- Another month…another big shake-up. Since becoming the sole owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon has been stretched pretty thin in order to run both shows. To alleviate his work load, he decided to hire General Managers for each show. For RAW, Vince gave us a bombshell by hiring former rival, Eric Bischoff. Over on Smackdown, nepotism reigned supreme as Vince chose Stephanie McMahon. Along with the announcement of the GMs came the news that everyone was once again free agents, which prompted a bidding war and caused some big changes in both rosters.

Both men have to go through tables for the other team to win. Benoit gets things underway by going after Spike. Now the heels do a nice job working over Bubba. Spike must be stunned that he’s not playing Ricky Morton. Finally, after a lengthy beatdown, Eddie goes outside and sets up a table. As he does, Spike charges and hits him with a somersault plancha. Benoit comes out and whips Spike into the steps. Bubba starts to come back, but Eddie trips him from the floor. The heels set a table up in the ring and try to superplex Bubba through it, but Spike moves it out of the way. Another table is set up in the corner. Benoit and Eddie whip Spike toward it, but Bubba tackles him before he goes through it. Bubba takes it to both men. The Dudleyz are now in control and Bubba tells Spike to get a table. As he does, Benoit springs up and locks him in the Crossface. Bubba kicks him and then delivers a Samoan drop. He puts Benoit on a table and attempts the senton bomb, but Benoit moves out of the way. Heel miscommunication leads to Benoit knocking Eddie out of the ring. Eddie attempts to suplex Spike through a table, but Spike reverses it and gives him a Dudley Dog through it instead. Eddie’s been eliminated. As Benoit tries to set up a table, Spike attacks him. Benoit recovers and press slams Spike through a table on the floor. We’re down to Bubba and Benoit. Benoit goes to give Bubba a German suplex, but he reverses it and sends Benoit through a table with a Bubba Bomb.

Bottom Line: I can’t help but be ticked off by that finish. This was Benoit’s first PPV match since his injury and he and Eddie are on a higher level than Bubba and Spike. So why do they lose here, especially since the Dudleyz usually lose table matches and to lesser teams. Benoit and Eddie looked sharp here, but they deserved better opponents than this. This match needed better table spots to make it decent. ** ½

- Bischoff tells Jonathan Coachman that that last match is what the RAW brand is all about, but the primary reason he’s here is to make sure Triple H signs with RAW. Bischoff then spots HHH and tries to talk to him. HHH can’t talk now though, because he has a meeting with Stephanie McMahon. This causes Bischoff to throw a hissy fit appropriate of someone from upper management.

A lockup between the two actually takes them to the floor. The two exchange some quick nearfalls. Kidman dumps Noble to the apron and then as Noble tried to reenter, Kidman legdrops him. On the floor, Noble uses Nidia as a shield and then drops Kidman with an armbar takedown. Noble sends Kidman’s shoulder into the post. Back inside, Noble gets a nearfall. Noble continues to work over the left shoulder of Kidman. Kidman stops Noble’s momentum with a hurricanrana and dropkick. A backbreaker by Kidman gets 2. Noble hits Kidman with another armbar takedown and goes back to work on the shoulder. Kidman reverses a powerbomb into a facebuster for 2. After connecting with an enziguri, Kidman goes up top. Noble gets up and joins him. As they battle, Kidman manages to hit Noble with a top rope spinebuster. That gets a long 2 count. The two mess up a tornado DDT spot, but then Kidman drops Noble across the top rope. Kidman attempts the Shooting Star Press, but Noble avoids it. Noble gets a nearfall from that. Noble connects with a tiger bomb and pins him for 3.

BL: This was a vast improvement over Noble’s match last month. It still wasn’t the high-flying antics typically found in cruiser matches, but it was well worked nonetheless. Noble did a nice job working the shoulder and it somewhat played into the finish. You have some perfectly acceptable wrestling here. Now if only they could get a decent storyline to go along with it, you would be all set. *** ¼

- Kurt Angle tells Marc Lloyd all about how he’s winning the undisputed championship tonight, when he’s interrupted by Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Heyman tells Angle that he’s looking at the man he’ll face at Summerslam. Angle says that’s fine, but Brock better not interfere in his match tonight. Could you imagine if Brock cost Angle the title? There would be riots in the streets of Detroit. Well, more than normal at least.

This was the official kickoff to Jeff’s singles run as Matt turned on him recently and headed to Smackdown. Regal attempts a series of nearfall in the opening minutes of the match. Jeff goes for a sunset flip, but Regal blocks it and drops a knee across Jeff’s neck. A jawbreaker by Jeff gets 2. Jeff monkey flips Regal over the top rope and to the floor. Regal blocks Jeff’s baseball slide attempt, but then Jeff turns it into a hurricanrana. Jeff walks the rail and goes for a crossbody, but misses. Back inside, Jeff connects with the corkscrew moonsault. Jeff attempts the swanton bomb, but Regal gets his knees up. Regal begins to work over Jeff’s back. Suddenly, Jeff escapes a move and rolls Regal up for 3.

