Unforgiven - Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, September 23rd 2001

The show opens with Jennifer Holliday (no idea) singing the American national anthem. Understandably on every show since the 11th of September the crowd has been a sea of American flag signs and the like too. Say what you want about Americans but they do patriotism better than anyone else.

The opening video package for this event isn’t one of my favourites. It's hard to tell but it sounds like the WWE Network version is heavily dubbed and has audio snippets missing. This event didn’t have a theme song so there’s nothing to dub out as far as I’m aware. Never mind, the actual graphics and poster for the event are cooler as they focus on the rapidly declining psyche of the WWF Champion - Stone Cold Steve Austin snapped a long time ago now but he is getting more and more paranoid and unstable with each passing event. 

Seven championship matches tonight - in fact there’s only one match that isn’t for a title - and that’s mostly due to the addition of the various WCW Championships. 

Four Way Elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championships

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) (Alliance) © vs. The Big Show and Spike Dudley (WWF) vs. WWF European Champion The Hurricane and Lance Storm (Alliance) vs. The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) (WWF)

Straight into the action with this one. The Dudley Boyz won the WWF Tag Team titles on Raw last week with a lot of help from new Alliance members Kronik (who we’ll see later). This match was announced on Smackdown and all four teams did interact so it’s got as much build as it could have had. There is an extra story here too as “real life superhero” The Hurricane has been trying to woo Spike Dudley’s girlfriend Molly Holly to be his sidekick. To my surprise, Molly, Ivory and Lita aren’t with their respective teams for this match - I guess it keeps things fair, or maybe they didn’t didn’t want to pay the girl’s airfare. 

The match is chaotic to start with Matt Hardy and Hurricane being the first legal men. Matt has some fun posing and mocking Helms’ superhero persona. Paul Heyman always cracks me up during Hurricane’s matches. “Able to leap tall cruiserweights in a single bound, faster than a loco luchador, up there - in the ring is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a HURRICANE!” He and Lance Storm show off some impressive double teams, almost pinning Spike with an aeroplane spin into a neckbreaker. I mentioned during the September 13th Smackdown that Heyman and JR’s arguing had gotten a lot more light hearted with JR audibly laughing out loud at some of Heyman’s antics and that’s continued pretty much ever since. It goes both ways - there’ a couple of times on the wide shot where we can’t hear Heyman laughing but he’s visible on screen having a laugh with Jim too. 

Spike gets a hot tag to Big Show who comes into the ring with fury, taking out everyone with clotheslines. The match breaks down with everyone getting involved and in an awesome spot Spike stands on Show’s shoulders and jumps from the ring into everyone on the floor.

Big Show teases climbing to the top rope and diving onto everyone outside the ring with a crossbody of his own but The Dudleyz stop that sadly. With a massive chokeslam on Lance Storm, he and Hurricane are the first time eliminated. Spike tries to carry the weight for his team and eliminate The Hardyz but his roll ups are ineffective and shortly after the first elimination, Matt hits a Twist of Fate on Spike to eliminate him and Big Show. That brings it down to a familiar sight in The Hardyz vs. The Dudleyz. The fans scream the building down when Jeff takes his t-shirt off - he is a beautiful man, I’m not going to argue with the women in the audience in Pittsburg. I don’t really get the screams for Matt though - he’s way less good looking than Jeff. Personal preference of course.

Jeff misses his Whisper in the Wind off the top rope and seems to hurt his knee so Bubba and D-Von isolate him and grind him down in the ring. He powers through and after a Whisper in the Wing tags out to Matt who follows with a moonsault from the top rope to the floor which looked great and then a leg drop on D-Von. Bubba has to break up that pin. A 3D on Matt would end it but Jeff breaks up that pin with a Swanton Bomb. The referee is too distracted to count and Bubba flattens Matt with a Bubba bomb and that’s enough for D-Von to cover, eliminate The Hardyz and retain their Tag Team titles. 

Rob Van Dam arrives at the arena and is intercepted by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Much like their previous interactions its flirty and Stephanie appears to be offering him sex. She asks him to take care of Chris Jericho tonight for her. He asks if they have a locker room big enough for his star power so she tells him to go and take the biggest one he can find.

At ringside, Michael Cole interviews Kurt Angle’s family who are in the front row. We get some comments from his mother and his brother (not the one we’ve seen before, his older one Dave). Their comments are pretty bland - the Angle’s are not natural performers.

Raven (w/Terri) (Alliance) vs. Perry Saturn (WWF)

Before this match there isn’t a video package per say but here’s what they did show us for fun - poor Perry.

