Nov 25, 2020 4:08:21 GMT Baker said:

JBL (c) vs. Chris Benoit- 4/14/06- US Title Cage Match

My favorite match yet in this project and it's not even close.

This one had everything I like in my pro wrestling. Pre-match sports entertainment sold beautifully by the Wrestling God.  JBL was his usual all time great heel self, doing half a dozen awesome heel things a lesser wrestler would never even think about. Benoit brought the physicality. Both guys took multiple big bumps off the top rope, with the highlight being a top rope German from Benoit. We got a genuinely dramatic finish with some clever nearfalls that had me on the edge of my seat due to forgetting who won this match. I was about 70% sure JBL prevailed, but a Benoit win would not have shocked me at all. Neither guy even dipped all that deep into their arsenal of moves, leaving much on the table for a potential rematch. A neat JBL heel trick > all the flips in the world.

We even got some fun pro-JBL signs like "Justice Bravery Loyalty" and some good natured JBL > Brett Favre stuff from the Green Bay crowd at a time when Favre was keeping the Packer faithful in suspense over his potential retirement.

Verdict ****+. Will certainly ascend from Honorable Mention status into the top tier.
Warning: This project could easily turn into a JBL lovefest over the next few days. I had him down as my 7th favorite wrestler of all time when we did that countdown. Well, don't be too surprised if I also have him at #7 if we ever do a Greatest Wrestler Countdown. What a getter of professional wrestling that man was.

Do JBL/Eddy next!

But seriously, reliving SD! through Baker-man & Big Pete reviews is more enjoyable than watching or rewatching the matches themselves. Can we just keep doing this?

Nov 25, 2020 17:01:38 GMT Big Pete said:

Nice find, I'm keen to add some JBL to my list just to represent all the different eras. Was the bullrope match between him and Tista any good?

I have no recollection of this JBL/Batista Bullrope Match. So I'm going to assume it was nothing special.
Here are the JBL matches that did make my 2008 list. All of these fell into the Honorable Mention category rather than the Top 25.

Nov 17, 2020 5:30:19 GMT Baker said:

JBL vs. Kurt Angle- 1/27/05
JBL vs. Kurt Angle vs. Booker T vs. Big Show- 4/28/05
JBL vs. Christian vs. Booker T vs. Chris Benoit vs. Undertaker vs. Muhammed Hassan- 6/30/05
JBL vs. Chris Benoit- 4/14/06
Rey Mysterio vs. JBL- 5/26/06

A few days ago I'd have told you the two multi-man matches are the cream of the crop here. The first one was well laid out and the second was a Big Deal in real time. But that Benoit cage match will be hard to top. 

For some reason I didn't include the JBL/Eddie Cage Match @ness mentioned. Could be I just forgot about it back in 2008? That has to be JBL's most famous Smackdown match. I also vaguely recall a fun JBL/Taker SD match. A bit of research reveals it was a No DQ Match from 6/16/05.

Now I'm curious about potential APA gems hidden away on Smackdown. Don't recall any off the top of my head, but you never know...

Also any recommendations for Paul London and Brian Kendrick? 

Londrick's whole run is a forgettable blur to me. I was shocked a year or so back to discover they had an 11 month tag title reign. I would have guessed it was more like 4 months.

Anyway, the only Londrick SD match that might come to mind is the tag title switch against your boys Deuce & Domino. But here's the thing...I recall liking one Deuce & Domino match...ever. And it was one of their title changes! So maybe it was the Londrick match...but it could just as easily be their tag title loss to MVP & Matt. I simply do not remember.

Still, just because I personally am having trouble recalling a standout Londrick match doesn't mean such a thing fails to exist. For example, I can't imagine Londrick vs. MNM being bad. I could also see Londrick vs. Nu Pitbulls being a winner.

Ness: I'll put the JBL/Eddy cage match on the docket. I already have two Big Show matches and another JBL match to write up later.