BL: There are a lot better ways to use PPV time than what we saw here. Between the contrast in styles and the brevity of the match, why bother with this? If it was going to be this short, they should have just had Jeff win with the swanton bomb instead of that lame roll up. I’m probably worse off for having seen that. ¾ *

- Backstage, Ric Flair spots Jeff Hardy and talks to him about his “awesome performance”. Then Hulk Hogan comes by and congratulates him as well. Oh lord, there are so many better, young stars that deserve that rub better to him. Once Jeff leaves, Flair and Hogan shoot the breeze about all the changes that have happened recently in relation to the new GMs. They don’t really say anything important, but it’s just fun listening to these two old-timers talk business.

Cena was brand new to the scene and made a big impact by upsetting Jericho a few weeks ago. Now Jericho is out to prove that it was just a fluke. Before the bell, Jericho grabs a chair and tries to use it. Cena avoids the shot and then hits Jericho with the chair. The match now officially begins and Cena gives Jericho some rough turnbuckle treatment. A spinebuster by Cena gets two. Jericho catches a charging Cena and drops him across the top rope. Now Jericho attacks the neck of Cena. Jericho removes a turnbuckle pad. When the referee goes to fix it, Cena rolls up Jericho. The referee comes back and gets a 2 count. Cena boots a charging Jericho, but Jericho comes right back with the Breakdown. Cena catches Jericho up top and gives him a superplex. That gets 2. A tilt-a-whirl slam by Cena gets another nearfall. Cena charges at Jericho, who hits him mid-air with a dropkick. Nice move. Cena blocks a dropkick attempt and catapults Jericho into the corner. Jericho hangs on and leaps toward Cena, who catches him and delivers a belly-to-belly suplex. Good sequence. Jericho avoids a dropkick by Cena and goes for the Lionsault, but Cena moves out of the way. Jericho hits his crappy bulldog and Lionsault, but opts not to cover. Instead, he tries for the Walls of Jericho. However, Cena is able to get him in a small package and keep him down for 3.

BL: Who was that guy with all the offensive moves? Certainly it can’t be the John Cena I know. The John Cena I know is only capable of four moves. All kidding aside, it’s clear why the WWE was so high on him. He more than held his own in there. Pitting him against Jericho was a smart move, as Jericho was someone who could take him to a good match right out of the gate. It’s fun watching competitive Cena matches! *** ½

- As Bischoff waits outside Stephanie’s door for HHH, a lawyer comes by. He tells Bischoff that he’s here to deliver some documents. Clearly, HHH must be signing with Smackdown. There’s no other possible explanation for Stephanie needing documents. Well at least that mystery is solved.

- J.R. and Lawler now come out to call their half of the show. Yay?

RVD wants revenge on Brock for losing the King of the Ring to him and is even willing to put up his Intercontinental title to do it. Just to be a cocky prick, Brock takes the IC belt and puts it on his shoulder as if it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll win it. Brock overpowers RVD early on and appears to be very confident. RVD gives a charging Brock a drop toe hold that sends him into the turnbuckle. RVD kicks Brock to the floor and he has to regroup. Once Brock is back inside, RVD kicks away at Brock’s left knee. RVD dumps Brock to the outside again and then launches himself onto him. Brock catches him and tries to ram him into the post, but RVD escapes and sends him into it instead. RVD tries for a moonsault off the apron, but Brock again catches him and this time slams him to the floor. In the ring, Brock works over RVD’s midsection. RVD attempts a monkey flip, but Brock just heaves him out of the ring and RVD takes a nasty bump. Brock puts RVD in an abdominal stretch, but RVD refuses to quit. RVD starts to comeback by kicking Brock from the top rope. RVD gets a nearfall with Rolling Thunder. RVD superkicks Brock and goes up top. However, Brock gets up and grabs him. He tries for the F5, but RVD reverses it into a DDT. RVD then goes back up and nails the Five Star Frog Splash. RVD covers, but Heyman pulls the referee out of the ring. The referee gets up and calls for the DQ.

Postmatch: Heyman shoves the referee, but then RVD dropkicks Heyman. Now the ref starts punching away on Heyman. Brock grabs the ref and throws him down. RVD then comes off the top rope and hits Brock. RVD takes Brock back inside and sets him up for the Van Terminator. Before he can do it, Heyman grabs his leg. Brock then suplexes RVD off the top rope. Then Brock gives RVD an F5 on a chair.

