World Wrestling Entertainment – Vengeance 2002 – 21st July 2002
Despite having one of my least favourite main events of all time (Undertaker/HHH), King Of The Ring 2002 was a show where I felt the WWE’s green shoots of recovery were starting to become visible. After the shambolic post-WrestleMania season and hapless implementation of the ‘Brand Extension’, it really seemed like there was now an awareness of where the product was going wrong and what was needed to improve it. I’m not expecting this show (or those after it) to be perfect, but given how bad the company had gotten, bouncing back was never going to be an immediate process. The card tonight isn’t spectacular by any means, but unlike some previous ppvs you look at it and see an upside to every contest. Chris Benoit has his first ppv match in more than a year, the Cruiserweights are on the show again, Booker T gets a match for the first time since WrestleMania, Hulk Hogan is surrounded by younger talent to cover his weaknesses and help get them over, the popular RVD is again used to assist Brock Lesnar’s rise to prominence, Undertaker is wrestling guys who will force him to work hard in a triple threat main event also featuring The Rock and Kurt Angle…and some scrubber called John Cena makes his ppv debut. The product had been shaken up further since KOTR too. Vince was in total control again and still serves as the ‘Chairman’ so to speak…but he has opted to keep the roster split in place and appointed ‘General Managers’ to run the respective brands. Stephanie McMahon made her return to TV (just 3 months after being banned ‘for life’) to head up Smackdown, whilst Eric Bischoff made his (at the time) shocking WWE debut as Raw GM…a year after it would have been an awesome idea to bring him with the WCW invaders. We’re in Detroit, MI tonight. Michael Cole and Tazz will call the first half before being replaced by JR and King for part two. Why they don’t just set up two tables and have the Smackdown announcers call the Smackdown matches and the Raw announcers do the same for their brand is anyone’s guess.
SIDENOTE – I absolutely love the theme for this show – ‘Downfall’ by Trust Company. It’s on my iPod now over a decade later.
Bubba Ray Dudley/Spike Dudley vs Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero – Table Match
As we saw last month at King Of The Ring, Bubba Ray Dudley is desperate to make an impact on the Raw brand and did so by thwarting The Radicalz as they attempted to get one over Ric Flair. Benoit and Guerrero didn’t take Eddie’s defeat lightly, and now face Bubba (and his half brother, Spike) in his own environment looking for some revenge.
Groan…despite it being a table match we’ll still have tag team formula it seems. I really hate that, but I am at least mildly pacified by the sight of Benoit stiffing the sh*t out of Spike. Bubba looked like sh*t at this point, with ugly ring gear and his weight ballooning back towards where he was at in ECW in the late 90’s. The Radicalz start isolating him with their superior wrestling skills, which Cole and Tazz actually put over really well by playing up Bubba’s experience as a tag team wrestler – thus making it more impressive that he is being dominated. Eddie tries to set up a table on the floor…but is then wiped out as Spike jumps OFF BUBBA’S BACK into a somersault plancha on him! In the ring Benoit sets up another table…only for Spike to move it before he can superplex Bubba Ray through it. Bubba then returns the favour by tackling Spike in mid-air as the Radicalz try to whip him through a table in the corner. Double stomp from Spike to Benoit, then the Wassup Headbutt. CRIPPLER CROSSFACE ON SPIKE! That looked as brutal as I’ve ever seen that submission move, but of course it is meaningless…and Bubba scoops the Wolverine up for a Samoan drop to break it. He tries to senton bomb Benoit through a table, only for the Canadian to move causing big Bubba to go through it. Eddie and Spike brawl on the apron. ACID DROP THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR! Acid Drop on Benoit blocked. BENOIT PRESS SLAMS SPIKE FROM THE RING – THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR! BUBBA BOMB THROUGH A TABLE! The Dudleyz win at 14:59
Rating - *** - The tag formula stuff was ridiculous in a Table Match (as usual), and I think the decision to put Bubba Dudley over borders on insanity, but most of the match was actually pretty good. Benoit and Guerrero looked absolutely awesome as a team whilst beating the crap out of Bubba Ray and the table spots, when they finally came, were all pretty cool. As far as throwaway Table Matches to open a ppv go this is one of the best – largely thanks to the talent of all four men involved.
