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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 20, 2024 2:25:23 GMT 1
A quick update:
This weekend, I'll be posting the brackets for the 2002 Crockett Cup. Next weekend, I'll have my post on Halloween Havoc 2002, featuring the finals of The Crockett Cup.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 23, 2024 5:46:28 GMT 1
Apologies folks! Sunday was a little busier than I thought. Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will post the brackets, but what I can reveal right now is that I'll be dividing the tournament into four regions, named after wrestlers who are either former Crockett Cup Winners, or former Crockett Cup Finalists.
The 1st Region (the northwest quadrant) will be the Dusty Rhodes Region.
The 2nd Region (the southwest quadrant) will be the Nikita Koloff Region.
The 3rd Region (the northeast quadrant) will be the Magnum T.A. Region.
The 4th Region (the southeast quadrant) will be the Tully Blanchard Region.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 24, 2024 2:02:19 GMT 1
Here we go!
For the sake of clarity, each region will have eleven teams, and as the regions are revealed you'll see that a number of babyface teams are being forced to take a bit of a longer path compared to some of the heel teams (thanks to WCW President Ric Flair).
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 30, 2024 4:15:27 GMT 1
Part LVIII: WCW Halloween Havoc 2002
It's October....you know what that means! Yes, it's time for Halloween Havoc which, of course, is one of the biggest shows of the year for WCW. As has become tradition, Halloween Havoc plays host to the Finals of the annual Crockett Cup Tournament, and this year's edition of the tournament was on the biggest ever. 44 Teams in the main tournament with a 16 Team Play-In/Qualifying Tournament (so that makes 59 Teams in total). I'll follow up a little later with the actual filled out brackets, but in terms of who won each of the regions, the results are as follows:- Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero) won The Dusty Rhodes Region.- Awesome Giants (Mike Awesome & The Giant) won The Nikita Koloff Region.- World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) won The Magnum T.A. Region.- Edge & Rey Mysterio won the Tully Blanchard Region.The semifinals took place on the October 17th edition of Thunder. Los Guerreros defeated Awesome Giants (in what some would consider a pretty big upset) to win the first semifinal, and World's Greatest Tag Team defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio in the second semifinal, and thus, the finals of the 2002 Crockett Cup would see Los Guerreros battle World's Greatest Tag Team. On one side of things, you have a team that hasn't even been on the WCW roster for a full year, and the fact that they've risen up the ranks so quickly is a huge accomplishment (much like their teammate Brock Lesnar rose up so quickly in the singles ranks). On the other side, you have Los Guerreros. What's interesting about them is that while they have been doing some....lying, cheating, and stealing....throughout the entire tournament, the fans have started to take to them as babyfaces. That turn was cemented on the final Nitro before Halloween Havoc, when they were on the losing end of a WGTT beatdown (which later led to a big, fired up promo from Eddie and Chavo). Who will come out on top as the 2002 Crockett Cup Champions?!With the Crockett Cup Tournament taking up much of the time on WCW television through the end of September and most of October, I used that to set up various matches that would ultimately end up on the Halloween Havoc card. The biggest of those was the WCW World Heavyweight Title bout, as Brock Lesnar would be defending the WCW World Heavyweight Title against Bret Hart. This came about after Brock Lesnar cost Bret and Owen Hart their Crockett Cup Tournament match against World's Greatest Tag Team (which was the finals of The Magnum T.A. Region) on the October 14th Nitro. Bret cut a furious promo a short time later, and challenged Lesnar to a World Title bout at the PPV. Eric Bischoff was initially dismissive of The Hitman's demand (we all know the history with those two), but Lesnar decided to accept Bret's challenge. Lesnar would go on to attack and injure Owen Hart in the lead up to the show. Despite not being 100%, Owen declared that he would still be in the corner of his older brother as tries to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title for the second time.Another title bout that was set up through the tournament was the semi-main event for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. A pretty straightforward build, as Edge and Rey Mysterio defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit to win The Tully Blanchard Region of the Crockett Cup. Angle and Benoit