Raw - October 21st 2002

Elimination Chamber

Eric Bischoff comes out onto the stage and says that as great as Smackdown’s Hell in a Cell main event last night was, he has something even better planned for Raw at Survivor Series called the Elimination Chamber, with more details to come. That’s discussed through the rest of the show and JR rightly says it’ll have to be something special to top Hell in a Cell. I’ll talk a lot more about this brand new match type in the coming weeks.

Katie Vick

The show opens with World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and Ric Flair. The Game issues an emphatic “screw you” to all the people who said he didn’t deserve to be handed the World title and calls himself the greatest World Champion of all time. He then transitions to some terrible stand up comedy, saying Kane isn’t here yet and he hopes he didn’t kill someone in a car crash. Triple H mentions that tonight’s main event is Himself and Ric Flair vs. Kane and Rob Van Dam. He then says he has a video tape (and Ric Flair holds up a VHS) that confirms whether Kane had sex with Katie Vick while she was alive or dead. He promises no one will ever look at Kane the same again.

Kane’s tag team partner The Hurricane runs to the ring and attacks Triple H and Ric Flair and actually fights them both off and steals the video tape but before he can escape, Triple H catches him and they quickly beat him down outside the ring and regain the tape. Triple H says that after he shows the tape, his issues with Kane will be just like Katie Vick - dead. Buckle in folks, this one is rough. Especially for me watching it as Jerry Lawler talks about nothing else all night.

After a pair of segments where Triple H demands the production truck show the video, and Terri is outside Kane’s locker room saying he refuses to speak to anyone. Coach is standing by with Triple H who asks for the footage to be shown. I’m not going to screenshot the actual video BUT I have captured it because if I have to watch it, so do you. It is WAY longer than I remembered it being. 

This is universally agreed to be one of the worst things in WWE history. Thanks to a now deleted user on Reddit who I can’t credit properly for the following recap of Bruce Pritchard’s podcast.

Bruce Prichard had the following to say about the infamous Katie Vick angle on his podcast:

• The background for this whole angle was that WWE was trying to add more "soap opera" to their show and to add backstory for characters. Bruce says that no particular person was to blame for the initial concept of the idea, as Michael Hayes, Vince, Brian Gewirtz, and himself were all involved in the creative meeting that spawned the angle.

• Multiple crew people quit after it because of how offensive it was

• It was done at a real funeral home while a wake was going on on the other side of a thin wall

• The original plan was for the angle to be some kind of "over-the-top" comedy angle that was more lighthearted, but the day of the shoot Vince got extremely serious and said the "real comedy" was in Triple H being serious about having sex with Katie Vick. Basically the real humor was in simulating actual necrophilia.

• After Vince and Bruce had a fight about this, a compromise was made where they shot it both ways, with the straight forward "tongue in cheek" thing and the darker more serious version. Triple H went into it and was extremely serious about it, since they decided to shoot that version first, and at the end of that shoot Vince said "god dammit! I love it!". Triple H and Bruce wanted to shoot the original concept, but Vince said they didn't have time. Triple H did not want it to air, but Vince told the crew to wrap it up.

• Bruce went to Kevin Dunn saying "I think we crossed the line", Triple H comes to Dunn and says the same thing. Kevin Dunn goes to Vince and says "look man, we cannot air this thing". Vince gets extremely mad about this, and then it aired.

• Bruce says that both he and Hunter felt betrayed by Vince basically tricking them, or at the very least saying they could do something and then going back on it. He says that Hunter was extremely embarrassed by it. Following the segment, there was an interview part that Bruce was producing and they both had to watch the playback of it again and were completely hit with how awful it was again.

• The rest of the writers were surprised to see the end result of it

• Bruce alludes that the "screw your brains out" part where the "brains" are thrown at the camera was a Vince idea. It was Vince's idea to come back the next week and continue this with enemas and more mannequins.

• The network, TNN at the time, was fine with it.

On the off chance you didn’t watch the video, it was Triple H dressed as Kane having sex with a mannequin - “Katie Vick” -  inside a coffin in a funeral home.

In the parking lot, Hurricane pulls up in a car and opens the trunk and stands guard, waiting for someone but we’re not sure who?

For the first time since August we hear from Shawn Michaels. He’s still in a wheelchair live at The World in New York City. He talks about his legacy and career and somberly describes his road back to being mobile before hopping up out of his wheel chair and dancing around. Shawn Michaels is healed and he issues a warning to Triple H - he needs to be looking over his shoulder because sooner or later, he is coming for The Game! 

In the main event, Triple H and Ric Flair take on their respective No Mercy opponents, Kane and Rob Van Dam. JR calls Triple H a “dirty no good son of a bitch” which gets a big reaction from King. Kane attacks Triple H and hammers him around the ring but I have to say, it’s not especially heated considering everything we’d seen tonight. The focus is on RVD and Flair in the ring and when the match breaks down, Kane is so angry at Triple H that he...gets on the apron and patiently waits for a tag. I don’t think they thought this all through. Triple H and Flair isolate RVD. King keeps talking about Ying and Yang which King seems to have decided is a sexual inuendo and at multiple points he gets a case of the giggles so badly he can’t speak. I can only assume someone in his headset is making jokes too. The match breaks down and Kane and Triple H fight up the ramp and disappear backstage. Back in the ring, RVD hits Flair with a barrage of moves and after a Five Stag Frog Splash, beats the Nature Boy to win this tag team match officially for himself and Kane. That’s not the story and backstage, Kane is absolutely destroying Triple H, bouncing him around backstage. They fight to the parking lot and after a chokeslam onto the hood of the car, Kane loads Triple H into the trunk of the car which Hurricane had waiting for him! Kane leans in and tells Triple H that he’s going to screw him, but will he be alive or dead when he’s done with him? Kane drives off and Raw ends on that cliffhanger. So we can add kidnapping to the necrophilia tonight. Jesus.

Bye Bye Big Show

Eric Bischoff is in his office rewatching Big Show confronting him at No Mercy and threatening to break his neck if he didn’t put him in the main event. Show goes to see him and Bischoff feigns apologising to him before breaking the news that his match tonight is against Rico, Rosey and Jamal in a three on one handicap match.

Big Show enters looking pissed off for his 3 on 1 match and attacks fast, sending the 3-Minute Warning crew to the outside to regroup. He sends Rosey and Jamal to the outside and has no problem throwing around Rico. Despite the three on one odds, a motivated Big Show is winning this fight. He continues to fight them off and with a massive chokeslam on Jamal, Big Show actually wins and is dominant, leaving all three of his opponents on their backs. A strong showing for the 500lbs Big Show.

After the match, Coach tries to interview Big Show but Bischoff cuts him off and tells him not to talk to “this piece of garbage” because he’s just been traded to Smackdown and wrestled his last match on Raw.

Other Happenings

• In the opening match, a clash of opposites in Harvard graduate Christopher Nowinski vs. daredevil and mega popular Jeff Hardy. Nowinski looks pretty good in this one - of the male Tough Enough alums, I think he’s better than Maven. Sadly none of the three girls are any good so that makes Nowinski the most talented Tough Enough entrant period. Nowinski gets frustrated and tries to use a steel chair but his old Tough Enough coach Al Snow shows up and stops him. Moments later however, he pulls Chris out of the way of Hardy’s Swanton Bomb and helps the Harvard grad pick up the win.

• Stacy Keibler drops in to see General Manager Eric Bischoff and asks to referee a match tonight. He’s distracted by Big Show and tells her she can referee any match she wants but the main event.

• Later, Tommy Dreamer goes to see Al Snow and asks him why he cost him his match with Nowinski last week. Snow says that Nowinski is one of his kids and he has to protect him. Dreamer says he’ll need protection later in their singapore cane match. Chris then drops by himself and says he appreciates Snow helping him, but “thanks but no thanks” and he doesn’t need any help. 
• In a match to determine the number one contenders for the World Tag Team titles, Lance Storm and William Regal take on Spike and Bubba Ray Dudley. Before the match, Storm says that while the Un-Americans are finished he and Regal are still together and they still believe America is full of savages. Regal chimes in and calls it a cesspool. They’re not wrong and it’s even worse in 2025 than it was in 2002. I like Storm and Regal’s new country coloured ring gear - it doesn’t match, but it does match because it’s the same theme. With a Bubba Bomb on Storm and a Dudley Dog on Regal, The Dudleyz are the number one contenders and have a future title match with Jericho and Christian. Sore losers Storm and Regal attack after the match, putting down Bubba with a superkick and then holding Spike so Regal can bust up his ribs with his brass knuckle assisted punches. Spike is bleeding from the mouth after the assault.

• Backstage, Women’s Champion Trish Stratus has a quick photoshoot which is then interrupted by Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and Christian. There’s a 6 person tag later with them teaming with Victoria against Trish, Booker T and Goldust. Trish calls Victoria a psychopath who’s obsessed with her sex life. Jericho says that he thinks the rumours of her sleeping her way to the top are true and tells her to come to his dressing room later for an “injection of vitamin C”. Christian also made jokes about her crawling around in her underwear and barking like a dog for Vince McMahon in 2001. Let’s try and forget about that. The photo below is Trish with the “photographer” for her photoshoot, played by Dan Madigan. That’s the guy who wrote the Katie Vick storyline, despite what Bruce Pritchard claimed in the interview I’ve quoted from above.