Raven has changed up his ring gear here - he’s now shirtless and wears a kilt. It’s an odd look for him and he’d stick with it for the rest of his career.

JR actually shows off his knowledge of these men’s history, mentioning their matches in ECW and the fact that they were WCW Tag Team Champions together.

They fight around the ring and Raven tries to run away. Perry chases him up the ramp and back at ringside he pays for it with a russian leg sweep into the security wall and then driving him head first into the ring steps.

The two have a back and forth match in front of a sadly uninterested crowd. Raven uses a cobra clutch submission and focuses his attack on Perry’s stomach with shoulder tackles and Saturn rallies with a chain of overhead throws and a springboard clothesline! I thought that would get a reaction from the fans but it didn’t. 

Perry slingshots Raven into the corner and finishes him off with a swinging fisherman suplex to win the match. Paul Heyman has a good laugh at Perry’s expense - he won the match but he still didn’t get Moppy back! 

Before the next match, Lillian Garcia interviews Christian and asks if turning on Edge and so violently attacking him was worth it. Christian says that most people don’t fufil their dreams like the losers here tonight but tonight he’s going to fufil his dreams. No one cares if Kurt Angle wins the WWF title tonight - all history will remember is that tonight is the night he won the Intercontinental title. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Edge (WWF) © vs. Christian (WWF) 

Given that this is the breakup of one of the Attitude era’s most prolific tag teams (and my personal favourites) it is fitting that it gets a video package. One that really highlights Christian’s awesome new theme song too.

I linked to the better version of Christian’s theme - the one he doesn’t have yet but he’d end up using for the next couple of years - and he has it tonight! It’s awesome. I’m not going to link to it again however as instead here’s Edge’s new theme song by Rob Zombie. Much like Stone Cold’s Disturbed theme and X-Factor’s Uncle Kracker classic, this one also divides opinion. See what you think.

Edge is laser focused and leaves the title belt at the top of the ramp with his sunglasses and jacket so that he can run to the ring and start the fight fast, which he does. Christian looks worried now and leaves the ring, walking up the ramp to get some separation but Edge follows and they brawl up the ramp and Christian is slingshotted into part of the stage. 

Back in the ring, Edge continues to dominate until Christian begs for mercy. He doesn’t mean it but the pause lets him pull Edge into the turnbuckle and take control, bashing his brother into the security walls and ringsteps. 

The two go back and forth in the ring - the action between them is very smooth as you’d expect from two guys who’ve had hundreds of matches as partners and know each other so well. The fans are not as hot for this one as I think it deserves - Christian seems unhinged when he is in control, pulling Edge’s hair and screaming in his face about how this is Edge’s fault and that he deserves this.

Deep in this match, the two easily counter each other’s trademark moves. Christian throws Edge out of the ring and he disappears under it and emerges on the otherside, catching his brother with a top rope crossbody for a near fall. That was a clever spot that again, this crowd didn’t react to.

Christian hits Edge with his own Spear but Edge kicks out and frustrated, the challenger goes and gets a pair of steel chairs. He wants a one man con-chair-to but he’ll get himself disqualified. He sets it up anyway but Edge rolls clear and kicks Christian’s legs out from under him bringing the chair down on his own face! 

Edge sets up his own one man con-chair-to (and has a big nasty cut under one eye)  but as the referee fights with him over one chair, Christian uses the other for a low blow, driving the edge of the chair (no pun intended) into Edge’s nether regions.

That is enough to keep him down for a three count and Christian wins the WWF Intercontinental title! Personally I’m happy for him - I always preferred Christian! 

This isn’t the last we’ll see of these two on PPV and I’ll talk more about them and their relationship at No Mercy. What I do want to talk about is recycled storylines. I mentioned this last month during the Rhyno and Jericho match at Summerslam but what is obvious to me is that there are a lot of feuds that were already planned and the WWF just pushed ahead with them in spite of the ongoing Invasion storyline. They moved the heels over to the Alliance and did what was already on the cards. Jericho and Rhyno was set up prior to King of the Ring and after a month on the back burner picked up where they left off. That is double true for Edge and Christian and I believe Austin and Angle too. It’s not a bad thing but I think it’s another good way of seeing that this Invasion and Alliance takeover was not the WWF’s original creative plan. I’ve talked about that a lot elsewhere (mostly at Invasion) and will be writing a sort of final summary of the whole period when the storyline concludes. I find it very interesting as a self-proclaimed wrestling historian and I always think it's interesting when you can see things in the works that don’t pan out. 

