Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

WWE Network Conversation


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

Thoughts on Vengeance 2002

Chris Benoit returned to PPV after being injured at King of the Ring 2001. He press-slammed Spike Dudley through a table, only to get put through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley. Maybe the WWE era will include actually winning your specialty match.

John Cena debuted on PPV with an upset win over Chris Jericho. It was strange to see Cena coming out to a generic rock song, rather than his own rap music.

Edge was the rare partner of Hulk Hogan who didn’t turn on him. If he had, Edge could have rejoined Christian, taken over the Un-Americans, and had a big match with the Hulkster at SummerSlam. Instead, Jericho came back and caused Edge & Hogan to lose the tag team title.

Booker T challenged the 500-pound Big Show to a no-DQ match and beat him in the middle of the ring with the Harlem Houston Hangover leg drop. Booker celebrated with the Spinnaroonie and earned the MVP award. 

Welcome to the era of WWE in which Triple H is the most important person on the show. Even though Bischoff and Stephanie could have a bidding war for any wrestler, they focused on HHH. This long segment didn’t have to be on PPV. Despite divorcing her earlier in the show, Hunter chose Stephanie, only to be talked out of it at the last minute by Shawn Michaels, who promised him “friendship and fun!”

Speaking of ex-wives, Terri interviewed Booker T for his thoughts on this development, and she completely ignored Goldust.

The Rock-Undertaker-Angle main event was surprisingly great. It was a non-stop fireworks display of action. Rock finally pinned Angle to win Undertaker’s title and set up the SummerSlam main event against Brock Lesnar.

 

Edited by Gorman
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on SummerSlam 2002

Kurt Angle was the perfect first opponent on PPV for Rey Misterio. In this case, WWE was justified in defying Lucha Libre tradition and WCW history by letting Rey Jr. wear his mask. He never should have lost it in the first place.

Ric Flair continued his career renaissance, adding a win over Chris Jericho to his victory over Eddy Guerrero.

Aside from The Importance of Being Triple H, the other main storyline in WWE was the Battle for Brand Supremacy between Eric Bischoff’s Raw and Stephanie McMahon’s Smackdown. This was a focal point of the RVD-Benoit match for the IC title. Both bosses had been villains for years, so who were the fans supposed to cheer?

Test helped the Un-Americans retain the tag team belts over Booker & Goldust, but of course, he lost to The Undertaker. Here’s another invasion that Taker could repel all by himself.

I don’t like to split the MVP vote, but leaving one of these two out would be a crime against wrestling.

Shawn Michaels is an MVP for returning after a four-year absence, surviving a brutal beating from former friend Triple H, and pinning him in the middle of the ring. Having a healthy Shawn Michaels back in the fold was a game changer (no pun intended).

Remember when Undertaker put together a perfect rookie year and capped it off by winning the title? Brock Lesnar did it in five months, pinning The Rock to win the WWE title and his own MVP award. Lesnar wasn’t undefeated, but he seemed almost as unbeatable as Goldberg in his march to the title. The kids were cheering for the Rock, but the guys in the crowd were ready for Brock to take over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, zendragon said:

Didn't Rey drop the Jr. when he remasked? 

I believe that he was getting around the lucha rules by claiming to be a different character  

i always assumed it was just Vince hating the "Jr." moniker. He refuses to acknowledge it about himself (i love when old timers refer to him as Junior), but also Rey and Chavo both didn't use it. 

and that is just laughably absurd. he was very obviously the same person and character. i mean, whatever lets you get through your day, but come on.

7 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Is that also when he/they changed the spelling? 

i don't remember WWE changing the spelling. IIRC he was "Rey Misterio" in Mexico and ECW but "Rey Mysterio" in WCW and WWE.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on Unforgiven 2002

Molly Holly lost the women’s title back to Trish Stratus, but at least the commentators were more respectful to her.

The HLA segment took up valuable pay-per-view time, just like the Triple H free agency segment at Vengeance. Rikishi’s disguise was not on the world-class level as Bischoff’s preacher costume from the Chuck & Billy wedding.

