Raw - December 10th, 2001

Undisputed Main Event

To my shock, the show doesn’t open with a recap of last night’s PPV and Chris Jericho’s historic Undisputed title victory. It does open in the arena with co-owner of the WWF Ric Flair walking to the ring with both World title belts. It's interesting, historically, that he’s proudly displaying the WWF title belt but not the old WCW “big gold” belt which he has tucked into his body. As the story goes at this point in his life he had a lot of bitterness and hatred towards WCW and his final days there so that might not be a coincidence.

On the show last night and indeed here, Ric Flair makes it sound like the Undisputed Champion will be presented with a single Undisputed Championship belt. There is one - we’ll see it for the first time the night after Wrestlemania - but for now Y2J will be carrying around both of the big belts. Which is fine, I think that looks pretty cool anyway. Jericho gives a cheerful sarcastic sounding thank you to the booing crowd He gets out a piece of paper which is his list of people to thank - he gives the first thanks to himself as the fans chant “Rocky” and “WHAT” at him. He gives more sarcastic thanks to The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin who he beat in back to back matches. In fairness, beating the two biggest stars in WWF history in a single night is a huge accomplishment. Obviously his claim of doing so single handedly is false - he had a ton of help from Vince McMahon, Booker T and even Kurt Angle who blasted Austin with a chair before the match. Finally he thanks “the little people” for helping him realise they don’t matter so he could focus on himself and skyrocket to the top. He also thanks Vince for his help and finally Ric Flair for keeping his word to present him as Undisputed Champion. Flair does exactly that and one man with those two titles is quite the sight. Flair tells Jericho that he is going to defend the title right here tonight inside a 15 foot high steel cage! The fans cheer, and Jericho looks concerned. His opponent is Stone Cold Steve Austin! 

Backstage, Vince McMahon arrives with Booker T, flanked by security with attack dogs. Flair goes to confront them both but Vince jokingly apologises for attacking him at the PPV and says Booker is here as his personal guest tonight and they’re just going to watch the show from the sky box and stay out of things. Ric breaks the news about tonight’s main event and Vince is furious - that's not what he had planned tonight. He can’t change what he has planned for The Rock so tonight he and Trish Stratus will face The Dudley Boyz. I guess he’s still upset about him and Kurt’s loss to that team last week.

In The Dudleyz locker room, Bubba Ray, D-Von and Stacy Keibler discuss their tag team title defence against The Rock and Trish Stratus. Bubba plays a straight man and rants about how nervous he is tonight and how dangerous their opponents are. D-Von agrees and says maybe they should just surrender the titles. Honestly with this being a title match and this segment, it seems like Trish Stratus might just be the first woman to hold the tag team titles tonight.

The Dudley Boyz defend the WWF Tag Team titles against the technically undefeated team of The Rock and WWF Women’s Champion Trish Stratus. They could have played up Bubba and D-Von’s history of putting women through tables but maybe that’s just sooo year 2000 and not cool anymore? The crowd is the loudest they’ve been all night so far chanting for the People’s Champion. I hope The Rock and Trish romance story is dropped soon. Its doing neither of them any favours. The Rock goes it alone being isolated and double teamed by Bubba and D-Von. Even Stacy gets involved and helps them cheat. Understandably he doesn’t tag in Trish and does eventually mount a comeback single handedly against the Tag Champs and almost wins the titles solo with a People’s Elbow. With full control, he does tag in Trish (at her request) and they give a Wazzup headbutt to D-Von’s crotch. Stacy gets on the apron and so The Rock slams her and Trish gives her one too! King reacts to Trish driving her head - even violently - into a man and then woman’s crotch the way you’d expect him to. Test runs down to attack The Rock and with him distracted, Bubba and D-Von flatten Trish with a 3D to retain the titles! The Rock drops D-Von with a Rock Bottom but turns right into a big boot from Test, all the approval of Mr. McMahon and Booker T. 

After the tag team title match, Vince addresses the people from his skybox and after confirming that The Rock has indeed closed the Kiss My Ass club, he is now opening the Kick YOUR Ass club. Austin, Rock and now even Trish have joined and he gives a warning to Ric Flair not to cross him either. He also calls Booker T the biggest star in Hollywood (which is where the show is). Booker is pretty hilarious in the background reacting to all of this.

Vince and Booker T receive a platter of sandwiches. Suspicious Booker thinks they might be drugged or something but Stone Cold and makes the nice staff member (Felicity) taste test them first. He’s a hoot.

Stone Cold Steve Austin appears on the titantron, reminding us of how he got screwed last night, barking WHAT over and over and getting the fans to do the same. He’s just so damn captivating. He can speak for 45 seconds and it’ll be the best 45 seconds on a show. I can’t do the promo justice for entertainment value but he promises to kick Chris Jericho’s ass and end his Undisputed title reign only 24 hours in. He also throws some threats at McMahon and Booker too and by God I think he means it. 

In the main event, Chris Jericho makes his first defence of the Undisputed WWF Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Booker and Vince are shown looking genuinely concerned that Steve might keep his promise and win the title tonight. The rattlesnake attacks Jericho on the outside as he refuses to get in the cage and after a beating, Y2J climbs in to escape. With the door locked, the match begins and JR was very clear that this match can only be won by escaping the cage either over the top or through the door. Austin absolutely dominates the new champion while the fans chant WHAT. This is a heated back and forth with Jericho trying to crawl out the door multiple times after big moves. Austin bounces Y2J from wall to wall of the steel and exposes the top turnbuckle bolt, using it to bust the champion wide open with it, driving him into it over and over. Austin has this match won and could easily walk out but seems intent on doing a lot more damage with that exposed turnbuckle. Just as Stone Cold is about to step out, Y2J gives him the middle finger so the Rattlesnake comes back in to make him pay for it with a Stone Cold Stunner. Austin heads to the door again but Booker T is there to slam the cage door on his head! That takes Austin out and despite the enormous amount of punishment, Jericho crawls to the door and escapes to retain his title. 

Olympic Sore Loser

Kurt Angle comes to the ring to a remix of his classic theme. This doesn’t stick around for long but I do vaguely remember it. He says that he has requested this match for Mr. McMahon and shows footage of the Rikishi stinkface on Smackdown. Vince and Booker are shown looking horrified in the owner's box. Kurt vs. Rikishi is short but pretty good - they work really well together but it does seem like Kurt works really well with everyone. The counters and moves are all so crisp. Kurt avoids a Stink face and takes a walk, getting himself counted out and watching on in a rage from the top of the ramp as Rikishi puts on a trilby hat and goes into his trademark dance. That’s too much for Kurt so he runs back to the ring and attacks him from behind. That backfires and Rikishi gives him a Stink face anyway. Not a good 24 hours for the Olympic Hero. He gets back up and as Rikishi starts dancing again, Angle beats him senseless with a steel chair. Man this segment had like three false finishes. Also Kurt’s original theme played at the end, not the remix he came out to. Pick a lane guys.

