Speaker 1: Welcome everybody to another massive edition of The Fall Count.
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Steve Fallen.
Speaker 1: Today we are hopping into the wrestling time machine and
Speaker 1: throwing it back to August two thousand and two. We
Speaker 1: were talking about SummerSlam two thousand and two. Now, if
Speaker 1: you look at the landscape of the business at this
Speaker 1: exact moment in history, everything was changing. This was the
Speaker 1: dawn of a brand new era. It was the first
Speaker 1: Summer Slam that took place after the company dropped the
Speaker 1: letter F and changed its name from the World Wrestling
Speaker 1: Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Speaker 2: Not only that, it.
Speaker 1: Was the first Summer Slam after the infamous Raw and
Speaker 1: SmackDown brand extension. We had two distinct rosters competing for dominance.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about the elephant in the room regarding
Speaker 1: the main event scene. This was the first time the
Speaker 1: next big thing, brock Lesner was many venting a WWE
Speaker 1: pay per view. And who's missing from this card. It's
Speaker 1: stone cold Steve Austin. Now, history tells us that Austin
Speaker 1: was sitting at home at this point.
Speaker 2: Now why you ask.
Speaker 1: Because he walked out after refusing to put over brock
Speaker 1: Lesner In a King of the Ring tournament qualifying match
Speaker 1: on a random episode of Raw with absolutely zero build
Speaker 1: and you know what, I'm gonna say it right here
Speaker 1: on the fall count. I completely agree with Stone Cold's
Speaker 1: thinking on that decision. You don't just give away a
Speaker 1: generational money making match like Austin versus Lesner on free
Speaker 1: television of no build up whatsoever. It should have been
Speaker 1: handled so much better by Creative, But without the Texas
Speaker 1: Redlesnak on the card, the sheer star power on this
Speaker 1: show was absolutely incredible. Get a load of this statistic.
Speaker 1: There were eighteen wrestlers who competed on this broadcast.
Speaker 2: Out of eighteen, a staggering fifteen.
Speaker 1: Of them went on to become world champions in either
Speaker 1: the WWE before this event or after it. The only
Speaker 1: three guys on the entire card who didn't win a
Speaker 1: world title were gold Dust, who, let's be honest, is
Speaker 1: one of the best overall performers to ever not win
Speaker 1: the Big Gold One Tests and Landstorm. This is a
Speaker 1: loaded roster in the Summer Slam of two thousand and two. Now,
Speaker 1: the two Marquee blockbuster matches on the Marquee were the
Speaker 1: Rock defending the undisputed WWE Championship against Brockleusner and Shaw.
Speaker 1: Michaels stepping in the ring to compete in the first
Speaker 1: official match in over four long years against his former best.
Speaker 2: Friend Triple H.
Speaker 1: From a business standpoint, the show was a major success.
Speaker 1: It drew five hundred and fifty four thousand pay per
Speaker 1: view guys in North America. Let's get into the broadcast itself.
Speaker 1: The show kicks off with massive pyro display and a
Speaker 1: completely packed house, but right out of the gate something
Speaker 1: felt off.
Speaker 2: What was it?
Speaker 1: There was no opening video package boom boom for a
Speaker 1: major WWE pay per view. That is just flat out bizarre. Instead,
Speaker 1: they count to live shot of ww e's a restaurant
Speaker 1: the World in New York before going down to ringside.
Speaker 1: The Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle makes his entrance first
Speaker 1: to a chorus of booze in the legendary loud you
Speaker 1: Suck chance for the commentary team. The SmackDown Broadcast duo
Speaker 1: of Michael Cole and Taz were sitting at ringside to
Speaker 1: call the actions for the Blue Brand, along the Spanish
Speaker 1: announced team. Now ray Masterio was making his highly anticipated
Speaker 1: WWE pay perview debut here after signing with the company
Speaker 1: earlier that summer. Instead of walking down the ramp, Ray
Speaker 1: pulls off a classic surprise. He sneaks up and attacks
Speaker 1: Angle from behind with a beautiful her karana, and the
Speaker 1: referee rings the bell. This match was the ultimate opening
Speaker 1: contest for a summer Slam. I remember being sewing incredibly
Speaker 1: excited for this because Ray was one of my absolute
Speaker 1: favorites back in WCW in Kurt Engle was a wrestling machine,
Speaker 1: and keep in mind this was only Kurt Engle's third
Speaker 1: year on the main roster, third year.
