Henry's World

 It's fair to say that what we've seen out of the brand split, at least on pay-per-view, has been very hit or miss thus far. The WWE creative team had found it difficult to still tell compelling stories when each roster was severely lacking in starpower, and both Raw and SmackDown had struggled to find an identity. But they had a savior on his way, a man know for doing so much with very little in his past and possessed one of the most creative minds in the business, Paul Heyman. Heyman took charge of the writing team on the blue brand in July, and it was under his leadership that SmackDown was transformed into the "wrestling show", featuring incredible athletic competition every single week. I'm guessing Heyman managed to get into Vince's ear when it came to booking the card for SummerSlam as well, because this entire show is built around pure wrestling, allowing some of the greatest in-ring performers the company has ever or will ever see the freedom to go ou

Just two reviews ago, I took a look at the first Vengeance pay-per-view in WWE history, and now I'm already back for the second one. We're now in July 2002, coming off King of the Ring, where Brock Lesnar continued his ascent into the main event scene, taking down Test before outlasting Rob Van Dam in the final to win the tournament, guaranteeing himself a main event WWE Undisputed title match at SummerSlam. That was a really cool idea that the company just abandoned after one year, which is a shame as the Royal Rumble has proven that the promise of high stakes, even for a completely different show, can work in it's favor. In order to prep Brock for SummerSlam, he was booked for an IC title match with RVD here, giving him the opportunity to work a non-squash match and see how he would fare. Meanwhile in the main event, The Undertaker would defend the Undisputed title against both The Rock and Kurt Angle. While nothing in the build for that match is particularly noteworthy,

 The start of 2002 in the WWE's main event scene was dominated by the return of Triple H, but at WrestleMania 18, "The Game" took a complete back seat to the return of Hulk Hogan. Fueled by the pure essence of nostalgia, Hogan's showdown with The Rock captivated those in attendance in the Toronto SkyDome, immediately turning the red and yellow warrior into the face of the company once more. You can read my review of both that match and the entirety of WrestleMania X8 here . Triple H just couldn't compete with the starpower Hogan provided, so a changing of the guard was quickly made at Backlash, with Hulk picking up the WWE Undisputed title as a result. With the first brand split now in effect, Vince McMahon needed someone to carry the company until the creative team could figure how best to utilize this new system, and much like he was back in '83, Hogan was the right man at the right time. Hulk was given The Undertaker as his first major challenger, which had