WWE
The Crossface: WWE Unforgiven 2002
By The Smart Marks
Sep 22, 2002, 23:45

Once again, WWE held a PPV although you wouldn�t know it if you relied on the horrible buildup. On paper, this card had some potential. Did WWE deliver its second good PPV in a row? Before we find out, meet the players�

Brandon Truitt: Brandon is a regular here on the Crossface and happens to own a heaping helping of shoot interviews. Look for his thoughts on the Arn Anderson shoot and make sure to check out his recap of the Legion of Doom shoot interview.

Byron Vester: Look for Byron to spit the venom as he brings you the news updates. When he's really pissed off, he vents in his Anger Management columns. If you missed it the first time around, check out his BRV DVD Review- AKIRA: Special Edition.

Danny Gregory: Danny is the Smart marks connoisseur of all things music and he happens to like wrestling also. His column, the Riot Act, is a journey into a madman�s mind. Check out his latest article, as Danny answers questions as his alter-ego, that cool dude... Metal Ed!

Fake Razor: Razor is the Smart Marks weekly Heat recapper (with the exception of PPV Sundays!). When he feels like expressing his views on a multitude of topics, he drops in with his Last Word column. Check out his latest Heat recap.

Jared "JHawk" Hawkins: You can count on JHawk to speak his mind as he reviews RAW on a weekly basis. Along with his RAW reviews, he also drops in with his column, This Week In Wrestling, examining a significant date in wrestling history. Check out his thoughts as he warmed up for Unforgiven with an excellent analysis... "Should it be RVD's chance to shine?" .

William Helmick: William is the regular moderator of the Crossface. You can check out the pre-Unforgiven Crossface here! If you're interested in writing for the Smart Marks, drop William a line.


The Un-Americans vs. Kane, Booker T, Goldust and BuhBuh Ray Dudley

Brandon: Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling. I'd called Kane winning the match but him pinning Test instead of Storm. With any luck Booker will move up to a feud with Chris Jericho over the IC belt soon and leave the rest of these seven to fight it out. 1 for 1 (Just so you know, I am including a counter of my predictions vs. the actual results. See if I can predict the future.)

Byron: Nice little opener to get the crowd into it. Everybody hit their spots except for Buh-Buh�s fuck up with Lance early on, but it�s forgivable (IRONY~!). Booker should have gotten the winning pin, though. Did you hear the crowd lose their fucking minds when he hit the Spinaroonie and when he started coming back? Good lord� Push this guy NOW!

Danny: Decent eight man tag stuff with a man-sized pop for Booker and the Spinaroonie, plus a hot finish that saw everyone getting in their trademark moves. Nothing spectacular, but this is definitely a hot opener that got the crowd pumped. 6/10

Fake Razor: Wow, this was a pretty hot 8-man tag. The action was fast and furious throughout the entire match, especially at the end with high impact moves and finishers coming one after another. This was a great choice for an opener as it was exciting and got the crowd into the PPV. I don�t mind an Un-American loss here either, as it equals a win for Booker T. Oh, and a note to Bubba Ray Dudley. Take it easy on those backdrop suplexes! He almost KILLED Lance Storm with one tonight, as Lance landed right on the back of his neck/head. This was no Canadian Stampede type tag, but the action was hot and nonstop, so it gets a good rating from me. ***

JHawk: Good enough opener. Having that many guys in there masks the weaknesses of the lesser guys quite well (and face it, Test has quite a few), and the mass finishers in succession sequence is always entertaining, even if simplistic in nature as far as booking goes. Here's hoping Lance Storm is able to clear the cobwebs after being dumped on his head by Bubba Ray Dudley.

William: There was nothing ground breaking in this match but it wasn�t the clusterfuck I was expecting. Buhhubbabubba almost ending Lance Storm�s career was a very noticeable blemish on an otherwise solid match. Now, if they would just start the Booker push already I might start watching RAW again. He was insanely over with the crowd.


Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair (Intercontinental Title)

Brandon: Better than I thought it would be, but not a classic. I question the booking of having Flair turn in the same night as he was beaten by Jericho, but I'm sure that's part of the conspiracy to make Jericho look bad, as Flair will claim he threw the match on RAW. I called Jericho winning here. 2 for 2

Byron: Much, MUCH better than last month�s shitty effort and Jericho using one of Flair�s oldest tricks to get him in the Walls for the win was genius. Flair still doesn�t belong in the ring, but still, it was very enjoyable.

