WWE Super Tuesday (11/12/02)

WWE Super Tuesday

Fleet Center and Verizon Wireless Arena

Boston MA and Manchester, NH

November 12, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Tazz

Ring Announcers: Lilian Garcia and Tony Chimel

Vince has always had an obsession with shows on Tuesday whether its Tuesday In Texas or the eventual Taboo Tuesday. The problem is fans just don't want to pay more money for a Tuesday ppv. With just five days before Survivor Series, Vince decided to just have a UPN special instead much like the old Survivor Series Showdown shows. The stars of Raw and Smackdown will both participate in this special although the Raw 10 men tag was filmed last week in Boston while the triple threat match and bikini contest was filmed in Manchester. Its going to be Triple H, Christian, Chris Jericho, Rosey and Jamal against Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley. Also a bikini contest between Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson. Finally, a triple threat match between Edge, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Btw, Vince is an absolute moron for not making the tag match Survivor Series style. If they weren't going to have elimination tag matches on the card, this would have been PERFECT for that. Could have had Eddie, Kurt Angle, Chavo Guerero Jr, Benoit and Big Show against Edge, Rey Mysterio Jr, Rikishi, Billy Kidman and Brock Lesnar. Oh well...

We get a cool remix of The Beautiful People and Across The Nation for the intro. Both announce teams say their hellos with dueling arenas. This entire night was filmed in advance but we're going to pretend its on the same night. Cole and Tazz sends us to Stephanie McMahon's office. She says Edge and Rey Mysterio are the new tag champs and at Survivor Series it'll be a triple threat tag team match. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs Los Guerreros vs Edge and Rey Mysterio. Because of that, the triple threat match tonight will be Benoit vs Edge vs Eddie. She's going to hold on to the belts so nobody steals them. In other words, this is the kayfabe reason why Edge and Mysterio aren't holding the title belts due to the fact they hadn't won them yet when this was filmed last week.

Match 1

Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit vs Edge in a Triple Threat Match

Benoit makes his entrance last as Tazz says he's mad at Kurt for dropping the tag belts. Benoit attacks Edge at the start and boots him in the corner as Eddie hides outside.  Benoit rams Edge into the corner and chops away at him. Benoit rams Edge into the other corner and chops away. Edge sends Benoit sternum first into the corner and Edge hits a back suplex. Edge hits a leg drop and covers but Eddie slides in to break up the count. Eddie kicks away at Edge and hits a back elbow smash. Benoit nails Eddie from behind and hits a back suplex on him. Benoit sends Eddie in the corner and kicks away at him before landing some chops. Edge comes in and nails both of them with right hands. Chris lands a running knee to the ribs on Edge as Tazz says Rey Mysterio goes one on one with Eddie this coming Thursday on Smackdown. Benoit and Angle will also duke it out on Smackdown as Eddie cheapshots Benoit. Eddie sends Benoit off, ducks the line and they take each other out with a double clothesline. Edge then hits a on Eddie and goes to town on Benoit. Eddie from behind hits a back suplex on Edge. Eddie goes for the El Paso Lasso on Edge but Benoit hits a dropkick. Eddie slugs Benoit and he retaliates with right hands. Edge slugs Benoit and hits a flapjack on Guerrero. Edge hits the flapjack on Benoit as well. Edge goes upstairs but Eddie cuts him off. Benoit puts Eddie on his shoulders and Edge hits a missile dropkick on Guerrero. Edge covers Eddie for 1......2..nope. Chris ducks the line and hits a german suplex on Edge but Eddie hits a suplex before covering for a deuce.  Eddie misses the frog splash off the top and Edge hits another face plant on Eddie. Benoit catches Edge with the Crippler Crossface in the middle of the ring but Chris intercepts a diving Eddie, locking him in the Crossface. Edge dropkicks both men in the face then hits Benoit with a spear. Eddie runs right into the Edgecution and Edge covers for 1...2..nooo, Chavo Guerrero Jr runs down to pull referee Mike Chioda out. Edge hits a baseball slide to knock out Chioda, Chavo and the camera guy. Chavo sends Edge into the ring post but Rey Mysterio Jr runs out to counter Chavo. Rey hits a moonsault on Chavo outside as back inside Eddie gets caught in the crossface. Kurt Angle then runs out, throws the referee in on top of Benoit to break up the hold. Angle hops up on the apron as Eddie rolls up Benoit from behind for 1...2...3 to win the match. Eddie stole that one off the distraction. That was a pretty good match despite the run ins and it set up the triple threat this coming Sunday. Eddie and Chavo celebrate in the ring as Benoit and Angle yell at each other up the ramp.

Time of match: 7:29

Winner: Guerrero by pinfall

Cole hypes up the ten men tag as Big Show is coming out later. Back from break we get a video montage of Big Show and Brock Lesnar's feud up to this point. Again, if they didn't book Show out to be a goofus for a year straight, this might of worked. After that LONG montage here comes Show himself to the ring. Show says he's quoting Paul Heyman by saying Lesnar can't beat him. He brags about hurting Lesnar and this Sunday he'll be the next WWE Champion. His music hits and he leaves....what? The montage was longer than the promo. Kind of pointless but up next is Trish vs Torrie. Back from break we shift over to Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross for a moment to hype up Raw's events. We get the elimination chamber video from Raw. What's with the montages? You can put all this stuff on the pre-show on Heat. They could have easily had Bubba Ray vs D'Von for the amount of time they wasted on video montages. Anyway, let's get to the ring.

Match 2

Torrie Wilson vs Trish Stratus

Tazz is our MC for our bikini contest. Normally these things are a waste of time since the babyface wins every time, but we got two babyfaces here so I'll treat this as an actual match. Interesting to see who the crowd picks. Cole drools over Torrie as she makes her entrance. Tazz explains the rules, they got 30 seconds to show their stuff and the audience picks the winner. Trish goes first as Tazz says this is the biggest moment of her career....what? Trish shows off her bikini and gets a good pop from the crowd. Tazz tells Cole to get Stephanie to get Trish on Smackdown. Torrie goes next and gets a much larger pop for her skin colored bikini and booty shake. Tazz asks the crowd who wins and clearly Torrie gets the larger pop but all of a sudden Nidia hits the ring and pulls out Torrie. Nidia rushes Trish and both she and Torrie fend her off. Torrie and Trish raise each other's arms in victory. Torrie got the louder pop but everyone's a winner here apparently.

Time of match: N/A

Winner: Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson

Cole sends it to JR for the Raw portion of the show, which has about 18 minutes left of showtime. We got an interview with Shawn Michaels next. Again, we want to see wrestling, you can save all this for Heat. We get a montage of Shawn vs HHH up to this point and finally JR asks Shawn "live" via satellite what Sunday will be like. Shawn "One word...Wild, crazy, chaotic....okay that's three words. He says his motivation is simple, keep HHH from winning and ruin his life. He admits its immoral but he's doing it anyway. He doesn't know who's going to win but HHH certainly won't. Time for the main event.

Match 3

Triple H, Rosey, Jamal, Christian and Chris Jericho (with Rico and Ric Flair) vs Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy in a Ten Man Tag Match

Thankfully the heel entrances are cut in favor of a video showing Jericho decimating Kane and Rob Van Dam on Monday. JR and King ask how Hardy is able to walk after being put through the table "last night" which was funny since this is clearly filmed the week before since you can see the god damned Boston Celtics banners hanging in the Fleet Center during the camera cut to the ring. Hardy starts with Jamal and Jamal starts with right hands "sup boy!" Jamal hits a backdrop on Jeff "Get your ass up boy!" Jamal tags in Christian and Hardy slides under him, takes him down and hits the between the legs legdrop. Hardy tags in Bubba who punches away at Christian. Bubba chops Christian in the chest and looks over at Jericho "I got one for you two ya punk". Christian is whipped into the corner and Bubba hits a stinger splash followed by Dusty Punches. Bubba covers for 1..2...no. The crowd chants "we want tables" as Bubba hits a flapjack on Christian. Rob Van Dam tags in and Jamal tags in as well. Van Dam kicks Jamal but Jamal misses a charges in the corner. RVD hits the top rope dropkick and moonsault for 1...2..nope. Jamal clotheslines RVD down and HHH tags in. Hunter punches him in the corner but the ref gets distracted allowing the corner beat down. Jericho tga sin and hits a back suplex on RVD. "I'm the king of the world." Jericho misses a dropkick and RVD hits rolling thunder. RVD tags in Kane who cleans house of HHH and Jericho. Then he knocks everyone else off the apron. Jericho runs into a boot as Kane double clotheslins Christian and HHH. Kane sidewalk slams HHH and goes up to the top rope. Kane hits the top rope clothesline and covers for 1.2..no, Jamal pulls him off. Pier Six brawl outside with only RVD and Christian in the ring. RVD takes out Christian then heel kicks Jericho. Jericho turns a flip into the Walls of Jericho but Booker T hits the axe kick. Booker hits the scissors kick on Y2J and does the spinaroonie. Christian hits the reverse ddt but walks into the Bubba Bomb by Bubba Ray. Jeff Hardy hits the swanton on Christian but Rosey sends Jeff into Jamal for the samoan drop. Bubba cleans out Rosey but eats superkick from Jamal. Kane grabs Jamal and chokeslams him off the top rope. HHH runs in and goes for the pedigree, but is backdropped. Kane hits the chokeslam and covers for 1...2..nope, Christian breaks it up. Kane throws Christian on top of Rosey and Rico outside but turns around into a missile dropkick from Jericho. Rob Van Dam hits the five star frog splash on Jamal out of nowhere when Jericho grabs a chair. He rushes RVD with it but Rob hits the Van Daminator to take out Jericho. Rob somersault planchas the heels outside leaving Kane in the ring. Flair hits Kane with a chair and HHH hits the pedigree. HHH covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Of course....once again HHH goes over to show that nobody else in the chamber match has a chance in hell. The heels celebrate outside as we go off air. Since the stupid video montages took forever, they only had 8 minutes to get their shit in and it was just spamming finishers.

Time of match: 8:23

Winners: HHH, Jamal, Rosey, Christian and Chris Jericho by pinfall

All in all that was a total waste of time. They could have had cut the video montages, Big Show's promo and Shawn's satellite interview to have two separate elimination matches in the spirit of Survivor Series. The opener was good but then everything else went south. The only drama going into the elimination chamber is will HHH or HBK win. That's not how you promote a six person match. If fans know that 4/6ths of the competition have no chance, what's the point of watching? At least Smackdown attempted to book Big Show as a monster to give Lesnar a roadblock for the first time in his career. The less said of "Super Tuesday" the better. Up next is the final Smackdown before Survivor Series coming at you from Columbus, Ohio. I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (11/7/02)

WWE Smackdown

Verizon Wireless Arena

Manchester, NH

November 7, 2002

Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz

Ring Announcer: Tony Chimel

We're 10 days away from Survivor Series and apart from Brock Lesnar vs Big Show, nothing else has been booked. Hopefully tonight gives us some matches since the only ones booked are two from Raw and the WWE title match. Halloween Smackdown gave us the birth of rapping John Cena as well as Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle going at it again. This week's show might be more of the same. Before we get anywhere, we have a dark match.

Dark Match

Doug Basham vs Nathan Jones

Basham was the OVW mainstay having great matches with anyone WWE sent down there and anyone on the roster, but for some reason just couldn't get a spot on either brand. Jones was the 6 foot 6 300 pound monster from Australia that also needed a spot somewhere. Jones took it with the full nelson slam.

