SMACKDOWN MARCH 21 2002
Smackdown opens with a replay of the hogan/Rock vs NWO. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. I see the Smackdown fist and nostalgia washes over me. Smackdown is coming from Ottawa Canada. The rock is set to face Kevin Nash tonight. Out comes Kurt angle who sits at the commentary table.
Edge vs Booker T
Kurt angle on commentary is something else. He's talking about how Booker T is his "Homie" and he's making a bunch of random musical references like you're about to make me lose my mind and who let the dogs out. Edge and Booker T have a good back and forth match and edge looks like he's about to win but Kurt angle interferes after Booker T kicks the referee (Teddy Long playa!) Booker hits Edgewith the scissor kick for the win.
Backstage with Hogan who gets a big pop. Vince intercepts him in the hallway and tells him to think about being drafted by him. Hogan says he will think about it but he'll stick around tonight. Decent segment.
We go to the APA playing poker in the back and the man who both of these guys look way too old to still be doing this. William regal walks up to them and told them about the possibility of being broken up by the draft. Bradshaw counters by saying that no matter where they are one of them will be able to kick his ass. William regal leaves and is face to face with the European champion DDP. I completely forgot that DDP was the European champion at some point. Page is still doing his positively page gimmick and mocks regal for losing the Intercontinental championship. Regal challenges Page for the title and the match is set. The APA portion of this backstage segment wasn't really necessary.
Backstage with big daddy cool and Scott hall. Hall palms Nash up by telling him to kick rocks ass. Nash says he will do what hogan couldn't at wrestlemania. Man there are a lot of segments one after another.
Trish and Lita vs Ivory and Jazz
You know, the funny thing is that the woman wrestlers here are wearing way more than the women wrestlers wear now. They're like wearing full pants and shirts. With no mid drift except for jazz. Unlike the Trish and lita match on raw this match is way better. Some solid he'll work from ivory and Janice and every move looks really intense. Women's wrestling on the main show has really degraded when you see some of the character work on display here. Unfortunately, king is still really really creepy. Trish picks up the win after pinning Jazz with the Stratusfaction.
We go to the back where Lillian is interviewing the intercontinental champion Rob Van dam. Rob gives the same promo that he always does. "This is really cool whatever is happening doesn't matter as long as I'm Rob Van Dam" (pointing taunt.)
Regal vs DDP for the European title
William regal is such a fantastic talent. Every piece of offense is believable and his selling is great. He moves around the ring with such a purpose and is always adding something to his matches. He and Page have a solid match when Christian comes out for the distraction. Regal hits page with the brass knuckles and blocks him in the regal stretch. The ref calls for the bell and regal is now a three-time European champion.
Chris Jericho comes out with his hair tied back. I'm assuming he's going to grow his goatee out any day now. Stephanie is with him and she looks incredible. Please don't let her talk. Jericho launches into a field promo so generic I could imagine Dolph Ziggler giving it, but at least his delivery and character is better. He mentions how big of a coward triple H is for making the handicap stipulation with Stephanie. He's completely right though, triple H looks like a huge pussy for making that stipulation. Outcomes the undisputed champ triple H. Triple H opens his promo by calling Jericho gay and Stephanie a bitch. Our face ladies and gentlemen. He shows a montage of Stephanie being embarrassed. I got to admit, as awful as she is on the mic at least she was willing to take some licks. Triple H says that Jericho earned his respect, but he's the champ now. Triple H, ever the ric flair mark, is holding the big gold belt over the WWF. Stephanie drops the "bombshell" and says that the match on Monday has been made a triple threat match so she could become the world champion. Jericho looks confused and it is super obvious that he is an afterthought in the storyline. Only two shows and I don't really care about anything happening in the world title scene. Jericho is interviewed in the back and states the super obvious fact that if Stephanie pins him she could become the champ but he could also pin Stephanie to become the champion.
Test vs Tajiri w/Torrie Wilson
Tajiri is the cruiserweight champion and Torrie Wilson is wearing the exact same thing that Trish was wearing on Monday. I have no recollection of why these two are together but whatever. Test and Tajiri mesh really well. Test is really good at hitting his power moves and I forgot how fucking smooth Tajiri is around the ring. Test win with the big boot. Not how you protect your champions WWE.
Hall and Nash are backstage with Vince. Vince tells them that the NWO has been sent to be drafted as a unit. The NWO by this point is really kind of lame.
The Hurricane vs Mighty Molly
A replay of the hilarious hard core title scramble at wrestlemania X8. Hurricane teases a choke slam but decides to show some mercy. Molly hits him from the back and the fight is on. Hurricane sends Molly over the top rope. Brock Lesnar interferes and hits hurricane with an F5. Molly comes back in the ring and Brock just fucking plows into her. My dislike of intergender matches continues.
Biker taker comes out and asks for flair. He goes to his office and flair looks freaked out. Taker demands that flare draft him on Monday so that every day for flare can be if you like wrestle mania. Taker and flare kind of reminded me like how weird prison rapist relationship.
Billy and Chuck are backstage. Chuck asked if it was a good idea to hire Rico as they're mess Billy and Chuck are backstage. Chuck asks if it was a good idea to hire Rico as their manager. Billy says that while he's tough he's the best there is. Rico comes in and tells them that their behavior is disgusting and unacceptable. He says their headbands are crooked and their color scheme is passé. After their match they will have a full body makeover. Billy says that he is the best hairstylist they can find. Jesus Christ.
Billy and Chuck vs The Hardys
You know, if there's one thing I can praise about Billy and Chuck, is that they could be a lot worse. It's not like they act super effeminate and try to hump their opponents or anything. They're just two wrestlers who are implied to be in a homosexual relationship. And and that's pretty commendable in professional wrestling. Both teams have a solid match. It looks like the Hardys are going to win when Rico throws Jeff into the ref. He hangs Matt on the top row and Billy hits the fameasser for the win to retain the tag belts.
Kevin Nash vs The Rock
Weird piece of WWE cinematography back then. The Camera tends to zoom in on the Wrestler's faces when they're in the ring for a dramatic effect. I don't hate it. You know, divorced from all the internet smark bullshit around Kevin Nash he really does wrestle like a solid power wrestler and has enough charisma to back it up. He and rock have a good dynamic here, with Nash playing the big man and the rock playing the underdog role. Scott Hall lays into rock with cheap shots whenever he can. The rock has a really shitty DDT has that ever been mentioned? Nash is dominating a good chunk of the match when the rock hits the People's elbow. Hall interferes for the disqualification. The rock removes the amounts table covers but Kevin Nash turns it around and jackknives him through the table. Out comes hogan who lays into both of them. He's dominating when out comes X Pac in NWO colors and smacks hogan with the chair. Hulk is busted open now and whole gets in a chair shop. The NWO all proceeds to brand hulk to end the show.
This was a decent show. Granted, it was just a way to further the story lines that we saw on raw without making big changes but I guess that's the way it was without the brand split. Something I want to point out during this time is that while the matches don't really run past 10 minutes and the ring work isn't as good as some of the guys now, the character work is much stronger and the story is more apparent. So while I see guys like owens and cesaro putting on a good Match up from a technical standpoint and I don't really get the sense I'm supposed to feel anything about their characters because there is no character dynamic in the ring. Maybe some disagree with me but that's the way I see it. Also, everyone on the show is out there for some reason instead of just a bunch of random exhibition matches. Since it's a Sunday and I'm not doing anything at the moment I guess I'll just move on to RAW.