The New World Order are quite easily the most influential faction in professional wrestling history. From the moment Hulk Hogan dropped the leg on Randy Savage at Bash at the Beach '96, the trio of himself, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall were a license to print money for WCW, who quickly took firm control of the "Monday Night Wars". For the first few years of their existence, the nWo were exceedingly popular, moving merch at record numbers and slowly enveloping every storyline in the company as the group continued to expand. By 2002, however, it's fair to say that most of the magic that original incarnation had captured was well and truly out of the bottle. Years of poor booking and totally needless additions to the first formula had diluted everything great about the New World Order, and with Hogan, Nash, and Hall all over the age of 40, any thought of them still moving the needle seemed rather foolish. But Vince McMahon was getting desperate, as business for the WWF had taken a steep nosedive following WrestleMania X-Seven, with the poorly-executed "Invasion" storyline doing little to turn the slide around. With WrestleMania season kicking into high gear, it was time for these three former WWF stars to make their return and bring mainstream interest back to the company they worked so hard to kill.
- No Way Out 2002 comes to you from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the home of the Bucks (the NBA team, not the younger variety) and the first of four WWE pay-per-views to be hosted in this arena. Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contest (following an nWo promo, which I'll talk about later on) is a tag team turmoil match, with the winners earning a WWF Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania. It kicks off with the oddball tandem of Albert and Scotty Too Hotty facing off with Christian and Lance Storm, and even though Albert and Scotty aren't a particularly memorable team, their offense is exciting enough to get the crowd going. Albert breaks out the Giant Swing, eat your heart out, Cesaro, and Scotty attempts the Worm. Storm is able to stop Scotty during the move though, and Christian hits the Unprettier to eliminate Scotty and Albert. Next out are Matt and Jeff Hardy, who bring all kinds of babyface fire and take out Christian and Storm with relative ease, as a miscommunication between the heels sees Storm accidentally dropkick Christian, and Lance is then sent packing after a Twist of Fate by Matt and Swanton Bomb from Jeff. Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley are next up, accompanied by Stacy Keibler, and these two old rivals work the bulk of the match against each other, and it's as good as always, with added involvement from Keibler and Lita. Stacy interjects to stop a Twist of Fate by Matt, and Lita puts a stop to that and hits Bubba with her diving hurricanrana, great as always. A big flipping dive from Jeff onto Bubba provides an early highlight for the night, and Matt then eliminates D-Von with a roll-up after countering a lifted inverted DDT. The frustrated Dudley Boyz then plant Jeff with a 3-D on the outside, leaving Matt to be easy pickings for the next team out, Billy (Gunn) and Chuck (Palumbo), who make quick work of Matt, Billy picking up the elimination with a Fame-asser. Finally, the APA enter the fray, and bulldoze through Billy and Chuck with their rough power, Bradshaw obliterating Billy with a Clothesline from Hell for the final elimination. The ending stretch between the APA and Billy and Chuck was far from impressive, but the pace for everything else was quick and exciting, as the WWF tag scene, while slowly declining from it's peak in 2000 and 2001, remains one of the high points for the organization.
- Goldust made his return to the WWF at the Royal Rumble, washing off the stink of his third and final WCW tenure that featured the bizarre bait and switch of his new character, "Seven". Even though Goldust's return was well received, he's been positioned as a heel, targeting Rob Van Dam for the heinous crime of being popular. The two put on a solid enough match here, as RVD is in his physical prime and turns in another impressive performance. Van Dam's flexibility is used well here, as Goldust works over the back, while Van Dam on offense spams spinning back heel kicks and flips. After a long period of Goldust working on the back and locking in some chin locks, the drama does build to the finish, with Van Dam missing on the Five-Star Frog Splash, narrowly avoiding defeat after a DDT by Goldust that Van Dam sold beautifully. On the second attempt, the Frog Splash connects, and RVD is now ready for WrestleMania.
