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AUGUST 2001

Invasion happened, Stone Cold renewed his heel status and turned against Vince, restoring the natural order (in a way) and we’re on the road to a SummerSlam so one-sided Fin Martin said it should have been called “The WWF Strikes Back.”

THE MAIN EVENTS

The Great One is back! A subdued 8000 come to San Diego on 5th for The Rock vs Rhino and Kurt Angle & Kane vs Steve Austin & Kanyon - Angle illicits a tap from the champ - which was all reshuffled when Booker missed it. 11th at Nassau (9000) 12th in Rockford (4500) and 18th in Fresno (8000) it’s Austin vs Angle for the belt while 17th in Vegas (<5500) it’s Angle, Undertaker & Kane vs Austin, Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page. After SummerSlam 24th in Wichita and 25th in Des Moines it’s Taker & Kane defending (both) tag titles against the Dudley Boys with Angle vs Rhino underneath, someone’s missing in Fort Wayne on 26th so Taker vs Bubba is one on one and Kurt goes on last. When will we next see 10,000+….?

THE CARDS

Chris Jericho vs Rhino runs up to the PPV which is logical, and after Y2J works Rob Van Dam non title which also makes sense. RVD had been doing rematches with Jeff Hardy prior. Kane vs Booker T for Big Gold is booked but has to run very short as Booker’s injured. Lance Storm does a run of ICT defences against future partner William Regal then moves to PPV opponent Edge, with rematches after the switch. Prior to moving onto Lance, Edge and Christian had a regular eliminator against the Dudley Boys and Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire. Regal ends up working Justin Credible. Before the PPV Yoshihiro Tajiri vs X-Pac non title was regular, plus Matt Hardy vs Hurricane for the Euro belt (or Matt/Lita vs Helms/Ivory) and after it Kanyon vs Billy Gunn for the UST was the feud you didn’t know about or need.

DDP & Kanyon prep for the PPV with wins against the APA, who later land on the odd couple of Mike Awesome & Tommy Dreamer. Early month there’s a six man of Albert, Spike Dudley & Scotty Too Hotty vs Dreamer, Credible & Test which in the run to the PPV morphs into a nutty 12 man of Big Show, Billy, Albert, Scotty and both Hollys against Palumbo, O’Haire, Shawn Stasiak, Hugh Morrus, Dreamer & Awesome. Test vs Albert resumes after SummerSlam because why wouldn’t it. You’ve also got Palumbo & O’Haire vs the Hollys and Chavo Guerrero Jr vs LSD. Remarkable how some of those names won’t give a sniff of a PPV match for ages, or ever again, save battles royal or Rumbles.

VARIATIONS

San Diego is anomalous. Storm is with Gunn, Palumbo/O’Haire still with the Hardys, we have Lita & Jacquelyn vs Torrie Wilson & Stacy Kiebler, the tag clusterfuck is Duds vs E&C vs Stasiak & Awesome, the APA defend against Dreamer & Taz, Chavo & Helms are with Tajiri & X-Pac, Albert vs Raven and RVD vs Test (before his turn). Fresno is missing a few names but Kanyon vs Christian is added. It’s Jeff Hardy vs Hurricane in Wichita, back to Matt vs Helms in Des Moines, then Hardys vs Helms & Raven in Fort Wayne.

A bloated roster AEW would be proud of.

TVs

13th at Chicago Scotty vs Crash would have been a Coliseum opener but there are very dark matches with so much talent available and little need for tryouts. Kaientai sighting 16th at Salt Lake for international Heat, they lose to Credible & Raven. Taka does a dark job for Perry Saturn 20th in Sacramento too, and both have more TV jobs for the weekend shows before month end. But there's fuck all non-televised action at tapings this month.

DEPARTURES

K-Kwik does a job for Awesome on Jakked which is the end of him. He’ll of course get over in TNA as Ron “The Truth” Killings and be back eventually as R-Truth. Similarly Jerry Lynn actually wins his last Jakked appearance (against Credible) before they call time on him. As an ECW alumnus left representing the WWF during the Alliance storyline he always looked vulnerable but it's fucking pathetic that they didn't think it was worth making a decent Cruiserweight scene revolving around him, Tajiri, X-Pac, Kidman, Chavo, Tajiri, Hurricane... need I go on? Speaking of which, after a loss to Kanyon on Jakked, this is the end for Essa Rios too. This is the last month they use Sean O’Haire before he follows his former tag partner to developmental. He’s brought back in 2003 in one of the best remembered false starts in history, but I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already know.

Edited by air_raid
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SEPTEMBER 2001

THE MAIN EVENTS 

1st in Worcester and 2nd in Halifax there is really strong support but the main is The Undertaker & APA vs Test & the Dudley Boys. 8th in Dallas and 9th in Austin we’ve got big guns out - Steve Austin vs The Rock for both belts, fuck finish. 22nd in Reading PA Kurt’s off and Taker has transport problems so the Chris Jericho vs Rob Van Dam non title match goes on last. 29th in Jacksonville and 30th in Biloxi we’re back to Kurt Angle vs Steve Austin - Kurt ekes out some successful defences in his 15 days with the belt.