• The match Stacy picked to referee is D’Lo Brown vs. Test. D’Lo didn’t get an entrance but Stacy and Test both did. No prizes for guessing who’s winning this. Test has a new look with short trunks, and Stacy holds the ropes open for him. Seems a touch unprofessional. She also slaps D’Lo which is even more unprofessional. Stacy won’t count for D’Lo’s pins and counts fast for Test’s. They were dating in real life at the time and this makes it official on TV as she jumps into his arms for a hug and leaves with him after the match.

• Terri interviews Victoria who calls Trish Stratus a liar and says she picked her career over her friendship with Victoria. She’s interrupted by Goldust who taunts her and talks all “sassy” which is probably funny to someone. Booker promises to give “that punk ass Jericho” a dose of vitamin T and Goldust gives Victoria a slap on the butt. The six person tag is up next and is a lot of fun - the fans are really into Booker T and Trish and happy to loudly boo the bad guys. Even an average match is elevated significantly by the crowd being hot for it. The match breaks down with Goldust putting down Victoria with a hip check and Trish bringing Jericho off the top rope with a hurricanrana. The “King of the World” clobbers Trish with a clothesline and locks her in the Walls of Jericho to win the match for his team. He won’t release the hold until Booker T finally makes the save. Jericho acts like a big man having beaten up a woman and then tortured her after the match for fun. 

• Poor Al Snow and Tommy Dreamer’s cane match is forced to follow the Katie Vick video and so the fans are pretty stunned and quiet, and JR and King ignore it because they’re too busy talking about Kane and Triple H. it’s a physical match and they blast each other with cane shots to the body in and out of the ring. Nowinski comes out with a cane of his own and it seems like he might be trying to return Snow’s favour for the past two weeks but instead he cracks Al in the head and costs him the match. He looks like he doesn’t regret it either, and after the match Tommy looks unhappy to have won that way and checks on Snow.

Smackdown - October 24th 2002

Big (Show) Impact

In the opening match, Matt Hardy Version 1.0, the guru of Mattitude, takes on Rikishi. Matt debuts his big V1 t-shirt here. Rikishi picks up the win with the Rikishi driver, which we’ve not seen for a while. The piledriver was banned so even Undertaker and Kane never do the tombstone anymore. He has a dance after the match. I’m not sure if they have plans for Rikishi or not but he is always kept strong. As Rikishi dances, the newest Smackdown Superstar Big Show lets us know he’s here with an attack and a huge chokeslam on the 400lbs Samoan. Show gets a mic and reintroduces himself to everyone, reminding us of his enormous size advantages and promises to make a big impact. He says no one measures up and issues a challenge to WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, if he has the guts. After a commercial break, Lesnar and his agent Paul Heyman are shown arriving at the arena, unaware of Big Show’s challenge yet.

Undertaker heads down to the ring and calls out Brock Lesnar. It looks like the American Badass isn’t done with the Next Big Thing yet. It’s not the WWE Champion who comes out, it’s Paul Heyman who has a black eye and a big bandage on his head from the abuse he took at No Mercy too. He says that his client won’t be coming out tonight but then Lesnar’s music hits and he comes out anyway, ignoring his agent’s advice. Undertaker says that lots of people have told him he’d have won at No Mercy if he didn’t have a broken hand but he’s not using that excuse - at No Mercy, Lesnar had his number. It might have been different 5 years ago but after making two excuses now, he says he has no excuses and gives Brock Lesnar credit and respect for beating him as convincingly as he did inside Hell in a Cell.

Undertaker is about to leave, but Lesnar stops him. He says that all the personal business with Sara was supposed to be about business. He needed an edge, and shot a look at Heyman, silently blaming his agent for all the mind games. Brock leaves and there is a mutual respect between the two. Heyman looks confused by his client’s actions and seemingly doesn’t approve of him giving credit to anyone but himself. With Lesnar and Heyman gone, Undertaker begins to talk about his career and physical condition like he might be about to retire or at least take time off but he’s interrupted by Big Show. he says that it’s thanks to him that Lesnar beat Undertaker because he’s been busting him up and injuring him for years. It’s years of battles with Show that have turned him into a broken down hasbeen. He tells Show that he’d rather be that than a giant “never was” That ends the segment and after an awkward walk up the ramp where both men try to leave at the same time, Show attacks Undertaker at the top of the ramp and lifts Undertaker above his head, throwing him off the stage to the concrete below.

Taker crashes through some tables and rubble and is loaded onto a stretcher and taken backstage, hurt. This is  the last time we’ll see Undertaker for a couple of months as, despite my claims otherwise, his hand actually was broken and he needed some time off to heal up that as well as various other nagging injuries. Big Show gets the credit for taking out Undertaker on his first night on Smackdown and after a commercial break, Stephanie McMahon and various superstars including Edge and Rey Mysterio are out with the referees and officials checking on the deadman. After an extremely long segment, Undertaker insists on getting back on his feet and walking to the back under his own power. 

Mark Lloyd gets an interview with the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who asks where Funaki is? He says that if Big Show wants to challenge him, he’s not a hard man to find and he can come and do it to his face. Big Show does exactly that, marching into Lesnar’s locker room and finding Paul Heyman. He cowers and tells Show how great he is and how much he loves him. He says he can’t allow his client to accept this match and while he’s sure one day he’ll get a title shot, it won’t be now and it won’t be against Brock Lesnar. The champion shoves Heyman out of the way and accepts the challenge. They don’t say when, but it’s official.

Tag Team Division

In the ring, Smackdown General Manager Stephanie McMahon hosts an award ceremony for the first WWE Tag Team Champions, giving Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit a huge trophy. Kurt accepts it as the captain of the team who won the titles single handedly and he assures Benoit that he’ll put the trophy with all his other awards at home. Benoit obviously takes exception and says that he’s the captain and he’s the one who won the titles for them. The two argue like children and as they tug of war over the trophy, Stephanie gets hit in the head! Kurt checks that she’s ok, and she slaps him hard across the face. Benoit laughs hysterically at his own partner until she gives him a hard slap too! She calls them children and tells them that they need to get along. She books a match against them tonight and the winner can keep the trophy. The trophy is broken and Kurt hilariously tries to repair it but jumps when Steph yells at him. 

Backstage later, Eddie and Chavo goad Kurt Angle and tell him that they’ve heard all kinds of rumours about Chris Benoit wanting to attack him after the Tag Team tournament and planning to lock him in the Crossface and break his neck! They love to stir up trouble.

The number one contendership for Angle and Benoit’s titles is decided in a match between the Guerreros and Edge and Rey Mysterio, who came very close to being the inaugural champions themselves. This is another really good match in Smackdown’s burgeoning Tag Team division, with Eddie and Chavo isolating Rey and working him over in their corner with a series of strikes, double teams and tandem moves. Edge hits a Spear on Chavo and has the match won. Eddie crashes onto him with a Frog Splash and reverses the pin, posing and assuming they’ve won. Mysterio crashes onto Chavo with a springboard leg drop and reverses the cover himself, unknown to Eddie and Edge and Rey score themselves a rematch with Angle and Benoit for the Tag Team titles.

Eddie and Chavo continue to stir up trouble backstage, apologising to Chris Benoit for their issues over the last couple of weeks and asking if they can be friends again. Benoit is hesitant to accept but does tell him that what he told Angle earlier might be true, with a smirk on his face.

In the main event, the new Tag Team Champions beat the hell out of each other in pursuit of the trophy. It’s not realy about the trophy though is it? These two are obsessed with proving they’re better than the other. This is another really good match between the two with their usual long PPV level counter for counter routine compressed into a shorter TV match so its non-stop action for 10 minutes. Kurt has control after an Angle slam but Eddie Guerrero runs down and distracts the referee, allowing Chavo to hit Kurt with one of the tag team title belts. Benoit wins the match and looks very confused by Guerrero's motives as they leave through the crowd. Kurt Angle is furious and attacks Benoit and then smashes the trophy up at ringside. Smackdown ends with the WWE Tag Team Champions more at odds than ever.

Other Happenings

• The show being in Memphis means that when Jamie Noble defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Tajiri, he does it dressed as Elvis Presley. Much like their macth at No Mercy, this is good but too short to be special. Nidia grabs Noble’s hands to help him maintain leverage and win with a roll up. After the match, Tazz puts on Noble’s Elvis wig and says that he was really from Brooklyn anyway.

• Backstage, Dawn Marie is looking around for Torrie Wilson. She tells her that she is the better woman and proved it at No Mercy. She apologises for her behaviour towards her and her family, but says that she really does care about Torrie’s dad and despite the age difference she does care for Al and she plans to break things off with him when she next sees him. Torrie doesn’t look like she believes her, and Dawn smirks after she walks away.

