King of the Ring 2001 King of the Ring 2001 was the ninth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . It was presented by Mars ' Combos and took place on June 24 , 2001 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford , New Jersey . The main event was a Triple Threat match – a match involving three competitors for the WWF Championship . Steve Austin defeated Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho to retain the title . The undercard featured the 2001 King of the Ring tournament won by Edge . Other matches on the undercard included a Street Fight between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon , a WWF Light Heavyweight Championship match between champion Jeff Hardy and challenger X - Pac and a WWF Tag Team Championship between champions Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) and the challenger team of Kane and Spike Dudley . Background . King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines that were played out on " Raw is War " and " SmackDown " — World Wrestling Federation ' s ( WWF ) television programs . Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension , and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches . The pay - per - view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament . The qualification for the tournament started on the June 4 , 2001 episode of " Raw is War " , with Jeff Hardy and Rhyno defeating Matt Hardy and Tazz respectively . The qualification continued on June 7 episode of " SmackDown " , as Kurt Angle defeated Hardcore Holly and Edge defeated Test . On June 11 episode of " Raw is War " , Christian and Perry Saturn defeated Kane and Steve Blackman in respective matches to qualify for the tournament . On the June 14 episode of " SmackDown " , qualiificaton ended as Big Show defeated Raven and Tajiri defeated Crash Holly . On the June 18 episode of " Raw is War " , the quarterfinal round occurred as Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Hardy , Rhyno defeated Tajiri , Edge defeated Perry Saturn and Christian defeated Big Show . The main rivalry heading into the event was between Steve Austin , Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho for the WWF Championship . At Judgment Day , Benoit and Jericho won a Tag Team Turmoil match to become the # 1 contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship . The next night , on the May 21 , 2001 episode of " Raw is War " , Benoit and Jericho defeated The Two - Man Power Trip ( Steve Austin and Triple H ) for the Tag Team Championship . Triple H suffered a legitimate quadriceps injury and was out of action for nearly a year . Austin started to feud with Benoit and Jericho . Austin defeated Benoit and Jericho in separate title matches . On the June 11 episode of " Raw is War " , it was announced that Austin would defend the title against Benoit and Jericho in a Triple Threat match at King of the Ring . Another preliminary feud heading into the event was between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon . On the May 21 episode of " Raw is War " , McMahon interrupted Angle ' s celebration of regaining his Olympic gold medals from Chris Benoit , the previous night at Judgment Day . McMahon announced that WCW was coming back and mocked Angle , which led to Angle hitting an Angle Slam on McMahon . On the June 11 episode of " Raw is War " , McMahon hit Angle with an Angle Slam after Angle was attacked by The Undertaker . This led to a match between Angle and McMahon at King of the Ring . On the June 11 episode of " Raw is War " , Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ) defeated X - Factor ( X - Pac and Justin Credible ) in a tag team match when Jeff pinned X - Pac . After the match , X - Pac hit Jeff with a steel chair . This led to a match between Jeff and X - Pac for Jeff ' s WWF Light Heavyweight Championship match at King of the Ring . Spike Dudley , a member of Dudley Boyz faction with Bubba Ray and D - Von Dudley split from the group when Bubba and D - Von started to turn into villains . Spike started a storyline affair with Molly Holly of Holly Cousins ( Hardcore and Crash ) , rivals of Dudley Boyz . On the May 21 episode of " Raw is War " , Bubba and D - Von powerbomb ed Molly on a table but Spike laid down on the table to protect Molly . Boyz defeated Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho for the WWF Tag Team Championship , leading to a title defense for Dudley Boyz against Spike and a partner of Spike ' s choosing at King of the Ring . Another major storyline in the WWF heading into the event was that a mystery man was stalking The Undertaker ' s wife , Sara . On the June 11 episode of " Raw is War " , Undertaker confronted Kurt Angle as he thought that Angle was Sara ' s stalker . Angle refused to claim that he was the stalker and insulted Sara , prompting Undertaker to hit Angle with a Last Ride . On June 18 episode of " Raw is War " , Diamond Dallas Page debuted in WWF and revealed that he was Sara ' s stalker . Event . Before the event aired live on pay - per - view , Matt Hardy defended the WWF European Championship against Justin Credible in a match that aired live on " Sunday Night Heat " . Hardy ' s valet Lita hit Credible with a Diving Hurricanrana . Hardy pinned Credible to retain the European Championship . Preliminary matches . As the show concluded , the semi - final round of the King of the Ring tournament started with Kurt Angle wrestling against his teammate Christian . Angle dominated the match earlier on and tried to finish it quickly but Christian started getting momentum over Angle . Angle quickly regained momentum by hitting