A Look Back At Global Warning, WWE's Forgotten Australian PPV

Publish date: 2024-05-08

WWE’s Global Warning PPV was an event held in Melbourne, Australia on August 10, 2002. This was an event that was never released on pay per view, instead just getting a home video release, something that was very uncommon at the time. Many WWE fans didn’t even know the show had happened until there was an ad for the VHS release on Survivor Series 2002.RELATED: That Time WCW Did A Sold Out Tour Of Australia (And Still Lost Money)

The Story Behind Global Warning

For a show that was basically unwatchable at the time, you’d think this was just a standard run-of-the-mill house show event but that wasn’t the case at all. The main event of this show was a Triple Threat No Disqualification Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship with The Rock defending his Championship against Brock Lesnar and Triple H. Rock vs. Lesnar vs. Triple H! If that isn’t a dream match I don’t know what is.

The event was held in Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium and the attendance was a massive 56,734, an attendance record for the stadium. It was a WrestleMania-level event and as this was WWE’s first visit to Australia since 1986, the audience is so loud and treated every match with a reverence that most WWE crowds do not.

Global Warning Was A Fun Non-Canon Show

Global Warning kicks off with a huge pyro display and the first pop of the night goes to Stephanie McMahon of all people. Stephanie gets a huge babyface reaction, in fact, it’s kind of weird hearing her getting such a good reaction, and it’s probably the biggest of her career as a face. As Smackdown General Manager, she welcomes us to the show and introduces Rikishi, she does the Too Cool dance with him (which was also weird) and introduces the first match of the show: Rikishi vs. Rico in a Kiss My Ass Match.

Throughout the show, we get little videos of WWE superstars touring Australia. The first video shows Jaime Noble and Nidia going surfing, then we see Christian, Lance Storm, and Kurt Angle visiting an Australian Zoo, then later Edge, Billy Kidman, and Torrie Wilson are shown sightseeing together. There is also a Fan Frenzy event, and footage from a Charity Dinner/Auction with paintings of the Rock, Triple H, and Hulk Hogan going for thousands of dollars. It’s all entertaining stuff and things you don’t really see on WWE TV regularly.

RELATED: 10 Huge WWE House Show Matches That Should Have Been Televised

Filling out the rest of the card we get a Cruiserweight Championship match in Jaime Noble vs. The Hurricane, and a WWE Tag Team Championship match between the Un-Americans vs. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman, though as the show doesn’t seem to be in WWE canon, no titles change hands. Also, showing a sign of when exactly this show is taking place we get a Bra & Panties Match between Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson with the Big Valbowski as the Special Ref.

One of the show's best matches is a cracking singles match between Edge and Chris Jericho. Prior to the match, Jericho addressed the crowd but was immediately hit with some “You’re a Wanker” chants. Jericho, as well as Cole and Tazz on commentary, seemed to have no idea what this word means yet still manage to use the word as much as possible. Jericho answered the crowd with "You think I'm a wanker? Well I don't even know what a wanker is, and I think Australia sucks!" Tazz gets the line of the night however with "Jericho landed right on his wanker!" (As a Brit, this was all very funny stuff.)

And the night ends with easily the most high profile match on the show, a WWE Undisputed Championship No Disqualification Triple Threat Match: The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H. Like the other Championship matches on the show, the outcome was obvious, and the Rock retained his Championship in a very good 20-minute match. There were some hilarious house show style shenanigans after the match as babyfaces Rock and Triple H lay out Lesnar leaving Paul Heyman all alone. Heyman pleads for his life in front of Rock and Triple H in a desperate bid not to get beat up. But of course, they beat him up.

Global Warning was a fun non-canon WWE show in an era when these house show shenanigans were relatively rare. It was fun to see segments of the wrestlers sightseeing around Australia and the whole night had a fun vibe that you don’t see much of on WWE TV. Overall the show is well worth a watch.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKeoqqSowaa%2BjZympmecpLysecGamqRll6G8o63LZq6aqp6eu6h51rCcZp6fp7SwwNOepWaZpajBs63LopinZaClw3A%3D