Purely Joyful Movie!

A Brilliant Conflict

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

1. WWF Cruiserweight Championship: Tajiri Vs. Champ-Kidman - Awesome tough match, so much great moves. Funny was in the beginning - fans chanted boring but in the end, they shouted for Kidman. New Champ-Tajiri. 10/10 2. Scott Hall Vs. Bradshaw - There was Faarooq covering Bradshaw's back, but Hall got victory in a cheap way anyway. 6/10 3. WWF Women Championship: Champ-Jazz Vs. Trish Stratus - Jazz won in a clean way, I have to admit that I'm surprised how often Trish Stratus didn't win her matches in this era. 7/10 4. Jeff Hardy Vs. Brock Lesnar - Lesnar's debut and total destruction of Jeff Hardy. That victory was 100% predictable. 7/10 5. Kurt Angle Vs. Edge - Angle won in a clean way in one exciting match. 8.5/10 6. WWF International Championship: Champ-RVD Vs. Eddie Guerrero - Eddie won, surprisingly for me. 7/10 7. Stone Cold Vs. The Undertaker - Too much long and heavy match. I wasn't excited, and in fact the ending was stupid, Taker won thanks to "blind" Ric Flair. 5.5/10 8. WWF Tag Team Championship: Champs: Billy & Chuck Vs. Al Snow & Maven - One average match, champs retained. 5/10 9. WWF Undisputed Championship: Champ-HHH Vs. Hulk Hogan - That was classic. I mean classic Hogan's match - kicks,punches, choking and one in 5 minutes - basic move. Sorry guys, I¨M not into it. That thing on WM with Rock was better. ANd the worst of all is that hogan 49 years old stiff, again hold the championship. 6/10

I have to hand it to Vince McMahon-he is the best wrestling promoter on the planet because he is a wrestling fan. Backlash 2002 was brilliant and McMahon proved to me just why the WWF has stayed in business for so long. Forget the old WCW-it was good at times but it was run by idiots who knew nothing about what the wrestling fans wanted. Vince McMahon gave the fans what we wanted-Hollywood Hulk Hogan VS The Game Triple H.I found Backlash to be very good. Most of the undercard matches were great (especially the women's match which featured two stunning ladies). The best undercard match was Stone Cold Steve Austin VS The Undertaker who had a wild brawl refereed by Ric Flair.The main event pitted Hulk Hogan VS The Game Triple H. This is a match I've wanted to see for a few years. It was a brilliant match and once again the crowd were really behind Hogan and The Game. It was quite an unpredictable match at times. I give credit to Hogan-since his return to the WWF in February 2002 he has tried to stay away from bodyslams and punches and come up with some other moves. There were plenty of holds in this match and some exciting moments.All in all, Backlash 2002 was fantastic. Well done Vince McMahon and all the wrestlers involved.As I'm in a good mood, I'd also like to praise Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross who make a great announcing team.

