STW - Armageddon 2002 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re going to be discussing the last pay-per-view for the WWE in 2002 - which is crazy to think at the beginning of the year it was the WWF and here we are closing out the year as WWE…Armageddon 2002!

We’re coming off Survivor Series 2002 from MSG where there were 5 title changes - and both World Titles changing hands with Shawn Michaels winning the Elimination Chamber and becoming a World Champion for the first time since 1998 and Big Show defeats Brock Lesnar in Brock’s first televised loss with Paul Heyman turning on Brock to align with him.

A main story coming out of the show is who will Scott Steiner sign with - Raw or SmackDown. This is the first big “free agent” coming into the company with this story behind it. There were big thoughts behind Steiner at the time were there not?

The Raw the night after Survivor Series according to Meltzer, “was a weird show with almost no wrestling. It started with Bischoff confronting Flair about HHH not being there.

Later in the show, they claimed HHH was on his way and would be on the show. He was in the building the whole time, but never appeared on the show. The only logical rationale for spending a show building that he’d be there and not putting him on is that he didn’t want to go on, but was politically astute to know that if the rating increased (which it often does the day after a PPV), he could claim they were plugging he’d be there all night. If it stayed low, he could claim he wasn’t on the show. Maybe Vince was so afraid that HHH is the only draw on the show and really bought the idea that if people didn’t think he’d be there, they’d tune out. Speaking of Flair, it really is an amazing story that they have one of the greatest promo men in the history of wrestling, and they not only don’t want him doing promos, but when he does them, they don’t want him doing “Ric Flair” promos as they don’t want him doing any screaming, strutting, wooing or anything.”

A lot to unpack here Bruce - but let’s get to the main point - who the hell directed Ric Flair to not be Ric Flair?

Hunter being promoted and not showing up - was it a ratings grab like Meltzer speculates here?

“Michaels came out for one of the more unintentionally funny but also sad promos. The poor guy died out there. He said he didn’t want to bore people with a long promo, and then rambled on for 15 minutes like he was Roddy Piper with nothing to say, except he wasn’t Piper. Fans didn’t react well to the promo. It was one of those scripted promos with jokes, and he’s no comedian, and nobody laughed. He said he was a shell of the shell he once was. He teased he was going to retire without defending it. He basically was saying he was washed up which sounds great when you’re standing there with the belt.

RVD and Bischoff came out. They couldn’t save it. Then again, once Bischoff asked if he’d lost his smile (from a February 1997 promo that is very well remembered in wrestling but 90% of fans have no clue about it) and got the squeegee reaction, I knew this was trouble. They set up a line where Michaels said he’s mad at what Raw has become (yes, let’s tell our loyal fans who have stuck with us that their favorite show sucks).”

What say you to this thought from Meltzer - that when the champion says the show sucks…and the missed comedy…that this isn’t fun to watch?

“This set up Bischoff saying “You’re offended by the necrophilia because you’re religious.” And Michaels responded, “No, I’m offended because I’m a wrestling fan.” They are so stuck on the internet they thought it would get a pop, and it just got groans, partially because Michaels can’t deliver a comedic line and partially because that’s not what people want wrestling to be. In their storyline, it was HHH, not Bischoff, who put the necrophilia angle on and they don’t want to be told during the show that the “boss” scripts everything that happens.”

This…this just sucks doesn’t it Bruce?

The Dudleys are put back together…but doesn’t really have that reaction they had before they were split. You weren’t surprised about that were you?

Stacy Kiebler is still cutting promos trying to promote “I love my testicles” t-shirt and help Test. Even with Stacy Kiebler…still couldn’t get Test over right?

“Sean Morley showed up on Raw. Bischoff talked about how glad he was to have a porn star like Val Venis on the show. Morley said that it wasn’t his name and he wasn’t a porn star.”

This is going to change Morley to Chief Morley…but let’s be honest…no one was ever going to see him as anything other than Val Venis right?

Chris Jericho & Christian are having issues as the tag team champions…and the main event is going to be between Rob Van Dam, Booker T & Chris Jericho with the winner getting a title match against Shawn Michaels on a Raw…

“RVD won a three-way over Booker and Jericho in 11:37 to win a title match with Michaels on 11/25 Raw in North Charleston, SC. Not much crowd heat and RVD and Jericho looked real sloppy. Jericho had the match won when Steiner came out and destroyed both Christian and Jericho, finishing Jericho with a Tiger driver like maneuver. RVD frog splashed him for the win.”

Had it been determined at this point that Steiner was going to Raw and that’s why you had him lay out the tag team champions?

RVD vs. Shawn Michaels sounds like a dream match…but is Michaels’ up to speed to be in ring at this point?

The show does not get a good rating and Meltzer would write this, “For whatever this is worth, when the Raw rating came in so low, the Vince McMahon reaction was that the show doesn’t have enough support for HHH. They are falling into the Nitro problem where they go to the arena and the top star, in front of a dwindling audience, because of his name value, gets massive pops. People know him, but he’s not fresh anymore, has no new opponents, and they need something fresh. But they don’t change, because the top guy’s reaction is still the best. Unfortunately, like with WCW, even if they recognize the problem, it’s now too late, because they’ve already established all the guys who could have freshened up the top except Lesnar as “not good enough” in the fans’ eyes to be on top.”