attacked them after the match, and later cost the Edge/Mysterio duo their semifinal match against World's Greatest Tag Team. The champions would gave even more momentum on the final Thunder before the PPV, as they, along with Chael Sonnen, defeated the trio of Edge, Rey Mystero, and The Great Sasuke. They dealt event more damage when Angle helped Chael Sonnen win the WCW Cruiserweight Title from Mysterio on the October 26th edition of Saturday Night. Despite all of these setbacks, Edge and Mysterio still had confidence going into Las Vegas. They beat Angle and Benoit before, and they felt they could just as easily do it all again on their way to claiming tag team gold.The ongoing battles between WCW and The Flair Administration are set to continue on this Halloween Havoc card. Mike Awesome and The Giant (collectively known as Awesome Giants) managed to defeat Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam to win The Nikita Koloff Region of The Crockett Cup. However, their issues didn't end there. After a pair of singles bouts on the October 21st Nitro, it was announced the two teams would square off once again, but this time....in a Tag Team Ambulance Match. Meanwhile, WCW United States Champion Booker T was facing challenges of his own. He had just overcome Chris Kanyon to capture that title, but now he was having run-ins with Kanyon's regular tag team partner, Diamond Dallas Page. Booker T figured pretty early on that The Flair Administration would try to find a way to get involved, so when the title bout was announced for the PPV, Booker T proposed a stipulation to ensure that things would be a bit more even....a Lumberjack Match. The list of lumberjacks would include members of The Flair Administration as well as mid-card babyfaces like AJ Styles, America's Most Wanted, and Raven (to name a few).The ongoing feud between Sting and WCW President Ric Flair also continued on this show. After Sting, alongside Booker T, defeated The Flairs (Ric and David) in one of the earlier rounds of The Crockett Cup, The Flair Administration attacked the babyface duo before their tournament bout against World's Greatest Tag Team. While Booker T and Sting fought valiantly, the injuries from their earlier attack were too much to overcome. Flair would then book himself against Sting in a Submission Match on the October 14th Nitro, with the odds CLEARLY stacked against Sting from the jump (Arn Anderson as the Special Guest Referee, JJ Dillon as the Special Guest Timekeeper, and Animal as the Special Guest Enforcer). As you might've guessed, Flair won in what was practically a handicap match, but Sting would attack Flair on the following Thunder, and challenged him to a Las Vegas Death Match at Halloween Havoc. Can Flair and his cronies steal another victory, or can Sting once again put The Nature Boy in his place?Three more matches left to discuss, and two of them are title matches. First up is Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg in a Ladder Match for the WCW Full Throttle Title. Goldberg has been one of the main faces leading the charge of The Flair Administration (and had a couple of clashes with them in The Crockett Cup). After he and Raven were unable to advance further in the tournament, Goldberg decided that it was time for him to back into the WCW World Heavyweight Title picture, and one path to a title shot was via the WCW Full Throttle Title. He entered, and won, a #1 Contender's Battle Royal on the October 21st Nitro to earn a shot against Chris Jericho at Halloween Havoc. Of course, the fact that the title is being defended on PPV meant that there would be no ten-minute time limit, and that it could be defended in special stipulation matches. In order to stack the odds against Goldberg, Jericho had a clause put in the contract for the match that allowed him to pick the stipulation, and he decided on a Ladder Match. Can Goldberg get closer to getting back the top prize in WCW, or will Jericho continue his march to being the final WCW Full Throttle Title holder for a second year in a row?The remaining title bout sees Christian defending the WCW Hardcore Title against Rhino. As you might expect, this is a title that changes hands pretty frequently. Hurricane Helms had been holding the title since August, but late September/early October (while The Crockett Cup was going on) he got into a brief television feud with Brock Lesnar and Eric Bischoff, which saw him defend the WCW Hardcore Title against Bischoff before getting match against Lesnar for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. The FBI would take advantage of a weakened Hurricane Helms, and just a few days after the Lesnar title challenge, Helms lost the WCW Hardcore Title to Little Guido on the October 10th Thunder. Guido's title reign would only last nine days, as he lost the title to Spike Dudley on the October 19th Saturday