Stew Style
The Big Show #3: WWF No Way Out 2002
Tag Team Turmoil for a Tag Title shot at WrestleMania X8
Hardy Boyz v Dudley Boyz v APA v Chuck & Billy v Storm & Christian v Scotty & Albert
The WWF seems to be slowly slipping back into the bad old days of the mid 90s when the Tag Team titles were almost meaningless, and competed for by teams that no one actually cared about… interestingly enough, Billy Gunn was in the title hunt back then too…
The Dudley Boyz are rapidly approaching the APA in terms of staleness. Their act is tired, and until the WWF see fit to return them to their crowd-pleasing ways, they’re stuck with that old McMahon stand-by… when someone gets no heat, stick ‘em with a hot gal. Of course, there are worse things in the world than being stuck with Stacy… but I digress. The Dudleyz are dead in the water, and the fact that they had the shot last month even further disqualifies them from contention.
Lance Storm and Christian are the Arn & Tully of 2002… or they could be if the WWF saw fit to reward two sterling workers by giving them a push. Sadly, they’re relying on actual wrestling talent, and are not as tall, roided or untalented as Chuck & Billy, so they’ve got no chance of winning either.
Scotty & Albert are still teaming? Why hasn’t someone realised this joke isn’t funny and stopped the pain? My God, seeing Albert as the ‘Hip Hop Hippo’ makes you wish they’d just bite the bullet and hire back Brian Lawler to reform Too Cool. That awful W-O-R-M combination thing they do is bound to be used on someone though, since it gets a pop out of the crowd. I have a bad feeling that the unlucky recipient will be either poor Lance or poor Christian. Still, at least I can sleep easy knowing that Scotty & Albert have no chance of winning.
The winning is going to come down to between the returning Hardy Boyz and Chuck & Billy who may only be the third most sexually ambiguous couple in the match… go figure! The result of this match is very much dependant on the result of the following tag team titles match, so let’s take a look at that, shall we?
WWF Tag Team Titles
Tazz & Spike (Champions) v Booker T & Test
This match strikes me as Paul Heyman’s team against Shane McMahon’s boys. Tazz & Spike continue their inexplicable push as strong tag team champions, and Test & Booker found themselves without a match the week before the PPV, so Shane made sure they got a spot. There’s no doubt this was a last minute decision, since there was no attempt made before this past week to push the match. Strangely, the champions have had the stronger lead-in to the PPV – Booker beat Tazz on Raw, but needed help to do it, and Spike beat Test clean on Smackdown – which, by general thinking would mean that T&T get the belts on Sunday as payment.
As I mentioned above, the booking of this match and the previous one are dependant on each other, since the two winning teams will go on to WrestleMania X8 in the Tag Titles match. Ruling out a heel-heel or a face-face match (which I think is pretty safe to do) you’re looking at Tazz & Spike defending against Chuck & Billy, or Booker T & Test defending against the Hardy Boyz.
Is the Hardy split dead? If the WWF have shelved plans to split up Matt & Jeff, I’d suggest that the bigger match is Booker & Test v the Hardy Boyz since I have real difficulty accepting any of the other four in a marquee WrestleMania title matchup. The six week break will have done the world of good for the Hardy Boyz (something the WWF should consider doing with the Dudleyz) and despite all their failings over the last six months, they can still be considered as ‘over’ with the crowd.
On a personal level, I would like to see Booker & Test v the Hardyz, but I think if the plan is still to split up the brothers, we’ll see Tazz & Spike v Chuck & Billy at Mania, and may God have mercy on our souls when Billy Gunn once again holds WWF gold…
Rob Van Dam v Goldust
Where did this insta-feud come from? Goldust targeted RVD for less than coherently explained reasons, and thus we have a match… simple as that, I guess. Van Dam is still the king of crowd pops (outside the big two of Rock & Austin) and looked like he was being groomed for an Intercontinental Title shot against Regal at this PPV. But, while Regal and Edge do their thing one more time, RVD has been saddled with the currently heatless Goldust.
Still, no problem, you say… RVD beats Goldust in short order, setting him up for a big time I-C shot at Mania. Well, that’s what you would think, but all the signs are pointing to a Goldust win. Although Dustin struck the first blow on Raw a couple of weeks back, RVD has been harassing him ever since, interfering in his matches with Rikishi on Raw and Tajiri on Smackdown. With RVD looking the dominant one going into the PPV, the expected RVD win would kill Goldust’s return dead in the water.
On the other hand, a Goldust win would all but kill the chances of an RVD Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania, which you’ve still got to believe is the federation’s ultimate goal. Bearing that in mind, though, a Goldust win might just propel him into legitimate contention for a title shot, and the brain trust might end up booking a four-way match for the I-C title with Regal v Edge v RVD v Goldust…
Still, given RVD’s uncharacteristically strong push in the run up to the match, I’ve still got to believe Goldust will get the win.
