WWE Raw 5/6/02

1. WWE Women’s Title: Jazz (c) w/Hardcore champ Steven Richards vs Trish Stratus

Jazz missed a clothesline and Trish landed some forearms. Trish sunset flipped Jazz for a near fall and gave her more forearm shots. Trish kicked Jazz in the corner and landed a couple decent chops. Jazz whipped Trish into the corner but missed a corner splash. Trish rolled Jazz up but Richards distracted the ref. Jazz knocked Trish out of the ring and gave her a headbutt of all things on the floor. Jazz weakly stomped Trish and gave her a more solid double arm suplex. Jazz gave Trish a second double arm suplex for a near fall. Jazz choked Trish in the ropes and gained a near fall. Jazz then lifted Trish and gave her a double chicken wing submission hold, then dropped her to the mat. Trish fought back with something of a bicycle/roundhouse kick (with the kind of execution that doesn’t look right but ends up working well anyway) and gave her a Stratusfaction bulldog for a near fall. Richards pulled the ref out of the ring and superkicked Trish. Jazz then pinned Trish at 3:14 to retain the title. As Richards tended to Jazz, a look of shock appeared on his face when Bubba Ray Dudley came out, with ref in tow. Bubba attacked Richards with punches, a backdrop and a flip-flop-n-fly. Bubba then gave Jazz a bionic elbow and got the table. Richards tried to attack Dudley but he gave Richards a Bubba bomb for a pin at win the Hardcore title. Jazz went after Dudley but hesitated. Bubba confronted her but Raven attacked him from behind. Raven DDTd Dudley and pinned him to win the Hardcore title. Justin Credible came out and superkicked Raven to win the title. Out of nowhere Crash Holly came out and gave Credible a top rope dropkick to win the title. Crash bumped into Bubba and Bubba hit him with a trash can. Trish then pinned Crash to win the Hardcore title. Bubba then grabbed Trish. Jazz came in and sprayed Bubba in the face with a fire extinguisher. Trish tried I think to give Bubba a Stratusphere or something but he caught her and powerbombed her through the table. Richards then covered Trish and pinned her to win the title. Turns out that Bubba was “blinded” by the fire extinguisher and thought Trish was Jazz when he powerbombed her. He then helped Trish out of the ring. Mick Foley and anyone else claiming to be hardcore must have had some real indigestion over this fiasco. What, SIX title changes in two minutes!?? Is Vince Russo booking this crap or what? Oh yeah, there was a match at the beginning of all this. Not bad, but not good either, as Trish definitely works smoother matches with Molly Holly. *

2. WWE European Title: Spike Dudley (c) vs William Regal

Spike limped to the ring working a sprained ankle angle (hey, that sounds cool if you say it fast), which is an angle that looked very real when it first unfolded at the Insurrexion PPV in England. Regal “offered” Spike to forfeit the match and title, but Spike had none of it. Spike pounced on Regal, who then took him down. Spike immediately sold his ankle as Regal stomped it. In a unique twist on a simple move, Regal slammed Spike leg-first into the ropes. Regal applied a half crab and placed one boot on Spike’s head. Spike quickly tapped out and Regal won the title in 36 seconds. Regal attacked Spike’s leg after the match until D-Lo Brown made the save. DAMN!!!! More crappy booking! This is at least the second hiccup (under 1 minute) match these two have had on recent WWF-oops, WWE programs. Why make it an official match if you’re going to cheat us like this? If Spike can work, give it time because they have good chemistry against each other. If he’s hurt, just do a quick angle and get it over with. I shouldn’t be too frustrated because things probably won’t get better anytime soon. At least it looks like they might do something with D-Lo again.

3. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) vs Shawn Stasiak

YIPPY! The classics just keep on coming! Lesnar landed a few punches but telegraphed a backdrop and Stasiak kicked him. Lesnar gave Stasiak a drop toehold, floated over him and gave him a bunch of clubbing shots to the back. Lesnar repeatedly shoulderblocked Stasiak in the corner and choked him. Lesnar gave Stasiak a clothesline in the corner as fans chanted “Goldberg”. Lesnar ran into a boot but caught Stasiak and gave him a spinebuster. Lesnar gave Stasiak a backbreaker and a powerslam. He then gave Stasiak his TKO-like slam and pinned him at 2:06. Nothing bad about it, and Lesnar definitely was convincing in his monster heel role, but not much more than a squash either. *

4. Booker T & Eddy Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy

Guerrero got the better of Van Dam early with a wristlock but Van Dam countered with an armringer. Guerrero tried to counter but Van Dam gave him a legsweep. Both men shoved each other after a solid opening exchange. Van Dam did a split and monkey flipped Guerrero. Van Dam flipped over Guerrero’s back, missed a spin kick but hit Guerrero with a superkick. Van Dam hoisted Guerrero on his shoulders and slammed him face first to the mat. Booker got the better of Van Dam with punches and chops, then stomped him in the corner. Van Dam reversed a whip into the corner and gave Booker a couple shoulderblocks. Van Dam flipped but Booker met him with a kick. Van Dam scored with a spin kick on Booker and a somewhat casual superkick. Hardy gave Booker a flying forearm, took down Guerrero and legdropped him between his legs. Jeff punched and kicked Booker but Guerrero hit him from behind. Booker elbowed Hardy and threw him out of the ring, where Guerrero rammed his head into the ring steps. Booker also hit Van Dam on the apron. Booker gave Hardy a scissors kick and did his spinaroonie for a fair pop. Booker gained a near fall on Hardy. Booker missed a clothesline and Hardy gave him a dropkick that nearly missed its target. Booker telegraphed a backdrop and Hardy DDTd him. Guerrero charged at Van Dam as both men entered the ring but Van Dam moved. Van Dam did a somersault and gave Guerrero a monkey flip out of the corner. Van Dam landed a couple elbows and went for a backdrop but Guerrero flipped over his back and landed on his feet. Van Dam caught Guerrero’s leg and did a step-over into a spin kick. Van Dam gave Booker a huracanrana and hit a rolling thunder splash on Guerrero for a near fall. Booker intervened and threw Van Dam out of the ring. Hardy bulldogged Guerrero as Van Dam got the better of Booker at ringside. Hardy gave Guerrero a tilt-a-whirl slam and threw Goldust out of the ring when he tried to interfere. Hardy gave Guerrero a swanton and Van Dam immediately followed with a 5 star frog splash for the pin at 5:43. Definitely a good match, one I’m satisfied with given the participants. The finish was really nice because the two finishers happened so quickly, like within a second or two of each other. Van Dam continued to show some of his striking flaws, but looked great in hitting his big spots. **1/2

