The Rock vs. Booker T w/ Shane McMahon for the WCW Championship

The 2001 SummerSlam took place amidst the major WWE vs. The Alliance rivalry. Several Superstars from WCW and ECW had banded together under the leadership of Paul Heyman and Stephanie and Shane McMahon to take on Mr. McMahon and the rest of WWE. The Alliance’s Booker T put his WCW Championship on the line against The Rock.

Just months earlier this seemed like a match that fans could only dream of, but once WCW was bought out, a dream match such as this was made possible. Could the five-time WCW Champion defeat The People’s Champ? Almost as soon as this match began, the action moved to the outside as the two Superstars began brawling into the crowd. Booker T sent The Rock careening into the steel steps while Shane began loosening one of the turnbuckles in the ring for later use. The Rock persevered and got the upper hand, catapulting Booker T into the same turnbuckle Shane was previously prepping.

Shane then gave Booker T a steel chair, which the referee promptly tried to discard. While dealing with the chair, however, Booker T leveled The Rock with the WCW Championship belt. The APA ran down to try and take out Shane, but he was revived in time to stop a Rock pin attempt. The Rock turned his attention to Shane, allowing Booker T to hit the axe kick. But while Booker T performed the Spinarooni, The Rock popped back up and delivered a Rock Bottom for the win and the WCW Championship.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship

These two Superstars certainly were not strangers to each other. Angle tried to take an early advantage by hitting an astounding seven German Suplexes, but Austin showed no quit. The two went back and forth until the action spilled to the outside where Austin pulverized Angle, sending him into the steel post repeatedly until he was wearing the proverbial crimson mask.

After suffering a suplex on the concrete, Angle somehow managed to fight his way back and hook the Ankle Lock on Austin. Stone Cold was able to get to the ropes, but his ankle was clearly injured. Angle unleashed a couple of suplexes on the outside, followed by a moonsault on the inside, but he still couldn’t put Austin away. Stone Cold hit a Stunner from out of nowhere, but only got a two count. Austin went back to the well, but Angle blocked the Stunner attempt and hit the Angle Slam, leaving both men on the brink of exhaustion. Angle hooked another Ankle Lock, but Austin got to the ropes again and also took out the referee in the process. A second referee came in, but after an Angle two-count, Stone Cold decked that referee as well. A third referee came in, but he didn’t last either. Finally, referee Nick Patrick came in and disqualified Austin for the mistreatment of referees.