Was this an issue that Vince saw that there wasn’t enough support for Hunter?

CNN does a report covering the WWE’s business declines…was this something that lands on Vince’s radar at the time?

The WWE sues Acclaim claiming breach of contract…that they were not getting compensation from sold units still from the last 3 years. Is this something that was a major issue with the company - or is this part of trying to acquire ECW’s assets which Acclaim had money tied up with them as well?

The next night at Smackdown tapings from Hartford and it features Paul Heyman coming out saying he put in Lesnar’s contract a no rematch clause - Lesnar comes out of the crowd and attacks Paul & Big Show - which leads to Lesnar being suspended. Lesnar was hurt at the time wasn’t he?

John Cena is put with Bull Buchanan, or B Squared…and even Meltzer says Bull would be an anchor to Cena…but this is Cena’s chance to get over…do you think Bull was going to drag John down?

There’s quite the rap battle between Cena & Rikishi…with Tazz in the middle of it. Cena and B Squared attack Rikishi during it…Tazz tries to break it up and gets punched by Cena…doesn’t take a bump and ends up putting the Tazzmission on Cena before dancing with Rikishi. Way to get the new heel over huh?

Taker is out awaiting the birth of a child and also getting some elbow issues and lower back issues keeping him out as well. Was this one of those times where you thought - maybe he’ll just stay home?

Well on the WWE side of things Linda McMahon gets on an investors call and attempts to put a spin on the company’s first money losing quarter without the losses of the XFL since 1997. The company itself loses money but the wrestling department itself made $2,500,000 in profit. Does this cost you money?

Let’s talk about the November business for the company. From the Observer:

Average attendance from November 01 to 02 is down 44.3%. Gates down 35.2%. 0 sold out house shows. Raw rating down 20.4%. Smackdown rating down 13.9%.

This is not a good sign for the company creatively is it because creative dictates all these barometers…

Here is Meltzer’s analysis:

“Notes: Although we’ve written this before, this should be a wake-up call. This past month was the worst month for WWE house show attendance since December of 1995, one month after Bret Hart ended the reign of Kevin Nash as the worst drawing champion in WWE history. Perhaps more sobering is that this was the attendance level of WCW in February of 2000, exactly one year before the company went out of business and after the first Russo reign was already over. This is not a slow period anymore. We’re well past danger levels and those who are trying to say things have bottomed out and are on the rebound, looking at October vs. November tells a story of a decline that is speeding up, not slowing down. The only thing WWE has over WCW is that it produces much better PPV events, so it hasn’t destroyed that aspect of its business yet.”

What say you?

“At one of the booking meetings last week, Vince got up and declared that Shock TV is dead, saying it’s clear it doesn’t work anymore.”

That’s from the Observer - do you remember Vince doing that?

“Unlike most of the recent foreign tours, nobody was raving about the Raw crew tour of India. It was the trip from hell, which had nothing to do with a plane ride from hell. The ride was long, but the wrestlers were shocked when they got to India at the living conditions of the people. In addition, several of the wrestlers got violently ill on tour from drinking the water or eating the food, even though most were careful having been warned ahead of time. Storm & Regal were so sick they couldn’t work the third night of the tour.”

This almost ended up killing William Regal - what do you remember of the crew when they returned?

Booker even got sick at the show and taken to the hospital and the whole Raw had to be reworked…did talent refuse to go after this?

With the show having to be re-worked according to Meltzer “The headaches started early, with Dudleys (as in Bubba & D-Von) challenging Jericho & Christian for the tag titles. It was too soon for the Dudleys to be put in this position, but this was a late call due to Booker’s illness as the first hour plus long skit and all these twists were originally scheduled to be with Booker & Goldust (and Rico, who wrestled Goldust, was supposed to wrestle Bubba).”

You’ve talked about enjoying chaos and exceeding in chaos - but this seems like too much chaos if that makes any sense?

Chief Morley would do a dusty finish as Eric Bischoff’s new assistant and says that the Dudleys and Jericho & Christian both had their shoulders down so the match must continue…then the Dudleys win but Morley announces that Christian wasn’t the legal man…so Christian of course hits Bubba with a title belt and Jericho gets the win with the walls. Did Bischoff really need an assistant?

So this leads to a show long storyline that comes up…a bit short.

“He and Christian went into the shower while Bubba had a plan.

Jericho & Christian came out of the shower, surrounded by a bunch of faces (yes, faces and heels share the same shower) and called them losers. Anyway, Dudleys stole their bags with their clothes and won’t give them back.

Christian noted it was cold and was worried about shrinkage of his little general. Dudleys were in the ring throwing clothes and finally the entire bags in the crowd. Oh yes, and in the bags was a jar which read “Ass cream.” My reaction is this humor was so intense that just to save me from splitting a gut, I had to turn to see how football was doing. Actually, that was my reaction, but since it’s my job to never watch Monday Night Football, I persevered, unlike I figured much of the audience was about to do. Jericho tried to pretend it was Christian’s ass cream. When they threw the bags into the crowd, I’d presume it included their house and car keys. Now that’s scary. Anyway, as Jericho & Christian were distracted, Spike came out and pulled their towels off. They covered their little generals and ran away. As did the TV audience.”

