Despite the fact that both worked for the WWE for decades, and are established and iconic characters in the company's lore, Kane and The Undertaker have both been involved in some of the worst storylines the creative team has ever come up with. With both taking center stage here late in 2002, you had to know some shite was coming, and WWE didn't disappoint. Undertaker's feud over the WWE title with Brock Lesnar now included accusations of an affair and a whole bunch of hullabaloo over a broken hand to the challenger, and whether or not he would be able to wear his cast into their second title match. It was dull and rather pointless, but at least Undertaker's character was human enough to get involved in some reality TV trash, with the added benefit that the audience was promised a Hell in a Cell match at the end. On the other hand, what Kane was subjected to was actively damaging, both to his character and to the company's reputation itself, which is quite an achievement. Yes, ladies and gentleman, this is the infamous "Katie Vick" storyline, where Triple H accused Kane of murdering his high school girlfriend, then committing necrophilia by raping her corpse. I hope you're excited to see them wrestle now. The most egregious aspect of these terrible main event feuds was how much it drags down the rest of the product, which is honestly pretty great during the build. Eric Bischoff's Raw Roulette was one of the best episodes of the Monday night show ever, capped off by the fourth TLC match, a chaotic spotfest that stands as one of the most underrated matches in that gimmick's history. Meanwhile on Thursday nights, SmackDown is giving away four star matches like they're going out of style, with a ridiculously entertaining tournament to crown new WWE tag team champions, that features tons of frenetic and unique encounters, mostly involving the vaunted SmackDown Six. That brings us to No Mercy, which might have an even more stacked card than SummerSlam two months prior.
- No Mercy 2002 comes to you from the Alltell (now Simmons Bank) Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, the only WWE pay-per-view hosted in "The Natural State". That's a shame, this was a hot crowd and Arkansas is a beautiful state, making for great panoramic camera shots.
- Our opening contest is for the World Tag Team titles, not to be confused with the WWE belts to be fought for later in the night, as Chris Jericho and Christian defend against Booker T and Goldust. The two Canadians have just begun teaming after the implosion of The Un-Americans, and don't really have much of an identity just yet, though they would develop into an entertaining heel team over the next year or so. This is mostly just your standard WWE formulaic tag team match, lots of building to hot tags and some working the crowd, but it takes an interesting turn when the middle rope breaks after Y2J attempts a spingboard dropkick. Tons of credit to everyone involved, as these four veterans handle the situation masterfully, working out a new finish on the fly. Jericho drops Goldust with a running bulldog on one of the tag belts, before climbing over the wreckage in the corner to hit a top rope Lionsault to retain. It may not have been what anyone had planned for, but the rope breaking made this match way more memorable than it likely would've been otherwise.
- If everything involving Kane and The Undertaker didn't make it clear, WWE did really love their relationship drama around this time, though the story between Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson and her actual father Al was next-level garbage. Dawn's flirtation and seduction of Al led to a match here on pay-per-view between the two ladies, which was better than it had any right to be but still not good. Dawn, at least, seems like she trained for this and manages to come across as competent, but Torrie is so clumsy and her selling is just atrocious. The women get in a classic Diva's-era spot, rolling over the referee, who's obvious enjoyment upsets Dawn, which distracts her long enough to go down to a swinging neckbreaker.
- By far the most intriguing match on this card, at least from a stylistic perspective, was between Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam, who about as different as any two performers in wrestling history could be. It's obvious that both men aren't quite comfortable working together, as Ric can't get anywhere near the kind of pace you normally expect to see in an RVD match, while Van Dam, especially in his WWE persona, doesn't have a patch of Flair's charisma and stage presence. The bulk of the match is spent with Ric working the leg, which Van Dam completely stops selling by the finish, as the younger performer gets the win with a Five Star Frog Splash. Just a weird, heatless encounter that the crowd didn't care for and both men would probably rather forget.
- Much better than that was the Cruiserweight title match between Jamie Noble and Tajiri, two established allies on SmackDown but fighting after Tajri got in the middle of some of Jamie's weirdness with Nidia. These two are just so fluid in the ring and work brilliantly together, with Tajiri putting in a terrific performance as always. His tornado DDT is great, and the Tarantula remains over, getting a pop out of a crowd who otherwise weren't really bothered. You can always expect plenty of Nidia interference in any of Noble's matches during this period, and she is the difference once again, first distracting the ref with a very aggressive kiss and then helping Jamie get leverage on a victory roll to retain. Afterwards, Tajiri gains the upper hand, first distracting Noble by smooching Nidia, then kicking the champ in the back when he goes to make out with his girlfriend instead. I feel like WWE really missed the boat on both Tajiri and Noble, two guys that could be entertaining as characters and silky smooth in the ring, they both deserved a more serious push.