Christian with a series of suplex es . Christian eventually hit Angle with a Spinning Heel Kick . Christian started dominating the match until Shane McMahon interfered in the match and prevented Christian from winning the match . Angle took advantage and hit Christian with an Olympic Slam which he calls " Angle Slam " for the victory . The next match in the semi - final was between Edge and Rhyno . Rhyno dominated most of the match and untied a turnbuckle pad . Both men eventually knocked out each other by Spearing and hitting a Gore on each other . Rhyno tried to hit another Gore on Edge but Edge avoided the move and Rhyno hit the untied turnbuckle . Edge followed by hitting Rhyno with a Lifting DDT , which he calls " Edgecution " to advance to the final round . The third match was Dudley Boyz ' s ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) scheduled title defense of the WWF Tag Team Championship against Spike Dudley and a mystery partner . The mystery partner was revealed to be Kane . Spike battled Dudley Boyz for most of the match until Kane was tagged in . Kane dominated Dudley Boyz until Spike was tagged in again . Spike hit Bubba with a Springboard Cutter which he called " Dudley Dog " and tried to pin Bubba for the victory . However , D - Von prevented Spike from pinning Bubba and Dudley Boyz hit Spike with a Death Drop which they call " 3D " to retain the Tag Team Championship . The fourth match was the final round of the King of the Ring tournament between Kurt Angle and Edge . Angle focused on Edge ' s ribs that were injured during his match with Rhyno . Angle dominated most of the match against Edge before applying an Ankle Lock on Edge . Edge reversed the hold into a pinfall but Christian distracted the referee to prevent Edge from winning the match . Angle applied another Ankle Lock on Edge and Edge tapped out to the hold but was unable to win the match as the referee was still distracted . Shane McMahon interfered in the match by spearing Angle . Edge followed it by hitting Angle with an Edgecution to win the 2001 King of the Ring tournament . The fifth match pitted Jeff Hardy defending the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship against X - Pac . Hardy dominated earlier part of the match until X - Pac got control of the match . Throughout the match , Hardy and X - Pac did cruiserweight action . In the closing moments of the match , X - Pac hit Hardy with a Sitout Facebuster which he called " X - Factor " and pinned Hardy to win the match . However , as the match ended , the referee realized that Hardy ' s foot was on the rope and the match continued . Hardy hit X - Pac with a High Angle Senton Bomb which he calls " Swanton Bomb " to win the match and retain the Light Heavyweight Championship . Main event matches . Before the Street Fight between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon occurred , Diamond Dallas Page invited The Undertaker to the ring as videos of DDP ' s personal life were being aired by Undertaker ' s wife Sara throughout the event . Undertaker and DDP had a confrontation which turned out into a brawl . Undertaker began dominating the brawl until DDP escaped the arena through the crowd . It was followed by a Street Fight match between Angle and McMahon . The match went back and forth as Angle dominated earlier part of the match until McMahon got control of the match . The action spilled inside and outside the ring with both men using weapons and items of the arena on each other . Angle hit an Angle Slam on McMahon from the top rope to win the match . The main event was a Triple Threat match for the WWF Championship . Steve Austin defended the title against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit . Benoit and Jericho chased Austin outside the ring and forced him to return to the ring . Austin started attacking Benoit until Benoit and Jericho double - teamed Austin . After Austin was attacked , Benoit and Jericho battled each other . Jericho applied an Elevated Boston Crab which he calls " Walls of Jericho " on Austin until Benoit superplexed Jericho outside the ring . Benoit applied a Crossface which he called " Crippler Crossface " on Austin . The action continued as all the three men continued to attack each other . At one point in the match , both Jericho and Benoit forced Austin to tap out to the Walls of Jericho and Crippler Crossface at the same time . However , since there could be only one winner , the match continued . The WCW Champion Booker T made his WWF debut and attacked Austin on the Spanish announce table . Benoit would follow by hitting a Superplex on Jericho . All the three men were knocked out . Austin pinned Benoit to retain the WWF Championship . Aftermath . Chris Benoit suffered a career - halting neck injury after his Triple Threat match at King of the Ring and was out of action for one year . Shane McMahon and WCW wrestlers started involving themselves in the WWF , which led to the beginning of The Invasion storyline . The storyline had WWF wrestlers battle against invaders from WCW and ECW . The King of the Ring tournament caused Team RECK ( Rhyno , Edge , Christian and Kurt Angle ) to split due to battling each other in the semifinals of the tournament . Angle began representing WWF against The Alliance whereas Rhyno joined Alliance . Edge and Christian continued teaming up until the team split when Christian turned on Edge after being jealous of Edge ' s success . Edge and Christian would feud with each other over the WWF Intercontinental Championship . Tournament brackets . The tournament took place between June 4 and June 24 , 2001 . The tournament brackets were :