The domestic sibling love moments between the BOD never fail to make me smile. Like their characters are monsters who routinely torment and torture others, but they still check in with each other like totally normal loving brothers.
One of the forgotten aspect of the Katie Vick story, as Brian mentioned, is Kane had one of his best runs before that with the IC and Tag Team Title. He also won the TLC match from the RAW Roulette by himself, one of his best performance. And the line "for the first time of my life, I'm happy" was the open door for a nice evolution of his character, being more human than ever, after a first attempt with X Pac in 1999. But that storyline killed everything. And in retrospect, it would have been a better time to unmask just after that because considering how awful that stuff was, we would have understood why Kane went psycho like he did in 2003😅
Hurricane got kicked out of TLC 4 because they wanted Kane to look even more badass by going solo against three other teams (Jericho & Christian, Jeff & RVD, and the Dudleyz 2.0)
@@ericmonaco4509I did like comedic Kane. By 99', I grew a bit tired of the big red machine. There were a lot of decisions I didn't like. For example him losing at Unforgiven in the Inferno, I think Undertaker should've lost that match. Losing the title in a day (I love Stone Cold but that felt like unnecessary backstage politics). Seeing a more comedic Kane was a bit more fun and relaxed but what they did with his 03' heel turn was insane character work (they should've still left the mask on though) Yes Katie Vick storyline is so bad, it's offensive to common decency and Kane not winning the title at No Mercy 2002... Well I don't know how to insult it since he was a drunk-driving necrophile... Look with a much, MUCH better build, he should've won.
I just realised something with Smackdown Six era Smackdown...where were Team Angle during this? I imagine that they hadn't debuted yet because they could've replaced Angle and Benoit so it frees up Angle to do main event stuff.
Lesnar vs Taker was a classic hell in a cell bloodbath. I never forget how a young Brock literally manhandled Undertaker to reverse him into the F5. Uncanny strength
@marvellis6762 I definitely agree. A barbaric blood bath. I would put it up there with taker vs Shawn michaels Badd Blood 1997 and Cactus Jack vs Triple H NWO 2000. This match MADE Brock Lesnar.
I imagine the logic behind deactivating the IC Title was because Smackdown didn't have a corresponding midcard title at the time (the US Title wouldn't get brought back until mid-2003), so the idea was likely for each brand to have one traditional singles title (WHC & WWE), one pair of tag titles (World & WWE), & one title unique to that show (Women's & Cruiserweight). Yeah, it was stupid to remove a title with such a lineage instead of simply bringing back the US Title earlier to keep things equal, but I can at least see the logic they were going with.
RAW had the European and Hardcore titles too and got rid of those unifying them with the IC Title earlier in the year. I feel like it could have been easy to just have the European Title on Smackdown and have it be the IC Title equivalent around this time
I always thought they did it as a way to write off the “WWF” Design of the Belt and then introduce the WWE version of it at a later time which they ended up doing.
@@marcohavokkhaos It's your opinion and your entitled to it but I disagree it was an awesome and brutal brawl that had the fans attention and really helped establish Brock even more as a main eventer
If the Katie Vick story aligned with Kane's origin story then it could've made some sense. Let's say Katie Vick was the nurse that cared for of Kane when he was scarred in his youth. Then Kane has his way with her. Something like that could've been believable.
@@jp3813correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Paul Bearer abusing Kane growing up as well? If so, then having another authority figure in Kane's life essentially abuse him might be a bit repetitive for a back story.
@@TheZipding I don't recall that. One would think that Taker would've brought that up repeatedly in hopes that his brother would stop following Bearer. But it's hard to root for a character who defiled an innocent nurse.
The fact that Lesnar has primarily beaten Taker in a majority of their matches against eachother including two Hell In A Cell matches Still gets me as a huge Taker fan
@@ericmonaco4509 oh yeah it was. Well he still burned Paul Bearrer set various wrestler and frickin announcers on fire among various things that makes that comment having no buisness coming from that burned mouth
I love the flashes out of the crowd when a big move, wither off the top rope or signature moves done. It makes it feel more significant and helps draw you in !!
I love when you look back at 2002 as if was the very beginning of my fandom, it’s interesting to see what I remember and what I erased from my brain. I had completely forgotten that Katie Vick was also a murderer because her storyline killed my favourite championship.
I went to this PPV as a 5 year old kid. I had just gotten into wrestling this year and it was so cool to be there. My dad didn’t want me to chant “You Suck” at Kurt Angle even though everyone else did, and I slept the whole way home. Still the only PPV to be in Arkansas, wish we could get another!
