WWF Royal Rumble 2001 Results and Review: A Better VHS Experience

For this review we are going back to 2001 for the Royal Rumble! The Royal Rumble in 2001 was stacked. It was absolutely stacked with some of the best wrestlers from all eras of wrestling. Remember, this was just a few months before WCW would get bought out, and it was the same year that one of the most epic battles went down at Wrestlemania.

This event was held at the MCI Center In New Orleans and had 17,137 people in attendance. It was one of the hottest crowds in 2001, and definitely one of the better options that you will want to consider. The VHS version has all unedited footage, with all original music, and a lot more to offer compared to the network version, but the network does have this event up. With that in mind, let’s get to the big event with the following results and review.

WWF Royal Rumble 2001 Results

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) defeated Edge and Christian
Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit
Ivory (c) (with Steven Richards) defeated Chyna
Kurt Angle defeated Triple H
Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble

WWF Royal Rumble 2001 Review

First and foremost, the crowd for this event was absolutely going insane from the start of the show. The opening match alone had people going crazy, but it was the Rumble match itself that really took things to another level.

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) defeated Edge and Christian

This was a fast paced match that saw the Dudley Boyz capture the Tag Team titles from the duo of Edge and Christian. The crowd was great for this, and the match was very back and forth. Edge and Christian did the “Wazzup” spot at one point, or at least tried, and the crowd lost themselves completely. Even through the network’s terrible editing, you could hear the pandemonium going on.

Match Rating: 4 out of 5

Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit (IC Title Ladder Match)

As far as ladder matches are concerned, this is one of the better ones. However, there were moments that didn’t make sense from a story telling stand point. The Walls of Jericho on a ladder just doesn’t fit, if you ask me. However, the overall push of this match was good, and Jericho was doing grand things in WWE compared to his last WCW run from 1998 – 1999.

Match Rating: 3 out of 5

Ivory (c) (with Steven Richards) defeated Chyna

This was a weird match. I forgot how good Chyna really was. She did a spot and landed awkwardly, which sold an injury. The injury angle was treated as real, and I had to look online to see if it was in fact real. It wasn’t. This ended too early.



Match Rating: 2 out of 5

Kurt Angle defeated Triple H

One hell of a match. Triple H and Angle put on a great show here. It was powerful, fast paced, and Angle’s slams were just second to none. It’s funny, 1 year earlier, Angle was getting tapped out to Tazz, and this year he’s in the championship title match with Trips. The match was great, ref bumps and all, and of course Stone Cold running in to beat up Triple H. The crowd went ballistic when Stone Cold showed up and beat up Triple H. great stuff here. Angle won.

Match Rating: 4 out of 5

Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble

The main event, and one of the better Royal Rumble matches. There were a few surprise entrants, but nothing too great. The best part about this was the amount of big hitters from this year. Undertaker, Kane, Stone Cold, Rikishi, The Rock, and so much more were involved in this one. The Rock got a serious beat down, Triple H nearly cost Stone Cold’s win, and he was busted wide open, great stuff. This is the second best Royal Rumble right behind Royal Rumble 1992.

Match Rating: 5 out of 5

Overall, you should look for the original DVD or VHS tape as it was heavily edited from the original if you see it on the network. I noticed a lot of errors, and at one point there’s a complete change and omission in the Royal Rumble match. The production crew either blatantly messed something up, or they edited, cut, and deleted 11 seconds of the Royal Rumble match. I am thinking it’s a full censorship of someone flashing the camera, a crotch grab, a boob, or something. It’s so noticeable, you will know when it happens.

You can pick up the original VHS or DVD of Royal Rumble 2001 by clicking here.

