WWE Brand Split In Review – Week 1: Raw 3/25/02 & Smackdown 3/28/02

This will be a weekly blog entry reviewing WWE’s television content week by week, starting with the week of the first ever brand split draft. I will keep going with it until the WWE Network runs out of content for me, which may not be for a while since they’re currently updated all the way through 2003. At the bottom of each entry, I will post the match of the week, performer of the week and which brand I felt had the better week. For this first week, I will omit that last part because the brand split hadn’t gone into effect on either show yet.

Raw March 25^th 2002

• The big catch with this Raw is that it’s the first ever WWE Draft! Vince will draft for Smackdown and Ric Flair will draft for Raw. Triple H is off limits for this draft as he’s the WWE Champion. And due to a contractual obligation, Steve Austin is a free agent and gets to choose which brand he wants to be on.
• We’re starting off with Mr Perfect vs Tazz. Wow, this is a dream match. If this ever happened in the early 90s I feel like it’d still be talked about to this day. Also, we’re starting off Raw without an overly long promo! Perfect hits a Perfect Plex about 30 seconds in, Tazz gets the ropes. Tazz locks in the Tazzmission and Perfect taps about 2 minutes in. That was disappointing. Tazz calls Perfect just another victim.
• Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in the Raw war room. I love it. Vince is sitting in his office, he has the first pick and leaves. On his desk is a picture of Kurt Angle in a folder. Vince comes out for the first pick and he drafts The Rock. Rock comes out and Vince starts telling Rock he won’t be able to use his catchphrases on Raw. Vince says he made Rock. He brought him into this world and he can take him out of it. Rock gets the crowd to chant that Vince is an a-hole. Rock goes through some catchphrases and pretty much tells Vince that none of that is going to stick.
• Ric Flair comes out and immediately takes the Undertaker, who he was just defeated by 8 days earlier. Undertaker is pissed and slams a few things in the locker room. Backstage Kurt Angle barges into Vince’s office and complains that Vince didn’t take him with the first pick. Taker barges in and complains to Vince that Flair took him. Vince says he’ll sort this out.
• Edge and his seizure inducing entrance happens and we get Edge & DDP vs Christian. Booker goes for the scissor kick and misses. DDP hits the Diamond Cutter but Christian breaks it up. Christian hits the Unprettier on DDP and Edge and Christian brawl outside the ring. Booker hits the scissor kick to DDP for the win. The ref did an awful job facilitating all of that.
• Backstage Kurt Angle convinces Vince to draft him and Vince does. Flair comes out and drafts the collective unit of the NWO, meaning Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac will be going to Raw. Kurt Angle convinces Vince that Chris Benoit is coming back from injury soon and is better than ever. Vince selects Benoit with the 3^rd pick for Smackdown. Ric Flair bounces back and drafts Kane.
• Trish Stratus vs Ivory. Ivory pulls Trish’s hair multiple times and rakes her face. Trish hits the Stratusfaction for the win despite Ivory looking like she kind of kicked out. Only went about a minute and felt a bit sloppy.
• Vince comes out for his next pick and the crowd continues to tell him he’s an a-hole. Vince chooses Hulk Hogan with his pick. Ric Flair comes out and selects the Intercontinental champion, Rob Van Dam. Vince is backstage and mad. He wanted the IC title. Angle says he can get Vince the Intercontinental title, just book a match for tonight. Vince does so on his last evening having any control of Raw.
• Hogan and Rock meet up backstage. Hogan wants him and Rock to team up and take on the NWO tonight as it’s their last night on Raw. Rock agrees and the match is set. Rock and Hogan use each other’s catchphrases.
• Vince McMahon comes out and selects the tag team champions, Billy & Chuck.
• Hogan & Rock take on the whole NWO. After a few minutes Hogan makes the hot tag to Rock and he cleans house. Rock hits the Rock Bottom to Nash and tags in Hogan. Hogan hits the leg drop to Nash. X-Pac breaks up the count and NWO is back on top. Kane’s pyro hits and Kane comes out. Kane clears out some of them but X-Pac hits him with a chair. Hogan and Rock get back up and all three clear the ring. Hogan acts shocked when they say Rock and him lost via interference.
• Vince and Flair and argue backstage. Flair drafts Booker T and Vince drafts Edge. Flair takes Big Show. Vince takes Rikishi. Flair says “maybe we’ll get to see him sit that fat ass on your face again”and Vince shoves him and leaves.
• Jeff Hardy takes on Billy Gunn. Jeff with a big tornado DDT. Jeff goes to the top but Chuck gets up on the ropes. Jeff kicks him off and Matt takes him out. Jeff misses the Swanton. Rico goes to get the tag title belt for Billy to use but Lita dives off the apron and botches a huracanrana onto him. Jeff rolls up Billy for the win.
• Ric Flair takes Bubba Ray Dudley. So Vince takes D-Von. Apparently only certain teams come in packages.
• William Regal defends his European championship against Rikishi. However before the match starts, Brock Lesnar comes out and destroys Rikishi. This was only Brock’s second week on the main roster. Jim Ross calls Paul Heyman a hemorrhoid on the face of life. Greatest line ever.
• The Women’s Champion, Jazz, is at WWE New York. She says she’d like to ruin Trish and Lita’s pretty faces and that because she’s champion, she’ll be on both shows.
• Vince McMahon comes back out, despite it not being his turn. He tries to draft Brock Lesnar. However Flair comes out and reveals that it isn’t even Vince’s turn. Flair takes Lesnar and Vince is furious. Vince bounces back and takes Mark Henry. Flair decides he wants European champion William Regal. Vince takes Hardcore champion Maven. With Flair’s last pick, he takes Lita. Vince makes fun of Flair for taking a woman with his pick and calls Ric a pig, claiming he just wants to sleep with Lita. Vince claims he’ll be the one to get Austin. Flair gets the crowd to call Vince an asshole again.
• Rob Van Dam defends his IC title against Kurt Angle. Angle German suplexes RVD before the bell. More suplexes by Angle. RVD hits the Rolling Thunder. Angle uses the ref as a shield at one point and despite having the ankle lock on RVD, the referee calls for the bell, DQing Angle. Angle keeps the hold locked in. Edge runs out to make the save and spears Angle. Referees break up the brawl.
• Main event is a triple threat for the WWE Undisputed titles between Triple H (the champion), Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon. This should be interesting. Triple H catapults Jericho into his wife and Stephanie’s head lands on Jericho’s crotch. Jericho works over Stephanie and Steph gets the occasional shot in. Jericho and Stephanie begin to argue and Jericho gets the Walls of Jericho on her but Triple H breaks it up. Triple H takes out Jericho and picks up Stephanie. Jericho stops Triple H from pedigreeing her with a flying dropkick. Jericho and Triple H each hit each other in the heads with the two title belts. Stephanie tries to pin each of them but fails. Triple H hits the pedigree on Jericho but Stephanie breaks it up. Triple H hits the spinebuster on Stephanie and gets the win. This match was…something. On one hand, they at least worked over Triple H’s injured quad, which makes sense. On the other hand, the match was extremely awkward. As a result of this match, Stephanie is no loner allowed in WWE. Security drags her off as she tries to run away.

