Judgment Day (2001)

Judgment Day (2001)
Promotional poster featuring Steve Austin and Triple H
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Sponsor	RC Cola
Date	May 20, 2001
Attendance	13,623
Venue	ARCO Arena
City	Sacramento, California
Pay-per-view chronology
Insurrextion (2001) Judgment Day (2001) King of the Ring (2001)
Judgment Day chronology
Judgment Day (2000) Judgment Day (2001) Judgment Day (2002)

Judgment Day (2001) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and presented by RC Cola. It was the third such annual event and took place on May 20, 2001 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.^[1]

Seven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card. The main event was Steve Austin defending the WWF Championship against The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match. Austin won the match, and as a result, he retained his championship. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In a Chain match, challenger Kane defeated defending WWF Intercontinental Champion Triple H to win the title. The other featured bout was a two out of three falls match, which saw Kurt Angle defeat Chris Benoit, two falls to one, to recapture his Olympic gold medal.

The event grossed over $670,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 13,623—higher than the previous year's event. The 2001 event received a lower buyrate than that of the previous year's amount, however, as it received less than 300,000 pay-per-view buys.^[2]

Background

The event featured seven professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by the WWF's creative writers. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan-favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character.

Steve Austin, who defended the WWF Championship against The Undertaker

The main event at Judgment Day featured a No Holds Barred match, a match with no disqualifications nor countouts, in which Steve Austin defended the WWF Championship against The Undertaker. The buildup to the match began on the April 30 episode of Raw Is War, Austin retained the WWF Championship against Undertaker, though by disqualification after executing a low blow on Undertaker, thus resulting in the decision. In the following weeks, Undertaker attacked Austin, and at one point taking his vest and the WWF Championship. Around that time, Undertaker, received a kayfabe phone call stating that his wife had been involved in a kayfabe car accident. The Undertaker found out that everything was okay and there had not been a car accident. The Undertaker then began to hunt down whoever made the phone call. On the May 17 episode of SmackDown!, during Undertaker's match with Triple H, WWF Champion, Steve Austin appeared on the screen and admitted that he had made the phone call.

Another main event at Judgment Day featured a Chain match, in which Triple H defended the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Kane. The buildup to the match started after WrestleMania X-Seven on the April 5 episode of SmackDown!, when Triple H won the Intercontinental title by defeating Chris Jericho after WWF Commissioner William Regal interfered. Two weeks later on SmackDown!, Triple H and Steve Austin interfered in Kane's WWF Hardcore Championship defense against Rhyno by injuring his left arm (Kayfabe) with multiple steel chair shots, enabling Rhyno to win the title. At Backlash, WWF Champion Steve Austin and Intercontinental Champion Triple H defeated The Undertaker and Kane to win the WWF Tag Team Championship in a tag team match, in which Austin's WWF title and Triple H's Intercontinental title were also on the line. Their victory was due to interference from both Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and her father Vince McMahon, enabling Triple H to nail Kane in his injured elbow and in the head with the sledgehammer for the victory. The following night on Raw, Kane was scheduled to challenge Steve Austin for the WWF Championship but got attacked backstage by Austin and Triple H before the match started. Therefore, The Undertaker replaced Kane in the title match and defeated Austin by disqualification, but did not win the title. Afterward, Kane came down to save The Undertaker from the beatdown but ended up being put out of action for two weeks after Austin and Triple H targeted his left arm. On the May 14 episode of Raw Is War, Triple H announced a chain match for the Intercontinental title between himself and Kane at Judgment Day.

Results

Tag team turmoil match

See also

• WWE Judgment Day
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

References

External links

• Official Judgment Day 2001 website
• ARCO Arena: Fun Facts & Information