THE CARDS

Kurt Angle vs Rhino is one of the supporting acts when Steve’s off. Chris Jericho vs Rob Van Dam is common before the PPV though RVD works Raven in Texas ; fittingly Y2J is with him after the PPV and Rob starts working X-Pac. The Undertaker & Kane work the six man before Unforgiven then Booker T & Test after it. Edge defends the ICT against Lance Storm early, Rhino in Texas and starts chasing Christian after the PPV. In Texas Lance resumes losing to Albert - who’d previously been pinning Chuck Palumbo. Christian had been working Justin Credible before his turn on TV but has the Texas loop off. Jeff Hardy loses to Kanyon up north but then beats Palumbo in Texas, Matt Hardy & Lita vs Hurricane & Ivory throughout. After the PPV it’s Hardys vs Helms, Storm & Ivory.

Kanyon resumes his run with Billy Gunn in Texas too. The Dudley Boys start defending the tag belts against Big Show & Spike Dudley after the PPV. Early month Raven revives his WCW run with Perry Saturn. X-Pac has runs with Spike and Yoshihiro Tajiri before the PPV. Tajiri ends up with Credible after the PPV as well as a random Bradshaw vs Mike Awesome. The Hollys doing jobs to the Hugh Morrus & Shawn Stasiak rounds off Texas.

VARIATIONS

Reading has a funny story. Farooq has transport problems too so instead of wrestling the APA, Test and Kanyon squabble in front of the crowd then have a match. Bradshaw works Credible and Albert fills in for Taker tagging with Kane against the ill fated Kronik. There’s also Lita vs Molly Holly and a dry run of Dudleys vs Hardys vs Show & Spike vs Storm & Hurricane.

TVs

First night in Toronto has nothing dark, second has just Saturn over Morrus. 10th in San Antonio however gets “game time” for several WWF and Alliance also rans and developmentals - Spike over Chavo Guerrero Jr (with Molly and the criminally under-utilised Stacy Kiebler in the corners), Crash over poor Scott Vick, and Palumbo over Steve Bradley. The rearranged Houston SmackDown has a real Coliseum exclusive - Stone Cold vs Rock, Mania 17 rematch in the very same city, DQ finish. 17th in Nashville Scotty Too Hotty pins Chavo, next night in Memphis is bumper - the Island Boys (3MW) beat the Haas Brothers, Credible pins Kid Kash, and Bradley pins Vick. Night after Unforgiven Crash beats Vick again and Ekmo/Jamal/Umaga & Kimo/Rosie beat two guys that will know each better as opponents in years to come, Chavo and Charlie Haas - this being the day of Russ’ heart attack - and next night in Dayton the rudderless Steven Richards beats Scotty.

DEPARTURES

The in-out saga of Kronik has been told so often I probably don’t need to re-tell it here. A shame, their TV squash of Kaientai was fun enough, I think they could have played a role, but putting them in with Taker & Kane was madness considering the weaknesses of each team. Long term readers will be stunned to hear that the tryouts for Scott Vick finally end here. Shame that Sick Boy never made it, with Raven, Saturn, Kanyon and Kidman on the books they could have ran a streamlined version of the Flock, but they didn’t. Would be expecting too much from the guys that introduced an ECW element to the invasion and had both Impact Players on hand but continued with Storm & Awesome as a team instead. Saddest of all, 18th is the last match for Russ Haas. His heart attack on 24th triggers the end of his wrestling career and on December 15th he dies in his sleep aged just 27.

Edited by air_raid
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OCTOBER 2001

THE MAIN EVENTS

We have split crews 6th/7th with Kurt Angle vs Steve Austin for the belt in Winnipeg (way down, <6000) and St Paul (4000) and Undertaker & Kane vs Booker T & Test in Bethlehem PA and Valparaiso IN. After TVs and Austin regaining the title he goes again with Kurt 13th in Atlantic City while over in Saginaw excusing the ICT and RVD going on last in his home state you’d say Chris Jericho vs Rhino is the biggest match. 14th it’s another B string in Toledo while at MSG we’re clearly on a decline - little over 11,000 for Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock for the belt in NYC. 20th in Columbia MO it’s the regular oddball card the night before a PPV - Rob Van Dam vs Booker T is big but unusual in storyline terms, Kane vs Test goes on last. 27th/28th we’re split again - Austin vs Rock is Bossier City LA (no, me neither) then Lexington, Taker & Kane vs Booker & Test in a cage in Springfield IL then Evansville. You know, it warms my heart that the old tradition of “one more loop, put a cage on it” endured into 2001 even for time-killing mini feuds that never got much TV blow off.

THE CARDS

Great month for Kurt Angle, in that brief window between losing the title and joining the Alliance he works Diamond Dallas Page - bit of a gulf in perceived star power by this point but I bet it was smooth. Chris Jericho vs Lance Storm is another surprising run early month before Y2J moves to challenging Rhino for the UST then getting post-PPV off. Christian vs Edge has been a constant ICT match, the Dudley Boys do a couple of defences each with the Hardy Boys then the APA then after No Mercy they’re back with Big Show & Spike Dudley.  The Hardys move to Jeff vs Kanyon and Matt & Lita vs Hurricane & Mighty Molly mid month then after No Mercy I get my wish and they work the Impact Players even if the WWF didn’t refer to Storm and Justin Credible as such. HCT is Rob Van Dam staying in the winners circle against Alliance stablemates Raven before the PPV and Kanyon after it. X-Pac starts and ends his month with Scotty Too Hotty with two gigs with Yoshihiro Tajiri in between. Scotty works Billy Kidman mid month, who otherwise swaps wins with Crash Holly.

