Royal Rumble 2001 - New Orleans Arena, New Orleans Louisiana, January 21st, 2001

A really well done video package welcomes us to the 2001 Royal Rumble. I like that it focuses on all the men who’ve never been champions - the ones you’d normally say have no chance of winning - as much as the likely suspects like Rock, Austin and Undertaker. Great stuff.

This show is widely regarded as the best Royal Rumble of all time. In front of a red hot crowd at the absolute peak of the Attitude era, it's hard to argue. Let’s find out how accurate that is together. (Aww)

WWF Tag Team Championships

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

Wasting zero time getting into the action with the first match. Amazingly as popular as they are, Bubba Ray and D-Von haven’t held gold since Wrestlemania 2000. The build to this one has been a little uncomfortable with Edge and Christian hanging out a pair of nasty concussions and Bubba and D-Von competing through them.

I mentioned it in the preview but this type of angle would NEVER fly today with all we’ve learned about concussions and head trauma in the years since. The Attitude era treated concussions like a head cold.

Bubba and D-Von attack the champions as soon as they enter and Edge and Christian try to leave, but are stopped by their challengers and brought back to the ring where it breaks down to D-Von against Edge as the legal men.

The fans are absolutely red hot for this show and both these teams - this is the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena be for a Tag Team title match.

D-Von gets an early cover on Edge with a neckbreaker, and then Christian with a scoop slam after a tag. Bubba tags in and the Dudleyz continue to go for covers early and often, trying to end this quickly due to their “injuries''. They’re both actually fine of course. 

Christian gets a shot in on the back of D-Von’s head as he runs the ropes and that gives the champion their opportunity. 

Edge and Christian tag in and out and focus their attacks on the back of D-Von’s head with a back suplex and a side-Russian leg sweep as well as just straight up stepping on his head.

The fans amazingly start a “D-Von” chant which might be the first time I’ve ever heard that outside a video game. 

D-Von gets a hope spot when he counters Edge’s attempted piledriver into a slingshot that knocks Chistian off the top rope (Christian smartly had his hair covering his face to explain why he didn’t see that coming) and D-Von crawls to a hot tag to Bubba Ray…but the referee didn’t see it! As Bubba argues with the referee, Edge and Christian try a con-chair-to on D-Von but he ducks it and knocks down both champions with a double clothesline and gets the tag to Bubba who sets about Edge and Christian with clotheslines and bodyslams and drops Edge. The fans absolutely erupt for the Wazzup headbutt down South on Edge and blow out the mics when Bubba calls for D-Von to “get the tables”. Christian stops him and as they fight on the outside, Edge tries to use one of the tag title belts as a weapon. He’s rolled up by Bubba for a near fall that makes the crowd erupt. 

The Dudleyz try a 3D on Christian but Edge stops it with a Spear on Bubba for a very close near fall. 

Edge and Christian try their own Wazzup headbutt, but Bubba rolls Christian through and D-Von shoves Edge, dropping him head first into his own partner’s groin! 

A 3D on Edge and the fans go mental for the three count as for only the second time, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley become the WWF Tag Team Champions!

This was a great match, made even better by how insanely into it the fans were. 

Earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat, comedian Drew Carrey arrived. He was promoting his own PPV comedy special and was here to “find out how to do good PPVs”.  Triple H had recently appeared on Drew’s sitcom so it was a bit of cross promotion. 

Vince McMahon also cleared up the confusion from Smackdown - he’d said that if Austin or Triple H laid a hand on each other before this PPV, Austin would lose his Royal Rumble spot and Triple H would lose his title match tonight. They DID come to blows on Smackdown but Mr. McMahon has ruled that since Kurt Angle shoved Triple H into Stone Cold to start the fight, neither man should be punished. That’s fair and I thought Michael Cole made it seem pretty clear that was the case when it happened.

Elsewhere Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley discuss tonight’s title match. Kurt Angle has Trish Stratus in his corner and Stephanie hates her. I’ll talk about that plenty more during the match. Drew Carrey goes to visit them and during the brief conversation makes it painfully clear he doesn’t watch WWF himself and is only here to promote his own show. Thanks Drew. Steph offers to take Drew to visit one of the WWF’s sexiest divas - Trish Stratus. She even assures him that Trish is single. (Officially she is, but everyone knows she's seeing Vince McMahon. Again, I’ll talk about that whole gross angle later). 

