has been going on for what, four weeks in a row now? Like I’ve been saying the whole time, there’s no point to the majority of these matches as there’s nowhere for this specific pairing to go anymore and once again, it’s about a McMahon instead of a wrestler. Same old, same old.

DDP still has a creepy smile and wants us to like ourselves. He recently hurt his knee and needed surgery, but that’s a good thing because his knee is stronger than ever and he loves rehab. We get a yoga demonstration which was never mentioned again I don’t think.

Tajiri/Torrie Wilson vs. Stacy Keibler/Tazz

Torrie is in a full body dress and Stacy is in leather shorts. Clearly they’re in fighting gear here. The guys start (thank goodness) and Tajiri hits the handspring elbow. He tries a kick but gets caught in the capture suplex and it’s off to Stacy vs. Torrie. Make this quick. As expected they’re terrible because THEY AREN’T WRESTLERS. Back to the guys with Tajiri firing off his strikes and hooking the Tarantula. Ivory runs out and DDTs Torrie so Stacy can pin her. Awful match and for the life of me is anyone supposed to care?

Another fax says Austin doesn’t like bullies, which is what JR is.

Ivory hits on Regal who isn’t impressed. Lance Storm comes in to talk about sexual harassment and we have a match later.

Here’s Christian to complain about not getting respect after defending his title twice last week. No one defends his title like he does and no one cares. He insults the locals and wants to know why no one likes him. Cue X-Pac (irony!) who sympathizes with Christian. He was part of the most popular group ever and then went out on his own. The people turned on him and he’s mad about it. Christian says shame on the people and Pac calls them all losers.

Cue Edge who says Pac didn’t make the people chew him up and spit him out. He made them want to vomit. 1998 called and they’re sick of him, so come join us in 2001. Edge used to be into the goth thing but then changed because of this thing called “character development.” Maybe Pac should look into it. This is great stuff. Christian makes fun of Edge as the fans chant for Edge. Edge asks the fans why they hate Christian and gives them some options to pick from. Albert jumps Edge and it’s three on one until the APA makes the save.

William Regal vs. Lance Storm

This HAS TO be good right? Storm quickly takes him down with a jawbreaker but Regal knocks him to the floor. Regal fires off forearms back in the ring but walks into a boot that bloodies his nose. Not that it matters as the Regal Stretch gets the tap out after about 90 seconds.

FAX! Austin says that he’s either #1 contender or else Regal is going to get it. Regal isn’t pleased and roughs up Heyman as a result.

In a hilariously bad bit of acting, Maven, the Tough Enough winner, is told by Taz that he’s competing on Smackdown. His opponent is about to come through that door. Maven turns around and there’s a Tazmission, because Taz is the opponent.

Shane implies that he wants Van Dam to help him in the main event…I think.

WWF Title: Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle

Your main event people! We’ve got ALL OF ECW AND MOST OF WCW on the payroll but we get Shane McMahon. Sure why not. Angle starts fast with punches and some hard clotheslines. Out to the floor for Kurt to hit RVD but it allows Shane to take over. And never mind as Angle suplexes him to take over again. Kurt tries to suplex Shane over the top and to the floor but Shane grabs the rope.

A springboard clothesline by Shane puts Kurt down for two. He works on the neck and breaks it for two. Kurt starts a comeback but gets caught by a floatover DDT. Top rope elbow gets a delayed cover as the elbow hurt Shane too. Kurt comes back with punches and the Rolling Germans. Out to the floor and Shane takes another belly to belly. Van Dam fires off a kick and hits a Frog Splash from the apron. That gets two in the ring so Van Dam throws in a chair. Shane tries a piledriver but Angle reverses into the ankle lock to retain.

Rating: D. So we got a basic squash for the WWF Title in the main event. No one on the planet bought Shane as a legit threat here and you could tell with no one reacting to the covers in the slightest. With the roster you have out there, THIS is the best you can give us? Even with the knowledge of the names that would be there within just a few months, this is still unacceptable. Booker, RVD, Rhyno, Mike Awesome, any of these guys would have been a better and more believable option than Shane. The other problem is that even if Shane won the title, so what? It’s a world title apiece again.

