Raw is War - September 24th, 2001

Leaderless Alliance

After a recap of last night’s Unforgiven main event (specifically, not the match itself - just Kurt’s victory celebration with his family and the WWF roster) we get a lone shot of the arena tonight’s parking lot. We are awaiting the arrival of the former WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. Paul Heyman doesn’t speak for the first few minutes of the broadcast and when he finally does it’s to threaten that when Stone Cold does arrive, we all have hell to pay. He’d continue to be ominous about Austin’s arrival every time his name came up. This went on all night long with regular shots of the parking lot as he had yet to arrive.

In the Alliance locker room while Booker T explains to RVD that he needs his WCW title back, Shane McMahon arrives and encourages them all to rally behind Stone Cold Steve Austin when he arrives.

He has a video tape and says he can prove that Austin didn’t really lose the title last night! Yes he did tap out to the ankle lock but he had his right hand underneath the bottom rope so the hold should have been broken! Shane says that Austin wasn’t the only one screwed by WWF referee Earl Hebner tonght - he and Booker T were as well! So tonight’s Raw is all about revenge. Stephanie McMahon walks in with a smile and assumes they’re assembled to celebrate her 25th birthday and says that tonight is about leadership by example and wants to single out a person that has impressed her and fulfilled all his promises last night (Booker T thinks she means him) - the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam! She gives herself a birthday present and gives RVD a WCW title match with The Rock tonight! Booker T seems pretty upset by that. Shane appeases him by giving him a WWF title match with Kurt Angle tonight! They’ve been pretty clear that Shane and Stephanie only have matchmaking power for the WCW titles and WWF Commissioner referee only has the matchmaking power for the WWF titles so I’m not sure how he can do that but we all know Kurt won’t turn down the challenge. Later, Shane amps up Booker T one on one and says him being screwed out of the WCW title could be a blessing in disguise as he can now focus on being the one-time WWF Champion. 

In the Alliance dressing room, Kanyon goes to see Rob Van Dam and asks him for some leadership advice. What if when Stone Cold arrives, he takes his anger on him? RVD tells him to chill and focus on all the Alliance title wins and victories we’re going to see tonight. He tells him to show his old confidence and go and beat Matt Hardy tonight. Who better than RVD? There’s more of these segments where Alliance members go to see Van Dam while he warms up and treat him like the new leader, asking him for advice. Raven is the next to do so and RVD gives him a pep talk after his loss at Unforgiven. Stephanie McMahon continues to be flirty with him and heap uncomfortable praise on him, adding that if he wins the WCW title tonight he will officially be the new leader of the Alliance. He seems quite taken with that idea. 

Shane McMahon calls Earl Hebner into his locker room later and tells him off for both screwing her and Booker T out of the WCW title (he shouldn’t have been officiating a match for a WCW Championship) and then shows Earl the footage of Austin’s tap out - he did have his right hand under the bottom rope! Hebner calls it an “honest mistake”, at least admitting that it was a mistake but his decision stands and Kurt Angle is the new WWF Champion. Shane warns him there better not be any more little mistakes in the Angle/Booker match next, and that he better be missing when Stone Cold arrives later.

Kurt Angle defends his newly won WWF Championship against Booker T. It’s kind of hilarious hearing JR heap praise on the former villain as this true-blue American hero now that he’s a babyface. I do wonder if he’d have still won the title if not for the swell of patriotism after the 9/11 Terrorist attacks but I have to believe him winning the title in his hometown was always the plan - it was a great moment. Booker T is solo tonight - JR explains that Commissioner Regal has banned Shane from ringside for this match. Booker focuses his attack on the neck of the champion and even with a shot from the WWF title belt behind the referee’s back, Kurt kicks out and powers Booker into an ankle lock for the submission victory. 

Before the main event, Michael Cole interviews The Rock who barely mentions his opponent and instead focuses on Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley’s birthday and making fun of her. It’s not one of his better ones. He actually just straight up copies some of his own jokes from Unforgiven. 

In the main event, WWF Hardcore Champion (and possible future leader of the Alliance) Rob Van Dam challenges The Rock for the WCW Championship. As the match begins, we are still yet to see Stone Cold Steve Austin. Before the match begins, the birthday girl herself Stephanie comes down to the ring with a big smile on her face to watch up close. This is really good - RVD’s stock continues to rise as he shows that he can have a great match with pretty much anyone. The two fight in and out of the ring (Heyman gets big laughs when he cheers on RVD using the announce table and then screams foul play when The Rock does it - JR calls him out on it of course, they’re such a good duo on commentary). The Rock actually gets some boos when after a DDT he locks the challenger in a sharpshooter, just in case you need evidence as to how popular Van Dam has gotten. Stephanie distracts the referee so The Rock runs after her and brings her into the ring by her hair. He’s too focused on giving her a Rock Bottom and RVD makes him pay for it. RVD has the match won as he sets up a Five Star Frog Splash but Stephanie shoves the referee and he hits the ropes, knocking Rob off! The Rock follows with a Rock Bottom and thanks to a little accidental help from Stephanie, The Rock retains the WCW title. Raw ends with the looming threat of Stone Cold’s arrival unfulfilled. Everyone was so worried all night about what the Rattlesnake would do when he showed up but it seems like he’s too angry and upset to show up at all! 

Christian’s new gold, Y2J’s new attitude

Later, a limo arrives and Paul Heyman assumes it’s Stone Cold but it is in fact the new WWF Intercontinental Champion Christian (with a ridiculous Jamiroquai inspired hat). He asks a security guard to keep an eye on him in case he gets swarmed by fans.

Christian makes his way down to the ring to his epic new theme song, title belt around his waist. Full disclosure, I love Christian. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. During his entrance we see footage of Edge getting stitches - the cut under his eye at Unforgiven looks really nasty and his whole eye is black and badly swollen. Christian’s first ever solo five second pose is interrupted by his challenger for tonight, Chris Jericho. Y2J looks very serious and all business - he’s bound to be sore after losing that Hardcore title match to Rob Van Dam last night as well. Christian is in trouble so he uses the ring bell as a weapon right in front of the referee to get disqualified and keep his title. He tries to give Jericho a one man con-chair-to but Y2J avoids it and locks Christian in the Walls of Jericho, refusing to let go until a team of referees pull him off. Jericho is very frustrated at failing to win two champions back to back in 24 hours.

Fighting Commissioner

Back in the Commissioner’s office, joint WWF Light Heavyweight Champion and WCW Cruiserweight Champion X-Pac is complaining about his lack of TV time recently. He says he only came out to celebrate with Kurt at Unforgiven to get his face on TV! He’s not wrong to be fair, we’ve hardly seen him this past month. Regal gets annoyed by his attitude and says he’ll wrestle him tonight. 

Double Champion X-Pac takes on the fighting Commissioner. JR has mentioned it a few times tonight but he gives Regal a lot of praise for taking responsibility for Kurt Angle’s health last night and allowing the match to go ahead. Regal is super aggressive with X-Pac and beats him clean as a whistle.

DDP is back and that’s not a bad thing - that is a good thing

For the first time in weeks we heard from Diamond Dallas Page. He has a big cheesy grin and explains that him being beaten up by Undertaker wasn’t a bad thing - that was a good thing. He’s found the real DPP. “I like me, and you’re gonna like me too!”. He says he’s going to help us all like ourselves! A cheerful, positive message from DDP who has discovered himself with a motivational speaker gimmick. He did the whole “Positively Page” gimmick in WCW too. 

Other Happenings

• In the arena, the WCW Tag Team Champions Undertaker and Kane team with Bradshaw of the APA against the Alliance team of WWF Tag Team Champions Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley and Test (who worked very hard to cost The Rock the WCW title last night, unsuccessfully). Of note, Kane’s left elbow is still heavily bandaged from the injury/infection he’s had since Summerslam. A spirited match but with a Clothesline from Hell from Bradshaw to Bubba and then an Undertaker Last Ride on D-Von, the WWF team wins it. 

• In Torrie Wilson’s dressing room, Stacy Keibler asks her friend what she sees in Tajiri - he’s in the WWF, he’s short and he’s “not that much of a man”. Torrie doesn’t really answer her question and says that at least she has a man. Stacy says she can have any man she wants and she’s going to find one to take on Tajiri tonight. Torrie makes a little sexual innuendo joke about “Japanese Buzzsaw”. 

• Tajiri (with Torrie Wilson) takes on Stacy Keibler’s handpicked man (who she said would be tall, dark and handsome) the 5”9 Tazz. Stacy distracts Tajiri and Tazz locks in a Tazzmission for a submission victory on the still-injured-from-Unforgiven Tajiri. 
• Rhyno defends the WCW United States title against Jeff Hardy. Jeff misses a Swanton Bomb but avoids the follow up Gore attempt. In a cool finish,Jeff moves fast and goes for a springboard right into a mid-air Gore and Rhyno retains his new title. 
• Backstage, Lance Storm and Ivory discuss their upcoming six person match and WWF European Champion The Hurricane drops out of the air and says his Hurri-senses are tingling! Ivory may be in grave danger and sends her to safety. In private, he tells Storm that tonight he is planning on recruiting Molly Holly to be his sidekick and thinks a victory will do it. He jumps out of shot with a whoosh and a gust of wind. 

