The Match of 2001

[BOSS Productions]

This was the last year of the Attitude Era and now that I got my favorite years out of the way, I can go into years that I enjoyed . 2001 is a year I enjoyed but not as much as 2003,2002 and 2004. Although this year has held some great matches and the greatest WrestleMania to most which was WrestleMania 17.


Now in this thread you can post 1-5(5 is the maximum) of your favorite matches or your favorite match that took place this year. Also with every match you choose you must explain why you liked the match and also list the matches in order from your favorite match to your least favorite. Now here is my list of matches that I really enjoyed during 2001:

1). E & C VS Team 3-D/Dudley Boyz VS The Hardys/Hardy Boyz TLC WM 17- This match was freaking incredible and it deserved to win match of the year without any doubt.This match in my opinion revolutionized the TLC match and made it one of the greatest match stipulations in WWE history , I mentioned this with Hell in a Cell but I will say it again: back in those days TLC was an epic match not a PPV and WHAT THE HELL is a CHAIRS MATCH?, anyways this match was really great and lots of memorable moments were created in this match with the most memorable one being Edge spearing Jeff Hardy of the ladder. Even though this match was excellent I did not really like the outside interference but that is just me. Finally, this match tops my list because of the crowd itself I mean I miss the days when fans would chant HOLY SHIT I am not sure if they do that anymore but ya it was great hearing that,it just adds to the match making it seem more extreme, it also shows the fans enjoyed that specific part of the match so yes it was good.

2).Hardys vs E&C vs Jericho & Benoit vs Dudleys SmackDown 2001 TLC- This match was too good to be on free TV also it is a forgotten match and this is actually Edges first lost in a TLC and his TLC with John Cena would actually be his 2nd TLC match that he lost. This match was really good and it did live up to the TLC name, however it just had no build up what so ever and well I knew that Benoit and Y2J would win that match because one Benoit got injured in one part of the match which made it obvious that he would return once again further into the match and two the match was revolved around Y2J and Benoit where as the TLC at WM 17 was revolved around all three of the tag teams that participated in the match. Nothing else I can say about this match but it was really good just no proper build so it takes my number 2 spot.

3).Stone Cold VS The Rock WWE Title WM 17 No DQ - This match was good , it had a great build up heading into it , however the ending was horrible in my opinion but I knew it was just to legitimize Austins heel turn but yes this was not the show stealer and could have been done better . I enjoyed this match overall but it is NO WHERE near the two previously stated matches for me but it was the third best match of that year because Rock and Austin had an INDESCRIBABLE feud and well it was just great watching them at Mania one last time for the Title.

Now this was my list of matches I enjoyed during the year of 2001, now state yours and please explain why and list them in order.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

HHH vs. Austin at No Way Out and it's not even close in my opinion. The buildup to this match could have been better but the actual match was great and is my #1 for Match of the Decade. This was a straight up fight and both guys delivered for 40 minutes. This should have been the main event at WM 17 but we had to get Austin/Rock which wasn't that great in my opinion.

 

[Schoolboy-Chris]

3.) Backlash 2001 – Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit 30 minute ultimate submission match. A great match featuring two of the best technical and submission wrestlers of all time in their prime. They both gave it their all and produced a work of art match, perhaps only rivalled by their Royal Rumble 2003 match.

2.) WWF World Tag Team Champions Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz – TLC III. A fantastic match from start to finish, one that I can still watch and enjoy to this day. It had star power, innovative spots and a very fast pace throughout. Unbelievable to think that this was given away on free TV, as it would have been a highlight of any PPV that it featured on, regardless of the rest of the card.

1.) The 5 on 5 elimination match at survivor series 2001 featuring Team WWF (The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane and The Big Show) vs. Team Alliance (Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Shane McMahon) in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match for control of the WWF. Whatever about the heavily criticised Invasion angle this is a match that I always enjoyed immensely, and one that featured some of (if not most of) the top talents of the era.

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

2001 had some decent matches. But one stands above all others.....

Austin vs. Triple H- Three Stages of Hell- No Way Out 2001- Great conclusion to this feud. The buildup was amazing with Triple H and Austin unable to beat up one another until the PPV, resorting to beating up those closest to them (Stephanie and J.R.). The match had a great pace to it, the action was great, and the final few minutes were excellent. The best of 2001.