Undertaker had an inconclusive match in September with Brock Lesnar, followed by a Hell in a Cell match in October. That’s exactly what happened with Shawn Michaels five years earlier. Taker went on to have even more famous matches with both opponents at WrestleMania.

Ric Flair’s “final big run” came to a screeching halt as he lost his IC title match against Jericho. Triple H went backstage and called him a loser, and then Flair helped HHH retain the World title against RVD.

I expected them to laugh at their clever SWERVE~!, but it wasn’t a swerve! HHH really convinced Flair that he didn’t have it anymore and should be relegated to helping Hunter retain the World title. For turning Ric Flair into Arn Anderson, Triple H is the MVP.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on No Mercy 2002

WWE piled on the “Attitude Era” stupidity leading up to this show. This was not necessary to hype Lesnar-Undertaker in the Cell and HHH-Kane to unify the World and IC titles. The Katie Vick stuff caused me to change the channel for the first and only time in almost 40 years as a wrestling fan.

Smackdown needed its own half-baked Clinton-era sex scandal, so Taker’s former girlfriend Tracy made allegations about him. She admitted on the PPV that she had lied. Really? “I didn’t know he was married,” she said about the guy with a giant SARA tattoo on his neck.

Al Wilson even quoted Clinton when Funaki asked him the hard-hitting question, “Why did you have your clothes on in the shower?”

The WWE ran a video package on the Intercontinental title, featuring outstanding matches and all-time great wrestlers. Look at this amazing thing we're throwing away! 

Dawn Marie made her PPV wrestling debut in the WWE, after only serving as a manager on ECW pay-per-views. She did pretty well in a losing effort against Torrie Wilson.

Big Show demanded that Eric Bischoff put him in a PPV main event or he would break Bischoff’s neck. That doesn’t seem to be the best way to deal with your boss … unless you work for WWE.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on Rebellion 2002

What can we expect from a UK-only, Smackdown-only pay-per-view? Matches like Crash vs. Funaki and Simmons & D-Von vs. Palumbo & Venis. Something tells me those bouts wouldn't have been booked on a US-based PPV.

John Cena teamed with Dawn Marie, as he was still in the "Before They Were Stars" era. Kidman can tell his grandkids that he beat John Cena and Hulk Hogan. "Yeah, right, Grandpa!"

If Rikishi doesn't win a Kiss My Ass match, then what are we doing here? Fortunately, he beat Albert, gave him the Stinkface, and danced with the Smackdown announcers.

Booker T was a special guest from Raw, beating Matt Hardy v1.0 in the opener. This was to make up for the absence of Undertaker, who was getting ready to become a dad. 

Edge almost won the WWE title in a handicap match with Lesnar & Heyman. This main-event appearance foreshadowed Edge's many World titles.

Jamie Noble is the MVP. He defended the Cruiserweight title in an elimination match against Tajiri and Rey Jr. ... and he pinned them both!

Edited by Gorman
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/27/2024 at 1:09 PM, Gorman said:

Even Chavo Guerrero Sr. had to be "Chavo Classic"

It had to be a nightmare for Vince just reading the legal names of Los Boricuas: Miguel Pérez Jr., Jesús Castillo Jr. and José Estrada Jr.

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on Survivor Series 2002

Jeff Hardy teamed with The Dudleys in the same building (MSG) where they had their tag team tables match at Royal Rumble 2000.

Saliva had a great night, performing the show's theme song after the first match and Jericho's "King of My World" theme for the main event.

Paul Heyman foreshadowed turning against Brock Lesnar by saying that he would make sure the WWE title would belong to "my client."  But why would Heyman dump Lesnar, the young, unstoppable WWE champion?

I wasn't watching WWE at the time (just married), so I didn't know that the GTV cameras were replaced by the exact same thing, only now called "F-View." I thought we got the F out!

