Stojy watches WWE 2002

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
May 6th, 2002
Hartford, Connecticut​

We are welcomed to WWE Raw by JR and The King. Get the F out and all that, before they hype the main event tonight, pitting Bradshaw, Ric Flair and Stone Cold vs. the New World Order.

Match One
WWF Womens Championship
No Disqualification Match
Jazz (c) w/Steven Richards vs. Trish Stratus

To be fair, these two have gone at it numerous times now and yet to really put on a good match in a one-on-one contest, and that streak continues here. This isn’t very good. Feels like they’re trying, but they didn’t have a lot of time, and the layout of this one was really confusing. When a match is branded No DQ, you actually expect that stipulation to be used but they didn’t here at all. The match comes to an end when Trish avoids a Clothesline from Jazz and then nails her with the Stratusfaction. When Trish goes for the pin, Stevie pulls the ref out, which then allows him to get in and nail Trish with a Superkick. And Jazz gets the cover to win. Continues the strange relationship between Jazz and Richards, but not a good match. *1/4​

After the match, Bubba Ray Dudley runs down because he wants the WWF Hardcore Championship back from Steven Richards. Bubba gets a Back Body Drop on Richards, before hammering away with strikes, and taking Richards and Jazz down with a Double Elbow. Bubba goes out and gets a table, setting it up in the ring, before avoiding a Superkick from Richards and hitting a Bubba Bomb to become the new Hardcore Champion. Raven then comes from nowhere and hits an Evenflow DDT on Bubba to become the champion, only to immediately walk into a Superkick from Justin Credible, and now he’s the Hardcore Champ. Before Credible can escape, Crash Holly hits him with a Missile Dropkick from the top rope to win the title. Bubba is back up now, and hits Crash with a trash can, but Trish steals the pin and wins the Hardcore Title. Jazz gets a fire extinguisher and sprays it in the eyes of Bubba, and as he’s blinded, he accidentally Powerbombs Trish through the table, thinking it was Jazz. This allows Richards to sneak the pin, and he leaves with the Hardcore Title. Bubba then gets some water and wipes his eyes so that he can see again. Once he has realised what he has done, he picks up Trish and helps her to the back. Just too much happening here and it’s not really fun and unpredictable anymore, as it’s seemingly the same guys chasing the title every week.

We get a clip glimpse of the NWO leaving their locker room as Scott Hall says, “let’s do this”.

It’s now time for some in ring promo time from the NWO. Big Show starts by saying that two years ago, he was in the main event of WrestleMania. This year he wasn’t on Mania, instead he was at WWF New York pretending to have a good time. He’s reminding people that he’s the biggest and baddest man to ever come through here. The NWO just got bigger and there’s nothing that Austin or Flair can do about it. Raw Owner Ric Flair comes out onto the stage to interrupt and tells Show to quit whining, because Flair never whined, he worked hard night after night to get everything that he got. Flair says if Show has a problem with his position on Raw, then he needs to look in the mirror. Flair then strangely hypes him being in tonight’s main event as if it’s a new announcement before Scott Hall says tonight the NWO has a huge surprise for everyone. I don’t mind Show’s explanation here. Maybe the correlation between Austin being injured and Show headlining is a bit of a stretch, but I’m okay with it. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated, I’m happy with his a big giant who isn’t doing anything, so he decided to change that. Flair’s bit here was okay, without adding anything new, and then obviously the surprise angle now gives us a hook to want to see what happens later on tonight. Solid segment here.

We see footage of Spike Dudley injuring his ankle at Insurrextion, before it’s mentioned that he already signed for this match before his injury. In essence, this booking doesn’t make sense. How would he already sign for this match when he was defending the title at Insurrextion? He might have lost, right? Again, not sure why they need to overcomplicate things here. All this needs to be is Spike has heart and is tough and is willing to defend the title injured.

Match Two
WWF European Championship Match
Spike Dudley (c) vs. William Regal

Spike has the protection of the injured ankle here, so this one is a tool to show off Regal’s vicious side and get him the European Championship back. Spike ends up tapping out to a single legged Boston Crab. Not much of a match but I’m giving it a terrible rating, because I HATE the booking of this entire program. They wasted Regal finally get a comeuppance on Spike, just to run this weird angle where he’s champ for two weeks and then Regal gets it back. Just feels like a major missed opportunity, so due to my unhappiness this gets a bad rating. ½* ​

After the match, William Regal gets on the microphone and says he’d like to take this opportunity to say he’s the greatest European Champion of all time. He then looks to continue to attack Spike, until D’Lo Brown makes the save and clear the ring. I don’t remember D’Lo getting involved with Regal here, so I can’t see it lasting long, but I am down for a battle between the two greatest European Champs of all time for real.

We see a clip from earlier today where Booker T is at a 7/11, doing his best to hide from Goldust. Booker goes and gets himself a Slurpee as per his pre match ritual, when Goldust appears undercover in ‘street’ wear. Goldust is sad that Booker T is teaming with Eddie Guerrero tonight, but Booker says they’re done. Goldust then says if Booker gives him a suck of his Slurpee, he’ll let him take a bite of his wiener. Of course, Goldust is holding a hot dog, but it’s an innuendo so Booker freaks out. Another really fun one I’d recommend going to watch. These two are comedy gold.

Ric Flair is back in his office talking to Arn Anderson. Flair tells Arn that he wants to know what the NWO surprise is. Flair decides he’s going to go to the NWO locker room right now and find out what it is. A fine segment to continue the major arch on tonight’s show.

Ric Flair ends up entering the NWO locker room however it’s empty. Although he does find an APA hat in there, which makes him think Bradshaw could be joining the NWO. Similar to above, a nice tease of the surprise, and now we wonder if Bradshaw is joining the NWO.

Backstage, The Undertaker rides up to the arena on his bike and he tells some backstage staff member to watch his bike because he won’t be long. Yay. ‘Taker’s here.

Match Three
Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Shawn Stasiak

Not much to say here, it’s barely a match. Just another Brock Lesnar squash, where he destroys an opponent. Booking wise it’s fine, however Stasiak doesn’t have the crazy bumping ability of The Hardyz to make this super enjoyable. Still, loving the Brock booking though. *​

In the back, The Undertaker is looking for his bike, but it’s gone. The crew member who was supposed to watch it tells him that Hulk Hogan took it. Okay, cool. Hogan wants revenge for ‘Taker beating him up last week which makes sense.

We get the ‘get the f out’ commercial airing here as well.

And now it’s in ring promo time as The Undertaker’s music plays but WWF Undisputed Champion Hulk Hogan rides down the ramp on ‘Taker’s bike. Hogan uses the bike to goad ‘Taker out, and ‘Taker comes onto the stage, telling Hogan that you don’t touch another man’s bike. He will give Hogan one chance to give the bike back, but Hogan tells ‘Taker that he’s a bitch and says he’ll bring the bike to him. This leads to the hilarious moment where Hogan can’t figure out how to not stall the bike, and it takes numerous attempts for him to ride the bike up the ramp. The crowd are audibly laughing, and they have to put the camera on Undertaker, and then even JR and King to stop showing the embarrassment on live TV. Eventually, Hogan gets the bike to move and rides the bike up the ramp, chasing ‘Taker to the back. Solid stuff here, I guess. Be nice for them to actually talk about the Undisputed Title, but again, Hogan wanting revenge after being attacked last week makes sense. It also makes sense for ‘Taker’s bike to be used against him as motivation to fight.

Hulk Hogan rides the bike to the back looking for The Undertaker and daring him to fight but he can’t find him. A frustrated Hogan eventually turns off the bike, parking it in front of one of the WWE trucks. He screams for ‘Taker to come and save his bike but ‘Taker doesn’t show up. Hogan then runs over the bike with the truck, destroying it in the process, before continuing down the hallway to look for The Undertaker. Truck running over a bike isn’t that big of a deal compared to some of the vehicle spots in the past, however again, it should do the job of pissing Undertaker off.

Match Four
Booker T and Eddie Guerrero vs. Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam

This was a good match, with Booker and Jeff just two extra heads to play their role, with the main story here being the continuation of the feud between Eddie and RVD. All four do well, but it’s clear that Eddie is one if the best of the world at this point. His bumping, especially for some of Van Dam’s Monkey Flips is amazing. There’s a pretty great finish for this match as well, with the only issue really being that the crowd could have probably been a little more enthusiastic. The ending comes about when Goldust tries to interfere to help Booker, but Hardy throws him over the top rope and to the outside, and Goldust actually lands on Booker. It's then a two on one in the ring and Eddie gets dropped, before Jeff hits a Swanton Bomb, and RVD immediately comes after with a Five Star Frog Splash for the win. Good stuff here, and I don’t mind RVD getting a pin over the champ. Easily the match of the night. **3/4 ​

Backstage, The Coach interviews Terri and she talks about how she has challenged the pure, wholesome Molly Holly to a swimsuit competition tonight. Terri then unties her robe and shows Coach a preview and he’s gobsmacked. Hypes the swimsuit competition, and this is one I’m actually looking forward to. This feels like it won’t just be girls half naked for the sake of it, as there’s room for character work here for Molly.

Ric Flair is talking to Arn Anderson again in his office and he says that something is wrong. Nobody actually saw Bradshaw get attacked by The Big Show a few weeks ago. “What if Bradshaw is involved in this somehow”? Flair is now going to go and confront Bradshaw. Another solid segment to hype the NWO surprise, with everything Flair saying making a lot of sense, most likely meaning it’s a swerve and Bradshaw is not joining the NWO.

Now The King is in the ring to host the swimsuit competition, and he gets Terri and Molly Holly to come to the ring. Molly wears an old school, very conservative swimsuit which suits her character perfectly. As expected, Terri wins because she’s wearing a thong and showing off much more of her assets. After the fans cheer for Terri, Molly says the audience doesn’t deserve to see her virgin body in a state of undress. As Terri looks to continue to celebrate, Molly attacks her. Again, a solid segment here because I’m enjoying the character work from Molly, and well, Terri is Terri.

Backstage, Ric Flair enters Bradshaw’s locker room, which is also empty, but he does find a Kane mask lying in there. Flair speaks to himself saying that Bradshaw has some explaining to do. Flair leaves the locker room with The APA hat and the Kane mask, wanting to find Bradshaw. Another fine segment to continue this storyline.

In the back, Ric Flair eventually goes to Stone Cold’s locker room to look for him, but Debra says he’s gone to get his knees strapped. Bradshaw approaches Flair and asks if he’s looking for him. Flair tells Bradshaw how he found The APA hat in the NWO locker room and Kane’s mask in Bradshaw’s locker room. Bradshaw is mad and says he doesn’t have to explain anything to Flair and says that he and Austin are going to kick the NWO’s ass. More good stuff here.

In the back, The Undertaker finds his bike stuck under the truck that Hogan ran it over with. ‘Taker flips out and is mad. The reaction we’d expect from ‘Taker here. Still wish they’d talk about the title in this feud though.

As The Undertaker leaves, a limo arrives and Kevin Nash steps out of it. Nice moment here. Is Nash arriving the surprise? Is he no longer suspended? So many questions.

Match Five
Bradshaw, Ric Flair and Stone Cold vs. New World Order

This was a solid main event, without being spectacular. It’s really hard to not do a six man well, because you book it in a way to make sure the good wrestlers do most the work, and you cover potentially the wrestlers not so good by allowing them to do less. I thought they did that here for the most part. There’s some nice psychology to this as well, with Austin and Bradshaw never really tagging Flair into the match because they don’t trust him. A big spot comes in this one when Big Show manages to Chokeslam Bradshaw through the announce table. As this happens, Austin gets the Double Stunner on Scott Hall and X Pac, but Show breaks up the pin and begins beating up Austin. There’s eventually a ref bump and Austin managed to hit Show with a Stunner, but Flair comes back in the ring and takes out Austin with a steel chair. The turn from Flair finally happens here, but honestly, outside of positioning himself with the NWO, I actually understand Flair’s position here after how much of a douche Austin has been to him lately. Anyway, this one is basically a no contest from here, and non-finish aside, thought this was solid. **1/4​

After the match, Flair continues to go nuts with the chair, now focusing on Austin’s legs. Flair then gets on the mic and says at Judgment Day, it will be Stone Cold vs Big Show and Ric Flair in a Handicap match. Flair then applies the Figure Four to Austin for further punishment, before Flair and Show celebrate together to end Raw Aftermath here was fine. Glad they’ve advanced this angle finally as well, as Flair repeatedly trying to suck up to Austin was becoming a bit stale.

