No Mercy - Savvis Centre, St. Louis Missouri, October 21st, 2001

No Mercy! Will the Superstars show each other No Mercy? The critics of the Invasion storyline certainly showed the WWF No Mercy.

I quite like the video package - the fleeting nature of being WWF Champion and the motivations of all three men in the main event. In kayfabe, it’s quite funny to imagine the day they got Kurt Angle into the studio to film his parts. Letting him hold the title belt just to rip it away from him and film his sad reaction to it. Nice of Austin to agree to let him hold it in the first place. The stage is cool too. Well it’s big and impressive - I’m not sure how cool it actually is. YOU decide. 

I’m also surprised and delighted that another PPV theme song has been left intact on the WWE Network! Saliva’s Click Click Boom is a banger. This late 2001 period had a run of really great PPV themes in a row. 2001 was a good year for licensed music in the WWF - Smackdown’s new theme song is great too. 

No messing around this month and we dive right into the entrances for the first match. 

WCW Tag Team Championships

The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) (w/Lita) (WWF) © vs. WWF European Champion The Hurricane (w/Mighty Molly) and Lance Storm (w/Ivory) (Alliance)

Matt and Jeff have both flirted with singles success this year with Jeff in particular becoming one of the most popular acts in the company. Their most popular form is still as a tag team though.

Interestingly, Lance Storm and Ivory enter separately and first whereas on TV, this entire foursome has been coming out to Hurricane and Mighty Molly’s theme music. He’s updated his theme, updated his gear to be more colourful and gained a sidekick in Molly Holly. It’s all looking up for the WWF European Champion. Able to leap the tallest cruiserweights, faster than a loco luchador, up there in the ring is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a HURRICANE!

The match is fast with Matt and Jeff overwhelming the Alliance challengers with their double teams. With The Hardyz and Lance on the floor, Molly puts Hurricane’s cape on for him and he flies - diving from the top rope to the floor and wiping out the champions which allows he and Storm to isolate and work over Jeff in the ring. 

Jeff weathers the storm (no pun intended) and tags Matt after his Whisper in the Wind corkscrew crossbody. Matt almost beats Hurricane with a leg drop off the middle rope and then Storm and Hurricane almost steal it with a double superkick but Jeff breaks it up. 

The ladies get involved as Molly enters first, followed by Lita and finally Ivory. Lita comes out on top and breaks up Storm’s single leg boston crab on Jeff with a diving hurricanrana off the top. Matt and Jeff follow up with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb combo to retain their Tag Team titles in a very good match which the crowd loved. Good opener.

Backstage, the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam arrives. He’s stopped by the new Alliance Commissioner William Regal who asks if he’ll be apolgising to Stone Cold for giving him a Five Star Frog Splash on Smackdown. He refuses, but does at least say that he’s NOT aligned with Vince McMahon despite getting out of his limo on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Vince McMahon arrives and after making Michael Cole help him put on his jacket (and telling him off for dropping it on the ground) he promises to make an impact tonight. Vince had been AWOL since just after Invasion until three days ago.

Kane (WWF) vs. Test (Alliance)

As Kane makes his entrance, JR points out that it’s almost 4 years to the day that we first saw Kane and it was in this same arena. Test has become one of the big names for the Alliance (despite having never wrestled anywhere but the WWF). 

This is a lumbering big man match but in an impressive early spot, Kane military presses the massive Test and throws him from the ring to the floor.

Test uses the ring bell as a weapon right to Kane’s head directly in view of the referee but as the referee is WCW’s Nick Patrick the crooked Alliance referee, he doesn’t call for the disqualification and the match continues.

Test beats down Kane in the ring with stomps and chokes and an impressive delayed vertical suplex. Both these guys are strong! 

After a slow back and forth with sidewalk slams and more suplexes, Kane scores with a chokeslam but Test kicks out! 

Test blocks a flying clothesline attempt and spikes Kane with his trademark pump handle slam. Kane kicks out! Test is frustrated and follows with his trademark big elbow drop off the top rope. Kane kicks out of that too. 