2nd- Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy- Invasion 2001- This was before RVD's style had changed to adapt to the WWF/E style. Hardy and Van Dam was a great contest with a lot of hardcore action.

3rd- Chris Jericho vs. The Rock- No Mercy 2001- In my opinion, if I were to look at what Rock's best actual match was, this would be in the top three matches. The match had an uncharacteristic style to it. Both wrestlers dominated in parts and had great chemistry.

Honorable Mentions
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle- Ultimate Submission- Backlash 2001
WWE vs. Alliance Survivor Series Match- Survivor Series 2001

 

[gtajoker01]

my favorite match of 2001 has to be Kurt angle vs chris benoit at wrestlemania 17 that is a classic those two had some of the best matches.Jericho and regal had an interesting feud too. 2001 wasnt a big deal that year lot of people belief and think pro wrestling died.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

I think the WCW Championship of Booker T and Rocky at Summerslam was probably the most anticipated event of that year and maybe during the prior one and a half years since I discovered about "The Book". He really was a charismatic guy and I thought he was almost being honest after he attacked Tajiri on "WWF Raw is War" and said "Ever since I came into the WWF, I've been NOTHING but DISRESPECTED". I loved the entrance and professionalism of both guys but Booker knew business. He walked in through the ramp, got on the turnbuckle and showed the crowd what the real electrifying entertainment of sports was about. After building up this event, the heat was really on him as he proved how ridiculously underrated he was under the shadow of Rocky.

Both people worked with a slower pace and used power to try to keep the other person down. I did not appreciate the DDT of Rocky too much because it looked like he might have paralyzed the "Booker Man". Wow he did work hardly to get the belt. Booker was pretty good at rolling wrestlers into covers and probably one of the least worst performers of this decade at it and he caught Rocky by a surprise although it did not get the fall for him. It just flowed into the match without seeming like it was done because there was no other sudden alternative. He also executed the forward suplex nicely although not with as much force as Ahmed Johnson would use and not as quickly as Ezekiel Jackson later did it. For those people who were wondering, I was referring to the "Rock Bottom", which was not the original name when Ahmed did it on somebody during an episode of either "WWF Monday Night Raw" or of "WWF Raw is War" during either February or March near the time of Wrestlemania Thirteen. I also loved the way with which he did something that I called as the "axe kick" as it looked believable for him to knock Rocky down with it when considering the size of him and of the boots. When Booker T did the "Spin-a-rooni", I really thought it was for a purpose in the match which might have helped him to exercise and to stretch the muscles of the legs and of the arms enough to be able to deliver another precisely axed kick which missed and allowed Rocky to do the "Rock Bottom" before dropping the elbow.

I thought it was interesting because Rocky was coming back to compete after an absence that was explained by the filming for "The Scorpion King" and he had not really lost the skills of wrestling. He was only off of the timing by miniscule parts and slightly slower than when he was working with a regular schedule. Booker T also did not let a lot of people be down during the first time in which he participated in a match against a single competitor for a "Pay-Per-View" of the WWF and he did really have to adapt too much. He mostly just left the other suplexes which he did for WCW behind but really did not add too many things to the arsenal which showed that he was powered enough to just get by with some basic manuevers against bigger athletes and that was what I liked about main events during that time.

I also was very excited to see Rob Van Dam against Kurt Angle on "WWF Raw is War" which happened after Summerslam before "Unforgiven". He was defending the Hardcore Title and Kurt Angle was trying to win the broken belt. I expected RVD to really keep him away from it and to not even allow Kurt to hurt him too much but I was surprised as more technical wrestling was involved from both men despite the hardcore environment and despite them who were not even in the ring for most of the time. A few shots with weapons were used but they were realistic and were not the main emphasis of the match. It was happenning with really quick action and showed skills on the black mat instead of in the square but let people know that these two guys were very versatile and among the greatest technicians of the last two decades. I know they were underrated as technical wrestlers because it was hard to even be in the same league as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels but these guys were fighting and even showed shades of matches for the championship between the hitman and Diesel and between Bret and Undertaker since the weapons were not in a play for the sake of the name and actually added an importance to the fight. Seriously, this bout was intense and these guys let it out with as many emotions and with as much importance as they used when they were fighting for the title of the heavy weights. I think it was longer than the usual hardcore matches of three minutes or of four minutes. The duration seemed long enough to be a short match on a "Pay-Per-View" like "Unforgiven" or like "No Mercy". Kurt Angle repeatedly tried to do the "Angle Lock" and RVD just would not tap after it was applied for the first few times. Angle was persistant though and the chemistry of the moves just sensibly led to the outcome as they were not only spots to satisfy the hardcore fans.