The domestic sibling love moments between the BOD never fail to make me smile. Like their characters are monster who torment and torture others, but they still check in with each other like totally normal loving brothers.
With No Austin, I zoned out a little during this period. It's always fun to see what was going on post attitude era, pre cena days. The good, and the BAD.
I LOVED the Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson matches, for reasons beyond "The Obvious", I felt they had good chemistry in the ring. Their matches are STILL fun to watch and revisit (and yes, that weird hotel room manipulation scene isn't terrible either).
You saying Arkansas Bill Clinton Country makes me think of The King Of The Hill episode where Buck Strickland takes Bobby gambling in Arkansas and when Hank drives though Hot Springs, Arkansas the welcome sign says hometown of Bill Clinton and Hank locks his truck as he drives past 😂
When the brand split began the World Tag Team Titles actually ended up on Smackdown at first with Billy & Chuck. It was after they lost them to Hogan & Edge that summer, who subsequently lost them to Storm & Christian, who got traded with the titles that they ended up on Raw. That all lead to Smackdown introducing their own WWE Tag Titles here. This also lead to them redesigning the World Tag Titles, getting rid of the classic Tag Team Title design dating back to the 80's as this was one of the last shows with that design. Looking back its weird that in the original 2002 Draft they had the Intercontinental, European and Hardcore Titles all end up on Raw (along with the Women's Title which was initially co-branded), when they could've at least kept the European Title on Smackdown to be the IC Title equivalent and avoided all the unnecessary unification matches that year. Coincidentally, Lesnar countering the Tombstone into the F5 seen here was infamously also how The Streak ended years later.
That running electric chair drop from Jamie Noble looked great. Kind of wish we saw someone do that in wrestling. Although, it is probably a dangerous move, considering they are running while performing the move.
I legit just finished rewatching this on DVD mere minutes ago. This was one of the first PPVs I remember watching when I was a kid and looking back knowing stuff, it’s absolutely incredible how horny SmackDown was
Quick correction: When the brand split first began, the permanent home of the WWE Tag Titles (which became the World Tag Titles) was Smackdown. They only became Raw-exclusive during the whole "open season" BS, when the Un-Americans left SD for Raw. In the month between Unforgiven 2002 and this PPV, there were only two titles on SD: WWE and Cruiserweight.
I remember watching 'WWE No Mercy 2002' with a friend & his older brother at their dad & step-mom's house. Good times... I was in the second semester of my 7th grade year of middle school when this WWE Pay-Per-View took place.
Dawn Marie/Torrie Wilson storyline was one of my favorite storylines growing up. I remember as a kid watching SD because it was the "wrestling show" and it had The Smackdown Six and Torrie.
Still in-ring active all these years later: Chris Jericho (AEW) Christian (AEW) Dustin Runnels (AEW) Rob Van Dam (Sporadic/Part Time) Tajiri (Active in Japan, I believe) Edge (AEW) Rey Mysterio (WWE) Trish Stratus (WWE Part time run) Brock Lesnar (WWE Part time)
Undertaker putting over Lesnar is arguably the bloodiest HiaC Match, IMHO, did even more for Lesnar than his win over The Rock at Summerslam. Getting that kinda rub is every wrestler’s dream.
Thank you for these videos, Brian. Your takes on the action and commentary about the era and the industry at this time are always spot on. I didn't realize as a teenager how many times The King said horrible things.
Just for context with the Big Show - after Vengeance a lot of wrestlers jumped between shows but after Unforgiven in storyline the board put a stop to the brand jumping and put a rule in place that a wrestler could only move if the GMs agreed to make a trade. Big Show got traded for D-Von and Val Venis.
I was there that night. Was a freshman in college and my older brother and I went. Funny enough we went up to the ticket office the day the tickets went on sale and got there around 4am. We were third in line, behind a couple guys I went to high school with, and behind us was this smelly lady from Tulsa, OK with a tank top who was super excited to see Kevin Nash (he had a meet and greet). After they finally let us in to the arena, we had to set in the seats and they would call us by our section. Of course, people were just getting up from everywhere to go get tickets so we did too. Anyways, we got our seats, we were on the side facing the hard cam, about 6 rows up just to the right of the stairs. You can see me in a grey hoodie and my brother in a dark sweatshirt and glasses on the show when wrestlers got on the right top rope. On this video you can see me around 3:56 when Jericho does the top rope moonsault . Look for the person in the white shirt, Im the guy with a grey hoodie behind them. It was a fun show, got a few good pictures and completely forgot how many big name wrestlers wrestled that night. By the way, on the way home from getting our tickets in the morning, we saw the smelly lady walking to the bus stop. I guess she took a greyhound bus from Tulsa, Ok to North Little Rock, AR just to see Kevin Nash....big sexy still had it I guess
Oh man this is one of my early wrestling memories. I remember Brock Lesnar and Undertaker having this physical and very bloody Hell in a Cell match and the SmackDown Six tearing down the house week in week out. Great early memories of wrestling fandom.
