Teja.
Global Moderator
I'm watching WWE PPVs starting from Backlash 2002 which was my first full PPV as a kid and writing up reviews ITT mostly edited from my comments while watching the PPV. Will do this till I get bored off the exercise.
Kansas, Missouri
It's amazing to see JR and King calling it. King has had rough patches through his career but I think '02 falls around his peak and JR is obviously the best of all-time. There is absolutely no comparison with the twitter era announcing of 2015. Obviously this has as much to do with Vince's change in approach to commentary as it has to do with the talent itself.
#Billy Kidman v. Tajiri (C) (w/ Torrie Wilson) for the cruiserweight title: Tajiri has Torrie petrified and 'covered up' in a kimono in some ****ty storyline about him controlling her. Fast paced action as expected but also a ton of great spots, a cool spot where Tajiri hits the trademark big kick to the head and it looks brutal, near fall. Kidman does a weakish rana for a near fall. Tajiri does the tarantula. In the best sequence of the match, Kidman misses a shooting star press and Tajiri hits the third big kick of the match for two. Kidman powerbombs Tajiri off the top rope - brutal, surely this is it? Two and a three quarters! This is awesome etc. Tajiri red mists Kidman for a roll up at 9:07. Very subtle and non-obvious misiting from Tajiri and it's only apparent after the three count. I wasn't particularly excited about this match but these two packed in a ton action in a balanced way in ten minutes. Great opener.
Result - Tajiri via pinfall - 6/10
Bradshaw and Farookh meet and pretend to be longlost brothers meeting after half a decade though the brand split happened two weeks ago. "You look in great shape man"? **** off guys.
#Scott Hall (w/ Xpac) v. Bradshaw (w/ Farooq): By this point Scott Hall was probably the worst wrestler in the roster, looking like he really couldn't give a **** and physically just wasn't in the condition to compete either, DDT from Bradshaw for two, sluggish resthold after sluggish resthold from Hall, great looking clothesline from hell, Xpac makes the save and Xpac trolls the APA in the ring by running around for Hall to hit the softest looking lowblow of all-time on Bradhsaw into a roll-up for victory at 5:40. Thank god it's over, felt like fifteen minutes.
Result - Scott Hall via pinfall - 1/10
#Jazz (C) v. Trish Stratus for the women's championship: Molly assaults Trish before the match. Why did the E always have to do bitches be cray stuff with all diva matches? Jazz sideslams and powerrbombs Trish taking advantage of the assault. Trish fights back briefly but gets put in a boston crab and then an STF to tap out. It was better than I expected and the action filled out the time but the stupid angle at the beginning sort of ruined it. 4:25.
Result - Jazz wins via pinfall - 2.5/10
#Jeff Hardy v. Brock Lesnar - Brock's first official match after a month of random destruction. Standard squash match resulting in a TKO after an F5 and a triple powerbomb. Jeff meekly does an unnecessary fightback in the middle and hits the swanton requiring a ridiculous amount of suspension of disbelief to watch. I liked the match, it served it's purpose of putting Brock over huge and wasn't too short. 5:32.
Result - Brock Lesnar wins via KO - 4/10
#Edge v. Kurt Angle - Both guys were at the peak of their powers at this point, Kurt was probably the best in the world and they put on an fantastic match. Edge takes a leaf out of Angle's book and delivers a couple of incredibly stiff looking belly-to-belly and german suplexes. Angle hits an angle slam 8 minutes into the match the match and Edge kicks out! Wow, didn't expect that. Angle-lock time, Edge reverses it. Edge looks like a champ by this point - taking everything Angle throws at him. Angle is pissed off and gets the chair, Edge kicks it straight into his face, Angle finishes it with another angle slam at 13:26 and I think it's close to impossible to have a better match than this in 13 minutes. Angle wins, Edge ends up looking much stronger than he was entering the match. Beautiful stuff.
Result - Angle wins via pinfall - 8/10
Y2J comes in and cuts a promo talking about how a month ago he was headlining wrestlemania and now he can't even get on the card. Solid stuff - always love heel jericho mike work. He also tells us that he's leaving the arena right now which obviously means he won't be interfering in any matches later in the night. Totally legit.
# Rob Van Dam (C) v. Eddie Guerrero for the Intercontinental title - My expectations are off the charts for these guys, pumped for this match and they deliver. King shines through this match with his homoerotic love for the latino heat. A ton of high flying spots you'd expect from these two guys, Eddie misses his first frog splash but stops RVD's advances and hits a great looking flip powerbomb, RVD kicks out at 2.9. Ref bump at which point Eddie gives him a neck-breaker 'on the title', though it doesn't look like it made the least bit of difference, would've preferred a DDT to highlight the extra effect of the title, Eddie finishes with a great frog splash. New champion at 11:45. Very cool match and again packed a ton of action in a short time.
