Judgment Day (2001) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and sponsored 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 three main featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. The main event was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defending the WWF Championship against The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match. The second was a Chain match to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. The challenger Kane against the WWF Intercontinental Champion Triple H. The third featured bout was a 3 Stages Of Hell Match for Kurt Angle's 1996 Olympic Gold Medals.
The event grossed over $670,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 13,623, which was higher than the previous year's event. The Judgment Day 2001 event received a lower buy rate than that of the previous year; it had less than 300,000 pay-per-view purchases.
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 role as they followed a series of events which build 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.
The second match at Judgment Day featured a "3 Stages Of Hell Match", in which Kurt Angle won his 1996 Olympic Gold Medals back. The buildup to this match started after Chris Benoit stole Kurt Angle's medals by picking them up from the ring after throwing Kurt Angle over the top rope and out of the ring. This rivalry escalated more when Chris Benoit announced that he was going to keep the gold medals in a "safe" and "warm" place. Benoit ultimately put the gold medals in his pants, right next to his crotch and because of this, Kurt Angle challenged Chris Benoit to a wrestling match on the following "SmackDown!". In the match, Kurt Angle had knocked out Chris Benoit down on his back, at which point, Angle reached his hand in Benoit's pants and grabbed back his gold medals. Kurt Angle was so excited, that he forgot that his medals had been in Chris Benoit's pants for about the past week, and Angle kissed his medals. After kissing his "Chris Benoit crotch-smelling" gold medals, Kurt Angle was distracted and put a disgusted look on his face, at which time Chris Benoit took advantage and put Kurt Angle in his finishing submission move called, "The Crippler Crossface". Kurt Angle had his medals in his hand and was debating to either hold on to his medals and pass out from the pain or drop the medals and tap out. Kurt Angle ended up dropping his gold medals and tapping out, which led to Chris Benoit stealing the medals back once again. On the next episode of Monday Night's "Raw Is War", Chris Benoit challenged Kurt Angle to a match at Judgment Day in which the winner goes home with the gold medals. Later, the two superstars made the stipulations to the match to make it a "3 Stages Of Hell Match". Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle's match was a "3 Stages Of Hell Match" which means that you have to beat your opponent in the best 2 out of 3 falls. For this specific match, the first fall would be decided by pinfall, the second by submission, and the third by climbing a ladder to receive Kurt Angle's gold medals. Within the first minute of the match, Chris Benoit used Kurt Angle's own finishing move, "The Angle Slam", and gathered the pinfall for the winner of the first fall. After about 13 minutes, Kurt Angle won the second fall by submission, using his finishing submission move the, "Ankle Lock". After about 11 minutes, with help of interference by Edge and Christian, Kurt Angle climbed a ladder to grab his 1996 Olympic Gold Medals back and ultimately, win the match.
One main event at Judgment Day featured a Chain match, in which Triple H failed at retaining his WWF Intercontinental Championship against Kane. The buildup to the match all started after WrestleMania X-Seven on the April 5 episode of SmackDown! when Triple H won the Intercontinental title by defeating Chris Jericho, aka Y2J, 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 with multiple steel chair shots, enabling Rhyno to win the title. At Backlash, WWF Champion, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and WWF 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 his sledgehammer for the victory. The following night on Monday Night's Raw Is War, Kane was scheduled to challenge "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the WWF Championship, but Kane was attacked backstage by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Triple H before the match even started. Therefore, The Undertaker replaced Kane in the WWF Title match and defeated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin by disqualification, but did not win the WWF Title because of the disqualification. Afterward, Kane came down to the ring to save The Undertaker from the assault given to him by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Triple H, but Kane ended up being put out of action for two weeks after "Stone Cold" Steve 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 WWF Intercontinental title between himself and Kane on May 20, 2001 at Judgment Day.
Main Event
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 successfully 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, The Undertaker, received a phone call stating that his wife, Sara, had been involved in a car accident. The Undertaker found out that everything was okay and that there had not been a car accident at all. The Undertaker 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, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appeared on the "Titantron" and admitted that he and Triple H were the ones who had made the phone call.
Results
- Tag team turmoil match
See also
References
External links
- ← 2000
- 2001 (2001) WWF pay-per-view events
- 2002 →
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