The Raw after No Way Out 2001 2-26-2001 (mini-rant)
Oct 22, 2022 15:21:34 GMT -5
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Post by wendytorrancev1 on Oct 22, 2022 15:21:34 GMT -5
Hello all!!
Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is doing well!
There is no denying that No Way Out 2001 (coupled along with Wrestlemania X-7) were the golden era of PPVs. In fact, I would say both of those PPVs were the end of the golden era in the WWF. Looking back on those two PPVs, it makes me tear up a bit to see that it was the end of what was an enjoyable, quality experience in the WWF. Of course, that's just my opinion. I think the quality began to suffer immediately after Wrestlemania X-7 ended, then we got the whole Two Man Power Trip, The Invasion nonsense, Chris Jericho going full on heel, etc. It just didn't feel like the same product.
But, I will say the next night on Raw after No Way Out was quite strange in and of itself. Not exactly the entire card (which was mostly filler and oddly booked matches), but more specifically the main event itself.
Though I did LOVE No Way Out 2001 (it's on my top 5 favorite PPVs, and the theme song to the PPV slaps, I'll link it below), it was quite obvious that The Rock was going to defeat Kurt Angle. Austin vs. Angle for the WWF Heavyweight championship would not have worked out too well, although we did find out later on in the year that they work exceptionally well together (I think it was either Unforgiven 2001 or No Mercy 2001 that they had a match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship). From what I remember of Angle's first WWF title run was that he was a whiner, a complainer, cowardly, and would cheat at will (even using his twin brother to cheat for him against The Undertaker at a surprisingly boring WWF Heavyweight Championship bout at Survivor Series 2000, which is strange considering that their match at Fully Loaded 2000 was pretty solid). He was absolutely desperate to keep his title at any cost. The only time he dropped the cowardice was at No Way Out 2001 against The Rock. He was absolutely vicious in that match and showed a side of him that belied his well manicured appearance and cowardly tactics that he had hitherto utilized to win matches.
The Rock, on the other hand, was finally going after the title that he deemed was his. It was a one-on-one rematch from their bout at No Mercy 2000, where Kurt had originally won, due in no small part to Rikishi's interference. The Rock had gotten his revenge on Rikishi at Survivor Series, and was gunning for the WWF Heavyweight Championship.He was done playing games with Kurt, and Kurt knew that his time was up.
Immediately when the show starts, The Rock comes out to gloat about "Finally...", before stating how Kurt was a crybaby about losing his title. During this promo, The Rock tells Kurt Angle to come out and whine to his face. Instead, we get Austin, who had just been through hell the night before in a match with Triple H, comes out instead and the two have an intense stare down. They share some banter with Austin telling The Rock to stay healthy and The Rock telling Austin to get ready. It was a bit overdone, but I get what they were trying to do. It was going to be an epic showdown of two faces of the company once again.
The WWF Light-Heavyweight championship actually gets put on the line with Dean Malenko facing off against Taka. I am shocked that happened on a main show. For a long period of time, that title was basically the main title for Sunday Night Heat. Of course, Malenko won it, but his title reign is coming to an end soon.
Trish, of course, turned babyface after Vince and Stephanie humiliated her by dumping foul shit from a mop bucket onto her during a match. That's all well and good, but I wish that we got an actual tag team match between Vince/Trish vs. Stephanie/William Regal. This turned Stephanie back into a heel. Okay, that's all fine and good, but after Stephanie and Trish's amazing match the night prior, we resort to this? I'm not one who loves drawn out feuds, but seriously? They nixed that dynamic of Trish being the highly regarded mistress of Vince with Stephanie really fighting for her mother and establishing her dominance that quick? It just made the whole thing seem a bit rushed. After this, Stephanie knew she was preferred over Trish and would treat her like dirt. I wish they had one more real encounter with Stephanie getting the upper hand before she started acting indignant to her.
Then you have The Dudley Boyz defending their titles against Rikishi and Haku. The Dudleyz walked away the night prior with their titles and the team of Rikishi and Haku just really got off the ground at that point. I'm not sure how the hell they were able to challenge for the titles that quick. If anything, I would have felt it to be more realistic to have had The Brothers of Destruction challenge for the titles at that point. I know that Taker and Haku were feuding at that point. They could have done the complete opposite of what the hell they did here. What ended up happening is that the Brothers of Destruction interfered in the match to take out Rikishi and Haku (and at this point Rikishi was still a heel, but you couldn't tell the difference), because for some reason, the writers wanted heat on The Brothers of Destruction. After costing Rikishi and Haku the titles (and seriously, did you even think they would have won?), The Brothers of Destruction chokeslammed the Dudley Boyz. Why? Furthermore, The Dudleyz should have been able to get a quality win by themselves, but then they were taken out by the guys that helped them. It just seemed like such an unnecessary swerve.
