WWF Backlash - Kemper Arena, Kansas City Missouri, April 21st 2002

The theme song for this event is Young Grow Old by Creed. Not my favourite song but it’s on the WWF Forceable Entry CD that they’ve been promoting the hell out of for the past two months. In fairness, it’s a great CD with a lot of bangers on it. I miss when wrestling used lots of songs by real artists that weren’t rap and RnB but that’s a personal taste thing - I’m a rock guy. I’ll take Saliva and Creed over Travis Scott and Cardi B any day of the week.

There’s an oddly emotional video package to start this event. Hollywood Hulk Hogan regaining his fans and popularity and chasing the WWF Championship again is certainly a grand, important event but I’ll talk a lot more about the Hulkster later in the show. 

No time wasting - after JR’s usual welcome to the show and a panning show of the wildlife at WWF New York it’s straight into the first match. JR and King from Raw are calling this entire show and it’ll take a couple of months for them to figure out the Raw/Smackdown divide on PPV. 

WWF Cruiserweight Championship

Billy Kidman © vs. Tajiri (w/Torrie Wilson)

This match comes to us from Smackdown. Two things to talk about here - the increased focus on the Cruiserweights/Light Heavyweights is a great thing for me personally. Big fan. The second is Tajiri’s change in attitude. Since the brand split he’s become increasingly aggressive and belligerent towards his girlfriend Torrie Wilson, blaming her for losing the title to Billy Kidman for not letting him cheat and forcing her to dress like a geisha which Michael Cole calls misogynistic. I feel like that’s probably culturally insensitive - to demonise an ancient practice like that - but Americans gonna America.

These two start off fast with arm drags and chain wrestling as JR shares some trivia; in this same arena last year during the Invasion, Tajiri actually defeated Billy Kidman for this same title belt. That’s not the most famous thing to happen in the Kemper Arena.

They continue to exchange fast moves and the fans cheer. I’m glad this was the opener as the fans are hot enough to give these guys the reactions they deserve. The fans are into the storyline too as they chant for Torrie. It’s interesting hearing JR and King react to this storyline as being on Raw, this is the first time they’ve seen it in person. They give an overview and simply the story to Tajiri being a bit of an asshole to poor Torrie, who’s done nothing wrong. 

Tajiri gets control with a stiff kick to the head on the outside and slows things down, controlling the match and hanging Kidman upside down in the corner and then baseball sliding a dropkick right into his face which looked brutal.

Tajiri focuses his attack on Kidman’s back as Torrie meekly cheers him on from the outside - she’s not into this match and clearly distraught that her boyfriend has changed so much recently. 

This is really good and when Kidman blocks Tajiri’s handspring elbow with a mid-air dropkick to the back the fans explode! They give him another big pop later when he barely kicks out of a stiff kick right to the head. 

Kidman misses his Shooting Star Press finisher and Tajiri capitalises with a brutal kick to the head but AGAIN Kidman kicks out. The fans are really into this and start to chant for Kidman and JR and King are really into it too - King popping for all the big moves and kick outs, including the next one which is Tajiri kicking out of a spinebuster/powerbomb off the middle rope. 

Tajiri ruins it however and as Kidman lifts Tajiri into a powerbomb he sprays his red mist into Kidman’s eyes which causes him to collapse, blind and Tajiri gets the cover and regains the Cruiserweight title in a great match.

After the match, Smackdown’s Michael Cole asks Tajiri about his victory and recent change of heart and as has become the norm Tajiri speaks in angry, guttural Japanese before dragging Torrie off by the hand.

Backstage, Smackdown’s Faarooq goes to check in with his old tag team partner, Raw’s Bradshaw. As they reminisce, the nWo’s music starts to signal the next match and Bradshaw has to run off for it.

Scott Hall (w/X-Pac) vs. Bradshaw (w/Faarooq)

Scott Hall has X-Pac with him for backup, still wearing the Kane mask he stole after they beat down and injured the Big Red Machine. Kane is actually out for a little while as he needed elbow surgery. I’m sure that the nWo will still be around for him to get his revenge by the time he comes back. Right? 