BL: These two totally made up for their brief encounter last month with their match here. This was an awesome contest and really well worked. RVD got off to a hot start that quickly defused Brock’s cockiness. Then Brock took over and did a nice job picking apart a body part. The DQ finish was pretty shitty, but the bad taste it left was erased by the postmatch action. The crowd was super hot for this and rightfully so. ****

- Stephanie comes out of her office looking dejected. Bischoff gloats, but Stephanie says it’s a done deal. HHH then comes out and Bischoff gets in his face. HHH cuts him off and says the papers he signed were his divorce papers. If Bischoff had a soul, he’d have egg on his face for his poor assumption. But since he doesn’t, the only thing he’s thinking is that he still has a chance to sign him.

This stems from Booker being kicked out of the nWo and looking for revenge on one of its members. However, the nWo fell apart once Kevin Nash got injured (again). So the sizzle behind the match has been decreased somewhat. This match also has no DQ and no count out. Booker immediately tries to kick away on Show, but eventually Show catches him and slams him to the mat. Now Show begins to manhandle Booker. Show clotheslines Booker to the floor. Booker grabs a chair and tries to use it, but Show punches it away. Show throws Booker into the post and then sandwiches him against it. He tries that again, but this time, Booker moves out of the way. Booker grabs a cable and chokes Show with it. Now Booker gets a TV monitor and nails Show in the head. Booker climbs onto the announce table and hits Show with the scissors kick that sends him through the Spanish announce table. Awesome. Back in the ring, Show attempts a chokeslam, but Booker fights out of it and delivers another scissors kick. Booker then climbs up and hits the Houston Hangover. Cool! Booker covers and scores the pinfall.

BL: This was quite the win for Booker. This was almost close to a squash match, albeit a fun one. The no DQ or count out rule helped here as Booker was able to hit a couple of big, memorable spots. This should have led to some big things for Booker, but sadly it didn’t. Too short to be great, but fun while it lasted. ** ½

- The World’s biggest losers tonight are…Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie. Torrie tries to give her thoughts on tonight’s main event, but Dawn is more preoccupied with the fact that Torrie beat her in some meaningless beauty contest the last time they were in New York. Before that debate can get any more stimulating, J.R. quickly cuts them off. An argument between divas that doesn’t end in a catfight is a worthless segment.

Yes, a segment that would be lame as a RAW main event actually gets PPV time. Before HHH even speaks, Bischoff comes out to the ring. He’s here to plead his case to HHH one more time. Before he can finish, Stephanie makes her way to the ring. She now tells her side of the story. The two yap back and forth and the crowd sits patiently. HHH appears as if he’s going to chose Smackdown when Shawn Michaels suddenly comes out. Shawn asks HH to consider two things: friendship and fun. Shawn’s words evidently were powerful enough because HHH flip-flops and decides to go to RAW. Bischoff gloats to Stephanie, so she slaps him. Like I said…this was a total RAW segment.

- Marc Lloyd gets Rikishi’s thoughts on HHH jumping ship. Rikishi says he’s shocked and disappointed. And the purpose of that segment was?

- Booker is celebrating his win with Goldust when Terri Runnels comes in and asks him about HHH’s decision. Booker says that if HHH treats him like Shawn Michaels did, then Booker won’t take it lying down. The highlight here was Goldust’s reaction to being in the presence of his ex-wife. Although, I think it would have been funnier if he had pretended like he didn’t know who she was.

Edge teamed up with his childhood hero a few weeks ago and defeated Billy and Chuck to become tag team champs (on 4th of July, no less). Now they face Storm and Christian, who are still on their anti-American crusade. Hogan starts off the match against Christian and overpowers him. Storm comes in and helps Christian double-team Hogan. Hogan quickly recovers and fends them both off. Edge is tagged in and takes it to Storm. As Edge does a 10-punch count on Storm, Christian shoves him to the mat. Christian works over Edge briefly. After a missed elbow drop by Christian, Edge recovers and tags Hogan. Christian avoids a big boot and gives Hogan a neckbreaker. Christian covers, but Hogan kicks out. Hogan Hulks up and takes it to Christian. Hogan hits Christian with the big boot and legdrop. He covers, but Storm breaks it up. Storm and Christian take Hogan outside and attack him. Hogan becomes Ricky Morton until he avoids a charge by Storm. A double clothesline drops both men. Hogan manages to get up and tag Edge. Edge comes in and takes it to both heels. An Edge-o-Matic on Storm gets 2. Edge goes to spear Storm, but he avoids it and the ref gets it on accident. Edge nails Storm with the Edgecution and covers, but there’s no ref. Suddenly, Test (who joined Christian and Storm’s anti-American cause) runs out and attacks Hogan. He then comes in and gives Edge a big boot. Storm covers and gets a long 2 count. Rikishi runs out and takes Test to the back. Back inside, Edge nails Storm with a spear. Before he can cover, Edge is distracted by Christian and Hogan brawling outside. Suddenly, Jericho appears and nails Edge with a title belt. Storm covers and gets the 3 count over Edge. New champs!