I’m really enjoying these videos! I stopped watching around 2002 so missed the Katie Vick storyline (fortunately) and got back into wrestling at the end of 2010. These videos mean I can catch up on what I missed without having to watch eight years of PPVs.
I've said it before. The only man in pro wrestling that loves Brock Lesnar more than Paul and Vince is the Undertaker. Taker put him over at ever possible occasion.
For the Katie Vick story, Vince has gone on record to say he made the storyline himself and thought that the fans were idiots for not thinking it is funny. He said this on a show that I think was called WWE Observer, or something to that effect. It was the "shoot" show that they had at the time. Edit: The show was called WWE Confidential
In my opinion, Lesnar vs. Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell in this PPV was an extremely graphic match that I've ever seen. Both men bleeding profusely with Paul Heyman definitely brought the color into this battle.
I have to agree, this timeframe was a really fun time to be a fan. If you wanted heavy stories, you'd watch RAW. If you wanted in-ring competition, you'd watch SmackDown. Both shows had their identities and you'd watch either for different reasons.
No Mercy 2002 was an amazing PPV Torrie Wilson Vs Dawn Marie was a great match that storyline was crazy undertaker Vs Brock Lesnar inside Hell in a cell was amazing i still don't know why They Decided to unify the IC and World Title during Triple H Vs Kane match even they the European and Hardcore titles were deactivated earlier in the year glad WWE brought back the IC Title in May 2003 awesome Review Brian You're the best.
@@FreeThinkAlwayslol I know right and also about Kane Vs Triple H why would WWE get rid of the IC Title when Triple H beat kane since the hardcore and European title were deactivated earlier in the year plus WWE only had one singles Men's title and that was the world Heavyweight title glad they brought back the IC Title 7-months later.
Triple H made Raw borderline unwatchable during this time. It got so tedious. This storyline was AWFUL for Kane and getting rid of the IC Title was pointless (they brought it back like 6 months after this anyway). Edge and Rey vs. Benoit and Angle was fantastic. Trish vs. Victoria was an underrated rivalry. Taker vs. Brock was one of the best HIAC matches ever.
Bad news Zane you are going to talk about No mercy 2002 Zane: but that was a good show Me: I meaning it because you are going to have to talk about Katie Vick and Al Wilson on the same show Zane:noooooooo
Just forgot how incredible that match was between Taker and Brock. Taker did cement him as a main eventer after his match with The Rock at Summerslam. Funny, I thought we were seeing the last few appearances of the Undertaker in 2003.
Best Cell match ever. The atmosphere is claustrophobic as fuck, two absolute alphas in the midst of their epic feud, both in physically beast level shape, violent as hell, blood everywhere, storyline was class, for the top belt, took a monster like Lesnar and legit made him look unconquerable by giving Taker his first legit CLEAN loss in a Cell match. Every single box ticked. Perfect carnage. Never been a Cell like it since.
In my opinion, the only valid reason as to why they got rid of the Intercontinental Championship around this time is because it still had the WWF Attitude Era logo. This was around that time when they were getting rid of anything that had that logo on it and any mention of WWF. (Remember the whole Get The F out campaign they had from May all the way to end of that year.) Hence why the European and Hardcore was retired and why the Tag Team titles would get a new design by the end of the year.
That doesn't a lot sense tho for the IC title Because why would you need to deactivate the title for almost a year Just to bring back the same belt with a different logo 🤨 Just make a new belt then swap it out
I've heard so many things about Angle & Benoit/Mysterio & Edge but never seen any footage, but goodness me that match looks like it ruled based on the highlights shown here. Looks like it would hold up well today, will have to watch it fully for myself at some point in the future
I never understood the Last Ride kickout by grabbing the ropes - you can pin on the outside of the ring in a HIAC match, so why does grabbing the ropes break up a pin?
The main event to this ppv is my favorite match ever. I saw it live when I was 3. My dad bought it because it was in Little Rock which is two hours from where we lived. So hype your covering this
I was at the "Go-Home" RAW in Montreal the week prior.. When this Necro stuff started, I honest to god considered just leaving halfway through the show. It just reeked of "Trying too hard to be edgy".
