WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER PPV 2/23 - WWE Title EC Match | Shield v Wyatts | PPV Pred Contest

Been watching the Kings of Wrestling DVD from Roh... They've had some ******* great matches...
 
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Emma getting some fans.

Yall, what will be the first thing you watch when the NETWORK drops...............
EcW Guilty as Charged 2001. I was ten rows from the ring and I want to see if I can see my 19 year old self in the crowd.
ECW heatwave 98. One of my all time favorite ECW cards.
ECW anarchy Rulz 99. Three way dance between guido, crazy, and tajiri was amazing. So was the 3 way dance between Awesome, Tanaka, and Tazz.
 
Summerslam 2002 report. Pretty much shows how deep the roster was compared to now, most notably sheer star power:
Dunn's Countdown to Summerslam: Summerslam '02

When investing, it's important to remember to diversify your portfolio.

Summerslam '02

Live from Uniondale, N.Y..

Your hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Tazz.


Opening Match: Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio.
This is Rey's PPV debut after weeks of vignettes and a few matches with Chavo Guerrero. Rey sneaks up behind Angle and hits a headscissors to start. Angle takes over with his usual array of suplexes. Angle was firmly approaching "Wrestling God" territory here and would cement that status with a MOTY performance against Chris Benoit in 2003. Kurt counters another headscissors to a sideslam. Rey really looks sharp, using his quickness to keep Angle off-balance, but it seems like there is always an Angle suplex waiting at the end of every flurry. The ref blocks a tope, so Rey jumps over him with a somersault plancha. Back in, Rey drops the dime! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rey counters the Anklelock into the 619 and West Coast Pop. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rey avoids a charge and goes for the Dragonsteiner, but Angle slips out of it on the way down and locks in the Anklelock for the tap out at 9:20. Great opener. Angle adapted like a friggin' pro to Rey's lucha offense. ***1/4

In the back, Stephanie McMahon brags about Smackdown being the superior brand. Well, it was. She walks to her office to find Eric Bischoff looking smug. They decide to share the office, proving that there is, indeed, no problem that can't be solved by watching the Smurfs.

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair.
They miscalculated this feud by taking two great talkers and booking them in a blood feud with very little promo time. Flair slaps Jericho right in the face early. Jericho skins the cat right back into another chop. The Flair Flop is unsuccessful, so Jericho has to clothesline him over and drop an elbow off the top. Jericho unties a turnbuckle pad to distract the ref while he uses his wrist tape to choke Flair out. Flair comes back with chops and a suplex for two. Jericho tries the Walls, but Flair rolls him up for two. Jericho counters a figure-four attempt to his own figure-four. Flair taps out and grabs the ropes at the same time, which is a stupid spot because the whole idea behind the tapout is that you're signaling that you can't (or don't want to) continue. You can do that in the ring, on the outside, or in the parking lot. Oh well, go look for logic in the WWE. Flair hits a lowblow and finishes with the real figure-four at 10:21. Very disappointing. **1/4

In the locker room, Paul Heyman plugs Hulk Hogan's DVD and amps up Brock Lesnar for his match tonight.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Edge.
The WWE did everything possible to turn Edge into the future face of the company. They put him in a long series with Kurt Angle and here with Eddy to get him experience in big singles matches. It must have worked because Edge not only proved he was carryable, but by his return from injury in 2004, he didn't need to be carried. Edge ties up Eddy in the ropes and hits a spear. His second spear misses, and Edge spills out to the floor, reinjuring his shoulder. Eddy dives on top of it like jackal, hitting a SWEET Tornado Armbar DDT off the top rope. Eddy cinches in a reverse armlock and then backdrops Edge on the arm. This is some tight arm work, folks. Edge comes back with a dive off the top and a front facebuster suplex off the second rope. Edge readies for the spear, but Eddy catches him with a dropkick to the shoulder on the way in. How beautiful is that?! The frogsplash meets the knees, and Edge hits the Edgecution, but it only gets two. Edge cuts off another frogsplash, but Eddy shoves him back in and FROGSPLASHES THE SHOULDER! Eddy goes up again, but Edge drags him down to the mat and hits a spear (with the injured shoulder) and picks up the win at 11:47. The frogsplash to the shoulder should have been the end, and Edge no-selling the work on the shoulder for the finish is just silly. It could have been a great match, but the finish dragged it down quite a bit. ***1/2

