Judgment Day 2001 - Was Justice Served?

After a 4-month drought, I ponied up $30 to watch Judgment Day. Overall, it was a solid thumbs-in-the-middle. I've seen better (Royal Rumble 2001) and I've seen worse (Armageddon 1999).

Enough of the overview and let's get to the nitty gritty of this opinion, which concerns the main event and the aftermath. The main event, pitting Steve Austin and Undertaker against each other, was good. Now, it wasn't a technical match by any means, but it was good nonetheless, because both of these men gave it their all. Taker, who dances around that line between doing what he wants to do and what his body tells him it can do, worked his ass off. And Steve also did a good job.

OK, so the match was good, but the ending, well, sucked, for lack of a better term. And that's because I'm pretty sure it was botched. It appears that Kane missed his cue and that Earl had no choice but to count for three. And before all the Kane - haters start their spiel, let me remind you that Mr. Taker himself missed his cue last year, meaning they pulled the clock so that you couldn't see at home that UT tombstoned HHH after the time elapsed.

From my vantage point, along with others in the internet fan realm, I believe that Kane was supposed to break up the attempted 3-count after the HHH sledgehammer hit on Taker. They played his music, cued up his pyros, and the camera was trained on him instead of the action in the ring. And if it was supposed to be a "thisclose" moment, they wouldn't have bothered.

All signs seem to point to Taker winning. They mentioned that a few years ago, Taker and Austin were battling for the belt at this time, with Taker being the champion. There was also a good build-up for this battle, after the whole "wives" deal, among other things. For about a month or so, Taker and Kane have pretty much been Austin and HHH's bitches. And maybe it's just my old-school way of thinking, but it seems that the good guys (well, fan - favorites, I should say) always come out on top in the end. Instead, things have been deflated by a sophomoric ending and the only one who got some justice was Kane, who won the IC strap.

So it seems, at least to me, that the World Title just slipped from Taker's grasp. And by this writing, the KOTR main event is slated to be Austin v. Jericho instead of a rematch, a situation he's rumored to be hurt by, at least according to the Torch. I will give him this: Taker did work his butt off for this feud and if I were him, I'd also harbor disappointment, especially if my hunches are right and he was supposed to walk out with the belt Judgment Day.

From what I read about the tidbit above, they finally decided they need new blood. Wonder what took them so long to finally come to that realization, when most have been crying this for months? And with the new blood infusion into the upper tiers, that will leave others who will have to step back. Taker will be one of these- a realization and hard one to make, especially as a major Undertaker fan. And it's also difficult as a fan because I've been one of the ones desiring new blood in the big picture, yet having to realize my all-time favorite will be the one on the edge of the spotlight.

I do feel bad for both parties on this one concerning the match. I feel bad for Taker, who is trying his all to prove he's worthy of the main event. And Kane probably was reamed out for what appeared to had happened at the PPV. And back to Taker, I always wished he'd have the strap at least one more time. Everyone re-iterates about him being a 3-time champion but all of those added up lasts about 6 months (5 days, 5 months, 1 month). But there's also part of me that questions whether, physically, he's up to it. I know mentally he's all for it, but there's the thing of the body being able to keep up with the mind.

 

Date Written: (5-23-01)