Danny: I thought this was better than their match last month, specifically because it was shorter and didn't expose Flair's complete and utter lack of any offense outside the chop. The legwork was nice and Jericho's sneaky heel tactics paying off were a breath of fresh air. 5/10

Fake Razor: Short and sweet, short and sweet. The right man went over this time as well, thank god. The match itself wasn�t too bad, and you gotta love Jericho�s heel tactics to win the match, after faking the leg injury. Hopefully we�ve seen the last of this feud, which I�m pretty sure we have thanks to Ric Flair�s heel turn later on in the night. The match wasn�t too long so they didn�t really have enough time to either fuck it up or wrestle a classic. Ah, looks like The King of the World might be headed back on a win streak, even if this was a pretty cheap win� but hey, Jericho is a heel, and heels are all about cheap wins. **1/4

JHawk: Ugh. Not much else to say except "Ugh". The match was just
starting to reach a flow when they went with the finish, and even with what they were going for in mind, I just can't see Ric Flair submitting to a weak Boston crab with no buildup and falling for the oldest trick in the book.

William: Here is the first bad finish of the night. Flair and Jericho were starting to get into a killer old-school groove and I loved this match until the stupid, idiotic, out-of-nowhere ending. BOTH men hit their spots and Flair actually gave glimpses of the Nature Boy we once worshipped. Would it have killed them to give these guys five more minutes?


Eddy Guerrero vs. Edge

Brandon: Good match but not the match of the night. Eddy is proving he should be mentioned alongside Angle and Benoit as the best workers in the WWE while Edge is moving right along to his future main event spot. I called this one as well. 3 for 3

Byron: This was my Match Of The Night. The selling and bumping by Edge was fucking BEAUTIFUL and Eddy was in full rudo dick motherfucker mode tonight. Dammit, I want more of this feud. Everything was hitting, the psychology was great, and the crowd was INTO IT.

Danny: This is one I'll need to watch again, simply because it couldn't have been as good as it seemed the first time around. Edge's selling was good (and totally consistent, unlike last month) and Eddy was just on fire. Both guys did a tremendous job at keeping a fast pace without sacrificing the psychology. Match of the Night� were it not for Angle/Benoit. 8/10

Fake Razor: This match lived up to their past encounters, which were all pretty stellar. These two really seem to mesh well together, though Eddy really meshes well with anyone. I was happy with the Guerrero win, as he desperately needed it. This wasn�t quite as good as their Summerslam encounter, but this was still a solid match. VIVA LA MULLET! ***

JHawk: Much better than their SummerSlam match, in my opinion,
particularly since the finish didn't suck. Cole and Tazz showed they're
getting much better on commentary, as they made sure you knew why Eddy was targeting the head. And, in a WWE rarity, all the psychology paid off at the end with Edge being dumped head-first onto the exposed turnbuckle.

William: What a great fucking match!!! The execution was nearly flawless and it�s been said before, but Eddy is the best heel in the ring. For all of the Edge haters, FUCK YOU! Seriously. The guy is pumping out great matches and is one of the few reasons to actually watch WWE right now. If they would have given this match five more minutes, it could have reached **** easily!


Billy and Chuck vs. Jamal and Rosie

Brandon: Not great but not the crap match that I thought it would be. I didn't call the Islander�s win but DID call the swerve on whose ass Bischoff would kiss. 3 for 4

Byron: Okayish match, and god DAMN that was an insane moonsault� Everybody at Hooters thought Chuck was a fucking GONER if he took that move. To be honest, the Samoans impressed me a lot as they held up their end quite well, but man� B&C just aren�t worth pushing these days. Send them back to Velocity, PLEASE!

Danny: Pretty boring stuff, although the reversal into a Fame-asser was pretty nice. I think Billy & Chuck has potential as a face team, but Jamal & Rosie might want to stick to the 3 minute deal. They were not too terribly impressive. All in all, this was completely meaningless since they didn't adhere to the stips that inspired the match in the first place. 3/10

Fake Razor: The only reason to watch this match is because it�s the Island Boys debut match. It�s just too bad it was against Billy and Chuck, a team that�s hard to get a good match out of. Needless to say, this pretty much sucked. At least the WWE decided to put the right guys over in the Island Boys. I had predicted them to go over, but with the way the WWE had been pushing Billy and Chuck these past few weeks, I wasn�t 100 percent secure with my choice. This was the worst match of the night, but at least we get Stephanie HLA action right? Wrong. Instead of Steph getting it on with two lovely ladies, we got to see her make out with a cross-dressed Rikishi Phatu. Hmmm, I can already visualize this segment on the pages of wrestlecrap.com. *

JHawk: Good for what it was, but it seemed as though they're
still not really sure if Jamal and Rosey are ready for the big time or not. They still didn't do much more than they've done in their Raw beatdowns, although the missed moonsault was impressive. Kept short though, which is how I like my Billy Gunn matches.

