WWE Vengeance (July 2002)

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and Tazz

Opening Elimination Tables Match: The Dudley Boyz v Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit: Spike Dudley starts with Benoit, and gets clobbered with a backelbow and a side suplex right away. Lariat and a backbreaker follow, but Spike manages to counter a hiptoss with an armdrag, and pass to Bubba Dudley. He charges in hot, but walks into a shot from Guerrero, and takes a snap suplex from Benoit. They cut the ring in half on Bubba (with Dudley's selling involving lots of awkward sex noises), but Spike saves him from getting superplexed through a table. He gets punished for that with a gutbuster from Benoit, and they've given up on tags completely now. Four-way brawl sees a really neat spot where Spike gives Chris a flying double-stomp, and the Boyz follow with the Wassup Drop. They go for the tables, but Benoit stops the effort with a Crossface for Spike. Bubba saves, but ends up missing a 2^nd rope senton, and the heels go for the kill on Spike - only for Eddie to get countered into a Dudley Dog through a table at 13:28. Spike tries to do the same to Chris, but ends up getting press-slammed out of the ring and through a well placed table at 14:27. Chris goes to German suplex Bubba through another table for the win, but gets countered into a Bubba Bomb through it at 14:58. Benoit and Guerrero cutting the ring in half is always entertaining, but the match dragged a lot before suddenly firing off three rapid eliminations in the final two minutes. The structure of the match was really weird too, with the heat segment beginning almost immediately, and never developing any drama over getting a tag, with Spike just sort of randomly coming in and turning it into a brawl. ½*

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Jamie Noble v Billy Kidman: Initial collar-and-elbow ends in both guys spilling out of the ring, and back in, Kidman snaps off a schoolboy for two, and a backslide for two. Victory roll is countered by Noble for two, then finished by Kidman anyway for another two, and Jamie bails to break the momentum. That gives us some close-up shots of Nidia on the floor, and all I can say is THANK GOD she wasn't around into the HD era. Noble with a snapmare on the way back in, but he walks into a headscissors as they criss cross, and a guillotine legdrop sends him out again. Kidman follows with a plancha this time, but Jamie dodges him, and uses Nidia as a distraction to setup a single-arm DDT out there. He adds a battering ram into the post to keep after the shoulder, then rolls his challenger in for two. Northern lights suplex is worth two, and he slaps on an armbar. Kidman tries escaping, but the shoulder acts up, and Noble posts him, then slaps on a modified hammerlock. Kidman escapes with a short-clothesline, and snaps off a quick rana to setup a dropkick. Death valley driver across the knee gets two, so Noble grabs him in another single-arm DDT, and hangs onto it for a fujiwara armbar, but Billy makes the ropes. Powerbomb, but Kidman counters into a sitout facebuster for two, followed by an enzuigiri. Shooting Star Press, but Noble heads up to try and superplex him - only for Kidman to counter into a sitout powerbomb from the top for two. Back up for the Press, but this time Noble rolls out of the way, and hooks an Oklahoma roll for two. Vertical suplex triggers a counter sequence, and Noble retains with a double-underhook powerbomb at 7:34. Good, fast paced match, with some nice psychology in the arm work, and believable selling from Kidman throughout. ***

WWE European Title Match: Jeff Hardy v William Regal: Hardy is looking really faded out and sickly here. Regal uses his size advantage to control with power stuff early on - hitting a shoulderblock for two, and a kneedrop for two. Second kneedrop misses, however, and Jeff hits a sitout jawbreaker for two, then puts William on the floor with a slingshot. Cool spot in theory, but it looked really bad because Regal was obviously doing all the work. Baseball slide, but Regal catches his legs, so Jeff reroutes into a headscissors - only to miss his rail running dive. Back in, Jeff blocks a cross corner whip with a flying somersault bodyblock to keep control, and an enzuigiri sets up a legdrop to the balls. Swanton, but William lifts the knees to block, and hits a German suplex for two. Backbreaker, but Hardy snaps off a schoolboy as Regal tries following up at 4:17. Kind of a style clash, but short enough that it didn't fall apart. *

