WWE of 2002: One year, two differents worlds.

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Many consider the year of 2002, to be a transitional year for the wrestling world.
The WWF put the "F" out and became the WWE.
TNA and ROH were also founded that year.
Hulk Hogan and the Heart-Break Kid Shawn Michaels made their triuphants returns.
John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Rey Mysterio, Brock Lesnar all make their debuts.
Kurt Angle got his hair shaved.
The Ruthless Agression Era was born.
Brand Extension is created.
The World Heavyweight Championship is awarded to Triple H by Eric Bischoff.
The Elimination Chamber match is created.
Kevin Nash tearing his quad.

Why did I mentioned the two differnent worlds at the title? 2002 was seperated in 2 pieces, one being from January to August and the other from August to December.

In the first half, you witness a face Triple H dominating the scene and you believe that he is going to be the next Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then you have the nostalgia run, from Hogan. Hulkamania was really runnin' wild at that time. Undertaker wins his first World title in two years. Austin is there. The Rock is there. The NWO (original or not) is there.

And then there's the second part.
Now we have TWO world titles. One being held by a rookie, and the other being held by a heel Triple H. Austin and The Rock are nowhere to be seen. Hogan and The NWO the same. HBK has returned and became World Heavyweight Champion. Big Show beacomes a champ out of the blue. You have the creation of the Elimination Chamber.

In my opinion 2002 was one of the most amazing years in wrestling. It was a catalyst in what followed the next years. However, it feels like having two years in one. Two different Eras. With only common part being Summerslam 2002, were so many things were put to rest and so many others were born.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

2002? Amazing year? Does. Not. Compute.

You may have had Cena, Batista, Lesnar, Orton, and Mysterio debut they don't cancel out all the terrible shit we had. I believe it's time for a list.

1. Jericho was the fourth most important thing in his feud with HHH. A dog was more important than him. A dog.

2. Hogan was terrible.

3. Undertaker was terrible. He faced Rock, Flair, Austin, Hogan, and HHH in consecutive PPV's and his best match was against Flair. He was just embarrassing in the ring that year.

4. HHH was terrible as a face and then turned heel and became insufferable. All HHH, all the time.

5. Katie Vick.

6-15. Big Show

Only things I enjoyed about 2002 were that tag match at No Mercy and Kevin Nash tearing his quad. I could watch both of those over and over again.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

2002? Amazing year? Does. Not. Compute.

You may have had Cena, Batista, Lesnar, Orton, and Mysterio debut they don't cancel out all the terrible shit we had. I believe it's time for a list.

1. Jericho was the fourth most important thing in his feud with HHH. A dog was more important than him. A dog.

2. Hogan was terrible.

3. Undertaker was terrible. He faced Rock, Flair, Austin, Hogan, and HHH in consecutive PPV's and his best match was against Flair. He was just embarrassing in the ring that year.

4. HHH was terrible as a face and then turned heel and became insufferable. All HHH, all the time.

5. Katie Vick.

6-15. Big Show

Only things I enjoyed about 2002 were that tag match at No Mercy and Kevin Nash tearing his quad. I could watch both of those over and over again.

I agree with the Katie Vick, Big Show, face HHH and Jericho parts you mentioned. However my point wasn't wether that year was awesome or not. Every year has its bad spots. My point was the significance and the importance of that year as, in my opinion, it connects the WWF with the WWE, Attitude Era with The Ruthless Agression Era.

P.S.: I forgot about Nash. I'm going to put him on my list now, though.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Well, looking back, I for one loved WWE 2002, from January 1st to December 31st. I loved it so much, that I bought the DVDs for Royal Rumble 2002, No Way Out 2002, and WrestleMania X8. I also have every PPV from Invasion to Vengeance 2001, but that’s for another thread at another time.

What I liked about 2002:

• Chris Jericho kicks off the year as the First Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

• Triple H comes back after being out for the WCW / ECW Invasion, and wins the Royal Rumble, earning a shot at WrestleMania.

• Vince McMahon vs. Ric Flair for control of the WWF. Come on. You gotta love that, even though Flair should have been there before he bought Shane’s and Stephanie’s stock.

