No Way Out 2001 - Thomas & Mack Centre, Paradise Nevada, February 21st, 2001

The third edition of No Way Out. They skipped this PPV in favour of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999. No Way Out was a regular PPV up until 2012 where it was replaced by Elimination Chamber. “No Way Out” is also a very fitting name for a PPV headlined by multiple Elimination Chamber matches though so they should bring it back.

Trivia - this is the last PPV of the Monday Night Wars. ECW died in January and WCW would be dead by Wrestlemania (a LOT more on that in the next Preview) and so this is the last WWF event booked and promoted with direct competition. This early 2001 string of PPVs are widely regarded as the pinnacle of the Attitude era in both the sense that it marks the end but also in terms of quality - lots of hot storylines reaching their crescendo and providing some of the best quality matches of the entire period. 

The opening video package spends about 20% of its time on the WWF title match, and then the remaining 80% on the final battle between Stone Cold and Triple H. Not my favourite, but even the bad ones are great;

WWF Hardcore Championship

Raven © vs. The Big Show

Big Show returned last month at the Royal Rumble, and this PPV marks the 2nd anniversary of his WWF debut. Big Show has mostly been in the mix with Kurt Angle and The Rock and the WWF title in the run up to this match but crossed paths with Raven and easily won a number one contender multi-man match to earn this PPV title shot.

Raven’s mysterious ninja woman in black jumps Show during his entrance but is easily fought off. It does give Raven an opening to spray him with a fire extinguisher and “blind” the giant but he shrugs that off and fights Raven down to the ring and throws him around.

The champion uses the fire extinguisher again and escapes into the ring but he’s jumped by Crash Holly disguised as a concession worker with a stop sign who almost wins the title using the 24/7 rule. Show sends him packing, but the arrival of Steve Blackman and Hardcore Holly keeps things chaotic.

As they hammer him with trash cans and kendo sticks they FINALLY knock Show off his feet (he has actually been booked great and strong since his Rumble return) The One Billy Gunn slides into the ring and plants Raven with a Famerasser and covers to win the Hardcore title using the 24/7 rule. 

Billy isn’t able to celebrate as he’s instantly attacked by Blackman and Hardcore who lay him out with a double team leg drop off the top rope. Big Show fights those two out of the ring and Raven slips in and covers Gunn to regain the Hardcore title.

The ninja woman runs down to try and help her man but is followed by Molly Holly who she’s been kind of feuding with and Molly takes her out with a shot to the back of the head. The ninja in black made a couple more appearances on Raw and Smackdown but this is her one and only PPV appearance. It was X-Pac and Kane’s former girlfriend Tori under the mask and I thought this pairing with Raven had legs so I’m not sure why it went nowhere. I guess she wasn’t very popular backstage. She was released from the WWF in June and subsequently retired from the wrestling business entirely. She was a key character for a year or so and was a fully fledged member of D-Generation X for several months - something that was never mentioned again and has been entirely forgotten.

In the ring, Big Show chokeslams Raven through a trash can and pins him to win the Hardcore title. That’s the third and final Hardcore title change and The Big Show is the new Hardcore Champion! A chaotic and short brawl.

As Show leaves, Billy Gunn attacks him again but it's weird and stiff and neither of them really sells for the other so it really looks like Gunn just went into business for himself at the end here.

Kurt Angle arrives in a limo and is cornered by Kevin Kelly in the parking lot. Kurt asks if Kevin wants to ask him about his title match tonight and Kevin replies “No actually I want to know how you feel about your match tonight”. What? 

Ahead of the Intercontinental title match, Lilian Garcia interviews the two Radicals - Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Eddie is focused on revenge on Y2J for injuring his back and putting him out for two months. That’s actually X-Pac’s motivation too. Benoit says that he and Eddie will co-exist and one of them will win the Intercontinental Championship.

Fatal Four Way match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Chris Jericho © vs. Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. X-Pac

Chris Jericho enters first. This match on paper was thrown together the week before the show but there’s actually a ton of story going into it. Guerrero and Benoit are friends, Eddie and X-Pac both want revenge on Y2J for injuring them, X-Pac returned with a new sidekick in ECW’s Justin Credible, Benoit lost the title to Jericho last month. All of that plus the fact that all four of these guys at this stage in their career were fabulous in-ring performers makes this an exciting addition to the card.

