Bottom Line: Just for the record, it was later revealed that D-Von came back to RAW as part of the trade that sent Big Show to Smackdown. This match offered a mixed bag. There were a number of high spots which provided a lot of excitement. However, there was also a lot of down time and some sloppiness. Regardless, the match was an effective opener and the crowd ate up the Dudleyz reunion. ***

- The World’s biggest loser tonight is…Stacy Keibler. Her sole purpose of being there is to introduce Saliva, who perform a live version of the Survivor Series theme song. I’ve heard this song a million times in the build up to the show, I don’t need to hear it here again. Fast-forward.

Kidman tries going for some quick nearfalls early on. Noble ducks a clothesline and gives Kidman a neckbreaker. Noble dumps Kidman to the floor and then hits him with a tope. Back inside, Noble attempts a high crossbody and Kidman dropkicks him in mid-air. Kidman gets Noble on his shoulders and then drops him into a backbreaker. Noble comes back with a Michinoku Driver and gets 2. Kidman gives Noble a facebuster and goes up for the Shooting Star Press. However, Nidia pulls Noble out of the ring. Kidman changes course and hits Noble with a high crossbody on the floor. Nidia trips Kidman to distract him, but he recovers and throws Noble into her. A spinebuster by Kidman gets a long 2 count. Kidman gets Noble in a backslide, but Noble turns it into a tiger bomb and gets 2. Nice sequence. Both men fight up top and Kidman connects with a top rope facebuster. That gets 2. Noble props Kidman on the top rope and plants him with a DDT. Somehow Kidman kicks out of that. Kidman drops Noble with an enziguri and goes up top. Nidia tries to stop him, but he kicks her down. Noble gets up and Kidman knocks him back down. Then Kidman delivers the Shooting Star Press and pins Noble for the win. New champ!

BL: I probably didn’t do this match justice as I missed a number of moves these two did. Finally, we get a fast-paced cruiserweight match. I was impressed with a number of moves these two pulled out here. But as enjoyable as the match was, it still felt a little hollow as they refuse to create storylines for these cruiser matches. This was an enjoyable spotfest, nonetheless. *** ¾

- Kurt Angle is watching the show and says that if Kidman can win a title, then certainly he and Chris Benoit can win back the tag titles. Angle draws Benoit’s ire by calling himself the team captain. Angle cools Benoit down and Benoit offers to shake his hand. Angle says tag partners don’t shake hands, tag partners gotta hug. Look at that, Angle made hugging it out cool way before Jeremy Piven did.

- A hidden camera reveals to us that Victoria’s magic mirror thinks Trish Stratus is the prettiest of them all. She smashes the mirror and then destroys a cardboard standup of Trish. Nothing crazy about that. Nope, nothing at all.

Victoria rips off Trish’s coat and chokes her with it. Victoria grabs a broomstick and the two fight over it. As Victoria mounts Trish, the crowd chants “HLA”. Trish grabs a trash can lid, but Victoria nails her with the broomstick. As she is abusing her with the trash can lid, Victoria takes Trish outside. Victoria whips Trish into a garbage can set up on the post. A legdrop by Victoria gets 2. Victoria places a trash can between the ropes. Trish recovers and catapults Victoria’s face into that can. Trish finds an ironing board and whips Victoria into it. After kicking her down, Trish covers Victoria for 2. Now Trish wears out Victoria with a Singapore cane. Victoria knocks down Trish with a trash can lid. Trish goes for the handstand ‘rana, but Victoria blocks it. However Trish grabs a nearby trash can lid, sits up and nails her. Another shot knocks Victoria to the floor. Victoria slows Trish down with a powerbomb. Victoria finds a mirror and sees her bloody nose. Trish knocks down Victoria with a chick kick and gets 2. As Trish goes to get another weapon, Victoria gives her a cane shot. Victoria then grabs Trish, but she sloppily reverses it into a bulldog for 2. Trish goes for a cane shot, but Victoria gives her a drop toe hold. Victoria goes outside, grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays Trish. Victoria comes back in and suplexes Trish. She covers and somehow that’s enough for the 1-2-3. New champ!

