In 1999 and 2000, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) held a December pay-per-view (PPV) entitled Armageddon.

On Raw the following night, WWF Owner Vince McMahon attempted to strip Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was a member of The Alliance, of his WWF Championship, and award it to Kurt Angle due to his actions in costing The Alliance the match at Survivor Series.

[5] Soon after, Flair scheduled a match between Austin and The Rock, the holder of the World Championship, to unify both titles and create one undisputed champion.

[8] At Unforgiven in September, Angle forced Austin to submit to his ankle lock and won the WWF Championship in front of his hometown fans in Pittsburgh.

[9][10] Austin demanded a rematch, claiming his hand was under the ropes when he tapped out, and received it on the October 8, 2001 edition of Raw.

Austin regained the title when William Regal, the WWF Commissioner and special enforcer, attacked Angle and joined The Alliance.

Angle later joined The Alliance during a WrestleMania X-Seven rematch between Vince McMahon and then-WCW owner Shane McMahon, he interfered seemingly to aid Vince but instead struck the members of team WWF with a steel chair.

The feud between The Rock and Jericho had started while the two were uneasy allies due to their mutual hatred of Alliance co-owner Stephanie McMahon.

On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to win the title back with a surprise roll up, beginning his second WCW Championship reign.

[17][18] Irate at having lost the title, Jericho savagely attacked The Rock after the match and hit him with a steel chair and the championship.

[19] Jericho was made part of Team WWF for the Winner Take All match at Survivor Series, promising that he would set aside his differences with The Rock for the good of the company.

[20] The feud resumed after Jericho attacked The Rock on Raw the next night and escalated leading up to Vengeance.

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) defeated Billy and Chuck in a match, taped for Sunday Night Heat.

In the ring, Regal hit Edge with a series of European uppercuts and reversed a sunset flip into a knee drop.

Regal then hit Edge with a series of brutal kicks and, when the referee turned around, he took out his brass knuckles.

In the ring, Stacy Keibler tried to encourage the Dudleys, but The Big Show snuck up and pulled down her skirt.

They set him for the Dudley Death Drop but Kane kicked D-Von in the head and hit Bubba Ray with a clothesline.

Kane tagged in Big Show, who tried to chokeslam D-Von but Bubba Ray hit him a chop block.

The Dudleys then hit The Big Show with a Hotshot onto an exposed turnbuckle for the win, retaining their title.

The Undertaker chokeslammed Van Dam off the stage through a set of tables for the victory, and won his first and only WWF Hardcore Championship.

[21][22][23] The seventh, eighth, and ninth matches of the evening comprised the main event championship unification tournament.

Angle missed a moonsault, and Austin took advantage, hitting a Lou Thesz press, and a spinebuster.

Jericho knocked The Rock's head into the steel ring steps, and hit a flying back elbow.

Jericho wrapped Austin's arm into an armbar, and used the ropes for leverage, but the referee caught onto this and broke the hold.

The referee recovered and Jericho capitalized on the interference, pinning Austin to win the match, and became the first ever Undisputed WWF Champion in the World Wrestling Federation.

[21][23][26] Stone Cold Steve Austin lost in a steel cage rematch against Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship on the December 10 episode of Raw due to interference from Booker T.[27] Austin then briefly feuded with Booker T, which involved the famous supermarket brawl on the December 13 episode of SmackDown!, and the returning Big Bossman.

[28] Jericho successfully defended his title against different opponents until The Rock earned a match for the Undisputed WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble on the January 3 episode of SmackDown!.

[30] On the January 7 episode of Raw, buildup towards the Royal Rumble match started, with Austin, the returning Triple H, Kurt Angle, Kane, Big Show and The Undertaker all declaring their participation in the match, and starting a feud.

[31] According to Kurt Angle, he was the original winner of the main event and would become the first Undisputed WWF Champion.

However, one week before the event, Vince McMahon changed the plan and gave the title to Jericho, since he was very popular with the fans.