PPV REVIEW: WWE Rebellion 2002

October 26, 2002,

Manchester Arena, Manchester, England

WWE Rebellion 2002 may not be a show anybody talks about today, but it does have the distinction of clocking up a number of firsts and lasts in the history of Vince McMahon's sports entertainment empire.

Since all of the previous incarnations of this event had been held while the company was still known as the World Wrestling Federation, tonight's show was the first Rebellion event to be promoted under the WWE banner.

In fact, it was the only Rebellion to be promoted under this banner as Vince would decide to stop doing UK-exclusive PPVs entirely the following year, making this the last ever Rebellion.

Notably -and here's a bit of obscure trivia for you- it was technically the first Smackdown-exclusive Pay Per View in WWE history as the Blue Brand made their way over to Manchester for one last hoorah.

Of course, the only question is:

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Was it any good?

Let's head down to jolly old England and find out together, shall we?

The Rebellion Has Begun

We started tonight's show with a very impressive opening video in which a little girl gave a monologue over shots of the Smackdown superstars.

When the heels were shown on screen, the girl talked about how sad she was that evil forces had taken control and took pleasure in the pain and suffering of others. 

Switching over to shots of the babyfaces, she spoke of her hope that things would get better now that the rebellion had begun. 

This was very well done, especially for a UK PPV. 

From there, Michael Cole and Tazz welcomed us to the show as pyro exploded, the cameras panned the crowd, and WWE Rebellion 2002 got underway. 

Steph Starts the Show

Much as she'd done back at WWE Global Warning, Stephanie McMahon kicked off another international event by hitting the ring and taking to the microphone. 

This time, the Smackdown General Manager informed us that The Undertaker would not be here, partly becasue he'd been beaten up by Big Show and Brock Lesnar, but mostly because his new child was due to be born any day. 

She went onto inform us that Edge would be taking The Dead Man's place in a scheduled 2 vs. 1 handicap match against Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar for the WWE title, before wrapping up by announcing that, as part of a "special trade agreement" with Raw GM Eric Bischoff, Smackdown had secured the services of Booker T for one night only. 

On that note, the Booker Man himself made his way to ringside and it was on to our opening match.

Booker T vs. Matt Hardy V1

Here, we had the PPV debut of Matt Hardy's V1 character, complete with "Matt Facts" and that awesome Monster Magnet theme song.

Tonight, he went up against Booker T in a fun opening contest. 

This wasn't an all-out wrestling classic, but it wasn't designed to be.

It was designed to entertain the fans by pitting a despised heel against a beloved babyface and having them appeal to the crowd. 

From a pure wrestling stand-point, it was average at best, but entertainment value, it was very good indeed.

To the surprise of no one (especially given that the faces usually always went over on these UK PPVs), Booker T picked up the win.

Your Winner: Booker T

Post match, The Five Time, Five Time, Five Time WCW champion continued to entertain the fans with a spinarooni.

Paul Heyman is Furious

Out in the backstage area, an upset Paul Heyman burst into Stephanie McMahon's office and did his damndest to get out of the handicap match later on in the show. 

Heyman first appealed to McMahon by noting how unfair it was that Edge could become champion by pinning him, rather than Lesnar.

When that didn't work, the former ECW owner insisted that he couldn't wrestle anyway because he hadn't brought his "trunks," as if he ever owned a pair of wrestling trunks in his life. 

That didn't work either, with Steph simply demanding that Lesnar's manager go and get ready for the match.

This was followed by a look back at the rivalry between Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson, and was pretty much the same video we'd just seen back at No Mercy 2002 the week before.

Mixed Tag Team Match
Dawn Marie & John Cena vs. Torrie Wilson & Billy Kidman

John Cena had recently turned heel on Kidman after the two had lost in the recent tag team titel tournament, making both men the perfect partners for Wilson and Marie.

Much like the last match, this was more about entertainment than actual wrestling, but it certainly wasn't bad. 

OK, so they once again did the lame spot where the girls cat fight and wind up rolling around on top of one of the guys, only this time it was Billy Kidman who got to be the "lucky" recipient rather than the referee as it usually was. 

I'd complain that this is the third event I've watched in about two weeks that I've seen this spot, and that Wilson and Marie did the exact same thing back at No Mercy, but hey, it always got a pop and Kidman's reaction afterward was pretty funny.

After that, we got a little more action before the girls toppled to the outside and Kidman smacked Cena with a wicked kick, causing the future world champion to face plant the mat in such a glorious fashion that it almost put the famous "Flair Flop" to shame. 

Billy followed this up with a shooting star press and, one three count later, won the match.

Your Winners: Billy Kidman & Torrie Wilson

Afterwards, Torrie celebrated by giving Kidman a good snog. Once again, the former cruiserweight champion's reaction was gold.

Edge Swears Victory

Out in the back, Edge cut an intense promo in which he vowed to become the WWE champion in front of the "Manchester chapter of the Edge Army."