Eddie and Benoit first bump before entering the ring and split their efforts with Eddie going right for the champion and Benoit going right to X-Pac. The first man to score a pinfall or submission wins the Intercontinental title.

Jericho gets the first cover with a clothesline on Latino Heat but Benoit quickly breaks that up and chops the hell out of his old rival in the corner. The two Radicals double team the champion, whipping him from corner to corner and following with chops and kicks.

This PPV is the one year anniversary of Benoit and Guerrero (along with Saturn and Malenko) making their WWF PPV debuts. 

X-Pac enters and takes out both Radicals with spinning heel kicks which gets a cheer, but then knocks down Jericho too which gets a boo. 

The Radicals turn their two on one efforts to X-Pac but Jericho trips Eddie on the top rope and as Jericho and Benoit fight on the outside, X-Pac tries a superplex on Eddie.

He’s shoved back down into the ring and Guerrero follows with a Frog Splash and might have the title won but Jericho breaks up the pin.

There’s the first sign of dissension between Eddie and Benoit as Benoit has Jericho pinned and Eddie casually puts his foot on the rope to break the pin, unbeknownst to his partner. 

X-Pac kicks up Benoit with a really good looking spinning heel kick (basically his only move to be fair so you’d expect them to look good) but Jericho stops him from a Bronco Buster with a missile dropkick.

Benoit hammers Jericho with a bridging German suplex but this time Eddie is more blatant about breaking up the cover and that leads to the two Radicals coming to blows. Eddie gets the better of the exchange, dumping Benoit right on top of his head with a hurricanrana while Jericho suplexes X-Pac on the outside of the ring.

Eddie gets a near fall on Benoit with a brainbuster in the ring as X-Pac sends Jericho into the ring steps. Both men are down on the outside and so Eddie follows with a second brainbuster on Benoit and goes for a Frog Splash but Benoit stops it with some punches and brings his buddy back down with a great looking superplex.

Eddie rolls to the outside as Jericho comes in to trade chops with Benoit. The action is non-stop as with four men involved there’s no reason for anyone to sell - get out of the way and let someone else fight. 

Benoit and Jericho trade near falls in the ring after chops and clotheslines as Eddie and X-Pac brawl on the outside and run each other into the ring steps and announce table.

Jericho rolls through a German suplex attempt and gets Benoit into a Walls of Jericho but Eddie rushes him so he releases and drops him into a Walls of Jericho. X-Pac tries the same and gets a third Walls of Jericho. That was a nice spot.

Justin Credible runs down to save X-Pac and so Jericho releases and knocks him off the apron. Benoit gets a near fall with a German suplex but is dragged out of the ring and dropped with a double superkick from Pac and Credible. 

Jericho gets a near fall with a Lionsault on Eddie but X-Pac breaks that up.

X-Pac gets a near fall with an X-Factor but Benoit breaks that up. Benoit knocks down Credible again and gets Pac in the Crippler Crossface but Eddie breaks that up with a beautiful flip into a neck breaker on Benoit. 

Benoit ducks a clothesline and drops Eddie with a back suplex and follows with a diving headbutt but then stumbles right into a heel kick from X-Pac.

He takes a moment to celebrate and it costs him as Jericho rolls up X-Pac for the final three count to retain his Intercontinental title in a very good, fast faced fatal fourway. Great stuff from all four men.

It is time.

Let us talk about the XFL!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFL_(2001)

The first game was on February 3rd, 2001. It got a LOT of promotion on WWF television with multiple video packages on both Raw and Smackdown and to its credit, got strong ratings for that first game.

The issue is that football fans hated the premise - it was “boring football with a tawdry presentation” and it was largely ignored by most sports journalists and utterly panned by the ones who did cover it. 

They focused on things like the cheerleaders, the “violence” of the game (a player was injured in the opening scramble for the ball in the very first game) and even promoting a rivalry between commentator Jesse Ventura and one of the team’s coaches with an honest to God PPV-style video package like they were building to a match. Embarrassing.

