World Wrestling Entertainment – Judgment Day 2002 – 19th May 2002
We’ve arrived at the first ever ‘WWE’ pay-per-view event. In many ways it’s the start of a new era, which is why it makes absolutely no sense that they’ve chosen to headline it with Hulk Hogan vs Undertaker for the Undisputed Championship. Vince won the Monday Night Wars by promoting an edgy, unpredictable brand of wrestling filled with brash, hungry, talented, young stars whilst WCW floundered under the weight of their own ego and ageing roster. Without any competition, Mr McMahon has now decided he’s safe to repeat WCW’s mistakes it seems. Thankfully, as per usual in 2002, there are enough talented workers on the undercard to carry this show. RVD and Eddie Guerrero have their third ppv clash over the Intercontinental Title, Edge and Kurt Angle meet again in a rematch of their fantastic Backlash encounter (and the loser gets his head shaved), the Lesnar vs Hardy Boyz feud continues and Chris Jericho desperately looks to finally beat Triple H on ppv in a Hell In A Cell Match. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are in Nashville, TN.
Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam – WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Latino Heat took RVD’s Intercontinental Title at Backlash and thus far has fended off Mr Monday Night at every turn. It took a cheap DQ finish at Insurrextion in the UK, but he still has the belt around his waist. Is tonight the night Van Dam takes his championship back?
Van Dam starts the quicker and scores a couple of early nearfalls so Guerrero leaves the ring to halt his momentum. Rob fakes out on the springboard moonsault he hit at Insurrextion earlier this month, and when Eddie tries to duck it RVD hits him with the split-legged moonsault instead! A tilta-whirl backbreaker soon follows and it’s clear that Mr PPV has started to target the back of the champion. Mexican surfboard applied, then a standing moonsault for 2. Guerrero realises his reign is in serious jeopardy now and takes a cheap shot at Van Dam after a rope break. More dubious tactics follow – including plenty of chokes and eye rakes. RVD retorts by shoulder blocking the back then hitting a monkey flip. Rolling Thunder scores as well to pile more pressure on Eddie’s damaged midsection. Too early for the Five Star though, as Rob gets crotched then dropped with a powerbomb. Guerrero’s Frog Splash misses (perhaps because it took him so long to get up the ropes)…but so does RVD’s Five Star seconds later. They sprint back into battle once more and Van Dam again piles the pressure on the sternum with a jumping crossbody block. Eddie backslides him, with feet on the ropes, to win at 10:57
Rating - *** - Their matches keep getting better and better together, even if the finishes don’t. The actual body of this was their best effort yet. RVD was great working the back and even started modifying his usual moveset specifically to target the body part. In the end he produced such a dominant performance that Eddie’s only course of action was to cheat – which he did several times in order to win. It makes sense, but you really do want to see these guys off the leash fighting to a finish.
Reverend D-Von leads Deacon Batista, Stacy Keibler and Vince McMahon in prayer ahead of Stacy’s Women’s Title Match. Vince uses the prayer as a chance to perv on Stacy, then asks for reassurance from D-Von that Bubba Ray Dudley won’t be in attendance tonight.
Trish Stratus vs Stacy Keibler – WWE Women’s Title Match
Sometime between Insurrextion and this show Trish won back the Women’s Title from Jazz. Stacy is a heel now, and is officially employed as Vince McMahon’s ‘Personal Assistant. Reverend D-Von and ‘Deacon’ Batista accompany her to ringside.
Bubba Ray Dudley immediately enters the arena to make a fool of D-Von’s guarantee to the boss. Trish nearly has Stacy tapping early with a Boston crab and drops her again seconds later with a swinging neckbreaker. Bubba laughs at Keibler’s misfortune so gets a slap…as in the ring Batista appears to SLAM Trish! Hilariously, Trish retaliates with a BASEBALL SLIDE on him, then retains with a bulldog at 02:54
Rating - DUD - Too short to mean anything, and just a little too sloppy for me to give the N/A rating to. It’s good to see Trish carrying the Women’s Title again, though I’d rather have seen her continue her feud with Jazz than waste her talents with Stacy as a backdrop to D-Von Dudley’s heel turn.