BL: Boy, talk about your flat endings. These two were putting on a decent hardcore match and then decided to go out on a whimper instead of a bang. Victoria introduced the mirror, why not hit her with that for the big finish? Give credit to these women for doing this type of match. It’s a shame it was marred by some sloppiness and a lousy finish. **

- As Eric Bischoff brags to Jonathan Coachman about his creation, the Elimination Chamber, he’s interrupted by the Big Show. He tells Bischoff he made a big mistake trading him to Smackdown and he’ll see why, when he wins the WWE title tonight. Yes, but you can’t fault Bischoff for not wanting to pass up the opportunity to get guys like Al Snow, Maven and Val Venis

- Paul Heyman comes in and reiterates how worried he is about Brock Lesnar taking on Big Show. However, he says that he’ll make sure that tonight, “my client will walk out the WWE Champion”. That’s an odd way of putting it, but I’m sure I’m reading too much into it.

After complaining about not getting opportunities on RAW, Show was traded to Smackdown and immediately made the #1 contender. The two stare down each other before locking up. Show pounds on Brock, but Brock comes back and tackles him. The two head outside where Show rams him into the post. Back in the ring, Brock escapes a chokeslam and gives him somewhat of a back suplex. Brock avoids a charging Show and gives him a German suplex. Wow! Brock attempts the F5, but can’t get Show up. Brock charges at Show, but misses and nails the referee. Show goes for a big boot, but Brock ducks it and gives him an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Heyman tosses a chair in the ring. As Brock grabs it, Show goes for the chokeslam. Brock kicks him low and then nails him with the chair. Then Brock actually gets Show up and gives him the F5. Holy shit! Brock covers and a second referee runs out. He counts, but Heyman pulls him out of the ring and hits him. Whaaa? Brock chases after Heyman, but Show stops him with a chair. Show chokeslams Brock onto the chair and gets rid of the evidence. The first referee gets up and registers the 3 count. New champ!

Postmatch: After briefly celebrating in the ring together, Show and Heyman run out of the arena and immediately get in a limo and leave.

BL: A very short match, but it made for a very action-packed match. The crowd was really into Brock, so they really responded to the Heyman heel turn. I’m not sure if I would have chosen Show as the guy to do this, but it does provide a good, new direction for Brock. This was too short to be good, but you need to see it anyways to see Brock’s ungodly displays of strength. ** ½

It looks like Rey and Benoit will start this thing off. Rey gets off to a hot start on Benoit and then tags Edge. Benoit manages to knock down Edge and tags Angle. Angle doesn’t last long before tagging Chavo. Eddie then gets tagged in so everybody has their feet wet now. Angle whips Rey to the corner and charges after him, but Rey flips up and Angle hits the post. Angle launches Rey into the corner and he tries to land on the top rope, but he slips and falls. Angle and Benoit have now isolated Rey and systematically work him over. Rey avoids the Angle Slam, but gets dropped with a clothesline. A great reversal sequence ends with Rey hitting Angle with a spinning heel kick. Angle tries to tag Eddie, but Eddie won’t let him. By the time Angle tags Benoit, Rey has tagged Edge as well. Edge takes out everyone in his sight. Everybody’s in now. Rey catches Eddie with a running ‘rana that takes them both out of the ring. Edge tries to spear Angle, but Angle gives him a drop toe hold. Immediately Benoit and Angle slap on the Crossface and ankle lock on Edge. Rey comes in and gets them both off of him. As Angle and Chavo fight on the floor, Rey hits them with a corkscrew plancha. Inside, Benoit hits Edge with a German suplex. As he goes for a second, Eddie puts him in a sunset flip and then both go flying. Both Edge and Benoit are being pinned, but both kick out. Benoit dumps Eddie and then gives Edge the Hat Trick. As Benoit goes up top, Eddie hits Edge with the frog splash. Benoit breaks up Eddie’s cover with the diving headbutt. Angle puts Eddie in the ankle lock, while Benoit hooks the Crossface on Edge. Chavo comes in and nails Benoit with the belt. Angle goes after him and Chavo tosses him the belt. Benoit gets up and thinks Angle hit him. They begin to shove each other when Rey dropkicks them. Edge spears Benoit and gets him for 3. Neither the crowd, nor I like that. Angle comes back in and gives Edge a German suplex. Angle and Benoit destroy everybody and yell at each other the entire time. They leave arguing as Eddie gets a nearfall on Edge. Los Guerreros have now made Edge their personal Ricky Morton. Edge finally stops their onslaught with a double flapjack. Rey gets the hot tag and goes after both Los Guerreros. Edge and Rey do the awesome spot where Rey gets launched and delivers a top rope ‘rana to Eddie. That gets 2. Rey connects with the 619 on Eddie. As Rey goes for the West Coast Pop, Chavo nails him with the tag belt. Edge brawls with Chavo on the outside. In the ring, Eddie manages to get Rey in the Lasso from El Paso and gets him to submit. New champs!