The rest of the regular meetings thus ; early month it’s Show & Spike vs Hurricane & Hugh Morrus, Lita vs Ivory, Tajiri vs Credible, Billy Gunn vs Albert, APA vs Chuck Palumbo & Mike Awesome, Molly vs Jacquelyn, Tommy Dreamer vs developmental Russ McCullough (also late month), Kanyon doing jobs for one Brock Lesnar and Perry Saturn vs Steven Richards (also after No Mercy). Mid month, Gunn vs Credible, Saturn vs Dreamer, Jackie vs Ivory, Crash with McCullough, Storm jobbing to Albert and Palumbo beating Brooklyn Brawler. Late month we have Gunn vs Palumbo, Lita vs Ivory, Albert vs Morrus, APA vs Hurricane & Awesome and Raven vs Maven…. lol.

VARIATIONS 

Only one of note - at MSG Kurt works a revenge match with William Regal.

TVs

2nd in Mobile the aforementioned McCullough goes over Morrus and Crash does a job for Richards. 8th in Indianapolis McCullough loses to Dreamer again, the Island Boys beat Charlie Haas & Steve Bradley and Lesnar pins Lance Cade. Much the same next night in Moline except Russ loses to Palumbo. 15th in Ottawa Crash gets that win back from Steven, Saturn beats Palumbo and Albert pins Dreamer, next night in Montreal Chuck beats Sho Funaki. 22nd in Kansas City local lad Randy Orton jobs to Palumbo and Lesnar to Billy plus Kanyon goes over McCullough. Next night in Omaha two repeats but Russ actually goes over Dreamer. 29th in Louisville Brock & Shelton Benjamin again win the OVW tag belts, from Rico Constantino & Prototype (yes) plus Scotty pins that other name we all heard so often at the time, Ron Waterman. Who I may or not be accurate in remembering as a Poundland Scott Steiner. Finally 30th in Cincinnati Awesome goes over Shelton dark and a footnote from Heat - Palumbo has quietly left the Alliance and here Billy saves him from Raven and Credible, the genesis of their team. Or partnership.

DEPARTURE

After four years under contract, Taka Michinoku works his last TV matches for the WWF and goes home. A great wrestler, I’ve always been surprised they’ve not had him back in some capacity, though he’s obviously done fine for himself in Nip, most notably working under the steely watch of my avatar. This is the last regular month of bookings for Kanyon - he gets injured and complications keep him out of the ring for nearly a year, they keep him on the payroll and he has the occasional role here or there, but this is the end of his run proper.

Edited by air_raid
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Russ McCullough! He was all over the magazines as a hot prospect, I was convinced that he would be a big star, and I've still never seen him wrestle. 

I'm still waiting for some Wrestlemania weekend indie show to be built around OVW and HWA prospects from the early '00s. Ron Waterman vs. JR Ryder in the main event.

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37 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Ron Waterman vs. JR Ryder in the main event.

My main frame of reference for Ryder being he was the opponent for an AJ Styles squash on Xplosion during the test broadcasts of TWC. Annihilated with a Superman 450 IIRC.

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Sorry to drag it back several years but just stumbled across this on Twitter. Raid will have covered this but just look at it. And listen to it…

From the tour of Japan in May 1994. I really wish they’d filmed this tour for a bit of a Coliseum video compilation. This and obviously the Bret Hart vs Macho Man match should’ve got a proper release. 

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18 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

From the tour of Japan in May 1994. I really wish they’d filmed this tour for a bit of a Coliseum video compilation. This and obviously the Bret Hart vs Macho Man match should’ve got a proper release. 

Absolutely, “World Tour 1994” would have been a banger. Could have double-dipped with Bret (as they were fond of doing with headliners) and opened the tape with the Bret/Bigelow match I loved. They were certainly abroad enough in 1994 to have a ton of stuff to choose from.

Plus - shameless bump, October 2001 write up is finished.

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NOVEMBER 2001

THE MAIN EVENTS 

Lowell on 3rd (Tsongas Arena, not where Shawn lost his smile) and Bridgeport CT on 4th we’ve still got Booker T & Test vs The Undertaker & Kane in a cage. 10th/11th it’s split crews, we’ve got Steve Austin vs The Rock in Cleveland and Hartford with some big support, while Bangor and Portland have Rob Van Dam vs Raven for the HCT on last and Christian vs Edge for the Euro underneath. 17th in Bristol TN is a “night before the PPV” jumble with RVD/Raven plus the two champion vs champion matches from Survivors as non-title affairs. 23rd-25th in Daytona Beach, Lakeland and Fort Myers it’s Edge vs Christian for the ICT with an injured Y2J supporting Christian, tag titles underneath, while 24th in Philadelphia and 25th in Tulsa the clock is winding down on the last reign of the rattlesnake - Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle for the belt with the roles flipped after Survivors.