Shock TV doesn’t work huh?

Batista is now paired up with Flair as his manager and we start to see the beginning of Evolution. He gets the win over Kane on Raw in just 2:33 - even with a ref bump and Flair hitting Kane with a chair…this is the right finish isn’t it?

“Bischoff noted that the trade was complete and he got Ivory, D-Von, Maven and Morley for Big Show, but noted that he traded Show, and now he’s WWE champion. This angle is just to constantly rib Bischoff because he’s the guy who fired Austin because he wasn’t marketable.”

Was this just a rib on Eric?

“Main was Michaels NC Van Dam in 8:54. To people who were expecting some sort of a dream match, this was disappointing. Should be noted that earlier in the show they aired Michaels’ last match ever on Raw, from December 29, 1997 in New Haven, against Owen Hart, and showed brief clips.

Those brief clips, not surprisingly considering who was in there, blew away everything on the show. When you consider the circumstances and Michaels limitations, they had a good match. Michaels worked the knee and did the figure four. Michaels did the elbow off the top. Van Dam worked over Michaels’ back including a backbreaker, leading to a frog splash to the back. But God wasn’t on RVD’s side, as he usually isn’t. Before Van Dam could pin him, HHH came out and gave RVD a pedigree on the floor. He and Michaels traded blows in the ring until HHH laid him out with a backbreaker on a chair.”

For Shawn’s first match on Raw in 5 years - against the caliber of talent of RVD - is this a disappointment?

DDP is released from his contract and the Observer would have this to say: “his contract specified that if after an injury, he would be unable to return to the ring in five months, the contract would be terminated. The doctors that treated him told both he and the WWE that he was risking paralysis because of his neck injury if he ever took a bad bump. As Page noted many times, he was still planning on returning, but McMahon and Jim Ross made the call for him saying they wouldn’t let him return because of the risks”

We know Dallas would make small returns to the WWE and work some main event programs with TNA - did you think this was the end of Dallas?

At SmackDown in Columbia…Tazz has an emergency family issue and at the last minute…it’s determined Ernest “The Cat” Miller would be doing commentary…

From the Observer:

“He may end up better on the show, because they will likely have to redo most of the commentary in studio later, but those who heard the live feed said he was brutal for the first half of the show. Then he lost his

voice. He had no idea of any of the storylines or characters, and during every commercial break, Michael Cole had to prep him on everything.”

It’s the SmackDown for Thanksgiving…which is traditionally the lowest rated Smackdown of the year - but who could’ve possibly green lit this decision and thought it was a good one?

“Moolah, who lives in Columbia, showed up. Stephanie asked her if she’d like to wrestle, and she agreed to.”

You guys loved having Moolah wrestle in the Carolinas didn’t you?

The Al Wilson program just keeps on going. Why did this just never stop?

“They announce Moolah vs. Big Show for

the title as the main event. Match never took place as just as Show went for a choke slam, Lesnar hit the ring. They had done a segment earlier in the show to let everyone know Lesnar would be running in as they claimed he bought a ticket from a scalper. Lesnar F-5'd Show through the announcers table to end the show.”

Is Stephanie a heel? Babyface? Does it matter? If Brock’s too hurt to defend the title…and this is what Show ends up doing…I mean we could’ve held off changing the title couldn’t we?

Does any of this make sense?

It’s reported in the Observer that the plan is for Angle to have his knee scoped after Armageddon and that since there’s five weeks between the two shows that he can recover quick enough and not miss a major show. The top level talent missing from the roster either between injuries, walk outs, contract disputes - this feels like it’s at an all-time high here at the end of 02…but it was supposed to be easier with no big level competition from the likes of WCW. Was it harder without WCW to keep top guys happier?

Speaking of keeping top guys happy…Meltzer is told by some of the top wrestlers on the Raw side that there are talks with Stone Cold Steve Austin to return. How hard is Vince and JR working on bringing Steve back here?

For whatever issues you’re having domestically - international business is through the roof. South Korea sold two shows out for January in hours and 24,000 tickets were sold for Japan in two hours as well. Was this the beginning of Vince thinking…maybe we need to be doing full-time territories in these places?

We’re two weeks out from the pay-per-view and if you noticed that we haven’t discussed matches announced for it…don’t worry Meltzer would point that out. “In the spirit of perhaps the dumbest laid out television main event since WCW folded, we give you Raw on 12/2 in Austin.”

The Dudleys are wrestling 3 Minute Warning who are now losing in 7 minutes. The bloom came off the rose pretty quickly for them didn’t it?

“Booker vs. Jericho went 7:58 with a no decision when Christian and Goldust kept interfering. Morley then ordered a tag title match.

Jericho & Christian won that when Jericho hit Booker with a belt shot and pinned him after a lionsault in 6:32. People were really into this match. Nick Patrick did a slow count that wasn’t supposed to be slow and boy were the fans upset by that. This was the best Raw match in a few weeks.”