Result - Eddie Guerrero via pinfall - 7/10
#Undertaker v. Steve Austin for No.1 Contendership for the WWE title - I had high expectations for this because of how great their match at Summerslam 1998 (I think?) was but Austin lacked the intensity which permeates his best performances and that combined with Taker's deliberate slow pacing led to a long winded, slow brawl. Austin stuns Taker but Flair is bumped out, the crowd chants to six etc. Taker hits the chokelsam, Austin kicks out at two. Taker gets a chair and Flair intercepts leading to a spot where Taker boots the chair on Austin's head, Flair counts to three despite Austin's foot being on the rope probably to save his new brand from prolonging the agony. Both of them do teh little things right but it was still a bad match and went on for 27 minutes. You shouldn't be having matches this big unless you really want to go.
Result - Undertaker via pinfall - 4/10
#Billy & Chuck (w/Rico) vs. Al Snow & Maven for the tag team titles: Smoke break match in between the two main events. Basically no action A rico interference leads to a chuck superkick onto Maven for the pin at 6:00. Moving on...
Result - Billy & Chuck via pinfall - 1.5/10
#Triple H (c) v. Hulk Hogan for the undisputed title - I didn't go in expecting anything but Hogan still managed to make the match unintentionally funny. HHH was stellar with his work on Hogan's knee and made it feel like a story. I know it was past his peak but he really was a standout among the big faces in the company at this point. Multiple ref bumps and interferences from Jericho and Undertaker later, Hulk Hogan is too honourable to pin HHH after a Taker hit but doesn't mind hitting a legdrop on a knocked out HHH and then pinning him, I'm sure that's very honourable, brother. HHH basically carries an old man to a watchable match - 19:00.
Result - Hulk Hogan via pinfall - 3/10
Overall, the three matches which made the PPV worth watching all occupied a combined 35 minutes or so of the real estate. Hogan really needs to **** off the main event scene. WM 18 was great for him but he shouldn't be doing main event level matches consistently. The two big matches were far too long, not horrible but were a drag nevertheless. An average PPV - 5/10
BACKLASH 2002
Kansas, Missouri
It's amazing to see JR and King calling it. King has had rough patches through his career but I think '02 falls around his peak and JR is obviously the best of all-time. There is absolutely no comparison with the twitter era announcing of 2015. Obviously this has as much to do with Vince's change in approach to commentary as it has to do with the talent itself.
#Billy Kidman v. Tajiri (C) (w/ Torrie Wilson) for the cruiserweight title: Tajiri has Torrie petrified and 'covered up' in a kimono in some ****ty storyline about him controlling her. Fast paced action as expected but also a ton of great spots, a cool spot where Tajiri hits the trademark big kick to the head and it looks brutal, near fall. Kidman does a weakish rana for a near fall. Tajiri does the tarantula. In the best sequence of the match, Kidman misses a shooting star press and Tajiri hits the third big kick of the match for two. Kidman powerbombs Tajiri off the top rope - brutal, surely this is it? Two and a three quarters! This is awesome etc. Tajiri red mists Kidman for a roll up at 9:07. Very subtle and non-obvious misiting from Tajiri and it's only apparent after the three count. I wasn't particularly excited about this match but these two packed in a ton action in a balanced way in ten minutes. Great opener.
Result - Tajiri via pinfall - 6/10
Bradshaw and Farookh meet and pretend to be longlost brothers meeting after half a decade though the brand split happened two weeks ago. "You look in great shape man"? **** off guys.
#Scott Hall (w/ Xpac) v. Bradshaw (w/ Farooq): By this point Scott Hall was probably the worst wrestler in the roster, looking like he really couldn't give a **** and physically just wasn't in the condition to compete either, DDT from Bradshaw for two, sluggish resthold after sluggish resthold from Hall, great looking clothesline from hell, Xpac makes the save and Xpac trolls the APA in the ring by running around for Hall to hit the softest looking lowblow of all-time on Bradhsaw into a roll-up for victory at 5:40. Thank god it's over, felt like fifteen minutes.
