Throwback Thursday: Looking back at WWE SummerSlam 2001

Each and every Thursday I will look back at a different pay-per-view event from the past via the WWE Network. Want to see a certain event covered? Send your suggestions to @VaughnMJohnson on Twitter.

Last time, I covered the WWE King of the Ring 1994.

WWE SummerSlam 2001

Date: Aug. 19, 2001

Venue: Compaq Center (now the SAP Center), San Jose, Calif.

Some random notes

This was the 14th annual SummerSlam event. It was the first ever held in the state of California. California has hosted six more since — all of which were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The event was also historic from the standpoint that it is still the only pay-per-view in WWE history that featured two black men in a one-on-one match in the main event. This wasn't hyped up at the time and it still isn't looked at in that way until this day.

The Rock, who is half black and half Samoan, was a fixture in main events, so his presence was nothing unusual. Booker T was in his first WWE main event, but had been in a fixture in main events during his time in World Championship Wrestling.

The fact that these two men were in the main event of a WWE pay-per-view didn't really surprise anyone. If anything, the only reason fans may have been surprised by Booker T being in the main event was because was so closely associated with WCW, not because he was black.

The event took place during when WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling had invaded WWE in storyline.. Of course in reality, WWE owned both companies and were trying to capitalize on the fans each of the promotions had before closing their respective doors.

In theory, this story should have worked like a charm. It should have been easy for WWE to be able to create dream matches and dream scenarios that would have left wrestling fans tripping over themselves trying to get to the box office.

However, a number of things did not go in WWE's favor. Chief among them was WWE did not have the biggest stars from WCW at its disposal. Stars such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Goldberg and Sting all opted to live out the rest of their WCW contracts and sit on the sidelines until they expired.

WWE had the biggest stars from ECW, but they didn't have quite the name value as the top names from WCW. On top of not having the top WCW stars, WWE was dealing with some major injuries on its own roster.

Triple H missed the majority of 2001 and the entire invasion storyline due to a torn quadriceps. He didn't return until the beginning of 2002. Chris Benoit was nursing a neck injury that kept him out until about halfway through 2002.

Another thing working against WWE was its own storytelling. Despite not having the biggest names available, WWE still had enough to make a compelling storyline. Instead, it used people like Diamond Dallas Page in laughable roles. We'll have more on Page later on.

Another laughable role was Steve Austin as the heel leader of The Alliance, which was the collective name of WCW and ECW. But it did give him a chance to show his humorous side and a chance for Angle to show what he can do as a top babyface, which is the scenario that played on this particular event.

It's funny to see Shane and Stephanie McMahon running WWE today, as in storyline they almost put their own father out of business while they were running The Alliance.

The show opened with montage that featured Let the Bodies Hit the Floor by Drowning Pool. I remember hearing that song so much leading up to this event when I was a kid.

Jim Ross and Paul Heyman handled the announcing duties. It was a very combative pairing, as Ross represented WWE and Heyman represented The Alliance. Plus, Heyman was very good at getting under Ross' skin in general.

With that said, let's get to the matches.

WWE Intercontinental championship – Edge def. Lance Storm

This was only a couple of months after Edge had won the King of the Ring tournament, which eventually led to the dissolution of his tag team with Christian in September. At this point, the awesome dudes were still a functioning team.

Side note: The trophy Edge was awarded for winning King of the Ring always made me chuckle. It looked like someone combined the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup into one. Maybe since both have Canadian roots, WWE figured it would be appropriate to give to Edge.

As expected, Edge and Storm put on a good match. There were multiple cuts to WWE's locker room showing the WWE wrestlers cheering Edge on. It was essentially everyone in WWE that occupied the lower part of the card. There was Al Snow, Crash and Hardcore Holly, Funaki, Taka Michinoku, Albert, Big Show and even a R-Truth. Back then, he was known as K-Kwik.

At one point, Christian ran down and tried to help his partner Edge, but inadvertently speared him instead.

Edge managed to shake off the spear and still picked up the win. The spot with Christian and the awkward post-match celebration between the two was only planting the seeds of the split between the two only a couple of weeks later.

The Dudley Boyz & Test def. The APA & Spike Dudley

This is not news, but Bradshaw and Farooq hit people very, very hard. Everything they did made some sort of sound.

Maybe their strikes didn't actually hurt, but they sure looked and sounded like it. That's enough for me to cringe.

The Dudley Boyz rag-dolled Spike Dudley every chance they got. Spike Dudley eventually got put through a table. Actually, it was more like him tossed through a table like a bag of garbage.

Shane McMahon eventually came down while the referee was dealing with Spike Dudley and hit Bradshaw in the head with a steel chair, helping the bad guys pick up the win.