Great timing for this review with No Mercy recently returning in NXT form. As a whole, this show was very entertaining, and the HIAC Match may be the bloodiest I've ever seen. Also, here's to hoping that Judgment Day '03 will be reviewed in the future as it reintroduced the IC Title with a seven-man battle royal. S/N: I always loved the poster for this show as it was simple, yet memorable with Kane's half-mask displayed on a black background.
The Taker/Kane into at the beginning of the POV was classic:
Kane sits next to Taker and asks, “How was your week?” Taker just stares back
Loved Brian using it as the frame for the SD 4:3 footage
lol yep, both "Supernatural brothers of destruction" suddenly were trying to explain their "regular life issues". WAS SO WEIRD. lol
Like a damn Far Side panel.
The domestic sibling love moments between the BOD never fail to make me smile. Like their characters are monsters who routinely torment and torture others, but they still check in with each other like totally normal loving brothers.
@@pendafen7405 When they're not trying to send each other to Hell anyway.
One of the forgotten aspect of the Katie Vick story, as Brian mentioned, is Kane had one of his best runs before that with the IC and Tag Team Title. He also won the TLC match from the RAW Roulette by himself, one of his best performance.
And the line "for the first time of my life, I'm happy" was the open door for a nice evolution of his character, being more human than ever, after a first attempt with X Pac in 1999.
But that storyline killed everything. And in retrospect, it would have been a better time to unmask just after that because considering how awful that stuff was, we would have understood why Kane went psycho like he did in 2003😅
Hurricane got kicked out of TLC 4 because they wanted Kane to look even more badass by going solo against three other teams (Jericho & Christian, Jeff & RVD, and the Dudleyz 2.0)
Brian Zane imitating Triple H is pure gold I had to rewind it a few times...😂😂😂😂😂😂
Kane losing to Triple H at No Mercy still hurts.
And even worse we lost the Intercontinental title for months because of it
The storyline hurt
@@MazeDaGr8 it was going to be lost no matter who won
Facts I've always hated hhh because of what he did to us kane fans.
@@ericthomas917 Yeah but you know what I mean
The whole Katie Vick angle brutally retconned Kane’s character down the crapper!
Well Kane's character was down the crapper long before this storyline
@@ericmonaco4509I did like comedic Kane. By 99', I grew a bit tired of the big red machine. There were a lot of decisions I didn't like. For example him losing at Unforgiven in the Inferno, I think Undertaker should've lost that match. Losing the title in a day (I love Stone Cold but that felt like unnecessary backstage politics).
Seeing a more comedic Kane was a bit more fun and relaxed but what they did with his 03' heel turn was insane character work (they should've still left the mask on though)
Yes Katie Vick storyline is so bad, it's offensive to common decency and Kane not winning the title at No Mercy 2002... Well I don't know how to insult it since he was a drunk-driving necrophile... Look with a much, MUCH better build, he should've won.
I legit laughed when Kane survived the low blows and a SLEDGEHAMMER TO THE HEAD, but was unable to kick out from the Pedigree. That’s our Hunter!
Any time Edge and Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros, and Kurt and Chris Benoit were in tag team action against each other, the action was unstoppable.
This tag match at No Mercy is still one the greatest tag matches of all time
6 guys with so many possibilities. As opposed to the mile long roster of AEW with nothing to do
I just realised something with Smackdown Six era Smackdown...where were Team Angle during this? I imagine that they hadn't debuted yet because they could've replaced Angle and Benoit so it frees up Angle to do main event stuff.
Don't ask a man their salary, don't ask a woman their weight, and don't ask WWE who the first RAW Tag Team Champions are.
Lesnar vs Taker was a classic hell in a cell bloodbath. I never forget how a young Brock literally manhandled Undertaker to reverse him into the F5. Uncanny strength
So boring. I nearly fell asleep. Blood doesnt always mean good or better.
@marvellis6762 I definitely agree. A barbaric blood bath. I would put it up there with taker vs Shawn michaels Badd Blood 1997 and Cactus Jack vs Triple H NWO 2000. This match MADE Brock Lesnar.