Bubba and D-Von come face to face in the ring before Batista and the Reverend do a number on Bubba Ray. They hit him with the collection box then put him through a table with a double flapjack.
Vince McMahon enters Raw Owner Ric Flair’s locker room to bury the hatchet with a handshake. They bond over a mutual hatred of Steve Austin.
Hardy Boyz vs Brock Lesnar/Paul Heyman
At Insurrextion we saw Brock’s team defeated because his partner, Shawn Stasiak, couldn’t follow orders and stay on the apron whilst Brock did all the work. Stasiak forcibly tagged himself in and went on to lose to the Hardyz. Taking matters into their own hands, Heyman has stepped up to be Lesnar’s tag partner – on the understanding that he stays out of the match and lets his client carry the load.
Jeff doesn’t want to wait for Lesnar to get into the ring this time – and flies at him with a pescado during his entrance! Unfortunately for the Hardyz Brock recovers before they can get their hands on Paul E. Jeff gets dropped with a belly to belly suplex and Matt is flattened with a powerslam in quick succession. A crushing ribbreaker has the older Hardy in the ground again but just when all seems lost Matt hits a swinging DDT from nowhere. Jeff arrives with Whisper In The Wind and a jawbreaker, and his brother has recovered sufficiently to help him hit Poetry In Motion. The Hardyz chase Heyman now, and actually hit Poetry In Motion on him too. Lesnar comes to his agent’s aid and tosses Jeff into his own brother. F-5 nailed, and Brock tags Heyman in to win it at 04:47
Rating - * - By this point it was already well established that Brock Lesnar was a beast. Unfortunately it had gotten to the point where this feud with the Hardyz had gone on for just a little too long and people were starting to get bored of it. The crowd were noticeably less impressed by Brock here than they were at Backlash, which really hurt the match. Thankfully this was the end of this issue. Lita was already out injured having broken her neck doing her own stunts filming a TV cameo, the Hardy Boyz were about to be split up and put on separate brands, and Lesnar would move further up the card.
Booker T is the newest member of the nWo having been handpicked by Flair (was he in the nWo at this point?) to join. He tells thinner replacement Kevin Kelly how professional he is…then leaves to hit on some random woman.
Ric Flair/Big Show vs Steve Austin
By this point Flair had completely turned heel, although the storyline leading to it was actually one of the more original and interesting angles of this time period. He was upset that Austin chose to give him a Stunner after being successfully recruited to Raw and felt victimised by Stone Cold again after he inadvertently counted a pinfall on him despite having a foot on the ropes (thus costing him an Undisputed Title shot) at Backlash. As recently as Insurrextion we saw the Nature Boy trying to make it up to Stone Cold by helping him stave off the nWo – only for Austin to give him another Stunner. Having spent much of the first part of the year being bullied by Undertaker, Ric decided he wasn’t going to take it anymore. He sought the help of Austin’s enemies in the New World Order (now without Scott Hall, who had been released) and entered into an alliance with them to make the Rattlesnake’s life a misery. Does Stone Cold stand any chance against one massive opponent and one of the most prolific World Champions of all time?
The DVD-dubbed versions of the nWo and Flair’s entrance themes are awful. Austin pauses on the apron (probably thinking how much better this would be if Big Show wasn’t in it) then storms into the ring throwing fists and doing his best to fight both opponents at once. Amusingly he puts the Figure 4 on Big Show then lets out a hysterical ‘woo’ before doing the same thing to Flair. The Nature Boy really doesn’t want to get into a fight with Austin and tries everything from hiding behind Show to flat out running away in order to keep a distance between them. The crowd enthusiastically greets a barrage of chops with ‘What’s instead of the usual ‘woo’ as Steve assaults his boss in the corner. Eventually Show is tagged though and it doesn’t take long for the Giant to seize control and beat Steve down. ‘Say ‘What’ if you’re a jackass’ – sign in the crowd. With Austin now on the back foot Ric is much happier to tag in and have some fun with him. He also instructs Show to assault Austin’s knee to prepare him for the Figure 4 which is a nice touch. Big Show is on hand to elbow drop Austin right in his neck when he rolls the hold over to reverse it on Flair too. Second rope Thesz Press takes Show out briefly, and when X-Pac tries to run in Austin ducks causing him to superkick Show instead. Stunners for Pac, Flair and Big Show…and Austin is victorious at 15:35
Rating - * - It felt like this one would never end. I did find myself vaguely entertained occasionally (Austin provided some moments of real fun, whilst seeing Flair in full on heel mode was pretty cool), but it was impossible to get into this. The Handicap scenario helped no-one and made for a really bad match with Big Show, as always, being the weakest link. Why on earth they didn’t simply book Flair vs Austin – which would have been a better match and much more of a draw – is beyond me.
