Raw - June 24th, 2002

Ruthless Aggression

As Raw opens, the entire Raw roster (minus the nWo) is assembled around the ring and the owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon comes out to join them. He looks angry and this is an iconic promo which officially draws a line under the long-over Attitude era and gives the new era its name. He sings his own praises which draws loud “asshole” chants but he talks over it because this, ladies and gentlemen, is real. See as we trundle through 2002, the WWE’s ratings are starting to fall and the success and popularity they had started to take for granted through 1998 - 2001 is disappearing. Vince was starting to get annoyed about it, and a little desperate and so this promo is him, on live TV, daring the entire roster to seize the moment and step up - show him that they NEED to be the next Rock or Stone Cold. He tells them that the thing he has that makes him a success is Ruthless Aggression and he needs to see them display Ruthless Aggression. The fans actually chant “RVD” which you’d think he’d take note of and do something about but he ignores. He praises the new King of the Ring Brock Lesnar and his display of Ruthless Aggression and gets in the man he beat in the finals, Rob Van Dam’s face about it. He mentions that Bubba Ray Dudley made a name for himself at the King of the Ring but interfering in the Eddie Guerrero/Ric Flair match so he’s rewarded tonight with a match with Eddie. Vince pauses at Jeff Hardy and gives him a (non-title) match with The Undertaker, and bans Matt from ringside. This is about as real as WWE gets with Vince ranting like a mad man that one of them needs to show him who wants to be the next legend.

He’s about to leave when the nWo’s music hits and they make their way out onto the stage. Shawn says that while Vince is right that the rest of the roster needs to step up, it doesn’t apply to them - the biggest and best superstars he has is the nWo and he offers their services in “taking out the trash”. Booker T gets in the ring and snatches the microphone out of Vince’s hand He says the nWo aren’t stars.

His buddy Goldust joins him and agrees, saying that he and Booker T are “the tightest men in the WWE” and “homies”. Goldust gets some laughs here as he and Booker’s odd couple pairing continues. Booker tells Vince that he’ll show his own Ruthless Aggression tonight in a match with any nWo member who wants it. Vince teases us with Booker T vs. Shawn Michaels and talks about how amazing Shawn is and says as soon as Nash’s bicep heals it might be him, but Nash might join the unemployment line with Scott Hall. Nash gives Vince the finger and all that felt real too. Vince screams that someone needs to grab the brass ring and he and Booker keep snatching the microphone from each other - Vince contradicts himself as he tells someone to step up but when Booker does, he tells him he’ll do what Vince says. He makes a tag team match between Booker T and Goldust vs. Big Show and X-Pac. So that’s three big matches for tonight, and an important moment as this kicks off the Ruthless Aggression era which I’ll talk about even more on Smackdown. Vince was daring the roster to step up but then ignored the RVD chants and put Booker T in his place, so I guess the real message is step up…if you’re someone Vince already wants to push. 

Backstage, Vince McMahon explains to Sgt. Slaughter that there’s a couple of people that he doesn’t think belong and books Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven in a loser leaves Raw match. Seems very mean to just bury them both like that.

Security surrounds the ring to escort the loser of the next match out of the arena - Raven and Dreamer had a long, storied rivalry in ECW but clearly the WWE creative team had no plans for either because honestly, this is an insult to both whoever wins. Dreamer wins a short and quite good match with the Death Valley Driver and Raven is walked out of the building by security - he didn’t really make a fuss so the security seems unnecessary. Raven’s night gets worse as when he’s out in the parking lot he’s attacked by Matt Hardy who gets some payback for the part Raven played in Undertaker’s beat down last week.

In the ring, JR begins the coronation ceremony for the 2002 King of the Ring but Paul Heyman is already in the ring and keeps talking over him so he hands off the mic and leaves Heyman to it. Heyman takes full credit for the idea that the winner should get a WWE Championship match at Summerslam - Jerry Lawler confirms that’s true, and that makes him a genius. Paul gives a glowing introduction to Brock Lesnar and once the new King of the Ring is in the ring he rants about how he is the Next Big Thing and how no one has as much Ruthless Aggression as Brock Lesnar. No one has his obsession with being champion. His need. His hunger. You’ve probably all heard a Paul Heyman promo before so you know how good he is at putting someone over - especially Brock Lesnar. He asks for applause for the Next Big Thing and actually gets it, but the new king is jumped from behind by the man he beat last night - Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam. Heyman scurries and RVD sends Lesnar to the outside with a jumping thrust kick. Heyman holds his client back and stops the fight there.

After a commercial break, Heyman and Lesnar are in Vince’s office and a furious Heyman rants and raves about how Summerslam is too far away. He tells Vince that he NEEDS to give Lesnar a match with Van Dam tonight for the Intercontinental title, to which Vince agrees and tells Lesnar that he wants something he needs to go and TAKE it. 

As Jonathan Coachman interviews RVD, he’s interrupted by Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Heyman starts to rant until Brock tells him to shut up. He finally speaks on WWE TV as he gets in RVD’s face and promises to show him Ruthless Aggression tonight. It’s good that he finally stepped up and showed he’s the one in charge, not Heyman. He needs that as he shifts rapidly into being a main eventer.

In the main event, Undefeated King of the Ring Brock Lesnar takes on Rob Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship. Based on credentials, this one would seem to have an obvious outcome. Lesnar dominates RVD for a long period and shows a lot more personality, shouting and talking trash as the beating continues which would, decades later, become one of his trademarks. Heyman stays uncharacteristically quiet which is sensible. Like I said earlier, they need to shift the focus to Brock being the star and Heyman doing as he’s told rather than Heyman controlling Lesnar. The fans are still periodically chanting “Goldberg” at Lesnar which I think is an unfair comparison and not accurate. RVD hits a springboard moonsault after a comeback but we’ll never know if Lesnar would have kicked out as Heyman breaks up the pin, causing a disqualification. RVD wins and keeps his title, but Lesnar is still undefeated really. Heyman slides a steel chair in to Brock and RVD heelkicks it back into his face and chases Paul around the ring. He’s catches him with a heel kick and drives a Five Stag Frog Splash onto Heyman. He pays for it almost immediately as Lesnar pulls Van Dam out of the ring and into a stiff looking spinebuster on the floor and then finishes with a brutal looking powerbomb through the announce table. Raw ends with Brock Lesnar as the only man standing.

Extreme Challenge

As Vince is perving on Jackie Gayda, The Undertaker walks in on them and is pissed off at The Rock interfering in his match last night at King of the Ring. The Rock isn’t here tonight because he’s a Smackdown superstar but he tells Undertaker to take his frustration out on Jeff Hardy tonight.

In the Hardy locker room, Matt talks to Jeff about his match with Undertaker. They mention that there aren’t any tag team titles for them to win on Raw so they have to become stars on their own and Jeff will do his best tonight. 

The Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy gets a little video package which I quite like

Undertaker wastes no time and brutalises Jeff Hardy, chokeslamming him outside the ring and then hammering him with an almighty Last Ride in the ring to officially win what was basically a squash match. Undertaker leaves, triumphant but before he gets out of the arena, Jeff Hardy gets a microphone and laying in the ring in pain tells Undertaker that he’s beat his ass over and over but they’re not done. He wants a match next week but this time with the title on the line. That doesn’t make a lot of sense given that he’s just lost. Jeff doesn’t want a regular match - he wants HIS match, a ladder match. Undertaker looks like he cannot believe the nerve and maybe the guts of this kid and so he nods and agrees. He accepts Jeff’s challenge! 

nWo

Backstage, Goldust is dressed as crocodile hunter Steve Irwin with a rubber crocodile and narrates a nature documentary as he shows us the nWo locker room. There’s no one inside apart from a sleeping Big Show. He makes fun of his smell and is forced to run when X-Pac comes out of the bathroom. “The rare bandana wearing grease rat, who sucks” After the next segment, X-Pac is still chasing Goldust but it’s a setup and when he runs the corner he runs right into Booker T who blasts him with a trashcan lid! 

Before their tag team match, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels shout at Show and X-Pac and tell them they need to END this tonight and that if they don’t win they’ll kick their asses when they get backstage. Show and Pac seem pumped up by it and determined to do some damage when they head out to the ring. This is a back and forth match with Big Show and X-Pac isolating Goldust in the nWo corner and working him over with quick tags in and out. When Goldust finally tags in Booker he looks like a million dollars having no problem beating up both Big Show and X-Pac and the fans go nuts for the Spinarooni. He and Goldust have a very impressive double suplex on Big Show but with Booker fighting X-Pac on the outside, Show blocks a Shattered Dreams attempt with a hand to the throat and a massive chokeslam. The nWo wins and Nash and Michaels both look pleased with the outcome backstage. 