X-Pac joining the nWo might seem a little random and it certainly did to me at the time in 2002 but Sean Waltman has a lot of history with the nWo and with the men involved. Sean was the fifth member of the infamous Klique in the mid 90s as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Sean Waltman used their real life friendship with Vince McMahon and behind the scenes influence to protect, promote and insulate each other all the way to the top of the card. That group has had its ups and downs and needs an article all of its own but that real life friendship is what lead Waltman/X-Pac to move to WCW and, renamed Syxx, become a member of the original nWo. He talked about how Hall and Nash were “being held hostage by WCW” when he returned to the WWF on Raw the night after Wrestlemania 14, which you can read about in my first ever Preview article! See how it all comes full circle?

Before the match begins, Faarooq comes out to back up his old partner. He’s on Smackdown now but he still has his buddies back and the fans give a big cheer for the reunion. It’s only been three weeks lads. They’re both still wearing their APA ring gear and t-shirts for God’s sake. 

Bradshaw is bigger and stronger than the, to be fair, massive Scott Hall and sends him packing to the outside and Faarooq wastes no time in evening the odds, punching Hall and sending him back to the inside and flooring X-Pac with a right hand too. 

I don’t have a great deal to say about this match because Bradshaw *whispering* isn’t a very good wrestler. It goes as you’d expect with X-Pac using a cheap shot here and there to give Hall the advantage. 

Bradshaw clobbers Hall with a Clothesline from Hell but X-Pac puts his foot on the ropes to break the pin. That brings Faarooq around the ring to fight him and he drives X-Pac spine-first into the ring post. The distraction is enough however and Scott gives Bradshaw a low blow from behind and rolls him up nice and tight, holding the tights for good measure to steal a victory. This wasn’t great but thankfully was only six minutes long.

Backstage, Smackdown’s owner Vince McMahon goes to see Raw’s Ric Flair. It is, in kayfabe, the first time they’ve seen each other since the night Raw signed Stone Cold. Vince smugly tells Flair that he’s starting to like his management style. He says that the roster is ungrateful and questions everything you do and say - it’s enough to change a man, isn’t it? He asks Ric if he’s starting to feel the heat, putting himself between a rock and a hard place as referee tonight? It’s funny because this is actually a point I’ve made in real life - wrestling fans initially appreciated Tony Khan and the way he was running AEW as a fan’s first, love for the talents owner but over time he slowly but surely started doing a lot of things both on and off camera that fans criticised Vince McMahon for for years. Being an owner and promoter forces a person to become an evil asshole, it seems. There’s certainly plenty of real life stories about owners and bookers and promoters being not very nice people.

Flair tells McMahon that he doesn’t have a clue who he is and tells him to get out of his office.

WWF Women’s Championship

Jazz © vs. Trish Stratus

After a replay of how Trish earned this title match on Raw by beating Molly Holly during Trish’s entrance, Molly Holly comes out to the ring. Hilariously, no one knows what her or Jazz’s theme songs are so no one realises it’s not Jazz until Molly is most of the way down the ramp. 

Molly gets in the ring and says that the fans want a women’s champion who is pure and wholesome like her, not a cheater like Trish. In fairness, Trish did use the tights to steal a win on Raw. Molly attacks Trish and beats her up, slamming her into the ringsteps as Jazz makes her entrance and with Trish now in a weakened state, getting her into the ring and focusing on the back that Molly just injured. Holly is escorted up the ramp leaving the match to progress.

Women’s wrestling was in an odd place at this point in 2002 as the company tried to make it a real division and the women were all working very hard backstage to become better wrestlers, but with the fans and Jerry Lawler still only talking about their appearance and puppies. That in turn, forced the company to continue to do things like the Divas SEX ON THE BEACH TV special and the Diva’s bikini magazine. The roster is becoming bolstered by talented women however, which is moving in the right direction.

Jazz dominates Trish with her fighting back as best she can. Jazz blocks a hurricanrana and drills Trish with a sit down powerbomb which I was sure would be the end but Trish kicked out.

Jazz’s character is a “Mike Tyson like” brute who uses hard strikes and brutalises opponents, trying to injure them rather than just beat them. That’s pretty strong, as characters go. 