THE CARDS

Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho (for the UST oddly) is a great undercard run early month. The Undertaker beats William Regal early month then unbelievably after Survivors he’s doing jobs for the rejuvenated Test. Another fun run early is Kane vs Diamond Dallas Page, Kane’s with Regal later. Rob Van Dam vs Taz takes place early month before the Raven run then RVD vs Booker T for the HCT kicks off immediately after Survivors, no further pretence that RVD is a heel now the Alliance is toast. Booker & Test had been with the Hardy Boys for the WWF tag belts while the Dudley Boys vs APA was for the soon defunct WCW tag title - night before Survivors and thereafter we settle back into Dudleys vs Hardys. As you’ve gathered, Edge vs Christian is constant for one belt or another. Lita vs Jazz is also added all month and occasionally Jacquelyn vs Ivory as the Women’s division kicks back up. Big Show vs Mike Awesome (squash) is a run you didn’t know happened, post PPV Shows beating both DDP and Hugh Morrus in a handicap match. Not many Alliance guys ACTUALLY stopped working after their defeat! Eddie Guerrero is back wrestling Sho Funaki in Lowell and Bridgeport, in his last swing until 2002.

Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo are (usually) beating (fuck it) the Impact Players before Survivors, while after it they work Tommy Dreamer & Steven Richards while Lance & Justin are in a three way with Albert & Scotty Too Hotty and (winners) the APA. Brock Lesnar beats Dreamer early month, Crash Holly mid month and Perry Saturn after Survivor Series. Billy Kidman works a few wins over Crash then swaps wins with Saturn.  Spike Dudley beats Richards, then Funaki, then starts losing to Yoshihiro Tajiri, while Crash starts doing honours for the Hurricane.

Otherwise in Lowell & Bridgeport it’s Shawn Stasiak & Rico Constantino over Ron Waterman & Randy Orton (what an eclectic mix), Albert over Awesome and Saturn over Raven, mid month Dreamer & Richards beating Rico & Orton plus Waterman over Stasiak and Albert & Scotty over Hurricane & Morrus. After Survivors there are tryouts for NWA Florida regulars which see Coventrys own, the late Adam Windsor pick up wins against Marcus Dillon and one Paul London. Plus Raven vs Rico, Waterman crushing Brooklyn Brawler, Orton pinning Stasiak and Taz squashing Funaki.

X-Pac is, sadly, back on the DL.

When you look at the talent they had from the 2000 roster, to who they signed from WCW and cherry picked from (robbed the grave of?) ECW, plus the up and comers about to break through, it’s staggering that the product wasn’t better and about to fall off a cliff in 2002. But that’s what happens when all the characters are shoehorned into a single storyline that’s poorly conceived in a panic, badly executed and terribly rushed. Plus they put so much on the shoulders of Rock, Austin and Hunter that nobody was ready to step up when two of them disappeared. But that’s the future as I type.

VARIATIONS

Bristol has the alluded to Edge vs Test, Regal and Tajiri work THEIR dry run, Christian loses non title to Kane, Spike’s with Hurricane and randomly Jackie tags with Torrie Wilson to beat Jazz and Mighty Molly.

TVs

Rebellion actually has a dark match, another of the Chuck & Billy vs Storm & Credible series. Bonfire night at Nassau Coliseum we have Kidman vs Funaki plus more house shows runs reprised in Lesnar squashing Crash and Orton & Waterman vs Stasiak & Rico. Next night at the former Meadowlands Dreamer does another job for Lesnar, Orton beats Richards and Waterman beats Rico. 12th at the FleetCenter Orton pins Stasiak, Brock beats Rico and Waterman does a job for Morrus (give up now, Ron) while next night in Albany Hugh tags with Lesnar to lose to Gunn & Palumbo, Lita pins Jazz, and Waterman & Orton go over Rico & Richards. Night after Survivors in Charlotte - WHOOOO! - here’s the beef - Orton jobs to Albert and the monster team of Lesnar & Waterman lose to Chuck & Billy when the former Mr Ass pins the future “beast incarnate.” Next night in Fayetteville Lesnar loses to Albert (lol) and Ron jobs for Jeff Hardy. 26th in Oklahoma City Lesnar & Waterman lose to the APA and Billy & Chuck best (future stylist) Rico & Randy - which as a name would have suited the “You Look So Good To Me” gimmick even better! Finally next night in Wichita Waterman pins Rico and - future SummerSlam main event - Lesnar vs Orton.

I haven’t touched much on TV broadcasts but I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention Ric Flair returning. In general, it’s a bit absurd how fast things move in this timeframe. Taking Kurt as an example, after No Mercy he seeks revenge on Alliance commissioner Regal at MSG for losing the gold to Austin, wins the US title from Rhino, then JOINS the Alliance (including Austin & Regal) then drops the US title to Edge - which is crucial because he needs to do a unification match with the ICT held by Test, who only just won it from… errr, Edge. Of course, Kurt reveals he’s a double agent at Survivor Series so reverts to babyface. For 24 hours, until they decide the saviour of the WWF and the leader of the Alliance simply should double turn because the fans prefer to cheer Stone Cold and boo Kurt, who post 9/11 might as well have been Hogan in his pomp for about five weeks. Never mind.

DEPARTURES

As I touched on previously, this is the short-term end of Eddie Guerrero. Hardly any time at all into his comeback from rehab, he gets into a minor car accident and is promptly knicked for drink driving, and let go. Clean for good, he'll get attention for his great indy matches in the spring and make good on his third and final chance. Good month for temporary farewells as Mike Awesome hits the bench for a mid-term injury and Shawn Stasiak goes down to the HWA - both are going to be brought back in 2002, even if you don't remember them after the initial Invasion dying down.

