HHH/Austin - No Way Out 2001

[Tim Cooke 0]

I finally got around to taking a look at this last night.

 

The first fall is the strongest of the three falls with some good work by both guys. The start is the rockiest part of the fall with HHH failing to get with Austin on a headlock to start a rope running sequence and then a weird stun gun on Austin by HHH. After those problems, the match settles down with Austin going after HHH's arm, wrenching it at it while in an arm bar position. He also uses the Bobby Eaton arm ddt move as well.

 

HHH takes over after a knee to the gut, which is a big flaw of the WWF/E style at this point and to the current time in terms of transitions. When it is time to shift momdentum, it usually involves a knee to the gut instead of a thoughtful transition. This occurs numerous times throughout the match, with Austin being a culprit as well but HHH being the prime suspect. Even with the lousy transition, HHH follows up with some smart work. He hits a swinging neckbreaker and then a regular neckbreaker to go after Austin's neck (from which he is only 5 months back from surgery). Those are followed up with some nice knees to the back of Austin's neck. Austin starts to make his comeback but is cut off by HHH taking out his knee and some subsequent knee work. The spot that stood out to me the most was before HHH wrapped Austin's leg around the ring post, he had Austin on his stomach and lifted the knee up to slam in on to the mat. Returning from the ring post, he starts to go for the same move again, but Austin turns over to his back, as if to make HHH mix up his leg work. HHH drops a few elbows on the knee.

 

Austin's second comeback has some repeats of his first offensive spurt, mainly the thesz press and then the forearm drop. They do some good teasing of the finishers, which include the standard push Austin off after he tries the stunner. It is actually HHH who impresses here, not able to hit the pedigree because he remembers his arm is messed up and shows it well for the crowd. The only reversal of the pedigree you see these days is a quick application and a quick reversal with a back drop. HHH had the move locked on, tried to execute it, but his arm wouldn't allow him, so Austin was able to get the strength to reverse it. It should also be noted that HHH does some stooging, at least on his level. He runs away from Austin a few times, trying to escape via the crowd but Austin won't let him. This makes an otherwise illogical spot during the cage match okay.

 

The streetfight is the second fall and is where the match goes south. The first 3/4's of the streetfight fall are good. With Austin leading the pace and being a good brawler, he is able to make this work well enough. There is some plodding here, with each guy leading the other to a different place outside the ring but nothing too bad. Austin makes sure to control for the first portion of the fall which is smart. The big spot of the fall is HHH going for a pedigree on Austin on the table, but once again his arm isn't well enough yet and Austin back drops him on to the spanish announce table.

 

Back in the ring, HHH uses two more neckbreaker, including one on a chair. As much as the neckbreaker is a top 5 move for me, the first one HHH gives Austin here is ugly, with lots of space between both guys and it doesn't look good. The neckbreaker on the chair is better. The gimmicked items come out in full force here with the 2 x 4 with barbed wire and the sledgeghammer making their way into the match. At the very least, the way HHH uses the sledgehammer to win the second fall makes it believable that he didn't kill Austin, since a blow to the head when swinging a sledgehammer like that would do much more damage than just put a guy out for a 3 count. He grabs the top of the sledgehammer and barrels it into Austin's head.

 

The cage is the third fall and it gets messy here. Way too much time spent putting the barbed wire into each guys forehead, especially since the selling and the blood didn't justify what they were doing in the end. When Austin gets on offense, HHH tries to leave the cage, with Ross yelling how escaping the cage isn't a way to win. Whether it was by smarts or by luck, HHH trying to escape Austin twice earlier in the first fall makes this spot at least make sense. Austin takes a nice bump on the ropes between his legs, even though he pounded HHH into the cage more while they were both on the top rope. Austin's bumping is the sole high light of the cage match, as he takes HHH's first throw in the cage really well, coming off the cage and bumping right over his neck. HHH didn't take a back bump once when he was thrown into the cage, instead doing the dizzy and wandering around sell.

 

That is my main bone of contention in the third fall and it is the Shawn Michael's selling with wandering away and acting loopy and dizzy. This can work in doses but this is all HHH does for the most part in this fall, after bumping well (for him at least) in the first two falls.

 

HHH uses a ddt on a chair but can't put Austin away. Austin is able to kick out of a pedigree and HHH does a decent frustration spot, not stooging in the way Arn or Tully would, but at least putting over the "what do I have to do to beat this guy." Austin uses a stunner on HHH to transition (which HHH takes poorly). The finish makes the 2x4 and the sledgehammer introductions from earlier in the match somewhat sensible. They both hit each other at the same time, with Austin falling down first and HHH falling on top of him (knocked out) for the three count.

