To read my reviews on the earlier matches of the show, including Austin vs. Flair and The Big Show and the WWE Intercontinental Championship Match, click HERE.

       For the second Pay-Per-View in a row, Kurt Angle and Edge had the best match of the night. That's right, this match was better than the Hell in the Cell Match. In fact, I can't remember the last bad PPV match that Edge had (if he's ever had one, that is). The key to his exciting matches is the false-finish. He uses a lot of them to build anticipation, and it works. Sure, everyone uses false-finishes, but in Edge's matches, they work just a little bit better. Near the end of match, you never know which way it's going to go, and the excitement grows that much more for the next pinfall. The fact that these guys put their hair on the line only added to the excitement of each pinfall. A near-perfect match, that I actually predicted correctly, I'd change nothing. However, when the match ended the big payoff was delayed. Angle, the heel he is, refused to get his head shaved and took off, with Edge in hot pursuit. If they WWE would have gone the entire night and not used the barber chair, I'd have been seriously pissed.

Result: Edge wins via pinfall.

       As I said earlier, new nWo member Booker T was unavailable to help Flair and Big Show out because he was involved in a comedy bit. Earlier in the night, while being interviewed about his new position in the nWo, Booker became distracted by an attractive young groupie, who proceeded to give him her room key. After Angle and Edge took off, and the Cell lowered around the ring, the WWE cut to the Marriott, where we see Booker and his new friend in bed. When groupie-girl asks the Bookerman to turn off the lights, Golddust's voice is heard as he asks his recent reluctant-tag partner to quit the nWo and rejoin him. The hilarity ensues when the lights come back on and Booker takes off, revealing his bare black-ass to all.

       I liked this match. I didn't love it. It isn't that I wanted Jericho to win, because I'm a big Triple H fan as well (I just thought it would be more interesting if the heel won this one). I don't think the fault lies with either competitor, who gave their all and delivered some new and interesting thing, I just think the Hell in the Cell concept slowed them down. I don't really like hardcore matches, they usually come off more cartoony than brutal. This was certainly the case when Triple H went to three different parts of the ring to find his sledgehammer. Then, when they escaped the cage (which always seems to happen, huh? What's the point of locking a cell if it always gets opened?), a barbed-wire two-by-four just happens to be by the announcer's table. These type of antics are fine if its Raven vs. Steven Richards, but come of a little foolish when it's two of the best in the WWE. Aside from these qualms, the match was exciting and intense. As always, the stuff on the top of the cell was edge-of-your-seat-type stuff, especially when Jericho put Triple H in the Walls of Jericho (if the cell had given at the moment, Triple H probably would have died. Cool). However, the finish didn't sit that well with me. I love the Pedigree as a finisher, but the reason why it works is because of the impact of the opponent's head hitting the canvass. I don't think slamming Jericho's head into a loose fence would have the same impact, but, hey, he was clobbered in the face by a barbed-wire two-by-four (complete with a rope handle, perfect for when you have to carry it while climbing fences), so I'll let that one go.

Result: Triple H wins via pinfall on top of the cell.

       One might wonder why this match was held so late in the card, given that next to no one cared about it (even though it was appropriately being held in the Gaylord Entertainment Center). The reason was, that no one cares. The WWE needed to break up the excitement between the Hell in the Cell Match and the WWE Championship Match. The crowd needs time to come down so it can gear up for the next big match. They made the mistake of not giving the crowd a breather at Wrestlemania between the Hogan/Rock match and the Triple H/Jericho, and the title fight suffered because of it. So they threw this cheese-ball of a match together, which should have been a softball of a prediction for me. However, the WWE first thought it would be interesting if they made Rico Rikishi's mystery partner, and even more interesting if Rikishi and Rico won. It may make for some amusing television later, but it did not make the match interesting and Rikishi's stage dancing does not make things entertaining. What would be really interesting and entertaining is if the WWE had an actual tag team division, and if Billy and Chuck fought real tag teams. But that's too crazy to work.

Result: Rikishi and Rico win the WWE Tag Titles via Rikishi pin of Chuck Palumbo.

       Well, here it was, almost at the main event, and everyone still has the hair they came in with. The natives were getting restless. Edge had been chasing Angle in-between breaks, and they finally met up on the ramp, at the barber chair set-up (imagine that). Well, Angle turned the tables on our hero and threatened to shear his golden locks. However, Edge was merely playing possum and attacked Angle, finally getting him the only way a professional wrestler can give another professional wrestler a haircut: the sleeperhold. All you tradition-freaks will know what I'm taking about. So Edge sheared the Olympic Hero, then, perhaps using Edge shave-gel, shaved his head clean. Yeah! Payoff!

       I know I didn't predict that The Undertaker would win the WWE title, but I came close. I figured when Hogan beat Triple H and Undertaker beat Austin at Backlash that it would set-up a Taker/Helmsley title match down the road, the match the WWE originally wanted for Backlash but was sabotaged by poor fan reception. Instead, we got the horrible Hogan/Triple H fight, that sucked even more because it was face vs. face. That's why I liked The Undertaker vs. Hogan matchup better, face vs. heel works much better. This match was better than the title fight at Backlash, with Undertaker's methodical approach blending with Hogan's slower-than-molasses approach. It wasn't great, but it worked. The Vince angle was necessary in order to preserve some of Hogan's dignity, but it did a disservice to the match. The truth is, Hogan can not handle himself in today's era, not because he's not good enough, but because he's old and has broken ribs, and I'm glad that the WWE recognised it and ended his title-reign before the nostalgia wore off and he embarrassed himself. I was surprised that the WWE recognised it so quickly, but glad nonetheless.

Result: The Undertaker becomes WWE Title Champion via pinfall.

For more WWF content on this site, click on any of the following:

THE YEAR 2001- YEAR IN REVIEW- See how the superstars of the WWF stacked up using my rankings system for the entire year of 2001. Who was number 1, Stone Cold or Kurt Angle? Who were the top tag team, The Dudley Boyz or The Hardy Boyz? Along with my usual brand of commentary is new photos and stats for the year 2001, including title reigns and PPV information.

THE YEAR 2000- YEAR IN REVIEW- See how the superstars of the WWF stacked up using my rankings system for the entire year 2000. Who was number 1, The Rock or Triple H? Who were the top tag teams? Also, the title pictures for each belt from the WWF Championship all the way down to the Light Heavyweight Title, with my own commentary on each reign.

LITA- ONE MAN'S OBSESSION- I admit, I was in love with Lita. I also admit that this behaviour did become a bit of an obsession. I have since conquered this insanity, but you can still see pictures of the Team Extreme Diva, biographical info and random career facts, all presented while I was attempting to come to terms with the fact that I was in love with someone I saw on TV.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS- Ranking archives dating back to November 2000. Missed a posting? Want to track my biases? Find all past information here.

READER RESPONSES- Got an opinion? Share it with me by e-mailing me, and see your opinion posted, along with my response, here.

SITE AWARDS- Here I list the multitude of awards (who knows? Maybe one day there will be a multitude of awards) that WWF Rankings has received.