Judgment Day '02

Legacy Review

Judgment Day '02

May 19, 2002 from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, TN

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

 

Change in both the WWF and wrestling world as a whole has been seemingly nonstop since the purchase of WCW in March '01, and coming into this PPV there's been yet more change. I won't get deep into the legal weeds on this, but for the past decade or so WWF had been embroiled in an on again, off again legal dispute with the other WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, over the official WWF trademark. Wrestling WWF's international expansion had brought on a new lawsuit from animal WWF, and it was animal WWF that was winning in court because they did have claim to the trademark first. As a result of this, wrestling WWF decided to throw in the towel and change the name of the company to World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. To the howls of dismay of a lot of hardcore wrestling fans, already unhappy with the company's frequent prioritizing of entertainment over straight wrestling and, at the time, no real alternatives, but everyone got used to it eventually. To help the name change go down smoother WWE started a new Attitude Era style campaign called "Get the F out!".

 

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) def Rob Van Dam in 10:47- This is a rematch from Backlash, where Guerrero won the IC title in his WWE return. Or technically a rerematch as they also opened the show at Insurrextion but that was only seen in the UK. Lots of jawing and some shoving after the bell. Speed run and RVD runs Guerrero over for 2. Off the ropes again Guerrero does a fancy flip over RVD, but gets up into an RVD clothesline for 2. Scoop powerslam from RVD and Guerrero rolls to the floor FURIOUS at how things have gone so far. Forget Latino Heat, this is Latino temper. Reset lockup back in and Guerrero hits a cheap shot in the corner. European uppercuts. RVD gets a boot up in the opposite corner, hops to the second rope, fakes Guerrero out, and hits a split legged moonsault onto his back. Very nice. Kicks to the back from RVD. Big backdrop and legdrop for 2. Straight kick to Guerrero's head. RVD continues to outmaneuver Guerrero, working him into a tiltawhirl backbreaker for 2. More kicks to the back as RVD clearly has a target. RVD tries to hook on a surfboard but Guerrero manages to fight free. Elbow drop from RVD and this time the surfboard is on! They hold it a LONG while too. Guerrero goes down onto his shoulders and we get a 2 count on both guys as all for shoulders were down, but they both get a shoulder up without breaking the hold. RVD pulls Guerrero back up! Phenomenal. Then he uses his legs to push Guerrero up and down to the mat! Very appreciative ovation from the crowd for that fantastic sequence. RVD standing moonsault for 2. Guerrero's had enough and begs off. RVD stays on him and Guerrero hides in the corner, then gets a cheap punch in when the ref tries to pull RVD back. Guerrero stomps away and wildly pounds RVD down in the corner. He goes into some chokey/eye rakey stuff to rile the crowd up some more. RVD tries to chop back but Guerrero eye pokes him. Off a whip reversal RVD does his split legged duck and monkey flips Guerrero. Stand up slugfest in the corner. Corner whip and Guerrero Bret bumps with RVD shoulderblocking him in the back at the same time! Backflip from RVD and he monkey flips Guerrero again. Hot shot from RVD. Rolling thunder hits for 2. I see someone in the crowd has an "RIP Davey Boy" sign. He had passed away just the day before. Guerrero counters a suplex into a roll up for 2. Misdirection kick from RVD. He springs up top, but Guerrero comes from behind and crotches him, then powerbombs RVD off the top rope. Guerrero slowly goes up top as RVD is in the drop zone. RVD dodges the frog splash! Guerrero took WAY too much time. A big "RVD" chant starts up as they slug it out again. Guerrero goes down in the zone and now RVD goes up top. Guerrero dodges the Five Star! Both guys slowly stagger up and stare down again. Speed run, lots of dodging, and RVD hits a crossbody for a long 2. Guerrero eye rakes again and hits a European uppercut. RVD ducks another into a backslide for 2. Then Guerrero ducks an RVD high kick into his own backslide, gets his feet on the ropes, and gets the pin! Fantastic finish. More goodness from these guys as this feud continues to deliver in the ring, a very old school IC title as the worker's title feud. ***3/4

 

Speaking of "Get the F out", here's one of the get the F out commercials. 

