Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Raw Review - October 28th, 2002

WWE Monday Night Raw

October 28th, 2002

Okay so first 18 minutes of this show is classic 2002 in the worst way. 10 minutes of more Katie Vick garbage aka Triple H having a mannequin in a casket pretending its a dead girl. Hurricane comes out and has H’s face photoshopped on a dude getting stuff pulled out of his ass in the hospital. Idk I enjoy dumb stuff that is fun in wrestling but this isn’t fun or funny, it sucks. And is embarrassing. 

Then we get a hidden camera in Trish Stratus’s locker room and Jerry is being all horny and annoying.

1) Rob Van Dam & Tommy Dreamer vs. William Regal & Lance Storm 

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - October 24th, 2002

WWE Smackdown

October 24th, 2002

Memphis, Tennessee 

Off the heels of No Mercy, it’s time for Smackdownnnn

TONIGHT: LOS GUERREROS VS EDGE & REY MYSTERIO PLUS BROCK LESNAR 

1) Matt Hardy vs. Rikishi 

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Raw Review - October 21st, 2002

WWE Raw Review

October 21st, 2002

So, the WWE Network's description for this show had me confused as fuck because it said it was the final Raw before No Mercy, but it's actually the Raw after No Mercy. So after that mind fuck that took me five minutes to figure out, I finally got started on this.

Triple H has a message for 'the boys in the back' to start the show. He says he's untouchable and proceeds to say he has a tape to expose whether or not Kane slept with Katie Vick before or after death. This shit really is gonna keep going huh? Hurricane runs down to attack and try to take the tape. Flair stops him and H says he is gonna show the tape later whether Kane shows up or not. Lots of EDGY references to Katie Vick being dead. Well then. 

1) Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Nowinski

This wasn’t as terrible as you’d think. Jeff flew and bumped around. AL SNOW shows up with a chair, Nowinski grabs it, Hardy dropkicks it into his face and hits a swanton. 1..2.. Snow pulls Nowinski out and this leads to him getting the win. Ok?

Match rating - **

Eric Bischoff backstage, Stacy Keibler walks up and asks for something and Bischoff grants it, I can’t remember what it was. Big Show shows up and Bischoff says he’s facing Rico, Jamal & Rosey and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.. 

Tommy Dreamer confronts Al Snow about his actions. Snow makes it known that it’s all about Nowinski being one of his Tough Enough “kids”. Dreamer says tonight they’re facing in a Singapore cane match. Nowinski comes through the curtain and says he doesn’t need Al’s help. Damn. Snow done worked himself into a shoot.

2) Lance Storm & William Regal vs. Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley - #1 Contender’s Match for the Tag Team Titles 

Spike starts with Lance and a backslide pinning combo for a near fall. Bubba gets in and we get a small hot tag from Spike a minute or two later. Meanwhile backstage, Kane has arrived. Hot run from Spike with a hurricanrana. It’s back and forth but Spike & Bubba get the win. 

Match rating - **1/4 

Jericho & Christian tell Trish to tell Booker & Goldust they aren’t suckas and basically insinuate that she slept her way to the top like Victoria has been saying. 

Bischoff announces the Elimination Chamber for Survivor Series but with no details on what the match will entail. 

BATISTA HYPE VIDEO 

3) Test vs. D-Lo Brown - Special Guest Ref: Stacy Keibler 

New look for Test and it appears he’s distancing himself from the Unamerican stable? Stacy slaps D-Lo at the bell and this turns into her favoring Test and counting slow/acting distracted when D-Lo has a chance for a pin. This costs him the match as Test boots his ass down and gets the fast three count. Test leaves and Stacy latches onto him so I guess this is gonna be a thing now. 

Match rating - *1/2

Lil interview with Victoria backstage. Book & Goldust come up to hype the inter gender tag match coming up. Goldust slaps Victoria on the ass as they leave. 

4) Booker T, Goldust & Trish Stratus vs. Chris Jericho, Christian, & Victoria 

This was loads of fun. Trish & Vic brawl to start. Everything Book & Goldust are involved in has a hot crowd so that always helps. Trish’s hurricanrana to Jericho (I think) off the top rope near the finish ruled, but it’s not enough to get her team the win as the Walls of Jericho finishes things.  