Then there's the whole weird Intercontinental Championship match between Chris Jericho and Raven. Um...how did Raven become the number one contender to the WWF Intercontinental Championship? I know Benoit and Eddie just lost against X-Pac and Justin Credible, but was there nobody else on the roster? They couldn't have had Billy Gunn challenge Jericho? Val Venis? Didn't Raven just lose his hardcore title the night before against The Big Show? All this match did was further the whole "Ninja" plot with Molly Holly trying to unmask her. All it did was tell us that the Ninja is a woman with blonde hair. We could have figured that out in another match. Why this one? Jericho won after the Ninja woman attempted to hit him with a 2x4 (wouldn't that result in a DQ? I don't remember if it was a no DQ match), but then she whacked Raven with it on accident.
Then we get to the actual main event. Ugh. So the main event occurred because The Big Show barged into Vince's office and was demanding a title shot against The Rock (which would have been a decent match in its own right), but instead, Vince reminds Big Show that he meddled in the main event the night prior. So to "punish" Big Show for his meddling, Vince books him in a match defending his Hardcore Championship against The Rock and Kurt Angle. What?!?! How is that a punishment? It's not like it's a handicap match or anything. It's a triple threat match. LOL. So, the match itself, was chaotic af as you can imagine, with the gamut of the WWF's hardcore division interfering (including a special treat in seeing Essa Rios!). It was certainly overbooked, which makes me wonder why the booking in the actual undercard was so bland (such as the aforementioned Chris Jericho vs. Raven match), as Billy Gunn interfered in this match. Big Show retained by pinning Essa Rios upright against a damn wall. After the match, Angle, Albert, and Saturn continue to beat the shit out of The Rock, until Austin makes the save. Austin clears the ring, showing that he is still the most powerful force in the WWF. After the ring is cleared, Austin and The Rock have another intense stare down as the show goes off the air.
That main event was absolute garbage, but at least it was entertaining, I suppose. And where the hell was Triple H? He wasn't even mentioned once, despite having one hell of a match against Austin the night prior where he emerged victorious. You would think, knowing Triple H's personality, that he would have came out gloating (which he eventually did), and I would have had some interaction between he and Austin. But no, screw all of that, let's get to the build up between The Rock and Austin. I get it, the feud is over, but Triple H should have said or done something to cement the end of that rivalry.
I just think this was a very, very weak follow up to one of the best PPVs in the company's history and an extremely disappointing step towards the best Wrestlemania in the company's history.
TL;DR, The 2/26/2001 edition of Raw is War was a convoluted mess that had a very weak main event and some odd booking on the undercard that left a bad taste in my mouth. It was a weak follow up to No Way Out 2001 and a disappointing step towards the greatest Wrestlemania that the company has put out.
Anyway, I've rattled on for long enough. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend and I hope everyone gets some well deserved rest and relaxation! I love you all!!
No Way Out 2001 Theme Song
Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is doing well!
There is no denying that No Way Out 2001 (coupled along with Wrestlemania X-7) were the golden era of PPVs. In fact, I would say both of those PPVs were the end of the golden era in the WWF. Looking back on those two PPVs, it makes me tear up a bit to see that it was the end of what was an enjoyable, quality experience in the WWF. Of course, that's just my opinion. I think the quality began to suffer immediately after Wrestlemania X-7 ended, then we got the whole Two Man Power Trip, The Invasion nonsense, Chris Jericho going full on heel, etc. It just didn't feel like the same product.
But, I will say the next night on Raw after No Way Out was quite strange in and of itself. Not exactly the entire card (which was mostly filler and oddly booked matches), but more specifically the main event itself.
Though I did LOVE No Way Out 2001 (it's on my top 5 favorite PPVs, and the theme song to the PPV slaps, I'll link it below), it was quite obvious that The Rock was going to defeat Kurt Angle. Austin vs. Angle for the WWF Heavyweight championship would not have worked out too well, although we did find out later on in the year that they work exceptionally well together (I think it was either Unforgiven 2001 or No Mercy 2001 that they had a match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship). From what I remember of Angle's first WWF title run was that he was a whiner, a complainer, cowardly, and would cheat at will (even using his twin brother to cheat for him against The Undertaker at a surprisingly boring WWF Heavyweight Championship bout at Survivor Series 2000, which is strange considering that their match at Fully Loaded 2000 was pretty solid). He was absolutely desperate to keep his title at any cost. The only time he dropped the cowardice was at No Way Out 2001 against The Rock. He was absolutely vicious in that match and showed a side of him that belied his well manicured appearance and cowardly tactics that he had hitherto utilized to win matches.
The Rock, on the other hand, was finally going after the title that he deemed was his. It was a one-on-one rematch from their bout at No Mercy 2000, where Kurt had originally won, due in no small part to Rikishi's interference. The Rock had gotten his revenge on Rikishi at Survivor Series, and was gunning for the WWF Heavyweight Championship.He was done playing games with Kurt, and Kurt knew that his time was up.
Immediately when the show starts, The Rock comes out to gloat about "Finally...", before stating how Kurt was a crybaby about losing his title. During this promo, The Rock tells Kurt Angle to come out and whine to his face. Instead, we get Austin, who had just been through hell the night before in a match with Triple H, comes out instead and the two have an intense stare down. They share some banter with Austin telling The Rock to stay healthy and The Rock telling Austin to get ready. It was a bit overdone, but I get what they were trying to do. It was going to be an epic showdown of two faces of the company once again.