- Oh boy, time for the title unification match, as Intercontinental Champion Kane takes on World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, with the winner taking his prize forward as the top belt on Raw. That sort of gives away who wins this one, there's no way the Big Gold Belt is being retired again this quickly, and WWE just completely gives up any pretense to the contrary, airing a video package earlier in the night to commemorate the history of the IC belt and honor it's lineage. Not that anyone really cares about championships by this point, we've got one man accusing the other of murder and sodomy, which Jerry Lawler just won't shut up about on commentary. This supposedly grand title unification is now about as prestigious as anything in the Real Housewives franchise, although that's a pretty egregious insult to those poor women. The only way this travesty could've been redeemed is if Kane just squashed Hunter in seconds, but instead this just drags and drags for sixteen soul-crushing minutes. The crowd is silent for most of that time, and I can't blame them, again, the babyface is accused murderer and necrophiliac, this is all just so uncomfortable. At least Kane gets a pop for chokeslamming Triple H through the Spanish announce table, but even that is ruined by the finish, as Kane, who single-handedly won a TLC match just a few weeks ago, goes down to one sledgehammer shot, some interference from Ric Flair and a Pedigree, just f***ing awful. I don't tend to toss around the term "burial" too often, it's a loaded word that has lost it's meaning with misuse, but just for reference, this is what one looks like. Kane is totally ruined and would never recover. One of WWE's brightest stars, completely humiliated, just in service of getting Triple H one more title defense. Man, this sucks.
- Not much is going to be able to redeem that travesty, but Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge and Rey Mysterio are going to give the old college try, as they face off to determine the first WWE tag team champions. This is generally hailed as one of the best tag team matches in company history, and while I wouldn't quite put it in that kind of territory, I do feel like it deserves a ton of praise. There's a lot of great work to be found here, especially down the stretch, as both teams just trade near falls with the crowd completely hooked on every single one. I loved a lot of the work between Mysterio, Angle and Benoit, as Rey is just the perfect foil to their intense grappling and mat work. Edge isn't quite on the same level as everyone else, but does provide a solid base for Rey to work off of, and the crowd just loves him. The ending sequence between Edge and Angle is nail-biting, as both men manage to apply the Ankle Lock, before Kurt finally manages to force the tap, crowning the unlikely partnership with he and Benoit as the new champions. Lots of wonderful, fast-paced, dramatic wrestling to be found here, a showcase of everything SmackDown stood for at this time.
- The crowd is hit for six after that last match, putting the following Women's title bout between Trish Stratus and Victoria firmly in the death spot, which is unfortunate, as this was not bad. Victoria does everything possible to make this interesting, with a flipping spingboard leg drop before missing her moonsault. In the end, Trish keeps the gold with a roll-up, but Victoria socks her in the face after the bell to guarantee the feud will continue. The women's division is in a strange spot at this time, with legit competition mixed in with tawdry T&A trash, resulting in crowds being very confused whether they're meant to respect or ogle these women, and they tend to prefer the latter, leaving a more wrestling-oriented match like this one dead on arrival.
- Main event time, as Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker enter Hell in a Cell with the WWE Championship at stake. This match is peak Ruthless Aggression Era to me, lots of realistic violence and absolute buckets of blood, holy sh**, the blood. Brock blades, Undertaker blades, even Paul Heyman sports a crimson mask, a very rare sight. There's no obvious drama to be found here, no elaborate spots or narrow near falls, just two testosterone-fueled behemoths just beating each other until both are completely exhausted, and it's marvelous. Brock gets in some brutal offense on Undertaker's hand, at one point wrapping the arm with a belt that's held on the other side by Heyman, and then just wailing away at the trapped limb with multiple vicious chair shots, just brutal stuff. Undertaker later crashes into the cell wall on an errant suicide dive, and Brock smashes him in the head with the steel steps, opening up a gushing wound on Undertaker's forehead. Like the true bad a** he is, Undertaker just kept fighting, just about managing to hit the Last Ride, far from the best of his career but even that plays into the physicality and torment of this war. The Tombstone Piledriver can't be completed though, as Brock somehow still has the strength left to lift the challenger onto his shoulders for the decisive F-5. What a way to end the show, easily one of the best Hell in a Cell matches ever, it's really the only one that I've seen that can compete for the top spot that doesn't involve Mick Foley. This is what wrestling is all about, pure hatred encapsulated in the type of conflict that made Brock Lesnar look like the best damn athlete on the planet.
8/10
If you can get through Kane/Triple H, No Mercy kicks all kinds of a**. It's not much of a surprise given how great their weekly product is, but the guys on SmackDown really turned it on, with a solid cruiserweight match, highly entertaining tag title match and then that war of a main event. Even though this may not have gotten a really high score from me, since only about half of it is really worth watching, I would still definitely recommend watching it, especially the main event, although you might need a strong stomach.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 2002, which features the first Elimination Chamber match, plus Brock Lesnar defending the WWE title against The Big Show. See you soon.
- Henry
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