Winner: Jones by pinfall

Let's get on with the show. We open with a montage of Big Show putting Undertaker out of action and showcasing that Lesnar is overmatched for the first time in his career. They're doing a great job of building up Show to be a monster that a post-Hell In A Cell Lesnar might not be able to handle.....but the problem is he was booked as a doofus for far too long to have any kind of Hogan/Andre aura. We get a highlight of Big Show heaving Rey Mysterio into the crowd and laying out Lesnar last week. Paul Heyman "You can't beat the Big Show." Tonight we have an old school 2 out of 3 falls tag team title match with Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr in a rematch with Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. On to our first match.

Match 1

Torrie Wilson and Billy Kidman vs Jamie Noble and Nidia

Real life couple vs fake couple. Apparently Nidia is going to be on the TV show Blind Date. Kidman starts with Noble and Kidman starts with the left arm but Noble hits northern lights. Kidman ducks the line and hits a hurracarana but a charge in the corner eats elbow. Noble slingshots Kidman onto the second rope who hits a dropkick. Kidman covers for 1..2...nope. Noble hits a t-bone taz plex and covers for a two count as Nidia tags in. Nidia kicks away at Kidman but he blocks a slap an tags in Wilson. Torrie clotheslines her down then kicks away at her.  Cole hypes up Super Tuesday which will feature a bikini contest between Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson. Normally those things are a waste of time since the crowd never cheers the heels, but two faces might make it interesting. Nidia gets a thumb to the eye and goes for the blatant choke. Nidia hits a scoop slam and covers, only to pull Torrie up at two. Wilson goes for the sunset flip but Nidia counters by dropping to her knees for 1......2...no. Torrie blocks the big forearm and delivers a neckbreaker. She yells at Nidia to get up and hits a dropkick. Torrie covers for two then slaps Noble off the apron. Noble tries to get in the ring but referee Mike Sparks holds him back, so Kidman gets in to get rid of him. Sparks turns around to tell Kidman to get lost, allowing Noble to clothesline her. The crowd boos that one as Nidia tags out to Noble. Noble stalks Torrie but runs into a shoulder to Kidman, getting the tag. Kidman drops Noble with a clothesline and a dropkick. Kidman hits a back drop and a death valley backbreaker before covering for 1...2..nope. Noble blocks the clothesline and hits a DDT. He covers for two then goes for the Tiger Bomb but Kidman counters with a sky high. He covers for 1...2....Nidia breaks it up. Torrie runs into a clothesline and the heels go to whip the faces into each other, but they get reversed into each other. Kidman dropkicks Noble in the back and Torrie wipes Nidia out. Kidman goes up and over and hits the bulldog. He drags Noble in the corner, goes upstairs, hits the 7 Year Itch and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Kidman pins the Cruiserweight champ, this might put him in line for a Cruiserweight title match coming up soon. Never a bad thing to start with a cruiserweight opener and Torrie/Nidia held their own.

Time of match: 5:06

Winners: Wilson and Kidman by pinfall

Big Show arrives at the arena and intimidates a security guard to tell Brock Lesnar that he's here. Torrie in the back runs into her father who says he needs to talk to her. Al says he's done everything for her so to let him do "something" tonight. He doesn't elaborate so Torrie is confused. We cut to SMACKDOWN NUMBA WUN ANNOUNCA Funaki with John Cena. Cena freestyle raps that he's going to beat Rikishi tonight and says the iconic "word life" for the first time. Rikishi shows up to answer with his own battle rap. "Get a piece of the Kish right in yo face." The funny thing was Rikishi admitted on the Yokozuna documentary that Yoko wanted to be a rapper so I'm sure that's where Rikishi picked that up. We cut to Stephanie McMahon watching the tape of her and Eric kissing.....are they ever going to deliver on this? Chavo and Eddie Guerrero walk in and Chavo says that's a nice lip-lock hold. Eddie and Chavo want a piece of Angle & Benoit and Eddie beat Angle last week. McMahon says they beat them to earn the shot. Stephanie says she has an announcement to make on Super Tuesday regarding the tag belts. Stephanie says tonight Eddie has a non-title match against Brock Lesnar. Eddie and Chavo complain and Chavo tries to back out of it. Eddie says WE will beat Brock Lesnar. They argue on the way out the door as we go to commercial. Least we get tonight's main event set, Eddie vs Brock. On to the next match.

Match 2

Rikishi vs John Cena

Cena still comes out in the prototype tights and generic theme but does the word life pose in the ring. Tazz "I'm Tazz and you're a spaz." The funny thing was the Eminem movie 8 Mile had just come out the day before so white people battle rapping was about to become a thing. Rikishi taunts him at the bell but Cena trips him up to start. Cole runs down our house show schedule coming up and Cena gets the ass to the ribs. Cena tries a headlock then gets shoulderblocked down. Cena bails outside then gets inside and says this is MY house. Rikishi just drops him with a right hand. Cena ducks the line and we get an old Andre The Giant spot where Rikishi just bends over and Cena freaks out. Cena goes to punch Rikishi's ass and holds his hand like he broke it. Lot of comedy in this so far but the dropkick to the knee is no laughing matter. Cena hits a back suplex and taunts the irate crowd. Cena kicks away at Rikishi in the corner but Rikishi rallies with right hands. Cena does get a clothesline to the back of the neck then he goes upstairs. Cena hits a missile dropkick and covers for 1...2....nope. Cena locks in a chinlock but Rikishi powers out of it. Rikishi avalanches Cena in the corner and John drops. Rikishi does the stinkface as Cole says that's Chocolate Ice. Rikishi hits a modified rock bottom and executes the banzai drop. Rikishi gets the 1...2....3 to win the match. Gotta love Vince logic. Test gets a new gimmick where all Stacy Keibler does is bend over and say testicles, yet he gets the win on Raw. Cena gets a new gimmick and he's humiliated by Rikishi, go figure. Rikishi dances after the match because...yeah.

Time of match: 4:12

Winner: Rikishi

Backstage Matt Hardy V1 is with Shannon Moore. Apparently Moore is his new stooge, which makes sense because Moore (and The Hurricane) did the Carolina indies with the Hardys. Matt says every tape he gives Shannon are valuable lessons to learn. Shannon goes to put sugar in Matt's coffee and he scolds him saying they're empty calories and could lead to a bad twist of fate. Shannon is the first MF'er of Mattitude (Matt Follower). Matt says he and Lesnar have serious business so he's going to go see him now.

Back from break Dawn Marie is oiling up her legs when Al Wilson walks up. Dawn asks if he's sure he wants to do this and this is a big step for a couple to male. Wilson says he's done a lot of soul searching and he's going to "ask her the question" in the ring. I see where this is going....ugh. Cut to Matt locking for Lesnar but runs into Matt Hardy. Hardy says he beat Undertaker twice and softened him up for Lesnar to destroy him. Heyman says to get to the point and Matt says he wants a match against Big Show to soften him up for Survivor Series. Heyman says he wishes he could find the words to thank him and he says Mattitude is the next big thing. Heyman walks into the locker room where Brock is pacing around. Brock asks what and Heyman says he negotiated the deal of the century. Heyman says Hardy will take on Big Show tonight, but Lesnar yells that he wants him one on one. Heyman says he gets his match at Survivor Series, let Hardy take Show tonight. Heyman says Brock's got a match with Eddie Guerrero and to focus on that. Heyman says to let him do his job and to decide when to unleash the animal.

Cut to Al Wilson coming to the ring to absolutely no pop and even Tony Chimel sounds bored saying his name. Cole "What in god's name is Al gonna do? He's not gonna ask THAT question is he?" Way to blow it, Cole. Tazz "Well, this is either gonna be really really good, or really really bad." Haha, even they know this is not going to end well. Tazz makes fun of the fact he got no pop as Al grabs a mic. "25 years ago, I was blessed with a little angel, Torrie. I know she wants what's good for me and I want what's good for her." Tazz "Why does he sound like Kermit The Frog?" Hahahahaha. Al wants Dawn Marie to come out and she does. Tazz "Will someone please get the hook?"  Cole "Ladies and gentleman we may be about to witness the biggest trainwreck in Smackdown history." Tazz gives a shoutout to "Nunzio" which was cool foreshadowing. Al says she makes him very strong, sexy and feral" Tazz "What??" Al says she made him feel like a man and a man has to do what a man has to do. Al drops to one knee, Tazz "Oh no! Cole!" The camera pans to the bored crowd and Al asks her to marry him. Cole and Tazz both scream No! as Cole says "I thought we couldn't get any worse than Billy & Chuck." Dawn paces around without answering him and Al says if she doesn't say yes, he'll kill himself." Tazz "Say no! It'll make for great TV." For once he's right. Dawn builds tension by stalling then says "Yes." Cole and Tazz "Noooo!" They hug in the ring as the crowd boos. Al puts the ring on her finger and Al celebrates. Cole feels bad for Torrie and Tazz feels bad for the viewers. Thanks Tazz. Cole tries to save face by saying we got more matches to come and Tazz begs for a commercial. The sad part was this was going to get much, MUCH worse.

Back from break we get the extreme blast of the night from the JVC Tower of Power. Its Big Show chokeslamming Brock through a table from last week's Smackdown. As Big Show makes his entrance for the next match, Mark "Dorkus Malorkus" Lloyd runs up to a crying Torrie Wilson leaving the arena to ask about what we just saw and she just blows him off. On to the next match.

Match 3

Matt Hardy vs Big Show

Matt's blurb says "Matt hates cold weather" as Cole thinks Matt's ego is out of control. A second blurb says he scored a 1330 on his SAT's. Bell's gone and Matt punches Show but they have no effect. Btw this is when Big Show started wearing black jeans over his singlet...why? Nobody knows. Matt goes for side effect but Show blocks it and drops Hardy with a clothesline. Show sends Matt into the ringpost and rolls him inside. Brock and Paul watch from the back as Show hits a side backbreaker. Show gets in a bearhug but Matt bites him to break free. Show misses a charge in the corner and Matt punches away. A charge eats boot but jumps right into the chokeslam. Show covers for 1...2..3 to win the match. Show smashes Matt in under 2 minutes to send a message to Lesnar. Show grabs a mic after the match and says he was the next big thing long before Brock ever was. Show says he'll be the next WWE champion at Survivor Series. Not a fan of squashing Matt right in the middle of his entertaining heel turn but Matt was pretty much a henchman for Lesnar, made sense to sacrifice him to put the message out.

Time of match: 1:57

Winner: Big Show by pinfall

Backstage Lesnar heaves and smashes the TV he was watching the match on. He wants Show and he wants him BADLY. We cut right to the next match.

Match 4

Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr vs Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match

Kurt and Chris damn near killed each other last week but they have to co-exist tonight. This is the big re-match from No Mercy and this is going to be a good one. First fall has Angle and Benoit naturally arguing who will start. Kurt starts with Rey and gets a waistlock but Rey uses his speed to crawl under Kurt and mule kick him. Rey arm-drags Kurt and mocks his taunt. Kurt chases Rey around the ring and Rey outsmarts Kurt to throw himself to the floor. Benoit facepalms in the corner trying not to laugh. Cole says as a team they're unbeatable but they hate each other. Angle applauds Rey and tells Rey to bring it. Kurt drops Rey and taunts Edge but walks into a hurricarana. Edge tags in and Kurt complains saying he wants Rey more. Kurt tags Benoit who also is unhappy he got tagged in. Edge drops Benoit with a shoulderblock then hits two armdrags followed by a dropkick. Edge rams Benoit into the corner and pounds away on him. Edge gets a side headlock but Kurt pulls his hair. Edge clocks Angle off the apron but Benoit sends him sternum first into the corner. Chris hits a back suplex and tags Kurt in to stomp away, then cheapshot Rey off the apron. Kurt chokes Edge on the second rope then delivers a vertical suplex. He covers for 1...2..nope. Benoit tags in and kicks away at Edge and chops him in the corner. A charge in the corner eats elbow and a second eats knee. Edge hits the Impaler and both men are down. Rey tags in for a legdrop to the back of the neck but Chris kicks out at two. Rey drop toes Chris into the corner and Edge cuts Angle off. Both heels are in the corner and Edge hits a shoulderblock to send Kurt to the outside. Edge sets up Benoit on the second rope then launches Rey into a hurricarana off the rope. Rey covers for 1...2...nope, Kurt pulls Rey out. Edge takes Angle out with a clothesline and sets up Benoit on his shoulders. Rey hits the West Coast Pop and covers for 1..2....3 and Edge & Rey take the first fall.

