WWE Global Warning (August 2002)

August 10, 2002

From Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Tazz

Opening Kiss My Ass Match: Rikishi v Rico: The video quality is really weird here. Rikishi dances with Stephanie McMahon on his way to the ring, in another weird moment. That looked so unbelievably awkward. Rico tries a sneak attack, but Rikishi no-sells it, and throws him around. Samoan drop, but Rico counters with a superkick, and he hammers Rikishi in the corner with kicks. Sunset flip, but Rico bails on it once he realizes he's in danger of the ass, and Rikishi belly-to-belly suplexes him. Banzai Drop, but Rico dodges, and punches Rikishi in the balls to fight him off. Rico goes up for a flying moonsault, but Rikishi dodges, and a Samoan drop finishes at 2:27. Well, that was quick. Nothing match, but the crowd was crazy hot for it. And then afterwards, Rico has to eat some ass, of course. And then after that, Rikishi brings a couple of random kids into the ring to dance with him. Because why wouldn't you send your kid off with a strange man in a thong who has a habit of forcing his large ass into peoples faces? DUD

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Jamie Noble v Hurricane: Noble wants to stall, but Hurricane forces him in, and dominates a few criss crosses. He hangs the champ in a tree of woe for some abuse to the nuts, but Noble manages to block a chokeslam, so Hurricane reroutes with a superkick. Jamie bails, but Hurricane dives after him with a flying bodypress, so Nidia forces herself on him to allow Noble to recover and attack. Noble with a snap suplex for two, and a corner whip leads to a snapmare to set up a bow-and-arrow. Hurricane escapes, so Noble drops him with a side suplex, and stops to make out with Nidia. She's getting around tonight. Hurricane uses the make out sesh to recover with a small package for two, and follows with a bodypress for two, but Jamie hits an electric chair for two to keep control. He and Nidia take turns choking Hurricane on the ropes to grind him down for a sleeper, but Hurricane manages to reverse! Noble quickly escapes, so Hurricane takes him down with a headscissors, and starts making a comeback! Jumping neckbreaker gets two, and a 2^nd rope flying somersault neckbreaker is worth two. He sure loves his neckbreakers. Another neckbreaker, but Noble counters this one with a suplex for two, and a tigerbomb looks to follow, but Hurricane counters with another neckbreaker for two. You know it's 2002 when guys are spamming neckbreakers. Reversal sequence ends in Jamie hooking a bridging northern lights suplex for two, but he misses a charge in the corner, and Hurricane takes him upstairs for a neckbreaker off the top rope! That results in a double knockout, but Hurricane crawls over to cover for two. That draws Nidia onto the apron, and Noble hooks a leveraged backslide as Hurricane goes after her, retaining at 8:45. Good enough, but totally forgettable. ** ¾

WWE Tag Team Title Match: The Un-Americans v Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman: Lance Storm and Kidman start, and they get right into a reversal sequence. Storm pounds him into the corner, but Kidman fights him off with a headscissors takedown, and uses a dropkick for two. Lance responds with a chincrusher before passing to Christian, but Billy fights both off, and tags Rey for a flying headscissors on Christian. Wheelbarrow bulldog gets him two, as the crowd remains crazy hot for everything. Rey goes up, but Storm distracts him to prevent a dive, and Christian shoves him all the way down to the floor - Mysterio nearly taking out some poor security guard at ringside in the process. Back in, the champs go to work cutting the ring in half on Rey, with Lance hitting a rolling fireman's carry slam for two, and Christian using a stomachbreaker for two. They keep working their challenger over, but Rey back flips onto his feet to avoid a release German suplex from Storm, and there's the hot tag to Kidman - Roseanne Barr the door! Billy bulldogs Storm for two, so Christian comes in with the title belt, but Billy fights him off. That allows Lance a superkick, but Rey saves at two, and hits Christian with the 619! Kidman then alley-oops Rey into a rana off the top on Storm, and Kidman goes for the kill with the shooting star press, but Christian pulls the referee out at two! Rey responds with a springboard moonsault press on Christian out on the floor, but Lance recovers to bash Billy with the title belt for the pin at 8:54. Too short to property develop, but Rey taking a heat segment is always good stuff. **