End of The Hardyz?

In the locker room, Lita tries to make things up with her boyfriend Matt Hardy after she refereed his losing effort last night at Vengeance. Matt accuses her and Jeff of working together against him in secret and he breaks up with her, as well as saying The Hardyz tag team has also broken up. A sobbing Lita is consoled by Jeff Hardy, and they’re trying to tease some kind of love triangle between the brothers and Lita. That leads right into a handicap match - Matt Hardy enters to The Hardyz music, and Lita and Jeff enter together to Lita’s music. Matt is coming across like a paranoid, unhinged weirdo here. For anyone wondering, Matt and Lita were very much still an item in real life and she and Jeff’s relationship is more like brother and sister which I’m sure made this a little icky for everyone involved behind the scenes. Matt is very aggressive, hammering Jeff with punches and screaming at Lita. Lita does eventually get involved, dropping Matt with a diving hurricanrana and Jeff follows with a Swanton which he misses. Lita tags herself in and Matt rolls her up to steal the victory. He’s ended his relationship, his tag team and friendship with his brother but at least he won this random match on Raw I guess. 

Other Happenings

• The new WWF Hardcore Champion The Undertaker defends his title against Spike Dudley in a match which seems hilariously unfair. Spike is less than half Undertaker’s weight and might legit be 15 inches shorter than him. Spike does at least throw a bunch of weapons into the ring to give himself a fighting chance but it makes no difference. A Last Ride through a trashcan gives Taker an easy first title defence. That would seem to be all she wrote but after the match, Undertaker picks up Spike and chokeslams him over the top rope all the way to the floor which is one of those spots people tease but never actually do. Spike splats violently on the mats at ringside. I bet that hurt like hell.

• Former Alliance member Lance Storm shows up in Ric Flair’s office in his ring gear. He is sick of mopping floors and wants a job and a match tonight. Ric pumps him up like he’s considering it…then says no! Lance tried a couple more times throughout the night and does eventually convince him to give him a match tonight. “Win or else”
• Lance Storm’s opponent in his “win or else” match is the 500lbs Big Show. He puts up a decent fight and gets a nearfall with a beautiful missile dropkick but it's not enough and with a massive chokeslam Lance’s job prospects would seem to be dead. 

• Jonathan Coachman interviews Intercontinental Champion Edge who gives us the worst English accent i’ve ever heard in my life while making fun of William Regal. Regal knocks him out from behind with his now trademark brass knuckles. 
• William Regal goes one on one with Kane. Before the match, Regal brags about what he just did to Edge backstage and says that he is a new, more vicious Wiliam Regal. William slips his brass knuckles on and undetected by the referee hits Kane first with a punch to the ribs and then straight to the face for a surprise victory. 

Smackdown - December 13th 2001

Austin takes Booker grocery shopping

Much like on Raw, Vince McMahon and Booker T arrive together flanked by plenty of security guards and dogs. Vince gives them a pep talk about being on the lookout for Stone Cold who will no doubt be a man possessed tonight. 

They enter the building and encounter Ric Flair. Ric says he knows what Vince likes now and he’s already got his special box seats ready and waiting for him tonight. Vince doesn’t trust him and checks for Austin in cupboards etc. Ric talks him down and says that he promises that he’s just here to co-exist. He wants to be friends and he’s here to learn and listen. McMahon is the boss. Vince seems very happy about that.

A food delivery arrives at Vince’s skybox. He says it sounds disgusting but when Booker points out that its probably Austin’s order they decide to eat his food. Really this is a very thinly veiled promotion for Sonic (which is a fast food chain in the US, for those not in the know). The food based misadventures continued as a member of staff accidentally set fire to the platter and ruined the burgers. I remain unclear on what the point of this was. Later, some firemen show up to check on things and Vince heels out on how firemen are just as bad as the cops. One of the firemen unmasks - its Stone Cold! He attacks Booker T, chasing him through the crowd still dressed as a fireman! Booker runs down to the ring, around the ringside and disappears up the ramp! He gets into a car and escapes, so Austin dives in his pickup truck and takes off after him! 

Booker T calls in to speak to Vince on his cell phone later in the show. He’s still on the run and sounds paranoid about Austin following him. Following that, Ric Flair drops in to see Vince and it's implied that he’s on the phone to Stone Cold, but it's confirmed when Ric passes the phone to Vince. Stone Cold tells Vince that he’s found Booker - he mentions the Green Frog supermarket about 12 times which feels like another commercial.

That leads into an iconic segment in wrestling history that I can’t do justice to. Stone Cold beats Booker T up all over the supermarket and it's hilarious. Austin’s never ending trash talk makes the segment. Here’s the highlights.

Tag Team Main Event

A huge all star tag team match is the main event. The Rock and Rob Van Dam face Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho and Hardcore Champion The Undertaker.

The champions team isolates The Rock and pick him apart until he rallies with a DDT on Undertaker and makes the tag to an energised Rob Van Dam. He enters the ring with a diving kick to Taker followed by Rolling Thunder and a spinning heel kick to Y2J. He’s quickly shut down and then its his turn to be isolated and picked apart by Jericho and Undertaker. The Rock tags in and hits Jericho with a People’s Elbow but Undertaker breaks up the pin. RVD takes aim with the Five Star Frog Splash but Jericho rolls out of the way and locks in a walls of Jericho. The Rock fights off Undertaker and breaks that up. With Rocky and the Hardcore Champion fighting on the outside, Y2J tries to use a steel chair. RVD spin kicks it right back into the Undisputed Champion’s face and RVD pins Chris Jericho! That surely makes him the number one contender? Smackdown ends on that big note. 

A bad night for the separated Hardyz

Backstage a heart broken Lita runs into Test. He puts the moves on her seeing as she’s now single but gets angry at her when she isn’t interested. Big incel energy from Test considering how many girls he allegedly hooked up with in real life. He calls her a tease and gets aggressive until Jeff Hardy shows up to save the day. He challenges him to a match later tonight.

Test vs. Jeff Hardy (with Lita). King speculates that Jeff and Lita are now an item, something Test also said earlier. I kind of hate this storyline but that’s par for the course - I despised the whole Lita and Dean Malenko storyline in December of 2000 too. Winter isn’t her season. Test is bigger and stronger but Lita helps out with a diving hurricanrana. Test loses his temper and after getting disqualified for hitting referee Earl Hebner, stalks him for a Big Boot. Do it!

Before he can, The Rock - whom Test attacked on Raw - runs down and tackles the unfireable sex pest and flattens him with a Rock Bottom! 