The finish comes out of nowhere as Jazz locks Trish in the STF and with her sore back she’s forced to tap out. Jazz retains the title via submission. This was a decent and mostly storyline, which is what the women’s division needs as they continue to try and get the fans behind them.

After the match, Mark Lloyd (who I thought was a Smackdown guy) tries to interview Jazz but she ignores him and leaves with her title.

Before the next match, JR and King discuss the disgusting actions of Paul Heyman on Raw. King has a hard time condoning a man for fondling Lita’s underwear which makes him sound even more like a sex pest than normal. Here’s the video package recap of what happened. I’ll leave in Heyman and Brock’s prematch hype up too so you can see The Next Big Thing in all his 24 year old glory.

This match was scheduled to be Matt Hardy vs. Lesnar but after the events of Raw, Matt is hurt so Jeff is taking his place.

Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Jeff Hardy (w/Lita)

I mentioned it during the Preview but I’ll talk about it here too - Lita suffered a neck injury while filming a TV show appearance on April 8th and I was certain we wouldn’t see her for a long time because of it but we’re in this weird period where she has three cracked vertebrae but neither she nor the doctors have realised how serious that is yet. She needs major neck surgery and will miss most of 2002, but not yet apparently. I’m sure they’ll avoid her doing anything physical in the meantime.

Brock Lesnar doesn’t have his familiar theme song yet - the one he had for his entire career, well into the 2020s but I do like the one he’s using here too.

Brock attacks Jeff immediately and slings him out of the ring like he’s nothing.

Paul Heyman is great during this, screaming instructions of Brock from ringside and bellowing warnings when Jeff briefly mounts a comeback and takes him down with a crossbody off the top rope.

Brock dominates and brutalises Jeff, throwing him around the ring with overhead belly to belly suplexes and an incredible backbreaker where he drives Jeff across his knee but doesn’t drop him, standing back up and giving him two more before finally dumping him to the mat. Brock is freaky strong, incredibly fast and incredibly athletic. He is a mutant and the fans in 2002 were starting to understand it. 

Jeff mounts his comeback with a Whisper in the Wind diving twisting crossbody and follows with a Swanton Bomb but Brock kicks out with ease. Jeff goes and gets a steel chair, looking for revenge for Matt but he’s tackled and drilled into the mat with an F5. That move doesn’t have its name yet but you know what I mean. He scoops Jeff up and drives him into the mat with a powerbomb. Then another. Then another. The referee checks on Jeff and calls for the bell, ending this match and awarding the decision to Brock Lesnar I guess via technical knockout.

This was a brutal, dominant performance for the newcomer and the first sign of many that the WWF have big, big plans for the Next Big Thing. 

This show marks Lita’s final onscreen appearance for a while. Her neck injury was finally properly diagnosed and she disappeared from TV the following week to have surgery. It’s a little bit of an elephant in the room but my plan is to stop this journey through old school wrestling at Wrestlemania 19 meaning that Lita will still be gone for the rest of my tenure. That has compelled me to comment on her properly and say that Lita isn’t just one of the best known women’s wrestlers of all time and a legend but is one of the best known wrestlers period. She was a trailblazer and trendsetter and all those cliches the WWE peddles for the Hall of Fame but a huge number of the women currently working in wrestling were inspired to be there by two women - Trish Stratus and Lita and for that she deserves far more praise and credit than I’m able to properly give.

This PPV moves at a fast pace with little to no down time between matches so far. Next up is another Smackdown match and easily the biggest match of Edge’s career so far against the two-time WWF Champion. 

Kurt Angle vs. Edge

I’ve commented on it a few times now but this feud is when most people believe the “YOU SUCK” chants during Kurt Angle’s theme song started - something they still do 20+ years later. Edge certainly encouraged them and while he is the big stand out as a singles performer from the TLC Tag Division of 2000, Christian is still my favourite personally.

They start fast and aggressive with Edge taking control in the initial exchange, sending Kurt to the outside but Angle recovers as they go back inside and takes over with stiff kicks and punches. 