WWF In Your House Degeneration X Results and Review A Better VHS Experience

WWF In Your House Degeneration X 1997 Results and Review 

Continuing my series of reviews of all things VHS versus the WWE network, I would like to present you with the December 1997 pay per view that the WWE put up against WCW Starrcade 1997. Now, you’ll have to remember that Starrcade 1997 was huge, it had 17,500 people at the MCI Center in Washington D.C. and it featured Hulk Hogan versus Sting for the World Title. This build up took 1 full year, that’s right, 1 year of Sting not wrestling at all, versus Hogan that was supposed to be absolutely scared of the guy. Now, that happened on December 28, 1997, meanwhile WWF put out In Your House on December 7, 1997. That card for comparison’s sake only drew 6,358! That’s right, compared to WCW drawing 17,500 people, that’s a big jump. So here we go, a review of WWF’s In Your House Degeneration X pay per view from 1997!

WWF In Your House Degeneration X Results and Review

So, in 1997 the WWF introduced a light heavyweight championship title, and they held a tournament. The names in this one were very diverse from Devon Storm to Flash Flanagan, to Eric Shelley (YES THAT ERIC SHELLEY). At the end of the day, the finals were held here in the first major match and they featured Taka Michinoku versus Brian Christopher. This had a lot of great jokes as Jerry Lawler wouldn’t admit that Christopher was his son. Great one liners and commentary from both Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler here.

Taka Michinoku defeated Brian Christopher for the light heavyweight championship

Great match here, 12 minutes of non stop action, with great back and forth. Taka won with the Michinoku driver, and it was the end for Brian until Too Cool made it big. I miss the lightweight heavyweight days.

Los Boricuas defeated The Disciples of Apocalypse

The DOA was a biker gang way before Aces and Eights or even Samcro was mentioned. The teams worked well, but in the end, it was Los Boricuas that got the win. Not a great match, but fun enough.

Butterbean defeated Mar Mero in a “Toughman Match”

A glorified, fixed boxing match, with Mero losing via disqualification. Mero is a legit golden gloves boxer, but this was a joke.

The New Age Outlaws defeated The Legion of Doom via disqualification

This was a ten minute match that had a lot of jokes involved with the younger guys getting the most of the LOD. Eventually, LOD got disqualified and buried on Raw the next night, moving forward. They would come back in 1998, but it didn’t matter, they were already tarnished.

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Triple H defeated Sgt. Slaughter in a Boot Camp Match

This was great. Triple H and Slaughter threw some haymakers, and Slaughter did not work soft at all. This was a heavy handed match and the two really put the boots to each other. Chyna got involved, but there was a great moment when Slaughter threw salt in her eyes and the crowd went into a frenzy. Triple H won, but by no means was this an easy match for him, Slaughter put on a show in his old age.

Jeff Jarrett defeated The Undertaker via Disqualification

Double J has a victory over the dead man? Yep! He won here when Kane showed up. Not much of a match.

Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock in an Intercontinental Championship Match

The nation of domination got involved, but Stone Cold drove into the arena in a F150 and beat the hell out of them, giving everyone stunners. Then The Rock and Stone Cold put on the most entertaining 5 minutes of your life. These two are amazing, and this was for the IC title. You have to remember that the next night Stone Cold threw the title over a bridge, which was great. This match was fast paced, only 5 minutes, but loads of entertainment in a short span.

Ken Shamrock defeated Shawn Michaels via disqualification

You’d be surprised how well Ken Shamrock worked here. Michaels can make anyone look good,but it takes two most often. This was great, I loved it. The DQ finish wasn’t bad, and it made Shamrock look like he could very well win the big one. He did get the intercontinental championship in 1998 and worked a program with The Rock, so that’s something. 18 minutes, but no clear winner.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10

There were two major highlights in this show, and they only amount for around 22 minutes of wrestling and entertainment. The rest is forgettable. The original release is in fact unedited has better sound, better cuts, and lots of cussing from Stone Cold, including some back stage segments.

You can pick up the VHS edition of this if you’d like or you could watch it on the wwe network. Overall, though, this was a good show, but compared to Starrcade 1997, it was way worse.