WWE Judgment Day 2001

RATING LEVELS:

Curt Hennig – A “GOAT” show, as Perfect as possible

Watch It – A consistently good show worth watching in its entirety

Watch It…With Remote in Hand – 3 or more above-average ratings

High Risk Maneuver – Mostly filler, inessential, but 1-2 good matches

DUDleyville – Zero redeeming qualities, chore to watch

Judgment Day 2001 – June 2001

Sacramento, CA

CHAMPION RUNDOWN: Heading into tonight's show, the reigning WWE Champion is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H holds the Intercontinental Championship. These two are also the WWE Tag Team Champions. Rhyno is the Hardcore Champion and Chyna is the WWE Women's Champion.

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

WWE Commissioner, William Regal, takes on Rikishi in a fairly brief opening match. Rikishi gets massive pops for the Stinkface, which Regal sells amazingly, but aside from that sequence, there isn't much meat in this. Supposedly Rikishi suffered a shoulder injury in this match, but I didn't catch where it happened. Overall, inessential and disappointing considering what these two probably could've done with more time. (2/5)

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle in a weirdly-stipulated 2-out-of-3 falls match is next, where the first fall must be decided by pinfall, the second by submission, and the third "fall" is won when one competitor grabs Angle's Gold Medals via a ladder. While the action is solid throughout, with both guys displaying an abundance of submissions and suplexes, I wasn't too blown away by the "finishes" of the first two falls - the first one coming arguably too quickly and the second not built up enough for me. As any fan could assume, the match does go to a third fall and the addition of a weapon raises the intensity, with both guys one-upping each other via big back bumps and ladder spots. Interference leads to the finish, which will irritate viewers like myself seeing this bout for the first time and expecting a more definitive finish after 20+ minutes of action. (3.5/5)

Test arrives first for the next match, followed by Big Show, and then, last but not least, Hardcore Champion, Rhyno. When wrestling analysts talk about how Big Show was misused on-and-off for years, I feel like this run, mixing it up in the midcard for the Hardcore Title, would be Exhibit A. After brawling in the ring for awhile, the competitors make their way to the back, as was par for the course for these sorts of matches. I enjoyed Rhyno's battle with Raven at Backlash considerably more than this, but that’s not to say this match was a total bore. When the participants return to the ring, things pick up, with some actual drama infused thanks to nearfalls and the introduction of a trash can, a fire extinguisher, and steel steps. (2.5/5)

Match #4 is for the WWE Womens' Championship, with champion Chyna defending against Lita, who she had taken under her wing over the previous few weeks. The first few minutes of this match are plain awful, with Chyna's movements coming off as unnatural and robotic. Lita doesn't look much better either, aside from her tornado DDT. Chyna and Lita trade some mediocre submissions and while they're not expertly applied, it at least slows down the pace to something that actually resembles a logical story. After a fairly intense match in which their friendship seemingly fell apart and Chyna had worked as a pseudo-heel, we get some inexplicable hugging and smiling to kill any heat that might have snuck its way into this match. By the way, this would end up being Chyna's last WWE match.  (1.5/5)

What was next for the Womens' Champion? Termination papers.

Kane challenged Triple H for his Intercontinental Championship in a Chain Match next. The first half was all Triple H, who took advantage of Kane's injured arm to great effect, working on it with and without the chain. It is remarkable to watch just how much more engaging Kane is as a worker when the crowd actually gives a crap about him. When Kane does get the upperhand, Triple H shows off his selling ability - arguably the best part of his game at this point of his career. Triple H gets busted up from a chair spot and then ends up getting nearly hung by the chain in another cool-looking spot. The finish is a bit cheap, but the crowd enjoys it. (3/5)

The APA took on Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn to start the night's Tag Team Turmoil match, essentially a gauntlet bout featuring 7 teams: the Dudley Boys, the Hardys, Chris Jericho (and his mystery partner, Chris Benoit), Edge & Christian, and X-Factor (X-Pac and Justin Credible). On paper, this looks like it would be a chore to get through, especially when you consider that the APA and X-Factor get the majority of in-ring time. However, these teams work well as foils for their more popular opponents and, when we do get to the final round between Edge & Christian and Jericho & Benoit, the crowd is thoroughly engaged as the action peaks. While unworthy of anyone's Best Of collection (barring maybe Justin Credible's), it exceeded my expectations and had the added bonus of building up potential rivalries for the future, with Edge & Christian and Angle & Benoit showing great chemistry and the Dudleys having a score to settle with the Hollies. (3.5/5)

In tonight's main event, The Undertaker challenged "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for his WWE Championship in a No DQ contest. This one is your typical Attitude Era brawl, a majority of the match spent outside of the ring. You get a table spot. You get chair shots. You get a run-in and Vince McMahon on commentary. What does make this a bit special is watching Austin react to the tremendous heat he was getting from the Sacramento crowd, who break into more than a few "Austin Sucks" chants over the course of this 20+ minute slugfest. I'm going to be a tad bit meaner to this match than Dave Meltzer was (he awarded it 3-and-a-quarter stars), but only because this one started off at one level and didn’t rise above it until the last two minutes. While nothing in this match is particularly poor, it is a disposable, forgettable main event. (3/5)

With an average match rating of 2.57-out-of-5, Judgment Day 2001 is a "middle of the road" show, not a strikeout, but certainly not a home run. In certain regards, it is a quintessential Attitude Era show, though that's not necessarily a good thing. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit put in a strong performance, but one that sits squarely in the middle or bottom third of their endless list of great matches against each other. Austin and the Undertaker also put on a match that is no better or even worse than those they put on at other times, specifically in 1998. The finish is spectacular and the crowd adds a ton of excitement, but there's little to write home about when you look strictly at the in-ring action. The low points of the show are easily the rushed Rikishi/Regal match and the uneven, sloppy Chyna/Lita contest. The rest of the show wavers from average to slightly above average, but as a whole, it's hard to call anything on this broadcast essential viewing.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver