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**Cool King** · 10-13-2018, 07:10 PM

I'm getting really behind on my Raw & SmackDown 2002 watching but I watched an episode of each today and I would say that I plan to "catch up" but I've said that before and look where I am now.

Anyways, this post is going to be "giftacular" so all the gifs are in Spoiler tags.

Raw:

� I was surprised that Raw kicked off with Benoit. I really wasn't expecting him at all.

Listening to his promo, there were times where I got "Daniel Bryan vibes" from Benoit with the way Benoit was delivering his promo and being all "fired up".

It reminded me of Bryan's "fired up" promos.

� An intergender Tag Team match for the European and Women's Championships.

Trish Stratus/Spike Dudley vs Molly Holly/William Regal

It's been a while since we've had one of those "two titles on the line" matches and it was a nice match and seeing the European Championship so much makes me miss it a little bit. I would be all for it returning (even a redesigned version) but I get the feeling that if it did, it would have some stupid "rule" attached to it that it could only be fought between wrestlers from European countries or countries that are members of the European Union or even that it can only be defended within the continent of Europe.

We're at this point now where Vince & Co. really like gimmicks to be attached to pretty much everything. Even if it's something as small as purple ropes for Cruiserweight matches.

Saying all that however just made me remember as I was typing that the NXT UK Championship exists and that's pretty much like some kind of bastard child of the European Championship.

At least to me it is anyway. I could (and probably am) wrong with that assumption.

Before the match however, there was a backstage segment with Molly and Regal where Molly said that Spike tried to get to second base with her when they were dating. This allowed Lawler to talk about bases and he came out with a quote that went right over my twelve year old head before the match:

Lawler: I'd like to slide into home with Trish, I know that! Woo-Hoo!"

� Every time I mention how great Booker T and Goldust were and this time isn't going to be any different.

Booker T in this segment was great. Something as silly as him talking about and imitating the nWo's theme and yelling "BASS!" just gave me a good chuckle.

Anyway, it's the beginning of the Booker T/X-Pac vs The Hardy Boyz match and I don't know why X-Pac did this. (along with saying "Whooooa!")

SPOILER: show

� I remember this (I wonder why) and I also remember it causing Lawler to basically have a heart attack.

� I also remember this entire segment with Tommy Dreamer and The Undertaker's tobacco spit.

Undertaker's reaction was gold and pretty much made the segment.

� The main event was a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.

Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam.

This is the match was the fan interfering.

SPOILER: show

That entire moment was edited out when it was shown over here, so I obviously never knew it happened and I only found out that it happened when I downloaded a file from LimeWire or Kazaa back then that was titled something like "==[WWF FAN ATTACKS WRESTLER]==".

I think Eddie (and also RVD) did a great job of improvising and you could tell that Eddie was really pissed off with what had happened and understandably so.

SmackDown:

� It's crazy to hear Vince say "10 years ago" and then realise that he's talking about 1992.

� Even though it's not supposed to be funny, I found Tajiri to be really funny during this backstage segment.

SPOILER: show

I think it's just the unexpected Tajiri appearance along with his facial expressions and his head movements behind the glass that gets me.

� In this episode of SmackDown, Dawn Marie makes her debut as "Dawn Marie Rinaldi".

"Rinaldi" didn't last long.

� Tell me what is wrong with these gifs:

SPOILER: show

� Lance Storm interfered during Triple H's match against Test and Triple H actually stopped and watched him make his way to the ring, implying that Storm was a threat to him. Lance Storm then got some good hits on Triple H and actually cost Triple H the match.

I know I said it last time about wrestlers today that are in Triple H and Lance Storm's standings in the roster but something like that just wouldn't happen these days.

If Jinder Mahal, Mojo Rawley or one of The Col�ns (someone like that) interfered in Seth Rollins' match or Dean Ambrose's match, Rollins/Ambrose wouldn't give them the time of day but if they did, the aforementioned would probably be KO'd with one punch at the bottom of the ramp, leaving Rollins/Ambrose to go on to win the match.