In the APA offices, Bradshaw and Faarooq engage in a little game of “you show me yours, and I’ll show you mine” with their Rumble entry numbers. Crash Holly bursts in and tells them both that their friends but if they cross him he’ll throw both of their butts over the top rope. Go on Crash, I believe in you.

Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Chris Benoit © vs. Chris Jericho

There’s a video package for this match but in truth the renewal of this rivalry kind of came out of nowhere. This is one of those evergreen feuds where they have so much chemistry and now history in the WWF they can just be thrown together like this and it works. It’s a ladder match because Benoit says he’s beaten Jericho in every other kind of match. That’s not untrue.

The two Candians trade punches and chops in the early going and Benoit goes for the Crippler Crossface to work on Jericho’s arm which he focused on on Smackdown, and Jericho counters into an attempted Walls of Jericho which is also quickly blocked. 

After Y2J misses a dive to the outside and then gets driven shoulder first into the ring post, Benoit introduces the ladder first. He quickly sets it up but Jericho shoves him off it and is the first to use it as a weapon when he drives it like a batter ram into Benoit’s head, and then his ribs in the corner.

Chris Jericho sets up the ladder like a platform on the top rope and tries to whip Benoit into it but its reversed and Jericho flies into it face first, sending both himself and the ladder tumbling to the outside.

Benoit gets a head of steam and tries to dive out of the ring at Jericho but it backfires and in one of the more famous chair shots of all time, Jericho swings a steel chair as Benoit flies, catching him in the head. Benoit had his arms up but the force of the chair shot and the way he landed there’s no doubt that was one of the more significant bits of head trauma for a man whose legacy is defined by exactly that. 

Jericho lays Benoit across the security wall and tries to ride the ladder down from the apron onto him - something that would have really badly hurt Benoit if it connected but the champion moved, and follows up by driving the ladder into Jericho’s face and then hammering him across the back with a chairshot of his own. 

Benoit then puts the ladder in the corner and throws Jericho into it and tries to set up something complicated on the top rope but it backfires and Jericho retaliates with a sort of Russian leg sweep from the top rope using the ladder which looks cool. 

Benoit continues to keep the control of the match going back and forth by kicking the ladder back at Jericho and giving him a big back suplex.

Randomly during the match the AOL instant message alert sound effect plays. Must have been someone in the production truck.

Jericho reverses a whip to the ladder and Benoit hits it chin first, and then Jericho uses the ladder across the top like a pendulum which also catches Benoit with a big shot under the chin, followed by a missile dropkick into the ladder. 

Jericho wins the battle for innovative ladder spots for sure.

Jericho tries to climb the ladder but Benoit stops him, and suplexes Jericho over the top rop to the outside. It’s then Benoit’s time to try and climb but Jericho stops him and in an awesome and very famous spot he’d repeat in ladder matches for the rest of his career, Jericho locks in a sort of modified Walls of Jericho/Octopus stretch atop the ladder before dumping Benoit down to the mat.

The champion lands and Jericho almost pulls the belt down but Benoit kicks the ladder over and Jericho tumbles and hangs up on the top rope.

Jericho hits Benoit with ANOTHER ladder shot and tries to climb but Benoit grabs him by the legs and pulls him off the ladder and catches him in a Crippler Crossface. Jericho taps out but of course it doesn’t matter. Benoit has to climb the ladder but wants to incapacitate Y2J with this move before he does. 

Benoit climbs but Jericho stops him. He tries for a suplex from the top of the ladder but Benoit blocks it and knocks him down to the mat. He follows with a diving headbutt but Jericho rolls clear and Benoit lands with a brutal bang on the mat.

Jericho puts the ladder across Benoit’s chest and climbs with his weight pinning the champion down but Benoit shoves the ladder and Jericho has a scary fall to the turnbuckle and then to the outside!

Benoit makes his last climb attempt but Y2J hits him in the legs with a pair of chair shots and shoves the ladder over sending Benoit bouncing off the top rope to the outside. 

With Benoit on the floor overacting and giving us a hammy performance of trying to get back into the ring to stop him, Chris Jericho reaches up and pulls down the Intercontinental Championship belt to once again become the champion.

This was a brilliant ladder match with both men fighting with intensity and finding a whole pile of new and inventive (at the time certainly) ways to use the ladder. Great stuff. 