• Later, Dawn Marie plays some more mind games as she tells Funaki to go and tell Al Wilson that Torrie wants to speak to him, and then breaks up with him. She calls him “the most passionate man she’s ever experienced” and so he grabs her and plants a big kiss on her. She embraces him in a hug. So they’re not broken up? 

• Billy Kidman takes on John Cena in a rematch from last week. Cena blamed Kidman for their loss in the tag team tournament and then cheated to beat Kidman last week. John has a smug look on his face and shows a lot more personality when he comes out for this match. Next week is the Halloween episode of Smackdown so I’ll get a chance to talk a LOT more about Cena in the coming shows. Kidman returns the favour from last week, countering a roll up and then grabbing the ropes for leverage to steal a victory of his own. Cena takes it a lot worse than Billy did and he gets in the referee’s face. Kidman goes back to stop him from getting physical and gets sucker punched. Cena beats the hell out of Kidman, slamming him into the ringsteps and leaving him laying.

I've also covered the UK exclusive PPV Rebellion, which is exclusive to Smackdown. You can read it here

Raw - October 28th 2002

Casket Main Event

Raw opens with a slow, lingering shot of a coffin at ringside guarded by security with no commentary or explanation. Then the Raw intro, and once the show begins properly the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H strutting down to the ring, sans Nature Boy Ric Flair this week. JR and King immediately start to bicker about whether last week’s Katie Vick video was in bad taste or not. He has a steel chair set up in the middle of the ring which he says is for a special guest, and then quickly says that he escaped Kane’s trunk last week before the car even drove off. I mean…he didn’t. The car was on screen the whole time.

But sure, whatever. Triple H also addresses the (very real) outrage and disgust for his video last week and says he wants Katie Vick’s opinion. He goes out to ringside and reveals that the coffin contains a mannequin dressed as a cheerleader, which he carries into the ring and sits in the steel chair, all while making jokes about her looking dead tired or feeling like dead weight. I should stress, just in case anyone actually is offended, that Katie Vick was not a real person. He does a ventriloquist act with the mannequin and says that Kane has a “burnt little weiner”. This whole thing gets laughs from Jerry Lawler and the fans in attendance.

Triple H changes tone and starts to rant about how he doesn’t give a damn if anyone was offended and he will do what he wants, when he wants. He is thankfully interrupted by The Hurricane. I love Hurricane so I’m happy to see him involved with main eventers. He then segues to a “video of Triple H in the operating room” and it turns out that Kane and Hurricane have a comedy video of their own. It's the doctor pulling various items out of “Triple H”’s ass, including his own head.

For the record, this isn’t very funny either but it is funnier than the Katie Vick thing last week and it is satisfying to see Triple H get a little taste of his own medicine. This is Vince McMahon’s sense of humour on full display. He loves and I mean LOVES toilet and gross-out humor. I am pleased that King reacted to this in the same goofy way he did to the Katie Vick video last week, which definitely helped sell it. It’s honestly funnier to imagine Kane hiring the actors and making arrangements to film this. I wonder what the set cost? A furious Triple H attacks “Katie” and kicks her over and hammers on her with a steel chair, which just makes him look even more pathetic. He even runs her into the ringsteps until finally, Kane’s music hits and the big red machine comes out for some real revenge! It's a furious brawl and security run to the ring, unable to stop them. General Manager Eric Bischoff comes out too with an army of referees and officials to try and get control of the show. Finally, a bunch of wrestlers come out to help (basically the cast of Sunday Night Heat) and Bischoff books tonight’s main event so these two men can settle their issues in a casket match! He doesn’t say whether it's for the World title or not. 

Coach interviews Kane backstage and confirms that the casket match is indeed non-title. Kane says this isn’t about the title tonight and what happened to Katie Vick was an accident but what he does to The Game tonight won’t be. 

Coach interviews Triple H about tonight’s Casket match. He makes a bunch of jokes about being scared Kane will try to have sex with him. Coach smartly moves on and asks if he’s worried about Shawn Michaels and his threats last week? Triple H laughs that off too - there’s no way Shawn is 100%. He’s interrupted by a phone call, and then inside his locker room there’s another hidden camera like from Trish’s locker room (see Other Happenings). It’s Ric Flair who isn’t here and his flight is delayed. Unlike his comments to Coach, in public Triple H is far more concerned about Kane and Shawn Michaels than he’s claiming.

In the non-title main event, Triple H enters first for the Casket match. Kane goes right on the attack and this one is bound to be a big, physical brawl and it is. They take turns hitting big moves and rolling each other into the Casket and escaping in turn. Triple H uses a low blow and two big stiff chair shots to put Kane down and might have the match won but when the Casket opens, Shawn Michaels is inside! He drills Triple H with a Sweet Chin Music and has a little dance, leaving Kane to finish off his former best friend. Kane spikes him with a big chokeslam and rolls him into the casket to officially win the match. For anyone who doubts the hyperbole of Triple H’s “reign of terror” let me point out that they made sure we all knew Ric Flair wasn’t here and Triple H STILL had Kane beat until Shawn Michaels rescued him. He loses this non-title match and after Kane leaves, Shawn Michaels’ music hits and Raw closes with him dancing on top of the casket containing the World Heavyweight Champion. 

Fresh Faces and Big Ideas

There’s a video promoting the arrival of Scott Steiner - a former WCW World Champion. I’ll talk about him a lot more at Survivor Series. The last couple of weeks have also featured videos promoting the Raw debut of Batista focused on his muscles and impressive weight lifting routine. Those are both big deals but for different reasons and in different eras. A video of last week’s Shawn Michaels promo was interrupted by an RNN breaking news update where cocky youngster Randy Orton gives us an injury update on his shoulder. This is funny stuff and a chance for the future main eventer (which is an understatement really) to show off some personality

Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff heads down to the ring and after promising to sign Scott Steiner to Raw when he arrives in WWE, says that his trade to Smackdown in exchange for Big Show was “an interesting assortment of talent” but doesn’t give any names. He says that Raw is the home of innovative ideas like tonight’s hidden cameras (see the Triple H and Other Happening sections) which are his doing. He then moves on to his new big idea - the Elimination Chamber! He’ll have ALL the details next week but for now, all he says is that it will involve 6 superstars and will have elements of Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and War Games as well as being for the World Heavyweight Championship. The six men involved will be Triple H, Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Kane and...Shawn Michaels! He gives a message to Shawn - he doesn’t have to sneak around and attack Triple H, he can have a shot at Triple H and the World title all in one night and he has one week to let him know if he accepts. Booker T comes out and interrupts his boss. He says he appreciates a shot at the World title and then tells Bischoff to show why Raw is great by getting out of the ring, which he does so Booker T can have his match.

Other Happenings

• Backstage, a hidden camera in Trish Stratus’ locker room hears her on the phone to her mom talking about how tender her back is after last week’s Walls of Jericho, and a glimpse of her getting changed to get in the shower. I’m confident you can imagine Jerry Lawler’s reaction to all of this already. 
• Lance Storm and William Regal take on the team of Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. Before the match, Regal is about to cut a promo about how unsafe America is and yet American parents still send their kids out trick or treating, and is cut off by his opponents. This is a pretty good tag team match - Regal and Storm are excellent wrestlers and RVD is crazy popular. Storm knocks out Dreamer with the flagpole holding his Canadian flag which allows Regal to steal the pin while RVD is down on the outside having missed a dive over the top rope. 

• Backstage, Eric Bischoff tells Rico and 3-Minute Warning that tonight is going to be a huge episode of Raw and he needs them to do better. Last week, they made him look back by losing to Big Show and yells at them for their disrespect. He says that two weeks ago, Spike Dudley insulted him so they need to go and make an impact tonight or “their 3 minutes are up”. 
• Somewhere backstage, Test and his girlfriend Stacy Keibler discuss his career prospects. She says that The Rock has The People, and Kane has his Kanenites, so Test has his Testicles! He seems unimpressed but King and the fans in the arena sounded like they loved it. It’ll take some doing to turn Test face after the year he’s had but they’re trying.

• Chris Jericho and Christian defend the World Tag Team Championships against Spike and Bubba Ray Dudley who earned this match last week. Spike may have internal injuries after last week’s attack by Regal and they’re still selling that Bubba might have a concussion from TLC. Before the champions can even enter, Rico, Jamal and Rosey come through the crowd and attack The Dudleyz, beating the hell out of Spike in particular as Bubba looks like he was immediately knocked out cold. So no tag team title match tonight it seems.

