WWF No Way Out (February 2002)

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Opening Tag Team Turmoil Match: Christian and Lance Storm v Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert: Ugh, Tag Team Turmoil?! No wonder I was barely watching anymore in 2002. Storm starts with Scotty, and they criss cross for a while until Scotty ducks a clothesline, and schoolboys him for two. Over to Albert to press-slam Lance, and he adds a giant swing for Christian so he won't feel left out. Bicycle kick gets two on Storm, but he gets overwhelmed in a double-team - allowing Lance to dropkick him for two. They try cutting the ring in half, but Albert quickly shrugs them both off, and tags Scotty. Four-way brawl, and Scotty goes for the Worm, but gets cutoff (surprise, surprise) with an Unprettier from Christian at 2:56. ½*

Tag Team Turmoil Match: Christian and Lance Storm v The Hardy Boyz: Watching the Hardy's gyrate their way down to the ring like it's two years earlier, but minus the crowd reaction, is pretty sad, actually. Matt immediately walks into a double-team and gets worked over, but manages to stungun Christian to get the tag to Jeff. Four-way brawl, yada yada yada, Jeff pins Lance with the Swanton at 2:50. Just a collection of spots, with no flow or selling. DUD

Tag Team Turmoil Match: The Hardy Boyz v The Dudley Boyz: Yea! Because we haven't seen enough of THIS match for one lifetime. At least Edge moved on. And, at least, now we get to look at Stacy Keibler and Lita at ringside, to make it go down smoother. The Dudley's cut the ring in half on Jeff right away, but Bubba misses a 2^nd rope senton, and Matt gets the tag. You know the drill, and this one ends with Matt pinning D-Von with a schoolboy at 4:05 - after a catfight between Stacy and Lita, at least. ¼*

Tag Team Turmoil Match: The Hardy Boyz v Billy & Chuck: The Dudley's have a fit and give Jeff a Death Drop on the floor as they leave, and that allows Billy & Chuck to double up on Matt - finishing him quickly with a Fameasser at 0:33. DUD

#1 Contenders Tag Team Turmoil Match: Billy & Chuck v The Acolytes: It all... has come down... to THIS! The APA destroy them during an early brawl, and go for the kill on Chuck Palumbo, but a cheap shot from Billy Gunn saves him, and Faarooq gets worked over for a bit. Billy walks into a spinebuster to allow the tag to Bradshaw, and the Clothesline from Hell finishes Gunn at 3:48. I really hate Tag Team Turmoil matches, and this did nothing to dissuade me of that opinion. DUD

Rob Van Dam v Goldust: Goldust attacks as Rob enters the ring, and immediately clotheslines him over the top, then drops him across the ring apron before rolling him in. Rob rallies with a kick, and snapmares him to setup a cartwheel moonsault for two. Goldust bails before Rob can unleash any more flippy-floppy, and stalls out there for a while, as Lawler tries to entertain us with American Pie quotes. Oh boy. Ross' reaction to it is pretty great, though. Rob finally goes after him for a quick brawl, but takes a flying elbowsmash out there, and Goldust rolls him in for a butt bump for two. Pair of corner whips setup a unique slingshot-into-a-surfboard spot that someone should really steal, and Goldust slaps on a reverse chinlock. Rob busts his nuts to escape, but still takes a lariat for two. Rob manages a backslide for two, and this time manages to dodge the lariat, and hit a spinheel kick. Monkeyflip sets up a missile dropkick for two, and a bodyslam sets up rolling thunder for two. Somersault senton splash sets up the Five Star Frogsplash, but Goldust rolls out of the way, and DDTs him for two. Curtaincall, but Rob counters into a spinkick for two, so Goldust decides to bulldog him - only for Rob to block into a spinheel kick, and finish with the Five Star Frogsplash at 11:03. Strange match, as Goldust wrestled a weird combo of his gimmicky Goldust style mixed with his WCW style, and neither clicked properly with RVD's style. It was all dressed up, but didn't have anywhere to go. * ½

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Tazz and Spike Dudley v Booker T and Test: Tazz starts with Test, but it goes nowhere - and thank God, because typing 'Tazz' and 'Test' multiple times is not really on my agenda for today. Spike comes in for some sticking and moving, but quickly gets overpowered, and Booker tags for a bearhug/sidekick combo. The challengers cut the ring in half on Spike, as the WWE Network connection starts to have issues, so if I miss something, forgive me. Lots of punch-kick stuff as the crowd loses interest - only popping for Booker's spinarooni, and nothing else. Spike manages to block a superplex with a tornado DDT on Booker, and he gets the tag. Tazz is a big-and-tall store of fire to trigger a four-way brawl, and Test ends up in the Tazzmission at 7:16. Yawn. ¼*