Backstage, Drew Carry flirts with Trish Stratus who says she’s involved with “someone”. See if Drew watched the show he’d know what was going on. Vince McMahon enters and finds Drew flirting with Trish which makes him jealous. They plug Drew’s comedy PPV special. Vince suggests one way to promote the PPV would be to be IN the Royal Rumble match. Drew isn’t sure but Vince and Trish talk him into it. 

Billy Gunn does his best to talk Chyna out of her match with Ivory - he’s very concerned for her health. Chyna has not recovered for long enough since her neck injury. She’s too focused on revenge and ignores both The One and the doctor’s advice.

Michael Cole interviews the new Intercontinental Champion. He gives Benoit credit for how tough he is and calls this his third Intercontinental title victory. That’s actually a source of some debate. The WWF acknowledges this as his fourth reign, but that’s only true if you consider his co-champion reign with Chyna, and then him becoming solo champion at last year’s Royal Rumble as two separate reigns. I don’t. He never actually lost the title to regain it during any of that. 

WWF Women’s Championship

Ivory © (w/Steven Richards) vs. Chyna

There’s a big emotional video package for this one detailing Chyna’s apparent career ending injury. I’ll talk a lot more about Chyna at Wrestlemania but this whole storyline was invented to “weaken” Chyna in the fans eyes with a bad neck so that she could realistically wrestle women.

Chyna starts the match throwing Ivory around by the hair, effortlessly whipping from corner to corner before sitting her on the top rope and snapmaring her into the middle of the ring. 

Full credit to Ivory for bumping around and making Chyna look like the strongest woman on planet Earth.

Chyna sits Ivory on the top rope and clotheslines her down to the floor where she then tries to run away through the crowd.

Chyna brings Ivory back to the ring and fights off attempted interference by Steven Richards before setting Ivory in the corner for the handspring elbow which she’s started using.

Chyna hits the corner and goes limp, collapsing and rolling onto her back. Ivory gets an arm across Chyna’s chest. The referee counts and Ivory officially wins the match but the story is that Chyna isn’t moving.

Now the presentation of this injury is open to opinion. In the end, they’re doing an injury storyline and so it's fair for them to lay it on thick and make it seem as real as possible however JR and King adopting their serious, quiet way of speaking which has been dubbed by fans as the “Owen voice” in reference to how they acted after Owen Hart’s accident is sure to upset some people. King gets up off commentary to go and check on her (something else he hasn’t done since the Owen Hart incident), and Billy Gunn springs down to the ring followed by medical personnel. The whole thing takes a while but Chyna is slowly loaded onto a stretcher and taken to the back as JR and King talk about this like Chyna is paralysed. 

Most of the fans buy it - the arena is very quiet and there’s a respectful applause as she’s taken up the ramp. There were, of course, a few people shouting abuse and cat-calling her as she lay there. 

It’s easy to be oversensitive with these things but bear in mind that the Owen Hart incident I’m talking about was only about 20 months before this. 

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley goes to see Jan the make up lady for some help with her hair and has more words with Trish who tells Steph “you need more help than I do”. 

Drew Carrey gets his official wrestler's gear delivered by a referee (it’s a tracksuit) and tries to make small talk in the locker room. He says hello to Kane, who blanks him. In another Drew Carrey related segment as D’Lo Brown and Chaz argue with Tiger Ali Singh over which of them should get the single Rumble spot they’ve been given. Mr. McMahon enters to break the news that the slot has been taken away from them and given to Drew Carrey. “Drew Curry?” asks Tiger. I’ve made it pretty clear how sorry I feel for Tiger Ali Singh and the horrific, racist treatment the WWF gave him.

A bunch of fans at WWF New York give their thoughts on tonight’s WWF title match. They’re pretty split for the heel vs. heel match, but most of these guy’s belief of who should win seems to be based on their catchphrases. Triple H will win because he’s The Game, but Kurt Angle will win because he’s an Olympic Hero. Insightful.

WWF Championship

Kurt Angle © (w/Trish Stratus) vs. Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley)

The video package for this one centres mostly on Trish, Vince and Stephanie, as did the storyline in real time. Kurt has tactically picked Trish as his “business partner” because she’s so close with Vince and it makes it less a case of “him vs. the McMahons” and hopefully gets Vince on his side a little. Pretty smart. 

