Date 22 September 2002 Sponsor Castrol Attendance 16,000 | Venue Staples Center Promotion WWE | |
 | ||
Tagline(s) The Next Big Thing has Arrived Themesong(s) "Adrenaline" by Gavin Rossdale Location Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States | ||
Unforgiven (2002) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and presented by Castrol GTX that took place on September 22, 2002, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the fifth annual WWE Unforgiven event and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands.
Contents
Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event—which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The main event from the SmackDown! brand featured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar fighting The Undertaker to retain the title after both men were disqualified. After the match, The Undertaker continued to attack Lesnar, throwing him through the wall of a set. The main event from the Raw brand featured World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeating Rob Van Dam to retain the title. Four matches were featured on the undercard. The first was a singles match where Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle. The next was between Trish Stratus and WWE Women's Champion Molly Holly, where Stratus won and captured the title. The third was a singles match between Eddie Guerrero and Edge, in which Guerrero won. The final featured undercard match had WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho defeating Ric Flair to retain the title.
Background
The event featured nine professional wrestling matches, with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from one of the WWE's brands--SmackDown! or Raw—the two storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees.
On the August 29 episode of SmackDown!, as WWE Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to SmackDown, Stephanie McMahon made a single elimination series of matches to declare the number one contender to the title. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit made it to the final, but McMahon put the Undertaker in the match, which he then won. The next week, Lesnar and Undertaker confronted each other. On September 12, during Undertaker's match with Matt Hardy, Lesnar threatened the Undertaker's wife, Sara, and attacked The Undertaker, when he tried to save her. The next week, The Undertaker tried to attack Lesnar, but was stopped by Lesnar's security.
On the September 2 episode of Raw, Eric Bischoff awarded Triple H the newly created World Heavyweight Championship and retained it against Ric Flair. However, Rob Van Dam and Flair defeated Triple H and Chris Jericho in a tag team match, when Van Dam pinned Triple H. The next week, Van Dam won a number one contender's match. Triple H cost Van Dam his Intercontinental Championship during a match against Jericho, and in retaliation Van Dam attacked Triple H during a title match with Jeff Hardy.
One of the feuds was on Smackdown when Billy and Chuck had a friendship ceremony with an old man as the priest, who was later revealed to be Eric Bischoff had the 3 Minute Warning attack Billy and Chuck. So Eric made a deal with Stephanie McMahon that if Billy and Chuck did not beat 3 Minute Warning then she would have to perform some "Hot Lesbian Action." If Billy and Chuck won, Bischoff would have to kiss Stephanie's ass.
Event
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match took place in which Rey Mysterio defeated Chavo Guerrero.
Preliminary matches
The first match was between The Un-Americans (Lance Storm, Christian, William Regal and Test) and Kane, Goldust, Booker T and Bubba Ray Dudley. After a brawl between the teams occurred Storm performed a Superkick on Kane for a near-fall. Storm attempted a second Superkick on Kane but Kane countered the move and pinned Storm after a Chokeslam to win the match.
The second match was for the WWE Intercontinental Championship between Chris Jericho and Ric Flair. During the match, Flair targeted Jericho's left leg. Jericho missed a Lionsault on Flair, which further injured Jericho's left leg. Whilst a trainer distracted the referee, Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho on Flair. Flair submitted, resulting in Jericho retaining the title.
The third match was between Edge and Eddie Guerrero. Edge performed an Edgecution on Guerrero but Guerrero placed his foot on the bottom rope to void the pinfall. Guerrero exposed a Turnbuckle, which Edge later collided with. Guerrero pinned Edge after a Sunset Flip Powerbomb to win the match.
The fourth match was between Billy and Chuck and 3-Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal) (with Rico). Jamal attempted to perform a Pop Up Samoan Drop on Gunn but Gunn countered the move into a Fameasser on Jamal. Rico distracted Gunn, leading to Gunn confronting Rico. Jamal pinned Gunn after a Pop Up Samoan Drop to win the match.
Main event matches
The fifth match was for the World Heavyweight Championship between Triple H and Rob Van Dam. After a back-and-forth match, Triple H knocked the referee down. Triple H attempted a Pedigree on Van Dam but Van Dam countered the move and performed a Five Star Frog Splash on Triple H. After Van Dam checked on the referee, Triple H performed a Low Blow on Van Dam. Triple H attempted to hit Van Dam with a sledgehammer but Van Dam performed a Spinning Heel Kick on Triple H. Ric Flair interfered, retrieving the sledgehammer. Flair appeared to hit Triple H with the sledgehammer but Flair hit Van Dam with the sledgehammer, turning Flair heel. Triple H pinned Van Dam after a Pedigree to win the match.
The sixth match was for the WWE Women's Championship between Molly Holly and Trish Stratus. Stratus pinned Molly after a Stratusfaction to win the match and the title.
The seventh match was between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. Benoit performed a Diving Headbutt on Angle for a near-fall. Benoit applied the Crippler Crossface on Angle but Angle countered the hold into an Ankle Lock on Benoit. Benoit countered the hold into the Crippler Crossface but Angle again countered the hold into an Ankle Lock on Benoit, with Benoit touching the ropes to force Angle to break the hold. As Angle applied the Crippler Crossface on Benoit, Benoit attempted to touch the ropes but Angle pushed the ropes away. After the referee argued with Angle, Benoit pinned Angle using the ropes for leverage to win the match.
The main event was for the WWE Championship between Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) and The Undertaker. During the match, the referee was distracted, allowing Lesnar to hit Undertaker with the title belt, which caused Undertaker to bleed. After Lesnar collided with the referee, who was knocked down, Undertaker performed a Chokeslam on Lesnar. Matt Hardy attempted to interfere but Undertaker performed a Last Ride on Hardy. Lesnar pushed Undertaker, causing Undertaker to knock the referee down, and attempted to hit Undertaker with a chair but Undertaker performed a Big Boot into the chair, causing the chair to hit Lesnar, and hit Lesnar with the chair, causing Lesnar to bleed. After Lesnar attacked the referee, the referee ruled the match a double disqualification. After the match, Undertaker threw Lesnar through the stage set.