Eric Bischoff tells Coach how excited he is about all the talent on Raw. He’s here tonight to recruit HHH from Smackdown. Hunter is in the building too…and Eric spots him heading into Stephanie’s office.
Jamie Noble vs Billy Kidman – WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
The Cruiserweight division has enjoyed some increased prominence in the last month or so as WWE looked to revitalise their product. Noble is still champion and had been doing some entertaining, albeit slightly cheap, stuff with his ‘girlfriend’ Nidia. He and Nidia assaulted tonight’s challenger, Kidman, on the lead-in Smackdown presumably giving Jamie a big advantage here.
Kidman has had to ditch his old, Jimmy Hart-penned WCW entrance music which is a shame. His new generic rock sucks. They start with an intense collar and elbow, going so far as to fall out of the ring in their desire to prove their dominance over each other. Jamie is the first to get frustrated after Kidman starts out-wrestling him…meaning Nidia has to be a rather bizarre voice of reason. Billy hits the Jerry Lynn leg drop in the ropes spot to drive the champ out of the ring again…only for Jamie to shove him away on a pescado attempt and hit a DIVORCE COURT ON THE FLOOR! Instantly Kidman’s arm is seriously hurt and it completely gives way on him as he attemps the BK Bomb. Noble capitalises to shove the shoulder into the ringpost then lock in a mounted hammerlock. The challenger goes to hurricanranas in an attempt to make a comeback but is flattened again – this time with a JUMPING divorce court. On commentary Michael Cole and Tazz are hyping Rey Mysterio’s debut next week. Noble’s powerbomb is countered with a facebuster. AVALANCHE BK BOMB FOR 2! Back to the top Billy goes…to miss the SSP. GIBSON DRIVER wins it for Jamie at 07:33
Rating - *** - Tonight the Cruiserweights didn’t get as much time as at Backlash or King Of The Ring, but both Noble and Kidman have plenty of experience and had no issues producing a fun little match. WWE really put some serious time into developing Noble’s character (remember the skits where he and Nidia brought a bigger mobile home etc) and it paid off because people started to get interested in his matches – to a point. Billy isn’t the most charismatic of opponents for him, and he could have sold the arm a lot better, but he had been working this sort of match on ppvs for years by this point so looked extremely comfortable. This match was also helped considerably by having Michael Cole and Tazz treat it as a serious wrestling match, rather than Jerry Lawler’s disrespectful rambling detracting from it.
In the back Paul Heyman introduces Kurt Angle to Brock Lesnar. They have a rather intense confrontation.
Jeff Hardy vs William Regal – WWE European Title Match
I don’t think the Hardy Boyz had officially split up at this stage, but it was quite clear Jeff was now seen as the Shawn Michaels of the duo and had started getting a decent push whilst Matt was relegated to the B-shows. He gave a commendably courageous showing whilst challenging the Undertaker for the Undisputed Championship and a couple of weeks later defeated William Regal to become European Champion. Regal wants his belt back tonight obviously.
Regal looks disgusted as Jeff actually tries to wrestle him…then HEADBUTTS HIM IN THE FACE! The challenger really roughs Hardy up in the opening exchanges, with Jeff finally getting started almost two minutes in with his sit-out jawbreaker. Swinging headscissors to the floor nailed only for Regal to DUCK the guardrail run flying crossbody! He somehow survives that and comes back again with Whisper In The Wind. Swanton Bomb gets knees, and William gets back to his feet with a HALF NELSON SUPLEX! Hardy wins with a flash pin at 04:16
Rating - ** - Far too short to be particularly significant, but they definitely made the most of what little time they had by tossing spots around at a frantic pace. Hardy was a fantastic punching bag for Regal, and in return he hit all his normal crowd-pleasing spots to ensure nobody left disappointed. I’m quite pleased they protected Regal somewhat with a roll-up finish rather than a decisive Swanton.
As he returns to the locker room Jeff Hardy is congratulated on his win by both Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Hulkster asks Flair if he should add the Swanton Bomb to his repertoire (Ric’s response is hilarious) before getting into a deeper discussion about the appointment of Eric Bischoff.