Booker T & Goldust vs. Christian & Lance Storm (w/Test).
Christian & Storm were in the middle of their "un-American" gimmick, which Vince thought was such a good idea that he repeated it in 2003 with La Resistance and again in 2005 with Muhammed Hassan. The faces dominate until Goldust gets distracted and tossed over the top rope. Goldie forces to his corner, and they do the false tag thing. Goldie crawls to his corner again, but this time Storm yanks Booker off the apron. The Un-Americans miss a conchairto, allowing Goldust to tag out. Booker is a house of fire, but Storm accidentally takes out the ref with a flying kick. Booker hits both Un-Americans with a scissors kick and puts Christian down with the Ax Kick, but the referee is still out. Test runs in and hits Booker with the Big Boot. Christian picks up the win at 9:38. Your standard Raw tag with the usual formula tag spots thrown in. Booker was hugely over here, so of course, they had him lose every major match until his heat was gone and then they put him in the main event. **1/4

Intercontinental Title: Chris Benoit vs. Rob Van Dam.
Benoit won the title from Van Dam in a great Raw match before defecting to Smackdown. But Van Dam still had a rematch clause, so this is Raw vs. Smackdown with the winner bringing home the title to their brand. Van Dam wins a battle of strikes and works in his "folded up like an accordion" spot off a German suplex. Van Dam hits a monkeyflip and stops to gloat, so Benoit takes his head off with a lariat. Benoit gets the knees up on the split-legged moonsault but misses the Swandive Headbutt. Van Dam goes up and misses the Five-Star Frogsplash. Van Dam makes the ropes to get out of a Crippler Crossface, but Benoit shoves him off the top rope to the crowd barrier to wake up the crowd. The crowd gets distracted by security harassing someone, so Benoit slows things down with a surfboard until they're done. Van Dam reverses out of a Gokuraku and misses Rolling Thunder, so Benoit applies the Crossface and starts working over the shoulder. RVD reaches out for the ropes on another Crossface attempt, so Benoit segues into a Dragon Sleeper. Cool. Van Dam finally comes back with a springboard kick and Rolling Thunder for two. Benoit crotches RVD on the top rope and goes for the Backdrop Superplex, but Van Dam counters in midair and finishes with the Five-Star Frogsplash at 16:22. It could have used a more intense finishing sequence, but the work was fine. The crowd was out of it for several reasons, but they popped for the big stuff. ***1/2

In the back, Eric Bischoff gloats about recapturing the Intercontinental title, but Stephanie McMahon starts cackling. Well, that can't be good.

Test vs. The Undertaker.
Well, this was such an obvious feud. Test was an un-American, and Taker was the "American Badass." Taker dominates early, but Test crotches him when he goes Old School. Taker comes back with a flying DDT and hits the Old School Ropewalk Forearm. Test elbows out of the chokeslam but misses a big boot attempt, and Taker hits the chokeslam for two. Lance Storm and Christian run in and get dismantled. What a stable they've assembled! Test uses the distraction to kick Taker in the face, but it only gets two. Taker boots a chair back into Test's face and finishes with the Tombstone at 8:18. Test would never be used again in any serious capacity. Funny how a man beating you when you have a 3-on-1 advantage can hurt your career. *1/2

