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 out and do what they do best. Sometimes, selling a match on just the fan's desire to see two guys duke it out doesn't work(see the lackluster outing from AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34 as an example), so there was some risk in this decision. But man, it sure worked this time.
- SummerSlam 2002 comes to you from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, which WWE just refers to as Long Island. We've been here once before on my blog when I covered WWE Evolution, and I remember being very impressed by the crowd in attendance on that night. It's been a while since I watched that show, but I highly doubt that crowd could've competed with this one, which is possibly my favorite crowd atmosphere for any WWE show I've ever watched. This is pure electricity, pretty much all night long, but what makes this crowd stand out from so many of the great ones in the Attitude Era is the state of the product. It's easy to turn up and support the company when they're turning out some of the greatest shows in their history almost every single weak, but by this point, the WWE has been in a cold slump for months. That just doesn't matter to these folks, who played a huge role in taking this from a good show to an all-time classic. Well done.
- Our opening contest is the WWE pay-per-view debut of Rey Mysterio, as he faces Kurt Angle in one of my favorite opening matches ever. The chemistry these two men have is absolutely off the page, as they exchange offense at a speed that almost no else in the history of wrestling could even come close to matching, and yet everything is completely crisp and perfectly executed. From the start, where Rey sneak attacks Angle, the entire match is pure electricity and the crowd is so into it, ridiculing Angle and going wild for Rey's aerial assault. I love the spot where Rey gets stopped attempting a suicide dive by the ref, before flipping over the official to hit it anyway, and the near fall after the 619 into the West Coast Pop was one of the most dramatic of the night. Mysterio attempts a top rope hurricanrana but Angle fights free in mid effing air, going right into the Ankle Lock to pick up the win. What a way to start the show, this would be an easy match of the night on any other show.
- Chris Jericho's slide down the card after his Undisputed title reign continues here as he taps to the figure four after a 10 minute battle with Ric Flair. This wasn't anything amazing and served mostly as a cooldown from the opener, as the two men mostly just punched and chopped each other. I did love the spot late in the match where Jericho has Flair in the figure four, and Ric taps just after he manages to grab the middle rope to break the hold, that was a well executed false finish, but otherwise this was mostly dull.
- Time to reinvigorate the show with another match from two young SmackDown stars, this time Edge and Eddie Guerrero. The focus of this one in on Edge's shoulder, which he injures early on after attempting a Spear with Eddie tied up in the ropes, crashing to the floor instead. Eddie is brilliant with his limb work, hitting a DDT out of the corner, countering a Spear with a dropkick and nearly getting the win with a Frog Splash, all of which are on that shoulder. Edge also has some very creative offense in this one, including countering a superplex into some kind of inverted DDT move that I have never seen before. Edge does manage to finally connect on the Spear for the first three count of the night, ending another great match.
- The crowd is starting to heat back up again, which is perfectly timed for the tag team title match pitting champions Lance Storm and Christian against the oddball team of Booker T and Goldust. Booker and Dustin are incredibly over, just in general, but are especially loved in New York, who also absolutely despise the champions for the anti-USA shtick. The match is nothing special, following the tried and true tag team formula, with the heels wearing down Goldust and the ref missing the initial hot tag between Goldust and Booker to build heat. When Booker is finally tagged in, the whole building explodes, and he takes care of business, dropping Storm and Christian with a cool double scissors kick to both of them. Nassau doesn't get to celebrate here though, as Test runs down to lay Booker out with a big boot, allowing Christian to make the cover. I wasn't a fan of the cheap finish although that was obviously intentional, and I can recognize that making Test so vital was important for later in the night, even if I was really with the fans in attendance in wanting to see the belts change hands, as the Un-American gimmick isn't interesting to me.
- With the European title and Hardcore title all retired during the summer, the Intercontinental gold is now the main prize in the midcard, and both Raw GM Eric Bischoff and SmackDown GM Stephanie McMahon are heavily invested in where it ends up. The current champion is SmackDown's Chris Benoit, who took the belt from RVD before defecting to the blue brand, putting it on the line here against the former title holder. Benoit versus Van Dam sounds incredible on paper, but unfortunately, their styles didn't quite mesh, as Rob is better at bumping for a bigger guy and can't quite match the intensity Chris brings to the table. The first ten to twelve minutes are slow, but the drama does pick up down the stretch once the champion manages to get the Crippler Crossface applied. The tenaciousness of Benoit as the aggressor is complemented well by Van Dam's flexibility, as he manages to really get over the hold by contorting his body in awkward positions. Benoit just wrenches away at the challenger, getting not just the Crossface applied but also transitioning into a Dragon Sleeper, before Van Dam finally manages to escape and nail the Five Star Frog Splash to bring the IC title back to Raw.
