10.31 a.m 18.5.2011
We are back again to another installment of Gustimania. This is a new thing that I'm trying to do, which is to look back at the best of the best in past WWF/WWE PPVs and analyze what was so good about these PPVs compared to today's WWE PPVs. The first item is to analyze the whole PPV from top to the bottom. Then, I will give an overall view of the PPV and finally, I will take the positives from the PPV and discuss it in parallel with the current WWE PPVs. These past PPVs are actually of my collections of the past 11 years. That is a huge collection indeed. Without further adieu, let's start with the last PPV event of the then-WWF before the epic Wrestlemania 17: WWF No Way Out 2001. It was probably my first actual PPV that I bought, although on delay through VCD back then. Let's start with the actual card, shall we? (Note that the numbers are the duration of the whole match)
a) The Big Show defeated Raven (c) Singles match for the WWF Hardcore Championship (04:20)
This was a really fun Hardcore match during the time whereby everyone is gunning for the Hardcore Title, especially the former champions. What was supposed to be a one-on-one contest between the Big Show and Raven turned into an all-out brawl involving the lights of Hardcore Holly, Steve Blackman, Crash Holly and Billy Gunn. In the end though, the Big Show won, heading to Wrestlemania as the Hardcore Champion.
Match Rating: C+A fun match with lots of Hardcore action. The interference was a surprising factor indeed. A nice opening to warm things up a bit as more action will be happening throughout the night.
b) Chris Jericho (c) defeated Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and X-Pac Fatal Four-Way match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (12:17)This is my favorite Fatal Four Way match of all time. It featured three future WWE/World Heavyweight Champions in Jericho, Benoit, and Guerrero. Then, it also involves X-Pac, a much underrated worker at that time. The match was a result of the 'interest of fairness' policy made by Mr. McMahon, as all three challengers had some sort of beef going on with the Intercontinental Champion. It resulted in an absolute blast of a match from start to finish. Everyone was very solid from start to finish and not one of them stood out, which was a good thing in my book. This is what you get if you let your best workers do what they do best, just wrestle their @$$ off. After a grueling contest, Jericho somehow managed to retain the Intercontinental Title. It also planted the seed for the breaking up of the Radicalz faction (Benoit and Guerrero).
Match Rating: A-It started of with your basic one match inside the ring and one match outside the ring. But then, it turned into a fantastic contest that showed how much these guys wanted to win the Intercontinental Title. Near fall after near fall, submission after submission, it was nicely paced and exciting as well. In my opinion, this match should be the blueprint for a solid fatal four-way match in the future.
c) Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley defeated Trish Stratus Singles match (08:29)
This was the match to determine who the most dominant female in WWF is at that time, between the daughter of the boss, Stephanie and the mistress of the boss, Trish Stratus. For a match between two women who never actually wrestled before, it was very surprising. These two had a very intense cat-fight with some really good wrestling moves along the way. The crowd was very into it, which helped the match as well. In the end though, William Regal, the WWF Comissioner at that time, interfered and handed the win to Stephanie.
Match Rating: B-As I said before, it was a surprisingly good match between these two. They showed in that match how much they hate each other and how much they want to be the dominant female at that point of time. A pretty good women's match in the end though, which was the appetizer for the following match.
d) Triple H defeated Steve Austin Three Stages of Hell match (39:27)
This was a match that culminated a feud that was more than one year in the making. It was the true focal point of this entire PPV. It was really a very simple feud actually. Triple H crippled Stone Cold via a planned hit-and-run with a car, Austin vows for revenge, Triple H retaliated, add in the WWF Championship factor into the mix as well, and you got yourself a damn good feud. This was a Three Stage of Hell match, which was a fancy name for 2 out of 3 falls match. The first fall was straight wrestling, the second fall was a street fight and the third fall was a Steel Cage match. Austin won the first fall. In the end though, Triple H won the next two falls, thus became the winner in this grueling match.
