The WWF Handbook: April 2002 Online

Al Snow
Albert
Billy
Billy Kidman
Chavo Guerrero
Chris Benoit
Chris Jericho
Christian
Chuck
Dawn Marie
Diamond Dallas Page
D-Von Dudley
Edge
Faarooq
Funaki
Hardcore Holly
Hugh Morris
Hulk Hogan
Ivory
Kurt Angle
Lance Storm
Mark Henry
Maven
Perry Saturn
Rico
Rikishi
Scotty 2 Hotty
Tajiri
Test
The Godfather
The Hurricane
The Rock
Val Venis


Tag Teams & Stables

Al Snow & Maven
Billy & Chuck

As of April 2002

The WWF Handbook
Week 1, April 2002 – Week 3, April 2002



With three weeks to go until the WWF Backlash pay per view it was announced that RAW would get the first challenger to Triple H’s Undisputed Championship. Ric Flair made the decision to pit Booker T, Kane, Scott Hall and The Undertaker against each other in a fatal four way match with the winner challenging for the title. Booker T came out on top, making it Triple H vs. Booker T at Backlash for the WWF Undisputed Championship. A contract signing between the two quickly descended into chaos when a massive brawl erupted, leading Ric Flair to book the Backlash opponents in a tag team match in which they would have to work together against Kevin Nash & Scott Hall. On the final RAW before Backlash the opponents managed to work together and gained the victory over the NWO, despite nearly coming to blows several times. That didn’t change the fact that it would still be Triple H vs. Booker T for the grandest prize in the company at Backlash.

The New World Order quickly found themselves involved in a feud with the Hardy Boys. Following a tag team match in which Jeff & Matt Hardy defeated Kevin Nash & X-Pac the NWO launched a vicious assault on the Hardy Boys. At first it seemed like the numbers game would get the better of the Hardy boys, but sadly for the NWO that wasn’t the case as Kane came to their aid as payback for an earlier assault by Scott Hall. Further brawls between the six men led to Ric Flair booking the New World Order against Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy & Kane at Backlash.

Brock Lesnar continued his dominant roll on the RAW brand and backed by Paul Heyman he made it clear that he was targeting Rob Van Dam’s Intercontinental Championship. Following a six man tag match in which Lesnar pinned Van Dam Lesnar proceeded to launch a brutal attack on the Intercontinental Champion, refusing to stop until he was given a title match. Ric Flair had no choice but to grant him the match before he injured Van Dam, meaning that it would be Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar with the Intercontinental Championship on the line.

RAW’s European Champion, William Regal, found his championship reign under threat, but instead of a RAW superstar it was SmackDown’s Edge who attacked Regal following a successful title defence against Eddie Guerrero on RAW. Edge laid down an official challenge for the European Championship at Backlash. Regal was only happy to accept the challenge in the hope of getting payback on Edge for the attack, setting up a European championship match at Backlash featuring William Regal defending against Edge in an inter brand match.

Following the WWF Brand Extension Ric Flair made the decision to retire the WWF Hardcore Championship held by Raven. As a result Raven promised to show everyone exactly why he was the greatest Hardcore Champion and went so far as the cost The Undertaker a shot at the Undisputed Championship via multiple chair shots. Raven explained that if he was to gain any respect he had to take out the biggest star on RAW. The Undertaker made his feelings perfectly clear, attacking Raven and Chokeslamming him through a table. The match was made for Backlash; it would be The Undertaker vs. Raven under Hardcore Rules.

Also on RAW, the WWF Women’s Champion Jazz found herself in a feud with Jaqueline when she picked up a surprising victory over Jazz in singles action. The following week Jacqueline was successful in defeating Lita to earn herself the Number One Contender’s spot to the WWF Women’s Championship, gaining a title shot at a later date.




SmackDown’s top feud heading into Backlash was clearly between The Rock and Kurt Angle. The feud began following a war of words between the two main event superstars over Kurt Angle’s complaining about not receiving the Undisputed Championship match. In the main event of the night The Rock defeated Christian, before being the victim of a sickening attack by Kurt Angle, who used a steel chair in an attempt to break The Rock’s Ankle. The following week Kurt Angle challenged The Rock to a match at Backlash knowing that he wasn’t in the arena following the attack. However following Kurt Angle’s main event victory over Edge The Rock made a surprising appearance, chasing Angle out of the ring and accepting the challenge, setting up Kurt Angle vs. The Rock at Backlash.