I was genuinely surprised by some of the stuff that happened at this year's Backlash- for one thing the heels (bad guys) got 8 victories out of the 9 matches on the card. The matches were as follows:BILLY KIDMAN vs TAJIRI. Great way to start the event, and my pick for match of the night. It's good to see progress from the roster split, resulting in more wrestlers getting TV time- KIDMAN being an example. This was a very exciting match with a fairly good ending- the red mist putting TAJIRI over as a heel. Some cool spots in this one: TAJIRI's German Suplex into a rolling bridge, and KIDMAN's Second Rope SkyHigh and missed Shooting Star Press. The crowd were really into this by the end, which is a good sign for the Cruiserweight division. Anyhow, TAJIRI won spewing red mist in KIDMAN's face as he went for a Powerbomb.BRADSHAW vs SCOTT HALL. Pretty awful. A slugfest and nothing more. The nWo are the weakest poison I've ever heard of. They'd better start recruiting some top names. HALL won with a rollup.TRISH STRATUS vs JAZZ. OK match. I would've preferred MOLLY vs TRISH, but this match was alright in its own respect. My first surprise of the night came when TRISH tapped out to the STF.BROCK LESNAR vs JEFF HARDY. I was disappointed with this match. It was quite short, but I think the ref-stopping-the-match gimmick will be good for LESNAR, who destroyed JEFF w/ a Fireman's Carry into a Spinning DDT, and 3 Powerbombs.EDGE vs KURT ANGLE. Not bad, but nothing outstanding either. ANGLE hit a nice Belly-to-belly from the top rope. They should've gone for some submission wrestling and pit the Ankle Lock vs the Edgucator (EDGE's reverse Sharpshooter). ANGLE won w/ the Olympic Slam.EDDY GUERRERO vs ROB VAN DAM. Surprise #2 of the evening as GUERRERO walks away w/ the gold. RVD was on the receiving end fo most of the match, so (to be fair) the better man won. Good spots from GUERRERO: Dragon Sleeper w/ Mexican Surfboard, Sunset Flip Powerbomb (devastating) and his Frog Splash. BTW VAN DAM doesn't get to use his VanDaminator enough. (Or the VanTerminator)THE UNDERTAKER vs STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN. Very, very long match. Why the nWo were involved is beyond me. FLAIR [unintentionally] screws STONE COLD, and the UNDERTAKER becomes #1 contender.BILLY & CHUCK vs AL SNOW & MAVEN. The only bad thing I can think of about the roster split thus far (besides the overly long promos on SmackDown!) is that the tag team division is crap! BILLY & CHUCK are pretty annoying as champs, and this match wasn't very good. BILLY & CHUCK won. (Can anyone tell me where Nidia is? She hasn't had a single match since winning Tough Enough 1)HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN (the other Triple H) vs TRIPLE H. The final surprise of the evening. HOGAN walks away fom this VERY old school match with the Undisputed Title. Interference from UNDERTAKER and JERICHO (who I wish they'd turn face again), and a Legdrop finishes off The Game.So that's it. Not bad, but nothing terrific. The PPVs have been lagging since last year's No Mercy, in my opinion. I really don't know what they're doing with HOGAN as champ.

Ok here's the recap of Backlash 2002; Match 1: Billy Kidman vs Tajiri, this match started out pritty good, had good stunts and near falls, but the part when Tajiri sprayed the red juice into Kidman face, That was pritty gay. Match 2: Scott Hall vs Bradshaw, sorry to say but this was probaly the worst match in Backlash, It was just plain stupid and had no point to it. Match 3: Jazz vs Trish Stratus, This match was also not that good because it wasn't a good match period, It would have been a lot better if Trish Won. Match 4: Brock Lesnar vs Jeff Hardy, this was a predictable match, no way jeff hardy alone would have beaten Brock Lesnar, the only thing that surprised me in this match was that the referee stoped the match because it was getting to brutal. Match 5: Edge vs Kurt Angle, I would say that this was a pritty entertaining match, had a lot of close pinfalls and suspence. Match 6: Rob Van Dam vs Eddie Guerrero, Now I'm a big fan of RVD so with him loosing the match and his championship against Eddie, I don't really care for this match. Match 7: stome Cold vs The Undertaker, Now this match was such a fluke, I can't believe that Ric Flair didn't see Austin's leg on the ropes!! But I knew from the beginning that Undertaker would have win some how. Match 8: Billy and Chuck vs Al Snow and MAven, Now this match was just plain dumb, I mean you knew that Al and Maven wouldn't have won the tag team championship, and the match was just stupid and boring, this was the second worst match at Backlash. Match 9: Triple H vs Hulk Hogan, now this match shocked me all the way, I thought for sure that Triple H would have retained his title but because of the Undertaker, He got the leg droped by Hogan and lost Undisputed WWF chmapionship, this match was probaly the best match at Backlash!!! Overall Mark for Backlash 2002= C+