WWE No Mercy 2001 (2001)

Post WM17 PPV's were/are pretty bland so far minus SummerSlam and this is another one. Hardys v Hurricane and Storm for tag titles:Fast paced tag team match. Very good effort for all involved. A good start.Test v Kane:Surprisingly decent, considering Kane is a pretty mediocre wrestler at best but barely memorable. The match does beg the question of why Kane's mask doesn't seem to protect him from Test's big boot to the face. Crowd were really into it.Torrie Wilson v Kiebler: You know what to expect. Fast forward.Edge v Christian (ladder match):The last PPV match was a real dud and this PPV match has the same problems. It is slow and lacks psychology. We see some really good set pieces that look very painful, which I am sure they were, but its all exactly that- set pieces. There is very little momentum and everything is paused for breath in between those set pieces. The match was also really long and dragged out. Not good.Dudleys v Big Show and Tajiri:Definitely not as good as the Hardy match. Much slower and less interesting but not bad. The match doesn't end cleanly, which is something of a theme in this PPV and this era of wrestling quite frankly. Skippable for sure.Undertaker v Booker T:You can imagine how this match would go and end in your mind. Booker T isn't a good wrestler at all and neither was Taker at this point in time, quite frankly. Lots of "brawling" which is codename for stalling, punching and poor psychology. Lots of "near pinfalls" AKA pins after doing something simple like a clothesline. Man I really hate that in pro wrestling. Surprisingly Undertaker got booed as he did an Old School, which may have been a sign of sympathy for Booker T. Not a good showing by either. It's insane how protected Undertaker was and how bad a wrestler Booker T was. Definitely skip this one. Jericho v The Rock (WCW title):This was a really good performance from both men. Both had great work ethic. Very fast paced. Neither really had chemistry and it just felt a bit laboured and through the emotions. It seemed too orchestrated and a bit of everything, including a rockbottom through the table (EVEN THOUGH ITS A DQ COUNT MATCH!) which didn't get punished. I really hate that trope. The fans were pro Rock but you could hear boos for the Rock at points. There was a couple of funny botches. Jericho going over the top turnbuckle before being hit by the Rock and failing to kick the chair out of the ring. It's the best match of the night and was given a good length of time but the match doesn't end clean, which is infuriating for the wrong reasons. There was way too much 50-50 booking and non clean matches during this period and run ins from Steph, Vince and Shane. I like how Rock's punches sound like they connect and the match picks up at the end but it still felt laboured and through the emotions. If you are a Jericho fan then watch this. If not don't feel too bad if you don't. Austin v RVD v Angle (for the WWF title):Fast paced match with an overbooked end. Another high profile match that doesn't end cleanly. Not bad. Not memorable. Skippable. Overall:Just watch the Rock/Jericho match if you are a fan of either. The McMahons are simply unbearable at this point, revolving the show around them. There is far too many run ins and sort of represents everything wrong at this point of the Invasion angle.

The Hardy Boyz vs. Lance Storm and The Hurricane. A great opener. Both teams delivers some spectacular moments...great start. 7.5/10Test vs. Kane. I guess they were trying to push Test at that time. Not bad..pretty physical but certainly nothing great. I think Kane is worth more than that. 5/10Torrie Wilson vs.Stacey Keibler- lingerie match with . They are hot. I'm not rating that. :DDudley Boys vs. Tajiri and the Big Show Entertaining...both teams put up a pretty good match. 6.5/10Edge vs. Christian-I-C Title-ladder match. Excellent. Not the best ladder match ever. In fact, there were better one in 2001 but certainly an excellent encounter. 9/10Booker T and the Undertaker. I feel the Undertaker was really under-used or wrongly used during the invasion angle. Tag teams and pretty irrelevant matches. At that time he just had a decade of destruction. I think he is worth much more than tag teams matches, wife stalking stories or filler like this one. Booker is a great athlete, this match was solid but forgettable. 6/10The Rock Vs. Chris Jericho-Wcw title. Two great athletes and entertainers. They pull out a very good match..exactly what I expected. Stephanie was hot too. 8/10Triple threat match-Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle vs.Rob Van Dam. A great main event IMO. Very fast paced with 3 great wrestlers. Lots of near falls too. I like the ending...it's one of the things I like (or liked caused WWE is no longer entertaining for me) is those chaotic situations. The match was little too short too but certainly great. 8.5/10Overall, pretty good. The two main events were great, excellent ladder match too. Taker and Kane are worth more than that and had average matches.