Street Fight: Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H.
Shawn wears jeans. Not sure why I pointed that out really. Triple H was still over at this point having just turned heel on Shawn. Okay, if a match is unsanctioned by the WWE, why does it have WWE anouncers a WWE referee, and take place in a WWE ring with a little WWE logo in the corner? And why is it on a WWE-produced DVD? I'm skeptical about whether or not this really was sanctioned. Wrestling is fa-- what? They start with a slugfest and Shawn spears him to take an early advantage and hits a pescado just to show that he is truly okay. Hunter runs but gets clotheslined. Shawn tosses a trash can in but gets Snake Eyed on the security wall. Triple H leans over the rope to pull him in but Shawn hits him with the lid and Skins the Cat back in just to show off. He sets up for Swee Chin Music but does not cue the band so it's powerless. Actually it just misses. Hunter gets a hard, hard backbreaker (Shawn had a severe back injury in case you didn't know). A second sees Shawn reeling on the canvass. Shawn takes a reerse Bret Hart bump and Hunter talks trash to him. He takes a second Hart bump and Hunter kicks him down like a dog. Now Hunter has a chair and "evil intentions" (tm Jim Ross). He brings it down across the back of the Heartbreak Kid. Michaels counters a suplex to a reverse rollup but Hunter gets a chinbreaker-to-the-knee and DDTs him on the chair. It gets two. Great psychology here. Hunter pulls off Shawn's belt and starts beating him with it a la Good Friends, Better Enemies. Shawn is one of the best wrestlers in history at telling the story through body actions. He desparately tries to pull himself up to his feet using the ropes. Triple H, meanwhile, has pulled a sledgehammer out from under the ring. Shawn gets it together just in time and they trade blows until Hunter drops the sledge and grabs an abdominal stretch. Earl Hebner makes him break the hold in spite of the no DQ thing just because "he has a heart." Hunter sets him up on the ropes for a superplex but Shawn shoves him off and sets up for the Savage elbow drop. Helmsley has it scouted, though, and pushes Earl into the ropes causing Shawn to crotch himself. Hunter turns into uber-heel by delivering a backbreaker on the chair. ONE, TWO, TH--NOOO!! Frustrated, Hunter then delivers a side slam to the chair. THIS IS AN INSANE AMOUNT OF DICKHEADEDNESS! He sets up for the Pedigree but Shawn counters with a low blow. Hunter reaches his feet first and grabs the chair. Shawn plays possum for a moment and delivers Sweet Chin Music into the chair into Hunter's face. Both men are busted open. Shawn hits a flying forearm out of nowhere and kips up to a HUUUUGGGEEE POP!!! He picks up the chair and hits a "Jason Giambi"-type shot. Hunter takes his patented Hunter-flop over the top rope. It's revenge time as Shawn lays in some stiff shots with the belt and blasts him in the forehead with the trashcan lid. He takes off Hugo Savinovich's shoe again (poor Hugo!) and blasts Triple H with the heel in a sweet bit of irony. See, cuz he's a heel and all. Oh, a second after I type that, the announcers use the same joke. I'm a little worried. Shawn gets a bulldog into the steel steps and pulls out a ladder from under the ring. Hunter tries to whip him into it but Shawn puts on the breaks and catapults the Game headfirst into the ladder. Shawn gets two off of it and now we see Hunter is bleeding profusely. He battles back to dropkick the ladder into Shawn. He goes up but gets caught and superplexed. ONE, TWO, THR--NOOOO!!! Shawn gets a crucifix into a sunset flip but it only gets two. A followup attempt is cut off by a high knee and Hunter brings in the stairs. Shawn takes a cue from Mick Foley and droptoeholds him down onto the steps facefirst. Ah, hoist on his own petards. HBK clotheslines him out and drags out a table. E-C-W! E-C-W! A fire extinguisher blast sends Hunter onto the table and Shawn goes up...for a HUGE SPLASH THROUGH THE GAME AND THE TABLE!!! Now the ladder gets set up as they are back in the ring. He tells us all that he loves us and hits an elbow drop off the ladder. NOW HE CUES UP THE BAND! Hunter drags himself up and catches the kick attempt. Pedigree? NO! JACKKNIFE ROLLUP!!!! ONE, TWO, THREEEEEEE!!!!!! Earl helps HBK to his feet and raises his hand. ****1/2

Howard Finkel irritates everyone by reminiscing about his career, so Trish Stratus (heyyyyyy!) interrupts to say he has a sexy voice. Fink busts out the misogyny and starts getting the Finkelhammer hard for some Toronto-bred lovin'. Oh, but it was just a ruse to let Lillian Garcia get some revenge for Finkel's past abuse.

