PPV REVIEW: WWF Backlash 2002

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Event poster
April 21, 2002, 
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri. 

Much had changed in the World Wrestling Federation in  the month between Wrestlemania X8 and Backlash 2002.

Following his iconic performance against The Rock, Hulk Hogan had fully severed ties with the New World Order and resurrected the Red and Yellow.

Yes, Hulkamania was well and truly running wild towards a nostalgia-fueled main event run for Hogan, leading to him challenging Triple H for the Undisputed title on tonight's show.

In the meantime, the company had also executed their first draft, telling us that Superstars and owners would be exclusive to either Raw or Smackdown and then completely disregarding that rule.

Literally on the very first show of the Brand Extension era, Smackdown boss Vince McMahon turned up on Raw and basically said "I know I'm not supposed to be here, but F**k it, I am anyway."

This made the show the first PPV since the first draft, as well as the first show at the Kemper Arena since the tragedy of Over the Edge 1999






Yet as much as it was a show of firsts, it was also a show of lasts, being the last PPV to take place in North America before the WWF became the WWE. It wasn't technically the last PPV of the brand era as the company would run a UK PPV a few weeks later, but since I'm not entirely show how much anyone actually gave a damn about those events, this was essentially the last hoorah for WWF PPV in America.

Anyway, with that long and winding intro out of the way, let's get on and review the show. 

The Game vs. The Icon 

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Jim Ross & Jerry 'The King' Lawler called the event
Backlash 2002 show started with a dramatic opening video for tonight’s main event, an all-babyface clash between WWF Undisputed Champion Triple H and Hulk Hogan.

A compelling video, this one saw Hogan talking about how desperately he needed to become the champion to prove that the legacy of Hulkamania wasn’t all a dream while Triple H talked about how he would go to any lengths to retain the title.

It was good stuff as these videos usually always were.

Moving to the live show, crowd shots from the arena and WWF New York followed as Jim Ross and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler welcomed us to the show and Tajiri’s music hit in readiness for our opening contest.

World Wrestling Federation Cruiserweight Championship 
WWF Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman vs. Tajiri (w/ Torrie Wilson)

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Torrie Wilson
Tajiri
had recently turned heel, placing Torrie in the role of ‘reluctant girlfriend who puts up with her evil boyfriend’s crap but will predictably get sick of it and leave him.’

Almost immediately, this seemed like a way to realign her with Kidman, and honestly, if that meant we got more matches like this one, that’s not a bad thing at all.

This was a stormer of an opening match in which the highlight wasn’t any fancy move or special high spot, but simply the sheer ferocity with which the challenger tried to kick the champion’s head off.

Seriously, these were the kind of kicks that make you wince and go “ooof” even though you know full well that pro wrestling is a work.

It was good stuff, and only part of what made this the best PPV openers of the year so far.

In the end, Tajiri won thanks to Evil Mist and a roll up. 
Your Winner and new Cruiserweight Champion: Tajiri

Post-match, Michael Cole tried to get a word with the new champion but Tajiri gave his whole promo in Japanese so who knows what he said?

An APA Reunion 

Farooq and Bradshaw had been split up in the draft. In the last Smackdown before said draft took effect, the two had closed the APA office for good in what had, surprisingly, been a genuinely touching moment.

The following week on Raw, the New World Order had taken over the office and graffitied the door, leading to a feud of sorts between Bradshaw and Scott Hall.

Those two would meet next, but first, Farooq and Bradshaw reunited backstage with the latter clearly calling his partner “Ron” despite the announcers still exclusively using the name Farooq.

Scott Hall (w/ X-Pac) vs. Bradshaw (w/ Farooq)

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Farooq & Bradshaw reunited after being split by the draft
A year shy of a decade since the 123 Kid upset Razor Ramon, X-Pac accompanied Scott Hall to the ring and proceeded to give the nWo the numbers advantage against a solo Bradshaw until the APA’s music hit again and Farooq stormed to ringside to even the score.