An okay episode of Raw. Maybe just below solid, I wouldn’t say it was bad as they executed the main angle well, and the tag match with Eddie and RVD involved was good. Main bit dragging this down is probably the ‘Taker/Hogan stuff if I’m honest. Not very enjoyable.

 

[Tyronesaurus24]

Been following and enjoying these flashbacks.

Part of me always thought it was a rib that on night one of the new company name they make Lilian announce "new WWE Hardcore Champion" like 5 times haha

 

[Stojy]

Been following and enjoying these flashbacks.

Part of me always thought it was a rib that on night one of the new company name they make Lilian announce "new WWE Hardcore Champion" like 5 times haha

Haha never really thought of that before, I'm sure Vince was cackling away behind the scenes. Things have slowed down in here because of work and stuff, but determined to get through this. Good to have you on board.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Smackdown
May 9th, 2002
Bridgeport, Connecticut ​

The show opens with Stacy Keibler making her way to the ring to perform her assistant duties, which means she introduces Vince McMahon, who then also comes out. McMahon starts off by praising Stacy for being a model employee, before saying not everyone has been one, most notably Triple H. Triple H distracted Jericho last week, which allowed Hogan to retain the WWE Undisputed Championship. He goes on to say Triple H will stay ten feet away from him and do what he says otherwise there will be hell to pay. Triple H interrupts and gets right in Vince’s face, wanting to know what Vince meant by “hell to pay”. Triple H then makes fun of Vince and Stacy with a bunch of sex and dick jokes, but he also makes sure to flirt with Stacy a bit as well. Suddenly, Test, Christian, Hardcore Holly, Reverend D’Von and Lance Storm come down and attack Triple H. With a huge grin on his face, Chris Jericho comes down, sitting on a steel chair, but when Trips lunges at him, Jericho beats him down with the chair. Triple H gets busted wide open from the chair shot as Jericho then applies the Walls Of Jericho. As the hold is locked in, Vince screams at Triple H before announcing that he'll face Jericho at Judgment Day in the Hell in a Call. A solid opening here. The Vince/Triple H stuff continues, which is what it is, but the beat down from all the heels wanting to impress Vince makes sense. Jericho gets more heat here than he did in almost the entire build up of their Mania feud to so that’s a positive. Hell in a Cell will hopefully be good.

Match One
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Tajiri (c) w/Torrie Wilson vs. The Hurricane

This one is pure angle advancement. It’s less about the match, which probably could have been really good, and is instead more about Torrie finally getting fed up with Tajiri constantly treating her like trash. Back to the match, it is a solid three minutes or so, but we just don’t get enough for it to eventuate to anything. Tajiri and Hurricane are fighting in the ring, with Tajiri in control, when a fed-up Torrie climbs onto the announce table and takes off her geisha, revealing bra and panties. Tajiri immediately forgets about the match and goes out to confront Tajiri, and this leads to him getting counted out. So Hurricane wins but Tajiri retains the title. As I said, match wasn’t much, but these two definitely have potential together. *3/4​

After being counted out, Tajiri rolls back into the ring, but Hurricane takes him down with a Chokeslam. Match result and aftermath says we’ll get a rematch here, which I’m looking forward to seeing.

Backstage, a gleeful Chris Jericho tells Vince McMahon that he is going to end Triple H’s career at Judgment Day. Vince doesn’t want to wait until Judgment Day and wants to start now by booking Triple H in a match tonight against Reverend D’Von. Solid enough segment. The action of the heels wanting to soften up Triple H even further is logical.

In the back, The Hurricane bumps into Al Snow, wearing a ‘Spiderman’ t-shirt and Hurricane says that The Hurricane is better. They have a bit of a joke around, and Hurricane offers Snow one of his shirts, before finding a note directed to him which reads “congratulations, now you’re a star, unfortunately for you, I know who you are” … It’s obviously not him, but kind of similar to the stuff Goldust was saying about RVD back in February. Anyway, I know where this is heading, but it’s an intriguing enough mystery angle to play out for a little while. Plus, it leads to an epic pairing, so I’ll give it a thumbs up.

Match Two
Mark Henry vs. Test

You would think these two could put on a semi decent big man hoss fight. Apparently not. They try and throw each other around for a while, but it just doesn’t click. The ending comes about when Henry locks in a Full Nelson, but Test shoves the ref away to break the hold with a low blow. He follows up with the Big Boot for the win. Terrible match, I blame Test because Henry is awesome. *​

In the back, Christian and Kurt Angle meet up and have a conversation. Angle lets Christian know that after Judgment Day, Edge will be known as the ugly brother. Decent enough to promote the Angle/Edge PPV match.

In the back, WWE Tag Team Champions Billy and Chuck, along with their stylist Rico promotes the fact that Rico is a karate expert. They say they’ll get revenge tonight on Maven, Al Snow and Rikishi for all of the embarrassment lately. Meh. At the very least, hypes the match scheduled for later, but I’m definitely not looking forward to this one considering the talent involved.

Reverend D’Von comes out for his match against Triple H, but before that happens, we need to hype the HUGE man standing at ringside holding his collections box. That’s right, it’s the debut of Deacon Batista!

Match Three
Reverend D’Von w/Deacon Batista vs Triple H

The angle here is this match is to torture Triple H before Hell in a Cell and after he has already been beaten up tonight. To further demonstrate that, Triple H has dried blood all over his face and a bandage on. I don’t really rate Triple H as a face, he’s just a natural heel, but this, whilst not his best match of the year, is probably his best individual performance of the year. Being forced to sell the huge beat down he suffered earlier in the night means he finally gets the role of face in peril and plays it well. Of course, he started off with a ton of adrenaline, but once he took a big hit, that completely disappeared and all that was left was the pain from earlier in the night. This obviously does wonders for D’Von as well, really putting him on another level with the dominant offense he’s able to put on one of the company’s main eventers. At one stage on the outside, Batista gets some time to shine, mowing down Triple H with a nice Lariat, to put over just how deadly he is. Triple H does eventually start to make what looks to be his big comeback, but D’Von is able to cut it off with a Neckbreaker, which causes Triple H to roll out of the ring. Once back in, he almost hits the Pedigree, but Batista proves his worth again, distracting the referee. Chris Jericho then runs in and knocks out Triple H with the collections box. Triple H is out cold and D’Von crawls on top for the victory. A shock result, but a shock result that works because of the booking, and a shockingly good match as well. Well done to all involved. **3/4​

Next, it’s time for an in-ring promo from Kurt Angle. He shows fake pictures up on the tron of what Edge would look like if he was bald. Angle is loving it as he says he’s going to show another, but the next shot appears, is the same type of picture but this time it’s a picture of Angle. Kurt is mad and he says he knows Edge did it, so he calls Edge out. Instead WWE Undisputed Champion Hulk Hogan comes out and he asks Kurt if he has a problem with people who are bald. Hogan says some of the best champions ever were bald and names Billy Graham, Stone Cold and himself as examples. An annoyed Angle says that he hopes The Undertaker kicks his ass, but if not, he’ll be waiting. Angle says he’s the only real American here, but then Hogan nails Kurt with a right hand, and Angle quickly bails to the outside. As Angle heads up the ramp, he gets Speared on the stage by Edge. An okay segment. The bald stuff being played up makes sense, but Hogan coming out to defend bald people just felt a little meh to me. This does do the job for what’s to come though and Edge getting in another shot on Angle isn’t a bad thing. Middling segment for me.

After the break, in the back, Kurt Angle is furious as he complains to Vince McMahon but can’t decide whether he wants Edge or Hulk Hogan in a match. Vince books a tag match for tonight’s main event instead which will be Edge and Hogan versus Angle and Chris Jericho. This follow up from the previous segment is good, and hopefully we’ve now got ourselves a decent main event.

Match Four
Al Snow, Maven and Rikishi vs. Billy, Chuck and Rico

By no means is this good, it’s not, but it’s honestly probably not a bad match, and better than I expected, considering the people involved in this one. The other part of this I like is the result as the tag champs and Rico get the win, which means they’ve now seen off Al Snow and Maven at Backlash, and here, so hopefully this awful program is now done with. So yeah, took everything in me not to just skip this match but I battled through it. In the end, Rico illegally hits a Spinning Heel Kick on Al Snow, which softens him up for the Fameasser so Billy can get the win. I said some kind words here, but it still wasn’t good. *3/4​

We now get a replay of Hardcore Holly hitting an Alabama Slam to Randy Orton on the steel stage last week. This was a rough spot; glad they’re giving it the replay treatment to make it feel like a big deal.

In the back, Randy Orton talks about how sometimes you have to learn to move on. Lance Storm approaches and mocks Orton’s recent success, and after the two trade words, Storm challenges Orton to a match tonight, which Orton is happy with. Orton’s reactions to that huge spot is sometimes you have to move on… Wow. Talk about a flop. That reaction basically makes the bump last week pointless. I don’t mind another veteran in Storm coming up and wanting a crack at the youngster though. This is a nice trend developing here.

Match Five
Special Guest Referee: Hardcore Holly
Lance Storm vs. Randy Orton

This is obviously angle driven with the issues Orton and Holly have and Holly being the ref here. Every time Orton has the advantage and goes for a pin, Holly counts really slowly. Outside of that, Storm and Orton actually put on a semi decent match, with some nice spots, including Orton’s awesome Crossbody off the top, which I wish he never put on the shelf as a move. It was so nice. Anyway, in the end, Storm gets Orton in a Half Crab, and Orton is trying to make the ropes, but Holly pushes the ropes further away from Orton’s grasp. With no choice, the youngster taps out and Storm wins. Continues the feud between Orton and Holly, Storm gets a win and the match wasn’t bad. **​

After the match, Holly and Storm continue a beat down on Orton, until Val Venis slides in and makes the save. The heels bail. Booking 101 here, setting up a tag match for next week most likely. Not everything has to be super complicated, this is good.

Backstage, Edge walks into Hulk Hogan’s locker room but nobody is in there. Edge fanboys here and puts on Hogan’s bandana and bows. Edge gets caught posing and trying to cut a Hogan promo, but then Hogan catches him and tells him he’ll show him how it’s really done. This was actually a really enjoyable segment. A lot of fun.

Match Six
Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and Hulk Hogan

This was a pretty solid match here, although admittedly carried by three of the four competitors involved. Jericho and Angle stooged and bumped hard for all of their opponents offense, and they actually worked really well as a cohesive unit as well. For some reason, this has me wishing we got a 6-month run of these two as tag champs when there maybe wasn’t room in the upper card/main event scene for them. Only thing that hurts this match, and has it rated lower than the D’Von/Triple H match from earlier is the fact that it has a non-finish. This was still acceptable for six minutes, and Hogan still got his spots in, whilst not spending to long in the ring. A highlight was definitely the Angle/Edge sequences, although that shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. After a few weeks where it felt like the crowd reaction was dwindling, it’s also worth noting that Hogan was SUPER OVER with this crowd. The reception he got when he received the hot tag was crazy. Anyway, this one comes to an end when Jericho manages to lock Hogan in the Walls Of Jericho. Triple H, still battered and bloodied, runs out with a sledgehammer and decides to murder everybody, including the referee, so this one is determined to be a No Contest. A better finish and this is probably match of the night. Still solid though. **1/2​

After the match, as Triple H stands tall in the ring, Vince McMahon comes out and tells Triple H to try and hit him with the sledgehammer. Vince gets onto the apron and taunts Triple H, and Triple H viciously swings at Vince, but Vince manages to get off the apron in time. It’s a great distraction as it allows Jericho to come from behind and lay out Triple H with a steel chair for the second time tonight. Jericho stands tall, looking down at Triple H yet again as the show comes to an end.

Probably a middling episode of SD this week. A couple of good matches, but then a couple of really bad ones, and there’s probably pros and cons in terms of this week’s booking as well.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Heat
May 12th, 2002
Hartford, Connecticut
​

We start with the ‘GET THE F OUT’ ad, as Heat is the last show to officially air under the new banner. Yay.