Kurt slows things down and works over Edge with rest holds and facelocks, grinding it out as JR and King argue about whether he’s a McMahon butt kisser or an Olympic hero - an argument they’ve been having for close to two years by this point.

Edge rallies out of a long headlock and speeds things up with clotheslines and scores a near fall off a missile dropkick. 

The story of this match is that the experienced main eventer Angle is a big mountain for Edge to climb but Edge is a talented upstart. 

Kurt blocks the Edgeomatic, Edge blocks the Angle slam, Kurt blocks the Impaler DDT and hits his second attempt at the Angle slam. Edge kicks out.

Kurt is furious and pulls down his straps (so you know he means business) and locks Edge in the ankle lock. Edge crawls to the ropes but Kurt holds him back so he rolls through into a pin attempt which Kurt kicks out of and waffles him with a big clothesline.

Kurt is frustrated - he’s having a harder time with Edge than he expected - so he goes to get a steel chair. He swings but misses and it bounces back of the ropes and into his own face. Edge drops Kurt with the Edgeomatic for a heartbreakingly close near fall and the fans actually boo when Kurt kicks out! They were sure that was it.

Kurt blocks Edge’s Spear attempt with a punt right to the face and follows with an Angle Slam which is finally enough to put Edge down for the victory! 

This match started slow but got really, really good in the final few minutes and King actually stands up and applauds Kurt’s performance in squeaking out a victory.

There’s an odd edit on my version of the show where it fades to black and then comes back after a time lapse where I assume a commercial for something was edited out. In the arena, Chris Jericho comes out much to JR’s confusion - he’s not scheduled here tonight. King complains about Jericho not being booked but changes his mind when JR points out that as a Smackdown superstar, that’s Vince’s fault. 

He looks angry (and a little like George Michael with the stubble and the new earring) but I like his shirt! He looks around the crowd in disgust, and says that 30 days ago he was in the main event of Wrestlemania 18 - the biggest show of all time - and now he’s not even booked for Backlash at all. He certainly has a point, but that’s mostly due to the unexpected rise of Hulk Hogan. I’m not sure what the original booking plans were but Hogan being hurried into the main event title picture was a last minute decision thanks to the monstrous reactions he got at Wrestlemania and on the shows since. Jericho buries half the roster saying that Billy Kidman, Trish Stratus and Maven have matches tonight but the first Undisputed Champion in history doesn’t have a match. He’s a whiner and gets loud boos when he says that his feelings are hurt. He whines until eventually leaving. Thanks Chris.

Back in the Ric Flair locker room he assures Arn Anderson that he will call tonight’s number one contenders match right down the middle. As they chat, The Undertaker comes in and silently warns Flair by pointing at his eyes? 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Rob Van Dam © vs. Eddie Guerrero

I’ve mentioned more than once how happy I am to see Eddie back in the WWF and that’s for two reasons. The obvious one being that he’s a phenomenal wrestler and brilliant character performer and he enhances everything he’s involved in but the nicer reason is that his return symbolises his being clean. He was taken off TV in May 2001 due to some substance abuse issues and a drunk driving arrest and asked to go to rehab. He refused and was eventually released from the company entirely in November 2001. He has since been to rehab and kicked his painkillers addiction as well as some other self destructive tendencies and after spending a few months working the indy scene is now back and sober with a new lease on life. He has poured himself into religion and his family and it’s brought him some peace. Good for you Eddie.

Sadly however, as you can see from how big and muscular he’s gotten he did not kick the steroid habit and that eventually had disastrous consequences. But let's not dwell on that and focus on the here and now - Latino Heat is back and he wants not just the Intercontinental title, but his Frog Splash back as well.

Eddie jumps RVD from behind as he poses in the ring which has been his MO since returning with multiple attacks from behind. RVD comes back with kicks to the head and these two get creative with their wrestling immediately with RVD dropping Eddie with a suplex where he floats over into a cover as one fluid movement which looked great, and blocking a superplex attempt by jumping to the outside bringing Guerrero down across the top rope as he does. 

RVD overwhelms Eddie and comes off the apron with a standing moonsault. It looked like he missed but they covered it well and Van Dam follows up with his spinning leg drop from the apron to Eddie’s back as he’s handing across the security wall at ringside.

I did comment on this back at Vengeance but as good as all of RVD’s matches had been through 2001, the hardcore stipulation and weapons gave him a nice crutch. Out of the hardcore division however he’s managed to keep the quality high and he had a great match with Goldust at No Way Out and with William Regal at Wrestlemania. This is good too.

Eddie recovers and slows things down in the ring, punishing the champion with a surfboard into a dragon sleeper which allows Rob to show off how flexible he is as he’s twisted and contorted basically in half, bending the wrong way. He continues that by bending him with a backbreaker/torture rack move which is actually the Gory special, a move invented by Eddie’s grandfather. 

It’s Eddie’s turn to show off his skills and he gets near falls with a diving senton over the top rope and an awesome top rope walk into a diving headscissors. Eddie is awesome, but that’s not a surprise.

Eddie gets another near fall off an awesome looking sunset flip powerbomb but gets frustrated after that and goes out to get the IC title belt. As he and Rob fight over it, the referee is knocked down and Eddie capitalises with a neckbreaker which brings the back of Van Dam’s head down right onto the title belt. That looked great! He slides the belt out of the ring before the referee wakes up and comes off the top rope with his amazing looking Frog Splash to pick up the victory and win the Intercontinental title.

This was an awesome match. These two worked so well together and I look forward to the rematch. Eddie wins the title and proves he has the better Frog Splash.

Number One Contendership for the Undisputed WWF Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker

Special Guest Referee: Ric Flair

Stone Cold Steve Austin has wrestled The Undertaker on PPV five times. It’s seven if you include triple threats and tag team matches. In fact, three of Stone Cold’s six WWF title reigns ended because of The Undertaker. They did a decent job of making this one feel fresh thanks to focusing mostly on Raw owner Ric Flair and Stone Cold’s need to buck authority at all times no matter who it is.

Nature Boy Ric Flair makes his entrance first, which is fitting seeing as he’s the referee. It’s funny how that is logical but on more than one occasion when Stone Cold himself acted as a referee he entered last because he was the biggest star in the match even as the official. Ric Flair has his wrestling boots on which means he has red shoes - shout out to my boy Hiroyuki Unno, the referee in New Japan affectionately known as Red Shoes. 

JR does specify that the winner of this match isn’t just the number one contender but will get that title match at Judgment Day, which is the next PPV. 

This match starts out slow with both men circling each other and locking up to wrestle. The early exchanges are really good with Austin wrestling rather than brawling, sending Undertaker flying with an armdrag and a drop toe hold and focusing on his arm. Undertaker fights back and slows things down with big strikes and some wear down holds of his own. They exchange big shoulder blocks and Austin pops the crowd with regular middle fingers and even stops to do pushups to show how much energy he still has left. 

Ric Flair as referee is a non-factor and his count is slow but consistent for both men, which is all you can really ask for. 

After a long stretch of what I’d call very good in ring action the match descends into familiar territory as Austin brawls with Undertaker on the outside and bounces him off the announce desk a few times but pays for his delay in getting back inside and walks right into a big boot to the face.

The fight continues around the ring and dips out into the crowd for a bit with Austin winning that exchange with big right hands but Undertaker dominates and has the Rattlesnake off balance as he hammers him. As that continues, the nWo’s Scott Hall and a Kane’s mask wearing X-Pac saunter down to the ring for a closer look. They have issues with Flair and with Austin but their motives here are unknown. 

Undertaker ignores them and continues to dominate Austin slowly and with him in control he has killed this match and crowd dead, working on his legs. 

King spends a lot of time criticizing Flair’s refereeing despite him having not done anything. Is he intimidated and afraid to assert himself? Probably. JR defends him. 

As Undertaker holds Austin in a long, long chin lock there seems to have been a fight in the crowd or something as the fans start booing randomly and turn around to see what's happening. There’s a brief “hey hey hey, goodbye” chant as a fan is apparently removed from the building but King covers and says the fans are all looking over at the nWo who have set up shop at the bottom of the entrance ramp. 

Stone Cold does wake the crowd back up with his comebacks and they go nuts when he tries for a Stunner out of nowhere but Undertaker maintains control with a clothesline and when Flair is distracted checking on Austin he removes the top turnbuckle cover. It backfires when Austin reverses his whip, sending Undertaker into the exposed metal bolt back first.

The Rattlesnake fights back and hammers Undertaker with a never-ending barrage of punches and stomps, driving him down in the corner as the fans chant WHAT between every blow. An awkward whip reversal sends Undertaker crashing into Flair knocking him down so when Stone Cold drops Taker with a Stunner, there’s no referee to count.

The Rattlesnake is pissed and gets Flair onto his feet but walks into a low blow and then a chokeslam. That seems like the end but Austin kicks out! 

Austin fights back and when he goes for a second Stunner he’s shoved off into Flair knocking him down again. The Undertaker grabs a steel chair and blasts the Rattlesnake with a brutal shot to the head but once again by the time Ric Flair is awake to count Austin kicks out! 

Austin fires back up and stomps Undertaker down in the corner and grabs the chair to use himself but Flair puts a stop to it. They have a tug of war and Austin turns into a big boot from the Undertaker driving the chair back into the Rattlesnake’s face. Austin goes down and when Undertaker covers, he puts his foot on the ropes which should stop the count but Ric Flair doesn’t see it and counts the three anyway. The Undertaker wins by hook or by crook and whether he meant to or not, Ric Flair has screwed Stone Cold Steve Austin. 

Flair leaves immediately and as Austin and Undertaker talk trash to each other after the match a pissed off Austin drops Undertaker with a Stone Cold Stunner. But it’s too late, The Undertaker is the Number One Contender and will meet either Triple H or Hulk Hogan for the title at Judgment Day. 

Backstage as Ric Flair makes his way to his office, Jonathan Coachman stops him and asks him if he saw the foot on the ropes? Flair has no idea what he’s talking about so Coach gets him to watch a replay. Ric looks distraught. “Aw shit!” He shakes his head and walks off realising that he’s going to have an even HARDER time dealing with Austin going forward! 

WWF Tag Team Championships

Billy and Chuck © (w/Rico) vs. Al Snow and Maven

I love Billy and Chuck and I’m happy to see them on PPV but this match is here to let the fans get their breath back before the main event.

Maven and Snow send the champions packing in the early going and Al celebrates by putting on Chuck’s headband but Billy and Chuck aren’t in a laughing mood and isolate Maven, pummelling him and tagging in and out quickly. This doesn’t feel like it’ll last long.

JR mentions that Billy has been a Tag Team Champion nine times with three different long term partners which must make him one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of all time. I’d agree with that.

The fans started chanting “Rico’s Gay” which is very, very uncool, people from Kansas in 2002. 

Maven is worked over for a bit before tagging Snow. It breaks down and Maven takes a Fameasser from Billy. Snow breaks up that pin and when Chuck holds Maven in position for Rico to give him a spinning heel kick, he moves and Chuck eats it instead. Snow and Maven have this in the bag but Chuck kicks out of Maven’s nice looking top rope crossbody but with Snow distracted chasing Rico, Chuck drops Maven with a superkick and Billy gets the cover to retain the tag team titles. 

This was messy but too short to be bad. It only went five minutes and the fans weren’t into it but that’s to be expected given that we just had Austin and Undertaker and what’s coming next.

Undisputed WWF Championship

Triple H © vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan

This match has a big fight feel and honestly even in 2002 it felt WILD that Hulk Hogan was back and challenging for the title once again. 

I commented on it already but this was not the original plan. I’m not sure what the original plan was for Hogan but this ground swell of popularity made the company change directions and rocket him back to the top of the card. Given the reactions he’s been getting it's hard to argue that it was the wrong thing to do. It makes me sad that his theme song is edited off these versions of the shows. At the time he used Voodoo Child and they don’t even dub in Real American, it’s some generic production track that sounds a little like Voodoo Child. Lame.

