Stojy watches WWE 2002

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
June 17th, 2002
Oakland, California​

JR and The King welcome us to the show and hype some of the stuff in store for tonight. Booker T vs. Brock Lesnar and Rob Van Dam vs. X Pac in King Of The Ring Quarter Final matches, and we will hear the real story behind why Stone Cold left the WWE. Two promising matches and the Austin stuff is enough to get me invested, to be honest.

Match One
King Of The Ring Quarter Final
Rob Van Dam vs. X Pac

Pretty solid stuff from these two, and honestly, if it wasn’t for the booking of the ending, which makes sense from a storyline angle, I likely would have rated this even higher. RVD looked awesome here, hitting crazy kicks from all different angles. This played into a cool bit of psychology as they played up the jealousy factor. As more of Van Dam’s kicks were successful and more of Pac’s failed, Pac got more annoyed and aggressive. I knew this would be fun due to the way these two both like to utilise their kicks. Whilst it was solid, there were times when Pac was connecting with kicks, they just didn’t seem to have the same effort as RVD’s. Potentially Pac was cruising a little bit here, but he did hit a really cool Flipping Senton to the outside, so I’ll forgive him. The ending was a bit meh as Pac Dropkicks RVD, sending him flying off the top rope and to the outside. The referee goes out to check on RVD, instead of counting him out, and it allows Booker T to sneak in and hit Pac with the Book End. RVD is then strangely back to one hundred percent, as he heads to the top and hits the Five Star Frog Splash. The booking makes sense, but even the interference spot could have been crafted a bit better. Felt lazy. I felt the ending hurt this one but was still a very solid way to start the show. **1/2​

We see a clip of JR talking on Confidential. He says he never saw Stone Cold leaving coming. He still doesn’t believe it, but he won’t be on Raw anymore. JR says that Austin bailing, was like John Wayne becoming a coward in a fight, you’d never see it coming. Cool to play this little clip, as anytime JR speaks on Austin it feels really personal.

Backstage, X Pac is pissed that Booker T screwed him over. Shawn Michaels tries to calm him down and tells him the night is young, but Pac wants to get at Booker now. The New World Order calms Pac down and Kevin Nash tells him he has a plan. Solid segment here. Logical reaction from X Pac, and Nash having a plan gives us a hook on how NWO will retaliate later on.

Next up it’s in ring promo time for Vince McMahon as he’s back in charge of Raw. He comes out and speaking out of character says that Stone Cold is no longer a part of the WWE. He says that Austin has a lot of explaining to do if he wants to come back. Vince says that last week, Austin just went home. Vince says that Austin owes an apology to every wrestler and every fan. He admits he doesn’t know if Austin will ever come back to action. Vince reveals that the same thing happened after WrestleMania, but they were lenient. McMahon then thanks Austin for building the WWE and thanks him for the memories. Vince then gets a can of beer from ringside, takes a sip and leaves it in the middle of the ring. Whilst he did reveal some minor dirty laundry with the Mania stuff, it was clear Vince still wanted Austin back badly. Hence, we get a relatively respectful goodbye. This was actually some really compelling stuff to watch.

Match Two
Jeff Hardy vs. Raven

All this shit over Jeff’s arm is horrendous and makes me not want to watch him. It’s the glow in the dark body paint stuff and it’s horrendous. I read somewhere somebody say it looks like a ghoul unloaded a bunch of cum on Jeff’s left arm, and that feels like a pretty apt description unfortunately. Anyway, onto the match itself, they got a bit more time here, did a bit more and had a proper ending. This means this was a step up from Heat and they put on a relatively solid match. As things progress, the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker comes down to watch the match. They continue with some solid action with no botching from Jeff which is good. Raven’s offense looks pretty painful throughout as well, which is another positive, but in the end, Jeff gets him down and hits the Swanton Bomb for the win. Solid stuff from these two. ** ​

After the match, The Undertaker surprisingly leaves but signals to Jeff that he’ll be watching him. Very intriguing for ‘Taker to show up and then not do anything. Mind games, I guess. Fun stuff.

Backstage, Goldust approaches Booker T, and he’s dresses as the ‘Duke Of Gold’, as he tells Booker that he is going to serve in his royal court after he wins King Of The Ring. Booker says he wants to win King Of The Ring but wants nothing of Goldust. Booker does remind Goldust that he hasn’t won the tournament yet. Goldust chimes in and reminds Booker that he warned him about Shawn Michaels last week. Booker says he will upstage the NWO. Solid segment from these two. Not as good comedy as the others, as Goldust’s parody didn’t really do much for me this week. Still, this put over Booker’s issues with the NWO and the fact that he’s still in the KOTR tournament so not a complete miss by any means.

The Coach walks into a room with gym equipment and Molly Holly looks to be using the thigh master. The Coach asks her about WWE Womens Champion Trish Stratus. Molly says she was offended when Trish called her a fat ass, but Trish was offended when Molly beat her last week. She’s going to beat Trish again tonight too. The Coach says if that happens maybe Molly wont’ be “the butt” of anymore jokes. Molly is pissed and slaps Coach in the face. Ugh. I’ve made my thoughts on the whole fat ass thing clear, simply not a fan. It’s unnecessary. I will admit that Coach starting to show some personality here is a big positive though.

We cut to the NWO locker room where Big Show was watching what just happened on a monitor and laughing about it. X Pac comes over and complains about losing his match to RVD, when Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar walk in. Heyman says he is very sorry that X Pac lost tonight, but it had nothing to do with Brock. Heyman asks the NWO not to get involved in Booker vs. Brock. That leads to Brock staring down Shawn Michaels, and then Kevin Nash gets in a stare down with Brock. The entire NWO step up to Brock, who does not back down, but Heyman ushers him to leave. Really good stuff here. Makes sense for Heyman to do this because he doesn’t want his client to be disqualified. Also some fun micro moments here with Brock staring down HBK and Nash. He also looks like a badass for not backing down from the entire group.

Match Three
Christopher Nowinski w/William Regal vs. Spike Dudley

This is not very good. Spike tries his hardest to bump well for Nowinski, and even then, this is still bad. Nowinski just isn’t very good. As Spike begins a comeback and gets on top, Regal gets onto the apron. Spike knocks Regal off the apron but it leaves him open to a Full Nelson Bomb from Nowinski for the win. It doesn’t help that Nowinski botched the finish as well. Not good. *3/4​

Next up it’s in ring promo time from the former owner of Raw, Ric Flair. He admitted that last week sucked and as owner, he let the power get to his head, but he came back tonight. Last week he lost his top star, and he lost his ownership. As owner, he became an asshole and made some bad decisions. However, he refuses to let his last match be a loss to Vince McMahon. He admits he’s lost a half a step but says he’s still two steps ahead of everybody else in the back. He isn’t going to walk out like Stone Cold did. So he’s signed a contract and now he’s a Raw wrestler. He’s going to prove to himself that he has one more good run in him. Stone Cold’s music then interrupts to a HUGE pop, but Eddie Guerrero comes out instead. Eddie tells everyone that they just heard that music for the last time. Eddie talks about how his match with Austin at King Of The Ring was supposed to make his career. Now he has nothing, and he blames Flair. He calls Flair a worthless piece of crap. Chris Benoit then interrupts and makes his way out to the ring. Benoit says Eddie can’t talk to Flair like that and then Flair challenges Eddie for King Of The Ring and Eddie accepts. Benoit then changes his tone and says his opportunity was stolen by Flair too. Benoit was out for one year because of Austin, and now he can’t get back at Austin. Realising where this is going, Flair strikes first and attacks Benoit and Eddie. As Flair punches Benoit, Eddie takes him down from behind. They then beat up Flair until Eddie locks in the Figure Four as Benoit stands over Flair and mouths off. I really enjoyed this. Benoit and Eddie have legitimate reasons to be pissed, and this works really well to pivot Flair into a sympathetic face. For some last-minute booking, this was all very good.

Backstage, Christopher Nowinski introduces himself to Vince McMahon and lists all of his accomplishments. Vince ends the conversation though as he has to take a phone call. Vince says Tony Garea is his look out at the airport, and Garea is saying that “he” is on his way, and Vince says that must mean Austin. Solid stuff here. LOL at Nowinski and then hyping Austin’s potential return is smart.

We see a video package from last night on Heat, where Crash Holly came out and challenged D’Lo Brown to a match. D’Lo then beat him relatively easily.

Match Four
Crash Holly and Molly Holly vs. D’Lo Brown and Trish Stratus

It’s a pretty quick match as they don’t get a lot of time, and honestly, it’s not very good. They do some back-and-forth stuff with both the men and women, before D’Lo pins Crash after hitting the Sky High. Well, at least the Sky High is back, and I guess it makes sense for the women not to have a decisive fall here, considering they have a PPV match this Sunday. Still, match wasn’t good. *1/2 ​

Backstage, Jackie Gayda approaches Vince McMahon and tells him she hasn’t signed a contract with any brand and wants to be a Raw girl. Vince flirts back with her and says Jackie will have the opportunity to do some stuff that I can’t be bothered recapping in the next two weeks. Solid enough to hype some future Jackie appearances, I guess. Vince flirting with nearly EVERY diva is fast getting old though.

Over at The World, Lita is there, in a neck brace but still hosting the Raw party. She wishes her boyfriend Matt Hardy luck tonight against The Undertaker but says that she’s recently learned that sometimes it’s not worth the risk. Good way to remind us that Lita is still around, just injured, and more importantly, her concern puts over the grave danger of facing The Undertaker.

Match Five
Matt Hardy vs. The Undertaker

Fast paced as they don’t have a lot of time, and it also helps put over the aggression from both men. They do some stuff with ‘Taker mainly dominating, until Jeff Hardy runs down to try and help his brother. Jeff pulls the referee out of the ring to prevent Matt being pinned. The Hardyz then double team ‘Taker before Jeff climbs to the top rope, but Raven comes down and pushes Jeff off the top. This allows ‘Taker to focus back in on Matt and hit the Last Ride for the win. Not much of a match, more about the booking, which hit the right notes. *3/4​

After the match, Raven rolls Jeff back into the ring. He then pulls some handcuffs out and handcuffs Jeff to the top rope. Raven holds Matt back as Undertaker beats the hell out of Jeff for a while. Raven and Undertaker working together is something I truly thought I’d never see, but this angle in general was awesome. The build for Undertaker/Jeff continues to deliver.

After the break, Terri interviews The Undertaker, and he tells her that this is what happens when you try and make a name for yourself at the expense of The Undertaker. Fine enough promo here.

In his office, Vince McMahon gets another call from Tony Garea who informs him that “he is almost at the arena” … Another nice tease.

Backstage, Paul Heyman approaches Earl Hebner and tells him to now allow any interference in the upcoming Booker and Brock match. Heyman sucks up by talking about how much he respects what Hebner stands for. Hebner basically tells Heyman not to tell him how to do his job. Hebner walks away and Heyman goes to turn away but turns into Booker T. Booker tells him not to worry about Brock getting DQ’d but worry about Brock getting his rookie ass whooped. Love the side angle of Heyman being worried about Brock getting DQ’d to the point where he goes to the ref. Very good stuff, and the Booker interaction was okay for some last-minute hype.

Match Six
King Of The Ring Quarter Final
Booker T vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman

The NWO make their entrance before the match even begins, just to build tension to this one even more, which was a good move. This was a short match, only getting a few minutes, but what they delivered was very solid. Kind of has me wishing that we get to see them for longer at some point (but my memory tells me that won’t happen). Considering Booker is seemingly on the up as a face, the booking protects him here and I’m okay with that. Goldust comes down to ringside during the match as well to try and counteract the NWO’s presence. In the end, the NWO work together to distract Booker, including an awesome moment where Heyman holds Show’s leg to ensure he can’t actually hit Booker, allowing Brock to hit an F5 and get the win. Quick but solid. **​

After the match, the NWO continue to beat down Booker, whilst Show nails Goldust with a Chokeslam. Aftermath here is fine, as this feud isn’t finished.