Chris Jericho v John Cena: And, yep, this is Cena's pay per view debut. And he's dressed like WCW Lance Storm! Jericho tries attacking with a chair before the bell, but Cena overcomes the odds, and reverses. In, John hits a pair of corner whips to setup a clothesline, so Jericho bails to cutoff the momentum. He tries suckering Cena into a chase, but walks into another clothesline, and this time John adds a spinebuster for two, so Chris snaps off a stungun to take the pep out of his step. Side suplex, and Chris tries to expose the turnbuckle, but gets rolled up for two, so he punishes John with some chops in the corner. Breakdown sets up a missile dropkick, but Cena superplexes him down for two, and adds a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. Cool sequence follows, as Cena tries a stinger splash, but gets the wind knocked out of his when Jericho counters with a dropkick as he leaps. Looked brutal, and the camera angle accentuated it nicely. Rana, but Cena counters into a slingshot, so Jericho lands on the middle rope and dives back at him with a bodypress - only to have Cena catch him in a belly-to-belly as he does for two. Cena tries an Oklahoma roll, but Jericho stops him short and hooks the leg for two, and follows with a sleeper slam for two. Bulldog and the lionsault setup the Walls, but John counters into an inside cradle for the pin at 6:19. CENAWINSLOL. Decent on its own, but certainly more historically significant than anything else. * ¼

WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Rob Van Dam v Brock Lesnar: Rob tries sticking and moving, but Brock shrugs him off, so Rob snaps off a drop-toehold into the middle turnbuckle, then dropkicks his challenger out of the ring. Back in, Rob fires off shots at the legs to neutralize the big man, but Brock shrugs him off again - only to miss a charge, and go flying out. This time, Rob follows with a plancha, but Lesnar catches him in a running powerslam on the floor. Back in, Brock hits a gutbuster and an overhead suplex. Powerslam, so Van Dam counters with a spinkick, but a monkeyflip is blocked when Brock casually tosses him out of the ring. Lesnar follows him out for some abuse with the toys on the floor, then back in for a bearhug. Abdominal stretch, but Rob escapes, and hits a springboard sidekick, then a guillotine legdrop. Flying sidekick sets up rolling thunder for two. Superkick sets up the Five Star Frogsplash, but Brock brings him down with the F5 - only for RVD to counter into a DDT on the way down! Frogsplash hits, but Paul Heyman pulls the referee out at two for a disqualification at 9:38. Terribly weak ending, but they kind of painted themselves into a corner, because they didn't want Lesnar to lose, but they also didn't want him getting the Intercontinental belt when he was already slated to get the WWE Title the next month anyway. ¾*

No Disqualification Match: Big Show v Booker T: Booker attacks with the Harlem sidekick, but gets quickly countered into a slam, and Show pounds him in the corner. Hiptoss sends Booker flying across the ring, and Show toys with him for a bit before sending him out to the floor for an all expense paid trip to the post. Booker manages to return the favor like it's Christmas in July, then adds some choking with a cable for good measure. This is so slow and boring thus far, and I sincerely hope the play by play doesn't mask that. Booker drives Show through the Spanish announce table with an axekick, then back in, he hits another axekick to setup the Harlem Hangover at 6:12. This was really weak stuff, and was thankfully on the short side. DUD

