An Alternate History of WCW - 1998 and Beyond
Jan 1, 2024 4:37:36 GMT 1
Asaemon, dhk1989, and 5 more like this
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Jan 1, 2024 4:37:36 GMT 1
Part LIV: WCW The Great American Bash 2002
As always, I'm getting in a post right at the deadline, and in this case, it's REALLY at the deadline as I'm posting this on December 31st. A Happy New Year's to all!
Coming out of Slamboree 2002, The Flair Administration was riding high after Mike Awesome captured the WCW World Heavyweight Title from Kevin Nash in the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold Match. Nash made it clear that he fully intended to regain his championship, but WCW President Ric Flair wasn't going to make it easy for him. Alongside Sting, Nash was able to strike a blow against The Flair Administration as, on the night after Slamboree, they defeated Mike Awesome and Ric Flair in a tag team match, with Nash pinning Flair. The following week on Nitro, Flair would announce that an eight-person tournament would take place to crown a new #1 Contender. It wouldn't be a traditional single elimination tournament, however. Instead, there would be two four-way matches on the May 23rd Thunder, with the winners facing off on the Memorial Day edition of Nitro. Both Four-Ways would feature a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a former WCW United States Champion, a former WCW World Tag Team Champion, and a former WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Kevin Nash won his Four-Way over AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, and Konnan (more on Jericho and Styles later), while Rob Van Dam would win the second Four-Way over Christopher Daniels, Sting, and The Giant. Flair wasn't too happy with either result, so he forced Rob Van Dam to defend his spot in the #1 Contender's Match against Diamond Dallas Page on the May 25th edition of Saturday Night. Page won thanks to some interference from Chris Kanyon, which set up Page vs. Nash on the May 27th Nitro. After the likes of Andrew Martin, Booker T, Sting, Scott Hall, Rob Van Dam, and Jerry Lynn helped fight off various members of The Flair Administration as they attempted to interfere, Nash picked up the win, setting the stage for a Mike Awesome/Kevin Nash rematch at The Great American Bash. To ensure that there would be no outside interference this time around, Dusty Rhodes would later announce that the title bout would take place inside a Steel Cage topped with Barbed Wire! Can Big Sexy regain the Big Gold Belt, or will the reign of Mike Awesome continue?
Since I mentioned the members of The Jersey Triad already, I guess I'll hit up the WCW World Tag Team Title match next. Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon were looking to get into the title picture, and with how the #1 Contender's Tournament turned out (as well as the ongoing issues between Kanyon and Van Dam), a match was set up between The Jersey Triad and the team of Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn, with a future title shot on the line (in the buildup to this, we would also get a singles match between Kanyon and Lynn on the May 30th Thunder, which Lynn won). Page and Kanyon won that match on the June 3rd Nitro (after they paid off The FBI to get involved), which locked in a bout for the PPV that would see them challenge Andrew Martin and Booker T for the WCW World Tag Team Titles.
Speaking of tag teams, you'll notice that The Hart Family and The Dudley Boyz are absent from the PPV card. Truthfully, when putting this show together, this was just a case of not having enough room to fit it on the card. So what I decided to do instead is have them headline a big episode of television. After both teams were involved in a three-way for the WCW World Tag Team Titles on the Memorial Day Nitro on May 27th (a match where Andrew Martin and Booker T retained their titles), they faced off in a grudge match on the June 10th episode of Nitro. It wound up being a great contest, but ended in a no-contest when the two sides wouldn't stop brawling on the floor. Clearly the issues between these two teams are far from over, and I would expect them to be involved in more encounters in the future as their rivalry continues to heat up.