WWF Intercontinental Title Brass Knuckles on a Pole Match: William Regal v Edge: Edge attacks him before the bell, and kicks William's ass on the floor for a bit. Inside, Edge suplexes him, but Regal stops a climb attempt, so Edge backdrops him for two. Regal stops another climb attempt, so Edge dropkicks him, and they brawl on the floor again - Edge using the steps, then tossing Regal into the crowd so he can go for the knux. He nearly gets them, but Regal is hot on his heels again, so Edge missile dropkicks him for two. Edge-o-Matic, but Regal blocks, and dumps his challenger across the ropes stomach-first, then slaps on an abdominal stretch. Edge manages to dump him, and he climbs again, but Regal hustles up to the apron, and shoves Edge off the top rope - all the way down into the guardrail. Back in, Regal Stretches him, but Edge gets the ropes, so William hits a double-underhook powerbomb for two. He climbs, but Edge shakes the ropes to crotch him, and he climbs, so Regal tries bringing him down with a powerbomb off the apron, so Edge counters into a rana - though they botch the whole sequence badly. That leaves both guys down on the floor, and they both slowly climb for the knux - Regal succeeding, but getting side superplexed down before he can use them. Edge crawls for the knux, but Regal kicks them out of the ring, so Edge hits the Edge-o-Matic instead for two. Spear allows him to get the knux, but Regal pulls a second pair out of his tights before Edge can swing, and pops him with them for the pin at 10:35. Well, if he had them the whole time, why not use them right away? Pretty much like all of their other matches from this period, but the gimmick really got in the way of the wrestling, as opposed to enhancing it. *

The Rock v The Undertaker: Oh boy. Well, this will be either terrible, or really terrible. Rock sprints in and attacks, but runs into a boot, and 'Taker goes to work in plodding fashion. Sidewalk slam gets two, and Undertaker brings the heat with a chinlock - as we get a weird wide shot with a 'LIVE!' graphic that hasn't been seen since 1996. Wow, that's how you know this match sucks. Even the A/V guys are bored. Undertaker tries a big boot, but Rock ducks, and 'Taker's leg gets caught in the ropes - allowing Rock to clothesline him out of the ring. Rock follows for a brawl on the floor, but ends up getting crotched on the rail in short order. Into the crowd for more brawling, then finally back in, Undertaker chinlocks him. Rock escapes, so Undertaker ups the ante wit a bearhug, but Rock escapes, and hits a jumping clothesline. Surprisingly, the crowd actually reacts, which is fucking nuts, given that I've lost even a modicum of interest in this ten minutes ago. Rock catches him with a DDT, and a spinebuster sets up the People's Elbow, but Undertaker counters with a chokeslam, so Rock kicks him in the balls to block. Well, that'll certainly work. 'Taker chokeslams him shortly after anyway for two, and he goes out to get a lead pipe to finish the job, but Ric Flair runs in to intervene. Undertaker clocks him, but a shot with the pipe on Rock misses, and Rock spinebusters him into a sharpshooter. That draws Vince McMahon down to protest, so Rock kicks his ass, allowing Undertaker to try for the Tombstone, but Flair whacks him with the pipe, and Rock Bottom's him for the pin at 17:25. Boring, overlong, late-WCWish match, as Undertaker looked absolutely terrible, and did nothing but plod around with kick-punch stuff. This in no way warranted wasting Rock on, or giving it twenty minutes of pay per view time. And that's not even touching on the horrible finish. DUD

#1 Contenders Match: Triple H v Kurt Angle: Stephanie McMahon acts as the guest referee here, and Kurt sneaks in as Hunter talks to her - schoolboying HHH for two. Inside cradle gets two, but Hunter manages to reverse a rollup for one - Stephanie slow counting him. Angle attacks again as Hunter argues the count, but walks into a lariat, and HHH stomps a mudhole in the corner. Pair of short-clotheslines hit, but a third is countered with a side suplex - only for a clothesline follow-up to accidentally hit Stephanie, and send her over the top in a nice bump. HHH capitalizes by backdropping Angle and clotheslining him over the top as well, then stopping to laugh at his wife while EMTs surround her on the floor. HHH with a swinging neckbreaker, as another referee sprints in to count two. HHH with a ten-punch count, but he's more focused on waving bye-bye to Stephanie than punching his opponent, and Angle manages to counter into a three-alarm rolling German suplex for two. Backelbow is worth two, and an overhead suplex gets two. Another overhead suplex gets two, and a third one gets another two. Well, at least now we know which match inspired Scott Steiner to make his return the next year. Sleeper, but Hunter don't go down for nobody, and rams Kurt into the corner to escape. Kurt tries to salvage it with a ten-punch, but gets powerbombed out of the corner - Hunter apparently having studied Undertaker tapes during his recovery. Well, that... explains a lot, actually. Another 'LIVE' graphic as they work the referees count, and Hunter wins a slugfest with a high knee. Spinebuster gets two, and kneeling facebuster is worth two. You'd think guys would just stop trying to backdrop Triple H after all these years. Kurt bails, but Hunter keeps coming like the Terminator, so Kurt does the next best thing: takes out the referee. That allows him to blow HHH low, and he hits the Olympic Slam as Stephanie runs back down to count two. Anklelock, but Hunter escapes - knocking Kurt right into Stephanie to take her out again. DDT, but there's no referee. HHH goes to revive the backup ref, but Angle takes him out again, and then German suplexes Hunter. Kurt decides to finish him off with a chair (HHH, not the poor referee), but badly telegraphs it, and Hunter counters into the Pedigree for two - only to have Stephanie cutoff the count by taking out the referee herself. Must be a union thing. She does a weird bit where she yells at his penis before kicking him in the balls, but HHH is pissed. Stephanie tries pointing at her boobies to get him to back off, but Hunter decides to Pedigree her, so Angle saves with the chair - as I realize that she was pointing at her 'referee' shirt, not her tits. My bad. Olympic Slam, and Stephanie counts the fall at 14:39. Way too much angle, not enough wrestling - no pun intended. **

