WWE - Unforgiven 2001 & No Mercy 2001 [DVD]

Very good set here, well worth a watch back in this day wtestling was worth watching kurt angle is very good in these ppv's and the rock and jericho start a very good storline at no mercy.

Perfect

This Silver Vision Tagged Classics release pairs up two WWF pay-per-views from the autumn of 2001, when the WCW / ECW Alliance `Invasion' storyline was getting the company some terrible critical notices. Of course, compared to the milquetoast trash the WWE produces in 2011, the content of these shows makes it look like they are from the company's halcyon days, though admittedly, they are both of a variable standard in terms of in-ring action.The highlights from Unforgiven are Rob Van Dam's full-on Hardcore Title bout with Chris Jericho, The Rock's handicap match against Booker T and Shane McMahon over the WCW Championship, and Kurt Angle's shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWF World Championship, which is a true rarity in that it features Austin losing the strap to Angle cleanly, via submission. Originally Austin was scheduled to retain the title here, but following the 09-11 attacks just a few days before, the booking was changed so that the `Olympic Hero' went over on the black-hearted `Bionic Redneck', giving the audience a popular babyface victory to end to the show.The rest of the card isn't anything special, although one bout in particular stands out for just how awful it is; contemporary fans of The Undertaker who like to perpetuate the myth that throughout his long WWF / WWE career he has always been a consummate professional and all-round super-worker might like to take a look at his match here, in which he teams with his storyline brother Glen `Kane' Jacobs to take on ex-WCW wasters Kronik (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark). The contest, riddled with blown spots and embarrassing moments, eventually `won' numerous polls that named it as the worst wrestling match of the year; the `Taker's reputation was in the toilet at the time, as he had spent months making ex-WCW talents such as Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, and Mike Awesome look like garbage in a run of one-sided near-squashes, and obsessively 'protecting' his own spot on the roster with the backing of several other (much less talented) bullies like the objectionable APA thug Bradshaw and the useless Hardcore Holly. It was this kind of backstage behaviour that stopped the WCW / ECW `Invasion' from ever really getting over.No Mercy, from the following month, is another mixed bag. In the main event, Rob Van Dam was given his first shot at headlining in the WWF, making up one third of a three-way bout over the WWF World Championship with Kurt Angle and Steve Austin; though he does a reasonably good job, and was incredibly popular with the fans, his push was permanently derailed a few months later when Triple H returned to the active roster, though in all fairness, RVD's propensity for genuinely hurting his opponents at the time didn't do him any favours either. The match of the night was Chris Jericho's shot at The Rock's WCW Championship, which probably stands as one of the top five bouts of Jericho's wildly erratic career. Edge and Christian have a solid Ladder encounter over the Intercontinental Title, and in a minor upset, Andrew `Test' Martin defeats Glen `Kane' Jacobs in a reasonable big man match. The guff on the show comes in the form of a weak-tea `Lingerie' match between Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, and whilst The Undertaker has a slightly better night this time around in a singles bout against Booker T, he still disgraces himself by murdering the struggling former WCW headliner, thus making it plain that he doesn't rate his opponent at all.A cluster of above-average matches make this Tagged Classics DVD worth picking up; both pay-per-views are also notable in that they come from arguably Steve Austin's very best year in the WWF, in which his in-ring performances were invariably excellent and in which he played his unhinged heel character to the hilt, so if you are an Austin fan, this pairing is a must-have.