Vengeance 2002 Vengeance 2002 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on July 21 , 2002 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit , Michigan . It was the second annual Vengeance produced by WWE . Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport . The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before , during , and after the event , were planned by WWE ' s script writers . The event starred wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown ! brands : storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner . The main event saw The Rock win the WWE Undisputed Championship in a Triple Threat match also involving Kurt Angle and the defending champion The Undertaker . The main matches on the undercard were John Cena ( in his first - ever PPV appearance ) versus Chris Jericho , Rob Van Dam versus Brock Lesnar for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and The Un - Americans ( Lance Storm and Christian ) versus Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Edge for the WWE Tag Team Championship . Background . The main feud heading into Vengeance was between The Rock , Kurt Angle and The Undertaker fighting for the Undisputed Championship . At King of the Ring 2002 , Undertaker defeated Triple H to retain the Undisputed Championship . During the match The Rock interfered hitting Undertaker with a Rock Bottom . Undertaker , angry because of The Rock ' s interference , asked Mr . McMahon for a match with The Rock . Vince booked the match for Vengeance and told Undertaker that it was for the Undisputed Championship . On the July 4 edition " SmackDown ! " , however , Undertaker wrestled Kurt Angle to a draw in a WWE Undisputed title match , when Undertaker won by pinfall and tapped out to Angle ' s submission hold . On the following " Raw " McMahon announced that Angle would be added to the match . On the final edition of " SmackDown ! " , The Rock defeated Angle by Disqualification due to interference from The Undertaker . Another storyline heading into Vengeance was Triple H determining what brand he would permanently join . He could either stay on SmackDown ! with then - new General Manager Stephanie McMahon or move back to " Raw " with General Manager Eric Bischoff . Originally the New World Order ( nWo ) was planning to threaten Triple H to join the nWo on his return to Raw , but due to backstage circumstances , the nWo was written off television a week before Vengeance . Shawn Michaels , however , would still promise to bring Triple H back to " Raw " . The biggest match on the undercard was Brock Lesnar versus Rob Van Dam for the WWE Intercontinental Championship . The previous month at King of the Ring , RVD defeated Chris Jericho in the first Semi - Final round while Lesnar defeated Test in the second Semi - Final round . During the latter event , Lesnar defeated Rob Van Dam in the King of the Ring tournament to earn the right to face the WWE Undisputed Champion at SummerSlam . RVD had held the Intercontinental championship since the May 27 edition of " Raw " when he defeated Eddie Guerrero ( who he lost the title to at Backlash on April 21 ) in a ladder match . On the June 24 edition of " Raw " , I . C . Champion RVD interrupted Lesnar ' s KOTR coronation by attacking him from behind and knocking him down with the Van Daminator and the Diving superkick . Later that night , Lesnar challenged RVD for the Intercontinental title , which Lesnar lost by Disqualification when Lesnar ' s agent , Paul Heyman interfered . Afterward , Lesnar nailed Van Dam with two powerbombs including one through the announce table . On the July 8 edition of " Raw " , Lesnar and Heyman issued a challenge to Van Dam at Vengeance for the I . C . title , which Van Dam accepted . Afterwords , Van Dam brawled with Lesnar and Heyman , ending with Van Dam nailing Heyman in the face with a Van Terminator along with the steel chair in hand . Later that night , during the 10 Man tag team match , RVD chased Shawn Michaels to the back while being distracted , allowing Lesnar to perform an F - 5 on Van Dam onto the steel ramp . On the final edition of " Raw " , Lesnar and Undisputed Champion The Undertaker defeated RVD and Ric Flair in a tag match . Afterwords , Lesnar nailed Undertaker from behind and performed an F - 5 on him . John Cena had made his WWE debut a month before Vengeance on the June 27 episode of " SmackDown ! " and had entered a minor feud with Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho . Jericho and Edge were also feuding at that time . Their feud began on the June 6 episode of " SmackDown ! " when Edge and Jericho were scheduled to compete in the King of the Ring First - Round tournament . But Edge forfeited his match to Jericho due to a shoulder injury that he suffered the previous week on " SmackDown ! " in a Steel Cage match after spearing Kurt Angle . Jericho then forced Edge to raise his hand in victory but Edge refused and tried to assault Jericho but Jericho retaliated by targeting Edge ' s shoulder including nailing his shoulder onto the steel ring steps with the steel chair . Edge and Jericho were