More matches involving Flair Administration members were scattered throughout the PPV. In an effort to put a major roadblock in Sting's way, Ric Flair decided to send The Giant after him, and a match was signed between the two for The Great American Bash. This is far from the first time that Sting and The Giant have clashed in WCW, but as always, The Giant will be a massive challenge for The Icon to overcome. Meanwhile, Konnan continued to have lingering issues with his former Filthy Animals stablemates, including a former best friend Rey Mysterio. Following Slamboree 2002, the current WCW Cruiserweight Champion decided to bring together most of the remnants of the aforementioned Filthy Animals (Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psychosis, and Super Crazy) to form a new stable....The Latino World Order. Konnan would go on a bit of a singles winning streak (including wins over the likes of Amazing Red and former Filthy Animals stablemates Billy Kidman and La Parka), and called out Mysterio for a Boston Street Fight at the PPV, so he can firmly put The Filthy Animals in the rearview. Mysterio accepted the challenge, and the match was made.
Speaking of the Latino World Order, while they were entering the summer months under a new united banner, they didn't exactly have the best start. On the May 23rd Thunder, John Cena captured the WCW World Television Title from La Parka (more on Cena later). Then, they still had ongoing problems with WCW's "Next Big Thing"....Brock Lesnar. In a response to the formation of the Latino World Order (and after a tag team match on the May 27th Nitro where he and Lesnar won via disqualification against Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis when Super Crazy got involved and helped his other stablemates use various foreign objects to take on Lesnar), Eric Bischoff decided that it was time to expand his ranks. On the May 30th Thunder, Bischoff announced the formation of Team Lesnar, and introduced his new charges....Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin (the former of whom was VERY familiar with Lesnar). As a pair, the two would be known as The World's Greatest Tag Team, and a match was made for The Great American Bash that would see Team Lesnar come together as a trio for the first time to take on the Latino World Order trio of Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, and Super Crazy.
There are a couple of other title matches I need to go over as well. First up, we have the culmination of the feud between the brothers Hardy, as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy would face off in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Title. With help from his new follower Shannon Moore, Matt Hardy was able to retain the title against his brother in a Last Man Standing Match at Slamboree. However, Jeff was far from done with his brother, and as the issues between the two continued over the next few weeks, it was decided that the match that made them famous was the only stipulation that could finally settle the score once and for all. Another major title bout would see a rematch from the finals of the WCW International Title Tournament. Following his victory over Chael Sonnen at Slamboree, Kurt Angle was looking to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Title, and after a series of major victories (a singles win over Chris Jericho on the May 13th Nitro and a victory in a Parking Lot Brawl against Chael Sonnen on the May 18th Saturday Night), a title bout was signed between him and Mike Awesome for the Memorial Day Nitro on May 27th. Just as it appeared that Angle was on the verge of regaining the title in that match, The Great Muta appeared and misted Angle, allowing Awesome to put Angle away to retain the title. Muta had been back in WCW over the last few weeks (including a WCW International Title defense against Hurricane Helms on the May 16th Thunder and a tag match on the May 20th Nitro where he teamed with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino to take on Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri). It later came out that Ric Flair had struck a deal with The Great Muta to help Mike Awesome win, and Kurt Angle was understandably furious. He saw this as not only a chance for revenge, but a chance to avenge the loss he suffered against Muta a few months prior. Thus, a match was signed for the WCW International Title at The Great American Bash.
Only two matches left to talk about, and they're pretty big ones. I mentioned in my previous post the interactions in the Gauntlet For The Gold between Goldberg, John Cena, and members of The FBI. Well, Goldberg was not happy with Cena eliminating him in the way that he did, and wanted to get payback. However, with his new alliance with The FBI (though it should be noted that Cena was never made an official member of the group), the new WCW World Television Champion was going to make Goldberg run through the entire FBI in order to get to him. So in the buildup to The Great American Bash, Goldberg would score quick and easy victories against the likes of Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke. However, the situation became more complicated as the ongoing issues between Raven and Perry Saturn got entangled with the Goldberg/Cena feud. To further boost the ranks of The FBI, Perry Saturn (a man of Italian descent himself....or at least, based on what Wikipedia tells me) joined the group, though this only led to Goldberg picking up an ally in Raven. They would later get some backup in the form of Rhino and Tommy Dreamer, while Rob Van Dam (after The FBI cost him and Jerry Lynn a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles) would also enter the picture. Thus, a Ten-Man Tag was set up for the PPV with Goldberg, Raven, Rhino, Dreamer, and Van Dam taking on John Cena and the FBI quartet of Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, and Perry Saturn. If Goldberg's side won, then he would get a future one-on-one match with John Cena.
