For the first time in this series, the
Mayhem name is being used for a PPV, and it's officially kicking off the second half of this series! It's been some time since I mentioned this, but I do have a tentative date in mind for when I'm going to finish off this series (December 2005), which means that the end of 2001/start of 2002 is the halfway point. If we weren't in uncharted territory before, we definitely are now, as WCW lives on into 2002 and beyond.
There's a lot to talk about with the start of the new year, and the first big topic I want to discuss is wrestler contracts. 2002 is going to be a BIG year for WCW in terms of it's roster, but not really with regards to signing new names (although new names will be added to the roster). This is a year where I'm going to be letting the contracts of several notable wrestlers expire. In pretty much all of these cases, it just comes down to me deciding that it's time to move on from a number of these wrestlers. That's not to say they're not good talents, or that they aren't useful. However, for the direction that I'm going for 2002 and beyond, there are a number of people on the roster who I either don't really need anymore, or who really don't fit into my upcoming booking plans very well. I feel like this first part of the year (and you'll see exactly why momentarily) is going to feature the largest swath of talent departures, but there will be a few more as the year goes on.
The first couple of talents that are exiting the company are a trio of former ECW World Champions who were members of The Radicalz and were mainly relegated to the mid-card. Bam Bam Bigelow, Sabu, and The Sandman all exited WCW at the start of 2002. All three took losses on their final night on the December 31st, 2001 edition of
Nitro (Bam Bam Bigelow got pinned in Six-Man Tag that saw The Jersey Triad lose to Andrew Martin and The Hart Family, while Sabu and The Sandman lost to Mike Awesome and The Giant in a Tag Team Street Fight). Those three are perfect examples of guys that I just....didn't really have in my plans going forward, so I let their contracts expire.
Another set of talent departures involves the main event of
Mayhem. Booker T and Scott Steiner have tangled many times since I started this series. They battled over the WCW World Television Title in 1998 and 1999, the WCW United States Title in 1999, the NWA World Heavyweight Title in 2000, and the WCW World Heavyweight Title in 2001. They went at it once again at the tail end of 2001, and it's gotten to a point where World Championship Wrestling isn't big enough for the both of them. At
Mayhem, Booker T and Scott Steiner will go at it one more time....in the infamous Triple Cage Match! Much like the Mick Foley/Sting Triple Cage Match from
Spring Stampede 2001, whoever loses will leave WCW, so there's A LOT on the line. Booker T's had to go through many of Big Poppa Pump's allies to get to this point (his brother Rick Steiner, Buff Bagwell, and Mark Jindrak, who aligned himself with Steiner after the dissolution of The Natural Born Thrillers), but he was able to overcome them, and the match was set to go for January 27th in Raleigh, North Carolina. Who will remain in WCW?!
That's not the only big match on this card.
Mayhem features a true double main event, as alongside the Triple Cage Match, Kurt Angle will be defending the WCW World Heavyweight Title against Chris Jericho, who is cashing in the title shot he earned thanks to holding the WCW Full Throttle Title until the end of NBC and TNT's portion of the NASCAR Winston Cup Season in 2001. On the final
Nitro of 2001 on December 31st, Chris Jericho came out and declared that he was going to start off 2002 with a bang, and announced that he would cash in his title shot at
Mayhem. It seemed like a pretty straightforward build, with the top champion defending his title against a strong challenger. However, that changed on the January 14th
Nitro. In the main event, a tag team match with Goldberg and Kurt Angle against Chris Jericho and Rhino ended in a DQ when Jericho attached Angle and Goldberg with the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Then, with Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon coming out to attack Goldberg, Jericho grabbed a a hair clipped and buzzed off Angle's hair! Obviously this added a lot more heat to this feud, as Angle was furious about what Jericho did (though it led to Angle having the bald look that he would go on to have for the rest of his career). We would get a Pick Your Poison Challenge on the final Nitro before the PPV on January 21st, with Angle wrestling Rhino while Jericho took on the exciting newcomer Amazing Red (who did give Jericho fits before ultimately falling to the #1 Contender). This should be an exciting encounter with the WCW World Heavyweight Title on the line. Who will come out on top?!