Chris Nowinski came out and insulted the New York fans, and Matt Hardy v1.0 did the same. Just when this pointless segment seemed over, Scott Steiner showed up and suplexed them around the ring.

Shawn Michaels is the MVP for several reasons:

1. He came back from a four-year absence to win the World title

2. He won the first Elimination Chamber match to go with winning the first Hell in a Cell match

3. He received a huge ovation from the MSG fans, exactly six years after they booed him as a babyface when he lost the WWF title to Sid.

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watching World Class Championship Wrestling (10/13/1984) [through YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbOFvjo8nK0 but it's also on the network]

A talk with Kevin Von Erich as Chris Adams recently turned on him and superkicked him into a concussion.

Jake Roberts was found by Bill Mercer in a very dingy part of town, like rental housing country

Jake Roberts was billed from Louisiana at the time and he took on Tony Torres. They're really underselling the real reason why Jake the Snake and Gino Hernandez could work together (cocaine). Bill Mercer not aware of the name DDT at the time.

Kerry is here to watch out. Then we hear from Iceman King Parsons and Buck Zumhofe. I'm sure Buck Zumhofe is being wholesome while here.

Mike Von Erich against Art Cruz. Was Chris Adams brainwashed to go against the Von Erichs? Someone really some use the old style headscissors takedown as a spot.

Our main event is Iceman and Buck vs the Irwin Brothers. World Class at the Cotton Bowl on October 27th! Wonder if anybody ever made their armdrags so obvious that a counter had to be figured out. Headlock spots work to get the house show plugs in. Irwins win after chicanery.

"Snake the Jake Roberts" - Bill Mercer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I hope you're being sarcastic here, this might've been Jesus Country but all those 16 year olds in the stands...

Buck would be in jail by July 1986 for the record. So yeah this feels like a bad combination of wrestler and territory for an obvious reason.

It turns out the guy whose nickname (maybe) came from a Gary Glitter song had way too much in common with Gary Glitter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Did he ever work regularly in Memphis? I know his longtime opponent Steve Regal did. 

there's a Buck Zumhofe/Lanny Poffo match from the MSC on Buck's way from World Class back to the AWA. So i'm guessing they did not think highly enough to bring him in for longer during the AWA/Memphis exchanges

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thoughts on Armageddon 2002

Booker T & Goldust won the Raw tag team belts on PPV on their third try. Goldust wasn't really a "weak link," but this was his first tag team title in WWE. Booker, Christian, and the Dudleys had won a lot of tag team gold.

Albert got a new name (A-Train), but hitting Edge with a chair right in front of the referee wasn't very smart. Later, he interfered in the Angle-Big Show match for no apparent reason.

They aired the Torrie-Dawn hotel footage in the second attempt to sell HLA on PPV. 

During the Benoit-Eddy match, the announcers said the winner would be in a position to challenge for the WWE title.

It's Rappin' John Cena! He was rocking the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates throwback outfit. While Cena was trying to be Eminem, silent sidekick B-Squared was dressed like the real Slim Shady.

Victoria used the title belt as a weapon to retain the championship against Trish and Jackie. She tried to hide this action from the referee, but she couldn't have been disqualified in a Triple Threat match.

Kurt Angle ended Big Show's WWE title reign after four weeks, putting Paul Heyman in the Mr. Fuji category for essentially giving away the championship at Survivor Series.

Triple H regained the World title from Shawn Michaels in a three-fall, three-gimmick match. He won a similar match against Austin in 2001, but missed out on becoming the "Master of the Three Stages of Hell match" because they didn't use that name this time.

Ric Flair's participation in this match was very strange. Referee Earl Hebner ejected him from ringside at the start of the match. He came back during the steel cage portion and built a stack of tables outside the cage. This made no sense for the second fall, but in the third fall, Triple H pushed Shawn off the ladder through the tables and climbed up to grab the belt. For being the Cerebral Assassin and thinking one fall ahead, HHH is the MVP

Edited by Gorman
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...