Unified Heavyweight Title: The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar.
This match is, among other things, the reason I consistently rip Brock Lesnar. Here is a guy who was handed the keys to the company upon his arrival. The only other time that has *ever* happened was with Hogan in 1984, so you know that the WWE saw something special in Lesnar (and rightly so). They lined up superstar after superstar for him to squash. Flair. Check. Hogan. Check. Austin. Well, they let the biggest superstar in company history walk when he refused to put Lesnar over. And how did Lesnar repay the company and all the superstars that worked to make him into their star? He walked out for a pipe dream. That would be like me asking my girlfriend to leave her family and quit her job and move out to Los Angeles with me only to leave her because Jessica Alba and I bought coffee at the same "Starbucks." Anyway, rant over. They slug it out early, and Lesnar ends that with a belly-to-belly suplex. The fans get on the Rock early with a "Rocky sucks" chant. Heyman trips up the Rock but it provides enough distraction for Lesnar to jump him. They work in a SUPERCOOL double kip-up, and Lesnar goes to a bearhug, which would seem to be a boring hold, but Lesnar had just made Hogan pass out to it, so it's a little more legit now. The fans get behind Lesnar as he powers out of a Sharpshooter and boo the Rock for knocking Lesnar to the outside. Heyman tries to interfere and takes a Rock Bottom through the table in retaliation. Rock slingshots Lesnar into the ringpost, busting him open. Back in, Rock gives a big "f*** you" to the fans and hits the ROCK BOTTOM! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rock tries to capitalize, but Brock pops up and hits BROCK BOTTOM for two! Rock goes for the People's Elbow but Lesnar pops up and levels him with a clothesline to a big pop. Rock goes for another Rock Bottom, but Lesnar slips out and counters to the F5 for the win and his first title at 15:50 a mere four months after his debut. The more I watch this match, the more I love it. It had a hot crowd, great work from both guys, exotic counters tailored to each guy's strengths. The only tiny problem is that it didn't feel quite epic enough following the Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels match. Lesnar would walk out on Raw and become exclusive Smackdown property, dividing the titles into what you see today. ****


The 411: This was the PPV that created some measure of good will with the fans. Two MOTYC in a year flooded with them and no horrible matches make it an easy recommendation. It's just unfortunate that they flushed that good will down the toilet with self-indulgent booking on both brands over the next six months.
Enthusiastic thumbs up for Summerslam 2002.


Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ]
 
Cesaro's style is so unique. I can't think of anybody to compare him to.


Wassup with that avy Peep? You cut out Layla's man or something :lol
 
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He cut out Sami 
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Summerslam 2002 report. Pretty much shows how deep the roster was compared to now, most notably sheer star power:
Dunn's Countdown to Summerslam: Summerslam '02

When investing, it's important to remember to diversify your portfolio.

Summerslam '02

Live from Uniondale, N.Y..

Your hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Tazz.


Opening Match: Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio.
This is Rey's PPV debut after weeks of vignettes and a few matches with Chavo Guerrero. Rey sneaks up behind Angle and hits a headscissors to start. Angle takes over with his usual array of suplexes. Angle was firmly approaching "Wrestling God" territory here and would cement that status with a MOTY performance against Chris Benoit in 2003. Kurt counters another headscissors to a sideslam. Rey really looks sharp, using his quickness to keep Angle off-balance, but it seems like there is always an Angle suplex waiting at the end of every flurry. The ref blocks a tope, so Rey jumps over him with a somersault plancha. Back in, Rey drops the dime! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rey counters the Anklelock into the 619 and West Coast Pop. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rey avoids a charge and goes for the Dragonsteiner, but Angle slips out of it on the way down and locks in the Anklelock for the tap out at 9:20. Great opener. Angle adapted like a friggin' pro to Rey's lucha offense. ***1/4

In the back, Stephanie McMahon brags about Smackdown being the superior brand. Well, it was. She walks to her office to find Eric Bischoff looking smug. They decide to share the office, proving that there is, indeed, no problem that can't be solved by watching the Smurfs.