BL: This wasn’t great by any means, but it worked well enough. Hogan was limited to the things he can still do, which is always good. You also had the establishment of a new stable, which was needed at this point. Edge and Hogan were only meant to be temporary champions, so having Christian and Storm go over them here helps give them a little rub. The action wasn’t great, but it progressed the storyline nicely. ** ¼

- Backstage, Bischoff approaches Angle, as he’s heading to his match. Angle politely listens to Bischoff, but says he’s got bigger things to deal with right now. Bischoff should know that a man of integrity would never do business with someone like him.

- Marc Lloyd then interviews Stephanie about tonight’s developments. She says she’s disappointed, but that the war isn’t over. In fact, she says she plans to rip the heart right out of RAW. I think I know what those cryptic comments mean. She plans on stealing Tommy Dreamer right from underneath Bischoff’s nose.

The Rock’s antics in last month’s main event led him to get a title shot against Taker. However, a few weeks ago Taker fought Angle and it ended in controversy. Taker pinned Angle while he was in a submission hold and he tapped as the referee counted 3 on Angle. With no clear winner decided there, Angle was inserted into the main event to make it a triple threat match. The Rock and Taker stare each other down and completely ignore Angle. Angle tries to get their attention and when he does, they attack him. The Rock clotheslines Angle out of the ring and now Taker goes after The Rock. The Rock whips Taker into Angle and then clotheslines him to the floor. Angle whips Taker into the steps and then goes after The Rock. Angle and The Rock exchange chops. Angle stops him with a belly-to-belly suplex. The Rock comes back with a DDT and gets 2. The two now fight on the floor and are joined by Taker. Taker and The Rock slug it out in the ring. A sidewalk slam by Taker gets 2. The Rock then hits Taker with a chokeslam and covers, but Angle breaks it up. The Rock puts Angle in the ankle lock. Angle gets free and gives The Rock a Rock Bottom. He covers, but Taker legdrops him to stop the count. Taker escapes an Angle Slam and then gives Angle an Angle Slam of his own. That gets 2. The Rock dumps Angle out of the ring and then gives Taker a spinebuster. He hits the People’s Elbow, but then Angle pulls him out of the ring. Angle comes back in and covers Taker for a long 2 count. Taker and Angle trade blows in the corner. Angle misses a charge and rams his shoulder into the post. On the floor, Taker throws Angle into the post. The Rock comes over and attacks Taker. Taker throws The Rock onto the announce table and then goes back to Angle. Angle’s been busted open from the post shot. In the ring, Taker connects with Old School on Angle. That gets 2. The Rock is back in and takes it to Taker. Taker DDTs The Rock and gets a nearfall. Taker goes to chokeslam The Rock, but Angle comes in with a chair. Taker nails Angle and now The Rock and Taker play pinball with him. The Rock breaks up a chokeslam attempt by Taker and accidentally falls into the ref. That allows Angle to nail Taker with a chair. Angle then hits The Rock with an Angle Slam. Angle takes too long to cover Taker and he kicks out at 2. Angle covers The Rock and he kicks out at 2 as well. Now The Rock puts Angle in the Sharpshooter. Before he can tap, Taker breaks it up. Taker connects with the Last Ride and covers, but Angle grabs him and puts him in the ankle lock. Taker manages to power out of the hold. Taker goes for the Last Ride on Angle, but he puts him in a triangle choke. Just as Taker is about to pass out, The Rock breaks up the hold. The Rock goes for the Rock Bottom, but Angle reverses it into the ankle lock. The Rock turns that into a roll up and covers Angle for 2. Taker chokeslams Angle and then turns into a Rock Bottom. The Rock covers and gets a long 2 count. Angle rolls up The Rock for 2. Angle hits Taker with the Angle Slam and takes down the straps. However, he turns right into The Rock, who hits him with a Rock Bottom. The Rock covers and gets 3 right before Taker can break it up. The Rock is the new undisputed champion.

BL: Oh man, I am worn out just watching this. I’m a sucker for seeing guys hit their opponents with their own finishers. This match certainly provided plenty of that. The action was consistent throughout the match, which should be expected in a triple threat match. I really can’t fault the effort of anyone here. About the only thing that may have been improved upon was the finish. It was fine, but it could have been more dramatic. That, however, is a minor nitpick. This was a really solid main event. **** ½

Final Thoughts: What’s this? A great PPV in 2002? I thought that was just urban legend. However, this PPV really delivered. You had a number of matches that were extremely entertaining and well worked. Even those that didn’t score high on the workrate scale succeeded in telling a good story. You had a few minor bumps in the road, namely the European title match and the HHH segment, but they didn’t suck enough to bog the show down. This one scores an easy thumbs up from me.

Next time, the crowd may be excited for HBK’s comeback, but it’s clear that The Rock’s umpteenth comeback is played out.