 

WWE Women's Championship: Trish Stratus (c) (w/Bubba Ray Dudley) def Stacy Keibler (w/Reverend D'Von and Deacon Batista) in 3:00- The Dudleyz, who dominated the tag title scene most of 2001 as heels, were one of many established teams broken up in the brand split. Bubba Ray turned face and stayed pretty much who he'd always been. D'Von stayed heel and introduced the new Reverend D'Von character, and was paired up with another OVW Class of 2002'er making his debut, none other than Batista. Little did anyone know how big he'd become, he was really the least likely star out of the Class of '02.....er, trio plus one? How do you say group of four? Quadrangle? Anyway. I haven't said anything about the women actually in this match yet, because they are very much proxies here and little else. Lotta hotness in that ring though. Not counting the ref. Obviously. After the women make their entrances D'Von and Batista make their entrance. Then the missiles hit and Bubba Ray comes out. While all that's going on Trish jumps Stacy from behind. Speed run and Stacy hits a high kick for 2. Backdrop from Stacy. As commentary points out, Stacy is the latest in a long list of women, including Trish, now serving as Vince's "personal assistant", with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof. Trish cranks Stacy's arm into a short clothesline. Double leg takedown into a Boston crab! Well, Stacy would be a big target for that. They go into a couple of roll up counters. Kick and hangman's neckbreaker from Trish for 2. She hits some forearms and head kicks Stacy out to the floor. Right in front of Bubba Ray. Bubba gets in her face and laughs. Stacy slaps him! Bubba is not happy. The glasses are off! While the ref is distracted by them Batista gets in and slams Trish! Stacy covers for 2. She keeps Trish grounded with a couple of hair pulling holds. Trish comes off the ropes and counters a backdrop with a big kick. Baseball slide to Batista! Trish ducks and Stacy clotheslines Batista! Batista didn't even flinch. Sloppy bulldog from Trish and that gets the pin. OK for the time they got. The women's division is still miles better than during the Attitude Era even if it's getting booked largely the same. *

 

After the bell D'Von tries to attack but Trish gets the hell out of town. The Dudleyz then stare down in the ring. D'Von offers a handshake and Bubba Ray takes it. Batista tries to jump but Bubba Ray was ready and tosses him over the top to the floor. That allows D'Von to run Bubba Ray over with a clothesline, which he instantly regrets. Batista gets back in and stomps on Bubba Ray until D'Von tells him to stop. D'Von then has a change of heart, punching Bubba Ray down and telling Batista to get the tables. After the table is set up Bubba Ray tries to fight them off but Batista hits him with the METAL collection box. They 3D Bubba Ray through the table. 

 

In the back, Vince visits Raw owner Ric Flair and VP Arn Anderson. After feuding for so long as the WWF co-owners, they're now buddies because Flair's gone back heel since he's feuding with Austin and WWE was obsessed with heel authority figures. Flair promises Vince he'll take care of Austin tonight. 

 

Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman def The Hardy Boyz in 4:00- The whole teaming Lesnar up with Shawn Stasiak at Insurrextion thing didn't work (big shock), so Heyman's now taking the spot himself knowing all he has to do is stay out of Lesnar's way. Lesnar's still using the short lived alternate more heelish version of his music. The logo on the back of his tights is closer to what it would ultimately be now. Jeff tries a plancha as Lesnar comes in but Lesnar catches him! Matt saves him with a baseball slide and they stomp Lesnar down on the floor, then corner Heyman in the ring. Lesnar makes the save as the bell rings to officially start. Right back to Lesnar manhandling Jeff. Jeff tries coming off the second rope but falls into a belly to belly suplex. Jeff slips out of a powerslam attempt at tags Matt. Matt gets some shots in but it's short lived as Lesnar takes control again. Press slam on Matt as the crowd starts to sarcastically chant "Goldberg" at Lesnar, which is how he was understandably perceived at the time. Powerslam from Lesnar on Matt. Backbreaker on Matt. Matt manages to counter with a DDT. Tag to Jeff. Whisper in the Wind hits. Jawbreaker on Lesnar. Double team ledgrop from the Hardyz. Poetry in Motion hits and Matt 360 clotheslines Lesnar to the floor. They then turn their attention to Heyman. Heyman tries to run but gets caught. Poetry in Motion on Heyman! Lesnar drags Matt out to the floor and takes him out. Jeff sets up on the top rope. Lesnar gets in between Jeff and Heyman and DARES Jeff to jump. Jeff does....right into Lesnar's waiting arms. He never knew when to back off. But somehow he does manage to leverage Lesnar down into a cover for 2. Matt gets taken out again. F5 on Jeff! Now Heyman wants to be tagged in! Brock does. Heyman flops over the top rope to get in the ring (fantastic), covers Jeff and gets the pin himself. Like all the Lesnar/Hardyz stuff it accomplished its mission, but it's time to move on. *1/2