The final match to go over on the PPV involves AJ Styles and Chris Jericho. In the Gauntlet For The Gold Match at Slamboree, arguably the most shocking elimination was when AJ Styles tossed out Chris Jericho. As you might expect, Jericho was not very happy about this, and this led to the two sniping back-and-forth in the form of comments and confrontations backstage. It didn't take long before things eventually spilled over into the ring. Both Jericho and Styles were involved in one of the Four-Way Matches during the #1 Contender's Tournament. Later, on the May 27th Nitro, Jericho cost Styles a singles match against Christian (this would actually help set up an alliance between Jericho and Christian). This would all lead to a first-time ever singles match between the two at The Great American Bash. Can Jericho put down the rising star from Georgia, or will The Phenomenal One pull off the upset?
As always, before diving into the PPV results, I need to go over a variety of miscellaneous news items. First, I signed veteran wrestler Pat Tanaka to my roster, mainly to serve as a lower card/prelim guy (his first match was against AJ Styles on the June 6th Thunder. Some other interesting/notable matches that took place over the last few weeks of television include Edge/Rey Mysterio/Jushin Thunder Liger/Tiger Mask vs. Christian/Black Tiger/Gedo/Jado in an Eight-Man Tag on the May 16th Thunder, Matt Hardy successfully defending the WCW United States Title against Edge on the May 20th Nitro, The Great Muta successfully defending the WCW International Title against Yoshihiro Tajiri on the June 3rd Nitro, and Eight-Man Tag with The Great Muta teaming with The Flair Administration (Mike Awesome, The Giant, and Konnan) against the Kevin Nash/Kurt Angle/Rey Mysterio/Sting quartet on the June 10th Nitro, and a three-way tag on the June 13th Thunder that saw Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger pick up a win over The Triple X Prophecy (Elix Skipper and Low Ki) and The Hart Dynasty duo of Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson. Also worth nothing is that, during the month of June, two notable indie talents make their debuts on different editions of Saturday Night. On June 8th, CM Punk made his debut with a win over Brad Armstrong, while on June 15th, Samoa Joe made his debut with a victory over Evan Karagias.
In terms of the other championships that haven't been talked about yet, the NWA World Tag Team Titles saw a fair amount of action in the last several weeks. Bryan Danielson and William Regal were victorious in a three-way title defense against Kaientai as well as the Rebels Rizing duo of Jamie Noble and Jimmy Yang on the May 16th Thunder. However, on the June 6th Thunder, they would end up losing the titles to America's Most Wanted. A notable title change for sure, but beyond that, none of the other titles that I haven't mentioned yet changed hands since the last PPV, though people like NWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino, WCW Hardcore Champion Sean O'Haire, and WCW Women's Champion Meiko Satomura, have all had successful title defenses.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive straight into the PPV!