This was good stuff from Edge, but he wasn't yet at a point in his career where I imagine many saw him as a legitimate threat to Lesnar. 

Funaki vs. Crash Holly

Holy crap, an actual Funaki match. 

Funaki hadn't beeen seen on PPV since participating in a Battle Royal at Survivor Series 2001, and it had been so long since he'd participated in a non-battle royal PPV match that I can't even figure out when that would have been. 

Smackdown's Number One Announcer was popular with the UK crowd, but not popular enough to get them invested in this match.

In fact, despite the fact that it was competently performed, this one played out to almost total silence.

Not even Crash Holly sporting a Japanese headband and busting out Karate Kid moves was enough to elicit a response, proving that racial stereotyping wasn't always as funny as the wrestling business used to pretend it was.

In fact, the match was so uninteresting that Tazz started entertaining himself with a Gordon Sollie impression.

The match ended with a roll-up for Funaki.

Your Winner: Funaki 

Out in the back, Jamie Noble and Nidia agreed that people in the UK were smelly trash while across the way, Rey Mysterio psyched up himself up to face Noble and Tajiri in this next match.

Triple Threat Elimination Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
WWE Cruiserwieight Champion Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia) vs. Tajiri vs. Rey Mysterio 

This was just about as good a cruiserweight match as you might expect it to be, showcasing the kind of fast-paced, back-and-forth action that you just weren't going to see anywhere else on the card.

Somewhat predictably, Tajiri got taken out of this elimination rules match early on, clearing the way for champion Jamie Noble to have an exciting one-on-one encounter with Mysterio.

At multiple points, the challenger looked to have the match won, only Nidia to get in the way and stop things. Eventually, Noble drilled Mysterio down in to the mat and got the win thanks to his girflriend's assistance.

Your Winner and Still Cruiserweight Champion: Jamie Noble 

Post match, Mysterio delivered a 619 to both Noble and Nidia. 

Who's The Captain?

Out in the back, Kurt Angle tried to explain to Chris Benoit that because he was American, he was therefore better than his Canadian tag team partner and therefore the captain of their team. Benoit countered by reminding the Olympic Gold Medalist that since he'd beaten him on Smackdown, that technically made him the captain. 

The two were clearly at loggerheads, but somehow they'd have to settle their differences in order to defend their titles on tonight's show. 

Chuck Palumbo & The Big Valbowski vs. D'Von & Ron Simmons

After the whole wedding-that-wasn't debacle between Billy & Chuck, Billy Gunn had been injured, leaving Chuck Palumbo wandering around with nothing to do, hence a random tag team with The Big Valbowski. 

Across the ring, D'von had dropped the whole Reverand thing while Ron Simmons had ditched his Farooq moniker.

The match between the two teams was fine for what it was, but the crowd were practically silent for it and I can't really blame them. It was a by-the-numbers, go-through-the-motions affair which ended with a win for Ron and D'Von when the latter rolled up Valbowski.

Your Winners: D'Von & Ron Simmons

Prior to the next match, Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero cut a backstage promo in which they played up to some Mexican stereotypes and then tried to get heat by ragging on British staples like tea and crumpets.

Their match was later, but first, we had this. 

Kiss My Arse Match
Albert vs. Rikishi

Yes, it's a Kiss My Ass match, but we're in England, so it's Kiss My Arse instead.

Prior to the bell, Albert took to the microphone to talk about how sexy he was and promised to make Rikishi kiss his "Big Hairy Ass."

Unfortunately for the big fella, he didn't get to keep his promise. 

After a decent but rather unexciting match, 'Kishi predictably toppled his "sexy" opponent and picked up the victory.

Your Winner: Rikishi 

Post-match, Albert tried to leave but Rikishi called him back to the ring. Instead of willingly puckering up, the former Hip Hop Hippo attacked and went to ram his hairy butt into his foe's face, only for Big Kish to hit him with a low-blow and an equally as predictable stink face.

From there, the one-time Headshrinker called Michael Cole, Tazz, and Tony Chimmel into the ring for a spot of some of the most awkward dancing you've ever seen in your life. 

This was followed by a look back at the rivalry between The Guerreros and the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, leading into their upcoming title match.

WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE Tag Team Champions Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero Jr)

It's fair to say that, alongside Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker from One Night Only 1997, this was one of the best matches ever showcased on a UK PPV. 

Whereas many wrestlers tended to phone it in at these kind of shows, Eddie, Chavo, Benoit, and Angle all busted their behinds to deliver an excellent performance that was captivating from start to finish. 

At various points, it looked as though Los Guerreros would genuinly be taking the titles home with them but, of course, that never happened. 

After a thrilling contest, Kurt drilled Eddie with the Angle Slam and that was that.

Your Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit

Post-match, Angle and Benoit continued their "partners who hate each other" thing by almost coming to blows before finally united to see off Eddie & Chavo, who had tried to steal the tag titles.

