Your commentators are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman

Bottom Line: This had some decent spots and was fairly energetic to get the crowd going. I wasn’t too keen on having the first two teams eliminated in such quick fashion. Interestingly enough, once it came down to the Hardyz and Dudleyz, the crowd interest dropped off considerably. I’m not sure why that was exactly. But it certainly added to the flat nature to the finish of the match. That really put a damper on an otherwise decent match. ** ¾

- RVD is walking around aimlessly (gee, I wonder why) when he runs into Stephanie McMahon. She offers to do anything for him in order to help him beat Chris Jericho tonight. RVD says he’s got it, but does ask her to help him find a dressing room. Stephanie says he can use any dressing room he likes. I’m guessing he’ll take the one closest to the vending machines.

- Michael Cole interviews Kurt Angle’s family, who is ringside. They talk about what a great moment it would be for them to see Angle win the WWF title. How ironic would it be for them to experience one of the greatest moments in their life after just enduring one of the worst moments in their life by having to talk to Cole.

This is a result of Raven destroying Saturn’s beloved Moppy. *rolls eyes* Saturn immediately jumps Raven and goes to work on him. Terri distracts Saturn long enough for Raven to baseball slide into him. As they battle on the outside, Raven does a drop toe hold, which sends Saturn into the steps. A bulldog by Raven gets 2. Now Raven applies a Cobra Clutch. Saturn escapes, but can’t take over on offense. Saturn goes for a sunset flip, but Raven drops to his knees and gets 2. Saturn knocks down Raven with a kick. Saturn comes back with a series of suplexes. Saturn tries a top rope hurricanrana, but Raven shoves him down. Then he comes off and delivers a clothesline for another nearfall. Saturn catapults Raven into the corner and then hits him with a twisting fisherman’s suplex. That mercifully gives him the pinfall.

BL: Oh baby, did this stink. It was already in trouble due to the lousy backstory behind the match. And then the wrestling did nothing to help the situation. These two weren’t on the same page, which led to some sloppy action. If you throw in a dead crowd, you get a recipe for disaster. Let’s hope the next match is better so I can wash out the bad taste in my mouth from this match. ½ *

- Christian tells Lillian Garcia that it was totally worth ruining his relationship with his brother to get this shot at the Intercontinental title. Man, it must be so tough to say those things about your own flesh and blood. Oh wait…

The two slug away on each other to begin. The fight heads up the aisle, where Edge catapults Christian into some of the staging. Back inside, Edge repeatedly rams Christian’s head into the turnbuckle. Christian begs for mercy and then throws Edge into the post. A backbreaker by Christian gets 2. Christian gets another nearfall with a powerslam. After exchanging chops, Edge catches Christian with a Russian legsweep. Christian goes for a superplex, but Edge shoves him down. Edge delivers a German suplex and gets a 2 count. Christian sidesteps Edge’s spear attempt and then dropkicks him. Both men go for a crossbody and collide mid-ring. Edge comes back with a pair of clotheslines and a back bodydrop. Edge reverses the Unprettier into the Edge-o-Matic for 2. Christian dumps Edge to the outside. Edge then goes under the ring and comes out the other side to surprise Christian with a high crossbody. Christian ducks a clothesline and then spears Edge. That gets 2. Frustrated, Christian grabs two chairs. He tries for a one-man Conchairto, but Edge avoids it. Now Edge tries to do it, but the referee stops him. As the referee puts one chair away, Christian gives Edge a lowblow with the other. Christian then covers Edge and gets the 1-2-3. New champ!

BL: This was a very disappointing match. I think a lot of the problems came from the fact that their feud forced them to do more of a brawling-type match, which was neither man’s forte. If they had done a more high-flying, fast-paced match, this would have been better. I’m also not a fan of the finish. I’m not against Christian winning, but they could have come up with something more devastating and/or devious to put Edge away with. We can only hope for an improved effort from them in the rematch. ** ½