• Goldust takes on Test. JR says that Stacy is now Test’s “marketing consultant” and he cuts a promo before the match, saying hi to all of his Testicles, which gets a big cheer. After a fun spot where Goldust teases giving a Shattered Dream to Stacy, an undetected low blow leads to a Big Boot from Test and a victory for him and his Testicles.
• Back in Bischoff’s office, Bubba Ray complains to the General Manager that with Spike now badly hurt he can’t get his World Tag Title shot tonight. Bischoff tells him he can go out and find another partner - any partner he wants.
• Christian and Jericho defend the titles afterall, and this time they enter first. Their opponents are now Bubba Ray Dudley and his mystery partner replacement for Spike - Jeff Hardy. That’s a big moment, and JR and King do a good job of putting it across that this is like cats and dogs living together, a Hardy and a Dudley working together. This is really good and Jeff has some spectacular dives. Rosey and Jamal run down to attack Bubba Ray again but he fights them off and after a commercial break, they’ve been ejected and the match continues. 3-Minute Warning comes out onto the stage with poor Spike Dudley held hostage so Bubba has no choice but to run off after them to save his little brother. Jeff puts up a good fight and almost wins the Tag Team titles solo but the two on one odds are too much and a shot to the head from one of the title belts and a Lionsault (which totally missed) is enough to finish him off and Jericho and Christian keep their titles. 

• Earlier today, Al Snow dropped by to see Christopher Nowinski and explained that he’s been trying to protect him because of loyalty from Tough Enough. He’s one of his kids. Nowinski doesn’t appreciate it and tells Snow that he’d have made it to WWE with or without him and Tough Enough. He tells Snow to pick any opponent for him tonight and be at ringside when he proves he can beat anyone.

• Trish Stratus defends the WWE Women’s Championship against Jacqueline and Molly Holly. The action here is decent enough and there’s a nice spot where Molly and Jackie lock in a tandem Boston crab. Victoria is shown watching from backstage, and JR says that she has a big announcement to make on Sunday Night Heat this coming week. Trish hits a nice double bulldog to pin Jackie and retain her title. There were minimal puppies chants during this too, which is nice as the women’s division tries to be taken more seriously, something I’m a big fan of. 

• Booker T, after interrupting Eric Bischoff, calls out Christopher Nowinski. After a commercial break, Al Snow is at ringside. This appears to be the match he’s set up for his former pupil. The match doesn’t last long before Nowinski taunts Al Snow badly enough that he attacks him, which gets Booker T disqualified. Nowinski wins, just like he said he would and laughs having outsmarted them both. A frustrated Booker T puts down Snow with a superkick and then drops Nowinski with a Scissors Kick and celebrates with a Spinarooni anyway. 

Smackdown - October 31st 2002

Halloween Comes to Smackdown

At the start of Smackdown we find out that there is a special Halloween party happening backstage with everyone in costume. I’ll get it out of the way - anyone who was watching this episode of Smackdown will never forget Stephanie’s witch costume. My goodness.

In the opening match, Edge faced one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions Chris Benoit. This is a really good match which is given plenty of time to develop. Benoit locks Edge in the Crossface and he’s forced to grab onto the referee to avoid tapping out. Kurt Angle comes down and actually pulls his own partner out of the ring. Benoit and Angle argue at ringside and Edge dives out onto them, landing on Kurt and then following up with a Spear on Benoit to win the match, ironically thanks to Kurt Angle who looks pleased to have cost Benoit the match.

At the backstage Halloween party, John Cena is dressed as Vanilla Ice and busts out an effortless free style rap. That makes this one of the most important episodes of Smackdown of all time as this was the birth of his gimmick which saved his job. He was on the bubble to be released and made Stephanie McMahon laugh backstage with this same routine. They put it on TV and, as we’ll see, it caught on and ultimately catapulted him to being one of the biggest stars of all time both in and outside of wrestling.

The party backstage is almost ruined when an angry Benoit rushes in screaming and looking for Kurt Angle. After he leaves, Kurt reveals he was there wearing a Scream costume and in hiding.

At the Halloween party as Mae Young and Moolah hit on Tajiri dressed as John Travolta, Matt Hardy walks in playing his own theme song on a boombox. He taunts Tajiri and tells him to get ready for his match instead of flirting with these two old women (Version B.C, that’s a good line) who don’t have any Mattitude. 

Elsewhere at the party, Eddie and Chavo ask if they can have a shot at the Tag Team titles if Eddie beats Kurt tonight. Stephanie promises that she’ll think about it and tells them to go and get ready. That match is up next. This week’s Matt fact? “Matt always got more Halloween candy than his brother”. This is a good little match which Matt wins with a low blow and a Twist of Fate. 

Stephanie McMahon gets word that her father is waiting to talk to her in her office. She goes to meet him and finds a man in a suit wearing a rubber Vince mask. He says that Scott Steiner is coming to WWE and will be signing with Raw. She asks how he knows and he unmasks to reveal Eric Bischoff. She tries to slap him but he blocks it and kisses her against her will. She struggles at first but then relaxes into the kiss and gets into it. When they separate, they both look shocked. Eric was in his late 40s at this point while Stephanie was in her mid 20s. Just in case you want to feel a little gross about it. 

Eddie Guerrero takes on one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions Kurt Angle. Much like Benoit and Edge at the start of the show, this is a very good wrestling match - both men are so sharp, so smooth and so good. Kurt has the match won with an ankle lock but Chris Benoit slips down to the ring and cracks Kurt with one of the tag title belts as Chavo distracts the referee allowing Eddie to follow up with a Frog Splash and beat the Olympic hero. Is Benoit in cahoots with the Guerreros? Nah, he clocks both of them with the title belt too! 

Kurt Angle gets backstage to the party looking for Benoit and starts pulling off costumes assuming he’s in disguise. He finds Brother Love. Benoit attacks him from behind and the two of them roll around the party from ankle lock to Crossface and back. That brings tonight’s party to an end. Kurt wins the exchange, drilling Benoit through a table with an Angle Slam but seems to knock himself out too as he does it! 

Trick Or Treat

Dawn Marie and her boyfriend, Al Wilson arrive at the party ahead of her trick or treat match with Torrie Wilson later. Torrie is dressed like a viking? Dawn is a police officer. They both look great.

The trick or treat match means that Dawn and Torrie are wrestling in a giant “pool or chocolate” which is the same light brown water they use for mud matches or pudding matches or whatever other liquids they’ve claimed this is in these exact same matches. There’s also a table of cream pies setup which is a joke I’m not touching. You know the drill - they hit each other with pies and roll around in the swimming pool as we all try to see up their skirts. Feminism in action ladies and gentlemen. The referee ends up in the pool and Torrie strips Dawn to her underwear and they trade chops and spanks. After that feels like about 15 minutes but was probably less than 2, Torrie pins Dawn on the outside of the pool to “win” this “match” as Michael Cole claims Torrie did this “for her dad”. I can’t imagine that’s true. Torrie throws ring announcer Tony Chimmel into the pool too just for fun.

Other Happenings

• WWE Champion Brock Lesnar has a match tonight with Rey Mysterio. It’s been confirmed that his title match with Big Show is official for Survivor Series. In his locker room, he sits with Paul Heyman who does his best to make Lesnar realise the seriousness of his situation - Hell in a Cell beat the hell out of both of them. Undertaker wasn’t the same man he was before the Cell and he doesn’t think Lesnar is either. He can’t just go-go-go and needs to take a beat before wrestling a 500lbs giant. He says he can’t suplex or lift Big Show for the F5 so how is he going to beat him? He says he can’t beat Big Show and he needs to trust his agent to make decisions for him. Lesnar looks pretty angry at Heyman’s assessment. It’s interesting that Lesnar seemed to ignore his agent’s advice last week and did the same at the UK exclusive PPV Rebellion, which you’ve gone and read haven’t you?
• Big Show - with a new look, wrestling in black jeans and a black t-shirt, how very slimming! - takes on Rikishi who he attacked last week to “make an impact”. Between the outfit, the haircut and the facial hair, Big Show looks like Big Bossman.

• He beats the crap out of Rikishi and looks really impressive here. He looked impressive last week on both Raw and Smackdown too. He lifts Rikishi with ease for a big powerslam and a chokeslam and wins a squash match ahead of his WWE title match at Survivor Series. After the match, he gets a mic and challenges Brock Lesnar to come out and face him so he can give him a taste of what he has in store too. He asks for a replay of what he did to Undertaker last week, launching him off the stage which was cool. Backstage, Heyman tries to convince Brock not to go out and fight Big Show. He calls it the biggest mistake he’ll ever make if he does. After a long speech about how no one can beat Big Show, Lesnar does finally come out to confront his tormentor. He shows no fear, getting right in Show’s face and calls him a giant piece of shit (it's beeped). Show laughs it off and says he’s been “advised” not to beat his ass until Survivor Series. By who? Who is giving Show advice? Show says last week he did something to Undertaker that’s never been done before and tonight he’ll do the same to Brock Lesnar.

• In the main event, Brock Lesnar takes on Rey Mysterio in a non-title match. Rey gives the champion the run around and lands some seated sentons from the top to the outside and off the apron but Lesnar pops right back up and no-sells. He catches Rey and swings him like a baseball bat into the ring post and dominates with suplexes and slams but Rey is so fast and gets on a roll, setting up the 619. His legs are caught by Big Show who launches Rey into the crowd! He lands about 6 rows deep. Big Show goes on the attack and beats Lesnar up, drilling him into the ring post and then finishing with a massive chokeslam through the announce table. Smackdown ends with Big Show roaring “give me the belt!” over a fallen WWE Champion. 