Match One
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer

One thing that I always found strange about attitude era booking, which we’re still kind of on the tail end here, is that they’d make random matches for the title without justification. This is a prime example of that here, as in what has Tommy actually done to deserve a title shot. And unless you pull the odd swerve, considering the match for Judgment Day between Eddie and RVD is already signed, the winner here is EVEN MORE predictable. I’m not necessarily complaining about this, or saying it ruins the show or the match, more or less just some general thoughts on the philosophy of a method the WWE used for so long. Anyway, Eddie is the ultimate sneaky heel, meaning he attacks Dreamer before the bell rings and goes to work, immediately getting the advantage. After landing a barrage of strikes, he also gets a Belly-To-Belly Suplex! Of course, Eddie carries this, his charisma shining through as he has plenty of fun taunting the crowd as he beats up Dreamer. The tide eventually turns when Dreamer catches Eddie unexpectedly with a Spinebuster. Both men battle back to their feet, but Tommy wins a fist fight, before scoring with a Back Body Drop. He follows up with a Russian Leg Sweep. Tommy runs at Eddie in the corner, but Eddie gets an elbow up. Eddie then runs at Tommy, straight into a Powerslam which gets Dreamer a two count. In the next sequence, Eddie attempts a Leap Frog, but Tommy catches him on his shoulders for the Death Valley Driver. Eddie breaks free, but then Dreamer catches him with a DDT instead. This sequence was awesome and led to a pretty cool, almost believable false finish. Tommy then heads up the top to attempt a Frog Splash, but Eddie moves. Ugh, don’t think I’ve ever seen Tommy go for a move like this, not sure why he’d try now. I hate the sort of stuff that makes the wrestler seem dumb, this was one of those. This allows Eddie to come back with a Brainbuster and the Frog Splash for the victory. Far from perfect, but a decent match overall, and probably something of good quality for an episode of Heat. **​

We see a video recap of Ric Flair joining the New World Order on Raw. This will be the last time we see Scott Hall on screen. I will do a separate post before the next Raw on the plane ride from hell.

We then get a video package of some behind the scenes stuff of The Scorpion King to promote The Rock.

A video package then plays detailing Lita’s neck surgery after she broke her neck on the set of Dark Angel.

Match Two
Matt Hardy vs. Mr. Perfect

Mr. Perfect has managed to sober up from the plane ride from hell for one last match here. Similar to what I mentioned with Hall, this will be Perfect’s final appearance in here, and in the WWE in general with the sad events that are to come. Being a huge Perfect fan, this still feels sad now. Onto the match itself, and they start by locking up, vying for position, but neither man can gain the advantage. They break into some chain wrestling and Perfect looks good, as he eventually manages to send Hardy to the outside. Hardy nails a right hand from the floor though and then gets back in, turning the match into more of a brawl. Perfect tries to revert back to what was working with a Side Headlock, but Hardy sends him to the ropes and nails a Dropkick. Hardy controls from here, landing some kicks to the ribs, before hitting the Side Effect. It’s academic from here as he follows up with his top rope Leg Drop, followed by a Twist of Fate for the easy win. Would have been nice for Perfect to show a bit more resistance here. A rather uneventful last appearance for him, where he basically got squashed. A solid win for Matt, although it probably doesn’t mean as much as it could have due to how the match was booked. Nowhere near what these two should or could produce. *​

We get a couple more replays from Raw, first showing Hulk Hogan and his escapades with The Undertaker’s bike, and we then see details of the multiple Hardcore Title changes.

Match Three
Goldust vs. Rob Van Dam

Yeah, look. This definitely isn’t their No Way Out match, as Goldust is no longer being taken seriously as a singles competitor, and RVD is on to bigger and better things. RVD starts off with a Dropkick immediately, sending Goldust out to the floor. He goes out and hangs Goldust over the crowd barricade, before landing his awesome Spinning Leg Drop across said barricade. RVD gets it back in the ring for a two count, but in the next chain, Goldust manages to get a Catapult to change the momentum. After kicking away at RVD, Goldust hits a Manhattan Drop, followed by a Clothesline for a near fall. The tide turns again when Goldust telegraphs a Back Body Drop, allowing RVD to hit a Facebuster, and he follows with his Step Over Heel Kick! Rolling Thunder follows up for a two count. RVD keeps Goldust down and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. Based on him being involved in a program of sorts now, would be nice to see Goldust look a little better, but I completely understand Van Dam winning this as he chases the IC Title. Still, these two did MUCH better on PPV, as they were clearly doing the bare minimum here. Disappointing match for the talent involved. *​

This episode of Heat was disappointing. I don’t necessarily expect much from Heat, but this was disappointing because we had some matches with some top end talent, but outside of maybe the opener, nothing delivered.

 

[Chris]

We didn't do Heat but when we were watching 2002, I was also surprised how many random midcard title matches there were with no justification. As a kid I thought most were, they were just loosely justified or required you to watch Heat or Velocity, but nah a lot literally were just random bc the champs were retaining

 

[Stojy]

We didn't do Heat but when we were watching 2002, I was also surprised how many random midcard title matches there were with no justification. As a kid I thought most were, they were just loosely justified or required you to watch Heat or Velocity, but nah a lot literally were just random bc the champs were retaining

Yep, pretty much. I guess it didn't do any real damage in the long term, but didn't make a whole heap of sense. You have a guy fighting like crazy to earn a title shot at a PPV, then you have virtual nobody's getting title shots every week anyway.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
May 13th, 2002
Toronto, Canada

Match One
Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. The Hardy Boyz

This was pretty fun to watch without being outstanding. Brock throws them around and dominates, further putting him over, and of course, The Hardyz bump like crazy people. Eventually, The Hardyz turn things around and remind people they are one of the best tag teams in the world. After a Double Flapjack, they hit the epic Event Omega spot, but as they go for the pin, Paul Heyman pulls the referee out of the ring. I think the booking here made sense. It would have been a bit much for Brock to beat The Hardyz, and a definitive loss may have hurt, so I don’t mind the DQ here. Shows that Brock’s push won’t be losing any momentum anytime soon. Anyway, match was okay **1/2​

After the match, the ref raises The Hardyz’ hands in victory. Furious with his loss, Brock tries to take out The Hardyz, but they get the better of it, as Matt lands the Twist of Fate and Jeff finishes things off with a Swanton Bomb. Heyman grabs a microphone and tells them no. He challenges them to a tag match at Judgment Day which will be The Hardyz vs. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman himself. The Hardyz are happy to accept. This was all pretty solid stuff really, no complaints from me.

Backstage, Ric Flair is with the New World Order, and he explains to Big Show and X Pac why he fired Scott Hall, with the reason being that Hall was a failure. Hall lost to Austin at WrestleMania and lost his repeated chances. Flair mentions that Kevin Nash is almost ready to come back and tonight, the NWO will get a new member. The new member is such a surprise that the new member doesn’t even know it yet. I guess this was probably the best way to address the Scott Hall stuff. The new member not knowing yet just seems like an incredibly silly thing to throw out there. Not a fan of that.

Now it’s time for a Ric Flair in ring promo. He makes his way out and trashes the Toronto Maple Leaf’s, saying that he is 15 times better than that franchise. He’s got Big Show with him and says unlike the Maple Leaf’s, he’s got a real enforcer. The fans aren’t happy and start up the “ASSHOLE” chant, and in an AMAZING moment, Flair tells some girl in the crowd that they are talking about her mother. He eventually gets on topic and says he tried to be friends with Stone Cold but was greeted with Stunners. Austin made his life miserable. He says well to hell with Stone Cold, to hell with the fans and to hell with the Maple Leaf’s. Flair says Austin kept screwing with him and he’s trash just like the fans. He then hypes the Handicap match at Judgment Day where he and Show will take on Austin, before booking himself in a match tonight for the WWE Undisputed Championship against Hulk Hogan. Flair’s explanation was okay I guess, but there’s just really a lack of fire about this angle that makes it hard to remain interested. For nostalgic reasons, I am looking forward to Hogan vs. Flair though.

We see a video from earlier in the day where WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero talked to Shawn Stasiak and suggested that Stasiak is smoking weed or something. Stasiak replied by challenging Eddie to a match. Random and not all that entertaining this time unfortunately.

In the back, WWE Undisputed Champion Hulk Hogan arrives on his motorbike. Motorbike thing is probably an Undertaker taunt, after what Hogan did to ‘Taker’s bike last week so this is fine.

Rob Van Dam comes out to do commentary for the next match.

Match Two
Eddie Guerrero vs. Shawn Stasiak

A pure squash match here to keep Eddie strong, with Van Dam on commentary to hype their IC Title match at Judgment Day. Nothing much else to say, Eddie wins in like under one minute with the Frog Splash. Meh. ½*​

After the match, Eddie gets cocky, so RVD gets in hits a Spinning Heel Kick, before throwing Eddie outside the ring and to the floor. Go home show hype. Yay.

The Coach knocks on Stone Cold’s locker room door, wanting to get an interview, but Debra answers and tells Coach Austin is not quite ready and that sends us to commercials. When we return, Austin is ready and he cuts a typical Austin ‘WHAT’ filled promo, with the message being that he’s not scared of the Handicap match at Judgment Day. He’s going to whip two asses instead of one in six days. A fun Austin promo as usual, which promotes his match at the PPV.

A video package plays and it’s a new gimmick for Tommy Dreamer as the video shows him doing different disgusting things. Tommy claims he’s a normal guy and then we get highlights of him sharing a toothbrush with his dog, shaving his tongue and drinking toilet water. This is awful. Not entertaining, not funny. A terrible gimmick, and maybe the worst thing I’ve seen so far in 2002.

Surprisingly, the WWE European Champion William Regal comes out to do commentary during the next match.

Match Three
Molly Holly vs. Terri

Awful. Terri isn’t a wrestler and really shouldn’t be booked as one. Molly tries her best, but this is bad. Molly eventually gets an Inside Cradle, because Terri can’t take a real bump, to get the win. Again, this was awful. ¼*​

After the match, Regal joins Molly in the ring and says a woman who doesn’t feel the need to hike up her skirt and show her bosom. He asks if he may escort her up the ramp and she’s happy and accepts. Nothing overly exciting but potentially the start of some form of partnership or alliance with Regal/Molly is at least interesting.

Match Four
WWE Undisputed Championship Match
No Disqualification
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Ric Flair

This was not very good. The first mistake they made is that they probably didn’t make enough of the No DQ stipulation when Flair added it at the halfway mark. That was clearly just put in play for the booking and the end of match run ins, however this needed a lot more weapon use and No DQ action to be passable. These two initially met passed their prime, now they are way passed and it shows. Slow, boring, terrible action. At least Flair adding the stipulation was consistent with his booking as the authority figure gone bad. After no selling some chops from Flair, Hogan hulks up. He hits the Big Boot and the Leg Drop, but then X Pac breaks up the count. The Big Show gets involved as well as they try and help Flair, but then Bradshaw runs down and causes the NWO to flee. With everybody gone, Flair works the leg of Hogan, until Austin runs down and Stuns Flair. This allows Hogan to recover and hit a second Leg Drop to retain the title. Not good. *1/2​

In the back, Ric Flair is mad, and he yells at Big Show and X Pac for not getting the job done. Flair demands that Bradshaw dies and books Austin vs. an NWO member in a Lumberjack match for tonight’s main event. Flair standing over the NWO like this is a pure example of how WWE messed up the NWO. They were anti authority and edgy. Vince McMahon and now Flair seemingly having control of them basically ruins their entire gimmick from the get-go. That makes me not like this segment, and also 99% of Lumberjack matches are awful so not necessarily looking forward to that either.

Match Five
WWF Hardcore and Womens Championship Match
Jazz (c) and Steven Richards (c) vs. Bubba Ray Dudley and Trish Stratus

Far from a good match here yet again, but this is probably more of what the previous match should have been. They realised they weren’t going to put on a classic, so they leant into the Hardcore stipulation, and it actually made this mess somewhat entertaining. This included the awesome start where Bubba threw Trish over the top rope and onto their opponents. Then we got all the usual Hardcore Title match run ins, which I can’t be bothered summarising. Not overly important as surprisingly the Hardcore Title didn’t actually change hands. Instead, Trish hits Jazz with the Stratusfaction to pin her and become the new Womens Champion. Match wasn’t great and I’m not the hugest fan of the booking here. Trish has been chasing Jazz for the better part of five months now, so to just catch her in a random tag team match feels like a missed opportunity to make a bigger deal out of Trish’s triumph. With that being said, I can understand wanting to get the title off of Jazz as soon as possible. It does feel like the Molly character has unintentionally gotten over as the best heel and it makes sense for her to be Trish’s foil instead of Jazz. *1/2 ​

After the match, to continue the celebration of Trish dethroning Jazz, Bubba sends Jazz through a table with the Superbomb. Fun moment for sure.