SIDENOTE – This would effectively mark the end of Austin’s career as a full-time performer. Having reluctantly agreed to come back following his first walk out (after WrestleMania 18), Steve continued to feel overwhelmingly frustrated. He didn’t like Triple H’s growing power within the organisation, he didn’t like the creative direction of the company, and he didn’t like being stuck in the ring with big lumbering fools like Big Show. His neck was giving out on him, and he realised it simply wasn’t worth his effort in the creative and fiscal black hole that was the WWE in 2002. In a last ditch attempt to get him to stay WWE agreed to let him work a feud with Eddie Guerrero for King Of The Ring – but even that wasn’t enough. He ‘took his ball and went home’…prompting a memorable in-ring speech from Vince McMahon where he dished out as many backhanded compliments as he could whilst totally burying Austin. To all intents and purposes the Rattlesnake was finished. Of course, eventually he came back to work a WrestleMania program with The Rock (which turned out to be his retirement match, although he told very few people) – but this match is his final ppv appearance as a full-timer.
Michael Cole and Tazz preview the upcoming Hair vs Hair match as a barber takes his place in a makeshift barber shop that has been set up in the arena.
Kurt Angle vs Edge – Hair vs Hair Match
The stakes are high with the winner getting to shave the head of their opponent. At Backlash these two former friends stole the show, though Edge ultimately came up short in his quest to prove himself against a former Olympic Gold Medallist and WWE Champion. He wasn’t happy to let it end there though, and antagonised Kurt by sabotaging his new t-shirt launch (replacing it with a ‘You Suck’ shirt). Angle laid down the challenge and is looking to send Edge home hairless after a second consecutive pay-per-view victory over the 2001 King Of The Ring.
Kurt lifts his leg and metaphorically urinates all over Edge as he takes him to school in the opening minutes. Edge quickly realises he doesn’t stand a chance on the deck, so drags Angle out of the ring and bashes his skull into the guardrail (coming perilously close to knocking out a fan in the process). SPEAR IN THE ROPES BY EDGE! BELLY TO BELLY TO THE FLOOR BY ANGLE! Back in the ring Kurt hits a big spinebuster for 2, having regained the advantage after that huge bump by Edge. He brings the match to a grinding halt with a chinlock and very nearly chokes the Canadian out right there. Front facelock applied next, as Angle continually takes Edge down with big suplexes and slams then looks to grind him into the dirt with submission holds. Somehow Edge scores with a belly to belly of his own and realises he needs to quicken things up if he is to stand any chance of victory. It leads to him dropping Angle with the Edge-O-Matic – but unfortunately Kurt can throw spots around just like him, and puts him on the ground again with another suplex. RUNNING PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR from Edge! That reeked of desperation, but it worked well and allows Edge to climb the ropes. Rope run belly to belly superplex blocked for a missile dropkick! But before Edge can capitalise he’s getting suplexed again – this time with a vicious German. SIT-OUT EDGECUTION! ROPE RUN BELLY TO BELLY gets Angle a nearfall! Amazingly Edge survives that and hits a crazy spike DDT from the second rope. He tries the Spear but Kurt ducks causing him to nail the ref with it instead. FACE DROP GERMAN SUPLEX! Angle goes for a chair only to be cut in half with a Spear! A second Spear is blocked…Angle Slam blocked…SPEAR AGAIN! FOR 2! Edgecution COUNTERED WITH A SPEAR! ANGLE SLAM! ANKLELOCK! COUNTERED TO A ROLL-UP! EDGE WINS! Kurt is in line for a head shaving after falling to defeat at 15:30
Rating - **** - For the second ppv running these two steal the show. Backlash was a little more basic and fundamentally sound, with the premise being that Angle was the better wrestler but Edge’s fire and tenacity made him a worthy opponent to the former WWE and Olympic Champion. They continued that theme here, but dialled it up to 11 with a few HOT false finishes tossed on the end for good measure. Once again Kurt was the aggressor for the vast majority of the match, but unlike Backlash Edge’s resilience and desire saw him snatch a major victory. This win was a real step forward in Edge’s career, and also a rather significant evening for Angle as (aside from a month wearing a wig) he’d have the shaved head he received here for the rest of his career too.