WWE Tag Team Title Match: Hulk Hogan and Edge v The Un-Americans: Hogan and Edge's tag title reign was one of the bright spots of 2002 for me, even if it was short lived. Oh, whoops. SPOILER. My bad. Anyway, Hogan starts with Christian, and tosses his challenger out of the ring with ease during the initial lockup. Lance Storm comes in to assist with a tandem suplex, but Hulk no-sells, and cracks their heads together, then clotheslines Lance to setup a bootrake. He and Edge pinball their challenger for a bit, and Hulk hits a cross corner clothesline before officially tagging. Edge comes in with a flapjack and a diving forearm, but Christian cheats to save Storm during a ten-punch count, and Lance capitalizes with a spinheel kick. Tag to Christian with a backbreaker for two, and he grounds his former tag team partner with a chinlock. Hulk slaps the turnbuckle to motivate Edge into escaping, but Christian cuts that off with an inverted DDT across the knee for two - only to miss a 2^nd rope elbowdrop follow-up. Enzuigiri allows the tag to Hogan, and he drops Storm with a big boot, but Christian ducks a second one and delivers an inverted DDT for two - triggering the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! - but Storm saves at two, and Christian jams a thumb in the Hulksters eyes as he reacts to it. Hulk falls out of the ring for Lance to superkick, and back in, the challengers briefly cut the ring in half, but Hulk dodges a tandem charge and tags. Edge is a salon of fire to trigger a four-way brawl, and he manages the Impaler on Storm, but Test runs in and clobbers him with a big boot. That gets Lance a dramatic two count, and as Rikishi runs out to get rid of Test, Edge spears Storm - only for Chris Jericho to run in with a title belt shot on Edge to allow Storm the pin at 10:01. Way too much overbooking at the end, but fine otherwise, and didn't overstay its welcome. *

Main Event: WWE Title Triple Threat Match: The Undertaker v Kurt Angle v The Rock: Angle's red-white-blue camo tights are mind numbingly awful. It's like eye rape. Cute bit right away, as all three stare each other down, but Undertaker and Rock start ignoring Angle to have their own staredown, so Kurt starts jumping up and down trying to get their attention like a little kid - and gets promptly smacked by both at once. Undertaker adds a big boot for Kurt and Rock clotheslines him out of the ring, then they're free to focus on each other - Undertaker pounding Rock into the corner. Undertaker with a jumping clothesline, but Kurt dumps him to the floor for a whip into the steps, then grabs Rock with a German suplex. He unloads chops in the corner and follows with an overhead suplex, then a belly-to-belly suplex. Short-clothesline, but Rock counters into a DDT for two, and Angle wisely bails. Rock follows for a smash into the steps, but a whip into the rail is reversed - only for Kurt to run into a clothesline from 'Taker before he can follow-up out there. Undertaker rolls Rock in, but Kurt cuts them off with a uranage on Rock for two. Olympic Slam on Undertaker, but he counters into a side suplex for two - Rock breaking up the cover, and tossing Angle. Spinebuster on Undertaker sets up the People's Elbow, but Kurt pulls him out before he can cover, then hustles in to get his own two count off of the move. They all spill out to the floor for a brawl, and Angle does a bladejob out there. Undertaker brings him in for a headbutt, and the ropewalk forearm gets two when Rock saves. Undertaker gets rid of him with a jumping DDT for two, and he tries for a chokeslam, but Kurt charges in with a chair to stop the effort. That allows Rock to try and Bottom UT, but Undertaker counters into the chokeslam again, so Rock kicks him in the balls. Well, that'll usually do it. Angle capitalizes by taking Undertaker down with the chair and hitting an Olympic Slam on Rock - leaving him with the dilemma of who to cover. He tries Undertaker, but gets two. Tries Rock, also gets two. Rock legwhips him into a sharpshooter, but Undertaker saves, and Last Ride's Rocky - for two when Kurt saves by pulling him off into the Anklelock. Undertaker escapes on his own and tries to give Kurt his own Last Ride, but Angle counters into a triangle choke. Rock breaks it up, but Bottoming Angle is countered into the Anklelock. Rock victory cradles out for two, and Undertaker chokeslams Angle - only to run into the Rock Bottom for a dramatic two count. Kurt capitalizes with a schoolboy on Rock for two, and the Olympic Slam on Undertaker follows, but another on Rock is countered into Bottom to crown a new champion at 19:34. I've never much been a fan of Triple Threat matches because they generally rely too heavily on brawling, without much in the way of psychology, and this wasn't really any exception. *

BUExperience: A couple of decent matches, but nothing that makes this filler show standout particularly, and the only thing anyone might remember this one for today is that it’s notable as John Cena’s pay per view debut.

DUD