Match rating - **3/4

Probably one of the worst segments in Raw history airs here as Triple H shows the footage he has to “expose Kane” and it’s just him dressed up as Kane in a funeral home and I.. can’t even go further into detail or “review” of this terrible Katie Vick bullshit. Upset I even took the time to watch this. 

5) Al Snow vs. Tommy Dreamer - Singapore Cane Match 

Ahh. This kinda sucked. Nowinski comes down and tries to hit Dreamer with a chair sorta but fucks up and hits Snow, but doesn’t seem to care. Alright. Dreamer wins off that chair shot. 

Match rating - *1/2

6) The Big Show vs. Rico, Jamal & Rosey - Handicap Match 

Pointless Bischoff bullshit. Seeing Show throw these guys around was kinda fun though. He wins and goes backstage and Bischoff announces he’s traded to Smackdown and never wants to see him again. Show doesn’t care and tells Coach not to feel bad for him because “you’re the one who still has to work for that asshole.”

THA HEARTBREAK KID SHAWN MICHAELS IS LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY. He rolls up in a wheel chair in front of a huge hot crowd and cuts a really good ass promo about how he’s gonna he better and hunt down Triple H. He acts like he has trouble standing then JUMPS UP FOR A HUGE POP. HBK IS COMIN FOR THE GAME BABY. 

7) Triple H & Ric Flair vs. Kane & Rob Van Dam 

As boring and honestly bad as H was during this era, him and Flair together is always awesome. In this instance, they were such good old school tag heels. After an opening brawl, they isolate Van Dam for a while which leads to the Kane hot tag. H & Kane battle to the back and Van Dam & Flair go at it in the ring where Van Dam pins Flair with a frog splash. 

Match rating - **1/2 

Meanwhile, Kane and H are still fighting backstage through tables and into the parking lot. Kane chokeslams H onto the hood of a car with a Tennessee license plate and stuffs him in the trunk. Kane says “Now I’m gonna screw you, the question is will you be alive or will I wait til you’re dead...” Kane drives off to close the show. End scene. 

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE No Mercy 2002 Review

WWE No Mercy 2002 Review

October 20th, 2002

1) Chris Jericho & Christian (c) vs. Booker T & Goldust - World Tag Team Championship Match

Fun little opener, but not quite the banger these two teams had on Raw a few weeks ago, if my memory serves me right. Lots goes on here though and the crowd is hot for all of it. Also, wild moment where Jericho goes for a springboard and the second rope breaks completely. In the end, Jericho & Christian sneak the victory and retain the titles.

Match rating - **1/4

Funaki interviews Torrie Wilson's dad who says "I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT WOMAN" in reference to Dawn Marie. 

2) Torrie Wilson def. Dawn Marie in 4:40

Match rating - N/R

3) Rob Van Dam vs. Ric Flair

These two couldn’t even wait for the bell to start going at it. Van Dam comes in hot but Flair uses cheap tactics to gain the advantage and did his vintage working over the baby face routine. The dirtiest player in the game was in full effect. None the less, after a few mins Van Dam fires back, gets his shit in and gets the victory. Not bad, but very short and textbook.

Match rating - **1/4 

4) Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia) (c) vs. Tajiri - WWE Cruserweight Title Match 

For all the idiocy of Noble & Nidia on Smackdown in the last week or two, this was pretty enjoyable. Very competitive and high energy match because at the end of the day Tajiri & Noble are both good workers despite the sports entertainment centric program they are given. Not to sound like a party pooper because it’s funny sometimes but watching this week in and week out has gotten a little old. None the less, yeah, good in ring stuff here. Both guys are so good. Nidia distracts big Brian Hebner when Tajiri clearly had the pin which leads to Noble being able to catch Tajiri in a pinning predicament for the win with some extra help from Nidia. 

Match rating - **1/2 

Chris Benoit says Chavo needs Eddie’s help. Eddie freaks out until he realizes that he thinks Chris is just trying to get him back for the other week. Except it actually is Chavo. Angle throws him out of the door and Eddie tries to attack him but officials restrain. 

Back to the Raw side of things and Lawler & JR at ringside and it’s CHAMP VS CHAMP TIME. They’re still hyping up Kane as a murderer. Wow. 

