100 Worst WWE Matches Ever - 40 - Kane & The Undertaker vs. KroniK
WCW Tag Team Championships - Unforgiven 2001
Probably the biggest bump Brian Adams takes in this match.
For all its faults - of which there are many, numerous and well documented - 2001 remains one of the strongest in-ring years in WWE history. In a strange twist of fate, the very thing that people criticise 2001 for is what actually helps make it such a terrific year for wrestling. WWE decided to phase out WCW stars, save for a select few, and the Alliance stable ended up as a host of WWE guys that turned. This meant that the already-great WWE roster was essentially wrestling itself still, with a couple of fresh faces to separate it from 2000. Talent in WCW in its twilight years was hard to come by, especially as the genuine stars of WCW sat out their contract.
Of course, a select few WCW midcarders managed to find their way onto WWE television. With some noteworthy exceptions, the WCW midcarders fell into two categories. Either they were a bloated generic, green Power Plant clone. Or a past-it wrestler that somehow found themselves on the WCW roster thanks to Bischoff spending money on everyone with even the slightest piece of name value.
Enter KroniK.
Funnily enough, despite the Alliance team desperately lacking any sort of genuine WCW talent, KroniK’s contracts were not originally picked up when WWE acquired them. This should immediately be a red flag. In fact, Adams and Clarke only made their debut six days earlier on Raw by costing Undertaker and Kane the WWE Tag Team Titles to the Dudley Boyz. Three days before the PPV, KroniK beat Kaientai in their in-ring WWE debut, which apparently was enough for them to get the shot at the WCW Tag Team Championships also held by the Brothers of Destruction. In storyline, Steven Richards recruited KroniK - not for the benefit of the Alliance - but because he was upset at the Undertaker for disbanding the Right to Censor. That is, RTC, the lower midcard WWE group.
Before the match, Undertaker describes KroniK as a pair of “muscle statues”, which honestly could be the description for any number of late era WCW midcarders. They certainly had a type that they were going for, as evidenced by the meatheads that they’d churn out of the Power Plant every year.
And if you think two veterans like Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke are going to disprove the “muscle statues” allegations, then think again.
Let’s also add in the fact that they are competing with Undertaker and Kane. Now Kane, in fairness, probably had his strongest in-ring year in 2001. He was pretty motivated through the year and I found him enjoyable. This is more than can be said for the Undertaker, who seemed entirely fed up all year having to wrestle WCW guys. He was in the midst of the worst year of his career. All the way back at match 99 on the list, I discussed how 2001 Undertaker had absolutely no interest in cooperating with any talent brought over from WCW, and is often cited as saying that the guys coming over from WCW couldn’t work. Now that was in a match against two of the few actually competent WCW wrestlers brought over (DDP and Kanyon). This is an entirely different beast. By adding in the sheer ineptitude of Adams and Clarke to an already unmotivated and uninterested Undertaker you get an imperfect storm of shittiness.
This match is one of those matches that has a reputation for how bad it is. Universally, everyone agrees this match is pretty awful, with most claiming it was the worst match of 2001 - a title that this list would agree with. Every now and then you might get a dissenting opinion of “it wasn’t as bad as everyone says” (it is), but even those people tend to agree it’s still a bit shit.
Naturally the fans are into Undertaker and Kane, but you will struggle to find a team with less heat than KroniK. A part of that is because they literally debuted a week ago, another is that we had long since established that WCW wrestlers (outside of those recruited from WWE) are useless and have no credibility.
Right from the first move in the match, Adams bumps weirdly off a big boot, which sets the tone for how this is going to go. It’s barely a minute later before he hits one of the worst backbreakers you’ll ever see. Adams is totally off his game here, and barely seems interested in bumping whatsoever. If you just watch this match and concentrate on Adams, you will see a man that seems to be in the middle of quiet quitting right in front of your eyes.
Bryan Clarke is awful here too. At least Adams has the excuse that he’s not trying and therefore his performance is shit. The worrying thing about Clarke is he’s trying. And yet he’s still so bad. In particular his offence looks slow and weak. Things would only get worse for Clarke as the match goes on.
The match was already bad enough, but things get out of control when Kane made the hot tag. Not through any fault of Kane, mind you. But by this point Clarke is fucking exhausted as he seems to be the only one putting in effort for his team- no matter how poor his best seems to be. And Adams still doesn’t give a shit. The standard tag team match formula was perfected in the 80s and I’d consider it to be pretty much idiot proof ever since. This match makes me question just how truly fool proof it is. For your basic tag structure to work there still has to be some expectation of timing. When the babyface gets the hot tag, their are some simple expectations of the heels. Be in the right place at the right time, don’t get in anyone’s way, bump for the babyface. It’s not complicated stuff as we’ve seen over the years, but for Clarke and Adams it surely is. Once Kane gets the hot tag, the heels are all over the place, getting in one another's way, awkwardly attacking at the wrong times which in turn throws off Kane’s momentum.
Undertaker watches all this unfold from the apron. At this point Undertaker gets tagged back in, and to say he’s pissed off is an understatement. In fact, he is visibly annoyed at both opponents. Adams decides at this point he’s not paid enough to bump for anyone, not even the Undertaker. As Undertaker is trying to make the comeback, he shouts “Feed! Feed!” as neither are anywhere near where they’re supposed to be. Seconds later he’s yelling at the top of his lungs “Now! Cut me off!”
Now, if you watch the WWE Network you’ll see Brian Adams hit an awkward looking jawbreaker followed by an odd but otherwise unnoticeable silence.
This is not quite true to what happened.
I wish this gif had sound.
On this night, Undertaker was clearly fed up. After Adams hits the jawbreaker, Undertaker drops to his knees and very clearly, audibly screams “FUCK!”. This outburst has been removed from the WWE Network, unfortunately. After calling out KroniK on at least two prior occasions within this match, the awkward jawbreaker was enough for Undertaker to finally lose it completely and throw out the illusion of this being a competent match. Even after the victory, Undertaker doesn’t look in the least bit happy, nor does he feel like celebrating the title defence. He is pissed off in what is one of the more blatant temper tantrums you’ll see in a WWE match. KroniK were swiftly removed from television and never referenced again. After both men refused development, they were fired for their poor performance and conditioning.
A match that somehow fully encompasses the tragedy of Undertaker in 2001, the Alliance storyline, and late-era WCW midcarders.
Up Next - Nothing says the New Generation like running this as your pay-per-view main event.
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