It's probably not good when the biggest storyline in company history has reached it's peak less than three months in, but SummerSlam is definitely the best pay-per-view for the Invasion story arc. Now, me saying that does sound a bit snarky, however that assertion is not at all to the detriment of this show itself, because it's pretty great. The card is headlined by the return of The Rock, who had been on hiatus since the Raw after WrestleMania X-Seven, which was due to his role in The Scorpion King. Dwayne is immediately launched right into the world title picture, but instead of fighting "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the man who turned heel on him earlier in the year and drove him out of the company in kayfabe, he's going after Booker T and the WCW Championship instead. Kurt Angle is given the honor of fighting Austin, gunning for revenge on behalf of Mr. McMahon for Austin's betrayal of the WWF at InVasion. It may not make much sense for Austin and Rock to not be facing off, but given how good the Austin-Angle match ended up being, I guess it's a moot point. Other hyped encounters include a Ladder match between Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy, plus one more opportunity for The Undertaker to bury poor Diamond Dallas Page, as they meet in a tag team steel cage match. Nothing's truly perfect, you know?
- SummerSlam 2001 comes to you from the Compaq(now SAP) Center in San Jose, California, the home of the Sharks. As I mentioned in my Royal Rumble '98 review, this is a venue I've been to a few times to watch Sharks' games, and while the crowd in attendance for that show wasn't stellar, I'm pleased to report that this was a huge improvement. Say what you will about the booking and writing of the Invasion angle, but the crowds turning up for these shows were absolutely red hot.
- You could do a lot worse for an opening contest than Lance Storm versus Edge for the Intercontinental Championship, as these two men are two of the most reliable workers in the business and delivered another entertaining outing here. Storm spends the early portion of the match working Edge's midsection, and while nothing he does is particularly innovative, I love the way he delivers offense, it looks so crisp. The crowd may be very pro-Edge, but Lance does wow them with the flashiest move in his arsenal, the slide-through Calgary/Canadian Crab, which never fails to impress. Christian decides to interfere, a weird booking choice as it makes Lance seem more sympathetic, fighting against the numbers game even though he's supposed to be a heel. That being said, Christian doesn't actually help, accidentally hitting Edge with a Spear, but his kayfabe brother still wins anyway after connecting with the Edgecution. Lance probably should've won this match, as that Spear connected with Edge's injured midsection, and losing despite that made him look a bit weak.
- The war between Spike Dudley and Bubba Ray and D-Von continues here, as little Spike teams up with the APA to face Bubba, D-Von and new Alliance member Test. This match is at it's best when Spike is in the ring, as his willingness to take big bumps really puts over the power of the three heels, especially Test, who is in the midst of a renewed push. The finishing stretch is very fun, as Test absolutely launches Spike Dudley through a table, before Bradshaw hits a Clothesline From Hell, but it's Shane McMahon that steals a win for his boys, nailing the big Texan with a leaping chair shot.
- I was a bit harsh on X-Pac during my InVasion review, which I still believe was justified given his performance against Billy Kidman. He does, however, put forth a much better effort on this night against Tajiri, which was nice. This is a title unification match, as Tajiri comes in representing the WWF as it's Light Heavyweight Champion, while X-Pac is the WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Despite that, X-Pac is still a member of the WWF, which I also gave out about in that review because it makes absolutely no sense. Why is this man, who is absolutely despised by the company's fanbase, still willing to work for them and take their side in this war? Either way, the match is good, as Tajiri has absolutely caught on fire at this time and is all over X-Pac, utilizing some slick mat wrestling and punishing strikes. Albert wanders out to help his buddy, but catches a spray of red mist to the face. That distraction is enough for X-Pac to capitalize, hitting a low blow and the X-Factor to become the champ champ. A common theme on this night will be me questioning finishes to different matches, and this was another one that didn't quite add up, as Tajiri was clearly getting extremely over and the finish made him look like a dolt.
- Many aspects of the Attitude Era don't hold up particularly well when viewed under a modern lens, which is to say that I think if the masses were willing to look into Chris Jericho's interactions with Stephanie McMahon around this time, he could be cancelled for more than just his association to Donald Trump. At least you can sort of defend Jericho, given he wasn't slut shaming all women, just one in particular, and he certainly wasn't alone in treating Steph with disdain. I'm not really sure Rhyno fighting for her honor really makes sense, but their feud did lead to a few classic moments, including the Gore through the SmackDown set. The discussion over whether or not Chris Jericho is a misogynist prick is far more interesting than the actual match between Y2J and Rhyno, which mostly just consists of chops and punches. I guess both guys decided to throw in the towel after Jericho's pun about Stephanie and "Silicone Valley", nothing was going to top that. After much interference from the Billion Dollar Princess, Jericho kisses her to death and wins with the Walls of Jericho. This was a fun paragraph to write.