Speaker 2: Thirty year.
Speaker 1: After an absolute clinic of counters, top rope maneuvers, and
Speaker 1: intense near falls, Kurt Engle manages to catch the high
Speaker 1: flying Mysterio locks in a grapevine ankle lock right in
Speaker 1: the center of the ring.
Speaker 2: Ray was absolutely.
Speaker 1: Stuck that nowhere to go. He's trapped and he is
Speaker 1: forced to tap out your winner by submission.
Speaker 2: Kurt Engele. Now, looking back, you know I'm gonnacuse by this.
Speaker 1: Looking back, it is honestly one of the greatest ten
Speaker 1: minute opening matches you'll ever see in professional wrestling history.
Speaker 1: They worked at such a frantic high octane pace that
Speaker 1: had never slowed down for a single second. It's the
Speaker 1: exact kind of match where you find yourself wishing they
Speaker 1: had another five or ten or fifteen minutes to play with,
Speaker 1: but they maximize every single second they were given. Now,
Speaker 1: Kurt Engel getting the victory was the absolute correct call here.
Speaker 1: He was the established, top tier main evant guy on
Speaker 1: SmackDown Now, while Ray was still the new kid on
Speaker 1: the block trying to prove himself to the w Ue audience.
Speaker 1: In losing to a competitor like the Olympic gold medalist,
Speaker 1: it didn't hurt Asteria in the slightest.
Speaker 2: In fact, it put him on the map.
Speaker 1: This match laid the groundwork for what we would later
Speaker 1: call the SmackDown six, a core group of talent that
Speaker 1: completely revolutionized television, especially on the Blue brand SmackDown. After
Speaker 1: that opening, we go back stage two Stephanie McMahon, the
Speaker 1: SmackDown General manager.
Speaker 2: She is shown walking through the corridors.
Speaker 1: Now, this was a historic transitional period for Stephanie's character.
Speaker 1: She was a major here heel on TV from late
Speaker 1: ninety nine all the way up into early two thousand
Speaker 1: and two, but this run marked her first time operating
Speaker 1: as a Babyface General Manager.
Speaker 2: She walks into her office only to.
Speaker 1: Find dun dun Dun Dun dun, the Raw General Manager,
Speaker 1: Eric Bischoff, casually sitting in her chair. Bischoff smirks and
Speaker 1: points out that there's only one official office for the
Speaker 1: GM in the arena, even though it's a gin arena.
Speaker 1: But we can't find more space, so he suggests they
Speaker 1: share it for the night. They sit down to watch
Speaker 1: SummerSlam together.
Speaker 2: Who sexual tension.
Speaker 1: Then we get a quick look at the Raw announced team.
Speaker 1: It's Jim Ross and Jerry the King Lawler who are
Speaker 1: stationed at their what looks like wcw ish. It's a
Speaker 1: classic perch near the entrance way that is where RAW
Speaker 1: is called. I feel bad for Jr and Jerry Lala
Speaker 1: being next to that pyro. This brings us to our
Speaker 1: next match. It's Chris Jericho taking on the.
Speaker 2: Night Shabbah Rick Flair.
Speaker 1: Now Jericho tries to lock in the walls of Jericho,
Speaker 1: but the veteran instincts of the Nate Jeboi kick in.
Speaker 1: Flair manages to trigger a distraction, locks in his iconic
Speaker 1: figure four leg lock and beats Chris Jericho.
Speaker 2: Now, it's a decent match.
Speaker 1: In this entire card, there isn't one bad match, and
Speaker 1: if there is a bad match, it's this one, and
Speaker 1: it's not bad. What's fascinating, though, is the behind the
Speaker 1: scenes story of this match. In Chris Jericho's book covering
Speaker 1: this era, he actually revealed that the original scripted finish
Speaker 1: for this match was an inside cradle. However, Jericho personally
Speaker 1: went to management and requested that the finish beat changed
Speaker 1: to Flair winning with the figure four leg lock. Jericho
Speaker 1: believed that winning with this signature submission would help rebuild
Speaker 1: Flayer's real life confidence because at the time, Rick was
Speaker 1: suffering from major self doubt during this stage of his career.