 

In the back, a short lived interview guy I don't even remember is with the newest member of the NWO, Booker T. Another thing I'd forgotten, the WWE version of the NWO actively recruiting. Booker is distracted during his promo by the presence of some random woman backstage, probably a ringrat. She gives Booker her hotel room key and slinks off. I have a feeling Booker's falling victim to one of the classic blunders, up there with not starting a land war in Asia or going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

 

The video package for the next match makes is clear they're trying really hard to make Austin/Flair the next Austin/Vince feud. An Austin/Flair feud was a great idea, as I went over in the Insurrextion review they always killed it the few times they were in the ring together in tag matches in WCW, but this was totally the wrong way to go about it. Not to mention they shoehorned Big Show in to do the heavy lifting in the ring, denying us a straight one on one match between the two. 

 

Handicap Match: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & The Big Show in 15:34- Austin gets in the ring, tosses his vest aside, and attacks to get us going. Flair takes a backdrop and Austin tries to kick Show down. He goes for an early Stunner but Show pushes free, sending Austin into Flair. More kicks from Austin and he swings a bunch of double ax handles to Show's head that eventually get him down. Flair tries coming off the top rope but Austin catches him with a gut shot. Flair clearly sets himself up to be clotheslined over the top by Austin, which Austin does. Austin gets the figure four on Show! Flair quickly gets in to break it up. Austin figure four on Flair! Show tries to hit Austin with an elbow drop. Austin manages to dodge it while keeping the hold on Flair, but loses grip and has to let go after. Austin goes out and gets a chair. Ref Lil' Naitch gets in Austin's face and yells at him to get rid of it. Austin reluctantly hands the chair over....then goes out and gets another one! Again Lil' Naitch says what the hell. Austin sets the chair up in the ring and sits down! Then flips Lil' Naitch a double bird. Austin then tosses the chair out of the ring. Lots of jawing and jockeying after and we eventually get Austin and Flair in the ring, something that should be a much bigger deal than this feud and angle have given it. Lockup! Austin hits a shoulderblock and gives Flair some ground and pound. Flair quickly slides out for some space. Austin checks the tape wristwatch, then goes to the cooler and gets a Steveweiser. Lil' Naitch, again, wants that out of the ring. An annoyed Austin tosses it away. Reset lockup and speed run. Flair gets a shoulderblock but runs into another Austin backdrop. Flair begs off to get the eye poke in. Chop time. Austin reverses and hits his own chops. Flair Flop! Yet another backdrop and Flair again begs off. Mounted punches from Austin. Flair tries to counter with an inverted atomic drop but Austin blocks it and clotheslines him. But, Flair falls into his corner and is able to tag Show in. After some mind games push ups from Austin they lock up. HUGE chop in the corner from Show. Austin almost likes it. Another Show chop. Duck under from Austin and he pummels Show with punches. Big boot from Show and he tags Flair back in. Flair makes an attempt to hold Lil' Naitch back as he low blows Flair, but there's no way Naitch couldn't see that. Another chop from Flair leads to a full on chopfest exchange. Flair goes up top and Austin slams him off, right into mudhole stomps. They're in a groove and going real good now so of course Show has to interject himself. He catches Austin off the ropes and powerslams him. Flair continues to pick Austin apart after that. More chops in the corner and after that Flair starts in on the knee work. Show tags in and, per Flair's instructions, continues to pick the knee apart. Flair tags back in and goes for the figure four. Austin does the small package counter for 2. Clothesline from Austin. Flair goes back to the knee to get him down. Figure four! Flair gets some near falls as Austin fights it. Austin gets the reversal. Show runs in and elbow drops Austin in the back. Austin counters Flair into a backslide for 2. Another big Flair/Austin chop exchange, letting the crowd do a dueling "WOOO/WHAT" chant. Austin spinebuster and he gets Flair in the figure four! This time Show legdrops Austin to break it up. Flair disentangles himself and tags out. Show runs into an Austin boot. Thesz press off the second rope! Elbow drop. Flair comes in and gets Thesz pressed! Another spinebuster on Flair for 2. Show drags Austin up by the throat. Austin hits Show with the Stunner as we see X-Pac has come to ringside. Show's in the WWE NWO, hadn't mentioned that because it's generally not worth mentioning. Austin goes for a second Stunner on Show. Pac tries to interfere but Austin ducks and Pac kicks Show! Stunner on Pac! Stunner on Flair! Austin covers Flair and gets the pin! I'm 95% sure Flair wasn't legal but whatever. There's hints of how great a straight Flair/Austin match could be even this late in their careers, but it's held back by Show's presence, the angle, and the fact that Flair clearly still isn't quite 100% himself yet after end of life WCW. **3/4