Other Happenings

• Hardcore Champion Bradshaw and Spike Dudley take on European Champion William Regal and Harvard Graduate Christopher Nowinski. King has Nowinski’s Harvard year book which he shows off to JR before the match. That forms the entire conversation of the match which Nowinski wins for his team with a roll up on Bradshaw. The Hardcore champion gives him a knowing smile and I’m sure he’ll get him later.

• In Mr. McMahon’s office, Tough Enough 2 winner Jackie Gayda is waiting for him in a long trench coat. She wants to show him how much he inspires her and how aggressive she can be. Vince gives her a chance to prove it in the ring in a tag team match with Molly Holly against Trish Stratus and Linda Miles. Jackie is happy enough with that and then opens her coat and flashes McMahon. This is a promotion for the “Divas Undressed” special the following night in which someone will win the “Golden Thong” award. Yes of course I’m serious.
• Bubba Ray Dudley enters first for his match with Eddie Guerrero. He sets up a table and promises JR that someone is going through it tonight. Before Eddie enters he’s interviewed by Terri and he’s so angry he can hardly speak. If people want to see a star he’ll show them the best one! Eddie wins a very short match with a roll up but isn’t done and attacks Bubba and moves the table into the ring to try and use it himself. He taunts for a little too long and pays for it as Bubba powerbombs him through the table instead. Chris Benoit runs to the ring and locks Bubba Ray in the Crippler Crossface until referees manage to separate him. 

• This Raw has the first advert promoting the arrival of Rey Mysterio. I’ll talk a lot more about him when he arrives.
• Here’s a little glimpse of what WWE.com looked like in June 2002. 

• Trish Stratus and Linda vs. new WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly and Jackie. King spends a lot of this match talking about how he’s hosting the Divas Undressed special tomorrow night. That wasn’t the first “Special show” which was basically the women standing around in their underwear and I don’t think it’ll be the last either sadly. Molly gets a mic before the match and promises to bring honour back to the WWE women’s title and not by being a sleazy tramp like Trish. Trish objects and grabs the mic and says she worked for the title and everyone has seen it. If Molly is going to cheat and take cheap shots maybe she doesn’t feel bad for making fun of her anymore and she’ll kick her fat ass. It’s a huge show of faith that they’re letting Linda and Jackie wrestle on TV already - in modern WWE they’d spend a couple of years in NXT before they got anywhere near Raw or Smackdown - and they do ok. Linda is better than Jackie, but neither of them are what you’d call “good”. That’s hardly their fault though. Trish wins a short and messy match with a Stratusfaction bulldog on Molly. 

Smackdown - June 27th, 2002

A Huge Debut and a World Title Match for next week

Smackdown opens with a Vince McMahon promo just like Raw, but this one doesn’t have a bunch of people around the ring. He gives a warm welcome to his friend - the man who made Hulk Hogan tap out at the King of the Ring and the only Olympic Gold medalist in WWE history, Kurt Angle! He’s all smiles despite the now ever-present “you suck” chants. Kurt and Vince hug and celebrate - he seems overjoyed that Kurt made Hulk Hogan tap out! Vince leaves after the introduction and a pleased-with-himself Kurt Angle says that he is the poster boy for Ruthless Aggression.

He’s referencing Vince’s promo from Raw of course and this one-two of shows is the reason that this new era - this post-Attitude era - is now known as the Ruthless Aggression era. I’ll talk a lot more about that at Vengeance. Kurt says he’s sick of people laughing at him and removes his wig and headgear. He dares the crowd to laugh at his bald head now. Was it funny when he made Hogan tap? Or beat The Undertaker’s ass last week? He issues an open challenge to anyone in the back that he’s never faced before and, in one of the most important debuts in WWE history, it’s accepted by John Cena. I probably don’t need to explain who John Cena is, or would become. His debut marks the final arrival of the OVW Class of 2002, which I’ve written an article about.

 I’ll talk about Cena more at Vengeance too but if you’ve watched WWE in the past 20 years you’ve probably seen this segment. Kurt asks Cena what he has that makes him special? “Ruthless Aggression!” and he punches Kurt in the face to start the match. Cena looks really impressive and bounces Angle around with clotheslines and punches, keeping Angle off balance. He counters the Angle slam and the ankle lock and after a heated and pretty great debut match, Kurt wins with a desperate roll up. John Cena offers him a handshake after the match which Kurt refuses and looks at Cena in disgust as he leaves. 

Backstage, Cena gets handshakes and congratulations from Faarooq, Billy Kidman and Rikishi but they scatter when The Undertaker arrives. Taker looks like he might attack but instead the Undisputed Champion offers him a handshake and a “nice job”.

WWE Champion The Undertaker heads down to the ring and brags about injuring Triple H before turning his attention to The Rock who interfered in his title match at King of the Ring and almost cost him the title. He says The Rock will be back on July 11th so he needs to watch Raw next week and watch what he does to Jeff Hardy in a ladder match to see what kind of beating he’s going to give The Rock on July 11th. He’s then interrupted by Kurt Angle who says that since he beat Undertaker last week, IF he makes it through Jeff Hardy on Raw he wants a title shot of his own next week on Smackdown. Undertaker accepts. Kurt asks if he can please just touch the championship belt - he’s never held this one. Undertaker allows him to hold the title and tells him that’s as close as he’ll ever get to it. Kurt throws the belt into Undertaker’s face and then takes him down into an ankle lock but doesn’t lock it in and just bails - he had him and they both know it. He was just sending a little message and Undertaker now has a very busy week next week. If he makes it past Jeff Hardy.

Jericho tries to kill Hulkamania

Hulk Hogan does to see Vince McMahon who taunts him about tapping out to Angle at the PPV and says he’ll probably tap out to Chris Jericho tonight in the main event. Hogan shoves Vince and warns him to stop messing with him. Shout out to the Stacy Keibler poster on the wall in the background which I may or may not have had and may or may not have kept hidden under my mattress. (I was 14)

Mark Lloyd interviews Chris Jericho. We get a recap of him injuring Edge’s shoulder with a steel chair a couple of weeks ago. Jericho says he has a decision to make - will he make Hogan tap out, or will he finish him off for good like he did to Edge?

In the main event, Hollywood Hulk Hogan takes on Chris Jericho. Hogan rocks him with big right hands and the crowd still love him even a few months into this comeback. Jericho slows things down and focuses on Hulk’s ribs and uses the ropes to help him stretch him out with an abdominal stretch. Hogan eventually Hulks up and sends Jericho reeling with more big punches but as he prepares for the big boot and Leg Drop combo, Jericho bails out for a steel chair and blasts Hogan, getting himself disqualified.

He sets up the ringsteps on the outside and hits Hogan again with the chair, setting him up to injure his shoulder just like he did to Edge but before he can swing, his own theme music plays. Jericho looks confused as the lights go out, the pyro plays and he makes his entrance - but it’s Edge. He’s back and apparently playing mind games by imitating Jericho. He rushes the ring and attacks Jericho, recusing Hulk Hogan who sends Jericho back into the ring to get beat up some more, not letting him escape. Smackdown ends with Hogan and Edge celebrating and posing together which I’m sure meant a lot to legit lifelong Hulkamania Edge. 

Citizens of the World

After a recap of his anti-American statements last week, Lance Storm takes on Mark Henry. Before the match, Storm promises that on behalf of the citizens of the world, he will beat an American. Cole seems to not believe Lance’s claims that the whole world hates America. Oh now naive, Michael. The World’s Strongest Man won another big strongman weight lifting contest in the days before this show - he lifted 172lbs above his head with one arm and in one fluid motion, which is about the 5th or 6th world record he has legitimately set. The fans chant “USA” at Lance who wins a short match clean with a superkick. Christian comes out after the match to congratulate his fellow Canadian on putting another American in his place. 

Test takes on Rikishi. Much like his previous matches, Test continually bullies the referee and eventually gets himself disqualified. He takes it badly and attacks the referee until Rikishi makes a save. Lance Storm and Christian run down and save Test from that, and then backstage the three of them angrily discuss how prejudice the referees are against Canadians. Test says that America likes to stick its ass in the rest of the world’s face just like Rikishi. America sucks! 

Other Happenings

• Billy and Chuck defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against the makeshift team of Hardcore Holly and the Big Valbowski. Cole and Tazz sell this new pairing as a long awaited dream team of veterans rather than what it is - something for two men that the company has no plans for to do. After a distraction by Rico, Billy and Chuck retain with a Fameasser on Holly.
• The Divas Undressed special that was being promoted on Raw for the following night has been rescheduled for Saturday so Torrie Wilsome comes out onto the stage to post in her lingerie and promote the event. Seems unnecessary. She does the same thing later in the show in an even smaller bikini. The pay off to this is that Stacy decides to join in. Torrie accuses her of stealing her spotlight so they decide to both go out and let the people decide who looks better. They both look great, obviously. Dawn Marie comes out in an outfit of her own and says she’ll be the one to win the Divas Undressed contest and it turns into a three way cat fight. Smackdown’s women’s division is certainly a lot different to Raw’s.