Backstage, The Coach attempts to interview The Undertaker about Hogan destroying his bike last week. The Undertaker doesn’t say a word, refusing to answer any questions. An interesting reaction from The Undertaker here. Wonder if he’ll explode at some point.

To hype the lumberjack match tonight, we head backstage where Goldust is signing a song about lumberjacks, and we see Booker T dressed as one. He thought he had to dress like this and he’s mad at Goldust about it. Another HILARIOUS Goldust/Booker segment that you need to go find if you haven’t seen it before.

Match Six
Handicap Match
Bradshaw vs. The Big Show and X Pac

Not a lot to say about this one, just another awful match on what has truly been a TERRIBLE show so far, except for maybe the Booker/Goldust segment. Did I mention this was horrible? To make matters worse, Bradshaw is actually really competitive, to the point where Show has to hit him in the back with a chair for NWO to regain the advantage and eventually win the match. This probably makes Bradshaw look okay, but if the NWO were booked bad earlier, now they’ve lost all credibility as the incorrectly casted authority figure soldiers anyway. Really bad. Show hits two Chokeslams on Bradshaw in the end, before allowing X Pac to tag in to get the win. Again, not good. *1/2
​

In the back, The Coach catches up with Hulk Hogan to have an interview before he leaves. Hogan doesn’t get to say much when The Undertaker comes from nowhere and hits him with a tyre iron. ‘Taker beats on hogan before hog tying Hogan to Hogan’s bike and he rides the bike, dragging Hogan around the arena. Undertaker bites back this week with some motorcycle-based feuding. Not my favourite thing in the world as the two have barely mentioned the Undisputed title, but it is what it is.

Match Seven
Lumberjack Match
Booker T vs. Stone Cold

Lumberjacks for this one are as follows: Big Bossman, Big Show, Booker T, Brock Lesnar Crash Holly, Eddie Guerrero, Goldust, Raven, Ric Flair, William Regal and X Pac. Flair says Booker T is the new member of the NWO and Booker is shocked but gets in to beat up Austin anyway. This was okay but not quite good. Obviously hurts that it’s a Lumberjack match which means it’s super predictable where this is going. It’s just basic brawling between the two as well for some minutes, until Austin knocks Regal off of the apron. It’s Austin/Flair angle advancement here, and even though Booker tries hard, but Austin is half hearted at best, no sting on his punches, giving horrible offense, which is frustrating because we all know he’s so much better than this. After a bunch of other Lumberjack shenanigans, they botch a School Boy spot, and then just repeat it a second time for Austin to get the shock win. Not a worthy main event. *3/4
​

After the match, Austin nails some Lumberjacks with right hands as he tries to fight his way up the ramp and to the back. Arn Anderson ends up coming out and stopping Austin from leaving and sending him back into the ring. Back inside the ring, Big Show nails a huge Chokeslam on Austin. X Pac begins choking Austin, as Flair throws the referee out of the ring and out of the way. He gets Chokeslammed a few more times because that’ s how unoriginal and boring this entire angle is. And that’s the end of the show. Austin seemingly has to be booked strong, or he’ll throw a tantrum, and the issue with that is he’s just not bringing ‘it’ in 2002. Fast becoming a hindrance to the show and I borderline am almost looking forward to the day he 'takes his ball and goes home’. If I try and find the one positive in all of this, it’s that the Booker/Goldust stuff will be interesting with Booker in the NWO, and I guess this hyped the match for Judgment with Austin/Flair/Show.

Arguably my least favourite episode of Raw so far. An awful show, with it’s only redeeming quality being Booker T and Goldust segment, which was probably only two or three minutes of airtime.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Smackdown
May 16th, 2002
Montreal, Canada​

Of all the things they decide to spend the most time hyping at the beginning of the show, it’s the fact that Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson will be doing battle in a swimsuit contest. Okay.

We start things off properly with some Triple H in ring promo time. Trips talks about getting revenge on Vince McMahon and he wants a piece of Chris Jericho tonight. Instead of Jericho though, it’s Edge who interrupts and goes face to face with Triple H. Edge mentions that he didn’t like being hit with a sledgehammer last week. He says they are both good guys and good guys usually don’t have issues with each other, but he doesn’t care. Edge tells Triple H that he wants to play the game, and Triple H admits that he’s a lot of things, but he’s not a good guy. Edge and Triple H are starting to brawl when Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle rush down. Angle manages to take Edge down with a Spear, and then on the outside, Jericho and Angle work together to send Triple H crashing into the ring steps. Angle gets back in the ring and cuts a bit of Edge’s hair off as a sign of things to come at Judgment Day. This was a really fun segment to start the show for me. Love the idea of characters of the same alignment in Edge and Triple H (both babyface) can still have an issue. Makes things feel so much more natural and not forced. Edge’s comment was almost a little shoot as well, and when done well, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine, as long as it’s not done in every promo like modern day wrestling. Jericho and Angle getting one up on their Judgment Day opponents works well to, and Angle cutting Edge’s hair is the standard, logical hype for a hair vs. hair match. This ticked all the boxes for me.

Backstage, Vince McMahon is hitting on Stacy Keibler in truly creepy fashion, talking about her upcoming swimsuit competition. Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho end up barging in and interrupting, but Vince is in a good mood and books them in a tag match against Edge and Triple H tonight. All are happy. Sensible follow up after the opening segment.

Match One
Hardcore Holly and Lance Storm vs. Randy Orton and Val Venis

The whole ‘Big Valbowksi’ thing as his name is still annoying me, so because I’m genuinely a fan of the guy, he will continue to be Val Venis in here. This match was okay, and whilst Orton shows plenty of potential, this could have done with some more Val to potentially move this into a good match territory. It was a relatively quick match though, it held my interest and was far from offensive, so this show is already miles better than the previous episode of Raw. Orton and Storm did have some pretty cool exchanges which was nice to see. In the end, Orton pulls a Crucifix pin on Storm out of nowhere to pull off the upset victory. Enjoying the booking of Orton so far, with him getting to hold his own and this match was solid-ish. **​

Backstage, Maven approaches the freshly single Torrie Wilson and asks her on a date, and she is happy about it and answers with a yes. After Wilson walks away, Reverend D’Von appears and preaches, giving Maven a lecture about his lustful thoughts. With Deacon Batista having his back, D’Von tells him that he will show him salvation tonight. Al Snow comes over to have Maven’s back and without the numbers advantage, D’Von and Batista decide to leave. Love the D’Von character at the moment, he’s doing awesome in this role, and it’s exciting to see Batista as well. But I’m not interested in anything Maven and Snow are doing at this point.

Special reporter Gregory Helms is in the back and interviewing Funaki. As Funaki bends down to his bag, Helms find a note taped to Funaki’s back which is addressed to The Hurricane. The note reads “Hurricane, congrats on your title shot tonight… but take heed on your win, because then your pain will surely begin”. Like I mentioned last week, this is an enjoyable low level mystery angle at the moment.

Chris Jericho is interviewed in the back, and he says his message of the night is directed to Triple H. He’s going to pull back the curtain and unveil the competitor that he is at Judgment Day. He also reminds us that he is the reason that Triple H missed eight months of action with a torn quad. Nice promo from Jericho, to put over himself as vicious, and of course, remind us of all the heat between these two.

Match Two
Maven vs. Reverend D’Von w/Deacon Batista

Nothing worth noting really in this one. Nothing that stands out, and whilst this wasn’t good, it was probably better than expected. Maven just doesn’t have it unfortunately, but clearly motivated by his renewed push, D’Von’s intensity really shines through and makes this somewhat bearable. Continuing to really enjoy his push. Ending of this one comes about when Batista distracts the ref, allowing D’Von to land a low blow, and follow up with his Lifting Reverse DDT, which is now called Saving Grace (awesome name change). Again, nothing special or good, but D’Von is clearly on a roll at the moment. *3/4​

It's now time for the swimsuit competition as Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson make their way to the ring. Torrie is up first and about to take off her robe, when Tajiri runs down and throws a robe over her and pulls her out of the ring and to the back. Stacy then says this makes her the winner but refuses to take her robe off. WWE Womens Champion Trish Stratus comes out and takes off her robe to reveal bra and panties to win the competition, and I know it’s 2024, but Trish was untouchable in the 2000’s. God damn. Stacy gets mad and/or jealous and goes on the attack, but Trish kicks her out of the ring. Mixed feelings on this one. I like the continuation of the Tajiri/Torrie stuff here, and considering the demographic at this point, Tajiri got some serious heat. Stacy’s little heel schtick was fine to, but considering Trish is busting her ass to be taken seriously as a legitimate competitor on Raw, I actually feel like this sets her back to her dog barking days a little. As I said, mixed feelings on this one.

In his office, Vince McMahon congratulates D’Von on his recent success and says that Batista is very impressive. As this is happening, Stacy barges in and she is pissed and demands a WWE Womens Title shot versus Trish. Vince agrees and books the match at Judgment Day, before telling D’Von and Batista to protect Stacy at Judgment Day, because where Trish goes, Bubba Ray Dudley goes. Logical follow up to the previous segment, but Stacy getting a title shot when Molly is waiting in the wings is a bit of a letdown. I do like the idea of them pairing The Dudleyz on opposite sides to add some more drama though.

Match Three
Rico w/Billy and Chuck vs. Rikishi

Another quick match here and another one that went pretty much as expected. Rather uneventful really. Billy and Chuck interfere throughout to give Rico a chance, but Rikishi too big and too strong. Simple story, and they probably put on a better match than I expected again. Somewhat solid stuff here, as they stick to some basic psychology. In the end, Rico stupidly goes for a Sunset Flip, but Rikishi lands a sit down Splash for the win instead. They tried hard here. **​

In his office, Vince McMahon tells Stacy Keibler that he has no doubt she would have won the swimsuit competition if not for Trish. They are about to make out when the WWE Tag Team Champions Billy and Chuck along with Rico walk in. They are mad at what just happened, but Vince is mad he just got interrupted and chews them out for losing to Rikishi. Vince tells them that they will defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against Rikishi and a mystery opponent of Vince’s choosing at Judgment Day. Solid enough way to announce the PPV match. Vince being mad at not getting to get it on with Stacy suits his character well.

Triple H gets some promo time in the back, and he talks about how in Hell in a Cell, Jericho won’t have five guys or Vince, he’ll be alone with him. Triple H suggests that Jericho calls Mick Foley regarding Hell in a Cell. Edge then comes over and interrupts and says that the two of them have unfinished business. Triple H cockily tells Edge to go win a few World Titles before getting in his face. Edge doesn’t budge and says maybe he’ll take Triple H’s route and marry the bosses daughter and sleep his way to some World Titles and the top spot. Triple H tells him their issues will have to wait until after tonight. Again, I like the fact that these two aren’t just friendly for the sake of it. Tonight’s been a great night for Edge’s character, and loved the pot shot at the Trips/Steph marriage. Worth noting that Triple H is just such a natural here, when dealing with a pure babyface. The snobby remark about winning World Titles, bragging about ending Foley’s career. He cut a heel promo here for sure. I did enjoy this though, giving us the whole will they/won’t they get along in the main event angle.