Kurt runs in an cleans house as we go right into the second fall. Rey armdrags Kurt but runs into an overhead belly to belly suplex. Cole says this is a must win fall now as Angle hits another suplex and covers for a deuce. Kurt chops Benoit as a tag and Benoit hits a big stomachbreaker on Rey. Benoit isolates Rey in the corner then climbs to the second rope with Rey on his shoulders. Rey hits a top rope bulldog and both men crawl for the tags. Kurt gets the tag but so does Edge. Edge hits a backdrop on Kurt and throws Chris through the second rope into the camera guy. Edge calls for the spear on Angle and goes for it, but Angle pushes the referee away and Benoit holds up the tag title belt for Edge to ram into. Kurt pulls the straps down and locks in the anklelock. Benoit throws Rey outside and the ref calls for the bell, we're tied up.

Kurt stomps Edge out of the ring and Chris & Kurt both take credit for the win. They shove each other as we cut to commercial. Back from break Kurt drops Mysterio and covers for a two count. Kurt pounds away on Rey in the corner then throws him to the outside. Kurt distracts the ref by messing with Edge so Benoit can stomp on Rey outside. Chris throws Rey inside and Kurt covers for 1...2...nope. Rey hits a heel kick to the chin of Angle and crawls toward Edge. Edge tags in and kicks away at Angle in the corner. Edge gets whipped into the corner but the charge eats boot. Edge still walks into the overhead belly to belly suplex. Benoit tags in and backdrops Edge before delivering a side backbreaker. Benoit covers for 1...2...nope. Benoit locks in a half crab and Edge kicks out, but Angle tags in. Angle cheapshots Rey to isolate Edge from his corner. Kurt clotheslines Edge and covers for a deuce then Benoit tags in. Chris gets in knees to the ribs and stomps away in the corner. Chris whips Edge in the corner but he counters with an elbow. Edge climbs to the second rope but Benoit delivers a back suplex from off the top. Both Angle and Rey get the tags and Angle rams himself into the ringpost. Rey hits the broncobuster but Benoit german suplexes Mysterio from behind before knocking Edge off the apron. Rey rolls out of the Angle Slam and sends Angle crashing into Benoit. Rey drops a stunned Angle into the second rope and goes for the 619, but Angle sucks. Mysterio's hurracarana is blocked but he sunset flips Angle for 1....2....Angle grabs the rope....3!!! WE GOT NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! The ref then notices Angle was holding onto the rope and even Benoit runs in to saw he saw it too. Referee Brian Hebner gets cornered by Angle & Benoit and even he admits that he saw the rope after counting the fall.

We cut to commercial and when we get back, we get a replay that shows Angle grabbing the rope. During the break Hebner tells Chimel that the fall doesn't count and the match is restarted. Angle and Benoit argue in the ring and Rey uses the distraction to dropkick them both. Benoit sends Rey into the corner and delivers a back suplex. Benoit hits a snap suplex and covers for 1..2....nope. Cole says for all intents and purposes we're in overtime. Benoit tags in Angle and they do a double knee buster to Rey. Kurt stomps away at Mysterio then slugs away in the corner. Kurt tags Benoit who hits a dropkick on Rey on the ground. Benoit chops Mysterio down and executes a gut-wrench suplex, but the cover only gets two. Kurt tags in and kicks Rey in the ribs. Kurt does a gut-wrench suplex of his own then covers for 1...2...no, Edge kicks Kurt off. Kurt gets in a waistlock as Benoit shouts to squeeze him. Rey fights out of it then hits the wheelbarrow DDT.  Edge gets the hot tag and he hits a top rope clothesline. Edge goes nuts on both Angle and Benoit then hits Edge-O-Matic on Kurt. He covers for two but Kurt slaps on the ankle lock. Edge somehow kicks Kurt into the corner and somehow Rey hits the 619 around the damn ringpost. Benoit nails Rey outside but Edge hits the spear on Kurt. Edge goes for the cover but notices Benoit is on the top rope. He moves and Benoit accidentally hits Angle with the headbutt.  Rey gets in and dropkicks Benoit to the outside. Edge covers for 1...2....THREEEEEE, WE GOT NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS....for real this time. Edge and Rey celebrate in the ring as Rey has won his first gold in the WWE. Another great match from these guys after they had that amazing one at No Mercy.

Time of match: 24:16

Winners: Edge and Mysterio 2 falls to 1 (new Tag Team Champions)

We get a graphic for Lesnar vs Guerrero coming up in our main event before we go to commercial. Back from break Michael Cole runs down the Super Tuesday card. Next Tuesday Torrie Wilson faces Trish Stratus in a bikini challenge, a ten men tag featuring Triple H, Chris Jericho, Christian and 3 Minute Warning vs Kane, Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy, then finally a triple threat match where Edge faces Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. The funny thing is Edge is holding the Smackdown tag title in the graphic, way to put over that kayfabe is dead haha. Stephanie also has an announcement about the tag titles at Survivor Series. The ten men tag was already taped after Raw went off the air in Boston and the other two matches will be recorded after the show tonight. How's that going to look when you have two different arenas? Anyway we cut to Big Show with Mark Lloyd and asks who's going to win tonight between Show and Guerrero. Show says HE is going to win. Lloyd asks how. Show says stick around, you'll find out. We cut to Los Guerreros coming up to Paul Heyman and say they have something in common. Eddie says he doesn't think Brock can beat Big Show either. Eddie doesn't think Brock can beat him either and Brock storms outside, chasing the Guerreros away. Heyman says "I'M SICK OF THIS SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I've been telling you for weeks to listen, EXCUSE ME, I'M TALKING TO YOU RIGHT NOW!' Heyman says he's been responsible for Brock's success all along so be grateful. Heyman says if he wants to go wrestle Guerrero, fine but do it without him. Heyman says go be the brawn without the brains and storms off. Heyman's got somewhat of a point, but there is definite dissension in the ranks. Onto the main event.

Match 5

Eddie Guerrero (with Chavo Guerrero Jr) vs Brock Lesnar

No title on the line and no Heyman either. Chavo jumps Brock before the bell but Lesnar heaves him out of the way and drops Eddie as well. Brock bashes Eddie against the side of the ring and throws him inside where the bell rings. Eddie trades blows with Brock but Lesnar rams him into the buckle. Brock shoulderblocks Guerrero in the corner, whips him into the other corner and does more shoulderblocks. Lesnar backdrops Guerrero and Chavo tries to get his attention. Lesnar hits a bearhug then throws Guerrero onto the apron. Brock gets an overhead backbreaker on Eddie and Lesnar shouts Chavo to look at his boy. Lesnar does a modified Dominator as Tazz ponders if Brock can get Big Show up like that. Eddie bails to the apron and Lesnar heaves him over the top rope into the ring. Brock drops Chavo of the apron but walks into a low blow by Guerrero. Eddie pounds and kicks away but Lesnar shoves him off. Eddie hits a dropkick and continues to kick at him. Eddie tries to lock in the El Paso Lasso and does it. Brock easily kicks him off but Eddie dropkicks Brock in the leg then covers for a deuce. Cole brings up Lesnar's inexperience despite being the youngest WWE Champion. Eddie ducks the line and Guerrero dropkicks Brock, but it doesn't drop him. Brock clotheslines Eddie twice then whips him into the corner. A shoulderblock and overhead suplex has Guerrero reeling allowing Brock to shoulderblock him in the corner. A charge misses when Chavo pulls Eddie out of the way and works over the left arm. Brock returns the favor with a low blow and an F-5. Brock covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Lesnar beats Guerrero but he didn't squash him like Show did to Matt Hardy. Still a damn good match for what it was.

Time of match: 6:39

Winner: Lesnar by pinfall

After the match, Cole shows us the replay of what just happened and Lesnar celebrates on the ramp....but gets ambushed by Big Show. Show press slams Lesnar over his head into the crash pad below. Show sends a message that Lesnar is facing someone bigger and stronger than him. Funny how in 2 weeks, Smackdown has booked Show better than Raw has for a year now. We go off air with Show looking menacing. We're 10 days out from Survivor Series and so far we only have one Smackdown match signed. Super Tuesday apparently is going to give some clues to a tag match but other than that, its Brock vs Show and that's it. This was a tale of two hours because we started with Cena's comedy shenanigans with Rikishi, Mattitude getting squashed and Al Wilson's proposal....then we got the amazing 2 out of 3 falls tag match and a good Eddie vs Lesnar match. Its like Smackdown can flip a switch and put on an instant classic. Kidman might get a title shot at Jamie Noble at Survivor Series and now that Angle & Benoit are no longer the tag champs, they're free to fight each other again. Finally they're giving Lesnar some adversity because he's been the aggressor since he's come to WWE and now he's run into a wall he can't simply bust through. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. The stars of Raw are performing at a house show in State College, Pennsylvania tomorrow night. I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (10/31/02)

Happy Halloween everyone, we are 17 days out from Survivor Series and Smackdown is on a hot streak in terms of in ring brilliance. Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit has been a pleasure to watch and we also have WWE Champion Brock Lesnar facing a new threat, the 500 pound Big Show. Benoit and Angle on their own are draws but they're the tag champs with Los Guerreros gunning for them. Unfortunately we still have the dumb Al Wilson story but we're about to get the debut of a company altering gimmick, but I won't spoil what it is here in the intro. Let's get to the event.

Van Andel Arena

Grand Rapids, Michigan

October 31, 2002

Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz

We open the show with a costume party in catering. Faarooq is dressed as a pimp with Eddie Guerrero as Zorro and Chavo Guerrero Jr in a poncho & sombrero holding dynamite....not that any of this is racist or anything. Eddie says he's going to take out Kurt Angle tonight and they leave. Tajiri is dressed as a 70's disco dancer with Shannon Moore as Satan. Rey Mysterio Jr is dressed in normal gear as Stephanie McMahon walks in dressed as a witch....thought she was supposed to be in a costume? Anyway, she says tonight's main event will be a non-title match between Brock Lesnar and Rey Mysterio Jr. Rey celebrates with everyone in the room as we head to ringside. Tazz says tonight there will be  a Trick Or Treat match between Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson in a pool of chocolate milk. Divas era everyone.....but in better news, we also got Kurt Angle vs Eddie Guerrero, that's more like it. Let's get to our first match.