• The Hurricane, Lance Storm and Ivory take on The Big Show, Spike Dudley (in matching ring gear with his 500lbs partner tonight) and Molly Holly. The Little Show? I like this tag team! A fun match with lots of comedy spots involving Hurricane and his cap. The finish is pretty awesome as Molly stands on Big Show’s shoulders and performs her flipping Molly-Go-Round finish from high in the air onto Lance Storm for the pin fall victory.
• Kanyon goes to see Lita and flirts with her, asking if she wants to get with him after he beats Matt Hardy later. She makes fun of his lisp. Uncool. 
• Matt Hardy (with Lita) takes on Chris Kanyon. After Matt gets distracted by Kanyon’s moves towards Lita, she is accidentally knocked off the apron by Matt himself. Kanyon finishes him off with a move I can only describe as a self-Rock-Bottom to win the match at Lita’s expense. Good for Kanyon - they shouldn’t have made fun of his lisp.
• Al Snow is at WWF New York with the five Tough Enough finalists - amazingly, four of the five did eventually make it to WWE programming as on screen talent. Maven, Josh Matthews, Chris Nowinski and Nadia. 

Smackdown! - September 27th, 2001

Tag Team Turmoil

Smackdown opens with the dual plot threads of “will Kurt Angle and The Rock’s amazing week continue, and will Stone Cold show up tonight after skipping Raw on Monday?” 

In the opening match, Undertaker and Kane defend the WCW Tag Team titles against Booker T and Test. Michael Cole mentions that they retained the titles at Unforgiven but not who they beat to do it - Kronik are already gone. Probably for the best. Booker T and Test have their best buddy Shane O’Mac at ringside with them for moral support. This is a good match with Test in particular getting lots of time to show off that he’s an equal to Undertaker and Kane. Kane spikes the big man with a chokeslam and has the victory in hand but Shane pulls the referee out of the ring. Kane brawls with Test through the crowd when the match breaks down, leaving Undertaker and Booker one on one in the ring. The referee is knocked down and chaos rains! Shane takes a Last Ride but the distraction allows Booker to knock him out with a steel chair and Booker T and Test win the WCW Tag Team titles (thanks to a lot of help from Shane McMahon). Test isn’t even there to celebrate - he’s off still fighting with Kane! Booker grabs both title belts and helps Shane to the back (with crooked referee Nick Patrick too). They get back to Shane’s WCW 1 Limo and after picking up Test, the three of them make their escape from the arena. 

In the Commissioner’s office an angry William Regal says that since Shane McMahon wants to cost Undertaker and Kane the WCW Tag Team titles, tonight The Dudley Boyz can defend the WWF Tag Team titles against the dream team of Kurt Angle and The Rock! 

WWF Champion Kurt Angle goes to see WCW Champion The Rock to discuss their Tag Team title match tonight. He asks the People’s Champion if he wants to go out for some strudel after winning the titles. The Rock specifies that he loves Pie, not strudel. It’s more vagina and penis innuendos. You know what goes great with all pastry? Milk. Kurt talks about giant jugs of milk. Kurt goes to get them a giant pair of jugs (of milk). Later Kurt shows off his new book to The Rock. Rocky is very nice to Kurt - where was this nice, friendly normal acting version of The Rock when Mankind was working so hard to be his friend in 1999? Poor Mick.

In the main event, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley defend the WWF Tag Team titles against WWF Champion Kurt Angle and WCW Champion The Rock. This must make some kind of history as the first time the WWF and WCW Champions formed a tag team. All night long, Paul Heyman has continued to threaten that when Stone Cold shows up he’s going to blow through the arena like a tornado. Much like on Raw, we’ve still seen no sign of the Rattlesnake. Kurt speaks to Stone Cold before the match and after conceding that his hand was under the rope when he tapped out, tells Austin to kiss his red, white and blue ass! Before the match officially begins a limo is shown pulling into the parking lot. Heyman and Cole speculate that it’s Stone Cold - a man who has never once in his entire career arrived anywhere in a limo. The eagle eyed will notice that it’s the same WCW 1 Limo that Shane McMcMahon, Test and Booker T left in earlier. This is a big time main event that the fans are red hot for. Kurt Angle has D-Von in the ankle lock but there’s no referee to end the match. That brings the new WCW Tag Team Champions and Shane McMahon to the ring. They beat up The Rock three on one on the ramp and take out Kurt allowing The Dudleyz to drive the WWF Champion through a table with a 3D! Test, Booker and Shane bring The Rock to the ring and as hard as he tries to fight it he meets the same fate with a 3D through a second table. Smackdown ends with both sets of Tag Team Champions - now all controlled by the Alliance - on top with Angle and Rock down and out in the ring. Stone Cold was, again, nowhere to be seen. 

Stephanie gets Hardcore

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley goes to see Rob Van Dam and says that for his Unforgiven rematch with Chris Jericho tonight she’ll be at ringside with him. He tells her not to do him any favours - her interference cost him the WCW title on Raw. 

Stephanie does come down to ringside for tonight’s WWF Hardcore Championship match and joins commentary to watch Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam. This is another good match between the pair and the finish becomes a calamity as after Stephanie gets in the ring to help RVD she’s put in the Walls of Jericho and, as Y2J and Van Dam wrestle around her, send each other crashing into her body three different times as it gets worse and worse for the Billion Dollar Princess. RVD drives a steel chair into Jericho’s face with a spinning heel kick to retain the Hardcore title. The locker room empties as a bunch of lower level Alliance members like Tommy Dreamer and Mike Awesome run to the ring and carry her to the back. After a commercial break, they fuss and fret over her while she screams for a glass of water and a specialist doctor!

Edge on a Mission

Much like on Raw, Christian shows up in a limo. Unlike Raw, a fan actually asks the Intercontinental Champion for his autograph - he shouts “no” in the little kid’s face. 

Later as Christian tells a security guard that he has to keep the general public away from him, he spots his brother Edge arriving on a monitor. He is asked why he’s there and he says that he won’t be leaving the arena until he makes Christian look as bad as his eye does. Christian goes to see the APA to pay for their protection. He asks where Faarooq is - good question, he wasn’t on Raw either - but Bradshaw doesn’t want Christian’s money. He wants a shot at the Intercontinental title! 

Christian defends the Intercontinental title against Bradshaw. The big Texan attacks him during his entrance and is fired up. The two brawl backstage and the match is thrown out. Christian uses a crowbar as a weapon to separate them and escapes into the same limo he arrived in. He’s attacked inside the car by an unseen assailant and just barely escapes and runs out of the arena on foot. The attacker was obviously revealed to be Edge. 

Other Happenings

• In the Alliance locker room as Rob Van Dam and Rhyno gossip about Stone Cold’s whereabouts and mental state, Kanyon walks in and brags about how much Lita wants him. Eugh, this storyline again (like Dean Malenko last year). 
• The Hardy Boyz (with Lita) take on the Alliance team of WCW US Champion Rhyno and Kanyon. They both got singles wins over The Hardyz on Raw. Just like on Raw, Kanyon tries to use Lita to his advantage but after Jeff takes out Rhyno with a dive to the outside, Lita hangs Kanyon up on the ropes leading to a Twist of Fate and a Hardyz victory. 
• In the Commissioner’s office as he sips tea and tries to relax, he’s confronted by his Raw opponent double champion X-Pac who demands a rematch. Regal says no, X-Pac is facing Big Show instead. The Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champion knocks everything off Regal’s desk. That match is next and X-Pac wisely has Albert with him for backup. I don’t really understand why they don’t give X-Pac matches with other Cruiserweights and Light Heavyweights. The division was doing so well this year up until Summerslam. Thanks to the WCW purchase and return of Scotty 2 Hotty there’s actually a bunch of people for him to wrestle and defend one or both of his titles against! Big Show easily defeats Pac with a chokeslam but the X-Factor duo attack him two on one after the match. Show’s tag team partner Spike Dudley - still dressed as The Little Show - runs down to help out but he’s clobbered by X-Pac with the Light Heavyweight title belt. 

• Molly Holly faces Alliance member Ivory. Paul Heyman and Michael Cole spend a lot of this match talking about Hurricane’s ongoing attempts to recruit Molly as his superhero sidekick. The finish comes out of nowhere as the women butt heads and Molly is apparantly knocked out cold. Ivory covers her but when she doesn’t move, Hurricane runs to the ring and drags her out and carries her off to the back. The Hurricane is “saving” Molly Holly and Spike, presumably still hurt from X-Factor’s attack earlier, isn’t there to stop it. He loads her into the sidecar of his Hurri-cycle and rides out of the arena with her! He’s abducted Molly Holly! 

• Diamond Dallas Page and his giant toothy grin checks in with us again to teach us all how we can learn to love ourselves. He’s going to get in our head, and we’re going to get in his. He’s never had a bad day in his life - some sore days, but that’s not a bad thing, its a good thing! It just shows he did his best in the ring! DDP likes himself and we’re going to like him too!