As always, The Radicalz were continuing to be a problem, but their numbers and influence was dwindling. They would be involved in a number of matches on this card, some of which were title bouts. Lance Storm (a member of The Professionals....a subgroup within The Radicalz....alongside William Regal and Bryan Danielson) would defend his WCW Hardcore Title against Mike Awesome, while The Dudley Boyz would defend the WCW World Tag Team Titles against Konnan and Ron "The Truth" Killings from The Filthy Animals. The latter match came about after The Dudley Boyz successfully defended their titles against Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. on the January 14th Nitro (after Kidman and Mysterio won a #1 Contender's Match at
Starrcade). The Dudley Boyz retained, but they continued to attack Kidman and Mysterio after the match, which led to Konnan and Truth making the save.
The biggest Radicalz match on this card, however, was a Five-On-Five Elimination Match, with a team consisting of Goldberg, The Hart Family (Bret Hart and Owen Hart) and The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against The Radicalz team of Chris Benoit, Chris Kanyon, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Guerrero, and Raven. Ric Flair and Sting would've been in this spot, but they had been out of action after The Radicalz assaulted them on the January 7th
Nitro, after Rhino had regained the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Sting in a Steel Cage Match. On the January 14th
Nitro, Ric Flair announced that he and Sting wouldn't be able to be on Team WCW for the PPV due to not being medically cleared. He did announce that a big stipulation would be added to the bout, however. If Team WCW managed to win, then either he or Sting would get a Steel Cage Match....with
Paul Heyman....on a future
Nitro, with the fate of The Radicalz on the line! Is the end near for The Radicalz? Only time will tell.
One of the biggest stories coming out of
Starrcade was the result of the main event. With The Dudley Boyz winning the (then) Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles, that mean that Edge and Christian, along with The Hardy Boyz, would be forced to disband. It was decided that the two teams would get to go against each other one more time on the first
Nitro of 2002 on January 7th. Edge and Christian won that match, and embraced as they headed to the back. The Hardy Boyz, still in the ring, soaked in the reaction from the reaction, and also embraced....until Matt Hardy kicked his brother low! A major heel turn as
Nitro came to a close, and in the following weeks, Matt Hardy explained why he did it, expressing his frustrations (which included getting knocked out of the first round of the 2001 Crockett Cup despite being the tag team champions, and Jeff costing them the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles at
United We Stand in an insane dive off the top of the cage that backfired), and showing off his jealously, as everyone had talked about how Jeff was the one that was set for singles stardom. Amy Dumas was, of course, not thrilled with any of this, and (after a match between Matt and Jeff had been announced for
Mayhem) offered to be the Special Guest Referee....basically the same match from
Vengeance 2001 in OTL. It's the first chapter in the feud between the two Hardy Brothers.
Meanwhile, Edge and Christian were still on good terms (for now) and had set their sights on singles gold. Unfortunately, they both had their sights set on the same title....the WCW United States Title. Rob Van Dam, the current champion, was not afraid to take on any and all challengers, so he proposed a Three-Way Match for the title, and the match was made.
Two other bouts rounded out the PPV card. Opening the card is a Four-Way Match featuring four former members of The Natural Born Thrillers. Chuck Palumbo, Mike Sanders, Sean O'Haire, and Shawn Stasiak were all on their own now, and this Four-Way gives them the opportunity to showcase themselves. It's also a chance to see which one will have the most success going forward. Finally, we've got a match in the 2002 Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament, as Jushin Thunder Liger battles the current WCW Cruiserweight Champion....Hayabusa! Yes, that's right. After winning the 2001 Starrcade Cup, Hayabusa cashed that in for a shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Title, and defeated AJ Styles in a thrilling contest right before the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights was about to kick off! As far as the bout on
Mayhem goes, it's a rematch from the original Super J Cup in 1994. Can Liger go 2-0 against Hayabusa, or will the new WCW Cruiserweight Champion avenge that loss from eight years prior?
In terms of other title changes, there are two that I want to make note of. First, the team of AJ Styles and Amazing Red defeated Kaientai for the NWA World Tag Team Titles on the January 3rd
Thunder in a Three-Way that also involved Elix Skipper and Low Ki from the Triple X Prophecy. Amazing Red was not in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights, as he came up short in a Four-Way Last Chance Qualifier on the January 12th
Saturday Night that was won by Tony Mamaluke (the match also featured Hector Garza and Shannon Moore). Meanwhile, on the January 17th
Thunder, Konnan won the WCW World Television Title from William Regal, getting some momentum before he and Ron "The Truth" Killings challenged for the WCW World Tag Team Titles.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the PPV!
