Vengeance 2002 Thoughts
Vengeance 2002 was the 3rs annual Vengeance PPV event produced by the WWE. It was held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on July 21, 2002. Attendance was at 12,000 with a buyrate of 375,000. The WWE was in a wild period where the brand split had just began 4 months earlier and the roster was heavy in talent. We were also just beginning the underrated Ruthless Agreesion Era where one of our most notable stars being John Cena wrestling on his first ever WWE PPV.
8 matches were held at the show with the main event featuring The returning Rock facing the defending WWE Undisputed Champion Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match. Ths Rock drew some numbers on this PPV as he was on his Hollywood career and would be part-time for a little period. We had multiple other title matches too including Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar for the Intercontinental Championship as Lesnar was a rising star set to compete against the winner of the WWE Undisputed Championship match at SummerSlam. Another major storyline in this show saw a Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon and Raw GM Eric Bischoff taking shots at one another for both wanting to include Triple H who was a free agent on their respective rosters and he would decide by this night of who he would sign with.
The Good - The main event was an excellent closure to the show and I loved how it wasn't a typical "lying down wating for your role" type of triple threat. The close near-falls kept the crowd loud and The Rock's victory lead to a another great highlight. The opening tables match was pretty good and the table spots were executed well. I was impress with the Intercontinental Championship match and while the ending was kind of a bummer, it made sense for protecting Lesnar and not wanting to give the IC title to him. I don't really like segments on PPVs but the promo of DX reuniting and Hunter coming to Raw was great. Of course the reunion didn't last long as we know in the future.
The Meh - The World Tag Team Championship match unfortunately is a bit of a disappointment. It's in plain sight that Hogan was in struggle of keeping up with the other stars and he should have been in a retirement storyline by now. It also was extremely random having Edge & Hogan as tag team champs. The Cruiserweight Championship match didn't quite click either as the crowd couldn't get into it from the atmosphere but the two would have better matches later. Cena vs. Y2J was kind of meh. Cena was sent down to the lower card after this match with Jericho but it's obvious it was a great idea after seeing what the legend is today. Both the No DQ and the European title match were forgettable especially the later as it was a pointless belt since day one. Funny enough the next night on Raw or a week later, the belt would be retired as it was Unified with the Intercontinental title.
The Bad - There wasn't anything really bad to hate. However we maybe could have had one more spectacular match that WWE didn't give us that could have made a better show.
Overall - Some might call this a one match show thanks to the great main event and nothing coming close but I would say we had other matches that are fun and worth checking out. They did a good job at setting up too what was to come for the next great PPV SummerSlam like Rock vs. Brock Lesnar and HBK vs. HHH. One spectacular match gives this a good score and although we didn't have any "bad" match, we also didn't have any other tremendous match to give it a better rating.
Score - 7 out of 10: Good
0 =Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :
1. Bubba & Spike Dudley vs. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit (Tables Elimination Tag Match) - 3/5
2. Billy Kidman vs. Jamie Noble: WWE Cruiserweight Championship - 2.5/5
3. Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal: WWE European Championship - 2/5
4. Chris Jericho vs. John Cena - 2/5
5. Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar: WWE Intercontinental Championship - 3/5
6. Booker T vs. Big Show (No DQ, No CO) - 2/5
7. Christian & Lance Storm vs. Hulk Hogan & Edge: WWE Tag Team Championship - 2.5/5
8. Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock: WWE Undisputed Championship - 4.5/5
Beat Match - The Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle
Worst Match - Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal
Most Memorable Moment - The Rock's victory
Top 5 Performers
1. Kurt Angle - Outstanding Performance
2. The Rock - Outstanding Performance
3. Undertaker - Great Performance
4. Bubba & Spike Dudley - Good Performance
5. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit - Good Performance.
Vengeance 2002 was the 3rs annual Vengeance PPV event produced by the WWE. It was held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on July 21, 2002. Attendance was at 12,000 with a buyrate of 375,000. The WWE was in a wild period where the brand split had just began 4 months earlier and the roster was heavy in talent. We were also just beginning the underrated Ruthless Agreesion Era where one of our most notable stars being John Cena wrestling on his first ever WWE PPV.
8 matches were held at the show with the main event featuring The returning Rock facing the defending WWE Undisputed Champion Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match. Ths Rock drew some numbers on this PPV as he was on his Hollywood career and would be part-time for a little period. We had multiple other title matches too including Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar for the Intercontinental Championship as Lesnar was a rising star set to compete against the winner of the WWE Undisputed Championship match at SummerSlam. Another major storyline in this show saw a Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon and Raw GM Eric Bischoff taking shots at one another for both wanting to include Triple H who was a free agent on their respective rosters and he would decide by this night of who he would sign with.
The Good - The main event was an excellent closure to the show and I loved how it wasn't a typical "lying down wating for your role" type of triple threat. The close near-falls kept the crowd loud and The Rock's victory lead to a another great highlight. The opening tables match was pretty good and the table spots were executed well. I was impress with the Intercontinental Championship match and while the ending was kind of a bummer, it made sense for protecting Lesnar and not wanting to give the IC title to him. I don't really like segments on PPVs but the promo of DX reuniting and Hunter coming to Raw was great. Of course the reunion didn't last long as we know in the future.
The Meh - The World Tag Team Championship match unfortunately is a bit of a disappointment. It's in plain sight that Hogan was in struggle of keeping up with the other stars and he should have been in a retirement storyline by now. It also was extremely random having Edge & Hogan as tag team champs. The Cruiserweight Championship match didn't quite click either as the crowd couldn't get into it from the atmosphere but the two would have better matches later. Cena vs. Y2J was kind of meh. Cena was sent down to the lower card after this match with Jericho but it's obvious it was a great idea after seeing what the legend is today. Both the No DQ and the European title match were forgettable especially the later as it was a pointless belt since day one. Funny enough the next night on Raw or a week later, the belt would be retired as it was Unified with the Intercontinental title.
The Bad - There wasn't anything really bad to hate. However we maybe could have had one more spectacular match that WWE didn't give us that could have made a better show.
Overall - Some might call this a one match show thanks to the great main event and nothing coming close but I would say we had other matches that are fun and worth checking out. They did a good job at setting up too what was to come for the next great PPV SummerSlam like Rock vs. Brock Lesnar and HBK vs. HHH. One spectacular match gives this a good score and although we didn't have any "bad" match, we also didn't have any other tremendous match to give it a better rating.
Score - 7 out of 10: Good
0 =Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :
1. Bubba & Spike Dudley vs. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit (Tables Elimination Tag Match) - 3/5
2. Billy Kidman vs. Jamie Noble: WWE Cruiserweight Championship - 2.5/5
3. Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal: WWE European Championship - 2/5
4. Chris Jericho vs. John Cena - 2/5
5. Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar: WWE Intercontinental Championship - 3/5
6. Booker T vs. Big Show (No DQ, No CO) - 2/5
7. Christian & Lance Storm vs. Hulk Hogan & Edge: WWE Tag Team Championship - 2.5/5
8. Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock: WWE Undisputed Championship - 4.5/5
Beat Match - The Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle
Worst Match - Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal
Most Memorable Moment - The Rock's victory
Top 5 Performers
1. Kurt Angle - Outstanding Performance
2. The Rock - Outstanding Performance
3. Undertaker - Great Performance
4. Bubba & Spike Dudley - Good Performance
5. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit - Good Performance.