 

Smackdown commentary team Michael Cole and Tazz do a stand up from the crowd to hype up the next match. We get a shot of the barber chair and the barber hired for the night takes his place. 

 

Hair vs Hair Match: Edge def Kurt Angle in 15:28- Another rematch from Backlash here, but that was just the start of this feud that was the early kickoff of the Smackdown Six era, and helped Edge to finally start putting the pieces together to eventually get to main event level. Angle's got his Superman logo gear on for the first time on PPV. Lockup into a quick Angle facelock. Great extended speed run that ends with Edge countering an Angle knee to the gut attempt into a roll up for 2. Edge then lets Angle know how close that was. More speed and Edge momentum tosses Angle over the top to the floor. Baseball slide from Edge. Angle catches Edge with stomps coming back in. Backdrop from Edge. He ties Angle up in the ropes! Spear into trapped Angle! Edge goes for another. Angle gets free, catches Edge running, and belly to belly suplexes him over the top to the floor! Fantastic sequence. Angle pounds Edge down in the corner back in. Chops from Angle. Edge reverses and hits his own chops. Nice Arn Anderson style spinebuster from Angle for 2. Not a usual move for him. Edge manages to get a back elbow, but Angle ducks a clothesline and hits a DDT for 2. He grounds Edge with a chinlock for a bit. Lawler has the first WWF slip of the night. Edge tries to fight back up but Angle jerks him back down by the hair. Suplex from Angle for 2. He hooks on a front facelock. Edge fights up again and hits Angle with his own belly to belly suplex! Crazy hang time from Angle on that. Speed run and Edge builds momentum with a flying forearm, clothesline and spinning heel kick. Reverse DDT for 2. Angle comes back with another belly to belly. Edge tries to backdrop Angle to the floor but Angle lands on the apron. Edge sees and basement dropkicks Angle off to the floor. Edge running plancha! Coming back in Edge goes up top. Angle tries his run up the ropes snap suplex, but Edge had it scouted and pushes him back down! Missile dropkick from Edge for 2. Angle ducks under and PLANTS Edge with a German suplex. He goes for another. Edge counters with a roll up for 2. Front drop falcon arrow from Edge and he goes up top again. Angle gets the run up snap suplex this time! Think that one was even quicker than usual. Superkick from Edge. He climbs up the ropes to get some extra oopmh on a DDT. Angle kicks out! Angle ducks and Edge spears ref Hebner the Younger! Release German suplex from Angle that Edge does a NUTS 360 sell of. Angle sees the ref down and gets a chair. Edge cuts it off with a spear! Cover but no ref. Edge sets up for anther spear. Angle cuts it off with a kick. Angle Sl...no Edge squirts free! Another spear! Hebner Jr counts and Angle JUST kicks out! The crowd is lapping this up now. Edge goes for the Edgecution. Angle counters out. Angle with a spear! Angle Slam! Edge just kicks out! Angle is FURIOUS. THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! Ankle lock! Edge quickly pulls up the ropes and hits an enzuguri. Angle recovers to grab the ankle lock again! He drags Edge back to the middle. Edge uses that tiny opening to turn over and push free. When Angle bounces off the ropes Edge gets him in a Paul Smackage to get the pin! Second fantastic out of the usual finish tonight. The first half of the match was a bit pedestrian, nowhere near bad but not pointing to a classic, but the second half was all kinds of awesome. ****1/4