- As I mentioned earlier, Test taking down a former world champion in Booker T with just one blow was a booking decision designed to keep him strong so he could pose a bigger threat to The Undertaker in a singles match. While there could be some appeal in watching these two hosses slug it out, this just never reaches being actually entertaining. Undertaker just destroys the whole Un-American group here, taking down Test, Lance Storm and Christian with ease before putting the big man down with a Tombstone Piledriver so he can lift Old Glory high in victory. It's such a shame that Undertaker's great heel run was called short for this, he had become one of the most interesting characters on the roster as "Big Evil".
- Last month at Vengeance, Triple H chose to jump ship to Raw after a pitch from Shawn Michaels, who wanted his best buddy to join him in running roughshod on the show they helped make the biggest in the history of wrestling. But in a betrayal that would come to define Raw programming for pretty much the entire Ruthless Aggression Era, Triple H turned heel, dropping Michaels with a Pedigree to break up the band, before turning back face again for some reason when Shawn was jumped backstage, though that was also his doing, which HBK revealed one week later, along with the triumphant announcement that he was back for one more match to kick Hunter's a**. This is termed an "Unsanctioned" match, which isn't any different from a Street Fight, really, but that doesn't matter. From the opening bell, the crowd is entirely behind Michaels, who quickly proves why he's one of the best performers the business has ever seen. Shawn brings the fans to their feet with a beautiful plancha to the outside, before throwing all caution to the wind, splashing Triple H through a table and hitting him with an elbow drop off a ladder. It's worth noting that none of this was necessary; hell, the crowd goes wild for Shawn just kipping up, and the risk is very high thanks to his surgically repaired back, but he just can't help himself. No one can do it like Shawn Michaels can, from the high spots to the theatrics to his selling, and this crowd is spellbound. I know that there is some criticism for the finish, where Shawn counters a Pedigree into a jackknife pin for the win, but the set up to it was so dramatic, with Shawn tuning up the band one more time before the Sweet Chin Music is blocked, and I just don't think it really mattered how he won, only that he did, Triple H absolutely couldn't win this match. Also, the surprise finish made it possible for Hunter to quickly get up and bludgeon Shawn with a sledgehammer during his celebration, triumph turning to agony in a devastating few seconds that set up for plenty more main event clashes to come. In terms of the action it offered, this match doesn't necessarily stand out from plenty of other street fights and the ilk in WWE history, but it worked because of Shawn Michaels, no one else could've done what he did here and made it great. If you want to know why so many wrestling fans love him so much, just watch this match.
- Main event time, as The Rock defends the Undisputed Championship against Brock Lesnar. Even though the previous match was iconic, this was absolutely the right way to close this show, the biggest name left on the roster in Rocky colliding with the hottest rising star in the business in Brocky. Much like the first match of the night, this is total adrenaline right from the off, as the champion takes the fight to his challenger. Even though Rock brings the intensity, Lesnar takes control, focusing his offense on the ribs of the champion, which were injured on SmackDown three nights prior. Brock dominates slowly, utilizing multiple bear hugs, and even just slamming Rock into the corner to inflict as much damage as possible. For most guys, this could be pretty dull, but both work so hard to sell the struggle and pull you in. The Rock is definitely giving Shawn a run for his money working the crowd, who absolutely hate his guts as a Hollywood sellout, plus Brock is so much more interesting in the ring, and that's where the focus is shifting at this time. Paul Heyman's involvement does get Rock some more cheers, especially when Heyman is laid out with a Rock Bottom through the announce table. It just comes down to champion versus challenger, and after both men score near falls with a Rock Bottom, it looks like Rock is going to put the dominant beast away with a People's Elbow, the disrespectful whelp. But Brock springs to his feet to nail an emphatic clothesline, which Rock sells by flipping in the air, reminiscent of his cousin Rikishi during their match at Survivor Series 2000. Brock attempts an F-5, Rock counters and looks for a Rock Bottom, but the challenger out-wrestles the champion, nailing the F-5 to become, at the time, the youngest world champion in history, winning the Undisputed title just four months after his debut. What a way to cap off a magical night, as from a purely in-ring standpoint, this is easily my favorite match of The Rock's career and a very important one by historical standards, as Brock Lesnar takes the spot that seemed custom built for him atop the WWE ladder.
10/10
There are four matches on this show that could've been match of the night on any other card, and all of Angle/Mysterio, Guerrero/Edge, HBK/HHH and Brock/Rock deserve to be watched, though the entire night was just excellent from start to finish. I loved this crowd, they were just molten hot for almost all three hours, which is a very rare feat. You owe it to yourself to watch this show, and if you already have, watch it again, there's so much to be gained from studying so many of these competitors, almost all of whom would easily be considered all-time greats. SummerSlam 2002 is the wrestling purist's dream, and certainly the closest the WWE has ever come to full-filling the sport half of sports-entertainment.
I'm going to take a break from wrestling reviews for now, I've wanted to for awhile and this seemed to be the right way to go out, at least for now. I have something new planned, which will start up next week. It's a more personal project for me, and I'm excited to share it with you.
- Henry
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