Royal Rumble

As with all the post-Wrestlemania 2000 events up to and through this one, Royal Rumble 2001 is defined more by "attitude" than "talent". Your overall enjoyment of that atmosphere will almost exclusively determine your ranking of this PPV.

Some further thoughts...

-The only reason I care about the Dudley Boyz is their table-bashing antics. The duo in a straight tag match? Ugh.

-Jericho vs. Benoit should be iconic, but to me those were always just two above-average (but no more) talents that were elevated due to the lack of performers in this era.

-What a sham the actual rumble is. Drew Carey? Give me a break. Half the guys entering the ring are absolute nobodies, and the ending is as predictable as the event seems long. Opportunities actually abounded for interesting conclusions, but all were discarded in favor of the safe choice.

-Angle/HHH was clearly the best match on this card--and even that essentially evolved into a Trish/Stephanie catfight, as per the nature of the business at this time.

Clearly, I am not an Attitude Era fan. If you are, your ranking will likely be far higher. But I view such antics as distractions from an enormous talent issue and little more.