Brock is Mad

Backstage, Brock Lesnar scolded his manager Paul Heyman for not getting tonight's main event cancelled, and insisted that if Edge should beat the former ECW manager, he (Lesnar) would have no problem busting him in half. 

Handicap Match for the WWE Championship
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman vs. Edge

This was another thrilling match in which Edge looked like he could genuinly beat The Next Big Thing and become our new champion.

Of course, despite it being a handicap match, Paul Heyman didn't get involved any more than he would have done in his capacity as a manager, though he did recieve a wicked spear courtesy of the future Rated-R Superstar. 

After a tremendously exciting match in which the challenger gave his opponent everything he could possibly throw at him, Brock hit an F5 to retain.

Your Winner and Still WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar

Post-match, Paul Heyman yelled at Edge for spearing him and looked to hit him with a chair, only for Edge to kick the chair right into Heyman's face and give him a Downward Spiral to end the show. 

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The last ever WWE Rebellion Show was a largely positive show. 

While matches like Albert/Rikishi, Funaki/Crash, and Dvon/Simmons vs. Palumbo/Valbowski didn't really deliver, everything else did to varying degrees. 

The opening Hardy/Booker match was a fun sports entertainment contest, the Cruiserweight title match was great, and the last two matches were as exciting as you could possibly ask for. 

Despite nothing major happening in terms of development, this was still a very watchable show that saw the Rebellion brand go out on a high note. 

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Other 2002 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 2002 
• WWF No Way Out 2002 
• WWA - The Revolution
• WWF Wrestlemania X8
• WWF Backlash 2002
• WWF Insurrexion 2002 
• WWE Judgement Day 2002
• NWA-TNA: Weekly PPV #1
• WWE King of the Ring 2002
• WWE Vengeance 2002
• WWE Global Warning 2002
• WWE Summerslam 2002
• WWE Unforgiven 2002
• WWE No Mercy 2002

Other WWF Rebellion shows

• WWF Rebellion 1999
• WWF Rebellion 2000
• WWF Rebellion 2001 

Other WWF/WWE UK event reviews:

• WWF Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall 1991
• WWF Summerslam 1992
• WWF One Night Only 1997
• WWF Mayhem in Manchester 1998
• WWF Capital Carnage 1998
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Insurrexion 2000
• WWF Rebellion 2000
• WWF Insurrexion 2001
• WWF Rebellion 2001
• WWF Insurrexion 2002

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EVENT REVIEW: WWE Global Warning 2002

August 10, 2002

Colonial Stadium, Melbourne, Australia

Look up the WWE Global Warning event on the WWE Network and it will tell you that the date of the event was November 5th, 2002. 

It wasn't. 

The actual event took place in August, in between Vengeance 2002 and that year's Summerslam.

The first WWE event in Australia since 1986 was promoted as a Smackdown branded show despite the fact that The Un-Americans, Chris Jericho, and Triple H were all now Raw superstars. 

The show featured three matches that didn't make it to the broadcast, including Mark Henry teaming with a rookie Randy Orton to face Reverand D-Von and Batista, Hardcore Holly and Chavo Guerrero battling Billy and Chuck, and Kurt Angle beating Test. 

We may not be able to talk about those matches today, but let's talk about the ones we can in this WWE Global Warning review: 

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Welcome to Global Warning

After the briefest of intros with none of the usual opening video package, pyro exploded, the crowds roared, and Michael Cole and Taz welcomed us to Australia. 

This was followed by the arrival of new Smackdown General Manager, Stephanie McMahon. 

Steph said nothing of significance, simply welcoming fans to the show before dancing with Rikishi as he made his way to the ring for our opening contest.

Kiss My Ass Match
Rikishi vs. Rico 

You could tell this wasn't an important event because Cole and Tazz spent more time making fun of ring announcer Tony Chimmel, each other, and the size of Rikishi's ass than they did calling the action.

Not that there was much action to call. 

This was all over in pretty much no time. 'Kishi battered his former tag team partner for a few minutes, Rico made the briefest of comebacks but then missed a moonsault and got Samoan Dropped to end the match. 

Your Winner: Rikishi 

Afterwards, Big 'Kish flattened his rival in the corner then gave him the stink face to the delight of the Melbourne faithful. He then proceeded to dance with two kids from the audience, all while Taz and Cole cracked jokes.

Jamie and Nidia go Surfing

Prior to the next match, we saw a video package of Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble and his girlfriend Nidia learning to surf and seeing the sights of Australia. 

It looked like they had a good time, and in its own way, the video was almost cute, but it wasn't very interesting and added nothing of value. Still, at least it saved WWE the hassle of actually adding more wrestling matches to this thing.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia) vs. The Hurricane

Although it felt like it moved at a somewhat slower pace than most cruiserweight matches, this was a lot of fun. Noble and The Hurricane combined some of the usual highflying stuff with actual strategy and more of an emphasis on entertaining the crowd.