• Backstage, Jamie Noble and Tajiri are scheduled to team up. Tajiri is watching Nida and Noble make out like a creep. Noble encourages Nidia to kiss Tajiri and she does, leaving her gum behind in his mouth. He implies that he’ll give Tajiri “a turn” with Nidia if they win tonight. Wow.
• Michael Cole and Tazz give us a medical update on Triple H. He was battling through an elbow injury he sustained before the King of the Ring PPV and has now had surgery on it but he’ll only miss a few weeks of action and might even be on Smackdown next week. 
• Batista makes his in ring debut and finally gets to show off how huge and muscular he is. It’s a tag team match with the good Deacon and Reverend D-Von against Faarooq and another rookie - Randy Orton. Crazy that Batista’s debut match is against Randy Orton, and it takes place on the same show where John Cena debuted. Historically fascinating might be a good term for that piece of trivia. Batista wins this match for his team with a big spinebuster on Randy Orton. 

• WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble (with Nidia) and Tajiri take on the team of Billy Kidman and The Hurricane. I sang the praises of the much neglected Light Heavyweight division for a long time so it’s probably not a surprise that I love the cruiserweights and I’m glad they’ve been so consistently featured since the brand split. This is a good match and with a Hurricane chokeslam and Kidman Shooting Star Press combo, he pins Tajiri to win the match.
• Much like on Raw, there’s a video package for the soon to be debuting Rey Mysterio. 

Raw - July 1st, 2002

Chance of a Lifetime for Jeff Hardy

Terri interviews Jeff Hardy who is pumped up for his title match tonight. He doesn’t have to pin or make Undertaker submit - he just has to climb a ladder and he’s the next WWE Champion! 

Terri interviews Undisputed Champion Undertaker who moves past Jeff Hardy tonight and tells Kurt Angle that he will never tap out so he needs a different strategy for their match on Smackdown. When he’s done with Kurt Angle then he’s moving onto The Rock. Terri asks if he should be dismissing Jeff Hardy considering he’s never been in a ladder match - Taker is unconcerned. 

Before the main event, Vince McMahon tells Undertaker how proud he is of him for stepping up and showing him the meaning of Ruthless Aggression. He tells Undertaker that “whether he’s champion or not” he’s got The Rock at Vengeance. That offends Undertaker. He WILL still be the champion after beating Jeff tonight and Kurt Angle on Smackdown. He promises that after the main event, Jeff won’t even be able to stand up.

Elsewhere backstage, Matt has brought Lita with him to wish Jeff luck and she says she can’t wait to ride home with the new WWE Champion.

The main event is a classic and well remembered match. Jeff Hardy in his trademark match type challenging for his first world title. Undertaker’s first ladder match ever. It’s well known enough that its available in full on WWE’s official YouTube channel. This week in 2002 was a big week for historic moments it turns out;

Undertaker overcomes Jeff’s initial flurry to brutalise him around the ringside area. He has the chance to win more than once but wants to keep the beating going and it does almost come back to bite him as Jeff guts it out and mounts a big comeback and gets far closer to winning the WWE title than many expected him to I’m sure. It’s a great match and a star making performance for Jeff Hardy. Undertaker wins with a chokeslam off the ladder and spikes him with a Last Ride after the match too but when Jeff refuses to stay down and continues to crawl back onto his feet, grabbing the mic and with his voice breaking he tells Undertaker that he’s still standing and he hasn’t been finished off yet, shows how much Jeff has earned his respect by raising his hand and letting him enjoy the moment. Between this and the respect he showed for rookie John Cena on Smackdown, is this the start of an Undertaker face turn? We’ll see. 

Fired up RVD

Raw opens with a pretty awesome recap of the events of last week which feels worth including as it kicks off the Ruthless Aggression era of WWE with a bang. Enjoy the current Raw intro and theme song too!

In the arena, the show opens properly with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Paul sings Brock’s praises as only he can and talks continually about Ruthless Aggression. He says Brock is inspired by Kurt Angle on Smackdown issuing an open challenge to any rookie so he wants to flip it and offer an open challenge to any veteran. That is accepted by Nature Boy Ric Flair. Of course Brock is the one who cost him the ownership of Raw, which Flair reminds us of too. That gives us our opening match and Flair lights up the Next Big Thing with stiff chops to the chest and does his best to live up the “dirtiest player in the game” moniker with low blows and thumbs to the eye. Flair looks strong in defeat but a distraction from Heyman leads to an F5 and despite a pair of lowblows and a Figure Four, Brock beats a 16 time world champion legend. 

RVD arrives at the arena and while looking for Heyman and Lesnar finds William Regal. He breaks the news that Lesnar has already competed tonight so Rob can’t get a match with him. He still wants a fight tonight so he challenges William Regal instead. Regal happily accepts the champion vs. champion match. 

Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam vs. European Champion William Regal is a Wrestlemania rematch, with neither title on the line. RVD wins a short but fun match with the Five Star Frog Splash. After the match, Van Dam gets a mic and challenges Brock Lesnar to a match. Heyman and Lesnar come out and with his agent holding him back, Lesnar snarls and wants to fight too. Heyman challenges RVD to do this “on a grander scale” and challenges him to a match with Brock at Vengeance, which RVD accepts.

Tough Love for the nWo

Goldust, dressed as Darth Vader, prepares Booker T for their tag team rematch with the nWo tonight. Booker T takes his lightsaber and poses. Obi-Book Kenobi will take out the nWo tonight like a master Jedi.

Gold-Darth runs into Big Show backstage. Show asks him about all the jokes about how big and smelly he is last week while Goldust was being Steve Irwin. Goldust takes off the helmet and tells Big Show that he is his father. Kevin Nash appears behind Goldust and gives him a wicked beating with a gold club and tells Big Show that he and X-Pac only have one left to take care of and they better do it tonight. Looks like Booker is now in a handicap match. Or is it? Elsewhere backstage, Big Show finds X-Pac unconscious having been smashed through a table. Was it Booker T? Either way, it’s now a one on one match between Booker T and Big Show.

Booker is motivated and while I still think Vince kind of shut down his attempts to stand out during the whole Ruthless Aggression promo last week, he is being booked strong and has no problem beating up Big Show and sending him to the outside. He kicks Show as he comes at him with ringsteps which drops him with the stairs landing on his own head. Show is out for the count and the referee counts, giving Booker T the victory via countout. He celebrates with a Spinarooni and leaves the crowd - he’s smart enough to know the nWo will be waiting for him backstage. A furious Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash head down to the ring to presumably punish Big Show for losing, just like they said they would. Nash punches him but Show refuses to take it lying down and throws one of his own. Shawn talks sense into them both - enough tough love. They need to be united against Booker T and he promises that the nWo will take him out next week. Shawn says that he has a big announcement - the nWo family won’t be right until they are whole and complete. He says that one of their members is injured and they won’t be complete until he joins them. He’s talking about Triple H and seems to believe The Game will be joining the nWo when he returns from his short term elbow injury. Little did Shawn know that the nWo will be gone by the time Triple H returns, but I’ll talk about that next week. Show and Nash shake hands…but Shawn Michaels clocks Big Show with a superkick and leaves him laid out flat on his back. Was he kicked out of the group, or was that just his punishment for losing? Shawn calls it tough love and they still ask him to leave with them so it seems that it’s the latter. 

Other Happenings

• Terri interviews Christopher Nowinski about why he’s challenged Bradshaw to a straight wrestling match rather than for the Hardcore title. He says that he doesn’t want the Hardcore title, he doesn’t want to get involved in all that mess. He comes from a world where the most dangerous weapon isn’t a chair or a table - it’s intelligence. That leads into the non-title match next. Nowinski has a bunch of cuts and marks on his chest - looks like he’s been given some stiff chops which I’d be willing to bet was a backstage hazing thing for the rookie. Before the match, King shows off Nowinski’s Harvard class ring. The whole gimmick is that Vince thinks people from Harvard never shut up about it and it makes them real life heels. Bradshaw fills the ring with weapons and it backfires as the referee is distracted trying to get them out of the ring and tell Bradshaw this isn’t a hardcore rules match and misses Nowinski clocking Bradshaw with a cowbell for a stolen victory.

• Vince McMahon has a segment with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. He confirms that Benoit has now been traded to Raw officially, and that he’ll now have to make it up to Smackdown somehow. Eddie calls himself the personification of Ruthless Aggression. Benoit makes his return to the ring tonight.