 

Ross starts screaming about HHH accomplishing what he set out to do in beating Austin even though it is apparent that HHH's sledgehammer had that much more of an impact, causing Austin to go down first and HHH was able to fall on top of him. This is just one of the many times Ross is laughable during the match, including mistaking a pedigree attempt for a stunner and referring to HHH as a purely technical wrestler before the Foley series a year earlier.

 

I'll give HHH credit. Since he came back from his injury, he has never gone with a finish that would help his opponent as much as the finish here. It has almost always been finishing off his opponent because he could, not by luck (as was the case here). HHH and Hogan should write the book on the manipulation of the wrestling industry.

 

This was much better than I remember it being, particularly the first fall, which was the best part of the 3 falls with structure, good selling, lots of heat, and a good story. Like I said before, the streetfight was good when Austin was leading the charge but after the big table bump, the match clearly took a turn. HHH, at his best, looked good when he had someone like an Austin to lead the match and structure it to get the maximum heat from the crowd and thus making sense for what they were trying to do.

 

I think it would have been better to do a 25 minute one fall match with the wrestling/brawling portion early on leading to more brawling and then bringing it home instead of breaking it up into the three falls and getting the weapons involved so much. Having watched the Rumble match with HHH and Foley recently, this is a better match. The first fall is better than the sum of Foley/HHH and the 2nd and 3rd falls are the equivilent to what Foley did with HHH in January of 2000.

 

That said, take Austin out of the match and replace him with someone else and it gets really dicey, really quickly. HHH did a good job with his portions of the match but I can't help but think this was in part to Austin doing such an excellent job.

 

This isn't as good as Guerrero/JBL from Judgement Day for a wrestling/brawl, but it was a good example of Austin bringing a capable worker to something good. ***1/2.

[TheFranchise 0]

I think you wanted This thread but you maybe clicked New Thread instead of Reply, understandable.

 

Good review.

[Guest curry_man2002]

I seem to remember a spot in this match where loads of chairs are thrown into the ring, is it this match or another i am thinking of?

[TheFranchise 0]

I seem to remember a spot in this match where loads of chairs are thrown into the ring, is it this match or another i am thinking of?

(ecw)

[Vanhalen 0]

Well they did chuck loads of chairs into the ring before the cage came down, including that weird padded one which has never turned up again

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I remember Triple H blading on camera after the match was over.

[Guest bigm350]

When I first saw the match live I thought it was a great match. I've rewatched it a few times since then, and can't beleive how overrated it was.

 

Like Tim said, the first fall was the best part of the match. The second, and especially the third falls, it looked like both guys were blown up, and the selling was poor.

 

I agree with Tim's analysis, and his star rating.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I wasn't a big fan of it at the time, and still don't really like it. Everything after the first fall (which really is quite good, especially in the context of the storyline at that time) just drags for me except for the spot where Austin wears HHH out with a chair and the crowd goes nuts for it. Benoit/Jericho the previous month in the ladder match was the MOTY for 2001, and I wouldn't even put this in my top five for the year.

[Guest bigm350]

I wasn't a big fan of it at the time, and still don't really like it. Everything after the first fall (which really is quite good, especially in the context of the storyline at that time) just drags for me except for the spot where Austin wears HHH out with a chair and the crowd goes nuts for it. Benoit/Jericho the previous month in the ladder match was the MOTY for 2001, and I wouldn't even put this in my top five for the year.

Benoit/Jericho's Ladder match is definitely up there.

 

But for my WWF MOTY of 2001, I'd put Rock-Austin WM X-Seven in that slot.

[Guest curry_man2002]

Well they did chuck loads of chairs into the ring before the cage came down, including that weird padded one which has never turned up again

 

Yeah this is the spot i meant and now i think back i remember that padded chair.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The sloppy-ass sharpshooters killed it for me in terms of being the match of 2001 (although it's probably my #2 to be honest). I thought initially that they were both busted and exhausted so it would make sense to not cinch it in solidly, but then it would make more sense to just sit on the other guy's back and wrench it. Way less effort than standing up, and all effort can be put into applying the pressure as opposed to diverting some for continuing to stand up. Also, from where Vince comes out until the end of the match, everything just has a very akward feeling about it (and a ref bump in a No DQ match?). Besides the final sequence and the sharpshooter segment, it's intense as fuck and you can tell both guys are just busting their asses at the peaks of their careers in front of a ginormous crowd. It still gets me hype as fuck to watch the video for the build and seeing both guys walking to the ring because the atmosphere was THAT insane.

