SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following article was published on PWTorch.com 15 years ago this week featuring coverage of Monday Night Raw…
POWELLS WWE RAW REPORT
DECEMBER 2, 2002
AUSTIN, TEX.
AIRED LIVE ON TNN
REPORT BY JASON POWELL, PWTORCH ASSISTANT EDITOR
1st Quarter Hour
The still-shot photo of Eric Bischoff opened the show… A highlight package recapped last week’s Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam match… The opening montage aired… Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the show from their perch at the top of the entrance ramp and hyped Triple H vs. RVD in a number one contender’s match as the main event…
(Commentary: First off, I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend. I think I gained at least five lbs. on Thursday, then tried to work it off by sitting on my butt and watching football all day Sunday. It’s a hell of a workout program and I suggest everyone who is looking to gain weight give it a shot. I did catch Michael Vick in person yesterday and was blown away with his speed. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who sees Randy Moss play eight home games a season. The most impressive thing about Vick is that he appears to be going at full speed, then he makes a cut and actually kicks it into an even higher gear. All of that said, I still don’t blame the San Diego Chargers for trading Vick for LaDanian Tomlinson, who also had a huge game yesterday. It looks like the trade worked out for both teams. Okay, that’s enough football talk for tonight.)
(1) Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley beat Rosey & Jamal (w/Rico) at 7:52. The live crowd was up for the match and the wrestlers gave them a pretty good show. Rico interfered, so Spike Dudley ran out and attacked him. The ref was taking care of business outside the ring, which led to Rico interfering again. The Dudleys fought him off and hit 3D for the win…
A shot aired of Triple H and Ric Flair (dressed in suits) arriving at the building. Triple H was carrying a briefcase, but it may not pertain to anything since the announcers didn’t mention it…
[Commercial break]
2nd Quarter Hour
After the break, the Dudleys were lying in the ring. The announcers introduced footage of Chris Jericho & Christian attacking Spike, then joining Rosey, Jamal, and Rico in attacking Bubba and D-Von in the ring…
(Commentary: Just when I worried that WWE was having the Dudleys burn through their heel opponents too quickly, they came up with an angle to give the Dudleys two heel teams to work with.)
Backstage, Sean Morley asked Eric Bischoff to call him “Chief Morley.” Triple H and Ric Flair entered the room and got in Bischoff’s face. Triple H, speaking with a slightly weaker voice than usual, said he was insulted by the thought of having to wrestle RVD in a contender’s match. Bischoff defended himself by saying that he’s been more than fair to Triple H, specifically citing the time he handed him the World Hvt. Title belt. Bischoff said he respects Triple H for working hurt, but simply wants great TV. “You want great TV?” Triple H asked? “I’ll give you a train wreck.” After Triple H left the room, Bischoff and Morley decided the main event needs a special referee. Scott Steiner?…
[Commercial break]
The announcers hyped a Booker T vs. Chris Jericho for later in the show…
(2) Trish Stratus beat Ivory at 4:09. A solid match with only a slight slip on the finish, which was Trish pushing herself off the ropes and hitting Stratusfaction for the win…
3rd Quarter Hour
Backstage, Jacqueline caught Victoria going through her bags. A brief confrontation led to Jackie knocking Victoria to the ground. Ross pointed out that Jackie was in her home state…
[Commercial break]
Ross hyped that the winner of the Triple H vs. RVD match will face Shawn Michaels at the pay-per-view. Ross also introduced footage of the WWE float from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lawler took exception to the parade host referring to him as Jerry “The Ring” Lawler…
Backstage, gave his usual speech about how he is the King of the World and not a “sucka”…
(3) William Regal & Lance Storm beat Tommy Dreamer & Jeff Hardy at 3:27. Ross and Lawler spent the first two minutes of the match discussing the 16 diagnosed concussions that Tommy Dreamer has suffered throughout his career. The storyline of the match was that Dreamer was still smarting from Regal & Storm’s last attack. In the end, the heels rammed Dreamer’s head into an exposed turnbuckle and pinned him before Jeff could even tag in. Afterward, the heels worked over Jeff until Dreamer grabbed a cane from ringside and ran them off…
Backstage, Ric Flair spoke with Dave Batista. Flair said he knew that Batista bounced around “from foster home to foster home” and had to fight for everything he’s accomplished. Flair told Batista to use his rage to show the fans “the real Dave Batista”…
[Commercial break]
4th Quarter Hour
(4) Dave Batista (w/Ric Flair) beat The Hurricane at 0:48. A total squash match. Afterward, Kane ran out and attacked Batista in the ring, then clotheslined him to ringside…
(Commentary: Batista’s entrance music is about as uneventful as the look he has on his face while walking to the ring.)