 

Here's Brock and Randy ;

 

Edited by air_raid
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DECEMBER 2001

THE MAIN EVENTS

Split crews 1st/2nd - in Detroit and Champaign IL it’s the frankly ridiculous double of Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle for the WWF title and The Rock vs Chris Jericho for the “World” title. In Cedar Rapids and LaCrosse there’s no Taker but there Edge vs William Regal is for the ICT though whatever happens with the HCT (see below) goes on last. In San Diego the four Undisputed title participants have a massive tornado tag the night before the PPV. Fewer reports than usual for a December, none from the busy Christmas schedule.

THE CARDS

The Dudley Boys vs Kane & Big Show gets a run for the tag belts. Rob Van Dam defends the HCT against a double duty pulling Test & Christian in a handicap in Cedar Rapids and just Test in LaCrosse. Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy is now running. New Women’s Champ Trish Stratus is on the road with Jacquelyn and on the other loop Lita vs Jazz is still going on. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman was no doubt great. The rest of the cards are very random - I reckon Diamond Dallas Page vs Lance Storm was fun. Test & Christian beat Albert & Scotty Too Hotty. Brock Lesnar is squashing Crash Holly and Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo are still with Tommy Dreamer & Steven Richards. Otherwise it’s Farooq vs Raven and Bradshaw vs Hugh Morrus, Hurricane vs Rico Constantino, Justin Credible vs Ron Waterman, and…. Brooklyn Brawler swapping wins(!) with Sho Funaki.

VARIATIONS

D-Von misses Detroit so Hugh Morrus subs into the tag title match and Bradshaw gets a night doing run in duty only. San Jose is an exception unto itself, RVD vs Booker T goes down again, Matt is with Test because Jeff misses it, Christian with Tajiri, the APA with the Impact Players and Hurricane with Spike Dudley.

TVs

3rd in Milwaukee it’s Lesnar vs Rico and Waterman beats Adrian Zerrano, Lesnar v Rico again next night in Chicago. 10th in Anaheim Rico jobs to Tajiri and SoCal lad Frankie Kazarian is used for Jakked. Next night in Bakersfield Rico does the honours for Spike. 18th in New Orleans - uh oh - Perry Saturn goes over the irredeemable John Heidenreich. 21st in Miami Orlando Jordan does his first dark tryout and next night in Orlando (lol) is the famous Earthquake vs Tank Meloche match you’ve no doubt seen. Incredibly by that night, the same Test who was beating Taker on the road last month is now losing to Hurricane for Heat.

DEPARTURES

None that I know of.

 

 

 

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Quake was 38 years old in that match. The same age that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are now.

I know we've talked endlessly about how quickly time seemed to move back then, so he would have felt like an absolute relic, but I wonder if there could have been a spot for him in a bodyguard role if they hadn't bought WCW? A kind of Attitude Era Bossman repackage.

I think Adrian Zerrano should actually be Adrian Serrano - he was an MMA guy, worked Pancrase, and a single fight in UFC. He had a brief indie wrestling career, and Milwaukee sounds right for where he'd have been working, to get a dark match try-out. Might have just been someone Waterman was comfortable working with. 

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JANUARY 2002

The wheels are about to fall off, they will be light two main eventers, execute a brand split and about to enter a stretch of nearly a year without a proper top babyface and nearly 3 years without a long term one. Plus with a huge raft of star power available turn in one of the most underwhelming Mania cards I ever saw. Let’s go.

THE MAIN EVENTS

4th to 6th there are split crews and it’s a treat for Binghamton, Springfield (MA) and Trenton NJ - Triple H & Kane vs Chris Jericho & Kurt Angle before The Game returns on TV - and he’s pinning the Undisputed Champion leaving little doubt in those fans minds who’s winning the Rumble. The B show loop through New Brunswick is headlined by Rob Van Dam vs Test with the ICT underneath - are you as surprised as I have been, how often RVD main evented during this period? Post TVs into Texas we have Jericho vs HHH for the belt, alternating last match duty with Steve Austin vs Booker T in Lubbock (8000) and Houston (<6000), while in Beaumont and Waco it’s still RVD/Test. Yes, that’s a worrying gate for Stone Cold in a big venue in Texas. 19th in Chattanooga is a typical half-arsed night before the PPV - none of the top 8 guys are there and three title matches from the Rumble dry run probably making Edge vs William Regal the most significant match though the Hardys go on last. After Rumble/TVs it’s the same two big grudge matches in Pittsburgh (7000) and Hershey (6500) while in Johnstown and Charlottesville VA The Undertaker is back on the road giving RVD the rematch for the HCT. Healthy number of reports here!

THE CARDS

Kurt Angle vs Rikishi kicks in after the tag main stops. Edge defends the ICT against then brother-in-law, a “porn again” Val Venis through Canada then moves on to William Regal and then chases him after the Rumble in no-DQ matches. Diamond Dallas Page vs Booker T is a fun sounding time-killer for the latter until Stone Cold comes back, Kane vs Big Boss Man is a proper throwback in the bigger Texas shows and after the Rumble the Big Red Machine is back with Big Show - who’d slummed it with Hugh Morrus early month and a handicap against Tommy Dreamer & Steven Richards in Texas. Early month that last pair were losing to the Hardy Boys while Dudley Boys vs APA was the tag title match, after the Duds are dethroned at MSG it becomes Hardys vs Dudleys vs APA, and after the PPV Bubba & D-Von vs APA becomes a tables match and the Hardys land on Christian & Test - much ballyhooed “immunity” for Test but he’s going to be fairly anonymous now until the UnAmericans run. Christian was previously defending the Euro strap against Rikishi in Canada and Hurricane in Texas. Most of the month it’s Trish Stratus vs Jazz for the belt with Jacquelyn as ref, elsewhere Lita vs Mighty Molly though early month Trish is hurt so Jackie does the rasslin. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman for the Cruiser title is all month too. Strange month for young Brock Lesnar, losing to Lance Storm early month and Hugh Morrus in Texas before starting to beat Raven. Now Billy & Chuck have been established as heels they beat Scotty Too Hotty & Albert all month.