Smackdown 3/28/02

• We open the show with Booker T vs Diamond Dallas Page. DDP hits a Diamond Cutter pretty early only, only for Brock Lesnar to come out of nowhere and destroy him, hitting him with F-5 as icing on the cake. DDP did get the win via DQ but he didn’t look like a winner.
• Kurt Angle comes out to the ring and tries to get the crowd to praise and remember Stephanie McMahon for her time with WWE. Vince comes out and complains about Triple H being a bad influence on these fans. Triple H comes out and tells Vince he’ll make his life a living hell. Triple H says we should honor Stephanie McMahon, and her last few moments in WWE. They show the replay of Triple H hitting the spinebuster on her and her whining as security took her away. Angle begs Vince for a match with Triple H but Vince says he wants a piece of Triple H too. Triple H says game on and Vince makes a handicap match, only for Ric Flair to come out. Flair announces himself and Triple H against Angle and Vince for the main event.
• Bubba Ray and D-Von are backstage. They a shot at the tag titles, which would keep them together as a team, being able to be on each other’s shows. D-Von says if their run does end, then he goes his way and Bubba goes his. Bubba talks about the history of the Dudleyz in Philly.
• Billy & Chuck defend their tag titles against the Dudley Boyz. Bubba chops the hell out of Chuck. D-Von gets hit with one move and then struggles to make a hot tag to Bubba, who cleans house. Bubba Ray tries to pin Billy, then tries to pin Chuck, despite one clearly not being the legal man. Dudley Device but Rico distracts the ref. D-Von chases after Rico, leaving Bubba to be hit by a fame-asser from Billy. Chuck makes the pin and Billy & Chuck retain. The Dudleyz are done as a team. After the match Billy & Chuck attack but D-Von rejoins the fight and the Dudleyz hit a 3D on Chuck and the Wazzup headbutt to Billy. D-Von gets the table and the Dudleyz 3D Billy through it. Horrendous match but a really fun segment after.
• APA are having their last night together in their office. Tajiri and Torrie Wilson stop by. They tell Tajiri to tell everyone there’s gonna be a party here tonight. Tajiri leaves and the APA invite Torrie to play some strip poker with them.
• Matt Hardy and Lita are interviewed and are both happy about Team Xtreme all being on the same program. Jericho comes along and complains about not being champion anymore. Matt Hardy calls him a has been and Jericho attacks Matt, knocking him into Lita and leaves as they get up.
• The Rock and Hulk Hogan are backstage, talking about their tag partner for the night, Kane. Kane comes over and begins dropping all of Hogan & Rock’s catchphrases. Rock and Hogan look very confused.
• Hogan, Rock and Kane take on the NWO. Hogan manages to hit the leg drop on Hall early on, only for Nash to break up the pin. Hogan gets beaten down for a bit but makes the hot tag to Kane. Kane manages to get the pinfall victory, chokeslamming X-Pac.
• Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho face off, after already have an altercation earlier in the night. Hardy goes right after Jericho, beating away at him. Middle rope leg drop from Hardy. While the ref is distracted, checking on Matt, Lita runs in and jumps off the ropes, hitting Jericho with a huracanrana. Matt hits the Side Effect but Jericho kicks out. Jericho goes for the Walls of Jericho. Matt kicks Jericho back and he knocks Lita off the apron. Matt and the ref get distracted and Jericho hits a low blow on Matt and makes him tap to the Walls of Jericho. Before leaving, Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho on Lita too. This was actually a fun match despite being so short.
• Backstage the APA, Tajiri and Christian are playing cards while a bunch of other wrestlers hang out drinking beer. Tajiri wins the hand, meaning Torrie has to strip, but she just takes off a chain, making Bradshaw sad. Christian throws a fit because he didn’t win.
