The Good: Although the result was entirely predictable, Kurt Angle's WWE Championship triumph over Steve Austin was good. These two never really had a bad match against each other and pretty much carried the company in 2001. Best match of the night, however, goes to the overlooked Hardcore Championship match between Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam. RVD was really starting to become a huge deal at this point thanks to matches like these. Backstage, however, he was cultivating a reputation thanks to frequently injuring his opponents with his chair-based offense. Other good matches came courtesy of The Rock versus Shane McMahon & Booker T and the opening four team Tag Team Championship elimination match. The Bad: The Undertaker and Kane versus KroniK was the worst match of the year. Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke were just clueless out there, which drew the ire of Kane and The Undertaker (who went to bat for them and helped get them hired). KroniK left the company when they were The Rest: This was the first WWE PPV after the events of 9/11. Hence the reason why American hero Kurt Angle was made Champion (WWE would put the title back on Austin a few weeks later but they really had to do the switch here.
