Reviews of every WWE “B” PPV event from 2002 including No Way Out with the New World Order

Let’s discuss the WWE “B” PPV events from 2002. With no competition from WCW or ECW, WWE started the brand extension to divide up the company’s large roster.

No Way Out 2002

For once, the “NWO” name actually meant something — because the real nWo (Hogan, Hall, and Nash) returned to WWE. But it was a very disappointing debut.

Instead of coming in as chaotic, destructive invaders, they cut a calm promo saying they weren’t there to cause trouble. It immediately killed the buzz.

The Rock’s backstage segment mocking them was hilarious but made them look like fools instead of threats.

The Rock defeated The Undertaker with help from Ric Flair, setting up Flair vs. Taker at WrestleMania. Kurt Angle beat Triple H for the WrestleMania title shot, with Stephanie as the crooked referee — very predictable.

In the main event, Jericho retained the Undisputed Title against Steve Austin. The nWo interfered, but even then, Austin held his own against all three, which killed their credibility. Scott Hall hit one of the worst stunners ever, leading to Jericho’s win. The nWo then attacked and spray-painted Austin afterward.

A disappointing comeback overall — the nWo felt watered down and completely lacking the danger and unpredictability that made them iconic.

Backlash 2002

This took place one month after WrestleMania 18. As it turned out, this was also the final WWF pay-per-view before the name officially changed to WWE.

Overall, I thought this was an okay show. Obviously, the big story coming out of this event was the comeback of Hulk Hogan, who won the WWE Championship one final time in his match against Triple H. I’m as big a Hulk Hogan fan as anyone, but this felt a bit over the top and honestly unrealistic. Watching Triple H—who had been beating guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock—selling for Hogan just wasn’t very believable.

Yes, it was a feel-good moment seeing Hogan win the title one more time, but the match relied heavily on outside interference. You had The Undertaker interfering, Chris Jericho interfering, and then after all of that, Triple H just shook Hogan’s hand. That didn’t fit the “Cerebral Assassin” character at all. There were some real logic issues here.

It felt like WWE rushed this because of the massive reaction Hogan got at WrestleMania. They may have thought this was the start of a new era of Hulkamania, but in reality, fans were reacting out of nostalgia—reflecting on their childhoods—rather than wanting Hogan to carry the company again. In my opinion, WWE probably made a mistake putting the title on him.

As for the rest of the show, there were a few decent matches. One of the most noteworthy was Kurt Angle vs. Edge, which I thought was an excellent, standout match. These two had tremendous chemistry.

You also had Brock Lesnar making his first WWE pay-per-view appearance by defeating Jeff Hardy. Nothing overly significant, though it’s funny looking back at Brock coming out to very generic music, which was thankfully changed later.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rob Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship was another solid match—frog splash versus frog splash. Other than that, most of the card was fairly forgettable.

Judgment Day 2002

Moving on to Judgment Day, the first WWE pay-per-view after the name change. This show was decent, but nothing spectacular.

Once again, Kurt Angle vs. Edge, this time in a hair vs. hair match, was the highlight. I actually preferred their Backlash match slightly more, but the storyline here was excellent. The buildup—with the comedy segments showing what they’d look like bald—was fantastic. This was one of the better feuds of 2002.

I did have an issue with the post-match angle, though. Edge won, Angle ran away, and WWE spent nearly 45 minutes cutting backstage to Edge searching for him. That felt a bit over the top. Still, the payoff was fun, with Angle finally getting knocked out and his head shaved while the crowd chanted “You’re bald!”

Eddie Guerrero and RVD had another strong match. Everything else on the show was pretty standard.

It was sad seeing Steve Austin wrestling early on the card in a handicap match against Ric Flair and Big Show. Between this and his mid-card match with Scott Hall, it’s no surprise Austin walked out weeks later. His frustration made complete sense.

The tag team match with Rikishi and Rico vs. Billy and Chuck was completely ridiculous and showed how little the tag division meant at this point.

The Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Chris Jericho was good but clearly a step down from earlier Cell matches. There were no massive bumps, and fans were conditioned to expect one. Referee Tim White’s bump was notable, though—it ended his refereeing career.

The main event saw The Undertaker defeating Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship, effectively ending the Hogan experiment. The match itself was bad—featuring one of the worst chokeslams ever, where Hogan barely left the ground. Vince McMahon interfered, Undertaker won, and that was that.

Judgment Day had some highlights, but a lot of low points as well.

Vengeance 2002

Next up is Vengeance 2002, which came after Eric Bischoff became Raw’s General Manager and Stephanie McMahon took over SmackDown.

One of the main hooks was which brand Triple H would choose, which ended up taking far too much pay-per-view time. Shawn Michaels convinced him to join Raw, only for Triple H to turn on him the next night, setting up SummerSlam.

A major highlight here was John Cena’s first pay-per-view match, where he defeated Chris Jericho. Jericho deserves a lot of credit—fresh off losing the Undisputed Title, he was already putting over younger talent.

The main event was a strong triple threat match, with The Rock defeating Undertaker and Kurt Angle to win the Undisputed Championship.

One thing that didn’t make sense was Brock Lesnar vs. RVD, where Brock lost by DQ. Brock was being built for the SummerSlam main event, so this booking was questionable, though it didn’t hurt him in the long run.

Unforgiven 2002

Unforgiven 2002 was a good show—right up until the main event. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar ended in a double DQ, which is one of the worst ways to end a pay-per-view main event.

The standout match was Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle, which was absolutely incredible. These two never missed, and this was easily a four-and-a-half-star match.

Triple H defended the newly introduced World Heavyweight Championship against RVD. Ric Flair’s interference cost RVD the match, beginning what would eventually become Evolution. Fans hated it at the time, especially given how hot RVD was.

No Mercy 2002

No Mercy 2002 was another average show, but the main event delivered. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar was far better than their Unforgiven match, and Undertaker did the right thing by putting Brock over.

The tag team title match with Angle and Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio was also good. The less said about Triple H vs. Kane—and the Katie Vick storyline—the better.

Armageddon 2002

Armageddon 2002 marked Shawn Michaels’ first B-level pay-per-view since his return. Triple H regained the World Heavyweight Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match.

The street fight was excellent, but the cage match dragged, and the ladder match was incredibly short. It would’ve been better to focus on one stipulation.

Other highlights included Kurt Angle defeating Big Show for the WWE Championship, Booker T and Goldust winning the tag titles, and solid matches involving Benoit and Guerrero.