Match 1

Edge vs Chris Benoit

Tazz holds up the latest edition of WWE Magazine with Edge on the cover as Edge makes his entrance. Benoit is half of the tag champs and Edge needs a big win to set himself up as a contender to Lesnar. Bell's gone and they circle to start.  They lock up with various takedowns with Edge taking over with an arm-bar. Cole asks how Edge can outwrestle Benoit and Tazz answers to stay ahead of him. Benoit goes to down with knees and stomps in the corner then applies a headlock takeover. Edge sends Benoit off but eats a shoulderblock but drops Benoit with a knee to the ribs. Edge delivers a stomachbreaker then puts the boots to Chris. Edge shoulderblocks Chris in the corner but Benoit chops him. Edge continues to work over Chris but Benoit takes over in the other corner as Cole mentions Big Show will take on Rikishi as well. Edge sends Benoit sternum first into the corner but the cover only gets a deuce. Edge throws Benoit through the ropes to the outside then follows him. Edge drops Chris chest first onto the barricade then throws him back in. Edge covers for a deuce then goes to the chinlock. Cole brings up Scott Steiner is coming to WWE and there's a bidding war between Raw and Smackdown. Sidenote, not to get ahead of anything, but there could have been an Evolution style stable on Smackdown with Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas and Scott Steiner. All four of them were great collegiate wrestlers with Steiner representing the past, Angle the present and Haas & Benjamin as the future. Back to live action, Edge slingshot suplexes Benoit on the top rope to the outside but Chris blocks a baseball slide and starts attacking the left shoulder. Benoit dropkicks Edge into the ring steps before tossing him inside. Benoit covers for a one count with Edge grabbing the bottom rope and Chris continues to work over the left arm. Edge powers out of it but Chris floors Edge with a running elbow. Chris sends Edge shoulder first into the ringpost and executes a back suplex. A cover gets two and Chris stomps away on him. Benoit sends Edge off who runs into a drop-toe hold. Benoit dropkicks the shoulder and does a snap suplex. The cover gets one as Chris stalks Edge in the corner, kicking away. Chris sends Edge into the corner who falls down, Chris dropping a leg on Edge for good measure. Corner chops from Benoit has the crowd gooing wooo but a charge eats elbow. Edge hops on the second rope but Chris stops him with right hands. Benoit goes for a superplex but Edge blocks it and does Edge-O-Matic off the second rope (!!!). We cut to commercial and when we come back Edge goes upstairs but misses a dropkick. Benoit goes for the crossface but Edge makes it to the ropes. They show during the commercial break Edge hit a spear to knock Benoit to the floor. Benoit does three straight German suplexes then gives the sign for the diving headbutt. Benoit goes up to the top but Edge rolls out of the way at the last second. Benoit goes back to the chops but Edge throws him off the turnbuckle and hits Edge-O-Matic for 1....2..nope, Chris kicked out. Edge counters a headlock with a facebuster but the cover only gets two. Edge chops Chris then drops Benoit face first onto the mat. Edge calls for the spear but Benoit counters it into the Crippler Crossface. Edge rolls through but Benoit hangs on and has Edge in the center of the ring. Edge somehow grabs referee Brian Hebner and all of a sudden Kurt Angle runs to ringside. Benoit abandons the hold and yells at him on the floor. Edge does a baseball slide that sends Benoit into Angle on the floor. Edge goes upstairs and does a flying clothesline that takes out Angle. Benoit throws Edge inside but runs right into the SPEAR! The cover gets 1....2.....3 and that's it. Great opener to start the night. Even though it took an Angle run in to get it done, Edge still gets a victory over Benoit to give Edge some shine while highlighting the ongoing feud between Angle & Benoit. Angle walks off smiling at the irate Benoit as we cut here.

Time of match: 12:21

Winner: Edge by pinfall

We go back to the costume party with John Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice freestyle rapping.....and yes, THIS is where it started. The story goes Cena was floundering as a generic heel and Stephanie herself caught Cena rapping on the bus in London while they were there for Rebellion. She suggested he do it on TV and here we are. Billy Kidman dressed as the Phantom of The Opera is not impressed but Chuck Palumbo dressed as a native american loves it. Torrie Wilson dressed as Xena walks by Tajiri who freaks out and walks away....haha. Tajiri spots someone dressed as Marilyn Monroe and its Mae Young. Fabulous Moolah is dressed as Wilma Flinstone and they grab Tajiri, whisking him away. Al Wilson walks in dressed as a 50's greaser (which the actor may have been back then) with Dawn Marie as a slutty cop. Tazz and Cole laugh at Wilson and Dawn as folks in the arena crowd are dressed as various wrestlers. We got to a replay after commercial of Angle costing Benoit his match. Back to the party, Torrie is confronting Al and Dawn when an irate Benoit storms in looking for Kurt Angle. He storms past a guy in a Ghostface outfit from Scream who doesn't know where Kurt is and Funaki dressed as Superman. After Benoit leaves, the Scream guy unmasks to be Kurt himself. 

Camera cuts to Brock Lesnar walking down the hall as someone dressed as a caveman asks who he's supposed to be. Lesnar says "The WWE champion, that's who I'm supposed to be." That shows you a face turn is coming because heel Brock would smash the guy against the wall. He walks into the dressing room where Paul Heyman is waiting. Heyman gives him a speech about how Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali were never the same after Thrilla In Manilla and he's afraid Lesnar and Undertaker aren't the same after Hell In A Cell. Heyman is terrified Lesnar can't beat Big Show in his current state. Heyman says Brock won't like hearing it but that's why he's his manager. They're definitely setting up Big Show as a threat, thank god. Onto the next match.

Match 2

Big Show vs Rikishi

This match stems from the previous week where Big Show made his Smackdown brand debut wiping out Rikishi and Matt Hardy. Big Show is dressed in black dress pants and a black t-shirt which would essentially be his new look moving forward. Rikishi attacks at the bell and superkicks him twice, the second sends Show through the ropes to the outside. Rikishi gets thrown into the ring post outside and chops his chest. Show throws Rikishi in the ring and drops a series of elbows. Show headbutts Rikishi and he actually sells it, THATS respect. Show turns Rikishi inside out with a clothesline and covers for 1...2...nope. Show rips off the middle and top rope turnbuckle pads then Rikishi into the exposed steel before avalanching him. Show picks up Rikishi like a feather and does a Bulldog powerslam. Cole asks if Show can manhandle Lesnar like this but also asks how Lesnar can beat him. Show hits the big chokeslam and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Cole says Show made a statement by squashing Rikishi and hard to argue that. This is how Show should have been booked for years. Rikishi is no pushover and Show smashed him.

Time of match: 2:28

Winner: Big Show by pinfall

Show grabs the mic after the match and says what he did to Rikishi is only a taste of what's in store for Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. Show calls out Lesnar and say face him right here, right now. Lesnar goes to confront Show but Heyman tells him not to go out there. We cut to commercial and when we come back, Show is holding Smackdown hostage until Lesnar comes out. Show has a replay of Taker getting wiped out last week put on the titantron. He then goes on a rant that Lesnar can't beat him, everyone knows it including his manager. Hm.....how would he know that? Show says his own real name and Lesnar can't beat him. Finally Lesnar hits the ring as Cole asks why he's coming out. Lesnar looks up at Big Show and Show really towers over him. Lesnar snatches the mic and calls him a giant piece of shit (bleeped out of course). Show smiles at Brock, grabs the mic, exits the ring and says he's been advised not to fight him. Hmmm, wonder who could have advised him? Show says he's done something to The Undertaker that's never been done before and he says he's going to do the same for Lesnar later tonight. Show leaves as we cut right to Torrie Wilson bent over in a Xena outfir=t right in view of the camera, just like Stacy Keibler on Raw. Guess the milk pool match is next....ugh.

Match 3

Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson in a Trick or Treat Match

Bunch of cakes at poolside so you know someone's face is going in one. Tazz shills X-Box & Godzilla Destroy All Monsters and Cole shills JVC's Tower of Power as Torrie makes her entrance pool side. Tazz and Cole go ga-ga. Right on cue, Torrie throws one of the cakes in Dawn's face to start the "match". Torrie throws another one and they start wrestling each other on the table. Torrie spears Dawn into the pool and they roll around in it. Torrie pulls the referee in there as Torrie somehow suplexes Dawn in the pool. Torrie strips Dawn to her underwear with Dawn screaming. Dawn and Torrie exchange chops as they roll all over referee Mike Sparks. Torrie chops Dawn who trips and falls out of the pool. Torrie splashes her and covers for 1...2....3 to end this disaster. Torrie grabs ring announcer Tony Chimmel and throws him into the pool. Why? Ask Vince. In terms of a "match", it was just an excuse for women to take their clothes off so Vince could get off on it. We'd have about 10 years to go until this kind of thing stopped, oh joy.

Time of match: 1:51

Winner: Torrie Wilson by pinfall

Back to the party, Kidman is taking jello shots with Moolah and Mae still holding Tajiri hostage. The lights go out and come back on with Matt Hardy coming in playing his own song on a boom box. He says this place needs Mattitude and Hardy chastises Tajiri for flirting with Moolah & Mae. Hardy slaps the wig off Tajiri's head as Mae says he can't do that to her boyfriend. Tajiri "BOYFRIEND??" Matt says he'll send him back after he suffers a twist of fate. Mae then kisses Tajiri who looks disgusted. Just like with throwing Chimmel into the pool, most of the time Vince had people humiliated because he himself thought it was funny. After commercial Nidia and Jamie Noble are dressed as each other (hahaha) and they bob for apples before bumping into Stephanie. A-Train is dressed in a toga next to Eddie and Chavo who start hitting on Stephanie. Ah yes, everyone has to call Stephanie hot on camera....she was Dixie Carter before Dixie. Eddie says after he beats Angle, they want a tag title shot. Stephanie says she'll think about it, just go. Eddie and Chavo leave as Cena comes up and freestyles again to which Stephanie says to speak normally. Cena says Vince himself is waiting for Stephanie in her office. Back to ringside.

Match 4

Matt Hardy vs Tajiri

Matt comes out with "Matt always got more Halloween candy than his brother" as his graphic. Poor Jeff. Cole says Raw this Monday night will be held at the Fleet Center in Boston with Smackdown Your Vote taking place at noon at Northeastern University. Bell's gone and they tie up to start. Matt hits an armdrag and starts celebrating. They exchange go-behinds before Tajiri gets the side headlock. Hardy gets the top wristlock but Tajiri takes Hardy down twice much to Matt's chagrin. Cole says we have Eddie vs Angle still to come and Brock vs Mysterio. Hardy gets a quick two count on Tajiri and celebrates that he was this close to winning...only to eat a kick to the head. Tajiri sends Matt outside and nails him with an asai moonsault. Tajiri throws Matt inside and flips over him just to run into the side effect. Matt covers for a deuce and Matt starts beating Tajiri around. Matt chops Tajiri in the corner but Tajiri chops out of it only to get met with an eye-rake. Matt drops Tajiri throat first on the top rope then does a standing elbow slam. Hardy gets a neck lock on as Cole says you might not like Matt's attitude but you have to respect his ability. Hardy drops Tajiri with an elbow and leg drops him. Matt scoop slams Tajiri then hops on the second rope. He goes for the leg drop but misses it as Tajiri rolls out of the way. Tajiri and Matt exchange punches when Tajiri dropkicks him in the face then covers for a deuce. Tajiri hits the springboard elbow then kicks Matt in the back of the head. He covers for 1...2...nope. Tajiri counters a charge in the corner with a tarantula but Matt counters with an overhead suplex. He stacks him up for 1...2..no. Matt punches Tajiri but Tajiri counters with another tarantuula then sets up for the buzz kick. Tajiri misses but Matt kicks him, going for the Twist of Fate. Tajiri blocks the first attempt but not the second as Matt lands it. He covers for 1...2...3 and Matt wins it. Good match and its cementing Matt's V1 character as a young, top heel. Let's see if Matt can run with this.

Time of match: 7:38

Winner: Matt Hardy by pinfall

Back to Stephanie's office, a man in a Vince McMahon mask says its good to see her. Its not Vince, its Eric Bischoff in disguise. Bischoff says he's signing Scott Steiner and removes his mask. Stephanie goes to slap him but he blocks it and forcefully kisses her. Can't say she didn't deserve it after trying to strike him for no reason. Then she gets into it, pulling him on top of her and they break it off looking at each other awkwardly. Bischoff leaves and that whole segment definitely REEKS of Vince having a laugh. This reminds me of when Kurt kissed Stephanie and nothing came of it, just like this was never mentioned again. Thankfully Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle is next.