Speaker 2: Now it is while looking back.
Speaker 1: At it that Rick Flair, at fifty two years old,
Speaker 1: would have confident issues. As I record this, the man
Speaker 1: is still kicking, the man is still wheeling and dealing,
Speaker 1: and his confidence does not look broken. Next that bo
Speaker 1: we're going backstage into the locker room of the challenger.
Speaker 1: Brock Lesner is standing there absolutely terrifying alongside his master advocate,
Speaker 1: Paul Hayman. Now, Hayman always hated to be referred to
Speaker 1: as a manager. He was an agent. Hayman fires up
Speaker 1: Lesler with an intense, aggressive pep talk.
Speaker 2: He tells Brock that the Rock is going.
Speaker 1: To bring absolutely everything he has to the table, so
Speaker 1: Brock needs to strike fast, take him out early, and
Speaker 1: walk out of the building as the new undisputed heavyweight champion.
Speaker 1: That takes us back to the ring for a mac
Speaker 1: down showcases Eddie Guerrero taking on Edge. Guerrero was operating
Speaker 1: as an ultra crafty heel while Edge was the rising.
Speaker 2: White hot babyface.
Speaker 1: Now in the story of this match, heavily sended around
Speaker 1: Eddie Guerrero brudely targeting Edge's left arm and shoulder, trying
Speaker 1: to take away his power. Now, Edge is heavily selling
Speaker 1: this injury, screaming in pain, but he fights through the
Speaker 1: agony and he charges in. But Edge manages to summon
Speaker 1: a sudden burst of adrenaline and nail's jericho with a
Speaker 1: devastating spear. Using the exact injured shoulder, Edge rolls them
Speaker 1: over the rest the rought counts to three. The winner
Speaker 1: oge I love It, having Edge deliver the winning spear
Speaker 1: with the exact shoulder that Eddie was destroying for fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes to me was a night. Cherry on Top realized
Speaker 1: that the only way Edge could win is by hurting
Speaker 1: himself to defeat Eddie Guerrero. Following a brief commercial break
Speaker 1: highlighting ww's year round schedule, we go backstage and Jonathan Coachman,
Speaker 1: who's interviewing the UnAmericans, the trio of Christian Landstorm end Tests.
Speaker 1: They cut classic anti American promos, completely ripping into the
Speaker 1: fans for failing to appreciate their world class athletic abilities.
Speaker 1: This leads directly into the raw WWE Tag Team Championship
Speaker 1: match the challengers gold Dust and Booker T, who get
Speaker 1: a huge ovation from the crowd. This was one of
Speaker 1: the most popular tag teams during this era. They were
Speaker 1: easily the most entertaining of the night as well in
Speaker 1: my personal opinion. Now out next to the champions, it's
Speaker 1: Christian in land Storm.
Speaker 2: Booooo boom.
Speaker 1: Boom, absolutely on fire is Booker T cleaning house executing
Speaker 1: a textbook scissor kick. He goes with a pin. The
Speaker 1: referee is destructed by Tests. Running down to ringside. In
Speaker 1: the chaos, Lance Storm cracks Booker T with a brutal kick.
Speaker 1: Christian capitalizes, covering Booker T. And the referee counts to
Speaker 1: three your winners. In still WWE tag team champions Christian
Speaker 1: and Lance Storm. Now the formula was a classic tag
Speaker 1: team wrestling match. The heels cut off the baby Faces,
Speaker 1: isolating gold Dust for a long period of time, giving
Speaker 1: more heat to the aut Americans. It's It's on the
Speaker 1: card next week. Cut back to the World Restaurant in
Speaker 1: New York City rather a unique segment. Now, Nitdia is
Speaker 1: there alongside her on screen boyfriend, the Cruiserweight champion Jamie Noble.
Speaker 1: Yeah remember this, get ready? Jamie Noble is the Cruise
Speaker 1: aweight champion. Jamie Noble is giving Nitdia a task. The
Speaker 1: task is picking a random mail fan out in the
Speaker 1: crowd to passionately make out with what. She jumps right
Speaker 1: onto a guy and starts kissing him. Noble is on
Speaker 1: the microphone, screaming.
Speaker 2: You like that? Poor?
Speaker 1: You like that?
