PPV review

Here's a review of an event I enjoyed a lot, Unforgiven 2002 live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The first match was between the Un-Americans (Regal, Christian, Storm, Test) vs. the thrown together team of Bubba Ray Dudley, Booker T, Goldust, and Kane. It seems kind of silly to have two freakish characters like Goldust and Kane getting so worked up over American pride, but it was a still a fun match. The crowd was hot for this one, and the wrestlers didn't disappoint with a ton of false finishes. The last three minutes have a blink-or-you'll-miss-something feel to it. It was a good match to start the PPV off with. Grade: B+

Later on tonight is the big inter-promotional matchup between Rosey and Jamal vs. Billy and Chuck. If the Ambiguosly Gay Duo win, Raw GM Eric Bischoff has to kiss Stephanie McMahon's ass. If Three Minute Warning wins, Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon has to engage in some Hot Lesbian Action. The end result would be a little disappointing, but at this point every guy in the audience is excited by the possibilities! This segment has Stephanie firing up Billy & Chuck by telling them to win for Smackdown, not for her.

Next up is Ric Flair challenging Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship. This was a decent match with lots of technically sound wrestling. Although the finish, where Jericho fakes an injury only to miraculously heal in time to get the victory has been done a hundred times before. No surprise that Y2J keeps the title. Grade: B

Now we see Bischoff doing the opposite of Steph, telling Rosey and Jamal to win the match for him, not for Raw.

Eddie Guerrero (RIP) battled Edge in one-on-one action. This was a beautiful match with Eddie bringing out the best in Edge, who seemed to turn new leaf in this match, wrestling a complete, sound match in every aspect. Eddie looked good with some innovative offense and wear-down holds. He wins the match by doing a sunset flip powerbomb off of the top turnbuckle. The crowd loved that spot, even if Latino Heat was the heel. Grade: A-

HHH enters the Raw locker room to talk trash to his opponent, RVD, saying he didn't have the fire to be a champion and comparing him to a loser like Ric Flair. Flair doesn't look happy about that, but RVD doesn't look like he cares that Hunter interrupted him.

Time for the Raw vs. Smackdown tag match. This was Rosey and Jamal's first official match, even though they had been beating the hell out of other wrestlers (including Legends and Divas) for a few weeks. I guess it was obvious that they wouldn't lose their debut, but it also was more likely that Steph would just hike up her skirt and show a little cheek rather than engage in some HLA. All four guys looked pretty good in this one. Rosey and Jamal are kind of limited in their movesets, but it wasn't that long a match so it didn't feel repetitive, and both guys proved that they were much more agile than their size would indicate. I think this was the last PPV appearance for Billy & Chuck as a team. Billy lost it for the team, thanks to a vicious-looking Samoan drop from Jamal, setting up some hot lesbian action for later in the show. After the match, Bischoff celebrates in his office with a few of tonight's potential lesbians. Grade: B

Just a few weeks earlier Eric Bischoff re-introduced the World Heavyweight Championship and awarded it to Triple H. At Unforgiven, he makes his first title defense against a game Rob Van Dam. There were a couple funny spots in the pre-match vignette with Van Dam mocking Hunter, and during the match, he even imitated HHH's water spitting routine, which was hilarious. Van Dam brought Triple H up to his level, I think, with this match, hitting some high-impact and high-flying offense. Van Dam trys a somersault plancha from the ring down to the floor, but misses and Triple H dominates for a while after that. I like Hunter a lot. I wish they hadn't just awarded him the title and instead made him earn it, but this match made up for that. Earl Hebner gets knocked out (surprise!) and Flair comes down to the ring, acting like he's going to get revenge on Triple H for his earlier comments, but instead nails RVD with HHH's sledgehammer. One Pedigree later, and RVD is done, and Triple H moves on. This match marked the beginning of the Flair/Helmsley partnership which would last until June of 2005. Grade: A-

For some reason, D'Lo Brown and Billy Kidman are hanging out in the back, and for some stranger reason, Eric Braeden of The Young and The Restless shows up. Come on, we're in Hollywood and this is the best celebrity you could get to appear backstage?? Shaquille O'Neal is sitting ringside, but you bring in a soap actor for your vignette? And apparently, D'Lo is a huge daytime soap fan, who knew? Braeden is there storywise because he's with Dawn Marie, so good for him.

Molly Holly loses her women's championship to Trish Stratus in the only low point of the night. These are two of the best women's wrestlers of all time, but this match wasn't particularly special. I do miss Molly Holly though, she looked beautiful as usual. Grade: C-

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle. Anything I write won't do this match justice. If you haven't seen it, order this PPV on eBay. I don't even think this is the best match these two have ever had, but it's a damn good time. What a wrestling clinic. Holds, reversals, counters, suplexes, and submissions. No punches or clotheslines to be found. These are two of the best in the history of the sport and this match is a joy to watch and was also one of the more unpredictable matches of the night as either combatant could have been named the winner. Grade: A+

Bischoff earlier chose two of the lesbians to come out for some HLA, and he calls out Stephanie once they are in the ring. The two beautiful lesbians give Steph a full-body massage to loosen her up and take their tops off (only down to their bras of course) but Bischoff sends them to the back, and decides Stephanie's first lesbian experience should be with the ugliest, fattest dyke around. So he calls out this obese woman who makes her way down to the ring. I didn't see this PPV live, so I knew what was going to happen, but even if I was watching it live, I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't figure out that the lesbian was Rikishi in drag. They actually did a good job of making him up, but it was pretty obvious. Stephanie looks apprehensive at first but eventually starts kissing the lesbian, even slapping her ass while she's doing it. When they stop, the lesbian hits Bischoff with a savate kick, and rips the makeup off revealing himself to be Rikishi. Rikishi gives Bischoff the longest Stinkface I've ever seen and Steph and Rikishi celebrate by dancing. This wasn't a terribe segment, but some fans were probably disappointed not to see Stephanie's ass or see her making out with another woman. She looked absolutely gorgeous throughout this segment. Triple H is one lucky S.O.B.

The main event saw Brock Lesnar defending his recently won WWE Title against the Undertaker. Lesnar had put his hands on Taker's pregnant wife Sara in previous weeks, so this one had gotten personal. Lots of slow wear-down holds but they were balanced by some nice high-impact offense, as both guys got busted open. The first chairshot Undertaker hits on Brock remains one of my favorites ever. This was one of Taker's better matches I've watched recently. The ending of the match sucked with Brian Hebner calling for a double DQ because he couldn't control the match anymore, but the PPV ending was great. These two brawled for awhile, attacking each other repeatedly even after being separated by officials. The show ended with Undertaker throwing Brock through the Unforgiven sign by the wrestlers' entrance. This was a good setup for the Hell in a Cell match the following month between these two. I don't know if we'll ever see Brock in a WWE ring again (my money is on yes), but he has what it takes to be a legend, and it would be a shame if he left us with so few matches as his legacy. Grade: B+

I definitely recommend this PPV. Some very solid matches on this card, and you could do worse with 3 hours than enjoying this. It definitely made me miss Eddie more, and long for RVD to return from the injured list.

P.S. Check my profile for other PPV reviews I've done. Check them out and let me know what you think.