It got so bad that the WWF had commentators on TV defending them, arguing back with the critics by name and straight up begging fans to call their local radio stations etc to request more XFL coverage. To my surprise, those segments are all in tact on the WWE Network versions of the shows.

The final game was on April 21st, 2001 and the XFL was then shelved. The ratings fell off a cliff so quickly that NBC - Vince’s co-owners in the venture - had already pulled the plug and told him to find a new channel to broadcast games the following season, something he was unable to do and seeing the writing on the wall, probably didn’t even try.

Here’s a comedy skit Vince himself did making fun of the league

In Mr. McMahon’s office, he tells off William Regal - this Stephanie and Trish match tonight was his idea. Stephanie is Vince’s baby girl, and Trish is his “very good friend”. He says that Regal better do “the right thing” which leaves William with a very difficult choice. What IS the right thing?

Live from WWF New York, European Champion Test weighs on in the next match. He’s got history with both of them. He hopes they beat the hell out of each other and steals Jericho’s “trash bag ho” patter. 

Both women get the backstage “walking to the ring” shots too. This has a big fight feel considering it’s a battle between two heel non-wrestlers! 

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs. Trish Stratus

The video package for this one does a better job of recapping how we got here than I can but the big thing they miss is that the original story was of Stephanie being very jealous of Trish. They downplayed that later on presumably because head of creative Steph didn’t like being portrayed that way.

This PPV is the debut of Trish’s solo theme music. She’d been using T&A’s old music up until now. She’s also wearing a mink coat which is presumably a gift from her “good friend” Vince. 

This is just a cat fight as Stephanie pulls Trish’s hair and throws her around the ring while the Canadian screams for mercy. Mrs. Triple H is booked super strong.

They fight to the outside and Trish reverses a charge and sends Steph up and over the raining into the crowd, but she comes back with a slap and then a diving clothesline from the security wall! 

Trish hangs Steph up on the ropes as they re-enter the ring and drills her with a running bulldog. Trish eventually became one of the best women’s wrestlers of all time but she’s still very early in her training here.

Trish gets a big boo from the crowd when she adjusts her shorts to cover up her butt a little more, but gets them back onside with a nice looking DDT for a near fall! 

Trish climbs to the middle rope and chokes Stephanie, lifting her kicking legs off the mat which looks like a good spot, but Steph snapmares Trish off the top rope which has both women down. This is shockingly competent considering the people involved.

On the outside, Steph throws Trish into the announce table and then throws JR’s pitcher of water all over her (which gets a huge cheer from the savages and perverts in the crowd) but all it seems to do is make Trish angry. She fires up and beats up Steph before throwing her inside. She tries a hurricanarana but Steph blocks it into a powerbomb! That gets a near fall.

Stephane tries to pull Trish’s clothes off which gets a massive cheer from the crowd - it was all doing so well until she made it trashy again. Trish fixes her clothes and the pair charge at each other and dive into a double hair pull/Matrix spot with both women going down.

William Regal makes his way to ringside and knocks down the referee. He gets into the ring and puts Trish into a cover, but when the referee gets to two he puts Steph’s foot on the ropes. Regal doesn’t know WHAT to do! He gets in the ring where Trish slaps him, so he drops her with a neckbreaker and leaves and that allows Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to win a surprisingly good match. Regal seems content that he picked correctly and did the right thing as Stephanie taunts a fallen Trish. 

This is one of the better non-wrestler vs. non-wrestler matches in history. Trish’s training is obviously starting to pay off! 

The first commercial for Wrestlemania X7 airs on this PPV and it’s pretty great. It’s emotional and dramatic and genuinely gave me goosebumps so you can have it too.

When William Regal gets backstage, Mr. McMahon screams at him. “I thought you knew what I wanted!” He books a match for tomorrow night on Raw - William Regal and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs. Vince McMahon and Trish Stratus! 