• The return to Television and the WWF debut of the New World Order. With Triple H and Shawn Michaels around, you and everyone else was expecting to hear a “Clique Kliq Boom”.

• As if Chris Jericho beating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in the same night wasn’t enough, he beat them both a second time each in their respective rematches, granted with help from the Un-Americans and the N. W. O., but still impressive, nonetheless.

• Ric Flair vs. Undertaker and Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. If you didn’t enjoy those two matches, you are not a Wrestling fan. You, my friend, are just a critic.

• “Rocky!! Rocky!! Rocky!!...Hogan!! Hogan!! Hogan!!”

• The WWE Brand Extension. I can sit here and say a whole lot about why I loved the Brand Extension and why I think it should continue today, but let’s continue.

• Hulkamania’s return to the top. If you were a fan of his in the 80s, you would understand.

• King Brock Lesnar. At the time, it didn’t seem like much, considering you had the Main Event scene crowded with Legends of the Ring, but this was only step one for the Next Big Thing.

• Brock Lesnar vs. The Rock. No one expected this. I don’t care who you are. There is no way anyone predicted this would happen. This immediately made the WWE Crown so much more valuable.

• The hug heard round the world. Vince McMahon hiring Eric Bischoff as the Raw GM was a great surprise. The only thing that could have compared to that would have been if Vince hired Paul Heyman to be the Smackdown GM on the same week.

• The creation of the World Title. Yes, in my opinion, the World Title is the same as the WCW Title, and because there isn’t any overlapping reigns, I believe I’m correct. Plus, how cool was it to see Eric Bischoff bring it back, present it to Triple H, and then protested by “The Man” who made the Big Gold, well, Big??

• The creation of the WWE Tag Team Titles. I always thought the Smackdown Tag Titles should have been referred to as the World Tag Team Titles and the Raw Tag Titles should have been referred to as the WWE Tag Team Titles, but whatever. Point is, I’m glad we had two sets. The Smackdown 6 really pushed the envelope as far as great Tag Team Wrestling goes.

• The elimination of the Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match was a disappointment, but the creation of the Elimination Chamber sure made up for it. What a spectacle that was the first time we all saw it.

• Then after all that, you end the year with quite possibly the Best Wrestler ever, Kurt Angle, as the WWE Champion, and quite possibly the Best Sports Entertainer ever, Triple H, as the World Champion. You just knew that 2003 was only going to be better.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Yeah 02 was definitely a transitional year for wrestling. Buiilding of new stars, new companies, etc.

 

[Chicago1989]

2002? Amazing year? Does. Not. Compute.

You may have had Cena, Batista, Lesnar, Orton, and Mysterio debut they don't cancel out all the terrible shit we had. I believe it's time for a list.

1. Jericho was the fourth most important thing in his feud with HHH. A dog was more important than him. A dog.

2. Hogan was terrible.

3. Undertaker was terrible. He faced Rock, Flair, Austin, Hogan, and HHH in consecutive PPV's and his best match was against Flair. He was just embarrassing in the ring that year.

4. HHH was terrible as a face and then turned heel and became insufferable. All HHH, all the time.

5. Katie Vick.

6-15. Big Show

Only things I enjoyed about 2002 were that tag match at No Mercy and Kevin Nash tearing his quad. I could watch both of those over and over again.

It's your opinion. I say the positives outweigh the negatives in 2002. The brand extension gave many new, young stars their break, many top wrestlers were in their prime that year, Bischoff being the RAW GM, Undertaker Vs. Jeff Hardy in a Ladder match, etc.

Many new and familiar faces were also showing up at that time, making the WWE roster full of big stars. 2002 is one of my favorite years and has to be one of the best years for WWE.

 

[Bone For Tuna]

Name one year that you think is flawless and I guarantee you somebody can pull up some terrible shit that went down.