This is the first PPV appearance of Triple H’s most famous theme song - the one he’s still using as the real life head of the company both on screen and off in 2024 - The Game by Motorhead. It’s an awesome song. 

Trish is wearing an expensive looking fur coat to accompany Kurt. JR and King talk about Linda McMahon for the first time in a few weeks. “What must she be thinking of Vince’s antics in her highly sedated state?”. She had a full scale nervous breakdown but hasn’t been on TV since Vince asked for a divorce.

Triple H and Kurt Angle start off with some straight wrestling - an exchange Kurt wins - and a clothesline out over the top rope. The fans chant “Angle sucks” and have seemingly adopted Triple H as the good guy in this heel vs. heel match. That’ll be because he’s booked strong and as an ass kicker and Kurt has, sadly, been an afterthought for most of his title reign. He’s been beaten up and pinned in non-title matches by just about everyone. The story was that Triple H didn’t like or respect him in real life and so used his real life connections to the creative team (he and Stephanie were dating for real by now) to bury the people he didn’t like and keep himself strong. Something he did for the rest of his career in fact.

Kurt continues to dominate Triple H with wrestling moves and works on the arm before clotheslining The Game out of the ring again.

On the outside in a brawl is more Triple H’s element and he gets control of the match there with right hands and running the WWF Champion into the security wall.

Triple H takes control now and focuses his attack on Angle’s leg with stomps and kicks and an Indian death lock - an old-timey submission hold Triple H would adopt as part of his regular move set. 

He tries to wrap Kurt’s legs around the ringpost but the champion pulls Triple H in face first into the post instead and sends The Game into the ring steps.

Triple H gets control back by going to the knee and succeeds in wrapping Kurt’s knee around the ring post followed by blasting it with a steel chair while his wife distracts the referee (which is Earl Hebner so he’ll no doubt steal some focus and attention soon enough). 

In the ring, Triple H continues his assault on Angle’s leg with a pair of chop blocks and more submissions. 

Triple H locks in a figure four and wrenches at Kurt’s knee. He crawls to the ropes and grabs them, using the ropes illegally to put more pressure on Angle’s legs. 

That’s too much for Trish who goes around trying to stop Triple H and help out Kurt which leads to Stphanie attacking Trish! They roll around at ringside and up and over the announce table and pull at each other's hair until Mr. McMahon comes down. He’s unable to split the two up and throws his “friend” Trish over his shoulder and carries her to the back. Stephanie continues the attack, knocking both of them over and Vince leads the two of the warring women to the back trying to keep them from killing each other.

It all worked out very well for Kurt Angle who got a lot of time to recover while Triple H was distracted and capitalised with a small package roll up…but Triple H kicks out. He goes back to the knee but Kurt has his second wind and even on one leg fights back with punches and a DDT for a near fall.

In the booking of the match Kurt is the clear underdog but the fans are still behind Triple H.

Kurt follows with an atomic drop and a gorgeous German suplex with a bridge for another near fall.

Kurt follows with a Russian leg sweep and goes for a moonsault but Triple H stops it and brings Kurt down off the top rope with a crucifix powerbomb which also get a close near fall. JR even calls it the Razor’s Edge because by this point, WCW was of zero threat to the WWF - the Monday Night War is almost over.

Kurt retaliates with an undetected low blow, and actually hits his moonsault (kind of) but Triple H kicks out of that. 

Triple H throws Kurt to the outside so he can get some time to recover himself, but when he dives off the apron at Kurt he misses and flattens the referee. The two continue to brawl on the outside with no referee. Triple H throws Kurt into the ring and uncharacteristically goes to the top rope but Kurt practically jumps to the top to bring him down with a suplex. That would have been enough to get the three but there’s no referee to count. 

Triple H brings the title belt in to try and use it as a weapon but its blocked with an overhead belly to belly suplex and Kurt tries to use the title belt as a weapon. That’s blocked with a Pedigree but there’s still no referee to count. 

Triple H goes out to get the referee…and is jumped by Stone Cold Steve Austin! Austin hammers The Game with punches and kicks and beats the living hell out of him all around the ring before throwing him into the ring and clocking him with the WWF title belt! The Rattlesnake has struck and he even throws the referee into the ring. Austin returns and gives the now bleeding Triple H a Stone Cold Stunner before leaving.

Kurt Angle crawls into a pin just as the referee wakes up and Stone Cold has cost Triple H the WWF Championship. Kurt Angle escapes with his gold again. 