I might comment more later but I need to eat.

 

[Blade]

Well firstly, I'm gonna go with a match that had some of the best build up of all time; Austin vs Triple H, No Way Out. This match was a year and a half in the making, starting in late 1999 when Austin got hit by a car. Triple H turned out to be the person who had set it all up and when Austin returned, they were going to go at it. The build up had one of the greatest contract-signing segments of all time, with that huge twist. Yeah, that one.
The match itself was fairly epic, with both guys going at it non stop for all 3 falls. Some argue that it was a bad decision to let Trips win, but meh. Winners and losers don't matter in a match that good.

Next, Rock vs Austin. The greatest rivalry of all time, and this was it's peak. Both guys were still huge at this time and it was the perfect way to cap off such a great Wrestlemania. Some people are a tad pissed off about the twist in it, but everyone has to admit that no one saw it coming. Just an iconic match.

And TLC 2. Wow, just what can you say about this match. 3 of the greatest tag teams of all time kicking the crap out of each other with 3 of the greatest wrestling weapons of all time. The spots in this match were amazing and it really showed that any of those 6 guys could've gone on to be huge. Except, perhaps, the Dudleyz...

 

[GIMH]

In the last few weeks I have watched a few 2001 PPVs. Leaves just two contenders for me.

runner-up - Triple H v Austin, 3 stages of hell. Can't say much about this that hasn't already been said, except that I would vehemently disagree that it should have main evented Mania as Rock was huuuuuge back then. I personally enjoyed the build up to it (except perhaps Triple H just having a few scratches after, you know, being dropped in a limo from a great height at the Survivor Series) and the match itself was intense. It was obvious that Austin would win the wrestling match and the Game the streetfight, but it didn't matter as it was executed brilliantly. Finish is a bit of a copout, but it doesn't matter.

Winner - Austin V Rock. Not going to go off on one too much here but this was everything a WM main event should be. It had a hot crowd, both guys performed brilliantly, and ending you didn't expect, ah it was wonderful. Watched it drunk last Friday and remembered just how good it was. Epic.

 

[Барбоса]

One of those not mentioned so far that was one of my favourites from 2001 was Kurt Angle vs Shane McMahon at King of the Ring. That had a great mix of old school wrestling at the beginning followed by the insane suplexes against and then through the glass stage and ended with an epic (and still the best) Olympic Slam off the top rope

 

[The Brain]

1. The Rock vs. Chris Jericho, No Mercy:

This is my favorite match of 2001 and in my opinion The Rock's best match. To me this was a throwback to great matches before the attitude era. It was the type of match I had missed for the past few years. Most of the better matches of the attitude era were gimmick matches. This was a great gimmick free match.

2. Steve Austin vs. Triple H, No Way Out:

This has been a popular choice and rightfully so. I don't usually care for these types of brawls, but these to worked really well together and given their history it couldn't be anything but a wild brawl.

3. TLC II, WrestleMania X7:

Another popular choice. I would like this better if the same match hadn't happened at SummerSlam a few months earlier. Nevertheless this deserves a spot on the top five.

4. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit, WrestleMania X7:

I was really looking forward to this match. While it was a very good match I think it could have been better. I thought the finish was a little sloppy. If this had a better finish it would probably be higher on the list.

5. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit, Royal Rumble

I'm a little surprised this wasn't mentioned. I think this is one of the better ladder matches we've ever seen. We saw some cool spots for the first time including Benoit's suicide dive into a chair and Jericho's crab at the top of the ladders.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

I already said Booker T tried to defend the WCW Championship against Rocky and that Rob Van Dam fought Kurt Angle to try to keep the Hardcore Championship. Here I meant to follow up with three more memorable matches from the year.

Does anybody remember when Christian almost defeated Edge somewhere in Canada during "WWF Raw" in Semptember of that year? I thought it allowed Jay who was Christian to show technicial abilities as he really put on interesting and fast holds on Edge and carried too. He was almost underestimated and came out to look like the advancer. It was around this time that he started being taken seriously as belonging at a higher position on the midcard and while I don't remember the actual outcome of the match I know that Christian shortly later took the European title and just was booed incredibly out of the building. It ended with one of the first televised "con-chair-toes" to be done without a partner as he really drilled Edge which I thought was excessively violent and I don't appreciate shots to heads too much either. I think it was important because it prevented Christian from being a jobber and although I don't really expect him to be a champion of the world he still at least was on the way to the European and Intercontinental titles for short times.

I also remember how Hardcore Holly returned with a metal cast in the arm and just knocked Chris Benoit out in a match on "WWF Raw is War" during either May or June of that year. He basically used basic manuevers like clotheslines and slams but looked to be powering against Benoit who could not keep him down with those intense rolls and submissions. It was an excellent way for him to return too as even he was surprised by looking at the arm and seeming to be shrugging before going for the cover. It was more about being fresh, strong and defensive than about putting on a lot of counters and reversals for Bob as was mostly the case with him.

Something else which was overlooked was the encounter between Kane, Undertaker, Rikishi and Haku. It was quite a sight to see these four huge wrestlers battle and I think they were trying to be contenders for the Tag Team Title. Undertaker and Kane really just were fast to get around those thick bodies and really held against them. This also was not as much of a wrestling match as it was a brawl but considering the people who were involved and the era it was happenning in during February, I was not surprised. It might have occured around "No Way Out" but maybe it was a short segment rather than an official bout as I do remember seeing them strike each other.

 

[Phoenix]

Great matches named so fair, I'm going to go with some that were less/not mentioned or ones I purely love (so excluding TLCII and Three Stages of Hell out here).

First match that comes to mind is:

Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit - IC Title Ladder Match - Royal Rumble

Quite possibly one of my favourite ladder matches of all time. Where Shawn vs. Razor gave the Ladder Match its fame, this one took it to the next level. The ladder wasn't over or under used, we saw moves like the Octopus Stretch on top of the ladder, but it's also remembered for one of the most epic suicide dives into a chair shot (see below). Just perfectly done without it being OTT or too less. As said, one of my favourites and definitely has to be up there for one of the matches of the year.

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The Rock vs. Austin - Wrestlemania X-Seven

Quite possibly the Best Main Event to end the Greatest Ever Wrestlemania of all time! There was electricity, there was intensity, there was pure energy and this was in the build up alone! The match itself was an explosion of excellence, out of the three matches these two had at WM, this was their best. Both played their parts well and the fact that it was No DQ made it sweeter because it means there was no limits to what they could do. Simply just amazing to watch, it ended the Attitude Era in style and it was the only way it could end, with Austin and McMahon joining forces!

Undertaker vs. Triple H - Wrestlemania X-Seven

If you think the Main Event, TLCII and ANgle/Benoit was epic, then what about this encounter? One of Taker's best match before the streak was made as a key part of his Wrestlemania feuds. This one ran on pure hatred for each other and they gave a brilliant encounter when they haven't been in the ring as much as they should have been. Both men brought their A-Game and the brawl in the crowd made this special. Much like Rock/Austin, having no limits with the referee down made it even sweeter. Truly an underrated match given how brilliant a card Wrestlemania X-Seven really was.

Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin - Summerslam

When the Main Event scene was running dry from injuries and movie making, they turned to Kurt Angle and boy did this match solidify his place as part of the Main Event crew. This match was brutal and you just could get behind Angle, they thought their ring styles wouldn't work but they proved the critics wrong. Despite the ending being a DQ, it felt right for a match with this much power, intensity and aggression between the two that you could not have either take a pin or submission. Another underated match.