WWE held a Madison Square Garden show 13 years ago today featuring two big matches of The Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan in the main event and Ric Flair vs. Brock Lesnar for the second-ever time.

The night before, WWE was in Washington, D.C. for the first-ever Flair vs. Lesnar match. The following is the MSG break down, plus PWTorch columnist Pat McNeill's in-person report from the previous night in D.C., originally published in PWTorch Newsletter #712.

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WWE house show results
June 29, 2002
New York City at MSG

(1) William Regal & Chris Nowinski beat Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley.

(2) D-Lo Brown beat Justin Credible.

(3) Bradshaw regained the WWE Hardcore Title by pinning Steven Richards after losing it briefly to Shawn Stasiak.

(4) Molly Holly beat Trish Stratus to retain the WWE Women's Title.

(5) Matt Hardy beat Raven.

(6) Brock Lesnar beat Ric Flair.

(7) Steven Richards beat Tommy Dreamer.

(8) Rob Van Dam beat Eddie Guerrero in a ladder match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title.

(9) Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan to retain the WWE Title when Vince McMahon interfered.

WWE house show results
June 28, 2002
Washington, D.C.
Report by PWTorch columnist Pat McNeill

(1) WWE European Champion William Regal & "Harvard" Chris Nowinski defeated Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley in 12:40 when Nowinski pinned Spike with a full nelson drop. A simple formula. Bubba dominated the opening portions of the match, and tagged to Spike, who took a beating for several minutes. Bubba took the hot tag and cleaned house. He and Spike even performed the infamous Wazzup Drop. Bubba left to get the tables and was cut off by Regal, enabling Nowinski to hit his finisher. After the match, Bubba set Harvard up on a table and Spike performed a double stomp from the top rope. You know, there's "precut" and then there's "silly". Decent opener with good heat.

(2) WWE Women's Champion Molly Holly pinned Trish Stratus in 5:20, using her feet on the ropes for leverage. Trish has pyro now. Trish got a sunset flip early and pulled down Molly's tights to reveal conservative white underwear. Similar to their King of the Ring match. Trish went for the monkey flip in the corner, but Molly powerbombed him for the finish. After the match, Trish stopped to kiss a preteen boy who had a pro-Stratus sign, which was a nice touch.

(3) WWE Hardcore Champion Bradshaw eventually won his title back after the usual merry-go-round of title changes in about nine minutes. First, Bradshaw lost to scheduled opponent Shawn Stasiak when Steven Richards ran in with the Stevenkick. Spike Dudley ran out and won the title with a Dudley Dog. Richards beat Spike with another Stevenkick, and walked into a clothesline from heck. Bleh.

(4) D-Lo Brown pinned Justin Credible in 5:49 with the Sky High. After some playing to the crowd, these guys put together a decent, if short, match. The highlight was when Justin tried a baseball slide into the corner and crotched himself on the ringpost, which was a very athletic, if not particularly intelligent, move. Suitable for all ages.

(5) Matt Hardy pinned Raven in 6:19 with the Twist of Fate. Raven had "Fate" written across his chest in magic marker. He should have tried for something more lucrative, like "This Space for Rent." Matt got a good crowd reaction, and the ladies squealed when he removed his shirt. Raven got a near fall off a Diamond Cutter, in a nice tribute to his fallen comrade, but Matt came back for the win. After the match, Raven attacked Matt, who did a very convincing job of selling that he had blown out his knee. Charles Robinson and another official started (slowly) helping Matt to the back.