This was a great match between two talented wrestlers but the distractions of Stephanie and Trish and it being heel vs. heel stops it being a full classic. 

Before the Royal Rumble match, there’s shots of some of the favourites getting ready - number 30 Rikishi doing squats, The Undertaker shadow boxing and finally an interview with The Rock by Kevin Kelly. It’s a good Rock promo so here it is along with the video package for the Rumble match itself -

The 2001 Royal Rumble match

After the traditional long winded running down of the rules by Howard Finkle, the number one entrant is revealed to be Jeff Hardy. Number two is the Right to Censor’s Bull Buchanan. He runs to the ring and the match begins with no fanfare. It’s a fast exchange with Jeff getting the best with a head scissor but is shut down with a big clothesline. Bull boosts Jeff up in a military press and tries to throw Jeff out but Hardy wriggles free and they fight in the corner until the arrival of entrance number three, Matt Hardy! It’s now two on one and The Hardyz work together with a Poetry in Motion and a double clothesline out. Bull is the first man eliminated. Matt and Jeff show off the “every man for himself” ethos and go at it with no hesitation, throwing punches and Matt gives Jeff a back suplex.

Jeff fights back with a jaw breaker. They fight and try to eliminate each other until entrant number four, Faarooq of the APA. Another tag team specialist. Faarooq beats up both men until they work together and with a Poetry in Motion (which Jeff missteps and injures Matt by standing right on his kidney) a Twist of Fate and then a Swanton Bomb, Faarooq is eliminated. Being back to the Hardy brothers they both remove their tops (which gets a loud girly scream) and start trading stiff right hands and fight it out in the corner. Jeff hits Matt with a Whisper in the Wind and both men are down. Number five is comedian Drew Carrey. He makes his entrance slowly slapping the fans hands and watching on as Matt and Jeff continue to fight. The fans actually chant for Drew (unlike modern fans who mostly hate celebrity appearances). Matt and Jeff fight in the corner and stupidly, they eliminate each other. Both Matt and Jeff are out. Drew finally enters the ring after they’re gone and just like that Drew Carrey is the only man in the ring! He poses and shows off until the music of entrant number six - it’s Kane. An awesome spot really as there’s instantly a hilarious anticipation with the match now being a one on one fight between Drew and Kane. Drew calls for Matt and Jeff to come back and help him as Kane slowly circles the ring. Drew watches on as Kane cues his corner pyro and then offers Kane a handshake.

That’s ignored so he offers Kane some cash, which gets a laugh. Kane grabs Drew around the throat as entrant number seven, the Hardcore champion Raven arrives to save the day. Drew climbs over the top rope and eliminates himself and leaves with a big smile. He’s just happy to escape unscathed. This single one-night performance was enough to eventually get Drew Carrey inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Fair enough? Nah, I don’t think so either.  Raven has brought a kendo stick with him but Kane no-sells that and gives Raven a big sidewalk slam. Raven rolls out of the ring and grabs some weapons from under the ring but he's jumped by number eight entrant, Al Snow. Al actually came down before his official entry and as a kid I never understood that spot but it makes way more sense having seen all the shows leading up to the PPV - this is Snow’s first appearance since Raven broke a concrete block over his head! Raven fills the ring with more weapons and this is now a hardcore Rumble! He rolls a bowling ball into Raven’s crotch as he sits in the corner but walks right into a clothesline from Kane. The ring is full of trash too - I think the garbage cans they got from under the ring were real ones.

Raven and Show work together hitting Kane with trash cans over and over but he doesn’t even leave his feet until he's given a drop toe hold down onto the trash can. The number nine entrant is Perry Saturn who has Terri wearing a pretty spectacular outfit. I was never a big Terri fan but she looks great here. Saturn goes right to work on Kane’s leg. The weapon shots continue until the arrival of entrant number ten, Steve Blackman. He uses his martial arts weapons to light up Raven and Saturn but Kane continues to lumber around and shut everyone down. The ring is basically filled up with the entire hardcore division. They pair off and fight in the corners with Blackman and Saturn working together to try and stop the massive Kane. As Kane chokes Blackman in the corner, entrant number eleven Grandmaster Sexay signals the beginning of the end of the hardcore section of this Rumble. He uses trash can lids as weapons and tries to eliminate Al Snow. Kane has had enough and grabs a trash can, hitting everyone with it. He eliminates Grandmaster Sexay first, then throws out Steve Blackman, Al Snow, Raven and finally Perry Saturn racking up five eliminations and clearing the ring. Entrant number twelve is The Honky Tonk Man! He was a big star of the 1980s and at this point was the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time - a record he held until Gunther beat it in 2023. Honky Tonk - who is basically an Elvis impersonator - gets a mic and asks the fans if he wants him to sing his song.