Match 5

Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle

These two can definitely have a great match so hopefully this delivers. The implications are the Guerreros want a tag title shot and Benoit & Angle are the champs. Kurt already cost Benoit his match earlier that night so you know Chris will be making an appearance at some point. Eddie comes out in really bright green tights and the bell rings. They circle to start and Angle takes down Eddie a few times, can't outwrestle an Olympian Eddie. Crowd chants "Eddie sucks" as this is a heel program for sure. Angle starts with a headlock and he drops Eddie with a shoulderblock before hiptossing Eddie. Kurt picks up Eddie and heaves him across the ring before Eddie bails outside in a rage. Guess Angle is the defacto face in this one which works just fine. Guerrero gets mad and starts punching and kicking away at Angle. The crowd chants for Angle as Kurt rallies with a clothesline and a back elbow smash. Kurt ducks the line and nails Eddie with a flying forearm. He covers for a deuce but Eddie drop toe holds him into the corner then delivers a back suplex. Eddie chokes Kurt with his boot and goes to town with forearms while holding on to Kurt's singlet. Eddie locks in a front headlock with a "Let's go Angle" chant in the crowd. Cole hypes up Lesnar vs Mysterio as Angle powers out of the hold then gets nailed with a shoulderblock. Eddie goes back to the chinlock as Angle uses the crowd's chanting to make it to his feet. Kurt catches Eddie with a powerslam but Guerrero dropkicks Angle's knee. Eddie chokes him with his boot in the corner again with Brian Hebner yelling at him. Eddie continues to choke Angle and Kurt makes it to the outside. Eddie suplexes Kurt from the apron back inside then covers for a deuce. Eddie goes back to the chinlock then turns it into a head scissors. Eddie uses the ropes for leverage but Angle somehow slips out of it and tries for the ankle lock. Eddie rolls through and snap mares Kurt before dropkicking the back of the neck. Eddie pounds away at Kurt and taunts the crowd with Hebner yelling at him again. Eddie goes for a german suplex but Kurt slips it and hits one of his own, sending Eddie flying. Kurt and Eddie exchange right hands and Angle rallies with clotheslines and a back bodydrop. Kurt ducks the line and goes for another german but Eddie blocks it. Kurt does the overhead suplex and covers for 1...2....nope, foot on the rope. Kurt comes out of the corner and Eddie kicks him before going for a suplex. Kurt slips it and does the three German suplex combo that Benoit used earlier. Kurt covers for a deuce and pulls down the straps, uh oh! Kurt goes for the Angle Slam but Eddie counters into a cradle for 1..2....nooooo! Angle charges but eats elbow and Guerrero nails a jumping tornado ddt off the second rope then covers for 1...2....NOOOOOO, just got the shoulder up. Eddie goes for the Lasso From El Paso and Angle looks like he's about to tap but counters, slipping a roll into the ankle lock. Guerrero reaches the ropes and Kurt goes for another German suplex but Eddie grabs the ref and mule kicks Kurt in the gonads. Eddie lands a vertical suplex then goes for the frog splash. Kurt brilliantly then shoves Hebner into Guerrero who crotches himself. Tazz "He's the third man in the ring, might as well use him, what the hell?" Chavo runs down to the ring and Kurt knocks him off the apron. He runs up the ropes to nail Eddie with a superplex when Chris Benoit comes out of nowhere to nail Angle with the tag title belt. Eddie hits the frog splash and covers for 1...2....3....Eddie wins it. Wow, last week it was Angle the heel and Benoit the face and now its the other way around. Eddie goes to hug Benoit for helping him and Chris waffles him with the belt. Chris gets out of the ring and drops Chavo with the belt for good measure. Chris gets the last laugh after a damn good match between Angle and Guerrero. We go to the replay with all this mayhem and Guerrero gets the duke. The feud between Angle and Benoit is not over and the Guerreros are the ones benefiting for sure.

Time of match: 13:20

Winner: Guerrero by pinfall

After commercial break we're back at the party where its Kurt's turn to cause a ruckus. Kurt bitches about what happened to him then heaves Shannon Moore over a table. He spots another guy in a Ghostface mask and rips it off revealing...Brother Love?? The hell is he doing here? Love says "I loveeeeee you" and Kurt's face is priceless. Chris then attacks Kurt from behind and they brawl all over the room. Chris breaks a stool over Kurt's chest then applies the crossface. Where the hell is Stephanie? Kurt rolls through and applies the ankle lock. Chris kicks him off and grabs a beer bottle. Angle hits the angle slam to Chris through a table but not before Benoit breaks the bottle over his head. Both men are out and Cole sends us to our last break. These two are going to settle this eventually, right? On to the main event.

Match 6

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman)

This is a non-title match, which is dumb since Rey essentially has nothing to gain and Lesnar has nothing to lose. Cole hypes up Lesnar vs Show for the WWE title and wonders if he can beat the monster. The sad part is they're making Show about to be very dangerous when he was just a big goofus on Raw for about a year. Still, at least they're doing something noteworthy with Big Show for once. Lesnar hops up on the apron but Mysterio slides under the rope underneath him to start the match. Lesnar chases Rey around the ring but Rey hops up on the ropes as Lesnar slides in. Rey drops a leg but Brock barely sells it. Brock grabs Rey and heaves him into the corner but Rey moves out of the way of the charge. Brock chases Rey outside who runs around and appears to hide behind the steps. Lesnar kicks the steps but there's nobody there. Rey appears from under the ring, climbs up to the top and hits  west coast pop to the floor. Brock pops up unfazed and stalks Rey as Cole wonders how Rey could do anything to him. Lesnar catches Rey in a powerbomb position and heaves him into the ring post. Lesnar throws Rey inside as Cole asks how Brock can match Big Show. Brock picks Rey up on his shoulders and slams him face first onto the mat. Brock taunts Mysterio and heaves him over his head to the other side of the ring. Tazz says Lesnar is toying with Rey and is overmatched. Lesnar shoulderblocks Rey in the corner and charges but eats ringpost. Rey rallies with a series of dropkicks that sends Lesnar into the ropes. Rey goes for the 619 but Big Show appears out of nowhere and catches Rey in mid-air causing the disqualification. Big Show then heaves Rey 10 rows deep into the crowd Spike Dudley style but Lesnar shoulderblocks Show into the ringpost. Brock tries to whip Show into the other post but Show blocks it and rams Lesnar into the post instead. Show then chokeslams Lesnar through the announce table as Cole asks if this is a preview of Survivor Series. Show smiles at his work as we go to the replay of Show heaving Rey into the crowd then laying out Lesnar. Show screams to just give him the belt as Tazz says this is Heyman's worst nightmare. The show ends with Big Show saying Lesnar's run is over. Sad part was that was a hell of a crash style, cat and mouse match between the monstrous Lesnar and diminutive Rey. Somewhere down the line Rey and Brock would meet again and pretty much Rey vs Show as well. Take away Big Show's interference and this was definitely a match that needs to be seen again.

Time of match: 4:00

Winner: Mysterio by disqualification

This entire show was basically the greatness of the "Smackdown Six" smattered around Vince McMahon's vile humor. Inside the ring you had a great Edge vs Benoit match, a great Angle vs Guerrero match, a passable Tajiri vs Matt Hardy match and what was shaping up to be a great cat and mouse match with Brock vs Rey. The downside was Dawn Marie and Torrie but that's a long winded rant about the state of women's wrestling for another time. Sad part was this show isn't even remembered for the great matches or even the Dawn/Torrie antics....no. This was famous for the birth of the doctor of thuganomics John Cena. The gimmick that would launch his career and never look back. Hard to believe that even with Smackdown as great as it was with the Guerreros, Benoit, Angle, Edge, Mysterio, Brock and Tajiri that John Cena's potential hadn't been tappped yet....until now. In terms of current events, Benoit vs Angle is still dominating the shows and Big Show is the biggest threat to Lesnar metaphorically and literally. The drama is Brock is still run down from Hell in A Cell and still has to face a motivated 7 foot giant, can he do it? We'll find out soon enough. The next show would be the November 2nd edition of Velocity so I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (10/24/02)

WWE SMACKDOWN

OCTOBER 25, 2002

THE PYRAMID

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

Commentators: Michael Cole and Tazz

Ring Announcer: Tony Chimel

The fallout from No Mercy is going to be interesting, unfortunately we won't get a reprieve from stupid storylines because while the Katie Vick garbage was going on during Raw, we had the annoying Al Wilson angle going on Smackdown. Still, Smackdown was the superior show and we got some big news. Brock Lesnar is still the WWE champion after beating The Undertaker, Jamie Noble is still the cruiserweight champion, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit are your new WWE Tag Team champions and Big Show just got traded. Let's see how the road to Survivor Series starts from the Smackdown side. After the intro, Michael Cole hypes up tonight's main event of a number 1 contender's tag match between Edge and Rey Mysterio and Los Guerreros plus an appearance by Brock Lesnar. Let's get to our first match.

Match 1

Matt Hardy vs Rikishi

This match stems from last week when Torrie Wilson faked giving Matt a stinkface much to Matt's delight, only for Rikishi to deliver one much to Matt's chagrin. Matt wears the gray cargo pants and throws his V1 tshirt at Rikishi. Rikishi wipes his ass with it and Matt attacks with forearms to the back.  Matt hits a big clothesline off the top rope and covers for a deuce. Tazz says Matt needs to put this away early as Cole brings up the trade that was made between Raw and Smackdown as Hardy hits a neckbreaker. Rikishi counters with a Samoan drop and a superkick. Rikishi avalanches Matt in the corner. Matt falls down as Rikishi goes for the stinkface. Matt hits a lowblow but Rikishi elbow him. Matt goes for twist of fate but gets countered into the Rikishi Driver. Rikishi covers for 1...2....3 to end the match. Short and sweet and the crowd's happy with the result. After the match Rikishi puts on a fedora hat and dances, that was pretty funny.

Time of match: 3:22

Winner: Rikishi by pinfall

After the match Big Show appears out of nowhere and lays waste to Rikishi. Like I said in my Raw editorial, Big Show got a huge babyface pop for wiping out 3 Minute Warning and Rico. He was traded to Smackdown and clearly he's going to be booked as a monster heel moving forward. Show chokeslams Rikishi with relative ease and grabs a microphone. Show says "My name is the Big Show. I'm 7 foot tall, 500 pounds" like we didn't know that already? Show says he's here to make an impact and there's not one guy in the back that can measure up to him. Show says he's the biggest, baddest man in the universe and he's here to prove it. He challenges WWE champion Brock Lesnar and calls him a coward. Heel vs heel doesn't really draw so someone's turning face, but who? Let's go to commercial.

  When we get back, a battered Lesnar arrives with Paul Heyman as we go back to the ring with Stephanie McMahon in the ring next to a giant trophy. She says she made the right decision to trade for the Big Show and the trophy is for the new WWE tag team champions. She brings out Kurt Angle who shakes her hand before raising the huge trophy. She brings out Chris Benoit next who stares at Kurt parading around with the trophy. Angle says she was right to force him to put aside his differences with Benoit to singlehandedly lead his team to victory at No Mercy. Angle mocks Benoit calling himself the captain and the trophy will be placed next to his accolades at home, oh its true. Benoit says to leave the ego in the back and HE was the reason they won. He says that if Stephanie didn't put the stipulation that they had to co-exist or else he would have kicked the hell out of his Olympic ass. Kurt calls him toothless aggression and he won the match. Benoit says take his hands off the trophy or he'll be eating it. They play tug of war with the trophy until they bash Stephanie with it accidentally. Kurt helps her up and says "You see what you did?" Stephanie slaps Kurt and Benoit laughs at him. Then she slaps Chris as well, who snaps his head back (he did that years earlier). Stephanie calls them children and says they're going to go one on one and the winner keeps the now broken trophy. Michael Cole on commentary says we got a number 1 contenders match for the tag belts and the tag champs will be fighting each other. Tazz laughs as Benoit and Angle walk off arguing. We come back from commercial with our next bout.