• Chris Benoit’s first match since King of the Ring 2001 is a tag team match with himself and Eddie Guerrero against Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley. The fans pretty much immediately start chanting “we want tables”. Guerrero and Benoit isolate Spike and work him over with quick tags. Benoit dumps Bubba right on his head with a German suplex which looked rough! Bubba gets the hot tag and motors through both former Radicals and tells Spike to get the table, which he does and the fans love. To my shock, Bubba puts down Eddie with the Bubba Bomb and wins this for the Dudleys clean as a whistle! Benoit doesn’t take it well and dumps Bubba with another rough German and then sends Spike flying over the top rope and crashing through the table he set up. Benoit locks Bubba in the Crippler Crossface and Eddie drops a Frog Splash across his lower back as he lays prone for good measure. I am shocked Bubba and Spike won this match so cleanly in Benoit’s in-ring return but less shocked by the brutal post-match beating. This was a really good match honestly. 

• Coach interviews Jackie Gayda who makes excuses for both losing the Divas Undressed contest to Torrie Wilson, and the tag team match last week. She says Molly lost, not her. Molly shows up and the women’s champion tells her she should try and study someone who is as wholesome as her. Jackie says at least people want to see her in her underwear, unlike Molly Holly. The champion slaps her in the face and that turns into a surprisingly heated brawl which goes from backstage, past the entrance ramp and down to the ring. Molly suplexes Jackie on the outside and follows with a backbreaker and a missile dropkick. Trish Stratus runs down and attacks Molly and ends up whipping down her pants to reveal Molly is wearing big “granny panties” which sends King giggling and squealing and Trish taunting her about how “fat her ass is”. This just makes me feel sorry for Molly. 

Smackdown - July 4th, 2002

Disputed Championship

Mark Lloyd interviews Kurt Angle who says that it only took him a few extra minutes to beat John Cena because he had the flu last week. He tells Undertaker that he’s on a roll and he’s going to become the WWE Champion tonight. He shows us footage of himself pinning Undertaker in a non-title match two weeks ago, making Hulk Hogan submit at the King of the Ring and how easily he took down Undertaker last week. He says he will make Undertaker tap out tonight and he’s going to celebrate the 4th of July by winning the Undisputed title. He is an American Hero.

In the main event, Kurt Angle challenges The Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Championship. After a long and back and forth match which is very good, they go back and forth with finishing moves. Undertaker kicks himself free of an ankle lock and spikes Kurt with a chokeslam. He kicks out. Kurt hits the Angle slam. Undertaker gets his foot on the ropes. He goes for a Last Ride powerbomb but as he lifts Kurt, he locks his leg and Undertaker slumps, clamped in a triangle chokehold. The referee counts with Kurt’s shoulders down and as he reaches three, Undertaker taps out! It was a photo finish and there’s no way to tell who should have won. After a commercial break there’s multiple referees in the ring arguing for their point of view but in the end, original referee Mike Chioda declares the match a draw, meaning Undertaker retains the title. A furious Angle attacks Undertaker but is restrained by referees and Smackdown ends with Kurt and Undertaker angrily shouting at each other from a distance. 

Happy Birthday America

As it's the 4th of July, which is “America’s birthday”, the show opens with Lillian Garcia singing America the Beautiful. Much to my own personal pleasure, Lance Storm, Christian and Test cut her off and chase her out of the ring to instead give us a rant about how much America sucks. Yes lads! Lance talks for a long time about America’s history of warmongering and how Americans don’t want to hear what the rest of the world thinks of them. The three unite to shout “America sucks!” into the mic. That leads into Storm’s one on one match with Rikishi. Christian and Test stay at ringside and that makes the difference as a distraction by Christian and a Big Boot by Test gives Lance the victory. They protected Rikishi so much - it took three people to beat him but last week Storm beat Mark Henry clean and solo. It was only a couple of weeks ago Rikishi was bouncing the tag team champions and their stylist around single handedly too.

Billy and Chuck defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against Edge and Hulk Hogan. Before the match, Billy and Chuck try to enjoy some hotdogs for the 4th of July but Rico stops them and calls them disgusting.

Because it’s the 4th of July, Hogan comes out to his classic Real American theme song and waving the American flag with a red, white and blue feather boa instead of his usual red and yellow. Amazingly, Hogan has never held a championship that wasn’t a World title in his entire career and this is one of only a handful of times he even challenged for one. The fans are red hot for this and despite help from Rico and a double team effort on Edge, Hogan puts down both champions and with a leg drop from Edge and an Immortal Leg Drop from Hogan, Edge pins Billy and we have new Tag Team Champions! 

Jericho and the rookie

Backstage in Mr. McMahon’s office, Chris Jericho is ranting about how much he hates Edge. Vince gives him a match with Edge at Vengeance. Earlier, Vince sent Stacy Keibler to get John Cena and he arrives during their conversation. Vince shakes his hand and congratulates him on his performance last week. Cena offers Jericho a handshake but an angry Jericho instead gets rude and starts to insult Cena’s green tights and hair so Cena slaps Jericho hard in the face! Jericho is furious and wants a match with John Cena tonight on Smackdown. They made sure to tell us that Cena’s hometown is Boston which is where Smackdown is taking place. They want to make sure he gets cheered.

John Cena vs. Chris Jericho is another one of those historically interesting matches. Much like Cena vs. Angle last week, this is a match that years later main evented PPVs. Cena at this very early stage is a fairly generic wrestler but with a great look and an explosive moveset. The local fans are behind him and Jericho has to use his feet on the ropes for additional leverage during the pin to secure victory over the rookie. After the match, Jericho offers him a handshake which Cena accepts but is then attacked. Cena shows off his OVW finisher - the Protobomb - which eventually became one of his trademark moves. It doesn’t have a name here but despite the loss he does get to end this segment on top.

Other Happenings

• Batista and Reverend D-Von take on Randy Orton and the big Valbowski. Another odd pairing. Randy asked for this match and found a partner because he wants to try and avenge his loss to Batista last week - does that make this their first feud? It comes down to those two men and Batista avoids a top rope crossbody and hits a nice spinebuster to win the match again. 
• For the fourth show in a row, there’s a video package hyping the arrival of Rey Mysterio. It doesn’t actually say who “he” is but just that “he is coming”. Amazingly we won’t see him until after Vengeance so this is a LOT of build up for who some already considered to be the greatest cruiserweight of all time.

• WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble is living the high life and has purchased a new pick up truck and brings his girlfriend Nidia to their new double-wide trailer. He gives her a tour and she is so excited to see they have indoor running water that she tears up. The trailer trash gimmick is probably offensive to someone but it is definitely funny. I wouldn’t live in it but it is a nice looking mobile home! It’s huge.

• There’s an injury update on Triple H and Cole and Tazz show footage from Raw of Shawn Michaels saying that Triple H will be joining the nWo upon his return. That storyline doesn’t go anywhere but the one with Shawn Michaels does. We’ll get to it all at Vengeance. 
• After a recap of the Divas Undressed contest (which was won by Torrie) there’s a bra and panties match between her and Stacy Keibler. Stacy claims Torrie only won because she slept with the judges and they had a fight in the middle of The World while King sang a parody of the Miss America song. The match itself is what you’d expect. Torrie wins by stripping Stacy and then removes her own shorts and top to show off a red white and blue bikini. 

Raw - July 8th, 2002

End of the nWo

In the arena, Booker T kicks things off and isn’t scheduled for a match but is dressed to compete. Booker says he won’t be going out like “rat faced” X-Pac last week and isn’t going to get jumped backstage so he challenges the nWo to come on out and fight him now. He’s showing no fear, and the fans love him - loud reactions and a lot of Booker T signs. He’s interrupted by Eddie Guerrero much to everyone’s surprise. Eddie is pretty unclear on why he came out now, but he says that he also has his own grudge to settle tonight and wants a fight with Bubba Ray Dudley.

He insults Booker who throws a punch and the brawl in the ring is quickly joined by a referee to turn this into an official match. Booker wins a short back and forth match with a roll up and as he prepares to celebrate with a Spinarooni he’s jumped from behind by Guerrero’s running buddy Chris Benoit. Goldust comes down to make the save but is quickly taken down and beaten up by the former Radicals too. Bubba Ray and Spike rush the ring with steel chairs and chase off Benoit and Guerrero for the rescue. 

After a commercial break, Goldust tells Booker T that he has a plan for the nWo tonight and tries to dance with him. Booker tells Goldust that his plan got his ass kicked last week. Goldust says that if he’s going down, he’s going down in a blaze of glory.

He runs off and when Booker T sees a backstage vendor who looks a bit like X-Pac he drops him with a superkick. He realises his mistake and apologises, but steals a pretzel which gets a big laugh from the crowd. Love you Booker.

