WWE RAW 5/6/2002

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Entertainment presents RAW
Date: 5/6/2002
From: Hartford, CT

The show starts off with the announcement of the change from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment. Get The F Out was born.

Opening Contest: WWE Women’s Champion Jazz vs. Trish Stratus in a no disqualification match: Trish opens the match with a series of strikes and nearly pins Jazz with a rollup. Stratus continues to work over Jazz in the corner with a series of chops. Jazz misses a splash in the corner and Trish has a rollup but Richards gets on the apron to distract the referee. Jazz sends Stratus to the floor to gain the advantage. Jazz drops Stratus with a head butt and they return to the ring. Jazz hits a double under hook suplex and taunts the fans. Jazz chokes Stratus over the middle rope and gets a near fall on a cover attempt. Jazz lifts Stratus up with a chicken wing and drops Stratus face first to the canvas. Trish hits a Chick Kick and a springboard bulldog but Richards pulls the referee out. Stevie Richards hits the Stevie Kick and Jazz gets the victory. (*1/2. Well, the match wasn’t bad but they didn’t get a lot of time.) We quickly go to the next match.

Second Contest: WWE Hardcore Champion Steven Richards vs. Bubba Dudley: Dudley backdrops Richards and delivers several jabs followed by an elbow strike to Richards and Jazz. Bubba goes to the floor and grabs a table. Bubba blocks a kick from Richards to hit the Bubba Bomb and regains the title. After the match, Raven enters and plants Bubba with a DDT to win the title. Justin Credible nails Raven with a super kick and gets the title. Crash Holly appears and hits a missile dropkick to pin Credible for the title. Holly backs into Bubba who whacks Crash with a trash can and Trish pins Holly to win the title! Bubba grabs Stratus by her hair but Jazz blows a fire extinguisher into Bubba’s face! Bubba is blinded as he power bombs Trish through a table! Stevie Richards rolls over and pins Stratus to regain the title! Bubba realizes what he did and isn’t happy with himself.

Backstage, the New World Order leave the dressing room with Scott Hall saying “lets do this.”

The NWO comes out to the ring where Bg Show lets us know why he turned on Steve Austin two weeks. He recalls that two years ago he was part of the main event but then this year he is at WWE New York holding kids on his shoulder. He is the biggest, baddest superstar to ever be in the company and that the group has gotten bigger and badder. That brings out Ric Flair to tell Show to quit whining and that he himself had worked night after night to get where he got. Ric doesn’t like the NWO and promotes the six man tag match later tonight. Hall chimes in and says that they have a surprise that will chance the history of professional wrestling.

Third Contest: WWE European Champion Spike Dudley vs. William Regal: Dudley goes on the attack hammering away on Regal despite his leg injury. Regal yanks Dudley to the canvas and works over the injured leg. Regal slams Spike legs first across the ropes and locks in a half Boston Crab causing Dudley to submit rather quickly. (NR. A total squash to get the title back on Regal.)

Earlier today, Booker T was at a 7/11 hiding from Goldust. Booker looks for one of his cups, but instead finds Goldust there undercover. Goldust convinces Booker to be his tag partner tonight.

Backstage, Ric Flair enters the NWO empty locker room to find an APA hat. Flair doesn’t like seeing that and is under the assumption that Bradshaw has joined the group.

Backstage, Undertaker tells a security guy to watch his bike and he won’t be long.

Fourth Contest: Shawn Stasiak vs. Brock Lesnar: Yet another squash match here as Lesnar continues to display his dominance since entering the company. Lesnar finishes Stasiak off with the F-5.

Backstage, Undertaker returns and sees that his bike is missing. The security guy tells Taker that Hulk Hogan took his bike!

WWE Undisputed Champion Hulk Hogan makes his way down to the ring riding Taker’s bike to the ring. Taker quickly comes out to the stage and tells Hogan that you don’t touch another man’s bike. Hogan suggests that Taker come down to the ring and do something about it. Hulk decides to bring the bike to Taker, but the bike stalls out on him and they have to fix it. Eventually, Hogan chases Taker to the backstage area looking for Taker. Hulk ends up getting in a truck and runs over the bike and goes back to looking for Taker.

Fifth Contest: WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero & Booker T vs. Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy: Guerrero and Van Dam kick off the tag match with Van Dam knocking Eddie down with a leg sweep and they have a standoff. Van Dam monkey flips Guerrero and nails Guerrero with a super kick followed by a face buster. Guerrero quickly goes to his corner and tags in Booker. Booker knee lifts Van Dam and hammers away on Van Dam in the corner. Van Dam shoulder rams Booker in the corner but is met with a leaping side kick. Van Dam battles back with a spinning heel kick and Hardy gets the tag. Hardy drops Booker with a leaping forearm strike and a double leg drop to Guerrero. Eddie clubs Hardy from behind on the apron to allow Booker to regain control of the match and sends Hardy to the floor.

