WWF Ruthless Aggression (2002- 2008)

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

That RAW is where it really became apparent that WWFE was just WCW now.

If that wasn’t the same RAW where Arn Anderson got fake pissed on then it was within a few weeks of this RAW.

Things got real bad, real quick for WWE in ‘02.

 

[Valeyard]

The Arn Raw was much later, wasn't it? It was building to the Austin/Eddie match at KOTR that didn't happen.

 

[Valeyard]

Judgment Day is a weird show. Feels like a totally different company than the one that held Backlash, which technically is true I guess but it feels like night and day. I bought it on the strength of the rematches from Backlash, though, none of which came close.

 

[treble]

I think they've remodeled it in the past few years, but for a while every time I saw a player interviewed between periods of a Leafs game I thought of that Hogan/Undertaker segment.

 

[Brocklock]

That was the first time I watched that Taker/Hogan segment since 2002 and honestly Taker rode the motorcycle much faster than I remembered. I remembered Taker dragging Hogan so slowly, but it wasn't that slow. Still hilarious to see Hogan dragged by a motorcycle and Hogan's noises were hilarious during the beat down.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I cant remember the last "drive away with wrestler trapped" show ending. They were pretty common in the early 2000s. HHH dragged Foley in the shark cage and they also had Kane drive off with HHH locked in the trunk (this was paid off the next week when Hunter revealed the trunk wasn't locked and he was able to escape).

 

[Valeyard]

They never topped Big Show riding Andre's casket.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://www.facebook.com/100066969734097/posts/774529924789325

 

[Brocklock]

I honestly don't think the show is that bad outside of Taker/Hogan. Angle/Edge and RVD/Eddie are really good. And while the cell match isn't great, it's still one of the better HHH matches of 02/03 and Jericho gives a great performance. I also remember the Austin/Flair parts of that handicap match being enjoyable.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I think this is the show I think of WWE turning into late ‘90s WCW. Good undercard, pretty good semi main event (that HiaC is low key maybe the most influential HiaC match, albeit not necessarily in a GOOD way), godawful main event and no sense of long term direction of the company.

 

[Valeyard]

It's fine, but the best parts are lesser versions of matches from Backlash. The HITC is fine, too, even though it's kind of a "best of" from other matches.

Austin and Flair had incredible chemistry but it just isn't what anyone wanted to see. The Raw match where they couldn't punch is genuinely the best match Flair had on TV in at least four years.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.facebook.com/100066969734097/posts/774529924789325

It's sad that I remember more about the TSM freak outs about Jericho's burial, the World title changing at 3 straight PPVs and Austin's backstage antics more than any of the build or matches. (Minus the Taker/Hogan bike fiasco.)

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Kurt Angle being shaved bald is probably most important thing to come out of the show. That or Triple H and Jericho laying out the template for how to do a HiaC without a big bump.

 

[Valeyard]

It was the show that ended Tim White's career.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

We’ll never forget his untimely suicides. Mostly during lunchtime.

 

[Valeyard]

What's crazy to me is that Brock worked Backlash, just because Brock in the WWF feels really weird since he's pretty much the first WWE superstar.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I got to see Brock work in a WWF ring. Against Crash Holly no less. GTs.

 

[Valeyard]

I remember everyone being so confused about Brock for a while. It was either the board or someone at the Torch being really upset because he wasn't booked to be a world class wrestler so we could never tell if "he is the next Angle or the next Sid" or how he was getting the Yokozuna push too hard. No one wanted to say one way or another but no one wanted to be wrong and it was hilarious.

 

[strummer]

Bps hated Brock that I remember

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

SummerSlam ‘02 was the first match where everyone decided “Oh damn. This guy really is good!”

In retrospect, he was really good all along. He got a better match out of Test than anyone besides Eddie Guerrero or Shane McMahon.

 

[Valeyard]

I know for a fact people resented the push and HATED the matches with the Hardys. It might've been bps (or Scooter, actually) who swore the "Don't pin him, hurt him!" booking made Brock look bad, which is just objectively a horrible take.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Only thing poorly booked about Brock’s first run is The Big Show being the one to end his undefeated streak. Last 6 or 7 months were underwhelming and you can really see he was mentally checked out but even then you had a certified classic in the No Way Out ‘04 match with Eddie.

 

[strummer]

Summer 02 in general was an incredible time at the board. Brock's push, first brand split. Shawn returning, Heyman getting the book on SD. , Nash quad tear, Etc.

Still remember Shawn blowing a plancha during the build to Summerslam and people saying he was going to suck when he came back to the ring

And of course my favorite of a poster claiming they could beat Nash in a fight the night of the quad tear

 

[Valeyard]

I can see Show making sense if they'd even tried to rehab him from the couple years of being either a joke or a nonfactor. You can't go from jobbing to Jeff Hardy at his lowest point to beating the hardest pushed guy in nearly a decade in less than a month. Even then, you shouldn't consider it when Show is in such awful shape, either. That said the Survivor Series match is really good and probably the moment Brock showed he was a real once in a generation talent for having a great match with a guy who had no business being in there with him.

 

[Valeyard]

People being so happy Nash got hurt really bothered me at the time because it was the same people who freaked out when someone like Edge or Benoit broke their necks. I get it, Nash was mean to wrestlers who worked more gooder than him and all that, but c'mon. "He tore his quad by walking lol!" The sheer glee from people and it being turned into comedy gifs and shit was just lame, like the guy or not.

 

[Brocklock]

SummerSlam ‘02 was the first match where everyone decided “Oh damn. This guy really is good!”

In retrospect, he was really good all along. He got a better match out of Test than anyone besides Eddie Guerrero or Shane McMahon.

I remember thinking he was legit good when he got a good match out of Bubba Ray Dudley on Raw around the time of this show. His bumping and selling was so good even back then.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I hate to sound like cheesebreath IWC guy (maybe cause I am cheesebreath IWC guy) but I knew he was great when I saw him wrestle Crash Holly at that house show right before Survivor Series ‘01.

I have seen a lot of future superstars (Cena, Orton, Jon Moxley, too many AEW dudes to mention) wrestle before they debuted on TV, whether on house shows or the indies. Brock had a bigger “Woah! That is a future star!” factor than any of them. Only guys who came close to me were Sylvester Terkay (whoops) and Keith Lee. I guess jury is still out if Keith will be closer to Sylvester or Brock, career wise.

 

[Valeyard]

Terkay deserved better.

 

[BruiserBrody]

I saw Brock in a tag team dark match in Green Bay but his match isn't on the History of WWE. I'm pretty sure it was he and Sheldon. He teamed with Levithan in a different Green Bay house show, but I did not attend that one.

Brock vs Orton on SD! in Green Bay was good shit. Orton went for a flying crossbody and Lesnar rolled through with it and tossed him right into the F5.

That may be the final WWE show I ever attended.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Terkay deserved better.

IIRC, Terkay was in his late 30s by the time he debuted in WWE. It is bizarre how quickly they gave up on him though. He got a few squash wins then became Elijah Burke's heater on WWECW.

According to Cagematch, I saw literally his first main roster match.

Gunner Scott has also got to be Top 10 most forgettable Ruthless Aggression era guy. Of course, crux of his brief push was "Chris Benoit's protege" during the post Eddie Guerrero phase of Benoit's career so the forgettable nature is probably deliberate...

I wonder how much FKA Brent Albright did to enhance the idea that "ROH guys couldn't be WWE superstars" for a while.

Fake edit- Except Brent Albright didn't appear in ROH until after his WWE run bombed? Boy, the Mandela Effect strikes again!