Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

4. WWE SummerSlam 2001

• Edge def. Lance Storm to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• The Dudley Boyz & Test def. The APA & Spike Dudley (6-Man Tag Match)
• WCW Cruiserweight Champion X-Pac def. WWE Light Heavyweight Champion Tajiri (both titles were on the line)
• Chris Jericho def. Rhyno by submission
• RVD def. Jeff Hardy to win the WWE Hardcore Championship
• WCW Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Destruction def. WWE Tag Team Champions DDP & Chris Kanyon (both sets of titles were on the line)
• Kurt Angle def. WWE Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin by DQ
• The Rock def. Booker T to win the WCW Championship

This was the first SummerSlam after Vince had bought WCW and had brought in some big names from ECW, so this 2001 edition of SummerSlam was packed with big names and was all about WWE vs. The Alliance.

Edge picked up the first win for WWE by knocking off Lance Storm to win the Intercontinental Championship in what was a very good opening match. Both of these guys could pair up with just about anyone and have a strong match so putting them together to open the show was the right call. They got a decent amount of time and got the crowd going in he process.

A six-man tag followed, with The Dudley Boyz and Test taking on The APA and Spike, which could have been better had it been just a little longer. But it was still fun and Spike’s spot through the table was nice. I don’t think Shane’s involvement was necessary (shocking revelation there, I know) but it worked for what was happening at the time. He wanted to even things up for his guys and did so by cracking Bradshaw in the head with a steel chair.

In what was essentially a title unification match, both the Light Heavyweight Championship and Cruiserweight Championship were on the line nex,t as X-Pac took on Tajiri. This one started a bit slow but really picked up towards the end and became an enjoyable match, even with some outside interference for the third match in a row. But seeing as how this was all about picking up wins for your team, I get it. X-Pac won the match to win both titles. The Light Heavyweight Championship never showed up on pay-per-view again and was officially retired a few months later.

Rhyno and Chris Jericho were up next, with Jericho representing Team WWE and Rhyno repping The Alliance. There was a bad slip from Jericho in this match that was later edited out of the broadcast for the WWE Network but he was able to recover nicely and get a submission win.

That match wasn’t great but the next one certainly was, as RVD and Jeff Hardy battled for the Hardcore Championship in a Ladder Match. They had a good match at the Invasion pay-per-view earlier in the summer and this was yet another. It was everything you’d expect from two the biggest risk-takers in WWE at the time. They went all out, and despite a big spot near the finish that didn’t quite go as planned, there were plenty that went right. RVD got the win here.

Both sets of tag titles were on the line next in a Steel Cage Match as The Undertaker and Kane took on DDP and Kanyon. This was all connected to that horrible storyline with DDP and ‘Taker’s wife at the time, Sara, and the match was about as good as the storyline. It was easily one of the weaker matches on the card, and was more of a squash than anything as The Brothers of Destruction got the victory.

It was shocking at the time that Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle battling for the WWE Championship was the first World title match but after seeing the finish, it made more sense. Austin was on Team Alliance, which really never made any sense, and Kurt Angle was on Team WWE, pretty much the first time he had been a real babyface since his debut.

Minus the finish, this was everything I wanted it to be. They brawled before the match even started and the action continued once the bell rang. They traded suplexes early on and this was the best Austin had looked in quite a while. He had gone more to the brawling style over the years and it was great to see him turn back the clock a bit to keep up with someone like Angle.

Austin tried everything he could to put Angle away but nothing was working. It was very rare to see people kick out of the Stunner but Angle did just that and it was awesome. I wasn’t a fan of the finish with all of the referee drama. Austin hit WWE ref Tim White with the title and then Alliance ref Nick Patrick called for the bell and disqualified Stone Cold, which meant he kept the belt. Still, it didn’t ruin what was a great match.

The final match of the evening was The Rock taking on Booker T for the WCW title and while it wasn’t nearly as good as the Austin-Angle match, it was still a lot of fun. Booker looked good in what was one of the biggest matches of his career to this point but it was The Rock getting the win in the end, which made the most sense. Of course, Shane McMahon had to get involved in the match, hitting The Rock with the title, but it didn’t take too much away from it overall.