A backstage shot aired of Booker T walking around…
[Commercial break]
Backstage, Terri interviewed Shawn Michaels, who said he is feeling well despite Triple H’s attack last week. Michaels said he wants to face Triple H at the pay-per-view because he “desperately needs” to get his hands on him. RVD interrupted the promo and wondered how Michaels could ever have been friends with an “asshole” like Triple H. Eric Bischoff interrupted the promo and named Michaels the special guest referee of the Triple H vs. RVD main event. Bischoff instructed Michaels to call the match right down the middle and threatened to strip him of the title if he doesn’t…
Ring introductions took place for the Booker T vs. Chris Jericho match…
5th Quarter Hour
(5) Booker T vs. Chris Jericho fought to a no-contest when Christian and Goldust interfered in 8:30. Before the match, Booker interrupted Jericho’s entrance music to mock him for being stripped last week and to tell a couple of lame penis jokes. The live crowd seemed flat through the first five minutes of the match, but the wrestlers eventually won them over. Christian ran out and tried to help Jericho, but Goldust ran out to break it up. Booker went for a cover on Jericho, but Chief Morley ran out and stopped the match. Morley announced that the match would be restarted as a tag team title match between the two sides. Ross announced that the title match would begin after a commercial break…
(Commentary: Where was Morley during the opener when Rico and Spike interfered? My guess is that Morley’s name was changed to “Chief Morley” to avoid having more than one Shawn/Sean on the same show. Pretty silly if you ask me.)
[Commercial break]
6th Quarter Hour
(6) Chris Jericho & Christian beat Booker T & Goldust to retain the Raw Tag Titles in 7:00. The match was joined in progress after the break. To the credit of the announcers, they did bring up the issue of Morley interjecting himself in some matches and not others. Christian debuted new ring gear, so it appears that his awful red outfit is history. At 5:00, Goldust rolled up Jericho for a nearfall that totally popped the crowd to the point that they booed when the ref signalled that he’d only counted to two. I think there were even some bullshit chants coming from the crowd, which is almost unheard of for today’s wrestling nearfalls. Later, Jericho hit Booker with one of the tag titles and hit him with the Lionsault for the win. After the match, Ross and Lawler argued over the result of the match, with Ross referring to Jericho & Christian as “the luckiest tag team champions in the world”…
[Commercial break]
The Raw Retro video piece featured Steve Austin filling Vince McMahon’s sports car with cement (or cee-ment as ol’ J.R. called it). The announcers directed viewers to log onto WWE.com to vote for their favorite Raw moment…
The F-View camera showed Test and Stacy Keibler making out. Stacy stopped the session to tell Test that she has another marketing idea. Gotta love that trusty F-View camera. The producers always seem to know just the right time to use it…
7th Quarter Hour
(7) Jacqueline beat Victoria in a non-title match at 2:38. What appeared to be the usual Victoria squash match turned out to be an upset for Jackie, who used a spinning kick to win the match. Jackie’s home state fans couldn’t have cared less. Afterward, Steven Richards ran out to check on Victoria…
(Commentary: So much for the hometown embarrassment theory. Looks like WWE is setting up a future title match for Jackie, perhaps at the PPV. Two women’s matches during the same show is one too many in my book.)