In the back, Sargeant Slaughter comes in and tells Vince McMahon that Tony Garea has just arrived. Vince tells Sarge to tell him to come to the ring. One last tease, cool.

It’s more in ring promo time from Vince McMahon as he comes out and calls out Stone Cold. Tony Garea then comes down and tells Vince that he wasn’t talking about Austin. The Rock then returns, getting an EPIC pop from the fans. The Rock gets on the mic and begins running through things, getting Vince with the old it doesn’t matter trick. The Rock then forces Vince to leave the ring before cutting a passionate promo about being loyal to the WWE, and how Austin took his ball and went home. He then announces he’s bringing his return forward and will be at King Of The Ring this Sunday, before hitting us with the line, “If you smell what The Rock is cooking” … Feel good ending here for the fans. They replace one star with another, and arguably Rock is the only guy who could work in this position. If this was anybody else, after they teased Austin all night, assuming it wouldn’t have been a good reaction. Nice, passionate promo from The Rock, even if WWE won’t be his home for that much longer… Still, good promo here to end the show on a high.

A middling show here for me. Wasn’t great but wasn’t awful. Still think they deserve some credit for the pivoting they’ve had to do for the past couple of weeks, and how they’re starting to make it work (Rock coming back, Flair vs. Eddie, etc).

 

[Stojy]

WWE Smackdown
June 20th, 2002
Sacramento, California​

Michael Cole and Tazz welcome us to Smackdown and on the agenda tonight are the two Smackdown King Of The Ring Quarter Finals. We’ll get Chris Jericho vs. Val Venis and Hardcore Holly vs. Test tonight. I’m looking forward to Jericho/Venis. Not so much the other match.

We start off with some in ring promo time from Kurt Angle. He’s upset because he knows everyone has been laughing at him. He knows the guys in the back are laughing at him and pointing every time he walks by. Angle then plays a video on the tron from last week’s Smackdown which shows Hulk Hogan ripping off Angle’s wig to reveal his bald head. He admits he’s upset because his hair won’t grow back. He says this is no joke. He’ll make Hogan tap and break his ankle and his spirit at King Of The Ring. Hulk Hogan interrupts and heads down to the ring and says he’s a one-hundred-year-old man and he’s going to punk out Angle at the pay per view. He says he will take Angle’s wig off again. They then break out into a fight. Hogan gets the upper hand and takes Angle down, but Angle bails before he can lose the wig again. Pretty entertaining opening here because Angle is awesome. Nice segment to build more heat to their match at the PPV.

Backstage, Dawn Marie approaches Stacy Keibler and lets her know that Vince McMahon entered her into the Lingerie contest. Both girls overhear Torrie Wilson thanking the seamstress and they go up to her. Torrie shows them her bra and panties, causing Stacy and Dawn to be mad/jealous of Torrie as she walks away. Catty stuff to hype the thongathon or whatever it is that probably won’t be on TV. Meh.

Match One
Christian vs. Rikishi

This was a bit rushed but solid enough from these two. Rikishi hits the same offense that he always does, but Christian puts on a terrific bumping performance to make everything look top notch. Eventually, Rikishi is able to hit Christian with a Pop-Up Cutter! Rikishi makes the pin, and Christian gets his foot on the ropes, but the ref doesn’t see it and counts the three. Rikishi wins. Solid match, and obviously the ending fits into an angle as well. **​

After the match, Christian isn’t happy with the referee and eventually Lance Storm comes down to join in the argument. After the break, Storm has a mic and says this is more than innocent incompetence. The same thing happened to him last week. Storm says the WWE has a prejudice against Canadians. They’ve been screwing Canadians every chance they get. Storm then talks about how Americans think they’re better than everyone else. Storm says there is a reason to hate America. America deserves it. And he ends it by saying that AMERICA SUCKS~! Honestly, this could actually be the best promo of Storm’s career. Can’t think of one he’s done better. Really good stuff, and the angle works. Maybe could have been dragged on a little longer before this happened, but that’s me being picky because I’m a fan of the slow build. This was good.

Backstage, Marc Lloyd interviews Triple H and Trips talks about winning back the WWE Undisputed Championship. He says he will accomplish that. He also mentions Billy Gunn being a part of DX when Billy was known as Bad Ass Billy Gunn or Mr. Ass. He then says actually, now he thinks about it, maybe he’s still Mr. Ass because of his partnership with Chuck. Solid enough promo to hype match tonight and match against ‘Taker at KOTR.

Backstage, Jamie Noble and Nidia are talking, and Nidia is confident that Noble is going to beat Kidman tonight. And then he will beat The Hurricane at King Of The Ring. That makes her happy, and when she’s happy, she makes her man happy. She then says she hopes The Hurricane comes look for his mask because she has it stored in a warm location. She then lifts up her skirt to reveal she’s using the mask as panties. Awesome stuff. Nidia is a freak and Noble is epic. I love this pairing, so much fun.

Match Two
Number One Contendership for WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Billy Kidman vs. Jamie Noble w/Nidia

I know he’s had the match with Funaki on Velocity, but this is JAMIE NOBLE BOY’s first match on Smackdown, so I want to mark the occasion by mentioning it. As is the running trend, they unfortunately don’t get a lot of time, but this is solid for the amount of time that they do get. Noble puts on a fantastic performance here, even if most the offense in the match was controlled by Kidman. Kidman looks like he might be set to win the match, climbing up top for the Shooting Star Press, but Nidia causes him to fall and crotch on the top rope. Noble then hits a brutal Elevated DDT to get the win. The Noble run has begun. Yes! Really solid stuff here. **1/4 ​

After the match, Nidia gets in the ring to celebrate with Noble, and she places The Hurricane’s mask on Noble’s face. The lights then go out and The Hurricane’s music hits. He comes from the crowd and lands a Chokeslam on the unsuspecting Noble. This allows Hurricane to get his mask back. I guess this is sort of rushed as their match is on the weekend. I could have done with Hurricane chasing the mask a bit longer, but this was still good fun.

Match Three
Billy w/Chuck and Rico vs. Triple H

There are some pairings that just don’t seem to have any natural chemistry, and this is one of them. Add to that the fact that Billy is not in his element (tag team action), and Trips is passed his prime in ring (late ’99-’01), we get a crappy match. Can’t blame one person and say the other tried, both were most likely as equally bad as each other. And of course, after all his losses recently, Triple H was booked like a monster here, to overcome the WWE Tag Team Champions and Rico all by himself. Triple H eventually gets Billy with a Pedigree to pick up the win. Not good. *3/4​

After the match, Rico is furious, and he tries to get in and Clothesline Triple H. Triple H ducks and sets up Rico for the Pedigree. Before he can hit it, Kurt Angle attacks Triple H from behind. The WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker then also comes down to attack Triple H. Triple H reverses and nails ‘Taker with a Facebuster. He then looks like he’s trying to Pedigree The Undertaker. Angle comes back in the ring with a chair and swings at Trips, but Trips moves, and Angle accidentally slams the chair across ‘Taker’s back. Triple H exits the ring and laughs at Angle as he backs up the ramp. Angle then quickly escapes the ring as well as ‘Taker picks up the chair and is mad as hell when he gets up. Unexpected but fun aftermath here, although not sure Triple H needed to get the better of FIVE guys.

After the break, we’re in the back and The Undertaker demands that Vince McMahon book him vs. Kurt Angle. Vince tries to act tough and says nobody tells him what to do, but he’ll give ‘Taker the match anyway. Logical progression here, solid stuff.

Match Four
King Of The Ring Quarter Final
Chris Jericho vs. Val Venis

These two have a solid match together, with Jericho putting in a really good performance, but then Val also holding his own and making his offense looks especially good. They get about six minutes which is enough as an appetizer, but man, I wish they got double this one day to really build something. This is definitely a benefit of the draft at this point that guys like Val and Randy Orton are getting a chance to shine. As we get into the finishing stretch, we have some cool false finishes, which the fans really buy into. In the end, Jericho gets a sneaky low blow behind the referees back which allows him to lock in the Walls Of Jericho and get the win. Solid work from these two, and Jericho advancing in the tournament overall is probably the right call. **1/2​

Backstage, Hardcore Holly confronts Test ahead of their match tonight and lets him know he’s not taking the match lightly. Test tells Holly he will know just how serious he is. Not a great segment. Two guys who aren’t great talkers. Served its purpose of hyping the match, but it wasn’t good.

The Rock’s surprise return and promo from Raw gets played in full…

In the back, Kurt Angle complains to Vince McMahon about having to face The Undertaker tonight when he has Hulk Hogan to fight in three days. Vince tells Angle that ‘Taker demanded the match. Vince then gives Kurt a pep talk, talking about all of his accomplishments. Stacy Keibler then chimes in and asks if Kurt is afraid of ‘Taker. Angle gets all fired up and says he’s going to pretend ‘Taker is Hogan out there tonight. A good segment. Love the manipulation of Angle here by Vince, and then it potentially backfiring by getting Kurt to fired up. Good stuff, and of course, some good hype for the main event as well.

Match Five
King Of The Ring Quarter Final
Hardcore Holly vs. Test

So it turns out these two aren’t only bad talkers, they are bad workers for the most part as well. Put them together and what do you get? A bad, unenjoyable match. This was horrible, and even the finishing run was uncreative, as Holly throws a half-hearted Clothesline, Test ducks and gets one of the worst Big Boots for the win. I call it out because Test’s Big Boot is usually epic, but it wasn’t here. Yuck stuff. *1/2​

After the match, Marc Lloyd interviews Test at ringside and asks him about wrestling Brock Lesnar at King Of The Ring. Test says The Next Big Thing is going to eat his next Big Boot, then he’ll become king and the new big thing around here. Not the worst considering it’s a Test promo and hypes the match at the PPV. Trying to be positive here.

In the back, Vince McMahon tells security to get him The Undertaker and Kurt Angle to try and calm him down before their match. Cool.

After the break, Vince McMahon has The Undertaker and Kurt Angle with him, and he tells them he wants a good, clean match tonight but Angle and ‘Taker refuses to shake hands. Kurt says that ‘Taker has a bad attitude. ‘Taker responds by telling Angle that Kurt has a bad wig and calls him cueball. That causes Angle to lose it, and he attacks ‘Taker, even knocking over Vince in the process. They get pulled apart. Really good stuff here. Thought the banter between Angle and ‘Taker was entertaining, and in one night, they’ve turned this into a compelling, must-see match.

Match Six
Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker

They get seven minutes which isn’t bad time during this era, and these two put on a perfectly acceptable match. It’s enough to be match of the night, but it’s still a level or two below what these two could potentially be doing. They did a really good job of keeping this competitive, managing to keep the fans engaged in a heel vs. heel scenario which can be difficult based on past history. They have some nice reversals of some of each other’s key signature moves as expected. I think it’s clear that they’re holding back a little, which makes sense with what’s to come in the coming weeks. The match ends when ‘Taker looks for the Chokeslam, but Angle shifts in the air and pulls ‘Taker down, locking in the Ankle Lock in the process. ‘Taker fights out of it and regains control but then Triple H walks down the ramp. The distraction is enough for Angle to sneak a Roll Up whilst holding the tights and Angle wins. Maybe a little unexpected for Angle to beat the champion three days before a pay per view, but based on the Triple H appearance, this doesn’t hurt ‘Taker so I’m okay with it. Good stuff from these two, with better most likely to come. **3/4​

After the match, Triple H and ‘Taker gets in a brawl on the floor, as Hulk Hogan comes down to the ring. Hogan puts on an ugly, although not as ugly as Edge’s Ankle Lock, until ‘Taker gets back in the ring and breaks it up with a Chokeslam. Triple H then slides back in and hits ‘Taker with a Pedigree to stand tall to end the show. Boy, did Triple H ever look strong tonight. Either way, this was a fun ending to give us one last sell for the two main attractions for King Of The Ring (outside of the tournament itself of course).