Match Four
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Triple Threat
Tajiri (c) vs. Billy Kidman vs. The Hurricane

Probably the best match of the night so far but there’s certainly a disappointing aspect to this as they just didn’t get enough time. It felt like things were just starting to get good, and then it was over. In the end, it’s just a basic yet still fun Cruiserweight Three Way, and Hurricane ends up winning when he hits the Hurri Chokeslam on Tajiri and gets the three count. A surprising decision here, in my opinion. I don’t mind The Hurricane so I’m not opposed to him being the champ here, but Tajiri/Kidman feels really unfinished, whilst they probably could have dragged out Hurricane’s mystery angle some more before he won the title to allow Tajiri/Kidman to have that blow off match. Oh well, this was still fun, I guess. **1/4​

Now it’s in ring promo time for the WWE Undisputed Champion Hulk Hogan who limps to the ring, selling the impacts of being dragged around on the back of a motorcycle by The Undertaker on Raw. Hogan gets a CRAZY ovation from the fans, another real loud, extended one. I’ve noticed Canada really seems to love Hogan. Anyway, he gets emotional and pumped up by the ovation and begins posing for the fans, suddenly no longer limping lol. When he does finally speak, after five minutes of an epic atmosphere, he tells the crowd that they are overwhelming. He says that he likes living in this fantasy world. Hogan hopes this dream never ends and he knows that Hulkamania will live forever. He then focuses in on Judgment Day and The Undertaker and asks what is Undertaker going to do when, but he doesn’t get any further as Vince McMahon interrupts and comes to the ring. Vince says reality doesn’t suck, but Hulkamania does, and Vince LOVED what happened on Raw. Vince says that Hulkamania is a cancer, and that The Undertaker is going to bury it at Judgment Day. Hogan’s red stands for the blood ‘Taker will spill at Judgment Day, and the yellow stands for the big yellow streak down Hogan’s back. Vince slaps Hogan in the face, and a furious Hogan retaliates, by dropping Vince with a right hand and nailing him with the Leg Drop. I won’t comment to much on where this ends up, because it will take another nine months to get there, but this was a pretty awesome segment. Hogan initially was solid enough, but Vince as the crazed maniac who wants to kill Hogan is awesome. I maybe could have dealt with their first bit of physical contact being dragged out a little, instead of on their first big segment, but this was really good anyway. And whilst it hypes other things, it also put some more light on the Hogan/Taker match at Judgment Day.

Match Five
Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and Triple H

Here we go, took all night and we had to wait for the main event, but we finally got a good match on this show. This got some good time, and it delivered, which probably isn’t a big shock considering the four men involved. This was just fun. Edge does a solid enough job as the face in peril, and big, bad Triple H comes in with a good hot tag as well. They tick all the boxes, but the highlights here are the crazy chemistry that Edge and Angle continue to have, and Jericho and Angle kill themselves bumping to make Triple H’s hot tag as good as it was. Great performance from them two. This match ends when Triple H hits a Pedigree on Angle, but Jericho manages to make it in time and break up the pin. After a ref bump, Triple H and Jericho end up brawling off into the crowd, leaving only Edge and Angle. Edge looks for the Spear, but Kurt blocks it with a steel chair to the face. Angle disposes of the chair and hits an Angle Slam, and the referee recovers in time to count the three. A good match to end the show, hyping the two big Smackdown feuds heading into Judgment Day this Sunday. **3/4​

After the match, Angle celebrates to end the show, pulling out the piece of Edge’s hair that he cut earlier in the night and holding it over him.

Smackdown was strange this week. Outside of the main event, nothing in ring to be happy about, but feels like the booking for the most part was still relatively solid. Maybe slightly below average as a show as a whole, but far from awful, and much better than this week’s edition of Raw.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Heat
May 19th, 2002
Nashville, Tennessee​

Being that it’s the night of Judgment Day, this will be mostly a hype show for the PPV, without a lot of new content. We start off with a video package hyping the WWE Undisputed Championship match between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker.

After Jonathan Coachman and Raven run down the card and make some predictions, we get a video package for the Handicap Match of Ric Flair and The Big Show vs. Stone Cold.

Once the video package is complete, we see Arn Anderson and Ric Flair arriving at the arena.

We then get the weekly recap of Tough Enough 2. Apparently, some guy named Hawk left, and Jackie hurt her knee. Still don’t care.

Now we get a video package hyping the hair vs. hair match between Edge and Kurt Angle. This feud has been so good.

In the parking lot, Stacy Keibler and Vince McMahon arrive to the arena, stepping out of a limo. As they begin to walk away from the limo, they are greeted by the WWE Tag Team Champions Billy and Chuck, along with Rico. They want to know if Vince has thought of the mystery partner for Rikishi tonight. Vince tells them that Rikishi’s partner is going to be really good, but he refuses to tell them who it will be. Solid enough segment to hype the mystery partner angle heading into Judgment Day.

Backstage, Terri interviews the WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero about his match tonight with Rob Van Dam. Eddie cuts a pretty stock standard promo, jumping between flirting with Terri and hyping his match with RVD. Solid enough, although not much to this one. Does the job it needed to.

They announce the debut of WWE Confidential next week with Mean Gene Okerlund hosting the show.

Now we get a video package hyping the Hell in a Cell match between Chris Jericho and Triple H, and it’s followed by them lowering the cell to get a huge cheer from the crowd.

Match One
WWE European Championship Match
William Regal (c) vs. D’Lo Brown

The two start with a lock up and D’Lo manages to back Regal into the corner, before allowing for the clean break. They lock up again and Regal gets an Arm Bar. D’Lo quickly reverses as the crowd break out into a Regal sucks chant. Regal manages to run through Brown with a Shoulder Block for a two count. Regal then tees off with some of his epic European uppercuts. D’Lo changes momentum by catching Regal with a Back Body Drop! D’Lo follows up with a Dropkick and Regal heads to the outside for a breather. As Regal gets on the apron to return to the ring, D’Lo grabs him and gets a Vertical Suplex for a near fall. After this, Regal counters a sequence into a Hip Toss attempt, but D’Lo blocks and gets a Backslide for another two count. A Scoop Slam and an Elbow Drop get another near fall from Brown. Leg Drop from D’Lo and another two count. Regal eventually takes over and grounds D’Lo, only to lock in a Reverse Chinlock, which allows D’Lo to eventually fight back. He fights up to his feet, but Regal cuts him off with a knee to the gut. Regal lands some more knees but Brown ducks a Clothesline and connects with a Swinging Sidewalk Slam! Both men meet in the centre of the ring and D’Lo hits a Flying Forearm, followed by a Clothesline and then a Side Kick for a near fall. D’Lo looks for a Crossbody but Regal sidesteps and uses D’Lo’s momentum to crotch him on the top rope. As D’Lo staggers back towards the centre of the ring, Regal gets a Roll Up with the tights for the win. The crowd was into it, but the match was disappointing. Expected better from these two, although the sudden ending has me hoping they get some more time to do it again in the coming weeks. *1/2 ​

We get one last Hogan/Undertaker video package to end the show.

Mainly a recap show to promote the PPV so hard to judge, but the one match on the card wasn’t good so definitely a skippable edition of Heat this week.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Judgment Day
May 19th, 2002
Nashville, Tennessee

Match One
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

This was another great match from these two which shouldn’t be too surprising at this point. Not including the Insurrextion showdown, this is their second match on PPV, and the second of an awesome trilogy which will culminate in the coming weeks. The two worked a fast pace right from the get-go, and the story told was simple, which is all you need with two great workers. Great psychology from Guerrero throughout as well, playing off the anything you can do I can do better story, which isn’t always RVD’s strong suit. Eddie’s bumping was ridiculously good for some of the spots, and was the standout, even though RVD held his own as well. Some fun spots in this one, including RVD holding Eddie up in the Surfboard for over a minute, and then Eddie takes a great bump when RVD kicks him away and breaks the hold. It helps that the fans were clearly into this one as well. Perfect as an opener in that it was never slow, and had great false finishes, some high impact moves, and some enjoyable reversal sequences as well. In the end, in the battle of Frog Splashes, both men miss their big move, and RVD gets a Backslide for a two count, only for Eddie to get one of his own, with his feet on the ropes for the three counts. Eddie wins but based on the finish, this one clearly isn’t over. This was still a great match but was a little lesser than the Backlash match. ***1/2​

In the back, Reverend D’Von leads Vince McMahon, Deacon Batista and Stacy Keibler in a prayer for the safety of Stacy. Vince takes the time with everybody having their eyes close to check out Stacy’s body. Harmless fun and hypes the upcoming match. No issues.

Match Two
WWE Womens Championship Match
Trish Stratus (c) w/Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Stacy Keibler w/Deacon Batista and Reverend D’Von

It’s really hard to get into this one because as I mentioned, it feels like we have a readymade decent women’s match in Molly and Trish, or Trish and Jazz blow off could have happened here, but instead we get Stacy, a non-wrestler, in here. The crowd is into the match yet again which is great, but the match is a hot mess. Useless stuff that does nothing for the women’s division. Stacy clearly tries hard, but just doesn’t have it, so Trish needs to carry the match. Whilst Trish can have okay matches with the right talent, she’s not yet good enough to carry somebody like Stacy to a good match. D’Von and Batista interfere throughout, and Bubba attempts to thwart them, and despite being slammed by Batista, Trish finds a way to get the win. I really hope this is the worst match of the night, because if it gets worse than this, we’re in trouble. ½*​

After the match, D’Von and Batista have their way with Bubba, and Batista shows his real strength for the first time when he Powerbombs Bubba through a table. Good way to put over Batista.

Vince McMahon walks into an office to find Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Vince goes to Flair and gives him a handshake. They laugh together about Stone Cold and then even share an awkward hug. Flair agrees with him and says that Vince was right, and that Austin is bad for Raw. When they hug, Vince gets a hateful look on his face and when Vince leaves, Flair shows that he still dislikes Vince as well. Vince always said Flair would become like him, so this is a nice moment for sure. Enjoy that they both still clearly don’t like each other given their history. Intriguing segment and it hypes Flair’s match with Austin tonight as well. Solid stuff.

Match Three
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman vs. The Hardy Boyz

If it wasn’t clear they are all in on the Brock Lesnar push, this further confirms the point. The Hardyz to get some offense in once they are able to double team, but when Brock’s against both Hardyz individually, it does feel like an extended version of the fun Brock squash matches from Raw. The Hardyz are on their game tonight and bump around like crazy for Brock, making this a solid watch. Of course, part of the intrigue of the match was whether Heyman would be tagged in, but he isn’t. Brock basically does it all on his own. They do finally manage to get their hands on Heyman, when they send Brock to the outside. They beat him down and Jeff prepares for the Swanton Bomb, but Brock renters the ring and stands in Jeff’s way. Jeff leaps off anyway with a Crossbody, but Brock catches him and drills him with an F5. To rub things in even further, Brock then tags in Heyman and Paul Heyman pins Jeff Hardy. Solid stuff, Hardyz played their role, and the Lesnar monster push continues. **1/4​

In the back, Booker T is wearing an NWO t-shirt, and he talks about how he is fine with being the newest member because it’s all just business. A pretty lady then walks past, and Booker stops her to flirt. She gives him her hotel key and it looks like Booker might get lucky tonight. Booker’s facial impressions are awesome. Booker is clearly still a face here due to his charisma, so looking forward to seeing how that dynamic falls in with the rest of the NWO.

We get a video package up next to hype the Ric Flair and The Big Show vs. Stone Cold Handicap match.

Match Four
Handicap Match
Ric Flair and The Big Show vs. Stone Cold

They decided to treat us to as much Flair and Austin as possible, as they do the most the work here, whilst Show chimes in here and there, mainly being used to cut off Austin when he starts getting on top of Flair. As expected, not at the level of Austin, but despite Flair’s heel turn, he still gets cheered, which further hurts the NWO by association. If I want to be negative, I could say this probably went to long at fifteen minutes. We could have lost some of the time here, considering what we were getting. It did seem like Austin was motivated by being in the ring with Flair and tried hard, which lead to this being solid, which is the best for an Austin match in a while at this point. He tried really hard to keep the pace up, and maintain high energy, even when in there with the slower moving Big Show. One of the issues with the match is that Flair and Show work on Austin’s leg quite a bit, but when we get into the finishing run, including the X Pac run in, Austin doesn’t sell the leg at all. Flair/Austin dream match moments were fun though, and X Pac’s interference fails when he accidentally kicks Show. Austin then fights them all off, goes crazy with Stunners and gets the win. Action was solid, however yet again, the NWO look awful, basically losing a three on one. I would have thought they should have won here, to give Austin more time to chase, especially with their new member and Nash returning soon. It never would have gone anywhere anyway due to Austin and his issues, but the booking here was strange, and probably forced by an Austin tantrum. Match was not terrible but solid at best. **1/4

Match Five
Hair vs. Hair Match
Edge vs. Kurt Angle

Another great match here by these two. Similar to the Eddie/RVD match in that it’s not at the level of Backlash, but that’s not a knock on this match, as it’s still great. It probably just highlights how amazing Backlash was. The two some up with some creative ideas, and the finishing run is hot. There were a few moments where it seemed like they may have lost the crowd in the middle, but they managed to get them back which is the sign of a great performance. I think one other aspect of the booking that may hurt this is the hair vs. hair stipulation. The winner was rather predictable. Was the long haired rockstar looking guy going to lose? Or the short haired guy who was already obviously balding? Edge delivers again to continue to prove that he can hang, and a spot that stands out to me is the big bump he took off a Belly To Belly Suplex over the top rope and to the outside. Finish was awesome as Angle looks to apply the Ankle Lock, but Edge prevents it with an Enzuiguri. Angle tries again when Edge gets up, having played possum, and he applies the hold. Edge survives in the hold for awhile to put over his toughness, before kicking Angle into the ropes to break the hold. Angle stumbles back and Edge pounces with an Inside Cradle for the win. I could have done with a more definitive win for Edge’s big moment on PPV, but this was still fantastic. ***1/2​

After the match, fearful of having his head shaved, Angle tries to attack Edge, but Edge hits the Edgacution. Edge then drags Kurt to the side of the stage where the barber chair is, but Angle manages to break free and he runs away. No issues with this. Creates a fun little angle for the night, and nothing is more heel than not living up to the stipulation you agreed to.