I like stuff like what I've seen from 2002 so far. It's far more believable and refreshing. Even though it's in the past and we know what happens, it still has that sense of not knowing who is going to show up or who is going to win a match.

These days, everything is so "cookie cutter" and predictable. It's boring and repetitive.

It's far less believable than what I've seen from 2002 so far. Every week (currently) I see the same faces on Raw and SmackDown (mostly Raw though) and those faces are doing pretty much the same stuff as they did the previous weeks.

Matches are had and the outcomes are so blatantly obvious. It's like old movies or comics from the 50's or whatever where the good guy always wins and the same bad guy never gets the upper hand, not even for a moment of jeopardy for the hero.

The hero is just 110% invincible and always comes out on top no matter what and he always does it with a smile on his face.

Anyway, enough complaining, here's a shot of Finlay and Big Johnny. I actually had no idea that Finlay was fat and bald in 2002 and that Big Johnny still looked like he was from the 80's.

I'm getting Joey Mercury vibes from 2002 Finlay.

� Edge and ~~Val Venis~~ The Big Valbowski are backstage and I realised that just like Shawn Stasiak on Raw, Val got a lot of TV time back in 2002.

The only difference being that Stasiak got more matches, whereas Val got more backstage time.

The main event was a cage match and that's two main events that week in 2002 that were "specialty matches" as Raw had a ladder match.

Again, (and I hate to sound like a broken record here) you wouldn't really get that happening today.

The match was a good one and Edge got some colour. I did notice however that the quality of the footage kept changing during the match. The hard camera and everything else was your regular picture quality but a camera located at the far right of the ring (when looking via the hard camera) seemed to have a somewhat poor quality of footage.

� Finally, before the match and for some reason, during Edge's entrance when it was all dark and stuff, we got to "see" The Hart Family (and when I say "see", I mean "squint"), which included a 16 year old Harry Smith and a 21 year old Tyson Kidd....

....and a 20 (and one day) year old Natalya.