5) Triple H vs. Kane - World Heavyweight Title Match 

Yeah, this was whatever. A match between these two can only be so good especially in the midst of such a dumb story. So uh pretty much a dud. Flair helps H win and the sledgehammer is involved.

Match rating - **

6) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit - WWE Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals 

Now here we mf go. This is it! The culmination of the tag team title tournament that Stephanie created for Smackdown. It’s been packed with some fun and great matches, but this one topped them all. From the opening moments of Angle throwing Mysterio around, all four men feeling each other out to the finishing run of big moves and near falls. It had that classic tag formula and feel plus there’s so much backstory with everyone from the obvious Angle/Benoit tension that was a centerpiece of the story of this match and the various singles matches all four men have had with each other recently - there was no way this couldn’t rule. They wore down Edge and gave Mysterio a hot tag about mid way through. It got bonkers for a second then Angle & Benoit shut shit down and isolated Rey Rey. The way they controlled this match and cut off the ring was fucking awesome and made for great hot tags for both of the baby faces. The second bonkers run that was actually the finishing run rules and I had no clue who won so I bit on a lot of the nearfalls. I also have to mention Benoit having Edge in the cross face and Mysterio nailing a 619 on him to break it up. Just sick stuff throughout this joint. Benoit & Angle getting the win definitely caught me off guard but it’s definitely well deserved. 

Match rating - ****1/2

7) Trish Stratus (c) vs. Victoria - Women's Title Match

This actually isn't terrible despite being in the worst spot on the show. The cool down spot in between two huge matches. Trish retains and everyone is happy. Onward we go.

Match rating - **

8) Brock Lesnar (c) vs. The Undertaker - Hell In A Cell Match for the WWE Championship 

This is another one of those classic matches that I saw not long after it happened. I still remember being a kid and seeing the black/white photos of Taker and Brock bleeding in an old WWE magazine. This was an absolute war. Both men are bleeding every fucking where. Heyman is bleeding too. They look like they've literally been in a war and the mat is soaked in blood by the end of it. The crowd pops super hard for Taker's false finishes near the end. But when all is said and done, Brock retains with an F5 after a fuckin fight. Classic match. 

Match rating - ****1/2

Final thoughts: Smackdown really stole this show. Two MOTY contenders/all time great matches that everyone looks back on. Raw.. well.. they had a fun tag title match.

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - October 17th, 2002

WWE Smackdown

October 17th, 2002

1) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. D-Von Dudley & Ron Simmons - Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match 

Kicking off the show with tag team tournament action. Edge & Mysterio coming off a hot win last week over Tajiri & Brock Lesnar and keep that momentum going here. Rey gets isolated, Edge gets the hot tag and it breaks down for a minute. Edge hits the edgecution on D-Von for the win. 

Match rating - **1/2

2) Jamie Noble vs. Nidia - Special Referee: Tajiri

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Raw Review - October 14th, 2002

WWE Monday Night Raw 

October 14th, 2002

Montreal, Canada

Replay of H announcing the Katie Vick accusations toward Kane last week. This is followed by the double champ himself being asked about the accusations by Coach. Kane yells “THATS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS” and he & Hurricane head to the ring.

~OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE~~~ 

1) Kane & The Hurricane (c) vs. Christian & Chris Jericho - World Tag Team Title Match

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - October 10th, 2002

WWE Smackdown 

October 10th, 2002

Phoenix, AZ

The Undertaker is in the parking garage waiting for Brock Lesnar to show up. They show replays of last week where Brock broke Taker’s hand and Steph announcing that and that the match at No Mercy was still happening and it’s HELL IN A CELL. 

Matt Hardy is out. Cole calls him a jackass. Hardy brags about his defeats of The Undertaker and goes as far as to say the reason Taker is in the parking lot and not out here is because he’s afraid of him etc. Taker comes down and they brawl. This shows Taker can go with the broken hand and even uses the cast as a weapon. Hardy gets split open and is bleeding. Wild seeing this just weeks after watching him in real time getting busted open by Sammy Guevara on AEW, a whole 18 years after this. So nuts. Hardy fights back and this brawl goes on longer than you’d think. Hardy gets a chair but Taker still overcomes. Finally some officials come down to separate but don’t really do the job. Taker miss Hardy and punches the ring post with his fucked up hand. OOOOF. Hardy escapes. 