Matt Hardy plays poker with the APA. Faarooq and Bradshaw ask him questions about how he and Jeff used to practice at home and Faarooq makes some off-color comments about Lita and her colourful thongs. Matt seems a little sad about the way things have worked out for him, his brother and girlfriend. This segment just kind of ends but later in the show, Matt faces Bradshaw so maybe he confronted them about it off camera? Michael Cole actually says Matt lost his temper and flipped their table but that part was missing from my copy of the show. How strange. Bradshaw dominates and beats Matt pretty easily with a powerbomb. 

Other Happenings

• Kurt Angle opens the show in the arena and much like on Raw he has a remix of his theme song, but it's a different remix from the one he had on Raw. Seems like they want a new theme for him but haven’t settled on one yet. He’s teaming with William Regal against Rikishi and Intercontinental Champion Edge. As is now tradition, the referee gives Regal a pat down looking for his brass knuckles before the match.

• Smartly after the search turns up empty, Angle surreptitiously hands them to Regal who stuffs them down his trunks. This breaks down into a brawl, both babyfaces going after the men who laid them out with foreign objects on Raw. With a series of counters, Edge drops Angle and then Regal with a Spear to win the match for his team. Kurt tries to attack him after the bell but Rikishi is there to make the save. It looks like Kurt’s about to get another Stinkface but Regal saves him. Regal aims for Rikishi with a brass knuckles assisted left hand but Rikishi moves, Kurt is knocked out instead and the Englishman gets the Stinkface instead. Regal doesn’t stay down and gives Rikishi the punch he intended, but Edge is there with a chairshot to the head and a DDT onto the chair which has blood pouring from Regal’s nose again. This was an ok match with a chaotic aftermath.
• Backstage after a commercial break a bloody Regal screams that his nose is broken and that he needs to go to the hospital.

• Tajiri - who is now apparently the WWF Cruiserweight Champion - defends his title against Crash. Tajiri still has his girlfriend Torrie Wilson with him and amazingly this is our first chance to hear King react to seeing Torrie since his return. It’s what you’d expect. I’ve talked about the WWF Light heavyweight and Cruiserweight titles elsewhere on the site but this is quite a historic match as it marks the debut of a new title which presumably carries on the lineage of the WCW Cruiserweight title (which it still is - they haven’t updated the belt’s appearance yet). This is a good but short match which Tajiri wins with a roll up. After the match, Crash attacks from behind and after laying out the champ stalks Torrie. The lights go out and The Hurricane makes his return/debut, appearing on the top rope and diving onto Crash to save the day. Is Torrie making goo-goo eyes at the superhero? Probably not as it's never referenced again and doesn't go anywhere. 

• Lance Storm shows up in Ric Flair’s office where the co-owner says that Storm followed him around on Tuesday and tracked him down at the supermarket. Lance is offended that Ric hired The Hurricane but won’t hire him. Flair - sick of his harassment - gives him one last chance. If he wins tonight then he’s in but if he loses he never wants to see him again! 
• For some reason that match is missing from my version of this show too, much like the end of the Matt Hardy and APA segment (see the above section for details) but Kane defeated Lance Storm in less than two minutes to seemingly end his employment hopes for good. 
• WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz (and Stacy Keibler) and WWF European Champion Christian take on the three man team of Scotty 2 Hotty, Albert and Tazz. A fun match which features the now standard Stacy sexual harassment spot (Albert pulls her skirt off) and Tazz getting the win for his team with a Tazzmission on Christian for the submission! 

Raw - December 17th 2001

Return of The Game

A video package plays hyping the return of The Game! He’s been gone since May, and he’ll return on January 7th. On my version of the show, its dubbed with a generic, nice song but in reality these adverts used Beautiful Day by U2 so here’s the good version from YouTube. 

This same commercial was shown on the next few Raws and Smackdown’s too which I won’t mention every time.

The Rattlesnake goes to Church and the Co-Owners get involved

Co-Owner of the WWF, Mr. Vince McMahon comes to the ring to address the crowd. He calls Stone Cold Steve Austin a certifiable lunatic. He recaps the events of Smackdown where Austin infiltrated his skybox dressed as a fireman and then chased Booker T out of the arena and to a local grocery store where he then gave him a long, messy beating. Vince has something to get off his chest and demands Austin come to the ring. He does and the crowd is so loud, chanting WHAT at everything Vince and Steve say. McMahon wants an apology for Booker T. Austin is having the time of his life listing things so the fans can bellow WHAT between every item. This is hilarious. Austin is, unsurprisingly, unwilling to apologise and asks the fans if he should kick Vince’s ass. They encourage him to do so.

Before he can, Booker T appears on the titantron. He’s out in the parking lot next to Steve’s truck. He says he’ll show Austin what happens if he messes with him and starts smashing the truck up with a big metal pipe. The Rattlesnake takes off backstage to get Booker and during the break he gets out to the parking lot just in time to see Booker take off in a speeding car. Austin jumped into his smashed truck and took off after him. 

Vince McMahon in his office gets a call from Booker T who tells him that he’s hiding out at a local church, which Vince finds very funny.

Vince goes to see Rob Van Dam. RVD has an Undisputed title match tonight thanks to pinning Y2J on Smackdown in a tag match so Vince wants to make sure that if Rob does win tonight he’ll be “Team McMahon”. RVD is uninterested in being his guy and doesn’t see them as a unit. Vince loses his temper and says he’ll be at ringside as a commentator to watch Jericho kick his butt.

The WWF’s camera crew seems to have tracked down Booker T who is hiding from Stone Cold at a bingo hall. He’s playing with a bunch of little old ladies and loses his temper at the bingo caller for being too slow. Booker is hilarious, cheating by stealing the lady next to him’s sheet.

Just as Booker is one number from winning, Austin arrives and chases him out of the room much to the delight of the old ladies - the game continues and sure enough, he’d have won if he stuck around. Austin pursues Booker into the church hall as he hides in the pews. It’s a VERY big church - Americans am I right? He throws on a robe and tries to hide as a statue before giving up on that too. Booker frantically searches for a good hiding place, sure that Austin is close behind. 

Back at the church later, Booker was hiding in the confessional. A very pretty young lady walked in and sadly confessed that she had cheated on her husband with his brother and filmed the whole thing. Booker tells her to say 10 hail marys and to mail the video tape to him. Funny, if a little creepy, stuff. Ruined almost immediately by King being insufferable about it back in the arena as I’m sure you can imagine.