WCW Tag Team Championships

The Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker and Kane) (WWF) © vs. Kronik (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) (w/Steven Richards) (Alliance)

Of all the matches tonight, I’m shocked this one got a video package but it tells a story and it’s nice to give the new boys a bit of attention.

Undertaker and Kane have a brief interview with Johnathan Coachman backstage where they don’t say anything of note. 

Adams and Clark are both big guys but - spoilers - this match won “worst match of the year” in 2001’s Wrestling Observer polls. I don’t put much stock in that kind of thing usually but in this case they might have a point.

Brian and Bryan (I keep forgetting which one has which spelling) try to isolate Kane but he fights back and the match goes on and on like that. It’s hard to describe honestly as they all continually tag in and out and hit moves on each other. I realise that’s what wrestling IS but in this case it feels really awkward and disjointed and the Kronik boys move with all the grace of a pair of fridges on wheels. 

After a long period of double teaming The Undertaker, the Brothers of Destruction get on a roll with their own double teaming. Undertaker sets up Clark for a chokeslam - Steven Richards runs in to stop it and takes a big punch for it - Kane drops Adams with a flying clothesline and the chokeslam on Clark happens to win the match for Undertaker and Kane. 

After the match, Richards gets in the ring and wants to hit Undertaker with a chair but Kane is there to stop it and spikes the former Right to Censor leader with a chokeslam in the middle of the ring. This is Adams and Clark’s final appearance for the WWF - Clark was released almost immediately because he was found to be unsafe and poorly conditioned as a wrestler. What I’m saying is that Undertaker and Kane went backstage and told everyone including management that he was terrible and everyone believed them. Adams asked for his release in November 2001 when it became clear they had no plans to use him. 

Backstage as Booker T and Shane McMahon warm up, Tazz approaches and puts his foot in his mouth again pointing out that after Stephanie pinned The Rock on Raw it would be very embarrassing for them to lose tonight.

Elsewhere Stephanie is looking for Rob Van Dam and goes to what she thinks is his locker room door - she tells him that it’s her birthday tomorrow and if he gives her the gift of beating Chris Jericho tonight she promises him a very pleasurable experience in the Alliance. Y2J approaches from behind and after making a joke about her having been with 25 men this week rather than being 25 years old, says that he’ll throw her a party and bring the cake because she already has the balloons. He means her breast implants. 

WWF Hardcore Championship

Rob Van Dam (Alliance) © vs. Chris Jericho (WWF)

RVD enters first which is funny because it’s immediately after the previous Stephanie segment so he obviously heard none of her promises/flirting. This is Jericho’s third Unforgiven PPV and amazingly is the first one he’s not wrestling X-Pac. 

These two trade fast wrestling exchanges in the ring, going for pin falls from roll ups and get a respectable round of applause.

The match finally goes hardcore as they fight to the outside and Y2J introduces a ladder. He hits Van Dam in the face with it, but back in the ring the champion reverses a suplex and drops Jericho spine first across the ladder which looked and sounded like it really hurt.

Jericho blocks a dropkick and goes for the Walls of Jericho but RVD uses his leg strength to fight out of that and follows with Rolling Thunder.

RVD rolls out of the way of a Lionsault attempt and Jericho walks right into a spinning heel kick. He misses his Frog Splash attempt and Jericho almost steals the title with a roll up. 

Jericho is bleeding from the eye when he comes up, either from the ladder catching him or one of RVD’s kicks being poorly placed. 

RVD drops Jericho face first onto the ladder and then positions it in the corner before going to get a steel chair. 

Van Dam climbs the ladder but Jericho throws the steel chair into his face and climbs up to apply his Walls of Jericho at the top of the ladder which in practice is more like a tarantula. He dumps RVD off the ladder and he falls all the way to the floor but when Jericho tries to follow up with a dive to the outside himself, Rob moves and he crashes chest first into the security wall.

They continue to use the steel chair innovatively and Jericho actually uses an armbar to try and get a submission win. Y2J is in the driver’s seat and hammers th champion with a steel chair. That brings his forever nemesis Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to the ring. Jericho actually swings for her with the steel chair but she drops off the apron to avoid it and one spinning heel kick into the chair and Five Star Frog Splash later, Rob Van Dam beats Chris Jericho and retains the Hardcore title in what is easily it’s highest profile defence since its creation in 1998. Two upper midcarders, bordering on main eventers, having a great 15 minute match for the title. RVD has been the real MVP of this entire Invasion.

Backstage, Booker T pumps himself up as the 6 time WCW Champion! Shane O’Mac enters and tells The Book that it doesn’t matter which of them win as long as the WCW title comes back to the Alliance tonight. After Booker leaves, Shane smells the air and dances around obviously into the idea of winning the title himself. 