(6) Brock Lesnar pinned Ric Flair in 6:58 with the F5. There was no Paul Heyman, and no explanation for his absence. Flair came out first. Lesnar came out and Matt Hardy was almost to the back. Lesnar destroyed Hardy by the entrance, using a Gorilla Press to hotshot him onto the railing. Flair came out and started brawling with Lesnar in the aisle. Once they came back in, Lesnar threw Flair around for a bit. Flair did the Flair Flop out of the corner after taking a series of shoulderblocks. Lesnar gave Flair a rotten-looking backbreaker. Flair went to the eyes and started working the knee, but Lesnar cut him off with a big clothesline. Brock put Flair in a bearhug, but Flair got out, and then began implemented his standard groin-related offense., then took him down with a running chop block to the knee. Flair set for the figure-four and Chris Benoit ran in. Flair knocked Benoit off the apron, but Lesnar had recovered for the finish. A couple of miscommunications, but the match was basic Flair-Luger stuff from the late '80s, and it mostly suited Lesnar.

(7) Steven Richards pinned Tommy Dreamer in 5:20 with the Stevenkick. The match quickly went to ringside, where Dreamer implemented the standard water spot and soda spot, then grabbed a box of Cracker Jack and wrestled for a minute or so without spilling a toffee-covered morsel. Hey, you have to hand it to a guy who uses a popcorn-based product during the popcorn match. Dreamer also broke out the old Mark Callous ropewalk elbow, except he did it from the middle rope. Richards powered out of a DDT attempt and hit his finisher. Dreamer was favoring his right shoulder after the match.

(8) WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam pinned Eddie Guerrero in 13:23 with the frog splash. These guys had tremendous crowd heat. A small group of fans started a "we want a ladder" chant. Guerrero took over for the opening minutes. Van Dam hit a hotshot on Guerrero and went for Rolling Thunder, but Eddie brought his knees up. Eddie hit a sweet-looking power bomb and went upstairs for the frog splash. Van Dam moved, but Eddie did a forward roll and got back to his feet. Van Dam hit his jumping back kick and went up top, but Chris Benoit ran in and crotched Van Dam on the top turnbuckle. Ric Flair ran out for the save and chopped Benoit to ribbons against the railing. Eddie set for a superplex, but RVD shoved Eddie off the top rope and hit his finisher. Flair and Van Dam celebrated in the ring after the match. Easily the best match of the night, and they should have saved it for the finale.

(9) Booker T & Goldust defeated X-Pac & Big Show in 11:58 when Booker pinned X-Pac with the Bookend. Both Goldust and Booker got the pyro. A good match, but it was almost move for move what they did on Raw last week. The NWO guys got all sorts of heat on Goldust. Goldust hit the Dust Buster on X-pac, which the crowd loved. When X-Pac rallied and tried for a Bronco Buster of his own, Goldust had moved. Goldust made the hot tag to Booker, who cleaned house, did the Spinaroonie, bodyslammed(!) Big Show, and got the victory. Good stuff here, especially from X-Pac, who was working for two.

Howard Finkel plugged this Saturday's outdoor show at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, Maryland, not too far up the road. Finkel also kissed up to us by saying that we were among the best WWE fans anywhere. Awwww.

(10) WWE Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan in 8:29 with a chokeslam. Undertaker got a big pop and a mixed reaction. They started out brawling around the ring, with Undertaker ramming Hogan into the timekeeper's table. Undertaker brought Hogan back in and went for the big legdrop, but missed. Hogan got some offense, but Undertaker took over with a low blow. Taker put on a lengthy chinlock, but Hogan powered out. They messed up a back elbow spot. Undertaker used the big boot and a legdrop, but Hogan kicked out at two. Taker accidentally clotheslined Earl Hebner. Undertaker hit a chokeslam, but Hogan started hulking up. Hogan hit the big boot and legdrop for a visual cover, but Hebner was unconscious. Hogan went to revive Hebner, giving the Dead Man plenty of time to leave the ring, grab the belt and nail Hogan with a weak belt shot.

After the match, Undertaker started to set Hogan for the Last Ride. Hogan was supposed to backdrop Undertaker, but that went badly. Hogan wound up clotheslining Undertaker and started posing. Hogan had an initial pop for this match that was about the same size at Rob Van Dam's, but Van Dam also got a monster pop after his match, while many people started filing out quietly as soon as Undertaker got the three count.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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