It was plenty enjoyable, especially when Hurricane took out the champion with a huge swinging neckbreaker off the top rope. Alas, that wasn't enough to win match.

After a solid effort, Noble retained thanks to Nidia's interference and a rope-assisted pin.

All the while, Cole and Taz continued to goof off, this time turning their insults to referee Jimmy Korderas and Raw announcers JR & King.

Your Winner and Still Cruiserweight Champion: Jamie Noble

Post-match, Hurricane destroyed his rival with a chokeslam and smacked Nidia on the ass.

A Day at the Zoo

Before the next match, we got a look at the day Christian, Lance Storm, and Kurt Angle all went to the zoo in Australia. 

Kurt Angle getting offended by the Australian word "buggar" was hilarious, and the video including a shot where Angle clearly called Christian "Jay" was interesting. Everything else was mildly entertaining filler. 

WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE Tag Team Champions The Un-Americans (Lance Storm & Christian) vs. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman

And so, we had former WCW tag team champions Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio taking on current WWE tag team champions Lance Storm and Christian. 

Mysterio had only just arrived in WCW and looked eager to prove himself, flying around the ring with gusto in what was mostly an exciting match.

I say "mostly" because there was a lull in the middle of this one, but for the most part, it was a fun encounter which almost -but not quite- delivered all the excitement you'd expect from these four talented performers.

Given that this show was kind of "non-cannon" in the same way that UK PPVs were, it came as no surprise when the tag champs retained their gold.

Your Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: Lance Storm & Christian 

Edge was in action next. 

That meant that, following the pattern of the rerst of the show, we were obligated to watch him go sightseeing with Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson. The trio went to a market where Kidman thought that a digeridoo was a walking stick, then sat down to eat dessert.

Alright then.

Chris Jericho vs. Edge 

Prior to the match, Chris Jericho took to the microphone to address the crowd but found himself met with a huge chorus of "You're a wanker! You're a wanker!" 

Of course, Cole, Taz, and Jericho all had no idea -or at least pretended to have no idea- what the word meant. As such, your British writer got a good laugh out of the announcers repeatedly using the word over and over again, and Jericho busting out "you think I'm a wanker? Well I don't even know what a wanker is, and I think Australia sucks!"

The best line, however, went to Taz. Jericho missed a move, causing the announcer to proclaim "he landed right on his wanker!" 

Given that this word would never make it on air if this show had been broadcast here in the UK, I found this pretty funny, but it wasn't the only thing this match had going for it.

Wanker or not, Jericho put in a solid effort against Edge here as the two gave us the best match they were capable of delivering in ten minutes. 

After a good back and forth and some dramatic nearfalls, Edge went over by reversing the Walls of Jericho into a roll-up.

The best match on the card so far.

Your Winner: Edge 

Post match, Jericho once again channeled his WCW heel turn and threw a temper tantrum before Edge climbed up a big lighting tower to celebrate. 

Fan Frenzy 

Up next, we got a look back at the WWE Fan Frenzy event. This was essentially the Axcess events, Australia style. The event looked like a lot of fun and featured Edge, Test, Stacy Keibler and Brock Lesnar, as well as a bunch of fans spouting catchphrases from their favorite performers. Good times.

Bra & Panties Match
Stacy Keibler vs. Torrie Wilson

Special Guest Ring Announcer: The Big Val Bowski

Before the girls could lock up, The Big Valbowski came down to make a bunch of predictable jokes about going down...under. 

Stacy and Torrie then gave us every bra and panties match you've ever seen. 

I'm sure there are some people who really like these kinds of matches, but this fan isn't one of them. Yes, both girls were insatiably beautiful, and yes, they tried hard to do some actual wrestling to the best of their limited abilities, but there's nothing about bra and panties matches that holds any appeal. 

They even did the predictable spot where the two girls start catfighting and end up rolling on top of the referee, though it was so poorly executed that it looked like official Mike Sparks was physically pulling the two on top of him for his own gratification.

The zebra loved it, so Stacy and Torrie pulled his pants down to expose his undies, then a few moments later Torrie stripped Stacy of her shorts to win the match.

Your Winner: Torrie Wilson

Post-match, Torrie gave Stacy a good spanking and sent her on her way.  

Charity Dinner

Prior to tonight's main event, we got a quick look back at the WWE's recent charity dinner/auction. 

The company often did these before the UK PPVs, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see it here to. 

Paintings of The Rock, Triple H, and Hulk Hogan sold for thousands of dollars to raise good money for good causes, The Rock was asked for his porno name, and by the looks of it, a good time was had by all.

With that out of the way, we still have 35 minutes left on this show which either means a really long main event, or some kind of shenanigans.

No Disqualification Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE Undisputed Champion The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Triple H

With Triple H and The Rock competing alongside the man who was certainly living up to his moniker of The Next Big Thing, this was never going to be anything less than a good match.

Was it an all-out, PPV-calibre classic? 

Of course not, but as the main event for what was essentially a glorified house show, it was certainly good. 