Chris Jericho v Edge: Jericho cuts a promo on the crowd before the bell, earning him a "you're a wanker" chant, which earns us a funny conversation between Cole and Tazz about what the term means. "Use your imagination, Cole." Edge slugs away to start, until Chris ends up on the outside. That leads to a chase around the ring, and Edge hits a flapjack on the way back in, then gets Jericho tied up in the ropes to set up a spear. Spinheel kick gets two, so Chris hides behind the referee, and uses that distraction to hit Edge with a cheap shot. Jericho adds a clothesline to take control, as the announcers talk about strip clubs. Jericho with a side suplex to set up a quartet of elbowdrops for two, and he hooks on a bow-and-arrow, but Edge escapes with a schoolboy for two. Chris quickly cuts him off with a clothesline, and delivers a hanging vertical suplex for two, but nearly gets pinned when Edge schoolboys him to prevent Jericho from exposing a turnbuckle. Chris cuts him off again, this time with a dropkick, and he works an abdominal stretch from there. He gets caught using the ropes, but Edge fails to make a comeback, and Jericho ropechokes him. Straddling ropechoke misses, however, and both guys are left looking up at the lights. Edge is up first with a pair of clotheslines, and a jumping forearm sets up a modified facebuster for two. Flapjack into the top turnbuckle allows Edge to get to the top rope, but Chris crotches him up there, and follows. He tries a superplex, but Edge counters with a gourdbuster off the top for two - only to hit the referee as he looks for a follow-up! That allows Jericho a matslam, and with the referee down, Chris helps himself to a chair. He swings, but Edge counters with a spear, though there's no referee to count. Edge tries another spear, but Jericho dodges that one, and one-handed bulldogs him. Lionsault, but Edge moves, and hits another spear – the referee crawling over to count two! Great nearfall there! The official is still dazed, allowing Jericho to whack Edge with the chair, and the Lionsault gives us another dramatic two count! Chris tries to keep it going with a dropkick, but Edge counters with a catapult into an exposed top turnbuckle, and the Edge-o-Matic gets two! Impaler, but Jericho counters to the Walls - only for Edge to counter with a cradle at 11:39! This built into one hell of a match by the end! Afterwards, Edge celebrates by climbing one of the scaffolding poles that hold up the lighting canopy over the ring. Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't seen anyone pull out a spot involving those at a stadium WrestleMania. I never really considered it before, but now I'll be disappointed if it doesn't happen. *** ½

Bra and Panties Match: Torrie Wilson v Stacy Keibler: Val Venis acts as the special guest ring announcer for this. Stacy takes a cheap shot before the bell, and hits a quick bodyslam, followed by a corner whip. Another bodyslam, and Stacy works a headlock. The quality of the work here is just horrendous. I've been watching modern WWE too long, and forgot how bad the women were in this era. I mean, Torrie makes a simple hiptoss or clothesline look like something you'd see from a backyard wrestler. Torrie goes for the shorts, but Stacy fights her off with a hotshot, and she get's Wilson's top off. Honestly, it was such a small top that there isn't much difference. Torrie rips Stacy's top off, so Stacy snaps her throat across the top rope, but Wilson nails her with a baseball slide. Back in, Wilson hits a suplex, but Stacy fights her off as she goes for the shorts. Torrie tries again, but nearly loses her own pants in the process, and we get the comedy spot where the girls steamroll over the happy referee before pantsing him as well. Always a crowd pleaser. As they laugh at the official's small prick, Nidia runs in to attack Torrie, but Wilson fights her off, and rips her shorts off for good measure. She hits Stacy with a catapult into the corner next, and the shorts come off at 4:46. As a wrestling match it was horrible (horrible!), but that wasn't what this was about anyway. Just a crowd pleasing little comedy T&A break. DUD

Main Event: WWE Title No Disqualification Triple Threat Match: Rock v Triple H v Brock Lesnar: First fall wins it here. Rock and HHH team up to dump Lesnar right away, but Hunter is quick to turn on the champion once that's out of the way. Rock doesn't take that well, and starts fighting back, but Brock takes him out before he gets too far. Hunter and Lesnar team up to work Rocky over, and HHH delivers a kneeling facebuster to set up a clothesline from Brock. They double up in the corner, but an attempt at a tandem clothesline is countered with a double-clothesline from the champion. Backdrop sends Lesnar over the top, and Rock follows out to send Brock into the rail. That draws Paul Heyman over, but as Rock chases after him, HHH is able to sneak up with a clothesline, and he drops Rocky across the rail. Inside, Hunter turns his attention to Lesnar, pounding the fellow challenger down in the corner. Brock responds in kind, but runs into a high knee, just as Rock rejoins the game - hammering Brock in the corner. HHH sneaks up with a neckbreaker on Rock for two, and Lesnar eats a rotating spinebuster for two. Rock returns fire with a swinging neckbreaker on HHH, but Lesnar breaks up the pin at two. He tries the F5 on Rock, but HHH saves. He tries the Pedigree on Lesnar, but Brock backdrops out of it, and sends Hunter over the top. Back to Rock with a release overhead suplex, and a short-clothesline follows. Again, but Rock blocks this time, so Lesnar punishes him with a bearhug, as we see that HHH is busted open on the outside. Rock slugs out of the hug, but nearly walks into the F5 before slipping free, and dropping Brock with a DDT for two. Sharpshooter is applied, but Triple H saves, and hits the champion with the Pedigree - Brock breaking up the pin at two. F5 for HHH, but Rock breaks the cover at two. Rocky hits Lesnar with a spinebuster to set up the People's Elbow, but it only gets two - even without a save from the Game! F5 connects, but HHH breaks the cover at two. Pedigree on Lesnar connects, but he kicks out on his own at two! Dude had a hell of a push. HHH can't believe it, and argues with the referee, allowing Rock to sneak up with the Rock Bottom at 14:00 - Lesnar too battered from the Pedigree to save this time. It's weird seeing a Lesnar match without a single German suplex in it. All action, but it was mostly of the kick-punch variety. * ¾

BUExperience: Pretty solid little oddity. There was nothing crazy good here, but I found it to be an easy watch, and very light on the bullshit filler that’s everywhere on more modern events. I haven’t watched anything from 2002 in a while, but one thing that really stood out is how much more alive this product feels compared to the robotic nature of 2018 WWE.

**