Speaker 2: Poor? Give it that tongue to him, Give that tongue
Speaker 2: to him? What?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Talk about? Classy Pg. Thirteen Attitude Era fall off hangover
Speaker 1: a segment right here. But listen, people all always critique
Speaker 1: the Attitude Era, but the Ruthless Aggression two thousand and
Speaker 1: two year in two thousand and three four five are
Speaker 1: filled filled with offensive things like this, give that tongue,
Speaker 1: Give that tongue here. Yeah, we're going back in the
Speaker 1: GM office. Eric Bischoff is smirking, says a woman like
Speaker 1: Nydia clearly knows her exact place in the business. Stephanie
Speaker 1: Fire's back saying that women in this business are actually
Speaker 1: exactly like her, always on top.
Speaker 2: Woo sexual tension.
Speaker 1: That brings us to the Intercontinental title match. Though it's
Speaker 1: Raw Van Dam who was representing Raw while Chris Bunoir
Speaker 1: was representing SmackDown. The stakes were incredibly high here because
Speaker 1: whichever a brand won, the man kept the IC title
Speaker 1: for their respected show. Now your winner and brand new
Speaker 1: Intercondinal Champion is Rob van Dam defeating Crispin One. Now
Speaker 1: it was very entertaining, but really the situation around this
Speaker 1: match is how Eric Bischoff is celebrating that Rob van
Speaker 1: Dam has the Intercondinal title and it's gonna be on Raw,
Speaker 1: while Stephen McMahon is furious. This would actually start the
Speaker 1: process of SmackDown creating a secondary championship, which becomes the
Speaker 1: United States Championship to balance out the rosters. Now, next up, though,
Speaker 1: Test makes his entrance ugh and he's taking on the
Speaker 1: American badass, the Undertaker. When you think about the Undertaker,
Speaker 1: you never think him versus Tests as something you go, oh,
Speaker 1: I remember that. Because Undertaker always wrestling the Rock Austin
Speaker 1: Triple H Kine Big Show, you never think of Tests.
Speaker 1: This match is very basic, fundamental big man match with
Speaker 1: obviously a predictable outcome. Now, the company wanted to push Tests,
Speaker 1: but once him and Stephanie McMahon broke up at a storyline,
Speaker 1: everything kind of went down hill for him. Now, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the emotional centerpiece of Summer Slim two thousand
Speaker 1: and two. The video packages and I already have tears
Speaker 1: in my eyes. They're showing the real life in on
Speaker 1: screen friendship dating back to the formation of Degeneration X
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven between Triple H and Sean Michaels.
Speaker 2: Fast forward to summer summer of two.
Speaker 1: Thousand and two, Triple H teases a massive DX re
Speaker 1: union with HBK, only to shock the world by turning
Speaker 1: on him, dropping him with a pedigree. Then came the
Speaker 1: infamous Mystery parking lot attack where Michaels was brutally ambushed
Speaker 1: security footage rat later revealed that the culprit was Triple H.
Speaker 2: All along.
Speaker 1: This led to Shawn Michael challenging his former best friend
Speaker 1: to an unsanctioned match at SUMMERSLA. I remember watching this
Speaker 1: live back in two thousand and two with a bunch
Speaker 1: of buddies.
Speaker 2: Now, I gotta tell you this was my night.
Speaker 1: Michaels came out though to the ring wearing jeans and
Speaker 1: cowboy boots while Hunter was in his traditional wrestling gear.
Speaker 1: The match was an absolute war, and it was a classic,
Speaker 1: and it lasted nearly thirty minutes. Let's jump though the
Speaker 1: incredible finish. Triple H goes to put Shawn Michaels away
Speaker 1: for good, setting him up for the pedigree. Michael's counters
Speaker 1: flipping backwards into a sudden lightning fast bridge pin. The
Speaker 1: referee slides into position one, two three. Shaw Michaels did it,
Speaker 1: crashing through tables, jumping off ladders, weapons destruction, But Shawn
Speaker 1: Michaels is the winner. This match is an absolute masterpiece.
Speaker 1: It is one of my favorite singles matches of all time.
Speaker 1: The storytelling was flawless, with Michaels brilliantly selling has repaired
Speaker 1: back while Triple H dismantled him with chairs, steps, and weapons.
Speaker 1: Even at thirty minutes, the match flew by because it
Speaker 1: is filled with NonStop action, drama and highly believable near falls.