Night. Spike, in turn, lost the title two days later on Nitro to Christian. Following a title defense against Taz on the October 24th Thunder, Christian and Don Callas (still a manager for both Christian and Chris Jericho) were putting the boots to both Taz and Spike Dudley before Rhino made the save. Of course, Christian and Rhino have been close friends for many years, so it should be interesting to see how that one turns out.Finally, rounding out the card is a Ten-Man Tag that sees the aforementioned FBI teaming with their regular close associate John Cena to battle the LWO and Yoshihiro Tajiri. This match came together a few days before the PPV. After Tajiri made the save for Super Crazy after John Cena managed to beat him (with assistance from Little Guido) on the October 24th Thunder, the duo teamed up (a notable pairing considering their previous clashes) to defeat Cena and Guido two days later on Saturday Night. A post-match attack from The Mamalukes would lead to the Ten-Man Tag being made for the PPV.With no other title changes to make note of, let's dive right into the PPV (with it's awesome stage setup)!WCW Halloween Havoc 2002October 27th, 2002 - MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, Nevada1.) Ten-Man Tag - John Cena & The FBI (Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli, & Little Guido) def. The LWO (Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psychosis, & Super Crazy) & Yoshihiro Tajiri2.) WCW Hardcore Title - Rhino def. Christian (c)3.) Tag Team Ambulance Match - Awesome Giants (Mike Awesome & The Giant) def. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam4.) WCW United States Title - Lumberjack Match - Diamond Dallas Page def. Booker T (c)5.) Las Vegas Death Match - Sting def. Ric Flair6.) 2002 Crockett Cup - Finals - Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero) def. World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)7.) WCW Full Throttle Title - Ladder Match - Goldberg def. Chris Jericho (c)8.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Edge & Rey Mysterio def. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit (c)9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Bret Hart (with Owen Hart) def. Brock Lesnar (with Eric Bischoff) (c)For Halloween Havoc 2002, I got an overall score of 91%, which is up two perfect from United We Stand in September. Match Of The Night honors went to Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, which got a score of 96%. It shouldn't be a surprise that those two teams had the best bout on the card considering how great their matches were in OTL. Not too far behind were Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg in a Ladder Match for the WCW Full Throttle Title and Christian vs. Rhino for the WCW Hardcore Title, while both wound up at 92%. Also finishing in the 90% range were Awesome Giants vs. Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam in a Tag Team Ambulance Match and the Crockett Cup Final between Los Guerreros and World's Greatest Tag Team, which earned 91% and 90% respectively. The majority of the rest of the card ended up in the high 80% range. Brock Lesnar vs. Bret Hart for the WCW World Heavyweight Title got a score of 89%, while Ric Flair vs. Sting in a Las Vegas Death Match finished with an 88% score. Finally, Booker T vs. Diamond Dallas Page in a Lumberjack Match for the WCW United States Title earned a 86% score, and the opening Ten-Man Tag ended up with a score of 82%. Once again, a card that was really good and very consistent throughout. Nothing on the show turned out to be average or subpar.I thought this show turned out pretty well. I had the bulk of the card made up for a long time, but I felt the bottom half of the card needed some improvement, so I changed things around as I was putting The Crockett Cup together. There were five title matches on this show, and all five titles changed hands. I'm sure that's not the first time this has happened in this diary, but another example isn't coming to my mind immediately. Four of those five title changes saw babyfaces capture gold (Diamond Dallas Page was the only heel title win of the bunch). Meanwhile, Sting got the victory over Ric Flair in the Las Vegas Death Match, while Awesome Giants won the Tag Team Ambulance Match. Finally, Los Guerreros cemented themselves as one of the top tag teams in WCW by winning the 2002 edition of The Crockett Cup. Is championship gold in their future?
Tune in next time, as I go over Fall Brawl 2002, featuring the return of WarGames! |
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on May 24, 2024 20:28:04 GMT 1
A quick update! I'm going to be out of town during Memorial Day Weekend (going to see a certain race that happens in Indianapolis this time of year, maybe you're aware of it). I should have my post on Fall Brawl 2002 done sometime before next Friday.
