[2001-01-08-WWF-Raw] Kurt Angle vs Steve Austin

[BigVanCrush]

Man, this was good shit. It's a little suplex heavy (as in there's a shit ton of suplexes in this match) and there's two run ins but on the whole this works a lot better than their match from nine months later in terms of a WWF Title match on TV that delivers the goods. Austin is determined, frenzied even, as he gets his first one-on-one shot at the title since returning. Angle weathers the storm until Regal runs down and fails to accomplish anything because Austin lays him out. There's some bumps over the rail because it's 2001 and we're still doing that. The finishing stretch is great as Angle unloads a ton of suplexes on Austin before Austin makes his comeback and finally hits the Stunner and the place goes fucking nuts. Just as Austin's about to win, Triple H pulls Hebner out of the ring and decks him so we don't get an actual finish to this one. What we do get, however, is a super heated brawl with Austin and Hunter after the match is over where Hunter busts Austin open with the pipe that Regal brought out when he tried to attack Austin during the match. This isn't a MOTYC, it probably wouldn't make my top 20 greatest RAW matches list or whatever, but this was a pretty damn great TV main event title match that I would at least put on the same level as the Unforgiven match. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

Great TV match. These guys had some pretty clear cut chemistry. They set a new record for most suplexes in a television match but I'm sure that record was broken later on. I haven't watched RAW in more than a decade but during these days every episode needed a cliffhanger and the cliffhanger here was Austin vs. Helmsley. Even that interference was entertaining so there was no doubt that this was some quality TV. 

[soup23]

Vince then moves onto Austin. Vince says he made the count on SmackDown not because he is intimidated but because he is a new man. His new year resolution is to be fair. Here is the onus of “in the interest of fairness.” If Vince and Austin can get along, why not Republicans and Democrats, why not peace in the Middle East.  Glass breaks and here comes Austin. Austin isn’t buying it and says hes not buying that bullshit either. JR even says wow at Austin using this harsh language. Austin calls Vince a jackass. He tells Vince to stay out of his life and that he is going to beat Angle and become WWF champion. Angle’s music fires up at the end of that. Angle brings up 1996 and what honor and glory he was doing for America while Austin was wrestling strap matches.  Austin interrupts and flicks Angle off and says he is going to whip his ass tonight. As he goes to retrieve a beer, Angle nails him with the title. Lengthy opening segment but Angle continues to hang with maybe the best heel and face in company history as far as on the microphone and not seeming as a downgrade. This also was important in putting over Vince and his “fairness” which carries a lot of air time in the weeks to come.

E&C give Kurt some well wishes for the night.  They let Kurt know that he will love what he is going to do for the Dudley Boyz. That ends up being a long drawn out lame segment with the Dudley Boyz “mom”

 

Vince sends steph away for some coffee and then gets giddy taking off his jacket. Steph is back with a fresh cup of coffee and the toilet flushes and out comes Trish. Steph puts Trish in a match later tonight teaming with Albert vs Test and tells her that she heard she is used to 2 on 1’s.

 

WWF NY Patrons give their predictions for tonight’s main event. I wonder how many of these patrons have a podcast currently.

Vince is pacing in the back before Trish’s match. We see the finish of the match involving Trish which occurs when Regal runs out to ringside and stun guns Test to give Albert the win. That pisses Trish off as she knows that Vince sent Regal down.

Big hype packages for both the Austin/Steph/Vince stuff and Angle’s rise to the title and his title run so far. They are really selling this as a big time main event for tv.

This is a great match. Full of action and Austin really is in rhythm now busting out all sorts of suplexes and high impact moves that he wasn’t doing before he got injured. Ross picks up on it and it really feels like an evolution of his character in ring. Angle had this important match too as he hangs and isn’t as swallowed up by Austin as he is by Taker. He shows some resourcefulness and feels like a defending champion that is maybe outmatched at points but not outwitted. Ross loses his voice and him and King give a classic call. All in all, this is the best aspects of the attitude era.  We even get a real well done shit finish. Austin has the stunner and the title in his hands when HHH pulls him out of the ring causing the DQ. We haven’t seen HHH since the Hell in a Cell so it was good that he took about a month away and then came back. They milk them interacting and then when they do, the crowd explodes. This is so much better than the bullshit we saw at Survivor Series. Brawl onto the announce table and HHH finds a pipe and way lays on Austin busting him open. Game towers over Austin to end the show. Great stuff. **** (7.8)

[AstroBoy]

This was a blast and sets the tone for some of their future stuff.  Austin is so aggressive and rough and despite for the title and he sets a great pace, but things get real great when Angle takes over and starts wearing out Austin with suplexes.  In the past I'd had problems with Kurt doing lots of punch kick stuff to fill time on offense and it's so much better with him dropping that to throw suplexes here.  Austin is great throwing his body around on offense and defense, making everything seem out of control and intense.  Could have done with a finish but this was great.

***1/2