Match Rating: AThis match showed you how to end such long, intense and personal feud between two wrestlers. It featured two of the best ever in this business and they just went all out in this match, which was basically three matches combined into one. The first match was a solid wrestling match, albeit it was more of a brawl between the Game and Austin. The second match was a brutal Street Fight with all types of weapons involved. The third match was a Steel Cage match that showed which one had the will to win the contest. If there are any gimmick matches that worth to end a feud, these are the ones to look at.
e) Steven Richards defeated Jerry Lawler Singles match (05:32)During these times, Right To Censor was the most hated faction in the WWF. They were against any profanity and whatsoever in the WWF. Jerry Lawler or the King stood up against these guys and challenged them to a match at No Way Out with the stipulation that if the King wins, WWF Diva the Kat (his real life spouse at that time) will be allowed to strip naked, but if the King lost, the Kat is forced to join RTC. After a short match with a lot of interference on behalf of the leader of RTC, Stevie Richards, the King lost. This paved his way to quit the WWF in the coming weeks.
Match rating: C-It was just a filler match to calm things down after a stellar match that happened before it, which was a good thing since there was still one more main event left in this PPV. It was just a match to solidify the status of RTC as a midcard heel stable at that point of time.
f) The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) (c) defeated Edge and Christian and The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) Tables match for the WWF Tag Team Championship (12:04)
This was a solid tornado style tag team table match between three great tag teams. There were lots of brawling between these three teams with some near spots involving the tables. It was during the golden years of tag team wrestling in the WWF so you are in for a treat. It was a pleasant sight indeed watching the Brothers of Destruction back together and kicking @$$. In the end though, due to interference by Haku and Rikishi, the Dudley Boyz managed to retain the title, heading to Wrestlemania as the Tag Team Champions.
Match Rating: B-
Again, this was a match served to warm up the audience back for the main event. It was brawl from start to finish. You know you are going to get that kind of match if you have teams like Kane and Undertaker, and also the Dudley Boyz. It showcased how good the tag-teams were back then.
g) The Rock defeated Kurt Angle (c) Singles match for the WWF Championship (16:53)It was pretty much straightforward. The Rock wants to headline Wrestlemania again. Standing in his way was Kurt Angle, the fastest rising superstar in the WWF, and also the WWF Champion. This resulted in one of the one-on-one matches that I had ever seen. This was also one of the first matches whereby Kurt Angle utilized his Ankle Lock hold. Both of these guys worked their @$$ off throughout the match, even though there was an interference by the Big Show midway through the match. But it served as a breather so that a great ending can be done by both The Rock and Kurt Angle. After not one, but two Rock Bottoms, Kurt Angle was finally defeated and The Rock became the WWF Champion, on course for a major epic match with Stone Cold at Wrestlemania 17.
Match Rating: A
What a match that these two had. It was very underrated due to the Triple H - Stone Cold match that happened earlier on. The Rock continued to show why he was main eventer not thorugh his promo, but through his in ring work as well. Kurt Angle also showed why he deserved to be the guy that was pushed so hard and fast back then because he was that damn good (no pun intended) in the ring. The pace of the match was good and the psychology of the match was good as well, in particular the desire of the Rock to win the WWF Title back and the desperation of Kurt Angle to hold on to the WWF Title.
Overall ViewThis was a solid PPV from start to finish. The card was also very well structured because of the up and down flow of it. All of the matches were pretty much solid with two main events that met and even exceeded the expectation of many. The undercard matches were also good, not spectacular but they were PPV quality matches. The show was a one of the crucial stops on the Road to Wrestlemania 17 and it served its purpose as many feuds ended and many feuds also began on this PPV. A great PPV and I was glad that I got the opportunity to watch it on PPV and also to have it as one of my precious WWF/WWE PPV collections.
Overall Rating: A-What can be learned from this PPV that can be used in Today's WWE PPVs
There were many aspects from this particular PPV had that the current WWE PPVs can learn from. One of it is in terms of feuds. A lot of the feuds in this PPV was a result of consistent storylines that ranged from more than a year (Triple H - Austin) to mere weeks (Rock - Angle). The result of such consistency is a match at PPV that meant something that was very significant. Nowadays, PPV matches lacked that meaningfulness as we can expect a rematch of sort down the line at the next PPV. PPV matches are meant to end a feud or even spark a new feud, with the television shows such as Raw and Smackdown to develop those feuds into a compelling storyline that makes the fans care about it. This basic formula is something that the WWE lacks due to inconsistent storyline and weird booking decisions.
That is why outside the big 4 PPvs (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series), WWE PPVs looked to be just a filler, lacking in importance. Results are very predictable due to the logic of the feud. To go forward, there is a need to make these PPvs feel important again, whereby all matches from top to bottom has an impact towards the storylines that happens week in and week out on Raw and Smackdown. That is something that this particular fan wants, no less and no more.
Au Revoir.