WWF Intercontinental Title, Brass Knuckles on a Pole
William Regal (Champion) v Edge
One more time for these guys, with the third consecutive PPV meeting for the I-C title between Regal and Edge, and unlike the Austin-Angle series which got progressively worse each PPV, Edge & Regal turned it up from a lacklustre match at Vengeance to have a really enjoyable match at the Rumble – in actual fact, the first truly decent Regal match in the WWF.
I pondered last month about what they could do with Edge should he lose the title, and they’ve done the only thing they realistically could do by creating the tried and tested ‘babyface chases strong heel champion’ angle. It’s worked too, as Regal has been booked as a monster heel and the fans have really reacted well every time Edge has managed to get his hands on him. As expected, Regal has been booked as the stronger during the build up, laying Edge out on Smackdown last week, giving Edge the WWF’s patented ‘internal injuries’ storyline.
Normally, I’d be shocked after all this build up if Edge didn’t get his belt back (hopefully to a good crowd pop), which would demonstrate his determination and heart. However, with the looming figure of RVD on the horizon at WrestleMania it may be more appealing for the WWF to keep a strong heel champion to feed to Van Dam rather than abort Edge’s title reign after a mere five weeks.
The Van Dam question aside, the booking all points to an Edge win.
The Rock v Undertaker
Can you say filler?
There’s nothing of interest to even write about this match, as all Undertaker feuds these days revolve around his perceived ‘lack of respect’ from his opponents. Rock cost Undertaker the hardcore title in a match against Maven, but Undertaker laid out Rock with a Tombstone on a limo.
Prediction? Who cares? This is the match to take a trip to the toilet. Rock will win to get revenge for the Tombstone attack, I suppose… I’m just waiting for the inevitable Undertaker v Maven match at WrestleMania when Maven defeats Undertaker for the first time ever at a WrestleMania, ending his winning streak at 10.
#1 Contender Match, Special Referee: Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
Triple H v Kurt Angle
Probably the most cut and dried match on the card. There’s no chance in hell Angle is going to WrestleMania to challenge for the Undisputed Title. There’s plenty of back-story involving these three, but none of it is being played on here, which is a real shame.
Adding the #1 contender stipulation (which therefore practically guaranteed that Tripper was the only possible winner) ruined what could’ve been a 50/50 matchup. Of course, the WWF saw fit to further gimmick the match by adding Stephanie to the mix as the special referee in an attempt to convince us that maybe Angle DOES have a chance of winning. Nah, I’m still not buying it. Despite the usual heel ref leanings, Hunter will win this one via pedigree and continue the Road to WrestleMania. Had they aborted the #1 contender stip, we could be looking at an Angle win, which would give him a real reason to have a post Mania feud with Hunter over the WWF title (assuming HHH wins the belt there).
The saddest thing about this match is not only the overbooking that is likely to occur… but the fact is that at the minute, Triple H probably needs the distractions. Coming back off the injury, Triple H is very rusty in the ring, and will rely heavily on Angle to help him through this match the longer it goes. Keith may have described him as ‘increasingly slug-like’ last week on Smackdown, but then so was Austin when he returned at No Mercy 2000 – he didn’t even take a back bump for about two months – and look at the 2001 he’s had. Triple H will get better, and with luck will return to the heights of 2000 eventually, but that doesn’t bode well for this match, or come to think of it, the WrestleMania main event either.
Undisputed WWF Title
Chris Jericho (Champion) v Steve Austin
If all goes to plan, by the time this match comes around, Triple H will have cemented his place in the main event of WrestleMania as the #1 contender. The only question now is, do the WWF have the balls to put Jericho in there with him? Cheap heel champion Jericho v unstoppable monster Triple H is certainly my pick for the main event (especially if Steph ends up on Jericho’s arm in the build up), but if the WWF don’t trust Jericho to headline the show, they have a strong backup plan in Austin v HHH, a feud which didn’t quite happen last year due to Tripper’s quad injury.
Jericho has been on a roll as the Undisputed Champion, and although the WWF haven’t seen fit to give him more TV main events, he has been excelling at what he’s been given to do… playing the chickenshit heel better than anyone else in the federation. God knows Jericho has built up enough good will over the last couple of years of jobs to allow him to be able to go over Austin once again, albeit in the cheapest possible way, to set him up for Hunter at WrestleMania.
The cheapest way possible is for the nWo to make their return during this match, and take out Austin, either resulting in a DQ/count out or a cheap pinfall, any of which retain the title for Jericho. Austin was the guy who told Flair to tear up the contracts on Smackdown a couple of weeks back, and is more than likely to be the faction’s number one target. This is truly the smartest booking decision leading into Mania, since it frees up Austin to either fight Hogan one on one or to be part of a WWF v nWo 6 man tag team match (I’d assume Team WWF would be Austin, Rock & probably Ric Flair)
Should I buy it?
I see WrestleMania shaping up pretty well, and since most of the matches on this show are pretty light on actual build-up and/or have telegraphed endings, it’s probably safe to miss this show unless you really want to see the debut of the nWo, which in the mind of the WWF is the main selling point of this show anyway.
Recommendation to miss.
Stewart Allen