BL: I know when guys put on an effort like that, they shouldn’t be criticized, but this has to be considered a disappointment. I think this was a case of the WWE wanting too much of a good thing and it blew up in their face. The triple threat style just doesn’t work well for tag teams; although I’m glad they went with elimination style. Things started off all right, but the energy was sucked from the match once Benoit and Angle left. I have nothing against Los Guerreros winning, but it just seemed like more could be done with Rey/Edge vs. Benoit/Angle before we moved on. Perhaps we were just expecting too much. Still, a really good effort from everyone here. ****

- Before we get to the main event, Chris Nowinski comes out and insults the NYC crowd. Then Matt Hardy joins him. Tonight’s Matt Facts: Matt keeps the room at a toasty 75 degrees and only drinks lowfat chocolate milk. He also rips the New Yorkers. Is this the start of some interpromotional rivalry? Sadly no. It’s to provide the returning Scott Steiner a couple of bodies to beat up and draw a cheap pop. I would rather have had 10 more minutes of the tag title or WWE title match.

- Terri Runnels tracks down Shawn Michaels and asks him why he believes he’ll win the Elimination Chamber match. As Shawn begins to explain, we cut away with RNN Breaking News. Randy Orton happily reports he’s well on the road to recovery. You know with pre-taped segments and creativity, Orton actually appears to be entertaining.

- Coach talks to Triple H about the Elimination Chamber match. HHH says everyone envies him, but it doesn’t matter because he’ll still leave the match as the world champion. For now though, he’s going to hell and taking everyone with him. Thanks HHH, but I think I’ll find my own ride.