It was all over TV in the weeks before this show and it is plugged relentlessly during this PPV so let's talk about it - WWF The Music volume 5. On the surface, it was a compilation of WWF Superstars entrance themes and to that end, it's a damn good one. My issue with it - and the main promotional push for it - centred on The Rock’s debut as a solo artist “Pie” which is a comedy song loaded with innuendo about loving “Pie” which for anyone who has missed the memo, means “vagina”. The song has multiple issues but the main ones are the casual racism towards Chinese people - something I’ve called The Rock out for before - and the fact that it’s not funny. Terrible. 

Two out of Three Falls match

Triple H vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

1st Fall - Normal match

2nd Fall - Street Fight rules

3rd Fall (if needed) - Steel Cage match

An awesome video package for this one as you’d expect. I’ve included their pre-match walk to the ring partly for atmosphere.

I talked a lot about Triple H evolving into his main eventer final form in 1999 and even early 2000 but watching his entrance here with Motorhead’s The Game blaring it strikes me that here in February of 2001 he was arguably the best in the world at what he does. THIS is Triple H’s final form and this presentation would remain untouched for the next 15 - 20 years of his career.

Stone Cold forgoes all his usual pageantry and runs to the ring attacking Triple H with a barrage of punches. They’ve been unable to touch but been provoking each other relentlessly for weeks and weeks and its all spilling out here. 

Austin beats Triple H from pillar to post in the early going as the fans chant “Austin”. I’ve commented before that Stone Cold isn’t as popular post neck surgery as he was before but they are deafening for the Rattlesnake here.  

Austin tries this Thez press but too close to the ropes and Triple H hangs him across the top rope. 

He tries for a Pedigree but Austin counters with an arm breaker, seemingly content to out-wrestle The Game in this straight wrestling match.

He makes me look silly for saying it by taking the fight immediately to the outside but he does at last continue the focus on the arm, wrapping it around the ring post. 

It pays off as Triple H goes for a second Pedigree but his arm is too hurt to hook Austin up and the delay lets Austin get control again and go right to the arm. 

Stone Cold is all over Triple H and so far he’s sticking to the format for this match that was laid out - this first fall is very much a classic wrestling match with focus on a limb and counters for counters.

Stone Cold tries his diving elbow attack from the middle rope but The Game gets his foot up right under Austin’s jaw and follows with a swinging neck breaker. 

It’s been commented on before but it's my turn to call it out - these two men are bellowing spots at each other. Stone Cold is a little hard of hearing and the fans in the arena are so loud they’re having to shout the next sequence to each other at full volume. 

Triple H focuses his attack on Austin’s legs, working them over with elbow drops and wrapping them against the apron and the ring post on the outside. It's effective as Austin limps around the ring and is taken down with a chop block. 

Austin fights back with punches but The Game kicks his knee out from under him to stop the assault and locks Austin in a Figure Four leglock which he keeps the Rattlesnake in for a long time and even grabs the ropes for extra leverage behind the referee’s back. You don’t see that spot anymore.

Stone Cold manages to roll over and reverse the pressure and the fans explode - they are absolutely white hot for this match. Even with his popularity waning a little, everyone on the planet seemed to want to see Stone Cold kill Triple H in this final confrontation. 

Triple H hurts his own elbow as he drops it onto Austin’s knee and that lets Stone Cold fight back. That’s such a clever, logical spot. 

Austin hammers Triple H in the corner and catches him with a Thez press and big rebound elbow on the second attempt.

Austin stalks Triple H for a Stunner but he counters it by shoving Stone Cold into the corner and then catching him with a neckbreaker.

Triple H is already a little bloody, presumably from the endless stream of punches to the forehead.

After a back and forth of rollups, Triple H dives off the middle rope at the Rattlesnake but he's met with a boot to the gut and a Stone Cold Stunner and Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the first fall. We then move quickly to the next fall - a street fight!

They waste no time as Austin throws Triple H to the outside and suplexes him onto the metal entrance ramp. 

He fights Triple H around the ring and blasts him in the head with one of the heavy TV monitors off the announce desk which well and truly busts Triple H wide open. 

Stone Cold throws a bunch of steel chairs into the ring as The Game tries to leave, running through the crowd. Austin follows and they brawl into the stands amongst the people. 

In the ring, Austin hammers Triple H across the back with a steel chair over and over and over, driving it into his back and knees and legs and shoulder. He hammers The Game until he’s not moving and then…he hits him with it some more! 