Test goes out to get himself a steel chair and Kane dropkicks it back in Test’s face! 

Kane tries to use the steel chair but the referee stops it. As Kane argues with him he falls prey to a low blow and a running Big Boot and THAT is enough to keep Kane down. A big victory for Test. I’m happy with that - they have big plans for Test in the immediate future and as I watch this in 2024, I find Glen Jacobs’ personal politics pretty abhorrent. Kick him in the head again, Test. 

Test leaves quickly and Kane sits up and in a fury, drills the corrupt referee with a chokeslam. He’s about to leave but thinks better of it and returns to drill him with a second, much harder chokeslam! Kane is about to leave again…but at the urging of the crowd goes back and drills him with a powerbomb for good measure! Don’t mess with Kane.

Backstage, Jonathan Coachman tries to get an interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Debra stops him at the door. She asks Steve if he’ll speak to Coach and he shouts that Kurt Angle is a sorry son of a bitch, and that RVD is a big piece of trash and that there is NO way he’ll lose the WWF title tonight. It’s funny as we hear him shout it and then Debra repeats it word for word.

Stacy Keibler is walking around backstage in a robe looking for The Dudleyz and stops to show off her lingerie to Matt Hardy and ask what he thinks. Lita shows up a few seconds later and Matt is understandably tongue tied.

Lingerie match

Torrie Wilson (WWF) vs. Stacy Keibler (Alliance)

What is a lingerie match? Well it’s a normal match but they’re wrestling in Lingerie. It gets a video package which is mostly the commentators being excited about lingerie over footage of the women standing around. You know what’s a real excitement killer? Hearing Michael Cole shout excitedly about underwear.

They haven’t confirmed on TV yet that Torrie Wilson is a member of the WWF roster yet but I’ve made the assumption based on her relationship with Tajiri and the fact that Stacy and The Dudleyz put her through a table a couple of weeks ago. She does have the WWF logo on the screens behind her during her entrance so that makes it official.

I’m not calling this blow for blow - it’s obviously not very good. Stacy has a little whip in her top which she uses as a weapon briefly. This “match” only lasted about three minutes and full credit to them, these two non-wrestlers clearly laid out and practiced this match to make it as good as it could be. I have no problem with these kinds of silly spectacle matches from time to time but it’s no secret that the on screen treatment of women during this era of wrestling is pretty problematic.

I can’t imagine either woman loved performing like this and having all these thousands of men whistle and shout things about their bodies. That’s sadly all I can really think about while seeing these two beautiful young women try their best.

Torrie reverses a sunset flip into a roll up of her own to win the match by pinfall. 

This might shock you after that match but I think the women’s division is in pretty good shape at the moment. Ivory, Molly, Lita and Jacqueline are all strong in ring performers who are regularly featured on TV and thanks to the Invasion storyline there’s been a reason for them all to wrestle without the need to revert back to the one-note, degrading kinds of stories that were so prevalent from 1998 - 2000. Trish has been missing for a while as she works on training and improving and we’ll see the return of the Women’s Championship and a nice moment for the women in general at Survivor Series. 

Michael Cole interviews Kurt Angle and asks what he thinks about the return of Mr. McMahon and his apparent support of Rob Van Dam, plus being here tonight. Kurt says he’s sure Vince has a plan but that’s not what he’s interested in - he’s focused on winning the match and the title. As he speaks, Vince walks in and wishes Kurt the best of luck and shakes his hand. Angle fires up and says he doesn’t need luck - he’s going to win the WWF title tonight no matter what.

Lillian Garcia interviews the newest Alliance member, WWF Intercontinental Champion Christian. He says that when they were a tag team, people said Edge would be a huge star but no matter how good he is, there’s always someone better. He’s better than Edge and segues into mocking the local sports teams. It’s all references I don’t get but it got the crowd booing. 

Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Christian (Alliance) © vs. Edge (WWF)

This brother vs brother match (which isn’t really brother vs. bother but I’ll get to that in a minute) is heated

I’ve said it before but My God I love Christian’s theme song here. Edge’s is good too (but opinion is far more divided on that)

This PPV marks the debut of the new Championship match graphics. Another end of an era but they’ve made quite a few graphic and visual upgrades to Raw and Smackdown lately so I guess it was inevitable. 

So yeah, let’s talk about it - these two aren’t really brothers. They are childhood best friends and one of my all time favourite tag teams but not blood relatives. I’m sure I talked about that when Christian first debuted but to be fair, they are as close as brothers in real life to this day.

Edge looks all business and strips off his ring jacket and sunglasses at the top of the ramp. Christian leaves the ring and rushes to meet him and the match starts with a fight on the outside of the ring.

They fight around and into the crowd and Christian is the first one to introduce the ladder. It’s dropkicked back in his face and Edge sets it up like a table between the ringsteps and security wall. Christian drops Edge ribs first across it, and then the two fight up to stand on it like a platform. Christian comes out of that worse when he’s knocked off his feet, landing crotch first straddling one of the rungs. Ouch.

He’s a little slow moving the ladder into the ring and Christian drops across it, slingshotting the ladder back into Edge’s face.

Christian is the first to climb the ladder but lands on his feet when Edge shoves it over and maintains his advantage, now focusing his attacks on the challenger’s ribs.

These two are very skilled and experienced ladder match performers but this is the first match to be a victim of the TLC effect - they use the ladder as a weapon, driving each other into it and the ladder into them and there’s some creative spots but compared to the absolutely wild spots and stunts we’ve seen previously it doesn’t get as big of a reaction from the fans as it should. 

With two ladders set up in the middle of the ring, both men climb and Edge brings Christian down from the ladder with his reverse X-Factor which he calls the Edgeomatic.

The two climb a second time and Christian returns the favor with his trademark reverse DDT from the ladder. 

Edge comes back and after setting up the ladder between two steel chairs like a hard, metal table he lays Christian across it and splashes him off the top rope. I bet that really hurt. 

Edge climbs and Christian uses a third ladder as a javelin, right into Edge’s kidneys to bring him back down.Christian climbs and Edge dives off the top rope and tackles him with a Spear all the way down to the mat. Both brothers are exhausted and climb together but the ladder topples and they fall from the ring all the way to the floor. Both men are so evenly matched in this environment. 

Christian is to his feet first and climbs the ladder but Edge stops him with a low blow from a steel chair - the same way Christian won the title last month at Unforgiven. 

Edge sets up the third ladder and in an awesome looking spot, sets up a steel chair and Christian’s head atop the ladder so he can perform a one man con-chair-to 10 feet in the air! Christian limply falls to the mat and Edge pulls down the Intercontinental title belt to regain his championship.

This was a very good match in my opinion which, as I mentioned, was hurt at the time by fans' unrealistic expectations after the TLC matches. Edge and Christian have both said in the years since that they were disappointed by this feud and this match but I think they’re both being overly critical of themselves. I liked it.

Live at WWF New York, Spike Dudley is throwing back shot after shot, drowning his sorrows after losing Molly Holly to The Hurricane and being injured by his brothers. Paul Heyman tries to rub it in but a beautiful supermodel type approaches Spike to distract him. “Molly who?” Good for Spike! 

WWF Tag Team Championships

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) (Alliance) © vs. The Big Show and Tajiri (WWF)

The Big Show has been a regular tag team with Spike Dudley recently but with Spike injured and Tajiri wanting revenge for The Dudleyz putting his girlfriend Torrie Wilson through a table, this match makes sense. Spike did wish them luck from WWF New York too. 

Big Show dominates The Dudleyz when he’s in the ring, throwing Bubba and D-Von around with ease. Tajiri flattens them with a diving front flip up and over the top rope and sends D-Von back in to be thrown around some more. 

The Dudleyz go get control of the match when Tajiri tags in and work him over in their corner but a hot tag to Big Show gets the challengers in the driver’s seat. 

