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THE 2001 SERIES PART 10: VENGEANCE 2001, FEATURING THE UNIFICATION OF THE WWF AND WCW WORLD TITLES, THE INFAMOUS MATT HARDY VS JEFF HARDY MATCH, UNDERTAKER CHALLENGING ROB VAN DAM FOR THE HARDCORE TITLE, AND MUCH MORE

2001 may have been the most historically important year in at least the modern generation of professional wrestling, and Vengeance would cap it off with one final, historic series of matches as the WWF and (former) WCW World Titles would be unified. After revealing that he had bought Shane & Stephanie's WWF stock and was now Vince McMahon's business partner, Ric Flair announced that the Vengeance PPV would be headlined by WWF World Champion Steve Austin taking on (WCW) World Champion The Rock, with the winner being the first and only unified champion in the history of the business. This is, of course, a completely false premise since there were times in the past, most notably during the Lou Thesz era, when there was a single World Champion (not counting the titles that really didn't matter), but it had indeed been about 40 years since anyone could realistically claim that feat, and Flair planned for either Austin or the Rock to be the next guy to pull the trick.

Enter Vince McMahon, who decided that instead of having a straight title vs title match, each champion would first defend their respective titles in separate matches, then the winners of those matches would face each other with both titles on the line. Austin would defend against Kurt Angle, with whom he had been having excellent matches with for much of 2001, while Rock would defend against Chris Jericho, who had already managed to beat him for the WCW Title once and wanted to do it again.

With such a heavy focus on those matches and just because it's been years since I've watched this show, I really didn't remember much about the undercard except that there was a Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy match that everyone hated at the time, but after watching it again I saw that there were actually a lot of awesome matches in here. To the review...

We kick the show off with Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert (then nicknamed the Hip Hop Hippo, in what must surely have been one of the low points of his career) facing Test & European Champion Christian in an unannounced bonus match. Standard opener with Test & Christian working Scotty over until Albert tagged in and cleaned house, then hit Christian with the Baldo Bomb for the minor upset win. From there we move on to Edge defending the Intercontinental Title against William Regal who, after becoming the first ever member of the Kiss My Ass Club, started his "power of the punch" gimmick where he claimed to have an uncanny ability to knock people out, but was actually using brass knucks to do it. Regal was exactly the right type of opponent for Edge at this point in his career, a solid veteran to help Edge continue to develop. Regal wound up on the outside and Edge tried to spear him off the apron, but Regal moved and Edge hit the ring steps, putting Regal in control. Regal hit three Tiger Drivers, but Edge kicked out so Regal went for the brass knucks instead and Edge speared him out of nowhere to pick up the win. Really good match, and the feud would continue into their rematch at the Royal Rumble.

Next up was a very interesting match for a lot of reasons, as Matt Hardy faced his brother Jeff with Lita as the special referee. There was a great video package before the match showing us clips of Matt and Jeff talked about how they always wanted to get to the WWF and getting their contracts was the greatest day of their life, and then the ladder matches turned them from WWF wrestlers into WWF superstars. From there, we start to see the team fall apart after Jeff's desire to hit a glorious highspot cost them the title unification match at Survivor Series against the Dudleys, Matt chewing him out for it, and then Jeff flipping on Matt for always trying to control his life. This led to trouble between Matt and Lita (who was acknowledged on TV as being Matt's girlfriend by this point), with Matt suggesting that he wrestle Jeff at Vengeance with Lita as the special referee.

Great fuildup, and it all led into this heavily hyped first ever meeting between Matt and Jeff which people couldn't wait to see, and then buried once it was over. Basically, people expected the spotfest to end all spotfests with both Hardyz flying all over the place and destroying each other like they had done in all those ladder and TLC matches, but Matt and Jeff decided to do something different and show that they could entertain the fans by having a really good WRESTLING match instead. The fans weren't into it and the match was widely regarded as a huge disappointment, something that WWF management must have agreed with since all three of them got pulled off of TV not long after this PPV and were in the doghouse for weeks before returning at the Royal Rumble. Personally, I haven't seen this match in many years and I remember being disappointed by it at the time, but let's see how the years will affect my opinion after another viewing.

Basic feeling out process to start, and then Matt took control with a thumb to the eye and took over with some old school heel moves. Matt went for the howling legdrop, but missed and Jeff laid Matt out and now he hit the howling legdrop for 2. Jeff went for a moonsault type move, but Matt knew it was coming and nailed him, then they went to the apron where Jeff hit a flying headscissors that took both men to the floor. Jeff tossed Matt into the ring and went for a flip into the ring, but came down badly on the knee that he injured when Matt knocked him off the top rope, and Matt began working over the knee, stomping it and then clipping the knee from behind before locking him in a half crab. Matt went for a figure four, but Jeff kicked him off and out to the floor, then hit a baseball slide to Matt and tried a dive, but his knee gave out so Matt came in and picked the leg, but Jeff hit a spinning back kick and they went toe to toe in the middle of the ring with Jeff coming out on top. Jeff hit a back suplex and went for the Swanton, Matt recovered and slammed Jeff off the top rope and then went for the Twist Of Fate and Jeff reversed to a Twist Of Fate attempt of his own, and Matt reversed that to a backslide for 2. Matt tried using the ropes to pin Jeff and Lita saw him and stopped counting, leading to an argument between Matt and Lita. The Hardyz wound up on top again and Matt went for a Twist Of Fate off the top rope, but Jeff shoved him off and hit the Swanton. He made the cover and Matt got his foot on the rope, but Lita didn't see it and counted Matt's shoulders down and awarded the match to Jeff. Matt was livid and argued that his foot was on the rope, but the decision stood and Matt rolled out of the ring and stormed off to the back.