WWE Light Heavyweight & WCW Cruiserweight championships – X-Pac def. Tajiri

This was the final night the WWE Light Heavyweight championship was active, as it was unified into the WCW Cruiserweight title, which eventually became the WWE Cruiserweight championship.

People really didn't like X-Pac at this point, which I guess is when the term "X-Pac heat" began. It didn't help that his theme music was so awful as well. On the flip side, the fans were really into Tajiri.

It was weird to see that Tajiri hadn't defected to The Alliance, as he had made his name in the United States in ECW.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that X-Pac came out the victor in this match, as he had made his name in WWE. WWE couldn't have a former ECW guy unify these titles.

Chris Jericho def. Rhyno

In a different era, Jericho could have been the top babyface in the business. It just so happened that he hit his stride during an era that was dominated by not just one but two of the top babyfaces of all time in Steve Austin and The Rock.

At this point, Austin was technically a heel, but no one really wanted to boo him. On top of that, WWE slotted Kurt Angle into a top babyface position to lead the charge against The Alliance.

Every babyface needs a good villain and Jericho's was Stephanie McMahon. To say Stephanie McMahon took her share of tongue-lashings from Jericho would be a gross understatement.

But because Stephanie McMahon could not get her revenge against Jericho physically, she had to use a surrogate. In this instance, it was Rhyno — the last champion of the original ECW.

The story of this match was that Jericho had not and could not beat Rhyno. Because of that, Rhyno had the upper hand a good portion of the match. But like any good hero, Jericho eventually overcame the odds to finally vanquish Rhyno.

WWE Hardcore championship (Ladder match) – Rob Van Dam def. Jeff Hardy

This was a bit of a dream match between of the best high-flyers of their era. People loved Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt. People loved Van Dam despite the fact that he was part of the heel promotion in The Alliance.

The fans didn't care though. He was that cool.

Hardy and Van Dam used the ladder in very unique in innovative ways that you don't even see today. Maybe the reason why you don't see them is because they are too dangerous.

Van Dam fought through the pain and managed to grab the Hardcore championship. The fans cheered despite the fact it notched another victory for The Alliance. That's how over Van Dam was at this point.

WWE & WCW Tag Team championships (Cage match) – The Brothers of Destruction def. Diamond Dallas Page & Chris Kanyon

This is still some of the most puzzling creative I've ever seen.

Here you have DDP, a proven commodity as a babyface in WCW. He was the people's champion of WCW. But I guess WWE figured that it already it's own people's champion in The Rock, leaving with Page with the role of stalking The Undertaker's then-wife Sarah.

Fortunately, it didn't take WWE long to get away from this, but it wasn't before The Undertaker got to easily dispatch of one of the few homegrown stars WCW ever made. Classic WWE. Page didn't even get to hit the diamond cutter.

This was essentially a squash match in a cage. The Brothers of Destruction did so much as to let Kanyon leave the cage so that they can dismantle poor Page. This was essentially a burial. At least Page got paid to do this.

WWE championship – Kurt Angle def. Steve Austin via disqualification

Angle was rocking singlet that I've never seen him wear before or since. It had a chest protector of sorts on it. I wasn't sure if he was there to wrestle or umpire a baseball game.

Just as weird was Austin's heel theme music in 2001. I hated it. It just didn't feel like Austin.

Austin dominated the first half of this match, even causing Angle to bleed at one point after driving his face into the ring post at least a half-dozen times. Angle was a bloody mess.

Angle fought back, however, and even hit the moonsault. If you've watched enough Angle matches, you know that he almost never lands that move.

Austin landed three stunners, but Angle managed to survive all of them.

Austin then took out three WWE referees. Alliance referee Nick Patrick came down and disqualified Austin. Angle won the match, but Austin kept the title, which was by design.

Jim Ross was highly upset by this development.

WCW World Heavyweight championship – The Rock def. Booker T

This match didn't have nearly the heat the Austin-Angle feud had, but the reason why it was in the main event was because it was The Rock's first pay-per-view match since WrestleMania. He was off filming a movie during his time away from the ring.

Aside from being the first and only time two black men closed a WWE pay-per-view in a one-on-one match, this was also the first and only time a WCW championship was defended in the main event of a WWE pay-per-view.

In hindsight, this was a pretty historic match.

Shane McMahon attempted to stick his nose in this match as well, which brought out the APA. Shane McMahon tried to get away, but ran right into a clothesline from hell from Bradshaw. Shane McMahon probably thought the devil himself had hit him.

Shane McMahon managed to peel himself up off the floor and got involved again. However, The Rock was there to hit him with the rock bottom to put him down for the count.

With Shane McMahon out of the way, The Rock defeated Booker T to become the WCW champion.