First ever HIAC Undertaker vs Michael's is still my favourite match of all time. I was 16 then and 43 now. Total perfection from big man vs little man
That image of bikertaker and kane sitting next to one another is a core memory unlocked for me
Bikertaker lol
I imagine the logic behind deactivating the IC Title was because Smackdown didn't have a corresponding midcard title at the time (the US Title wouldn't get brought back until mid-2003), so the idea was likely for each brand to have one traditional singles title (WHC & WWE), one pair of tag titles (World & WWE), & one title unique to that show (Women's & Cruiserweight). Yeah, it was stupid to remove a title with such a lineage instead of simply bringing back the US Title earlier to keep things equal, but I can at least see the logic they were going with.
That's actually an interesting theory
RAW had the European and Hardcore titles too and got rid of those unifying them with the IC Title earlier in the year. I feel like it could have been easy to just have the European Title on Smackdown and have it be the IC Title equivalent around this time
I always thought they did it as a way to write off the “WWF” Design of the Belt and then introduce the WWE version of it at a later time which they ended up doing.
Furthermore it was folded into the WHC to add legitimacy to the created-out-of-thin-air belt.
@@chandlersbryant4047 They could have easily done that without deactivating the title just make a new belt
2002 was the most transitional year in WWE history.
Katy Vick, the storyline which poured cold water over the whole WWE was better that WCW talk.
2002 was a wild time in the WWE, but fond memories.
Brock Lesnar debut was awesome
Best Summerslam
Taker vs Lesnar is a top 5 cell match and that reverse tomstone and into an F5 was a beauty.
It's in my top 5 worst list. Boring
@@marcohavokkhaos It's your opinion and your entitled to it but I disagree it was an awesome and brutal brawl that had the fans attention and really helped establish Brock even more as a main eventer
@@marcohavokkhaos yeah. worse than today's lame non spicy matches
I liked the match too but damn I was so concerned that Taker had hit an artery and was gonna bleed to death.
Paul Heyman getting beat up and laughing/shouting later with his bloodied face was funny
If the Katie Vick story aligned with Kane's origin story then it could've made some sense. Let's say Katie Vick was the nurse that cared for of Kane when he was scarred in his youth. Then Kane has his way with her. Something like that could've been believable.
Similarly, the time Taker spent with the woman 7 years ago was weird because wasn’t he a supernatural zombie back then?
It would've made more sense if the nurse wasn't actually caring.
@@jp3813correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Paul Bearer abusing Kane growing up as well? If so, then having another authority figure in Kane's life essentially abuse him might be a bit repetitive for a back story.
@@TheZipding I don't recall that. One would think that Taker would've brought that up repeatedly in hopes that his brother would stop following Bearer. But it's hard to root for a character who defiled an innocent nurse.
Brian's imitation of Ripple Heche-ah is always a hit for me 😂😂😂
The fact that Lesnar has primarily beaten Taker in a majority of their matches against eachother including two Hell In A Cell matches
Still gets me as a huge Taker fan
He was UT's Kryptonite ....they should have told that story at mania 30
Kane has a mask on and killled his parents and has the nerve to ask hhh"what is wrong with you" 😂😂😂
Kane didnt kill his parents it was Undertaker
@@ericmonaco4509 oh yeah it was. Well he still burned Paul Bearrer set various wrestler and frickin announcers on fire among various things that makes that comment having no buisness coming from that burned mouth
I love the flashes out of the crowd when a big move, wither off the top rope or signature moves done. It makes it feel more significant and helps draw you in !!
The IC/World Title Unification reeks of 2002 HHH
I love when you look back at 2002 as if was the very beginning of my fandom, it’s interesting to see what I remember and what I erased from my brain. I had completely forgotten that Katie Vick was also a murderer because her storyline killed my favourite championship.
I went to this PPV as a 5 year old kid. I had just gotten into wrestling this year and it was so cool to be there. My dad didn’t want me to chant “You Suck” at Kurt Angle even though everyone else did, and I slept the whole way home. Still the only PPV to be in Arkansas, wish we could get another!
The domestic sibling love moments between the BOD never fail to make me smile. Like their characters are monster who torment and torture others, but they still check in with each other like totally normal loving brothers.
With No Austin, I zoned out a little during this period. It's always fun to see what was going on post attitude era, pre cena days. The good, and the BAD.
The Tazz impression during the Dawn/torrie match had me cackling
I LOVED the Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson matches, for reasons beyond "The Obvious", I felt they had good chemistry in the ring. Their matches are STILL fun to watch and revisit (and yes, that weird hotel room manipulation scene isn't terrible either).
Same! For how limited they were, they made good matches that felt almost real.