That Nick Patrick and his slow counts huh…

This is some good stuff right here Bruce…

“Jacqueline pinned Victoria in a non-title match in 2:38 with a spin kick. Guess that means a rematch. Richards came out for no apparent reason. Victoria wanted Jacqueline to come back out. Steiner came out instead. Well, that explains Richards. Steiner’s new nickname this week is Freakzilla. Richards jumped him. Bad mistake. Victoria jumped on his back. He didn’t kill her since Bischoff came out. Bischoff offered Steiner ten women but ten strippers couldn’t possibly equal the sexual prowess of Stephanie McMahon. Steiner left with her.”

That’s right Bruce! Stephanie conquers all! But there’s an interesting note in the Observer regarding this,

“Charles Wright (Godfather) was released. He was asked to show up on Raw on 12/2 after he got his last check to be with the ho’s and Bischoff and present them to Steiner. He was told the angle would be for Steiner to beat him up, snub his ho’s, and leave with Stephanie. Recognizing it was meant as a blow-off to both himself and his character on their TV, he held them up for perks, like a limo and first class tickets and just whatever he could do to avoid coming, and got his wish.”

That’s just classic Godfather isn’t it?

“HHH pinned Van Dam in 6:30 with Shawn Michaels as ref. This was bad on many levels. First, Van Dam was so scared of hurting HHH that he worked like he was wrestling Baba, and boy did it look bad. Real sad the best worker in the match was the ref. Michaels took every chance to cheat to help RVD, fast counting when HHH was down, slow counting when RVD was down. HHH put this match out of its misery with a chair shot to RVD’s noggin. Michaels, trying to give Van Dam the title shot, counted as slow as possible, but RVD could not kick out. For people who talk about ring psychology and guys not knowing how to work, this was not only bad looking in execution but completely stupid to the point anyone with a first grade education in wrestling should have been able to tweak. I mean, have the heel overcome all the odds and portray the babyface as being incompetent. The saddest part about this is I expected all of it, which shows how little regard I’ve got for the people in quality control. “

Whoo-boy Bruce! This is to build to the 3 stages of hell match between Michaels & Hunter at the pay-per-view…but can you explain the psychology to this match as it seems like Meltzer didn’t understand it at all?

SmackDown on December 3rd from Dallas has a ton of controversy backstage according to Meltzer but we’ll start with…Dawn Marie & Torrie Wilson!

“They did two different Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson lesbian vignettes. In both, and not sure which one will air, they say Al Wilson is overseas. Dawn then hits on Torrie, talking about how hot she is. Dawn said that while she loves Al, she’s more attracted to Torrie. She told Torrie that if Torrie does something for her, she’ll save her dad and cancel the wedding. In the second version, Dawn invited Torrie to her hotel room.

They taped a vignette backstage (which didn’t air) of the two making out, so Torrie did accept the invitation.”

How comfortable was everyone in doing this - any push back - and was this the best use of TV time?

Angle and Show is set up when Kurt wins a four-way that goes more than 25 minutes and is really a hell of a match you should go see. Kurt defeats Edge, Benoit & Eddy. You know Kurt needs to get his knee scoped - and it’s booked to go 25. Is it at this point you know it’s Kurt & Brock at Mania?

Albert attacked Edge before the match to setup a program. Where did the idea of a push of Albert come from at this point?

Along with Albert attacking Edge…he also attacks Rey Mysterio to put him out for upcoming knee surgery and this seems to be a big issue…

“The original plan was for Benoit to injure Mysterio, which would set up Mysterio returning for revenge on Benoit at Royal Rumble. At the time, the plan was to do an Angle vs. Edge match and Show vs. Undertaker match, with Lesnar in the Rumble (and presumably winning to get a title shot). The Smackdown writing team of Heyman, David Lagana and Seth Mates (a wwe.com writer who is already off the writing team for Smackdown) pitched for Matt Hardy to get the spot instead of Benoit. This would change the Rumble main bout to Angle vs. Benoit. That was the plan a week earlier, as Hardy pinning Mysterio on the Thanksgiving Smackdown was to start his push and set up the singles match the next week where Matt would take out his knee. This would have also set up Edge vs. Matt as a grudge match for Armageddon. This was actually scripted and the wrestlers in question were aware of it the afternoon of 12/3.”

Before we go any further - Heyman, Lagana & Seth Mates. Hell of a creative team is it not?

How many moving parts are there at this point - you got Taker hurt - Angle needing his knee scoped, Lesnar hurt - is this just a circumstance of plans change…

“Albert was being given a little push on Velocity after his losing streak as the plan was for him to somehow get involved in a storyline with Undertaker, once Undertaker returned, and that’s why he was in a holding pattern for now.  John Laurinaitis pitched Vince on Tuesday afternoon to change the entire scenario and put Albert in the spot, figuring it would give Albert steam leading to his Undertaker program. Vince agreed, which was very controversial, with people seeing it as Vince picking an uncharismatic guy who is huge for a spot above a guy who is smaller but people talk about. Hardy was furious when he got the word. Whether this was the case or not, there was fear among some people that Matt would walk out of the tapings based on his reaction and even wrote something on his web site about it that if you knew the back story, was addressing it, talking about how much he’d love to have been able to do a program with Edge and Mysterio, without revealing it was the plan snatched away from him.”