- It's time for the much anticipated rematch between Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, as the younger Hardy has now recaptured the Hardcore title and puts it on the line in a Ladder match. You would assume that these two incredible athletes and a ladder would be absolute gold, and you would be mostly correct in that assessment. A lot of the spots they come up with are definitely a bit contrived, but it's still very fun to see the two finding creative ways to cripple each other. RVD becomes a two-time champion after shoving Jeff on the ladder, with Hardy landing sternum first into the ring ropes and bashing his head on the ladder and ring mat in a nasty looking fall that leaves him unable to make the save. Again, this was most definitely good, but didn't quite flow properly and wasn't really the classic that I think many believed it could be.
- Hey, does anyone remember when I talked about the beginning of the feud between The Undertaker and DDP back in my King of the Ring review? If you need a refresher, my opinion was that it started pretty well, with DDP's debut a suitably shocking moment and his promo on that show making it clear that he was stalking Sara to get Undertaker's attention, not because of any actual infatuation. If you do remember that, congratulations, because the WWF didn't. Page is now completely obsessed with Sara, to the point of making an entire shrine to her in his locker room, because f*** subtlety. For some reason, these two men are now also fighting over gold, as DDP teamed up with Kanyon to win the WWF's tag belts while Undertaker and Kane captured the WCW versions. Both sets of tag straps are on the line here in the first ever steel cage squash match, or at least the first I've ever seen. Yes, this entire match and entire storyline are just to reinforce how pathetic Page, Kanyon, and by extension, all of WCW really are. They get battered for 10 minutes, and only even come close to winning because the Brothers of Destruction decide to let Kanyon leave so they can focus on demolishing DDP. Because he's an absolute coward, Kanyon just runs away and leaves his tag partner to his fate. Undertaker toys with Page, acting like he's going to let Page leave before dragging him right back into the fray. The Last Ride finally ends this embarrassment of a wrestling match that really did a good job testing my patience as a viewer of this toxic company.
- A pallet cleanser is desperately needed after that last match, and it doesn't get much better than Steve Austin and Kurt Angle facing off for the WWF title. It's all Austin at the start, as he dominates his seemingly outmatched challenger, putting over just how good he can be. Angle quickly takes a Stunner, as it looks like this will be over very early. But Kurt, the master of the dramatic near fall, just about peels his shoulder off the canvas before three as the building explodes. Another Stunner connects, and Angle just about manages to fall out of the ring to save himself from being pinned, but now Austin is absolutely furious and on the warpath. Angle is busted open by the ringpost, absolutely gushing blood but refusing to give up on his dream. Kurt puts together a babyface comeback for the ages, hitting multiple suplexes on the floor and giving us a tremendous visual, catching Austin on the barricade and applying the Ankle Lock while wearing a crimson mask. We get even more finisher kickouts, as Austin survives the Angle Slam and Angle kicks out of a third Stunner. The champion has finally lost it, attacking multiple WWF officials. That gives Kurt the opening to hit another Angle Slam, but WCW's Nick Patrick elects to disqualify Austin, meaning the Texas Rattlesnake keeps his precious gold. The ending was disappointing and the finisher spamming a little overdone, but this was otherwise a terrific battle somewhat reminiscent of an old-school NWA title match, filled with blood and guts and heart and two men doing their best to end the other. This bout presented Angle as an absolute monster, one of the best babyface performances in WWF history and in his career. Bravo.
- Main event time, as Booker T defends the Big Gold Belt against the returning hero, The Rock. This is one of the most predictable main events in SummerSlam history, Booker just never matched up with Rocky in terms of starpower, and the WWF didn't do a great job making it seem like an upset was on the cards. Rock was involved in multiple backstage skits with Shawn Stasiak, who continued to comically run into things, which was funny but could've been better used for something like a Booker and Shane ambush to weaken the challenger. The two men don't do much in this match, as they just allow their combined charisma and outside shenanigans to make up for the lack of interesting in-ring action, and in fairness, it mostly works. Shane interferes multiple times to save his champion, before taking a Clothesline From Hell from Bradshaw and a Rock Bottom from the challenger. Just like in the X-Pac and Tajiri match, the distraction is enough to allow Booker to capitalize, hitting a Scissors Kick. Instead of going for the cover, hubris takes over, as Booker really needs to perform the Spinarooni, much to the delight of Paul Heyman and the disdain of Jim Ross on commentary. That decision costs the WCW Champion, as Rock kips-up and hits the Rock Bottom for the win. I thought that ending was very fun and even if this match wasn't great, it's tough to hate anything Rock does at this time, he could just wrestle a broom for half an hour and it would be pretty fun. I will say, Booker probably could've used this win, or at least to be presented as more of a threat given he was the most prominent genuine WCW talent in the Alliance, but at least he got a big main event with The Rock in his prime, that's more than most can say.
9/10
If you can ignore the steel cage match, SummerSlam 2001 is a resounding success. The two world title matches provided entirely different atmospheres but were both entertaining, and the undercard included some quality matches. One thing I didn't even notice before starting this review, but Vince McMahon is nowhere to be seen on this night. Shane and Stephanie are still featured heavily, but it was nice to get a break from Vince after he was such a big character for most of the year. Even if you didn't enjoy the Invasion, I would still give this a watch, it's one of the best SummerSlams ever.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Unforgiven 2001, as Kurt Angle gets his rematch against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, this time in his hometown of Pittsburgh. See you soon.
- Henry
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