Raw - October 1st, 2001

Raw is no Longer War. 

This is the first episode where the name of the show reverts back to being just WWF Raw. The “Is War” has been dropped partly as a graphic upgrade but mostly due to the real life situations at the time resulting in a very real War people didn’t want to think about while watching wrestling. Smackdown had a huge cosmetic makeover right before Summerslam but this name and logo change and some updated match graphics (which aren’t as nice as Smackdown’s) is all Raw is getting for the time being. The end of an era for sure. 

World Champions in Peril

The show opens with WWF Champion Kurt Angle. At ringside, Paul Heyman explains that he knows for a fact Stone Cold Steve Austin won’t be here tonight. He has a fax machine set up on the announce desk and promises JR we’ll receive important communications tonight. Kurt takes pride in the fact that we haven't seen Stone Cold since Unforgiven. He says there’s no shame in tapping out to his ankle lock but there is shame in hiding yourself away like a loser. He doesn’t believe Austin’s sources that he won’t be here tonight and challenges him to come to the ring. He doesn’t so he turns his attention to The Dudley Boyz who put him through a table on Smackdown. The Dudleyz don’t come out but his tag partner on Smackdown, the WCW Champion The Rock does. He also got put through a table on Smackdown. The Rock is funny listing a bunch of fake Dudley brothers and cousins and says that he and Kurt Angle are going to whoop all their asses tonight. Instead of The Dudleyz its WCW Owner Shane McMahon who comes out. He says that as he controls WCW and its titles he’s going to make The Rock defend the WCW title in a handicap table match tonight against both Bubba Ray and D-Von. Kurt makes fun of Shane (The Rock has the People’s strudel, Shane doesn’t have any strudel etc) and so McMahon challenges Angle for the WWF title tonight! Kurt accepts and so Shane heads down to the ring. It was a distraction to allow the WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz to jump them from behind. The Rock and Kurt Angle fight them off until a pair of WCW referees come down. They don’t stop the fight, just cause enough distraction for The Dudleyz to get back in control. Bubba spikes Kurt Angle through a table with a powerbomb off the top rope, softening him up for Shane later, and finishes with a 3D on The Rock!  

After the opening segment, Paul Heyman gets the first fax from the former WWF Champion and reads out Stone Cold’s message. He explains that he resents the idea that he’s afraid to show his face and he resents everyone for cheering for the man who stole his title. 

The new WCW Tag Team Champions Booker T and Test team with WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam to take on Undertaker, Kane and Chris Jericho. During the Alliance team’s entrances, another fax from Stone Cold Steve Austin arrives and Paul Heyman reads out Austin’s rant about what an icon and American hero he is, praise for Booker and Test, and a message to RVD that as great as he is he is not the leader of the Alliance, Stone Cold is. This match is disjointed and a little messy but when it breaks down The Undertaker has an amazing show of strength giving Test a Last Ride. Jericho gets Booker T in a Walls of Jericho but Van Dam comes off the top with a thrust kick and gets another pin fall victory over Chris Jericho.

Shane McMahon goes to speak to RVD about the injuries his sister suffered on Smackdown. Van Dam refuses to take the blame and says he told her to stay away from the ring (which is true). Later, Shane goes back to see Rob and after teasing some tension, invites the Hardcore Champion to have his back at ringside during the main event. 

The WWF Tag Team Champions Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley face The Rock in a handicap table match with the WCW Championship on the line. The rules have been explained - The Rock needs to put either man through a table to win and retain his title, but either Bubba or D-Von putting the champion through a table will bag whichever one of them does the deed the WCW title. I wonder what will happen if they do it with a 3D? The Rock fights both men off but when he turns his fury to referee Nick Patrick, Shane McMahon runs down and gives The Rock a spinebuster through a table! A second WCW referee runs down and it seems like he might be about to call it and award the championship to one of The Dudleyz but a WWF referee runs down to stop that. He’s there to witness The Rock driving Bubba Ray through a table with a Rock Bottom and The Rock retains the WCW title despite Shane’s best efforts.

With William Regal still in the ring after his match with Lance Storm, Paul Heyman gets his fourth fax from the Rattlesnake and addresses it to the Commissioner. He asks Regal to entice Stone Cold to return to TV by stripping Kurt of the WWF title and returning it to him. He says that at the very least he should be named number one contender and awarded a rematch with Kurt Angle. Regal thanks Paul for the message and gives him one to pass back to Austin and slaps him across the face!

In the main event, Kurt Angle defends the WWF Championship against Shane McMahon (with RVD in his corner). Shane puts up a good fight and between Kurt’s neck injury, him having been put through a table earlier and RVD on the outside helping out whenever he can, Shane seems close to winning the WWF title. Kurt holds on and after an alabama slam, locks Shane in the ankle lock for a submission victory. Kurt Angle retains the title and celebrates at the top of the ramp as RVD consoles Shane in the ring. 

Underappreciated Champions

WWF Intercontinental Champion Christian comes down to the ring to talk about the total lack of respect he's experienced since winning the title. Christian made me laugh so hard here as they’re in Baton Rouge which is a French speaking community, saying that the crowd last week were just like them “except avec la teeth” and that they should try “la deodorant” from time to time.

He’s interrupted by the dual WCW Cruiserweight and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion. He knows how Christian feels - he was part of the most popular group of all time and now people chant “X-Pac sucks!” Christian tells the crowd off - SHAME on you people! X-Pac says that they’re winners and these people are losers. They laugh and high five and that brings out Edge. He tells X-Pac that the year 1998 is sick of him so he should join them all in 2001. Edge continues to mock Christian and X-Pac until he’s jumped from behind by X-Pac’s tag team partner Albert. He kicks Edge in the back and the three of them attack the King of the Ring. Christian sets up a one man con-chair-to but before he can complete the move Bradshaw and Faarooq run to the ring and make the save, running off the champions and Albert. 

Stand Back, there’s some heartbreak coming through! 

In the first match Spike Dudley (who is still dressed as The Big Show) without Molly Holly heads down to the ring. His girlfriend Molly Holly was abducted by The Hurricane in his Hurri-cycle on Smackdown after she took a serious knock to the head. Spike’s opponent is WWF European Champion The Hurricane. Heyman says that rumour is Molly spent the entire weekend at the Hurri-cave with Hurricane. He also strongly implies it was sexual. Mike Awesome comes down with no explanation to help out his fellow Alliance member and it pays off as he’s able to help Hurricane to retain the European title. Awesome came out to help Hurricane because Spike Dudley beat him in somewhat of an upset on Sunday Night Heat it seems. Poor Spike got beat up, lost and still doesn’t know where his girlfriend is. Out in the parking lot, Hurricane unveils his new and improved Hurri-cycle and reveals that Molly Holly is now his sidekick! She’s in a pink and black superhero outfit of her own and has seemingly embraced being Hurricane’s sidekick! “Holy double cross, Hurricane!” They ride off together.

All of this happens with Spike still at ringside and as he looks sad, his tag team partner Big Show appears on the titantron live at WWF New York and encourages his little buddy to cheer up and party and promises to take him out for a night on the town he’ll never forget on Smackdown. He’s going to turn Spike Dudley into a love machine. 

Other Happenings

• Last night on Sunday Night Heat, Tajiri and Torrie Wilson fought Tazz and Stacy Keibler in a mixed tag team match. We see some footage of Stacy and Torrie’s altercation backstage before the match where Stacy told Torrie to back down and insulted Tajiri so got slapped and beaten up for it. Lillian Garcia then has an interview with Torrie Wilson who is attacked by Stacy Keibler before she can actually speak. Lillian is caught in the crossfire and screams and rants at her in Spanish.

• DDP continues his journey of self discovery and self love. He has a yoga studio type setup and says that he recently had knee surgery. That’s not a bad thing - it’s a good thing! His knee is now stronger and he loves to work out and he loves yoga. It’s positive for his body, so it's positive for his mind! 

• There’s a rematch of the mixed tag team match from Heat and based on the match graphic it appears Torrie Wilson is now officially a member of the WWF roster with her boyfriend Tajiri. Tajiri gets big lacks kicking Stacy up the butt and mimicking her dancing. Neither Torrie nor Stacy is a trained wrestler but they’re both great athletes and Torrie impresses with a handspring elbow. Tajiri has Tazz locked in the Tarantula and with the referee distracted, Ivory comes down and drops Torrie with a DDT allowing Stacy to steal the pin. 
• After the mixed tag, Paul Heyman gets his third fax from Stone Cold where he tells JR to stop calling him a coward and promises to kick his ass when he does arrive.
• Back in the Commissioner’s office, William Regal tells off Ivory for costing Torrie and Tajiri their match. She flirts with him a bit until Lance Storm walks in and calls him a pervert so Regal tells Storm to go and get ready for a match with him later.

• Lance Storm (with Ivory) faces Commissioner William Regal. This is short and very physical - Regal gets a bloody nose very quickly and wins a one sided fight by submission with the Regal stretch.
• After a video recapping the finale of Tough Enough at WWF New York, won by Nidia and Maven, Tazz interviews Maven backstage at the arena. He tells him that he has his first match on Smackdown and then chokes him out with a Tazzmission! Maven’s first match is with Tazz.