Kronik is comprised of Brian Adams (formerly Crush) and Bryan Clarke (formerly Adam Bomb). They’re now being managed by Steven Richards, who blames the Undertaker for the disbanding of RTC. The match begins with all four brawling around ringside. Inside, Taker legdrops Adams and gets a nearfall. Adams gives Kane a backbreaker and then brings him to his corner. Kronik have now cut the ring in half. Clarke drops Kane with a big boot. Kane gets a nearfall off a neckbreaker. After Kane hits Clarke with a shoulderbreaker, he tags Taker. Taker works Clarke’s arm by delivering Old School. As Taker applies an armbar, Adams comes in and boots him. Now Kronik double-teams Taker. Adams clotheslines Taker to the floor, but then Taker brings him out with him. Clarke attacks Taker from behind and soon all four men are fighting on the floor. Back inside, Adams bores me with a chinlock on Taker. Taker catches Clarke with a DDT and then tags Kane. Kane easily manhandles both of his opponents. All four men are in again and the champs are dominating Kronik. As Taker goes to chokeslam Clarke, Richards comes in, but is quickly knocked down. Adams comes in and hits an ugly jawbreaker on Taker. As Kronik goes for their finisher, Kane comes off the top rope and clotheslines Adams. Taker then chokeslams Clarke and pins him for the victory.

Postmatch: Richards tries to attack Taker with a chair, but Taker catches him. Then Kane gives him a chokeslam for good measure.

BL: Major snoozefest here. This was slow and plodding and I had to actively force myself to keep watching. But as bad as it was, it wasn’t so horrendous that Kronik deserved to be canned so quickly after this. There wasn’t a whole lot of botched moves from what I could tell, just uninteresting wrestling. Whether you thought they deserved to be fired or not, I think we can all agree that we’d prefer not to have matches like this on PPV. ¾ *

- As Booker T and Shane McMahon prep for their match, Tazz comes in and tries to motivate them. However, his choice of words end up making his speech not as successful as he would have liked. How did Tazz become the Alliance scapegoat? Didn’t their roster have plenty of other jobbers more qualified for that role?

- Stephanie goes to RVD’s dressing room door and tries to inspire him by mentioning that her birthday is tomorrow and him beating Jericho would be the best present ever. Well wouldn’t you know it, as she says this, Jericho is standing right behind her. Once again, he tells a number of jokes about Steph’s breasts and promiscuity. This was funny and all. It’s just a shame that jokes like these come at the expense of any sort of push for him.

Both men try and work the arm to start. RVD gets a backslide for 2. The two do a sequence where they exchange nearfalls. The crowd starts to chant for RVD and he brags about it. Jericho doesn’t take kindly to that and slaps him. An enziguri by Jericho gets 2. A flapjack by Jericho sends RVD to the apron. Jericho goes for the springboard dropkick, but RVD avoids it. RVD leaps over the top rope and hits Jericho with a crossbody. That gets 2. RVD places Jericho across the guardrail and goes for the legdrop, but misses. Jericho grabs a ladder from under the ring and attacks RVD with it. RVD charges at Jericho, but Jericho moves and sends RVD’s shoulder into the post. Now Jericho suplexes RVD onto the ladder. Ouch. A second attempt is blocked and then RVD suplexes Jericho onto the ladder. Jericho goes for the Walls of Jericho, but RVD powers out of it. RVD hits a rolling big splash and gets 2. RVD goes for the split-legged moonsault, but Jericho gets his knees up. Jericho comes back with his crappy bulldog. RVD avoids the Lionsault and then nails Jericho with a spin kick. Now RVD goes for the Five Star Frog Splash and he misses. Jericho rolls him up for 2 ¾. Jericho charges at RVD with the ladder, but RVD delivers a drop toe hold. RVD abuses Jericho with a chair and then climbs the ladder. Jericho gets up and hurls the chair at RVD’s head. Now Jericho climbs up and puts RVD in the Walls on the ladder. Jericho dumps RVD to the outside, but when he tries to jump off the top rope to attack him, RVD moves and Jericho crashes into the barricade. RVD goes for a tope, but Jericho hits him with a chair in mid-air. That gets a nearfall. RVD hits a spin kick and covers. Jericho kicks out and puts RVD in an armbar. RVD escapes, but Jericho remains on the offensive. Now Jericho begins to attack RVD’s arm with a chair. Stephanie runs out and tries to grab the chair. Jericho swings it at her, but misses. He turns around and RVD nails him with the Van Daminator. RVD then goes up and connects with the Five Star Frog Splash. The cover afterwards is academic and RVD retains his title.

