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Historically Significant Disasters of Wrestling #82: The Lesnar/Angle/Big Show Feud of 2002

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Paul Heyman lied to a wrestler?! Be still my beating heart...

Managers are strange things. Essentially you are basically outsourcing the promo work to somebody else because you are not confident in one of the fundamental skills of one of your workers. However, managers can not only elevate workers to new heights, but also be defined as part of that worker's legacy. The Midnight Express is always known with Jim Cornette. Paul Bearer will always be associated with both the Undertaker and Kane. And Brock Lesnar will always feel attached to one Paul Heyman.

This obviously also means you can get a red hot angle out of a manager stabbing a former client in the back. The Undertaker/Kane feud worked that much better because of Paul Bearer going against the Dead Man. However, that was a great reveal that made logical sense.

Sometimes, betrayals are just...idiotic.

In 2002, Brock Lesnar beat the Undertaker in the Cell at No Mercy in a brutal match. On the next SmackDown, the Undertaker came out and, essentially, put the Beast over by simply saying that he was beaten by a better man and telling him he had no hard feelings about how personal their feud got due to the fact that, as the Undertaker, he was guilty of doing the same thing (incidentally, is there a wrestler who has done more for another wrestler in the modern WWE than Taker has done for Brock? The only one I can think of that may come close is Foley with Triple H). Lesnar in turn showed respect to the Undertaker and thus signalled the beginning of a change where he'd go from total monster heel to more of a badass antihero.

At the same time, Big Show, who had essentially became a plus sized jobber since the WWE version of the nWo disbanded on Raw, suddenly was drafted to SmackDown and straight after that same promo (at which point Taker hit him with the great burn "I'd rather be a has-been than a giant that never was") ambushed the Undertaker when he was saluting the audience and pressed slammed Big Evil off the stage.

And thus, without a #1 Contender's Match (WWE didn't really do that in those days), the Big Show became the #1 Contender to the WWE Championship. And suddenly we seemed to have a weird version of Rocky III, with Brock as Rocky (or Brocky, I guess), Big Show as Clubber Lang and Paul Heyman as Mickey, telling Brock that Big Show was too big to suplex, or F-5, or manhandle and thus Brock could not beat him.

But the thing is...the Big Show in late 2002 was not the ripped competitor he was at the height of his powers, nor did he have the ring know how either. Sure he wasn't at his heaviest, but he wasn't the agile giant that could pull off superkicks and some other gnarly moves. To be fair part of this may have been Vince just trying to get him to squash people rather than actually wrestle them, which made things look far worse in hindsight.

However an ominous sign of the chemistry (or lack there of) between him and Lesnar could be seen during the episode of SmackDown, where Show essentially leant Lesnar into the steel post, which Brock sold hilariously (watch the clip) before hitting a...um attempted chokeslam (honestly watch the clip) and screaming to a basically unconscious Lesnar to "give me the belt!", despite the fact Lesnar doesn't have it on him.

And Heyman continued to tell Brock to be a bit smarter and not just go out there injured, until the next week on SmackDown against Eddie Guerrero, Heyman threw in the towel and simply told Brock to go out there without him, since he wouldn't listen to him.

Still, for all this, and interference from Chavo, Lesnar managed to win. However just as he was saluting the crowd on the stage - yes you guessed it - Show pressed slammed Lesnar off the stage. Which would have made a bit more impact if Lesnar had at least one week off TV with his injuries rather than coming back the next week with taped ribs. I mean, I know that it was the week before Survivor Series, and I know they were trying to call the Heyman angle, and yes, Brock did look cool beating the shit out of the Big Show, but it would have been so much better (albeit a little riskier) if Heyman told Stephanie McMahon that Brock couldn't defend the title at Survivor Series due to injuries. You then could have a segment at the end of the show where Big Show demands the title as Stephanie is wavering whether to vacate it (we'll assume Heyman is looking after it), when Brock pops up on the monitor and cuts a small promo about how that's his title and Big Show has to take it off him man to man at Survivor Series. Crowd goes wild, Brock becomes more of a face.

Of course, now we have to talk about the match...

Whenever a WWE Championship match clocks in at less than 5 minutes on Wikipedia...you know there better be a damn good reason. I'm not saying every title match has to be Cena/Punk but 5 minutes would be a minimum requirement.

The match, for the most part is a pretty basic affair until Brock manages to F-5 Show and cover him, only for Heyman to pull the referee out and knock him out. Brock, having seen what Heyman did, then tries to go after Heyman, but is ambushed by the recovered Big Show who hits him with two chair shots before pinning him with a choke slam on the same chair.

The next episode of SmackDown saw Brock Lesnar do a lot of um...pacing in order to wait for Paul Heyman and Big Show arriving in the building. Of course, Stephanie McMahon had to get involved when Eddie Guerrero started complaining that it was an unsafe work environment when Brock threw Matt Hardy through a locker room wall (apparently when Big Show throws the WWE Champion off a stage though Stephanie is happy to do nothing). And with one leap in logic provided by Stephanie, Creative seemed to decide to double down as she said that she wouldn't allow Brock to lay hands on Heyman, under the threat of suspension.