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair.
They miscalculated this feud by taking two great talkers and booking them in a blood feud with very little promo time. Flair slaps Jericho right in the face early. Jericho skins the cat right back into another chop. The Flair Flop is unsuccessful, so Jericho has to clothesline him over and drop an elbow off the top. Jericho unties a turnbuckle pad to distract the ref while he uses his wrist tape to choke Flair out. Flair comes back with chops and a suplex for two. Jericho tries the Walls, but Flair rolls him up for two. Jericho counters a figure-four attempt to his own figure-four. Flair taps out and grabs the ropes at the same time, which is a stupid spot because the whole idea behind the tapout is that you're signaling that you can't (or don't want to) continue. You can do that in the ring, on the outside, or in the parking lot. Oh well, go look for logic in the WWE. Flair hits a lowblow and finishes with the real figure-four at 10:21. Very disappointing. **1/4

In the locker room, Paul Heyman plugs Hulk Hogan's DVD and amps up Brock Lesnar for his match tonight.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Edge.
The WWE did everything possible to turn Edge into the future face of the company. They put him in a long series with Kurt Angle and here with Eddy to get him experience in big singles matches. It must have worked because Edge not only proved he was carryable, but by his return from injury in 2004, he didn't need to be carried. Edge ties up Eddy in the ropes and hits a spear. His second spear misses, and Edge spills out to the floor, reinjuring his shoulder. Eddy dives on top of it like jackal, hitting a SWEET Tornado Armbar DDT off the top rope. Eddy cinches in a reverse armlock and then backdrops Edge on the arm. This is some tight arm work, folks. Edge comes back with a dive off the top and a front facebuster suplex off the second rope. Edge readies for the spear, but Eddy catches him with a dropkick to the shoulder on the way in. How beautiful is that?! The frogsplash meets the knees, and Edge hits the Edgecution, but it only gets two. Edge cuts off another frogsplash, but Eddy shoves him back in and FROGSPLASHES THE SHOULDER! Eddy goes up again, but Edge drags him down to the mat and hits a spear (with the injured shoulder) and picks up the win at 11:47. The frogsplash to the shoulder should have been the end, and Edge no-selling the work on the shoulder for the finish is just silly. It could have been a great match, but the finish dragged it down quite a bit. ***1/2

Booker T & Goldust vs. Christian & Lance Storm (w/Test).
Christian & Storm were in the middle of their "un-American" gimmick, which Vince thought was such a good idea that he repeated it in 2003 with La Resistance and again in 2005 with Muhammed Hassan. The faces dominate until Goldust gets distracted and tossed over the top rope. Goldie forces to his corner, and they do the false tag thing. Goldie crawls to his corner again, but this time Storm yanks Booker off the apron. The Un-Americans miss a conchairto, allowing Goldust to tag out. Booker is a house of fire, but Storm accidentally takes out the ref with a flying kick. Booker hits both Un-Americans with a scissors kick and puts Christian down with the Ax Kick, but the referee is still out. Test runs in and hits Booker with the Big Boot. Christian picks up the win at 9:38. Your standard Raw tag with the usual formula tag spots thrown in. Booker was hugely over here, so of course, they had him lose every major match until his heat was gone and then they put him in the main event. **1/4

Intercontinental Title: Chris Benoit vs. Rob Van Dam.
Benoit won the title from Van Dam in a great Raw match before defecting to Smackdown. But Van Dam still had a rematch clause, so this is Raw vs. Smackdown with the winner bringing home the title to their brand. Van Dam wins a battle of strikes and works in his "folded up like an accordion" spot off a German suplex. Van Dam hits a monkeyflip and stops to gloat, so Benoit takes his head off with a lariat. Benoit gets the knees up on the split-legged moonsault but misses the Swandive Headbutt. Van Dam goes up and misses the Five-Star Frogsplash. Van Dam makes the ropes to get out of a Crippler Crossface, but Benoit shoves him off the top rope to the crowd barrier to wake up the crowd. The crowd gets distracted by security harassing someone, so Benoit slows things down with a surfboard until they're done. Van Dam reverses out of a Gokuraku and misses Rolling Thunder, so Benoit applies the Crossface and starts working over the shoulder. RVD reaches out for the ropes on another Crossface attempt, so Benoit segues into a Dragon Sleeper. Cool. Van Dam finally comes back with a springboard kick and Rolling Thunder for two. Benoit crotches RVD on the top rope and goes for the Backdrop Superplex, but Van Dam counters in midair and finishes with the Five-Star Frogsplash at 16:22. It could have used a more intense finishing sequence, but the work was fine. The crowd was out of it for several reasons, but they popped for the big stuff. ***1/2

In the back, Eric Bischoff gloats about recapturing the Intercontinental title, but Stephanie McMahon starts cackling. Well, that can't be good.