William: You know the match sucks when I�m more busy paying attention to Rico and his interaction with some hottie at ringside. Seriously, his antics were hilarious. He completely no-sold the chick�s advances and got a FOAM MIDDLE FINGER in return! A very non-descript debut for the Islanders and Billy and Chuck need to disband� now! It�s pretty sad this was the most heavily hyped match of the card and also its worst.


Triple H vs. RVD (World Title)

Brandon: The match where the whole PPV started going wrong. The match was Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling, but the booking was unbelievably bad. Why did Flair turn? Why did he go after RVD? Will the fans ever give HHH heat again? Doubtful. I didn't call this one because I figured that RVD would get the most tainted win in history instead. 3 for 5

Byron: This match was MUCH better than I thought it would be and even though you could see the Flair turn coming from a mile away, it was the right move and the RIGHT guy went over so the WWE can really draw some money from this feud. And I have to say, Trips sold like a fucking MAN for Van Dam, so kudos to him.

Danny: Good, solid stuff from both guys. Triple H, to his credit, gave RVD plenty here and made him look completely credible. RVD even pinned him during the extended ref bump TWICE. So while RVD didn't go over, he definitely came out with more than he went in with. Whether or not they'll follow up on it is anyone's guess, especially considering that the finish seems to indicate an RVD-Flair program. The match was good, though, and that's really all you can ask for these days. 7/10

Fake Razor: I might get some flack for this, but I enjoyed this match, it exceeded my expectations. Triple H actually did a decent job of putting RVD over, without RVD winning, of course. They seemed to work together quite well, and we may have not seen the end of this feud (don�t know if that�s a good thing or a bad thing), due to the Ric Flair interference at the end. Now HHH has Ric Flair at his side, a trophy title and he's fucking the boss' daughter. Life must be good for him. Too bad he makes it hell for the rest of us. Anyway, the match itself was pretty damn good if you ask me, one of Triple H�s better this year. ***1/2

JHawk: The only thing on the entire night to piss me off, because they did exactly what I told them not to in my column this week. Flair's turn pisses me off. I like Flair better as the bad guy, but that's one less credible face challenger, and RVD is seemingly going to be put into a feud with Flair before getting a title rematch. Then, to make matters worse, they ended it with the Pedigree instead of the turn being the actual finish. It was nice to hear an RVD chant during the next backstage vignette, so maybe RVD's not going to be hurt, but if there's no rematch, this will be pointless.

William: I marked out big time for the SPIT! The match told a helluva story as well. When RVD attempted to wrestle he would take the advantage. When he attempted a highspot, it would backfire. Unfortunately, overbooking and a Flair heel turn ruined my good mood. The 2nd bad finish of the night. I am wondering what good can come of this ending. None, as far as I can tell but I will admit� HHH made RVD look like a Main Eventer. Plus, that�s two good PPV matches in a row for the Game.


Molly vs. Trish Stratus (Women�s Title)

Brandon: Not offensive, as opposed to the other women's matches since the Jackie Gayda abortion of a tag match. Trish winning makes sense here because Molly, Victoria, and the returning Jazz are all good heel challengers to Trish. 4 for 6

Byron: Man� I have to say that I didn�t give a flying fuck about this match at first, but when Molly friggin� BOUNCED Trish�s head off the stairs, I started paying attention. Trish bumped like a goddamn freak and Molly, of course, remained a goddess in the ring, so hat�s off to both ladies for a nice lil women�s match. Maybe now we can get Lawler to SHUT THE FUCK UP about �Puppies!� and �LESBIANS!�. I kind of wish the crowd had gotten into it, but that�s what happens when you throw matches together 3 days before the damned PPV.

Danny: I don't even remember anything from this match. It looked solid enough, I guess, but it acted as my official cigarette break match for the evening, so I didn't catch everything. It looked to be about 4/10 or so.

Fake Razor: This was a decent women�s contest. There�s not much more I can say about this� but Trish is looking better and better all the time (both in ring, and her appearance). Oh, and thank god we didn�t have to see that stupid quasi-Hurricanranna that Trish likes to do every match. *3/4

JHawk: Typical match between the two, so I won't complain, and
Molly's counter of the handstand headscissors was sweet as hell. I will argue with the bulldog being the finish (hell, Molly'd just kicked out of one two minutes earlier), but I can't say I'm surprised. BTW, you'd be better served if you actually let the live crowd hear the postmatch interview. Trish was looking for a pop and couldn't get one.