Speaker 1: This was perfect because winning via a bridge showed that
Speaker 1: Michaels barely survived the match. Now, nobody expected Sean to
Speaker 1: be this phenomenal in this in shape after four years
Speaker 1: away from the ring. But the drama didn't stop at
Speaker 1: the bell, No, no, no. As Sean Michaels is being
Speaker 1: helped to his feet to celebrate, Triple H blindsides him.
Speaker 1: Hunter grabs his trusty sledgehammer and violently strikes Michaels directly
Speaker 1: in the spine. Michaels collapses in agony. Hunter strikes him
Speaker 1: a second time, leaving HBK completely motionless on the mat.
Speaker 1: As Jim Ross screams on commentary, Trevor, h you rotten
Speaker 1: hair for what you do?
Speaker 2: Did not do you have no show, you son of
Speaker 2: a prayer.
Speaker 1: There At the time, we all thought this was a
Speaker 1: tragic one and done.
Speaker 2: Farewell.
Speaker 1: Angle to write shawna television forever. There was no report
Speaker 1: suggesting he would ever wrestle again. Thankfully, his back heeled up.
Speaker 1: He returned to action just three months later and went
Speaker 1: on to become a champion and the first Elimination Chamber
Speaker 1: at Survivors Series two thousand and two. Then he retired
Speaker 1: in twenty ten WrestleMania twenty six But now it is
Speaker 1: time for the main event of the evening for the
Speaker 1: undisputed WWE Championship. But before we get into that, Lilly
Speaker 1: and Garcia, Trish Dress and Howard Finkel have a segment
Speaker 1: talking about puppies, and Howard Finkel has got a wiener.
Speaker 1: It's a strange, strange, strange moment, but I'm guessing they
Speaker 1: wanted to just have Trish out there Figle getting slapped,
Speaker 1: have a little break, because now it's time for your
Speaker 1: main event for the WWE champion Chip, the undisputed titles
Speaker 1: on the line. The video package highlights brock Lesner's rise
Speaker 1: from after winning the two thousand and two King of
Speaker 1: the Ring earning this exact title shot. On the other side,
Speaker 1: the Rock was entering as champion now after winning a
Speaker 1: legendary triple threat match at Vengeance. WWE ran these incredible
Speaker 1: cinematic training packages showing both men intensely preparing for the match,
Speaker 1: which made this bout feel like a legitimate, high profile
Speaker 1: athletic contest. The Rock was a beloved babyface, but his
Speaker 1: Hollywood movie career was taking him off.
Speaker 2: Into the stratosphere.
Speaker 1: Brock Lesner was a twenty five year old monster heeled
Speaker 1: challenger who only had debuted on the main roster four
Speaker 1: months earlier. Now let's get to the historic finish. The
Speaker 1: Rock mounts a massive comeback, taking out Paul Hayman at Rings.
Speaker 1: The Rock sets up Lesner for the rock Bottom, but
Speaker 1: Brock uses his sheer ungodly strength to break the hold.
Speaker 1: Lesnar pushes Rock off, catches him on the rebound, lifts
Speaker 1: him high onto his shoulders, and delivers a thunderous F
Speaker 1: five in the middle.
Speaker 2: Of the ring.
Speaker 1: One two three, Your winner and the brand new undisputed
Speaker 1: w W Champion is Brock Lesner. This was a monumental,
Speaker 1: historic passing of the torch. The Rock went out there
Speaker 1: like a professional and put over the rookie completely clean,
Speaker 1: right in the center.
Speaker 2: Of the squared circle.
Speaker 1: The live crowd in Long Island told a fascinating story here.
Speaker 1: They actively turned on the Rock and loudly cheered for
Speaker 1: the heel. Brock Lesner because they were completely debated by
Speaker 1: Lesnar's raw athleticism. And we're ready for the future of
Speaker 1: the WWE Lesler a hoist of the undisputed title high
Speaker 1: in the air. As Michael Cole famously yelled out on commentary,
Speaker 1: the next big.
Speaker 2: Thing has arrived.
Speaker 1: What historic, unforgettable night of professional wrestling. Thank you again
Speaker 1: for joining the fall Count.
Speaker 2: I'm ce Fall. We'll see you next time. Bye bye,