Overall Rating: D+. These shows are getting worse and worse because it’s the same stuff over and over again. We have these meaningless title defenses while we sit around and wait for Austin to come back and no one has a freaking clue what the point of any of this is. I know I harp on this a lot but none of these matches or fights mean anything. The Alliance never had a goal or anything other than to come in and beat WWF guys, which doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day, which is where the whole thing fell apart. Well among other things but you get the idea. Weakest show in awhile here.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 24, 2001
Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 7,730
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

We’re past Unforgiven and the biggest detail is that we have a new WWF Champion in the form of Kurt Angle, who beat Austin in a pretty good match. We’re four weeks away from No Mercy and it’ll be the first show where things look even the slightest bit different in the main event picture. And then that’ll all mean nothing as it’ll be time for the Survivor Series and the end of the Alliance. Let’s get to it.

We open with Angle being announced as the new world champion and his family coming in to celebrate with him.

We’re waiting on Austin to arrive so in the meantime we’ll play a theme song.

Kane/Undertaker/Bradshaw vs. Dudley Boyz/Test

Kronik has been fired due to last night’s debacle so we have a new Alliance team for Undertaker and Kane to beat up. The Dudleys are WWF tag champions and Kane/Taker are the WCW counterparts. Bradshaw jumps Test to start and escapes the full nelson slam. Test absorbs some right hands and clotheslines Bradshaw down. Off to D-Von who gets slammed down and there’s a tag to Kane.

Sidewalk slam puts D-Von down and the top rope clothesline puts him down even further. Big boot from Test changes momentum and gets two for D-Von. Kane gets beaten up on the floor a bit as Undertaker tries to help, thereby allowing more cheating. Bubba drops some ax handles for two. Test comes in and pounds on Kane but the Spaniard slugs back and tags in Undertaker. Everything breaks down and Taker avoids the 3D. Bubba gets taken down by the Clothesline and a Last Ride pins D-Von.

Rating: D+. Total meh match here with nothing going on at all. Undertaker looks strong which doesn’t really help anything. I guess this sets up Dudleys vs. Brothers but it doesn’t really make the big tough team look all that vulnerable. Also as usual, the match doesn’t mean anything past the latest win/loss for either side.

Stacy comes in to see Torrie and wants to know what she sees in Tajiri. Stacy thinks he’s short and not much of a man. Torrie says at least she has a man (does Stasiak ring a bell?) so Stacy says she can get one anytime she wants (Stasiak? His dad was world champion?) so a challenge is set up for later.

Christian arrives and Heyman thinks it’s Austin. Christian warns the security guard to be ready for the mob of people that will be here soon. Oh and go get his bags later. He talks to two people ignoring him and says that he’ll sign all their autographs post show.

Shane fires up the Alliance by saying Austin will be here later. He says Austin is still champion because his arm was under the rope. Booker and Shane got screwed by Hebner too, so tonight is about revenge. Stephanie pops in and thinks they’re all here for her birthday. You know, because they wouldn’t show up for work otherwise. Stephanie (looking GREAT again this week) says that tonight is about leadership and following the example of….RVD. Booker comes out of his pose to complain so it’s Booker vs. Angle for the WWF Title and Rock vs. RVD for the WCW version.

Tajiri vs. Tazz

Tajiri kicks him down but walks into a Tazplex to take over. Tajiri comes back with the kicks and the Tarantula. Buzzsaw kick connects but Stacy kisses Tajiri which lets Taz hook the Tazmission for the tap out.

Shane talks to Booker about how it’s time to move up to the WWF Title.

US Title: Rhyno vs. Jeff Hardy

Rhyno won the title last night off Tajiri. Jeff speeds things up to start and sends it to the floor. Slingshot dropkick sets up a rana off the apron to take over. Back in the champion hits a spinebuster but misses a top rope splash. Jeff hits a flipping legdrop for two but walks into a belly to belly. Whisper in the Wind puts Rhyno down but the Swanton misses. The first Gore attempt misses but Jeff goes to the corner and when he lands, Rhyno kills him dead with the Gore to retain.