Chris Jericho vs John Cena
Lets be clear here, this was in the VERY early days of Cena’s WWE career, so don’t expect too much. He had none of his gimmick as yet, and basically wrestled as an extremely green up and comer. I’m not calling him green (though he was), that was basically the gimmick he was given. And amazingly Randy Orton had basically the same gimmick at the same time (albeit he had the Bob Orton name to boost his credentials). The rookie has raised the ire of Chris Jericho with some plucky performances against him – so tonight Y2J is looking to end his young career.
Cena looks like a mini-Lance Storm in his red and white shorts and red boots. He’s also significantly less muscular and pretty much unrecognisable from how he looks today. Y2J tries to attack him with a chair before the match, only for John to snatch it from him and waffle the former Undisputed Champion. Diving spinebuster gets an early nearfall for the rookie before Jericho starts slapping him down and putting him in his place. Breakdown scores, but Jericho opts to posture to the crowd rather than cover…and is punished with a superplex for 2. Cena hits a tilta-whirl slam, which Chris pretty much no sells to DECIMATE HIM with a second rope dropkick to the stomach. Lionsault misses, but the sleeper slam doesn’t. Now it’s time for the Lionsault…and again Jericho doesn’t pin him. Walls Of Jericho COUNTERED to a roll-up. Cena wins! It’s over at 06:17
Rating - ** - It’s easy to dismiss this as symptomatic of WWE’s chronic mismanagement and lousy booking of Jericho. But he’d been in the company for four years at this point and, if you’re honest, he’s never been booked massively well so that shouldn’t surprise you. Given the fact that Cena would go on to become one of the most popular and influential WWE superstars of all time, I actually think you have to say this was a good call. At the time it really didn’t seem like it – since Cena was brutally generic and boring inside the ring, with the most annoying, bland babyface underdog character to boot. The reality is that Jericho was miles better than him from a wrestling perspective (and may well still be in 2014) but the purpose of this match was for Y2J to dominate, then ultimately give the youngster a morale boosting victory through his own arrogance and stupidity. They succeeded on all fronts, and Cena’s legendary career kicked off with a win on his first ever pay-per-view. Kudos to Jericho for doing this. There were plenty of people on the roster who would have flat out refused to put him over
Stephanie McMahon’s lawyer arrives with contracts in hand – much to Eric Bischoff’s dismay.
JR and Lawler replace the Smackdown team on commentary. Lawler and Tazz have a weirdly uncomfortable staredown, which I like to think is a reference to their feud in 2000 rather than the two of them being jerks over commentary duties.
Rob Van Dam vs Brock Lesnar – WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Lesnar defeated RVD in the finals of the King Of The Ring tournament, with Van Dam believing he had the match won were it not for the interference of Brock’s agent Paul Heyman. The IC Champion ruined Brock’s coronation and the bad blood between these two continued – leading to this match being proposed. Lesnar already has his spot booked in the main event of Summerslam, where he’ll meet the winner of the Undisputed Title Match tonight. Will he go to Summerslam as Intercontinental Champion too – or will RVD find a way to finally inflict a defeat on the monstrous Next Big Thing?
RVD tries to rush in at Brock just as he did at KOTR, but this time Lesnar is ready for him and starts manhandling him pretty much from the opening bell. Rob cranks up the pace, somersaulting and flipping around the ring to work himself into position to land a spinning heel kick. He starts going after Lesnar’s huge legs (via a misplaced dropkick which very obviously pops Brock right in the mouth), but it all goes wrong as he tries a moonsault off the apron…which is caught into a POWERSLAM ON THE FLOOR! That huge move does massive damage to Van Dam’s midsection and, of course, Brock is all over it. RVD misses a moonsault press again, this time getting muscled up by the Next Big Thing and tossed OVER THE RINGPOST, scraping all the way down the steps before landing hard on the ground. Everything he does his concentrated on the ribs of the champion and is inflicted with serious malicious intent. A slingshot leg drop scores for Mr PPV, followed by a top rope kick then Rolling Thunder for 2. Five Star Frog Splash blocked…F-5 COUNTERED TO A SWINGING DDT! FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! Heyman drags the ref out of the ring…which is a DQ at 09:40
Rating - *** - The non-finish was a little predictable as Lesnar really didn’t need the IC Title, though I question the logic of not having Brock win clean the month before his big Undisputed Title shot (why not book this as non-title?). However, this was a solid little match which really showed that Brock was starting to ‘get it’ as a wrestler. We started seeing his growth from WWE’s latest ‘flavour of the month’ monster into a legitimate world class professional wrestler. He understood his character now, and understood that he needed to manhandle, dominate and destroy his opponents – because so few people can do that with the kind of athleticism and poise that he can. Big Show can beat people up, but he looks like a big sack of sh*t doing it. When Brock Lesnar is beating the crap out of someone, he becomes a seriously frightening mixture of power, speed, precision and agility that very few of his peers could rival. In truth RVD showed his limitations here – working on the leg but going nowhere with it, hitting all his spots without even thinking about selling, a few errant potato shots for good measure. BUT, his popularity and bumping ability made him a great opponent for Lesnar. It’s a shame these two never really had a major feud when Brock was at his absolute peak, because they had genuine chemistry and could have had a fantastic ppv main event in my opinion.
