Photo Courtesy Of madaboutwrestling.net
The 2000 Royal Rumble would be a tough act to follow, taking into consideration the blood, violence and sex of it all. But if blood, violence and sex was the formula for the 2000 rumble, then to take the 2001 Royal Rumble to the next level, they would have to go back to its roots, wrestling!
That year, the Royal Rumble would make its home in New Orleans, Louisiana. One of the small details about the 2001 WWF Royal Rumble that made it so special, was not the aisle (read 2000′s article to get that), but rather the promotional poster. The promotional poster paid homage to the old 1990′s iconic posters with the top Rumble superstars on the cover.
The undercard of the pay-per-view needs to be mentioned, because the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship between Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit may have been one of the best ladder matches ever seen by fans. The inventive and out of the box moves that were done in that match cannot be compared, especially with Jericho doing an unprecedented move, giving Benoit the “Walls of Jericho: on top of the ladder. The WWF Championship would be on the line as Kurt Angle defended the title against Triple-H in an outstanding match. Angle would go on to retain the championship.
It would be hard to top what was seen in the undercard, but the Royal Rumble still held strong. The list of Rumble contestants looked similar to the previous year, except for that year’s conspicuous absence of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Granted, many participants in the Rumble may not have gone a significant distance, but the booking was still entertaining. This would be the Rumble where Kane would break and still hold the all time record of 11 eliminations in one match. Kane would be eliminated by Austin to give him the victory and the ticket to headline Wrestlemania 17.
Maurice D. Proffit is a Writer For Rant Sports