As Bubba Ray and Spike prepare to head to the ring for Bubba’s match with Chris Benoit, he’s stopped by Goldust dressed as Ben Franklin. He asks them to work with him and Booker T to take out the nWo. Bubba says that they only came out earlier to help them because they have issues with Guerrero and Benoit. The Dudleyz aren’t interested and doesn’t want to fight the nWo.

In Chris Benoit’s first single’s match in just over a year he wins with the Crippler Crossface. With Eddie and Spike at ringside it was bound to turn into a brawl and it does. Benoit gets Spike in the Crossface as Eddie beats up Eddie until they’re rescued by Booker T and Goldust, returning the favour from earlier on tonight.

Backstage, Benoit and Guerrero are furious about the actions of Bubba, Spike, Booker and Goldust tonight. They’re approached by the nWo who offer them a deal and ask them to listen to what they’re about to say when they head down to the ring, which they then do. The big drama is Shawn’s comments from last week - is he telling the truth? Is Triple H going to join the nWo? Shawn plays the whole segment from King of the Ring where they met Triple H backstage and were all friends, and then talks in coded terms about their history as the backstage Klik group. He accidentally makes it sound a bit like they all used to have sex with each other during their partying days which I’m sure was a mistake. He says that Triple H has not responded to his offer yet, and he has two weeks to decide - he’s either with them or he’s against them. He implores Triple H not to pander to the crowd anymore and join the nWo and they want his decision at Vengeance. Kevin Nash takes over and says that he’s now all healed up and after three months of watching his friends kick ass, he’s excited to join in and get back in the ring. That’s something he’ll live to regret. He invites Benoit and Guerrero to join he, Big Show and X-Pac in a 10 man tag team match against Booker T, Goldust, Bubba Ray, Spike and whoever they can find to be their 5th man and ends by repeating Shawn’s message to Triple H - be at Vengeance and either join the nWo or don’t. 

Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar hear down to the ring. Brock stands and flexes and snarls and smirks as Heyman cuts a great promo. The show is in Philly, the home of ECW, so he makes multiple references to it. He says that Brock will be watching the main event of Vengeance because whichever of those men leave the PPV with the title will lose in a champion vs. champion match to new Intercontinental Champion Brock Lesnar, who is going to take RVD’s title at Vengeance too. He says he made RVD just like he made everyone in ECW because he’s a mad scientist. That brings out ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer, armed with a kendo stick who takes issue with what Paul said. Before he was the wacky guy who eats weird things, he was the Innovator of Violence and there’s no beating Brock could give him that he can’t take. “Let's take it to the extreme!” and he hits Brock in the leg with the kendo stick! He lights up the Next Big Thing and sends him to the outside and brings more weapons from under the ring. There’s no referee for a match, this is just a fight. Brock fights back and drops Dreamer with an F5 on the floor but RVD comes through the crowd and wipes out Heyman with a spinning heel kick. He dives out at Lesnar to knock him down and then in an awesome looking move, springboards from one corner to the other of the ring, driving a steel chair into Paul Heyman with a Van-Terminator! Lesnar scoops up what’s left of his agent and carries him to the back. 

Back in the locker room, Bubba Ray and Spike try to recruit a 5th man for their 10 man tag team match main event - he speaks passionately about their history in ECW and says they need the most extreme and hardcore guy they can find. The camera pans back to reveal that he’s talking to Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam. I think keeping the reveal a secret got the fans thinking it might be a new debuting ECW original like Sandman or Sabu, but RVD is popular enough that the fans were happy anyway. 

A mega, all star main event of the nWo’s Kevin Nash, Big Show and X-Pac teaming with Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero against Booker T, Goldust, Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley and now Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam. I’ve really enjoyed this night-long storyline with these two feuds merging together and crossing over. No one knew it at the time but this is the final appearance of the nWo, outside the occasional nostalgia appearance decades later. I’ve avoided talking about it because I knew it was coming and will do a lot more at Vengeance too, but I’ll let it all unfold as it did on TV at the time for now. This is Kevin Nash’s first match in three months after injuring his bicep in only his second match back in the then-WWF. His bad luck isn’t over. RVD and X-Pac start off and the action is fast paced but it quickly slows down once the tags begin and this becomes a lot harder to describe and recap. I can’t imagine that’s what you want anyway. Shawn Michaels continually tries to get involved until RVD has had enough. He chases Michaels around the ring and up the ramp into the arms of a waiting Brock Lesnar. The Next Big Thing gives RVD an F5 on the entrance ramp which takes him out of the match and he’s helped to the back.

Kevin Nash tags in and floors Booker T with a big boot. He walks towards the other corner and collapses, grabbing his knee and screaming. He rolls to the apron and probably didn’t know it at the time but he’s just blown out his quad muscle, an injury that put him on the shelf for almost a year. It breaks down into chaos and with a little bit of awkward standing around, Shawn superkicks Booker T which allows Show to follow up with a chokeslam to win the match. Michaels gets a mic and issues a final warning to Triple H - he says he can join the nWo and “stand tall” with them, as Nash lays on the mat screaming in pain, or he can be flat on his face like Booker T. Raw ends with Kevin Nash being helped out of the ring by Big Show and a doctor with a nervous looking Shawn Michaels and X-Pac walking in front. This isn’t just the end of the nWo - it’s the last time we’ll see X-Pac too, which I’ll discuss more at Vengeance too.

Other Happenings

• Raw opens with the owner of the WWE addressing the controversial ending of Smackdown with Undertaker and Kurt Angle’s title match ending in a draw. He has given The Undertaker the night off tonight given his two big title defences on both Raw and Smackdown. He adds Kurt Angle to Vengeance’s main event - it’s now a triple threat match for the WWE Undisputed Championship, The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker. Honestly adding Kurt Angle to any match will only make it better, and Rock and Undertaker’s match at No Way Out in February was pretty dull so I’m all for that. 

• Another week, another Rey Mysterio video package. They still haven’t actually said his name but this was the best one so far with much clearer shots of his spectacular move set with dramatic music playing. 
• Coach interviews Trish Stratus and Jackie Gayda who now both have issues with women’s champion Molly Holly. Jackie doesn’t seem grateful for Trish’s help and tells her that coming out to rescue her from Molly last week was stealing her spotlight. She accuses Trish of being jealous of her and her body, and all the attention she got from Tough Enough. Jackie is backed up by another Tough Enough graduate, Harvard’s Christopher Nowinski. He insults Trish’s “mental acumen” so she challenges the kids from Tough Enough to a mixed tag team match with Hardcore Champion Bradshaw as her partner. That wipes the smile off Nowinski’s face.

• Later in the show there’s a video package where Nowinski gives us a tour of the Harvard campus and talks about how amazing and without peers Harvard is. I’ve no idea if this is getting him over or not. He’s a good smug heel though - he has plenty of charisma for someone who debuted less than a month ago.
• After a recap of Jeff Hardy’s great performance in the ladder match last week, he arrives at the arena and is greeted by Nature Boy Ric Flair. He tells him how great he did and wishes him luck in his European title match tonight. After Jeff walks away, Steven Richards approaches Ric and taunts him about his “final run” and how badly it’s going. Flair challenges him to a match tonight and Richards punches him in the face.

• This mixed tag team match - Christopher Nowinski and Jackie Gayda vs. Hardcore Champion Bradshaw and Trish Stratus - is legendary for all the wrong reasons. It’s sloppy, messy and full of botches and that’s almost entirely poor Jackie’s fault. I could describe it but honestly just watch it - the video is only six minutes long and it’s a bit hilarious.

• Bradshaw chases Nowinski through the crowd which I have to assume was them ditching this match to avoid embarrassment and Trish beats Jackie with a bulldog. I guess. Jackie bumps a full three seconds after Trish hits the mat and the crowd loudly boos. Trish looks annoyed and a little ashamed as the referee raises her hand in victory.
• This match also marks the final appearance of the original Hardcore Championship before before the title's retirement. Next week Bradshaw shows up with a custom title belt with zero fanfare. I'll talk a lot more about the Hardcore title and it's legacy soon (the Unforgiven 2002 Preview, specifically)

• Jeff Hardy challenges William Regal for the WWE European Championship. It’s a short match and Jeff withstands a brutal assault by Regal to land a Swanton Bomb and become the new European Champion. This turned out to be the final European title reign, but I’ll talk about that a lot more in both the next Preview and at Summerslam. After a commercial break when William Regal gets backstage, Coach asks him how he feels about losing the European title - Regal breaks down and sobs uncontrollably, dropping to his knees and weeping until Chris Nowinski comes in to console and hug him.

• Steven Richards vs. Ric Flair is a weird match on paper. The 16 time World Champion who some argue is the greatest wrestler of all time vs. someone who’s never risen above the bottom of the card. He has at least gotten himself in great shape. This is a showcase match for Flair who dominates Richards, picking him apart and making him submit to the Figure Four. 