Test vs. The Undertaker.
Well, this was such an obvious feud. Test was an un-American, and Taker was the "American Badass." Taker dominates early, but Test crotches him when he goes Old School. Taker comes back with a flying DDT and hits the Old School Ropewalk Forearm. Test elbows out of the chokeslam but misses a big boot attempt, and Taker hits the chokeslam for two. Lance Storm and Christian run in and get dismantled. What a stable they've assembled! Test uses the distraction to kick Taker in the face, but it only gets two. Taker boots a chair back into Test's face and finishes with the Tombstone at 8:18. Test would never be used again in any serious capacity. Funny how a man beating you when you have a 3-on-1 advantage can hurt your career. *1/2

Street Fight: Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H.
Shawn wears jeans. Not sure why I pointed that out really. Triple H was still over at this point having just turned heel on Shawn. Okay, if a match is unsanctioned by the WWE, why does it have WWE anouncers a WWE referee, and take place in a WWE ring with a little WWE logo in the corner? And why is it on a WWE-produced DVD? I'm skeptical about whether or not this really was sanctioned. Wrestling is fa-- what? They start with a slugfest and Shawn spears him to take an early advantage and hits a pescado just to show that he is truly okay. Hunter runs but gets clotheslined. Shawn tosses a trash can in but gets Snake Eyed on the security wall. Triple H leans over the rope to pull him in but Shawn hits him with the lid and Skins the Cat back in just to show off. He sets up for Swee Chin Music but does not cue the band so it's powerless. Actually it just misses. Hunter gets a hard, hard backbreaker (Shawn had a severe back injury in case you didn't know). A second sees Shawn reeling on the canvass. Shawn takes a reerse Bret Hart bump and Hunter talks trash to him. He takes a second Hart bump and Hunter kicks him down like a dog. Now Hunter has a chair and "evil intentions" (tm Jim Ross). He brings it down across the back of the Heartbreak Kid. Michaels counters a suplex to a reverse rollup but Hunter gets a chinbreaker-to-the-knee and DDTs him on the chair. It gets two. Great psychology here. Hunter pulls off Shawn's belt and starts beating him with it a la Good Friends, Better Enemies. Shawn is one of the best wrestlers in history at telling the story through body actions. He desparately tries to pull himself up to his feet using the ropes. Triple H, meanwhile, has pulled a sledgehammer out from under the ring. Shawn gets it together just in time and they trade blows until Hunter drops the sledge and grabs an abdominal stretch. Earl Hebner makes him break the hold in spite of the no DQ thing just because "he has a heart." Hunter sets him up on the ropes for a superplex but Shawn shoves him off and sets up for the Savage elbow drop. Helmsley has it scouted, though, and pushes Earl into the ropes causing Shawn to crotch himself. Hunter turns into uber-heel by delivering a backbreaker on the chair. ONE, TWO, TH--NOOO!! Frustrated, Hunter then delivers a side slam to the chair. THIS IS AN INSANE AMOUNT OF DICKHEADEDNESS! He sets up for the Pedigree but Shawn counters with a low blow. Hunter reaches his feet first and grabs the chair. Shawn plays possum for a moment and delivers Sweet Chin Music into the chair into Hunter's face. Both men are busted open. Shawn hits a flying forearm out of nowhere and kips up to a HUUUUGGGEEE POP!!! He picks up the chair and hits a "Jason Giambi"-type shot. Hunter takes his patented Hunter-flop over the top rope. It's revenge time as Shawn lays in some stiff shots with the belt and blasts him in the forehead with the trashcan lid. He takes off Hugo Savinovich's shoe again (poor Hugo!) and blasts Triple H with the heel in a sweet bit of irony. See, cuz he's a heel and all. Oh, a second after I type that, the announcers use the same joke. I'm a little worried. Shawn gets a bulldog into the steel steps and pulls out a ladder from under the ring. Hunter tries to whip him into it but Shawn puts on the breaks and catapults the Game headfirst into the ladder. Shawn gets two off of it and now we see Hunter is bleeding profusely. He battles back to dropkick the ladder into Shawn. He goes up but gets caught and superplexed. ONE, TWO, THR--NOOOO!!! Shawn gets a crucifix into a sunset flip but it only gets two. A followup attempt is cut off by a high knee and Hunter brings in the stairs. Shawn takes a cue from Mick Foley and droptoeholds him down onto the steps facefirst. Ah, hoist on his own petards. HBK clotheslines him out and drags out a table. E-C-W! E-C-W! A fire extinguisher blast sends Hunter onto the table and Shawn goes up...for a HUGE SPLASH THROUGH THE GAME AND THE TABLE!!! Now the ladder gets set up as they are back in the ring. He tells us all that he loves us and hits an elbow drop off the ladder. NOW HE CUES UP THE BAND! Hunter drags himself up and catches the kick attempt. Pedigree? NO! JACKKNIFE ROLLUP!!!! ONE, TWO, THREEEEEEE!!!!!! Earl helps HBK to his feet and raises his hand. ****1/2