Raw - November 4th 2002

Road to the Elimination Chamber

When Raw opens, Eric Bischoff’s hidden cameras that he mentioned last week are in his office and catch the General Manager watching a replay of his passionate kiss with Stephanie McMahon on Smackdown and then Bischoff looking deep in thought about the whole thing. Later, Bischoff fires the man responsible for the camera being in his office.

World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and Ric Flair drop by the General Manager’s office and ask what he’s planning to do about Shawn Michaels - a maniac who is running around attacking him from behind. He also accuses the GM of treating him like crap since the rosters got locked knowing he can’t leave. He calls himself the franchise and demands better treatment and not casket matches, elimination chambers and the like. He doesn’t even know what an Elimination Chamber IS. Eric says that's the way he wants it and he’s keeping it as a surprise for everyone at Survivor Series. Eric sucks up to him a little and tells him he’ll have the chance to prove how good he really is and avenge his loss to Shawn Michaels at Summerslam…if HBK accepts. Triple H implies that Eric might be getting influenced to screw with him by his ex wife Stephanie, and Ric plays the video of the General Managers kissing on Smackdown again. Bischoff stares daggers through The Game. Despite what Bischoff said, we do get a hint of what the Elimination Chamber itself is with a short video later in the show, showing off the blueprints. 

Backstage, after a segment where Shawn Michaels is looking for Triple H’s locker room, The Game is sick of waiting for what's going to happen and decides to head down to the ring and call him out himself. Ric Flair warns him against it but after a commercial break the World Heavyweight Champion is in the ring and wants HBK to come out and confront him now. This Raw is in the same arena as Wrestlemania 14 which is where Shawn’s career ended in 1998 and was the first show I wrote about for this website! He wants Shawn not to accept the invitation to the Elimination Chamber because he’ll end his career and will be leaving Survivor Series still the champion. It’s now Shawn Michaels that comes out, it's Booker T. He’s also in the Elimination Chamber match and tells Triple H he has to deal with him right now. Booker gets in his face and tells him he’s taking his World title, sucker. It’s Chris Jericho who comes out next, another participant in the Chamber match and Triple H’s tag team partner later tonight. Jericho is more focused on Booker T and how much he hates the Spinarooni and being called a sucker than on the World title. He shows off the Jericho juke and jive and does a little jig on the ramp. He says that while he and Triple H don’t like each other, they are partners tonight and that makes Booker the sucker. They attack him two on one but before the beating gets too serious, Booker T’s partner later tonight Kane runs down and chases them off. A little previous of our tag team main event half way through the show.

World Tag Team Champion Christian takes on Rob Van Dam. Before the match, Christian tells Jericho that he’s going to take out RVD and take his place in the Elimination Chamber. They bicker about whether he would then help Jericho win the World title, or try to win it for himself and the argument ends with Jericho leaving in a huff. Outside, he runs into Triple H and Ric Flair on another hidden camera and Triple H tells Jericho to be on his guard for Shawn Michaels as Flair says he’ll be at ringside waiting to take care of him if he has to. Jericho taunts The Game about whether Bischoff is sleeping with his ex wife and then they all walk off together, Shawn Michaels emerges from a nearby door casually sipping a coffee having overheard their whole conversation. The match itself is good - I love both these guys but Christian is my number one boy - and Christian’s attempts to use a steel chair are caught by the referee. RVD finishes him off with a Five Star Frog Splash to build some momentum for Survivor Series and the Elimination Chamber.

Backstage, Goldust congratulates Kane on being partnered with Booker T tonight. Kane tells him to go away. Goldust says that he’s banned from ringside but from one freak to another, he should try to loosen up a little. Kane loses his temper and grabs Goldust around the neck. Booker T shows up in time to keep the peace. Kane’s far too worked up to have a laugh tonight. Booker and Goldust bring the comedy as Booker asks who on Earth would have sex with a dead body. Goldust slowly raises his hand. Kane does end the segment with a loud SUCKAH so maybe he has gotten his babyface mojo back. He was crazy popular a month ago and all this Katie Vick stuff and being made to look a fool by Triple H has killed all his momentum.

In the main event, one half of the World Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H face two of their Elimination Chamber opponents, Kane and Booker T. All four men have their moments to tag in and look strong, getting in offence and near falls before tagging out. There’s not much of a story so far. After a chop block to Kane’s leg, Jericho and Triple H focus on his leg for a while until he’s finally able to make the tag. The match breaks down and with Kane and Jericho on the outside, the referee is accidentally knocked down by an errant Booker T kick. Triple H avoids a missile dropkick and sets up a Pedigree but Shawn Michaels is there to drill The Game with a Sweet Chin Music. Booker T pins Triple H to win the match and for the second week in a row, Shawn Michaels costs Triple H the main event of Raw. Shawn Michaels grabs a mic and at the end of Raw confirms that he does indeed accept Eric Bischoff’s invitation and he will be at Survivor Series and will be in the Elimination Chamber. 

Victoria goes Hardcore

Backstage, Victoria and Ivory talk about her match with Trish Stratus. Ivory is now on Raw, part of the trade for Big Show to Smackdown. Victoria’s big announcement on Heat which was mentioned last week is a Hardcore rules match for the Women’s title at Survivor Series which Trish has accepted.

Ivory vs. Trish is next and as they grapple in the ring, Victoria joins commentary and is oddly wearing one of Trish’s cowgirl hats. She completely ignores King and JR despite having put a headset on. She’s very focused on Trish as Ivory works her over. Trish scores with a messy bulldog to win the match. Victoria still doesn’t react but does stand up to have a staredown with Trish when she gets to the top of the ramp. She throws a water bottle at the champion and that quickly turns into a brawl. Victoria slaps King, making her my favourite female performer and she wins the fight with Trish, slamming her head on the entrance ramp until referees manage to separate them. 

When Victoria gets backstage one of Bischoff’s hidden cameras in the women’s locker room catches Terri gently asking for an interview later as she seems a little crazed right now. Victoria takes issue with that word and attacks Terri, tearing all her clothes off!

Testicle Talk

Backstage, Stacy Keibler continues to push Test with her marketing genius. She has a big box of fan mail for him which came thanks to him branding his fans his Testicles last week. She starts to read a couple which turn out to just be pervy letters about her. One says they’re going to start a Testicle fanclub for him. Test isn’t listening - he’s brushing his hair and says he doesn’t want to do this. She’s having his hair cut! A new image for Test it seems.

Test debuts his new haircut in a match against the Hurricane. Stacy promises that with his new haircut we’ll all be able to see his Testicles growing! The girls scream when Test comes out - in fairness, I think he is a lot better looking with the shorter hair but that’s all personal taste I suppose. Test also debuts a new finishing move - it looks a bit like Cody Rhodes’ Cross Rhodes - and wins the match in emphatic fashion. Stacy encourages Test to make a big announcement after the match and with some effort and a kiss she gets him to proclaim that he loves his Testicles. It does get a big cheer so maybe Stacy is a genius! 

Other Happenings

• In the arena, 3-Minute Warning (with Rico) are in action against Jeff and Bubba Ray Dudley who they cost the World Tag Team titles last week, and of course Rosey and Jamal injured little Spike too so this is heated. Rico tries to get involved but Spike runs down and flattens him with a Dudley Dog on the outside which hurts himself as well with his taped up ribs. It gives Bubba and Jeff the chance to give Rosey the wazzup headbutt and retrieve a table. Rosey and Jamal are too big and strong and finish Jeff off with a big Samon drop to win the match and the table sadly goes unused. 
• There’s another Randy Orton RNN news update where he tells us his shoulder now has 32% mobility! Good for you Randy. 

• Lance Storm and William Regal take on the team of Al Snow and Tommy Dreamer. Lance’s pre-match promo about America is cut off by a video heralding the arrival of Scott Steiner. I said it before but I’ll get the chance to introduce him properly at Survivor Series. William Regal punts Tommy Dreamer square in the face which is enough to let Lance Storm get the victory for his team.
• Batista makes his Raw debut. He is introduced as Dave Batistia - seems like he gained a first name, but he won’t get to keep it for long. His opponent is Justin Credible. The enormous former Deacon throws Credible around with ease and finishes him quickly with a sitdown powerbomb. And so it begins. 

• Being in Boston, Harvard Graduate Christopher Nowinski heads down to the ring. Harvard is in the Boston area so his promo is about being home and how stupid the locals are. They need to show more respect for graduates like him who run this town so the idiots who were born here don’t have to. This kid has bags of charisma, I’m a fan. He is eventually interrupted by Al Snow who Nowinski sarcastically calls dad. He keeps him distracted so that the Tough Enough winner Maven can attack from behind and he sends the Harvard Grad running with a dropkick. Maven’s broken leg is all healed up and he’s back and on Raw - another part of the trade for Big Show. 