BL: This was a decent match, but I’m not totally enamored with it. My complaint here is that the action didn’t build as it progressed. It just seemed like they did moves with no logical progression. Jericho tries to work the arm, but it was too spotty to be effective. They couldn’t decide whether they wanted to have a wrestling match or a garbage match. Despite that, this has been the best match of the night thus far. *** ½

- As Booker and Shane get set for their match, they both reveal that they think they will become the next WCW champion. I hate to break the news to Booker, but if you’re in a competition with a McMahon and it’s in the WWF, you don’t stand a chance.

The match starts with a slugfest between The Rock and Booker. An early pinfall attempt by The Rock is broken up by Shane. Shane is in legally now and The Rock manhandles him. Booker kicks The Rock from the apron to allow Shane to go on offense. A sidewalk slam by Booker get 2. The Rock knocks down Shane and then puts him in the Sharpshooter. Booker comes in and breaks it up. Booker whips The Rock and Shane pulls down the top rope to cause The Rock to fall to the floor. On the outside, Shane leaps off the guardrail and clotheslines The Rock. Booker swings a chair at The Rock, but misses. As The Rock attacks Booker, Shane comes from behind and nails him. Now Booker catapults him into the post. Back inside, Booker delivers a knee drop and then does the Spinaroonie. As he gets up, The Rock rolls him up for 2. Booker lays The Rock on the Spanish announce table for Shane to do his elbow drop, but The Rock gets up and fights back. Booker drops The Rock with a superkick and brings him back in the ring. The Rock hits Booker with a Samoan drop and both men are down. Shane attempts to nail The Rock with the WCW title, but accidentally nails Booker instead. However, Shane tries again and does nail The Rock this time. With WCW referee Nick Patrick calling the match, no disqualification is called. Booker covers and only gets 2. Shane goes for a big elbow, but The Rock avoids it. The Rock now comes back and takes on both men. The Rock DDTs Booker and gets 2. Shane blindsides The Rock with a clothesline. Now Shane attempts to do the People’s Elbow, but The Rock gets up and gives him a Rock Bottom. The Rock then delivers a spinebuster to Booker and goes for the People’s Elbow. However, Test runs out and clotheslines The Rock. Then he gives The Rock a big boot. Suddenly, Bradshaw runs out and chases away Test. Now Nick Patrick picks up The Rock and puts him in the ring. A WWF referee comes out and starts arguing with Patrick. Shane covers The Rock, but the WWF ref pulls Patrick out of the ring. Patrick shoves the WWF ref down and counts Booker covering The Rock. However, The Rock kicks out at 2. The WWF referee comes in and tackles Patrick, but then Booker dumps the WWF referee. Booker goes for the Book End, but The Rock escapes and gives him the Rock Bottom. Earl Hebner runs out and he counts 3 to give The Rock the victory.

BL: This was too overbooked for what was an obvious outcome. The handicap stipulation made it pretty clear that The Rock was retaining. Usually, Shane provides a highlight for the PPV matches he’s involved with, but he was merely an annoying presence here. The action was all right, but it woud have been better had it been a one-on-one rematch. ***

- As William Regal talks with Tajiri, Torrie Wilson comes in. Regal says that he’s considering banning everyone from ringside for Taijiri’s match, but Torrie bats her eyes at Regal and he caves. What a softie that Regal is.

- Tonight’s loser at WWF New York is…a sexy loser in the form of Stacy Kiebler. She says she likes a man with a close shave and then shows a video of her shaving her legs. I won’t deny enjoying the visual, but that was really random.