Smackdown - July 11th, 2002

Vengeance Main Event

Backstage, John Cena goes to see the Undertaker who’s out waiting in the parking lot for the arrival of The Rock. Cena says that it’s an honour to team with him tonight against Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. Undertaker says he doesn’t give a damn about any of it - he’s focused entirely on kicking The Rock’s ass tonight. 

Undertaker is accosted by three members of staff who are there on the orders of Vince McMahon to calm him down and get him to leave The Rock alone for now. A limo pulls in and he rushes to confront it but it’s not The Rock, it’s Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. They laugh at Undertaker for tapping out for the first time ever last week so he throws a punch and the brawl is quickly broken up by referees, security and an angry Vince McMahon who demands Undertaker get back inside the arena. He’ll get The Rock, he doesn’t need to be waiting to jump him like this. After a commercial break, Undertaker rampages in the locker room and Hardcore Holly and Valbowski leave John Cena to face the music. Undertaker tells Cena that he should have been out there with him to have his back, and he better have his back tonight in the main event! 

In their locker room, Edge is preparing he and the Hulkster’s evening social plans. Edge is loving life as a tag team champion and says that he feels like an 8 year old kid hanging out with his childhood hero. They’re interrupted by The Rock. Hogan starts to talk about their match at Wrestlemania and how excited the crowd was for his match with The Rock. He doesn’t realise that Rock is standing behind him until he’s already mentioned how the crowd preferred him and that he had The Rock beat. The Rock takes issue with that but…it’s true. They invite The Rock to the casino with them tonight but first he has to go out into the arena and talk to The People. He does and soaks in the crowd who are very happy to see him. I haven’t mentioned it but on every Raw and Smackdown since King of the Ring they’ve shown multiple “classic Rock moments” which were mostly him making fun of people and cutting vaguely homophobic promos. He talks about Undertaker and how he’s going to win the title at Vengeance until being interrupted by Kurt Angle. Kurt tells him that it’s not Undertaker he needs to worry about, it’s him. He made Hogan tap, he made Undertaker tap and he’ll make him tap too. The Rock pretends not to recognise him and transitions that into a string of jokes about his bald head. I didn’t really enjoy any of this - I think I’m over this version of The Rock.

Kurt challenges him to a match next week which The Rock accepts and then says he doesn’t want to wait and starts a fight. The Rock locks Kurt in his own ankle lock and makes the Olympian tap out until Undertaker rushes the ring, attacking both. He plants both of his Vengeance challengers with massive chokeslams and is the last man standing. 

The Rock is still in the building and after making fun of Mark Lloyd (“Damn Coach, you changed. You got shorter AND white!”) cuts a comedy promo about gambling at a casino in Atlantic City. The slot machine came up three Brahma Bulls which means that at Vengeance he’s going to lay the smack down on both their candy asses and win his 7th World title. If Ya Smell……etc. 

In the main event, WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker and rookie John Cena take on Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. It’s funny that three weeks in, 100% of Cena’s matches have included Jericho, Angle or both as both men ended up being recurring main event opponents and feuds for him over the next 20 years. It’s not a long match and when it breaks down, John Cena rolls up Chris Jericho to pick up his first victory and win the main event of Smackdown for he and The Undertaker. The fighting doesn’t stop there and Undertaker locks Kurt in a dragon sleeper. Kurt taps out as The Rock hits the ring and fights with Undertaker, spiking him with a Rock Bottom. Kurt jumps The Rock from behind but is also given a Rock Bottom and The Rock ends Smackdown on top. 

All-American Tag Titles

Smackdown opens with a WWE Tag Team Championship match. New Champions Edge and Hulk Hogan (who has reverted back to his Jimmi Hendrix theme after using Real American last week for the 4th of July) defend against former champions Billy and Chuck. It’s an easy first title defence for the new champions and they beat Billy and Chuck with a Spear and then Immortal Leg Drop combo.

Test, accompanied by his anti-American cohorts Lance Storm and Christian, takes on Rikishi. Storm and Christian join commentary for this match so they can spend the whole time bashing America which feels like a little gift just for me. Test muscles Rikishi up into a powerslam which looked really, really impressive on a man Rikishi’s side. He kicks out and fights off interference from Storm and Christian to win the match with a Samoan drop. The Anti-Americans rush the ring and attack Rikishi three on one and are finally able to put him down. Edge and Hogan run down to the ring to help out Rikishi and fight off Storm, Christian and Test and send them packing. Edge is obviously Canadian too but let’s pretend not to notice and say he, Hogan and Rikishi are all-Americans. 

In Mr. McMahon’s office he’s canoodling with Stacy Keibler. They’re about to strip each other and get it on but as has become a running joke, Jericho bursts in and breaks that up. Jericho says he wants to see the Anti-Americans vs. Hogan and Edge. Jericho agrees to step aside from his match with Edge at Vengeance so that that Tag Team title match can happen at Vengeance. Vince promises he’ll get his match with Edge later down the line, and that he’ll take care of him at the PPV. Vince calls himself a “horny genius” and tells Jericho to leave so he can go back to undressing a woman who is literally a third his age. I HATE this storyline and I HATE this version of Vince.

Other Happenings

• Earlier today as Torrie Wilson - the prestigious 2002 Golden Thong award winner - was having a photoshoot at the beach the WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly told her that she’s a disgrace and that it’s a shame that she is the one getting all the attention and not the champion. She offers Torrie a title match tonight on Smackdown which Torrie accepts.
• Torrie’s first ever shot at a championship. She gets some early offence - she was never famous for her wrestling skill but since coming to the WWE she’s clearly been working with the agents backstage and practicing. Molly is good and leads Torrie through a match which is a lot better than Jackie Gayda’s efforts on Raw but drills her with a powerbomb to retain the Women’s title.

• Batista and Reverend D-Von take on the team of Randy Orton and World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. This continues the story of Orton wanting to beat the massive Batista and trying different tag team partners to get him there. Before the match, he pumps up Mark and says he’s so big and strong they have to win tonight. It ends the same way as the other matches as Batista very impressively lifts Mark like he weighs nothing and drills him with a rolling slam and then a big spinebuster to win the match for his team. 

• Earlier today at a casino in Atlantic City, Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble continues to share his new found wealth with girlfriend Nidia and Tajiri at the all you can eat buffet. It’s once again implied that Noble is sharing Nidia with Tajiri which is pretty gross. Noble says that as long as he has the title belt, he’s rich and can keep this lifestyle so its all that matters. Noble and Tajiri have a tag team rematch with Billy Kidman and The Hurricane. It’s a great but short match with Hurricane wiping out both opponents with a dive to the outside. Kidman brings Noble off the top rope with a powerbomb and wins the match, pinning the Cruiserweight Champion which surely gets him a future title match.

• They did continue to talk about Shawn Michaels ultimatum and promote that at Vengeance, Triple H will have to decide whether to join the nWo or not. Clearly no decisions had been made about the future of that storyline or the nWo itself but there's a big shakeup on Raw that puts all that in the rear view mirror.

Raw - July 15th, 2002

General Manager of Raw

In the arena, Raw opens with the nWo theme song and entrance video but it's not the nWo who comes out, it’s Vince McMahon. He starts with a big announcement - he came out with the nWo music because it’s the last time we’ll ever hear it. Kevin Nash has torn his quad and will be gone for a very long time and therefore he’s disbanding the nWo permanently. The group is no more. Much like Stone Cold walking out of the company, this real life unexpected event has forced major storylines to be abandoned which they have to acknowledge on TV. Vince talks about the changing of eras and the need to shake things up. Raw and Smackdown will be shaken up and the shake ups start tonight. He has hired two General Managers to run both Raw and Smackdown and they will have full control and his full support in what they do. He says that within the next hour we’ll find out who the General Manager of Raw is - firm, but fair and won’t back down from a challenge. Two major announcements to open the show - the end of the nWo must have been a last minute decision as they were still promoting Triple H having to decide whether to join the nWo or not at Vengeance. Vince ends by saying that the new General Manager will give the people what they really want and what they truly deserve. The assembled Raw superstars backstage are shown watching together on a monitor awaiting their fate and the name of their new boss. 

Terri interviews the former Raw owner and asks his thoughts on the new General Manager. He says that running the show is a thankless task and he can’t think of anyone who can do it who’s last name isn’t McMahon. That sets King off on speculating it might be one of Vince’s kids!

Coach is outside Mr. McMahon’s office trying to find out who the new General Manager might be. He speculates it could be Mick Foley who lives nearby or perhaps Vince’s long estranged brother Rod. Paul Heyman arrives because Vince wants to see him so Coach speculates it might be him but Vince and Paul’s meeting is interrupted by someone to tell Vince that the new General Manager has arrived and is ready to be announced. 