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Post by johnnyboombatz on May 26, 2024 13:37:10 GMT 1
A quick update! I'm going to be out of town during Memorial Day Weekend (going to see a certain race that happens in Indianapolis this time of year, maybe you're aware of it). I should have my post on Fall Brawl 2002 done sometime before next Friday. I'm jealous! Hoping the rain holds off for ya, enjoy! |
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Jun 1, 2024 3:07:04 GMT 1
Part LIX: WCW Fall Brawl 2002
Before I dive into this post, I want to apologize in advance if this entry is not up to my usual quality. I was just about done with this post last night after putting a decent amount of time and effort into it....and then I accidentally closed out the entire browser, without saving any of it. So I lost all of it and I had to start from scratch. That really sucked, and I'm pretty annoyed at myself over making such a silly mistake. So Fall Brawl has taken place in the month of September ever since the PPV has been around (going all the way back to the first edition of the show in 1993). For 2002, I decided to move Fall Brawl to the November slot, swapping spots with the relatively new United We Stand PPV, which moved into the September slot. Something that I've always found funny is that, while Fall Brawl always took place during what most people (myself included) consider the Fall season (September/October/November), the show never took place during the time period between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice, which is technically when the Fall season happens. By moving Fall Brawl to November, the PPV is now actually in the Fall....technically....so the name is now more appropriate.Of course, with this being Fall Brawl, that means the PPV is being headlined by WarGames! It should come as no surprise that the 2002 edition of WarGames will see The Flair Administration battle Team WCW, as that's been the main overarching storyline in the company for most of the year. Representing The Flair Administration in WarGames will be Diamond Dallas Page, Awesome Giants (Mike Awesome and The Giant), and The Dudley Boyz. A formidable lineup to say the least. On the other side, Team WCW will be captained by Sting, which makes a lot of sense considering that he's been feuding with WCW President Ric Flair for the bulk of 2002. Joining Sting on Team WCW are AJ Styles, Booker T, Jeff Hardy, and Rob Van Dam. Now three of those four names have had many interactions with the various members of The Flair Administration over the last several weeks. Booker T recently lost his WCW United States Title to Diamond Dallas Page in a Lumberjack Match at Halloween Havoc, and is looking to get some payback. Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam have been going back and forth with Awesome Giants ever since The Crockett Cup. Awesome Giants managed to defeat Hardy and Van Dam in a Tag Team Ambulance Match at Halloween Havoc, and then the following night on Nitro, Awesome defeated Van Dam to win the WCW World Television Title. While Hardy and Van Dam would get a victory over Awesome Giants in a Street Fight on the November 11th Nitro, the issues between those two teams are far from settled. As for AJ Styles, he only recently got involved in the fight against Flair and his cronies, but he's more than ready to give it his all in his first-ever WarGames appearance. As has become tradition in my EWR game, I always put together a Nitro with five singles matches featuring all the wrestlers who are in WarGames, with the advantage for the match being on the line. In this case, that Nitro was the PPV go-home show on November 18th, and in a result that is absolutely not a shock to anyone, The Flair Administration won the series 3-2, which means that they will have the advantage for WarGames. Will Flair's forces emerge victorious, or will Team WCW walk out of Chicago with a major victory?You might be wondering why WCW President Ric Flair isn't leading his team into battle for WarGames. Well, that's because Ric Flair has bigger things to worry about at Fall Brawl....as he is now the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Yes, you read that correctly. Ric Flair is truly on top of the mountain, not only as the President of WCW, but as the World Heavyweight Champion as well. How did Flair get the title? Well, it all started in the aftermath of Halloween Havoc. After Bret Hart managed to capture the WCW World Heavyweight Title from Brock Lesnar (ending The Next Big Thing's undefeated streak in the process), Flair announced the night after the PPV that Hart would defend his title against Lesnar in a rematch that would take place on the November 4th Nitro. Hart would ultimately win that match by disqualification after Lesnar went on an absolute rampage....not only beating the crap out of Hart, but destroying everything and everyone that got in his way. After Lesnar was finally escorted out of the building by hoards of security and police officers, Ric Flair made his way to ringside and announced that he would be challenging Hart for the title....in just three days on the November 7th Thunder. It was very clear to see that Flair was taking advantage of a champion who was obviously not a 100%. Bret Hart, the fighting champion that he is, still showed up on Thunder and faced off against Flair for the title in the main event. Despite the injuries he had coming into the bout (thanks to the assault by Lesnar), Hart would put up a valiant