We now head over to the Marriott hotel room where Booker T is in bed, waiting for his lady to freshen up. She comes in and asks for Booker to be more romantic and turn the lights off as she gets in bed. We hear some noises until we hear Goldust’s voice tell Booker to leave the NWO. Booker isn’t happy as he storms out of the hotel room with his ass out, as Goldust complains about buying lingerie, which is over his gold suit, for no reason. Another one of these comedy segments that Booker and Goldust nailed. My recap does not do it justice, this is another one to go find and watch.

Next up is an awesome Hell in a Cell hype video package.

Match Six
Hell In A Cell
Chris Jericho vs. Triple H

I get why Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker ended the show, but in my eyes, this should have been the main event. And after a solid yet somewhat lacklustre WrestleMania main event a few months ago, this time both these guys deliver a good match. The one thing that probably does hurt this is the character alignment here. These two have great chemistry, but they work damn near classics when Jericho is the fiery face and Triple H is the heel. The only big issue with the match that I had was the beginning. I understand building things up and not going all out from the get-go, but this was basically a standard wrestling match for a long time. No real hatred portrayed between the two of them and didn’t become really heated until the last ten minutes or so. Once it gets going though, whilst maybe not at the level of the best HIAC matches, this still has that brutality aspect to it. What I liked as well as this did more Jericho than a lot of his booking throughout the year, as this was even with a lot of back and forth. Bloody and violent, and the two even introduced a ladder, but for some reason the fans just weren’t into this one the way they were the previous match. Whilst it was a big moment that is remembered in history, it’s interesting that the biggest and worst bump of the match was taken by referee Tim White. The bump actually ended his career as it did some pretty bad damage to his shoulder. Other referees and medics get the bolt cutters out to check on the ref, and this allows Jericho and Triple H to work outside of the cell. They end up climbing on top of the cage, and hilariously new referee Mike Chioda climbs up with them. After some back-and-forth action, Triple H gets the win on top of the cell with a Pedigree. I feel like my summary sounds rather critical, and that’s because when reviewing, it’s easier to pick out the things you didn’t like then gush about everything you loved. Or at least it is for me. This was still a really good match and feud ender between the two. ***1/4​

In the back, Edge is chasing Kurt Angle to shave his head, but Angle hides in a make up chair with a shower cap on to create some distance between the two of them. Lol good stuff, love goofy Angle.

At WWE New York, Maven and Torrie Wilson are drinking alcohol together on their date. Meh. Not going to say anything else because I don’t care and am probably jealous.

Match Seven
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Billy and Chuck (c) vs. Rico and Rikishi

They all come out to the ring only for it to be revealed that Rikishi’s tag partner is the tag champions stylist, Rico. This is awful, and not quite at women’s title level, but easily the second worse match of the night. Clearly just a cooler before the main event after a few big matches in a row, but this is a mess. Billy and Chuck isolate Rikishi throughout, as they treat it like a Handicap match with Rico refusing to tag in. I guess this aligns with Vince McMahon mentioning on Heat how we wants to get Rikishi back for shoving his ass in his face to end the kiss my ass club. Anyway, Rico tries to kick Rikishi when he gets on a roll, but Rikishi avoids it and Rico nails Chuck. Rikishi then Superkicks the shocked Rico. Rikishi then drops down to pin Chuck, and in what definitely felt like a surprise, gets the win. Surprise result to do the uneasy partners thing, but this match failed to deliver in every sense. *​

In the back, Kurt Angle attacks Edge from behind. He drags Edge out towards the barber chair and grabs a mic, telling the fans that Edge is getting a haircut. Edge tries to fight back, and Angle attempts an Angle Slam, but Edge gets out behind Kurt and locks in a Sleeper Hold. This is enough to get Angle down and Edge literally shaves all his hair off. Edge then puts a bunch of extra shaving cream on Kurt’s head and wakes him up. After seeing himself in the mirror Edge holds up, Kurt is furious. Fun pay off to a fun, lighthearted hook to break up the PPV.

Match Eight
WWE Undisputed Championship Match
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Undertaker

After a lot of solid or good action throughout the PPV, we end things with a stinker. Not a good match at all. Slow, plodding, boring, realistically, the typical Hogan match, and ‘Taker isn’t an overly fast paced guy himself to liven things up. It’s basically just a lot of punching, kicking and using Hogan’s weightlifting belt which ‘Taker wore to the ring. We do need to call out that ‘Taker debuts his awesome “DEAD MAN WALKING” theme here, however it will get better when they include the lyrics. Hogan seems to bring ‘Taker down to his level in this one as both men are really sloppy throughout. ‘Taker works on Hogan’s knee, but it isn’t overly interesting. The only wat this match would be passable was if they were able to use blood, weapons and violence. They need all the bells and whistles but after HIAC, that’s not possible. Hogan was clearly blown up after about five minutes of slow action as well which hurt this even more. ‘Taker hits the worst Chokeslam in the history of the business, with Hogan barely getting his feet off the mat, and then Hogan kicks out of the pin for the big Hulk Up moment. Hogan fights back and hits his eventual Leg Drop, but surprisingly, ‘Taker kicks out and then Vince McMahon makes an appearance. Undertaker gets a chair due to the Vince distraction, but Hogan kicks the chair into ‘Taker’s face and hits another Leg Drop! Vince gets into the ring now but Hogan nails him with a Leg Drop as well, only for ‘Taker to surprise Hogan with a chair shot to the skull and another bad looking Chokeslam for the win. It would also be remiss of me not to mention that JR starts referring to ‘Taker as Big Evil on this show, and I’ve always loved that nickname. Awesome nickname aside, this was not a good match, although I’m glad they realised Hogan’s nostalgia run was a mistake, and quickly got the belt on ‘Taker instead. *1/2​

After the match, ‘Taker celebrates with the title, but also lands his larynx crusher chair shot to Hogan. Great ending to the show.

A strange show to rate. Some incredible high spots and then some really bad matches. Looking at the show as a whole, there are probably more good/solid matches than bad ones, and the two of the bad ones were pretty sure. Really, it’s the main event that puts a grey cloud over this show, but I’d say this was still a good PPV overall.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
May 20th, 2002
Memphis, Tennessee​

The show begins with a video tribute to The British Bulldog. Rest in peace.

Rob Van Dam begins making his entrance, ready for action, when he’s attacked from behind by the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker. ‘Taker rams RVD headfirst into the crowd barricade and the ring post, before nailing him in the head with the ring steps. RVD is busted open on the outside of the ring, as ‘Taker gets in the ring, gets a microphone and says that now that he has their attention, he can begin. He says he is the champion, and he should start the show. He says that we are going to start seeing some changes and he will do whatever he wants. The Undertaker is going to come down and say what he wants, and if there is someone already there, they can either step aside or stay and get their ass kicked. He says that RVD just learned again to respect him. ‘Taker then starts bragging about ending Hulkamania last night at Judgment Day. He says that Hulk Hogan will not show up tonight and is going to announce his retirement on Smackdown. RVD comes back in the ring to try and fight back and ‘Taker says some people just don’t learn and that RVD made him do this. ‘Taker looks to go on the attack, but RVD fights back. He ducks a Clothesline, hits a Heel Kick and starts punching ‘Taker on the mat. RVD ends up heading to the top rope and he nails the Five Star Frog Splash. The new champion is forced to flea to the outside, whilst a bloody Van Dam stands tall. What an awesome opening to the show. ‘Taker trying to set the scene as the new champ makes sense, and RVD just looks incredibly here by fighting back. Awesome.

After the break, The Undertaker bursts into Ric Flair’s office. He wants RVD tonight and he compares this to the same disrespect Flair has to deal with regarding Stone Cold. Flair agrees and makes the match, but makes it an Undisputed Title match, which leaves ‘Taker displeased. Logical follow up here for ‘Taker to want revenge. The fact that it’s a title match against ‘Taker’s wishes is a nice throwback to their feud earlier in the year, and the fact that there might still be some tension there.

Match One
The Big Show and X Pac w/Booker T vs. The Hardy Boyz

This was a pretty solid match really. Smart psychology with the New World Order team establishing dominance and then allowing Pac to do most the work. However, every time The Hardyz show signs of life, it’s a quick tag to Show to beat them back down. I would obviously prefer Booker T to be one of the NWO guys wrestling here but that’s not happening. Both teams tried hard, and the finishing run was pretty entertaining. All hell breaks loose at the end and Booker tries to interfere, but accidentally kicks Show by mistake. Despite the mishap, Pac is in control, after hitting an X Factor on Jeff, but Goldust appears dressed as an Elvis impersonator. The distraction allows Jeff to get a sneaky Roll Up to get the win. I harp on it constantly, but can the NWO be more of a joke at this point? Anyway, issues with the booking aside, it was a solid opener. **1/2 ​

After the match, The Hardyz celebrate and leave, whilst Big Show and X Pac are pissed, blaming Goldust for their loss. Makes sense for Goldust to be an issue here, leading us to a scenario where at some point Booker will have to choose the NWO, or the strange, freak.

In the back, WWE Womens Champion Trish Stratus is working out when Paul Heyman comes over and suggests that they get together tonight. Trish looks creeped out but just says that she has a match and leaves. After Trish leaves, Heyman is content because she didn’t say no. Random segment clearly leading somewhere. Heyman plays the creep role really well. My only potential concern is he just did this with Lita, which lead to Brock’s first real feud. Not sure we need something very similar to lead to the next one.

In the back, the NWO are mad, and they are yelling at Goldust, and Booker T says that Goldust is not his friend. The NWO then get into an argument over who the leader of the group is. Goldust says if they let him into the NWO, he might be the leader. Booker says he’ll prove he’s the leader tonight when he beats The Hardyz like Pac and Show couldn’t. He’ll do it with the gold freak as his partner. NWO arguing internally now shows just how in trouble they are as a group. Whilst it technically works, Booker opting for Goldust to be his partner, when he’s been trying to avoid him doesn’t really make too much sense.

Match Two
WWE Womens Championship Match
Trish Stratus (c) vs. Jacqueline

It looks like the Jackie as a referee experiment is over, as she’s back to being a wrestler now. Don’t really care either way if I’m honest. As for this, the match wasn’t good, and was bad, but still felt kind of okay for a women’s match in this era. Trish has improved a ton since Survivor Series when she started wrestling full time, and they land all their moves perfectly which is a nice change of pace. Hard hitting to, which isn’t the standard affair, and in the end, Trish wins with a Bulldog. Still work to do, but this felt like a step in the right direction for a Trish vs. not amazing wrestler match. *1/2 ​

After the match, Trish and Jackie show sportsmanship and share a handshake. Jackie then leaves and Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come out. Heyman asks Trish for an answer to his earlier proposition, because Brock doesn’t like it when people don’t give Heyman answers. She can say yes, and they can leave, or she can say no, and Brock can show her how rough he can play. Trish screams the answer no. Heyman sends Brock into the ring, however Bubba Ray Dudley comes down to protect Trish and stares down Brock. Brock looks ready to fight but Heyman holds him back. Outside of the very slight concern I mentioned in the earlier segment, this is solid advancement here to predictably give Brocks his next opponent.

A Day In The Life Of Tommy Dreamer Part Two airs and this week Tommy eats his own hair, hair gel and drinks barbed solution. Can I just copy and paste my thoughts from last week? Unfunny and a waste of time. Dislike this tremendously.