5. Steve Austin, Ric Flair & Bradshaw vs Big Show, X-Pac & Scott Hall

Kevin Nash arrived backstage in a limo before the match. Austin and X-Pac had a criss cross exchange, which Austin won with a spinebuster. Austin also met Hall with a spinebuster and rammed his and X-Pac’s heads together. X-Pac missed a dropkick and Austin catapulted him into the corner. Austin repeatedly rammed X-Pac’s head into the turnbuckle as fans chanted “what” with each blow. Austin telegraphed a backdrop and X-Pac kicked him. Hall landed a couple punched but Austin fought back with a Thesz press and some punches of his own. Austin elbowsmashed Hall and kicked him but Hall escaped a stunner attempt. Show overpowered Austin but Austin fought back with some punches. Show missed a clothesline but gave Austin a high backdrop. Bradshaw gave Hall a couple punches and tackled him. Bradshaw gave Hall clotheslines in opposite corners and a couple elbows. Hall supposedly poked Bradshaw in the eye but didn’t even look close. Bradshaw tackled X-Pac but ran into a boot. Bradshaw caught X-Pac and powerslammed him for a near fall. Bradshaw missed a clothesline but caught X-Pac and gave him a fallaway slam. Bradshaw missed a clothesline again and X-Pac spin kicked him. Show headbutted Bradshaw and kneed him in the corner. Show hiptossed Bradshaw and gave him more headbutts, busting him open in the process. Show gave Bradshaw some punches, another headbutt and a high kick. Show no-sold punches and chops from Bradshaw and gave him a kneelift. Show elbowsmashed Bradshaw and Hall gave him a fallaway slam for a near fall. Show gave Bradshaw another headbutt as he continued to showcase his athleticism. Show punched Bradshaw and gave him a couple knees to the head followed by ANOTHER headbutt. X-Pac pummeled Bradshaw in the corner with decent intensity. X-Pac landed a couple chops but Bradshaw fought back with punches and chops of his own. X-Pac ultimately won the exchange of blows. Bradshaw gave X-Pac a high kick and an elbowsmash for a near fall. Flair attacked X-Pac with chops as a 6-way fight broke out. Flair went to apply the figure 4 but Show intervened and threw Flair out of the ring. X-Pac missed a corner splash and Bradshaw gave him a clothesline from hell for a near fall when Show dragged Bradshaw out of the ring. Show then chokeslammed Bradshaw through the announcers’ table. The NWO then attacked Austin but Austin fought back with a double clothesline on Hall and X-Pac in the ring. Austin then gave them a double stunner in a nice move. Show got the better of Austin with his typical offense. Show gave Austin a couple hard chops in the corner, a kneelift and a hiptoss. Show missed a clothesline and Austin flew out of the ring. Show gave Austin a clothesline in the corner and a backdrop. Show ran into a boot twice and Austin gave him a second rope Thesz press and some punches. Show countered a stunner but knocked Austin into the ref with a high kick, causing the ref to crash out of the ring. Show threatened to chokeslam Flair but Austin gave him a low blow and a stunner. Flair then hit Austin with a chair and repeatedly hit his leg with the chair, turning heel in the process. Flair announced a match for Judgment Day featuring Austin vs Show and Flair in a handicap match. Flair then applied a figure 4 leglock on Austin. The match lasted about 14:00 long, which was about 8 minutes too long given Show’s memorable performance. Had his segments not had decent heat, I would’ve fallen asleep. Other than that this was a decent match, with the other four (Flair never tagged in) working about as hard as you could ask for without kicking it into overdrive. Not a bad match, but Show really took it down while he was in. The Flair heel turn played out reasonably well, but at the same time was somewhat flat because I (and probably many of you) could see it coming several weeks ago. I guess that I should be happy about one thing concerning this match: it was Hall’s last match with WWE before being fired the next day. *1/2

Best Match: Van Dam & Hardy vs Guerrero & Booker: No question this week as to the best match. In fact, this was the only good match in a lackluster night of action. On its own, I was pleased with the quality of this match.

Worst Match: Regal vs Spike: I just hate these hiccups. Enough said.

Overall: This was a pretty depressing show. Most of it was at least somewhat entertaining, but more of that second-rate entertainment that surely won’t inspire increased ratings or business. Flair’s heel turn was so predictable that the end of the show came off flat even though it wasn’t badly executed. I hated the Hardcore title fiasco at the beginning, as that title has absolutely no value left whatsoever. I can’t wait for Teddy Long to pin Kane to win that title- and it’ll probably happen sooner than later. Overall a pretty lackluster show that just falls short of “bad” because there was one good match. The first WWE program was not a good one and reminded me of the Russo-era Nitros. Not a good start to a “new” era.

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