WCW The Great American Bash 2002
June 16th, 2002 - FleetCenter - Boston, Massachusetts
1.) Six-Man Tag - Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, Charlie Haas, & Shelton Benjamin) def. The Latino World Order (Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, & Super Crazy)
2.) Sting def. The Giant
3.) Boston Street Fight - Konnan def. WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio
4.) AJ Styles def. Chris Jericho
5.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - The Jersey Triad (Chris Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page with Kimberly Page) def. Andrew Martin & Booker T (c)
6.) WCW International Title - Kurt Angle def. The Great Muta (c)
7.) WCW United States Title - Ladder Match - Jeff Hardy def. Matt Hardy (c)
8.) Ten-Man Tag - Goldberg, Raven, Rhino, Rob Van Dam, & Tommy Dreamer def. John Cena & The FBI (Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, & Perry Saturn)
9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match - Kevin Nash def. Mike Awesome (c)
For The Great American Bash 2002, I got an overall score of 90%, which is up 4% from Slamboree 2002. A pretty solid increase over the course of the last two PPVs, so that's good. Three matches ended in the 90% range, with Match Of Night honors going to AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho at 96%. I'd have go back and tally up the different matches that've been the best match on my PPVs, but as I've mentioned at various times in the past, Chris Jericho has been in so many that he probably laps the next closest person. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Title (unsurprisingly) got a very high score, finishing at 94%. Then, in what I'd call a slight surprise, Konnan vs. Rey Mysterio in a Boston Street Fight earned a 92% score (easily Konnan's best WCW PPV match since I've started this game, as far as I know). From there, the remaining six matches all finished in the 80% range, so an extremely consistent PPV as far as match quality is concerned. Andrew Martin and Booker T vs. The Jersey Triad for the WCW World Tag Team Titles wound up with a score of 89%, while both Sting vs. The Giant and The Great Muta vs. Kurt Angle for the WCW International Title ended up with 88% scores. In the main event, Mike Awesome vs. Kevin Nash in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title earned a score of 87%, which is great for those two guys. Rounding out the card were the Ten-Man Tag, which got a score of 84%, and the Team Lesnar vs. Latino World Order Six-Man Tag, which ended up with an 83% score.
On the whole, I thought this PPV turned out pretty well! I always see The Great American Bash as one of the bigger PPV's on WCW's calendar, so I always try my best to make it a huge card. Of the four title bouts on this card, all four of them saw new champions crowned, so that's pretty significant. Goldberg's team won the Ten-Man Tag, so John Cena now has to face Goldberg in a one-on-one match at some point in the near future. AJ Styles continued his streak of success against Chris Jericho after catching him with a flash pin. Sting overcame The Giant in their grudge match, while Team Lesnar picked up their first win as a trio. The biggest story on the undercard was in the Boston Street Fight. Konnan scored the victory over Rey Mysterio, but only after Billy Kidman got involved and turned against his friend/semi-regular tag team partner. Kidman would officially join The Flair Administration the next night on Nitro.
Well, that about does it for the final post of 2023! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season, and I hope you enjoy the New Year's Celebrations! I'll have a different type of update in the next day or so, but be sure to keep an eye out for the next major post, which will be covering Bash At The Beach 2002.
Coming out of Slamboree 2002, The Flair Administration was riding high after Mike Awesome captured the WCW World Heavyweight Title from Kevin Nash in the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold Match. Nash made it clear that he fully intended to regain his championship, but WCW President Ric Flair wasn't going to make it easy for him. Alongside Sting, Nash was able to strike a blow against The Flair Administration as, on the night after Slamboree, they defeated Mike Awesome and Ric Flair in a tag team match, with Nash pinning Flair. The following week on Nitro, Flair would announce that an eight-person tournament would take place to crown a new #1 Contender. It wouldn't be a traditional single elimination tournament, however. Instead, there would be two four-way matches on the May 23rd Thunder, with the winners facing off on the Memorial Day edition of Nitro. Both Four-Ways would feature a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a former WCW United States Champion, a former WCW World Tag Team Champion, and a former WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Kevin Nash won his Four-Way over AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, and Konnan (more on Jericho and Styles later), while Rob Van Dam would win the second Four-Way over Christopher Daniels, Sting, and The Giant. Flair wasn't too happy with either result, so he forced Rob Van Dam to defend his spot in the #1 Contender's Match against Diamond Dallas Page on the May 25th edition of Saturday Night. Page won thanks to some interference from Chris Kanyon, which set up Page vs. Nash on the May 27th Nitro. After the likes of Andrew Martin, Booker T, Sting, Scott Hall, Rob Van Dam, and Jerry Lynn helped fight off various members of The Flair Administration as they attempted to interfere, Nash picked up the win, setting the stage for a Mike Awesome/Kevin Nash rematch at The Great American Bash. To ensure that there would be no outside interference this time around, Dusty Rhodes would later announce that the title bout would take place inside a Steel Cage topped with Barbed Wire! Can Big Sexy regain the Big Gold Belt, or will the reign of Mike Awesome continue?