Rating: C. Rhyno was on a roll at this point and couldn’t have a bad match if he tried. He was great at the power matches and using that Gore to split people in half. He didn’t really have a character but he didn’t need one with his finisher. On top of that he added in some psychology with the constant rib work which makes perfect sense. Good stuff.

Hurricane tells Citizen Ivory and Citizen Storm that he’s glad they’re studying for the match. He also thinks Ivory is in danger and tells her to wait at the entrance. She leaves and Hurricane confides to Storm that he’s ready to take Holly on as his full time sidekick. He makes Storm do Wonder Twin Powers Activate in a funny bit.

Kanyon comes in to see RVD because he’s worried about Austin freaking out on him. Van Dam says just chill.

Ivory/Lance Storm/Hurricane vs. Big Show/Spike Dudley/Molly Holly

Spike is in a Show costume for no apparent reason. Show and Hurricane start things off and the masked man wants a test of strength. That goes nowhere so he slaps Big Show, which gets him thrown across the ring. Off to Ivory and Molly with the latter hitting a northern lights suplex for two. Storm and Spike come in and things speed up a bit. Spike chases Hurricane around and gets kicked down by Lance coming back in. Hurricane and the cape come in with a cross body for two. Show comes in and cleans house but Ivory hits him low. Molly gets on Show’s shoulders for the Molly Go Round for the pin on Storm.

Rating: D+. Just turn Molly into a sidekick already and get it over with. It was clear that’s where they were going so just get it over with already. On top of that, Show needs something to do. He’s been doing nothing for months now and it’s getting a little tiring to sit here and watch him do nothing at all.

Earl Hebner comes in to see Shane, who yells at him about an apparent screwjob last night. We see a clip of Austin tapping out but being under the ropes. Hebner admits his mistake but says the decision stands. Shane is barred from ringside for Angle vs. Booker for some reason.

WWF Title: Kurt Angle vs. Booker T

BIG USA chant goes up. You know Booker is an American too. Angle hits a quick overhead belly to belly for two. Booker grabs a headlock but Kurt grabs the ankle lock which is quickly broken. Angle goes for the ankle again but Booker hits an enziguri to take over. Booker drops a knee to what I think is a bad neck and stands around a lot. Off to a chinlock to take some time out of the match.

Kurt fights up and hits some elbows to the ribs but walks into a spinning forearm for two. Booker hits the ropes but walks into a belly to belly suplex and a belly to back gets two. Booker shoves off the referee to avoid the Slam and kicks Angle down. Belt shot puts Angle down for two. Bookend is countered into a northern lights suplex for two. Ax kick misses and Kurt rolls through a suplex into the ankle lock to retain.

Rating: C+. Not a bad match here but it wasn’t anything great. Booker jobbing again shouldn’t surprise anyone and I don’t think it did. He’s the biggest WCW star there was so of course he lost. That was another of the big issues with the Invasion: the Alliance guys were always second and third fiddles to the WWF guys.

Kanyon hits on Lita which is a lot more awkward in retrospect. She makes fun of his speech impediment.

Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. Chris Jericho

Christian won the title last night. He makes fun of the former champion Edge pre-match and we get a solo Five Second Pose….or we would have if Jericho hadn’t interrupted. Jericho takes him down to start and chops away. Christian comes back with punches and knocks Jericho into the corner. Backbreaker gets two. Jericho hits the forearm and avoids a dropkick. Christian avoids the Lionsault and rolls to the floor. A bell shot draws the LAME DQ to end this. Nothing match.

Christian loads up the Conchairto but Jericho avoids it and hooks the Walls.

X-Pac is sitting in Regal’s chair when the Commissioner comes in. Pac complains about his lack of TV time despite having two titles. Regal rips into him and says that it’s Pac vs. Regal tonight.

We get America the Beautiful from last night which is by one of those women singers that basically screech the words but it’s called great for some reason.