Howard Finkel irritates everyone by reminiscing about his career, so Trish Stratus (heyyyyyy!) interrupts to say he has a sexy voice. Fink busts out the misogyny and starts getting the Finkelhammer hard for some Toronto-bred lovin'. Oh, but it was just a ruse to let Lillian Garcia get some revenge for Finkel's past abuse.

Unified Heavyweight Title: The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar.
This match is, among other things, the reason I consistently rip Brock Lesnar. Here is a guy who was handed the keys to the company upon his arrival. The only other time that has *ever* happened was with Hogan in 1984, so you know that the WWE saw something special in Lesnar (and rightly so). They lined up superstar after superstar for him to squash. Flair. Check. Hogan. Check. Austin. Well, they let the biggest superstar in company history walk when he refused to put Lesnar over. And how did Lesnar repay the company and all the superstars that worked to make him into their star? He walked out for a pipe dream. That would be like me asking my girlfriend to leave her family and quit her job and move out to Los Angeles with me only to leave her because Jessica Alba and I bought coffee at the same "Starbucks." Anyway, rant over. They slug it out early, and Lesnar ends that with a belly-to-belly suplex. The fans get on the Rock early with a "Rocky sucks" chant. Heyman trips up the Rock but it provides enough distraction for Lesnar to jump him. They work in a SUPERCOOL double kip-up, and Lesnar goes to a bearhug, which would seem to be a boring hold, but Lesnar had just made Hogan pass out to it, so it's a little more legit now. The fans get behind Lesnar as he powers out of a Sharpshooter and boo the Rock for knocking Lesnar to the outside. Heyman tries to interfere and takes a Rock Bottom through the table in retaliation. Rock slingshots Lesnar into the ringpost, busting him open. Back in, Rock gives a big "f*** you" to the fans and hits the ROCK BOTTOM! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Rock tries to capitalize, but Brock pops up and hits BROCK BOTTOM for two! Rock goes for the People's Elbow but Lesnar pops up and levels him with a clothesline to a big pop. Rock goes for another Rock Bottom, but Lesnar slips out and counters to the F5 for the win and his first title at 15:50 a mere four months after his debut. The more I watch this match, the more I love it. It had a hot crowd, great work from both guys, exotic counters tailored to each guy's strengths. The only tiny problem is that it didn't feel quite epic enough following the Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels match. Lesnar would walk out on Raw and become exclusive Smackdown property, dividing the titles into what you see today. ****


The 411: This was the PPV that created some measure of good will with the fans. Two MOTYC in a year flooded with them and no horrible matches make it an easy recommendation. It's just unfortunate that they flushed that good will down the toilet with self-indulgent booking on both brands over the next six months.
Enthusiastic thumbs up for Summerslam 2002.


Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ]
Gotta remember that a lot of the mid card was hall of fame dudes bruh
 
there are reports that former WWE star Nelson Frazier (Big Daddy V, Viscera, Mabel) has passed away from a heart attack at age 43.

Tommy Dreamer confirmed the news on Twitter:

"I am shocked & so sad. Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V (Nelson Frazier) passed away. He was a good friend. He just celebrated his 43Bday"

Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas also confirmed the news:

"Very sad news tonight, 1 of the good guys has passed on. Nelson Fraser/Big Daddy V. RIP Big Vis! God bless
 
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