Smackdown - November 7th 2002

Lesnar Off the Leash

In Stephanie McMahon’s office she’s watching footage from last week when she made out with Eric Bischoff. She’s interrupted by Eddie and Chavo Guerrero who want a match for the WWE Tag Team titles against the winners of tonight’s title match. Eddie beat Kurt last week afterall. She says that on this coming Tuesday’s TV special (I won’t be covering it) she’ll have a big announcement regarding the Tag Team titles but tonight, Eddie can have a non-title match with the WWE Champion himself, Brock Lesnar. Eddie is not happy about that. Chavo says they’re a tag team now and that changes Eddie’s tune as he realises Chavo can help him cheat tonight. These two are great. 

The Big Show arrives at the arena and immediately goes looking for Brock Lesnar. 

Backstage, Matt Hardy fits Shannon Moore for one of his new V1 t-shirts and makes sure that he’s watched all the tapes he’s been sending him. These are valuable lessons! He tells him off for putting sugar in his coffee. It’s funny because Matt speaks in a stunted, robotic way which is exactly how the Hurricane talks. They’re lifelong friends. He calls Shannon his Mattitude Follower, or MFer and then heads off to visit the WWE Champion’s locker room.

He does that and greets Paul Heyman with a handshake. He says that if Big Show has a problem with Brock they have a problem with him too. He says he softened up Undertaker for Lesnar and he’s going to demand a match with Big Show so he can do the same thing. Paul says he wishes he had a way to convey he and Brock’s gratitude to him for all that he does and then heads inside where he finds Lesnar pacing like a caged animal. He tells him about Matt but Lesnar isn’t interested - he wants a fight with Big Show tonight. Heyman implores his agent to wait until Survivor Series and trust his judgment. 

This week’s Matt fact is that Matt hates cold weather. That’s where we differ, I much prefer the cold weather personally. Brock Lesnar is shown watching this match backstage, still angrily pacing on the spot as Heyman tries his best to calm down his client. Show wins with a big chokeslam and Lesnar violently smashes the TV on the floor in anger. 

Mark Lloyd interviews Big Show backstage and asks who he thinks will win the main event between Brock Lesnar and Eddie Guerrero. He says he will and to stick around and see what he means. Elsewhere, Eddie and Chavo go to see Brock Lesnar and run into Paul Heyman. He says that he and Heyman have something in common - neither of them think Brock can beat Big Show at Survivor Series. That brings Brock out and the Guerreros run away. Heyman stops him and screams in his client's face asking what the hell is wrong with him? He’s sick of Brock not listening to him! He gave him the Next Big Thing nickname, he helped him win the King of the Ring and managed to get him all of the deals including the title match at Summerslam. He makes some good points and tells Lesnar to go and beat Eddie without him at ringside and see what it's like without him. He tells him to enjoy being the brawn without the brains. 

Between the respect with the Undertaker, ignoring Paul Heyman and now feuding with heel Big Show, Brock Lesnar is definitely drifting towards being a babyface now. He doesn’t back down from challenges or fights and has the old cliche “more guts than brains”. With some help from Chavo with distractions and cheap shots, Eddie focuses his attack on Lesnar’s leg and gets in plenty of offence, grinding down the WWE Champion.

He locks in the Lasso from El Paso but Lesnar is too strong and keeps his body straight so he’s able to power out of it. Lesnar fights off Chavo’s interference and with an F5 picks up the win. He limps out of the ring and up the ramp but as he poses with his title he’s attacked from behind by Big Show who lifts and throws the Next Big Thing off the entrance ramp exactly as he did to Undertaker. Smackdown ends with officials checking on the champion as Big Show looks down at the destruction he’s caused. 

Smackdown cements itself as “the wrestling show”

Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against Edge and Rey Mysterio in a best 2 out of 3 falls match. This is their first televised defence of the titles for most fans but we in the UK saw them defend the titles against Los Guerreros at Rebellion. The action here is, as you’d imagine, fantastic with all four guys working effortlessly together. Edge and Rey score the first fall as Edge has Benoit in a powerbomb and then Rey flies into a seated senton, turning it into an impressive double move. The challengers are 1-0 up. After some more back and forth, Benoit hits Edge with one of the tag team title belts from the outside and that allows Angle to take advantage. Kurt evens things up with an ankle lock on Edge and a submission victory. Benoit and Angle immediately start arguing and I’m not even sure what caused it this time!

After more excellent wrestling, Angle counters a hurricanrana into a roll up. Rey reverses that and even though Kurt has a hold of the bottom rope which should have broken the pin, the referee counted three and Edge and Mysterio are the new WWE Tag Team Champions. There’s significant controversy with everyone arguing with the referee when the show went to commercial. After the commercial break the match has been restarted and is still officially 1-1. The battle continues and after a flurry of finishers, Benoit accidentally lands a diving headbutt on his own partner and that’s enough for Edge to cover Kurt and win the Tag Team titles - officially - for himself and Mysterio in a fantastic match.

Look at Al! Look at Dawn! 

Smackdown kicks off with a mixed tag team match of Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson vs. Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble and his girlfriend Nidia. Nidia and Torrie do a lot more of the wrestling than you’d expect them to and neither of them are terrible, by the standards of women’s wrestling in this era. Noble gets in a cheap shot with a stiff clothesline to Torrie to give his girlfriend the advantage. After tags to the men, Kidman wins a short but good exchange with the champion and picks up the win with his Shooting Star Press.

Backstage, Torrie Wilson runs into her dad who says he has to do something tonight for himself and he hopes his daughter understands. He gives her a kiss on the cheek and leaves her wondering what he’s talking about.

Later, Al Wilson goes to see his girlfriend Dawn Marie. She asks if he’s sure he wants to ask THAT question in public but he’s sure. He’s going out to ask her The Question in the ring and leads her by the arm out into the arena to do just that. Just for anyone who isn’t sure, Al is absolutely not Torrie’s real father. He sounds a bit like Kermit the frog when he speaks. Tazz and Michael Cole are the best thing about this segment, Tazz making jokes that don’t land and then firing his writer Nunzio and then going back and forth with “look at Al!” and “Look at Dawn!”. Mr. Wilson does what you’d expect and after an eternity of build up, proposes to Dawn Marie. She looks like she’s about to break his heart but he sucks all the romance out of the segment by saying he’ll kill himself if she says no. Dawn drags her answer out long past the point of holding anyone’s interest and finally says yes! Cole and Tazz are outraged as Al slides a ring onto her finger. Cole and Tazz end the segment making each other laugh, making fun of Al’s acting and begging for a commercial break. After said commercial break, a crying Torrie Wilson rushes to leave the arena.

Other Happenings

• Funaki gets an interview with John Cena ahead of his match with Rikishi. He busts out a free style rap just like last week when he was dressed as Vanilla Ice. Word life. Rikishi shows up and has one of his own - Cena’s was better.

• John Cena is showing a ton more personality since turning heel. He has a hard time with Rikishi’s weight and girth and after a Stink Face falls victim to the Rump Shaker. Rikishi picks up yet another win and has a victory dance for us after the match. 

Raw - November 11th 2002

Road to the Chamber

Raw opens with a big match involving three Elimination Chamber participants. Chris Jericho and Christian defend their World Tag Team Championships against Rob Van Dam and Kane. Later tonight, Booker T battles World Heavyweight Champion Triple H in a non-title match too, and Shawn Michaels is here tonight, confirmed by a shot of him reading the paper backstage. Chris Jericho and Christian enter together to King of my World by Saliva, which is on the new WWE Anthology CD. They showed a music video for the song last week which I didn’t mention because Saliva performed the song live at Survivor Series and I plan to talk about both this song and that CD there. It doesn’t stick around long as Jericho’s theme song and he reverts back to Break the Walls Down soon enough. This Raw marks the final appearance of this design for the Tag Team titles, which is the same design they’ve had since 1987, with minor colour and logo changes. I love this version of these title belts but that’s something else I’ll mention at Survivor Series when Jericho comes out wearing the new title belt design, something which isn't acknowledged on TV. The fans are red hot for this match and Kane launches Christian out of the ring onto Jericho and then RVD follows with a suicide dive taking them both out. Kane drills Jericho with a chokeslam and has the match won but the referee is too busy trying to control Christian and RVD’s fighting on the outside to count. An undetected low blow to Kane allows Christian and Jericho to get back in control. They work over RVD until he makes a hot tag to Kane who gets them back in the fight. It breaks down and in an awesome display, RVD leaps across the ring and clears about ¾ of it to land a Frog Splash on Christian. Jericho decides that this is a losing battle so he grabs a steel chair and blasts Van Dam right in front of the referee to cause a disqualification, which keeps the Tag Titles for himself and Christian. Jericho continues the assault and hammers both Kane and RVD with the chair over and over and over, softening them up for Survivor Series.

Backstage, Terri asks what Jericho was doing and he explains what I’ve just said - he was softening up his opponents and no one is winning that match but him. Christian adds that Eric Bischoff has promised him that if anyone can’t make it to Survivor Series then he will take their spot. Jericho then hits his own partner with the steel chair and reiterates that NO ONE is winning that match but him. Jericho is obsessed.