Raven asks RVD for advice about how depressed he’s been lately. RVD suggests being more positive about being negative. Raven thanks him and leaves when Stephanie comes in. She says win and you’re the leader of the Alliance. Some mild sexual tension is teased.

Matt Hardy vs. Kanyon

Matt punches him down to start and hits a moonsault press for two. Kanyon takes him down and heads to hit on Lita, who slaps the taste out of his mouth. Back in Kanyon drives Matt’s head into the mat for two. Kanyon talks to Lita more and gets rolled up for two. A bad Russian legsweep by Matt puts both guys down. They go to the corner with Kanyon getting shoved down and the middle rope legdrop sends Kanyon to the outside. Lita hits her hurricanrana off the steps. Twist of Fate is countered and Matt is shoved into Lita. Flatliner gets the pin.

Rating: D+. Nothing match here and as usual it doesn’t mean anything. These one night made feuds and their resolutions were fine for filling in TV time but it didn’t help anything long term. This was just ok as Matt was nowhere near what he would become yet (take that for what you will) and Kanyon still didn’t mean much.

EXTREME CLOSEUP of DDP who is very positive now. He’s into the motivational speaker gimmick now.

We go to WWF New York with the Tough Enough finalists. The five finalists are Nidia, Taylor (cute but never did anything), Chris Harvard, Maven and Josh Matthews, who looks like more of a tool than he does now.

Rock brags about retaining the title last night and now he has RVD. As for Stephanie, if she cheats she’s going to get a birthday spanking. She’s 25 tonight. He singe a version of Happy Birthday to her as well: “Happy Birthday to Steph, you’re a ho with big breasts, so take the night off from hooking, if ya smell what the Rock is cooking.” Ok that was awesome.

William Regal vs. X-Pac

Regal knocks him down but gets caught in a suplex for two. Bronco Buster hits and Regal comes back with the Regal Cutter for the pin. What in the freaking world was the point of this?

WCW World Title: Rob Van Dam vs. The Rock

Since Shane is barred from ringside for some reason, Stephanie comes out to watch the match. Rob counters a headlock and the fans aren’t sure who to cheer for. Rock Bottom is countered as well and they head to the floor. A clothesline puts Van Dam down but Rob comes back with the spinning kick to Rock who is draped over the barricade. Back in the top rope kick gets two.

Rock grabs a belly to belly for two. Back to the floor and Rob loads up the announce table, only to get punched in the face for his troubles. Rock throws him onto the table but Van Dam bounces off of it. Back inside a spinebuster gets two. RVD kicks him down and tries the split legged moonsault but Rock moves. Stephanie slaps Rock into a rollup for two. Rock hits a DDT and the Sharpshooter goes on but Stephanie comes in again. He chases her up the aisle and throws her back in as Van Dam slams him down. He gets ready for the Five Star but Stephanie shoves the referee into the ropes. Rock Bottom gives Rock the win.

Rating: C-. We’ll continue the running theme tonight by talking about how this is another problem the Invasion had: this match wasn’t about RVD, it wasn’t about the WCW Title and it wasn’t about the Invasion. This match was about Stephanie and how The Rock wants to ruin her birthday. That’s a fun single night thing and the more I get to see mid-20s Stephanie the happier I am, but this doesn’t do a thing long term. It doesn’t set up a PPV match, it doesn’t give Rock a new challenge, it doesn’t do anything. That’s fine once in awhile, but this is like the fourth week in a row. That’s not good.

Austin never arrived.

Overall Rating: D+. This didn’t work at all for me. It’s a total throwaway show with nothing happening and the whole thing being about Stephanie and her birthday with the usual world title matches that meant nothing at all. No Austin, so that went nowhere (nice bait and switch guys) and Angle and/or Rock have no opponents yet, so what was the point of this? Oh yeah, Stephanie is 25 now. Pointless show.

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 17, 2001
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 7,641
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

It’s the final show before Unforgiven and obviously based on the date, things have changed tremendously in the whole world. Smackdown basically didn’t happen because of what happened which is perfectly fine, but it’s put them in a bind for building up the show. The good thing is that a lot of things have already been set in stone. The PPV would wind up being solid so let’s get to it.

