Welcome to the second instalment of Tybo Talks 2002, We are rolling onto exactly the second PPV of the year with No Way Out.
The idea was simple, with the ease of access to pretty much all of WWE’s back catalogue on the WWE Network I thought it would be cool to change it up a bit and do some classic reviews and drop them on the day they were held.
The plan is to review every PPV of 2003 while watching all Raw and Smackdown episodes in between. You will also see I’m doing this with 2002 and 1995.
Now before I go any further, I’m not really going to explain the matches move for move. No one needs that, the PPV is on the WWE Network. This is going to be my thoughts on the booking and general thoughts about the matches and the event.
The Stats
This is the fourth annual No Way Out PPV
Venue – Bradley Centre. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance – 15,291
Now before I go any further, I’m not really going to explain the matches move for move. No one needs that, the PPV is on the WWE Network. This is going to be my thoughts on the booking and general thoughts about the matches and the event as a whole.
The event opened with the debut of NWO (WCW’s New World Order), NWO debuting on No Way Out, get it? 15+ years ago I thought that was so clever! Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan come to the ring and cut a promo basically saying they are not bad guys.
What’s interesting about this promo is as soon as Hogan takes the mic to talk the fans go crazy. Hogan hasn’t been in the company for years yet the love for him is like he has never been away. It’s not shocking he drops the black and white soon after re-debuting.
FunFact: Although all three members of NWO have been though WWF before, this is the first time they have appeared as a WCW created faction.
Tag Team Championship: Number One Contender
Tag Team Turmoil
This match had a lot of tag teams, some obvious, some less so. The match begins with Scotty2Hotty and Albert vs. Christian and Lance Strom. Both are random pairings. Christian and Strom move on to face the returning Hardy Boyz. The Hardy’s obviously go on to face the Dudley Boys and we get an actual match.
This ends with Hardy’s winning but with Jeff taking a 3D on the outside of the ring so, when Billy and Chuck enter the match they make short work of Team Extreme. The final team is APA. These two teams have a pretty good but short back and forth ending in APA going to Wrestlemania to challenge for the Tag Team Championships. Winners – APA
Rob Van Dam vs. Goldust
This is one of those rivalries where the reasoning behind it is never really explained properly. The basics of it are Goldust does not like RVD, but then the character that Goldust is playing I guess it doesn’t really have to make sense does it. It’s crazy to think that not only is Goldust still wrestling a full schedule but he is probably in far better shape now than he ever was.
FunFact: This was Goldust’s first singles match in WWF since Backlash 1999.
I’ll be honest, this match, although there is some build-up to it, it feels like this is just filler. This is neither stars best match, nor is it very memorable. As you would expect the highlight of the match was RVD’s Frogsplash, RVD defeated Goldust. Winner – RVD
Backstage: Austin and NWO have one of the most awkward encounters I have seen, It’s like none of NWO has any idea what they are meant to be saying. That aside, the fanboy in me loved seeing the (then) WWF main man Austin staring down WCW main faction.
Tag Team Championship
Spike and Tazz (c) vs. Test and Booker T
I mentioned this in the previous Tybo Talks, but Spike and Tazz are still such a random pairing, not only that but Test and Booker T are just as random. At the time, they made sense, coming off the back of the Invasion Test and Booker T were both on The Alliance Team, but looking back it’s almost forgotten. Aside from the random pairings, both teams work well together.
Spike and Tazz remind me of the Heath Slater and Rhyno pairing. Rhyno is the intense pitbull like Tazz was and Slater is the fan favourite there to take a beatdown. Tazz and Spike had been gaining momentum as a team by this point and it continued for at least one more night. Winners – Spike and Tazz
Intercontinental Championship
William Regal (c) vs. Edge
Brass Knuckles on a Pole Match
Yes, you read this right, the old classic of (insert object here) on a pole match. This is the continuation of their feud that they have been having since before Royal Rumble. As I said last month this is possibly Edge’s best rivalry to date, the feud elevates both guys in a way few feuds do. Regal makes Edge look like a great face, as he does with almost everyone he wrestles.
There is a moment where Regal has the Regal Stretch on Edge and he is bleeding from the mouth, this is some great heel work from Regal. The match finished with Regal using a second set of ‘knucks’ and the Power of the Punch. Winner – William Regal
Backstage: Lillian is interviewing Kurt Angle for his match later with Triple H for his Number One contender-ship at Wrestlemania, which I will talk about later, I’m only mentioning this because Kurt Angle said ‘I’m going to be your daddy’ to Triple H. Weird.