effort. Unfortunately, those injuries, combined with interference from other members of The Flair Administration, proved to be too much, and Flair managed to capture the title. Originally, Ric Flair was going to take off the Fall Brawl PPV, and not defend the title at all (he claimed that he was getting ready to take a nice vacation, as the shirt he's wearing in the picture above would suggest). However, there was someone who was going to force him to be at Fall Brawl to defend the title....Goldberg. Back at Halloween Havoc, Goldberg won the WCW Full Throttle Title from Chris Jericho in a Ladder Match. After Flair stole the WCW World Heavyweight Title from Bret Hart, Goldberg made it clear that, once he made it through the remainder of the Saturday Night At The Track series (which only had a few weeks left), he was going to cash in his title shot against Flair at Fall Brawl. Flair would place a bounty on Goldberg, for anyone who could either take him out, or win the WCW Full Throttle Title from him. Goldberg managed to overcome everything and everyone Flair threw in his way, and on the November 16th edition of Saturday Night At The Track at the Homestead-Miami Speedway (the final WCW Full Throttle Title defense of the season), he would defeated Chris Jericho again....this time in a Steel Cage Match....to secure his title shot at Fall Brawl. On the final Nitro before the PPV, Goldberg declared that Ric Flair was next, and that he would be the WCW World Heavyweight Champion once again.I already mentioned Bret Hart and Brock Lesnar. It's safe to say that their issues weren't over after Hart lost the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Following Hart's title loss, Eric Bischoff decided to pick off the rest of The Hart Family by having Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin go after Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson. That plan would backfire, as Owen Hart would come to the aid of The Hart Dynasty. This would all lead to an eight-man tag team match at the PPV that would see the four members of The Hart Family battle Team Lesnar....including Eric Bischoff. Can Bret and Owen finally get their hands on Bischoff at Fall Brawl, or will Brock Lesnar and the rest Team Lesnar get back on the right track?Halloween Havoc played host to the Finals of the 2002 edition of The Crockett Cup, and when the dust settled, Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero) defeated World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) to win the tournament and earn a future shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. It was later announced that they would receive their title shot on November 4th on Nitro against Edge and Rey Mysterio, who won the WCW World Tag Team Titles from Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in an absolutely incredible encounter. That title bout on Nitro was on its way to being an instant classic. Unfortunately, the match ended in a no contest after Angle and Benoit (who were still fuming after they lost the titles at Halloween Havoc) ran down and attacked both teams. With Angle and Benoit demanding their rematch, and the Crockett Cup winners getting screwing during the title match that they had earned, the WCW Championship Committee decided that the titles would be defended in a Three-Way Tag Team Match at Fall Brawl. It's fair to say that things are really heating up in the WCW tag team division. We're coming off the largest Crockett Cup Tournament in history, and now three exciting teams are vying for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. Who will leave Chicago with the gold?!Outside of Ric Flair vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, and the aforementioned Three-Way Tag Team Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, there are four other title matches I need to discuss. 3 Live Kru member Ron "The Truth" Killings puts his NWA World Heavyweight Title on the line against Raven. This is the only other match on the card (besides Flair vs. Goldberg and WarGames) that features the ongoing war between The Flair Administration and WCW. In the week before the PPV, Raven was put into singles matches against BG James and Konnan (the other members of 3 Live Kru). Pretty basic stuff there with the challenger having to go through various members of the champion's group before getting to the title bout. Bryan Danielson and William Regal put their NWA World Tag Team Titles on the line in a Three-Way Tag Team Match against Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri as well as The Triple X Prophecy of Christoper Daniels and Elix Skipper. On the October 28th edition of Nitro, Danielson and Regal won back the NWA World Tag Team Titles from Low Ki and Samoa Joe. With a number of teams competing for a title shot, it was decided that these titles (much like the WCW World Tag Team Titles) would be defended in a three-way tag team match on the PPV. Two qualifying matches would take place. Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri (who have been proving to be a very exciting tag team) won their qualifier, while Daniels and Skipper defeated Low Ki and Samoa Joe to earn the third and final spot in that match. Meanwhile, Rhino would be putting his WCW Hardcore Title on the line against John Cena. I don't have a ton to say about this one. The build here is pretty similar to the Truth/Raven match, as Rhino would defend his WCW Hardcore Title against various members of The FBI before he would end up facing Cena.