On the first SmackDown of the month Hulk Hogan was scheduled to make a big announcement, which many expected to be his retirement. However, before he could even announce anything Hogan was interrupted by Chris Jericho, who told Hogan that he is an embarrassment before attacking him, laying him out in the middle of the ring. The following week Chris Jericho stated that Hogan was just using up time that could be utilized to highlight the real star of SmackDown – Chris Jericho himself. Hogan interrupted Jericho, telling Jericho that he is a disgrace to wrestlers everywhere. Later in the night Jericho would get himself disqualified during a tag team match when he hit Hogan in the head with the ring bell. The final SmackDown before Backlash saw confirmation of what everyone was expecting – Chris Jericho would face Hulk Hogan at Backlash.

Following the WWF Brand Extension Chris Benoit made his return from a serious injury. He first had a run in with the WWF Tag Team Champions Billy & Chuck, who later in the night attacked Benoit after he was victorious in a match with Diamond Dallas Page. While Benoit would go on to defeat Chuck in singles action he was once again outnumbered by the champions, leading to Benoit calling in his former Radicalz partner Perry Saturn to face the WWF Tag Team Champions. Benoit & Saturn managed to defeat the team of Christian & Lance Storm to gain themselves the number one contender status, and a match with Billy & Chuck at Backlash.

One of the most surprising moments of the month took place following a match in which Maven & Al Snow lost to Christian & Lance Storm. Maven, sick of getting no respect, shockingly turned on his mentor and viciously attacked Al Snow after the match. This heel turn led to Maven adopting a new cocky and vicious persona. Maven explained that he was sick of being a nice guy since it never got him anywhere, before going on to defeat Val Venis in impressive fashion.

Throughout the month Test found himself tied up with SmackDown’s resident superhero The Hurricane, who accused Test of ‘villainous activities. This accusation got The Hurricane an immediate beatdown by Test. The Hurricane would go on to cost Test his match against Faarooq, leading to a singles match between the two the following week. During this match The Hurricane shockingly picked up the victory following a quick inside cradle. Following the match, Test delivered a vicious big boot to The Hurricane, showing that this feud was far from over.



WWF Backlash 2002 Final Card

WWF Undisputed Championship Match
Triple H vs. Booker T

Kurt Angle vs. The Rock

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar

Chris Jericho vs. Hulk Hogan

Hardcore Match
The Undertaker vs. Raven

WWF European Championship Match
William Regal vs. Edge

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Billy & Chuck vs. Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn

Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & X-Pac vs. Kane & The Hardy Boys

The 2002 Backlash event kicked off with the New World Order (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & X-Pac) facing off against Kane & The Hardy Boys, all three of whom had found themselves in conflict with the NWO over the preceding weeks. Despite the valiant efforts from Kane and both Hardy’s it was the New World Order’s underhanded teamwork that allowed them to control a large portion of the match and during a massive brawl between all six men at the end of the match it was Kevin Nash who connected with the Jacknife Powerbomb on Jeff Hardy to get the pinfall for the New World Order, who continued their dominating streak of form.

Following this six man warfare Backlash saw the reunion of two of the Radicals as Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn challenged Billy & Chuck for their WWF World Tag Team Championships. Benoit & Saturn quickly proved that they hadn’t lost any of the teamwork skills that had made the Radicals such a dangerous group, taking the Tag Team Champions to the edge from the very beginning, but Billy & Chuck soon displayed what had allowed them to capture the titles in the first place and in the end it was Billy connecting with the Gunnslinger on Perry Saturn that allowed the tag team champions to retain their titles.

The European Championship was the next title on the line as WWF European Champion William Regal defended the title against SmackDown’s Edge, who looked to bring the title with him to the blue brand. With the entire arena firmly behind Edge this match looked to be one of the best of the night with both men giving it everything they had to get their hands on the title. A well placed knee from Regal looked like the killing blow for the Brit as Edge was sent to the ground, but Edge refused to give up and continued the match despite the head injury, eventually connecting with the Spear out of nowhere to not only pick up the win but also to bring the European Championship to SmackDown.

