- There once was a time when Smackdown was just as important to me as Monday Night Raw. It was a chance to see more of your favorite (and not so-favorite) Superstars, and then when the Brand Split happened, was the only time you could see particular Superstars, period. Some time around the end of 2005, I guess Smackdown lost its appeal to me. No real reason, really. Just kind of happend. Since then, I don't think I've sat through an entire episode of Smackdown, and almost forget it's even on television, anymore. It's current home is SyFy (formerly Sci-Fi), Friday night's at 8. This set was released a few years back, counting down the Top 100 Smackdown matches, moments, and misc. over the first 10 years.
- Hosted by Michael Cole and Matt Striker. Countdown discs are a chore to sit through, and make you want to start at the end, with Disc 3, and work backwards to Disc 1, because all the "top stuff" is last. I'm only going into detail with match recaps, otherwise I'd have to kill myself and maybe 5 or 6 other people to get through everything.
100. 4/14/05: John Cena, new WWE Champion (Smackdown's, won from JBL), debuts the new WWE Championship, the stupid Spinner Belt, which is STILL being used. I will note this once and once only: the canned comments from various WWE personalities... annoying. REALLY annoying.
99: 10/31/02: It's a Halloween Party (check out John Cena as Vanilla Ice), and Eric Bischoff, wearing a Vince McMahon mask, makes out with Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon, dressed as a witch and with her boobs hanging out like a bunch of teenagers at a Taco Bell parking lot.
98. 7/10/03: Big Show counters an F5 from Brock Lesnar and Chokeslams him from off the ring steps, through the announcers table.
97. Collection of Moments: Thanksgiving Editions of WWE Smackdown. Most of the time, these shows featured WWE Diva's working in gravy or other disgusting substances. Other times, it's thanksgiving FOOD FIGHTS.
- REALLY Dumb moment from Matt Striker: The Undertaker is what comes to mind most when people think about what personifies Smackdown... THE SHOW IS PULLED FROM A CATCHPHRASE OF THE ROCK, YOU STUPID ASS.
We come back from another commercial break, with Orton working a chinlock. Undertaker takes it to the corner to force a break and unloads with a series of elbows. Orton cuts the comeback short with a sweet dropkick, but it's only good enough for two, and it's back to the chinlock. Orton with a slam, but a jump off the second rope meets the boot. Undertaker unloads with rights, but Orton again cuts off the comeback with his signature reverse back breaker. They trade blows, with Undertaker dishing out better damage. Whip to the ropes, and Undertaker comes off the ropes with a diving... shoulder? That's not Vintage Undertaker! Whip to the corner, Undertaker with snake eyes, followed by a running boot. He drops a leg across the chest, but only gets two. Undertaker signals for the chokeslam, but Orton kicks the knee to counter. Whip to the ropes, Undertaker no-sells a kick, and clotheslines Orton to the floor. Undertaker follows, chasing off Bob Orton. He goes to put Randy in the casket, but inside is himself... it's been done. Orton rams 'Taker into the ring steps during the confusion. Back in the ring, Orton pounds away. He mounts him in the corner, and the set-up for a Powerbomb is obvious. Orton somehow avoids it, Undertaker clotheslines the referee by mistake, and Orton lays 'Taker out with the RKO. another referee comes in, but the cover only gets two. Undertaker sits up and chokeslams Orton, but Bob Orton breaks the count. Undertaker counters another RKO, and the Tombstone finishes it at 15:40 (minus the two breaks). Good match, if nothing we haven't seen from these two enough times in 2005. This match reminded me of that we got a handicap match between Undertaker and the Orton's, and I guess Bob Orton bladed, despite having Hep-C, creating a very uncomfortable work environment for all involved in the match.
95. Mattitude! For a few months, Matt Hardy was actually one of my favorite wrestlers thanks to the ridiculous Mattitude character. The Matt Facts on the screen for his entrance? The hand sign? V1!?!? He even had an MF'er in Shannon Moore. Remember when Matt had to drop weight to qualify for the Cruiserweight Division? Wasn't as funny as Christian taking a dump, but it worked.