10-13-2018, 07:10 PM	#45717
Cool King King K Cool Posts: 28,472	I'm getting really behind on my Raw & SmackDown 2002 watching but I watched an episode of each today and I would say that I plan to "catch up" but I've said that before and look where I am now. Anyways, this post is going to be "giftacular" so all the gifs are in Spoiler tags. Raw: � I was surprised that Raw kicked off with Benoit. I really wasn't expecting him at all. Listening to his promo, there were times where I got "Daniel Bryan vibes" from Benoit with the way Benoit was delivering his promo and being all "fired up". It reminded me of Bryan's "fired up" promos. � An intergender Tag Team match for the European and Women's Championships. Trish Stratus/Spike Dudley vs Molly Holly/William Regal It's been a while since we've had one of those "two titles on the line" matches and it was a nice match and seeing the European Championship so much makes me miss it a little bit. I would be all for it returning (even a redesigned version) but I get the feeling that if it did, it would have some stupid "rule" attached to it that it could only be fought between wrestlers from European countries or countries that are members of the European Union or even that it can only be defended within the continent of Europe. We're at this point now where Vince & Co. really like gimmicks to be attached to pretty much everything. Even if it's something as small as purple ropes for Cruiserweight matches. Saying all that however just made me remember as I was typing that the NXT UK Championship exists and that's pretty much like some kind of bastard child of the European Championship. At least to me it is anyway. I could (and probably am) wrong with that assumption. Before the match however, there was a backstage segment with Molly and Regal where Molly said that Spike tried to get to second base with her when they were dating. This allowed Lawler to talk about bases and he came out with a quote that went right over my twelve year old head before the match: Lawler: I'd like to slide into home with Trish, I know that! Woo-Hoo!" � Every time I mention how great Booker T and Goldust were and this time isn't going to be any different. Booker T in this segment was great. Something as silly as him talking about and imitating the nWo's theme and yelling "BASS!" just gave me a good chuckle. Anyway, it's the beginning of the Booker T/X-Pac vs The Hardy Boyz match and I don't know why X-Pac did this. (along with saying "Whooooa!") SPOILER: show � I remember this (I wonder why) and I also remember it causing Lawler to basically have a heart attack. � I also remember this entire segment with Tommy Dreamer and The Undertaker's tobacco spit. Undertaker's reaction was gold and pretty much made the segment. � The main event was a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam. This is the match was the fan interfering. SPOILER: show That entire moment was edited out when it was shown over here, so I obviously never knew it happened and I only found out that it happened when I downloaded a file from LimeWire or Kazaa back then that was titled something like "==[WWF FAN ATTACKS WRESTLER]==". I think Eddie (and also RVD) did a great job of improvising and you could tell that Eddie was really pissed off with what had happened and understandably so. SmackDown: � It's crazy to hear Vince say "10 years ago" and then realise that he's talking about 1992. � Even though it's not supposed to be funny, I found Tajiri to be really funny during this backstage segment. SPOILER: show I think it's just the unexpected Tajiri appearance along with his facial expressions and his head movements behind the glass that gets me. � In this episode of SmackDown, Dawn Marie makes her debut as "Dawn Marie Rinaldi". "Rinaldi" didn't last long. � Tell me what is wrong with these gifs: SPOILER: show SPOILER: show � Lance Storm interfered during Triple H's match against Test and Triple H actually stopped and watched him make his way to the ring, implying that Storm was a threat to him. Lance Storm then got some good hits on Triple H and actually cost Triple H the match. I know I said it last time about wrestlers today that are in Triple H and Lance Storm's standings in the roster but something like that just wouldn't happen these days. If Jinder Mahal, Mojo Rawley or one of The Col�ns (someone like that) interfered in Seth Rollins' match or Dean Ambrose's match, Rollins/Ambrose wouldn't give them the time of day but if they did, the aforementioned would probably be KO'd with one punch at the bottom of the ramp, leaving Rollins/Ambrose to go on to win the match. I like stuff like what I've seen from 2002 so far. It's far more believable and refreshing. Even though it's in the past and we know what happens, it still has that sense of not knowing who is going to show up or who is going to win a match. These days, everything is so "cookie cutter" and predictable. It's boring and repetitive. It's far less believable than what I've seen from 2002 so far. Every week (currently) I see the same faces on Raw and SmackDown (mostly Raw though) and those faces are doing pretty much the same stuff as they did the previous weeks. Matches are had and the outcomes are so blatantly obvious. It's like old movies or comics from the 50's or whatever where the good guy always wins and the same bad guy never gets the upper hand, not even for a moment of jeopardy for the hero. The hero is just 110% invincible and always comes out on top no matter what and he always does it with a smile on his face. Anyway, enough complaining, here's a shot of Finlay and Big Johnny. I actually had no idea that Finlay was fat and bald in 2002 and that Big Johnny still looked like he was from the 80's. I'm getting Joey Mercury vibes from 2002 Finlay. � Edge and ~~Val Venis~~ The Big Valbowski are backstage and I realised that just like Shawn Stasiak on Raw, Val got a lot of TV time back in 2002. The only difference being that Stasiak got more matches, whereas Val got more backstage time. The main event was a cage match and that's two main events that week in 2002 that were "specialty matches" as Raw had a ladder match. Again, (and I hate to sound like a broken record here) you wouldn't really get that happening today. The match was a good one and Edge got some colour. I did notice however that the quality of the footage kept changing during the match. The hard camera and everything else was your regular picture quality but a camera located at the far right of the ring (when looking via the hard camera) seemed to have a somewhat poor quality of footage. � Finally, before the match and for some reason, during Edge's entrance when it was all dark and stuff, we got to "see" The Hart Family (and when I say "see", I mean "squint"), which included a 16 year old Harry Smith and a 21 year old Tyson Kidd.... ....and a 20 (and one day) year old Natalya.