Handicap match for the WCW Championship

The Rock (WWF) © vs. Booker T and Shane McMahon (Alliance)

I’ve really enjoyed Booker T’s work in the WWF so far. I don’t love that he’s been treated like a joke by The Rock but both in the ring and in promos he’s held his own. The video package shows off some of his new found mean streak and focus on winning the title back

The crowd is the loudest they’ve been all night for The Rock. Paul Heyman really sung the praises of Shane prior to the match, reminding us of all the times he’s overperformed in matches on PPV. He is right - Shane is a legend on PPV.

Booker and Rock start and there’s an early cover after a DDT but Shane breaks it up just in case. That draws our first “Shane’s a pussy” chant of the night. The same thing happens when The Rock covers after a Samoan drop. 

Shane distracts The Rock which allows Booker to take control and the two WCW front men work well together, beating him up two on one on the outside. Shane has an impressive diving clothesline off the security wall and Booker slingshots The Rock into the ring post. These might be overwhelming odds as the WCW referee Nick Patrick is very lax with the rules, not insisting on tags and allowing lengthy two on one attacks in and out of the ring.

Booker T electrifies the crowd with a Spinarooni which almost costs him as The Rock rolls him up but Booker kicks out at two and drops him with a side kick. (Editor's note - its really hard to get a screenshot of Booker T when he's mid-Spinarooni that looks good)

Booker tries to set The Rock up for the giant diving elbow though the announce table but The Rock fights him off and drops both of them with right hands. In the ring The Rock is finally in control so Shane grabs the WCW title belt. He swings for The Rock but he ducks and Booker goes down by mistake! Shane recovers and hits The Rock with a second belt shot right in front of the referee who doesn’t say anything. Booker crawls into a cover but The Rock kicks out. Shane is tagged in and tries to finish it all with his awesome looking top rope elbow but Rocky rolls clear and Shane lands with a crash. He quickly tags back out but The Rock starts to fight back and fights them both off with punches and flies through them with a big double clothesline.

Shane does also try his own People's Elbow but The Rock kips up to his feet to put a stop to that. 

The finish is chaotic as The Rock drops Shane with a Rock Bottom and sets up a People’s Elbow on Booker T. Test runs down and flattens the WCW Champion with a Big Boot.

Bradshaw follows with a steel pipe and chases Test away. 

The biased referee Nick Patrick actually lifts The Rock back into th ring and encourages Booker T to cover. That’s too much for the WWF referees to stand and Mike Chioda comes down and stops Nick from counting. The two referees argue and Patrick is knocked out by the WWF referee. Booker T knocks him down in return and goes for a Book End, but The Rock counters into a Rock Bottom of his own. A second WWF referee runs down (Earl Hebner, eugh) and counts the three. The Rock retains the WCW Championship in a fun, wild, pure sports entertainment match. 

Backstage, Commissioner Regal checks on the well-being of Tajiri after the beating he got from Stone Cold Steve Austin on Smackdown. He says he’s considering banning everyone from ringside but Torrie and Tajiri beg him to reconsider. He asks if they really like each other - they do! - so he tells them to run along and have fun like a weary parent. I love this Regal and Tajiri dynamic. 

In a cringey segment, live at WWF New York is the Alliance’s Stacey Keibler. She shows footage of herself shaving her long legs in the bath while Sunny’s old WWF theme song plays in the background. Lovely. 

WCW United States Championship

Tajiri (w/Torrie Wilson) (WWF) © vs. Rhyno (Alliance)

Officially, Torrie Wilson is still a member of the Alliance. Heyman strongly disapproves of the interpromotional relationship. It feels like Torrie might be up to something but in fairness she does seem very sincere in her liking of the Japanese Buzzsaw. Tajiri has sore ribs heading into this match thanks to a Gore on Raw and a beating from Steve Austin on Smackdown. 

Rhyno focuses his attack on Tajiri’s midsection with shoulder tackles in the corner and a bear hug. The fans chant “we want puppies” at Torrie. How very 1999 of you, Pittsburg. 

Torrie has finally had enough and gets into the ring to check on her boyfriend but twists her ankle. Rhyno stalks her for a Gore but Tajiri thankfully kicks him in the face to save her from that fate! It only gets a two count and with his ribs hurting and the size and strength of Rhyno it’s too much for Tajiri. A Gore ends the abuse and Rhyno wins the WCW US title.