The show opens with the American flag on the screen and a BIG USA chant. Nothing wrong with that at all.

The main events are Test/Stephanie vs. Rock II and Austin/RVD vs. Jericho/Austin.

WWF Tag Titles: Undertaker/Kane vs. Dudley Boys

Why not for both titles? Because this way if they change hands they can have ANOTHER title match that means nothing on PPVs, because that’s what they needed to fix things right? EVE MORE TITLES! Kane and D-Von start and Kane’s arm is STILL bandaged. Hasn’t that thing been hurt since April now? Kane takes him down with ease and no sells his punches. Sidewalk slam puts D-Von down and Kane drills Bubba so he can hit the top rope clothesline for two.

Off to Taker who has an American flag on his singlet now. D-Von takes him down with a shoulder block and brings in Bubba. Taker knocks down the future Bully almost immediately and hits Old School. Bubba comes back with a belly to back suplex for no cover. Kane comes in and grabs both Dudleys for chokeslams at the same time but D-Von hits him in the arm to break it up. What’s Up Kane?

Here comes a table but it doesn’t get set up. Kane is in trouble but manages to powerbomb Bubba out of the corner and tags Undertaker. A legdrop gets two on D-Von as Kane and Bubba fight on the floor. There goes the referee and cue Kronik. High Times puts Kane through the table and the 3D gives the Dudleys the titles.

Rating: D+. It was another mess but getting at least half of the titles off of Undertaker and Kane was a good thing because you had to have them get cheated to have them lose. That makes their defenses boring because you know no one is going to be able to get a clean win on them. Unfortunately this set up the Brothers vs. Kronik which was horrible.

Shane arrives and is met by Kronik and Richards. Richards offers Kronik’s services to the Alliance which is accepted. Their reward? A WCW Tag Title match on Sunday.

Storm disapproves of the swimsuit photos of Lita in WWF Magazine so he’s going to beat up Jeff tonight. Hurricane flies in and says he needs a sidekick. Storm suggests Ivory (complete with an Ivory soap ad) but Hurricane says he has a better idea and flies away.

Austin and Debra arrive and find RVD on their couch. They’re cool with each other but it doesn’t seem copacetic. RVD implies that he’s the second in command in the Alliance and if Austin is ever on vacation or something, he’d give his best to help out. Austin politely throws him out.

Lance Storm vs. Jeff Hardy

This should be good. They get technical to start and Jeff is fast enough to keep up with Storm. An O’Connor Roll is countered and they head to the floor where Jeff runs the railing for a clothesline. Back inside and Lance hiptosses him over the top and out to the floor. Storm works over the back and a backbreaker gets two. A hard Irish Whip into the corner gets the same.

Lita and Ivory are on the floor. I don’t think that pairing ever got a blowoff match or anything like that, at least not on PPV. Lance stays on the back but Jeff mule kicks out of the hold he’s in. Double legdrop between the legs and a Russian legsweep get two. Whisper in the Wind does as well, and wasn’t it nice for Storm to stand there for Jeff to hit it. Ivory’s quick distraction lets Storm hit a superkick for two. Lita goes after her and has to slap Lance as well. Jeff dives on Storm but the Swanton hits knees. Jeff tries a middle rope rana but gets caught in the Mapleleaf for the rare Jeff Hardy tap out.

Rating: C+. I liked this about as well as I thought I would. The girls were obviously going to get involved and thankfully they were only involved a little. The ending was clean and tied into the majority of the back work that Storm did earlier in the match which is all you can ask for. Fun match but I’d have liked it getting more than six minutes.

Shane asks Stephanie why she was in the handicap match last week. She says she had a plan which didn’t work that well because Booker was late. Tonight she’s in it again because….? Shane shows her what almost happened last week and Stephanie says he can’t tell her what to do. Taz comes in and wants respect so Shane gives him a match.