Referee Charles Robinson beating up Paul Heyman is rather amusing…and when Brock goes to his agent’s aid RVD scales the ropes for a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! Paul E. saves Lesnar from the Van Terminator. FISHERMAN BUSTER ON A CHAIR! F-5 ON THE CHAIR! Brock lost the match, but he’s the one walking out without the need for medical assistance…
Bischoff confronts a distressed Stephanie McMahon. She informs Eric that HHH ‘signed’, then walks out. Triple H emerges from her office and clarifies that he ‘signed’ divorce papers.
Big Show vs Booker T – No DQ Match
From memory, I think Show was involved in Booker’s forced ejection from the nWo, and the two had been at odds ever since. A video clip is shown of Show putting Booker through one of the announce tables on Raw – which possibly explains why this is No DQ
Big Show no sells a volley of Booker’s kicks, and gets the match started by tossing him with ease. We get the usual Big Show spots from there – the basic slam, the multiple overhand chops, the lumbering around spitting and yelling. On the floor he effortlessly swats an attempted chair shot aside only to accidentally collide with the ringpost. Booker then NAILS him with one of the announce table monitors. GHETTO BLASTER THROUGH THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! Even that doesn’t slow Show down for long…so he has to put him down again with another Ghetto Blaster inside the ring. HOUSTON HANGOVER! Booker wins at 06:12
Rating - *** - It didn’t go long, but this was the perfect way to use Big Show in that they minimised how much he could stink the place up, and he jobbed clean to someone who needed the rub. Booker has had a raw deal of it for most of his WWE career so far. His initial feud with The Rock was decent, but since then the promotion has gone to great lengths to push him down the card and do everything possible to ensure he is NOT seen as a genuine main event talent – because he was a WCW main eventer of course. Clearly he has ‘paid his dues’, and since he’s a guy who is relatively fresh, relatively young and relatively athletic he has an obvious upside. Big Show took a couple of huge spots for him (I won’t call them bumps because it was still Booker doing the actual bumping), and a clean victory is hopefully the start of the WWE trying to rebuild is credibility.
Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie are at ‘The World’ disagreeing over who will win the Undisputed Title Match tonight, and who has a better ‘thong wearing’ butt.
It’s time for Triple H to make his decision – as his music hits and he makes his entrance. Bischoff basically chases him down the aisle trying to lock him into a Raw contract (and comes INSANELY close to calling the company ‘WCW’). Stephanie arrives to lay down her pitch for Smackdown – and just as HHH looks set to sign with her Shawn Michaels skips out onto the stage to interrupt proceedings. He is sad (he was originally coming to Vengeance to recruit Hunter to the nWo) – and wants his friend to come to Raw so they can stir things up again. Triple H agrees, then leaves with his old D-X stable-mate. Steph slaps the gloating Bischoff on her way out…
Mark Lloyd asking Rikishi what he thinks of HHH’s decision. WHO THE HELL CARES? Elsewhere Booker celebrates his win with Goldust as Terri Runnels walks in to ask them the same question (Goldust covering his balls because Terri is his ex-wife is amazing btw).