The Big Show Comedy Hour

Big Show was an upper card staple during Smackdown's glory days. Yet he only had two matches on my list- both Honorable Mentions, with one of those being a 15 man Royal Rumble. Truth is I just didn't care about Big Show from '99 on. He pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of being a "just there" 4/10 guy despite his 7 foot 400+ pound frame. In real time you'd have to go all the way back to his feud with Mankind in the Spring of '99 to find the last time I actively looked forward to seeing a Big Show match. I soon realized it wasn't 1996 anymore and Big Show kind of sucked now. From then on any time an upper carder wrestled Big Show in a high profile match I'd always be like "Man, I'd rather see Wrestler X against literally any upper carder other than Big Show." 

But, looking back, I feel like I didn't give Show enough credit. While it's true I never actively looked forward to a Big Show match, a whole lot of those bouts were better than expected. Big Show basically topped out at "better than expected." But it happened pretty frequently!

Big Show's best WWE match was the awesome bloodbath with Ric Flair on WWECW. After that it's mostly multi mans and comedy matches. Because Big Show was great at these things! Multi mans involving Show tended to play to his strengths. Namely being a badass 7 foot Giant. They were typically laid out in a way that enabled Show to thrive. Really the only times in WWE where he showed glimpses of his awesome 1996 WCW self. I would even be open to the argument that Big Show was the best multi man match worker in 2000s WWE. Big Show also excelled at comedy. Showster vs. Angle from Backlash 2000 is a minimum of **** or you have no heart.

And its Big Show's comedy chops that finally brings me to the point of this post. I have no idea if these matches are actually good, but their comedic finishes have stuck with me for over 15 years. And I'm always open to throwing "oddball" picks at the bottom of lists. So let's check 'em out and see if they're worthy...
===================
Big Show vs. William Regal- Smackdown 2/28/02

Regal is IC Champ, but this is non-title. Match came about when Show took offense to derogatory things Regal said about him on commentary.

Meh. This is pretty much a nothing match. But the finish still holds up. Check it out...


====================
Big Show vs. Funaki- 1/13/04

Big Show is escorted to the ring by Brock Lesnar and several police officers. Show is wearing a neck brace. This is in the midst of the Brock/Holly feud. Let's talk about that for a minute...

I was indifferent to this big Hardcore Holly push. On one hand, it was pretty silly for career midcarder Hardcore Holly to be getting a Royal Rumble title shot in 2004. But on the other hand, I had a soft spot for Holly dating back to his awesome run as "The Big Shot" in 1999. So I didn't hate it as much as most internet fans. I figured Holly would lose the blowoff and Brock would move on to bigger & better things. That's exactly what happened. So no harm done imo.

Holly beat Big Show clean(ish) by submission the previous week. That's why Show is wearing a neck brace here. I remembered that part. What I didn't remember was just how ridiculous this Holly push got. Get this...

7 foot 500 pound badass, The Big Show, got a restraining order against Hardcore Holly after the events of the previous week. Holly cannot come within 50 feet of the Show. That's why the police officers are there. It is also why noted badass Brock Lesnar escorted Show to the ring. See, Holly can't get to Brock so long as Brock stays close to the Big Show. Meaning...

Brock Lesnar and The Big Show are afraid of Hardcore Holly! That's ridiculous! They're basically booking Hardcore Holly as Stone Cold Steve Austin. I do not remember this at all. "Stone Cold" Bob Holly does show up at the top of the ramp, but nothing of note happens.

Anyway, this is largely another nothing match, but the finish still amuses. The way Show dispatches Funaki cracked me up in real time. Couldn't figure out how to time stamp DailyMotion videos, but skip ahead to 2:33 for the finishing stretch...


================
Verdict- I'm always open to putting quirky stuff on lists, but neither match had enough going for it to be considered one of the 50 best bouts in Smackdown history. Both finishes are worth watching though.

JBL (c) vs. Kurt Angle- 1/27/05- Last Man Standing WWE Championship Match

This made my Honorable Mention list last time. Not gonna lie. I fully expected to have overrated this due to it involving my two favorite wrestlers at the time and because I remembered no details other than the finish being a draw. Thing is a JBL/Angle match any time between 04-06 was an automatic win in my book. Though, in a perfect world, they would not have been opponents, but a Two Man Power Trip style team called the God Machines* with a stranglehold on the WWE, US, and Tag Titles for at least a year. But stupid WWE gonna WWE by making my boys opponents instead of friends. Anyway, this match was set up by Teddy Long as revenge for JBL & Angle joining forces to ambush Big Show the previous week.