On the floor, Eddie rams Hardy into the steel steps. Booker hits a scissors kick and signals for the Spinarooni to the delight of the fans. Hardy dropkicks Booker and soon plants Booker with a DDT. Guerrero and Van Dam get the tags with Van Dam avoiding Guerrero in the corner. RVD monkey flips Guerrero out of the corner and hits a step over heel kick. Van Dam takes Booker over with a hurricanrana and the rolling thunder on Guerrero for a two count. Booker dumps Van Dam to the floor while Hardy hits Guerrero with a side slam. Goldust came running out but is sent to the floor. Hardy hits the Swanton Bomb on Guerrero and Van Dam hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. (**1/2. That was a great finish and the match was solid, though the crowd didn’t seem to be overly interested in the action.)

Backstage, Terri challenges Molly Holly to a swimsuit contest.

Backstage, Ric Flair talks to Arn Anderson about how nobody actually saw Bradshaw get attacked by Big Show. Flair is going to confront him.

Sixth Contest: Terri vs. Molly Holly in a swimsuit contest: As expected, Terri wins the contest since she showed a lot more skin than Molly did.

Backstage, Ric Flair enters Bradshaw’s empty locker room where a Kane mask is laying. Flair is directed to Steve Austin’s locker room. Flair gets to the door, but Bradshaw is behind him and asks if he is looking for him. Bradshaw doesn’t have to explain anything and tells Flair that he and Austin are going to kick NWO ass.

Backstage, Undertaker flips out seeing what happened to his bike. When Taker leaves, a black limo pulls up and Kevin Nash exits it!

Main Event: Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and Bradshaw vs. New World Order: Austin and Pac kick off the main event. Austin drops Pac and Hall with a spine buster before sending them into each other. Pac misses a dropkick and crashes to the canvas. Austin catapults Pac chest first into the corner. Austin rams Pac head first into the corner several times. Pac kicks Austin and tags in Hall who hammers away on Austin but is met with a Thez Press and Austin pummels Hall several times. Show gets the tag to confront Austin after turning on him. Show backs Austin into a corner but Austin fights back with right hands. Austin ducks a clothesline but Show drops Austin with a backdrop. Bradshaw gets himself in and Austin isn’t happy. Hall tags in and is decked by Bradshaw. Bradshaw clotheslines Hall in the corner a few times and continues to work over Scott with right hands. Pac enters but is met with a shoulder block by Bradshaw. Pac kicks Bradshaw but is met with a power slam. Bradshaw continues his offense hitting a fallaway slam.

Pac nails Bradshaw with a spinning heel kick and Show tags into the match. Show works over Bradshaw tossing him out of the corner. Bradshaw has been busted open following a head butt from Show. Show big boots Bradshaw and taunts the fans while controlling the bloody Bradshaw. Hall tags in and takes Bradshaw over with a fallaway slam for a two count. Show tags in and continues to work over Bradshaw with a head butt. Show knee strikes Bradshaw several times to the head. Pac enters and knee drops Bradshaw several times in the corner. Bradshaw battles back with strikes but Pac keeps control and backs Bradshaw into the corner. Bradshaw drops Pac with a big boot for a near fall and here comes both Austin and Flair. Flair works over Pac with chops and attempts the figure four but Show enters and tosses Flair over the top to the floor. On the floor, Show has Flair and tosses monitors off the announcers table. Bradshaw nearly pins Hall after the Clothesline From Hell! Show choke slams Bradshaw through the table!

Austin is pummeled by the NWO and is rolled into the ring where Pac and Hall continue to work over Austin. Austin nails both Pac and Hall with a double clothesline and hits a Stunner on both men! Austin wants Show in the ring and here he comes. Show knee lifts Austin and hammers away on Austin to get control of the match. Show hip tosses Austin out of the corner and misses a clothesline but Austin stumbles and crashes to the floor. Show hits a clothesline in the corner to keep control over Austin. Show hits another backdrop on Austin. Austin gets a boot up in the corner to stop Show and hits a middle rope Thez Press to hammer away on Show. Austin attempts the Stunner but Show blocks it and big boots Austin into the referee to cause a referee bump. Flair enters the ring with a steel chair but Show grabs him for a choke slam. Austin low blows Show and hits the Stunner but there isn’t a referee! Austin tries to get the referee while Flair has a chair and ends up whacking Austin in the head with it! Flair continues to whack Austin across the knees with the steel chair!

Flair grabs a microphone and announces his next official announcement. Flair says that Steve Austin will wrestle Flair and Big Show in a handicap match at Judgement Day! Flair locks in the figure four leg lock while Show is laughing at Austin. Hall is helping Flair get more leverage from the floor. Flair and Show stand tall to end the program. (**1/2. We didn’t get a finish, but I should note that I really enjoyed Bradshaw in his role here. The heel turn for Flair is fine as Flair works far better in a heel role, anyway.)

Final Thoughts:
There was a lot of filler on the show, but we got a decent tag match and the main event was entertaining along with the Flair heel turn. It’s not a good show, but there are entertaining segments. RAW hasn’t found its groove since the split.

Thanks for reading.