A solid episode of SD here which did a good job as a go home show for hyping the important angles heading into King Of The Ring.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Velocity
June 22nd, 2002
Sacramento, California

Match One
Randy Orton vs. Rob Conway

I’ve actually always thought that Conway sucks, and that’s probably still my overall thoughts, however, I was surprised by how decent this was. Orton is nowhere near the point in his career where he can coast as of yet, and Conway probably tried as well. A really surprising first appearance for Conway, as to put over how slimy he is, he fakes an ankle injury after an awkward fall. Orton tries to hold the ropes to help him, but then Conway attacks from behind and kicks off his heel run. Didn’t expect this from a throw away match like this, but at least it gets us to understand that Conway’s attitude isn’t a good one. The intensity of the match picked up after the injury fake, and honestly, this might be the best that Conway has ever looked. Solid stuff, they get about five and a half minutes or so, but in the end, Orton hits his Diving Crossbody from the top to get the win. A pretty fair effort here from these two. **1/2​

After the match, Conway is mad and has to be held back by the referee. I wonder if they’ll have another match at some point on Velocity.

We get a quick promo from Jamie Noble and Nidia. Noble talks about how he’ll beat The Hurricane at King Of The Ring and win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. He’ll prove he’s the best Cruiserweight in wrestling. Nidia then talks about how his attitude turns her on. Nice promo from these two, as their relatively new act continues to entertain.

Match Two
Albert vs. Chavo Guerrero

This was not very good. Less fundamentally bad but more strange booking that resulted in the match feeling awkward. Chavo hasn’t been a face really, so it’s a weird heel vs. heel battle. I guess Chavo is the pseudo face, because it’s easier to feel sympathy for him when he’s being thrown around by the bigger Albert. But yeah, strange alignment, action is rather slow moving, just this didn’t really do anything for me. Which is strange, because I’ve always considered myself an Albert fan, but 2002 has done nothing for me so far. In the end, Albert removes a turnbuckle pad, but it backfires, as Chavo ends up ramming Albert’s head into the exposed turnbuckle, before getting a Roll Up for the win. Not good. *1/2​

We get a video recap from Smackdown, which shows the issues which lead to Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker. The aftermath has Hulk Hogan and Triple H come down to brawl with their respective opponents for King Of The Ring.

Hulk Hogan cuts a quick promo about beating Kurt Angle at King Of The Ring. Solid enough nothing promo for Velocity.

Match Three
Hugh Morrus vs. Tajiri

Pretty similar to the previous match if I’m honest. Big guys vs. little guy, and there’s still no real crowd reaction, but it’s for a different reason this time. Tajiri is over as a heel, as seen on Smackdown, but Morrus as a face, nobody cares about him at the moment unfortunately. Result shocked me a little bit here, but I actually liked it, as Tajiri went over Morrus cleanly. I guess considering this is Velocity, it’s okay for them to book a smaller wrestler to beat a bigger one. The match was not good though. Tajiri lands a stiff kick to the head to beat Morrus. Match was meh. *1/2​

We then get a video recap of The Rock returning on Raw and cutting his passionate promo about WWE being home.

Reverend D’Von comes to the ring for a quick in ring promo, saying that people think he’s gone to far and too radical, but they haven’t seen anything yet. Solid enough promo from D’Von but didn’t really say a lot in this one. Probably the worst one he’s had as Reverend character so far, but it’s Velocity, so that makes sense.

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

For the second night in a row, these two team together and have the worst match of the night. At least they actually get a match this time, but it’s just not good. D’Von attacks from behind early, but Faarooq basically no sells it, and gets on the offensive rather quickly. Faarooq looks like his on the way to another relatively easy victory, but Batista gets involved and changes the course of the match. After a ref bump, Batista hits a Back Drop on Faarooq, which allows D’Von to hit a Urinage to pick up the win. Happy D’Von got his win back here, but it was awful.​

Velocity is Velocity. Not that good this week, although the Orton/Conway match was surprisingly fun.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Heat
June 23rd, 2002
Columbus, Ohio ​

D’Lo Brown and The Coach are on commentary tonight for the Heat on the night of King Of The Ring. Feels like they’ve settled on D’Lo as a commentary partner for Coach now, which I don’t mind. He does a decent job, but I’d prefer if he was actually wrestling.

In the parking lot, we see Jamie Noble and Nidia show up to the arena in a rusty pickup truck. Of course, Nidia is wearing The Hurricane’s cape. They talk all sickeningly nice to each other before they start making out in over-the-top fashion. Noble promises Nidia that they will ride in class after tonight. More fun stuff from these two. I just love these two together, and Nidia wearing Hurricane’s cape is an awesome heat seeker to.

The WWE Rewind tonight shows clips of the interactions between Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair on Raw, which lead to Guerrero/Flair being made official for tonight’s pay per view.

Backstage, Terri interviews Ric Flair and she mentions that he’s one of the greatest ever, but he faces Eddie Guerrero tonight. Flair says that he knows he’s got one more great run in him and that starts tonight. Solid enough promo from Flair to hype tonight.

Skipping a bunch of the video recap stuff here, and next bit of new content, Jerry Lawler interviews Molly Holly in the back. He asks her about her WWE Womens Championship opportunity tonight against Trish Stratus. Molly talks about how she looks forward to bringing dignity back to the title. Lawler then promotes the WWE Divas Undressed special for this coming Tuesday. And then that disintegrates into Lawler making some lame jokes about Molly having a fat ass. Meh. Angle continues to be annoying because of the ‘fat ass’ stuff.

Match One
Raven and Steven Richards vs. The Hardy Boyz

Pretty solid match here to warm up the crowd for the big pay per view to come. The Hardyz being on here kind of does show how far they have fallen recently. Still, Hardyz/Raven have issues and Richards is just thrown in, but as a stretch, I can just pretend Raven is able to manipulate him again, as per their relationship in ECW. So in short, I was pumped for this, and it was okay. They had some solid action throughout, and then there was a cool spot where Stevie hit an unsuspecting Matt with a Superkick for a near fall. It was a really close false finish, even the fans bought in. They kept a great pace throughout to which is smart for a match in this position. However, there was some strangeness towards the end. As Richards had the advantage and almost picked up the win, Raven just decided to leave. It would make a lot more sense if Raven left when things got too difficult. This just felt out of place and weird. With Richards distracted by the loss of his partner, Matt gets the Twist of Fate, and Jeff follows with the Swanton Bomb. The Hardyz win. Solid stuff, although the booking of the Raven stuff was weird. **1/2​

We then get one last hype video package for the WWE Undisputed Championship match between The Undertaker and Triple H later on tonight. And that’s the end of the show.

Hard to rate these before PPV Heats because it’s not a lot of new content, but the match was fun enough that it gets a pass.

 

[Stojy]

WWE King Of The Ring
June 23rd, 2002
Cleveland, Ohio

Match One
King Of The Ring Semi Finals
Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam

I don’t mean to start things on a negative, but I honestly think these two could do better. It’s still a solid/good start to the show, but I think this one of those matches that didn’t age very well. Upon initial viewing, I thought this great, now it’s probably more like borderline good. Would have thought these two could tear the house down, hence why it felt a little underwhelming. One thing that helps this is the crowd are both super into RVD, and super against Jericho, to give this the atmosphere that it needs. Jericho’s silver and black tights look pretty cool too. They go about fifteen minutes or so and there’s some good spots and fun near falls placed throughout. Some cool spots include RVD hitting a perfect Somersault Plancha, and Jericho hitting a super Double Underhook Suplex! The match ends with both men battling for position on the top rope, until RVD manages to kick Jericho down, and then finish him off with the Five Star Frog Splash. A good opening to the show. **3/4 ​

After the match, Jerry Lawler joins RVD in the ring, and Van Dam cuts a promo on becoming King Of The Ring. Before he can finish, Chris Jericho attacks RVD from behind. Jericho puts him in the Walls Of Jericho before security and agents intervene. Nice quick way for Jericho to get some heat back, and for Van Dam to now play the super underdog heading into the KOTR final.

In the back, Paul Heyman hypes up Brock Lesnar, talking about how he is going to win the King Of The Ring tonight. Solid enough segment to pump up Brock.

Match Two
King Of The Ring Semi Finals
Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Test

A solid match to back up the opener. Not as good as the opener, but still enjoyable enough. I thought considering this was a heel vs. heel match, with no real story or anything, they delivered pretty well. It is interesting that JR tries to really hype Test on commentary throughout, and whilst I assume it’s just a way to make Brock’s win seem more legit, it was a nice touch. In terms of the match result, I don’t think it was ever in question. If you have been watching since Lesnar debuted the night after ‘Mania, it’s clear the rocket to the top is strapped to this man. Still, these two did a good job of power vs. power, with some fun spots sprinkled in, and both deliver some stiff shots which adds to the match as well. Brock did more selling here than usual, putting over Test’s offense, and there was a really nice false finish after Test hit the Pumphandle Slam. Test was the default face here and had some nice fire on a few of his comebacks which was good to see as well. The false finish stuff looks much better with Heyman almost losing it on the outside. Added so much to the occasion. And to really put over Brock, Test nails the Big Boot, but Brock kicks out. Test looks ready to load up another one, but Heyman gets on the apron and distracts him, allowing Brock to get the F5 and get the win. I could have done with Brock winning cleanly, unsure why Test needed to be protected, but still solid work from these two. **1/4​

In the back, The Coach interviews Bubba Ray Dudley and ask who will win the King Of The Ring final between Brock Lesnar and RVD. Bubba says he’d like to see RVD win, but right now, nobody is stopping Brock. Bubba then says that he’d love to be the winner and get a WWE Undisputed Championship match at Summerslam, but he’ll find another way to make an impact. I really like segments like this, where wrestlers are talking about stuff, they aren’t necessarily involved in. Makes it feel very important, as the KOTR should.

Marc Lloyd is in the back and Christian and Lance Storm come over and talk about Canadian pride, and the prejudice nature of America. Another solid promo to continue this angle. No complaints from me.

Match Three
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
The Hurricane (c) vs. Jamie Noble w/Nidia

I absolutely loved the build to this one. Whilst yes, there’s some plot holes, because it doesn’t overly make sense in terms of when Hurricane and Nidia ever dated. With that being said, the act of Noble and Nidia is just so much fun, that I can look past that, because it has been entertaining as hell. Plus, you know, Noble is awesome. I thought this was another solid match on this card, and I’m pumped because I’m pretty sure they have a rematch on a Velocity episode soon which is good as well. They just did some really smooth stuff here, perhaps having some form of chemistry from the dying days of WCW. They start off fast paced, and then when Noble gets on top, he slows things down, because he’s not necessarily a high flying, fast paced Cruiserweight. Maybe it was a little to slow for to long in the middle of the match if I wanted to be picky, but Noble’s offense was never necessarily bad. As a matter of fact, his offense looked methodical and vicious, and both sold really well. Any issues with the slowness are eliminated as they progress into a really fun, hectic finishing run. Thanks to some interference from Nidia, Noble is able to hit a Powerbomb, and then when he pins Hurricane, Nidia knocks Hurricane’s foot off the ropes. We’ve got a new Cruiserweight Champion. More good stuff here. **3/4​

In the back, we see a highlight which shows The Rock arriving earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat. Yay, The Rock is here.

In the back, Terri interviews Eddie Guerrero and asks if he’s worried about Ric Flair tonight. Eddie is cocky, as he spends time saying hi to all of his family, listing an exaggerated number of names, before saying he has no reason to fear Flair tonight. Fun promo from Eddie here. So much charisma this man.