Undertaker could have gotten out of that whole adultery story by saying "7 years ago, you slept with Underfaker"😂
You saying Arkansas Bill Clinton Country makes me think of The King Of The Hill episode where Buck Strickland takes Bobby gambling in Arkansas and when Hank drives though Hot Springs, Arkansas the welcome sign says hometown of Bill Clinton and Hank locks his truck as he drives past 😂
When the brand split began the World Tag Team Titles actually ended up on Smackdown at first with Billy & Chuck. It was after they lost them to Hogan & Edge that summer, who subsequently lost them to Storm & Christian, who got traded with the titles that they ended up on Raw. That all lead to Smackdown introducing their own WWE Tag Titles here. This also lead to them redesigning the World Tag Titles, getting rid of the classic Tag Team Title design dating back to the 80's as this was one of the last shows with that design. Looking back its weird that in the original 2002 Draft they had the Intercontinental, European and Hardcore Titles all end up on Raw (along with the Women's Title which was initially co-branded), when they could've at least kept the European Title on Smackdown to be the IC Title equivalent and avoided all the unnecessary unification matches that year.
Coincidentally, Lesnar countering the Tombstone into the F5 seen here was infamously also how The Streak ended years later.
Had this show on VHS when I was a kid and wore the tape out replaying the Brock vs Undertaker match so much nostalgia watching this again
@5:54 Funaki kinda recovered that interview segment at the end when he said "It seems Al doesn't understand English". That made me laugh.
That running electric chair drop from Jamie Noble looked great. Kind of wish we saw someone do that in wrestling. Although, it is probably a dangerous move, considering they are running while performing the move.
Nova had something similar in "The Scream Machine" except the opponent went forward and landed face-first on the mat.
I legit just finished rewatching this on DVD mere minutes ago. This was one of the first PPVs I remember watching when I was a kid and looking back knowing stuff, it’s absolutely incredible how horny SmackDown was
Many kids likely appreciated that back then.
Horny or corny?
Quick correction: When the brand split first began, the permanent home of the WWE Tag Titles (which became the World Tag Titles) was Smackdown. They only became Raw-exclusive during the whole "open season" BS, when the Un-Americans left SD for Raw. In the month between Unforgiven 2002 and this PPV, there were only two titles on SD: WWE and Cruiserweight.
I remember watching 'WWE No Mercy 2002' with a friend & his older brother at their dad & step-mom's house.
Good times...
I was in the second semester of my 7th grade year of middle school when this WWE Pay-Per-View took place.
Dawn Marie/Torrie Wilson storyline was one of my favorite storylines growing up. I remember as a kid watching SD because it was the "wrestling show" and it had The Smackdown Six and Torrie.
My nan bought me this on dvd for christmas in 2002! Watched it countless times as a kid, still have it to this day ❤
Brock vs Undertaker v1 might be the most brutal (looking) Cell match ever. and i love it
When I read that the Smackdown tag title match was voted Match of the Year by the Observer I went back and watched it. Incredible.
It also blew my mind when they discontinued the IC belt…
I was a huge Kerry Von Erich fan and was absolutely thrilled when he won the IC strap
The classic singlet, if worn by the right wrestler, can be the most creatively satisfying ring gear out there. Think RVD & Kurt Angle
Still in-ring active all these years later:
Chris Jericho (AEW)
Christian (AEW)
Dustin Runnels (AEW)
Rob Van Dam (Sporadic/Part Time)
Tajiri (Active in Japan, I believe)
Edge (AEW)
Rey Mysterio (WWE)
Trish Stratus (WWE Part time run)
Brock Lesnar (WWE Part time)
Rey hitting the 619 on Chris while he was holding the cross face was sick.
One of the greatest tag team matches of all time to one of the best hell in the cell of all time happy memories of my childhood 👊
Undertaker putting over Lesnar is arguably the bloodiest HiaC Match, IMHO, did even more for Lesnar than his win over The Rock at Summerslam. Getting that kinda rub is every wrestler’s dream.
Thank you for these videos, Brian. Your takes on the action and commentary about the era and the industry at this time are always spot on. I didn't realize as a teenager how many times The King said horrible things.
I have to say, 2002 Kane was my favourite. Loved the half mask, and Glen Jacobs was in the best shape of his career.
Christopher Nowinski was Andre Chase before Andre Chase
Just for context with the Big Show - after Vengeance a lot of wrestlers jumped between shows but after Unforgiven in storyline the board put a stop to the brand jumping and put a rule in place that a wrestler could only move if the GMs agreed to make a trade. Big Show got traded for D-Von and Val Venis.