What else? DDP vs Lance mid month and post Rumble. Perry Saturn beats Raven in Texas and Rico Constantino late month. Early month is completed by Shawn Stasiak getting the call for Canada to give minutes to Randy Orton, Hurricane vs Sho Funaki, Justin Credible vs Ron Waterman, Crash Holly vs Rico and Spike Dudley vs Brooklyn Brawler. Texas also sees Funaki beat Orton (!) and Rico & Waterman upset Credible & Stasiak. Finally after the Rumble it’s Hurricane vs Crash and Spike vs Waterman.

VARIATIONS 

Chattanooga stands alone - as well as Spike & Taz beating the Dudleys again plus Women’s and ICT matches and a couple of regular runs, Crash pins Rico, Boss Man pins Waterman, check this out - Brock Lesnar & Randy Orton with their future millions of World titles between them, lose to Tommy Dreamer & Steven Richards. On last, the Hardys beat Billy & Chuck and the APA.

TVs

There will be a little more attention to TV this month because it’s Perfect. 3rd in Washington it’s Lesnar over Funaki and Waterman over Rico and we actually get a Coliseum Exclusive dark main - Rock & Austin vs Booker & Boss Man. 7th at MSG Brock beats Rico and Randy pins Waterman plus Low Ki loses to Christian for Jakked. Next night Lesnar pins Orton, Ron beats Rico and for Heat for reasons unknown to me, they thaw off Sgt Slaughter to tag with Saturn in a DQ loss to the damn Dudleys. More of the same in Dallas on 14th plus Charlie Haas is back in the mix beating Rico with “a leglock” which I assume was the Haas Of Pain, also HBKs cousin Michael Shane does a job on Jakked for Funaki. Similar next night in Bossier City LA where dark, Haas beats Shane, Waterman beats Rico and Lesnar beats Orton. Night after the Rumble in Greenville Lesnar beats Rico and Orton pins Waterman, and a very eventful Jakked has AJ Styles wrestle Hurricane in a competitive match that you should see, and fellow NWA Wildside regular Onyx do a job for Crash. On Raw…. Mr Perfect vs Val Venis goes no contest when Austin runs in with a chair. Next night in North Charleston SC dark Perfect pins Orton, the APA beat Lesnar & Waterman, Rico pins AJ, and Heat has Godfather tape a forgotten singles match from his brief return, pinning Lance after Papa Shango’s shoulderbreaker. 28th in Richmond Perfect wins the war of Minneapolis over Lesnar, Orton pins Waterman and Rico pins Orlando Jordan, and for completion 29th at the Norfolk Scope Godfather beats Funaki for Heat and on SmackDown a sentimental favourite of mine, Dallas Page wins the Euro belt from Christian.

DEPARTURES

Can I shock you? I think nobody.

I know you’ve seen this…

Here's AJ vs Rico ;

 

Edited by air_raid
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FEBRUARY 2002

THE MAIN EVENTS

We start the month in Vancouver & Seattle for Chris Jericho vs Triple H while in Tucson & Reno it’s Steve Austin vs Booker T. Fewer than 15,000 combined at the first two and 13,000 combined for the second. 9th/10th is better, they’re within a whisker of 10,000 in both Albuquerque and Waco for Chris Jericho vs Steve Austin while through Missouri it’s the return to Rob Van Dam vs Test with the ICT underneath in Rolla (??) and Springfield. 16th in Green Bay we’re EXACTLY booking what we were last month the night before the PPV - main eventers night off, William Regal vs Edge for the ICT but Hardys on last. 23rd in Buffalo (7000) and 24th in Manchester NH (a healthy 11,000) we alternate what goes on last between Triple H vs Kurt Angle or Steve Austin vs Scott Hall - say welcome back to The Bad Guy.

THE CARDS

Triple H vs Booker T is a mid month fling. Kurt Angle vs Rikishi is still going early month, Kurt has a break mid month. After the PPV T and ‘Kish start swapping wins with each other, in between Rikishi beats Val Venis. There’s a sandwich month for Kane going 50/50 with Test either side of a mid month return to Big Boss Man. Rob Van Dam has an early month run with Lance Storm (including a defeat in Vancouver) and after No Way Out he has the honour of doing THE honours for Mr Perfect. Unbelievable month here - The Undertaker vs Big Show starts the month for the HCT but when Show misses Missouri Taker does two jobs for his buddy Bradshaw after distraction from Farooq. Can you imagine?? William Regal vs Edge for the ICT continues until the PPV, thereafter Edge works Storm. Diamond Dallas Page also has a sandwich mostly working Christian for the Euro belt but inbetween he does DQ finishes with - back for another whirl - Haku. Also Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman happens for the Cruiser belt every night until the PPV. Trish Stratus vs Jazz is the early Women’s title match with Jacquelyn vs Mighty Molly elsewhere but after Jazz wins the belt in Vegas it switches to her vs Lita and Jackie vs Victoria.