Match Four
Eddie Guerrero vs. Ric Flair

Two of the greatest of all time go at it here in my book, even if one is well and truly passed his prime. And it continues the trend of matches that vary from solid to good but is still nothing to truly be excited about. Flair still seems in pretty good shape at this point, but wrestling a match with no gimmicks, it’s clear at this moment, he’s still probably off a step. Eddie’s performance was awesome though as he showed why he’s so good, he out wrestles and out cheating Flair, which does great for him from a kayfabe perspective. He works Flair’s legs really good as well. As the match progressed, Chris Benoit decided to come out and make his presence felt, even locking in the Crippler Crossface to Flair well he’s on the outside of the ring. When Benoit rolls Flair back into the ring, the referee realises that something fishy has gone on, and he ejects Benoit from ringside. With all the distractions happening, Bubba ran down from the crowd, and he hits Eddie with the Bubba Bomb, and then after Bubba leaves, Flair crawls on top of Eddie and sneaks the win. Again, okay stuff here. Admittedly a little disappointing to see Eddie lose, because it feels like he’s ready for a run, but it makes sense for Flair to start his new singles run with a win, so I get it. Probably my new favourite match of the night so far. **3/4​

We see Christopher Nowinski and William Regal at WWE New York, and they are mad at waiting so long for their food. Nowinski laughs at a waitress for going to community college, so she puts her finger in his food. Meh, nothing segment, but I don’t mind as a way to continue to put over the Nowinski stuff.

Match Five
WWE Womens Championship Match
Trish Stratus (c) vs. Molly Holly

I just can’t stand this feud, to be honest. Ruined a perfectly good feud between polar opposites by doing this fat ass thing. On commentary, Jerry Lawler pushes and starts a “SHE’S A FAT ASS” chant, which just annoys me to no end. If Molly is fat, I want to be fat. Well, I am fat, but you get my point. The match doesn’t do much for me either. Maybe the action is decent for the women in this era, and I’ve just got a bad taste in my mouth from the angle. Molly is good, and Trish is learning, but yeah, didn’t feel it. Molly hit a really nice Belly To Back Suplex at one stage which only got a near fall but stands out as a highlight to me. This one only went about five minutes. In the end, Molly reverses a Roll Up into one of her own and she uses the tights to get the win. Not good, worst match of the night so far. *3/4​

Kurt Angle is interviewed in the back because the match with Hulk Hogan is called a battle of the American Heroes. Angle is annoyed and asks what Hogan ever did to become a hero on the level of his gold medal win. Hogan only became a hero because Vince McMahon told him, and the people Hogan would be a hero. If Vince wanted Hogan to be a zookeeper, he would have been a zookeeper. Angle says tonight, he’s going to make Hogan tap faster than Mr. Bojangles on speed. God, Kurt Angle was so good during this time period. Such a fun promo, good stuff.

We then get a video package to hype the upcoming Hogan/Angle match.

Match Six
Hulk Hogan vs. Kurt Angle

The crowd reactions for Hogan continue to really confuse me. Sometimes he gets barely a reaction, and I think the nostalgia tour is over, but then there will be the piped in Smackdown pop. Anyway, tonight was another night where the crowd were into Hogan, which adds to the match. I like the booking of Hogan in this role as well. He had no right being champion in 2002, but playing the legend who puts over other stars is perfect for him. Unfortunately, booking aside, this was solid, but disappointing for a 2002 Angle match. Angle tried to put on a bumping masterclass, but not even he could make Hogan’s offense look terrific. Long story short, because the long story isn’t that interesting, Hogan despite being awful, exposes Angle’s bald head again by ripping off his wig. Angle retaliates by getting a huge win by making Hogan tap to the Ankle Lock. Making Hogan submit, even in 2002 is a big thing, so whilst the match was solid at best (thanks to Angle), the booking is terrific. **1/4​

Backstage, Booker T, Goldust and The Rock have a strange conversation, which is potentially one of the best comedy segments in the company’s history. I’m not even going to try and recap this. Go find it. It’s amazing and you won’t regret it.

Match Seven
King Of The Ring Final
Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Rob Van Dam

This one wasn’t supposed to be an amazing match or anything like that. After RVD being attacked by Jericho after his earlier match, he’s extremely compromised. This allows Brock to basically just squash him, but at least he’s good at that. Brock’s epic power was good, and RVD bumped well. Only five minutes or so but it was good, and Brock gets the F5 for the win. Solid, with big things to come for both men, especially Brock. Yay. **1/4​

In the back, Triple H runs into the New World Order and hugs Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels and X Pac. Triple H then exchanges a courteous nod with The Big Show. They chat for a moment before the NWO offers to help Triple H and wish him good luck. They say if he needs them, throw it up and they’ll be there. Awesome segment here, playing on Triple H’s well-known friendship with these guys. Whether it leads somewhere or not, this was really good to add intrigue.

Paul Heyman has remained at ringside and will do commentary for the main event. Hopefully he just talks over The King for the next twenty minutes.

Match Eight
WWE Undisputed Championship Match
The Undertaker (c) vs. Triple H

I’m probably being generous in still calling this solid, as it was a bit of a slog to get through. Triple H’s lack of mobility since returning from injury and becoming a bodybuilder has been well hidden in the Royal Rumble, and then mainly wrestling guys like Angle and Jericho, who are amazing. Taker/Triple H chemistry is rocky at the best of times to this point, so wrestling against somebody not overly quick except for in bursts, really hurts Triple H here. Match is just too slow. Oh and ‘Taker gets an epic face pop when he comes out because he’s the man. Slow, sluggish, boring. With that being said, it’s a little easier to sit through, listening to Heyman and JR bounce off each other on commentary. This gets twenty-three minutes which means it was destined to not be great. The brawl early admittedly was okay, but once ‘Taker took over, it got slow. To their credit, I think the middle portion was just to long and unexciting to fill the twenty-three minutes, but they did pick up the excitement and action heading into the ending. Unfortunately, just as things starting to gather steam, the booking kicks in and ruins any chance this had of being anything other than decent at best. It starts with The Rock running down and chasing Heyman from the announce table, after Heyman runs his mouth about The Rock being afraid of Brock Lesnar. He then gets involved with a confrontation with The Undertaker, and then accidentally hits Triple H with a chair. After a long sell, because this is a WWE epic, ‘Taker gets an awkward Roll Up, holding the tights to get the win. Just yeah, trying not to be negative so I’ll say it was okay, but this wasn’t good. **​

After the match, ‘Taker bad mouths The Rock, who comes down and takes down ‘Taker with a Spinebuster and People’s Elbow. Triple H then recovers and hits Rock with the Pedigree, pointing to how Rock hit him with the chair. By then, ‘Taker recovers and hits Trips with the Chokeslam to end the night standing tall. Meh, more convoluted booking that wasn’t needed. Just end the show please.

King Of The Ring is okay. I mean, nothing except for maybe the women’s match is truly unwatchable, but not a single match stands out as being overly memorable or worth talking about which is disappointing. First PPV in awhile to not have a *** match which makes me sad.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
June 24th, 2002
Cleveland, Ohio ​

The show begins with most of the Raw roster standing on the ring apron and around the ring as Vince McMahon comes out. Vince talks about how he is a successful man and he’s going to share his secret to everyone tonight. The answer is plain and simple, “RUTHLESS AGGRESSION”! After he gives his big ruthless aggression speech and talks about wrestlers wanting to become superstars, he books Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Eddie Guerrero, and Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker with Matt Hardy barred from ringside. Before Vince can say much else, the New World Order make their way to the top of the ramp. Shawn Michaels talks first and says they can’t apologise enough for being late to the party. He then offers the NOW’s service to take out some of the “trash” in the ring. He talks about how they have more ruthless aggression than anyone, but then Booker T steps into the ring and challenges any member of the NWO to a match. Vince says it won’t be against Shawn Michaels because Michaels is an icon in this business. It also won’t be Kevin Nash because he’s not cleared to wrestle. Vince warns Nash though that if he doesn’t live up to expectations, he can join his buddy, Scott Hall. Nash pretends to scratch his nose and flips Vince the bird. Vince then tells Booker that he will book a tag team match. X Pac and Big Show will face Booker and his close friend Goldust, with no interference. A solid opening. Kind of out of nowhere but with all the jumping and changing throughout the year (return of NWO, Triple H as champ, Hogan out of NWO and nostalgia run, Flair heel turn as owner and reversal, Austin leaving, Rock being in and out), it kind of makes sense for them to do a reset of sorts here. Let’s go.

Match One
Bradshaw and Spike Dudley vs. Christopher Nowinski and William Regal

A production error to kick this one off, as the camera is to busy showing Jerry Lawler showing off a Harvard yearbook, so we miss Spike starting things off with a dive to the outside on his opponents. That’s probably the high point of a dull, bad match, so makes it even worse that we missed it. Nothing special here or anything of note to mention, it’s just a meh match which happens. With that being said, whilst Nowinski is clearly inexperienced and can’t wrestle all that well, he does play a natural heel very well, so there is potential there. Booking wise, result is a little strange with Bradshaw losing, after being somewhat of a featured part of Vince McMahon’s rev up speech earlier. Anyway, Spike gets thrown out of the ring, and after Bradshaw drills Regal with a Clothesline From Hell, Nowinski sneaks with a Roll Up, and grabs the tights for the win. Not good. *1/2​

In the back, Vince McMahon comes across Sergeant Slaughter and tells him there’s people he wants to get rid of and he’ll be doing it week by week. He says he doesn’t like Raven or Tommy Dreamer, and since they were stars in another company he killed, he feels like making them fight. Vince tells Sarge to go tell them that they’re fighting tonight, and the loser will leave Raw. I guess this fits with Vince being all ruthless and stuff but is kind of out of nowhere. Raven better win, since you know, he still adds some form of value, and actually has a mini angle going.

After sending Sarge away, Vince enters his office to find Jackie Gayda, wearing a big jacket. She tells Vince that she’s going to show how aggressive she can be. Jackie takes off her jacket to reveal that she’s looking damn fine in bra and panties, until the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker interrupts. Jackie is scared and immediately leaves. ‘Taker hopes that Vince realises that he almost lost the title last night. He says The Rock can come and give all the speeches he wants, but it’s a different story when the title is at hand. ‘Taker wants The Rock tonight. Vince says that The Rock’s appearance on Raw last week was a one-time deal. However, Vince has put ‘Taker in a match with Jeff Hardy tonight. Undertaker says if Vince wants new stars, he’s going to make Jeff famous tonight. Really good stuff here. Jackie is fine… BUT more so, ‘Taker’s reaction to The Rock is perfectly logical, and the match with Jeff works after the last few weeks to. Good stuff.

Backstage, Eddie Guerrero is interviewed by Terri. Eddie says he isn’t going to be intimidated by a table. He’s mad at Bubba for costing him the match against Ric Flair last night. Eddie is going to show that he’s the brightest star tonight. Solid enough, ticked all the boxes. Promotes the heat between he and Bubba, whilst also referencing the opportunity based on the opening segment tonight. Can’t complain.

Match Two
Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Eddie Guerrero

When Bubba makes his entrance for this one, he immediately brings a table out from under the ring. Unfortunately, they just don’t get enough time, but this is pretty fun for the two minutes or so that it actually lasts. After a few minutes of action, Bubba sets up for the Bubba Bomb, but Eddie reverses into a Victory Roll, whilst holding the tights to get the cheap win. A solid couple of minutes here, and I never complain with Eddie getting a win, however two matches in a row with a heel getting a flash pin and holding the tights is something I’m not a fan of. Lack of creativity and bad match placement to have them go back-to-back. This was better than the opener though, as it was fun. **​

After the match, Eddie goes to the outside and brings the table in, but Bubba manages to get on top and ends up Powerbombing Eddie through the table. Chris Benoit comes from behind though and attacks Bubba, locking him in the Crippler Crossface. Benoit coming to Eddie’s aid makes sense, love these two as a tandem.