It was a cool moment, sure, but surely it would have been even cooler if they’d made it a surprise and kept the reunion until after the match, rather than before it.

Speaking of the match, all I’m going to say is this:

Jim Ross spent most of the latter part of the bout repeatedly telling us that the match was “bowling shoe ugly,” which as we all know was JR’s way of saying “this is awful.”

Scott Hall won with a bowling shoe ugly roll-up.
Your Winner: Scott Hall 

Backstage, Ric Flair was in his office talking with his assistant/lackey/buddy/whatever-he-was Arn Anderson when Vince McMahon barged in with no other agenda than to basically troll the Nature Boy for a bit.

After spending some time winding up Flair, Vince gave him a sly nod and wink while hinting that Flair may not be the upstanding babyface he was pretending to be.

“I will NEVER be like Vince McMahon,” insisted Flair, adamantly.

“No,” replied Vince. “But you can try.”

OK, I laughed at that.

World Wrestling Federation Women’s Championship 
WWF Women’s Champion Jazz vs. Trish Stratus

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Trish Stratus challenged Jazz for the women's title
Before this one got underway, Molly Holly marched to ringside to have a word with Trish Stratus.

Molly had recently turned heel, first by waffling Hurricane with a frying pan back at Wrestlemania X8, then by kicking his arse on the first post-Mania Smackdown, and then taking the stance that all of the other divas were sluts with low morals.

Holly had tried to beat Trish with a handful of tights to win a shot at Jazz’s title but Stratus had reversed the pin attempt, grabbed a handful of tights of her own and earned the win.

Tonight, Holly confronted Trish about her cheating ways and the two got into it for a bit before Jazz came down to get this short match underway.

Although it wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful either, and it was pretty clear that both women tried to do the best they could with what they had.

After a few minutes or so-so action, Jazz put the STF on her opponent to retain her title.
Your Winner and Still Women’s Champion: Jazz

Post match, some interviewer called Mr. Michael WhoTFAmI RandomDude tried to get a word with Jazz and pointed a microphone in her face but the women’s champion said nothing, probably because she had no idea who this stranger was.

Seriously, who was this dude? For a split second I thought it was Kevin Kelly, but there’s two problems with that theory:

The guy was too young to be Kevin Kelly
The guy looked nothing like Kevin Kelly.

He sounded like Chris Jericho and looked kinda like a British ventriloquist called Paul Zerdin and...never mind, I just found out his name is Marc Lloyd, though personally, I think Michael WhoTFAmI is a way better name.

Paul Heyman - Panty Sniffer

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Brock Lesnar wrestled his debut match against Jeff Hardy
The night after Wrestlemania 18, Brock Lesnar had made his debut by interfering in a Hardcore match between Maven and Al Snow and killing everybody involved dead.

For the next few weeks, the future Mr. Sable went around destroying people at random while his agent, Paul Heyman soaked it up. 

Recently, Heyman had tried to use having Lesnar in his camp to his advantage by playing with Lita’s underwear and insinuating that if she didn’t give him sexy times, he’d have Lesnar take out her boyfriend, Matt Hardy.

Lita didn’t give him sexy times, so Lesnar made good on the promise to beat Hardy up while Heyman frolicked around in a bag of Lita’s panties like a kid rustling through a haul of Halloween candy.

With Matt out of action, it was up to Jeff Hardy to avenge his brother in what would be Lesnar’s first official match.

First though, it was promo time.

In that promo, the sleazy panty sniffer put over Lesnar as The Next Big Thing.

To his credit, Heyman was at least correct on that one.

Jeff Hardy (w/ Lita) vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Paul Heyman leads Brock Lesnar into battle
And so, Big Brock’s debut match saw him demolish Jeff Hardy from pillar to post in an utterly sadistic fashion.