That amazingly only gets a two count.

Stone Cold takes the fight back to the outside and from under the announce desk finds a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire! That gets a “Foley” chant which I love to hear.

Triple H blocks the shot and hits Austin with it instead which busts him wide open and sends him flying over the announce desk. That takes JR off commentary for a while as Triple H beats on the bloody Rattlesnake on the announce table.

He sets up a Pedigree on the announce table but Austin backdrops out of it and sends Triple H flying through the other announce desk, crushing it with his lower back and crashing to the concrete. That looked like it really hurt Triple H’s lower back.

Austin grabs a beer, opens it for a drink and then hits Triple H with it before mounting him for more punches.No mercy from the Rattlesnake. Referee Earl Hebner keeps getting in the way and in Austin’s face to break it up until he finally chases him off screaming “get the fuck out of my face!” I hope that was real. I hate Earl.

Back in the ring, Triple H hits a desperate shot with the ring bell, which gets a two count and follows with a neck breaker into the steel chair. Austin kicks out again! 

Triple H goes for a Pedigree but is backdropped over the ropes instead and Austin follows by getting a steel chair and just hitting Triple H right in the head with a brutal chair shot, followed by one from the ring steps right to the head. They’re trying to kill each other and even though they are both covered in blood, Stone Cold seems to have the upper hand so far.

There’s so much rubble at ringside, Triple H trips over the time keepers table as he looks for his sledgehammer which he finds under the announce desk - JR and King hilariously blame each other for having hid it for him.

He takes aim with the hammer but Stone Cold saves himself with a low blow and takes the right and the sledgehammer into the ring. 

Austin stomps Triple H in the corner and collapses into the ropes. Both men are exhausted. 

Triple H reverses a whip off the ropes and manages to grab his hammer and hit Austin in the head with his classic muzzled hammer shot, followed by a Pedigree. Triple H wins the second fall, tying it up and taking it to the third fall, a steel cage match! 

The cage lowers quickly, and the ring is already full of weapons, both men soaked in their own blood. This match can now end via escaping the cage or by pin fall and it’s all locked up at 1 - 1. 

With the cage down, Triple H throws Austin into the steel, and then grinds him with the 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire. Stone Cold fights out of it by swinging a steel chair up into Triple H’s face and returns the favour running The Game into the cage and thn grinding his head with the barbed wire! 

Triple H gets some separation with a DDT which gets a near fall. These two men are absolutely spent and exhausted. They’ve been fighting for well over 30 minutes and been bleeding for most of it. Austin hammers Triple H with punches until he collapses and gets a near fall.

Triple H tries to escape the cage, climbing to the top rope. Austin follows and the fight on the top rope driving each other’s heads into the cage until Austin falls and lands in a low blow across the top rope. Austin is back up quickly and launches Triple H from the top rope with a slam which gets another near fall.

Austin goes for a Stunner but it's countered. Triple H catches Austin with a Pedigree! It’s over and everyone knows it but amazingly Stone Cold kicks out! That actually gets a little boo from some of the crowd - they seemed to find that booking of Austin a little too unrealistically strong. 

Triple H hits Austin with a stiff chair shot to the face and tries to set up another Pedigree but Austin counters with a slingshot to the cage and a Stone Cold Stunner! Awesome selling as both men are so tired Triple H slumps forward and collapses into it. It’s Triple H’s turn to kick out! (and get some boos for it). 

The two stumble to their feet and with Austin swinging the 2x4 and Triple H swinging his sledgehammer, they hit each other at the same time and collapse but as fate would have it, Triple H lands on top and gets the three count! Triple H technically wins the match but really, this match is as close to a draw as you can get. Both men are down and out and unmoving (until some asshole in the crowd throws a piece of trash into the ring, hitting Austin in the head and causing him to flail onto his front.

This was an incredible match - a 40 minute war with both men bleeding heavily and trying to kill each other that ends with a Triple H victory where both men look very strong. After a long period of laying on their back, as they struggle to their feet using the ropes, Austin gets the last word as he drops The Game with one last Stone Cold Stunner and it's his theme music that plays as he leaves. 

