No Way Out 2002 Review

To open the show the nWo make their WWF debute and ask for a chance. Crowd cheers them despite the insistance from JR and King they are getting booed. I was marking out to see them in the WWF, too bad it fell on it's face post Mania 18.


Match #1

Tag Team Turmoil Match

Winner gets a tag tile shot at Mania. Scoty and Albert draw #1 and Lance Storm and Christian draw #2. Albert beats up the heels and gets the giant swing on Christian. Scotty goes for the W-O-R-M but Storm stops him and Christian gets unprettier to send the dancing jobbers packing. Next up the Hardyz. Matt stunguns Christian, then Jeff and Christian tag in. Jeff forearms Christian and legdrops Storm for 2. Storm gets the maple leaf, a heel goofup lets Jeff get the swanton on Storm for the pin. Christian works in the temper tantrum for kicks. Dudleyz on their way down and they renew their hatred for the Hardyz. D-Von powerslams Jeff for 2. Bubba misses a senton, hot tag Matt. DDT on Bubba, and the "yodelling" legdrop gets 2. Double legsweep on Bubba for 2. Stacy and Lita get into it and bubbabomb for Matt. Lita sneaks in and rana's Bubba and Matt rolls up D-Von for the pin. Dudleyz 3D Jeff on the floor before leaving as Billy and Chuck run down and get an easy pin on Jeff to set up the finale as they face the APA for the #1 contendership. APA double team Chuck, then Faarooq gets caught in the heel corner. Faarooq spinebuster leads to a hottag and Bradshaw beats up both heels and just kills Billy with the CFH at 16:32 to win. Im going 2 1/2 stars. Pretty good opener. This match wound up meaning NOTHING as the match at Mania without any storyline (as far as I know) turned into a fatal four way and included almost everyone from this show which negated APA's win without any story reason.


Match #2

Singles Match

Goldust Vs Rob Van Dam

Strange. RVD is using his Alliance music tonight. Goldust jumps RVD and they fight outside. Goldust beat up RVD on Raw recently cause he's a weirdo. Back inside Rob gets a spinkick then does the backflip shoulderblocks in the corner. Standing moonsault gets 2. Goldust takes over and chokes RVD while using the ringpost for leverage. GD with the chinlock. Clothesline gets 2, but RVD comes back with a backslide for 2. RVD heel kick, monkey flip and missle dropkick for 2. Rolling thunder gets 2. Frog splash misses. Goldust ddt's him for 2, then stalls on the Curtain Call, RVD flips out of it, misses a blind charge and as GD goes for a bulldog RVD shoves him off, hits a spin kick and 5 star frog splash finishes it at 11:04. Going 2 stars.


The nWo meet Austin backstage and offer a gift of a 6 pack. Austin throws them away and walks off. Hall is about to cry I think.


Match #3

Tag Team Championship Match

Tazz And Spike Dudley Vs Booker T And Test


The tag belts are officially worthless now. We have hit the point in the WWF/WWE where random guys on a regular basis teamed together to fight for the belts they shouldn't even qualify for. Still, Tazz and Spike are over with the fans. More copyright problems as Tazz is using his old theme tonight. Test gets a pair of clotheslines but misses an elbow. Spike goes for dudley dog and gets thrown off and plays face in peril. Hottag to Tazz and he suplexes the heels. Heel's mess up and Booker gets knocked outside. Spike dudley dogs Test so Tazz can get a 2. Test tries a pin on Tazz but he's in the ropes and then Test argues with the ref, he shoves him then gets pushed himself and right into a tazzmition for the win at 7:14. That's not fair. 1 1/2 star.


Backstage, Taker gives Flair some ****, setting up their feud for Mania 18.


Match #4

Brass Knuckles On A Pole Match

William Regal Vs Edge


The blowoff to their feud. The ref tries to check Regal for knucks, but Edge jumps him. Edge gets a vertical suplex and backdrop for 2. Regal makes the first climb for the knux, but gets dropkicked. They fight outside then back in. Edge dropkick gets 2. Regal with an abdominal stretch. Edge dumps him and goes for the knuckles again, but gets knocked off onto the guardrail. Regal powerbombs him on the floor, and back in for the regal stretch and Edge fake bleeds from the mouth. Powerbomb off the apron is messed up. Regal gets the knucks and Edge suplexes him and hits an Edge-O-Matic for 2. Spear, and he retrieves the knuckles, but Regal pulls out another pair and pops Edge to retain at 10:30. Poetic Irony. If Edge didn't jumpstart the match, the ref would of found them. 2 stars.