The final title match I need to talk about on the card involves the WCW Cruiserweight Title, as Chael Sonnen defends against a native Chicagoan....CM Punk. After winning the title from Rey Mysterio on the October 26th edition of Saturday Night At The Track, Sonnen has scored a number of successful title defenses against the likes of Amazing Red and Psychosis. At the same time, CM Punk had been scoring a series of victories of his own, and it eventually got to the point where Punk felt he was ready to challenge for some gold. He called out Sonnen for a title match at the PPV, and the match was made. Will Sonnen pick up another successful title defense, or can the young straight-edge wrestler pull off the upset in his hometown?For this PPV, I decided to take advantage of the two-ring environment and introduce a new match stipulation to WCW. Ten tag teams will compete in the first-ever Total Warfare Match. It's very similar to the Royal Rampage Match that we've seen AEW in recent years (which usually occurs on the same show as their Blood & Guts Match). The ten tag team involved in this bout will be divided between the two rings beforehand. At the start of the match, two men will be in each ring, and at timed intervals, a new competitor will enter one of the rings. This (of course) continues until every wrestler has entered the match. A wrestler can't be eliminated until their tag team partner enters the match, and a team is not fully eliminated if only one of the members is eliminated (in other words, both members of the team need to be tossed in order for the team to be considered eliminated). The winner of this match will receive a future shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. Who will come out on top in the very first Total Warfare Match?The only other thing I need to mention is that, on the October 28th edition of Nitro, Sting won the WCW International Title from Pro-Wrestling NOAH star Jun Akiyama.With all of that out of the way, it's time to dive into the PPV!WCW Fall Brawl 2002November 24th, 2002 - United Center - Chicago, Illinois1.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Chael Sonnen (c) def. CM Punk2.) NWA World Tag Team Titles - Three-Way Tag Team Match - Bryan Danielson & William Regal (c) def. Super Crazy & Yoshihiro Tajiri and The Triple X Prophecy (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper)3.) WCW Hardcore Title - John Cena def. Rhino (c)4.) Total Warfare Match - Chris Jericho & Christian def. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), Gedo & Jado, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask, Kaientai (Taka Michinoku & Sho Funaki), Latino World Order (Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis), Spike Dudley & Taz, The Mamalukes (Big Vito & Johnny Stamboli), The Nasty Boys, and 3 Live Kru (BG James and Konnan)5.) NWA World Heavyweight Title - Raven def. Ron "The Truth" Killings (c)6.) Eight-Man Tag - The Hart Family (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Teddy Hart, & TJ Wilson) def. Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, & Eric Bischoff)7.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Three-Way Tag Team Match - Edge and Rey Mysterio (c) def. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit and Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero)8.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Ric Flair (c) def. Goldberg9.) WarGames - Team WCW (AJ Styles, Booker T, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, & WCW International Champion Sting) def. The Flair Administration (WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page, WCW World Television Champion Mike Awesome, The Giant, & The Dudley Boyz)For Fall Brawl 2002, I got an overall score of 85%, which is down 6% from Halloween Havoc in October. That's a pretty sizable drop for sure, but it's still a very solid score on the whole for a PPV. Match Of The Night honors went to the only match that wound up north of 90%, as the Three-Way Tag Team Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles earned a score of 95%. From there, while it's a big drop to the next set of matches, the majority of the show ended up in the mid-80% range. The top two matches on the card....Ric Flair vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Title and WarGames, both finished with a 87% score. Can't really complain too much when your two main event bouts get scores like that. Ron "The Truth" Killings vs. Raven for the NWA World Heavyweight Title and Rhino vs. John Cena for the WCW Hardcore Title both wound up with a score of 86% (a nice effort here from Cena, who is still in the relatively early stages of career). Continuing the trend of two bouts earning the same score, the Three-Way Tag Team Match for the NWA World Tag Team Titles and Chael Sonnen vs. CM Punk for the WCW Cruiserweight Title both got a score of 85%. Finally, the Eight-Man Tag featuring The Hart Family against Team Lesnar ended up with an 83% score, while the inaugural Total Warfare Match was the lowest scoring match on the card at 76%.
Even though this particular PPV didn't get a super high score, I'm still pretty happy with how things turned out. A card with an eclectic mix of matches for sure. In terms of the results, Ric Flair retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Title against Goldberg (with lots of shenanigans, of course) was only bright spot of the night for The Flair Administration. They lost to Team WCW in WarGames, while Ron "The Truth" Killings lost the NWA World Heavyweight Title to Raven. In terms of the other title bouts on the show, there was only one other title change, as John Cena captured the WCW Hardcore Title from Rhino. As for the inaugural Total Warfare Match, Chris Jericho ended up being the sole survivor, winning the match for himself and Christian (who had been eliminated shortly before Chris Jericho and James Storm battled it out as the final two). They will now get a future shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles.Well, that about wraps up Fall Brawl 2002! Thankfully, I got it posted properly this time. Up next, WCW heads north to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the company's biggest show of the year....Starrcade! |
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