Undisputed WWF Champion Chris Jericho comes down to the ring and after recapping his recent success, says he refuses to defend the title against RVD tonight. Van Dam doesn’t deserve the title shot - he cheated to beat him on Smackdown and shows the footage of the spin kick into a steel chair. In fairness, that should have been a disqualification but obviously Jericho is a hypocrite and it was him who brought the chair into the ring. He also attacks Ric Flair for not punishing RVD and calls him jealous and demands Flair come down to overturn the decision from Smackdown as well as officially cancel tonight’s main event. Ric refuses and taunts Jericho but that just fires him up and Y2J calls Flair jealous and says he's going through a midlife crisis. That makes Ric angry and he pulls off his jacket and screams at Jericho. He says that since Chris has such an issue with the referee on Smackdown, HE’ll be the referee tonight! Ric was actually already wearing a referee shirt under his top too. His theme song started playing while he was still talking to end the segment. I guess he was going on a little long.

Booker’s adventures in the confessional continue and after being rude to a man whose sins are too boring for him to listen to, Stone Cold finds him and confesses that he hasn’t sinned yet but he’s about to! He chases Booker out of the church and they run into some nuns. Even Stone Cold won’t beat someone up in front of nuns so Booker gleefully offers them a ride and finally manages to escape the Rattlesnake. 

This main event Undisputed title match marks the first time since October 2000 that we have a WWF Championship match which doesn’t include Stone Cold Steve Austin and/or Kurt Angle which is an impressive run (for this era).

Vince McMahon comes down to the ring and gives a big introduction to Chris Jericho before he joins commentary to watch the main event. Both owners of the WWF are involved here with Vince sitting next to JR and King, and Ric in the ring as the official. There’s no mention of JR and Vince’s run in with the Kiss my Ass club last month - that has never been mentioned again so I can only assume I’m right in saying that the segment being universally despised made them just pretend it never happened. Jericho and RVD work really well together with a dive to the outside and an incredible german suplex. Vince criticises Flair’s refereeing for slow counts and what he sees as unfair bias against Y2J. After a disagreement , Ric shoves Jericho and he walks right into a spinning heel kick. RVD connects with the Five Star Frog Splash! The referee counts but Vince jum[s up and stops the count, attacking his business partner. That’s too much for Ric and he hits Vince with a low blow and locks him in the figure four! RVD locks Jericho in one too and with stereo figure fours in place, RVD’s music starts to play and Raw ends. The official decision is that Van Dam won, but by disqualification so Jericho keeps the title. 

The Rock

Ace reporter Shane Helms interviews Ric Flair, asking him for his thoughts on the debut of The Hurricane on Smackdown. Lance Storm arrives and takes offense that this joke has a job and he still doesn’t. Ric loses his temper and tells Lance that he can have another chance but even if he wins tonight he’ll make his life a living hell but he won’t win because his opponent is The Rock! 

The Rock faces Lance Storm. Ric Flair said this is Storm’s last chance at earning a job in the WWF but this is also the third time he’s told him that so I suspect he’ll keep getting shots until he wins. The Rock is currently mired in a mini-feud with Test over Test being a sex pest towards Trish Stratus and The Rock being a gentleman, apparently. The Rock breaks out a classic spot during this, throwing on a commentator’s headset and talking trash to Lance as he beats him up at the announce desk. Vintage Rock - he did that in damn near every match he had in 1999. The referee does down just as The Rock gets Lance in a sharpshooter. He’s jumped from behind by Test who flattens The Rock with a pumphandle slam and drags Storm into the cover, but the People’s Champion kicks out by the time the referee recovers. Test and Storm cannot believe it! The Rock drops Storm with a spinebuster and goes out to fight Test, beating him up the ramp. Test clobbers him with a clothesline and in a minor miracle, Lance Storm defeats The Rock by count out to officially earn a WWF contract! Lance celebrates for a little too long and pays for it with a Rock Bottom. 

The Undertaker scares sense into Matt Hardy

Raw opens with the Hardcore Champion, The Undertaker. The fans still don’t seem to have fully embraced him as a bad guy and he continues to get a lot of cheers and a lot of signs in the crowd. I do like how he wears the title belt on the front of his motorbike like its part of the machine. He is defending the title against Jeff Hardy (with Lita). Jeff’s brother/Lita’s ex is at WWF New York tonight. He was shown sitting having a drink on his own at the top of the show and JR has promised we’ll speak to him later in the show. Jeff uses his speed to outrun Undertaker early but when the fight goes to the outside, the champion takes over with a steel chair and dominates, quickly finishing Jeff with an enormous Last Ride. Sweet Jesus.

Matt is shown watching the match from WWE New York with a scowl on his face. Taker is about to leave but when he sees Lita in the ring checking on Jeff’s well-being (he hasn’t moved since he hit the mat from that Last Ride) he goes back and threatens her before continuing the beating on Jeff. He still feels that he’s not being shown enough respect. With Lita trying her best to stop him, Taker carries Jeff’s limp body to the top of the ramp and gives him a second Last Ride off the stage to the concrete below! Matt is shown reacting to that in horror! Taker grabs Lita and despite her best efforts with a low blow, he throws her off the ramp too, sending her crashing onto Jeff! Matt looks shocked and distraught. It seems that seeing his ex-girlfriend and brother in this kind of trouble has broken through his shell and made him reconsider his recent actions (good).

During the break, Matt is shown on his cell phone frantically trying to get an update on Jeff and Lita’s health. The room he’s in looks suspiciously like an office backstage at the arena rather than anywhere at WWF New York. Raw this week is in Louisiana which is about a 5 hour flight from NYC so we won’t be seeing him tonight without a time machine.

Other Happenings

• The Dudley Boyz defend the WWF Tag Team Championships against Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert (the hip-hop hippo). The Dudleyz win a short match after Albert gets distracted by Stacy (he’s only human) and Scotty falls prey to a 3D. Stacy having some big man force a kiss on her, spank her or pull her clothes off against her will has become a show-by-show occurrence. 
• During the show, JR and King send their condolences to the family of Russ Haas, a developmental wrestler who died a couple of days previously. Russ was the brother of Charlie who debuted with Shelton Benjamin in 2003. Charlie always had “Russ” written on his wrist tape for his entire career in tribute. It’s nice that the WWF acknowledged the sad death of such a young man when most fans would have no idea who he even was.
• Christian defends the WWF European title against Tazz. For anyone keeping count, this is the third championship match tonight so far. Taz made Christian submit on Smackdown but isn’t as lucky here and is beaten quickly after a low blow and Unprettier. Christian seems unsatisfied and tries to hit Tazz with his title belt after the match for good measure but Tazz ducks and locks him in the Tazzmission.