As I write this, it’s only a few days since Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bolea passed away on July 24th, 2025. It’s ironic timing as I reach this show and this point in his career and it makes it easier for me to talk about him. I don’t like Hulk Hogan as a person for a whole bunch of reasons I don’t need to go into but he was the biggest star in wrestling history. Stone Cold was always my guy but I am self aware enough to realise that makes me biased about which of them actually was bigger. Hogan is the reason the WWF exploded and the reason for the wrestling boom of the 80s. He is the reason that wrestling got red hot and while the business would probably still exist without him it would not be nearly as well known or successful. Not just one of the most famous wrestlers of all time but one of the most famous human beings on the planet. He deserves praise for his ability to work crowds and pump up fans and Hulkamania was real. I was a Hulkamaniac in my time just like everyone else and I’ll do my best to just enjoy his work without dwelling too much on the man behind the character. There’s plenty of other people in wrestling I already have to do that for anyway.

Triple H takes his time making his entrance and soaking in the moment as JR and King recycle all of their “young lion vs. old lion” material from the Hogan/Rock match at Wrestlemania. It is funny how since leaving the nWo and turning babyface again JR has now done a full 180 on Hogan and signs his praises and talks endlessly about what an icon he is. 

The two lock up and over power each other with Hogan shoving Triple H clear across the ring and flexing his muscles. The fans go NUTS! They’re booing Triple H by default, just like they did to The Rock at Wrestlemania. I don’t know about Hulkamania but Nostalgiamania was running wild.

Triple H takes control with kicks in the corner. Hogan comes back with clotheslines and mounted punches in the corner. They aren’t doing anything fancy or creative and continue to trade the advantage and throw punches and kicks. The fans are into everything Hogan does so it works well for him that he can just work what is basically a 1980s house show match in the main event of a PPV.

Hogan throws Triple H up and over the top rope, runs him into the ring steps and then suplexes him on the mats at ringside. I’ll say this - if this was Hogan vs. heel Triple H from the year 2000 he’d already be crippled and beaten. Hogan reverses a Pedigree attempt into a slingshot but Triple H gets a lot of boos when he goes low and takes out Hogan’s leg with a chop block. That continues as The Game focuses his attack on Hogan’s legs, wrapping them around the ring post. 

Triple H slowly works over Hogan’s left leg for a while as the fans rain boos down on him while JR and King discuss exactly that - the fans being so strongly behind Hogan that even The Rock got booed at Wrestlemania. Hulkamania is an intangible you can’t quite explain. 

Triple H locks in a figure four on Hogan but struggles to get it as Hogan’s legs are so big and thick and he’s so inflexible that he has a hard time bending his knee to put in the hold and subsequently it looks terrible. Triple H actually gets some justified boos by cheating, grabbing the ropes for leverage as referee Earl Hebner checks on Hulk. You don’t see that spot much anymore. 

The finish comes after a long period of slow wrestling as Hogan comes back with a Big Boot and Leg Drop out of nowhere. Hogan has the title won but Chris Jericho runs to the ring and pulls the referee out of the ring.

He blasts Hogan with a steel chair but Triple H doesn’t want to win the match that way and beats up Jericho and sends him out of the ring. He plants Hogan with a Pedigree and seems to have the title retained but the new number one contender The Undertaker runs to the ring and breaks up that pin, blasting Triple H with a steel chair which busts The Game open. Hogan isn’t happy about that and fights Undertaker and sends him packing out of the ring but then swiftly drops the leg on Triple H and covers. The crowd erupts as the referee counts three and Hollywood Hulk Hogan is the new Undisputed WWF Champion! 

This was a dull match with an exciting, interference laden finish but the important point is that in 2002, Hulk Hogan is the new champion and Hulkamania lives! 

This was a great PPV. The opening Cruiserweight match was great, the women’s title storyline stuff was engaging, the Edge/Angle and Eddie/RVD matches were both awesome and Stone Cold and The Undertaker - two men who’ve wrestled dozens of times - had maybe their best match with each other. The main event wasn’t a good match but it FELT big and the outcome and all the shenanigans at the finish are obviously massively noteworthy and set the stage for Judgment Day next month. How much will the WWF change by then? Well, it won’t even be the WWF anymore.