Smackdown! - October 4th, 2001

Rematch is Set

Smackdown opens with Shane McMahon leading most of the Alliance down to the ring. The big names being the WCW Tag Team Champions Booker T and Test and the WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz, plus the WWF Hardcore Champion RVD. Shane addresses Stone Cold’s various fax messages on Raw and says that he knows what is right - giving Stone Cold a rematch for the WWF title. He says that Austin is contractually promised an automatic rematch and he asks the WWF Commissioner down to the ring so they can discuss it like men and not involve the lawyers. He wants Austin’s rematch with Kurt to take place on the next Raw! William Regal comes out onto the stage holding a contact. He says that Shane is correct - Stone Cold’s contract does promise him an automatic rematch however when he joined the Alliance in July, Austin’s contract became worthless and he tears it up! He says that Shane has nothing, no contract or rematch and so tells the Alliance to get out of the ring before he either calls the police, or sends the WWF locker room down to remove them by force. Shane offers Regal a deal - a match tonight between Kurt Angle and an Alliance member tonight. If the Alliance member wins, Stone Cold gets a shot at the WWF title on Raw but if Kurt wins, he will allow Kurt Angle to challenge for the WCW title (which Shane controls) on Raw with the chance to defeat The Rock and become the first double World Champion in history. Kurt Angle comes out onto the stage with a big smile on his face and after saying he loved kicking Shane’s ass on Raw, he accepts the challenge for tonight. Who will be his opponent tonight? (Probably Rob Van Dam right? It’s usually RVD. He’s the big break out star)

In the Alliance locker room, Shane asks who wants to fight Kurt Angle tonight. Everyone is excited and shouts out and jumps up to be the one. Shane tells them all it’ll be a vote and has Terri hand out paper and pens and a box to put the votes into. After the Big Show and Spike tag team match, Shane goes off to count the votes - Booker T assumes it will naturally be him that was picked. Later, Shane comes back with the final tally and reveals that by a landslide, the winner was Rob Van Dam! Booker T is both surprised and angered by the news. 

Kurt Angle goes to see The Rock and make sure that he’s cool with potentially facing him on Raw. He is, and uses a lot of baseball analogies and suggests that they make it the biggest match ever by not just putting his WCW title on the line, but putting Kurt’s WWF title on the line so we’re guaranteed the first ever double champion. Kurt is happy with it and wants to make history with The Rock. So if Kurt wins, we’re promised the biggest match in wrestling history on Raw. Not on a PPV, but on a random episode of Raw. Good luck to Kurt I guess.

That leads right into the match - a non-title match between WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam and WWF Champion Kurt Angle. JR calls this the most important non-title match of all time which is fair. If RVD wins, it’s all null and void and on Raw we’ll simply get a WWF Championship rematch between Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This is a really good and competitive match. RVD has advantage after spinning heel kicks but misses the Five Star Frog Splash. Kurt follows with an Angle slam but WCW’s crooked referee runs down and pulls the ref out of the ring! WWF referee Mike Chioda runs down and chases him off. In the chaos, Kurt has RVD in an ankle lock and a submission victory but there’s no referee. Shane McMahon arrives in time to deliver the final blow with a stiff steel chair shot to Angle’s head!

The referee wakes up and counts the fall as Van Dam pins Kurt Angle and with that, Stone Cold Steve Austin will challenge for the WWF title on Raw. Kurt Angle takes off through the crowd to chase Shane McMahon as the rest of the Alliance fills the ring and hoists RVD up on their shoulders to celebrate his big victory. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews Kurt Angle backstage - the WWF Champion has a ton of blood around his mouth as his lips and/or teeth were cut up by a misplaced RVD heel kick earlier. He is fired up and says that on Raw he’s going to beat Stone Cold so badly that his next little vacation will be permanent. 

In his office, William Regal read a statement from the Commissioner’s office. He has no choice but to sanction the match between Kurt Angle and Stone Cold for the WWF title on Raw but he adds that all members and owners of the Alliance will be banned from ringside.

Referees in Action

Lillian Garcia interviews the WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz ahead of their match tonight. See, they team with WCW referee Nick Patrick to take on The Rock, Chris Jericho and WWF referee Mike Chioda. Patrick and Chioda had a run in on Raw, and again on this Smackdown during the Angle/RVD match. Bubba says that the only thing that felt better than putting Angle through a table on Raw will be the return of Stone Cold on Raw. The Alliance team is very confident.

An odd main event with WCW Champion The Rock, Chris Jericho and referee Mike Chioda against WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz and referee Nick Patrick. Chioda and Patrick have had quite a few run ins due to Patrick’s dodgy, one sided officiating over the past few months. After quite a long period of isolating Jericho in their corner and allowing Nick Patrick to get some cheap shots in, Y2J manages to make a hot tag and The Rock motors through The Dudley Boyz. Patrick tries to take a walk but Earl Hebner throws him back into the ring and The Rock tags out to let the referees go at it, with Chioda winning the exchange and stripping Nick of his shirt. He’s taken out by Bubba Dudley but with The Dudleyz cleared out, The Rock gives Nick a Rock Bottom, Jericho follows with a Lionsault and then with The Rock’s encouragement Mike Chioda gives Patrick a People’s Elbow to win the match for the WWF team! 

Heartbreak for Spike

Earlier today, The Hurricane and Molly Holly arrived together on the Hurri-cycle. Jonathan Coachman approaches and asks Molly why she would leave her boyfriend Spike to be a pretend superhero. She says that Spike is a little man who doesn’t have powers or a cape and so Hurricane has shown her a higher purpose. She also gives us her new superhero sidekick name - Mighty Molly! Hurricane says that it “took a while to get Spike out of her system” which sounds sinister.

In the arena, The Big Show and Spike Dudley enter together. Spike looks goofy in matching gear to Show but I really do like this tag team. Show promised to take Spike on a night on the town tonight but Spike insisted on this match first against the Alliance team of The Hurricane (with Molly) and Mike Awesome. Poor Spike looks heart broken. Big Show knocks Hurricane out of the ring, spikes Awesome (no pun intended) with a chokeslam and allows Spike to splash him from atop his shoulders to win the match. 

Ladies of the Alliance

Backstage, Torrie Wilson preps for her bikini contest with Stacy Keibler and shows her various outfit options to her boyfriend Tajiri who giggles like a simpleton while wearing one of her thongs on his head. 

The bikini contest is difficult to describe. Stacy and Torrie strip off their ropes to reveal a blue and pink bikini respectively. Jonathan Coachman emcees and by applause, Torrie is declared the winner. Stacy attacks her former friend and chokes her with her robe, slapping Coachman for good measure. Her attack continues until Tajiri runs down and Stacy leaves in a hurry.

Other Happenings

• In a six man tag team match, Intercontinental Champion Christian, Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion X-Pac and Albert take on Edge and the APA in a six man tag team match. This is all WWF on WWF violence. This is a chaotic match which, after a Spear to take out Chritian, Edge wins for his team with a DDT on Albert. 
• We get a video package spot lighting the male winner of Tough Enough who has now won a WWF Contact.

• The male winner of Tough Enough makes his in ring debut against former trainer Tazz. Sadly on the WWE Network his theme song is dubbed so here’s what Maven’s theme ACTUALLY was because it’s a banger.
  

• Maven doesn’t even have ring gear yet. I don’t think we’ll see a lot of him for the next few months but Maven was a high school teacher prior to entering Tough Enough. He has a ton of natural ability and athleticism but is quickly choked with a Tazzmission out by veteran Tazz. After the match, Tazz helps Maven back to his feet where he gets a round of applause before Tazz drops him with a clothesline and throws him out of the ring. 

• Kane faces one half of the WCW Tag Team Champions Booker T. This is an even match but as Kane starts to move toward a victory, Booker’s tag team championship partner Test arrives to take out Kane with a Big Boot. That leaves him easy prey for a Scissor Kick and Booker T defeats Kane. The WCW Tag champs try to beat up Kane two on one but Undertaker is there to make the save and clear the ring.
• DDP has another message of positivity and self improvement for us. Have you done your yoga today? Helping us is a good thing. His friend Tony’s cat got run over by a car but that’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing! His wife was allergic to cats and so the cat’s death saved his marriage. Always look for the positives!

Raw - October 8th, 2001

The Alliance turns the Tide

Michael Cole backstage tries to get an interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He gets Debra instead as the Rattlesnake has changed his mind about the interview. He’s still refusing to speak to anyone! She goes off to find Commissioner Regal’s office, but why? Later, we find out. She sucks up to the Commissioner a bit and is angling to be allowed at ringside for her husband’s title match tonight. He refuses and suggests she bake some cookies to keep herself busy. Regal is determined that there will be no one linked to the Alliance at ringside for the main event.