- Spike Dudley finally got his revenge of brothers Bubba Ray and D-Von at the Royal Rumble, teaming with Tazz to take the WWF tag titles, which the duo now defend against Test and Booker T, who were known as "TNT" during the Invasion. Neither team has much chemistry with each other, as both were just sort of thrown together, and this was a completely forgettable match. Booker did get a nice pop for performing the Spinaroonie, and Spike's spinning DDT out of a failed Dudley Dog was cool, but that's about it. Test gets into an argument with referee Jack Doan after a near fall, and a shove from Doan sends Test stumbling into the Tazzmission, which immediately forces a tap.
- Edge and William Regal knocked lumps out of each other during their Intercontinental title match at the Royal Rumble, and they now get a stipulation match for the rematch, with Regal's signature weapon, the brass knuckles that got him the belt at the Rumble, suspended on a pole. Now, most pole matches include the stipulation that you can only win after retrieving the item, which makes sense, what's the point of two guys fighting for a weapon if they can both just win without it, but for whatever reason, that doesn't apply here. They can both make pinfalls and submissions whenever they like, which is an obvious waste of time, as it's impossible to believe that either guy will win before the knucks come into play. The two do once again put on a very physical match, with Edge taking a big bump off the top rope onto the barricade while attempting to climb the pole, and is then laid out on the floor with a Tiger Bomb. Edge's face turns into a mess due to blood seeping from his mouth, and the visual of Edge with his jaw and hand stained with blood while fighting to the ropes to try and survive the Regal Stretch was a good one. The two have a very scary moment a little later on when Regal attempts a powerbomb off the apron, which is sort of countered by Edge as both men topple to the floor, each nearly breaking his neck. I have no clue what they were thinking on that one, that seemed like an insane risk to take with very little chance to execute it smoothly. Regal retrieves the brass knuckles but eats a Spear, as Edge gets hold of the weapon instead and looks to give Regal his just desserts. Instead, Regal pulls out another set of brass knuckles from his tights, scoring a knockout blow to retain the gold.
- The Rock versus The Undertaker seems like an awfully big match to be giving away right before WrestleMania, but I guess with the "Great One" approaching another hiatus to shoot in Hollywood, they just wanted to get this match in while they still could. Rock drew the ire of Undertaker for mocking his elimination at the hands of Maven in the Royal Rumble, and it's got to suck for Maven that a career defining moment somehow sets up a feud that you're not even involved in. This is a fairly dull match for the most part, with lots of punching and brawling outside of the ring, it's clear both men are just killing time. It does really pick up in the final few minutes, as Rock hits a DDT and follows with a kip-up, providing just the jolt of electricity to get the crowd right into it. Each man trades attempted big moves, with a chokeslam not proving to be enough for Undertaker, who heads outside the ring to grab a lead pipe stored in his motorcycle. But Ric Flair, whom Undertaker confronted earlier in the night as part of the continued conflict between Flair and Vince, runs down to put a stop to any potential cheating. Vince McMahon turns up after Rock applies the Sharpshooter, getting a couple right hands from The Rock. Undertaker wants a Tombstone Piledriver, but Flair brains him with the pipe, handing Rock the opening to win with the Rock Bottom. The shenanigans near the end did well to build anticipation towards the Flair/Undertaker match at WrestleMania, as well as provide some good old fashioned sports-entertainment.
- It doesn't really seem like the WWF understands how to book Triple H as a babyface, after years of him being the top heel, as instead of just letting him loose as an unstoppable powerhouse with unquenchable thirst for the gold, he's mired in a soap opera-esque storyline that saw him officially separate from kayfabe wife (at this time) Stephanie McMahon. Triple H lost it during a vow renewal ceremony between the couple, shoving Stephanie after discovering that she had lied about being pregnant, which led Vince to book a match where Triple H's title shot would be on the line against Kurt Angle, with Stephanie serving as the referee. In a smart piece of booking, Stephanie is taken out very early in this match, knocked to the floor after a clothesline from Angle that Triple H side-stepped. This ensures the audience will pay attention to the match rather than just chanting degrading insults at Steph, and the two men go at it, with Angle taking some big bumps to try and get Hunter over. Triple H sends Angle flying with a back body drop, and survives three straight overhead belly-to-belly suplexes from Kurt, getting a nice pop for drilling Angle with the high knee and a spinebuster. But the shrewd Angle blindsides referee Tim White, opening up the chance to hit a low blow and the Angle Slam, and Stephanie runs back down, only for Triple H to kick out. Hunter then counters the Ankle Lock by shoving Angle into Stephanie, and ducks a chair shot by Kurt to hit the Pedigree. White is back up to make the count, but Stephanie dives in at the last second, hitting White with an elbow drop and then kicking him in the groin. Triple H wants to Pedigree Steph, but Kurt intervenes to hit two chair shots, including one to the skull, and the Angle Slam connects as Triple H is suddenly left on the outside looking in for the 'Mania main event. This was my pick for the match of the night, I thought Kurt and Triple H put together a very solid match, assisted by just the right amount of involvement from Stephanie and an invested crowd.