Looking back on it I would argue that as a whole, 2002 could be considered one of the most solid years of all time. Watching the rise of Lesnar was awesome and for as lackluster as the main event scene might have been for the first half of the year, it was kinda cool because you sorta knew it was only a matter of time before Brock got his chance. Not only was watching Lesnar's dominance fun, but the rest of the card was way, way better than now AND the attitude era combined as far as I'm concerned. The brands were actually competitive and the Cruiserweight, European, and IC title divisions were all full of tremendous talent and putting on fantastic matches on a regular basis. Hell, even the Woman's, Hardcore and Tag Team divisions were solid. Shawn Michaels got his shit together and came back better than ever, Rey Mysterio was popping outta the floor and still had wheels and the roster was probably better than it ever was or ever will be. Before somebody tries telling me ratings mean otherwise, I don't care so don't waste your time. I'm just as big of fan of the Attitude era as everybody else, but as far as wrestling ability and the writing making sense I think you are going to have a hard time convincing me of a year that was all around more solid than this year. We actually had things pretty good back then and we didn't even realize it. Lesnar, Mysterio, Benoit, Eddie, Angle, Edge, Michaels, RVD, Regal, and Tajiri were all tearing it up on a full time basis. Almost every PPV had a moment to remember, Raw and Smackdown were BOTH worth watching and I actually gave a shit about John Cena.

 

[Toron]

I think you really hit the nail on the head here with this post. 2002 really was a two-dimensional year. I've been saying for years, the "good" days, or I guess, the "attitude" era, ended the night of Summerslam 2002, and then the "medium" days started. 2002 was still a good year for the WWE, but the 1st half of the year and the 2nd half were indeed split.

The 1st half you still had the stars from before- The Rock, HHH, Stone Cold, Taker, Angle, and the re-amurgence of guys like Hogan, Nash and Hall, as well as Chris Jericho in the main event, even if that was a big fail. The Rumble that year was huge with HHH returning and winning it, it was one of the biggest ever. WM 18 was big. And Vengence that year with the triple threat main event was amazing. And then finally the "Attitude era" ended at Summerslam 2002 where the Rock lost to Brock Lesnar and the new generation was born, because after that, you started seeing new stars. The Rock left, Stone Cold left, Nash/Hall/and Hogan left and you were left with guys like Brock Lesnar, who were the future. It was still an exciting time, however, and had much potential. But the reason I consider this 2nd half of the year to be the beginning of what I call, "medium" days, is because, while many things were still good like the development of Lesnar, his feuds with Angle and Big Show, and the impressive star-studded mid-card with guys like Guerrero, Mysterio and Edge, it also birthed the likes of Katie Vick, the gay wedding, and Torrie Wilson's father. And these were the things that were leading to the downfall of the WWE.

So, while you could see the entire landscape of the WWE was changing in 2002 as it was, with the brand extension, the duel world titles, the name change, it really wasn't until after Summerslam that the biggest change in the company occured, where the quality of television started to change. This is where the "transition" occured. 2002 transitioned from one product to another. And in this "transition" lies where the company has turned into today. But that is why I think you hit nail on the head, in that I agree 2002 was a "transitional" year for the company, and primarily initializing after Summerslam.

But overall, I think 2002 was still a very good year. The first half was still dominant, with the likes of the Rock and Stone Cold, and I still consider these to be "good" days, and even though the 2nd half is where quality started to dip, I think the positives of that half still outweigh the negatives, with the rise of Brock Lesnar ect. And so 2002 I think is still predominantly remembred as a good year, but it is also coaxed with mix reviews because of this transition, and it was this transition which brought on, imo, the downfall of professional wrestling. And it will always have this smudge.

 

[Wald]

You're right to say that it was a two sided year and that it was interesting, or at least is interesting, to discuss it now, but I can't say I enjoyed it at the time. Here's why:

- Triple H's face character was terrible, just brutal
- The program with Jericho is quite possibly the worst program the WWF/E have ever had over their main title (I struggle to recognise the World Title, I really do)
- Botched nWo return (Vince has nWo written on hsi chair? Come on)
- New nWo was the pits after Hogan left
- Rock & Austin had grown stale and left
- Undertaker's match quality
- The start of the Monday Night Triple H show
- Garbage left over from Attitude like Katie Vick and the lesbian angles

It did have its good points, such as Brock's year, Undertaker's character, Mysterio's debut, Billy & Chuck, Edge & Bischoff vs Stephanie though