After a commercial break, Shane McMahon shows up. Is it him? No, it’s NOT Shane. He does know who the new GM is however and he tells Vince not to make a huge mistake and hand the reins to an outsider - an outsider that they cannot trust. Shane calls the General Manager a parasite and says he’ll screw over the company and their family the first change he gets. That's ominous.

At the end of the Coach and Booker T interview, much to everyone’s shock, former WCW President both on and off screen Eric Bischoff walks into frame and shakes Booker’s hand. Is he the new GM? That leads directly into the next segment and Vince walks out on stage and says that it takes a real son of a bitch to run a company - from one son of a bitch to the other, the new General Manager is Eric Bischoff! 

He and Vince hug and this is an enormous shock to everyone for lots of reasons. JR speaks in unflattering terms about the years he spent working for and with Bischoff. He’s a snake. King says he used to sit in on commentary with Vince during the Monday Night Wars and when Vince would wish death and bloody murder on Bishoff personally as he tried to put the WWF out of business. Bischoff does have awesome theme music and walks to the ring.

He introduces himself to the crowd and people who may not know him - he ran WCW when it was awesome and when he was famous for taking it to Vince McMahon. He’s right, and he did almost put the WWF out of business more than once. He says he has more Ruthless Aggression than anyone and JR solemnly says that Bischoff is extremely ruthless. He gleefully reminds us of all the times he stole the WWE’s top talents just for fun. He gave the McMahon family run business a swift kick in the crotch and forced it to raise its game. He took great pleasure in raiding the WWF dry while Vince was busy being on trial with the federal government. He continues to remind us all of his more cut throat business practices during the Monday Night War including giving away pre-taped Raw’s results on WCW TV, and having the WWF women’s champion throw her title belt in the trash on live TV. He also takes credit for creating the nWo - the cool ruthless version, not a stale retread. This is a good and very important promo but you can tell Eric still has a lot to learn as he turns his back on the hard camera and talks to the people instead. That makes sense for the live crowd but not for the TV audience at home. He says that he is going to sign a major talent for Raw. At Vengeance, he’s going to sign Triple H away from Smackdown. The Game now having to pick between Raw and Smackdown now replaces the “will he join the nWo or not?” storyline which is now cancelled. He smugly promises to put the E in WWE. After this segment, JR confirms that Vince McMahon has left the arena and Bischoff is now fully and unquestionably running the show. 

Backstage, WWE Undisputed Champion Undertaker and Hardcore Champion Bradshaw discuss the new GM. Undertaker casually chatting to babyfaces like Bradshaw seems to confirm that he is drifting back to being babyface again, something I suggested a couple of shows ago. Bischoff approaches and blows off Bradshaw to focus on sucking up to main eventer Undertaker instead. Later he ran into Ric Flair with whom he has a LOT of history from their WCW days. They feuded on screen and off and there’s a lot of legitimate bad blood to go along with the storyline bad blood.This is the danger with bringing in Bischoff - if they focus too much on his history from WCW it’ll alienate fans who never watched, like myself. 

At the very end of the show, post main event, Eric Bischoff leaves a voicemail for The Rock telling him that he’ll be at Smackdown on Thursday and is looking to sign him to Raw. First Triple H and now The Rock - can Bischoff do that? He’s trying to raid Smackdown for its biggest stars!

Brock Lesnar’s Impact

Backstage, Paul Heyman is with The Undertaker who says tonight’s main event where he teams with Brock Lesnar was all his idea. He sees through Heyman’s ass kissing and tells him that he and Brock better pray he loses the title at Vengeance because if its him vs. Brock at Summerslam, he’ll make the Next Big Thing disappear. 

Backstage, Brock Lesnar warms up for the main event by doing bicep curls with a huge metal structure. He laughs about how Lesnar is going to win the IC title at Vengeance and the WWE title at Summerslam. Lesnar asks if he spoke to Undertaker and Heyman laughs about having manipulated Undertaker easily - he has no idea why they wanted this match but it's clear that what they’re looking for is Undertaker and Lesnar to destroy RVD before the PPV.

Before the main event, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker have themselves a tense little staredown backstage. Can they work together? Their opponents RVD and Ric Flair are a lot more united. This match is a lot more back and forth than I’d have expected with Flair having no problems holding his own against Undertaker. He and Lesnar do eventually shut down the Nature Boy and work him over until he makes a tag to RVD who motors through both men with kicks and springboards, getting a near fall from a split legged moonsault until Undertaker breaks it up. Flair gets an F5, RVD connects with a Frog Splash on Lesnar but it's legal man Undertaker who finishes things with a Last Ride on Van Dam and a victory. As he celebrates he’s attacked by Brock Lesnar and having served his purpose, the King of the Ring drops the Undisputed Champion with an F5. It's Lesnar who has the last laugh and ends Raw admiring the Undisputed title belt. 

Big Show moves forward

Coach interviews Booker T about his match later with the Big Show. With the nWo now dead, he still has issues with its members. He messes with Coach and says that The Rock is NOT the only one who can mess with announcers - he gets Coach to do a Spinarooni and it’s terrible, obviously. “Are you sure you’re black dog?” 

Booker T goes one on one with the now nWo-less Big Show. Their feud continues as Booker looks to get even with his nWo buddies who did nothing to defend him with Shawn Michaels kicked him out of the group literally and figuratively. The fight spills to the outside and Booker T grabs a steel chair, struggling with the massive Big Show. It backfires and Show disarms him and uses it with two big swings across the back and finishes the beating with a chokeslam through the announce desk. Booker T wins the match via disqualification but he doesn’t look like a winner. Show didn’t take the time to clear the announce desk off first but on the replay you can see the monitors had already been removed. 

Big Show goes to see his old WCW boss Eric Bischoff. He’s happy to see him and they hug. Show asks for a rematch with Booker T at Vengeance but with no disqualifications. Easy E agrees but makes sure Big Show knows what a big deal this is for him - he makes sure that Show knows he owes the GM a favour.

Other Happenings

• In a six man elimination tag team match, new European Champion Jeff Hardy teams with Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley against William Regal, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. During this, JR explains that at Vengeance Benoit and Guerrero will meet The Dudleyz in a tag team table match. Regal, Benoit and Guerrero is certainly a kind of dream team - three super workers and talented in ring technicians. Eddie eliminates Spike first with a small package and after a long exchange with Jeff and Bubba working well as a team despite the intense history between their teams, Bubba gets caught disarming Regal of the European title belt and using it himself which gets him disqualified and this match as a three on one. Jeff quickly capitalises with a Swanton Bomb on William Regal to eliminate him but it's still him vs. both Benoit and Guerrero after a commercial break. Jeff eliminates Eddie with a surprise roll up and Earl Hebner proves he's the worst referee of all time as he neither removes Eddie nor disqualifies Benoit for the interference. Jeff fights them off single handedly but with the referee distracted again by Guerrero, William Regal returns to knock him out with the brass knuckles. Benoit locks the unconscious Jeff in the Crossface to officially win what I thought was a great match and then Benoit and Guerrero set up a table to try and prove a point ahead of their PPV match with the Dudleys. Bubba and Spike run back down to rescue Jeff thankfully for him. 

• In the locker room, Tommy Dreamer and RVD have a chat about who the new GM might be, and agree they are glad it’s NOT Paul Heyman. Dreamer wants details on how good it felt to dropkick a chair into his chest last week. RVD says he can’t wait to do it to Brock at Vengeance and leaves. Tommy is joined by a former ECW alumni who sarcastically calls Tommy the guardian of all things ECW and says he’s selfish. He challenges him to make their match tonight a singapore cane match. Goldust shows up and makes them both laugh which for a moment I thought might be legit but then Richards cracks Dreamer in the ribs with a Singapore cane/kendo stick before leaving. That match is next. In ECW, a singapore cane match meant that the loser got caned across the back but here it just means a no disqualification match where the canes are legal. Tommy gets busted open by a stiff shot to the forehead with a cane. This is brutal - they trade stiff shots and slams and suplexes on the outside of the ring. It turns into a showcase of how tough Tommy is and he endures a brutal beating until, bleeding heavily and kicking out of multiple big finishes, cracks a stick over Richards head and wins a really fun match! Even JR and King loved this.

• Molly Holly defends the WWE Women’s Championship against Trish Stratus. These two have wrestled many times lately so should know each other really well by now. The match itself is decent but its hard to focus as Jerry Lawler spends the entire match talking about how his monitor has stopped working and he’s upset at not being able to see Trish as close as normal. Molly steals the win after kicking out of all of Trish’s signature moves and rolling her up, getting her feet onto the ropes for illegal leverage.