Perry Saturn vs. Shawn Stasiak

During Saturn’s entrance we get a recap of the Moppy Saga. Saturn runs in a circle to start so Stasiak clotheslines him down. Tilt-a-whirl slam gets two. A clothesline in the corner hits but Saturn hits something like an armdrag to take over. There’s a belly to belly and a spinning springboard dropkick for two. Stasiak comes back with a jumping back elbow for two. Saturn hits a northern lights suplex but Stacy has the referee. Shawn gets her down and kicks out of a superkick. Saturn runs the ropes and Stasiak falls on his face avoiding a leapfrog. Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza ends this short match.

Terri and Raven pop up on the screen with Moppy and put it through a wood chipper. You have Raven and Saturn and the feud is over a freaking mop. And people wonder why this whole Invasion story bombed.

HEY LOOK! IT’S STEPHANIE COMPLAINING ABOUT HER BROTHER! AGAIN! This time it’s to RVD. It’s now RVD vs. Jericho on Sunday for the Hardcore Title.

Hurricane offers his sidekick spot to Molly. Spike comes in to protest. You know where this is going.

Taz comes to see Shane and Booker, only to find out that his match is against the two of them.

Donate to the Red Cross. Nothing wrong with that.

Booker T/Shane McMahon vs. Taz

They double team Taz to start until Booker officially starts. Since Taz is down, Shane comes in for a Hart Attack. Jumping back elbow gets two. Back to Booker and never mind as Shane is in about 15 seconds later. Taz I think tags Booker for some reason before everyone heads to the floor. While Booker has the referee, Shane dives off the barricade with a clothesline.

Back inside Booker drops a knee and hits the Spinarooni. Shane gets in some free shots but slaps him once too often so Taz remembers that he was a killing machine in ECW and runs them both over. Tazmission is broken up by Shane and Booker “hits” the ax kick (Taz dropped about three seconds before Booker hit him. It was Taz’s fault) and the top rope elbow gets the pin.

Rating: D. Uh….ok? A guy that is a much bigger star than Taz and has a partner who is pretty talented in his own part can beat Taz (I’ll let you figure out who I mean by each of those descriptions) in a match that could have easily been cut in half. Not a godo match or anything and I’m not really sure what it proved.

Christian doesn’t care that Edge hasn’t been seen in two weeks. He wants the US Title to go with the IC Title he’s winning on Sunday.

European Title: Hurricane vs. Spike Dudley

Hurricane takes him to the mat followed by Spike taking him to the mat. They fight over a top wristlock with Hurricane throwing in a quick pose, thereby making him awesome. Hurricane takes him down and goes up, but Molly takes the cape. Now that’s just not nice. Spike goes up but gets shoved down and into the barricade. She throws the cape in and goes up (which the referee ignores) and accidentally dropkicks Spike. Eye of the Hurricane retains the belt after a short and uninteresting match.

We run down the Unforgiven card. Ok maybe just two match.

We get a few shots of some fans at WWF New York. Nice touch.

Torrie is looking GOOD in the back and runs into Shane. He thinks Torrie is manipulating Tajiri and is very proud of her for getting as far as she has.

Angle says he’ll win on Sunday when RVD pops up to point out that the fans were cheering for him. Angle says on Sunday, they’ll be chanting USA.

US Title: Christian vs. Tajiri

Christian jumps Tajiri while he’s kissing Torrie and we’re ready to go. They chop it out in the corner but Tajiri gets bored with that and kicks Christian in the head instead. He tries a rana but gets powerbombed down instead. Backbreaker gets two. Christian pounds on him a bit but gets his head kicks off and the champ takes over. The always awesome handspring elbow gets two. There’s the Tarantula but Tajiri misses a lot of kicks. Out to the floor and Christian loads up the Conchairto. Tajiri tries the Mist to defend himself but hits the referee instead and that’s a DQ.

Rating: C-. How could Christian vs. Tajiri be this boring? Oh, probably because it had four minutes and had no story behind it at all and was there so that Edge could run in at the end to set up the PPV match a little bit better? Not a horrible match or anything but when you had two guys like this out there, you should get a good match. On the other hand, I don’t remember Torrie looking this good in a VERY long time.