For the first time since Unforgiven, Stone Cold Steve Austin is here. In his two weeks missing he’s grown his beard out a little - its longer and pointer at the bottom, like the devil. He refuses to explain where he’s been for two weeks. Was he ashamed? Was he afraid? Debra comes to the ring with him despite Regal’s clear instructions earlier. The Commissioner comes down too and has several referees escort her away from ringside. William Regal sits down and stays at ringside personally to ensure there’s no Alliance interference in this match. Things seem to be going in Kurt Angle’s favour and the match begins with the Rattlesnake meeting him on the ramp and starting things with a fist fight before the bell. This match promises to be another PPV worthy epic between this pair as they have a solid 25 minutes of the show to do it - a lifetime for a TV match during this era. This match is super physical with Austin focusing his attack on Kurt’s neck and Kurt trying to match his physicality with brawling on the outside and exposing the concrete under the ringside mats. Things turn ugly as when Austin goes to the outside and tries to get a steel chair to use as a weapon, Commissioner Regal steps in and won’t allow it. Tension. Austin and Angle jostle in the ring trying for their finishing moves and in the chaos, the referee is knocked down! Stone Cold goes to get the WWF title belt to use as a weapon so Regal gets in the ring to stop him and…he hits Kurt Angle in the head with the WWF title belt instead!

The WWF Commissioner has joined the Alliance. He loads the referee into the ring but Kurt Angle kicks out! Austin hops on the spot in fury, begging Kurt to get on his feet for a Stunner which he gets. Stone Cold Steve Austin wins his 6th (and - spoilers - final) WWF Championship thanks to William Regal. Raw ends with Stone Cold celebrating with his WWF Championship as JR screams his disgust and Paul Heyman celebrates. Earl Hebner amazingly managed to steal focus during this moment too as he tripped over Kurt Angle while raising Austin’s hand, and then followed him out of the ring to get on camera and raise his hand a second time. Oh I hate you, Earl. Some fun trivia for you all though - this is Stone Cold’s 6th WWF title victory and all of his wins followed a clear pattern; Wrestlemania 14, an episode of Raw in 1998, Wrestlemania 15, an episode of Raw in 1999, Wrestlemania X7 and now an episode of Raw in 2001.

Dissension in the ranks for the WWF

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley comes down to the ring and about poor Torrie Wilson’s going through a table at the start of the show, she says “BIG DEAL!” and reminds us of the prolonged abuse she suffered during Y2J and RVD’s hardcore match on Smackdown two weeks ago. She has really mastered exaggerating the shrillness of her voice - she’s really hard to listen to! An insanely annoying voice. Thankfully as she goes on to talk about Steve Austin’s title match tonight, she’s finally interrupted by Chris Jericho. As he goes into his usual jokes about her being on her back, and her big fake boobs her brother Shane interrupts him. Seems like Shane O’Mac has had enough of this slut shaming of his sister.

He tells Jericho how funny he is - he seems to genuinely enjoy his comedy. But then flips it and says that if Jericho focused half as much on winning matches as he does on thinking of insults maybe he wouldn’t lose every Championship match he’s in. Jericho challenges them to team up tonight and fight him in a handicap match. Stephanie refuses but says Shane will team up with a man who’s beating Y2J more than once lately - Rob Van Dam! Jericho is into it, but then says maybe he’ll get WCW Champion The Rock as his tag team partner. The McMahon children suddenly look a lot less confident. 

WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam and Shane McMahon face Chris Jericho and WCW Champion The Rock. It does feel, with Jericho in his forever-feud with Stephanie and how much Shane has been wrestling lately, that Chris Jericho vs. Shane McMahon is in the works and would make sense but that’s not where this storyline is going. This match is all action with Shane and RVD putting up a good fight against the two WWF main eventers (mostly thanks to Van Dam). Jericho is bleeding heavily after fighting with Shane on the outside and having his head run into the ring steps. Jericho recovers and swings a steel chair for Shane in the ring but he ducks and Y2J hits his own partner! The Rock is out and with the bloody Jericho tackled out of the ring, RVD pins the WCW Champion! RVD has pinned the WWF Champion and the WCW Champion in back to back matches. 

Backstage the Alliance chants for RVD and celebrates his big victory. The crowd ominously goes past Stone Cold’s locker room - his door remains shut. Austin hasn’t appeared on TV since Unforgiven.

In the trainer's room as Jericho has his wound cleaned, The Rock comes in to check on him. They have a tense exchange about what Jericho was thinking when he swung that chair and that he should own up and admit his mistakes. Y2J clearly thinks The Rock is being too harsh and The Rock thinks Jericho is making excuses - he did hit him with a chair after all. It descends into a shoving match and the two WWF stars have a pull apart brawl in the trainer’s office! 

Title change and a Big Challenge

Backstage as Hardcore Champion RVD watches the monitor, he’s approached by WCW Tag Team Champions Booker T and Test. Booker seems to have major issues with RVD being picked over him to fight Kurt Angle on Smackdown. He calls himself the 5 time WCW Champion and RVD says he can’t believe Booker lost the WCW title 5 times! Rob’s unshakeable confidence in himself riles everyone up! 

Booker T and Test defend the WCW Tag Team titles against The Hardy Boyz (with Lita). Lita works overtime in this match helping out Matt and Jeff, giving Booker T her trademark top rope hurricanrana and tripping Test from the outside while he was setting up a Big Boot. Test throws Lita over the security wall and Matt tackles him. With them fighting in the crowd and the referee distracted, The Undertaker comes down and drills Booker T with a Last Ride! Jeff follows up with a Swanton Bomb and Matt and Jeff Hardy win the WCW Tag Team Championships! This is the 5th different title belt that Jeff Hardy has held in 2001. An amazing year for him. 

Backstage Booker T and Test are furious at having lost their Tag Team titles and Booker T says that he is determined to get some respect by taking down “the number one respected suckah” The Undertaker. That match is confirmed for No Mercy.

Other Happenings

• Raw opens with a six man tag team match. The WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz are accompanied by Stacy Keibler who is dressed up to match them with a camo mini skirt and Dudley glasses. This is her role for the next several months, acting as their manager. Their partner is Tazz, who also has helped out Stacy lately in her issues with Torrie Wilson and Tajiri. During Tajiri and Torrie’s entrance we learn that Stacy and Torrie will fight each other at No Mercy in a Lingerie match, whatever that is. Tajiri’s partners are The Big Show and Spike Dudley. Tajiri picks up the win for his team with a stiff like to Tazz’s head but like sore losers, The Dudleyz keep the fight going after the match. Stacy and Torrie get into it, Tazz chokes out Tajiri with a Tazzmission in the corner and forces him to watch as The Dudley Boyz drive Torrie Wilson through a table, all while Stacy cheers them on. Its not been made official yet but I think it’s fair to assume Torrie is no longer a member of the Alliance. 

• Elsewhere, as Lita goes to get drinks to celebrate The Hardyz title win, she’s stopped by Hurricane and Mighty Molly. They call Matt and Jeff’s win villainous and Molly challenges her to a match later tonight, which Lita happily accepts. 
• There’s a very fun No Mercy commercial during this show which I enjoyed so much, here it is for you too!

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Christian comes down to the ring and joins commentary for the next match, which is Rhyno defending the WCW US title against Edge. We learn here that Edge will get his rematch with Christian at No Mercy in a Ladder match. During his entrance, Christian gives his sunglasses to a young kid in the front row a la Bret Hart…then changes his mind and takes them back. I laughed. Edge has the title won but Christian attacks him in front of the referee to cause a disqualification and leaves his brother easy prey for a Gore by Rhyno.
• After a recap of Chris Benoit’s appearance on Sunday Night Heat where he predicted a victory tonight for Kurt Angle, live at WWF New York is his fellow Canadian Lance Storm and Ivory who say Benoit is wrong and that all smart Canadians know that Stone Cold will regain the WWF title tonight.
• X-Pad defends one of his titles - the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship - against Scotty 2 Hotty. Scotty actually wins the match with a Worm but X-Pac’s foot was on the ropes so it’s restarted. X-Pac rallies and wins the match quickly with an X-Factor to retain his title. In a sad bit of trivia, this is the last ever televised match for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. I'll talk a bit more about that at Survivor Series. 
• Lita fights the newest Alliance member, Mighty Molly. Molly dominates and despite Lita’s offensive flurry, Molly rolls up the former women’s champion for a clean victory. Her superhero mentor The Hurricane comes down to celebrate with her and they run off together - backstage they hop onto the Hurri-cycle which he renamed the Molly Mobile in her honour for one night only to go back to the Hurri-cave I assume. 
• During a commercial for Kurt Angle’s book he talks about his relationship with Dave Shultz and his murder by John du Pont. That was the subject of the excellent movie “FoxCatcher” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxcatcher

Smackdown! - October 11th, 2001

A Pair of World title matches set for No Mercy

Smackdown opens with the owners of WCW and ECW respectively, Shane and Stephanie McMahon. They are both in an extremely good mood after RVD and Shane’s victory over Rock and Jericho, and then Stone Cold regaining the WWF title. They give a warm welcome to the newest Alliance member, WWF Commissioner William Regal. Michael Cole almost makes himself sick ranting about what a disgusting turncoat and traitor he is while he walks to the ring.