Do you remember all this going down - the pitch - the switch - and the backlash?

“Michael Hayes, who is something of a mentor to the Hardys since they grew up as huge fans of The Freebirds, was able to calm Hardy down somewhat. Several tried to talk to Vince about the situation, including Edge, who spoke up for Hardy thinking since he would be doing the first program with the guy, it would be a better program for him and for Mysterio, who would get the second program. Rikishi, who has been working with Hardy at all the house shows, was also vocal backstage because he thought Hardy had earned the spot, particularly since Hardy has worked very hard to become a heel when the fans were still cheering him after the initial few turns. There is also underlying heat with Rikishi and Albert from a house show match several weeks back where Albert knocked Rikishi out with a stiff kick (Albert actually won that match via pinfall because Rikishi was knocked silly, although he was able to work the next night).  In fact, Rikishi got a TV match changed a few weeks ago where he was scheduled to work with Albert.”

Holy shit Bruce - look at Rikishi! Do you remember there being that much heat on Albert?

“The scripted plan for the four-way was for Hardy to injure Edge, but he’d be gutsy and stay there until the end. Benoit was to beat Guerrero clean, only to have Guerrero, after Benoit’s strong promo, screw Benoit out of the title shot to lead to Benoit vs. Guerrero at Armageddon. Hardy was to beat Mysterio and take out his knee with the chair, while Albert was supposed to face Chuck Palumbo (who Hardy faced, and all fired up, actually got a hell of a match out of him) on Velocity. This has also resulted in some pretty strong heat between the young Carolina connection and Laurinaitis, since he’s been the one taking the blame for getting Matt taken out of the angle.”

Just Johnny Ace being Johnny Ace right?

“There was a purpose for the 12/9 Raw show, and that was trying to convince everyone that the Shawn Michaels we watch now is the same Shawn Michaels of six years ago. The problem they don’t get is that most of their audience wasn’t watching six years ago, and it’s just a tired looking guy that the old fans pop for.”

Was there a concern that Shawn wasn’t connecting that well with the audience after the title win?

“Batista beat RVD via DQ in 2:41. Dead crowd, which is scary they’ve managed to kill RVD this dead. Flair interfered and crotched RVD. Before Batista could lay him out with a demon bomb, out came Kane, who ran Batista out, while RVD kicked Flair, who sold it like it he was as dead as this show.”

Was there more with Rob Van Dam? Wasn’t the brand split supposed to help guys like him get to the next level?

“HHH destroyed Jeff Hardy in 4:03 after two pedigrees. HHH was about to kill Jeff’s career once again, well, the part Jeff hasn’t already killed, but Michaels came out and nothing happened.”

Shovel Hunter.

“Flair cut a promo like he was Ric Flair. He’s been wanting to cut a promo for weeks on Michaels but apparently there was never time on the show. Unfortunately, the promo was about six years late. Basically he said that there was a day when he, Ric Flair, was no longer the best wrestler in the world, and even though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, his mirror at home told him the best was Michaels. Shawn was in a sense visibly touched that his childhood idol was passing the torch to him, even if it came ten years late. He then told Shawn the same thing had happened to him, and that he’s no longer the best, and it’s something very difficult to deal with, and Shawn’s mirror at home will tell him. Of course Flair said the best was now HHH and Shawn had to step aside. Flair did get Michaels over as being relevant today and as a babyface more than anyone has been able to do since they put the belt on him. Best promo on this show in months.”

Letting Ric be Ric after the opposite of Ric with the top heel squashing a babyface that could be something…irony at it’s finest is it not?

“Kane beat 3 Minute Warning when he choke slammed Jamal in 2:36. They did a beat down afterwards with Jamal splashing Kane off the top. RVD made the save and Kane literally killed Jamal with a chair shot. RVD then finished him with the Van Terminator. Not sure if this is the end of Jamal for a while or not.”

From top debut act just months ago to this - there had to be issues right?

“Stacy was dressed as Santa’s helper and did a bunch of double entendres about Test’s balls. Stacy was holding blue balls, talking about how she loves to hold his balls. They ended up making out again.”

Audience of one stuff here right because no one cared or gave a shit about this…

“Show ended with Michaels having called HHH out in the parking lot. HHH and Flair were out there. Michaels hit HHH with a shovel and killed Flair dead with a superkick. This wound up with Michaels jumping off the production truck with an elbow drop on HHH who was in a heavily padded garbage bin. The idea is to make Michaels not a guest star, nor past his prime, because he’s doing high risk stuff. It failed, and if they paid attention to WCW they’d know why. When people can see a stunt is ridiculously padded, they have a negative reaction to it. Fans live groaned because they knew it was a far too carefully planned out stunt as opposed to a crazy move. Vince is the editor and it’s really sad these elementary mistakes keep getting through.”