In the back, the trainer is looking over RVD and suggests that he doesn’t go back out there. RVD says he has to do this and tells the doc to just clean him up. Simple yet affective way to hype the main event even more, and also promote the guts of RVD. Very good.

Match Three
WWE European Championship Match
William Regal (c) w/Molly Holly vs. Bubba Ray Dudley

Not really much to say about this one. They do some back and forth for a couple of minutes. It’s okay, without being amazing, but they’re clearly just killing time for an angle. The match ends when Bubba goes to the outside to get a table, but Brock runs down and attacks Bubba from behind, resulting in a DQ. A nothing match here so it gets a bad rating, but not really a fault of the wrestlers themselves. *1/2 ​

After the match, Brock sends Bubba back into the ring and drops him with the yet to be named F5. As Brock leaves, Regal loads his fist and hits Bubba in the back of the head with brass knuckles as well. Again, obvious progression to set up a Brock/Bubba match, and Regal with the cheap shot at the end is a pure heel move, so I didn’t mind it.

It’s not in ring promo time as Arn Anderson accompanies Ric Flair to the ring. Flar recaps some of the stuff that they have gone through before calling out Stone Cold. As Austin gets in the ring, Anderson reminds him that Flair will always have back up. Ric admits that his plan to put Austin against the odds obviously didn’t work. He’s dealt with him all wrong, but his plan B is to bench Austin until further notice. With that, Flair demands that Austin get out of his sight. Austin is annoyed and goes nuts, Stunning both men, before pouring beer on them before leaving. An okay segment, I guess. Whole feud just feels incredibly stale, so if being benched gives this some breathing space, it might actually be a good thing. Although I’m sure I’ll be disappointed when Austin gives us plenty of breathing space soon.

Raven randomly comes out to sit with JR and ‘The King’ to do commentary. No real rhyme or reason for this but Raven immediately begins insulting The King and is awesome on commentary.

Match Four
Booker T and Goldust vs. The Hardy Boyz

This literally got no time at all. Made the other match where I complain about match time look like a 20-minute classic. Highlight is probably Raven continuing to be a douche to Lawler on commentary. This one ends when the NWO come down and X Pac kicks Goldust from the apron, which allows Matt to synch in an Inside Cradle and get the win. A waste of what would probably be a really good match. Annoying so giving it a shitty rating because I’m bitter. ¼*​

After the match, Pac and Big Show help Booker up and tell him that Goldust lost them the match, which makes Booker question his relationship with Goldust. I guess a solid strategy from the NWO to get rid of the ‘uncool’ Goldust.

We see that Stone Cold and Debra have gone to a local bar for a beer.

The NWO and Goldust remain in the ring and Pac, Show and Booker continue to argue about the state of the group. Booker tells Pac that just because he and Show lost tonight, doesn’t mean they have to mess up his team with Goldust. Show says they didn’t ask for him in the NWO and it looks like Show and Booker are about to fight when Kevin Nash makes his return. Nash looks like a badass as Goldust quickly leaves due to a glare from Nash. Nash basically says that he runs the NWO, and they can dominate the company if they are united. Nash also mentions that he didn’t invite Booker to the party, but there’s always room for a five-time WCW Champion. Booker joins and they all look united by the end of this segment. This was actually good if they were going to try and make the NWO a big deal again now. Nash returns, looks really good in terms of assuming leadership, and under Nash, the NWO looks back on track. Good stuff let’s see how they follow up.

Back at the bar, we see that WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero is also there and he sends drinks and teddy bears to Debra, which makes Austin mad. Lol Eddie. I feel a brawl coming.

After just destroying Lawler on commentary, Raven decides to get up and head to the ring. He says that Lawler doesn’t know anything about wrestling anymore. He challenges Lawler to a match and ‘The King’ accepts. Meh, lazy set up really, but Raven has been fun, and we’re in Memphis so we need the obligatory Lawler match.

Back at the bar, Debra convinces Austin to go to the karaoke machine and sing her a song. Eddie beats Austin to the karaoke stage, grabbing the microphone first. Eddie then starts singing a song for Debra, and the song is hilariously terrible. Another fun segment here as the tension builds. Eddie is so good.

Match Five
Jerry Lawler vs. Raven

Pretty solid stuff from these two really, as Raven is smart, and Lawler can still go because he’s a really good, underrated wrestler. I remember when I was young, I didn’t really understand the appeal of these standard Memphis, so Lawler has to compete matches, but now they’re enjoyable. Lawler pulls the strap down and starts to dominate but when he climbs up top for a Fist Drop, Raven bails and heads up the ramp to gift Lawler a Count Out victory. Really solid for what it was. **1/4​

Back at the bar, it’s Austin’s turn to sing karaoke and he sings, “WASTED AWAY IN MARGARATIAVILLE”! Eddie runs over and cracks a bottle over the back of Austin’s head, leaving him lying. Small segments, but I enjoyed these tonight. Two men full of charisma, and an eventual match between the two would be awesome. I can’t remember if we actually see it or not.

Match Six
WWE Undisputed Championship Match
The Undertaker (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

These two have had some really good to great matches in the past, and whilst this was still good, they’ve done better. It doesn’t help that this one felt rather rushed as well as they didn’t get enough time. Due to the story of RVD being beat up beforehand, it’s clear they hold back and don’t go all out, as there’s not even any real finishing run. One minute they are doing nothing moves, the next RVD hits the Rolling Thunder and gets the three count. Would have been a HUGE, unexpected moment for sure, but ‘Taker’s foot was on the ropes, so Ric Flair comes out and demands the match be restarted. I know this is supposed to be a heel tactic and have him hated, but he’s basically just doing the right thing so it’s backwards and awkward. RVD knocks him on his ass for it, and makes himself look like a bad person, only to turn into a Last Ride from ‘Taker for the win. Weirdly structured match, and not sure the controversy was needed in ‘Taker’s FIRST title defence. They still put on something solid, and what was match of the night though. **3/4​

A solid episode of Raw here and definitely a step up from last week. The NWO stuff turned around at the end, Austin had some entertaining stuff with Eddie, the ‘Taker/RVD opening was awesome, and we had a couple of good matches sprinkled in amongst the bad ones. Solid.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Smackdown
May 23rd, 2002
Tupelo, Mississippi ​

The show opens up and before we can get to our opening match, Michael Cole and Tazz tell us all about the fact that Hulk Hogan will be retiring tonight.

Match One
Lance Storm vs. Triple H

A pretty good opener here. A little surprised at how good this is, as the way WWE book these two, you’d think Triple H would just go over Storm in no time. Instead, they have a fun back and forth match, with Storm giving just as good as he gets. It makes sense from a psychology perspective as they’re putting over how Vince McMahon has Triple H in action so soon after Hell In A Cell. Triple H in this weakened state is even with Storm apparently. But I really did enjoy this more than I thought I would. And I’m not a Triple H hater, although I do think he was severely diminished as a wrestler post his first quad tear in 2001 and will most likely say negative things about him later on in 2002. With that being said, credit where credit is due, he sells the HIAC injuries really well, even during his entrance which was a great touch. Obviously, Storm is Storm, a perfectly fine technical hand who held up his end of the bargain. A really good opener and in the end, Triple H fights through his injuries and gets the win with the Pedigree. I liked this. **3/4​

In the back, Christian and Kurt Angle are talking but they are deliberately keeping Angle’s bald head off the screen. Angle basically says that he’s going to go out there tonight and be courageous. This did its job. A solid tease to the potential bald head reveal later on in the night.

Backstage, Stacy Keibler approaches Test and says that Vince McMahon is asking Test to take care of Randy Orton tonight. Test agrees to the assignment, and then says first he’ll take care of her, and they kiss. Promotes the match between Orton/Test tonight I guess so that’s fine. Assuming these two were dating by this point, but I don’t really care.

Now it’s Kurt Angle in ring promo time and he comes out wearing a wig, with amateur wrestling headgear on top to hide his bald head. Of course, the fans greet him with chants of “you’re bald”! Angle eventually speaks and says his hair grew back, but if they want a big bald loser, Hulk Hogan is here. Angle brags about managing to get a full head of hair in less than a week. Maven of all people interrupts and says it’s nice being bald. He says that it might actually make Angle look better. Maven then tells Kurt that he’s clearly wearing a wig. Kurt tells Maven to come to the ring and take the wig off for him then. Maven is all for it and sprints down the ramp and slides into the ring. Angle stomps the hell out of Maven before he can get up, and beats him down, before nailing the Angle Slam. Edge runs down and makes the save and is ready to remove the wig. Christian runs down and throws Edge off of Angle. Christian then grabs a hold of Angle and helps him to the back, wig still intact. Perfect stuff from Angle here, he’s the perfect goofball to pull this off, and delaying the big moment when Kurt’s bald head is finally revealed is smart booking. Maven’s involvement here feels like a big step up from him out of nowhere, and I I’m not sure he’s ready, but I guess he met the two requirements: be employed by WWE and be bald. Fun stuff overall, and very clearly feels like the makings of a future tag team match.

Stacy Keibler makes her way out and dances on the announce table, much to the delight of the male dominant crowd. This does nothing for storyline purposes but was fun to watch at least.

Oh they also talked about how a new show, Velocity is airing this week for the first time. And yes, I will be covering Velocity as I do heat.

Match Two
Randy Orton vs. Test

Test hasn’t exactly been putting on classics lately, but it’s clear he tried hard in this one and it showed. Nothing groundbreaking but it’s a pretty solid match. I wonder if Test knew how talented Orton was, and the fact his a third generation star, and thought he’d be in the good books if he performed really well tonight. He looks brutal and angry on offense, but the most impressive part is he bumps very well for Orton to. Being he’s still relatively green, Orton is adequate here as well but feel like this was more about Test’s quality performance. Test debuted his new move, the Test Drive to pick up the victory. For your information, Test drive is a Rolling Cutter ala Christopher Daniels’ Last Rites. This match was solid. **1/4​

In the back, Billy and Chuck are mad at one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, their stylist, Rico for taking their titles. He assures them that he doesn’t like being tag champion and it’s only temporary. Meh. I just don’t think Rico has the, erm, chops, to pull off this angle.

Backstage, the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker is interviewed, and he says he is only here tonight to see the death of Hulkamania. Solid interview puts over what’s still to come tonight. And other wrestlers, such as your champion, talking about Hogan’s retirement indirectly puts over how big of a deal it is, which also get a tick from me.

In the back, Chris Jericho finds Faarooq and says he doesn’t want to fight tonight after being in Hell In A Cell. Jericho wants to buy protection from Faarooq. Faarooq just laughs at Jericho and walks away from him. Jericho is confused and then turns around for it to be revealed that his opponent tonight will be Mark Henry. Again, this does the job of hyping a match so it’s fine. And the added bigger picture story here, of Vince McMahon punishing Jericho for not destroying Triple H at Judgment Day is great.

Match Three
Christian and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and Maven

This was a little disappointing for me. It was still solid, but with guys like Christian, Edge and Kurt Angle involved, I would expect better. Unfortunately, they decided to frame the match around Maven, who just isn’t up to their standard, so he ends up spending the most time in the ring, and probably prevents the match from being what it could have been. A shame we didn’t get much Edge vs. an angry Angle here, as we know that pairing is gold. They go at a relatively fast paced for the most part which helps this one as well. The match ends when Christian attempts the Unprettier, but Maven gets a Roll Up for the win, as Angle and Edge brawl on the outside. Solid, but honestly hoped for more. **1/4

Match Four
Reverend D’Von w/Deacon Batista vs. Rikishi

This ones more about the angle and booking than everything else, as Rikishi’s unlikely tag partner, Rico comes down to watch, and Billy and Chuck also come down one minute or so later. There are a few decent spots in here as D’Von continues his motivated run since becoming a man of the cloth. The ending comes about when Batista distracts the referee, and it allows Rico to sneak in and nail Rikishi with one of the tag title belts. After this, D’Von crawls for the pin and the victory. Again, relatively solid for what it was. ** ​

Backstage, Chavo Guerrero is watching footage of WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero attacking Stone Cold in a bar on Raw. Chavo cheers Eddie on when reporter Gregory Helms comes over and talks to Chavo about the mystery notes that The Hurricane has been finding. Chavo says he doesn’t know about the notes but then challenges Hurricane to a match. Helms dead pans Chavo and says he’ll pass on the message. After Chavo leaves, Helms finds another note which reads, “I’m not tall, and I’m not fat, but I left you a clue, what’s up with that”? The clue is beef jerky which is really random. Fun segment, continuing the Hurricane mystery angle, but also setting up another match for the show.