He sings his own theme song (where he competes with his own vocals on the recording) until Kane grabs his guitar and smashes it over his head, and throws Honky over the top rope to eliminate him. Kane isn’t alone in the ring for long as we get our second main eventer - entrant number thirteen, The Rock! Rocky lights him up with punches and a massive clothesline but Kane stops him short of throwing the Big Red Machine out. Kane dominates The Rock until entrant fourteen, the Right to Censor’s Goodfather. The Rock drops Kane with a DDT and as he enters the ring he immediately has the smack laid down on him and Goodfather is eliminated very quickly. Kane and The Rock trade big blows and Kane levels Rocky with a sidewalk slam while number fifteen, Tazz makes his entrance. This is a record setting performance as he runs right into Kane and is instantly dumped out in about three seconds. Tazz is eliminated. The Rock and Kane resume their battle and fight to dump each other over the top rope in the corner until Kane rakes Rock’s eyes to get some separation. There’s a very weird edit on the WWE Network as they randomly show a replay of Tazz’s elimination with no commentary or graphics. I wonder if they were covering something up. Number sixteen, the APA’s Bradshaw runs down as Kane and Rock are both down and the big Texan is able to hammer them both. They’re joined by another big man - number seventeen, Albert. He almost gets a quick elimination on Bradshaw on one side as Kane almost dumps out The Rock on the other but both men hold on just barely. Number eighteen is Hardcore Holly. I wonder why he wasn’t included in the hardcore Rumble section? Albert drops Bradshaw with a big choke-bomb as Hardcore joins the fight and gets some offence in against The Rock which he’ll probably never do again. The Rock comes very close to eliminating Kane but the big man holds on. Number nineteen is K-Kwik. Because he doesn’t sing his own theme song, they play the pre-recorded version which awkwardly still includes Roaddogg’s parts. He hasn’t been with the company for about six weeks. There’s a cool spot as Kane hits a big slam on Hardcore Holly while Bradshaw powerbombs K-Kwik and everyone hits the mat at the same time. Number twenty is the final Right to Censor in this match, Val Venis. Holly stomps on The Rock as Kane and Albert work together to get Val Venis on the edge of elimination. Number twenty one is the European Champion William Regal. Regal is one of my all time favourites and he’s had so much attention and promotion lately working with Stone Cold and the likes, and being in multiple big segments with Kurt Angle and the McMahons. Someone in the office was a fan. He flattens K-Kwik with a suplex but then is taken down by Kane. The ring is very full as each man takes turns resting, and then throwing punches in the corner. At this point there's eight men in the ring. Number twenty two is Test who does right for Regal and throws him effortlessly over the top rope. Regal is eliminated. He then turns his attention to his former tag team partner Albert who along with Trish turned on him last month. More fighting and brawling in the corners until the arrival of number twenty three - the returning Big Show! His first appearance since that short lived run before Summerslam. He dumps Test out first, and then military presses K-Kwik up and over to the floor. He gives Albert a massive chokeslam, followed by Bradshaw. He then hammers Val Venis and Hardcore Holly with chokeslams.

He gives a huge one to Kane and then tries to give one to The Rock but Rocky kicks him low and clotheslines The Big Show up and over the top rope eliminating him. Show destroyed everyone in sight and then got thrown out by The Rock. Show is pissed and after clearing off the announce desk while number twenty four, Crash Holly enters, drags The Rock out of the ring and drills him through the announce table with a final chokeslam before he leaves. The Rock isn’t eliminated but he has been taken out.

In the ring, everyone works together on Kane and beats him down in the corner and with The Rock still down on the outside, number twenty five arrives - Kane’s big brother, The Undertaker. Amazingly, this is The Undertaker’s first Royal Rumble appearance during this era. He rides his motorbike down to the ring as five men work to dump Kane out. He saves his younger brother, clearing all five off of him and the two work together throwing out Crash Holly, Hardcore Holly, Val Venis, Bradshaw and Albert leaving only the two huge brothers in the ring. They stare down and don’t come to blows seemingly waiting on whoever is next.