Tell me Bruce…tell me this is Meltzer being stupid!

Also suspended - which explains the burial by Hunter - is Jeff Hardy for showing up late along with Justin Credible. This seems to be a high level of issues with some of the midcard talent as well. Is it just a total of discontent with everyone?

It’s written in the Observer that new writers are to be interviewed and Meltzer suggests…and I'm sure this wasn’t coming from Jim Cornette or anything…that they spend 6 months with him in Louisville before going to the main roster to learn wrestling concepts…that was never going to happen was it?

The go-home Smackdown in Atlanta has lots of creative changes - which is odd three days before a pay-per-view…

“The biggest problem with the show was far too much of Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson, and in particular Al Wilson. They killed this with their own sword weeks ago, but had to continue because they thought the lesbian angle was a big winner. Given the crowd and ratings response to when Raw went in these type of directions, well, I think they’ve about four years too late. Torrie arrived and the make-up lady started telling her that Dawn was saying stuff behind her back.”

Bruce…this shit is an all-time low for creative right?

“They started the Angle-Lesnar program as Angle came to a Lesnar autograph signing and said if he could get Lesnar off suspension, could Lesnar be in his corner at Armageddon. Angle also said that if he won the title and defended against Lesnar, it would be the greatest match in WWE history. Lesnar said he’d think about it.”

You can tell Mania is locked in at this point - do you think having Brock undefeated going into Mania would’ve made him vs. Angle a bigger deal?

“Albert is now with Heyman and has a new name, A-Train. Josh Lomberger from Tough Enough, using the name Josh Matthews, debuted as a Smackdown announcer. He tells Heyman that Stephanie is considering lifting Lesnar’s suspension.”

The change from Albert to A-Train…who came up with that idea? Creative services?

We don’t talk a lot about Josh Matthews - but his coming in as an announcer here - how did you think he did in that role?

“Dawn Marie came out with Al and said that the reason she was making out with Torrie all night is because she was the closest thing to him. Torrie then came out and said Dawn promised not to marry him and she was breaking her promise. Al says he wants to marry Dawn on Smackdown. Anyway, the women end up fighting and Torrie knocks down her dad. This ended with Dawn saying she was going to show how much Torrie liked it on the PPV.”

What the hell is this shit Bruce?

“Next came the Stephanie contract signing with Steiner. Steiner complained that nothing happened in the limo. I guess when push came to shove, Stephanie wouldn’t put out and only wanted to talk business. So he said he was going to sign with Raw. She threw a fit at this point. After all this build-up, they gave away the result the TV BEFORE the PPV instead of at the PPV.”

Is this to build up that Steiner is a loose cannon because really giving away the result makes little to no sense…but at least Stephanie looks virtuous…

“Show & Train beat Angle & Edge. I should point out that after feuding much of this year, including a hair match, and never doing one angle to get together, Angle & Edge were teaming with not so much as an angle or interview to get them together. If wrestlers who are supposed to hate each other get together without at least giving the fans a plausible reason, the fans aren’t going to believe in their characters. Even in a bad soap opera, when two people who have hated each other all season get together, there is at least a storyline and reason for it.

Anyway, Angle used the Angle slam on Show, but Heyman distracted him, turned around, and got choke slammed and pinned. Angle & Edge didn’t get a lot of offense in as the match seemed designed to get A-Train over as a new headliner. A-Train laid Angle out after the match and stood over him.”

Feels like you’re trying to please so many creative plans here…but do you think it takes away from the audience when Angle & Edge are put together like this?

Paul Bearer does an interview and is not kind to the company… “While he had praised WWE while working for them for how well they took care of him and what a great company it was to work for, he was not nearly so kind now. “They were not as understanding as you might have been led to believe. I only received two calls from anyone in the WWE management the entire time my wife was fighting cancer. Both calls were made by Stephanie McMahon. I only received a handful of calls from my so-called `friends.’ Undertaker (the two had a big falling out) may have called twice, and that was after I told the world he never called. It’s out of sight, out of mind in `rasslin. As far as payroll is concerned, you must understand I was under a guaranteed money contract. They had to pay me. It certainly wasn’t a favor by any means. I didn’t have insurance. Dianna’s treatments cost close to $100,000. That cleaned me out. Did anybody offer any assistance? Please. All that glitters is not gold, friends.” He also said “McMahon and his stooges” took every opportunity to make his live a living hell as far as his weight was concerned. He said he starved himself and dropped 100 pounds in five months, was brought back to TV, and then after a few months, was taken off TV. He said he’s gained all that weight back and more”

Were you aware of Bearer’s issues with the company? Do you know what the issues were between Bearer and Taker?

We’re finally at the show and it’s a successful one - 342,000 buys which is an upgrade over the year before with the Undisputed title tournament with Jericho coming out on top and it’s only 4,000 less buys than Survivor Series. This credit can only be for Michaels vs. Hunter is that fair to say?

The Observer readers though - not a fan of the show…59.6% thumbs down.

“The WWE’s final PPV show of the year, Armageddon, from the Office Depot Center in Fort Lauderdale, while different than most of its PPVs this year, was apropos of the year as a whole.

