Top 10 SummerSlams : Number 8 – SummerSlam 2001

Mid card:

Chris Jericho defeated Rhyno (With Stephanie)

This match reminded me how good Rhyno actually was in the ring. A fun match which saw Jericho kissing Stephanie when she tried to interfere, just after an awesome spot when Jericho leapt to the outside only to get gored! Jericho finished it off with the Walls of Jericho, and bent Rhyno completely. Ouch! Stephanie ran to the back crying.

Rating: ** ¾

Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in a ladder match for the WWF Hardcore championship

On paper, this looked like an amazing match between the two daredevils. RVD is perhaps the greatest high flying wrestler, while Jeff is a bonafide dare devil. The match fell flat, as they only went for one spot after another. The end saw a botched spot, but RVD picked up the victory by getting the title down. Just an okay match between the two.

Rating: ** ½

The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane with Sara) defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon for the WCW and WWF tag team championships

This was the point when The Undertaker was grossly under used in the WWF. He was relegated to the tag team division along with Kane (it’s a whole different matter when he was voted as the ‘most over rated superstar’ by PWI, which made it a joke in my eyes), and a guy like DDP was made to look like a joke as well. WWF dropped the ball majorly with DDP. Anyway, DDP was stalking Taker’s wife, and he wanted retribution. B.O.D let Kanyon go and set their sights on DDP, and finished him off with a Last Ride to pick up the victory.

Rating: *

Backstage, Stasiak tried to attack The Rock, but he moved out of the way. That was weird.

Kurt Angle defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin by disqualification for the WWF championship

Easily the best match of the night, Angle was made to look like a million bucks. Steve turned on the WWF and thus got into a match against Kurt Angle. Austin gave a couple of stunners to Angle, but he somehow managed to hang on, and got busted open by Austin. Angle came back, but Austin knocked the referee down. He stunned the next referee and decked the third one as well. Nick Patrick ran down as Angle connected with an Angle Slam, but he called for the bell, disqualifying Austin for attacking the referees. Angle got upset and locked the ref in the Ankle lock. What an amazing performance by Kurt, and this made him look like the butt kicking machine he later became.

Rating: ****

Main event:

The Rock defeated Booker T (with Shane McMahon) for the WCW championship

The main event of the night saw The Rock taking on Booker T in his return match. Like DDP, WWF just wanted to make Booker look weak, as he lost the WCW title to The Rock. Shane tried to interfere but was taken out, first by the APA and then by The Rock. Booker connected with a Scissors kick, but Rock kicked out and delivered the Rock Bottom for the three count. The crowd popped as Rock held the title over his shoulder to close the show.

Rating: *** ¼

Overall rating: *** ¼ (Out of 5 stars)

This clearly proved how WWF and Vince wanted to bury the WCW/ECW guys, while making their top stars look like jokes. DDP was completely buried while Booker’s momentum was killed. The PPV had some good matches, but was horribly booked. Anyway, that does it for the review of SummerSlam 2001, and as we count down the days to this year’s SummerSlam, we will continue to look back at the remaining editions of SummerSlams that made our list.