The WWF Light-Heavyweight championship actually gets put on the line with Dean Malenko facing off against Taka. I am shocked that happened on a main show. For a long period of time, that title was basically the main title for Sunday Night Heat. Of course, Malenko won it, but his title reign is coming to an end soon.
Trish, of course, turned babyface after Vince and Stephanie humiliated her by dumping foul shit from a mop bucket onto her during a match. That's all well and good, but I wish that we got an actual tag team match between Vince/Trish vs. Stephanie/William Regal. This turned Stephanie back into a heel. Okay, that's all fine and good, but after Stephanie and Trish's amazing match the night prior, we resort to this? I'm not one who loves drawn out feuds, but seriously? They nixed that dynamic of Trish being the highly regarded mistress of Vince with Stephanie really fighting for her mother and establishing her dominance that quick? It just made the whole thing seem a bit rushed. After this, Stephanie knew she was preferred over Trish and would treat her like dirt. I wish they had one more real encounter with Stephanie getting the upper hand before she started acting indignant to her.
Then you have The Dudley Boyz defending their titles against Rikishi and Haku. The Dudleyz walked away the night prior with their titles and the team of Rikishi and Haku just really got off the ground at that point. I'm not sure how the hell they were able to challenge for the titles that quick. If anything, I would have felt it to be more realistic to have had The Brothers of Destruction challenge for the titles at that point. I know that Taker and Haku were feuding at that point. They could have done the complete opposite of what the hell they did here. What ended up happening is that the Brothers of Destruction interfered in the match to take out Rikishi and Haku (and at this point Rikishi was still a heel, but you couldn't tell the difference), because for some reason, the writers wanted heat on The Brothers of Destruction. After costing Rikishi and Haku the titles (and seriously, did you even think they would have won?), The Brothers of Destruction chokeslammed the Dudley Boyz. Why? Furthermore, The Dudleyz should have been able to get a quality win by themselves, but then they were taken out by the guys that helped them. It just seemed like such an unnecessary swerve.
Then there's the whole weird Intercontinental Championship match between Chris Jericho and Raven. Um...how did Raven become the number one contender to the WWF Intercontinental Championship? I know Benoit and Eddie just lost against X-Pac and Justin Credible, but was there nobody else on the roster? They couldn't have had Billy Gunn challenge Jericho? Val Venis? Didn't Raven just lose his hardcore title the night before against The Big Show? All this match did was further the whole "Ninja" plot with Molly Holly trying to unmask her. All it did was tell us that the Ninja is a woman with blonde hair. We could have figured that out in another match. Why this one? Jericho won after the Ninja woman attempted to hit him with a 2x4 (wouldn't that result in a DQ? I don't remember if it was a no DQ match), but then she whacked Raven with it on accident.
Then we get to the actual main event. Ugh. So the main event occurred because The Big Show barged into Vince's office and was demanding a title shot against The Rock (which would have been a decent match in its own right), but instead, Vince reminds Big Show that he meddled in the main event the night prior. So to "punish" Big Show for his meddling, Vince books him in a match defending his Hardcore Championship against The Rock and Kurt Angle. What?!?! How is that a punishment? It's not like it's a handicap match or anything. It's a triple threat match. LOL. So, the match itself, was chaotic af as you can imagine, with the gamut of the WWF's hardcore division interfering (including a special treat in seeing Essa Rios!). It was certainly overbooked, which makes me wonder why the booking in the actual undercard was so bland (such as the aforementioned Chris Jericho vs. Raven match), as Billy Gunn interfered in this match. Big Show retained by pinning Essa Rios upright against a damn wall. After the match, Angle, Albert, and Saturn continue to beat the shit out of The Rock, until Austin makes the save. Austin clears the ring, showing that he is still the most powerful force in the WWF. After the ring is cleared, Austin and The Rock have another intense stare down as the show goes off the air.
That main event was absolute garbage, but at least it was entertaining, I suppose. And where the hell was Triple H? He wasn't even mentioned once, despite having one hell of a match against Austin the night prior where he emerged victorious. You would think, knowing Triple H's personality, that he would have came out gloating (which he eventually did), and I would have had some interaction between he and Austin. But no, screw all of that, let's get to the build up between The Rock and Austin. I get it, the feud is over, but Triple H should have said or done something to cement the end of that rivalry.
I just think this was a very, very weak follow up to one of the best PPVs in the company's history and an extremely disappointing step towards the best Wrestlemania in the company's history.
TL;DR, The 2/26/2001 edition of Raw is War was a convoluted mess that had a very weak main event and some odd booking on the undercard that left a bad taste in my mouth. It was a weak follow up to No Way Out 2001 and a disappointing step towards the greatest Wrestlemania that the company has put out.
Anyway, I've rattled on for long enough. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend and I hope everyone gets some well deserved rest and relaxation! I love you all!!
No Way Out 2001 Theme Song