The Hardcore match was up next as Hardcore legend Raven went one on one with The Undertaker. Raven was intent on making a name for himself by defeating one of the biggest stars in the WWF and from the off there looked to be every possibility that he may have been able to achieve this goal. Every kind of weapon available to the wrestlers came into play during this match and by the midpoint Raven was bleeding profusely but refused to give up despite receiving a beating from the Undertaker, who seemed pretty pissed off during the match. Raven did come close to winning a few times, but in the end it was a massive Chokeslam through a set of tables that put Raven away, allowing the Undertaker to make the pinfall and pick up the win.

One of the biggest matches of the night was up next as Chris Jericho challenged one of the living icon’s of professional wrestling, Hulk Hogan. Hogan came into this match determined to teach Chris Jericho a lesson about respect while Jericho just wanted to prove he was better than Hulk Hogan and all the Hulkimaniacs. The match itself was extremely heated and was named one of the top matches of the night with Hogan proving he can still pull off an excellent match when in the ring against one of the best current stars in the company. As the match continued it became clear to everyone that neither man was going to back down without a proper fight, and that is exactly what this turned into, with Jericho doing everything he could to try and get the win. It was this willingness to use dirty tactics that led to Jericho rolling Hogan up and using the ropes for leverage that allowed Chris Jericho to get a shock underhanded win at Backlash over the icon Hulk Hogan.

The WWF Intercontinental Championship was on the line next as Rob Van Dam put his title on the line against the seemingly unstoppable Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had his manager Paul Heyman at ringside and with the obvious history between Rob Van Dam and Heyman there was definitely a whole different dimension to this match with Heyman proving influential in throwing Rob Van Dam of his game and giving Lesnar yet another advantage in this match. Van Dam and Brock Lesnar really went at it in this match, which quickly became about Brock Lesnar’s power matched up against Van Dam’s speed and technical prowess. There were times when either man could have picked up the win if they had been facing a weaker opponent but neither Van Dam or Lesnar were willing to lose this match regardless of the punishment they received. In the end Paul Heyman made all the difference as he distraced Van Dam long enough to allow Lesnar to connect with a monstrous spear, followed by the F-5 to get the pinfall and become the new WWF Intercontinental Champion.

The penultimate match of the night pitted the Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle against the most electrifying man is sports entertainment, The Rock in one of the highest profile clashes of the card. Both men were evenly matched on paper so it was a guarantee that the match was going to be one of the best of the night and they certainly didn’t disappoint as the Rock and Angle went at it for close to twenty minutes in one of the best matches of the year. The crowd were really into the match and it added an incredible atmosphere to the match, and it really looked like it made the Rock and Kurt Angle give everything they had to make this match entertaining and worth watching for all those in attendance and at home. Angle nearly picked up the win towards the end of the match with the Ankle Lock, but the Rock managed to manoeuvre out of the move and followed up with the Rock Bottom, only managing a two count. With both men getting desperate Angle attempted an Angle Slam, only for the Rock to counter the move and connect with the Spinebuster. The Rock followed up with the People’s Elbow and got the three count to pick up the win.

The main event of the 2002 Backlash pay per view pitted the WWF Undisputed Champion Triple H against Booker T in singles action with the most important prize in professional wrestling on the line, the WWF Undisputed Championship. Both men came into this match determined to pick up the win and leave with the title. There was no clear favourite between these two men and it was clear early on that either of them could have walked away as champion. This fight was taken all around the ringside area, with Triple H and Booker T fighting in the crowd at one point and only just making it back to the ring to avoid a double count out. One spot mid match saw Booker T connect with the Scissors Kick from the top rope and go for the pinfall with everybody thinking that was the end of Triple H’s title reign only for Triple H to kick out at the very last second. Towards the end of the match Booker T again went for the Scissors Kick only for Triple H to surprisingly dodge the move and connect with the Pedigree. Triple H managed to use the last of his strength to make the pinfall and pick up the win! Backlash 2002 came to an end with Triple H holding his Undisputed Championship up high.


Quick Results:
The New World Order Defeated Kane & The Hardy Boys
Billy & Chuck Defeated Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn to retain the WWF Tag Team Championships
Edge Defeated William Regal for the WWF European Championship
The Undertaker Defeated Raven in a Hardcore Rules Match
Chris Jericho Defeated Hulk Hogan.
Brock Lesnar Defeated Rob Van Dam for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
The Rock Defeated Kurt Angle
Triple H Defeated Booker T to retain the WWF Undisputed Championship