There’s a video package about Triple H and Shawn Michaels issues specifically, ramping things up for Survivor Series too

In the locker room, Ace Reporter Gregory Helms asks Booker T for his thoughts on the Elimination Chamber. Booker says all his thoughts tonight are on kicking Triple H’s ass. Shout out to Booker T for selling Helms like he’s a real reporter and not ruining Hurricane’s good time.

Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels struts his way down to the ring in the middle of the show to address the fans. He talks about his faith - he found God during his four year absence after finally overcoming his drug and drink issues - and his health - he suffered partial paralysis after Summerslam, which is now all healed up. He asks why he can’t win the World title at Survivor Series? He is no longer the Showstopper, and he is no longer the Heartbreak Kid but he is still Shawn Michaels and says he doesn’t mind if Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Booker T or Kane actually leave the Elimination Chamber as Champion. All he’s focused on is making sure it’s NOT Triple H, but adds that through faith all things are possible and so he believes that after Sunday the World Heavyweight Champion will be him. That finally brings out the Champion himself, Triple H who says it doesn’t matter what he believes. He won’t win the World title because God says so because in this arena, HE is God. The fans loudly chant “HBK” and all Shawn has to do is raise one arm to make them get even louder! Triple H says that he believes he’ll come to the ring and kick Shawn’s ass. He heads down to the ring to fight his former best friend and wins the exchange, putting down Shawn and spiking him with a Pedigree.

The Game retrieves his sledgehammer from under the ring and is about to try and end his career again but referees and officials arrive in time to disarm Triple H and get him to the back. 

Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff comes out onto the stage and promotes the Super Tuesday TV special (I’m not covering it) and then moves on to the Elimination Chamber. He introduces a video showing the construction of the Chamber itself featuring comments from some of the workmen who built it. I will obviously talk about the Chamber at the Survivor Series PPV. This video gives everyone an idea of what it’ll look like and what it’s made of. Eric explains the rules of the match too which I’ve also left in the below video. There’s been lots of these matches since 2002 and in my oh so humble opinion the Elimination Chamber is second only to the Royal Rumble as the greatest match stipulation in wrestling. 

Before the main event, Booker T confronts Triple H backstage and tells him that he’s got no chance of leaving Survivor Series with the title because it won’t just be him to worry about, he’ll have five guys kicking his ass. Triple H says that he’ll beat them all one by one, counting down on his fingers until he’s giving Booker T the middle finger which riles him up for a fight! That main event non-title match is next.

Booker overcomes interference from Ric Flair to score with the Scissiors Kick and performs the Spinarooni but Flair won’t stay out of it and continues to get involved, allowing Triple H to hit a distracted Booker with the Pedigree to win the main event. Shawn Michaels runs down to the ring to get payback and drops Flair with a Sweet Chin Music to focus on The Game. Chris Jericho runs down to join the fight and attacks Michaels from behind. Triple H and Jericho’s two on one is stopped by Kane and then Rob Van Dam and all six Elimination Chamber participants are in the ring. RVD accidentally hits Kane with a kick off the top rope and is thrown out of the ring for his troubles. It’s chaos as all six men brawl and hit big moves on each other, including Booker T who’s back on his feet. Kane spikes Jericho with a chokeslam and then turns into a Sweet Chin Music, which Michaels follows by giving Triple H a Pedigree of his own. Chris Jericho cracks him with a steel chair and it’s the King of the World who’s the last man standing, six days before Survivor Series.

I do want to make mention that there was zero mention of Katie Vick or Triple H and Kane’s previous feud during this entire episode of Raw. It seems like WWE has finally picked up on the fact that everyone HATED the angle and has dropped it entirely, which is the right move. 

Evil Victoria

In Eric Bischoff’s office he watches a replay of Victoria attacking Terri last week on his hidden cameras, now known as F-View (say it quickly). He calls Terri into his office and lets her know that she’s going to be wrestling Victoria tonight. Terri isn’t a wrestler either in real life or kayfabe. Terri calls Victoria a total psycho-wackjob. Meanwhile, Victoria makes her way to the ring and calls out Terri on the mic. There was some clever editing here as we had live feeds of both Terri in Eric’s office watching the monitor and Victoria in the arena doing the calling out. Victoria says that pretty little blonde Terri has so much in common with Trish Stratus she’s going to start her onslaught for Survivor Series tonight. Terri refuses to go out - she’s an interviewer, not a wrestler. He tells her that she has a daughter who depends on her so she has two options - go out and try to talk her way out of things or she’’ll have to tell her little girl that Christmas is cancelled because she’s fired. 

After a commercial break, Terri does as she’s told and very slowly heads down to the ring trying her best to talk Victoria down and convince her she doesn’t want to fight. JR does a good job of hammering home how evil and sadistic Victoria has shown herself to be, which is a massive improvement over him saying she’s on her period over and over as he did last month. The crowd boo Terri for trying to talk her way out of the fight and Victoria attacks her anyway, beating the hell out of poor little untrained Terri. She strips her top off and bodyslams her on the entrance ramp. This is brutal especially considering Terri is a non-wrestler. The referee tries his best to stop Victoria so she kicks him in the balls! She gets a ladder out from under the ring and is determined to make her point ahead of the hardcore rules match at Survivor Series. Finally Trish Stratus runs down and stops Victoria from using the ladder and hands out a beating of her own, launching her into the ringsteps and laying in right hands until referees manage to split them up. Victoria has a sick smile on her face as Trish is held back and looks pleased to have dragged Trish down to her level! This was the best women’s segment in some time, and that’s been the case for Victoria and Trish’s segments a few times lately.

Other Happenings

• Goldust interrupts Gregory Helms’ interview with Booker T and mentions that he and Hurricane have a tag team match tonight against Test and Steven Richards and they must be careful as the Testicles are getting stronger. He doesn’t mean Test’s fans, he means his “golden globes”
• Jeff Hardy takes on Lance Storm (with William Regal). The ladies in the crowd go WILD for Jeff Hardy, especially since we got a little glimpse of him shirtless, putting on his now trademark bodypaint before the match. Regal actually strikes the referee in front of the referee which doesn’t cause a disqualification but I can forgive it because Jeff slipped off the guard rail and Regal was definitely covering for the botch. Tommy Dreamer runs down and attacks Regal, helping out Jeff but also looking for payback after Regal cracked him with the brass knuckles last week and it makes enough of a difference for Jeff to land the Swanton on Storm and win the match. Little shout out to the woman in the front two who was very excitedly taking as many pictures of Jeff Hardy as possible when he got near her. I feel you girl. 

• Backstage, Ric Flair introduces himself to Raw newcomer Dave Batista. The big man rejects a handshake. Flair praises him, his performances since debuting on Smackdown and his physique. Batista says thanks but Flair looks a little put out by how unfriendly the big man was. That leads right into Batista’s match tonight against D’Lo Brown. JR tries his best to tell us how great D’Lo is but we all know who’s winning this. Batista hits his spinebuster and then a sit-down powerbomb finisher to pick up another victory. 

• Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley take on Jamal and Rosey of 3-Minute Warning. They have Rico and Jeff Hardy as their back up respectively because at Survivor Series these six men will do battle in a six man elimination tables match. With some interference from Rico and illegal double teaming, Jamal puts down Bubba with a big Samoan drop to pick up the win. The fighting continues and Jeff Hardy fights off both big men with dropkicks and sets up a Swanton Bomb on Rico. Jamal pulls him to safety and Jeff crashes to the mat and Rosey lays both Jeff and Spike on the same table so that Jamal can crush them both through it with a single splash off the top rope. 
• There is more promotion for the arrival of Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner including his appearance on WWE Confidential for an interview with Gene Okerlund and a video hyping him up which I’ll slot in at Survivor Series. 
• Harvard Graduate Christopher Nowinski comes out and teases the crowd, talking about how great home town boy and baseball legend Pete Rose is to pop the crowd and then flipping it around and slagging him off, calling them sheep. His attempt to read some Dickens is interrupted by Al Snow, thankfully. Nowinski stops him from attacking and says he doesn’t want to fight, he wants to give him a wrestling lesson. Snow attacks but it does become a fairly clean wrestling match with Snow showing off that he is a talented mat grappler despite all the gimmicks and hardcore matches in his past. Nowinski rolls through a crossbody and gets his feet onto the ropes for a cheap pinfall victory. Snow isn’t a sore loser and offers a handshake anyway but Nowinski is a jerk and hits Al with the big heavy book he brought out. The attack is cut short by Tough Enough winner Maven who sends Chris packing and defends Snow. 

• Backstage on Bischoff’s hidden camera F-View TV, before their tag team match Steven Richards asks Stacy Keibler if she can do for him what she’s done for Test and come up with some marketing suggestions. She kindly explains that she doesn’t have time for that so he asks her to motivate him for tonight’s match and asks her to blast him across the back with his own kendo stick. Test walks in, unbeknown to Richards and he does it instead. Stacy then asks for a spanking and the fans cheer but before we see that, Randy Orton’s RNN news update cuts in with breaking news - his sling has been aggravating his skin! Oh no! Thankfully, the doctors were able to apply ointment in time to heal his skin. God I love this gimmick.