Regal says that as Commissioner it's his job to make sure the WWF title is held by someone strong, virtuous and courageous and no one in the WWF fits that so he joined the Alliance who has someone that does. He then introduces the new WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin who marches to the ring and takes great joy in showing off his title belt to the crowd. Debra’s with him too. If you’re thinking that Regal’s explanation and heel turn and joining of the Alliance doesn’t make a great deal of sense, you’re not alone. In truth, I think they just had no faith in any of the current WCW and ECW talents enough to elevate them and so they needed more WWF guys to “jump ship” and fill out the ranks with star power. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen it, and it’s certainly not the last. The current collection of “WCW and ECW” faces in the ring are proof of how far the Invasion has gone off the rails. Austin speaks for the first time since before Unforgiven and rub his victory in Angle’s face. He says it’s Over and there will be no rematch! He rants that it’s over, over and over again (while peppering in “what”’s) until finally he’s interrupted by Linda McMahon. Everyone in the ring looks shocked to see her, not least her son and daughter. She starts with William Regal - he is obviously fired as Commissioner but somehow he seems shocked by that. She says there will be a new WWF Commissioner appointed soon. She reminds Austin that as WWF Champion, his title matches are controlled by the WWF Commissioner. Kurt Angle arrives from behind and attacks - Austin and the McMahon’s run but Kurt gets a hold of Regal and gives him a beating. Shane tries to save him with a steel chair and is sent flying with a belly to belly suplex! The Alliance escapes as Kurt screams after them. He is not done with Stone Cold or William Regal. 

After a recap of the tag team match on Raw where a badly bloodied Chris Jericho accidentally hit The Rock with a steel chair and then the pair came to blows over it backstage, Chris Jericho and the WCW Champion are shown quietly chatting and seemingly making peace. We can’t hear what they’re saying but tonight it looks a lot more friendly than their backstage meeting on Raw.

As Stone Cold complains to Debra about the way he’s been treated tonight, Shane and Stephanie approach him and ask what he thinks about rewarding Rob Van Dam for earning him his title match on Raw and suggest he face The Rock for the WCW title. Stone Cold doesn’t like it - The Rock is too special, and RVD hasn’t earned his stripes yet. He needs to work for everything like Austin did and so RVD should have to win a number one contenders match first. Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho tonight, with the winner facing The Rock for the WCW title at No Mercy! Stephanie doesn’t like Jericho getting the opportunity but has plenty of faith that RVD will beat him again tonight. Austin is cagey - he SAYS he likes RVD but there’s clearly some jealousy there of the Hardcore Champion’s popularity and growing influence within the Alliance.

In the locker room, Edge and Chris Jericho discuss Y2J’s chance to earn a WCW title match at No Mercy. Jericho is very confident that he can beat The Rock at No Mercy. Edge asks how the two of them are now and Jericho says that they’re good and on friendly terms again. Edge leaves to prepare for his own No Mercy title match with Christian, and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley comes in to taunt Jericho about how he always “loses the big one”. She’s not wrong - he’s come up short in a lot of title matches lately, and failed to win the WWF title all summer long. 

In the Alliance locker room, Shane O’Mac tries to amp up RVD for his match with Jericho. Rob stays cool, calm and collected. He doesn’t need to get all excited about it because he’s Rob…Van…Dam. 

Chris Jericho vs. WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam with big stakes - the winner is officially the number one contender for The Rock’s WCW Championship. This is a fast paced match and Jericho’s cut from Raw gets opened up again. RVD always had a bit of a reputation for stiffing people by accident - he throws so many kicks and gets so creative with his moves that he would misplace his foot and catch someone hard in the face for real. The referee is knocked down and RVD might have the match won with a spinning heel kick and moonsault combo but there’s no one to count. As the two fight on the top rope, Stone Cold runs down and cracks RVD in the head with a steel chair! He might have been aiming for Y2J but he doesn’t seem to be too upset about having cost his Alliance mate the match. Was that intentional or not? Either way, Chris Jericho will now challenge The Rock for the WCW Championship at No Mercy.

After the match, RVD questions Austin and asks if he hit him on purpose. This is the first time we’ve ever seen RVD lose his cool. He continues to question the WWF Champion who walks around the ring and grabs a mic, demanding the entire Alliance come to the ring right now and witness whatever comes next. After a commercial break, the ring is filled with Alliance members. Austin builds up to thanking the man who got him his title match with Kurt Angle on Raw. We all assume it’ll be RVD but it’s not, it’s Shane McMahon. He gives Shane a hug. Then he throws a casual thank you to Rob for covering Kurt after Shane knocked him out with a chair. RVD seems to have a problem with that so Austin gets in his face. He tells Van Dam that he did a fine job standing in as leader while he was gone but he’s back now. As he’s about to shake hands with a very angry looking RVD, Mick Foley’s music hits! He introduces himself as the new WWF Commissioner and goads William Regal into accepting a match with Kurt Angle tonight (while doing a truly shocking English accent). He then moves onto No Mercy and after announcing that Kurt Angle will get his rematch for the title at the PPV, asks if perhaps RVD would like to be added to the match. Van Dam shows no fear and “takes Austin’s advice” to reach for the stars and accepts! A triple threat for the WWF Championship at No Mercy. Backstage after a commercial break, Shane explains to Austin that this is good because it increases their odds of winning - RVD could win the WWF title. He stops short of his epiphany as Stone Cold stares a hole into his soul. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews The Rock backstage and asks if he and Chris Jericho are cool. It seems even more important now that they are PPV opponents for the WCW title. The Rock says that they are cool but just because he doesn’t want to whoop his ass tonight doesn’t mean he won’t at No Mercy. Y2J interrupts The Rock’s promo and they remain friendly but there’s tension for sure - The Rock seems more upset that Jericho interrupted his interview. They shake hands and it seems that at least for now, they’re friends. Jericho bumps Rocky’s shoulder as he walks past and The Rock smiles before telling Coach that Jericho has “no idea”. 

In the main event former Commissioner and new Alliance member William Regal faces the man he cost the WWF title on Raw, Kurt Angle. This is a short but very physical match between two skilled in ring performers. Kurt is furious and hammers Regal with punches and drills him with German suplex after German suplex. He drops William with an Angle slam but before he can lock in an ankle lock, multiple members of the Alliance rush down. He sends Raven, Kanyon and Mike Awesome flying with suplexes and unarms Tommy Dreamer to use his steel chair against him, battering them all with shots to the head as William Regal escapes mostly unscathed. 

No Mercy Card fills out

The Alliance team of WWF European Champion The Hurricane and his sidekick Mighty Molly enter. The Hurricane says that his Hurri-senses are telling him it’s time to issue a super-open-challenge for the European title. “Through howling wind and pouring rain, all evil shall fear….The Hurricane!” The challenge is accepted by Citizen Kane. Hurricane tells him that he’s made a mistake with his life - with his size and costume he doesn’t fight crime? What’s up wit dat?! His superhero shtick is finally starting to get some laughs. The fans are catching on. Hurricane wrestles Kane like they’re the same size and gets more laughs when his drop toe hold and chokeslam attempts understandably go nowhere.

He also tries a tombstone and a powerbomb which is turned into one from Kane. He has the European title in his sights until Test and Booker T rush the ring and jump Kane, beating him down two on one and ending this match via disqualification. The Undertaker runs down to help out his brother and saves Kane before it goes any further. 

Backstage Test says he knows that Booker T will beat Undertaker at No Mercy, so he issues his own challenge to the “invincible, unbeatable Kane” at No Mercy too. 

Other Happenings

• The Dudley Boyz (with Stacy Keibler, who looks way more attractive in my opinion as a Dudley Girl with her hair styled the way it is) defend their WWF Tag Team Championships against The Big Show and Spike Dudley. The Dudleys retain with a 3D on Spike and after taking out Big Show, set up a table on the outside and launch their little brother from the ring to the floor, crashing through the table. It is a ROUGH landing and even Tazz on commentary found it to be a little much. Stacy loved it and is loving her new alliance with The Dudleyz. Later we’d learn that Spike has suffered badly bruised ribs and a concussion. 

• The new and improved super positive Diamond Dallas Page has a message for Kurt Angle. Him losing his WWF title on Raw wasn’t a bad thing - it was a good thing! Now, Kurt has learned a valuable lesson about losing things to realise how important they are. DDP remains positive with his big smile as he assures Kurt that he’s not a nobody, or a loser - he’s still a somebody, and he’s still popular! It’s good advice, even if he is a little creepy.
• X-Pac defends the WCW Cruiserweight Championship against Billy Kidman. This is the first time we’ve seen Kidman in a couple of months as he suffered a knee injury in his last match with X-Pac. Little bit of story in this one. I’m just happy to see these titles get defended again (X-Pac also defended his Light Heavyweight title on Raw). In somewhat of an upset, Kidman wins a back and forth match with a facebuster and wins the WCW Cruiserweight Championship! This is X-Pac's final appearance for a while as he suffered an injury shortly after. That makes this the final TV appearance of the WWF Light Heavyweight title belt. Like I said during Raw, I'll talk a bit more about that at Survivor Series. 
• In a rematch from last week, Tough Enough Champion Maven faces Tazz. Tazz has been on commentary all night but he’s replaced by Al Snow for this match. Snow has been doing commentary on Sunday Night Heat for a while (and he’s a lot friendlier with Michael Cole than Tazz is) but also he was the head trainer on Tough Enough and has a good relationship with Maven. We saw him giving advice and interacting with new Commissioner Mick Foley backstage earlier. Maven shows off his beautiful dropkick again this week - probably the thing he’s best remembered for - and puts up more of a fight than he did last week but is once again quickly beaten with a Tazzmission. This week he sees the post match attack coming and punches Tazz out of the ring. Al Snow celebrates with him in the ring, but Tazz still won.
• Whenever No Mercy has been mentioned on Raw or Smackdown they have played the PPV’s theme song, Saliva’s Click Click Boom. To my shock, it isn’t dubbed on the WWE Network. Before the main event, Michael Cole and Tazz run down the PPV’s card as announced so far complete with match graphics for all of them. That became a very common practice on the shows before a PPV but at this point in time it feels brand new!