Backstage, Goldust is dressed up as The Crocodile Hunter this week. He sneaks into the NWO’s locker room and says they have to be careful because the NWO travel in packs. Goldust finds The Big Show sleeping on the couch. Goldust says these creatures are big, but they smell awful. X Pac then comes out of the bathroom and Goldust calls him a bandana wearing grease rat. He also says they tend to suck. Pac chases Goldust out of the room as Show mumbles the word “cheeseburger” in his sleep. After an off week last week, some more comedy gold from, erm, Goldust this week. Another segment I would highly recommend finding and watching if you feel like having a giggle.

Backstage, The Hardyz are together, and Jeff tells Matt that he’s going to take care of business tonight. Matt continues to hype up Jeff, and Jeff says he’s going to become a star tonight or die trying. Really good hype segment for Jeff’s match with ‘Taker later tonight, as well as addressing the current state of The Hardyz.

Backstage, Goldust is still running away from X Pac when Booker T comes from nowhere and smashes a trash can lid over Pac’s head. Booker then taunts Pac. Love this. Previous comedy segment leads to the faces being sneaky and getting one over on the NWO. Awesome.

Match Three
Loser Leaves Raw
Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer

We have a new winner for worst match of the night so congratulations to these two. I don’t actually think the match was so bad so to speak, but everything about the booking of this one was just wrong. Plus, the crowd clearly didn’t care at all, which hurt this one as well. Strangely, Tommy gets the during commercial jobber entrance, and Raven gets the televised entrance, but then Raven is the one who loses. Kind of just went along like two guys throwing moves at each other, with no real feeling or emotion, which is disappointing considering their history. I figured maybe because their history was actually mentioned that they would be let loose a little here. In the end, Tommy wins with a Death Valley Driver, but yeah, this wasn’t good. And I’m annoyed that Raven, who had his little mini-Heat angle going, is the one losing this compared to the guy who eats weird shit. Ugh. *1/4​

After the match, security forces Raven to leave the building right away. Once he gets to the parking lot, Matt Hardy attacks him and then walks back into the arena after leaving Raven laying. I guess this is a way for Matt to get back at Raven for helping ‘Taker destroy The Hardyz previously? I actually like the idea of tying up that loose end.

Backstage, Paul Heyman tells Brock Lesnar that it’s time to give him a proper coronation as King Of The Ring. Nice tease for their upcoming in ring segment.

Now it’s in ring promo time as the ring is now donned in red carpet, as Jim Ross is in the ring to welcome Paul Heyman. Long story short, Heyman introduces Brock Lesnar and then puts him over as the new King Of The Ring. The WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam interrupts proceedings though and uses his kicks to knock Brock out of the ring. Generic segment here which was solid enough because Heyman was the man talking. Happy to see this becoming a feud after the KOTR final.

Backstage, Paul Heyman is mad as he approaches and talks to Vince McMahon. Heyman says RVD ruined it all. Vince asks what he’s supposed to do and Heyman wants him to book Brock vs. RVD for the Intercontinental Title tonight. Heyman says Lesnar can’t wait until Summerslam to be a champion and he should be one tonight. Vince asks Brock if he’s going to take it, and it looks like Brock will answer, but Heyman does with an emphatic yes instead. More solid stuff here. Makes sense for Heyman and Lesnar to be mad at RVD for ruining the coronation. Also screen time with Vince gives Brock an extra rub too.

Match Four
Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker

Undertaker destroys Jeff for most of this, with Jeff only getting a brief chance to show some heart and comeback. The aftermath and where this is going changes things, but this match as a standalone doesn’t really do much for Jeff. Luckily, ‘Taker does his best work beating up smaller guys who aren’t afraid to bump like crazy, so this is still okay for what it is. On the outside, Jeff tries is move where he runs the crowd barricade but ‘Taker catches him and Chokeslams him on the outside. They go back inside and ‘Taker finishes things off with the Last Ride. Okayish. **​

After the match, The Undertaker gets to the top of the ramp when Jeff Hardy gets a mic and tells him to hold on. He says ‘Taker keeps beating his ass, but he keeps on getting up. He says he isn’t done with ‘Taker. He challenges ‘Taker to a title match next week, but in his match, “A LADDER MATCH”! ‘Taker stops to think about it for barely a second before accepting. Awesome stuff, just because I recall the ladder match being epic. This has definitely been fun stuff on Raw, whilst ‘Taker has his major title feud on SD.

Before the next match, new WWE Womens Champion Molly Holly grabs a mic and says it’s an honour to bring dignity back to the WWE Womens Title. She earned it. Not like Trish who slept her way to the top. Trish Stratus gets a mic to retort and says Molly cheated to beat her at King Of The Ring. Trish defends her work ethic to earn the title, and then of course, talks about Molly’s fat ass. Perfectly fine until the stupid fat ass stuff came into play again.

Match Five
Jackie Gayda and Molly Holly vs. Linda Miles and Trish Stratus

Awful, awful stuff. Trish and Molly try hard, but Linda and especially Jackie can barely work. Yuck. The fact this got five minutes whilst a match like Bubba vs. Eddie got two minutes is beyond baffling. New worst match of the night. Trish ends up catching Molly with the Stratusfaction to win, which at least continues the Women’s Title feud. Not enough to make the match anything other than bad though. *​

In the back, The Coach asks RVD if he will be able to keep up the intensity against Lesnar tonight. RVD says he doesn’t need Mr. McMahon’s motivation because he knows who he is. The fans also remind him who he is. Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar interrupt with Paul saying some awesome stuff about how everything in RVD’s life is because of him. Paul keeps on going until Brock surprisingly yells, “SHUT UP PAUL”! Heyman is shocked as Brock gets right in RVD’s face and tells him that he’s going to show him the meaning of ruthless aggression. Awesome segment. Heyman’s promo was great, and the outburst from Brock was terrific, as was Heyman’s reaction to it. Again, tied in nicely with the ruthless aggression stuff as well.

The NWO are together in the back and Kevin Nash tells Big Show and X Pac they if they don’t beat Booker T and Goldust, he will kick their asses when they come back from the ring. Interesting way to motivate your troops. No real comment on this at this stage.

Match Six
Big Show and X Pac vs. Booker T and Goldust

For the first time tonight, a match that has the potential to be good gets a decent amount of time and guess what? They deliver an enjoyable match. Goldust was amazing in this one as well, clearly the MVP of the match in my eyes. His bumping and selling, especially for Big Show is all class, and it is probably one of the better face in peril performances of the year so far. Really solid stuff from the rest of the participants to, and the crowd are into it which helps. X Pac’s offense looked good as well, and Goldust throws some of the best punches in the business. He’s right up there. Booker gets the hot tag, and it was okay but maybe could have been better. Potentially could have been better with more time, but was very quick before Goldust got tagged back in. The match when Goldust seems to have Show set up for Shattered Dreams, but when Goldust runs at him, Show catches him and nails the Chokeslam for the win. Good stuff, and I don’t mind the faces having to chase a big victory over the NWO for longer. **3/4

Match Seven
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Rob Van Dam (c) vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman

This match was an example of what they probably could have done at the KOTR, if not for the booking that led to RVD being something of a pushover in the final. This was really good and comfortably the match of the night. I thought they did a good job of keeping Brock looking strong, but he also showed some vulnerability which is needed to keep your IC Champ over. Brock’s power offense is getting better by the week as he gains more experience, and RVD was on here in terms of selling. As Van Dam came back and took over, we get our first major taste of just how awesome Lesnar is at selling and bumping as well. Nine minutes of Lesnar being a monster heel and throwing RVD around is exactly the type of stuff I want to see. The ending comes about with Van Dam on top, and he hits the Split Legged Moonsault. When he goes for the pin, Heyman gets in and breaks up the count, leading the ref to call the DQ. The booking works as RVD looks strong as hell, and Brock doesn’t drop a fall. Very good match, potentially even better with a real finish, but still good. ***1/4 ​

After the match, RVD grabs Heyman and begins beating him up, until Brock pummels RVD from behind. Heyman goes to the outside and gives Brock a chair, but RVD gets the Van Daminator on Brock! RVD then goes to the outside and chases Heyman around the ring and back inside the ring. RVD manages to corner Heyman. He drops Heyman with a Spin Kick. RVD heads up top and delivers the Five Star Frog Splash to Heyman. RVD looks to celebrate afterwards, but Brock pulls him outside the ring and hits a Spinebuster on the floor. He follows that up by Powerbombing RVD through the announce table, and Brock ends the night standing tall. Aftermath was a lot of fun, and just adds more fuel to this fire which is great. Maybe they could have teased RVD getting at Heyman for a few more weeks before he finally got him, but that’s a minor call out. This is a really fun feud right now, and Heyman deserved what he got for all his running of the mouth earlier in the night.

I actually thought this week’s Raw was okay. A lot of good/solid stuff on here, the issue was there was no middle ground. Stuff was either really good or downright awful.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Smackdown
June 27th, 2002
Chicago, Illinois​

The show begins with in ring promo time as Vince McMahon is standing in the ring. Vince introduces the only man to ever make Hulk Hogan tap out. That’s Kurt Angle, who is greeted with a blend of YOU SUCK, and YOUR BALD chants. Angle calls himself the poster boy for ruthless aggression. He then starts bragging about making Hogan tap out. Not only that, but he pinned the WWE Undisputed Champion last week. The fans give him a hard time after he rips off his wig, but he says nobody can ruin his mood tonight because he’s on a roll. He wants to teach someone what his aggression is all about, so he issues a challenge to anyone in the locker room that hasn’t faced him before. Some random kid comes out wearing wrestling trunks. The youngster who comes out says his name is JOHN CENA!!! Angle asks Cena what makes him think he can come out to the ring and face him. Cena says RUTHLESS AGGRESSION and then slaps Angle, which in essence, starts the match. Cool stuff here, with Angle’s promo good, and obviously this is a pretty big way to give somebody their debut. Plus, it probably feels even better because it’s John freakin’ Cena and we all know how that ends up. Exciting segment for sure.

Match One
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle

Booked in a way for Cena to get plenty on Angle, really giving him a rub and making him look fantastic. The fact that this was more back and forth, as opposed to a squash for Angle, gave the match and opportunity to be good also. This was really good considering how inexperienced Cena was at this time. He keeps to rather basic yet effective offense, and Angle bumps his ass off to make it all like great. Cena looks like a threat here, but they don’t go over the top with it to the point where it’s silly. Angle’s expressions and mannerisms in this are AMAZING, as he seems flustered that he underestimated Cena, but he still knows his better. Told the story really well. They have Angle outsmart Cena in the end, which is a fine way to go as it plays on Cena’s inexperience. Angle ends up winning with a rarely used Double Chickenwing pin. Good match and an awesome debut for Cena. **3/4​

After the match, the two men go face to face and Cena offers his hand for a handshake, but Angle just laughs and leaves. Nice little add on here, showing Angle is maybe more frustrated than he’s letting on.

Backstage, John Cena is greeted by Billy Kidman, Faarooq and Rikishi. They all congratulate him on a good match. The Undertaker approaches Cena and the others all smartly decide to leave. The Undertakers offers his hand to Cena, showing some respect. As they shake hands, ‘Taker tells him he did a good job. Good stuff here. Again, putting over Cena so well with him getting ‘Taker’s stamp of approval. Having issues with Angle, showing respect to Cena, it seems ‘Taker’s heel run will be coming to an end soon which is kind of sad as he’ll basically never be a heel again after this.