[Guest bigm350]

The sloppy-ass sharpshooters killed it for me in terms of being the match of 2001 (although it's probably my #2 to be honest). I thought initially that they were both busted and exhausted so it would make sense to not cinch it in solidly, but then it would make more sense to just sit on the other guy's back and wrench it. Way less effort than standing up, and all effort can be put into applying the pressure as opposed to diverting some for continuing to stand up. Also, from where Vince comes out until the end of the match, everything just has a very akward feeling about it (and a ref bump in a No DQ match?). Besides the final sequence and the sharpshooter segment, it's intense as fuck and you can tell both guys are just busting their asses at the peaks of their careers in front of a ginormous crowd. It still gets me hype as fuck to watch the video for the build and seeing both guys walking to the ring because the atmosphere was THAT insane.

True. I think some of the execution of moves (particularly the Sharpshooter) was sloppy, but I don't think Vince disrupted the flow of the match too much. It showed how desperate Austin was to beat the Rock, and how he would do anything to get the title back. You're right about both guys busting ass and the intensity of the match. Not to mention the huge crowd. This match just had an epic feel to it, which I feel Jericho-Benoit did not have, at least in the same context as Austin-Rock. Just a great match IMO.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Oh, Vince being out there was key mos' def as far as showing Austin's desperation to win and keeping with him saying in interviews that he wanted the title more than anyone could imagine, but the effect was stunted by the crowd still popping for the win. Not any fault of the people involved in the match, but it loses the "holy shit, he's willing to do ANYTHING, even enter into a pact with his most hated enemy" aspect when the crowd is cheering like nuts.

 

EDIT: It might be unfair to say the crowd affected the match quality, but ratings are all relative to the person anyway. It simply killed the gravity of the situation for me.

[Si82 0]

When I first saw the match live I thought it was a great match. I've rewatched it a few times since then, and can't beleive how overrated it was.

I totally agree. The first time I saw that match I thought it was great but on a re-watch it was really long and boring. I don't even understand why I liked the match in the first place. I still don't understand why the put Triple H over when Austin was going on to the main event of Wrestlemania?

[ISportsFan 0]

I still don't understand why the put Triple H over when Austin was going on to the main event of Wrestlemania?

The original plan, I think, was for Austin to have a challenger after he won the title for the summer. It would have been ready-made -- Austin has to defend against the guy who "pinned him two straight falls." Then they decided to go with the Power Trip angle. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Jason

[Guest Loss]

That would be correct. Trips weaseled his way out of doing the face turn so he wouldn't have to do the job.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Austin v Hunter from NWO 2001: A good match, but some totally ass backwards psychology drags it down.

 

Rock v Austin from WM X-7: A really good match, that isn't quite as good watching it now as opposed to watching it live. The Austin turn, though, was mind numbingly stupid.

[Dandy 0]

Best match of 2001 for me was Angle/Austin at Summerslam, DQ ending and all.

[A Happy Medium 0]

I really enjoyed Austin vs. Angle. Kurt had a pretty manly bladejob in there after Austin rammed his head into the ringpost. Angle played the babyface so well, as Austin lead with his psychotic heel. So many great moments in that match. I enjoyed it when Jurt would just keep coming back time and time again.

 

The Benoit/Jericho ladder match will always be in my memory for that sick Walls of Jericho on the ladder.

[Jericholic82 0]

I loved this match when I first saw it, I still do enjoy it a lot. I thought the psychology of the match (basically two guys who hate each other and cant wait to rip each other limb from limb -ala bret-austin at wm 13) was good. I even thought that the ending of the cage match was good (though it was shocking to see hhh win the blowoff of the feud) since it didnt do anything to hurt austin(hhh basically lucked out and fell on austin for the pin) and it planted future plot seeds (like austin doubting himself that he could win the wwf title back-thus aligning himself with Vince)

 

I initially said moty for this (and I actually voted for it in the year end awards at 411wrestling) Now I still like it and rock-austin from maina a lot.

 

Those are 2 of my fav matches ever I guess, austin-angle isnt too far away(if that match had the unforgiven finish, it would have been moty no doubt)

[Guest Loss]

All this talk about the MOTY for 2001 in the WWF and no one has mentioned Rock/Jericho from No Mercy. I'm shocked.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I couldn't really get into it. I couldn't get into any of the Invasion-era stuff because everything was so fucking chaotic. I felt like I'd slipped back into 1999 again.