Amazingly this is the end of this rivalry and is another big end of an era - this is these two men’s last ever match against each other. They will be on opposing teams in a tag team match on Raw on March 5th, and would cross paths in the 2002 Royal Rumble match and that, as they say, is your lot. They had more than their share of great matches together and this is a fitting end because this match is awesome.

Jerry “The King” Lawler (w/The Kat) vs. Steven Richards (w/WWF Women’s Champion Ivory)

If Jerry Lawler wins, The Kat can get naked.

If Steven Richards wins, The Kat must join the Right to Censor.

A dramatic shift in tone after that last match as we move now to silliness. See, The Kat wants to get naked on TV (because that’s how you know women in the Attitude era are babyface, they want to take their clothes off. Like Chyna in Playboy or Lita stripping to her undies at WWF New York) and The Right to Censor keep stopping her. 

What’s funny is that there’s actually a seed of a good idea here but I think I said it best during the Preview; There’s a message about censorship and freedom of expression in here but it comes out as a trashy storyline where a dirty old man who doesn’t respect women just wants them to get their boobs out because that’s all they’re good for.

I’ve grown intensely sick of Jerry Lawler’s commentary lately. I mentioned it before but his casual racism and misogyny has aged like milk anyway but in particular during the Lita and Dean Malenko storyline he was insufferable, especially after basically turning babyface last summer against Tazz.

Speak of the devil, Tazz comes out to take King’s place on commentary. Lawler has disappeared backstage so that he can make his full entrance along with The Kat. Tazz will be sticking around on commentary for the rest of the show and he’s actually really respectful of both JR and King during this match. He’s cheering on King not just because he wants to see Kat naked, but because he respects Lawler after their battles a few months ago. 

Lawler is in some of the ugliest ring gear I’ve ever seen for this match. He rocks Richards with some punches, and then some more punches and the leader of the RtC bails to the outside.

Richards actually loses his shirt and gets fired up for this “match” which consists entirely of punches and throwing Steven in and out of the ring. An argument on the outside between Kat and Ivory distracts King and Richards runs his head into the ring post for a near fall.

He draws inspiration from his stable mate, mimicking The Goodfather’s old “ho-train” in the corner but misses and gets over twenty punches in the corner (with the fans counting along) and a running bulldog for a near fall.

Richards tries to use a steel chair behind the referee’s back but gets a low blow and a pair of DDTs instead. Ivory distracts the referee which brings Kat into the ring to protest. 

With the referee trying to get Kat and Ivory out of the ring (after King bodyslams the Women’s champion) Richards tries to use the women’s title belt behind his back.

He keeps missing, but when Kat tries to help she misses Richards’ head and knocks out King instead! Steven Richards wins and the rest of the RtC run down to the ring and abduct Kat, wrapping her up in a big black sack and carrying her to the back. Kat has to join the RtC and with her having accidentally cost King (her real life husband) the match, you could maybe see this storyline going somewhere.

We’ll never know what they had planned, as the storyline is quickly dropped when The Kat/Stacey Carter is released. Both she and King are still on Raw tomorrow night but we’ll say goodbye to her now. I mentioned it during the Preview but she had made herself VERY unpopular backstage and she was released from the company shortly after this PPV. Imagine how unpopular she must have been to get released mid-storyline?

Jerry Lawler is still on Raw is War tomorrow too night but did ultimately walk out of the company in solidarity with his wife. It was a huge miscalculation as not only would WCW close a few weeks later (his Plan B) but Kat would end up leaving the man who is double her age a few months later as well. He had a pretty public breakdown, posting love poems and begging her to come back on his personal website before returning to the WWF in November. He was never the same and actually got way worse which, considering how little I already think of his commentary, is saying something. But we’ll say goodbye to King when his replacement pops up.

Triple Threat Tag Team Tables match for the WWF Tag Team Championships

The Dudley Boyz © (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Undertaker and Kane

No video package but there is a short recap of the events leading into this match. 

The Undertaker and Kane enter first, followed by Edge and Christian. They stop half way down the ramp at the sight of Undertaker and Kane but that just leaves them trapped in the middle when Bubba Ray and D-Von enter last.