• The tag team match is next and Stacy leads Test and Steven Richards (who’s still selling his back from the kendo stick) to the ring. Hurricane and Goldust seem like an obvious choice for a comedy tag team, and Goldust could easily adapt his own gimmick to be a sidekick. There’s plenty of superhero movies for him to quote and parody! Test makes the difference and despite an accidental shot from Richards, he finishes Hurricane with his new Overdrive finishing move. After the match, Richards excitedly hugs Stacy in victory which Test takes issue with and he kicks his own partner in the face and tells him to keep his hands off his testicles.

Smackdown - November 14th 2002

Lesnar is Motivated

Smackdown opens with Mark Lloyd interviewing Paul Heyman about Brock Lesnar’s physical condition after last week. Heyman says that Brock has a broken rib and has been coughing up blood all week after being thrown off the stage by Big Show. He will be at Survivor Series but the WWE Champion will not be here tonight. Big Show turns up and says that if by some miracle Brock DOES show up, he’ll be calling him out again.

Backstage, Rey Mysterio is being interviewed but breaks it off himself when he sees Brock Lesnar entering the arena. Rey confirms that Brock is turning face as he rushes over and asks him how his ribs are like they’re friends. Brock blows him off and doesn’t want to talk to anyone, heading to his locker room.

Paul Heyman asks the WWE Champion what he’s thinking, turning up tonight when he’s injured. Lesnar doesn’t want to hear it - Brock is the champion and is here to prove how tough he is. Heyman is once again left begging his client to listen to his advice and do what he says. He implores him to respect the fact that they’re a team and lists all the ways Lesnar has ignored him lately and it ended up hurting him including being put through an announce table and being thrown off the stage. It’s a heated argument but Lesnar has more guts than brains and doesn’t want to hear it! Lesnar says he has an idea and he needs Brock to listen to him. 

Paul Heyman goes to visit the Big Show. Hilariously they’re pretending that Show has his own locker room but the room they’re in has so many bags and chairs in it that it’s clearly a group dressing room where they’ve stuck a sign on the door. Heyman signs Big Show’s praises and tells him that he needs to back off and show some professional courtesy for his client who is so young. He pleads with him not to call Brock Lesnar out. Show says that the best thing Lesnar has going for him is Paul Heyman, who is the brain behind the brawn. He says he’ll consider it and might not call Lesnar out tonight, but maybe he still will.

In the champion’s locker room, Heyman tells Lesnar that Big Show won’t be calling him out tonight and says Show respects him and was even a bit intimidated by his intelligence. They can leave and rest up for Survivor Series. Lesnar isn’t happy - if Show isn’t going to call him out, he’ll go and call HIM out! Heyman screams like he’s been stabbed. 

Brock Lesnar marches towards the ring and Heyman tries desperately to talk his client out of it, forcing him to physically restrain his own manager. Big Show is also on his way to the ring and it seems like a confrontation is building. At ringside, Michael Cole and Tazz say that the General Manager Stephanie McMahon has stepped in to try and calm things down. That’s just a stalling tactic to allow them to plug the Survivor Series card before we get to the main event segment. Brock Lesnar, taped ribs and all, gets into the ring and Heyman is there to hold his title belt for him even if he’s still desperately trying to get him to stop what he’s doing. Lesnar has had enough and finally tells Paul to shut up and let him do what he needs to do. He doesn’t have to wait long and Big Show comes out for a fight. Lesnar rushes him on the ramp and tackles the bigger man into the ringsteps. He hammers his challenger with a string of brutal chairshots to the head, busting Big Show open. Lesnar hits him with the WWE title belt and Smackdown ends with his agent Paul Heyman regretting ever doubting the Next Big Thing. Big Show is left laying at ringside. 

Tag Team Warfare

It was announced by Stephanie McMahon on the Super Tuesday TV special that Edge and Rey Mysterio will defend the WWE Tag Team titles in a triple threat elimination match at Survivor Series against Los Guerreros and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. Tonight, Angle and Benoit are going one on one, and Mysterio will face Eddie Guerrero later tonight. The first match of the night is new 9 time Tag Team Champion Edge vs. Chavo Guerrero. Everyone is banned from ringside for this match but everyone is watching on from backstage. This is a good match and after a string of counters, Edge connects with the Edgucution DDT to pick up the win. 

Backstage, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit argue over which of them is to blame for them losing the Tag Team titles last week. Kurt says that as much as he hates Benoit, he loves being a champion so tonight he’ll take his aggression out on him. Benoit reminds Kurt that he’s beaten him in their last two matches. Kurt mocks Benoit’s teeth, so Benoit mocks Kurt’s lack of hair. They get really petty and childish while they argue and resolve to prove which of them is better tonight once and for all. 

Backstage before the Eddie and Rey match, Los Guerreros run into the Tag Team Champions and Eddie taunts Edge for getting lucky against Chavo earlier and says that no matter what else happens tonight, it’ll be them who leave Survivor Series as the new Champions. Rey responds in Spanish and Edge just smiles and nods, with no idea what's happening. Eddie is hilarious, acting scared of Rey and hiding behind Chavo’s legs. 

That match is next. Rey Mysterio is wearing awesome Spider-man inspired gear for this match. Eddie’s hair had been getting really long in the past month, tied back into a ponytail but he’s trimmed it back into his familiar mullet for this week. The action here is good but as Rey sets up the 619, Eddie pulls the referee in front of him as a shield and he gets the kick to the gut. Chavo takes advantage of the referee being down and runs out and floors Rey with a Gory Special. Edge runs down to help out his partner and chases Chavo off. Edge takes out Eddie with a Spear and the two illegal men fight on the outside until finally being ejected. After a commercial break, they’re both gone and Rey and Eddie continue with their match. It’s very good, as you’d expect given the men involved and after an incredible serious of counters and a dive to the outside by Rey, he connects with the 619. His springboard is countered with a roll through and Eddie turns it into the Lasso from El Paso for a submission victory. Great stuff. 

Kurt Angle goes down to the ring and apologises for being predictable - he’s beaten everyone so many times that it's become one big blur so it must have made his matches boring! Eddie and Chavo come out and call him out on that - Eddie beat him the last time they wrestled! Edge and Mysterio come out and point out that they beat him last week for the titles. Kurt calls them all cheaters and says they’re only out here to scout him because they’re afraid of him! He tells them all to stay at ringside and watch him beat Chris Benoit tonight. After a commercial break, Benoit makes his entrance and the partners on Sunday are opponents tonight with both of the other teams in Survivor Series’ triple threat sitting at ringside. Benoit and Angle beat the hell out of each other and go into their familiar routine of countering each other’s submission holds into their own. The match breaks down as Angle has been taunting the men outside the ring all night and so it turns into a wild six man brawl and a no-contest. In a cool spot, Mysterio and Edge lock Kurt and Chris in their own holds but that’s broken up by Eddie and Chavo.

The former champions turn the tables and the fighting ends with an ankle lock on Eddie and a Crossface on Edge, finally broken up by referees and Benoit and Angle getting into each other’s faces and reluctantly agreeing to work together with a handshake. They want to be champions more than they want to fight each other. 

Other Happenings

• Dawn Marie goes to her fiance, Al Wilson with a wedding invite for his daughter Torrie. He doesn’t think they should invite her because she doesn’t approve but Dawn convinces him that they have to invite her because she just wants her dad to be happy. After he leaves, Dawn has a cheeky little smirk on her face - what is she up to? 

• This week’s Matt Fact’s are that Matt was the Fear Factor Champion, and that he loves Guacamole. Matt Hardy Version 1.0 teams with John Cena to take on Rikishi and Tajiri. The finish is confusing as Matt and Tajiri both knock each other down when their heads collide. They’re both down and the referee counts but Matt lifts his shoulder at the 2 and Tajiri doesn’t so that’s three and Matt and John win. Matt celebrates like he just won the World title which is always funny.

• Backstage later, Torrie Wilson shows up at the arena where her dad is waiting with a wedding invite. She wants him to be happy but doesn’t like or trust Dawn Marie and says he’s being used. It’s all pretty poorly acted but it ends with her calling her dad an old fool and him looking heart broken. Later, Al breaks the news to Dawn that Torrie won’t be at their wedding. Dawn says that Torrie can’t put her jealousy aside even to make her dad happy. Dawn continues to twist the knife and drive the wedge between Torrie and her dad.

• At Survivor Series, Jamie Noble will defend the Cruiserweight title against Billy Kidman. Tonight on Smackdown they go one on one in a non-title match as a sort of warm up. It’s a short match and Kidman picks up the win with a small package roll up. Noble and Nida are shocked. 

A mixed bag this month - the less said about Katie Vick the better - but the card came into focus in the past two weeks and its hard not to be excited about the first ever Elimination Chamber match. A little spoilery but I will say now that Survivor Series 2002 is one of my all time favourite PPVs and is fantastic from top to bottom. Here’s the card rundown