WWF Title Match: Chris Jericho v Steve Austin: Staredown, and they work a few lockup stalemates until Jericho lures him into a chase - which promptly backfires when Steve backelbows him. Into the corner, Austin unloads a lengthy series of chops (20+), then goes an equally lengthy series of turnbuckle smashes. Steve with a snap suplex, then into the corner for more chops, but he gets caught with a swinging neckbreaker, and Chris stomps him down, then tosses him until the corner for his own extended series of chops. This has to be rib on somebody. Steve manages to clothesline him over the top to cutoff the comeback, and follows for more chops on the rail. Like, lots more. Seriously, did anyone ever do a shoot or a podcast where they brought this up? Back in, Austin misses a cross corner charge to knock himself out to the floor again, and Jericho follows with an axehandle off the apron to setup... you guessed it... chops. Brawl up the aisle leads to Austin tossing him into a piece of the entrance set (the theme du jour is 18-wheelers), then back to ringside for more chops. In, Jericho tries a missile dropkick, but Austin crotches him on the top, and chops him up there before superplexing him down. Steve with two more superplexes for good measure, but it still only gets two. More chops, but Jericho blows him low to stop the onslaught, then unloads some chops of his own. Walls, but Austin blocks, so Jericho dumps him into the corner for more chopping. This has got to be some sort of record. I don't think Flair and Steamboat threw this many chops in all of 1989, let alone in a single match. Austin tries a pointed elbowdrop for two, but gets tossed as he tries following up, and Chris follows to whip his challenger into the rail. Oh, and chop some more, of course. Naturally. Funny bit, as Jericho rolls in to break the count between beating on Austin... despite the fact that the referee isn't even in the ring, let alone counting. Well, I appreciate the effort, regardless. Back in, Jericho misses the lionsault, so he settles for a sleeper instead - LIVE from Milwaukee! Austin escapes and dodges a dropkick to try for the Walls, but Chris blocks, so Steve hits a slingshot instead. Side suplex, but Jericho reverses, so Austin counters into the Stunner, but Chris blocks, so Steve hits a pair of clotheslines and a spinebuster instead. Nice, chop-free sequence there. Sloppy powerslam gets the challenger two, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Jericho bulldogs him to setup the lionsault. Two of them hit, but it's only worth two - though not even worth a polite pop from the crowd. Ouch. Chris falls back on more chopping, and slaps on a watered down version of the Walls (modified to a Boston crab due to Austin's legit bad neck), but Steve makes the ropes anyway. Chris grabs the title belt to finish the job, but the referee goes down as Austin blocks, and Steve delivers a spinebuster onto the belt for two. As someone who has handled his share of real title belts (as opposed to the replica versions they sell), I could tell you first hand that that spot would not be fun. Stunner, but Jericho counters into the Breakdown for two. Cross corner clothesline sets up another bulldog, but Steve ducks, and Jericho takes out the referee again. Man, bad night to wear the stripes. Steve hooks his own Walls, then hits the Stunner, but we've got no referee. Cue the nWo, as Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash make their WWF returns, and they destroy Austin in traditional style - Jericho getting an easy pin at 21:33. Despite all the weird chopping, the match certainly had its moments, and was well worked. ** ½

BUExperience: It started with one of my absolute least favorite booking gimmicks, featured all three top matches ending with outside interference, and didn’t have anything break three stars. Hogan, Hall, and Nash making their return is certainly historically significant on its own, but not nearly enough so to carry this show – especially since WrestleMania was where the real Hogan historical significance came in.

DUD