Tag Team scene thus : Chuck & Billy beat the APA early month while there’s a three way with various winners of the Hardy Boys vs Dudley Boys vs Scotty Too Hotty & Albert. Mid month the Dudleys beat the Hardys in tables matches while the heirs apparent actually lose to Scotty and the “Hip Hop Hippo.” After TVs the new champs avenge those losses in their first defences while Hardys and Dudleys move to a mixed six-person with Lita and Jazz thrown in so Lita can pin the champ. Perfect starts his month tagging with Boss Man to beat a thrown together Crash Holly & Randy Orton, after which he’s 50/50 with Brock Lesnar - Lesnar had been beating Perry Saturn. Otherwise early month it’s Hurricane vs Sho Funaki, Spike Dudley vs Rico Constantino and Val beating Ron Waterman, and mid month Chavo Guerrero Jr gets cheques with Rico, Spike vs Funaki, Christian vs Orton and Hurricane & Crash beating Storm & Waterman - what a wet match that sounds!

VARIATIONS

Green Bay stands alone - the Hardys win a tag gauntlet over the Dudleys, APA, Chuck & Billy, Scotty & Albert and future champs Storm & Christian plus a couple of regular meetings, Spike & Taz beating PPV challengers Booker & Test, DDP vs Venis, Perfect doing a rare job for Rikishi, Funaki upsets Saturn, and Lesnar & Leviathan (oof) beat Orton & Shelton Benjamin.

TVs

4th in Vegas Rico & Orton beat Lesnar & Waterman. Next night in LA (paid sellout, near 18,000 attend) Waterman pins Rico and Orton jobs to Val. 11th in Jonesboro AR Rico & Randy beat Ron & Brock again and Shelton pins Leviathan. Next night in Little Rock Evolution explodes! Leviathan pins Orton. Night after No Way Out in Chicago (14,000)  - imagine this one - tag champs Spike & Taz beat Lesnar & Leviathan, while next champs Billy & Chuck beat Orton & Benjamin. Perfect watch - on Raw Hennig does a short job to Kane but his mic work beforehand is classic Mr P. Next night in Rockford Perfect is on dark duty forming an unbeatable duo with Leviathan to beat Shelts and Randy, while Lesnar & “H2O” lose to Scotty & Albert. 25th in Providence (still 10,000+ for TV) Aaron Stevens tries out against Bob Evans - Stevens will be best remembered as Damien Sandow. Perfect watch - over 5 years after it was first teased, he finally does a TV match with Steve Austin, a fun short defeat. Finally at the FleetCenter Spike beats Funaki and for Heat Perfect gets disqualified against Edge.

DEPARTURES

Still nobody.

 

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I know it's not the best looking back, but I always found early 2002 really fascinating with Perfect back, Haku, Hall back on the road, Austin and Rock still regularly on TV.

Some of the match combinations they could have had in this period are incredible, which is why i always find Wrestlemania 18 a bit of a disappointment. 

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MARCH 2002

We arrive at the month of the WrestleMania I had looked forward to the most before the card was announced, only to end up disappointed. Nothing quite like coming off the year they had where injuries and absences denied them a full deck and wondering what combination Austin, Rock, HHH, Angle and Taker will end up wrestling each other, to end up with… what happened. The top guys not back in with each other, to establish who was best of the best, but a clean sweep over five other men who for the most part they shouldn’t have been in the ring with and to a degree making a mockery of years of suggestion that the WWF was where to see the industry’s best while WCW flogged the dead horses long past their prime years.

THE MAIN EVENTS

1st in Tampa a disappointing <8000 for a unique show - common main events Steve Austin vs Scott Hall and Triple H vs Kurt Angle are supported by hometown hero Hulk Hogan pinning Rikishi. A quick tour starting 2nd of Yokohama, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur sees a run of Chris Jericho vs The Rock for the belts, which Y2J enthuses over in his first book as one of his most fun times in the ring. While in Lake Charles LA and Fort Worth TX it’s still Austin vs Hall with Triple H vs Angle underneath. 8th in Sarnia, Ontario is plagued by transport trouble so on last Kurt does a frankly unbelievable job to Canadas own Val Venis. Next night in Kalamazoo bulletproof Kurt does his planned job to Michigan boy Rob Van Dam which he repeats next night in Fort Wayne which is loaded with Austin vs Hall and Chris Jericho vs Triple H. That’s the last report before Mania and TV - 27th/28th in Gainesville and Jacksonville are fucking loaded with Kurt doing more jobs in the main events to Kane, supported by Ric Flair vs The Undertaker and Edge vs Y2J, while 27th in Wilkes-Barre it’s Trips defending the title against buddy Kevin Nash, and 28th at the former Meadowlands a monster 13,500 come out for Hulk Hogan & Triple H vs The Outsiders & X-Pac - it’s running wild again, brother!!