• Intercontinental Champion Edge teams with Rikishi against Kurt Angle (on the 3rd version of his remixed theme now) and Test. William Regal apparently needed surgery after Edge broke his nose on Smackdown. I suspect his nose was broken for a couple of months and they’ve finally given him the time to get it fixed - his nose seemed to start bleeding every time someone looked at him funny. Kurt wins with an Angle Slam on Edge, pinning the champion, but the action continues after the match as Test and Angle assault both Edge and Rikishi. The Rock runs down looking for revenge on Test and gets it, dropping Kurt with a spinebuster and then setting Test up for a Stinkface which Rikishi is happy to give him! 
• Backstage, Michael Cole interviews Test about the Stinkface. Test says that since he can’t get fired he’ll do what he likes and attack Cole. What a bully.
• The Big Show teams with the WWF Cruiserweight Champion against Billy and Chuck. This team formed shortly before Survivor Series but has been exclusively on Sunday Night Heat. This is their debut on the shows I’m watching. They come out to Billy’s “the One” theme song and don’t yet have their classic theme. One of the greatest of all time. I shared that previously but will share it again when it pops up I promise. The One is a great song too to be fair. There’s some miscommunication as Tajiri accidentally knocks Torrie off the apron. The distraction allows Billy to drop Tajiri with a flapjack and win the match for his team.

Smackdown - December 20th, 2001

First Match is First Blood

Smackdown opens backstage with both Booker T and Ric Flair waiting to speak to Mr. McMahon in his office. Ric says that he and Vince have discussed it all day and what he has in his hand is Booker T’s contract. It’s finally official and he’ll be a WWF superstar. Booker asks if Ric is just sucking up to Vince after Raw but Flair says he’s sincere about just wanting to make things work and be friends with Vince. Booker is blown away by the size of his new contact and excitedly signs the deal. Flair has a big smile on his face with his back to Booker T - there was obviously something in that contract that he snuck in and tricked Booker into signing without reading. 

In the parking lot, Booker excitedly waits for the arrival of Vince McMahon to thank him for the huge contract. Vince has no idea what he’s talking about! Ric shows up to break the news that now that he’s a WWF Superstar he can be booked in matches and tonight he’s fighting Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood match! 

Booker T goes to see Kane in his locker room. He asks Kane for some advice on first blood matches with Austin (King of the Ring 1998 reference!) Kane’s big advice is “don’t bleed” which is solid.

In the main event, brand new WWF Superstar Booker T competes in his first official match since Survivor Series - a first blood match with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Booker arms himself with a steel chair before Stone Cold arrives so Austin throws a bunch of weapons of his own into the ring including the ring bell and hammer. Austin pulls Booker out of the ring and the two begin this match at ringside, fighting all over the announce table. Austin aims his offence at Booker’s head with punches and exposes the turnbuckle. They more or less wrestle this as a normal match which is odd given that the only way to win is to make the other bleed. Stone Cold’s brawling style of main event is supremely adaptable and it means that he can have an entertaining match with anyone. If they don’t gel well in the ring, he takes it to the outside and makes it an entertaining brawl instead. Booker gets the first big shot with a chairshot to the head as Austin chokes him with an electrical cord. Booker blocks a Stunner but in the back and forth, the referee is knocked down. Stone Cold takes aim with a steel chair but to everyone’s shock, the return of the Big Bossman makes the difference! Wearing a sharp suit, the former head of McMahon’s security hits Austin’s chair with one of his own, sending both back into the Rattlesnake’s face! Stone Cold is bleeding and Booker lays him out with a Scissors kick and celebrates with a Spinarooni! That’s King’s first time seeing the Spinarooni in person. Booker tries to wake up the referee to see the blood and end the match meaning Austin is in desperation mode trying to open up Booker before it's too late. He fights back and this feels very weird as the match continues several minutes past the obvious end point - Bossman’s return and the blood. Earl Hebner finally ends the match and Booker T wins!

Austin has been screwed over again. The Rattlesnake chases Booker but is stopped by a laughing Vince McMahon’s face on the titantron. Smackdown weirdly ends on that close up.

The Rock Passes The Test

The Rock heads down the ring (in a very 2001 “it was the style at the time” leather pants and leather waistcoat combo). He’s scheduled to go one on one with Test tonight. He talks about Test’s immunity and how he’s using it to bully referees, announcers and women. He’s realised how angry Test is but its not at any of them - it's at Santa Claus. He does a pretty great impression of Test, forcing buck teeth and a Canadian accent. It all builds up to him making fun of Test’s horse face and big teeth. Which is true but women LOVE Test so what do I know? The Rock also says that he is focused on a rematch with Chris Jericho and a shot at the Undisputed title, as well as getting some New Orleans pie but first he’s going to whoop Test’s ass. He sings a comedy version of the 12 days of Christmas and finishes on If Ya Smell what The Rock is cooking. This was a classic Rock promo. Between this and him dusting off the old steal-a-commentary-head-set spot on Raw he seems to be channelling his 1999 era. I’m a fan.

The newly employed Lance Storm takes on the 400lbs Rikishi. Rikishi has control but as he sets up for a Stinkface, Test comes down to the ring. He got a stinkface of his own on Raw. The distraction allows Storm - with a superkick and then using the ropes for leverage - to pick up an upset win! Storm is on a roll.

The Rock vs. Test. Michael Cole is trying really hard to get “Teflon Test” over as a nickname. Because he has immunity and nothing sticks to him y’see? Yeah it's not clever. Test controls this match, using his size and strength to wear The Rock down and even locks in a long bear hug. Test continues to bully the referee but since it’s Earl Hebner I think bullying is fine tonight. Test distracts the referee by going to get a chair and with his back turned, Test’s new buddy Lance Storm runs down and drops The Rock with a superkick. He kicks out of Test’s pin attempt and Rocky continues to battle through, fighting off more attempted interference by Storm. He gets an accidental big boot from Test, who in turn walks into a Rock Bottom and The Rock wins. 

Undisputed Ego

Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho comes down to the ring and cuts a fairly standard heel promo about how he’s better than all of the people and better than all the previous WWF Champions. The fans chant for The Rock. He says he’s better than The Rock, Steve Austin and Ric Flair. He reminds us what happened on Raw with RVD and Flair attacking both himself and Vince and putting them in Figure Four leglocks. That brings out Jericho’s opponent from Raw, RVD. Before Van Dam can speak, Jericho cuts him off and insults him and tells him he blew his shot so RVD rushes the ring and with a brutal heel kick to the head and a Five Star Frog Splash leaves the Undisputed Champion laying.

Chris Jericho goes into Ric Flair’s office and continues to rant at him about how much better he is, and how jealous of him Flair is. Ric loses his temper and says he isn’t screwing with him but maybe he should! He tells Jericho he’ll defend the title tonight against the Big Show! And that match is next.

Jericho heads out to the ring to defend his title and isn’t even dressed to compete, being given this match on moments notice. He did have time to throw on his elbow pads and tape his wrists at least. Show, whos qualifications to be number one contender are dubious at this point in 2001, dominates the champion and throws him around both at ringside and in the ring. He even has the pin and a clear victory but Jericho gets his foot on the ropes. Big Show is ready to win this title with a chokeslam but the referee is knocked down and Y2J uses a low blow and a shot to the head with the WWF title belt to steal another victory. That’s his 3rd successful title defence in only 2 weeks since winning it. 