Match Two
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Billy and Chuck (c) w/Rico vs. Hardcore Holly and Val Venis

For those reading these religiously, it’s no surprise by now that I’m a fan of Val Venis, so couldn’t help but feel bad for him here. He’s paired with three guys who are utterly useless. Surprisingly though, I thought the match was kind of solid. Both teams try hard, and we get some hard-hitting offense from both sides. There is an element of questionably booking about this as suddenly Holly is a face again, after just being a heel against Orton. Also, Val buddied up with Orton to face Holly, but now they’re a team. No ratings for the lack of continuity. Val was the best performer in this match, but the others held their own better than I expected. Rico’s interference allows Holly to get distracted with him, so Chuck hits an illegal Superkick on Val, and Billy finishes him off with the Fame Asser. Surprisingly solid, definitely one of the better Billy and Chuck title defences. **​

Backstage, WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble sees Tajiri looking at Nidia, and Noble offers Tajiri a “taste”. Tajiri initially says no but the ever-freaky Nidia kisses him anyway. Tajiri likes it and Noble says if they win their tag match tonight, there’s more coming Tajiri’s way. Insert broken record here about how epic Noble and Nidia are. Fun segment here, setting up the team of Noble and Tajiri.

Backstage, we see Hulk Hogan arriving to the arena. Meh.

There is a pre-taped promo from earlier in the day where Lance Storm says he will accomplish what Canadian fans want, he’ll defeat an American. Really short. Nothing like his surprisingly good promos over the last few weeks, but this still served its purpose.

We see a video package of Mark Henry at some strong man event lifting stuff earlier in the week.

Match Three
Lance Storm vs. Mark Henry

Considering the angle they’ve been going with, regarding foreigners getting hard done by, I was surprised by the result of this one with Storm actually sneaking a win. Storm officially uses the Un American theme music here, despite the fact the faction isn’t created yet, and is only developing so that’s cool. They put together this match perfectly, with Henry doing fun power spots, and Storm bumping around well for the big man. In the end, Storm manages to land a Superkick out of seemingly nowhere to pick up the surprise win. Or at least it was a surprise to me. Solid stuff from these two. **1/4​

Backstage, The Undertaker gets on his bike, and it looks like he might be on his way down to the ring. Sounds good to me.

Yep, you guessed, now it’s in ring promo with The Undertaker time. ‘Taker talks a little bit about being the champion before talking about how The Rock almost cost him the title at King Of The Ring. ‘Taker says when Rock returns on July eleventh, he’ll, but he then gets interrupted by Kurt Angle, who comes down with a mic of his own. Angle tells ‘Taker that all he does is talk. Kurt says that he is a man of action. ‘Taker counters and says that Angle is just a punk. Angle says that ‘Taker isn’t going to ruin his focus. Kurt asks for a title shot next week, but ‘Taker suggests they do it right now. Kurt declines, saying he had a tune up match earlier. ‘Taker says that Angle almost lost to a rookie. Kurt ignores it and says he’s asking for a match next week on Smackdown. ‘Taker accepts, saying it’s on. Angle then asks ‘Taker if he can touch the title to know what he’s fighting for. Surprisingly, ‘Taker lets Kurt hold the belt. As Angle holds the belt, ‘Taker tells him that he’s letting him do this, because this is as close as Kurt will ever get to the title. Angle then throws the title to ‘Taker, who reacts to the belt and leaves himself open for the Ankle Lock. He only keeps the hold on for two seconds. Angle then leaves, having sent a message to ‘Taker apparently. The promo was good, and I’m looking forward to their match next week, if ‘Taker doesn’t lose to Jeff Hardy on Raw of course. However, ‘Taker letting Angle hold the title just seemed really out of character. I get it was a set up for the ending they wanted, but surely, they could have gotten there a different way. The ending soured the segment quite a bit for me which is disappointing.

Match Four
Rikishi vs. Test

There is not a lot of good things to say about this match. It’s bad. The first really bad match of the night. The only positive I can say is that Test, who isn’t exactly Mr. charisma at the best of times, does play the bully character pretty well. That’s about all the positive I can muster for this one, as it’s a bit of a dud. Test and the ref kept arguing, and Rikishi forces Test to accidentally collide with the referee, which results in a DQ. Shitty match with no real ending, even though the booking works for the angle they are going with, it doesn’t save this match. Bad. *​

After the match, Test shoves the referee for real, mad at being unfairly disqualified. Rikishi then gives Test a corner Splash, before delivering the Stinkface. Christian runs down and tries to make the save but Rikishi drops him with a Superkick. Lance Storm decides better than to get in the ring. Obviously, Rikishi has to hit the Stinkface for the fans to be happy. Real story here though is Storm and Christian attempting to help Test.

Torrie Wilson comes out wearing a black bikini to hype the Divas Undressed event. She’s looking super-hot too.

Hulk Hogan enters Vince McMahon’s office just so Vince can make fun of him for tapping out at the King Of The Ring. Vince says he hopes Hogan taps again tonight. An annoyed Hogan aggressively pokes Vince’s chest a few times and says “one day, Vince” … An okay segment here, clearly going with the slow burn for the eventual Hogan/Vince feud.

Backstage, Test tells Christian and Lance Storm that America can stick it up their ass just like the rest of the world. Just like Rikishi. Storm talks about how unfair it is. Test says they are right, America sucks. Nothing great but solid enough to establish Test’s partnership with his fellow anti Americans.

Match Five
Billy Kidman and The Hurricane vs. Jamie Noble and Tajiri w/Nidia

These four work together pretty well and put together yet another solid match for tonight’s episode of Smackdown. An enjoyable match and it was booked the right way here, with the heel champ in Noble losing, but not being involved in the result itself. Solidifies the good guys claims for a title shot, whilst Noble, being a relatively new champion, doesn’t lose anything. It’s more of a spot fest than a structured match with storytelling, but considering they only got four minutes, this probably worked better. Tajiri and Hurricane were both the MVP’s, spending most the time in for their teams. In the end, whilst Hurricane lands a Springboard Crossbody to Noble on the outside, Kidman gets the Shooting Star Press on Tajiri for the win. More solid in ring action here. **1/2​

Backstage, Torrie Wilson is walking around in a robe, ready to show off more of her outfits for Divas Undressed. Stacy Keibler approaches and she is also wearing a robe. They argue over the spotlight before Torrie says they should both go down to the ring to see who looks better. Typical catty Diva stuff, but these two are stunning and not supposed to be wrestlers, so I’ll just enjoy it for what it is. Hot women getting undressed.

They both come out and strut their stuff, looking fantastic, until Dawn Marie comes out in her own sexy outfit. She tells them that she is sexier and more desirable and that she is going to prove to everyone that she is better than them on Saturdays Divas Undressed program. Marie then shoves Torrie from behind, causing her to collide with Stacy, which starts a cat fight between the two blondes. Stacy looks like she’s about to throw Torrie off the stage when a referee intervened. It is what it is. I don’t have many other comments other than it was fun to look at.

Backstage, Chris Jericho is interviewed by Marc Lloyd. Jericho starts by bragging and showing footage of him injuring Edge’s shoulder three weeks ago. Jericho says he has a decision to make tonight on whether he wants to force Hogan to submit or pin him. Jericho says he might finish off Hogan the same way he finished off Edge. Solid promo to hype tonight’s main event, and the eventual return of Edge.

Match Six
Deacon Batista and Reverend D’Von vs. Faarooq and Randy Orton

Again, considering the names involved, especially with how young Orton and Batista are, they have a solid match. D’Von really dials up the intensity, making everything look full of intent when he’s beating up Orton. Orton does most the match since Faarooq can barely move, and Orton bumped well for both men. This one was clearly about making Batista look strong in his first wrestling appearance on Smackdown, as he brutalised Orton with an epic looking Spinebuster for the in. Again, surprisingly solid. **1/4

Match Seven
Chris Jericho vs. Hulk Hogan

It’s a formula Hogan match here, with Jericho plugged in to feel the airtime. The result? The march is not good. Highlight is Jericho wearing the epic looking tights that he also wore at King Of The Ring. As for the match itself, Hogan is looking slower and less capable by the week, and that continues here, whilst Jericho looks unmotivated, barely bumping or trying for Hogan. Hogan’s ovation is clearly piped in again as well as the Chicago fans did not look interested at all. Of course Hogan has probably already hit his quota of doing jobs on TV for a while, so instead of Jericho beating him, which would have been great, we get a cheap finish. After being hit with a Big Boot, that he barely sold, Jericho grabs a steel chair and gets back in the ring, only to crack the chair over the skull of Hogan. The ref has no choice but to call a disqualification. Not good. *3/4​

After the match, Jericho remains on the attack and it looks like he is going to attempt to injure Hogan’s arm, the way he did Edge. Just as Jericho prepares for the killer blow, his own theme music hits. Jericho is confused as Edge comes down, mocking Jericho’s entrance. Edge runs down to the ring and attacks Jericho. Edge Clotheslines Jericho to the outside. Hogan sends Jericho back in where Edge hits a Spinning Heel Kick. Hogan stops Jericho from leaving through the crowd and gets him back in the ring again. Edge then Spears Jericho. Edge and Hogan stand tall and pose to end the show. A good return for Edge, although I could have done with the intense attack here, minus the mocking Jericho’s entrance. Edge should be super pissed and just want blood, shouldn’t have time for shenanigans let along being the one to initiate them. Still enjoying the angle, and the booking is fine for the most part, just thought this could have been executed better.

A good episode of SD here. Most the wrestling was okay, and the angles all seem to be travelling along nicely. If the main event was better, this would have been a great episode.

 

[Chris]

You're almost in the golden era for the blue brand and even more importantly the worst few months of Raw TV in history

 

[Stojy]

You're almost in the golden era for the blue brand and even more importantly the worst few months of Raw TV in history

I can already feel the change in philosophy on the blue brand. Not quite there yet but it's already changing which is nice to see.

Raw is already having bad shows here and there, and I try and be positive about it. I'm not looking forward to them getting worse.

Last SD also felt like a huge show because of the debut of Cena and in ring debut of Batista. Good fun to rewatch this stuff.

 

[Chris]

I have so much nostalgia for Raw bc I didn't get UPN at the time (free channel, crazy huh) but we had cable with TNN/Spike so I only watched Raw lol I didn't go back and watch SmackDown until years later, I only got the velocity highlights and SmackDown rebounds.

So even as bad as it is, man it's one of my favorite trainwrecks lol I could watch 2002 WWE forever

 

[Stojy]

I have so much nostalgia for Raw bc I didn't get UPN at the time (free channel, crazy huh) but we had cable with TNN/Spike so I only watched Raw lol I didn't go back and watch SmackDown until years later, I only got the velocity highlights and SmackDown rebounds.

So even as bad as it is, man it's one of my favorite trainwrecks lol I could watch 2002 WWE forever

Well, hopefully you enjoy me complaining my way through the trainwreck as we go...Although I know from memory, there are at least a few angles which I will still enjoy on Raw so maybe it won't be THAT bad. We'll find out... #buildingsuspense.

Anyway, here's Velocity...

WWE Velocity
June 29th, 2002
Chicago, Illinois

Match One
Albert vs. Tajiri

I’m torn on the result of this one. I like both men, and on one hand, it’s cool to see Tajiri get a win like this, even if he’s strangely cast as a face here, when he’s been a heel on Smackdown over the past few months. On the other hand, I’m so disappointed in the booking of Albert. Once he turned on Scotty and we got heel Albert, I was hoping for big things, but now this is the second time he’s been fed to a Cruiserweight on Velocity. So yeah, the result shocked me here. With that being said, both guys are talented and put on a solid big vs. small match. Adequate stuff all the way through, and in the end, Tajiri gets a boot up when Albert attempts a Vader Bomb, and this allows Tajiri to hit the Buzzsaw Kick to win. Solid stuff. **​

Video package airs to remind us that Rey Mysterio is coming soon. Yay, can’t wait.

Match Two
Christian vs. The Hurricane

Eh, not much to say about this one. Surprisingly wasn’t very good and is probably bad considering the two men involved. Felt like both men were coasting at a slow pace considering this is an episode of Velocity. Christian gets a win, but in a cheap fashion, which protects The Hurricane somewhat, which is fine if you want him to remain credible after losing the Cruiserweight Title. Christian wins with a Roll Up, using the tights to apply it, and then holding the ropes for the three count. Whilst the match was bad, the booking is fine here, as Christian wins by cheating, showing referees miss things and there isn’t a prejudice against him. Nice way to make the new anti-American group look like hypocrites. Still a meh match though. *1/2​

They air the Divas Undressed preview stuff involving Dawn Marie, Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson.