 

After the bell a pissed off Angle attacks Edge again. Edge hits the Edgecution to put Angle back down. He drags Angle out and toward the barber chair. Angle realizes what's happening, pushes Edge into the entrance ramp, and runs off.

 

Cut to the Marriott across the street (the McMahons always stayed in a Marriott, fun little tidbit for you there), where Booker is in bed waiting for his ringrat. She gets in with him and tells him she wants to do it in the dark. Booker's cool with that. After the lights are out the lady asks to be kissed "right here" and we get comedy kissing noises. Booker says he loves her talking dirty (that's dirty talk?) and wants her to say something else. Totally different voice: "I want you to leave the NWO and come back to......GOOOOOOOOOOOOLDUST!". The light comes on and Goldust is in bed with them! Goldust says Booker doesn't return phone calls and he set all this up to try to get his tag partner back. Booker gets out of the bed and runs off, showing us WAY more Booker than we ever needed to see.

 

Cage lowering music! Cole and Tazz jump in for hype again as this is another Smackdown match.

 

Hell in a Cell Match: Triple H def Chris Jericho in 24:59- After two Backlash rematches, we now get a rematch of the very underwhelming Wrestlemania 18 main event. After spending that feud as Steph's proxy, Jericho is now Vince's proxy in his feud with his ex-son in law. Austin vs Flair. Trips vs Vince. Did I mention WWE had gotten obsessed with heel authority figures? Jericho gets NOTHING from the crowd on his entrance. It's going to take a solid two years of rehab after that awful title reign and WM 18 feud before he gets back on track. Why do they even bother locking the cage door when they still get out every single time? They go nose to nose in the ring after the bell. Opening slugfest. HHH hits an early high knee and gives Jericho a backdrop. He pounds Jericho down in the corner, then tosses him over the top to the floor. Both guys block cage shots and get back in the ring. Flying forearm from Jericho. He hits chops in the corner and they both trade corner shots. Jericho posts his shoulder and falls out to the floor. Jericho takes the first cage shots. Back in HHH hits a short clothesline. Snap suplex for 2. They do the corner whip reversal do-si-do and we get a Trips Flip to the floor. Jericho whips him into the cage. HHH whips Jericho into the stairs and I just now catch Jericho is bleeding on his upper arm, I assume from one of those earlier cage shots. HHH teases a piledriver on the stairs. Jericho gets free and slingshots him into the cage! He goes under the ring and we now have a ladder in the Cell match. Jericho runs HHH over with the ladder. HHH is busted open and Jericho gives him the cheese grater spot on the cage. Another run over of HHH with the ladder in the ring. HHH gets whipped into the propped up ladder, then falls to the floor and bounces off the stairs! HHH amusing himself as much as anything else there. Jericho then drops the ladder onto him! HHH tries to slug back but Jericho whips him into the cage again. Back in Jericho goes for another running ladder shot. HHH cuts it off with a chair into the ladder! Straight chairshot to Jericho. Jericho bulldogs HHH into the ladder! Now Jericho puts the stairs in the ring. He tries to run into HHH with them, but HHH drop toe holds him into the stairs! Neckbreaker from HHH. Facebuster. He tosses the stairs into Jericho! Jericho took that right on the arm. HHH picks Jericho up and lawn darts him into the cage. Back in Jericho hits the ropes. HHH dodges and send Jericho into ref Tim White. WHITE FLIES OFF THE APRON AND INTO THE CAGE! Holy shit that's one of the greatest ref bumps I've ever seen. He hit the cage HARD. There's a reason he's a Hall of Famer. Jericho gives HHH a chairshot and pointlessly covers. White's dead, dude. And not by suicide. This time. Jericho drags White up and tosses him into the cage again! WHITE'S BUSTED OPEN. What a ref performance. Absolute gold. Back in Jericho runs into a HHH spinebuster. The other refs use bolt cutters to get the cage door open and try to help White. They came up with a good excuse to open the door this time, I'll give them that. HHH goes under the ring and gets Mr. Sledgehammer. Sledge shot to Jericho. He covers but none of the refs could be bothered. Jericho crawls out the door as HHH tries to get one of the refs to take the match over. Jericho slams the door into HHH's face! Now HHH crawls out and we're officially out of the cage. Again. 100% of all the Cell matches so far. Jericho sets up the Spanish announce table and drags HHH onto it. He sets up for a Pedigree. HHH fights out and DDTs Jericho through the table! HHH gets out the barbed wire 2x4! Mick Foley left it for him. Jericho climbs the cage to get away. All the way to the roof of the cage. Another one for the HIAC bingo card. HHH follows with the 2x4. But he makes the mistake of tossing it onto the roof before he gets up there, allowing Jericho to get it and hit him with it. HHH writhes in pain on the roof. Another 2x4 shot from Jericho. Double leg takedown from Jericho and he puts HHH in the Walls on the roof! Ref Mike Chioda climbs up to the roof to check for the submission. HHH uses one of the support beams for leverage to push free. Jericho gets the 2x4 again. Low blow from HHH! HHH goes for a Pedigree but Jericho backdrops free. You can tell from the crowd reaction they expected HHH to go through the roof back down into the ring there, like Mick Foley at King of the Ring '98. HHH gets the 2x4 and hits Jericho in the head with it! HHH covers on the roof for 2. HHH hits the Pedigree on the roof! Another cover and HHH gets the pin! It's not the greatest HIAC match, but that was a VERY high bar at the time. It's still great, though a lot of what they'd been doing for HIAC matches were at risk of becoming overly cliche and needed some refreshing, or resting for a bit. Definitely HHH's best match since coming back from the quad injury. ****