Other Happenings

• At this point it probably feels like I'm exaggerating but Kurt Angle has a remixed theme song and once again, it's a totally different song to the one he had on Raw. That’s four now, but maybe he’s alternating the same two. In all four cases, his original theme is the one that played at the end of the segment. Tonight he’s challenging Edge for the Intercontinental title - he pinned Edge in a tag match on Raw so that seems fair. Edge overwhelms the Olympian and Kurt kicks Edge low, blatantly in front of the referee losing this match by disqualification. The crowd loudly chants Angle Sucks as sore loser Kurt continues the attack on Edge and puts him in the Ankle lock, even attacking the referees who try to stop him until finally he’s restrained. Edge might have a broken ankle! (he doesn’t)

• The Undertaker defends the Hardcore title against Matt Hardy. Before the match, there’s a long video package recapping all of Undertaker’s recent actions. I wonder if this is because, like I commented on during the previous Raw, the fans are still cheering him so need to be reminded he’s a heel now. It includes the events of Raw when Taker brutalised and hospitalised Jeff Hardy and Lita which seemed to affect Matt Hardy and perhaps make him rethink his recent issues and falling outs with his brother and ex-girlfriend respectively. 
• Matt smartly jumps the deadman from behind with a kendo stick while he’s still making his entrance. Symbolically, Matt is wearing a Hardy Boyz t-shirt. His control doesn’t last long and Undertaker dominates Matt, hammering him with chairs and beating him up all over the announce table. It's a savage beating which ends with another thumping Last Ride. Trivia - this is the one that was used as a template for the last Ride in video games for years. Undertaker leaves, but stops at the top of the ramp and goes back to the ring to get some final punishment in. He puts the steel chair under Matt’s throat and then slams it down, driving it up into Matt’s neck and seemingly crushing his windpipe. This is the Hardcore Undertaker’s MO - he doesn’t just beat people, he badly injures them. After the break, Matt is loaded into an ambulance but before he leaves Undertaker wraps his hand around his throat and menacingly asks him if “the bitch was worth it?”

• William Regal provides a medical update after Edge broke his nose meaning he required surgery. He looks nasty, I bet that was painful! He tells Edge that he’s ruined his holiday season but he wants Edge to think about the pain and suffering he’ll give him when he returns. He tells Edge that he’s gambling with the devil now. Sinister.

Raw - December 24th 2001

Home for the Holidays

This episode of Raw is pre-taped which is fair enough given that its Christmas eve. It was taped in Miami and so fittingly the show opens with hometown boy, The Rock. Hecomes out wearing his old Miami Hurricane football jersey and tonight he has a match with Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship. Being Christmas eve, Jerry Lawler has a Santa hat and the Raw graphics have been updated with some Christmas lights. The People’s Champion panders to his hometown crowd, drops in some references to the local sports teams and promises to win the title tonight. The crowd loves it. He requests “his book” and is handed “the night before Christmas” which he reads. It’s funny, ripping on Chris Jericho for having no strudel and says he’ll make Jericho his “punk ass bitch”. Before he can finish he’s interrupted by Kurt Angle who thankfully is back to his classic theme song. I hope that’s the end of these experiments with his music. Kurt gets a couple of words out before the fans start to WHAT him. He calls Santa a pervert for watching us when we’re sleeping. Kurt says tonight he’s going to be very naughty and the one man more powerful than Santa himself has given Kurt a special present. Vince McMahon has added him to tonight’s main event, which is now a triple threat match for the Undisputed title. The Rock says he’ll make Kurt’s ass as red as rudolph’s nose and will whoop both Angle and Jericho tonight.

The main event is a legitimately huge triple threat match with Chris Jericho defending his Undisputed WWF Championship against Kurt Angle and The Rock. It would seem the hometown hero is facing effectively a handicap match here but Jericho and Angle both want the title.

It’s a pretty standard story for a triple threat match. Jericho and Angle work together on The Rock but he continues to fight back with flurries of offense which bring this electric crowd to their feet. This is a very fun match. As predicted, through a combination of egos and miscommunication, Jericho and Angle’s alliance breaks down and The Rock capitalises with a sharpshooter on Kurt and a People’s Elbow on Jericho! He comes heartbreakingly close to victory with both. Kurt pulls Rock out of the pin into an ankle lock and maybe Kurt Angle will win the Undisputed title? Jericho breaks that up too and that's the final nail in their team’s coffin and they get into a brawl. The Rock ducks a flying forearm and the referee eats it, getting knocked down. The Rock locks Jericho in his own Walls of Jericho and Y2J taps out but there’s no referee. Angle misses a chair shot and takes out Jericho! Rock Bottom on Angle and he has the title won again but there’s still no referee. Kurt DDTs The Rock onto the steel chair and with both men down, Jericho crawls into the cover and pins The Rock in his own hometown to retain the Undisputed title. Great main event to end a Raw that was a lot of fun to watch.

Dueling Christmas Parties

Backstage, Mr. McMahon is hosting a Christmas party. It’s full of heels like Christian, Billy and Chuck but most notably this is the TV return of Brisco and Patterson! The Stooges are dressed as elfs. He has Bubba-clause. Bubba Dudley is dressed as Santa and has Stacy Keibler on his lap. His special guests are Booker T and the returning Big Bossman, and brings in Santa’s reindeer. A bunch of strippers come in with names like Vixen and Comet. That feels about right for a Vince McMahon party.

Ric Flair is hosting his own Christmas party elsewhere backstage with Tajiri as Santa. It’s attended by Hurricane, Spike Dudley, Kane, Edge, Big Show and others. Tajiri gives Torrie Wilson a gift - some very tiny lingerie. Albert and Edge put a Santa hat and some decorations on Kane to try and get him in the holiday spirit. The main thing these parties illustrate is that the babyface roster is a lot more impressive than the heel one. Big Show wows the crowd with his spot on Hulk Hogan impression. Debra makes her first appearance in a couple of months with her famous cookies and says that Stone Cold is on his way! 

The dueling Christmas parties continue through the night. Billy and Chuck present each other with matching headbands with their names printed on them. Tazz drops in on the heel party and tells Bubba that he’s not doing a good job of representing the real Santa. Bubba calls himself classy as he drinks vodka straight from the bottle. He makes a height joke about Tazz who leaves. Howard Finkle brings in his own special guests - Moolah and Mae Young! Haven’t seen them in well over a year.

At the Flair party, Stone Cold arrives and hands out beer to everyone. He takes a seat in Santa-Tajiri’s lap and the two have a back and forth What made worse by Tajiri not speaking English. I love these two together. Austin reads his christmas list with the whole party (and crowd) shouting WHAT between each item. 