William: I really felt bad for these two. WWE has made a mockery of women�s wrestling (pillow fights, lingerie matches, HLA, Jackie Gayda) and these two have the nerve to put on a perfectly entertaining match. Thank God Jazz is supposed to return soon because then the Fed might start getting serious about their women�s division. Wishful thinking, I know.


Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

Brandon: Match of the night by FAR and an automatic Match of the Year candidate. The booking of the ending was screwy, but I'll leave that alone since it was the best match in the WWE since June (Eddy-RVD and Edge-Angle) at the least and the best TECHNICAL match in probably a year or so. 5 for 7

Byron: They tried to do WM 17 all over again and it didn�t work as well in the beginning, but they had the crowd at the end of it and even I was marking out like crazy for the double submission and Benoit paying even more homage to their WrestleMania classic by using CHEAT TO WIN~! to get the duke over Kurt.

Danny: Great, great stuff. Both guys looked awesome during the mat wrestling sequence, although the segue to the more brawling-oriented portion wasn't quite as defined as their WM match last year and thus made a little less sense. Still...dueling German suplexes, dueling finishers, Kurt pushing the rope away with his foot when Benoit was reaching for it...just an awesome, awesome display. I didn't care for the finish, personally, but other than that it was a fantastic match. 9/10

Fake Razor: Wow. This match was incredible, which is exactly what it should have been. Great psychology, action packed throughout, and let me say, the crowd was HOT during this one. I didn�t expect them to be so into the match. Any time you put these two in the ring together it�s pure gold, and this match was definitely no exception to the rule. There was a nice mix of mat wrestling and high impact moves with some sweet German suplexes and such. Match of the night, and one of the better matches of the year. I was tempted to rate this 5 stars, but I knocked off a little because the ending was pretty abrupt. Nonetheless, these two never cease to amaze me. ****3/4

JHawk: Match of the Night, and one of the best WWE matches of the year. Enough wrestling to satisfy me, enough brawling to satisfy the casual fan, and great finisher counter sequence, and the finish they should have given RVD-HHH. Great match with a finish that makes me salivate for a rematch at No Mercy.

William: This match ruled on so many levels. The counters, the psychology, the slow build that had the crowd hooked by the end (with two heels, mind you). I would call this a perfect match except for two things: They cut it short at the fifteen-minute mark and the ending was a cheap cop-out reminiscent of Mania 17. The third shitty finish of the night. Couldn�t we have cut out ten minutes of HLA and given these guys ten more minutes. If this match had a better finish, it�s Match of the Year, no doubt. As it stands, it�s simply Match of the Night.


Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker (WWE Title)

Brandon: HOLY SHIT did it all go wrong here. Better match than it should have been but still crap. I'm REALLY hoping that Taker and HHH get all the blame, instead of RVD and Brock, for the negative buyrate this thing will get. I called the non-finish because Brock still needs an opponent for next month, but Taker looked WAY too strong and threw Brock around like a rag doll. 6 for 8

Byron: Oh FUCK YOU, WWE. A fucking DQ in the main event? What the fuck is this? WCW? And the match really fucking sucked ass too, since Brock isn�t at the level where he can carry PoochieTaker to a decent match. Oh, don�t forget about AFTER the match when Underbitch treated the FUCKING WWE CHAMPION LIKE A TOTAL JOBBER and kicked his ass all over the arena�Nope, can�t forget that at all� They spend MONTHS building Brock (albeit very shitty at times) and even have the biggest face on the roster job to him CLEANLY and Mark �I haven�t been worth a shit since 1998� Calloway flushes it ALL down the toilet. What a fucking farce. I hope Vince is happy about pleasing Taker and possible tanking Brock�s title reign just because it�d make the ALMIGHTY Undertaker look somewhat human to FUCKING JOB FOR ONCE! Fuck you, Vince.