Match #5

Singles Match

The Rock Vs The Undertaker


Taker is using some generic theme opposed to his limp dick theme. What the hell happened in February. Was their some regional law where they couldn't use the copyrighted music they paid for in Milwaukee? Rock runs out and lays the smackdown and Taker puts his foot down on Rocks face on a blind charge. Taker chokes him out then Rock answers back with a sloppy neckbreaker. Taker Sideslam gets 2. Taker chinlock and more punching. The boot misses. Rock drops him and they brawl outside. Taker crotches him on the railing. Back inside, Taker ddt gets 2. Then a bearhug. Rock comes back with the flying forearm and they slug it out. Floatover ddt and spinebuster, but a choke stops the People’s Elbow. Rock gets chokeslammed for 2. Taker goes outside to fetch the lead crack pipe from his bike but Flair runs out to stop him. Taker drops him then Rock gets the scorpion king deathlock but Vince makes a save and gets beatup in the process. Flair whacks Taker with the pipe and rock bottom ends it at 17:24. 2 stars.


Match #6

#1 Contender Match

HHH Vs Kurt Angle

Special Referee: Stephanie McMahon Helmsley


THIS is what the main story for Mania turned into. The HHH Vs Stephanie with Jericho acting as Steph's stooge. Angle gets a pair of fast counts from Stephanie, but HHH punches him down. Angle fights back and thankfully, Angle misses a clothesline and takes out Steph by accident to remove her from the match. Angle hits the multi germans for 2. Overhead belly to belly gets 2. Another one gets 2. A third gets 2 and he's alittle annoyed. Angle gets powerbombed out of the corner. They slug it out and HHH gets the high knee and a spinebuster for 2. Facebuster gets 2, and Angle bails. Ref #2 goes down and Angle goes to the nutshot to take over and angle slam. Steph runs back out to count a 2 1/2 near fall. Angle goes for the lock but HHH fight out of it and Steph gets bumped again. HHH ddt's Angle, no ref. Tim White (ref #2) wakes up and winds up getting knocked right back out. Here comes #3 as HHH hits the pedigree. Tim White wakes up again and makes a slow 2 count then Stephanie elbow drops on Tim White, knees him low and throws him out to set up the screwy finish as HHH goes after her and tries a pedigree, Angle hits him with a chair and pins him at 14:40. Bah. 2 stars. Angle becomes #1 contender for about a day.


The nWo pose for a picture with The Rock, Hogan mocks him and Rock throws it back in their faces before leaving.


Match #7

Undisputed Championship Match

Chris Jericho Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin


Austin beats up Jericho. Austin chops him then does the turnbuckle shots as the fans chant "what" along with each hit. Jericho comes back with a neckbreaker, and he starts chopping. He goes up, but gets caught and dumped outside. They brawl. Back in, Austin misses a charge. More chopping outside, as they brawl to the entranceway. Jericho gets thrown into the tractor trailer diorahma at the entranceway. Back in, Jericho goes up and gets crotched, snd superplexed three times. Jericho goes low. Alot of knife edges in this match. It's like past him prime Flair wrestling his clone. Walls are reversed. Austin fights back with a stungun and elbow for 2. Jericho dumps him and they brawl. Back in Jericho, misses his lionsault. Austin comes back with a catapult, and a pair of clotheslines. Austin powerslam for 2. Jericho comes back with a pair of Lionsaults for 2. Jericho with the walls that have now turned into Rick Martels boston crab because everyone in the company are stiffs and would be hospitalized under any more flexible stress than that. Austin makes the ropes. Jericho goes for a belt, the ref goes down. Austin spinebusters him on the belt then tries a stunner which is countered into the breakdown. No ref. Austin goes to the walls but that doesn't do him any good. Austin hits the stunner which of course brings out the nWo and Austin fights them off until Hall hit's the stone cold stunner and Jericho retains in another weak ass Honkee Tonk Man ppv title defense at 21:32. Call it 3 stars. Austin gets layed out and spraypainted to close the show.


Overall Opinion: No Way Out was a good show the previous 2 years, but this one was a throwaway. Nothing long term and just a ppv that contributed very little between Rumble to Mania.


Final Score: 4.0 stars.