by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

If you don't want to spoil the surprises of the last several hours of original WWE programming for 2002, then hit BACK now, and make sure you find time in all of your holiday festivities to sit down and watch the TV shows when they air!

Otherwise, here are reports from both RAW and SD! tapings compiled from e-mail reports:

WWE RAW/Heat Tapings
Saturday, Dec. 21

• In matches taped for Heat: Maven and Johnny Stamboli beat jobbers... and Raven defeated Tommy Dreamer in a match that had the added stipulation that if Raven could win, he would be allowed back on RAW.
• Kane and Rob Van Dam teamed up and beat 3 Minute Warning after both a chokeslam and a 5 Star Frog Splash.  After the match, Rico (back after a 1 week hiatus) had to smooth over some dissension between Rosie and Jamal.
• Backstage: Spike Dudley busted into Bischoff's office, looking for revenge on his half-brothers' behalf against Regal/Storm.  Instead, Spike's booked against Batista.
• Earlier Today:  D'Lo Brown hot heel heat by questioning Oklahoma's chances of bowl success, and also debuted a new look...  very "Konnan" said one eye witness.
• D'Lo then proceeded to lose a match to Test, getting intentionally DQ'ed for assaulting the ref.  After the match, he goes after Stacy, but Test chases him out through the crowd.  
• The "RAW Rewind" showed WWE's last visit to Oklahoma City, when JR kissed Vince's ass.  This was important because it led to...
• Eric Bischoff came out and started berating Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, apparently for their snide comments about the choice of "Rewind" footage.  JR/King vs. Bischoff/Morley is booked for later tonight... 
• The Hurricane scored a win over Chris Nowinski.  Nowinski was actually in control, but got distracted when Maven came out to stand at ringside, allowing Hurricane to get the W.
• Batista completely squashed Spike Dudley.
• Backstage: Bischoff and Morley decide to let Regal and Storm take over their spot in the main event (the main event?  Oh, lord)....
• Trish Stratus, Jackie, and Stacy beat Victoria, Ivory, and Molly in a match where all the girls had Christmas-inspired costumes on.  Trish pinned Ivory for the win.
• Backstage: Goldust and Jericho bump into each other, and Jericho launches into a tirade about how Booker is the one who does all the work on his team, trying to make Goldust question his contributions....
• But Jericho's mindgames didn't work, as Goldust and Booker retained the tag titles with a win over Jericho and Christian.  Goldust scored the pinfall for his team, over Jericho, no less.
• Backstage: RVD tries to bolster Kane's spirits for the holidays, but Kane is all Scrooge-y.  Sounded like Alleged Comedy...
• D'Lo hit the ring and called out Test, and basically, they did the exact same match as before, except this time, D'Lo doesn't go through the crowd, he gets beat down in the ring by Test.
• Earlier today: Santa was at a local mall, tormenting kids by telling them there is no Santa, etc....  Santa takes off his beard, and it turns out it's actually Sean O'Haire (might that have been the perfect gig for Raven?).
• HHH hits the ring, and calls out Scott Steiner.  HHH claims he wasn't healthy last week, but he is now, and he wants Steiner in an arm wrestling match RIGHT NOW.  Steiner accepts, and despite HHH's attempts to cheat, wins decisively.   HHH bails from the ring, and Steiner rambles through his catchphrases.
• Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler beat Lance Storm and William Regal, but only with the help of the Dudley Boyz and the brass knucks.  Ross got the pin over Regal in the end, and JR got to celebrate with the Duds, Lawler, and his fellow Oklahomans.  Note: Bischoff and Morley did commentary for this match.

WWE SmackDown!/Velocity Tapings
Sunday, December 22, 2002

• In matches taped for Velocity: Matt Hardy and Noble/Nunzio beat jobbers... A-Train beat Funaki (welcome back, Albert!)...  and John Cena beat Chuck Palumbo
• Stephanie opened the show with the declaration that Big Show vs. Chris Benoit will be the main event tonight, and will determine who gets the title shot against Kurt Angle at Royal Rumble.  So much for Heyman's master plan to keep bouncing title shots between just his two guys...  and Show's none too happy, but he's kept at bay when Steph reminds him that she has the power to suspend him if he does anything stupid.  Show settles down and says it's all OK, because he can squash Benoit, anyway.  Predictably, this brings out Benoit, who "cuts Show down to size" by kicking him in the balls.
• Bill DeMott served Crash Holly a super-sized holiday helping of Squash.
• Backstage:  Dawn Marie and Al Wilson exchange Christmas presents, a video camera and Viagra, respectively.  Oh, and we're all invited to the wedding, alternately reported as taking place on the Jan. 4 or Jan. 11 editions of SD!...
• Los Guerreros retained the tag titles with a win over Edge and Designated Tag Partner Extrordinaire, Billy Kidman.  The Guerreros tried at first to get counted out or DQ'ed, but the ref was on to them, and threatened to take their titles if they didn't stop.  But in the end, a run-in from A-Train -- who attacked Edge -- was enough to help the Guerreros win.
• Paul Heyman came out and warmed the crowd up for Kurt Angle...  when Angle hobbled to the ring, the "You Suck" chants were loud and clear.  Angle basically asserted that he's the best, Lesnar sucks, etc, etc, etc....  and then the pay-off was Paul Heyman's present to Angle:  "Team Angle" (comprised of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin), who will now do all of Angle's dirty work for him.
• Matt Hardy hit the ring, and after his disappointment of last week, first challenges Brock Lesnar to a match next week, and then decides to punk out his loyal Mattitude Follower, Shannon Moore, for his failure against Lesnar the week before.
• Backstage: Paul Heyman has to keep making peace between Angle and Big Show.
• Rikishi was able to dispatch B-2, when interference from John Cena went awry.
• Chris Benoit managed to get the win over Big Show, but paid the price.  When the match was over, the lockerroom cleared, and Big Show, Heyman, Angle (with his crutches), and Team Angle all pounded on Benoit as the show closed.

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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH.  He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.

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