The Rock vs The Undertaker
This match happened not long after Undertaker turned heel and became Vince’s number one guy. It’s strange to see Undertaker as a heel as he has been a mega face for so long now. For Undertaker, this match, and his whole gimmick is about respect. The Rock recently cost ‘Taker his Hardcore Championship, honestly, I completely forgot he was ever the Hardcore Champion. They literally put that belt on everyone!
The build to this match culminated in The Rock getting Tombstoned on a car roof. Moves on car roofs, you got to love it. Although it’s not The Rock or The Undertakers best match, it shows why these two are legends in the wrestling world.
The end of this match, has both Flair and Vince involved, with Flair hitting Undertaker with the pipe that he brought into the ring, and costing Taker the match. This is clearly the beginning of The Undertaker and Ric Flair’s feud heading into Wrestlemania. Winner – The Rock
Undisputed Championship: Number One Contender
Triple H vs. Kurt Angle
Stephanie McMahon – Special Referee
As I’m sure you know if you have read my Royal Rumble Review, Triple H won the 2002 Rumble, so this match shouldn’t really be happening, but mess with McMahon’s and these things will happen. The build to this match, and this whole feud has had so many twists and turns it’s insane! Triple H had been out for nine months, and when he came back he was clearly not a fan of his ‘wife’.
Steph wanted to renew their wedding vows, Triple H said no so Steph said she was pregnant and Triple H instantly changed his mind, Steph was not pregnant. She then hired an actor to play a doctor to tell them she was pregnant, but Triple H found out she was lying. Are you keeping up?
So, when it came to renewing their wedding vows Triple H went mental and smashed up the ‘ring chapel’ and the ‘Stephanie McMahon roar’ was born. In comes, Vince to defend his daughter and Triple H must defend his Number One contender-ship against Kurt Angle. What did I say, so many twists and turns!
Outside of everything that’s going on this is an enjoyable match. The dynamic between Steph, Triple H and Angle is great. Although Steph gets knocked out and taken to the back pretty early so she only plays a factor at the beginning and the end. Although this is a good match, Triple H and Angle have the same match again on Raw the next night and it’s far better. I highly recommend watching both matches.
Now, I’m sure we all know the main event of Wrestlemania 18, but that doesn’t stop Kurt Angle from walking out as the winner of this match. Winner – Kurt Angle
Backstage: The Rock meets NWO in one of my favourite Rock segments. Rock calling Scott Hall – Razor, Kevin Nash – Big Daddy Cool, and Telling Hogan to eat his vitamins and say his prayers. Absolute Genius.
Undisputed Championship
Chris Jericho (C) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
This is a classic Heel vs Face match. There is no doubt that Austin is the most over babyface in the WWF at the time and it’s arguable that Jericho is the most over heel at the time. I have said this before but I think Jericho’s 2002 Championship run is one of the best of his career. He plays the perfect heel, where it’s almost hard to hate him and all these years later he is still a perfect heel.
FunFact: This would be Stone Cold Steve Austin’s last PPV WWE Championship match.
Honestly, I don’t think anyone was or maybe ever will be as over as Austin was in the last few years of his in-ring career. This match has a good back and forth, there is a lot of brawling outside the ring which the crowd are loving. Austin and Jericho have good chemistry in the ring, they are both solid mechanics and know how to play off the crowd.
As you would expect Austin has this match won, and Jericho was not going to win this one clean. Jericho kept his championship this time because of interference from NWO. They beat down Austin costing him the match, then if that wasn’t enough NWO then brand Austin’s back with the NWO spray paint.
Overall
This was an enjoyable PPV to watch, the build-up for the debut of the NWO was slightly anti-climactic as outside of a few promos and interfering with the main event, which they were always going to do they didn’t do anything I would call shocking.
This should not take away from the high-quality matches that The Rock and The Undertaker, Triple H and Angle, and Jericho and Austin had, these were all top quality and rightly so. I don’t this the PPV was better than Royal Rumble, but I never think a PPV is needed between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania so that could be part of it.
The Match of the night could go to more than one match on this card. The PPV is littered with today’s legends. I think it would probably be Triple H vs Kurt Angle, but with them having a far better match on the Raw after I’m going to say Edge vs William Regal. The reason for this is that you would expect a high-quality match for the future legends. The whole Edge vs Regal feud deserves more light shined on it. So, check it out.
Overall Rating: 3 / 5
Tybometer 2002
Royal Rumble – 3.5 / 5
No Way Out – 3 / 5
Be sure to come back next month for the third Tybo Talks 2002: Wrestlemania X8, and follow me on Twitter @TheTyboLedson
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