- Main event time, as Chris Jericho puts the Undisputed Championship on the line against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Much has been made about the failure of Jericho's title reign, and the best way I came sum up what went wrong with Jericho is that he was never presented as a true main eventer. You look at someone like Angle, who was also in the more goofy type of heel role that Jericho is portraying, and what really worked with Angle was how much of a threat he was in the ring. Even when he's wearing the tiny cowboy hat or dousing himself in milk, the second the bell sounds, Angle can hang with anyone on the roster, and his matches were generally very competitive. Most of Jericho's mannerisms that got him over have been taken away, as he's meant to be a reviled heel, but his in-ring booking hasn't been altered, so he just gets trounced in big matches against "real" stars, like Rock, Undertaker, or Austin in this match. "Stone Cold" just pummels Jericho, whipping him into the trailers in the pay-per-view set, hitting multiple superplexs, and beating Jericho's chest in with big chops. Jericho seems like an absolute chump here, only surviving because Austin doesn't seem to want to end the match too early. Jericho does get some offense in, hitting two Lionsaults, and the Breakdown (his version of The Miz's Skull Crushing Finale) on the WWF title belt. Then Austin takes back control, and actually taps Jericho out with the Walls of Jericho, the ultimate humiliation. Jericho is only saved because referee Earl Hebner was down, and Jericho is then dropped with the Stunner, and yet again needs someone else to bail him out. Hogan, Nash, and Hall run down to triple team Austin, with Hall hitting a Stunner and Jericho making the cover for the win. That's right, the man who beat The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night can't even beat one of those guys without all kinds of help, and Jim Ross on commentary makes it very clear that Jericho was down of the count multiple times in this match, making him seem way more lucky than good. This is just the absolute wrong way to book a champion, and it dragged down an otherwise acceptable main event.
- I'm going to finish out my review by talking about the presentation of the New World Order on this show, and I wasn't much of a fan of that, either. They seemed so tame and non-threatening all night long, which I get was the point, as they were trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes by acting like they were just happy to be there. But Vince introduced these guys as a "lethal dose of poison", brought in to cause absolute chaos, just like they had in WCW almost 6 years prior, and they did nothing of the sort in their first night on the job. By far the lowlight was their segment with The Rock, who totally eviscerated all three men, clowning on each of them in turn, while they just stood there and took it. At least Hogan, Nash, and Hall showed up to have some impact on the main event, and it was cool to see them bring the old letter spray paint gimmick on Austin, making for a cool visual to end the night, but it doesn't make up for just how timid they came across in their other segments. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and this was a bad way to begin what was surely planned to be one of the hottest storylines heading into WrestleMania.
5/10
No Way Out 2002 was a show that was less than the sum of it's parts. You'd think a night featuring those three final matches, plus the debut of a beloved faction, and a solid enough undercard, would score much better than this, but you can put a lot of the blame for this one underwhelming on the booking team. If this is the best you can do with some of the biggest names in wrestling and pop culture, then it's time to go back to the drawing board.
If you're interested, here's my review of the following month's event, WrestleMania 18.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Backlash 2002, where the Hulk Hogan comeback tour continues with a main event WWF Championship match against Triple H. See you soon.
- Henry
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