Edge and Christian slip out the side and go down to the ring to set up a table. Undertaker and Kane fight with The Dudleyz before throwing them off the side of the ramp and heading down to the ring to fight Edge and Christian.

It’s a night of ugly ring gear. I already mentioned Jerry Lawler’s but Undertaker is back to wearing his classic tights instead of the loose fitting pants he has been wearing as the American Badass. I don’t know why it looks so weird but it does.

The Brothers of Destruction bounce The Brothers of Awesomeness off the announce desk and drop them across the security wall until The Brothers of Dudley rejoin the fight. 

Undertaker and Kane set up for a dual powerbomb through the table but Bubba and D-Von are there with stiff chair shots to the back and then head to stop it. Bubba pretty clearly catches Undertaker on the back of the head with the edge of the chair which I think probably split the back of his head open. I bet he was pissed about that.

Edge and Christian stomp on Bubba’s crotch in the corner and isolate D-Von before grabbing a pair of chairs for a con-chair-to on Bubba. He ducks it and slingshots Edge into Christian before giving Edge the Wazzup headbutt. The fans are so insanely loud for this sequence that they blow out the arena mics. Incredible.

D-Von goes to get a chair but runs into Undertaker and Kane who beat him up with ease.

Christian gives Bubba an Unprettier (which didn’t have a name, and wasn’t established as his finisher yet and with The Dudleyz down, Undertaker and Kane fight with Edge and Christian in the ring.

Stereo big over-the-shoulder powerslams followed by stereo flying clotheslines off the top rope but again as someone goes to get a table the other team is waiting to fight them on the outside. Kane and Undertaker do manage to get a pair of tables into the ring and Edge and Christian roll to safety and leave the other team to fight in the ring.

The Dudleyz set up a 3D on Christian through the table but Undrtaker stops it. D-Von blocks a chokeslam to Christian through the table with a low blow to Taker, and then Kane saves his brother by flipping the table before Edge and Christian can double suplex him through it.

A pair of chokeslams to Edge and Christian followed by two more to Bubba Ray and D-Von and Taker and Kane have this match, seemingly, in the bag. 

As they set up a pair of powerbombs through tables, Rikishi and Haku appear to attack Undertaker and Kane! Very odd as while these teams DID have an intense rivalry, they haven’t interacted once since their Tag Team First Blood match on Smackdown Xtreme weeks ago.

With Rikishi and Haku fighting with Undertaker and Kane on the outside, Bubba sidesteps a Spear from Edge which sends him bouncing off a table in the corner (which doesn’t break) and then The Dudleyz finish Christian with a 3D through a table to win the match and retain the WWF Tag Team Championships in a fun tables match.

The inclusion of Rikishi and Haku at the end feels weird as that storyline was very much over. Undertaker and Kane haven’t even interacted with them since winning the tag team First Blood match on Smackdown Xtreme. I believe the plan was for those teams to do battle at Wrestlemania but that’s not how things pan out. 

WWF Championship

Kurt Angle © vs. The Rock

The winner of this match won’t just be WWF Champion, but they’ll be WWF Champion going into Wrestlemania and that is the real big deal. Kurt’s title reign has been up and down for him. He was almost never promoted as the focus of the show being beaten senseless by Triple H, The Rock, Steve Austin and Undertaker among others. He wins, yes but he’s been promoted as a goof who keeps getting lucky. It's a shame as he is one of the greatest in ring performers of all time and more so than that, is an incredible promo and character too. Of note, and you can see it showcased in the video package, is that Kurt has finally added the ankle lock to his move set as a signature move/second finisher. He became better known for the ankle lock and his submission skills than for the Olympic Slam and I think the reason is that it was around THIS time that the Olympics asked WWF to stop using the word on TV as they didn’t want to be associated. It was renamed the Angle Slam.

No pre-match comments from The Rock. He’s all business. He just says that Kurt’s title reign is over. 

The fans are, as expected, electric for the challenger. I think everyone knew that the main event of Wrestlemania was always going to be Rumble winner Austin against Champion Rock but in this era, with so much going on and so many twists and turns week to week, you’d never put money on it.

