Unforgiven 2001 Unforgiven 2001 was the fourth Unforgiven professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . It was presented by Clearasil and took place on September 23 , 2001 at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . This was the first WWF pay - per - view held since the September 11 terrorist attacks ; as a result the event included a tribute to the victims . The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship . Alliance representative Stone Cold Steve Austin defended the title against WWF representative Kurt Angle . Angle defeated Austin to win the title by forcing him to tap out to the Ankle Lock . Two predominant matches were The Rock versus Booker T and Shane McMahon in a Handicap match for the WCW Championship , and Rob Van Dam versus Chris Jericho for the WWF Hardcore Championship . The undercard featured Tajiri versus Rhino for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship , The Brothers of Destruction ( The Undertaker and Kane ) versus KroniK ( Brian Adams and Bryan Clark ) for the WCW Tag Team Championship , Edge versus Christian for the WWF Intercontinental Championship , Perry Saturn versus Raven and Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) versus Big Show and Spike Dudley , Lance Storm and The Hurricane and Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ) in a Fatal Four - Way Elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship . Background . Unforgiven 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 predominant rivalry heading into Unforgiven was between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle over the WWF Championship . At SummerSlam , Angle challenged Austin for the WWF Championship but at the end , Austin intentionally got disqualified in his title defense against Angle by attacking several referees . As a result , Austin retained the title . The following night , on " Raw is War " , Austin held an " appreciation night " on retaining the title against Angle and was appreciated by several members of The Alliance . However , Angle interrupted the appreciation night and ruined it by entering in a milk truck and spraying milk on all the Alliance members . On the August 27 edition of " Raw is War " , Austin stole Angle ' s Olympic gold medals after a tag team match pitting Angle and Chris Jericho against the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam and Tazz . Austin went on to throw Angle ' s medals into the Detroit River . On the September 3 edition of " Raw is War " , Angle threatened to throw Austin into a river in Toronto , Ontario , Canada if he did not give him a WWF Championship rematch at Unforgiven . Austin agreed to defend the title against Angle in a rematch at Unforgiven . Angle then told Austin that he ' s still going in the water and proved his point by shoving Austin into the pool of water that was sitting on the street . Another predominant rivalry heading into Unforgiven was between The Rock and the team of Booker T and Shane McMahon over the WCW Championship . The Rock returned to the WWF on the July 30 , 2001 edition of " Raw Is War " , where he chose to align himself with the WWF instead of The Alliance for The Invasion . This action was shown by The Rock delivering a Rock Bottom and the People ' s Elbow onto Shane McMahon , The Alliance leader . At SummerSlam , Rock defeated Booker to win the WCW title . On the August 27 edition of " Raw is War " , McMahon announced that Rock would defend the title against Rhyno later in the night but Rock challenged McMahon to a match , which McMahon initially accepted before escaping . Rock would retain the title against Rhyno . On the August 30 edition of " SmackDown " , Booker and McMahon cost Rock and Chris Jericho , a tag team match against the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam and Rhyno . On the September 6 episode of " SmackDown " , McMahon announced that Rock would defend the title against Booker and himself in a Handicap match at Unforgiven . The following week on " Raw Is War " , The Rock won the Handicap match by defeating Shane ' s sister Stephanie McMahon - Helmsley and Test then on the September 17 edition of " Raw " , The Rock lost to Stephanie and Test in the same match due to interference by Shane McMahon and Booker T . On three occasions , Chris Jericho and the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam wrestled each other in several tag team matches with different partners . This eventually led to a title defense for RVD against Jericho at Unforgiven . On the September 3 edition of " Raw is War " , Steven Richards attacked one half of the WCW and WWF Tag Team