Tajiri tags himself in just as Show is knocked out of the ring and to the floor but the Japanese Buzzsaw holds his own, taking down both champions with a double handspring elbow. He sprays his green mist at Bubba but he ducks and the referee takes the brunt of it! 

The Big Show drops Bubba with a chokeslam and has the pin but there’s no referee to count. The Dudleyz Alliance mate, WCW US Champion Rhyno runs down and Gores Big Show out of the ring! He’s taken out with a kick from Tajiri and he continues to hold his own, getting a close near fall with a kick to Bubba’s head but the two on one odds are too much and a 3D later, The Dudley Boyz retain their Tag Team titles thanks to Rhyno and some errant green mist. 

Backstage, Alliance Commissioner Regal thanks Rhyno for his actions and the US Champion says he’s sick of people not taking the Alliance seriously (they don’t? Probably shouldn’t acknowledge that on TV) and he’s going to change that single handedly. 

Shane McMahon and Test amp up Booker T for his match with The Undertaker. Booker has the most electrifying move in sports entertainment, the Spinarooni and after he beats Undertaker EVERYONE will respect Booker T. Again, probably shouldn’t acknowledge that no one respects you on TV.

The Undertaker (WWF) vs. Booker T (Alliance)

The Undertaker looks in much better shape this month to me. I thought he was looking a little big and soft but he’s in much more impressive condition here. 

Booker T jumps him the second he gets off his motorbike and the match begins on the outside, brawling around the ring. Undertaker gets the better of that exchange and brings the 5 time WCW Champion into the ring for the match to begin properly. 

The Undertaker focuses his attack on Booker’s arm, lifting him into the air via a wrist lock which is a spot these two have done together a lot, and using armbars on the mat. Undertaker has started using a lot more submissions in his repertoire - he’s a big MMA fan in real life and clearly thought his matches needed something new.

Booker T rallies and on the outside, gains control of the match.

He’s very driven to beat the Undertaker and goes to use the ring bell just like Test did earlier. This match is officiated by WWF’s Tim White so he puts a stop to that and keeps it fair and within the rules. Kind of. They brawl over the security wall and fight into the crowd for a bit. Booker comes out on top of that exchange too and back in the ring gets a close near fall with a missile dropkick off the top rope.

There’s nothing technically wrong with this match but it’s not very exciting as both men go back and forth with big moves and near falls. 

Booker takes out Undertaker with a big jumping heel kick and takes the opportunity to show us all the most electrifying move in sports entertainment, the Spinarooni! 

As Taker gets back into the ring he’s caught with a Scissors Kick and Undertaker actually has to use the ropes to save himself from a three count.

Booker backs Undertaker into the corner with mounted punches but it backfires as when he stops to pose, Undertaker moves quickly to lift Book out of the corner and bring him down with a Last Ride! The Undertaker wins but thankfully Booker T did at least look strong in defeat. 

As Chris Jericho makes his way through the backstage area Johnathan Coachman tries to get a last minute comment but Y2J says that he has to go and finally win the big one.

WCW Championship 

The Rock (WWF) © vs. Chris Jericho (WWF)

This match has come about in the last couple of weeks and got heated and personal very quickly. Two big personalities and short tempers on the WWF side of things.

As part of his evolution to a serious main eventer, Chris Jericho has stopped cutting promos during his walk to the ring. He does still have a long list of mostly sexual insults to lay into Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley with though. JR mentions during The Rock’s entrance that he lost the WWF title at No Mercy last year. Maybe this event is cursed? He won his match at No Mercy 1999 but he did also get brutally attacked by Triple H with a sledgehammer that same night so…

The two lock up and start the match with some clean wrestling exchanges and holds. JR spends a lot of time talking about former WCW and NWA champions, mostly from teh 80s when he personally worked there. Paul Heyman really emphasises that the WCW’s lineage goes back further than any other title in wrestling, which is also true. They really want the WCW Championship to feel as important as possible.

The two exchange whips and arm drags, locking each other in arm bars but it’s Jericho who turns it into a brawl first, getting frustrated and slapping The Rock and raining punches on him before choking him on the ropes.