Match 2

Tajiri vs Jamie Noble (with Nidia) for the WWE Crusierweight Championship

Noble comes out dressed like Elvis and Tazz makes a Stacker 2 reference. Cole hypes up the bikini contest this Saturday between Torrie Wilson and Nidia on Velocity which was now on TNN. Jamie grabs a mic and says he's gonna give the greatest Elvis impersonation ever and says "Thank you, thank you very much" but Tajiri comes out to interrupt the nonsense. Tazz asks if Tajiri has any clue who Elvis is as Yoshihiro hits the ring. Tajiri ducks under a clothesline before the bell even rings and hits a springboard elbow to knock Noble's wig off. Tajiri kicks Noble all over and puts the sunglasses on before he dances like Elvis. Tajiri ditches the sunglasses and continues to kick Noble. Tajiri eats a boot but counters by putting Jamie into the tree of woe. He baseball slides Noble but Jamie gets up and gets a thumb to the eye. Tajiri goes for the tarantula but Noble blocks it and pushes Yoshihiro on the apron. Nidia grabs his leg so Tajiri drops down to confront her. Tajiri goes for a roundhouse kick but she ducks and he kicks the pole. Tajiri hobbles into the ring and Noble does the smart thing and go after the left leg. Noble finally sheds the Elvis jacket and does a one legged atomic drop but Tajiri counters into a sunset flip for 1...2...no.  Cole on commentary asks who Stephanie traded to Raw for Big Show as Jamie mocks Tajiri only to get a roundhouse kick to the dome. Tajiri face plants Noble but both men can't get up. Noble recovers and goes for his tiger bomb but Tajiri counters. Nidia hops up on the apron to distract Tajiri but he moves out of the way causing Noble to nearly knock her off. Tajiri ends up kicking Noble who crashes into Nidia. Tajiri goes for the rolling prawn for 1....2...nope. Noble goes for the rolling prawn and bridges Bob Backlund style with Nidia holding on for leverage 1...2....3, Noble wins it. Noble falls outside and Cole says Nidia was the deciding factor.

Time of match: 3:50

Winner: Noble by pinfall (still Cruiserweight champion)

We go to Cole and Tazz at ringside and Tazz has the Elvis wig on with Cole looking totally disgusted. They hype up tonight's main event with Edge & Rey Mysterio vs Los Guerreros with the winners getting a tag title shot at Angle & Benoit. Speaking of which, they battle each other. Before we go to commercial we got Dawn Marie with her cleavage hanging out looking for Torrie Wilson. She asks Jan the makeup lady where she is....I know where this is going and its not good. When we're back from commercial Dawn says Torrie was the better woman at No Mercy and apologizes for hurting her family. She says she's going to break things off the next time she sees Al Wilson. Torrie says "sure" and walks off with Dawn looking devious. Meanwhile Los Guerreros catch up with Kurt Angle who's brandishing a chair. Eddie stirs the pot by saying Benoit is going to break Angle's neck and Angle is mad. We show Eddie and Rey heading to the ring as we go to commercial again. When we get back, its match time.

Match 3

Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr vs Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo)

Eddie and Chavo aren't billed as Los Guerreros yet and they come out to Eddie's Latino Heat theme. The bells gone and Edge starts with Chavo. Edge shoulderblocks Chavo and covers for 1 before taking him down with an armdrag. Chavo counters with shots to Edge but eats an armdrag. Chavo kicks out at 1 but Edge snapmares Chavo. Another cover goes nowhere but Chavo goes on the offensive only to ne hit with a spinning wheel kick. Rey tags in who lunches Edge into Chavo before dropping Eddie off the apron with a forearm. Edge throws Rey into a bronco buster on Chavo but Guerrero counters a springboard moonsault with knees to the ribs. Eddie tags in and Rey head scissors Chavo with Edge hitting one on Chavo to knock them outside. Rey planchas ontop of both men but they catch him and use his legs as momentum after avoiding a baseball slide to knock Edge down outside. Back inside Eddie drops Rey and puts the boots to him in the corner. Chavo tags in and they doubleteam Rey in the corner. Eddie chokes Rey with the tag rope before the ref catches him. Chavo hits a lariat and covers for 1...2..nope. Eddie tags in and Chavo holds him for a springboard but Eddie just gets in the ring. Eddie delivers a big backbreaker and covers for a deuce. Eddie puts the boots to Rey but Rey counters with a back bodydrop. Eddie goes to drop Edge but Edge clotheslines him from the apron. The distraction still works as Eddie isolates Rey and delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before Chavo tags in. Chavo whips Rey sternum first into the corner but Mysterio rolls Chavo and dropkicks him in the back. Eddie tags in to stop Rey but eats a kick to the face. Edge gets the hot tag and cleans house of both Guerreros. An Edge-o-matic on Chavo gets a 2 count but Rey backdrops Eddie out of the ring. Chavo misses a tackle and lands on the ropes. Rey goes for the 619 but Eddie catches him outside and throws him to the ground. Back inside Edge hits the spear on Chavo and covers for 1...2...nope, Eddie breaks up the count. Rey finally scissors Eddie out of the rings and hits the 619 on Chavo. Edge holds Chavo up and a they hit a doubleteam move on him. Edge covers but Eddie springboard sommersaults on top of the Edge to break up the count.  Chavo covers but Rey springboard legdrops him, moving Edge on top of Chavo. Eddie outside gloats but doesn't see who's on top for 1....2.....3 to win it. Eddie turns around and freaks out laughably. Mysterio & Edge are the number one contenders for Angle & Benoit's tag titles.

Time of match: 7:11

Winners: Mysterio & Edge by pinfall

After the match we see The Undertaker hobbling around who tells some staff member he wants Brock Lesnar in the ring. After the commercial we see a highlight package of No Mercy with Paul Heyman narrating an evil promo saying Taker is the old phenom and Lesnar is the new phenom after Hell In A Cell. Taker hobbles to the ring with a cast on his arm and calls out Lesnar to face him like a man. Paul Heyman walks out instead saying Lesnar beat The Rock and retired Hulk Hogan before beating Taker in his own game. Heyman says Lesnar won't be coming out but right on cue Brock comes out, pushes Heyman aside, rips his shirt off, then hits the ring. Taker says people told him if his hand wasn't broke he would have beaten Brock and its been on his mind. Taker says that's no excuse and Lesnar beat him fair and square. He says five years earlier things would have been different and he would have won anyway. Taker says on Sunday it did matter and there's no excuse, then says Lesnar will face criticism for bringing his personal life into it. Taker then says that's been his M.O. for 12 years so he respects Brock for that. He says he's faced and beat the best and Brock was the best on Sunday. Taker goes to leave and Brock stops him, asking for the mic. Brock says "About Sara, it was supposed to be about business. I needed an edge" and he leaves. That's basically Brock saying sorry without actually saying so. Heyman gives him the business up the ramp as Cole and Tazz discuss Taker and Lesnar put their careers on the line. Taker says cut the music and says there's one last thing that's been on his mind. He says "after 12 years".....but is cut off by Big Show who storms to the ring. Show runs him down for saying Lesnar had his number and saying he's responsible for Hell in A Cell. Cole asks what he's talking about and Show takes credit for turning Taker into a broken down hasbeen. Taker says if that's true he'd rather be a broken down hasbeen then a giant that never was. Taker leaves but Show teases attacking him. Taker keeps turning around and Show insists he's just leaving. Taker backs Show down and Show leaves first. Taker raises his fist and salutes the crowd. Show finally ambushes Taker and press slams him off the ramp through a table below. Great booking to establish Big Show as top heel on Smackdown after rotting on Raw for the last year. Taker is stretchered off with Arn Anderson, Sgt Slaughter, Johnny Ace, Dean Malenko and Stephanie McMahon directing traffic. When we get back from commercial Edge & Rey Mysterio come out to check on him too. Stephanie yells at the EMT's to be careful with him but Taker rips the neckbrace off and rolls off the stretcher. Taker wants to walk out on his own power despite Arn Anderson protests. Taker just puts his arms around some referees and walks out as we go to commercial again. Back from commercial, Dawn runs into Funaki and tells Al Wilson to go see Torrie down the hall. Al walks down the hall and Dawn catches him first. Dawn says its best to just say goodbye and she kisses his cheek. Dawn then says out of the very few men she's been with which gets a sarcastic jeer from the crowd, he's been the best. Al grabs her and they make out passionately. Oh that would bring a tear to a glass eye as we get to out next match.

Match 4

Billy Kidman vs John Cena

This match stems from last week where the now heel Cena cheated to beat Kidman. Cole says Survivor Series tickets have gone on sale as Cena comes out with the Prototype trunks. The match starts with Cena extending a handshake that Kidman refuses. Kidman ducks under a clothesline and rolls him up for a deuce. Kidman hits an enziguri then bails to the outside. Cena catches Kidman mid-air and slams him against the post. Cena throws him back inside and covers for 1...2...nope. Cena sends Kidman back first into the corner then lands a right hand. Kidman rallies with right hands of his own but eats a spinebuster out of the corner. Cena covers for 1....2...no. Cole hypes up Tough Enough 3 premiering after the show as Kidman hits a headscissors. Cena charges in the corner but eats boot. Kidman hits a top rope back elbow smash and covers for 1...2...nope. Cena catches Kidman who spins around into a hurracarana. Kidman rolls Cena and holds the rope for 1....2....3 to win the match, turnabout is fair play. Cena whines to referee Jimmy Korderas and when Kidman taps his shoulder, Cena snaps and attacks Kidman. He throws him to the outside and sends him into the ring steps. Cole calls him a baby as Cena smiles at his work. 

Time of match: 2:44

Winner: Kidman by pinfall

After the match Dorkus Malorkus catches up with Brock Lesnar and asks him about Big Show's challenge. Lesnar asks if Funaki has the night off and jokes that he and Funaki go way back. Lesnar says if Big Show wants a title shot, he can ask him face to face. We go to commercial and when we get back we get highlights of Benoit and Angle celebrating their win at No Mercy. Los Guerreros come up to Benoit and Guerrero is sporting a black eye, guess Rey or Edge got him good. Eddie wants to be friends with Benoit again and Chris sees right through him and asks what he really wants. Eddie says just his friendship and Benoit says he knows what they said to Kurt about Chris beating the daylights out of Kurt......and says he could be right about it. Cut to Big Show walking down the hall as Cole goes "Hasn't he caused enough problems tonight?" Show storms into Brock's locker room and confronts Paul Heyman also sporting injuries sustained from Hell in A Cell. Heyman cuts a promo begging Show not to confront Lesnar when Brock shoves Heyman out of the way and tells Big Show he's got his title shot. Guess we're getting Show vs Lesnar eventually. On to the main event.