Okay, here's my thoughts, a decade after the fact: the match was excellent. They had great psychology where they built to all the big spots, I liked how Jeff hurt the knee and Matt worked it over and Jeff continued to sell the knee through the entire match, and I liked how they told a story all the way up until the end where Matt made Jeff work to hit the Swanton, and still had a legitimate gripe about the finish without it coming off as overbooked. If you compare this to what they had spent most of the prior three years doing, it was like night and day and the Hardyz showed that they could actually work. They actually impressed the hell out of me viewing from the comfort of 2011, but unfortunately for them, the people in 2001 were sorely disappointed by the match and the Hardyz fell out of favor big time for not having a match that they would probably not be allowed to do in that company today. It's really interesting to see how the standards changed so radically over just a decade, but there you have it: Matt & Jeff Hardy worked a great wrestling match and got punished for not being spot monkeys. You can see how this would send the wrong message to current indy wrestlers who were 12 when this match happened.

We move on to the Dudley Boyz defending the WWF Tag Team Title against Kane and Big Show, and this was pretty much Kane and Big Show destroying the Dudleyz for the entire match until Kane accidentally nailed Big Show with a top rope clothesline when he was going for one of the Dudleyz. This led to an argument between Kane and Show, and then Show accidentally nailed Kane and the Dudleyz hit a double flapjack onto an exposed turnbuckle for the improbably win. Decent for what it was, though not much of a match. I guess this was supposed to lead to Kane and Big Show feuding AGAIN, but the fact that I don't remember tells you how much it mattered in the end.

Next up was the Undertaker challenging Rob Van Dam for the Hardcore Title, and you might ask how this match came about. Basically, after Vince McMahon started the Kiss My Ass Club, he had tried to get Jim Ross to kiss his ass and Ross refused, so Undertaker came out and said he had seen everyone from Hogan, to Warrior, to Savage, to Piper, to Bret, to Shawn come and go and they had all kissed Vince's ass, but Undertaker had kissed his ass more than any of them. Undertaker asked JR if he was going to kiss Vince's ass and JR said hell no, so Undertaker looked at him and said "is that because you think you're better than me?" JR looked back at him without comprehension (probably because it was such a dumb storyline twist) and Undertaker punched him in the face and rammed him into Vince's ass. Undertaker went full-on heel after that, cut off his trademark long hair, then singled RVD out and started attacking him and saying that he didn't have what it took to survive in the WWF, kicking yet more sand in the faces of the companies they had buried a month ago (or nine, depending on how you look at it).

On to the match: RVD took it to Undertaker early with kicks and a somersault dive off the top, but Undertaker booted him off the top and took the fight to the floor. RVD rammed Undertaker into the post and tossed him into the crowd, but tried to springboard off the barricade and Undertaker drilled him in the face and proceeded to demolish him in the crowd. RVD hit a moonsault off a railing and got a 2 count (since falls count anywhere in Hardcore Title matches), but Undertaker laid him out and dropped a guardrail across his face. RVD shot a fire extinguisher in Undertaker's face and nailed him with a garbage can before climbing up to the first balcony and diving what was easily 15 feet off with a crossbody onto Undertaker that only got 2. They went to the top of the ramp and Undertaker rammed RVD face first into the metal stage wall and then went for the Last Ride, but RVD grabbed onto the set and climbed out of the move, then got a spinkick and then hit Rolling Thunder on the stage for 2, then hit the chair dropkick into the Undertaker as he sat against the back of the stage for 2. RVD went for the Van Daminator but Undertaker dodged and RVD nearly kicked through the video screen. Undertaker drilled RVD with the chair and chokeslammed RVD off the stage and through a table to get the win. Great match, though a lot of RVD fans looked at it like RVD getting buried for getting too over during the InVasion. There might have been some truth to that, but this wasn't Undertaker going out there and squashing RVD, because it was a really competitive match and RVD came close on a couple of occasions to winning. Some people saw the way Diamond Dallas Page got buried after Undertaker said he couldn't work and suddenly every Undertaker match became "he's burying people and not letting anyone get heat on him" even though that really wasn't the case. I think history will bear him out as a guy who was always willing to put people over when asked to, and he gave RVD a LOT of offense here that he really didn't need to.