Since I mentioned the members of The Jersey Triad already, I guess I'll hit up the WCW World Tag Team Title match next. Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon were looking to get into the title picture, and with how the #1 Contender's Tournament turned out (as well as the ongoing issues between Kanyon and Van Dam), a match was set up between The Jersey Triad and the team of Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn, with a future title shot on the line (in the buildup to this, we would also get a singles match between Kanyon and Lynn on the May 30th Thunder, which Lynn won). Page and Kanyon won that match on the June 3rd Nitro (after they paid off The FBI to get involved), which locked in a bout for the PPV that would see them challenge Andrew Martin and Booker T for the WCW World Tag Team Titles.
Speaking of tag teams, you'll notice that The Hart Family and The Dudley Boyz are absent from the PPV card. Truthfully, when putting this show together, this was just a case of not having enough room to fit it on the card. So what I decided to do instead is have them headline a big episode of television. After both teams were involved in a three-way for the WCW World Tag Team Titles on the Memorial Day Nitro on May 27th (a match where Andrew Martin and Booker T retained their titles), they faced off in a grudge match on the June 10th episode of Nitro. It wound up being a great contest, but ended in a no-contest when the two sides wouldn't stop brawling on the floor. Clearly the issues between these two teams are far from over, and I would expect them to be involved in more encounters in the future as their rivalry continues to heat up.
More matches involving Flair Administration members were scattered throughout the PPV. In an effort to put a major roadblock in Sting's way, Ric Flair decided to send The Giant after him, and a match was signed between the two for The Great American Bash. This is far from the first time that Sting and The Giant have clashed in WCW, but as always, The Giant will be a massive challenge for The Icon to overcome. Meanwhile, Konnan continued to have lingering issues with his former Filthy Animals stablemates, including a former best friend Rey Mysterio. Following Slamboree 2002, the current WCW Cruiserweight Champion decided to bring together most of the remnants of the aforementioned Filthy Animals (Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psychosis, and Super Crazy) to form a new stable....The Latino World Order. Konnan would go on a bit of a singles winning streak (including wins over the likes of Amazing Red and former Filthy Animals stablemates Billy Kidman and La Parka), and called out Mysterio for a Boston Street Fight at the PPV, so he can firmly put The Filthy Animals in the rearview. Mysterio accepted the challenge, and the match was made.
Speaking of the Latino World Order, while they were entering the summer months under a new united banner, they didn't exactly have the best start. On the May 23rd Thunder, John Cena captured the WCW World Television Title from La Parka (more on Cena later). Then, they still had ongoing problems with WCW's "Next Big Thing"....Brock Lesnar. In a response to the formation of the Latino World Order (and after a tag team match on the May 27th Nitro where he and Lesnar won via disqualification against Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis when Super Crazy got involved and helped his other stablemates use various foreign objects to take on Lesnar), Eric Bischoff decided that it was time to expand his ranks. On the May 30th Thunder, Bischoff announced the formation of Team Lesnar, and introduced his new charges....Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin (the former of whom was VERY familiar with Lesnar). As a pair, the two would be known as The World's Greatest Tag Team, and a match was made for The Great American Bash that would see Team Lesnar come together as a trio for the first time to take on the Latino World Order trio of Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, and Super Crazy.