Raw - October 15th, 2001

Austin’s Paranoia

In the Alliance locker room, Stone Cold addresses the troops. He continually adds “including you RVD” after every other segment. He says he’s cool with the PPV main event and they need to focus on tonight. Stone Cold and Kurt Angle are supposed to pick partners for a tag team match tonight. He asks Debra to hand out paper and pencils so that everyone can vote. He encourages them all not to pick the most popular person (RVD) but on the best man for the job. 

WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin leads the entire Alliance to the ring. Stephanie and Shane speak first and appoint William Regal as the Commissioner of the Alliance. He thanks them for the honour and then Austin starts to count the votes for his partner tonight. He lists their names and that they all voted for Booker T. Some of them seem happy about it but some seem confused, like that isn’t who they voted for? It’s a landslide for Booker T! He thanks Austin for the support and promises to make him proud. We now need to find out who Kurt Angle’s partner will be. RVD seems upset about it but Austin appeases him by asking if he wants to fight The Rock tonight? He then does a complete 180 on Shane and Stephanie, reversing his opinion that RVD needs to earn his stripes. See, he wants RVD to win the WCW title so that he’ll no longer be in the triple threat for the WWF title. He doesn’t want to get in the ring with Van Dam in case he’s shown up. (See the next section for the outcome of that)

Jonathan Coachman asks Kurt Angle if he’s found a partner for tonight. Before he can speak, Booker T’s No Mercy opponent The Undertaker shows up and tells Kurt that it’ll be him. 

Undertaker and Kurt Angle get ready for their tag team match - Kurt is wearing an American flag bandana and sunglasses to match Undertaker. He gets a big laugh and fair play to Undertaker for playing along. It’s weird but nice seeing babyface Kurt be friends with all his former enemies. 

The main event is Booker T and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle and The Undertaker. PPV opponents on both sides of this match. This has a big fight feel - Undertaker and Austin have wrestled so many times and work well together. The referee is knocked down late in the match and as Undertaker readies a Last Ride on Booker T, Test runs down to rescue his tag team partner. He drops Kurt with a Big Boot too and as he turn his attack to Undertaker, Kane’s No Mercy opponent Kane shows up and fights with him through the crowd. Undertaker and Booker T follow, leaving Kurt and Austin alone in the ring. Stone Cold clobbers Angle with the WWF title belt but there’s still no referee to count and when one finally arrives, Angle kicks out. They trade low blows and Rob Van Dam runs down and, after a pause to judge the distance, drives a Five Star Frog Splash into Kurt Angle. RVD gives Stone Cold the victory and the Rattlesnake looks confused by the actions of one of his PPV challengers.

Jericho and The Rock get Heated

Michael Cole interviews Chris Jericho about his WCW title match at No Mercy. He’ll face the winner of The Rock and RVD tonight. He says that he’s been told he can’t win the big one and in order to win the big one he needs to beat The Great One. Much like Jericho did to Rocky on Smackdown, The Rock interrupts Jericho’s interview. It’s a lot less friendly than their previous interaction as the tension builds. Y2J heads down to ringside and joins commentary to watch tonight’s WCW Championship match. The Rock and RVD fight inside the ring and out and have another good match tonight. They’ve wrestled a lot recently. RVD distracts the referee so that his Alliance buddy Rhyno can come down and flatten the champion with a Gore! RVD has the title won as he sets up a Five Star Frog Splash so Jericho shoves him in front of the referee, causing a disqualification and saving the title for The Rock. Rhyno and Van Dam attack The Rock and beat up the WCW Champion two on one. Jericho refuses to help, sitting on commentary saying that he is respecting The Rock’s wishes to stay out of his business. The Rock is left in a heap by Rhyno and RVD and Jericho just walks away without even glancing at the People’s Champion.

Backstage, Stephanie McMahon is furious at the turn of events and that Jericho still has his title shot at No Mercy against The Rock so makes Rhyno promise to take him out in their match later on tonight. 

WCW US Champion Rhyno faces Chris Jericho in a non-title match. Jericho has victory in his sights as he turns Rhyno into the Walls of Jericho but Mike Awesome and Raven, being directed by Stephanie McMahon run down to attack Y2J.

The Rock sprints to the ring and saves his PPV opponent from a three on one beat down, but then finishes with a Rock Bottom to Chris Jericho! Things are getting heated between The Rock and Chris Jericho.

Christian shows his true colours

Edge takes on WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac. Edge wins a short but good match with his Impaler DDT and as he celebrates, JR gets up off commentary to silently let Edge know something. He leaves the ring and sprints backstage. In the next segment, Edge goes to find Christian and tells him that their mother has been in a car accident. Their feud is on hold due to real life getting in the way. As they walk towards the parking lot, they’re stopped by some Alliance members and Christian hits Edge in the back of the head. Edge is beaten up three on one backstage as Christian reveals that there was no accident. Back at ringside, Paul Heyman laughs hysterically and makes it official - Christian has joined the Alliance. 

Other Happenings

• Raw opens with the new WWF Commissioner Mick Foley. He explains that he came back not for Vince McMahon - he doesn’t know where Vince is and he doesn’t care - he came back for the fans and reminds us of the big WWF title match he made for No Mercy - Austin defends against Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam. He’s interrupted by Trish Stratus who we haven’t seen in a while. She doesn’t have anything to say really - she says she knows Mick really came back to see her and then after mentioning the Lingerie match at No Mercy between Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, strips off to show off her own lingerie. Mick comes across like a real creeper as he suggests she dance in a cage suspended above the ring, or in a cage in his office. What is the POINT of this? Sexual deviant Mick Foley is the worst version of Mick Foley. He promises the fans more lingerie matches and more Stratusfaction. I love Mick and I love Trish but this is easily the most pointless 10 minutes of one of these shows I’ve ever sat through. 

• Backstage, The APA and Jacqueline are giving female Tough Enough winner Nidia a tour and they invite her to be at ringside for their six person tag team match later. They arrive at their office to find The Hurricane and Might Molly with a bunch of towing cables attached to their poker table and office door. They drive off on the Hurri-cycle and destroy the APA’s office for the villanous act of charging people for protection (which actually is a crime). 
• The Dudley Boyz and “the Duchess of Dudleyville” head down to the ring for a handicap match with The Big Show. Show is focused on making them pay for injuring his tag team partner (and their own little brother) Spike on Smackdown, plus what they did to Torrie Wilson last week on Raw. This is the best Show has looked in months as he easily dominates both Tag Team Champions and has the match won with a chokeslam on D-Von. He goes to get a table but thanks to a distraction from Stacy and a shot to the back of the head with a Tag Team title belt, The Dudleyz win. They continue the beating two on one until Tajiri runs down to get revenge for his girlfriend Torrie. He sprays mist in Bubba’s face, kicks D-Von out of the ring and The Big Show drives Bubba through the table with a chokeslam! 

• The Hurricane, Lance Storm and Mighty Molly (who debut Hurricane’s new theme song and are accompanied by Ivory) take on the APA and Jacqueline. 

Bradshaw hammers Hurricane with an almighty Clothesline from Hell which gets a gasp from the crowd and wins the match for the WWF team. 

• DDP is at WWF New York and continues his messages of positivity but this week he takes cheap shots at both the crowd in New York and the fans in the arena in Canada. But that’s not a bad thing - that’s a good thing! 

• In the Alliance locker room the new WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman tells RVD his theory that Austin only wants him to win the WCW title so that he’s not in the triple threat, and says that everyone he named including himself actually voted for RVD. Tazz shows up and threatens to tell Stone Cold what he said and it leads to a challenge for a match between Tazz and Kidman later.
• A rare Alliance vs. Alliance match with Tazz vs. WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman. Kidman wins a short match with a facebuster. Between this, his title win on Smackdown and getting a little promo time backstage with RVD it seems like Kidman is in line for a push.

