On Brand Segunda Caida: 2002 Big Boss Man

 Big Boss Man was brought back to WWF in late 2001 in what I can only assume was a classic WWF "Hey it's December and we probably need a couple more options to flesh out the Rumble in a month" move. After returning in a Smackdown feud against Steve Austin he was almost immediately relegated to the syndicated weekend shows. This would be how his final WWF run would play out (while being there just long enough to bridge the gap from WWF to WWE). Metal was on at 1 AM Saturday nights (right after WCW Worldwide at midnight) and it felt like I was the only person watching these shows. My college radio show was midnight to 2 AM, so I would record Metal and Worldwide, get Taco Bell on the way home, and soak in the syndicated wrestling while wolfing down double decker tacos. I had fond memories of this little 2002 Boss Man run and wanted to see how it held up.

Big Boss Man/Booker T vs. Steve Austin/The Rock WWF Raw 1/7/02

ER: Boss Man came back and was put immediately into a pretty high profile program opposite the two biggest stars in wrestling, but would be found exclusively on the weekend syndicated programs just a month later. And Boss Man is clearly the glue of this fast paced, crowd pleasing match. Now, a match with the two biggest stars in wrestling shouldn't really need much glue, and this packed MSG crowd would have been happy just having both of them out here saying catchphrases, Stunner, People's Elbow, middle fingers, Steveweisers, etc. Instead we get 8 super fun minutes where the winners were never in doubt and the winners took 80% of the match, while Boss Man worked to make sure the momentum didn't die down. When Booker came in, he was mostly doing exchanges with Rock; Boss Man was the one trying to tie everything together, taking all the big bumps (he ate a clothesline to the floor from Rock, got punched off the apron by Austin and did a tremendous sprinkler spit spray as he was falling, then got knocked down again when he tried to get up on the apron shortly after). 

2002 Boss Man was really great at credibly playing a big man getting his ass kicked. He went up for two different Austin spinebusters, flew hard into the Thesz press, went over on a heavy Austin backdrop, and had better timing than anyone in the match. I had forgotten how sloppy Rock was during this era, really hitting a lot of his moves at 50% and expecting his opponent to make it work (Booker has to belly to belly suplex himself and had to bump a crossbody that looked like Rock couldn't decide between clothesline or crossbody so just did a terrible version of both combined), but Booker and Boss Man were good at making it work! Boss Man was great at getting heat from a crowd who wanted only to cheer Austin and didn't so much care about heels, but Boss Man was good at making sure those face reactions were even louder. It's hard to work interesting Heel in Peril segments, but he did, and his punches on Rock in the corner were among my favorite parts of the match.

Big Boss Man vs. Edge WWF Smackdown 1/10/02

ER: This was so awesome, Boss Man was the master of 3 minute matches with unique structures during this era. This was a one sided massacre, Boss Man one step ahead of Edge, and it was a smart match. He launched Edge with two different beals, cut off every offense Edge tried (catching a nice crossbody and dropping him with a great backbreaker), bullies him around the ring with several perfect punches, throws in a kneelift and chokes Edge down to the mat. We get the cool as hell Boss Man slide, an impossibly perfect baseball slide for a 300 pounder, before belting Edge. I love the way Edge's comeback and win is set up, with Boss Man totally dominating and then going to the floor for his night stick. The timing on this next spot was so well done, as Boss Man gets back into the ring with the stick, Teddy Long reaches out to grab it, and while the baton is being held by both Long and Boss Man, Edge nails him with a spear. Boss Man is so smart about setting up those kind of timing spots, always nails the mark. Even better was how he gets knocked into the ropes, bouncing back into an Edge spinning heel kick. Boss Man gets knocked and bounces off the lower ropes, springing back in time to eat that kick. He doesn't always go to that low rope bump, but when he does it always makes sense for the move he's selling. He's able to make Edge's silly "I grab your head and pull you backwards" look plausible, and the Edgecution on the night stick is a neat twist on the finisher.