WWF Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin (Alliance) © vs. Kurt Angle (WWF)

All night long JR has told us that Kurt Angle is NOT medically cleared for this match because of the abuse Austin has given his neck. Kurt wants to wrestle anyway and Commissioner Regal allowed it. Imagine if half of that was true - so many careers have ended because the doctors wouldn’t medically clear them. Different times. 

There’s some really good, classic “WWF video package music” in this one which I always really enjoy. This very much feels like Kurt Angle’s night. We’re in his hometown and after 9/11, the pro-American sentiment is so strong. Kurt had started leaning into that even before the Terrorist attack, leading crowds in the pledge of allegiance and Austin promising to kick his “red white and blue ass”. 

Kurt gets a warm hero's welcome from his hometown crowd as you’d expect and there’s more shots of his family in the front row. There’s 15 of them, says JR. He doesn’t look like he’s even getting time to enjoy it as he has fire in his eyes and looks all business. 

Stone Cold’s entrance is cut short as the challenger marches up the ramp and attacks the Rattlesnake the moment he appears and beats him down the ramp and stomp him right in the heart at ringside. Angle wants to make Austin pay for all the things he’s done to the Olympian. 

In the ring there’s a cool spot as Stone Cold has a chance to kick Kurt low to set up the Stunner but hesitates - Angle has gotten very good at catching his kick and turning it into the ankle lock! 

Kurt puts Austin on the top rope, chops him silly over and over and over and finally sends him spilling to the outside and into the announce desk. Angle is a man possessed. Maybe Austin’s madness is spreading?

Austin weathers the storm and after kicking out a superplex, finally slows things down with a long sleeper hold. Kurt breaks that with a jaw breaker so the champion decides he's had enough .He rolls out of the ring and grabs his WWF title belt and tries to leave. Angle gives chase and resumes his beating on the WWF champion at the top of the entrance ramp, throwing Stone Cold off the ramp! He only falls 5 or 6 feet to the concrete so it's more symbolic than anything else.

Kurt actually picks Austin up and carries him back to the ring to try and win the match. The first continues on the outside and Kurt drives the champion into the ring post three times, head first which busts Austin open above his eye.

Kurt lifts up the mats at ringside to expose the bare concrete - he wants to give Stone Cold the same thing he was given on Smackdown. Austin fights back and tries another piledriver but is backdropped onto the concrete instead. That looked like it really hurt but the one - when Angle tries to do it to Austin and is also backdropped onto the concrete looks like it hurts even more! 

Austin lifts Angle with a suplex and drops him ribs first across the announce desk not once, not twice but thrice and continues the assault, now focussing on Angle’s stomach with knees and then going back to his neck with a pair of sick looking knee drops to the back of the head as well. 

After a long period of working on his neck with sleepers, stomp and knee drops Kurt manages the counter into a string of German suplexes. After three, Kurt is too tired to keep going. He tries a moonsault and it backfires when Austin catches him and goes for a back suplex from the top. Kurt counters into a crossbody, landing on the champion but it only gets a two count.

The two trade low blows and Kurt actually gives Austin a Stunner! The Rattlesnake kicks out and when Kurt stalks Austin and goes for the Angle Slam its counted and Stone Cold gives Kurt an Angle Slam! He kicks out of that and so a frustrated Austin goes for a piledriver. Kurt fights it but is hammered with blows to the back and neck until finally he’s able to complete - it looks great too, Kurt looks like his neck is broken but I’m sure it was perfectly safe.

Angle kicks out and now Stone Cold fully in control stalks the challenger for a Stone Cold Stunner. He throws out the kick..and it’s caught! Kurt Angle gets Austin in the ankle lock! Austin crawls and flails and but can’t quite get to the ropes and is forced to tap out! Austin taps out and Kurt Angle wins his second WWF Championship via submission! 

It’s an emotional moment as the Angle family rushes into the ring with Kurt’s wife, sister and brothers lifting him onto their shoulders! Kurt is paraded in the ring by his family with the WWF title belt in his hometown. What a happy moment for him and a happy moment for America.

The ring continues to fill but now with WWF superstars. The Rock is there first to shake Kurt’s hand and it’s so cool to see everyone from The Undertaker and The Rock to Taka Michinoku and Scotty 2 Hotty in the ring congratulating him. 

This was a good show. Austin and Angle had a brilliant main event which lived up to their very good Summerslam match, RVD and Jericho also had a good one, and The Rock’s match was a classic overbooked fun attitude era main event. This felt like an important show too with several title changes and now Kurt Angle as the WWF Champion. This is the end of Austin’s longest title reign and effectively ends a story that began at Wrestlemania with him shaking hands with Vince McMahon. We’ve seen what he did to win and keep the title - what will he do to get it back? Thumbs up.