Back in the McMahon party, Test hits on Terri Runnels who is the new host of WWF Axxess, and Sharmell interviews Tough Enough Winner Maven. He says how funny he thought Austin and Booker in the grocery story was. Booker overhears him and challenges him to a match later tonight. (see other happenings)

At the McMahon party, Chris Jericho drops in and asks Vince how he can party when he’s so worried about hte main event. Vince presumably added Kurt to double the odds of one of his guys winning the title. Their short chat is interrupted by the return of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. They are promoting the return of her (TV) husband on January 7th! She presents her dad with a money clip as a gift and seems that she wants to be with him again. Dad doesn’t trust her and screams at her that she’s full of crap. No one manipulates Vince McMahon! She cries but he shows no mercy and kicks out, which gets a big pop from the crowd.

Tazz drops in on the Flair party and compliments their Santa. He’s WAY better than McMahon’s Santa. Austin drops in and accuses Tazz of stirring up trouble and says there's only one way to settle this - a Santa vs. Santa match! Ric Flair agrees!

Bubba Claus vs. Tajiri Claus is a normal match. Or as normal as a match can be with two men in Santa suits. Both parties are shown watching backstage and cheering on their Santa. Tajiri is an awesome wrestler and with spinning heel kicks, a springboard moonsault to the outside and even overcoming interference by D-Von and Bubba Claus using his own belt as a weapon to whip him and finally his red mist, Tajiri Claus wins! Tazz did come down to stop D-Von from cheating too and it seems like his issues with the Dudley Boyz might just be getting started.

Kurt Angle drops in on the McMahon party and promises to win the Undisputed title for all of them so they can all have a Merry Christmas. He’s going to strip The Rock of his dignity and pride tonight. Mae Young hears “strip” and starts to undress on the dancer’s stage. Thankfully the camera cuts away shortly after. It does clear out the party though. Later with all the wrestlers done and only Vince and the stooges behind watching Mae strip, Stone Cold Steve Austin explodes from behind the Christmas tree and kicks ass. Vince escapes but he tries to drown Brisco in the punch bowl and forces Patterson to lay on his back and stare up into Mae’s undercarriage. Jesus. 

Other Happenings

• Rikishi goes one on one with Test. Test continues to bully the referee and dares him to punch him, which Tim White does! Test no-sells it but the referee calls for the bell and disqualifies Test. The big man assaults the referee but pays for it with a banzai drop by Rikishi, who then at least checks the referee. 
• Billy and Chuck in their nice new matching headbands take on the APA. Bradshaw is a man possessed with stiff clotheslines but Billy and Chuck steal the win with an assisted pin, unseen by the referee.

• Backstage, RVD looks for Chris Jericho and is very angry. He wants a match but Jericho is busy tonight. He finds Lance Storm hanging out in Y2J’s locker room so he challenges him to a match instead. He keeps calling Lance “messenger boy”.
• RVD vs. Lance Storm, apparent good friend of Chris Jericho. This is a good but short match which Van Dam wins with an awesome looking Five Star Frog Splash.
• Torrie Wilson vs. Stacy Keibler in an egg nog match. I don’t really feel like I need to share my thoughts on this, which are exactly the same as the gravy bowl match between Trish and Stacy last month. They roll around in what is basically dirty water for what felt like about 10 minutes and got the referee involved too. With a series of spanks and a roll up, Torrie wins. 

• Christian defends the WWF European title against The Hurricane. This marks the return of his sidekick Mighty Molly! I wondered where she was. Because Christian made some negative jokes about the Miami Hurricane before the match, the fans spent all of this doing football chants and not paying attention to the match. Christian uses Molly as a human shield on the outside and while Hurricane is more concerned about his sidekick, picks up the win with an Unprettier.
• Booker T (with Big Bossman) vs. Tough Enough Winner Maven. Maven’s reappearance on TV is mostly to promote the second season of Tough Enough which was being filmed at the time and due to debut soon. Maven does his best and hits a couple of dropkicks but is overwhelmed by the five time former WCW World Champion who picks up an easy win with a Scissors kick.

Smackdown - December 27th 2001

Owner vs. Owner becomes official

Vince McMahon arrives at the arena and bumps into a referee and Perry Saturn who is seemingly back to normal after spending most of the year knocked goofy. Vince sends the referee off to tell Ric Flair not to be too upset by what he’s about to tell the public. That leads directly into Vince heading down to the ring to address the people. Vince says he's here to share his new year’s resolutions but gets so annoyed by the WHAT chants he threatens to leave. If only I could warn them that those WHAT chants would still be pissing people off nearly 25 years later. Vince starts to say vague things about resolving to become even more powerful than before but he’s interrupted by Ric Flair. Ric asks Vince to make one of his resolutions to stop coming out here every week to make an ass of himself. Vince says he’ll embarrass Flair by knocking him on his ass. Ric says he’d like to explain to the people why he hasn’t knocked Vince out yet. Ric says he’s tolerant of McMahon because of his history. He goes all the way back to 1988 and talks about being the NWA champion, refusing to come to the WWF, then coming after things got hard for him in WCW, then Vince kindly allowing him to return to WCW when the time was right. Vince seems appreciative of the story.

The crowd are respectful, quiet because they’re listening to him. Ric gets choked up (which in 2025 is par for the course but seeing men cry in wrestling was VERY unusual in 2001). He builds up to it with a story about Vince not respecting him after Wrestlemania 8 and finally asks a question he’s wanted to ask since 1991. “Who are YOU to tell ME how to wrestle?!” Ric says he’s sick of Vince placing himself in the ring like he’s God Almighty. Ric basically explodes on Vince for being a non-wrestler who acts like he’s better than the wrestlers. He says he went through all the contracts and found one that says Vince McMahon - owner/wrestler. That of course means Vince is giving himself two salaries but it also means Vince will be wrestling at the Royal Rumble - one on one with The Nature Boy, Ric Flair! He clocks Vince with a stiff punch and knocks him on his ass! This was an awesome promo. Flair at his best. Go and track this down if you can. 

In Ric Flair’s office he chats with long time friend and legit legend in his own right, Arn Anderson. They’re interrupted by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsely. She returned on Raw and was turned away by Vince who refuses to forgive her for the whole Alliance/Invasion thing so she offers to help Ric. She knows him better than anyone and can be of great service to him. Flair isn’t interested and says he has no interest in hiring anyone or getting involved. She gets angry and says he might be a great wrestler but he’s a terrible businessman! She says that if he doesn’t give her a job there will be serious repercussions when her husband Triple H returns on January 7th. Ric says he’ll give that some thought.