 

In the back, Angle continues to run. He disguises himself at what I assume is the makeup station and Edge misses him. After that is a very risque "get the F out" ad that uses Mark Henry's old Sexual Chocolate music.

 

WWE Tag Team Championship: Rikishi & a mystery partner def Billy & Chuck (c) in 3:50- Once again the tag titles are the pre-main event cool down match. Rikishi comes out first, then Fink announces "as chosen by Mr. McMahon" Rikishi's partner.....(very pregnant pause).....RICO! B&C's manager stylist! Rico crosses sides and seems fine with it. Rikishi is less fine with it. At the bell Billy tries to jump but Rikishi is ready for him. Kick wham DDT from Billy. Rikishi no sells it (Samoan skull) and hits a superkick. Chuck runs in and initially gets taken down, but then B&C manage to double flapjack Rikishi. Rikishi dodges a Billy dropkick and wants to tag, but Rico is jawing with a fan and has his back turned. Billy comes behind Rikishi and hits a neckbreaker. Chuck pounds away on Rikishi in the corner. He belly to belly suplexes Rikishi! Nice. Cover for 2. Billy hits the Fameasser for a long 2. Rikishi dodges Chuck and Chuck almost runs into Rico, then he turns around into a Rikishi belly to belly suplex. Rikishi covers but then collapses off Chuck. Is he selling, or is he really as blown up as he looks? Because he looks completely blown up. Rikishi manages to suck enough oxygen in to start knocking B&C around again. He butt splashes Chuck as a sunset flip counter for 2 and still looks like he's struggling. He tries a pop up neckbreaker on Billy but can't get it quite right. Dropkick from Chuck. He calls Rico in. Rikishi ducks and takes out Chuck! Rikishi superkicks Rico, covers Chuck, and wins the tag titles for himself and Rico. While Rikishi dances on the stage Rico leaves with B&C but still takes his belt. I don't *hate* the angle, but it needed way more buildup and a longer match to play out. Rikishi looking like shit didn't help any. B&C would win the titles back on Smackdown a couple of weeks after. 1/4*

 