Triple H and The Rock double-teamed Brock Lesnar in the early going but The Game switched allegiances and helped Lesnar take out The Great One.

From there, standard WWE Triple Threat formula kicked in, with the competitors taking it in turns to have a quick nap while their fellow combatants duked it out. 

Lesnar looked impressive, but it wasn't to be his night. After a good effort, The People's Champ put down The Next Big Thing to retain his title, a result which, let's be honest, was never in question.

Your Winner and Still Undisputed Champion: The Rock

The actual match was only around 20 minutes, which still gave us 15 minutes of show time to fill, something The Rock, Triple H, and Paul Heyman did with gusto.

With Cole and Taz having signed off for the evening, Lesnar went to attack Brock with a chair, only for Hunter to stop him and help The Rock dispose of Heyman's charge once and for all. 

At this point, The Game was in the midst of an intense heel turn following his jump to Raw and fall out with best friend Shawn Michaels. Despite that, he was still very much a babyface here as he and the Undisputed Champion confronted Paul Heyman.

The former ECW boss was hilarious here as he first pleaded for his life and then clapped and cheered along as the Melbourne crowd erupted with chants of "Rocky! Rocky!"

Proving he was smart, Heyman was reluctant to shake The Rock's hand for fear that it would lead to him getting Rock Bottomed and People's Elbowed. Eventually, The Brahma Bull convinced Heyman to shake and let go without trouble, but when Paul E. shook The Game's hand, he naturally got a pedigree for his efforts.

The fun and games continued as first HHH convinced The Rock to hit Heyman with a People's Elbow, before Rock himself convinced Hunter to deliver the move he'd been on the receiving end of countless times.

Finally, Rock stood back and allowed his long-time rival a chance to bask in the adulation of the crowd then, once The Game left, the Undisputed Champion took the microphone to thank the fans and utter some catchphrases.

Honestly, that last 15 minutes of post-show shenanigans was more entertaining than anything else on the show.

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The after-match stuff may have been the highlight, but that doesn't necessarily mean that WWE Global Warning was a poor show or anything. The main event was as good as you were going to get for a show at this level, while Edge vs. Jericho and the tag team championship match were also enjoyable. 

Sure, this felt like one of the many UK PPVs were nothing of any consequence happened, and sure, there was far too much "here's what the WWE Superstars did in Australia" stuff between the relatively few matches on the card, but if the goal of professional wrestling is simply to entertain, then I think it's fair to say that Global Warning 2002 achieved that goal. 

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Other 2002 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 2002 
• WWF No Way Out 2002 
• WWA - The Revolution
• WWF Wrestlemania X8
• WWF Backlash 2002
• WWF Insurrexion 2002 
• WWE Judgement Day 2002
• NWA-TNA: Weekly PPV #1
• WWE King of the Ring 2002
• WWE Vengeance 2002

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PPV REVIEW: WWF Backlash 2002

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. 

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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 

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)

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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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 

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.

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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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Other 2002 pro wrestling reviews: 

• WWF Royal Rumble 2002 
• WWF No Way Out 2002 
• WWA - The Revolution
• WWF Wrestlemania X8
• NWA-TNA: Weekly PPV #1

More Backlash reviews:

• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF Backlash 2000
• WWF Backlash 2001

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling. 

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PPV REVIEW: WCW Starrcade 2000

December 17, 2000 
MCI Center, Washington, D.C.

Before there was Wrestlemania, there was Starrcade. 

Originally promoted by Jim Crocket Promotions as a National Wrestling Alliance event and was one of the first major events of its type, pre-dating the WWF's use of closed-circuit TV by a good 18 months.

Headlined by a brutal and bloody steel cage match between seven-time World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race and his arch-rival Nature  Boy Ric Flair, the show had been a critical success and was heralded as their premier event ever since.

17 years later, the company that had become World Championship Wrestling had been in a rapid decline for some years and was now just a few short months away from closing its doors, but not without presenting Starrcade just one last time.

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Here's what went down when the last ever WCW Starrcade show came to us live from Washington, D.C.

Tonight’s the Night

And so the last ever Starrcade got underway with a rather unremarkable video package highlighting some of the ten matches we’d see on tonight’s show.

Heading into the arena, we got fireworks galore and a greeting from Tony Schiavone, all of which did at least try and make the show sound like it was a big deal.

Cruiserweight Time

Cameras then panned to an envelope suspended from the rafters which the announcers told us contained a guaranteed shot at Chavo Guerrero’s Cruiserweight championship.

On cue, that awesome theme music Eddy Guerrero used to use came on and his nephew Chavo sauntered to ringside to do commentary.

Triple Ladder Match
3 Count (Sugar Shane Helms and Shannon Moore) vs. The Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi & Yang w/ Leia Meow) vs. Jamie Noble & Evan Karagious
Winner Receives a Cruiserweight Title Match

This was a spotfest with over-complicated booking, a few blown spots, and a few timing issues, but despite all that, it was awesome.