In my opinion, 2001 was probably the WWF's least satisfying year as far as in-ring action went. The WWF VS WCW angle didn't satisfy me and I wasn't overkeen on some of the events. No Mercy was a great event though-the best of 2001.The Hardy Boyz had a stunning opener with Lance Storm and The Hurricane. These four dependable guys had a great match although I didn't watch this match the first time I viewed this event-I was too busy getting a glimpse of the beautiful Molly Holly and the simply sexy Ivory.Test battled Kane in the second match-what a brawl! Kane has been with the WWF since October of 1997 and as I write this five years one month later I have to say he still entertains me.Torrie Wilson had a lingerie match with Stacey Keibler. Wasn't concentrating on the wrestling. Go figure. I hope we get to see another lingerie match soon.The ever entertaining Dudley Boys had an entertaining match with Tajiri and the Big Show. The highlight was Tajiri accidentally spraying that green mist into the referees eyes.Edge and Christian battled for the I-C Title in a ladder match. I've seen better ladder matches to be honest but this was very good and both men must have been aching afterwards.Booker T and the Undertaker battled in a short but sweet encounter.The Rock and Chris Jericho had their best match ever although I still have a hard time seeing beautiful women such as Stephanie McMahon being manhandled by the men-it just doesn't seem right.The main event was a triple threat match between Kurt Angle, Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam. It wasn't exactly memorable for it's in-ring action. The highlight for me was Vince McMahon fighting with his son Shane by the announcers table.All in all, No Mercy was a brilliant event, the best of 2001.

Seriously- if you haven't seen this event don't read this review- it's full of results. This was the 4th WWF/Alliance PPV of '01 and wasn't bad- some good matches, some awful ones.*MATCH 1* Matt &Jeff Hardy vs Lance Storm & The Hurricane. This was a good way to kick off the PPV w/ a spirited, energetic tag match. There's some good high spots and tag team moves in this one. The Hardyz get the pin w/ a Swanton Bomb from Jeff Hardy.*MATCH 2* Test vs Kane. Very average second match. I taped this event when it was on and I only watched this match once. Test wins w/ the Big Boot.*MATCH 3* Torrie Wilson vs Stacy Keibler [Lingerie match] Ye gods. This is the stuff that removes the credibility from the womens' division. They could have just had a bikini contest, but to dress it up (I use the term very loosely) as a wrestling match is pretty poor. Torrie won w/ a Handspring Elbow off the ropes.*MATCH 4* The Dudley Boyz vs Big Show & Tajiri. Awful. Dudleyz win w/ 3D to Tajiri.*MATCH 5* Edge vs Christian [Ladder match for the IC Title] Not bad. It doesn't really come close to RVD & Jeff's ladder match at SummerSlam, but there are some pretty inventive spots with the ladder. Christian's sling-shot in the corner is pretty cool, as well as the Reverse DDT and Edge-o-Matic off the ladder. Edge hits Christian w/ a one-man Con-Chair-to on top of the ladder, then grabs the belt to win.*MATCH 6* Booker T vs The Undertaker Quite bad. Again, this is a match I'd watch just once. Undertaker gives Booker the Last Ride and picks up the 1-2-3.*MATCH 7* The Rock vs Chris Jericho [wCw Title match] Quite good. Both are 'faces' in this one and the crowd is split fairly evenly.Jericho hits a nice standing Hurricanrana, and the Spanish announce table is (of course!) demolished with a Rock Bottom. Submission moves are used too- Rock locks in his godawful, butchered version of the Sharpshooter-I call it the RockShooter, as it's nowhere near as good as Bret Hart's version- while Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho/Lion Tamer. (He doesn't fully get it locked though) Jericho wins the wCw title w/ a BreakDown (a full nelson into a forward sweep) on a chair.*MATCH 8* Kurt Angle vs Rob Van Dam vs Stone Cold Steve Austin [WWF title match] Interesting blend of styles in this one, which is unusually short. How would Austin's brawling, Angle's technicality and RVD's unpredictable aerial assault mesh? Well, they put on a pretty cool match, as Austin goes technical (using an STF and Half Crab), Angle goes aerial (beautiful Moonsault) and RVD sticks to his style. (if it ain't broke...) The McMahons involve themselves and Austin wins w/ the Stunner to Van Dam.As I said some good, some bad.