They get face to face and there’s a real big fight feel. Kurt swings with the WWF title belt but Rock ducks, throws a punch and we’re off to the races.

Rock is explosive with punches and clotheslines and a back elbow but does show off his wrestling skill with a side-Russian leg sweep for the first near fall.

Kurt comes back with a clothesline and the strategy is clear - he needs to wrestle. It’s odd having Tazz on commentary for the main event of a PPV but he does bring something unique as he gets quite analytical about wrestling. 

Angle quickly takes Rock down to an ankle lock and the challenger smartly scrambles to get to the ropes and break the hold. 

The Rock keeps trying to fight back with punches but before he can build any momentum, Angle shuts him down with a beautiful overhead belly to belly suplex. He follows with another and poses but pays for it when Rock fires back with one of his own and both men go down.

Rock throws more punches and runs through the champion with a big clothesline before locking in the sharpshooter. Angle gets to the ropes but his back is suffering. A Samoan drop gets a near fall and Kurt comes back with a back suplex. That’s the story of the match as Rock explodes with punches and WWF style offence but Kurt keeps shutting him down with wrestling moves.

Angle unwisely goes to the top rope and it backfires as he’s caught and Rock brings him down with a superplex which gets another near fall.

I’m not sure what caused it but at this point I noticed someone in the crowd being dragged out by security. What an idiot. They are in Las Vegas though so he won’t be the first or the last. 

Kurt throws Rock to the outside and brings him bac in and somewhere in there, Rock hurt his leg. He comes back with a desperate DDT and with both men down, the new Hardcore Champion The Big Show’s music plays. The big man was strongly involved in the WWF title picture before tonight and it was by beating Big Show that Rock got into this match. 

Big Show gives the referee a massive chokeslam, followed by one to Angle and finally one to The Rock. All three looked amazing, fair play to him. The Big Show leaves (with his music playing again) having laid out everyone in the ring. 

The music playing, the replays and the referee being down make it feel like the match and show are over but it is not.

A pair of referees come down and get the injured one out of the ring. Kurt crawls into a cover and after an eternity, Earl Hebner rolls into the ring and counts but The Rock kicks out.

In a very unbabyface move, The Rock goes and gets the WWF title belt and knocks out the champion with it. Kurt Angle kicks out! 

Angle takes down a staggered Rock into an ankle lock and wrenches and tears at his challenger's ankle, even dragging him back to the middle of the ring. “Tap out you son of a bitch or I’ll break your fucking ankle” screams Kurt which is all audible on the PPV (the F word is beeped on the WWE Network) but that is VERY unlike Kurt. He generally doesn’t even say “ass”! 

Rock gets to the ropes and Kurt shows off a very vicious streak stomping away at Rock’s leg and ankle.

Kurt lets him get up and charges right into a spinebuster. Rock follows with a People’s Elbow but amazingly Kurt Angle kicks out! The fans were so loud and convinced this was the end and loudly boo the kick out. They are at a fever pitch! 

Rock is favouring his leg and shoves referee Earl Hebner out of the way which allows Kurt to come back with a low blow and then remove the top turnbuckle cover exposing the metal bolt. 

Kurt drives Rock’s face into it and follows with the Olympic Slam but The Rock kicks out! That felt like the end for sure. There’s been some incredible false finishes here.

Kurt charges Rock and is run right into his own exposed turnbuckle! The Rock stalks and hits a Rock Bottom and it's over! The referee counts the three! Or does he? In a very well known botch, Earl Hebner stops counting at two and says Kurt kicked out even though no one moved. Earl strikes again, making this huge history making moment entirely about him and his terrible refereeing. The crowd boos. The Rock simply picks Kurt up, gives him a second Rock Bottom and covers - stopping to stare daggers at Earl first - for the final three count.

The Rock wins his sixth WWF Championship - making him the all time record holder at the time - and will go to Wrestlemania to defend against Stone Cold Steve Austin! 

Kurt Angle weeps as he leaves, utterly heartbroken to have lost the WWF Championship and leaves The Rock in the ring celebrating with his WWF title belt to close the show with JR already having moved on and screaming about the Wrestlemania main event.