Hello again, everybody! My name is Mr. Diamond of the 6-10 website and this is “Digging for Gems,” where I look at older PPVs to see how well they hold up in the modern day. After the horror that was New Blood Rising, I decided my second PPV review would be an actual, well received show. And there are fewer shows like that than the aughts’ biggest party of the summer, SummerSlam 2002. Live from Long Island, 2002 is often considered the greatest SummerSlam of all time. Today I will see how well it holds up in the modern day.
We open the show with Kurt Angle vs Rey Mysterio. This is the feud that birthed the “You’re a boy in a man’s world” promo from angle. This match is a 9-minute sprint from both men. It really surprised me how much they got in within those 9 minutes. These two have excellent chemistry, with Mysterio’s high-flying Lucha Libre offense with Angle’s more technical-submission based style working well. A nice, late 90s WCW PPV feeling to this opening match. In fact, this formula worked so well that they did a semi-sequel at WrestleMania 22, involving Randy Orton. Definitely worth a watch. 4 Stars.
After a McMahon/Bischoff segment, we get Chris Jericho (and his awful beard) taking on Ric Flair. Flair is this rivalry stopped Fozzy while they were performing live on Raw. Basically, I would like to say thank you to the Nature Boy. As the first Raw match of the night (both Mysterio and Angle were on Smackdown at this time), the match is honestly pretty good. Knowing Flair was in his early 50s, it was evident that we weren’t going to get any matches resembling peak ’80s NWA. But, Jericho is in good form here like usual in the 2000s, and Flair holds his own with the classic Flair match moments we all know and love. Flair wins this match after a low blow turned into a Figure-4 Leg Lock. The crowd liked it, and honestly, so did I. 3.5 stars.
Paul Heyman proceeds to cut a good hype promo to Brock, which leads into Eddie Guerrero vs Edge. If you are not a fan of Rob Zombie’s music, make sure to mute during Edge’s entrance. This match is mainly based around Guerrero working on Edge’s arm after Edge ran through the ropes and seemed to land on his shoulder. This is a style of match that has been done several times, and this is one of the better ones. Mainly, that is due to the talents of the duo in the ring. There were some nice moves in the match, like Eddie’s frog splash to Edge’s shoulder. Edge wins with the Spear. This isn’t their best match (their No DQ match on Smackdown is one of the best matches of 2002), but still pretty good. 3.5 stars.
The next segment is an Un-Americans promo. It was certainly a choice to give Lance Storm a microphone. Our next match is the Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) vs the entertaining odd couple of Booker T and Goldust. If you are unaware, the Un-Americans are another chapter in the book of “Our Gimmick is We’re Foreigners who Hate America.” Luckily, they got two excellent wrestlers and Test to make it somewhat work. Like the previous match, this has a classic formula that has been used for decades, the “build up for the hot tag” match. Unlike the previous match, this one is just OK. Dustin Rhodes as Goldust was rarely the workhorse wrestler he was in WCW and early AEW, and this match is mainly just waiting for the hot tag. Unfortunately, Book and Gold will have to wait a bit more to win the gold, because a Test interference gives Christian and Storm the win. 2.75 stars.
After a… contest where the winner got to make out with Nidia (remember folks, we’re years away from women’s wrestling is taken seriously), we get Rob Van Dam vs… Chris Benoit for the Intercontinental Championship. Both men are on different brands, and this match will decide which brand the IC title will appear on. Seeing that Van Dam appeared on AEW recently to lose to Jack Perry, he’s pretty fresh in my mind. Watching this match, you expect some good wrestling. And to no surprise, they put on good wrestling. Benoit, controversy aside, is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Rob Van Dam was also a weekly highlight at this point. Rob Van Dam wins the Intercontinental Championship, meaning Raw gets the belt on their show. Personally, this match is underrated and deserves to be talked about more. 4 stars.
Our next match is Test of the aforementioned Un-Americans going up against the American Badass, the Undertaker. In my opinion, 2002 is one of the more underrated workrate years of the Undertaker’s careers. This match… does not prove my statement correct. While it’s always nice to see a good ol’ Test big boot, this match seems like filler. The crowd loved it and loved booing Test (the September 11th attacks were less than a year ago, so there was still that American pride), so it wasn’t 100% pointless. Undertaker wins with the Tombstone Piledriver. Not horrible, but whatever. 2 stars.
Here we go, the most famous match of this show: Triple H vs Shawn Michaels in an unsanctioned match. We are only days away from the beginning of the infamous reign of terror, so this is before the internet hated Hunter with their souls. It has also been over 4 years since Shawn’s last WWE match, so he celebrates his comeback by… wearing jeans. Triple H’s more NWA-style of wrestling works well in this match, due to its easy-to-understand story: Can Shawn Michaels still go like he used to. Short answer: yes. It’s a lot of fun to see the crowd rally with Shawn. Michaels wins when he reverses the pedigree into a jackknife pin. Quite easily, this is the best match in their series. Despite their next matches going for 25 to sometimes 45 minutes, they never recaptured the magic of this. 4.5 stars.
After a pretty bad segment with Trish Stratus, Lilian Garcia and Howard Finkel (notice we have no women’s matches on the show), we come to our main event: The Rock vs Brock Lesnar for the WWE Undisputed Championship. Brock Lesnar is probably having one of the best rookie years in wrestling history, and it’s only been 5 months. After dominating in matches with Van Dam and the Hardy’s, he’s already in the main event. Being the big Rock fan that I am, watching this match is so polarizing. The crowd is 100% team Brock and boo Rock relentlessly. Watching first run Lesnar is a really enjoyable experience because of how explosive and intense he is as a wrestler. When Lesnar cared, he’s one of the best in the world. Brock wins after reversing the Rock Bottom into the F5. Great match, and a great way to close the show. 4 stars.
Final Thoughts: To participate in the Brand Warfare of the time, whenever a show with both brands are covered, I’ll say who had the better night. Personally, Smackdown swept Raw. While Raw wrestlers had the best match of the night, Smackdown was more consistent with match quality. Overall, the PPV was a very enjoyable show. Is it my favorite SummerSlam? No (2000 supremacy). But is it one of the best? Absolutely. Final grade: A. Definitely a Gem.
And that was “Digging for Gems!” Any PPV recommendations? Make sure to send them to the 6-10 Twitter account. My name is Mr. Diamond… and I will see you next time.
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