THE CARDS

The Undertaker vs Rikishi is support on some of Austin & Hunters early month shows. Early month Rob Van Dam vs Booker T has some surprising losses for Rob before his huge wins over Angle, then after Mania he’s giving the ICT rematch to William Regal. Early month Regal vs Edge was continuing with a variety of finishes before “Rated-R” lands on CJ after Mania, and Booker starts beating TazBilly & Chuck vs Hardy Boys for the belts, Kane & Big Show vs Dudley Boys and the APA vs Lance Storm & Christian all start the month, mid month we have a run of Acolytes vs Booker & Test, after Mania the APA and Dudley’s start wrestling each other in matches that end with handshakes and in East Rutherford, beers, because they’re both about to be split up in the draft. Jazz vs Trish Stratus happens all month til Mania then Jazz starts beating Molly Holly while Trish works the increasingly irrelevant Ivory. Abroad, Diamond Dallas Page vs Haku is a run you never expected for the Euro belt then after losing the title to Regal, Dallas goes back to beating Christian.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman for the Cruiser belt goes on until Mania, thereafter Scotty Too Hotty is added to the mix, and - he’s back! - X-Pac vs Spike Dudley happens most of the month, ostensibly for the LHW title, which I’m guessing Sean just happened to have in his bag because the company stopped acknowledging it existed months earlier. Mr Perfect & Big Boss Man start the month doing jobs for Scotty and Albert, mid month Perfect has a spell of losing to Rikishi, then after Mania he starts tagging with Shawn Stasiak (the former “PerfectShawn” if you remember ropey WCW 2000) to lose to thrown-together Perry Saturn & Hugh Morrus - in for Scotty and Albert who have new duties, Alberts being swapping wins with Goldust. The slide for Test continues, he’s with Val Venis early and late month and I’m being kind if I call it swapping wins - Val usually beats him. Overseas, Hurricane trades wins with Sho Funaki (Taka is in his corner in Yokohama) early month, post Mania there’s Brock Lesnar vs Crash Holly with Hurricane either running in or actually being part of it as a handicap match. Lance trades wins with Val mid month and starts beating Randy Orton after Mania. That’s about everything that’s not a bit confused (see below).

Quite a few matches this month are referred by Jacquelyn - I’d forgotten them making her into a ref.

VARIATIONS

So, Sarnia through Fort Wayne there is a mess involving six guys, not obviously caused by the transport problems. In Sarnia, Christian does a job to Crash, Lesnar pins Orton and X-Pac beats Spike as he does most of the month. In Kalamazoo, Spike upsets Christian, Pac beats Orton and Lesnar crushes Crash. And in Fort Wayne, X-Pac & Lesnar beat Crash & Orton while Christian tags with Booker & Test to lose to Spike and the APA. The common denominator in all of Christians defeats is Jackie, for reasons either not explained on TV or forgotten.

The missing guys in Sarnia are RVD and Booker, so as well as Val moving up to wrestle Kurt, it displaces Lance to wrestling Bradshaw leaving Farooq vs Test as a one on one.

TVs

4th in Austin Red Dogg (who will be Rodney Mack) does a dark job for Boss Man, one Paul London loses to Saturn for Jakked and - Perfect watch - he and Test beat Scotty and Albert on Raw when Too Hotty falls prey to THE PERFECT-PLEX! Next night for Heat Perfect beats Rikishi with help from Test. 11th in Detroit Lesnar beats Spike dark with what we now call the F5, this being the taping where Hogan and the Outsiders famously beat Rock & Austin via clean pin on Rocky after the legdrop.  Axxess at Mania has a few untelevised matches including Chris Nowinski doing a job for Maven. Montreal Raw has Orton beat Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer & Kidman beat Brody Steele & Bobby Roode - yes, that Bobby Roode. Next night in Ottawa Credible & Kidman job to Scotty & Albert and for some reason Orton jobs to Dreamer. 25th in State College PA Orton beats Credible and Scotty & Albert beat Saturn & Morrus plus Perfect does a short job to the aimless Taz on Raw. Finally in Philly it’s that same tag plus Perfect over Orton. The SmackDown taping has a forgotten instance of Lesnar beating up DDP, which I wish had led to a match.

DEPARTURE

 We’ve been here before, but these are the last dates for Haku before he enters his first retirement. He’ll be lured out of retirement by New Japan to sporadically tag with his lads and could still kick shit out of you into his 60s. This is also the last month of reports mentioning Perry Saturn - he’s drafted to SmackDown but tears his ACL before he gets to wrestle on the show and in an increasingly common practice come November they’ll release him before he’s back in the ring. He never really found his place after the first Radicals split, a rare case of WCW falling into stories or presentation to get a character over (especially his rebellion against Raven and Marilyn Manson inspired run) and the WWF missing the boat and not knowing what to do. 

Here's Lesnar vs Spike ;

 

On 2/6/2023 at 9:44 AM, The King of Old School said:

Some of the match combinations they could have had in this period are incredible, which is why i always find Wrestlemania 18 a bit of a disappointment. 

It’s like you read my mind. Within a year they’ll have close to the greatest fantasy roster of all time including HBK coming back and Austin’s last night crossing over 24 hours with Goldberg’s first. Giving rise to the best of the SmackDown games, Here Comes The Pain, where you had all the major players of the halcyon days of 2000-01 plus Shawn, Hogan, Nash, Flair, Goldberg, Lesnar and if you played it to 2005 and beyond like me you could create dupes of Orton and Batista with maxed out stats in the career mode so they could play like main eventers. And you could pretend EVERYONE was in their prime.

Edited by air_raid
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