It was much like watching WCW at the end. It had some good stuff underneath. It had a surprise they built up more than the wrestling, that was so awful it killed the crowd. And a main event between two wrestlers who were big stars in their day, but are from another era, and the company has no conception that’s the case. And multiple title changes, for the second show in a row.”

The results say other wise but did you have a good feeling going into the show - and was it a miss product wise?

“1. Booker T & Goldust won the Raw tag titles from Chris Jericho & Christian in a four-way with Lance Storm & William Regal and the Dudleys in 16:43.  The first two eliminations were abrupt. Bubba had Regal pinned, but Storm came off the top rope with a legdrop on him allowing Regal to score the pin in 5:23.  The finish looked like a mistake and came across weird. Goldust immediately pinned Regal after a powerslam in 5:32. From that point on, it was a traditional tag, and very good. Jericho argued with the ref and turned around, he was hit with the book end (uranage) for the clean pin. ***½”

What a fall from grace for Jericho a year later huh?

Booker & Goldust - super underrated team don’t you think?

“2. Edge beat A-Train in 7:12. Crowd was quiet. Match was well worked, but this push of A-Train doesn’t look like a good idea at this point. He kicked out of a missile dropkick and a spear. Edge kicked out of a neck hanging tree slam. Finish was one of those bad ones, with A-Train hitting Edge in the knee with a chair for the DQ. Crowd hated the finish. Edge got some revenge nailing A-Train with seven chair shots. *¾”

Is this the best way to build up a new monster heel? Did this program hurt Edge coming out of the Angle feud and the SmackDown 6 tag team matches?

“3. Chris Benoit beat Eddy Guerrero in 16:47.  The announcers immediately tried to put this over as a match to determine who would be in line for a title shot, which was never hyped in the pre-match build. Great finish, because it was executed so well, of Benoit going for a crossface, Guerrero reversing it into the lasso, and Benoit reversing it back into a crossface and really making it appear to be a great struggle to get it, and a tap out. ***¾”

This was really the Benoit show and Eddy did his best to make sure Chris was elevated. Two great workers going out there and having a banger wouldn’t you say?

From Meltzer:

“One ego that killed the show was Stephanie McMahon. When UPN wouldn’t air her produced masterpiece of build-up leading to a lesbian kiss, they had to move it to PPV. Over the past week, particularly on Smackdown, that video masterpiece became more important than the wrestling matches. But it wasn’t a masterpiece. It was among the sleaziest and worst acted angles in the history of the company, and kicked off the worst 45 minutes of PPV from the company this year.”

Fair assessment?

“Show died from here. Dawn Marie came out to a largely dead response. She did a long promo to build up the tape. They showed a long tape which had Dawn Marie taking Torrie Wilson’s leather jacket off and her dress off, and the two kissed. Al Wilson freaked out and begged Dawn Marie to stop the tape. At first she wouldn’t, but then she agreed to. I think the idea was that this would turn Al Wilson heel because people didn’t get to see more. The heat wasn’t on Al Wilson. It was on the company for one of the worst segments in history.”

When UPN refuses to air something and it gets pushed to pay-per-view and what it did here - does that mean UPN made the right call?

Was it one of the worst segments in history? I mean Katie Vick was only just a few months before this…

“4. Dave Batista pinned Kane in 6:38.  This was not the way to follow that segment. Crowd set a new level of dead for this one. Ric Flair tried to be the whole match, but didn’t come close to saving it. This was the wrong guy for Batista’s first program, but I do understand the idea. You make a star by beating an established star, and he was going to do so here. Kane no sold all of Flair’s interference, but it allowed Batista to get an advantage. There was a spot where Batista dropped Kane going for a power bomb. I hope Batista isn’t scarred by that one because the crowd just killed them. Kane had the pin after a clothesline off the top, but Flair distracted the ref. Kane did a choke slam, but Flair distracted the ref. Flair bumped like crazy for Kane, allowing Batista to hit the sit out power bomb for the pin. DUD”

Was Dave ready at this point?

“John Cena & Bling Bling Buchanan (his third name change in two weeks) came out. Cena appears to be doing a great job with a bad gimmick.”

I mean I’d say so wouldn’t you Bruce?

“5. Victoria retained the womens’ title over Jacqueline and Trish Stratus in 4:28.  Victoria seemed lost in the confusion of doing a three-way. Stratus suffered a fractured nose from having her face sat on during a run through of the match the previous night in Fort Myers, FL, but surprisingly that wasn’t evident visibly when she came to the building the next day. Bout was all over the place. Finish saw Victoria hit Stratus with a belt shot and then pinned Jacqueline, who Stratus had laid out. DUD”

Holy shit - Trish goes into this with a fractured nose - it’s a mess - blown spots all over the place - my goodness Bruce this does feel like WCW at this point…

“6. Kurt Angle won the Smackdown title over Big Show in 12:36.