Danny: I genuinely enjoyed this match until the ref bumps. Up until that point, it was a well-worked, well-booked match with solid psychology and some uncharacteristically good announcing by Cole and Tazz. When that first ref bump happened, though, I knew it was doomed. I figured at least they were going to put Lesnar over Undertaker, though. At least. Even with all the overbooked bullshit, it was still going to happen. And then it didn't. I mean, what the fuck? How can this company expect to recover when they can't even book an obvious finish like that? You have a young, over monster heel champion who you're FINALLY starting to book right, and you can't even put him over the fucking Undertaker. This was just completely ball-less booking and something that will come back to bite them in the ass if they don't put Brock over Taker soon. 6/10

Fake Razor: Eh, this wasn�t too great. Taker lumbered around the ring as usual, and dominated Brock more than anyone has ever dominated him before. Brock actually bled in this one, which was a bit of a shock. I guess this match ended in a double DQ, though the ring announcer never declared a winner. I�m thinking we�ll be seeing more Lesnar vs. Taker in the near future, which isn�t really a good thing if you ask me. I just hope Taker doesn�t pick the belt up next month just for the sake of holding it going into Survivor Series. I�m quite sick of all these one-month title reigns. I just hope Brock getting his ass handed to him by a man on his way out doesn�t do too much to his image as an unstoppable force. *

JHawk: I expect some heat for this one, but hot damn I enjoyed it. Especially for a big man vs. big man match. Lesnar impresses me more and more every time I see him. The only problem is the overbooking� two ref bumps, just for Matt Hardy to run in and a couple of chair shots? Just make it no DQ if you're going there. And here's where the heat's coming...I like the finish. It's obvious they're shooting for the rematch here (Hell in the Cell perhaps?), so going with what I assume is a double DQ finish is the perfect way to go.

William: I hate Undertaker. I hate him more than any other wrestler in WWE right now. With that said, I was enjoying the hell out of this match until (you guessed it) the 4th shitty finish of the night. I was expecting crap from these two and they delivered one awesome fight. I even marked out for the double Juice! I guess Dean Rasmussen�s love of Brock Lesnar is rubbing off on me. The three ref bumps was complete overkill and the non-finish had killed my buzz dead. I was hoping this would be the last time I would have to watch Undertaker wrestle. Instead, it�s just the continuation of more backstage politics and shitty booking decisions ruining the product.


Final Verdict

Brandon: Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling but Completely $hitty Booking. If it wasn't for Angle-Benoit, I would seriously consider giving this thing a thumbs down. As it stands, it�s just the worst booked WWE PPV of the year. If Vince doesn't pull his head out of his ass soon, he might as well change the company's name to WCW... it's certainly LOOKED like WCW ever since he bought the company in early 2001

Byron: The undercard of this show is just awesome with every single match aside from the Women�s Title match having the crowd into it and good-to-great work from all involved. The main event, however, is a steaming pile of horseshit which isn�t even worthy of being mentioned, let alone the lame ass after-match garbage with Taker making Brock look like a total jobber before completing the farce and throwing him through the stage. Oh yeah, the bait-and-switch with Steph in the HLA segment was insanely predictable when Bisch brought out the �fat lesbo� and Steph humiliating Eric again just makes me hate her that much more, so here�s a hearty �Fuck YOU!� to Daddy�s Lil Ego Maniac for being a heat-sucking leech. I definitely recommend this show, but please, skip the HLA segment and the horseshit main event. It�ll be better for your sanity. Believe me on that one.

Danny: This was definitely a good show. The wrestling was strong, a lot of the booking was pretty solid, and the right people went over more often that not. However, that last match completely soured me on it. Not only was the booking decidedly not solid, but nobody went over and their monster heel ended up looking like a bitch at the hands of a 40something has-been who should have retired before the turn of the century. Thumbs in the middle

Fake Razor: I didn�t have too high hopes going into this one for some reason, but this show surprised me and turned out to be halfway decent. Wow, I predicted every match correctly (except the main, I predicted Lesnar going over, but it was a double DQ so whatever). Go me! Angle vs. Benoit was breathtaking, and had a magnificent supporting cast with solid matches from Edge and Guerrero, The Un-Americans, Bookdust, Bubba and Kane, and even HHH and Rob Van Dam. The matches themselves are good, but the HLA segment was just� Unforgivable. I�d say the PPV is worth a view just for the matches, because you�ll have your trusty fast forward button to skip all the HLA crap.

JHawk: Not as good as SummerSlam, but pretty much better than everything else WWE has come up with since WrestleMania. A few solid things to build on for next month, hopefully a few things finally blown off, several solid matches, and the No Mercy trailer (Kane and Pete Rose~!) make this a thumbs up from me.

William: Well, this show has a bad case of bipolar disorder. The wrestling was great, second only to Summerslam in my opinion. But the booking� MY GOD THE BOOKING FUCKING SUCKED! The HLA segment was a complete waste of time and another stupid cop-out by the writing staff. The World Title matches were ruined by the nonsensical endings. Whoever booked this shit should be forced to hang from an elevating Hell in a Cell while Edge and Christian look on.



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