Angle tries to attack Edge after the bell but ends up having to run away after Edge knocks him out with the Edgecution. The crowd boo thinking we won’t get to see his head shaved tonight…
SIDENOTE – As he’s friends with Hulk Hogan anyway, why didn’t they get Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake in to oversee the ‘barber shop’? It’s one of the few occasions where Hogan getting one of his cronies a gig would actually have made sense and drawn a decent pop
At a hotel down the street Booker T is ready to go to bed with that random hooker-looking woman from earlier. He turns out the lights…and soon switches them on again because he finds Goldust in the bed with them. Goldy wants Booker to ditch the nWo and reform their team. For a pointless filler skit this was actually pretty funny
Chris Jericho vs Triple H – Hell In A Cell Match
At WrestleMania Y2J was put in the ring with Hunter as a proxy for Stephanie. Although tonight they are unlikely to be overshadowed by another Hogan match, Jericho is still almost entirely irrelevant to this feud as he is only in here as the chosen henchman of Smackdown owner Vince McMahon. Vince is still pissed off at how HHH treated his daughter and wanted to make his life miserable. He had every low-level heel on the roster beat The Game up, then brought out Jericho as he booked Hell In A Cell – with the intention being that Y2J will end Helmsley’s career. In all fairness, Jericho has beef with Triple H going all the way back to 2000 and has never gotten a major pay-per-view win over him. He’s also still smarting after losing the Undisputed Championship to him at WrestleMania – a loss so devastating that he wasn’t even booked for the follow-up ppv (Backlash). Can he succeed where Mick Foley failed and defeat HHH inside the Cell?
HHH is so covered in fake tan he looks like Ahmed Johnson with hair. He has been in this environment before and is the quicker to settle – spending much of the opening portion of the match aggressively punching and kicking Jericho around the ring. Jericho is the first to find himself physically introduced to the Cell too; getting tossed into it multiple times by the rampant Game. He gets a pretty nasty cut on his shoulder as a result, which Helmsley soon uses by whipping him shoulder-first into the steel steps. Piledriver on the steps blocked though, and at six minutes Y2J pulls off his first major offensive strike by catapulting HHH into the Cell. He then pulls a ladder out from under the ring and bashes his face in with it. That leads to Hunter’s head bleeding as he falls out of the ring…with Jericho having no sympathy and simply tossing the ladder over the ropes at him. But he goes to the metaphorical well once too often, and when he raises the ladder over his head again this time Triple H is waiting to nail him with a steel chair. BULLDOG ON THE LADDER by Jericho! Only for HHH to retort with a drop toehold into the ring steps. The crowd is almost entirely silent for this which isn’t ideal, but even they can’t help but gasp as Hunter full-on LAUNCHES the steps at Jericho’s head. Tim White takes a brutal bump off the apron into the Cell (an exact replica of the bump he’d take at Bad Blood 2003 which ended his refereeing career). He lies limp on the floor unable to count the pin as Jericho nails Helmsley with a chair.
A frustrated Y2J assaults Tim White now, busting him open and accusing him of costing him the match. The rest of the referee squad come out with a doctor to check on him, and have to break the door open in order to gain entry to the Cell. All that has allowed Triple H time to recover, which he uses before waffling his opponent with a sledgehammer. Jericho has bladed too now is so traumatised that he crawls straight out of the Cell – slamming the door shut on Hunter as he goes. Triple H gives chase for a DDT THROUGH THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! Then he starts searching under the timekeepers table – to pull out a barbed wire 2x4! In fantastic parallels to No Way Out 2000, Jericho climbs up the cell to escape just as Helmsley did from Cactus Jack! Hunter pursues him but in doing so loses control of the barbed wire bat – allowing Jericho to blast him in the spine with it as he reaches the top of the Cell. WALLS OF JERICHO ON THE ROOF! Referee Mike Chioda has to climb up after them to ask if Hunter wants to submit (apparently falls count on the roof?). HHH kicks free and whacks Y2J in the balls. PEDIGREE COUNTERED WITH A BACK DROP! But fortunately for Hunter, unlike Cactus Jack in 2000, the Cell doesn’t give way under him. BARBED WIRE BAT TO THE FACE! The barbs actually get stuck in Jericho’s hair and forehead! PEDIGREE ON TOP OF THE CELL! HHH wins it at 24:05!