Match Three
Billy Kidman vs. Funaki

Funaki’s barely ever seen on TV at this point, whilst Kidman is a regular on Smackdown, so it’s pretty obvious the way this one is going. But the journey there is fine, as these two work hard and put on a solid match. A slightly different Cruiserweight match to what we are used to, as Funaki is more of a ground-based guy, and even outside of the Shooting Star Press, Kidman isn’t necessarily an overly quick, high risk taker either. At least not in the WWE. Still, they put on a compelling match together, however the finish shows that they don’t really care about Velocity. Kidman wins with a Top Rope Hurricanrana, deciding against using the Shooting Star Press on Velocity. This makes me sad. But the match didn’t, it was solid. **​

We then see a recap of the return of Edge on Smackdown, and him beating the hell out of the man who injured him, Chris Jericho.

Match Four
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Jamie Noble (c) w/Nidia vs. Chavo Guerrero

For some reason, I really enjoyed this specific comment from Michael Cole on commentary, as he called out that Nidia was wearing the same clothes on Smackdown. This is kind of hilarious because the taping for this episode would have been on the same night of Smackdown. More importantly though, on a kayfabe level, another nice wrinkle to the redneck, trailer park gimmick of Noble and Nidia. Much like most the wrestling on the show, this was another solid match. What I really like here is the booking, as whilst Chavo doesn’t have a hell of a lot of heat behind him, he’s still a relevant name. He’s won championships before in WCW and is well known, so it’s a nice win to continue to establish Noble, because even though he’s the champ, he’s still new to a lot of the WWE audience. Anyway, they do good stuff, and then Noble catches a Chavo kick, and gets a Dragon Screw Leg Whip, before getting the Trailor Hitch for the submission win. Nice win and title defence for Noble, and the match was, you guessed it, solid. **​

Another acceptable episode of Velocity here. Three out of four matches were solid enough to watch. I wish I could get one match of this quality every week on Heat. Good episode.

 

[Stojy]

WWE Heat
June 30th, 2002
Columbus, Ohio​

The show begins with a recap of Vince McMahon’s “ruthless aggression” speech from last week’s Raw.

From there, we see a clip from earlier tonight where Eddie Guerrero arrived in the arena and came across Spike Dudley. Eddie wonders what Spike is doing and accuses him of trying to get the jump on him like Bubba Ray Dudley did at King Of The Ring. Spike says that he’s just trying to get to the locker room, but Eddie calls him a half breed and keeps accusing Spike of trying to jump him. Eddie says instead of jumping him, Spike should think about meeting him eye to eye in the ring. Spike is annoyed by this point and says that he’s a Dudley and he’s never backed down from a fight. Solid segment here. Love Eddie picking on Spike to get back at Bubba. This all logically makes sense, and in the process, we’ve managed to give a match on Heat some rhyme and reason for actually happening. Thumbs up from me.

Match One
Eddie Guerrero vs. Spike Dudley

They get a little over four minutes to work here, and because of that, it’s slightly rushed which probably hurts the match somewhat. Pretty standard booking here, with Spike putting up a valiant effort to look good, but Eddie was never losing this. He’s the star here. More of a sprint than anything here, it certainly didn’t go to long, however Spike is best when he’s bumping around like crazy, and this felt like more back, and forth which hurt the match. As a matter of fact, this is potentially Eddie’s worst match since being back. It’s bad, not truly awful, but not good either. With that being said, I’m a firm believe in Eddie, and if they had a few more minutes to really establish something, it would have been good. The ending is cool though as Eddie reverses a Dudley Dog attempt into a brutal looking Backbreaker before hitting the Frog Splash for a win. A bit of a meh match here which is a rarity for Eddie. *3/4

Match Two
Justin Credible vs. Sean O’Haire

As the new era of ruthless aggression continues to grow, we are getting appearances from youngsters, or people who haven’t had an opportunity in a while. It actually makes the B shows really exciting to watch. I’m a big fan of O’Haire, not necessarily because he was amazing in the ring, but he had such a good look, and he was a good athlete for a big guy. I truly believe with the right grooming he could have been a star. At this point though, he needs to be in the ring with somebody who can carry him, and Credible isn’t it. Credible had some solid appearances on Heat earlier in the year, but this wasn’t one of them. His offense especially was really uninspired and boring. O’Haire is a natural heel as well, so this felt awkward. Not very good but I’m hopeful the win can give O’Haire some momentum. A bit slow moving, a bit dull, probably a bad match with neither doing anything at a level of fine or above. Worse than the opener, but I’m still kind of marking that O’Haire got a win on WWE TV in 2002. *1/2​

Backstage, Terri interviews another man making his WWE debut, Johnny Stamboli. Stamboli is apparently facing Tommy Dreamer tonight and Terri wants to know what Stamboli thinks of Dreamer. Stamboli thinks that Tommy is nuts for even thinking that he could beat him. He refers to Tommy as “wild” and “crazy” before saying he doesn’t like him. He then says he doesn’t have to like him. He then checks Terri out and says that he does like her. Stamboli then says that Dreamer has to respect him. Stamboli just doesn’t have it for me. Trying to act the character and be really charismatic, but it seemed unnatural and forced. Seemed to get lost in the middle here and call Tommy wild and crazy numerous times, without actually going anywhere. Not a great start for Stamboli here.

We then see clips of Jeff Hardy and the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker on Raw last week, agreeing to face each other in a ladder match this week.

The Slam Of The Week shows a replay of Tommy Dreamer defeating Raven last week in a Loser Leaves Raw match.

Match Three
Johnny Stamboli vs. Tommy Dreamer

Okay, so we have a new front runner for worst match of the night. This was awful, and honestly, a terrible way for Stamboli to debut. In my opinion, he stumbled in his promo, and he followed it up by putting on a stinker. Not ideal. Oh also, Jacqueline is the referee in this one as she continues to do whatever they want her to on any given night. Not good at all, and now I’m led to believe this was booked just to shit on Stamboli. He’s already making his debut on Heat, one of the B shows, and now he loses by DQ to Tommy Dreamer and then gets embarrassed in the aftermath as well. Not good signs for him. Ending comes when Stamboli drops down and gives Tommy a low blow. Match was bad. *1/4​

After the match, Stamboli tries to continue to attack Dreamer, but Jackie runs through Stamboli with a Clothesline to clear him from the ring. Lol, talk about a bad first night on the job.

We then see a video recap which focuses on all the issues between Brock Lesnar and the WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam.

A vignette airs reminding us that Rey Mysterio is coming soon.

We then get another video recap from Raw, showing Matt Hardy attacking Raven in the parking lot to set up tonight’s main event.

Match Four
Matt Hardy vs. Raven

As with usual with Heat, we get another match that is under par. Not as bad as the middle matches on this show, and probably more on par with Eddie/Spike, which was still disappointing. I’m really shocked with the result here to as considering the fact that he’s just been banished off of Raw, and needs to languish on Heat, I didn’t think Raven would win this. Surprise aside, still a lacklustre main event. Maybe Raven can just go on a main event Heat run? I don’t know. Maybe these two could further develop some good chemistry if they got longer than four minutes to work, but like I said, this didn’t hit the mark. In the end, Hardy goes for a Moonsault and misses, which they smartly link to his girlfriend Lita on commentary, and then Raven gets a pin whilst holding the ropes for the win. Meh match at best. *3/4​

The action wasn’t good but seeing Stamboli and O’Haire for the first time was just enjoyable for something fresh and different. Still, not a good show though if I’m comparing to it how I rate the others.

 

[Stojy]

WWE June 2002​

Top 5 Matches of the month
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Rob Van Dam (c) vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman – Raw, June 24th
Bubba Ray Dudley and Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar and Eddie Guerrero – Raw, June 3rd
Ric Flair vs. Stone Cold – Raw, June 3rd
Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker – Smackdown, June 20th
King Of The Ring Semi Final Match: Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam – King Of The Ring

Bottom 5 Matches of the month
Faarooq vs. Reverend D’Von w/Deacon Batista – Smackdown, June 13th
Ivory vs. Linda Miles w/Jackie Gayda – Velocity, June 8th
Crash Holly vs. D’Lo Brown – Heat, June 16th
Faarooq vs. Reverend D’Von w/Deacon Batista – Velocity, June 22nd
Rikishi vs. Test – Smackdown, June 27th

Top 5 Wrestlers of the month
Rob Van Dam
Brock Lesnar
Lance Storm
Bubba Ray Dudley
Kurt Angle

Bottom 5 Wrestlers of the month
Ivory
Linda Miles
The Godfather
Jackie Gayda
Crash Holly

 

[Stojy]

Half Way Mark...

WWE Half Year Stats

​

Top 5 Matches of the year
Edge vs. Kurt Angle - Backlash
Hollywood Hogan vs. The Rock - WrestleMania
No Disqualification Match: Ric Flair vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania
Steel Cage Match: Edge vs. Kurt Angle - Smackdown, May 30th
WWF Undisputed Championship Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. The Rock – Royal Rumble

Bottom 5 Matches of the year
Faarooq vs. Reverend D'Von w/Deacon Batista - Smackdown, June 13th
Lita vs. Stacy Keibler – Smackdown, March 7th
Jazz and Stacy Keibler vs. Lita and Trish Stratus – Raw, March 11th
Molly Holly vs. Terri - Raw, May 13th
Bikini Paddle on a Pole Match: Terri vs. Trish Stratus - Raw, April 1st

Top 5 Wrestlers of the year
Kurt Angle
The Rock
Eddie Guerrero
Ric Flair
Edge

Bottom 5 Wrestlers of the year
(Stacy Keibler, Ivory, Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda have all got worse ratings than everybody on this list, however they have 2-4 matches each, which is less than one per month, which is enough to make them exempt from this list for now).
Lita
Shawn Stasiak
Crash Holly
Trish Stratus
Faarooq

 

[Stojy]

WWE Raw
July 1st, 2002
Manchester, New Hampshire​

JR and The King welcome us to the show and run down some of the main attractions on the card. It looks like we’ve got a good episode coming our way, with Undertaker defending his WWE Undisputed Championship against Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. Booker T and Goldust will battle against the New World Order again, and tonight will be the in-ring return of Chris Benoit. Suddenly, I’m pumped for this show. This all sounds really good.

The show starts off with in ring promo time for Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman says that this is the summer of Brock, not the summer of RVD. He says that whilst Brock does have RUTHLESS AGGRESSION, he is also an intelligent man. Brock has been inspired by another former amateur great, Kurt Angle, on Smackdown. Heyman knows Lesnar can beat any man. Last week Angle challenged any rookie to wrestle him. Instead of any rookie, Brock is challenging any veteran to come face him so he can end them. Ric Flair then comes out and says he hasn’t forgotten about Lesnar costing him the ownership of WWE. Flair’s a veteran but better than that, he’s a legend. Tonight, Brock will find out why Flair is the dirtiest player in the game. Brock then grabs the mic and tells Flair that he’s in the wrong place in the wrong year with the wrong guy. Good stuff here. Open challenges are always fun, Brock/Flair is something I can enjoy, and I like the continuity here with Flair still holding a grudge from a few weeks back.