Why is the U.S. title being defended after the WCW title? Just more proof of the bungling of the invasion angle. Rhyno hammers away on Tajiri, but Tajiri quickly throws him to the floor. Then Tajiri delivers a springboard moonsault. Back in the ring, Tajiri puts the boots to Rhyno. Rhyno stops his momentum with a shouldertackle in the corner. A powerslam by Rhyno gets 2. Rhyno gets another nearfall with a belly-to-belly suplex. Tajiri escapes a powerbomb attempt and hits Rhyno with a hurricanrana. Tajiri connects with the handspring elbow and gets 2. Rhyno stops Tajiri in his tracks with a spinebuster. Torrie checks on Tajiri, which prompts Rhyno to chase her. She gets in the ring and appears to hurt her ankle. Rhyno goes to GORE her, but Tajiri nails him with a stiff kick. That gets 2 ¾. Tajiri puts Rhyno in an abdominal stretch and then turns it into the Tarantula. Tajiri goes for a big kick, but Rhyno avoids it and suplexes him. Rhyno follows that up with a GORE and easily gets the pinfall. New champ!

BL: Nothing really wrong here, it was just too short to have any impact. They could have done a whole lot with this, given certain pre-existing elements (Tajiri’s injured ribs, the Torrie Wilson factor) but instead they opted to use this as the breather between main events. I could bemoan that they’re belittling the U.S. title, but that would just be beating a dead horse. **

Angle meets Austin in the aisleway and they begin duking it out. Back in the ring, Austin thinks about going for the Stunner, but decides not to. Angle whips Austin to the ropes and gives him the Lou Thesz Press. The fight heads back outside where Angle abuses Austin on the Spanish announce table. A superplex by Angle gets 2. Austin applies a sleeper, but Angle escapes with a jawjacker. Angle clotheslines Austin to the floor, who then gets his belt and decides to leave. Angle runs down the aisle and clotheslines him from behind. Then Angle grabs Austin and throws him off the ramp. Angle returns the favor from Summerslam by ramming Austin a few times into the post. As Angle tries to remove the floor mats, Austin knees him from behind. Austin tries to piledrive Angle on the exposed floor, but Angle reverses it into a backdrop. Now Angle tries for the piledriver, but Austin backdrops him. Austin now suplexes Angle three times on the Spanish announce table. Back in the ring, the two slug it out. Austin begins to focus on the back of Angle’s neck. A double ax handle by Austin gets a nearfall. Both men exchange nearfalls via rollups. Angle comes back by hammering on the back of Austin’s neck. Then he gives Austin three German suplexes. Angle goes up, but Austin crotches him. Austin delivers a back suplex, but Angle falls on top and gets 2. As Austin hammers away on Angle, the referee admonishes him. Austin tosses the referee away, which allows Angle to kick him low. Angle DDTs Austin, who falls to the outside. Austin comes back in and receives a Stunner from Angle. That gets 2 ¾. Angle pulls down the straps and goes for the Angle Slam. Austin escapes and sort of does one of his own. That gets a nearfall. Austin struggles mightily and eventually hits Angle with a piledriver. Somehow, Angle kicks out at 2. Austin goes for the Stunner, but Angle turns it into the ankle lock. Austin struggles to get to the ropes, but eventually taps. We’ve got a new champ!

Postmatch: Angle’s family, as well as the WWF roster, come into the ring to celebrate Angle’s big win. It should be noted, however, that when Austin tapped, his other hand was under the ropes, which meant the referee should have broken the hold. Austin would use this point to earn himself a rematch against Angle for the title.

BL: You’d like to think they gave Angle the title based on his skills and abilities. However, the cynic in me thinks he only got it because of 9/11. Ignoring that idea, these two had another solid outing. However, this was a far cry from their match at Summerslam. This one was too much of a brawl to be considered great. I also felt that Angle’s win came too quickly. There should have been a few more false finishes. Nonetheless, the finish sent the crowd home happy, which is always a good thing. *** ¾

Final Thoughts: In judging this one, you have to look at the two main events. While both decent, they were both watered down versions of their first fights at Summerslam. In the undercard, you had a mixed bag of decency, but nothing that was standout great. Finally, it may have been because of the state the country was in at the time, but the crowd was really lackluster here. Their lack of enthusiasm diminished the effectiveness of the matches. Overall, this is a show that’s just there. Angle fans will probably want to give this show a look, but everyone else can probably take a pass on it.

- Next time, leather and whips typically aren’t my thing, but I’ll be damned if Stacy Kiebler doesn’t make it look damn sexy.