5 Things You Probably Don't Remember About WWE SummerSlam 2002
"While Michaels rode the match's momentum into another main event run (and seven-plus year wrestling tenure before ultimately retiring), it was originally designed to be just a one-off..."
One has to consider the 2002 SummerSlam to be not only among the greatest in the history of the event's chronology, but one of the best overall events in WWE history. Could it be the WrestleMania 17 of SummerSlams? Well, you've got an all-time classic bout between Triple H and a returning Shawn Michaels, a torch-passing WWE title match where The Rock functionally endorsed Brock Lesnar, and an undercard that included Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio (in his first WWE PPV match), Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge, and Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Benoit. It's an arguable case to make.
If WrestleMania 17 were the wild party that concluded the Attitude Era, then SummerSlam 2002 was the raucous shindig that demonstrated the shiny potential of the Ruthless Aggression period. Future events would find it hard to match the greatness of this event, but of course - when 15 of the 18 working wrestlers were former or future World champions, excellence is expected, and thus hard to equal.
That said, let's take a look back at the brilliant 2002 SummerSlam, and uncover a few forgotten tidbits from that night.
5. It Marked The First PPV With Split Commentary Teams
Well, sort of. Technically at Vengeance the month before, SmackDown announcers Michael Cole and Tazz barged their way onto the show "uninvited", despite it being a split-brand PPV. Raw's Jim Ross charitably allowed the two to call the first half of that show.
For SummerSlam, we saw the birth of the "traditional" arrangement, where SmackDown announcers called SmackDown matches and (you guessed it) Raw announcers called Raw matches. Weird that five months into the split, only then did this format become standard.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