Now, I am not saying that two wrongs make a right, but if you are trying to say that a face commissioner will let one guy press slam another off the freakin' stage and then turn around to the other, after he was screwed out of the championship and say "you can't touch him or his manager", I'd be questioning the allegiance of said authority figure.

Anyway, on the same show (it's a rather packed SD episode) Heyman comes out and talks about how "the Monster stopped listening to Dr Frankenstein" and that Brock needed to be taught a lesson on how it was both his brawn and Heyman's brains which got them success. Since Brock wasn't listening anymore, Heyman found himself another client. Furthermore, Heyman informed Brock that he had altered the Survivor Series contract so that Lesnar would not get a rematch.

So the next couple of episodes of SmackDown essentially involve Brock causing mayhem and Stephanie McMahon trying to placate her former champion. But here's the thing. A top babyface on a program like WWE can't get by with just anger and rage. Jim Cornette is right - funny doesn't sell tickets...but it does allow top stars to do something different and gives their characters a bit of range. Brock had one mode - angry and it made for some...uncomfortable television.

There's not much that can be said looking back about the WWE's attitude towards women in the Ruthless Aggression Era and Stephanie was one of the worst inflicted upon of all (ironic, considering the way that she is now portrayed on TV as basically avoiding any sort of comeuppance except for maybe twice a year). However, even accepting the slut-shaming she would get from Jericho and the Rock, Brock's antics during these episodes are downright uncomfortable.

Y'see Creative obviously wanted to show Brock as the wronged man who was being screwed by an Authority Figure who was scared of Heyman suing the company. And yes, Stephanie is clearly a bit incompetent. But is she any more incompetent than Mick Foley of 2016? Or Kurt Angle of 2018? But because she's a woman, the WWE essentially invites the audience to cheer as Brock intimidates her by screaming in her face and, in another, fairly creepy segment, blocking her as she tries to leave the ring and looming over her. And that's why Strowman is a better babyface than Brock ever will be. Because as much as he is scary, he also realises the value occasionally of turning up with a big double bass and playing a song just to make the crowd happy. Because if you have the crowd baying for blood every week...occasionally it's going to get in some weird and disturbing places.

In any case, Stephanie felt she had no choice but to suspend Brock. And, just to add to those nice Survivor Series subtitles she claimed "I didn't screw Brock; Brock screwed Brock".

Ok. Any situation where Brock Lesnar is compared to the Hitman is a big bow to draw. Furthermore, the whole use of the Montreal Screwjob as a crutch for storylines is a true pain in the arse. Nor did it make Brock seem like any more of an organic face because they essentially telegraphed the fact that they were trying to get him over with tired old ideas.

So anyway, the crux of the story was the new #1 Contender Kurt Angle managed to help Brock get his suspension lifted at Armageddon so that he could...ahem...'help' Angle deal with the Big Show. Which...Heyman or no Heyman...kinda feels like a heel move rather than something a straight up-and-down face would do.

And so it came to pass at Armageddon that Angle managed to carry Show to a...ok wrestling match. There some interesting bits, like when Show dumps Angle onto Heyman and then walks over to see if Heyman is ok, allowing Kurt to sneak up from behind and dump Show out of the ring too (I believe this is the only instance where a wrestler has been distracted by their own manager) and Angle bumping like a madman to make Show seem Thanos-like (there's a particularly insane bump he takes where he essentially flips over the ropes and lands on his upper back on the apron). It almost feels like a match 10 years too late, when a rear sleeper needed no more acting than the occasional half hearted flail forward to look effective.

But in 2002? With the SmackDown six in full swing? It just looks slow and dated, with a couple of noticeable botches- including one scary one where Angle doesn't quite fly off the moonsault and Show almost totally misses him.

It all leads to a ref bump and Heyman chucking a chair to Show, only for Angle to pick it up and waffle Show with it. Of course, Show kicks out, leading to the ref taking another bump (incidentally, referee Mike Chioda deserves some plaudits during this match as the amount of positioning he has to do to set up for all these bumps means he seems to move around more than the two workers). Suddenly, when Angle has Show bang to rights in the Ankle Lock, Tensai A-Train comes out and attacks Angle, leaving the two workers again sprawled on the mat.

It is at this stage that Show finally hits a chokeslam, and seems to have the match won, only for Brock to finally make his appearance, F-5 the Big Show and send Heyman running for the hills, allowing Angle to take advantage and get the 1,2,3.