[Commercial break]
After the break, Victoria and Richards were still in the ring. Victoria accused Jackie of cheating and called her out, but Scott Steiner came out instead. Richards expressed fear, but Victoria didn’t flinch while Steiner made his entrance. Steiner got in Victoria’s face and told her to dump the freak (Richards) for him. Victoria lured Steiner in for a sneak attack by Richards, who was quickly disposed of by Steiner. Victoria jumped onto Steiner’s back, but was flipped to the mat and then rolled out of the ring.
Once Steiner cleared the ring, Eric Bischoff walked onto the stage and welcomed Steiner back to Raw. “I want you to know that all of us here at Raw recognize you as the most coveted free agent today,” Bischoff said. Bischoff invited Steiner to accompany him backstage for a special gift. Steiner went along with Bischoff, who bowed to Steiner while he walked towards him on the ramp. Once backstage, Bischoff introduced Steiner to several of “Godfather’s finest.” Steiner expressed his appreciation, but said he had a very special Super Freak waiting for him in his limo. No, it wasn’t Randy Moss. I couldn’t believe it either. Instead, Stephanie McMahon, dressed in clothes that were left over from her slutty days as Triple H’s wife, stepped out of the limo. Steph mocked Bischoff by saying she could give Steiner something that Bischoff couldn’t, then left the building in the limo with Steiner…
[Commercial break]
8th Quarter Hour
Randy Orton hosted another RNN Update, this time from The World Nightclub in New York. Jim Ross interrupted Orton because of a “breaking story,” which caused Orton to flip out. “I’m not finished,” Orton yelled as camera cut to backstage at Raw…
Backstage, Triple H spotted Shawn Michaels and mocked him by asking how his back was feeling. Michaels cut a promo on Triple H, then headed to the ring to ref the main event.
(Commentary: Good news, Michaels is wearing long pants for this reffing gig.)
[Commercial break]
(Commentary: Either there will be an overrun or this will be a very short main event.)
(8) Triple H beat Rob Van Dam in a number one contender’s match with Shawn Michaels as ref at 6:30. Before the match, Michaels banned Ric Flair from ringside. The live crowd was into the match and chanted “RVD” at the start of the match. Triple H went for an early Pedigree, but it was obvious he wouldn’t hit it since he was standing so close to the ropes. RVD flipped Triple H over the top rope to escape his finisher. Later, RVD hit a missile dropkick off the top but landed awkwardly on one leg. RVD seemed to be okay and went on with the match without so much as a flinch. Later, Michaels showed biased toward RVD by slow counting when Triple H went for a cover. Michaels then placed himself between Triple H and the ropes when Hunter was trying to reach the ropes to break a headlock.
9th Quarter Hour (Overrun)
RVD went for a cross-body block, but ended up landing on Michaels. Triple H grabbed a chair from ringside, but Michaels recovered and took it away before he could use it. RVD accidentally bumped Michaels again with a kick. This time it was enough of a bump that Triple H was able to hit RVD with the chair. Triple H covered RVD and Michaels woke up and counted to three, all while glaring into Triple H’s eyes.
After the match, Triple H insisted that Michaels raise his hand in victory. Michaels reluctantly obliged, but punched Triple H as he did. Several referees and other officials (including Fit Finlay, Terry Taylor, Sgt. Slaughter, and Arn Anderson) ran out to break up the brawl, but Michaels and Triple H fought them off. Michaels got the better of Triple H and set up for Sweet Chin Music, but the agents recovered and stood in his way. Michaels escaped from the agents and hit Sweet Chin Music on Triple H. Michaels backed his way out of the ring and stared at the fallen Triple H to end the show…
NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS FLASHBACK: 20 YRS AGO – KELLER’S COVER STORY: WCW prepares for ’98 to be different from ’97 – With Bret Hart entering the picture, two additional live hours, and the return of Sting, everything changes
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