94. 9/23/04: Big Show makes his 78th return from injury/tired/fat camp, and gets shot with a tranquilizer dart by Kurt Angle. Angle, along with Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns, shaved Show's head, thanks to his rapidly receeding hairline. Show has really rocked the shaved head look for nearly 9 years?!
We return from a commercial with Eddie trying to climb out. This time it's Rey's turn to interrupt things, but Eddie with the upperhand, takes Rey off the top rope with a Russian leg sweep. Yes, that hurts Eddie equally, but we'll just pretend it doesn't. Rey charges, gets launched onto the wall, and scrambles to the top, but Eddie quickly follows him up and they slug it out across the top of the cage. Rey makes it over to the other side, but gets pulled back somehow. I hate that spot. They bring it back to the inside part, and both men end up crumpled on the canvas in pain. Eddie with a snap DDT, but he chooses to go for the door instead of covering. Rey keeps Eddie from escaping and gives us a full moon. Whip to the ropes, Rey plants Eddie with a bulldog as we take another break. We come back with more slow climbing. Eddie sets up for a Powerbomb, but Rey fights out of it. Eddie tries again, and Rey counters with a hurricanrana. Rey with another slow climb, interrupted. Rey with a body press from the (near) top of the cage, but Eddie ducks out of the way. Eddie goes out the door, but comes back in, climbs to the top, and the Frog Splash finishes at 11:10. Decisive finish for Eddie Guerrero, but this match dragged pretty damn hard, and the commercial breaks really broke up any momentum it might've built.
92. Mr. America makes his debut. People complain about the ridiculous storyline, and it was pretty lame, but the "popular wrestler under a mask and everyone knows who it is" gimmick has been around for ages.
91. 7/19/01: Vince McMahon tries to get on Steve Austin's good side by playing a guitar and singing the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song (with suitable lyric replacements). Austin responds by smashing the guitar over Vince's head, which Vince approves of, because it's THE OLD STONE COLD.
90. Edge and Kurt Angle were working a program post-WrestleMania X-8, and one moment was Edge showing Kurt some old photos of them together, and on the back of each picture is some choice words regrading Angle. Another moment is Edge presenting Kurt Angle with a t-shirt that reads "You Suck." Not exactly the most creative. How nice that Angle's theme music sync'ed up so perfectly with the "You Suck" chant.
88. 6/29/00: Kurt Angle breaks Hardcore Holly's arm doing a moonsault. Holly sure has a nice history of mid-match injuries. This one, the sandbag powerbomb spot with Brock Lesnar, the table spot against Rob Van Dam on ECW on Sci-Fi... Holly came back during the Fall, got a minor push, and then went back to being a scrub.
87. 2/24/00: Mick Foley gets locked in a cage and dragged behind the DX Express. This was the final build up to the Hell in a Cell, Career-on-the-Line Match? Wow, glad I don't remember watching it as it happened.
86. 4/10/03: Piper's Pit Returns... Again. Roddy Piper making an XFL comment at Vince McMahon was the only memorable clip, and yes, that clip is shown. Oh wait, then Rikishi shows up with a coconut, setting up a match at Backlash and Pipers alliance with Sean O'Haire. By July's end, Piper was gone, O'Haire demoted to JTTS status on Velocity, and who cared about Rikishi past 2000?
We return from a commercial break with Cena sending Carlito to the buckle. Whip to the corner, Carlito charges and meets boot. Cena to the second rope, and he misses a body press. Carlito with a swinging neck breaker for a two count. Carlito sends him to the ropes and connects with an elbow for another two count. Carlito with a suplex for two. Slingshot elbow barely makes contact for two, and it's time for a sleeper hold. Cena fights back to his feet and counters out of a DDT attempt. Cena slugs away at Carlito and nails him with an elbow, followed by a diving shoulder tackle for two. Cena comes off the ropes with a bulldog and it's Five-Knuckle Shuffle time. I still prefer the People's Elbow. The elbow would've gotten three, but the knuckles just a two count. Cena goes for the F-U, but Carlito hooks the ropes and gets thrown to the floor for it. Carlito grabs the title belt but is quickly disarmed. Cena teases using it as a weapon, but Carlito pulls Cena's steel chain off the post and nails Cena with it, and we have a NEW United States Champion at 12:53 (minus a commercial break), ending Cena's reign at a whopping 4 days (television time, 2 days real time). Decent match, but very bland, with way too much "sending someone into the ropes" offense instead of transitioning with real wrestling.