Both these men are fan favourites but usually in those situations its always The Rock who is the default good guy. In their exchanges on Raw and Smackdown over the past few weeks I was shocked how often The Rock was getting booed for attacking Y2J, and in turn Jericho cheered for attacking The Rock. I think fans at his point were excited to see Jericho - who had been on the main event bubble without breaking through for a while at this point - finally step up to the next level. Fittingly, that’s the storyline they’ve told on TV too. 

Jericho beats up The Rock on the outside and gets the first significant near fall with a diving reverse elbow from the top rope. 

This match being babyface vs. babyface and WWF vs. WWF frees up Heyman and JR to put their bickering and characters to one side and call this match straight up which is nice to hear for a change. 

Jericho dominates for several minutes with chops and kicks and at this point the difference in crowd reaction becomes clear as there’s loud boos from the men in the audience when The Rock fights back with a flying clothesline. 

The Rock turns up the pressure and with a series of suplexes and throws, has his turn in the driver’s seat and grinds down Y2J on the mat with a long sleeper hold. Jericho stops his arm from falling three times and tries to fight back but is shut down quickly and sent flying to the corner with a slingshot. The Rock settles into basically working heel, controlling the smaller Jericho with a slow-paced offence. 

Jericho comes back and out of nowhere, gives The Rock a Rock Bottom! He follows up with a Lionsault and that should be all but The Rock kicks out, much to Y2J’s shock. Jericho tries to taunt The Rock with a People’s Elbow but The Rock moves out of the way and takes Jercho down into a Sharpshooter!

Jericho is a long way from the ropes but holds on for a long time and just barely makes it to the ropes to break the hold. That gets another loud mixed reaction, which is getting louder and MORE mixed as the match progresses.

The Rock is worked up and goes to clear off the Spanish announce table, wanting to finish Jericho once and for all. JR is sure to note that this match has been pretty clean and technical so far but is now ramping up in intensity and violence. 

The Rock drives his challenger through the announce table with a Rock Bottom with fury. It looked brutal, great job to both men for that. 

The Rock looks pissed as he loads a helpless Jericho into the ring, hitting him with stiff punches as he does. He stalks Y2J for a Rock Bottom which is sure to end this but Jericho blocks it with elbows to the head. He runs into a spinebuster which he can’t block and The Rock takes aim with the People’s Elbow. Jericho avoids the contact and catches the champion’s leg, turning it into a Walls of Jericho! 

The Rock holds on for a long time but Stphanie McMahon Helmsley runs down with a steel chair. She hates both men but hates Jericho more! Her sliding into the ring distracts Jericho and breaks the hold but The Rock doesn’t appreciate the help and drills her with a Rock Bottom! 

Jericho capitalises and with the referee distracted getting Stph out of the ring, he grabs The Rock from behind and drives his head into the steel chair with a face first take down. That’s enough to keep The Rock down and despite Stephanie’s efforts, Chris Jericho has finally won the big one and for the first time in his career holds a World title - the WCW Championship!

Jericho taunts Steph with the belt and celebrates as The Rock stands behind him holding the chair accusingly. He gts in Jericho’s face who looks afraid - he has a look on his face like a naughty child who’s been caught out! The Rock hands Jericho the steel chair and leaves. He was making a point. Y2J celebrates in the ring holding both the title belt and the chair he used to win it above his head. 

Before we get into the main event, I want to talk about Rob Van Dam. He is easily the breakout star of this Invasion so far and the only new face that has fully connected with the fans. He was pushed as a top guy in ECW and really I’ve never found a satisfactory explanation as to why he wasn’t snapped up by WCW or WWF before. He is popular, charismatic and has an awesome, awe inspiring move set. The innovative ways he uses weapons and his own body during hardcore matches in particular made him a fan favourite and elevated the Hardcore Championship. His run with it, and his interactions and matches with multiple main events was the highest profile that title ever was. It is a huge show of faith in the man and a testament to how much he’d impressed WWF management that he was elevated to the level of feuding with Austin and Angle by this stage in his career. You could argue that he should have won a World title years before he finally did, but we’ll talk about his career and where it may or may not have gone wrong in due course (if the website ever gets to that point). 