Hulk Hogan/Edge vs Lance Storm/Christian – WWE Tag Title Match
As I said during my KOTR review, Hogan’s 2002/3 WWE run is really under-rated in terms of how much he actually helped the younger guys. This brief tag run with Edge was really neat patriotic fun. It was the first Independence Day after 9/11, so the WWE had to do something special. Having Hogan come out with his old theme, full US flag regalia, teaming with one of the company’s top up and comers (and self-confessed Hulkamaniac), Edge, was a wonderful way to mark the occasion. And though the anti-American gimmick of the Un-Americans wasn’t particularly intelligent and felt like it was something ripped out of Hogan’s late-80’s heyday, it’s hard to argue that Christian, Storm and Test were three guys with potential who could use the rub of working with a guy like Hogan too. Tonight they look to end Hogan’s patriotic Tag Title run, whilst Christian has extra motivation having been left in the dirt as the ‘Marty Jannetty’ of his team with Edge.
Hogan starts in the ring and is quickly set upon by both of the challengers at once, because lord knows two athletic, young competitors like Storm and Christian couldn’t beat up a slow old man in his 50’s by themselves. Lawler’s rather tasteless, naïve and deliberately provocative pro-USA commentary is enough to make you cheer for the Canadian team – who only gain the advantage when Hogan tags Edge in. Christian gets a nearfall on his brother with an inverted DDT neckbreaker…before missing the world’s ugliest top rope elbow drop. Storm rushes in to help…but is Faceplanted ON TOP of his own partner by Edge! Big Boot COUNTERED to a reverse DDT by Christian, even though Hulk barely pauses to sell it before entering the Hulk Up routine. Leg Drop nailed, but this time Lance is on hand to break the fall. He hauls the legend out of the ring then levels him with a superkick – allowing the Un-Americans to isolate him for a couple of minutes. Hot tag to Edge who inadvertently levels the ref with a Spear. Edgecution on Storm, but of course there isn’t a referee now. Test takes advantage to run in and level Edge with the Big Boot! Rikishi (who is apparently feuding with Test) is out to brawl with the invader as Edge recovers to hit the Spear on Storm. Chris Jericho charges in through the crowd, knocking Edge out with one of the title belts to hand the Un-Americans victory at 10:00
Rating - * - Not particularly good or even remotely exciting. The young guys worked hard, but Hogan was SO protected by the booking in this match it descended into a crap-fest. The end result is that a talented Un-Americans team are Tag Champions and getting serious heat, so ultimately this match accomplished it’s mission. But I’m not sure that a victory which required two run-ins and countless illegal double teams on an old, immobile Hulkster is a particularly creditable one.
Bischoff tries to recruit Kurt Angle to Raw just seconds before the main event. Kurt walks out on him to concentrate on the title match.
In her office a disappointed Stephanie tells Mark Lloyd that she’s in contact with Raw superstars and is biding her time before making a move which will ‘rip the heart’ out of the Monday night brand.
Undertaker vs The Rock vs Kurt Angle – WWE Undisputed Title Match
After his persistent interference in the King Of The Ring main event, Undertaker demanded he face The Rock at Vengeance – with Vince McMahon giving him what he wanted. However, before we made it to this ppv Taker also had a title defence against Kurt Angle. That ended in controversy when the Olympian, fresh from making Hogan tap out last month, forced the Deadman to tap out to a triangle choke…whilst simultaneously having his own shoulders counted to the mat for a three count. The match was declared a draw, and Mr McMahon ‘made it right’ with Kurt by adding him to this one.
