Armageddon (2002)

The 2002 Armageddon was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the third Armageddon and took place on December 15, 2002, at the Office Depot Center in Sunrise, Florida, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. This was the first Armageddon held since 2000, as an originally planned 2001 event was replaced by Vengeance in response to the September 11 attacks as it was felt that the "Armageddon" name might offend the victims of the attacks. The 2002 Vengeance was then moved up to July to allow Armageddon to be reinstated for its usual December slot. It was in turn the first Armageddon held after the introduction of the brand split earlier that year in March, subsequently being the last Armageddon to feature multiple brands until 2007, as beginning with Bad Blood in June 2003, all monthly PPVs outside of the "Big Four" (WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble) became brand-exclusive until brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued after WrestleMania 23 in April 2007. This was also the first Armageddon held under the WWE name after the promotion had been renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May. It was also the second Armageddon at the Office Depot Center, after the inaugural 1999 event when the venue was still known as the National Car Rental Center (renamed during the summer of 2002). The main match on the Raw brand was a Three Stages of Hell match for the World Heavyweight Championship between champion Shawn Michaels and Triple H. The first match was a Street Fight, which Triple H won after performing a Pedigree. The second match was a Steel cage match, which Michaels won by pinfall after jumping off the top of the steel cage onto Triple H...