I was there that night. Was a freshman in college and my older brother and I went. Funny enough we went up to the ticket office the day the tickets went on sale and got there around 4am. We were third in line, behind a couple guys I went to high school with, and behind us was this smelly lady from Tulsa, OK with a tank top who was super excited to see Kevin Nash (he had a meet and greet). After they finally let us in to the arena, we had to set in the seats and they would call us by our section. Of course, people were just getting up from everywhere to go get tickets so we did too. Anyways, we got our seats, we were on the side facing the hard cam, about 6 rows up just to the right of the stairs. You can see me in a grey hoodie and my brother in a dark sweatshirt and glasses on the show when wrestlers got on the right top rope. On this video you can see me around 3:56 when Jericho does the top rope moonsault . Look for the person in the white shirt, Im the guy with a grey hoodie behind them. It was a fun show, got a few good pictures and completely forgot how many big name wrestlers wrestled that night. By the way, on the way home from getting our tickets in the morning, we saw the smelly lady walking to the bus stop. I guess she took a greyhound bus from Tulsa, Ok to North Little Rock, AR just to see Kevin Nash....big sexy still had it I guess
Jericho saying "How you doin?" just fits.
Oh man this is one of my early wrestling memories. I remember Brock Lesnar and Undertaker having this physical and very bloody Hell in a Cell match and the SmackDown Six tearing down the house week in week out.
Great early memories of wrestling fandom.
Luckily Takers arm got fit whilst the match, so he could give some punches and even a choke slam with it. ;-)
@@apri1979Hey man, doctor gave him the shot, even though it was unethical.
Shocked AL Wilson never got his own video on this channel.
I’m really enjoying these videos! I stopped watching around 2002 so missed the Katie Vick storyline (fortunately) and got back into wrestling at the end of 2010. These videos mean I can catch up on what I missed without having to watch eight years of PPVs.
No mercy to this day in my opinion is still the greatest wrestling game ever!
...Tracy the Mistress?
No wonder we all forgot about her.
Wild that 3/4 of the opener is still active in AEW in 2023
I always thought Christopher Nowinski was one of the biggest heels. He had real "go away" heat!
Brian uploading makes an already good day, even better. Especially if it's of a PPV from 2002 - 2008.
Undertaker legit made Brock on this show
I've said it before. The only man in pro wrestling that loves Brock Lesnar more than Paul and Vince is the Undertaker. Taker put him over at ever possible occasion.
Angle and Benoit were Team Hell No version 1.0
Honestly Jamie Noble is my pick for greatest Cruiserweight Champ of all time. That due was fantastic.
Pete Rose was great in that commercial
Alltel Arena? That's a name I haven't heard in ages. Brings me back to watching the Arkansas Twisters
Love love love Ruthless Aggression PPV reviews
Facts
For the Katie Vick story, Vince has gone on record to say he made the storyline himself and thought that the fans were idiots for not thinking it is funny. He said this on a show that I think was called WWE Observer, or something to that effect. It was the "shoot" show that they had at the time.
Edit: The show was called WWE Confidential
Yeah he said something like “having sex with a female dead person is arguably pretty funny”
I'm glad WWE eventually realized getting rid of the Intercontinental Title was a bad idea.
In my opinion, Lesnar vs. Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell in this PPV was an extremely graphic match that I've ever seen. Both men bleeding profusely with Paul Heyman definitely brought the color into this battle.
'We would get one of those in a few years but not him'
Wow
I have to agree, this timeframe was a really fun time to be a fan. If you wanted heavy stories, you'd watch RAW. If you wanted in-ring competition, you'd watch SmackDown. Both shows had their identities and you'd watch either for different reasons.
No Mercy 2002 was an amazing PPV Torrie Wilson Vs Dawn Marie was a great match that storyline was crazy undertaker Vs Brock Lesnar inside Hell in a cell was amazing i still don't know why They Decided to unify the IC and World Title during Triple H Vs Kane match even they the European and Hardcore titles were deactivated earlier in the year glad WWE brought back the IC Title in May 2003 awesome Review Brian You're the best.
First time I've ever heard anyone say torrie Wilson had a great match
@@FreeThinkAlwayslol I know right and also about Kane Vs Triple H why would WWE get rid of the IC Title when Triple H beat kane since the hardcore and European title were deactivated earlier in the year plus WWE only had one singles Men's title and that was the world Heavyweight title glad they brought back the IC Title 7-months later.
Triple H made Raw borderline unwatchable during this time. It got so tedious. This storyline was AWFUL for Kane and getting rid of the IC Title was pointless (they brought it back like 6 months after this anyway).