*Wrestling God + Wrestling Machine= God Machines

Much to my surprise, this match held up pretty well. Angle flummoxed JBL early with wrestling and speed. JBL used his size advantage and brawling to fight back. I appreciate Angle's Foleyesque recklessness in flinging himself into the ringside furniture. Two matches into this project and I am ready to declare JBL an underrated bumper. This time around the tall 300 pounder takes yet another top rope Superplex bump and 8(!) German Suplexes. Though I'm admittedly kind of over the Rolling Germans at this point. Both guys had good short term sells, looking "out of it" facially. Their awful stables (Orlando Jordan & the Bashams for JBL, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns for Angle) got ejected early after interfering.

There were some logic gaps though. Like why didn't Angle just hold onto the Ankle Lock and/or Choke for 5-10 minutes to insure JBL would not get up? I'll give WWE credit for trying to explain it through the use of the ref, but I still wasn't completely buying it. The finish was also pretty goofy. Angle goes for a chair shot. JBL big boots the chair into Kurt's face, Van Daminator style. But Kurt somehow has the wherewithal to whack JBL with a stiff chairshot to the dome before collapsing. And that's the finish. Both guys stay down for the 10 count.

Verdict- Borderline Honorable Mention status

Baker are you going off memory/recommendations or are you looking at a master list of best pimped stuff over the years?

[PLEASE TELL ME IT'S ALL IN A SPIRAL NOTEBOOK]

Nov 27, 2020 1:46:00 GMT @ness said:

Baker are you going off memory/recommendations or are you looking at a master list of best pimped stuff over the years?

[PLEASE TELL ME IT'S ALL IN A SPIRAL NOTEBOOK]

Both.

What initially triggered this project was finding a notebook(!!!) from the mid-late 2000s with a bunch of wrestling lists (and other stuff), including Top 25 Smackdown Matches + 25 Honorable Mentions that I'm pretty sure was for a countdown on another, long defunct wrestling forum.

I've also done the occasional "Best Smackdown Matches" search and looked at the lists/links provided by Pete and Others.  

Then you have the more obscure matches (Rey/Akio, Test/Tajiri, Big Show Comedy Hour) that appear on no lists anywhere. They're just random 'throwaway' matches that I remembered and decided to check out again. My brain tends to retain the weirdest things. Especially when it comes to wrestling. 

For example, if some weirdo had come up to me a month ago asking "What are the 50 best Smackdown matches?" I feel pretty confident that I would have rattled off about 45 from my notebook list by memory alone. I just have a knack for remembering wrestling related stuff.

There's some match I keep meaning to go back and find involving Charlie Haas vs. I want to say Chavo Guerrero that was low key bad ass awesome featuring perhaps the GOAT application of the GOAT submission hold, the Haas of Pain. Might've been Eddie or Rey instead of Chavo, but just recall Charlie cranking it back deep and the opponent being like stacked on the top of his head.

If people are looking for women’s matches to consider, Asuka vs Charlotte from 3/26/19 and Sasha vs Bayley from 11/6/20 are both great.

Nov 27, 2020 2:21:45 GMT 🤯 said:

There's some match I keep meaning to go back and find involving Charlie Haas vs. I want to say Chavo Guerrero that was low key bad ass awesome featuring perhaps the GOAT application of the GOAT submission hold, the Haas of Pain. Might've been Eddie or Rey instead of Chavo, but just recall Charlie cranking it back deep and the opponent being like stacked on the top of his head.

Just reminds me of Eddy having a supposed sub called the lasso from el Paso. Did it even exist?

Nov 27, 2020 18:33:48 GMT @ness said:

Nov 27, 2020 2:21:45 GMT 🤯 said:

There's some match I keep meaning to go back and find involving Charlie Haas vs. I want to say Chavo Guerrero that was low key bad ass awesome featuring perhaps the GOAT application of the GOAT submission hold, the Haas of Pain. Might've been Eddie or Rey instead of Chavo, but just recall Charlie cranking it back deep and the opponent being like stacked on the top of his head.

Just reminds me of Eddy having a supposed sub called the lasso from el Paso. Did it even exist?