Match 5

Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle

The bad blood from the past month boils over as we go to a highlight of Stephanie slapping Chris & Kurt to set up the match. Kurt carries the trophy to the ring that's just missing a single bar. Cole asks if Stephanie made the right decision to have this match. Cole says Benoit owns a victory over Kurt at Unforgiven as Kurt starts with a takedown and they exchange a series of sit outs, rides and go-behinds.  Kurt picks the ankle and they continue to amateur wrestle with Kurt getting the upper hand. Chris counters with an elbow to the head and stomps Kurt in the corner. Benoit drops Angle with a double elbow smash before ramming him into the buckle. Benoit chops Angle in the corner a few times but Kurt counters with a left arm clothesline. Kurt stomps Benoit and hits a snap suplex but the cover only gets a two. Kurt eats another chop but counters with right hands and stomps. Kurt stands on Benoit in the corner then delivers a back suplex. A cover only gets two as Cole calls Kurt a surgeon in the ring. Kurt chops Benoit in the corner then whips him into the corner. A charge eats boot and but Angle backdrops Benoit. Chris returns the favor with his own back drop then Chris does his Hat Trick German Suplex combo but Angle counters the third one to deliver three of his own. Kurt covers for 1....2...nope. Kurt jumps up and down demanding Chris get up and Angle goes for the Angle Slam but Chris counters with an overhead German suplex. Benoit gives the signal for the flying headbutt and goes upstairs. Tazz says Kurt's on the wrong side of the ring and Benoit still lands it anyway. Benoit stacks up Kurt but Kurt kicks out at two only for Chris to roll into the Crippler Crossface. Kurt makes it to the rope but Chris pulls him back and rolls into another crossface. Angle then reverses into the Angle Lock but Chris kicks him off. Kurt runs into an inside cradle for a two count but Chris walks into the Angle Slam. Kurt covers for 1...2.....nooooo! Kurt locks in the Angle Lock again but Chris reverses it into another crossface. Angle rolls out of it but runs into a left arm clothesline. Benoit goes upstairs for another headbutt but Angle runs up the ropes and hits a top rope belly to belly suplex. He covers for 1...2...noooooo! Kurt pulls the strap off his singlet when Eddie Guerrero hits the ring to distract the ref allowing Chavo to come in and waffle Kurt with the belt. Chavo puts Benoit on top and bails as the ref turns around for 1....2.....3 and Benoit wins it. Chavo and Eddie celebrate outside and hope the guardrail for a hasty retreat. Benoit looks confused but Angle sneaks up and Angle Slams him. Kurt grabs the trophy and smashes it as Tazz says if he can't have it, no one can. Kurt grabs some of the broken pieces and leaves as Cole asks how they're going to co-exist moving forward. Damn good match that ended with interference, setting up yet another Guerreros/Benoit & Angle showdown in the future.

Time of match: 8:15

Winner: Benoit by pinfall

Pretty good show and it got a lot done. Big Show established himself as instant top heel with Lesnar moving into a tweener role. Big Show throwing Taker off the stage writes him off TV so he can be with his newborn. Benoit & Angle can't get along to save their lives and they have a rematch with Rey Mysterio and Edge in the future with the Guerreros lurking in the shadows. Unfortunately we still have the Dawn Marie & The Wilsons angle but Tajiri is in hot pursuit of the Cruiserweight strap. All in all Smackdown looks to be in pretty good hands moving forward as we head toward Survivor Series. Tomorrow night we got a house show in Topeka, Kansas. I'll see you there.

WWE at HSBC Arena (10/13/02)

HSBC Arena

Buffalo, New York

October 13, 2002

The stars of Raw continued their trek through upstate New York with a house show in Buffalo. Its funny how No Mercy was just seven days away but the only official match signed was Kane vs Triple H. Ric Flair vs Rob Van Dam looked like it would be on the card but hasn't made official yet. Kurt Angle, Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo were still on loan from Smackdown with Chris Jericho, Lance Storm and Christian in Canada for the Smackdown shows. Let's get started.

Match 1

Rico vs The Hurricane

Same match from yesterday with the exact same result. Hurricane pins Rico after a crossbody.

Winner: Hurricane by pinfall

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Deacon Bautista

Credible was wrestling out his contract while Bautista was about to be brought to Raw. The writing is on the wall for this one. Batista wins it with a spinebuster.

Winner: Bautista by pinfall

Match 3

Mark Jindrak, Charlie Haas and D-Lo Brown vs Raven, Steven Richards and Red Dogg

Charlie Haas and Red Dogg were getting their tryout run while Jindrak was already being featured on C shows. D-Lo pinned Raven with the sky high.

Winners: Jindrak, Haas and D-Lo by pinfall

Match 4

Booker T vs The Big Show

Not only was Booker being jobbed out on Raw for no good reason, he didn't fare any better on the houses either. Big Show wins it with the chokeslam.

Winner: Big Show by pinfall.

Match 5

Kurt Angle (With Stephanie McMahon) vs Kane for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

So not only was Kurt brought in for the New York house run but Stephanie came with him for this.  Kane wins it with the chokeslam.

Winner: Kane by pinfall (still IC champion)

Match 6

William Regal vs Jeff Hardy

Standard match until the end. Apparently Test did a run in and Hardy won with the Swanton Bomb. With The Unamericans breaking up, it was unclear who Test attacked.

Winner: Hardy by pinfall

Match 7

3 Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal) with Rico vs Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo

Gunn and Palumbo had been winning these house show matches and this one was no different. Billy and Chuck win this one as well.

Winners: Billy and Chuck

Match 8

Rob Van Dam vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

The rematch from Unforgiven main evented this house show in Buffalo. HHH hit Van Dam with a chair and then the pedigree to win the match.

Winner: HHH by pinfall (still WHC)

Too bad about Billy Gunn, although his injury would indirectly lead to Chuck getting a push in a few months with other people. As for the rest of the card, standard house show stuff. Kane was being built for HHH and HHH looked unstoppable as the WHC. We got seven days until No Mercy with no matches official other than HHH vs Kane. Hopefully tomorrow night on Raw will shed some light on what's coming up. While this show in Buffalo was going on, Smackdown was holding their own house show in Calgary, Alberta, home of the Hart Dungeon. I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (10/10/02)

WWE Smackdown

America West Arena

Phoenix, Arizona

October 10, 2002

Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz

Ring Announcer: Tony Chimel

While Raw raked the eyes of anyone watching with the poorly constructed Raw Roulette then topping off with the infamous Katie Vick angle, Smackdown was the polar opposite lately. They've been putting on great matches for weeks and the introduction of the WWE Tag Team Championship tournament added some pizazz to an already great show. But, things were about to go horizontal as well but we'll get to that later. Before we go anywhere we got the dark matches before the Velocity taping. Let's get to them.

Dark Match 1

Shannon Moore vs Spanky

No, that's not Spanky from Little Rascals. That's Brian Kendrick getting a tryout. Shannon won with the Flair pin. You'll be seeing Kendrick real soon.

Winner: Moore by pinfall

Dark Match 2

Val Venis and Bill Demott vs Shelton Benjamin and Bull Buchanan

Shelton and Bull had been teaming on the house shows as this was Shelton's trial run before he made his TV debut. Shelton had all the athleticism in the world so it won't be long until he's brought up. Still, the veterans Val and Bill win it after Demott pinned Benjamin.

Winners: Venis and Demott by pinfall

Now let's get started with the show. We start with a recap of last week's show where Undertaker got ambushed by Brock Lesnar to help Matt Hardy win a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Then Brock used a propane tank to break Undertaker's hand. We open with The Undertaker, cast and all, in the parking garage waiting for Brock Lesnar. But here comes Matt Hardy to the ring for a chat. The crowd chants "We want Jeff" as Tazz says he has Mattitude. Hardy says times are great for Version 1 and he's getting all sorts of fan mail for beating Undertaker twice. Hardy brags about beating him singlehandedly and shows the highlight from last week. Naturally its just the three count and not the F-5 Brock Lesnar unleashed. Taker is being shown coming to the ring and Matt says he'll beat him up if he comes out there. Taker hits the ring and Matt attacks and slams the cast against the turnbuckle. Taker then uses the cast as a weapon to punch Matt with it. Outside the ring Taker sends Hardy into the steel steps and into the timekeeper's table. Undertaker pounds away on Matt and Matt's been busted open. Taker chases off the referees and Hardy throws right hands only to eats knees to the gut. Taker gets in the ring and punches the bloody Matt with the cast again. Hardy kicks Taker in the gonads as the referees try to break them up. Taker hits Matt with the cast again and Matt counters with a chair shot to the back. Taker beats the daylights out of Matt and almost takes referee Mike Chioda's head off with a swinging right. Taker elbows Matt against the post but Matt moves when Taker goes to punch hit. Taker holds his hand in pain as Matt escapes a bloody mess. Cole says Taker can use the cast as a weapon and may have evened the odds at No Mercy. That was 10 full minutes, just a tad too long but Taker needed to get revenge somehow. We cut to commercial and when we come back, we get the highlight of Matt's beat down. On to our first match.

Match 1

Rikishi vs Eddie Guerrero (with Chavo Guerrero Jr)

Last week Los Guerreros defeated Mark Henry and Rikishi in the first round of the tag title tournament and Rikishi takes on Eddie in singles action this week. We get a quick shot of the back with the trainer saying Taker's hand might be broken in another spot. Bell's gone and Eddie starts with a headlock but eats a shoulderblock. Rikishi says to bring it as Michael Cole says Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle will be teaming tonight and they'll be suspended if they fight each other. Cole says Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr will be teaming as well. Eddie runs into a bearhug as Cole says Dawn Marie challenged Torrie Wilson to a Lingerie Contest. Will these ridiculous antics ever cease? Eddie goes for a sunset flip but just moves before Rikishi sits on him. Eddie dropkicks Rikishi and clubs away at him. Eddie stomps away and even Chavo gets a cheapshot in. Eddie punches Rikishi in the corner but gets backdropped. Rikishi hits a modified spine buster but misses an avalanche in the corner. Eddie dropkicks the knee and hits a hilo. Eddie goes for the frog splash but misses it. Eddie staggers into a Samoan drop and Rikishi hits a clothesline in the corner. Eddie falls into the corner and Rikishi goes for the stinkface. Chavo hops on the apron and Rikishi tosses him in the ring. Rikishi savate kicks Chavo into Eddie and avalanches them both. Both Guerreros fall in to the corner and both get stinkfaced at the same time. Eddie grabs a chair and throws it in the ring. Eddie then grabs a second chair and goes to hit Rikishi with it. Rikishi catches him and unloads with right hands but Chavo grabs the second chair but kicks kicked for his trouble. Eddie picks his chair back up and waffles Rikishi in the leg with it while referee Jimmy Korderas was busy getting Chavo out of there. Eddie locks in the El Paso Lasso and Rikishi taps to end the match. Eddie has beaten Mark Henry and Rikishi by submission in successive weeks with a lot of help from Chavo. Good crash style match and the double stinkface was funny.

Time of match: 4:37

Winner: Guerrero by submission

Back to Torrie Wilson going through her own underwear and can't believe Dawn challenged her to this match. Al Wilson shows up and says she wants to show him something. Uh, what? What dad is cool with their own daughter going through lingerie? Then again, its only a show so who cares. Back to Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle in Stephanie McMahon's office staring each other down. Stephanie says she needs them to get along because they're the best in WWE but if they can't get along, they'll be suspended without pay. Kurt says he's not even going to pretend to like Chris then thanks Stephanie for the opportunity. He says he's going to win no matter how much teeth or lack of brain cells his partner has. Chris fakes a belly laugh and says Kurt is bitter that he lost at Unforgiven. He says Angle's never been tag team champion so follow his lead. He grabs Kurt's medal and Kurt says don't touch. Stephanie tells them both to get to steppin but they refuse to leave first. Stephanie just sits down.

We cut to Rey Mysterio Jr with Funaki SMACKDOWN NUMBA WUN ANNOUNCA! He asks how they have a chance against Jamie Noble and Tajiri. All of a sudden Nidia shows up and starts hitting on him in Spanish. Rey then says something to offend her and she starts screaming at him and Funaki. She storms off and runs into Jamie asking what's going on. She blows him off and he spins her around saying she doesn't turn her back on him, he's Cruiserweight champion. He wants respect and Nidia says this is not the time or place. Jamie yells and she yells so security throws them both out. Back to Los Guerreros who's outside Stephanie's office where Chris Benoit finally walks out. Eddie brags about what they did to Rikishi and Chris doesn't look impressed. Chris "I don't know what the hell is up with Stephanie but I'll be damned if I sit home for a year. Eddie and Chavo stir the pot by saying Kurt is gonna train for the Olympics so Curt needs to watch his back. Kurt walks out and he calls Eddie "home slice." Kurt "Was it something I said? Wait a minute, were you guys talking about me? We may not be able to fight during our matches, but I'll beat it out of you." Chris "Yeah, YOU beat it out of me, yeah." Cole says the match is next.