An elevated squash, this was made all the more entertaining by the last-minute hope spot Jeff pulled out of his pocket, electrifying the crowd with a comeback that made him look -if only for a fleeting moment- that he might actually prevail.

Alas, it wasn’t to be Hardy’s night. 

Lesnar took great pleasure in pulverizing his opponent until Teddy Long was forced to stop the match to stop Jeff Hardy’s organs from literally being splattered all over the ring.
Your Winner via Referee Stoppage: Brock Lesnar  

After a quick look at the rivalry between Edge and Kurt Angle, the two locked up in our next match.

Kurt Angle vs. Edge 

And what a match it was.

This was very good indeed. It was one of those matches that looks like it might be a little underwhelming at first but then builds and builds into an all-out, balls-to-the-wall classic that has you on the edge of your seat.

Though it was definitely Edge’s finest hour as a solo star at this point in his career, that didn’t mean he was to walk away with a victory.

After a scorcher of a match, the Olympic Gold Medalist hit the Angle Slam for the cover, the count, and the fall.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle

Jerry Lawler had enjoyed the match so much that he gave Kurt a standing ovation.

Chris Jericho’s Got Hurt Feelings

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Chris Jericho had nothing to do on the show
After a weird edit that it made it seem like they cut something out of the show, we jumped to Chris Jericho marching down to ringside.

The first-ever Undisputed Champion was out to bemoan the fact that he’d gone from main eventing Wrestlemania to not having a match on tonight’s card, all within the space of a month.

If you think about it, that’s a fairly legitimate complaint.

Still, despite not being booked, Jericho didn’t want all of that bouncing on a trampoline in his underoos to go to waste, so he lambasted the crowd, talked about his feelings being hurt, and then went home.

Taker Warns Flair

Well, he didn’t really warn him as much as he did walk into the Raw boss’s office, stare him down a bit and point a finger at him as if to say ‘just you watch yourself, mister.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship 
WWF Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Eddie Guerrero

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Eddie Guerrero battled Rob Van Dam
After recently returning to the company, Eddie Guerrero made his first PPV appearance since WWA - The Revolution earlier that year and his first WWF PPV appearance since facing Brian Christopher WWF Insurrection 2001, all in the name of dethroning Rob Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship.

To that end, he was successful. A quick smack upside his opponent’s head with the title belt and a beautiful frog splash gave Latino Heat the win, but that wasn’t what was really important here.

What was really important was that this match was awesome. Like, just non-stop solid wrestling that was a joy to watch. 

It even produced a chuckle at one point, though that was due to Jim Ross.

Giving the match a notable backstory, he and King talked about how both men used the frog splash as a finisher.

“Well, let me ask you, JR. Who was the first person in the WWF you saw using the frog splash?” Asked Lawler, insinuating that RVD had stolen the move.

“D’Lo Brown,” answered Ross, bluntly.

“Well, OK then,” replied King. “Who was the second?”

Everything about this match was a lot of fun.
Your Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: Eddie Guerrero

After Jim Ross spent time shilling The Rock’s movie, The Scorpion King as though his life depended on it, we got a video package looking at how Steve Austin and The Undertaker had come to face off to earn a title shot.

That match was next.

Number One Contender’s Match for a shot at the Undisputed Championship 
The Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin 

Special Referee: Ric Flair

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Undertaker wrestled Steve Austin
Steve Austin
and The Undertaker had a weird of history of sometimes having excellent matches and sometimes being dull and tedious. 

Their matches at WWF Rock Bottom and WWF In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell didn’t do it for me at all whereas their their bouts at Summerslam 1998 and Judgement Day 2001 absolutely delivered. 

This one somehow managed to be the best and worst of Austin/Taker all rolled into one match. 

The first half was a very fun, engaging match with a lot to enjoy, but then the second half of a match that went nigh-on half an hour really started to drag.

The first part saw Austin bust out some technical wrestling and both match bringing their A-Game, but as time went on it gradually deteriorated.