Pick on someone your own size

Backstage, Undertaker goes to see Vince McMahon and asks if he needs anyone taken care of and to just let him know. Vince tells Taker that he really respects everything he’s done to The Hardyz and Lita and says he hopes he beats some respect into Tajiri tonight too. He even hints that perhaps Undertaker should beat some respect into Tajiri’s manager Torrie Wilson too. That’s sinister. And that match is next. WWF Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri tries to become a double champion against Hardcore Champion The Undertaker. I think we’re all afraid for Torrie and Tajiri’s well-being now thanks to Vince. Torrie looks gorgeous in a blue jumpsuit/dungaree getup. That outfit alone justifies her being in the WWE Hall of Fame. For the first time in a while, Cole and King talk about the Hardcore title’s 24/7 rule and confirm that is still a thing, but no one is brave enough to try and jump Undertaker to take advantage of it! Undertaker tries to Last Ride Tajiri through the announce table but Tajiri saves himself by spraying his green mist into Taker’s face, blinding him!

Tajiri’s burst of offense doesn’t last long and be punishes the Cruiserweight champion. He could have beat him with a massive one-armed chokeslam but scoops him up instead and locks him in a dragon sleeper. Tajiri taps out but Undertaker refuses to break the hold and continues to choke Tajiri unconscious. The Big Show has seen enough and comes down to the ring to confront Undertaker who actually does leave! He backs off and shouts back at Show that he has no respect and should mind his own business. He might have to try and pick on someone his own size after weeks of bullying much smaller opponents. 

After a commercial break, The Big Show is still in the ring and he has some words for Undertaker. He calls him out for picking on smaller wrestlers and being a bully and dares him to come on out and try to pick on him! Undertaker actually does come back out and it looks like we might get an impromptu match but instead, Taker just gets onto his motorbike which he’d left behind and drives off. He came back out for the bike, not for a fight. Show says that his new year’s resolution is to “respectfully” kick Undertaker’s ass! Later in the show it was made official that these two men will have a Hardcore title match on Smackdown next week.

Bossman and Booker make a formidable duo 

In the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin faces Booker T and his new buddy The Big Bossman in a handicap match. Bossman gets his own entrance (and still has his awesome theme song, but a new titantron video). His wrestling gear continues to be him completely covered up in street clothes. He wrestled in a police officer’s uniform in the 80s and early 90s, riot gear in the late 90s and now in a suit. He does take his tie and jacket off at least. He wrestled in the same thing in WCW as Big Bubba too.

They jump the Rattlesnake the moment he enters the ring while he lashes out with punches and kicks. The referee does get control of the match and rings the bell with Bossman as the legal man. McMahon’s henchmen use quick tags in and out to keep a fresh man in the ring and isolate Stone Cold. I do wonder if this classic Austin vs. McMahon, with the latter sending waves of goons after Stone Cold to keep him away from the WWF title, is their attempt to hammer home that Stone Cold is an out and out good guy again and get us back to the status quo. There’s no denying that his heel run gave him a lot more humour and humanity and with the WHAT chants he is extremely popular again. Austin battles back and drops Bossman with a Stunner out of no where! Booker is there to break up the pin. Stone Cold drops HIM with a Stunner too and then Bossman breaks up that pin. The two on one odds prove too much and while he’s chasing Bossman out of the ring, Stone Cold walks right into a superkick and Booker T pins him. Booker T defeats Stone Cold for the second week in a row, this time by pinfall (albeit in a handicap match). And so ends the final WWF TV show of 2001. 

Dorks in Action

Kurt Angle goes to see his tag team partner for tonight. He and Lance Storm will take on The Rock and RVD tonight. They talk about their respective charisma and how much more charismatic they both are than Rock and RVD. Kurt shows how much cooler he is than The Rock with a little dance. 

The Rock and Rob Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle and Lance Storm. Michael Cole spends much of the start of this match making fun of what dorks and nerds Storm and Angle are. He’s one to talk! Kurt doesn’t want to tag in and face The Rock one on one, letting Storm start and only tagging in once he has control of RVD. The match breaks down after a long period of isolating RVD and with a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow, The Rock pins Lance Storm to win it for his team. 

Other Happenings

• Smackdown opens with a non-title match. WWF Tag Team Champs Bubba and D-Von Dudley vs. Tazz and Spike Dudley. I’m not sure why it’s Spike rather than Tajiri seeing as it was Tazz and Tajiri Claus who had a run in with The Dudleyz on Raw but I like Spike so he’s as good a backup for Tazz as anyway. Tajiri is busy being Cruiserweight Champion and was more of a bystander anyway. Stacy tries to distract Spike by getting on the apron and shaking her bum so Spike bites her on it. Animal. Spike is isolated and worked over but after a hot tag to Tazz, he launches the tag champions around the ring with an impressive string of overhead suplexes to get them back into this non-title match. With a Tazzmission on Bubba and a Dudley Dog on D-Von, Spike and Tazz score what is considered a huge upset victory and must make them the number one contenders to the tag team titles! 

• Christian defends the WWF European Championship against Rikishi. Rikishi bounces Christian around with easy and prepares for a Stinkface but Test wanders down to the ring. Rikishi goes out to fight him and Christian picks up the victory by count out. In terms of length of reign and number of successful TV title defences Christian might be the greatest European Champion of all time. Not that he has a ton of competition for that title. Rikishi gives Christian a stinkface after the match.
• Later as he washes his face and mouth out backstage, Funaki laughs at Christian for having a stinky face. Christian gets angry and tells him that he is a virtual giant killer after defeating Rikishi.
• Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho isn’t here tonight but gives us a special holiday message from pool side. Standard heel banter about how he’s better than everyone else. Considering Jericho’s skill over the years are reinventing himself and coming up with creative stuff for himself, his run as Undisputed Champion has been very much standard “I’m the best, you all suck, you’re jealous, I have money” heel work. Quite disappointing honestly. The way he keeps attacking Ric Flair specifically makes it feel like a match between those two is in the future, especially with Ric announcing his in-ring return tonight against Vince McMahon at the Rumble.

• Trish Stratus defends the WWF Women’s Championship against Mighty Molly. She accompanied The Hurricane on Raw but he doesn’t accompany her here. I guess that’s why she’s the sidekick. Trish continues to get better in front of our eyes and after a back and forth grapple exchange, takes Molly down with a headscissors into an armbar. Trish weathers a short burst of offense and with a springboard off the ropes into a school girl roll up, Trish retains the title in probably her best performance so far. As Trish celebrates, she’s attacked from behind by the returning Jazz. Molly does her best to defend Trish but she spikes them both with DDTs and poses with the WWF Women’s title belt.

• Backstage, Billy and Chuck remark that they “really need some of that” and we think they’re being sexist about Stacy Keibler but they mean her hairspray! They tell her she’s no big deal just because she’s on a calendar and their calendar would sell even better than the divas and strike some poses. I kind of love these two as a pair.