TPWW Forums - "100,001" Replies (Wrestling Forum)

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July 01, 2002 - Manchester, NH

• We start off with Lesnar and Heyman and Heyman cuts a promo and says that if Kurt Angle can issue an open challenge to any rookie, then Lesnar is issuing a challenge to any veteran.

Ric Flair answers the challenge and in the ring, grabs a mic and cuts a promo and says that he's not just a veteran but a legend.

The match happens and Lesnar wins but only just.

During the match however, Heyman slips and botches climbing on to the ring apron.

SPOILER: show

• Backstage we see The Coach interviewing Jackie Gayda and Jackie claims that she didn't lose the tag team match last week as it was Molly Holly that got pinned, not her.

Molly then appears and tells Jackie "you would be a better competitor if you didn't parade around in your undergarments".

Jackie replies with "at least I look good in my undergarments" and this is enough to get Molly to slap Jackie and attack her backstage, bringing her out to the side of the stage and trying to attack her with a pole.

Jackie gets the better of Molly for a second by sending her into the side of the ramp (the good ol' days when the stage and ramp were huge).

The fight makes its way to the ring where Molly stands triumphant but Trish attacks her from behind, throws her into the ring and then pulls down her trousers/pants to reveal that Molly is wearing "granny panties".

SPOILER: show

That got a huge pop from the crowd.

Trish then walks away up the ramp making fun of Molly's "huge ass".

• Chris Nowinski vs Bradshaw now and the story behind this is that Nowinski asked for this match but he didn't want it to be for Bradshaw's Hardcore Championship as he didn't want to be Hardcore Champion, because that would mean he would be looking over his shoulder 24/7.

During Nowinski's entrance, Lawler showed off Nowinski's class ring.

The bell rings and Bradshaw brings out weapons from under the ring, even though it isn't a Hardcore Match. The referee then takes a chair away from Bradshaw but as his back is turned, Nowinski hits Bradshaw with a cowbell and pins Bradshaw for the three-count.

The match was probably no more than two minutes long.

As Nowinski is leaving, we see William Regal watching the match backstage when Rob Van Dam enters the locker room looking for Lesnar. Regal tells him that Lesnar has already had a match and that he should apologise for barging into the locker room.

Rob Van Dam doesn't and instead, challenges Regal to a match tonight.

• Backstage we see Booker T & Goldust and Goldust is dressed as Darth Vader and Booker T gets carried away with a plastic lightsaber.

I really must have been into Booker T & Goldust back then as so far, everything I've seen from them, I remember so vividly.

• Rob Van Dam vs William Regal now and during Regal's entrance, Lilian Garcia messes up and introduces Regal from Liverpool, not Blackpool.

What an insult.

Anyways, it was actually quite a good match and RVD wins and then grabs a mic and calls Lesnar out who then appears with Heyman.

Heyman then declines the match tonight but instead, challenges RVD to a match at Vengeance which RVD accepts.

• We're all then informed that Chris Benoit will have his first match in over a year tonight.

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• Bubba & Spike Dudley vs Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit

This match was hyped up backstage with Eddie, Benoit and Vince and it was a nice long match with no team really dominating the other, however, I was surprised when Bubba and Spike won clean.

I expected Eddie & Benoit to win as it was Benoit's first match back in over a year.

After the match, Benoit attacked Bubba and he also put Spike through a table. As Benoit is applying a Crippler Crossface to Bubba, Eddie hit a Frog Splash on Bubba's back which seemed to have killed Bubba, who just went completely limp.

• Backstage, Goldust tries to attack Big Show but as Goldust tries to run away, he's stopped by Kevin Nash, who basically destroys him. Kevin Nash then tells Big Show that he has to win the match or he's out.

Later, backstage, Big Show finds X-Pac unconscious on top of a broken coffee table.

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So the match is now a singles match between Booker T and Big Show.

The match is a short one as Big Show and Booker T are fighting outside the ring and Big Show picks up the steps but Booker trips him up and Big Show gets knocked out by the steps hitting his face, so as a result, he isn't able to answer the referee's ten-count and is counted out.

We return from a break and Big Show has now regained consciousness and is in the ring with Kevin Nash and Shawn Micheals.

Nash punches Big Show who in return, punches Nash. Micheals then stands between them and tells them to stop. He then cuts a really slow and long winded promo that felt like it was going absolutely nowhere but the point of the promo was to announce that Triple H will be joining the nWo.

After that, Micheals asks Nash and Big Show to make up and as they're shaking hands, Michaels must have turned on some kind of "Big Show head magnet" in his shoe, as Big Show's head quickly (and suddenly) made its way towards Micheals' foot and Sweet Chin Music was delivered.

SPOILER: show

Both Nash and Micheals then tell Big Show to follow them as it was just "tough love".

• Backstage we see Vince and Undertaker and Vince announces that Undertaker will face The Rock at Vengeance.

We then see Jeff Hardy getting ready for his match. Matt then enters the room to wish him luck and surprises us all by bringing Lita with him who's been out with a legit neck injury, so she was wearing a neck brace.

It's main event time and it's Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy in "That Ladder Match" for the Undisputed Championship.

This is one of the matches I remember extremely vividly and I remember enjoying the match immensely when I first watched it but I actually don't remember it being as short as it was. It actually felt much longer when I watched it back in 2002.

I also remember when I first watched it that I legitimately thought Jeff could win and that he was going to win. I also think that I actually wanted Jeff to win at that time, even though I remember liking The Undertaker at that time.

Jeff being Undisputed Champion just seemed crazy to me at that point and I liked that. I'm still like that now in that I like wrestlers winning championships that you never thought they would win.

The last time that happened for me was when Jinder Mahal won the WWE Championship. I was so happy when that happened and yes, I "marked out" a little bit.