Smackdown! - October 18th, 2001

Choke Artist

Smackdown opens with Chris Jericho who addresses everyone calling him a choke artist and telling him he can’t win the big one. He says they’re right - he’s never been WWF Champion and he never even got a shot at the WCW title when he worked there. This Sunday at No Mercy is his chance to finally win the big one and prove to everyone that he IS a main eventer. He’s interrupted by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsely who mocks his pose at the top of the ramp and rips off a bunch of his catchphrases, telling him to shut the hell up. She points out how many times he’s interrupted her - that is a fair point. She says that she had to decide who to cheer for at No Mercy and ultimately decided that it’ll be for The Rock as he’s “the lesser of two evils”. The Rock comes out and she has a big smile on her face, assuming that The Rock will be glad to have her support. Jericho and Rock are supposed to team up later tonight for a tag team match. They haven’t mentioned who their opponents are yet. He’s about to fly into a string of insults directed at Stephanie but she stops him and tells him to direct his aggression towards Jericho, not her. She rehashes their history and reminds them that Jericho made his debut by interrupting The Rock, showing footage from July 1999. God that feels like a million years ago even to me and I watched it a few months ago. So much has happened in the two years since. The pair of them continue to insult her and make fun of her boob job until she finally leaves the ring in tears, screaming that she hates them both like a teenager throwing a hissy fit. That leaves them alone in the ring to finally focus on each other. Jericho tells The Rock that he should be worried about No Mercy and The Rock says that he isn’t in the slightest bit concerned - Jericho has never won the Big One because he isn’t good enough. Y2J starts to retort and Rock cuts him off and makes fun of him always saying his catchphrases. Jericho sticks his hand in Rock’s face and tells him to “Just Bring It” so The Rock flattens him with a Rock Bottom! And they’re supposed to be partners later! 

Lillian Garcia interviews Commissioner Mick Foley and asks why, given the tension between The Rock and Chris Jericho, he’s made them team up tonight. He says that he’s protecting the WWF and wants to nip their blossoming hatred in the bud so they can respect each other and even be friends like he and Rock eventually were. 

Chris Jericho and The Rock team up but still haven't been told who their opponents are. After Jericho’s entrance there’s a replay of their altercation at the start of the show and that riles up Y2J. The referee has to physically hold them apart as their opponents come out - it’s Raven and Justin Credible. Jericho attacks The Rock before the bell rings and Raven and Credible get involved. They throw Jericho out of the ring and focus their attack on the WCW Champion, seeing a chance to pick up an easy, big win. Y2J returns to the ring with a steel chair and blasts Raven, Justin Credible and then The Rock! The crowd is still strongly behind The Rock but there were a lot of boos after the Rock Bottom on both Raw and tonight, and cheers for Jericho hitting The Rock with a steel chair. I’ll talk more about the fan reaction to this face vs. face feud at No Mercy. Chris Jericho gives The Rock a People’s Elbow as he lays in the ring. This has gotten very personal. 

Return of McMahon

Backstage, Stone Cold leaves the Alliance in a party for Rob Van Dam! They have banners and champagne. Stone Cold seems to have taken RVD’s actions on Raw to mean that he is on his side and now feels like RVD is going to help him on Sunday and make No Mercy’s main event effectively a handicap match. Tazz says that RVD could win the WWF title at No Mercy and everyone groans and shouts abuse at Tazz. He’s put his foot in his mouth again! He keeps misreading the mood of the room. There’s a couple more segments like this where Austin is a big blowhard and talks about how many times he’s beaten Kurt Angle without anyone’s help (all lies) and makes it clear that he expects RVD to have his back.

A long black limo is shown in the parking lot and speculation begins about who’s inside. The usual suspects like The Rock, Shane and Stephanie have all already been confirmed as in the building. So who is it? 

Later, we find out who was inside the limo - it’s Rob Van Dam, but he’ deep in conversation with someone we can’t yet see. Who is the dude with whom it was nice to have a meeting in the back of that limo? 

RVD finally arrives at his party and is greeted by Stone Cold who gives him a big hug. He thanks him for doing the right thing on Raw and he knows that he’ll do the right thing on Sunday and help him double team and beat Kurt Angle at No Mercy. RVD calls Austin something here but it’s bleeped out - it didn’t seem like an insult from context so I’m not sure why it was censored. Austin gives RVD his watch and says he’ll be his biggest supporter going forward. He tells him to whip Kurt Angle’s ass tonight in their single match too.

Later in the show out in the parking lot, we finally find out who was in that limo having a private chat with Rob Van Dam - it’s Vince McMahon! Outside of the special 9/11 Smackdown which doesn’t count, this is the first time we’ve seen Mr. McMahon since July. After a commercial break, the mood in the Alliance locker room party has turned very sour as Austin and the entire roster stares at Rob Van Dam! He has some explaining to do. What was he doing in a car with Vince McMahon? Austin says that Vince is the devil, but Rob didn’t think he was that bad of a guy. He was very complimentary of the Hardcore Champion and told him that he’d see him on Sunday at No Mercy. Austin gets a big laugh from the crowd as he dead pan asks for his watch back. He tells RVD that he should leave.

In the main event, WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam faces Kurt Angle three days before they both challenge for the WWF title. This is non-title. Much like all of RVD’s recent matches, and I mentioned this during his match with Jericho on Raw, his opponent is bleeding. Kurt has a bloody nose and it’s hard to see that it came from anything other than another misplaced Van Dam kick to the face. This is a strong performance as Kurt hammers RVD with a string of suplexes and an Angle slam. He locks in the ankle lock but we’ll never know if RVD would have tapped out as Stone Cold runs to the ring, attacking Kurt Angle and giving him a Stone Cold Stunner! He throws RVD out of the ring and goes for a second Stunner on Kurt but it’s countered into an Angle slam. Much like on Raw, RVD climbs to the top rope and has a choice which man he wants to land on with a Five Star Frog Splash. He thinks about it before coming crashing down onto Stone Cold Steve Austin! RVD is his own man and he wants to be WWF Champion. Smackdown ends with Vince McMahon coming out onto the stage and watching on with a smile. Who’s side is RVD on and what is Vince going to do at No Mercy? 

Other Happenings

• The Alliance team of Hurricane, Lance Storm and Mighty Molly face off with WCW Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz and Lita. This is fun but with some help from Ivory, The Hurricane’s team wins. They’ve beaten the WCW Tag Team Champions. As they’re leaving, on the titantron the APA are admiring the Hurri-cycle and actually steal it (Faarooq looks ridiculous in the sidecar) to take it to a local “naked bar”, so says Bradshaw. 

• In the Alliance locker room, William Regal interrupts the party to introduce the newest member - Intercontinental Champion Christian. He’s given a warm welcome and Stone Cold shakes his hand and promises to lead him to the top! 
• For the third week in a row, Maven wrestles Tazz. This week, he has the female winner of Tough Enough Nidia with him. It’s quite impressive that they’ve put these two on TV so quickly after the competition ended - future winners often didn’t make it to TV at all, or if they did it was months later. I’ve mentioned previously that the season 1 cast produced a few future WWE performers and it is by far the most successful season with the notable exception of The Miz. He didn’t even win his season of Tough Enough but has been in WWE for two decades and won every championship there is twice over. Anyway back to 2001, a distraction from Nidia allows Maven to win his first match with an inside cradle on Tazz! Maven wins. 

• In the interview with Lillian Garcia, Mick Foley adds another match to No Mercy - The Dudleyz defending the WWF Tag Team titles against The Big Show and Tajiri. Later as the card for No Mercy is being run down while the awesome Click Click Boom by Saliva plays, another Tag Team title match is announced with The Hardyz defending the WCW titles against The Hurricane and Lance Storm.

• A PPV preview of two different singles matches - The Undertaker and Kane vs. Booker T and Test. This is a big hard hitting match and as Undertaker lifts Booker into a Last Ride, Test drops him with a Big Boot so that Booker T lands on his chest and gets the three count! 

• D-Von Dudley (with Bubba Ray and Stacy Keibler) takes on Tajiri (with The Big Show). It seemed like Spike and Show would get the PPV title match but with Spike out with an injury and Tajiri looking for revenge after Torrie Wilson was put through a table, this match makes sense too. Stacy distracts the referee and Bubba slides into the ring for a 3D. The Big Show retaliates with a chokeslam on D-Von from the apron and Tajiri wins the match. As The Dudleyz and their PPV challengers brawl at ringside, Torrie Wilson makes her return to attack Stacy and pull her skirt down ahead of their Lingerie match at No Mercy. 
• In a somewhat tacky PR exercise, there’s a video about Linda McMahon presenting the mayor of New York Rudy Giulianii with a check for $1 Million to assist the families of firefighters and police officers in New York. That’s a lovely thing but congratulating themselves on TV about it is not. 

• Jonathan Coachman asks Edge how he’s feeling after Christian’s ruse and attack on Raw. Edge says that using their mother against him means that he no longer has any guilt about beating the hell out of his brother as he now has no brother. He goes to find Chritian and is lured into the locker room that he thinks is his brother’s but finds an ambush by Christian, Chuck Palumbo, Kanyon and High Morrus. They even have Stephanie McMahon there to provide a distraction. Christian lays out his brother with another steel chair assault. 

• Shane McMahon complains to Alliance Commissioner Regal about the return of his father. Regal asks him to calm down and says that he and his sister are far more devious than they used to be - they chased Vince off once and they can do it again.