Again, Friday will be the official finale of the PDC and Saturday, I'll post a special and updated NWO History column to finish up my tenure as daily columnist.
I've got RAW to review, so on to it!
The first match of the night was Booker T vs. Christian. Decent midcard match, as I had no problem with it, but isn't this the type of tag match you do to hype a Pay Per View tag match instead of doing it the night after? They should have had a rematch with the UnAmericans and Booker T/Goldust here in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd that just wanted to errupt tonight, but the poor booking on the show after Summerslam kept them quiet all night. Amazing. Booker T won the match.
Next match was good reason why Chris Nowinski needs to develop more. The William Regal/Chris Nowinski vs. Dudleys was a sloppy tag team match at best. Oh, and I care SO MUCH about him saving Molly Holly, only to want to screw her in the long run? Don't care...
Man, the WWE is looking for cheap heat tonight. Eric Bischoff introduced Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and gave him a Lifetime Achievement award. Snuka had some of his biggest moments in MSG, and a nice display of his highlights were shown. I bet back when Snuka jumped off the cage back in the day, everyone thought that was the most insane and suicidal move you could ever do in pro wrestling. Amazing what has happened since. 3 minutes were up, and the Island Boyz attacked poor Snuka. At least Snuka got in some of his trademark chops before getting pounded. OK, after beating 3 women, a midget, a Dudley, and now a Hall of Famer, it's time to let these guys wrestle in regular matches.
Dirty of Chris Jericho to attack Jimmy Snuka afterward. After dogging Flair because Jericho tapped from a Figure 4 of all moves in 2002, Flair would sing his rendition of "New York, New York". Jeff Hardy would eventually interrupt, looking more stupid than ever. Why does the WWE let him paint his body and dress up the way he does? Well, I guess it's nice of them to allow him to express his individuality, but how about making him take the time to prepare for a match they way he prepares himself for how he'll look in his entrance. How about that? Jericho vs. Hardy was good, although nobody really hyped that it was happening earlier in the show. Gotta hype that "top of the hour" match beforehand. Jericho was disqualified for keeping on the Walls of Jericho for too long on Hardy. That does nothing for the competitors in that ring, but set up another match between the two that won't be too different from what we just saw.
Next, we had a VERY LAME attempt at cheap heat by the UnAmericans, as they were trying to weld, I mean burn, an American flag. Can the WWE get any lower with these guys? First, a Kane hype promo interrupted it, then Booker T and Goldust ran in, and then, Kane actually showed up. He looks a bit different with his new "strap tights", which make him look thicker, and the mask is different, looking somewhat like the plastic covering that Undertaker wore on his face to sell the Yokozuna (RIP) attacks (as his face was "crushed") or it could have been from Mabel. Some overweight wrestler. Kane cleared the way and spoke in a clear way when he was on the mic. Man, those damaged vocals can heel pretty quickly in the few years he's been in the WWE. Still, he's back, and with some momentum, he could finally become something worthwhile, as the bicep injury stopped him from the face push he was receiving before he left.
Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer was next. This match united the Intercontinental title and the Hardcore title. Man, that IC title now has ties to the WCW United States title, the European title, and now the Hardcore title. And to think that this belt was derived from a fictional tournament years ago. Good all around match, with a strong ending at the end with the ladder. I have several 1997 matches between RVD and Dreamer that were better than this, and they used several ladder spots like this in their match. Still, it was a nice match between the two, probably taking the honors for Match of the Night. It is sad to see the Hardcore title go right now though, because Tommy Dreamer was having some good matches in the name of the belt. The crap before him, though, is plenty of reason to get rid of the title all together though.
And now, one of the worst matches in the history of RAW, the Lilian Garcia vs. Howard Finkel match. One that was worse than this was the Tuxedo match between Howard Finkel and Harvey Whippleman. Who seriously cares about announcers feuding? I care more about seeing some deserving wrestlers getting the spot instead. Whoever writes RAW is smoking some a rather large amount of crack before booking RAW, and Vince McMahon is smoking it too for letting it be shown on television.
The main event was Triple H vs. the Undertaker. Nothing we haven't seen before from these two. I don't know why the WWE insists that a match between these two cancers always carries interest, especially here in 2002 when Triple H can't carry him to a good match like he did at Wrestlemania 17 in 2001. Brock Lesnar would run in and hit the Undertaker with the title, helping Triple H to become the RAW #1 contender. Anyone who bet that Triple H would be the first one to beat Brock Lesnar is smiling right now.
After the main event, Stephanie and Eric Bischoff argue, and Steph announces that Brock Lesnar is now exclusive to her show since she pays him more money. I guess that solved the belt problem, with more titles being on RAW than Smackdown?
LAST WORD: This was a trainwreck of a show after a great SummerSlam event. I understand that wrestlers are tired after the big event, but man, this show was weak. The opening interview made Brock look very bad, and headlining the show with Undertaker vs. Triple H won't ever work now. Jericho vs. Hardy and RVD vs. Tommy Dreamer were good, but the rest was just filler or utter crap. This show gets a
FINAL PHAT DAILY COLUMN: August 30th, 2002. After that, Mr. Tito will produce a newly titled Weekly column on Tuesdays, mostly consisting of the famous RAW review.
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@I went from being very optimistic to questioning how a federation can be great one night, and crappy the next. I'm impressed, and I'm just happy that Smackdown will probably be good this Thursday. Thank God for Smackdown.
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.