Edge and Rey vs. Benoit and Angle was fantastic.
Trish vs. Victoria was an underrated rivalry.
Taker vs. Brock was one of the best HIAC matches ever.
Next month The Historic Survivor Series 2002 in Madison Square Garden 1st Elimination Chamber Match.
Bad news Zane you are going to talk about No mercy 2002
Zane: but that was a good show
Me: I meaning it because you are going to have to talk about Katie Vick and Al Wilson on the same show
Zane:noooooooo
Just forgot how incredible that match was between Taker and Brock. Taker did cement him as a main eventer after his match with The Rock at Summerslam. Funny, I thought we were seeing the last few appearances of the Undertaker in 2003.
That Brock/Taker feud from 2002 and mid-2003 is so ignored by modern-day WWE. It's a shame because this cell match was a classic.
17:25 That’s cold.
This is what HiaC is supposed to be. A brutal fight, not a spot fest it became later on.
It was spotfest in 1998 lmao 2002 one sucked, HHH vs Jericho was the way better
@@marcohavokkhaosthe Jericho and HHH hell in a cell match kinda sucked though
It was a spot fest long before this match
I don't remember the Tracy the mistress storyline with Taker, but Brian's take on it makes it sound so very Claire Lynch-esque.
Basically, it was a giant waste of time as it was actively happening
Was that Bubbles that I heard during the Big Show segment??? Awesome
The Green Bastard Parts Unknown
Best Cell match ever. The atmosphere is claustrophobic as fuck, two absolute alphas in the midst of their epic feud, both in physically beast level shape, violent as hell, blood everywhere, storyline was class, for the top belt, took a monster like Lesnar and legit made him look unconquerable by giving Taker his first legit CLEAN loss in a Cell match. Every single box ticked. Perfect carnage. Never been a Cell like it since.
In my opinion, the only valid reason as to why they got rid of the Intercontinental Championship around this time is because it still had the WWF Attitude Era logo. This was around that time when they were getting rid of anything that had that logo on it and any mention of WWF. (Remember the whole Get The F out campaign they had from May all the way to end of that year.)
Hence why the European and Hardcore was retired and why the Tag Team titles would get a new design by the end of the year.
That doesn't a lot sense tho for the IC title Because why would you need to deactivate the title for almost a year Just to bring back the same belt with a different logo 🤨 Just make a new belt then swap it out
The Ruthless Aggression Era Was Awesome At That Time, Especially Smackdown, Cool Review As Always Brian, You Have A Nice Day Sir
CNC Wrestle Factory is GOLD.
EVERYBODY CHRIS NOW!
I've heard so many things about Angle & Benoit/Mysterio & Edge but never seen any footage, but goodness me that match looks like it ruled based on the highlights shown here. Looks like it would hold up well today, will have to watch it fully for myself at some point in the future
The Tag Team Title match for SmackDown is an all time classic for me! 😁😁😁😁😁
One the best tag matches of all time.
@@venomousnate7263 Yup. 😁😁😁😁👍👍👍👍
Damn 2002 was not Triple H's year 😂
I never understood the Last Ride kickout by grabbing the ropes - you can pin on the outside of the ring in a HIAC match, so why does grabbing the ropes break up a pin?
Kane was once the top face on Raw. Man, what a time to be alive.
Also, the Big Show impression in the background ALWAYS pops me
Woohoo, second ever like from Brian!
That crazy moment when the 2nd rope went into business for itself, and broke on Jericho.
The whole HHH/Kane part was hilarious.
Absolute savage line Brian about getting the murderer champion years later.
The main event to this ppv is my favorite match ever. I saw it live when I was 3. My dad bought it because it was in Little Rock which is two hours from where we lived. So hype your covering this
I was at the "Go-Home" RAW in Montreal the week prior.. When this Necro stuff started, I honest to god considered just leaving halfway through the show. It just reeked of "Trying too hard to be edgy".
“We would get one of those in a few years, but not him.”
😂😂😂
Great timing for this review with No Mercy recently returning in NXT form. As a whole, this show was very entertaining, and the HIAC Match may be the bloodiest I've ever seen. Also, here's to hoping that Judgment Day '03 will be reviewed in the future as it reintroduced the IC Title with a seven-man battle royal.
S/N: I always loved the poster for this show as it was simple, yet memorable with Kane's half-mask displayed on a black background.
Benoit/Angle vs Edge/Rey will forever rank among my favorite Tag Team matches ever.
Hall of famer Tori Wilson
I think you should do Unforgiven 02 soon, that show is SO nostalgic to me.