84. 10/9/03 - Big Show gets hosed down by the Guerrero's with feces. Yum.
83. The Boogeyman - Notable moments in the Boogeyman's history: Eating the mole off of Jillian Hall's face, eating worms, spitting worms into other people's mouths, and smashing an oversized clock over his head. He was a nice throwback to the gimmick era, but other than a circus freak attraction, he brought nothing to the table.
82. 1/23/03 - Hulk Hogan Returns... Again. They try selling this as his return to red and yellow. Are you serious? He was only gone for 5 months, after doing the job to Brock Lesnar on Smackdown (PPV match given away on free television). This comeback was pretty nice, but then he blew his lines in all of the promos, the matches were terrible, and it goes to show you that nostalgia runs out, even if it's only months removed from the original comeback.
80. 1/20/00 - Bar Room Brawl at the Friendly Tap (Tim White's pub). The New Age Outlaws show up, as do the APA... take a guess what happens. If I recall correctly, No Mercy on N64 featured a few backstage areas to brawl through, one of them being a Bar Room. I'm pretty sure this moment was replicated during Storyline Mode, but it's been years since I've played that game, so maybe I'm wrong.
79. 8/9/01 - Rhyno GORES~! Chris Jericho through the Smackdown set, which was just an excuse for them to debut a new look for Smackdown. Cool moment.
78. 9/23/99 - Triple H has to run the Gauntlet against all of his opponents from Unforgiven. Instead of a clean sweep, all he has to do is win Best out of 5. He ended up losing a Chokeslam Challenge against Big Show and a Casket Match against Mideon & Viscera (subbing for the Undertaker), but did come out victorious against Kane in an Inferno Match, Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl, and a Strap Match with the Rock, with some help from special referee from Davey Boy Smith. Talk about blowing your load with gimmick matches. Got to love the Vince Russo Era.
77. The Rock 'n' Sock Connection - Another compilaton of their time together, rather than one particular moment. Obviously, people remember their time on Monday Night Raw with "This Is Your Life", but they had wonderful chemistry together no matter what the situation was (except in the ring, surprisingly).
Lockup, and Hogan easily shoves Jericho off. Another lockup, and this time Jericho gets thrown to the floor. Hogan grabs a side headlock, then comes off the ropes with a shoulder tackle. Hogan with a hip toss, followed by a slam, then goes to work on the arm. Jericho goes to the eyes to escape, and takes Hogan down with a back suplex. He takes the doo rag, does some inappropriate things with it, and throws it back down on the fallen Champion. Hogan avoids an elbow and lays into Jericho in the corner. Jericho gets an elbow up on a charge attempt, but takes his sweet time climbing the ropes and gets slammed off for it. Hogan with mounted punches in the corner until a low blow turns the tide. Jericho with chops in the corner, but a charge misses and he goes spilling to the floor. Hogan follows, and sleepwalks his way into the post. Jericho to the top rope, and comes down with a double axehandle. Jericho hangs Hogan up across the top rope, then gives him the Bossman style splash across the back. Jericho goes for it again, but crotches himself. Hogan starts Hulking Up, unloads with rights and drops Jericho with a slam. Hogan with a pair of elbows, but a third one off the ropes misses. Jericho with the bulldog takedown, followed by the Lionsault. Suddenly, Triple H shows up to create a distraction, allowing Hogan to recover. Jericho ducks under the big boot and connects with a DDT for two. Hogan goes into Hulk-Up mode again, and even wags the finger. Hogan with rights, whip to the ropes, and big boot, but the leg drop is countered with a leg sweep, and Jericho slaps on the Walls of Jericho. Hogan grabs the ropes to break, in a no DQ Match. Huh. Jericho to the floor, bringing a chair back with him. He bops Hogan across the back with it, and suddenly Undertaker's music interrupts things... wow, that's some terrible theme music. Hogan rolls Jericho up for three at 10:18. Wow, that ending sucked. Match was surprisingly not bad, even though Hogan was at times a little too loose, and Jericho's offense was slightly dumbed down to compensate Hogan's limitations.