It was complicated in the fact that it was a three-team match with a shot at a singles title but it was never explained if the three teams were supposed to work together or if it was every-man-for-himself.

The botched and timing issues took you out of the moment temporarily, but there was always something more exciting and elaborate to immediately sweep you back into the action.

Though I get that not everyone is a fan of these type of stunt shows, this writer found it to be a gloriously fun opener that everyone involved in should be immensely proud of.

After the better part of twenty minutes, Shane Helms and Shannon Moore both retrieved the contract, much to the chagrin of guest commentator Guerrero.
Your Winners: 3 Count

As was becoming the norm in WCW, we got multiple backstage segments crammed into about 45 seconds:

A sombre-looking Hacksaw Jim Duggan was polishing his 2x4 (seriously) when Lance Storm came in and told him that the office had been thinking of firing Duggan before he joined Team Canada. Besides, claimed Storm, the American fans would never take Hacksaw back after he turned on them at Fall Brawl 2000, so sticking with the Canadians was his only option.

Jeff Jarrett complained to Mike Sanders that while his opponent wanted a street fight, he wanted a bunkhouse match. Double J then convinced Sanders to combine the two into one match even though they were pretty much the same thing anyway.

Finally, Kronik for some reason had brought a camera to film them sitting naked (except for a towel) in a steam room.

The two agreed that the job they’d been hired for tonight was so special that they wouldn’t even demand cash up front.

“Man, am I baked,” said Brian Adams.

And people wonder why this company went out of business three months later.

Lance Storm (w/ Major Gunns & ‘Prime Time’ Eli’s Skipper) vs. The Cat (w/ Miss Jones)

Lance Storm was awesome so, naturally, WCW completely misused him.

Back at Mayhem, Ernest Miller cost Storm the US title and the two had been feuding ever since. Meanwhile, Duggan -a member of Team Canada- had cost his teammates a mixed-tag against Miller and Major Gunns.

Tonight’s match was surprisingly good, though more so because of the rampant overbooking and general chaos than any of the actual wrestling.

At one point, they teased having Major Gunns and Miss Jones go at it in the ring, but this went nowhere.

After more chaos, Hacksaw came down and reluctantly cost The Cat the match after what was overall a fun encounter.
Your Winner: Lance Storm

Post-match, Storm snd Elix Skipper thanked Duggan by beating him up until Miller came back and saved the man who’d just cost him the match.

More Backstage Stuff

Out in the back, Buff Bagwell revealed himself to be WCW’s new interviewer. Please don’t tell me this means no more Pamela Paulshock. I really liked her.

Anyway, after proving that he had so little value to the company that he wasn’t even booked in a match, Bagwell interviewed The Filthy Animals.

With Tygress and Rey Mysterio Jr. standing by, Konnan and Billy Kidman insisted that they weren’t scared about the upcoming Bunkhouse match because they didn’t even know what it was.

Way to make that seem important, guys.

Elsewhere, Reno and his former-rival-turned-partner Big Vito were walking backstage with a woman named Marie when The Natural Born Thrillers confronted Reno and mockingly urged him to rejoin them.

This went nowhere.

World Championship Wrestling Hardcore Championship
WCW Hardcore Champion Crowbar (w/ Daffney) vs. Terry Funk

Could it be? Was WCW’s last show of 2000 really shaping up to be the best one of the year?

OK, so the bar was so incredibly low for the company that even their best wasn’t all that great, but if you got rid of all the annoying backstage stuff, this was shaping up to be a fun show.

Not fun in the sense of watching an all-time classic, you understand, but more in the same way that you might consider watching a mindless half-hour of Family Guy to be kind of fun.

Anyway, this match was a blast.

It started backstage, where Daffney criticized Crowbar’s 70s gimmick for making him soft.

Before he could properly respond, the Hardcore champion was attacked by Terry Funk.

The two proceeded to beat the crap out of each other throughout the backstage area, even hopping up onto the back of a truck for an enjoyable few spots.

After a somewhat lengthy (by Hardcore standards) battle, the two made their way to the ring where Funk hit the champion with a piledriver on a discarded car door to claim the title.

As with everything on this show, it wasn’t amazing, but it sure was enjoyable.
Your Winner and NEW Hardcore Champion: Terry Funk

Backstage, Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed Team Canada.

Lance Storm told Gene that Hacksaw’s dismissal from the group had been a long time coming before horny old man Okerlund invited Major Gunns to raise her flag up a different pole.

Ahem.

Elsewhere in the arena, Lex Luger started to get ready for his No DQ match with Goldberg and revealed that he was packing a set of brass knuckles, just in case.

Big Vito & Reno (w/ Marie) vs. Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clarke)

Reno and Vito were both stocky bald men so that made them brothers in WCW’s eyes.

They came out with their sister Marie, an attractive young woman who Brian Adams accused of paying them to take out her brothers.