• Christopher Nowinski challenges Bradshaw for the Hardcore title. Before the match begins, he tells Bradshaw that he has no desire to compete in a hardcore match and doesn’t want the title, and these people don’t want to see a Harvard graduate get beaten up. He offers to let Bradshaw pin him and lays down, but then pulls the big Texan into a small package to try and steal the win. Bradshaw kicks out of course. They fight backstage with Bradshaw dominating., As they brawl through the back, Johnny “The Bull” Stamboli appears and knocks out Bradshaw with a 2x4 and wins the Hardcore title on the 24/7 rule. JR acts like we already know who Johnny is but this is his debut. He’s a former WCW lower card act. Later, Johnny thanks Eric for bringing him to Raw and as they chat, Bradshaw runs in and clobbers him with a clothesline from hell. Bradshaw regains the Hardcore title and as he leaves we get a good look at Bradshaw’s custom Hardcore Championship belt. 

Smackdown - July 18th, 2002

General Manager of Smackdown

Out in the parking lot, Mark Lloyd is waiting for the new Smackdown General Manager, whoever he or she is but when a limo pulls in it’s the new Raw GM Eric Bischoff instead. He makes his way through the back and heads to Hulk Hogan’s locker room. These two had a ton of history in WCW both on screen and off. They remained very good friends all the way up to Hogan’s death in 2025 in fact. For fans of WCW, it was wild seeing these two together on TV again. Bischoff is clearly here to snap up as many Smackdown talents as he can and says if Hogan’s not interested maybe his tag team partner Edge is. No one seems to understand how Bischoff might be able to steal Smackdown stars away to Raw but Easy E seems confident and cut throat none the less. Later, a second limo arrives but this one contains Vince McMahon who is bemused to find out Bischoff is in the house and goes to see him backstage. Vince applauds his cut throat attitude and seems impressed by Bischoff’s attitude. 

Eric Bischoff’s big night out continues and he visits The Rock in his locker room and tells him straight that he wants him at Raw on Monday. Eric gives him the hard sell and tells him that he can take him places where no one in this business has ever been before - they can work together and take Raw and The Rock into the stratosphere. The Rock says that he will be on Raw but NOT because of Eric Bischoff and any kind of deal. The Rock will be on Raw because he’ll be the new WWE Undisputed Champion and will therefore be appearing on both shows. He’ll beat the American Badass and the American Bald ass which is quite a good line. The fun stops when The Rock makes a crack about having put WCW out of business and leaves Eric in a bad mood.

Vince McMahon heads out onto the stage to make another announcement, this time about the Smackdown General Manager. He mentions that the talents of both Raw and Smackdown are now free to negotiate deals with the respective GMs if they think the grass is greener on the other side. He says that he told the fans on Raw they deserved Bischoff but he doesn’t think the fans on Smackdown deserve their GM - Stephanie McMahon! It was a nice few months without her but it didn’t last long. She’s wearing a business suit but the fans chant “slut” at her none the less. In fairness, she played a significantly toned down and babyface character as General Manager so we’ll see how we get on. She talks in glowing terms about The Rock and Triple H and promises the fans that she won’t let them leave for Raw. She’ll be at Vengeance when he tries to sign Triple H for Raw to stop him, and keep him here on Smackdown. She says her first official act as GM of Smackdown is to kick Eric Bischoff out of the building and the cameras follow her as she marches through the backstage to find him. When she does, he’s chatting to the Anti-Americans who quickly leave when they see her coming. He agrees to leave but says that the war between them is just getting started. 

At the end of Smackdown, Mark Lloyd finds Triple H out in the parking lot. Why was he here? Visiting friends? Stephanie McMahon runs out to see her soon to be ex-husband and its tense and awkward as she asks to speak to him about signing with Smackdown. He makes a joke about her having gained weight and gets into a limo, telling her they can discuss business on Sunday. The window rolls down to reveal Eric Bischoff who has a big laugh about it and leaves with Triple H as Stephanie screams “bastard!”

Kurt has the last laugh

Earlier today, Michael Cole sat down with Undisputed Champion The Undertaker for an interview about his title reign and the main event of Vengeance. The Undertaker cuts a fairly bland but almost babyface promo about how he’s backed down from no challenges and hasn’t been protected. That’s not strictly true for his whole title reign but certainly over the past month. He calls The Rock a coward who jumped him at King of the Ring because he knows he can’t beat him and Kurt Angle did not and cannot make him tap out - he can’t have tapped out because he’s still the Undisputed champion and he’ll remain that way after Vengeance.

In the main event, The Rock takes on Kurt Angle - two thirds of Vengeance’s main event. Kurt Angle enters first with a microphone and promises victory on Sunday and to make The Rock tap out tonight. It’s not The Rock who comes out next, it’s WWE Champion The Undertaker who rides his bike to ringside and takes a seat next to commentary to watch this match up close. The Rock and Kurt have had so many good matches together in their careers and this, incredibly, is their last one ever. I’ll talk a little bit more about The Rock’s career winding down at both Vengeance and Summerslam but without getting too spoilery for anyone trying to let these shows unfold as they come, this is the last ever one on one match between The Rock and Kurt Angle. It’s another good match and after a long back and forth, The Rock takes Kurt down with a spinebuster and prepares to drop the People’s Elbow. As he turns off the ropes, Undertaker jumps him with a clothesline to cause the disqualification. Kurt gets the last laugh though and blasts Undertaker with a steel chair in the back and The Rock in the ankle to stand tall over both is PPV opponents.

The Cruiserweight Division

The Hurricane faces Chavo Guerrero. Chavo focuses his attack on Hurricane’s leg and shows how ruthless he is when Hurricane appears to injure his knee and he goes right for it, eventually making Hurricane submit to the STF. Chavo gets a microphone and calls himself the premiere Latin American WWE Superstar and he is sick of all the promotion for the arrival of Rey Mysterio. He says that Rey makes his WWE debut next week and it’ll be against Chavo Guerrero. Interestingly, Michael Cole calls him Rey Mysterio Junior but much like Chavo himself he’s dropping the Junior for WWE. There is another Rey Mysterio video package later on this show and unlike the previous dramatic ones, this one gives us an idea of what his theme music will be when he does debut.

Billy Kidman takes on Tajiri. Kidman is scheduled to challenge Jamie Noble for the Cruiserweight title at Vengeance after pinning the champion in a tag match last week. Cole speculates that Tajiri was asked by his friends Noble and Nidia to soften up Kidman for him before the PPV. This is a good match but too short to be special. Kidman wins with the Shooting Star Press. Jamie Noble runs down to try and attack his challenger after the match. Kidman fights him off but Tajiri helps out with the green mist to the face, blinding him so Noble can drill him with a nice looking powerbomb.

Other Happenings

• Smackdown opens with Chris Jericho vs. John Cena. Cena got his first win over Jericho last week with a roll up and almost does the same here, frustrating Jericho until finally he’s forced to give John a blatant low blow right in front of the referee getting himself disqualified. Jericho snaps and puts Cena in the Walls of Jericho before getting a steel chair and blasting him across the back a few times. 

• Backstage later, Chris Jericho drops in to see Stephanie McMahon - his new boss. He assumes that they’re still on good terms from their partnership heading into Wrestlemania. She praises him for being selfless and giving up his Vengeance match with Edge so that he could defend the Tag Team titles so she rewards him by giving him the match with Edge next week on Smackdown instead. He has to feign being happy about it but clearly has no desire to wrestle Edge. 
• In a six man tag, Rikishi and WWE Tag Team Champions Hulk Hogan and Edge take on the Anti-American trio of Test, Christian and Lance Storm. The good guys all enter together to Hogan’s entrance music. The fans are red hot for Hogan in this and despite a good effort from the Anti-Americans and some close near falls, a Spear from Edge to Storm is enough to give his team the victory.

• Billy and Chuck with Rico take on the team of Hardcore Holly and the Big Valbowski. Michael Cole explains, in a dubbed bit of audio, that the Velocity logo is in the background as an advertisement for the new weekly show. That’s not true - this match was taped for Velocity but then they realised this week’s Smackdown was running a little short and needed more content. Funny production error really. You can even see that Tazz and Cole aren’t at ringside during it. Much to my surprise, Holly and Val overcome interference from Rico to put down Billy and after a Money Shot from Val they get the victory. 

More seismic changes to the booking of Raw thanks to real life getting in the way. They’ve adjusted quickly to the loss of Kevin Nash and the nWo and the new General Managers certainly felt new at the time. I have a lot to talk about at Vengeance, that’s for sure! As has become tradition in 2002 thus far, here’s the card run down by Michael Cole and Tazz. There are a couple more matches to be added on the night which we’ll get to at the show itself. Annoyingly Kurt Angle cut them off before they could finish.