There are a couple of other title matches I need to go over as well. First up, we have the culmination of the feud between the brothers Hardy, as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy would face off in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Title. With help from his new follower Shannon Moore, Matt Hardy was able to retain the title against his brother in a Last Man Standing Match at Slamboree. However, Jeff was far from done with his brother, and as the issues between the two continued over the next few weeks, it was decided that the match that made them famous was the only stipulation that could finally settle the score once and for all. Another major title bout would see a rematch from the finals of the WCW International Title Tournament. Following his victory over Chael Sonnen at Slamboree, Kurt Angle was looking to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Title, and after a series of major victories (a singles win over Chris Jericho on the May 13th Nitro and a victory in a Parking Lot Brawl against Chael Sonnen on the May 18th Saturday Night), a title bout was signed between him and Mike Awesome for the Memorial Day Nitro on May 27th. Just as it appeared that Angle was on the verge of regaining the title in that match, The Great Muta appeared and misted Angle, allowing Awesome to put Angle away to retain the title. Muta had been back in WCW over the last few weeks (including a WCW International Title defense against Hurricane Helms on the May 16th Thunder and a tag match on the May 20th Nitro where he teamed with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino to take on Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri). It later came out that Ric Flair had struck a deal with The Great Muta to help Mike Awesome win, and Kurt Angle was understandably furious. He saw this as not only a chance for revenge, but a chance to avenge the loss he suffered against Muta a few months prior. Thus, a match was signed for the WCW International Title at The Great American Bash.
Only two matches left to talk about, and they're pretty big ones. I mentioned in my previous post the interactions in the Gauntlet For The Gold between Goldberg, John Cena, and members of The FBI. Well, Goldberg was not happy with Cena eliminating him in the way that he did, and wanted to get payback. However, with his new alliance with The FBI (though it should be noted that Cena was never made an official member of the group), the new WCW World Television Champion was going to make Goldberg run through the entire FBI in order to get to him. So in the buildup to The Great American Bash, Goldberg would score quick and easy victories against the likes of Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke. However, the situation became more complicated as the ongoing issues between Raven and Perry Saturn got entangled with the Goldberg/Cena feud. To further boost the ranks of The FBI, Perry Saturn (a man of Italian descent himself....or at least, based on what Wikipedia tells me) joined the group, though this only led to Goldberg picking up an ally in Raven. They would later get some backup in the form of Rhino and Tommy Dreamer, while Rob Van Dam (after The FBI cost him and Jerry Lynn a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles) would also enter the picture. Thus, a Ten-Man Tag was set up for the PPV with Goldberg, Raven, Rhino, Dreamer, and Van Dam taking on John Cena and the FBI quartet of Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, and Perry Saturn. If Goldberg's side won, then he would get a future one-on-one match with John Cena.
The final match to go over on the PPV involves AJ Styles and Chris Jericho. In the Gauntlet For The Gold Match at Slamboree, arguably the most shocking elimination was when AJ Styles tossed out Chris Jericho. As you might expect, Jericho was not very happy about this, and this led to the two sniping back-and-forth in the form of comments and confrontations backstage. It didn't take long before things eventually spilled over into the ring. Both Jericho and Styles were involved in one of the Four-Way Matches during the #1 Contender's Tournament. Later, on the May 27th Nitro, Jericho cost Styles a singles match against Christian (this would actually help set up an alliance between Jericho and Christian). This would all lead to a first-time ever singles match between the two at The Great American Bash. Can Jericho put down the rising star from Georgia, or will The Phenomenal One pull off the upset?
As always, before diving into the PPV results, I need to go over a variety of miscellaneous news items. First, I signed veteran wrestler Pat Tanaka to my roster, mainly to serve as a lower card/prelim guy (his first match was against AJ Styles on the June 6th Thunder. Some other interesting/notable matches that took place over the last few weeks of television include Edge/Rey Mysterio/Jushin Thunder Liger/Tiger Mask vs. Christian/Black Tiger/Gedo/Jado in an Eight-Man Tag on the May 16th Thunder, Matt Hardy successfully defending the WCW United States Title against Edge on the May 20th Nitro, The Great Muta successfully defending the WCW International Title against Yoshihiro Tajiri on the June 3rd Nitro, and Eight-Man Tag with The Great Muta teaming with The Flair Administration (Mike Awesome, The Giant, and Konnan) against the Kevin Nash/Kurt Angle/Rey Mysterio/Sting quartet on the June 10th Nitro, and a three-way tag on the June 13th Thunder that saw Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger pick up a win over The Triple X Prophecy (Elix Skipper and Low Ki) and The Hart Dynasty duo of Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson. Also worth nothing is that, during the month of June, two notable indie talents make their debuts on different editions of Saturday Night. On June 8th, CM Punk made his debut with a win over Brad Armstrong, while on June 15th, Samoa Joe made his debut with a victory over Evan Karagias.