Champions Brothers of Destruction , The Undertaker during his match with Test . This led to a match between Undertaker and Richards on the next night on " SmackDown " . Before their match , Richards explained that he had attacked Undertaker because he considered Undertaker responsible for the disbanding of his faction Right to Censor . As Undertaker and Richards ' match started , former WCW Tag Team Champions KroniK ( Brian Adams and Bryan Clark ) debuted in WWF and attacked Undertaker . The following week on " Raw Is War " , Richards interfered in The Undertaker ' s match against Booker T . Afterwords , as Undertaker was about to perform a Last Ride on Richards , Adams and Clark took down Undertaker with the clothesline and finished him off with a double chokeslam through the announce table . On the September 17 edition of " Raw " , KroniK cost Brothers of Destruction ( The Undertaker and Kane ) , the WWF Tag Team Championship against Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) . After the match , the on - screen WCW Owner Shane McMahon announced that Brothers of Destruction would defend the WCW Tag Team Championship against KroniK at Unforgiven . After Edge won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament , his tag team partner Christian started growing jealous of him and insisted on carrying his King of the Ring trophy . Apart from winning the King of the Ring tournament , Edge found more success by defeating Lance Storm for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam . On the other hand , Christian failed in his respective title opportunities against Matt Hardy for the WWF European Championship and The Rock for the WCW Championship . On the September 3 edition of " Raw is War " , Christian turned on Edge by hitting him a One - man Con - chair - to after Edge successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Lance Storm . The following night on " SmackDown " , Christian announced that he attacked Edge because he wanted an Intercontinental Championship title shot and announced that he would wrestle Edge for the title at Unforgiven . On the September 10 edition of " Raw Is War " , the night before the 9 / 11 terrorist attacks , Christian defeated Billy Gunn by using his feet on the ropes for leverage . He followed it by nailing Gunn with a chair to the head and finishing him off with the One - man Con - chair - to . The following week , Christian was going to finish off the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tajiri with the same move until Edge returned and attacked him from behind , only to be restrained by the referees and enabling Christian to leave the ring and walk to the back . On the September 17 episode of " Raw Is War " , Tajiri retained the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship against Christian by getting disqualified but was attacked by Christian and his ribs were injured . As Tajiri was being accompanied to the backstage by his valet Torrie Wilson , Rhyno attacked him by hitting him a Gore . As a result , the WCW Owner Shane McMahon announced that Tajiri would defend the United States Championship against Rhyno at Unforgiven . On the September 17 episode of " Raw Is War " , Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) defeated Brothers of Destruction for the WWF Tag Team Championship . During this time , two new tag teams were formed , consisting of Big Show and Spike Dudley and the team of Lance Storm and the WWF European Champion The Hurricane . Hardy Boyz were also in contention for the titles . On the September 20 episode of " SmackDown " , The Hurricane and Lance Storm defeated Spike Dudley and The Big Show . After the match , the Dudley Boyz attacked Spike & The Big Show and followed it by double suplexing The Big Show through a table . Later that night , The Hardy Boyz defeated the WWF Tag Team Champions , The Dudley Boyz , in a non - title match when Spike Dudley interfered . Afterwords , the Dudleyz retaliated by performing a 3D on Matt Hardy through a table . As a result , a Four Corners Elimination match was made between the four teams for the Tag Team Championship at Unforgiven . On the June 21 episode of " SmackDown " , Perry Saturn discovered a mop during a match against Test for the WWF Hardcore Championship . He carried the mop around with him for several months . He dismissed his valet , Terri Runnels , and kept the mop , which he named Moppy , in his corner during matches . Runnels and Raven eventually stole Moppy and destroyed it in a wood chipper , which led to a match at Unforgiven . On the last edition of " SmackDown ! " , after Raven lost to Rob Van Dam in a Hardcore match , Perry Saturn charged to the ring and attacked Raven until Terri caused a distraction , enabling Raven to perform a Raven Effect on Saturn . Event . Before the event aired live on pay - per - view , Billy Gunn wrestled Tommy Dreamer on a live edition of " Sunday Night Heat " . Gunn hit Dreamer a Fameasser to win the match . Preliminary matches . As the event concluded , Jennifer Holliday performed " America the Beautiful " in the honor of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11 . The first match that took place was a Fatal Four - Way Elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship . Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) defended the title against Big Show and Spike Dudley , Lance Storm and the WWF European Champion The Hurricane and Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ) . Big Show dominated Dudley Boyz until Show and D - Von tagged out . Jeff and Hurricane entered the ring and battled each other . The tagging continued until Spike fought Storm when Storm accidentally attacked his partner Hurricane . Spike took advantage and hit Storm with the Dudley Dog and soon tagged in his partner Big Show . Big Show threw Spike on Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz and chokeslam med Storm to eliminate Storm and Hurricane . Big Show tagged in Spike and Matt came in . Matt quickly hit Spike with a Twist of Fate to eliminate Big Show and Spike . The match was left between Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz . The two teams battled each other until the Dudley Boyz hit the 3 - D . Jeff then hit D - von with the Swanton Bomb to break up the pin attempt . Bubba Ray then hit a Bubba Bomb allowing D - Von to pin Matt to win the match and retain the WWF Tag Team Championship . The second match was between Perry Saturn and Raven . Raven dominated earlier part of the match and kept on tossing Saturn outside the ring to prevent him from returning to the ring . Raven tried to attack Saturn outside the ring but was attacked by Saturn instead . Saturn started dominating Raven until Raven tried to finish Saturn with a Raven Effect . However , Saturn reversed it into a Three Handled Moss Covered Family Credenza to win the match . The third match featured Edge defending the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Christian . As Edge entered the ring , Christian started attacking him . The two exchanged punches until Christian retreated to the ringside . Edge followed Christian outside the ring and the two battled each other on the rampway . The action returned to the ring where Christian dominated Edge for much of the match . Edge started using illegal moves on Christian until Christian hit Edge with his own finisher , an Impaler DDT . Christian got a near - fall and attempted to hit Edge with a One man Con chair to but Edge avoided the move and tried to hit a One Man Con chair to on Christian but the referee snatched the chair from Edge . Christian took advantage and low blowed Edge , followed by a successful pinfall attempt . As a result , Christian won the Intercontinental Championship . The fourth match was a tag team match for the WCW Tag Team Championship . Brothers of Destruction ( The Undertaker and Kane ) defended the titles against KroniK ( Brian Adams and Bryan Clark ) . Undertaker and Kane started fighting KroniK outside the ring until Undertaker and Adams started the match as the legal competitors . All the four men were billed as superheavyweights and used their bigger moves on each other in the match . KroniK got control of the match when Undertaker tried to hit an Old School on Clark but Clark countered by low blowing Undertaker . KroniK double - teamed Undertaker for much of the match until Kane was tagged in . He tried to hit a Double Chokeslam on Adams and Clark but Adams and Clark countered by punching him . Undertaker entered to help Kane . Kane cleared the ring of Adams and Undertaker chokeslammed Clark to win the match and retain the WCW Tag Team Championship . Next was Rob Van Dam defending the WWF Hardcore Championship against Chris Jericho . Jericho and RVD started punching each other until RVD started getting momentum after gaining crowd support . He tossed Jericho outside the ring and tried to hit him a Spinning Heel Kick on the security barrier . However , Jericho avoided the move and RVD ' s feet were injured . Jericho grabbed a ladder from under the ring and attacked RVD with it . Jericho suplex ed RVD on the ladder until RVD recovered and suplexed Jericho on the ladder . Both men were down until Jericho recovered and applied the Walls of Jericho on RVD . RVD escaped the