Summerslam

I was in attendance at the filming of Summerslam 2001 on August 19th 2001 in San Jose, CA and it was great. It was one of the only ppvs to be featured in Northern California and it was well worth the ticket price. There was a very intense audience and the superstars gave it there all. Included is a great variety of matches, including a cage match and a ladder match. I recommend all wrestling fans to see it at least once.

Match 1: Edge Vs Lance Storm For The Intercontinental Title! Pretty good opener. Two very capable superstars delivering the good. Good opener. 6.5/10

Match 2: Six-Man Tag Team Match Great! Love it, the ending was just awesome. 7.5/10

Match 3: Tajiri Vs X-Pac For The Cruiserweight Title Pretty good, very technical and entertaining. 7/10

Match 4: Chris Jericho Vs Rhyno Good but not great. I did expect more but was still a good encounter. And Stephanie was hot. 7/10

Match 5: Jeff Hardy Vs Rob Van Dam In A Hardcore Title Ladder Match. Awesome! When these two men go at it, there's no doubt it will be great..now add a ladder to it. Awesome match. 9.5/10

Match 6: Tag Tean Title Steel Cage Match Squash match and I still enjoyed it. But certainly not the best of Taker's career. To be honest, I don't like Taker in Tag teams, even with Kane. Both are much better single. 6.5/10

Match 7: Kurt Angle Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin For The WWF Title Match of the night along with Jeff vs Rvd. It was brutal bloody, intense....awesome. I do consider this as a classic but the ending was literally cruel. None less...brilliant performance by both athletes. 9.5/10

Main Event: Booker T Vs The Rock For The WCW Title Good but not great. It was what I expected and a good way to end a great Summerslam. 7/10

Earlier in 2001, Vince McMahon bought out his competition--WCW. So, the WWE had to find a way to integrate that group into the main fold. The way they did it? The Alliance, a conglomeration of WCW newbies and WWE traitors. More functionally, it was a way to distribute all championship belts without it turning into strictly "company lines", as it were. Though an intriguing idea, in theory, I feel like it comes off as a very bland/vanilla here.

Some further thoughts...

-The fact that I had absolutely no interest in the first 3/4 of this card does not bode well. I will admit that by this point I was not following professional wrestling on a week-to-week basis any longer, but I wonder if there is perhaps a cause-and-effect relationship there.

-I'm not a fan of the way WWE handled Stone Cold's heel turn. While it produced an all-time classic WrestleMania moment in 2001 ("Stone Cold is shaking hands with Satan himself!"), the aftermath was a pretty big buzzkill. I consider Austin to be the most engaging personality in the history of professional wrestling, so seeing his character reduced to hob-nobbing with the villains is an enormous risk that doesn't ever really pay off (at least not yet). Also, I don't think Angle is the guy to put over on his behalf--just not enough juice for my tastes.

-Rock/Booker-T is the best and most interesting match on the card. Those two really know how to put on a show. But ending-wise, it almost seemed like a McMahon subtle message about who is really in charge here.

I know this event is likely better for most than what I've given it here. But truth be told, I'm still quite let down by the disappointing aftermath of the brilliance that was WM 17.