Rating - *** - They certainly weren’t lacking any effort in this one. The problem is that HHH really doesn’t work as a babyface, and Jericho has been presented as such a sucky heel that people simply never bought him as a credible threat to Hunter. There were some really brutal spots, and the last five minutes (with multiple references to the HHH/Foley Cell Match) were absolutely brilliant. It’s just a shame that everything that came before it was just a tad slow and they were never able to successfully combat the overwhelmingly poor manner in which they’ve been booked all year. Not the greatest HIAC Match ever (not the worst either), a definite improvement on WrestleMania, and mitigating circumstances for why they had to fight this in front of a silent crowd.
Backstage Kurt Angle is still running away from Edge and the head shaving.
Maven is at WWE New York (The World) on a date with Torrie Wilson. She is happy to be free of Tajiri and the geisha outfits.
It’s time for the popcorn match…or the Tag division if you want to call it that. Rikishi doesn’t have a partner to challenge Billy & Chuck for the Tag Titles but comes out with the promise that Vince McMahon has appointed a suitable one for him. Unfortunately it’s all a set up…and Rikishi’s partner is revealed to be Billy & Chuck’s ‘stylist’ Rico.
Billy & Chuck vs Rikishi/Rico – WWE Tag Title Match
Gunn and Palumbo moved to Smackdown with the Tag Titles, which is pretty convenient since there weren’t any other tag teams there for them to wrestle – so they’ve held the belts relatively easily. Tag team wrestling in the WWE was pretty much dead at this point. Even the Hardy Boyz, the last remnant of the Hardyz/Dudleyz/E&C golden era were about to be split up. The ‘Smackdown Six’ and Paul Heyman’s booking of Smackdown revived it later in the year, but for now we’re stuck with this.
Rico wants to start the match, presumably so he can lie down for his clients. Billy jumps Rikishi as he argues with him and is promptly stomped into the dirt by the champs. Palumbo hits a nice belly to belly suplex after Rico turns his back on a tag for his wounded partner. Fame Asser gets 2…to no heat whatsoever. Out of nowhere Rikishi manages to sit on Chuck’s face, before delivering a pop-up Ace Crusher on Gunn. Rico tries to kick his own partner…but inadvertently connects with Billy! Rikishi pins Gunn and they win the Tag Titles at 03:50
Rating - DUD - So the brand extension split up almost every team the WWE had (except the Hardy Boyz, but they were drafted onto the other show) effectively murdering your tag division. You have one intact, relatively fresh team left standing in Billy & Chuck…and the only effective thing creative can come up with is jobbing them out in a pseudo-comedy angle to Rico and the super-stale Rikishi? The match sucks, the booking (as with everything else in this period) is abysmal…a dire situation.
Rikishi does a celebratory dance on the stage with his belt, as inside the ring Rico is left to have an awkward conversation with his clients. He doesn’t forget his title belt on the way out though…
Edge is still chasing Kurt through the bowels of the arena, but when he finally catches up with the Olympian he finds himself assaulted. They brawl through the Gorilla position (production notes on the wall include ‘WWE: New Look, Same Attitude’ and ‘Stay away from Spanish Announce Table’) and up to the barber shop set-up – with Kurt apparently looking to shave Edge’s head. That is until Edge chokes Angle out with a sleeper then deposits him in the barber’s chair to finally get his head shaved.