move and Jericho attempted to hit a Lionsault but RVD avoided the move . RVD took advantage and tried to hit a Five Star Frog Splash on Jericho but Jericho avoided the move . Jericho tried to hit RVD with the ladder but RVD knocked him down . The two battled on the ladder until RVD escaped the ring . Jericho tried to dive from the ladder on RVD outside the ring but missed and hit the ring barrier . Jericho began dominating RVD by tossing him into the steel steps . Jericho started attacking RVD with the chair until the ECW Owner Stephanie McMahon distracted Jericho . RVD took advantage and hit Jericho with a Van Daminator and a Five - Star Frog Splash to win the match and retain the Hardcore Championship . Main event matches . The sixth match featured The Rock defending the WCW Championship against Booker T and Shane McMahon in a handicap match . Rock dominated Booker and McMahon in the earlier part of the match until Booker and McMahon started double - teaming Rock . At one point , McMahon tried to hit Rock with the WCW title belt but Rock avoided and Booker was hit with the belt instead . McMahon also hit Rock with the belt . McMahon attempted to hit a Leap of Faith on Rock but he rolled away . Booker was tagged in but Rock hit Booker and McMahon a double clothesline . Rock hit McMahon , a Rock Bottom and a Spinebuster on Booker . Test interfered in the match and prevented Rock from winning the match . Bradshaw came out to prevent Test from interfering . Booker tried to pin Rock but Mike Chioda and a WWF referee attacked the WCW referee Nick Patrick , who was refereeing the match . Earl Hebner replaced Patrick and took over as the official . Rock hit Booker with a Rock Bottom to win the match and retain the WCW Championship . In the final match on the undercard , Tajiri defended the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship against Rhyno . Rhyno started attacking Tajiri ' s injured ribs until Tajiri started to fight Rhyno . Tajiri ' s valet Torrie Wilson checked on him when Rhyno was about to hit Wilson with a Gore , however before impact , Tajiri hit a Buzzsaw Kick on Rhyno . Rhyno continued to beat on Tajiri and hit him with a Gore to win the United States Championship . The main event featured Stone Cold Steve Austin defending the WWF Championship against Kurt Angle . As Austin was making his entrance , Angle started attacking him outside the ring . The action started in the ring , where Angle continued to assault Austin . Austin tried to escape the ring on many occasions but Angle followed him outside the ring and attacked him and brought him inside the ring . However , Angle ' s injured neck eventually started getting hurt and Austin focused on further injuring his neck . Angle eventually hit Austin with three German suplexes . However , in the third German suplex , Angle injured his neck as he had landed on his own neck . Austin took advantage and attacked Angle . Angle eventually hit Austin with his own finisher , a Stone Cold Stunner but got a near - fall . Austin proceeded by hitting Angle ' s own finisher , an Angle Slam , but got a near - fall . Austin followed by hitting a Piledriver on Angle but Angle kicked out of the pinfall attempt . Austin attempted to finish Angle by attempting a Stone Cold Stunner but Angle countered it into an ankle lock . Austin tapped out to the hold . As a result , Angle became the new WWF Champion . Following his title win , Angle celebrated with his family until the entire WWF roster came out to congratulate him on his title win . Aftermath . After losing the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle , Stone Cold Steve Austin continued his pursuit for the title . On the October 8 episode of " Raw is War " , Austin defeated Angle to win the WWF Championship , with the help of the on - screen WWF Commissioner William Regal . With this , Regal joined The Alliance and became Alliance Commissioner . Austin was also feuding with his Alliance teammate , the WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam over the leadership of Alliance . As a result , Mick Foley made a Triple Threat match for the WWF title at No Mercy , pitting Austin against RVD and Angle . At No Mercy , Austin pinned RVD after a Stone Cold Stunner to retain the title . After unsuccessfully challenging Rob Van Dam for the WWF Hardcore Championship at Unforgiven , Chris Jericho continued his rivalry with RVD and Jericho ' s main eventer push started . On the October 11 edition of " SmackDown " , Jericho defeated RVD in a number one contender ' s match for the WCW Championship . At No Mercy , Jericho defeated The Rock to win the WCW Championship .