Rikishi is out after the break. During his entrance we cut to Taker getting his hand checked out. The trainer says they need to do another X-Ray. 

Back to the ring it’s LAAAAATINOOO HEAT. 

1) Eddie Guerrero (w/ Chavo Guerrero) vs. Rikishi 

This stems off the first round tag title tourney match last week where the Guerrero’s beat Rikishi and Mark Henry. Lots of fuckery here as always with Eddie & Chavo around this time but it’s so much fun. Eventually Eddie taps out Rikishi. 

Match rating - **1/4 

Torrie is backstage looking through her lingerie. Her dad walks up and this is awkward. 

ANGLE AND BENOIT STAREDOWN IN THE LOCKER ROOM BACK FROM COMMERCIAL HOLY EPIC. Steph is talking them down and asking them to take the tag match tonight and the tournament seriously and to help establish the division. Then gets threatening with the whole suspension w/o pay thing. Benoit tells Angle to follow his lead tonight. They argue about who leaves the room first and Steph throws her hands up. 

Smackdown #1 announcer Funaki is with Rey Mysterio to hype up the main event with Edge & Rey facing Tajiri & Noble in the rah tournament. Nidia shows up and they start speaking to each other in Spanish. She leaves pissed and gets into an argument with Jamie Noble. Security kicks them both out? Okie 

Eddie & Chavo are riled up backstage about what they did to Rikishi. They say they will become tag champs at No Mercy. Benoit walks out of Steph’s office and it’s awkward. 

2) Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. John Cena & Billy Kidman - Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match

Okay this was good as fuck. Angle & Benoit play off the tension arguing from the jump. Cena & Kidman use this to get an advantage. This leads to several believable near falls including off a Kidman shooting star press. This forces Angle into helping Benoit and breaking up the pin. Eventually they overcome and win, but it got real competitive for a second. 

Match rating - ***

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come to the ring with a woman named “Tracy” who apparently is going to enlighten us on who Undertaker truly is. Tracy claims Taker has been cheating on his pregnant wife Sara with her and lying about it the whole time. She says she has no idea he was married, much less with a pregnant wife. Taker says he doesn’t know who the hell Tracy is and gets slapped in return. Tracy walks off with tears in her eyes. 

Backstage- Brock, Paul and Tracy are leaving when Steph stops them and announces Brock will be Tajiri’s partner tonight against Edge & Rey Mysterio bc Jamie Noble hasn’t returned to the arena after being booted.

3) Devon Dudley vs. Billy Gunn

Ron Simmons is accompanying Devon and Chuck is with Billy. This is whatever. Simmons pulls the legs of Billy and Chuck super kicks his ass. This allows Billy to hit the famousser for the win. 

Match rating - *1/4

Undertaker is backstage on the phone with Sara swearing he doesn’t know who Tracy is. She hangs up on him and he’s pissed and in distress. Poor deadman. 

Chavo Guerrero is running down the hall yelling for Benoit. He says Kurt Angle attacked him and he is still attacking Eddie. Benoit runs down the hall only for Chavo to lock him in a room. After a bunch of noise, Chavo opens it up and Eddie walks out with a chair. What the fuck even lmao.

There's a lingerie contest that I skipped bc idk how to review that. Bye. 

Brock & Paul are headed to the ring. Brock asks for Paul’s phone and he gives Taker’s wife Sara a call saying he’s sorry that everything earlier had to be aired out publicly and says he’s here for her. When Paul realizes he called Sara, his reaction is hilarious.

4) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar & Tajiri - Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match 

The winners of this match will face Devon & Ron Simmons next week. This is the first interaction between Brock & Rey and Brock & Edge and it rules. The dynamic of Brock & Tajiri as a team is funny also. This doesn’t last long but is good fun while it does. Edge & Rey double drop kick Brock to the floor and hit a 619 followed by a spear for the win. 

Match rating - **1/2 

Brock attacks Rey Mysterio post match. Undertaker runs down and lays in some shots before Brock gets away. “In 10 days at No Mercy, there will be no way to escape inside Hell in A Cell....”