[KingPK 0]

It was a good match, but I didn't like the finish (with Stephabie getting involved) much. It made sense, since this was still when she hated Jericho, but I would have like a cleaner one.

[Naked Snake 0]

That would be correct. Trips weaseled his way out of doing the face turn so he wouldn't have to do the job.

What are you talking about? They were building to a match at SummerSlam and the turn hadn't happened yet. I believe they were going to build something off the tag team title loss but hHh tore his quad.

 

I remember Herb Kunze raving about the back drop through the announce table bit. "Tremendous spot" was his words at the time.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

That would be correct. Trips weaseled his way out of doing the face turn so he wouldn't have to do the job.

What are you talking about? They were building to a match at SummerSlam and the turn hadn't happened yet. I believe they were going to build something off the tag team title loss but hHh tore his quad.

The original plan was for the turn to take place immediately after or shortly after WM X-7. Then it got put off for the TMPT angle, which just happened to allow Hunter to delay having to do a return job to Austin.

[moral suasion 0]

I think one of the reasons this match was so highly praised at the time was because most of the smark community was sick and tired of face Stone Cold. Meanwhile, HHH was at the top ofhis badass heel stint. I remember making out like hell for that reason.

[Promoter 0]

You know I went back and watched a few things from the timeframe. At the time(I know some won't believe me) I really thought the Austin chair attack on HHH was suppose to telegraph a heel turn by Austin at the nwo match. Austin was getting over the edge since returning. They did not build the story well for Austin's heel turn imo. Yeah, sure I still mark out to the turn, but the company did not telegraph it well and maybe that was the intent. However, Austin's character was just being in character by having Vince help him somewhat. I think the fans were expecting Austin to eventually stun Vince after the match or the night after on RAW.

 

The wwe also did not give Austin the proper material to have a strong heel turn promo. It was weak as hell with "I'm tired of you sponging off me". Seriously, the wwe could have done a monster job simply by having Austin return doubting his capabilities due to his injury(his loss to Trips was never a story plot and it happened right before the championship match) and being jealous of The Rock. Simple and the fans would not have liked Austin for it because that is not his character to doubt himself and lack confidence.

 

As for the Triple H thing, I guess they probably felt Austin siding with the devil himself would help the heel turn, but I think they actually botched HHH's greatest chance at being a big face. With the Rock gone to film the wwe lacked a super face to counter Austin's turn. If they executed things a bit differently, Austin's heel turn could have been a box office monster imo. They just did not know how to book Austin as a heel until perhaps after the Invasion with the paranoid persona.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Austin's heel turn would never have been a monster at the box office, even if they had executed it to perfection. It turned off too many fans, and the kind of Austin that means big $$$ isn't a heel Austin, no matter how well he played the role.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

No one remembers the Austin/Benoit series?

[Promoter 0]

You might have a point about Austin's heel schtick turning off fans, but you are not looking at all the problems that came about during the turn. I actually think the timing just wasn't right. You had wcw folding followed by ecw. A dark cloud is over the air. THEN AUSTIN TURNS ON THE FANS? The big babyface THE ROCK leaves to film movies? The timing was really bad.

 

Then take into account the foolishness that was the Invasion. That angle helped turned Austin face by default and they did the stupid Austin leaves for wcw angle. From what I gather from rumours before the wwf bought wcw was this.....

 

Austin turns heel at Mania and reigns as WWF Champion until WrestleMania 18 in Toronto. The Rock returns at SummerSlam and becomes the WCW Champion(wcw would have re-started supposedly in Septemeber taking over RAW or Smackdown) and the two have a unification match at Mania 18. For those who live in Toronto, we saw the wwe do promo pictures for the media with Rock facing off against Austin months before any thought of Hogan and company returning.

 

That actually makes sense, but the wwf ruined the whole wcw thing and put the kibosh on it at Survivor Series because of all the confusion. The nWo and whatnot were still going to be brought in as a faction warring on both wcw and wwf. Somewhere in June/July it's said that Vince did not want wcw back as a separate entity at all and that's where everything goes to hell. They started booking from the hip again with Angle as a face and winning the title because of 9/11.

 

The key to making Austin's heel turn work was The Rock's status as the movie star returning to take back his title and Austin and Vince doing everyting to avoid the match until it had to happen at Mania 18. Of course, they rushed everything into that Survivor Series thing and did a re-boot. As Linda said there was creative confusion that whole damn year from post Mania 17. Benoit and HHH going down didn't help either in the summer as they were going to be the faces to counter Austin.