In the back, Triple H is interviewed, and he talks about how now his focus is back on the WWE Title. Lance Storm interrupts and tells Triple H his luck is about to run out. Triple H is ready to go but then Test comes out of nowhere and knocks out Triple H with a Big Boot! Fine enough. Looks like a Test/Triple H match could be in the works.

Match Five
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
The Hurricane (c) vs. Chavo Guerrero

This was solid, fun. A rather by the numbers Cruiserweight style match, but Chavo doesn’t work with the same stiffness as Tajiri which means this isn’t as good as the previous Cruiserweight title matches, we were getting. The match is also rushed, relatively quick as the Cruiserweight division doesn’t get much screen time at the minute. Also another one of these random title matches, which Chavo getting a match just because. Anyway, Hurricane retained the title after hitting the Overcast (Buff Blockbuster). Another solid one here, continuing the trend for the night. **1/4 ​

Backstage, Stacy Keibler talks to Vince McMahon and assures him that she was just having fun with Test. Vince is okay with it and says nothing can make him angry tonight. Chris Jericho interrupts and is angry about having a match tonight, just after Hell in a Cell, but Vince sells it to Jericho, saying it’s his chance to beat the World’s Strongest Man. Solid segment. Did the job. Hyped the Hogan stuff, Jericho’s match and Jericho being annoyed at Vince for being announced for this match.

Match Six
Chris Jericho vs. Mark Henry

Surprise, surprise. Another solid match on the agenda for tonight. This was okay as Henry uses his strength to pound on Jericho and really dominate. This further puts over how Jericho is hindered from Hell in a Cell, with Henry remaining in control until he gets cocky and plays to the fans. This allows Jericho to get some shots in, before Henry started to take him seriously again, and used his strength advantage to throw Jericho around. Henry looked really good here, but Jericho shows his resourcefulness, hitting Mark with a chair to sneak a win. Solid work from these two, and smart booking. The bigger name sneaks the win, and the lesser name gets a rub by looking really strong. Solid stuff. **1/4​

To finish off the night, it’s in ring promo time from Hulk Hogan who comes out and talks about enjoying the last twenty years of his career. He says there is no doubt he loves the crowd. He talks about how at Christmas time, his did suffered his sixth stroke and died. During four months of lying in a hospital bed, his dad showed no emotion except for when Raw and Smackdown are on. His dad wanted Hogan to return to the WWE and straighten his career out. Hogan thanks the fans for everything, and confirms his retiring, before thanking the fans. We then get Hogan beginning one last pose-fest, until Vince McMahon interrupts. Vince says that there is no chance Hogan retires tonight. Vince says that Hogan doesn’t get to retire on his own terms. Hogan signed a contract, and Vince is going to milk Hulkamania until Hogan dies. Hogan admits that one day he will retire, but not before he kicks Vince’s ass. Hogan drops Vince and begins whipping him with his weightlifting belt, until The Undertaker runs out and attacks Hogan. Hogan fights back and knocks ‘Taker over the top rope and to the outside. Hogan sends Vince from the ring as well and stands tall to once again celebrate, not retired, as the show comes to an end. This was good. Hogan didn’t talk long, and Vince is such an epic heel. That milking Hulkamania until he dies line is pretty fantastic. Good ending to the show.

A good edition of Smackdown tonight. Wrestling was solid throughout, and the main angles which got most the focus were fun. Best show in a while for either brand.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Velocity
May 25th, 2002
Tupelo, Mississippi ​

First episode of Velocity, which is the Smackdown equivalent to Heat. Only difference being that the wrestling on Heat is mostly consistently average, whereas Velocity has been a place for some hidden gems over the years. Let’s see how it goes.

I guess since it’s the first episode I’ll let you know that the commentary team tonight is Al Snow and Michael Cole.

Match One
Billy Kidman vs. Tajiri

First things first, I’m glad these two got a blow off match. I think I had mentioned previously that I was disappointed with the way their feud had ended. That was not knowing that they had this match on Velocity. First thing that makes me happy is that they weren’t rushed. They got a whole bunch of times, and they made the most of it. The fans aren’t into it when they mat wrestle in the early stages, because all Cruiserweights are supposed to do is jump around apparently. Wrestling was good here though, and the transition into the arm work was great. Kidman sold the arm really well throughout which added to the match. Considering Torrie Wilson and Tajiri are over at this point, maybe the feud ender between these two would have been better if Torrie didn’t get involved. Torrie comes out in a red bikini, which distracts Tajiri, and then she trips him up when he bounces off the ropes as well. Kidman then gets the win with a modified Facebuster. Love that they built into the match, which can sometimes be risky for Cruiserweights and the crowd’s attention span, but this was great work. On a show filled with hidden gems, I find one on the very first episode. ***​

We then get a recap from this week’s Smackdown which firstly shows Kurt Angle losing to Edge at Judgment Day. It then focuses on Angle being bald, refusing to show it on Smackdown and losing a tag team match alongside Christian, against Edge and Maven.

Match Two
Hardcore Holly vs. Val Venis

Disappointing from these two, below average match. Admittedly, Holly isn’t great but can be serviceable and I’m a Val fan so expected better than this. Both men are going through this strange period where they haven’t been utilised in a while, but are starting to be used on Smackdown again, so I wasn’t sure how this would go. Basically two experienced guys who’re capable putting on a half assed match here. Usually I complain about matches being short, but based on the effort level here, the quick run time was probably a good thing. The crowd weren’t that interested to which doesn’t help the atmosphere. I guess booking wise this did the job of giving Holly a win. A little irritated that he just won with a simple Dropkick! Hasn’t been a finish in a long time. Felt anticlimactic, and honestly just makes Val look weak. This really wasn’t very good. *3/4​

We then get the WWE RVD Slurpee cup commercial.

Now we get another recap of Judgment Day, showing The Undertaker beating Hulk Hogan. We then see a recap of Hogan’s attempted retirement on Smackdown, before it was interrupted by Vince McMahon and The Undertaker.

Match Three
WWE Womens Championship Match
Bra And Panties
Trish Stratus (c) vs. Stacy Keibler

I’m not sure if I can just copy and paste my thoughts of the Judgment Day match and put them here. It hurts Trish, considering they are trying to make her character more serious. They made this one a bra and panties match to, so there’s even less emphasis on wrestling. On commentary, Michael Cole tries to make us believe that this being a bra and panties match, instead of a wrestling match, stacks the deck against Trish. Weird, confusing logic for sure. With everything I’ve just said, this is about what you’d expect. Stacy Keibler, for all her entertaining qualities, is not a wrestler. This one comes to an end with the uncreative ending of the Roll Up counter spot so Trish can pull Stacy’s bottoms off to win. They looked good, but this was far from good. *​

Much like Heat, I’m not expecting much with Velocity. Whilst match two and three were bad, match one was a banger and that’s enough for me. This episode gets a pass mark, and I look forward to more.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Heat
May 26th, 2002
Memphis, Tennessee

Match One
D’Lo Brown vs. Justin Credible

They don’t get a hell of a lot of time, but that’s probably a good thing for a match involving Justin Credible. I’ll give these guys credit though, they put in some decent work and ensure Heat begins with a solid match. This doesn’t happen most weeks so I’m happy to see a decent match on this show for a change. There isn’t a tremendous focus on anything particular in the match, it’s more or less just a back and forth, but it’s fun. D’Lo is fast becoming the MVP of Heat. Anyway, the finishing run here is both men exchanging big moves, as D’Lo gets a near fall off a Swinging Side Slam. Then Credible hits a Superkick when D’Lo leaps off the middle rope for a two count, and then D’Lo immediately hits a Sky High for the win. Uncreative, uninspiring finish run, but a solid match overall, and I’m always down for more D’Lo victories. **

Match Two
Big Bossman vs. Tommy Dreamer

Ugh, really just hoping Bossman beats the shit out of Tommy for having such a bad gimmick. I don’t have a lot to say about this one. I have minimum interest in Bossman at the moment because he isn’t doing anything of note, and Tommy’s gimmick is awful. So with no investment in this one, it’s even harder to sit through a dull and slow plodding along match between these two. Bossman isn’t overly large so after next to no work on the back, when Tommy goes for the Death Valley Driver, but can’t lift Bossman because of his back, it just comes across as rather strange as opposed to good selling. This selling allows Bossman to get up and hit a Spinebuster for a near fall. They then go into the lame ending, where Bossman argues with referee Nick Patrick about the count and shoves him. Patrick shoves Bossman back, and he stumbles into a Roll Up from Dreamer for the win. Tommy is getting the ‘push’ on Raw if you can call it that, so makes sense for him to win this. But match was bad, and the gimmick is bad. *​

Backstage, Terri interviews the WWF Hardcore Champion Steven Richards. Terri asks Richards about his title defence against Bradshaw tonight, especially considering Jazz won’t be with him tonight because she’s out injured. Richards is insulted that Terri suggests he can’t do it by himself. Richards insults Bradshaw, calling him a loud, beer drinking Texan, and then Bradshaw slaps him on his back because it turns out Bradshaw was standing behind him. Richards is worried and offers to give Bradshaw the title so that way nobody gets hurt. Bradshaw declines as he wants to kick Richards’ ass and says he’ll see him out there tonight. Bradshaw then leaves and Stevie is stressing, telling himself, “I’m so dead”! A solid enough segment here to hype tonight’s main event. The Richards character is already a joke, so the cowardly act doesn’t hurt him, and puts over Bradshaw as a fearful bad ass.

Match Three
Shawn Stasiak vs. Spike Dudley

After a brief run on Raw, Stasiak is back on Heat this week, and he looks to get the jump on Spike early, attacking him before the bell rings. Spike is a sometimes jobber, sometimes not, and Stasiak is a full-time jobber, so it’s no surprise to me that Spike is the one who gets the win here. They keep this thing short as well, and this is the most offense Stasiak has had in a match in a long time. To be honest, I know he had his faults, but he actually didn’t look that bad here against Spike. After hitting a Gut Wrench Slam for a near fall, Stasiak starts hearing the voices from Planet Stasiak, and he looks up towards the skies, talking to them. As he’s distracted, Spike is able to recover and hit a headbutt to the gut, before following up with the Dudley Dog for the win. More Stasiak shenanigans here cost him the win, it is what it is. An okay win for Spike, I guess. The match was bad though, not as bad as the previous one, but still not enjoyable. On another note, I read somewhere that the Stasiak character here was kind of like a comedy version of The Ultimate Warrior and now I can’t get that out of my head. Next level petty Vince potentially at it again. Anyway, the match rating, not good. *1/2​

Suddenly, Raven gets up from the commentary desk, saying he’s sick of this and he grabs a microphone and gets into the ring. He says he’s been with the company for two years and his treatment has been lacklustre, and he deserves better. He says he’s been left broken and busted. People of lesser ability have been given more than him. He will no longer tolerate this, and sometimes there is no choice, and he then quits. Raven then heads up the ramp, without another word, leaving Coach to commentate solo. Because it’s an angle on Heat, and because it’s Raven in the WWE, this will most likely go nowhere. It was a good promo from Raven though and felt like it could have been the start of a promising angle. I don’t recall this happening, so let’s see if they follow it up.

Match Four
WWF Hardcore Championship Match
Steven Richards (c) vs. Bradshaw

Really disappointing main event. I guess it’s Heat so you can’t be that disappointed, but we barely get this match. There’s a fun moment in the beginning where Bradshaw is throwing weapons into the ring and Richards is throwing them out. Outside of that, we get maybe two minutes of Bradshaw beating on Stevie, until Crash Holly comes out to try and regain the Hardcore Title. I think it’s clear they wanted Richards to retain and Bradshaw not to take the fall, so Crash intervened to be the loser. Bradshaw ends up clearing the ring of both men, but on the outside, Richards pins Crash to escape with his title. Not good, and the Crash inclusion probably hurt this more, as Bradshaw beating the tar out of Richards most likely would have been fun. *​

A solid episode of Heat this week. Still a lot of bad wrestling, but we got one decent match, and the Raven promo was enjoyable, which is more than what we can usually say.