Edge runs in post match (duh) to break up the Conchairto and chase off Christian. The look on his face was the first time I thought Edge awesome.

During the break Rhyno Gored Tajiri, which set up their match on Sunday.

Shane makes that title match I just mentioned.

Stephanie McMahon/Test vs. The Rock

Stephanie is on the apron here and is knocked off almost immediately. Rock sends Test to the floor and the beating begins. Back inside Rock gets two but Test pounds him into the corner. Rock fires off some rights but walks into a gutwrench powerbomb for two. Test beats him down again and Stephanie comes in, only for Rock to nip up. The Canadian runs him over again and loads up the big boot but instead he walks into a Rock Bottom. Nick Patrick is with Stephanie though and that earns him a Rock Bottom of his own. Rock goes after Steph but Shane and Booker run in. Everyone hits their finishers and Steph gets the pin.

Rating: D+. I don’t particularly get how this is supposed to make me want to see Booker and Shane vs. Rock on Sunday but it got Stephanie on TV and let her pin the Rock so it must be a good idea right? Just have Rock face Shane and then have Booker and everyone else interfere and let Shane get the pin. How is that any different? Oh right: it doesn’t let Stephanie get to be on TV. Got it.

Austin won’t come out of his dressing room when RVD says their match is next. Austin says he’ll see Rob out there. Rob knocks a few more times and gets him to open the door in a bit I don’t really get.

Chris Jericho/Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam/Steve Austin

They brawl on the floor to start as the fans chant USA. Wouldn’t that chant be more be for the Alliance team since they’re bother Americans? Austin and Jericho start with the champion in control. He puts Jericho on the top rope but gets caught by a dropkick for two. Off to Van Dam who misses some kicks and gets taken down by an enziguri. Here’s Angle who hits a cross body and glares at Austin.

Spinebuster gets two for Kurt. Jericho comes in and has to fight off both guys but walks into a kick from Van Dam to send him to the floor. Austin tries to piledrive him on the floor but Angle makes the save. Van Dam puts Jericho on the barricade and hits the spinning legdrop which gets two back in the ring. Austin comes in and hooks a sleeper which doesn’t last long. Jericho and Van Dam knock each other down and it’s hot tag to Angle.

Van Dam accidentally kicks Austin and gets suplexed for his troubles. Austin throws Angle into the referee and gets caught in the ankle lock but Van Dam saves. Van Dam gets put in the Walls so Austin gets the bell and clocks Jericho with it but the referee stops a similar shot to Angle. Rollup gets two for Kurt as does a suplex. Stunner is countered into the Angle Slam which is good for three.

Rating: C+. Standard good main event tag match here and THIS is how you build up Austin vs. Angle. Angle beat Austin (mostly) clean in a non-title match so there’s a reason to believe that he can do it again on Sunday, giving us a reason to want to watch the match to see if he can. That’s basic booking and no one can seem to get that anymore. This was a good match.

Overall Rating: C+. The show was good again this week but you can still see all of the major problems this show has. It’s like a nice painting covering up a huge hole in a wall: the outside looks good but it doesn’t change the fact that the hole is there. Stephanie needs to pick a story and stick with it, because her nose is in EVERYTHING right now and it’s not helping. Look at Shane: he pops up with different people but he’s not the focal point of anything but Rock’s feud, which makes him much more effect. Well that and he can actually do stuff. Stephanie is heavily involved in multiple stories and it’s not helping.

Also you still have the huge rosters and most of the people have nothing to do other than pop up every now and then. Case in point: Saturn and Raven. You have these two talented guys and the best you can do is throw them together because of a mop? Do they think people are going to care about that? That’s another issue with this: we have no reason to care about these guys and like I’ve been saying for weeks now, the Invasion happened and now….what? There never was an answer to that and it’s becoming more and more of a problem.

Here’s Unforgiven if you’re interested:

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

And follow me on Twitter @kbreviews