• RVD defends his IC title yet again, this time against Test. If you think the hype the midcard titles got was bad in recent years, this match wasn’t even hyped or announced earlier in the show and it’s against Test who has no beef with RVD at all. Although presumably Vince made this match to try and get the IC title on Smackdown. RVD dominates early but Test hangs him up on the ropes. RVD with a spinning kick and standing moonsault. Jerry Lawler is literally talking about which brand has the best breasts while this match happens. Test tries to cheat and the ref stops him. RVD goes for a sunset flip but Test holds onto the ropes. Earl Hebner, the referee, kicks Test’s hands off the ropes. Sunset flip from RVD and Hebner makes a fast count, giving RVD the win. Really strange match.
• Raven gets interviewed backstage by Coach about facing Maven for the Hardcore title tonight. He says some strange quotes and Coach looks confused.
• Raven takes on Maven for Maven’s Hardcore title. Raven comes out with a shopping cart full of weapons. Raven and Maven beat each other with trash can lids. Maven has Raven pinned after a missile dropkick but Tommy Dreamer runs out and breaks it up. Maven takes out Dreamer but Raven hits Maven with Raven Effect and wins the Hardcore title. A whole lot of “aven” in this match.
• Vince & Angle are backstage and Vince is angry that Maven lost the Hardcore title to a Raw guy.
• In the APA office, the party is going stronger than ever as Hurricane chugs a beer and falls over. William Regal comes in and makes fun everyone, causing a giant brawl to break out. With just Bradshaw and Farrooq left, they say their last words and flip the open sign to closed on the door.
• Flair & Triple H vs Vince & Angle, our main event. Angle and Vince take turns working over Flair and distracting the ref. Vince slams Ric’s leg on the turnbuckle post. Vince tries to put Flair in the Figure Four but Ric fights out. He tries to tag in Triple H but Angle knocks him off the apron. Low blow by Flair as the ref is talking to Triple H. Ric tries to lock on the Figure Four but Angle reverses him and puts the ankle lock in. Triple H run in and DDTs Angle. Vince locks in the Figure Four this time and Flair struggles but manages to flip the hold. Angle with a cheap shot to Flair. Flair makes the hot tag to Triple H. Spinebuster from Hunter. Vince breaks it up but Flair takes care of him. Vince hits Triple H with the title while the ref is distracted. Angle pins but Triple H kicks out. Trips tags in Flair and Flair actually hits the flying ax handle to Vince. Triple H and Angle brawl on the outside while Flair is about to lock in the Figure Four. Undertaker runs in and knocks out Flair. He puts Vince on top of Flair and escapes while the ref counts to three and Vince/Angle win.

Positives:

• McMahon and Flair have amazing chemistry, as do McMahon and Kurt Angle.
• Rock & Hogan teaming together was fun.
• Brock Lesnar looking like a monster.
• Really fun backstage segments with the APA.
• The draft itself was very exciting.

Negatives:

• The titles felt like they barely mattered. Barely announced title matches and all of them being extremely short.
• You had awesome matchups like Mr Perfect vs Tazz, DDP vs Booker T, Jericho vs Matt Hardy and RVD vs Angle yet all of them only went about 2 minutes long each. I’m not saying they have to be super lengthy but at least longer than 2 minutes.
• Not very big on the idea of Stephanie McMahon in a WWE title match. Didn’t really do anything for me.
• Test vs RVD was just an odd match. Did Test have a feud with Earl Hebner at the time? I’m assuming this will play out in the coming weeks.

Performer of the week: Ric Flair

Match of the week: Kurt Angle & Vince McMahon vs Triple H & Ric Flair