This was the best laid out match of the show and had the most heat. It was still Angle’s worst PPV match so far this year because Show gassed real fast. Angle delivered an Angle slam for a near fall and put on the ankle lock. Show tried to choke slam his way out, but Angle blocked it and turned it into another ankle lock. Show kicked out and Angle collided for the ref bump spot. Paul Heyman (who got clobbered early in the match) threw in a chair, but Angle used it with one of those brutal brain rattling shots for a near fall. Angle used the ankle lock and show was tapping, but no ref. A-Train ran in and put Angle in the old Bruno Sammartino shoulder backbreaker, and dropped down. Show gave him a choke slam. Brock Lesnar ran out and delivered an F-5, on a totally gassed Show and nearly lost him, allowing Angle to make the pin. **¼”

This was quite the match probably for the wrong reasons - but it gets Lesnar back on track - Angle holding the title - but this is a babyface win for Kurt after he’d been a heel for most of the year - this just feels like a lot of week to week booking - but Show being another transition champion in 2002 just like in 1999 - it always goes back to size doesn’t it?

Now the fun part…

“HHH and Shawn Michaels attempted to recreate the fantastic 2/3 fall epic of HHH vs. Steve Austin from No Way Out in 2001, a series of three matches that went 45:00 that may have been the finest performance of HHH’s career.

Nearly two years later, it was a different man in the ring. Hobbled by a deep thigh bruise and painful charley horse in his right leg, HHH put on a gutsy performance in doing three matches, out for nearly 40 minutes, in regaining the Raw title from Michaels. He finished by beating Michaels in a ladder match to end the show, which will go down as the most disappointing ladder match in WWE history. But the performance was questionable in many ways, and when the disappointing show was over, it really felt like egos had engulfed the company.”

“The match came across like an independent garbage match, where wrestlers (or in this case, wrestler, as in Michaels) was breaking tables and they were using barbed wire boards on fire, not to accentuate brutality, but because physically they couldn’t do anything else. The only difference is that in an indie garbage match, the timing of when to do the moves usually isn’t as good, the crowd reactions to the spots is usually better. And usually in those cases, both guys are doing stunts instead of just one.”

Here we go Bruce…how do you feel about that?

“Whether it was HHH not letting anyone know how badly he was hurt, his insistence to go on with a lengthy match was ill-advised, risking further injury while at the same time killing the show. But, there was a world title to win, ending a one month scenario where he and Michaels traded the belt that was booked in the absolute worst manner possible for the company’s future. Two past their prime guys succeeded in burying the rest of the roster as championship contenders while they drew poor ratings and a poor buy rate. The company still hasn’t realized that most of the current fan base never saw Michaels, and unlike Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or Ric Flair, he was not the legend to the masses that they remember him as.”

Was this booked in the absolute worst manner possible for the company’s future Bruce? Looking back do you wish this could’ve been changed?

It’s also important to point out that this is the 3rd pay-per-view in a row from the WWE with a cage match. Does that ever get taken into consideration?

“7. HHH won two of three matches to take the Raw title from Shawn Michaels in nearly 40:00 of total time, as they had rest periods between the matches. Ref Earl Hebner booted Flair from ringside before he had even interfered. Street fight was mainly a collection of indie spots. HHH got a near fall with a hard garbage can lid shot to the head. HHH went to use a flaming barbed wire 2x4, but Michaels got it and used it. HHH juiced heavy, then got posted and hit with a lid shot. Still, HHH came back to win the fall in 20:33 with a pedigree.”

How the hell did anyone let them use a flaming barbed wire 2x4?

“Then came the cage match. HHH juiced. The two brawled on top of the cage while Flair, who returned, setting up tables but It took forever to set up the tables and came off so indie. Michaels did an elbow drop off the cage. Flair did a run-in, only to get zero offense once again and juiced heavy as HHH gave both guys chair shots. Flair was carried out, while Michaels won the fall in 9:12 with a splash off the top of the cage through a table.”

Flair doing all this - then actually getting inside the cage - bleed - is this…perverse?

“Then came the ladder match. Michaels missed a splash off nearly the top of a 12- foot ladder. Actually his feet nailed HHH, but he was supposed to miss and it was sold as a miss. HHH did probably the third worst pedigree of his career (nothing will ever top the ones he did to Vince McMahon). It looked like working this match was torture for him, and torture for those watching it. HHH would climb the ladder literally with one leg and the other just hanging. Michaels superkicked HHH out of the ring and went to climb. Just as he got there, HHH recovered and tipped the ladder over and Michaels flew over the top rope crashing onto the tables. HHH climbed the ladder with one leg, and grabbed the belt at 5:40. **

You can tell Hunter & Shawn always wanted to do a ladder match together…but man what a way for this to end. Thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, thumbs down Bruce?

Shawn only holding the title for a month…looking back it does seem insane does it not?

When this is over - and it’s crazy to say this - we’re about to be building these matches for Mania…

Brock Lesnar taking on Kurt Angle for the WWE Title

The Rock taking on Stone Cold Steve Austin

Hulk Hogan taking on Mr. McMahon

Triple H defending the World Title against Booker T

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

Out of the 5 main matches on the show - Rock, Austin, Hogan & Vince are all not on this card. Is this the beginning of the part-time Mania headliner era?