Match 2

Billy Kidman and John Cena vs Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit

Amazing how one man would eclipse the other three when all was said and done and it wouldn't be who you'd think in 2002. Benoit and Angle argue outside before the match even starts before Chris starts with Kidman. The winners face Los Guerreros in the semi-finals next week. Benoit dominates Kidman to start with right hands and chops. Kidman gets a hurracarana and locks in an arm-bar before tagging in Cena. They double team Benoit and John covers for a 1 count. Benoit tags in Angle and Cena hiptosses him. Cena drops Angle with a forearm then covers for a deuce. Kidman tags in and dropkicks Angle then covers for another two count. Kidman kicks Angle and charges but Kurt belly to belly suplexes him over the top to the floor. Benoit picks Kidman up and throws him back in the ring. Angle hits a back suplex and Benoit reaches for the tag. Angle hits another belly to belly overhead suplex and Benoit tags himself in. Cole says he'd be shocked if they can make it through. Benoit german suplexes Kidman twice and executes a side backbreaker. Benoit taunts Kurt and slaps Kidman across the face. Cole plugs a Saturday night house show in Benoit's home town of Edmonton. Benoit locks in a half-crab but Kidman catches him in a small package for a two count. Kurt tags himself in and does a backbreaker to Kidman. A cover gets a two count and he sends Kidman into the corner. A charge eats boot and Kidman tags in Cena...only the ref didn't see it. Angle hits a vertical suplex and tags Benoit in. Benoit goes to whip Kurt into Billy but Kidman moves and Kurt hits the ringpost, spiraling out of the ring. Kidman hits an enziguiri on Benoit and crawls over to Cena. Kidman gets the hot tag and Cena ralies with clotheslines to Benoit. He backdrops Benoit and plants Angle as well. Cena hits a 3 Handled Credenza (!!) and covers only to see Kurt coming. Kurt splashes Benoit by accident and Cena throws him to the outside. Benoit gets clotheslined by Cena but he's pulled outside by Kurt. Kidman goes for the 7 Year Itch and hits it. Kidman covers for 1....2...noooo, Angle pulled Kidman out at the last second. Cena clotheslines Kurt out of the ring but is backdropped over and out by Benoit. Kidman hits an X-Factor on Benoit and covers for 1...2...noooo. Angle counters a bulldog into an Angle Slam and locks in the ankle lock. Benoit shoves Cena into Angle and both fly out of the ring. Benoit locks in the Crippler Crossface and Kidman submits to end the match. That was damn good match with the story going on that Angle and Benoit can't get along. Good work to all four guys.

Time of match: 7:51

Winners: Angle and Benoit

After the match Benoit and Angle goes nose to nose as the ref raises both their arms in victories. We cut to the back with Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar and.....ugh....Tracy coming to the ring. As I mentioned, Vince McMahon went nuts trying to add pizazz to the No Mercy main events by incorporating Katie Vick into HHH vs Kane and...well....you'll see. Heyman grabs a random stooge and tells him to clear the ring. We go to commercial and when we come back, we get a Mattitude vignette set to Live For The Moment by Monster Magnet. Say what you will about Matt, that song SLAPPED back then. After a highlight of Taker beating up Matt earlier, here comes Brock, Paul and Tracy....ugh. Tracy Dali was an actress, cheerleader and Playboy model brought in for this. Heyman goes over what Brock did last week and says Taker is screaming about Hell in A Cell. Heyman puts over Taker's accomplishments at previous HIAC but as a man, Tracy has some words to say about the person. Before she can say anything, Taker himself comes out.

Taker gets in the ring and Tracy says "How could you Mark? For 3 months you have lied to me and slept with me. Now I find out you're married and your wife is pregnant. You're a bastard! I never even cared that you were The Undertaker or watched wrestling. I even promised you that I would never take our relationship public. Now I see why, don't I?" The only problem with this logic is he literally has Sara tattooed on his throat, how did she not know he had another woman. Taker grabs his own mic and says he has no idea who she is. She slaps him half-heartedly behind the ear and storms off with Lesnar and Heyman. Taker is completely confused and so are the fans really. Nobody asked for this and it just drags the angle down. Its not Tracy Dali's fault for taking a job, but Stephanie thinking it was necessary.

Back from commercial Heyman, Tracy and Brock are leaving when Stephanie walks up to them. Stephanie informs them that Brock has a match tonight and Heyman asks what? Stephanie says Jamie Noble has been thrown out of the arena and Brock will now team with Tajiri. Heyman complains about it and says this is an unsafe working environment. Stephanie says the match will be on but Undertaker will be banned from ring side. Heyman asks how that's going to keep Taker away and Stephanie says if he does interfere, then he won't face Brock at No Mercy. Brock is mad as we cut to the ring.

Match 3

Billy Gunn (with Chuck Palumbo) vs Reverend D'Von (with Ron Simmons)

Yes, you read that right. They FINALLY dropped the name Faarooq and started calling Ron by his real name. With Deacon Bautista headed to Raw, D'Von needed a new partner and they stuck Ron Simmons with him. Billy faces D'Von one on one and they lock up to start. D'Von sends Billy off and eats a shoulderblock. Billy hits an arm-drag suplex and covers for a two count. Billy goes for One and Only but D'Von escapes. D'Von takes over with a thrust to the throat only to run into a hiplock. He covers for a two count and D'Von bails to the outside. Palumbo shouts at D'Von which causes the ref to pay attention to him, allowing Simmons to clotheslines Billy Gunn, D'Von sends him into the steps then back inside. Billy instinctively reaches for a tag but forgets its a single match. D'Von hits a jumping elbow on Billy and a big right hand. D'Von locks in a chinlock as Cole babbles on about Brock Lesnar and Undertaker...like we don't get enough of this on Velocity? D'Von covers for a two count, hits a scoop powerslam and covers for another deuce. Gunn reverses a backdrop and hits One and Only. Gunn rallies with right hands in the corner and hits a stinger splash. Gunn calls for the fameasser but Simmons grabs the leg to stop him. Palumbo superkicks Simmons and D'Von goes for Saving Grace. Gunn rolls through it and hits the fameasser. He covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Weird to have Simmons and Dudley lose like this with their semifinal match next week, but Gunn gets the duke. Not great but they needed something to fill the show. This would be the last Smackdown appearance for Billy for nearly a year as he'd get injured on an upcoming house show.

Time of match: 5:21

Winner: Billy Gunn by pinfall

Back to the backstage area, Undertaker is on a cell phone talking to someone. Apparently Sara is NOT happy with these accusations and hangs up on him. We go to commercial and when we come back, Chavo Guerrero is shouting for help. He tells Benoit that Angle has Eddie Guerrero and needs help. He leads Benoit to a room and shuts the door behind him. We hear fighting noises and when the dust settles, Chavo opens the door and Eddie walks out with a steel chair. Eddie claims "Kurt Angle" wrecked Benoit. We cut to Torrie Wilson who says not to watch her in the lingerie contest and they'll have dinner later. Well...yeah. Dawn Marie walks up and shows off her lingerie to Al. The showdown is next.....ugh.

Match 4

Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson in a Lingerie Showdown.

Tazz is our MC and he shills the Divas Magazine before Torrie and Dawn make their entrances. Same thing as a bikini contest only different attire....sort of. Dawn goes first and shows off the goods before Torrie does the same. Naturally the crowd cheers Torrie and she wins. A complete waste of time who's only purpose is "yay boobies". Dawn wants a handshake but Torrie stones her cold after what happened last week.

Winner: Torrie

Backstage Dawn runs into Al Wilson and says she wanted to congratulate Torrie. Al claims he watched and Dawn shows her the Divas Undressed Magazine with her hotel room number card. Oh god....anyway, we cut to Paul and Brock. Paul tries to talk strategy for Edge and Mysterio but Brock says he wants Paul's phone. Paul hands it over and Brock calls a number to check on whoever he's calling. The person on the other line has no idea who he is so he introduces himself. Lesnar admits he just called Sara and Heyman is mortified. We then go to a highlight of Tracy's slap, which runs way too long. Finally, let's go to our main event.

Match 5

Tajiri and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr

Edge had been facing Brock on the house shows so they might have good chemistry here. Cole says before the match Brock doesn't want to be here. We start with Edge and Brock at the bell and Edge gets thrown halfway across the ring to start. Edge gets thrown across a second time and Brock laughs at him. Edge gets in a headlock but gets shoulderblocked. Edge catches Brock with a drop toe hold and pulls the top rope down to send Brock flying over the top. Lesnar is PISSED and paces around outside. He kicks the ring steps and Heyman tries to calm him down. Brock gets in and warms up but misses the clothesline. He gets a knee to the ribs and forearms Edge in the back. Mysterio blind tags in and Edge goes for a bodypress. Brock catches him but Mysterio jumps on Edge to take Brock down. Rey covers but gets launched off at 1. Rey and Brock are now in the ring for the first time together, power vs speed. Brock snatches Rey by the legs but almost botches the powerslam. Lesnar tosses Rey like a gnat and Tajiri tags himself in. Tajiri lands a superkick to drop Rey and locks in a chinlock. Cole says Tajiri's chances to win the tag belts increased ten-fold with Brock. Tajiri charges but is thrown up and over. Tajiri catches Rey with the tarantula but misses the Buzz Kick but hits a standard dropkick. Tajiri tells Brock he's got this as Heyman says to keep on him. Rey hits a hilo hurracarana and Tajiri sets Rey up on the top rope. Tajiri slugs at him then goes up himself. Rey knocks Tajiri off and makes the tag to Edge. Edge goes apeshit on Tajiri and knocks Brock off the apron. Edge counters the big kick and hits Edge-O-Matic. Lesnar gets in and hammers Edge. Edge tries a clothesline but Brock no-sells it. Edge hits another one to no effect but a third forearm drops him. Tajiri accidentally buzz kicks Lesnar and a double dropkick sends Lesnar outside. Edge drop toes Tajiri into the ropes and Rey hits the 619. Edge hits the spear and covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. The individual matchups with Edge vs Brock, Rey vs Brock and Rey vs Tajiri were interesting but this was as makeshift as it gets. Still, they did well with what they had. Topped off a bad Smackdown with at least a good match.

Time of match: 7:23

Winners: Edge and Mysterio

After the match, Lesnar backdrops Edge on the floor and catches Rey in mid-air. Brock hits the backbreaker and launches Mysterio back in the ring. Lesnar hits the F-5 on Tajiri and Mysterio, but The Undertaker hits the ring. Taker blasts Lesnar with the cast that hurts him but sends Brock heading for the hills. Taker stands tall to end the show with Lesnar retreating. Cole says there will be no escape at No Mercy at Hell In A Cell as we sign off. God, that show SUCKED. It was 75% talking/segments and 25% wrestling which is unacceptable by Smackdown standards. The whole Tracy storyline was seriously unnecessary and just having Taker sell a broken hand would have done just fine. Los Guerreros screwing with Benoit and Angle before their semi-final tag match next week was good, but it dragged way too long. The lingerie match was also a waste of time but that's standard Divas circa 2002. All in all this show fell off a cliff compared to the previous two weeks and its a shame because it was supposed to be better than Raw. Vince royally screwed up with Raw Roulette and too much talking on Smackdown. Hopefully he can salvage what he can before No Mercy. Tomorrow night the stars of Raw have a house show in Utica, New York so I'll see you there.