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Still waiting on college football season to start? Exhibition football not doing it for you? Favorite baseball team already eliminated? Just need something to do on a Saturday night? Well, Cageside Seats has got your back. Make use of that WWE Network service that's probably collecting dust (or if you don't have said service, get yourself that service through this link right here—they'll even pay for your first month and everything...that means you can watch this year's Summerslam FREE!) and join us this Saturday night for some old school wrestling.
This week, we fight on Saturday nights, Maggle! It's the Summerslam you wanted us to live blog the most, SummerSlam 2002 from Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York in front of 14,797 fans. The event was the first Big Four PPV following the roster split that took place following Wrestlemania X8. And it's a blockbuster: Brock Lesnar challenges The Rock for the WWE Championship, Rey Mysterio makes his WWE PPV debut against Kurt Angle, and Shawn Michaels wrestles for the first time since a back injury forced him into early retirement in 1998 as he takes on his former BFF, Triple H in an unsanctioned street fight.
Be ready to hit play this Saturday at 7pm EDT. That's 6pm CDT, 4pm PDT, 1pm Hawaiian, 12 midnight British Daylight Time. Everywhere else, do the math. Live blog rules apply, so no pics. And no GIFs. So kindly spend your Saturday nights with us at the home of the best wrestling community in the world. (Don't fight me on this, you know I'm right.)
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Howdy! I'm Eddie Mac. I'll be live blogging this here program with you all.
Non-spoiler card:
- WWE Championship: The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar
- WWE Intercontinental Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Rob Van Dam
- WWE Tag Team Championship: The Un-Americans (Lance Storm & Christian) vs. Booker T & Goldust
- Unsanctioned Street Fight: Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H
- Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio
- Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho
- Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero
- The Undertaker vs. Test
Results:
- Kurt Angle defeated Rey Mysterio via submission in 9:20.
- Ric Flair defeated Chris Jericho via submission at 10:22.
- Edge defeated Eddie Guerrero at 11:47.
- The Un-Americans (Lance Storm & Christian) defeated Booker T & Goldust at 9:47 to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Rob Van Dam defeated Chris Benoit at 16:30 to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
- The Undertaker defeated Test at 8:18.
- Shawn Michaels defeated Triple H in an unsanctioned street fight at 27:20.
- Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock in 16:01 to win the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Eddie's Quick Review
Ok, sorry I didn't do a full-on play-by-play. I was as enthralled by the action that night as I was when I first watched it in 2002. If there's a short list of must-watch PPVs on the Network... and I'm sure one exists somewhere... this would be on it. The opener was FIRE. Ric Flair while not at his best is still Ric Flair. Edge and Eddie told quite the story and showed glimpses of their future main event runs. The tag title match was tag team wrestling done right. The Intercontinental title bout was a war, and Undertaker and Test was...well, it was what it was. But awesome to see the Biker Deadman breakout the tombstone piledriver if even for one night. The big two bouts not only delivered, it delivered in spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Shawn Michaels proved he still got it, Triple H proved he was as good a heel during that period as there ever was in the wrestling business, Brock Lesnar looked like a killer, and The Rock on his way out made sure Brock looked every bit the killer he was made out to be. Absolutely watch this show if you got three hours to kill. Just the last hour of the show alone justifies my rating, which is...