One could easily say that this whole sorry beginning was a neccessary evil to get all the duck's in a row to do Angle vs Lesnar at WrestleMania 19. And there is no doubt that you had to keep Show strong for that feud with the Undertaker that was perculating in the background when the Dead Man returned. However, by switching Heyman from Brock to Show, WWE robbed Lesnar of one of his greatest assets and allowed him to be exposed as a mono-character, rather than the multi-faceted characters that made the best top faces.

And that's issue 82! Sorry if it's a little late. Next time we're seeing that WCW are not the only company to have a stupid fascination with bikers. See you then!

#1 Owen Hart vs Stone Cold @ Summerslam '97

#2 December to Dismember 2006

#3 The Fingerpoke of Doom

#4 The Scott Steiner vs HHH Feud

#5 Ryback vs Mark Henry @ WrestleMania XXIX

#6 Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon @ WrestleMania XXVI

#7 The Jerry Lawler/Michael Cole Feud

#8 The Curtain Call

#9 Bash at the Beach 2000

#10 Royal Rumble 2014

#11 Warrior/Hogan II @ Halloween Havoc

#12 The Cena/Laurinatis Feud

#13 The Firing of Ric Flair From WCW

#14 The Brogue Kick of Doom

#15 Lesnar vs Goldberg @ WrestleMania XX

#16 Immortal Revealed @ Bound for Glory 2010

#17 Sting vs Hogan @ Starrcade 1997

#18 Triple H vs Booker T @ WrestleMania 19

#19 The Corre

#20 The Undertaker vs Big Boss Man @ WrestleMania 15

#21 Jeff Hardy vs Sting @ Victory Road 2011

#22 Road Wild 1999

#23 The John Cena/Kane Feud of 2012

#24 Hulk Hogan's Mancow Interview of 1999

#25 CM Punk vs the Rock @ Elimination Chamber 2013

#26 The Reign of Bill Watts in WCW

#27 The Claire Lynch Affair Part One And Two

#28 Triple H vs Kevin Nash @ TLC 2011

#29 The Cactus Jack Amnesia Angle

#30 Hulk Hogan Leaving TNA

#31 HBK vs Hulk Hogan @ Summerslam 2005

#32 David Arquette: WCW Champion

#33 Katie Vick

#34 nWo Souled Out 1997

#35 The Vampiro/Sting Feud of 2000

#36 Once in a Lifetime, Episode II

#37 The Angle/Jarrett Feud of 2010/11

#38 The McMahon/Lashley Feud

#39 The Shockmaster

#40 CM Punk vs Ryback @ Hell in a Cell 2012

#41 Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper @ Starrcade 1996

#42 The WWE Championship Reign of Diesel

#43 Cena vs the Wyatts

#44 The Main Roster Run of Emma

#45 The WCW Run of Bret Hart

#46 John Cena vs the Miz @ WrestleMania 27

#47 The Lone Wolf AJ Styles

#48 Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger @ WrestleMania 29

#49 The Transition of Mike Awesome from ECW to WCW

#50 The Dolph Ziggler Conundrum Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

#51 The Rise and Fall of Damien Sandow/Mizdow Part One and Part Two

#52 DDP & Jay Leno vs Hollywood Hogan & Eric Bischoff @ Road Wild 1998

#53 Triple H vs Randy Orton @ WrestleMania 25

#54 Lord Tensai

#55 LOD 2000

#56 Sid Vicious vs Scott Steiner @ Starrcade 2000

#57 Bret Hart vs Yokuzuna (feat. Hulk Hogan) @ WrestleMania 9

#58 Royal Rumble 2015

#59 The Crucifixion of the Sandman

#60 Brock Lesnar's First Year Back in WWE

#61 Bo Dallas' Main Roster Run

#62 Vince Russo vs Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

#63 Randy Orton vs the Big Show @ Survivor Series 2013

#64 AJ Styles vs Abyss @ Destination X 2010

#65 EV 2.0

#66 The Summer of Punk Part 1; Part 2; Part 3

#67 The Lex Express

#68 Goldberg's first WWE Run

#69 Paige's Main Roster Run 2014-2016

#70 Seth Rollins' First World Title Run

#71 Hulk Hogan vs Sgt Slaughter @ WrestleMania VII

#72 Sting vs Abyss in a Last Rites Match

#73 The Undertaker vs Big Show in the Punjabi Prison

#74 Ric Flair vs Hollywood Hogan @ Uncensored 1999

#75 Roman Reigns' Road to WrestleMania 32 Part One, Part Two. Part Three

#76 Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice @ WrestleMania VIII

#77 Muhammad Hassan

#78 Sheamus' World Heavyweight Title Reign

#79 The Ghastly Match

#80 Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton @ Wrestlemania 33

#81 Goldberg vs Steiner vs Nash @ New Blood Rising

The InVasion Saga

Article One: Shane has a surprise for Daddy

Article Two: Booker T vs Buff Bagwell and the Temple of Boos

Article Three: Daddy's little Girl Gets in on the Action

Article Four: "WHY AUSTIN DAMMIT?! WHY?

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.