Marie protested this, and pretty soon it turned out you had to be as gullible and naive as a pro wrestling announcer not to realize who was the real mastermind.

Vito wrestled almost the entire match, playing the race in peril for a really long time. When he finally made the hot tag, Reno turned on his brother and rejoined The Natural Born Thrillers because HA! SWERVE!

The actual match was OK at best, but the story was vaguely compelling enough just to keep you interested.

Reno then pinned his brother, but even WCW knew this was dumb and the match was declared a no contest.
No Contest
Afterwards, Reno paid Kronik while a theme tune that was a straight rip off of Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ played.

It's All Kicking Off Backstage 

Backstage, Mean Gene tried to interview 3-Count but they were interrupted, and then beaten up, by Chavo Guerrero.

Across the way, Buff Bagwell wanted to know the MIA’s thoughts on their former member’s actions, but General Rection was only concerned with letting Shane Douglas know that he was no stepping stone for the Franchise.

Neither of these segments were very interesting.

Ambulance Match
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Mike Awesome

So far, this had been a decent show from an in-ring perspective, but this one really sucked the life out of Starrcade.

That’s a shame because you could tell that Awesome was trying hard to get the crowd invested, but sadly nobody cared about this match at all.

It was lifeless and uninspired, with the most interesting thing to happen coming from the announce team, who casually referenced Bam Bam Bigelow’s Wrestlemania 11 match with Lawrence Taylor.

Mike Awesome win by dropping Bigelow through the roof of the ambulance.

Blah.
Your Winner: Mike Awesome

Out in the back, Mean Gene interviewed The Natural Born Thrillers. Reno gloated about turning his back on Vito to rejoin his ‘real family,’ the Thrillers. After that, The Perfect Event gloated about how much they were going to kick ass in their match later.

Credit where it’s due, these guys were pretty good at playing the cocky young jocks.

World Championship Wrestling United States Championship
WCW US Champion General Rection vs. Shane Douglas

Before the match, Shane Douglas blamed General Rection for Torrie Wilson not being by his side, but never fully explained why.

Once the bell rang, both champ and challenger worked a solid match that was met with nigh-on silence by the crowd.

That’s a shame because you got the feeling that had this been a contest between two men the audience actually cared about, it would have even the most cynical of fans giving it some kudos.

Even when Rection looked to have a bloody Franchise beaten and called for his signature moonsault, the crowd responded with little more than a half-hearted whimper.

As it happened, Douglas moved out of harm’s way and tried to blast the champion with a steel chain, but Rection blocked it and the match continued.

At that point, Chavo Guerrero came down and at first looked as though he was helping Douglas out by throwing him the chain and distracting referee Charles Robinson, though he did then alert Lil Naitch as to what was going on so that he could turn around and disqualify the challenger.

Dumb finish aside, this was a solid effort between two men who, sadly, the crowd didn’t seem to care about at all.
Your Winner by DQ and Still US Champion: General Rection

Out in the back, Mean Gene Okerlund asked World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner to address his upcoming title defense against Sid Vicious. Big Poppa Pump, however, was more concerned with talking about ‘hitting switches on b**ches’ and getting it on with his freaks after the match.

A vignette then aired to hype the return of Glacier to WCW.

This time around, the gimmick would be played for laughs and was treated as little more than a comedy gimmick.

The Insiders are In Their Prime

Back in the arena, Kevin Nash goofed around with his former nWo buddy Buff Bagwell while his current partner, Diamond Dallas Page got serious.

Page stared down the camera as he addressed The Natural Born Thrillers, insisting that he and Nash had both aged like fine wine and were still in their prime and that tonight, they would reclaim the tag team titles.

Dallas looked like he was committed here, but it was quite funny to see that Nash had clearly given up any pretence of giving a damn about anything.

Bunkhouse Street Fight
Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Brothers (Heavy D & Big Ron) vs. The Filthy Animals (Konnan, Rey Mysterio, and Billy Kidman w/ Tygress)

Before the match, Jeff Jarrett once again gloated about having a bunkhouse match and a street fight rolled into one.

Even the announcers struggled -and eventually gave up on- trying to explain the difference.

The actual bout was surprisingly fun for a basic weapons-filled garbage match, the main highlight of which was Rey Mysterio Jr. getting powerbombed from the ring into a dumpster outside the ring.

After that, the referee then inexplicably began enforcing tags, turning what had previously been a tornado-style free-for-all into a standard six-man, albeit with weapons and such.

I suppose you could argue that this was the transition from bunkhouse into street fight, but you’d probably lose that argument pretty quickly.

After a fun contest, Jarrett destroyed Kidman with The Stroke to claim victory for a team Mark Madden referred to as The Nashville World Order.
Your Winners: Jeff Jarrett & The Harris Brothers

A promo video then aired to promote the company’s next PPV, Sin before Buff Bagwell tried to interview The Sarge, Dwayne Bruce.