At one point, Hall and X-Pac came and stood in the entranceway and watched the match.

They didn’t interfere or get involved in any way, they just stood there. By the time the match was over they were nowhere to be seen, making their presence entirely pointless.

Later, Flair got ref-bumped and spent ten days knocked out. I know Naitch was getting on a bit, but let’s not forget that he just wrestled a whole match with ‘Taker a month before and now we’re supposed to believe that one little bump could knock him out for ages?

Was there really something about putting on a referee shirt that made people absolute weaklings?

Anyway, after a long effort, Undertaker kicked a chair in Austin’s face and pinned him.

Stone Cold got his foot on the ropes but Flair didn’t see it and gave the fall to Booger Red.
Your Winner: The Undertaker

Afterwards, Austin gave his rival a stunner and drank a beer while Jonathan Coachman showed Flair footage of the finish.

“Mr. Flair, what do you have to say about that?” Asked Coach.

“Aw, shit,” replied Flair.

Weird that they didn’t beep that.

World Wrestling World Tag Championship 
WWF Tag Team Champions Billy & Chuck (w/ Rico) vs. Maven & Al Snow

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Billy, Chuck, and Rico
I don’t care what anyone says, Billy & Chuck were an entertaining tag team. Adding Rico, their stylist, into the mix only made them more so.

Maven & Al Snow?

Not so much.

Maven’s whole gimmick was that he won Tough Enough yet wasn’t quite good enough to hang with the main roster, which doesn’t really say much about Tough Enough, does it?

Anyway, the match was fine and had some fun spots which elevated it above and beyond the ‘ cool down the crowd before the main event’ role it was so obviously meant to fulfil.

Unsurprisingly given that nobody cared about Maven & Al Snow, Billy & Chuck retained their titles.

Finally, it was time for our main event.

Undisputed World Wrestling Federation Championship 
Undisputed WWF Champion Triple H vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan 

WWE / WWF Backlash 2002 - Hulk Hogan vs. Triple H
Earlier in the show, a fan’s sign pointed out that Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan was essentially Triple H vs. Triple H and that’s all I’ve been able to think about for the whole show.

Obviously, this wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but if you’re watching a Hulk Hogan match for technical wrestling then you’re probably the same person that watches hardcore nudey films for the romance.

Besides, it was still very good, and probably the best actual wrestling match Hogan had been involved in for years. OK, so it didn’t have the same kind of Once in a Lifetime feel as his ‘Mania match, but Hogan vs. Rock was a spectacle first and a wrestling match second.

Hogan vs. Triple H was all about Hogan putting in some decent effort to prove he could hang with The Game...

...At least it was until the whole story boiled down to the champion wearing down the challenger with a figure four, a sleeper, and other “let’s lie on the mat and do nothing” holds which nearly sent this writer to sleep.

Eventually, things picked up and we got cameos from Chris Jericho and The Undertaker.

Y2J tried to help Hunter to win while ‘Taker apparently had his eye on using his title shot to face Hogan for the gold.

Neither were successful as both HHH and HHH saw off the invaders and proved that they wanted to do this without anyone’s help.

Eventually, after a good bit of Hulking Up, Hogan dropped the leg on Helmsley to win his first WWF title since Wrestlemania 9.
Your Winner and New Undisputed Champion: Hulk Hogan

Afterwards, a battered and bloody Triple H stared down Hogan with a vengeful look in his eye but then shook his hand before leaving the new champion to celebrate as this enjoyable show went off the air.








And yes, it really was an enjoyable show.

The main event may not have been the best match on the card, but it certainly exceeded expectations given the kind of stinkers Hogan had been putting on in WCW for the last few years of that company’s existence.

Elsewhere, Tajiri/Kidman, Edge/Angle and Guerrero/RVD were all great matches and even Austin/Taker had its moments.

All in all, Backlash 2002 was a fun show that you probably won’t regret watching.



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