The four players who would determine the first undisputed champion were The Rock (the current holder of the "World Title," previously known as the WCW Title), Steve Austin (the current WWF Champion), Chris Jericho (the Rock's primary nemesis), and Kurt Angle (Austin's most-frequent foe). The four men were slated to wrestle three matches to determine a single champion at the Vengeance pay-per-view.

A lot of the WWF's storytelling leading up to the PPV seemed to suggest that a Rock/Austin final would take place at the event, and certainly, it was the final match that most fans would have enjoyed/anticipated. If one of the heels were to play the role of spoiler, Kurt Angle seemed the likelier candidate, as he had main event/World Title experience. Though many -- OO included -- hoped Chris Jericho would at least get to advance to the finals, no one expected that he would walk away the first Undisputed Champion.

So of course, that's exactly what he did. It took low blows, foreign objects, and run-ins galore, but Jericho managed to first upset the Rock, and then to defeat Steve Austin in back-to-back matches. In doing so, Jericho not only became the first Undisputed Champion of the wrestling world, but he also gained a unique distinction as the WWF's first "Quintuple Crown" winner (Jericho has held the WWF, IC, Tag Team, Euro, and Hardcore Titles... basically every title possible, except for the WWF's Light Heavyweight Title). Jericho has also held the WCW Title, the WCW TV Title, WCW Cruiserweight Title, and ECW TV Title, making him one of the more decorated champions of the era.

By unexpected winning the Undisputed Title, Jericho firmly established his newly-heel persona as a hate-able main event player. What started slowly with Jericho playing a tweener against the Rock had finally reached fruition with "asshole" and "Jericho sucks" chants.

But amidst the hoopla that went with Jericho unifying two world titles (admittedly, not the historically significant happening it would have been a year previous, but still worthy of note), word got out that the WWF would be moving almost as quickly to once again SPLIT the promotion in an attempt to right the wrongs done during the failed WCW/Alliance invasion.

January 7, 2002, was widely circulated as date for the split of the WWF into two promotions (one under Vince McMahon and one under Ric Flair), though even before the end of 2001, those rumors had been defused and a longer time-table was being anticipated before the split.

The remainder of 2001 did provide plenty of other intriguing developments, however, as the WWF moved to stock the roster for the eventual split. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were both heavily rumored to be joining the WWF after the new year, though early in December, those rumors died down amidst word that both "Outsiders" were demanding lighter work schedules. By year's end, the buzz surrounding Nash had picked up again, and it wasn't long before Hall's name was back in the mix, too.

No one was quite sure WHEN the split would take place, nor what it would entail... but with the likely additions of Hall and Nash, something big was seemingly in the offing for 2002.

Online Onslaught's comeback was completed on December 1, as it returned as a full-on website, replacing the e-mail only newsletter that had existed as a stop-gap measure during the post-WrestleLine interregnum...

Scott Steiner stepped into a wrestling ring in front of a paying audience for the first time since March's Farewell Nitro, participating on the World Wrestling All-stars tour of the UK; his debut match back saw him competing against Jeff Jarrett and the Road Dogg for Jarrett's WWA Title. Steiner's participation was limited, as he was still not 100% back from an injury, and he was written out of the match via a mid-match brawl with Brian "Grand Master Sexay" Lawler...

Triple H has heavily anticipated to make his return at the Dec. 7 Vengeance PPV, as he was featured in all advertising for the show; however, the time table for his comeback was shifted, and he did not appear on TV at all during December, 2001...

To further distinguish the new, evil Undertaker from the friendlier older version, Mark Callaway cut his hair early in the month...

Shawn Michaels, once again back in the good graces of WWF management, returned to TV as a special guest on "Excess"; rumors abounded that he was also very close to returning to TV in a regular, in-ring role...

Randy Savage issued a public challenge to Hulk Hogan for a one-time-only match to be held in Florida, with all proceeds going to an area children's hospital; when Hogan refused the challenge (citing a desire to return to active competition for either the WWF or XWF in 2002), Savage made a $10,000 donation to the hospital in the name of "The Hulk Hogan Coward Club"...

The WWF announced a three-show tour of Asia, with dates in Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia; despite early rumors to the contrary, OO correctly reported that these would not be RAW/SmackDown! tapings...

Bob Holly, despite being months away from being medically cleared to wrestle following arm surgery, wrestled a tag match at Jakked/Metal tapings on December 10...

At an HWA event, Rikishi got frustrated with recently-released developmental wrestler Russ McCullough, and worked him over VERY stiffly after an errant punch from McCullough; event organizers scuttled Russ back to the dressing room and cleared the venue out as quickly as they could...

Russ Haas -- an HWA stand-out with his brother and tag partner Charlie -- died on December 15; he had just been cleared by a doctor to return to wrestling after being hospitalized with a heart condition in October, though the WWF asked him to get a second opinion before going back into action. Russ passed away before a second opinion could be obtained...

Not to be overshadowed by the XWF's decision to run house shows, the WWA announced that they'd be holding a pay-per-view event from Las Vegas on February 22, 2002...

Mark Henry took a leave of absence from training in OVW to prepare for the 2002 World's Strongest Man Competition...

Tony "Ahmed Johnson" Norris briefly resurfaced, as he had a bit part in VH-1's "The MC Hammer Story"...

William Regal took about a month off to have surgery on his damaged (and perpetually bloody) nose; in storylines, it was explained as the result of injuries caused by Edge, though it had been a pre-existing condition...