We move on to Trish Stratus making her first PPV title defense since winning the WWF Women's Title against Jacqueline. Jackie was well past the point of being a main player in the women's division, and this was really just for Jackie to give Trish a good match and put her over. Trish was okay in the ring at this point, but was nowhere near as good as she would become and still needed to rely on people like Jackie to help guide her. Trish went for a chick kick and Jackie got a nice counter where she caught Trish's boot and turned it into a legsweep. Trish tried an O'Connor roll and blew it badly, but recovered and went for the Stratusfaction, and Jackie shoved her off and hit a running dropkick to the back and some more hard kicks to the ribs. Trish got a backslide out of nowhere for the win and Jackie looked disappointed, but shook Trish's hand before leaving the ring. Jackie certainly didn't go easy on her, and this is a good example of how Trish worked to get where she got and didn't have anyone going easy on her.

It's now finally time for the reason we're all here, as we kick off the unification series with WWF Champion Steve Austin defending against Kurt Angle. As I mentioned, these two had put on several excellent matches throughout 2001 that seemed to get better and better each time out, but this match unfortunately didn't live up to their earlier meetings. It was a totally different kind of match as well, because instead of a heel Austin viciously destroying a babyface Angle, it was Angle playing the sneaky heel who cheated and took cheap shots wherever he could. He worked over Austin's notoriously bad knees by ramming them into the ringpost and giving him Bret Hart's ringpost figure four, then they went back in the ring and traded German Suplexes until Angle hit the Angle Slam and only got 2, so he went for a Stunner on Austin and Austin reversed to a Stunner of his own to get the win and advance to the finals.

We move on the WCW Title Match (I don't care, that's what I'm going to call it) with Rock defending against Chris Jericho, who now had the evil red highlights in his hair. Back and forth match until they went outside and Jericho catapulted Rock into the ringpost, then tried a Rock Bottom on the announce table but Rock reversed to a DDT. They went back in and Jericho blocked a Rock Bottom and hit Rock with the Stroke and then went for a Rock Bottom of his own, but Rock countered that to a Sharpshooter, and then Jericho reversed that to a Sharpshooter of his own and Rock fought his way to the ropes. Jericho went for a Walls Of Jericho and Rock reversed to a small package (which he had used to regain the title from Jericho weeks earlier), but that only got 2 so Rock hit the Rock Bottom instead. Vince McMahon (who had an issue with Rock stemming from him ramming Vince's face into Rikishi's butt to close the Kiss My Ass Club) ran out to distract Rock, and Rock nailed him but Jericho snuck up behind and hit a low blow and a Rock Bottom to pick up the win. You could tell that the fans in the building were really surprised with that outcome because everyone expected it to come down to Rock and Austin.

Speaking of Austin, we go right into the finals without a break and it's now Austin vs Jericho, WWF Title vs WCW Title, with all the marbles on the line. Both men got laid out before the match even started as Angle ran back in and nailed Austin with a chair, then Rock laid Jericho out with a Rock Bottom, so we're even Steven. They got back to their feet and Austin started destroying Jericho, beating him up on the floor and ramming him into the ringpost over and over before suplexing him on the floor. Austin catapulted Jericho into the ringpost, then they went back into the ring where Jericho went for a flying forearm, but Austin ducked and Jericho wiped out the referee. Jericho hit a low blow and Stunner on Austin and then Vince McMahon brought out crooked referee Nick Patrick to make the count, but Ric Flair ran out and nailed Patrick, then Vince suckerpunched Flair from behind. Meanwhile in the ring, Austin recovered and put Jericho in his own Walls Of Jericho, and suddenly Booker T (who had not been seen since Survivor Series) ran out of the crowd, nailed Austin with one of the belts, and Vince rolled the original referee back into the ring as Jericho crawled over to make the cover. The referee made the three count to give Jericho the win, and the crowd was just shocked at what they had seen because Jericho was the lowest guy on the totem pole of the four in the tournament and the last guy they expected to see come out with both titles, but he had instead beaten both Rock and Austin in back to back matches to do just that.

* * *

And so 2001 ended, or at least the important parts. It's pretty mind boggling to look back at everything that happened in just that 12 month period, which started with all three companies still in business and, at least on the surface, appeared to be going about business as usual. There weren't many people who probably thought that they'd be gone, at least not that quickly, but then the dominoes started falling: ECW closed, the WWF bought out WCW, Wrestlemania X-7 became possibly the greatest wrestling PPV of all time, the InVasion, the Alliance, the total burial of the WCW and ECW talents, WCW and ECW being buried at Survivor Series, and then finally the two World Titles being unified in a mini-tournament that featured no WCW wrestlers. Similarly, Chris Jericho had gone from urinating in William Regal's tea to beating Rock and Austin in one night to become the first true unified World Champion in decades. In just one short year, the landscape had completely changed.

The rest of the PPV was excellent too, with the opener and the tag title match being the only things here that I didn't really think clicked. Say what you will about the way the WWF presented their product at the time, but the year was chock full of awesome wrestling from the top to bottom of nearly every major show. Nearly everything here hit all cylinders, which was especially impressive when you consider that people like Undertaker and the Hardyz were doing stuff outside their usual comfort zone and still managed to have excellent matches.

We may have finished the final major show of 2001, but there's still a bit to go in this series. Check back soon for Part 11: The Monday Night Wars documentary!

Vengeance 2001: 12/9/2001 in San Diego, California

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