The twenty sixth entrant? Scotty 2 Hotty. Taker and Kane watch as he slowly approaches and then predictably they hammer him two on one before driving him with a double chokeslam. This confirms what everyon suspected in the week before the show - Undertaker and Kane are working together. They effortlessly throw out Scotty 2 Hotty as we get a reminder that The Rock is still legally in this match. Number twenty seven, set to face the same odds as Scotty, is Stone Cold Steve Austin! Weirdly even though he has his Disturbed theme on every show on the Network in this era, on this PPV his classic lyricless theme has been dubbed in. Austin gets close to the ring but is jumped by Triple H. Referees work to stop him as The Game hammers Austin all over the entrance ramp. The Rock crawls back into the ring and faces Undertaker and Kane two on one as the cameras struggle to follow both fights. Number twenty eight is The One Billy Gunn who sprints to the ring and joins in the fight in the ring, effectively rescuing The Rock. Triple H is finally dragged off of Austin but the Rattlesnake is badly bleeding - his entire head is covered in blood! 

Austin didn’t even get in the ring and is still officially in this match but the fans have had all the wind sucked out of them as they worry that this beating means he’s no longer going to compete. He did cost Triple H his opportunity earlier so it makes sense that Triple H cost him his.

Number twenty nine is Haku. A very odd choice to have come out as a surprise this late in the day but this was a pretty big get for the WWF as at this point he was the reigning WCW Hardcore champion and had been on WCW TV as recently as a week ago. The fans are silent for his appearance, and the commentators quickly move on to talking about the other men in the ring. The fans pick up with an “Austin” chant. Finally, the number thirty entrant is Rikishi and the Royal Rumble is complete. Rikishi stops on the ramp to attack the bloody Austin but that proves to just light a fire as the Rattlesnake fights back with punches and enters the ring along with Rikishi. JR screams himself hoarse as Austin throws punches and eliminates Haku. The final six men are Stone Cold, The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, Rikishi and…The One, Billy Gunn. Undertaker plans Rikishi with a chokeslam and throws The Rock up and over but he manages to hold on. Rikishi eliminates Undertaker with a superkick, and then as he sets up The Rock for a Banzai drop The Rock gives him a low blow and shoves him out, eliminating Rikishi! Billy Gunn drops the bloody Austin with a Fameasser but is then thrown out by The Rock. The One is gone. The Rock drops Kane with a DDT and there’s a huge reaction to Austin and The Rock locking eyes across the ring and making their way across to each other. The fans are at fever pitch as the two biggest stars in wrestling trade punches.

The Rock comes out on top of the punches and goes for a Rock Bottom but its blocked and Stone Cold gives The Rock a Stunner! Kane rejoins the fight with Austin and they go back and forth, The Rock stumbles up and gives Austin a Rock Bottom! Kane is thrown out of the ring through the ropes, so isn’t eliminated and Rock and Austin both battle to eliminate each other. Rock has Austin up and Kane dumps him from behind but Stone Cold holds on as only Rock falls to the floor. The Rock is eliminated, and Kane and Stone Cold are the final two! Kane drills Austin with a chokeslam and signals for a tombstone. Kane has, at this point, racked up a record breaking number of eliminations in a single Rumble with 11. That record stood until Roman Reigns eliminated 12 in 2014. Ironically before Kane eliminated 11 the previous record was 10 which was held jointly by Hulk Hogan and? Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin uses a low blow to stumble Kane, who goes and gets a steel chair. Kane swings for the Rattlesnake who blocks it with a boot to the gut. He wriggles out of a tombstone attempt and flattens Kane with a Stone Cold Stunner! That doesn’t help Austin win as he has to get Kane back to his feet. Kane staggers to his feet as Austin grabs the steel chair and hits Kane with three brutal big chair shots to the head one after another!

Kane won’t leave his feet but as he falls back to the ropes, Austin clotheslines Kane up and over to win the 2001 Royal Rumble! Stone Cold wins his third Royal Rumble match and is going to Wrestlemania! 

The moment is ruined a little by the WWE Network inexplicably dubbing his music on this show but JR screaming about Austin’s victory as the bloody Rattlesnake chugs beer after beer in victory still gives me goosebumps!