Seeing and hearing all the iconic moments during the match however just gave me such a great sense of nostalgia.

The moment from (and onwards) when Jeff hit The Undertaker with a chair as he was being lifted up for The Last Ride is what I remember the most vividly and that just happens to be the beginning of the end of the match.

Also, JR willing Jeff on and yelling "Climb the ladder, kid! Make yourself famous!" are words I've always remembered and at the time, I felt like those were special words and in the end, they were, as now they're pretty memorable and are a part of "WWE History".

And also, there's this moment:

SPOILER: show

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July 04, 2002 - Boston, MA

• We start off with Lilian Garcia (from Raw) singing "America The Beautiful" as it is the day to be singing it, I guess but also because USA! USA! USA!

As Lilian is singing, we hear Lance Storm's voice calling for the music to stop. He then appears with Christian and Test and the boos these guys get is crazy.

If the boos they got for interrupting "America The Beautiful" was crazy, then what they would have gotten for interrupting the national anthem would have been insane and I can see why Vince didn't go that route as it was the first Independence Day since September 11th.

But also because generally speaking, America comes across as being mighty protective of their anthem. I can imagine someone interrupting it would either be shot or it would start a riot.

Anyway, they tell Lilian to leave and Christian has the mic. He asks if Americans really knows why they're celebrating today.

He then says "Considering the ignorance of the American youth, you probably think of Independence Day as the day Will Smith saved the world from a bunch of aliens".

Lance then takes the mic and proceeds to give us all a history lesson and explains why America celebrates but in doing so, paints America in a bad light whilst remaining factually correct. He then lists all the wars that America has been a part of and also asks why America was even in Korea and Vietnam. He then reminds everyone that America lost in Vietnam which receives some boos.

Test finally gets the mic and says that he hates America.

That was Test's part in this ten minute opening.

Rikishi's music hits and it's a scheduled match between himself and Lance Storm, so after the break, the match starts and it's a short one as Christian and Test interfere and help Storm win.

• Backstage we see Stacy Keibler knocking on the locker room door and Mark Henry (in full gear) answers and she asks for John Cena.

That's the first and last time we see Mark Henry tonight.

Cena arrives at the door (also in full gear) and Stacy tells him that Vince wants to see him. As he goes to see Vince, Stacy checks out his ass.

During Cena's adventure to Vince's office, a match takes place, so I can only imagine that the locker room and Vince's office were at opposite ends of the arena, as Reverend D-Von & Batista were able to defeat The Big Valbowski & Randy Orton in the time it took Cena to arrive as Vince's office, as after the match we see Chris Jericho with Vince and a match is made between Jericho and Edge at Vengeance.

John Cena then enters the room and Jericho has an instant dislike of him and asks him who he thinks he is and so on.

It all ends with Cena slapping Jericho in the face and sending Jericho to the floor and it must have be some slap as the sound Cena's hand made when it came into contact with Jericho's face was like a balloon exploding.

Also, Jericho swore but it was bleeped out.

Cena then leaves.

A break happens and when we come back we see what happened during the break and it's Jericho asking for a match with Cena tonight.

• We then get "The People's Moment".

SPOILER: show

It's just a short clip of something The Rock did that was funny in January of that year. It was when he took the cameraman's camera and pointed it at him.

• Tag Team Championship Match now and it's Hulk Hogan & Edge vs Billy & Chuck

I was getting ready to skip Hogan's entrance but he came out to "Real American" so I was left feeling glad that I didn't have to endure Hogan's awful "Voodoo Child" dub.

It was actually a decent Tag Team Match but in the end, Edge pinned Chuck even though Billy was the legal man and Hulk Hogan & Edge are the new Tag Team Champions.

• After the match, we get informed that Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler will be facing each other in a Bra & Panties Match.

Those were the days.

• Chris Jericho vs John Cena and Cena comes out with his delightfully jobber sounding theme.

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Jericho wins by having his feet on the ropes and giving Cena his first loss, which was in his hometown.

• We have another "The People's Moment".

SPOILER: show

It's when The Rock shoved Vince's head up Rikishi's ass.

• We're taken back to last Saturday when The World hosted "Divas Undressed".

Torrie Wilson was announced as the winner of the first ever "Golden Thong Award" and she celebrated by sticking her lollipop on Dawn Marie's boob (as you do).

SPOILER: show

And yes:

NSFW: show

Anyway, Torrie and Stacy argue and then fight and that's what lead to this Bra & Pantie's match.

Also, I love that Rico entered himself into the competition and also what he's wearing. It's all so ridiculous. :lol:

• We then see Jamie Noble and Nidia in a trailer park and Noble has bought Nidia and trailer home.

They both take a look around inside and are amazed that they have running water.

• Bra & Panties time and the match starts and the crowd starting a "we want puppies" chant.

Torrie wins but still strips to her bra and panties to show off her patriotic underwear.

SPOILER: show

• We get yet another "The People's Moment".

SPOILER: show

It was from King of the Ring two weeks ago when The Rock interfered in the Undisputed Championship match.

• Main Event time and it's Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker for the Undisputed Championship.

I think that The Undertaker is officially a face now as he had cheers added in to his entrance.

Also, I think the ending of the match was messed up, as Angle was pinned but Undertaker tapped and as a result of something going wrong with that ending, it was shot again after everyone had went home, as the crowd changed in the space of around ten seconds.

SPOILER: show

And if I get rid of all the changes of camera angles and just switch between the "same camera":

SPOILER: show

Or just screenshots side by side:

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The differences are that they're obviously different people, they're pretty much all men and the crowd changes from being seated and enjoying the show, to standing and going mad and cheering.

You can also see that the lights have been turned off on the seats at the back, which was probably done to hide the fact that they're all empty.