The Power Plant Head trainer has been brought in to talk about his most successful protege, Goldberg.

Before he could say much, however, The Sarge was attacked by Goldberg’s opponent, Lex Luger.

Killing time while the ring was cleared of its plunder, we got some discussion among the announcers.

“We’ve come a long way from Ric Flair and Harley Race in 1983,” said Schiavone.

Yes Tony, yes you have.

World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship
WCW Tag Team Champions The Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo w/ Mike Sanders) vs. The Insiders (Diamond Dallas Page & Kevin Nash)

This was tremendous, not because it was a five-star workrate classic or anything, but because it was the first thing on the actual show that felt legitimately super over.

The crowd loved Page and Nash and were genuinely invested in every moment of the match while Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo were -as I said earlier- starting to nail the cocky jock heel role.

The only sore spot was Ric Flair, who came out before the match and told Mike Sanders that if he went anywhere near the ring, The Perfect Event would be stripped their titles.

He then repeated his insistence that Sanders was to go nowhere near the ring before realizing he had it wrong and changing to Sanders being allowed in the ring as long as he didn’t put a foot inside it.

It was stupid, but even that couldn’t take away from what was a thoroughly enjoyable match.

After a good show, Nash obliterated Palumbo with the Jackknife and this one was all over.
Your Winners and NEW Tag Team Champions: The Insiders

Post-match, Kevin Nash grabbed a microphone and gave us a ‘hey yo,’ an obvious shout-out to Scott Hall.

No Disqualification Match
Lex Luger vs. Goldberg
Goldberg’s career on the line

This won’t be the first time I’ve said this about something on a WCW show and, with three more PPVs to go, it certainly won’t be the last,  but this was dumb.

In the opening minutes, both men gave us the best match that they were capable of giving us.

Granted, that was nothing too special, but if you were watching Goldberg vs. Luger and expecting dragon screw leg whips and tope con hilos, you were only setting yourself up for disappointment.

No, the match was as good as it could have been until The Sarge came down with Buff Bagwell trying to urge him not to get involved.

Honestly, the moment Bagwell stepped out, it was incredibly obvious that he would turn heel at any moment.

Sure enough, after first pretending to ‘accidentally’ hit Goldberg with his Buff Blockbuster, he turned on Sarge and beat him up outside the ring.

On a few occasions, Goldberg looked directly at this happening but completely ignored it and carried on while the announcers tried to convince us that he had no idea Buff had attacked Sarge.

Seriously.

An eventual jackhammer gave us the predictable result.
Your Winner: Goldberg

Afterwards, Bagwell destroyed Goldberg with a chair to cement his turn. Quite why he couldn't have done this in the actual match and helped Luger end Big Bill’s career is anyone’s guess.

World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner (w/ Midajah) vs. Sid Vicious

I don’t care what you say, I enjoyed the heck out of this match.

On paper, it looked to be a thoroughly underwhelming match, but both champ and challenger played to their strengths to give us a captivating big man match with a thrilling ending that really kept you in suspense and made it look as though either man could’ve won at any moment.

One thing I will say, people gave John Cena crap over the years for his weak-looking STF, but Scotty’s Steiner Recliner never looked like it hurt much at all.

Still, Big Poppa Pump applied it multiple times before Sid finally passed out, bringing this surprisingly awesome match to an end.
Your Winner and Still WCW Champion: Scott Steiner

Post-match, Steiner, and Midajah posed with the title to end the show.

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And so, with less than four months of their existence left, World Championship Wrestling had put on one of their best shows of the year, if not the last several years.

Ok, so there was still a lot of stuff that made you roll your eyes, and none of the matches were must-see classics, but Starrcade 2000 didn’t suck, and for WCW that was a pretty big achievement in itself.

It almost seems a shame that the company were finally getting their act together so close to the end but alas, even a fun show like this one was too little, too late.

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For other year 2000 pro wrestling reviews see:

• WWF Royal Rumble 2000
• WCW Souled Out 2000
• WCW Superbrawl 2000
• WWF No Way Out 2000
• WCW Uncensored 2000
• WWF Wrestlemania 2000
• WCW Spring Stampede 2000
• WWF Backlash 2000
• WWF Insurrexion 2000
• WCW Slamboree 2000
• WWF Judgement Day 2000
• WCW The Great American Bash 2000
• WWF King of the Ring 2000
• WCW Bash at the Beach 2000
• WWF Fully Loaded 2000
• WCW New Blood Rising 2000
• WWF Summerslam 2000
• WCW Fall Brawl 2000
• WWF Unforgiven 2000
• WCW Halloween Havoc 2000
• WWF No Mercy 2000
• WCW Mayhem 2000
• WWF Survivor Series 2000
• WWF Rebellion 2000
• WWF Armageddon 2000

Other WCW Starrcade reviews:

• WCW Starrcade 1996
• WCW Starrcade 1997
• WCW Starrcade 1998
• WCW Starrcade 1999

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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