WCW
Mayhem 2002January 27th, 2002 - Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena - Raleigh, North Carolina
1.) Four-Way Match - Sean O'Haire def. Chuck Palumbo, Mike Sanders, & Shawn Stasiak
2.) WCW Hardcore Title - Mike Awesome def. Lance Storm (c)
3.) Special Guest Referee: Amy Dumas - Jeff Hardy def. Matt Hardy
4.) WCW United States Title - Edge def. Rob Van Dam (c) & Christian
5.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - The Dudley Boyz (with The Duchess Of Dudleyville) (c) def. The Filthy Animals (Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings with Torrie Wilson)
6.) Best Of The Super Cruiserweights - D Block - WCW Cruiserweight Champion Hayabusa def. Jushin Thunder Liger
7.) 5-on-5 Elimination Match - Team WCW (Goldberg, The Hart Family, & The Outsiders) def. The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Chris Kanyon, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Guerrero, & Raven)
8.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Chris Jericho def. Kurt Angle (c)
9.) Loser Leaves WCW Triple Cage Match - Booker T def. Scott Steiner
For
Mayhem 2002, I earned a score of
90%, which is up 2% from
Starrcade 2001. Starting off 2002 on the right foot! Match Of The Night honors, unsurprisingly, went to Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, which got an incredible score of
98%. Three other matches finished well within the 90% range. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy with Amy Dumas as the Special Guest Referee, wound up with a
96% score (with a 100% crowd reaction), the Three-Way for the WCW United States Title earned a
94% score, and Booker T vs. Scott Steiner in the Loser Leaves WCW Triple Cage Match ended up with a score of
93% (also with a 100% crowd reaction). A few matches fell into the mid-to-high 80% range. The Five-On-Five Elimination Match finished with a
88% score, while The Dudley Boyz vs. Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings for the WCW World Tag Team Titles got a
87% score. Lance Storm vs. Mike Awesome for the WCW Hardcore Title wound up with a score of
85%. Rounding things out were the Four-Way opener featuring the former Natural Born Thrillers members, which ended up with a
81% score, and (a little surprisingly) Hayabusa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, which was the weakest match on the show at
79%.
So on the whole, I thought
Mayhem 2002 was a pretty successful show. The biggest news involves the main event. As you can see by the result, Booker T won, which means that Scott Steiner is being forced to leave WCW. Of course, that's the storyline reason, but in reality, his contract was expiring, and he was someone that I decided not to re-sign. He's a MASSIVE name to let go, but if I'm being honest, he really wasn't in my plans going forward, and with what I do have planned, there really isn't a nice natural fit for him. Part of the reason why I gave him such a big push in 2001 was because I knew I wasn't going to be signing him to a new deal, so I got the most out of him while he was still in WCW. Additionally, I also decided to not re-sign some of his other associates. Rick Steiner, Buff Bagwell, and Mark Jindrak are also out of WCW by the end of January. Seems kind of natural that Rick would follow his brother Scott, but Buff Bagwell leaving WCW is pretty notable as well. That guy was in WCW for a LONG time at this stage, but again, he's another guy that I just didn't have much use for at this stage, so I let his deal expire. I wouldn't worry about those guys though, as I'm sure they (in particular Big Poppa Pump) will land on their feet.
In terms of the rest of the show, Chris Jericho became the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, while Team WCW defeated The Radicalz (it eventually came down to Goldberg and Eddie Guerrero, with Goldberg getting the win) meaning that either Ric Flair or Sting will get a Steel Cage Match with Paul Heyman to decide the fate of the Heyman-led faction. We also saw two title changes, with Edge winning the WCW United States Title while Mike Awesome won the WCW Hardcore Title. Meanwhile, the Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy match goes pretty much the same as their match from
Vengeance 2001 in OTL.
That's all for
Mayhem 2002! Tune in next time for
Bound For Glory 2002, as some of the biggest stars from Japan return to the United States to battle some of the best WCW has to offer!
