An Alternate History Spinoff - WWF (1998 and Beyond)

WWF Royal Rumble 2001
January 21st, 2001 - New Orleans Arena - New Orleans, Louisiana

Sunday Night Heat

1.) Six-Man Tag - Balls Mahoney, Danny Doring, & Roadkill def. Hot Commodity (Chris Hamrick, EZ Money, & Julio Dinero)

PPV

1.) WWF World Tag Team Titles - Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon def. The New Age Outlaws (c)
2.) WWF Hardcore Title - Submissions Or Knockouts Only - The Undertaker def. Tank Abbott (c)
3.) WWF Intercontinental Title - Ladder Match - Shawn Michaels def. X-Pac (c)
4.) WWF Title - Jeff Jarrett (c) def. Chyna
5.) Royal Rumble Match - Winner: Steve Austin

So we've not officially entered 2001, and going into the Royal Rumble PPV, this edition of the famed match looks to feature the most star-studded lineup in history. Names like Steve Austin, The Rock, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Triple H, The Undertaker, Kane, and Psycho Sid would be involved, while a pair of celebrities (Drew Carey and Dennis Rodman) would also be involved in the match. Obviously, as you can see above, the winner of this Royal Rumble Match is the same as the winner in OTL. However, how did Austin get to his third Rumble win? That will be detailed in the next post, similar to how I've handled the Royal Rumble Match in the past.

There aren't a lot of other matches from this card to go over, so this post will probably be a shorter one. The top match outside of the Rumble itself sees Jeff Jarrett defending the WWF Title against an old rival that he's come into conflict with once again. After escaping the Six-Man Hell In A Cell at Armageddon with the WWF Title still in his grasp, the man referred to as "The Chosen One" by Vince Russo (among others) was certainly riding high, and felt he had turned back all potential challengers. However, one person who had something to say about that was Chyna. She declared that, after holding all of the other men's singles titles in the WWF over the past few years (Intercontinental, European, Hardcore, Light Heavyweight), it was now time for her to go after the ultimate prize....the WWF Title. She wanted to smash through the ultimate glass ceiling. While Jarrett protested, Chyna was quick to remind him that she defeated him in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match at the previous year's WrestleMania in Anaheim. With the reminder of this glaring defeat hanging over him, Jarrett ignored Russo's insistence to refuse, and accepted Chyna's challenge for the Royal Rumble (Chyna basically goaded him into defending the title against him by bring up that previous encounter). The match itself saw Chyna come close to winning the title on a few occasions, but in the end, Jarrett would once again escape with the WWF Title still in his grasp. Even though Chyna came up short that night, she proved that she was a forced to reckoned with, and was going to be a threat to Double J as long as he was champion.

The battle between Planet Jarrett and the contingent of WWF stars led by Vince McMahon continued into the new year, and a number of those clashes would be featured on this card. Austin, Texas was the sight of the first edition of RAW Is WAR of the new year on January 1st, and it was a mixed bag for the rabid Texans in attendance. The show kicked off with a match for the WWF Intercontinental Title between Shawn Michaels and X-Pac, in a rematch from the tournament final on the Armageddon PPV. X-Pac managed to steal the championship from the Heartbreak Kid thanks to a well-timed low blow after Albert and Justin Credible got involved. Meanwhile, the show's main event saw The Right To Censor go up against The APA in a Lumberjack Match with the WWF World Tag Team Titles on the line. With Planet Jarrett and most of the babyface WWF roster at ringside as lumberjacks, a big brawl broke out (unsurprisingly) and, through the chaos, The APA managed to capture the titles that they hadn't held since October of 1999. While there was a big celebration to close the night, their reign wouldn't last very long. Just two laters later on the January 3rd SmackDown, The New Age Outlaws stole the titles from Bradshaw and Faarooq thanks to Planet Jarrett involvement.

Vince McMahon had to find a way to swiftly respond to these title changes. As far as the WWF Intercontinental Title went, that issue was handled more swiftly, as he announced that X-Pac would defend the title in a Ladder Match against Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble, with all Planet Jarrett members banned from ringside. As for the WWF World Tag Team Titles, it wound up taking a family reunion to solve that problem. For the most part, the latter half of 2000 saw Shane McMahon off in his own corner of WWF programming, as he was having his feud with Dennis Rodman over the WWF Hardcore Title. While Shane ultimately won that feud, he soon came in the crosshairs of Planet Jarrett. On the January 8th RAW Is WAR, Shane was set to defend the WWF Hardcore Title against Tank Abbott (who had signed his name on an open contract put out by Shane on the previous edition of SmackDown). As Shane was making his entrance, The New Age Outlaws jumped him. This meant that he was pretty easy pickings for Tank Abbott, who won the WWF Hardcore Title in short order. On the following SmackDown on January 10th, Vince and Shane had a heart-to-heart in the ring, and agreed that, despite their differences, they needed to reunite as father and son, and do something that they never dreamed of being possible....becoming tag team champions together. So the match was set for the Royal Rumble, and when the dust settled, Vince and Shane emerged victorious, becoming (to my knowledge) the first father-and-son pairing to win the WWF World Tag Team Titles. Meanwhile, in what proved to be the Match Of The Night, Shawn Michaels regained the WWF Intercontinental Title from X-Pac in their aforementioned Ladder Match.

To round out the main card of the Royal Rumble, new WWF Hardcore Champion Tank Abbott would end up facing his biggest test yet in the form of The Undertaker, who would be pulling double duty on this card (as he was also entered into the Royal Rumble Match). Their bout would be contested under the traditional hardcore rules, but with no pins allowed. Victory could only be obtained by either submission or knockout. Ultimately, The Undertaker would emerge victorious, entering the Royal Rumble Match with some freshly won gold on his shoulder.

Finally, on Sunday Night Heat, there would be a Six-Man Tag with Balls Mahoney, Danny Doring, & Roadkill def. Chris Hamrick, EZ Money, and Julio Dinero from Hot Commodity. There were no other title changes to speak of, so that's pretty much it for this post. I'll try to get my post on the Royal Rumble Match itself done later tonight, so keep an eye out for that.