"Many sources have pinpointed January 7's RAW as the day the split will take place, though for whatever it's worth, I keep hearing that it won't be till immediately after the Royal Rumble that things revert to a 'two company' style." -- OO correctly disputes other sites' reports of the exact date of the WWF Split, 12/03/01

"On the upside, the show quality was markedly improved over the previous week's ass-tastic effort." -- OO rejoices in the end of the Kiss My Ass Club Era, 12/05/01

"The dickheads at Time Warner Cable decided that today, December 7, is the day when they are going to upgrade my neighborhood from good ol' analog cable to that fancy-ass digital cable. That means all the channels get shuffled around, and you need to have a new, different cable box if you want to be able to see PPV. Of course, they notified me of this yesterday. And can I have a new digital box by Sunday? Of course not... they won't be able to get those in place until next week at the earliest! And when I DO get the new box, I need to sign up for a more expensive level of service just to have the privilege of being ALLOWED to pay them another $30 per month for pay-per-views. Assholes. And they take away my ESPNews in exchange for the fucking GOLF CHANNEL? What monkey invented this channel line-up?" -- OO's lengthy diatribe about Time Warner Cable's fuckery, which continues unabated and is preventing OO from watching PPVs at its own house, 12/07/01

"And on the horizon? The APA vs. the Duds has been done to death, so we're left with what? Albert/Scotty? Palumbo/Gunn? This ain't exactly buttering my biscuit, folks... somebody send for the Island Boyz, pronto!" -- OO on the dearth of tag teams in the WWF, 12/07/01

"A good show by any measure. Unless you're an embittered Triple H fan who foolishly thought FOR SURE that he'd appear on the show even though no such thing was even hinted at by the WWF." -- OO reviews the Vengeance PPV and takes a pot shot at fans who wouldn't believe it when they were told HHH would NOT be appearing there, 12/09/01

"The WWF did an unexpected thing when they made Jericho the first Undisputed Unified Champion of the World last night at Vengeance, which makes it a risky proposition. Then again, if it works... well, let's just say a lot of us smarty-pants types ate a shitload of crow when the 'Triple H Experiment' worked to perfection." -- OO notes the risk AND the huge potential upside to Jericho's title win, 12/10/01

"The most over participant in the Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy match was Lita. One of them boys better develop a personality, and fast. Cuz I don't think wearing a thong will net the same results for them that it does for Lita..." -- OO on the failure of the first stage of the Hardy vs. Hardy feud, 12/10/01

"What percentage of the audience knew Lance Storm's 'mystery opponent' was going to be the Big Show well before he was announced? Was it: (a) less than 10%, (b) 10%-24%, (c) 25%-50%, or (d) every single member of the TV audience with an IQ greater than their own waist-size? Knowing something of the average home viewer, I will say the correct answer is '(e) Both B and D.' HA!" -- OO takes shots at the WWF's not-so-mysterious mystery booking and at "the average home viewer," 12/12/01

"Oh good Lord in Heaven above was I ever offended by RAW on Monday night! Yes, that's right... ME, who never gets upset with anything. My deepest-held convictions were mortally assaulted just two days ago. When Steve Austin and Booker T went to the church and then.... it's hard for me to even repeat what happened... Booker went into the confessional... and.... and.... Then the camera magically appeared inside the confessional, now possessing the magical power of being able to move between the wall separating the confessor from the confessee. Oh, god, I may never be the same again!" -- OO is morally outraged after the 12/17 RAW, albeit for a different reason than all the idiots who got pissed because the WWF did skits in a church, 12/19/01

"What a politicking, conniving, egotistical bastard that HHH is: purposefully sandbagging his rehab just so he can return in time to take credit for the rebounding ratings after the holidays!" -- OO jokes about the timing of HHH's return, knowing full well some morons out there probably agreed with the sentiment, 12/19/01

"If the move does, indeed, re-appear, I hereby nominate that we begin calling it The Dragonizer, in honor of larynxes crushed past. Also because it sort of sounds like a cool device that the Bearded Spock would have used on the original Star Trek series. [Hey, at least I didn't move to call it The Dragony Booth!!!]" -- OO on Undertaker's cool chair-assisted destruction of Matt Hardy's larynx, 12/24/01

"Test helps Lance Storm, Jericho helps Christian, Christian's teaming with Test... all that Canuck in-breeding can't be by accident, can it?" -- OO sniffs the beginnings of an all-Canadian faction, 12/24/01

"I'm not gonna say this was the greatest wrestling show ever, but as a holiday gimmick show, it was harmless fun that culminated with an actually solid main event wrestling match. Beats the hell out of, say, that "Very Wookie Christmas" special that the Star Wars folks did in the late 70's, right?" -- OO's back-handed compliment towards the amusing Christmas Eve RAW, 12/28/01

WWF Vengeance (12/09/01) -- In the final two matches of the night, Chris Jericho first defeated the Rock to win the "World Title" (previously the WCW Title) and immediately there-after beat Steve Austin to win the WWF Title. In doing so, Jericho became the first man to unify the two world titles and was crownd "Undisputed Champion." Other match results: Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert beat Test and Christian... Edge defeated William Regal to retain the WWF IC Title... Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy in a match where Lita was the special referee... the Dudleys defeated Big Show and Kane to hold on to the WWF Tag Team Titles... the Undertaker beat Rob Van Dam in a wild brawl to win the WWF Hardcore Title... Trish Stratus retained the WWF Women's Title by getting a win over Jacqueline... and Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title and to earn the right to advance to the night's final unification match.

Chris Jericho defeated the Rock to win the WCW Title AND defeated Steve Austin to win the WWF Title, creating a single unified Undisputed World Title (12/09)... Undertaker beat Rob Van Dam to win the WWF Hardcore Title (12/09)...