Hulk Hogan vs Undertaker – WWE Undisputed Title Match
These guys had a main event feud back in the early 90’s and despite an undercard which boasts the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Edge, Christian, Brock Lesnar and more – they are inexplicably in a main event feud once again in 2002. If it wasn’t so sad and depressing it would actually be rather funny. Certainly the build to this ppv was hilariously awful, with ‘memorable’ skits such as Hogan running over Undertaker’s motorbike, Taker riding his replacement bike around with Hulk dragging along behind him and more. Hulk only actually won the belt from Triple H at Backlash thanks to Undertaker’s interference – and now it appears that the Deadman wants to be the one kill Hulkamania before assuming his position at the very top of World Wrestling Entertainment once again.
Undertaker has new music, finally replacing Limp Bizkit meaning the DVD edit doesn’t have appalling generic rock dubbed over his entrance. And how come Jimi Hendrix was dubbed over on my Backlash DVD but is included here? Taker flogs Hogan with his own weightlifting belt as he hobbles into the ring. Hulk fights back and retrieves his property – getting a few licks of his own in before the match even starts. It’s easy to criticise the Hulkster, but simply by ripping his shirt off he gets more of a crowd response than anything Jericho and HHH were able to rouse as they bled buckets during Hell In A Cell. Taker is bumping around like a mad man, including a nasty spill against the ring steps, to make up for Hogan being pretty much immobile. Amazingly Hulk hits a superplex…although he looks like he wants to die immediately afterwards…prompting the Phenom to start attacking his legs. He has bad knees anyway and anything that prevents him from hitting the lethal Leg Drop has to be sound strategy. In fact, we see that pay out seconds later as Hulk misses the Leg Drop and gets trapped in a half crab. Chokeslam nailed, even if Hogan needs so much protection to take that bump that Taker barely gets him off the ground. It gets 2 before we get the obligatory ‘Hulk Up’. Leg Drop gets 2! JR and King having to run through the ‘nobody kicks out of the Leg Drop’ lines whilst desperately trying not to corpse is quite funny. Vince McMahon is at ringside and is distracting Earl Hebner…so Hogan gives him the Leg Drop too! Taker takes the chance to belt Hulk with a steel chair then Chokeslam him for victory at 11:08.
Rating - ** - In all fairness, this was probably far better than most people’s expectations and was actually a massive improvement on the snoozefests they had in the 90’s. It doesn’t excuse this being the main event of a ppv in the 21st century but compared to the atrocity that was HHH/Hogan this wasn’t all bad. Undertaker was extremely motivated and worked far harder than he had at any point (at a non-WrestleMania event) since his 2000 comeback, whilst Hulk didn’t seem quite so beaten up and slow as he did at Backlash so could at least bump occasionally. It also helped that they were booked into a much shorter match, meaning they could hit their spots and get out with relatively little fuss. Nobody is claiming that Undertaker as your top champion in 2002 was particularly revolutionary, but he at least has an interesting character now (the ‘Big Evil’ gimmick) creating some fresh interest and he’s pretty much the only wrestler left who hasn’t been booked into the ground by the appalling creative team. Getting the belt off Hogan is a plus, and anybody holding the championship at this point had to know they were just a placeholder before they pulled the trigger on ‘Project Lesnar’.
Undertaker celebrates his victory by giving Hogan the chair guillotine.
Tape Rating - ** - The undercard wasn’t as good as Backlash, but then again the main events here were significantly better. There is a LOT of sh*t on this show though. They used the Women’s Title as a prop to get D-Von’s new gimmick over, the Tag Titles descended further into complete farce, Undertaker/Hogan in a main event is just laughable and the less said about the Steve Austin situation the better. BUT there is still plenty of talent on the undercard busting their asses, having great matches and carrying these ppv events whilst bashing their heads against the glass ceiling. Despite, once again, being booked as a minor clown in the HHH vs McMahon circus Jericho worked damn hard in the Cell – producing a much better match than they are given credit for. Brock Lesnar’s ominous charge up the card continues, albeit with fans still uncertain whether he is the real deal or another flash in the pan. And with Eddie, Kurt, Edge and RVD to carry things from a workrate perspective this might well be a better show than you remember. If you have the WWE Network this is certainly worth checking out for Angle/Edge and HHH/Jericho. From a creative perspective the company was in an absolute pit at this stage though…
Top 3 Matches
3) Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam (***)
2) Triple H vs Chris Jericho (***)
1) Edge vs Kurt Angle (****)