In the back, Edge is still looking for Angle. Angle ambushes him with a trash can lid! He knocks Edge around the tunnel to Gorilla, then through Gorilla. There's a couple of interesting signs there. One says "WWE- World Wrestling Entertainment, NEW LOOK (in bold), Same Attitude", obviously to remind guys about the name change. The other says, underlined, "Stay away from the Spanish announce table!". Anyway, Angle drags Edge onto the stage and asks people if they want to see a haircut. He calls the barber out. Angle punches Edge into the barber chair. Edge fights out, slips out of an Angle Slam attempt, and puts on a sleeper! Angle goes out! Edge puts him in the chair, gets the shears, and goes to work on Angle's hair! Some fun shenanigans of Angle trying to cover up his new baldness will ensue in the weeks after this, but we all know we get to peak Angle when he becomes bald Angle. He's now bald Angle.

 

Undisputed WWE Championship: The Undertaker def Hollywood Hulk Hogan (c) in 11:20- Longtime fans will remember these two had a feud over this title back in the fall of '91. While those two matches absolutely sucked, they were notable for Taker's first title win, and for the continued interference of Flair in the matches, leading to the title being held up for Flair to win in the Royal Rumble. The buildup to this match was also, putting it mildly, less than spectacular. Since Hogan's a motorcycle guy and Taker's fully in Biker Taker mode there were motorcycles involved. Taker actually comes out sans bike. He's wearing one of Hogan's weightlifting belts that he stole. Hogan slides in and Taker whips him with the weightlifting belt. YAPPAPI! I have no idea why that keeps popping into my head. Hogan attacks back with punches, picks up the belt and whips Taker back with it. Hebner grabs the belt and tosses it away, and the bell finally rings to start things for real. Taker's still wobbly and Hogan hits a corner clothesline. Backdrop. Hogan 360 clotheslines Taker to the floor and finally does the shirt tear. They go back and forth on the floor and Taker gets whipped into the stairs. Someone in the crowd loudly shouts "HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT". Back in Taker gets some shots back and cranks Hogan's arm. Hogan counters old school by crotching Taker. Hogan with a superplex! He gives Taker some ground and pound. Taker ducks a clothesline swing and chop blocks Hogan. He starts working on Hogan's knee. Hogan pounds on Taker's face with his good leg to get free. Stand up slugfest. Taker catches Hogan with a throat shot that might have been a bit stiff. Hogan responds with a running double ax handle. Hogan big boot! He goes for the legdrop but Taker dodges. Taker uses that position to hook on a half crab on the bad knee. After a bit of a fight Hogan gets a rope break. Punch combo from Taker in the corner. He goes for a running big boot but Hogan ducks and Taker gets tangled on the top rope. Taker ducks another clothesline. Goozle! Chokeslam! Man Hogan could barely get himself up for that, it looked weak as hell. Cover. Hulk Up! Point! Three punches, big boot. The legdrop hits! Taker kicks out! It's not the '80s anymore. Taker counters a very obvious backdrop attempt with a DDT for 2. Vince McMahon makes his way out as Taker goes out and gets a chair. Hogan big boots the chair into Taker's face! The legdrop hits again! Hogan covers but Vince has Hebner distracted. Hogan flips Vince into the ring! Big punch to Vince! LEGDROP ON VINCE! Taker nails Hogan with the chair from behind! Chokeslam! Taker covers and wins the title! After the bell Taker destroys Hogan's throat with the top of a chair. As I said when Hogan won the title at Backlash, I really don't disagree with the call because Hogan nostalgia was really running wild (reference intended), but this was also a good call. It didn't need to go any longer as it was just a nostalgia run. The match was better than their '91 matches, but that's not saying much. **

 

Three title changes in three months, they're clearly trying to figure out exactly who's going to lead the company in this new era, knowing Austin's body was about gone and Rock, who for the second year in a row has been out since WM, was making serious eyes at Hollywood. Not to mention still figuring out how this new brand split is going to work in practice. The rapid fire title changes are far from done.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The trend is continuing from 2001, particularly the Invasion angle, of good individual matches on PPVs helping to somewhat overcome creative that's been largely stuck in neutral for nearly a year. The strength and quantity of the good matches lifts this to be one of the best PPVs of the year so far.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B