booked to fight each other at Vengeance , until Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Edge defeated Billy and Chuck for the WWE Tag Team Championship on the July 4 edition of " SmackDown ! " . Later that night , Jericho went one - on - one with Cena , which Jericho won after he pinned Cena , with his own feet on the ropes . The following week on " SmackDown ! " , Cena teamed with The Undertaker to take on Angle and Jericho in a tag match , which Cena and Undertaker won after Cena pinned Jericho . Chris Jericho then asked Mr . McMahon to let The Un - Americans ( Lance Storm and Christian ) to wrestle Hogan and Edge for the Tag Titles instead at Vengeance , to which McMahon agreed . On the July 8 edition of " Raw " , Jeff Hardy had defeated William Regal to win the WWE European Championship . Regal , upset after his loss , used his rematch clause at Vengeance . On the July 15 edition of " Raw " , WWE European Champion Jeff Hardy teamed with Bubba Ray dudley and Spike dudley to take on William Regal , Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero in a Six man tag team Elimination match . Benoit last eliminated Hardy by forcing Hardy to submit to the Crippler Crossface following a Brass Knuckles shot by Regal ( who had already been eliminated ) . Booker T had been feuding with the nWo at the time of their demise after being literally kicked out of it on the June 10 edition of " Raw " . The following week on " Raw " , Booker T competed in the King of the Ring Quarter - Final round against Brock Lesnar which Lesnar won following the interference from the nWo . On the July 15 edition of " Raw " Booker T defeated former nWo member The Big Show by disqualification after Big Show hit Booker with a chair . After the match , Big Show asked Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff if he could fight Booker in a No Disqualification match at Vengeance , which Bischoff granted . On the June 6 episode of " SmackDown ! " , Jamie Noble debuted by attacking the Hurricane and was joined by Nidia . On the June 20 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Noble defeated Billy Kidman after he nailed him with the DDT off the top rope . Afterwords , The Hurricane got his mask back ( that Noble and Nidia had taken from him the previous week ) after nailing Noble with the chokeslam . Then at King of the Ring , he defeated The Hurricane for the Cruiserweight Championship . The following three weeks on " SmackDown ! " , Kidman and The Hurricane defeated Noble and Tajiri in two tag team matches . Billy Kidman then challenged Jamie Noble to a Cruiserweight Championship match at Vengeance . Event . Before the event went live on pay - per - view , Goldust defeated Steven Richards in a standard wrestling match taped for " Sunday Night Heat " . The show began with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler until Tazz and Michael Cole said they deserved to call WWE Vengeance just as much as Ross and Lawler should . Ross agreed and let Tazz and Cole call the first half of the show . Aftermath . After winning the WWE Undisputed Championship , The Rock then entered a feud with the number one contender Brock Lesnar for the upcoming PPV SummerSlam . Lesnar went on to win the match and become the youngest WWE Champion in history . It was also the last match for The Rock as an active WWE superstar and his last reign as WWE Champion , prior to being a full - time actor in Hollywood . Triple H and Shawn Michaels came out the night after Vengeance and what appeared to be a reunion for D - Generation X was instead Triple H nailing a Pedigree on Michaels . This caused Michaels to retaliate and challenge Triple H to a street fight at SummerSlam , marking his first official match since WrestleMania XIV . Michaels won the match , and Triple H attacked him after the match . A night after Vengeance , Eric Bischoff decided to merge the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the WWE European Championship into one , putting Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy against each other in a ladder match . RVD won the match , and the European Championship was retired . A week later , Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Chris Benoit , who would then jump to SmackDown ! . Van Dam used his rematch clause for Summerslam and brought the Intercontinental title back to Raw . After losing to John Cena , Chris Jericho had to face Edge in a steel cage match on the July 25 episode of " SmackDown ! " . Edge won the match , and Jericho , along with The Un - Americans , moved to the Raw brand . Jericho went on to feud with Ric Flair . Lance Storm and Christian began to feud with Booker T and Goldust , while Test had a one - month feud with The Undertaker . After his cage match win over Chris Jericho , Edge began a two - month long feud with Eddie Guerrero . After losing the triple threat match to The Rock , Kurt Angle was pinned by Rey Mysterio in a six man tag team match on the August 8 episode of " SmackDown ! " . As a result , on the following episode of " SmackDown " , he challenged Mysterio to a match at SummerSlam to which Mysterio agreed .