When the year 2001 rolled around, the Attitude Era was on its last legs. The year had a ton of fresh new storylines for WWE, highlighted with the shocking heel turn by Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania and the eventual Invasion by WCW and ECW.

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Almost the entire summer was full of the Invasion storyline, with WWE fighting off the invaders to win a quick five-month war. When that was not going on, the newly turned heel Austin was teaming with Triple H to make life hell on Undertaker. Here is a look at every 2001 WWE PPV main event, ranked.

14 VENGEANCE - STEVE AUSTIN VS. CHRIS JERICHO

Vengeance 2001 was a monumental WWE PPV because this was the night that Chris Jericho beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in back-to-back matches to unify the WWE and World Championships.

The Jericho vs. Rock match was great. Sadly, the Austin match was a disappointment, with Mr. McMahon, Nick Patrick, Ric Flair, and Booker T all interfering and Jericho only winning thanks to all the run-ins.

13 BACKLASH - STEVE AUSTIN AND TRIPLE H VS. THE UNDERTAKER AND KANE

Backlash 2001 was part of the entire Two-Man Power Trip, where Stone Cold turned heel at WrestleMania that year and then created a tag team with Triple H.

This match saw four titles on the line, as Austin was the WWE Champion, Triple H was the IC Champion, and the Brothers of Destruction were the tag champs. The match ended with Triple H hitting Kane with the sledgehammer and pinning him for the tag titles.

12 JUDGMENT DAY - STEVE AUSTIN VS. UNDERTAKER

The main event of Judgment Day 2001 saw Stone Cold Steve Austin defend his WWE Championship against Undertaker in a No Hold's Barred Match. Of course, for the heel Austin, that meant getting help from Mr. McMahon and Triple H in the match.

The match was a pure brawl, and Austin was still new as a heel, and it was Triple H who helped Austin win, something new for WWE fans to see at the time.

11 SUMMERSLAM - BOOKER T VS. THE ROCK

When the WCW Invasion started, it was exciting, and many WCW fans felt that this could be a huge event that led to a ton of big matches. However, after the Invasion started slow, it almost seemed like WWE gave up on the idea, and nearly every WCW superstar lost.

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SummerSlam was the nail in the coffin. The only member of the outsiders from the Invasion to win was RVD from ECW. The main event saw The Rock vs. Booker T for the WCW Championship. The match had a lot of interference, and The Rock looked like a star with Booker T looking like an afterthought.

10 UNFORGIVEN - STEVE AUSTIN VS. KURT ANGLE

The Invasion was in the full run at this point, but WWE had decided to throw in some of its wrestlers since fans of WWE didn't seem to care about the WCW guys, and WCW fans had already given up on WWE making anyone look good.

Steve Austin was Team WCW here and defended his title against Kurt Angle. The win went to Angle with an ankle lock while Austin was under the ropes.

9 INVASION 2001 - INAUGURAL BRAWL

WCW had already blown it when they debuted with Booker T and Buff Bagwell putting on a bad match in their first appearance for the company, and at Invasion 2001, it was time for WWE to prove it was the dominant company.

The main event was called the Inaugural Brawl, making it seem WWE thought they could ride this out. Team WCW even won, with Booker T pinning Kurt Angle when Austin betrayed WWE.

8 INSURREXTION - STEVE AUSTIN AND TRIPLE H VS. THE UNDERTAKER

Insurrextion 2001 was another main event that saw the Two-Man Power Trip, and this time it was a handicap match where they fought Undertaker with Austin's WWE title on the line. The Dead Man brought in a chair to start, and the three men brawled all over the ringside area, with Undertaker never getting the advantage.

The end came when Mr. McMahon tried to interfere and accidentally hit Triple H with a chair. Undertaker chokeslammed both men and pinned Triple H, but he didn't win the title since he didn't pin Austin.

7 NO MERCY - STEVE AUSTIN VS. KURT ANGLE VS. ROB VAN DAM

The main event for No Mercy 2001 was a triple-threat for the WWE Championship. Angle and Austin were feuding much of the year, and the deal with RVD was that no one knew whose side he was on.

It even looked for awhile that RVD would win the championship, which had the fans hot. However, Shane McMahon and Mr. McMahon got involved, and it allowed Austin to sneak out the win.

6 KING OF THE RING - STEVE AUSTIN VS. CHRIS BENOIT VS. CHRIS JERICHO

The 2001 King of the Ring PPV had a main event with three of the best in the business at the time. It was a WWE Championship match where Steve Austin defended his WWE Championship against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit.

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The match saw Booker T run in and try to take out Austin, but it didn't have the effect he hoped. Instead, Jericho took out Benoit with a huge back suplex from the top rope, and Austin stole the pin.

5 SURVIVOR SERIES 2001

While SummerSlam marked the end of any chance the WCW/ECE Alliance had of doing anything successfully in WWE, Survivor Series finally buried The Alliance.

This was a multi-man match, and three members of The Alliance were Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, and Shane McMahon to show how little WWE cared about WCW by this time. The end came when Angle betrayed The Alliance and allowed WWE to win.

4 REBELLION - STEVE AUSTIN VS. THE ROCK

When Rebellion rolled around, it was time for yet another match in the long rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. This was for Austin's WWE Championship, and it was a nice switch from the Alliance storyline.

The two fought an excellent 22-minute match that ended in shenanigans when Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle both interfered when the referee was knocked out. Angle ended up helping Austin win to retain his title.

3 ROYAL RUMBLE - RUMBLE MATCH

Royal Rumble matches can be hit or miss. This was especially true in the Attitude Era, where one Rumble even had Mr. McMahon win.

In 2001, Stone Cold Steve Austin was still a few months from his shocking heel turn, and it was this match that gave him the win that put him in the main event at WrestleMania, setting up that eventual turn. It was Austin's third Rumble win and his best of the three.

2 NO WAY OUT - KURT ANGLE VS. THE ROCK

The 2001 No Way Out PPV had a fantastic 40-minute Three Stages of Hell Match between Stone Cold and Triple H. The two men tore the house down and left the main event with a lot to live up to.

Luckily, the match was great as Kurt Angle defended his WWE Championship against The Rock. The two guys were at the top of their game, and The Rock won the title in the end.

1 WRESTLEMANIA X-SEVEN - THE ROCK VS STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN

This was one of the most controversial WrestleMania main events of all-time. The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin battled in three different WrestleMania matches, with Austin winning the first two and The Rock finally getting the win in the third.

This was the second match, and it is the one that saw Austin ask Mr. McMahon for a chair and then brutalize The Rock to win the title and turn heel. Some still consider the heel turn a mistake, but it set up a lot of new matches for Stone Cold, and everything in the match that came before the turn was what fans had come to expect from these two.

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