WWF Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin (Alliance) © vs. Kurt Angle (WWF) vs. WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam (Alliance)

Before we get into this match there’s a long, lingering shot of the sign on Mr. McMahon’s office door. What impact will Vince have tonight? 

They have empathised all night that this match is now a no disqualification match. In modern wrestling it’s taken for granted that multiman matches are all by default no countout and no disqualification (if Kurt was DQ’d, who would then win? It never made sense) but in 2001 they still had to spell it out. 

I’ve mentioned the updated graphics for the Championship matches already but the one for the WWF title match, while fine, made me miss the old ones. I got very used to seeing that classy silver writing before title matches over the past three years. Covering the Attitude era means I’ve seen those graphics come and go! 

Austin gets in RVD’s face before the bell rings and seems to be making sure his Alliance subordinate is on his side and going to help him win. Kurt breaks up the chat with suplexes, throwing Austin and Van Dam around the ring. He’s shut down by a double team by Austin and RVD who stomp and kick and work together on the Olympian. Once he’s out of the ring, RVD and Stone Cold get face to face but don’t come to blows. There’s a long period of taunting and posing and teasing it but Angle attacks RVD from behind getting himself back into the match. 

Austin and RVD finally come to blows when the Rattlesnake attacks RVD from behind as he brawls with Angle. The three of them move at a rapid pace and there’s no real time to call any of what's happening. As soon as two of them start to wrestle, the third man is there to stop it.

Austin is the first man to get any control as he drives Kurt into the ring post and then wraps Van Dam’s legs around the post. 

Kurt tackles him into the crowd and the bawl in amongst the people for a bit before coming back to ringside. Van Dam dives from the top rope with a flip and takes out both men but honestly it looked like they did a terrible job of catching him and he landed stiff on his lower back. 

He shrugs that off and drops a leg from the announce table onto Stone Cold and keeps things in the ring with Kurt.

Kurt gets an near fall with his lovely moonsault on Van Dam, Austin is the first man to hit his finisher with a Stunner on Angle but RVD breaks that up, RVD hits a split legged moonsault on Austin but Kurt breaks that up, Kurt hits an Angle slam on Van Dam but Austin breaks that up! It’s frantic action here but never boring. Very difficult to describe without me just listing moves though! Slow it down lads. 

Stone Cold tries a piledriver on the announce table but Kurt backdrops out of it! The table doesn’t break.

Van Dam comes over the ropes and takes out Kurt and with all three men on the floor, Vince McMahon walks down to ringside.

RVD tries to capitalise in the ring but Kurt counters with a superplex. Austin gets into the ring and drops Kurt with a Stunner but Angle bounces to the outside and he can’t pin him.

Stone Cold stalks RVD for a Stunner and at that point, Mr. McMahon strikes and blasts Austin in the back with a steel chair shot! 

RVD comes off the top rope with a Five Star Frog Splash as Vince desperately tries to get Kurt back into the ring, which he does and breaks the pin.

Kurt punishes RVD with German suplex after German suplex as it becomes clear that Austin is bleeding from the back of his head thanks to that chair shot by Vince. 

Kurt drops Rob with an Angle slam and has the title won but Shane McMahon sprints to the ring and stops it, throwing Kurt out of the ring and into the ring post.

VInce tackles his son sending them both flying up and over the announce desk! 

The McMahon’s are fighting, Angle is down and a bloody Rattlesnake drops RVD with a Stone Cold Stunner. Austin wins and retains the title as a horrified Vince looks on from ringside realising that he was too distracted by Shane and missed his chance to stop it! 

With an angry Angle in the ring, an angry Vince standing on the announce desk, Shane and RVD both down and out the PPV ends with a bloody, exhausted Rattlesnake still the WWF Champion laying on the entrance ramp. JR asks the question - can Austin and the Alliance survive now that Mr. McMahon is back to lead the WWF hands on? I guess we’ll find out next month!