In terms of the other championships that haven't been talked about yet, the NWA World Tag Team Titles saw a fair amount of action in the last several weeks. Bryan Danielson and William Regal were victorious in a three-way title defense against Kaientai as well as the Rebels Rizing duo of Jamie Noble and Jimmy Yang on the May 16th Thunder. However, on the June 6th Thunder, they would end up losing the titles to America's Most Wanted. A notable title change for sure, but beyond that, none of the other titles that I haven't mentioned yet changed hands since the last PPV, though people like NWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino, WCW Hardcore Champion Sean O'Haire, and WCW Women's Champion Meiko Satomura, have all had successful title defenses.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive straight into the PPV!
WCW The Great American Bash 2002
June 16th, 2002 - FleetCenter - Boston, Massachusetts
1.) Six-Man Tag - Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, Charlie Haas, & Shelton Benjamin) def. The Latino World Order (Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, & Super Crazy)
2.) Sting def. The Giant
3.) Boston Street Fight - Konnan def. WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio
4.) AJ Styles def. Chris Jericho
5.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - The Jersey Triad (Chris Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page with Kimberly Page) def. Andrew Martin & Booker T (c)
6.) WCW International Title - Kurt Angle def. The Great Muta (c)
7.) WCW United States Title - Ladder Match - Jeff Hardy def. Matt Hardy (c)
8.) Ten-Man Tag - Goldberg, Raven, Rhino, Rob Van Dam, & Tommy Dreamer def. John Cena & The FBI (Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, & Perry Saturn)
9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match - Kevin Nash def. Mike Awesome (c)
For The Great American Bash 2002, I got an overall score of 90%, which is up 4% from Slamboree 2002. A pretty solid increase over the course of the last two PPVs, so that's good. Three matches ended in the 90% range, with Match Of Night honors going to AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho at 96%. I'd have go back and tally up the different matches that've been the best match on my PPVs, but as I've mentioned at various times in the past, Chris Jericho has been in so many that he probably laps the next closest person. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Title (unsurprisingly) got a very high score, finishing at 94%. Then, in what I'd call a slight surprise, Konnan vs. Rey Mysterio in a Boston Street Fight earned a 92% score (easily Konnan's best WCW PPV match since I've started this game, as far as I know). From there, the remaining six matches all finished in the 80% range, so an extremely consistent PPV as far as match quality is concerned. Andrew Martin and Booker T vs. The Jersey Triad for the WCW World Tag Team Titles wound up with a score of 89%, while both Sting vs. The Giant and The Great Muta vs. Kurt Angle for the WCW International Title ended up with 88% scores. In the main event, Mike Awesome vs. Kevin Nash in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title earned a score of 87%, which is great for those two guys. Rounding out the card were the Ten-Man Tag, which got a score of 84%, and the Team Lesnar vs. Latino World Order Six-Man Tag, which ended up with an 83% score.
On the whole, I thought this PPV turned out pretty well! I always see The Great American Bash as one of the bigger PPV's on WCW's calendar, so I always try my best to make it a huge card. Of the four title bouts on this card, all four of them saw new champions crowned, so that's pretty significant. Goldberg's team won the Ten-Man Tag, so John Cena now has to face Goldberg in a one-on-one match at some point in the near future. AJ Styles continued his streak of success against Chris Jericho after catching him with a flash pin. Sting overcame The Giant in their grudge match, while Team Lesnar picked up their first win as a trio. The biggest story on the undercard was in the Boston Street Fight. Konnan scored the victory over Rey Mysterio, but only after Billy Kidman got involved and turned against his friend/semi-regular tag team partner. Kidman would officially join The Flair Administration the next night on Nitro.
Well, that about does it for the final post of 2023! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season, and I hope you enjoy the New Year's Celebrations! I'll have a different type of update in the next day or so, but be sure to keep an eye out for the next major post, which will be covering Bash At The Beach 2002.