Tired of Smackdown having the main even lately, Bischoff decided to create a match that would no doubt garner the top spot; the Elimination Chamber. It’s a domed, steel structure designed for six men. Four of them begin in internal chambers while the other two begin the match. Every five minutes one of the four chambered wrestlers will be released. The match continues until all but one have been eliminated. Eliminations occur via pinfall or submission. The two men kicking this match off are RVD and HHH. Not a good spot for the champion. RVD starts off on the offensive. HHH goes for an early Pedigree, but RVD backdrops him over the top rope and onto the chamber’s steel floor. RVD gives HHH some rough chamber treatment. RVD does Rolling Thunder onto HHH on the steel. Cool. RVD slams HHH and climbs on top of Jericho’s chamber. Jericho reaches through the ceiling and grabs RVD’s leg. RVD fight him off and hits HHH with a somersault plancha. Our first five minutes is up and out comes Jericho. RVD is able to immediately go after him. RVD goes on the top rope and leaps at Jericho, who ducks. RVD manages to grab onto the chamber wall like Spiderman and then leaps off and hits Jericho. HHH clotheslines RVD and now HHH and Jericho double-team him. Jericho takes time out of attacking RVD to crotch chop Shawn. Jericho and HHH give RVD some rough turnbuckle treatment. RVD finally comes back and knocks both men down. As HHH DDTs RVD, we hit another countdown. Booker T is out now and hits everyone in his sight. With everyone down, Booker gives us a Spinaroonie. RVD hits Booker with a spinning heel kick and gets 2. With HHH down, RVD climbs on top of a chamber and delivers a Five Star Frog Splash. That move legitimately gave HHH a throat injury. Booker nails RVD with a missile dropkick and covers him for 3. Now Booker and Jericho duke it out. It’s time for our third entrant and it’s Kane. He comes in and is dominant. Kane tosses Jericho like a javelin into the chamber and then throws him through an empty chamber, breaking the “bulletproof” glass. Booker goes to give Kane the scissors kick, but Jericho trips him. That allows Kane to chokeslam Booker. Jericho follows up with a Lionsault and pins Booker for 3. Kane remains dominant against Jericho and HHH. Jericho knocks down HHH with a dropkick. With everybody down, it’s the perfect time for Shawn to come in as the final entrant. Shawn gets off to a hot start, but soon Kane comes back strong. He gives chokeslams to all three of his opponents. As he goes to Tombstone HHH, Shawn gives him Sweet Chin Music. Kane sits up, but turns right into a Pedigree. Jericho caps it off with a Lionsault and pins him. Jericho clotheslines Shawn onto the steel and then gives him some rough turnbuckle treatment. HHH and Jericho begin to double-team Shawn. With Shawn busted open, HHH gives him the cheese grater spot. Shawn runs Jericho into the chamber and begins to divide and conquer. Shawn tries to piledrive Jericho on the steel floor, but Jericho reverses it into a backdrop. Shawn knocks down HHH and kips up, but Jericho sets him right back down with his crappy bulldog. Jericho follows it up with a Lionsault and covers, but he can only get 2. Shawn boots Jericho and then hits him with a moonsault. That gets a nearfall. Shawn puts Jericho in the Walls of Jericho, but HHH breaks it up. HHH nails Shawn with a DDT and Jericho covers, but HHH breaks it up. HHH wants to pin Shawn himself. Now these two start going at it. Jericho tries a move from the second rope, but HHH kicks him and attempts the Pedigree. Jericho blocks it and puts him in the Walls. Out of nowhere, Shawn nails Jericho with Sweet Chin Music and pins him. We’re down to Shawn and HHH. They slug it out until HHH plants Shawn with a spinebuster. That gets 2. Shawn charges at HHH, who backdrops him onto the steel. Shawn attempts to Pedigree HHH on the steel, but HHH reverses it and catapults Shawn through one of the glass chamber walls. HHH brings Shawn into the ring and gets a nearfall. The two slug it out until HHH drops Shawn with a facebuster. HHH tries to Pedigree Shawn on the steel, but now Shawn catapults him into the chamber wall. From the top of a chamber, Shawn hits HHH with a big elbow. Shawn goes for Sweet Chin Music, but HHH blocks it and gives him the Pedigree. HHH slowly crawls over and covers, but Shawn kicks out at 2. HHH goes for a second Pedigree, but Shawn escapes it and hits him with Sweet Chin Music. Shawn covers and gets the dramatic three count to become the new world heavyweight champion.

BL: It’s tough to rate a match like this with no precedent to compare it to. I think we can say it was entertaining, but not amazing. The concept of the match is strong, but these guys barely scratched the surface of what can be done in there. Perhaps what hurt this match most of all was HHH’s injury. With only two heels in the match, HHH needed to be a big presence. However, his injury forced him to lay out for a lot of the match. At least they did the right thing and had a face go over to send the crowd home happy and leave us with fond memories of the match. *** ¾

Final Thoughts: 2002 was far from a great year for pro wrestling, but I’m hard pressed to complain about this show. While the matches varied on their workrate, all of them were very entertaining. They may not have had the best storylines behind them, but all of the matches were action-packed and interesting. It’s too bad that the show had a lot of unnecessary fluff like the Saliva performance and the Steiner debut. Despite a lot of filler, this is a rare, unqualified thumbs up for a 2002 PPV.

Next time, Shawn Michaels may have found the Lord, but he’s about to enter 3 Stages of Hell.