75. 8/30/01 - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin stole Kurt Angle's Olympic Gold Medals. He chucks them over a bridge, much like he did years back with the Rock's Intercontinental Championship. Dastardly Heel Austin didn't last very long, other than the stupid "What" chant.
74. 7/29/04 - Eddie Guerrero, involved in a program with Kurt Angle, starts auctioning off his things he stole from Kurt Angle's office (at the time, working as GM while recovering from an injury).
73. Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie fight at the Funeral of Torrie's father, Al Wilson. Remember when he married Dawn Marie on Smackdown? That sure was one hell of a stupid program.
72. 5/11/00 - Vince McMahon's "Life sucks and then you die" promo.
71. Al Snow and Steve Blackman - The Era of Head Cheese. In the Winter/Spring of 2000, Blackman was given one of those kiss-of-death angles: You're too boring and uncharismatic, and we're going to point this out a lot while making you do some dumb comedy bits with Al Snow. In unusual turn of events, most of this stuff WAS funny, except the match at WrestleMania XVI against T & A, which might've been one of the worst ever at that point. The angle died quickly, and Blackman went back to being a serious entertainer in the Hardcore Title ranks, except with a new catchphrase "It's Party Time!"
Back from break, and now it's Rey Mysterio's turn to dish it out to Kendrick. Rey drops a leg, then has a staredown with Kane. Hardy tags in and comes off the top rope with a sledge. Hardy with a snapmare and dropkick for two. Kendrick with a dropkick on Finlay, then gets mocked by Hornswoggle, allowing Finlay to lay him out with a clothesline. Jackson, in turn, lays Finlay out on the floor. Kendrick FINALLY tags out, and now JBL puts the boots to Finlay. JBL with a short-arm clothesline, followed by a series of elbow drops for a two count. Kane tags in and picks up where JBL left off. Whip to the corner, Kane follows in with a clothesline. There's a lot of hype about Kane/Mysterio at No Mercy, with Mysterio's mask on the line... I guess Mysterio won. MVP in, and he slaps on a front facelock. JBL with a form of the clothesline from hell, but it only gets two. Finlay comes back with a DDT. Batista tags in and takes his aggression out on MVP. Kendrick gets his clock cleaned as well, and Kane walks into a spinebuster. Batista with another spinebuster, this time to MVP, and it's Batista-Bomb Time, but Kendrick interrupts to continue being squashed. Batista with a powerslam, and Mysterio splashes off from off Batista's shoulders. Mysterio with a head scissors on Kendrick, another for MVP, but 619 is interrupted by Kane.
Back from another break, with Kane nailing Mysterio in the face with a basement dropkick for two. I thought that was something he only started to do recently. Oh well, I stand corrected. Anyway, back to the match: Kane pounds away on Rey. JBL comes in, taunting Batista (his No Mercy opponent), and slamming Rey over the shoulders for a two count. MVP in for more fun beating no Rey Mysterio. Kendrick off the top with a stomp for two. Charge to the corner is met with a boot, and Mysterio takes him down with a reverse DDT. Hardy gets the hot tag and works over MVP. Twist of Fate is countered, but Hardy comes off the top with a corkscrew senton. All heck breaks loose! Mysterio sends Kane to the floor with a missile dropkick, hits the 619 on MVP, and a seated senton to Kane on the floor. Hardy with a senton bomb on MVP, and it's enough for three at 13:30 (minus two commercial breaks). Fun 8-Man Tag, but nothing special on it's own. Being the opening match on the first episode of Smackdown on it's "new" home is the only reason for the inclussion here.
Final Thoughts, Part 1: Some decent flashbacks of Smackdown's history. The matches selected weren't exactly top quality, but at the same time, Hogan/Jericho, Cena/Carlito, and Tazz/HHH still stand out years later is big matches to take place. As for the moments, there's definitely a lot of filler here, like the Big Show chokeslamming Lesnar through a table moment. Really? That's Top 100? If you say so... I wasn't sure how I would handle sitting through this set, but so far, I'm interested in pushing through, so we'll get all three discs. Eventually. Probably sooner than later, unlike my Kane DVD recap, which took 18 months to complete.