Match One
Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Ric Flair

It’s probably no surprise to anybody here but the mega rise for Lesnar continues as he picks up another big victory here. It’s the right call and it was a great match to. Flair really wound back the clock here, showing why he was the best. He looked to have more mobility tonight, moving around against the powerhouse Brock like it’s the early 90’s. Plenty of dirty Flair tactics to which are always fun. They portray Flair as genuinely stumped at times as well, when his usual offense, chops included, don’t really do much except piss Brock off. Flair bumps like he’s a much younger man as well. Brock’s offense was on point as well and that was the final piece of the puzzle. After everything else fails, Flair resorts to low blows and then tries to work on the leg, but Brock just battles through and eventually hits the F5 for the win. Really good work from both men. ***​

Backstage, The Coach approaches Jackie Gayda and tells her he thought she should have won the golden thong award. Jackie says that she didn’t lose the competition, she just didn’t win. Jackie then talks about her match last week and how she wasn’t the one who lost, when WWE Womens Champion Molly Holly comes up and says Jackie should treat her like a role model instead of parading around in her under garments. Jackie says at least she looks good in her underwear. Molly then gets annoyed and slaps Jackie across the face. They end up fighting through the back and down to the ring where Molly lays out Jackie. Trish Stratus then runs out. And she attacks Molly. Trish rips Molly’s pants down, revealing her white granny panties. The Jackie/Molly stuff is weird and came out of nowhere. Seems Gayda is a heel one week and a face the next. Didn’t really get into that, but the Trish aspect of this was fine, as Molly/Trish continue to work well as polar opposites who believe their way is the right way.

In the back, Christopher Nowinski says he’s fighting Bradshaw tonight but not for the WWE Hardcore Championship. It’s because he wants to compete as he was taught at Harvard, in a more civilized and gentlemanly manner. Nowinski wants the most dangerous weapon to be intelligence instead of a weapon. Good promo from Nowinski, who continues to be awesome at playing his character. The character motivation for not wanting to fight Bradshaw in a Hardcore match works well also.

Match Two
Bradshaw vs. Christopher Nowinski

Awful match, nothing good happens here. It gets to a point where after some terrible stuff, Bradshaw starts treating the match like a Hardcore one, throwing a bunch of weapons into the ring. As the ref throws the weapons back out of the ring, he is distracted, and it allows Nowinski to hit Bradshaw with Bradshaw’s own cow bell. Nowinski gets the pin and the win. Not long, and still awful. Worst match in a while. 1/2*​

Backstage, WWE European Champion William Regal is watching Nowinski on the monitor and looks impressed. Suddenly, Rob Van Dam walks in asking where Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar are. Regal says that Brock is cooling down after his victory, but if RVD showed up on time, he would know that. Regal then calls RVD rude for barging into people’s locker rooms. Regal tells Van Dam he is looking for a fight and RVD says Regal is right, he is looking for a fight. Since Brock has already competed, RVD challenges Regal to a match tonight and Regal accepts. Solid segment. Does enough to give a reason as to why these two will wrestle tonight.

Backstage, Terri interviews Jeff Hardy about being the underdog tonight. Jeff responds to the underdog comments by saying that tonight is a ladder match. He doesn’t have to pin The Undertaker or make him tap; all he has to do is climb a ladder. Jeff then climbs a ladder nearby to prove he can do it. Hardy talks about how he’s been in a ton of ladder matches and ‘Taker has been in none. Jeff says he’ll be the new champion. Jeff says that someone said, “live free or die”, and he’s living for the moment and he’s not dying tonight. Probably as good as a Jeff Hardy promo gets at this point. Adequate hype for tonight’s main event.

Backstage, we get another really fun Booker T and Goldust segment as Booker can’t believe that Goldust is dressed like Darth Vader. Goldust says that he has another marvellous plan for tonight. Booker then stops being serious and takes Goldust’s lightsabre and starts playing with it. I feel like I say this every week, but another fun one that you should go find and watch.

In the back, Eddie Guerrero is with Vince McMahon. Chris Benoit shows up as well and Vince says that Benoit is now on Raw, and they need to make it up to him in the ring tonight. Benoit promises to pay Vince back ten-fold tonight. Solid hype here for their match, and I like that they’ve made it official that Benoit is now on Raw. I prefer when they don’t ignore the brand split.

Match Three
Rob Van Dam vs. William Regal

Another good, fun match here. Regal’s offense was awesome as he lands brutal, stiff strikes, and he uses RVD’s flexibility to bend him in some crazy ways also. These two just have really good chemistry, putting on a good match as they always do really. With that being said, it was a little disappointing that the fans didn’t seem completely into this one. Both men bumped well, and it feels like in the mood they were in tonight, these two could put on a classic if they got more time. Still though, good stuff and considering he’s feuding with Brock, RVD wins with the Five Star Frog Splash. Another good match. **3/4 ​

After the match, RVD cuts a promo and says he wants to settle his differences with Brock Lesnar tonight. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come out, but they stay at the top of the ramp. Heyman says that he has advised his client to NOT come down there as a favour to RVD to keep his health in order. Heyman suggests that Brock wrestled RVD in three weeks at Vengeance if RVD has the guts. RVD accepts, saying it’s cool with him because he’s Rob Van Dam. Solid enough promo did the job of booking the rematch between these two at Vengeance, which is something I’m really looking forward to.

Match Four
Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley vs. Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero

So excited to see Benoit in for his first match in 2002, because throughout the brand split, whichever show Benoit was on seemed to have an epic upper mid card scene. As good as Benoit is, he takes a back seat in his return, whilst Eddie handles most the work for the team, and puts on an incredible performance. This was probably the smart way to do things to allow Benoit to ease back into things. Eddie’s bumping and flying around for Bubba were great, and then the heat period from both Eddie and Benoit on Spike was awesomely violent. Another good match here although I was surprised with the booking here. The match ends when Eddie misses a Frog Splash on Bubba, and then Bubba connects with the Bubba Bomb for the win. Surprise result, but a really good match. *** ​

After the match, Benoit attacks Bubba. He grabs Bubba from behind and nails a German Suplex. Spike tries to intervene with the Dudley Dog, but Benoit throws him over the top rope and through a table on the outside. Benoit then puts Bubba in the Crippler Crossface, with referees trying to pry Benoit away. Eddie then lands a Frog Splash on Bubba’s back as Benoit keeps the submission hold locked in. Aftermath tells us this feud will likely continue, which I’m okay with based on tonight’s match. Benoit looked really good in his return as well, and doesn’t lose anything, despite losing his in-ring return.

We get the same video package telling us that Rey Mysterio is coming to the WWE. Yay.

In the back, Goldust is walking around dressed as Darth Vader and comes across Big Show. Show calls him a freak. Goldust says he is Show’s father. Show reminds Goldust that his father is dead. Goldust then hits Show with the plastic lightsabre and looks to run away, when turning right into Kevin Nash. Nash decks Goldust. Nash keeps hitting Goldust with a pipe until he’s not moving. Nash then tells Show that’s one down and one more to go. Nash tells Show to get the job done this week, or he’ll come out and kick Show’s ass. A fine way for Goldust to be taken out of action here. No issues.

A video package highlighting Jeff Hardy competing in ladder matches is show. Love this for the sake of hype. I did find it weird, however, that despite Jeff being put over as the expert of this match, a lot of this video package was Jeff missing moves and falling off the ladder.

Backstage, Terri interviews The Undertaker. ‘Taker says he’d rather talk about Kurt Angle and says he’s not Hulk Hogan and he doesn’t tap so that won’t work against him on Smackdown. He thinks Angle should think of another game plan. He says when he’s done with Angle, he’ll be waiting for The Rock, but Terri asks about his match tonight. She says he has never been in a ladder match and Jeff is the master of them. ‘Taker gets annoyed and just walks away. Fine promo here to hype everything ‘Taker has going on at the moment. ‘Taker getting annoyed makes you wonder if he’s doubting himself also.

In the back, Big Show finds X Pac laid out over a broken table and is mad. Nice stuff with Booker T seemingly getting payback with Goldust being taken out earlier.

Match Five
Big Show vs. Booker T

Basic stuff from these two, but it’s low level solid, with nothing necessarily wrong with what they produce. This isn’t a blow off with the NWO and Booker at all, so the ending is booked in a way to continue their issues which I’m fine with here as well. They end up fighting on the floor, and Show picks up the ring steps, but Booker kicks them into his face. Show is basically knocked out on the floor, and Booker can’t pick up his dead weight, so he opts to roll in the ring and win by Count Out. Again, no real issues here. Solid. **​

Backstage, we see Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels looking like they are walking towards the ring. Smart placement to try and maintain viewers with a tease before the commercial break.

After the break, Big Show gets up in the ring when Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels join him. Nash punches Show in the face, and Show retaliates with one of his own, before Shawn calms them both down. Michaels says they are focused on beating up Booker T because they know he took out X Pac. Michaels says NWO is like a family and one of their own is ill right now. He promises that Triple H will come back, and he will come back as a new member of the NWO. Shawn then gets Nash and Show to shake hands, before Superkicking Show. Promo was solid and love the angle on Triple H joining his buddies in the group. Makes plenty of sense. Unsure where the Show tough love thing is going, as it feels really strange and awkward for Show to just deal with this crap.

Backstage, Vince McMahon heaps praise on The Undertaker for showing ruthless aggression for the better part of a decade. He has all the confidence in ‘Taker so he’s booked ‘Taker vs. The Rock at Vengeance. He says whether ‘Taker is champion or not, he gets The Rock at Vengeance. ‘Taker is annoyed by that statement and Vince reassures him that he’s confident he’ll win. Rock/Taker is a match that never really delivers, thankfully that booking will change. Segment here was good though, I like the idea of people doubting ‘Taker throughout the night and him getting annoyed at it.

In Jeff Hardy’s locker room, Matt Hardy comes in and wishes him good luck. Matt says he has a guest with him and Lita walks in wearing a neck brace. She wishes him luck as well. Nice little moment here, although Jeff needs to stop with all the glow in the dark, paint crap all over his face. Distracting and doesn’t look cool at all.

Match Six
WWE Undisputed Championship Match
Ladder Match
The Undertaker (c) vs. Jeff Hardy

LOVE this match, and as a child sitting there and watching Raw at the time, all these years later, this match still feels like a core wrestling memory for me. Just amazing stuff all around. ‘Taker dominates for the most part but Hardy has these awesome desperate bursts of offense, and the fans are heavily invested in Jeff shocking the world. JR on commentary is amazing here, as the match progresses from nobody believing Jeff will win, to believe in the impossible by the end. I know Jeff really comes into his own as a singles guy a few years later, but this still might be a career performance for him. His selling, bumping and gaining sympathy as a babyface is off the charts here. They adapt ‘Taker’s style here as well as this one is more about story and ‘Taker punishing Jeff, and Jeff not giving up, as opposed to a pure, ladder spot fest. It works a treat as ‘Taker is vicious on offense. Jeff’s comebacks continue to escalate as the match progresses, and ‘Taker opts to almost completely avoid using ladders towards the end of the match. This is awesome based on all the talk throughout the night of Jeff being the master of ladders, great psychology. Awesome false finishes at the end with Jeff almost reaching his goal, and JR is amazing on commentary again as he urges Jeff to climb the ladder. ‘Taker stops Jeff though, climbs up and Chokeslams him off the ladder, allowing enough time for ‘Taker to retrieve the title and retain. Can’t compliment this enough, really awesome stuff. ****​

After the match, ‘Taker notices that Jeff is battling to his feet, so he goes back in and drills Jeff with the Last Ride. As ‘Taker rides his bike up the ramp, Jeff gets on the mic. As his voice breaks, which just adds to the moment, Jeff tells ‘Taker, he hasn’t broken him yet, and he’s still standing. ‘Taker returns to the ring and has Hardy against the ropes, ready to punch him. But he can’t do it. He instead pats Jeff on his head and holds his hand up. Just awesome stuff all around. If Jeff could have kept his shit together, this should have been a star making performance. ‘Taker put him over so well, and the aftermath also probably continues to show that ‘Taker is eventually headed for a face turn. Great stuff.

It’s funny, we were just talking about how Raw is going to be awful and Smackdown will be where its at, and then Raw produces the BEST weekly episode so far for the year. Amazing episode of Raw, very enjoyable throughout.