Rock and Undertaker get into each other’s faces, leaving Kurt hilariously hopping around like a disobedient puppy demanding attention alongside them. The veterans quickly dispatch him to the floor so they can beat each other up uninterrupted. Angle forces his way into the match by ramming the champion knees-first into the ring steps…then marching into the ring to hit Rock with a MASSIVE German suplex. He outwrestles Rocky with ease and hurls him around the ring with a succession of suplexes – and it takes the interventions of a resurgent Undertaker to halt his momentum. Once again the Phenom chooses to pursue Rock and deliberately keeps Angle at bay so he can do so. That is until Rock surprises everyone with a CHOKESLAM on Taker! ANKLELOCK ON ANGLE! Only for Kurt to COUNTER TO THE ROCK BOTTOM! ANGLE SLAM BY TAKER! The Rock recovers quickest and lines Big Evil up for the People’s Elbow. Unfortunately before he can pin Kurt ploughs him into the remaining announce table and tries to steal the win for himself! All three men are outside the ring again, with Undertaker bashing Angle’s skull into a ringpost…then getting water spat into his face by Rocky. Blood is now POURING out of Kurt’s head after that ringpost spot…and Taker brilliantly modifies the Old School rope walk to culminate in a straight punch to the face to capitalise. Rock Bottom blocked…Chokeslam blocked…and Rock collapses on top of Earl Hebner. With the official recovering Kurt sees an opportunity to level Undertaker with a steel chair. ANGLE SLAM ON ROCK! And still he only gets 2-counts on both of them! Sharpshooter from Rock to Kurt, though it’s soon broken by an exhausted-looking WWE Champion. LAST RIDE NAILED! ANGLE BREAKS THE FALL WITH THE ANKLELOCK! Undertaker kicks his way free…TRIANGLE CHOKE COUNTERS THE LAST RIDE! And this time Kurt has his shoulders up so he can’t be pinned! Undertaker tries to powerbomb his way free but COLLAPSES! Rock breaks the hold just as Taker looks to have been choked unconscious. Rock Bottom COUNTERED to the Anklelock! A limping Deadman breaks that with a Chokeslam. ROCK BOTTOM ON TAKER! FOR 2! ANGLE SLAM ON TAKER! ROCK BOTTOM ON ANGLE! NEW CHAMPION! Rock wins at 19:34
Rating - **** - It has been a LONG time since the WWE Championship Match stole the show on a World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view. The main event scene in 2002 has been absolutely dire – with Jericho’s run hopelessly booked, HHH’s babyface run woefully misguided, Hogan’s nostalgia month a bit of a joke, Steve Austin’s body falling apart and Undertaker’s heel turn blighted by appalling ppv matches. Unsurprisingly, putting Rock and Kurt Angle – two guys with skills and serious workrate – back into the WWE Championship picture immediately improved the quality of the match. This was far from perfect, and suffered from plenty of the usual Triple Threat problems – but they more than made up for it with the sheer speed and excitement that they brought to the performance. After Undertaker and Austin stinking the joint up for half an hour at Backlash, after Hogan barely taking three bumps in his title match against HHH, and diabolical Undertaker/HHH King Of The Ring match this was such a breath of fresh air. The three way finisher steals were entertaining as hell. The beginning, with Angle petulantly demanding attention as Undertaker and Rock tried to settle their score, was hilarious. Kurt getting some colour dialled up the intensity in the second half of the match, before the sheer spectacle of watching three guys throw finishers and nearfalls around for five minutes at the end. I’ve slated Taker a LOT during my Retro WWE reviews. The reason for that is because I know he’s an exceptionally gifted performer, and one of the greatest ‘big men’ in pro wrestling history – and it infuriates me when he coasts along, takes it easy and is so heavily protected by over-booking and run-ins that his matches become unwatchable (not to mention unfair to those who spend money buying the ppvs). Credit to him tonight though, as he seriously busted his ass to keep up with Rock and Angle. He was blowing at the end, but considering he was older and far less athletic than those two (who were at their absolute best), he never looked out of place or like a third wheel. His heel run didn’t do the business WWE were hoping for, and fans never really took to it either. With Brock Lesnar now the next great hope, WWE needed a strong babyface champion to put Lesnar over at Summerslam. Although both Taker and Angle would go on to be great rivals and opponents for Brock in the coming year – Rock was the correct call to win this match. His star power may potentially boost some ratings for a month, before putting over Lesnar at the second biggest show of the year.
Tape Rating - *** - The best pay-per-view since Royal Rumble by a distance. Only the main event reaches the 4* mark, but it’s a really consistent show on the whole – with a strong emphasis placed on building up younger, more athletic talent and producing more exciting matches. The Radicalz were back, the Cruiserweights got a match, Jeff Hardy was put over hard, Booker T destroyed Big Show, RVD and Lesnar got to look like future main event players, the Un-Americans got some gold, John Cena’s young career got a serious boost with a victory over Jericho, HHH and Shawn Michaels were on screen together with a view to Summerslam, and for the first time since Royal Rumble we had an actual fast-paced and exciting WWE Championship match which stole the show. Viewed in isolation this isn’t the best show ever. But it continued the recovery that we started to see at King Of The Ring, and set the stage extremely well for a knock-out Summerslam next month.
Top 3 Matches
3) Rob Van Dam vs Brock Lesnar (***)
2) Bubba Ray Dudley/Spike Dudley vs Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero (***)
1) Undertaker vs The Rock vs Kurt Angle (****)