No Mercy 2002 Review

Match #1 – World Tag Team Championships

Chris Jericho & Christian (c) vs Booker T & Goldust

All four guys in this match are very over. Goldust gets worked over for most of the early going after getting hung up on the top rope by Christian. More or less the usual face in peril role but Goldust plays it really well. Booker gets the hot tag and a prety huge pop. Booker with a spinebuster for two. Goldust back in and gets locked in the Walls of Jericho. Booker breaks it up and him and Christian brawl on the outside. Jericho goes for a Lionsault but the middle rope snaps. Jericho luckily isn’t hurt and bulldogs Goldust onto the title belt and hitting a moonsault off the ropes to retain the titles. This was a pretty fun opener. Not the best match these two teams had together but still pretty fun!

Match #2

Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie

This was in the midst of the storyline where Dawn Marie was dating Torrie Wilson’s father. So you can already imagine how this is going to go. The match itself is pretty bad but I do have some praise. Dawn Marie plays a very good sleazy heel. She was never much of a wrestler but Dawn knew her character and was good at it. And Torrie actually played the likable face role pretty well too. Torrie sells the back during her offense too, something a lot of faces forget to do the second they’re in control. Charlotte’s face run was brutal like that. Torrie gets the win with a neckbreaker. Not a good match but not like Rebel vs Shelly Martinez train wreck level bad either. Giving their limited ability and a terrible storyline, they did what they could.

Match #3

Ric Flair vs Rob Van Dam

On paper, this sounds pretty good. It ended up being disappointing and I believe they had a much better match with each other in 2006. Flair had some really bad ring rust in 2002 and his matches with Eddie, RVD, Jericho, etc came off disappointing. Flair kind of works over RVD’s leg but it gets abandoned pretty quick. Flair locks in the Figure Four but RVD gets the ropes. Flair goes for the Figure Four again but RVD reverses it into a small package for two. Rolling Thunder from RVD gets two as Flair gets the ropes. Five Star Frog Splash by RVD ends it. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it’s not really good either. It probably could have benefited from either a couple extra minutes or a different story. Good ending sequence though.

Match #4 – Cruiserweight Championship

Jamie Noble (c) vs Tajiri

Tajiri has a nice quick start before Noble takes over. Lots of trash talking from Noble. In my opinion, these are two of the most entertaining Cruiserweights WWE ever had, along with Rey Mysterio, Super Crazy, Gregory Helms & Spike Dudley. Tajiri misses a moonsault but grabs Noble and runs up the ropes, hitting a tornado DDT. Tajiri hits this really unique looking half nelson gory special looking thing, followed by a German suplex for two. Really cool. Tajiri hits the Buzzsaw Kick but Nidia distracts the referee by making out with him. Noble hits the tiger bomb but Tajiri kicks out! Tajiri tries to flip Noble into a victory roll, but Nidia holds Noble’s leg down, allowing him to roll up Tajiri for the victory. Really enjoyable match.

Match #5 – Title Unification bout: World Heavyweight Championship vs Intercontinental Championship

Triple H (WHC) vs Kane (IC)

Have you ever been in line at the DMV for what was actually 25 minutes but feels like 8 hours? I feel your pain. I don’t actually believe that this match is only 16 minutes long. It can’t be. My hair turned grey at some point during this match. Terry Funk retired and unretired 12 times over the course of this match. And if the match itself being slow and plodding isn’t enough, let’s remember the hard hitting feud this was where the main subject of a title unification bout being that Kane supposedly killed his girlfriend in a drunk driving accident and then had sex with her. Even featuring a segment where Triple H pretends to be Kane, goes into a funeral home and has sex with a dummy in a casket. What the hell, WWE? Just gotta relive that Attitude Era. For the first two thirds of this match, very little happens. Then there’s a Flair run in, followed by a Hurricane run in. He was Kane’s tag partner at the time. The one compliment I can give is that Kane’s selling of the sledgehammer was pretty good. After a second interference by Flair, Triple H hits a pedigree for the win.

Match #6 – WWE Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals

Edge & Rey Mysterio vs Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle

Well, wanna know how to save a PPV that just featured a terrible Kane vs Triple H match? Put this on next. All four guys sort of get their shot to lock up with each other in the early going. The vibe the beginning of the match gives is that “you’re in for a ride” and that doesn’t disappoint. The pacing of this match is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Edge is on the defense for a while until Rey gets the hot tag. Rey goes for that wheel-barrel bulldog and Benoit turns it into a Crossface. Now Rey is the face in peril with Edge really wanting the tag. Edge gets the hot tag and the faces clean house. Edge puts Angle on the top rope and vaults Mysterio over himself and right onto Angle for a huracanrana. Unbelievable spot. Benoit tries to break up the pin with a diving headbutt but accidentally hits Angle. Edge spears Angle but Benoit breaks up the pin. Benoit gets sent outside the ring and Edge catapults Mysterio onto him. Angle locks in the ankle lock, which Edge reverses into his own ankle lock. However, Angle reverses back into the ankle lock and Edge taps. Incredible match. Truly incredible.

Match #7 – Women’s Championship

Trish Stratus (c) vs Victoria

I think this match was really just a little preview of the awesome match they ended up having at Survivor Series. Sticking this between the tag match and HIAC would have been a bad time to introduce something epic because I think the crowd needed a cooldown. Although you probably could have put Torrie/Dawn in here since Trish & Victoria are the far superior athletes. Victoria bullies Trish for a bit but Trish gets the win via rollup. Victoria beats down Trish after the bell.

Match #8 – Hell in a Cell for the WWE Championship

Brock Lesnar (c) vs The Undertaker

This one is quite bloody and quite violent! Undertaker comes into this one with a cast on his hand due to Brock breaking in weeks earlier. Despite that sounding like a disadvantage to Taker, Taker has shown that he can use the cast to inflict pain onto Lesnar. These two beat the absolute hell out of each other in the cell. Even Heyman gets his ass kicked from the outside. Brock decimates the hand of Undertaker, smashing it with a chair over and over again and eventually pulling the cast off. After brutal beatings from both of them, Lesnar reverses a tombstone attempt and hits Taker with an F5 for the victory. My one gripe with this match is Taker’s selling of the hand. He was doing great with it for a while but then he’s throwing punches with it like it’s fine and even chokeslams Brock. I could understand the adrenaline argument but I think a cool spot would have been his hand not being able to chokeslam Brock or something. A fantastic match though, all things considered.

Overall this was a pretty good show. The Benoit/Angle vs Mysterio/Edge match was phenomenal, Taker/Brock was great, Tajiri/Noble was really good and the opening tag match was fun. RVD/Flair was watchable, as was Trish/Victoria. Torrie/Dawn was what it was and Kane/Triple H was an abomination but all in all it’s a solid show!