Result - Scott Hall via pinfall - 1/10
#Jazz (C) v. Trish Stratus for the women's championship: Molly assaults Trish before the match. Why did the E always have to do bitches be cray stuff with all diva matches? Jazz sideslams and powerrbombs Trish taking advantage of the assault. Trish fights back briefly but gets put in a boston crab and then an STF to tap out. It was better than I expected and the action filled out the time but the stupid angle at the beginning sort of ruined it. 4:25.
Result - Jazz wins via pinfall - 2.5/10
#Jeff Hardy v. Brock Lesnar - Brock's first official match after a month of random destruction. Standard squash match resulting in a TKO after an F5 and a triple powerbomb. Jeff meekly does an unnecessary fightback in the middle and hits the swanton requiring a ridiculous amount of suspension of disbelief to watch. I liked the match, it served it's purpose of putting Brock over huge and wasn't too short. 5:32.
Result - Brock Lesnar wins via KO - 4/10
#Edge v. Kurt Angle - Both guys were at the peak of their powers at this point, Kurt was probably the best in the world and they put on an fantastic match. Edge takes a leaf out of Angle's book and delivers a couple of incredibly stiff looking belly-to-belly and german suplexes. Angle hits an angle slam 8 minutes into the match the match and Edge kicks out! Wow, didn't expect that. Angle-lock time, Edge reverses it. Edge looks like a champ by this point - taking everything Angle throws at him. Angle is pissed off and gets the chair, Edge kicks it straight into his face, Angle finishes it with another angle slam at 13:26 and I think it's close to impossible to have a better match than this in 13 minutes. Angle wins, Edge ends up looking much stronger than he was entering the match. Beautiful stuff.
Result - Angle wins via pinfall - 8/10
Y2J comes in and cuts a promo talking about how a month ago he was headlining wrestlemania and now he can't even get on the card. Solid stuff - always love heel jericho mike work. He also tells us that he's leaving the arena right now which obviously means he won't be interfering in any matches later in the night. Totally legit.
# Rob Van Dam (C) v. Eddie Guerrero for the Intercontinental title - My expectations are off the charts for these guys, pumped for this match and they deliver. King shines through this match with his homoerotic love for the latino heat. A ton of high flying spots you'd expect from these two guys, Eddie misses his first frog splash but stops RVD's advances and hits a great looking flip powerbomb, RVD kicks out at 2.9. Ref bump at which point Eddie gives him a neck-breaker 'on the title', though it doesn't look like it made the least bit of difference, would've preferred a DDT to highlight the extra effect of the title, Eddie finishes with a great frog splash. New champion at 11:45. Very cool match and again packed a ton of action in a short time.
Result - Eddie Guerrero via pinfall - 7/10
#Undertaker v. Steve Austin for No.1 Contendership for the WWE title - I had high expectations for this because of how great their match at Summerslam 1998 (I think?) was but Austin lacked the intensity which permeates his best performances and that combined with Taker's deliberate slow pacing led to a long winded, slow brawl. Austin stuns Taker but Flair is bumped out, the crowd chants to six etc. Taker hits the chokelsam, Austin kicks out at two. Taker gets a chair and Flair intercepts leading to a spot where Taker boots the chair on Austin's head, Flair counts to three despite Austin's foot being on the rope probably to save his new brand from prolonging the agony. Both of them do teh little things right but it was still a bad match and went on for 27 minutes. You shouldn't be having matches this big unless you really want to go.
Result - Undertaker via pinfall - 4/10
#Billy & Chuck (w/Rico) vs. Al Snow & Maven for the tag team titles: Smoke break match in between the two main events. Basically no action A rico interference leads to a chuck superkick onto Maven for the pin at 6:00. Moving on...
Result - Billy & Chuck via pinfall - 1.5/10
#Triple H (c) v. Hulk Hogan for the undisputed title - I didn't go in expecting anything but Hogan still managed to make the match unintentionally funny. HHH was stellar with his work on Hogan's knee and made it feel like a story. I know it was past his peak but he really was a standout among the big faces in the company at this point. Multiple ref bumps and interferences from Jericho and Undertaker later, Hulk Hogan is too honourable to pin HHH after a Taker hit but doesn't mind hitting a legdrop on a knocked out HHH and then pinning him, I'm sure that's very honourable, brother. HHH basically carries an old man to a watchable match - 19:00.
Result - Hulk Hogan via pinfall - 3/10
Overall, the three matches which made the PPV worth watching all occupied a combined 35 minutes or so of the real estate. Hogan really needs to **** off the main event scene. WM 18 was great for him but he shouldn't be doing main event level matches consistently. The two big matches were far too long, not horrible but were a drag nevertheless. An average PPV - 5/10