Yes, 2002-2003 SD! had the GOAT submission game. My personal order of favorites:
- Charlie's Haas of Pain
- Noble's Trailer Hitch
- Eddie's El Paso Lasso
- Brock's Stretch Muffler
- Edge's Edge-u-cator (or whatever lame name his reverse Sharpshooter had)
- Benoit's Crippler Crossface
- Kurt's Grapevine Ankle Lock

Nov 27, 2020 20:26:25 GMT 🤯 said:

Nov 27, 2020 18:33:48 GMT @ness said:

Just reminds me of Eddy having a supposed sub called the lasso from el Paso. Did it even exist?

Yes, 2002-2003 SD! had the GOAT submission game. My personal order of favorites:
- Charlie's Haas of Pain
- Noble's Trailer Hitch
- Eddie's El Paso Lasso
- Brock's Stretch Muffler
- Edge's Edge-u-cator (or whatever lame name his reverse Sharpshooter had)
- Benoit's Crippler Crossface
- Kurt's Grapevine Ankle Lock

I love that he had like 10 different dumb names for finishers and no one knows which is which.

Nov 27, 2020 18:33:48 GMT @ness said:

Just reminds me of Eddy having a supposed sub called the lasso from el Paso. Did it even exist?

lol Yes. But even I had forgotten what it was. Turns out it's an elevated Texas Cloverleaf.



Holly taps awfully quick. Phony badass? Or is the Lasso From El Paso just that devastating?

Nov 27, 2020 20:31:48 GMT @ness said:

Nov 27, 2020 20:26:25 GMT 🤯 said:

- Edge's Edge-u-cator (or whatever lame name his reverse Sharpshooter had)

I love that he had like 10 different dumb names for finishers and no one knows which is which.

Here is the *checks notes* Edgecator...



My theory has always been Edge & Eddie devised their submission holds to keep up with Angle & Benoit in the Smackdown arms race. This is the part where I was going to write about how I wished they had occasionally busted them when desperate in later years a la Steve Austin dusting off the Million Dollar Dream, but apparently Edge did just that since most of the Edgecator clips I could find featured latter day stars like Del Rio, Ziggler, and McIntyre. 

🤯 disappointed that you called THE BROCK LOCK by its stupid "Stretch Muffler" video game name.

I spent a few minutes last night looking for your alleged GOAT Haas of Pain. No luck. But maybe I'll try again later.
================
King Booker (c) vs. Rey Mysterio- 7/28/06- World Championship Match

King Booker won the title a few days earlier. This is the rematch.

Look, I cannot deny my love of classy champions, and few were classier than King Booker. Here he is looking resplendent in gold attire. Smackdown had colossal shoes to fill when they lost their longtime lead heel, JBL. The Bookman did the near-impossible by adequately filling those shoes. Like JBL before him, there are a smattering of King Booker fans in attendance daring to rage against the machine. 

This was a perfectly fine tv main event but really nothing more than that. I can only assume it made my 2008 list because I loved King Booker and deemed this his most memorable Smackdown match. My favorite part of the match was a series of missed moves. First Booker straddled himself on the top rope and fell to the floor after missing a jumping side kick. Then Rey crashed and burned when Booker dodged a follow up dive. Book would later miss with his ax kick finisher. Rey took a few nice, hard back bumps into the turnbuckles. Book did some quality Flair chopping. Finish comes when an interfering Chavo pulls Rey off the apron, sending him into the barricade. Booker quickly capitalizes by Ax Kicking the groggy Mysterio for the 1-2-3.

Verdict- Likely bumped from Honorable Mention status.

Baker-man, as a true Brock fan I was compelled to call it the Stretch Muffler. Pretty sure that's what Tazz originally called it on commentary. Also, Brock Lock had already been wasted the previous year on Brock's admittedly terrible attempt to make the bear hug a thing. At most, I would've gone with Brock Lock II as a nod to my other main man Yuji Nagata having up to like Nagata Lock IV.

I always liked it referred to the Horse Collar.

Mostly because Sami Callihan calls it Stretch Muffler and he's lame.

Now I'm confused.

Did WWE ever officially call Brock's "Stretch Muffler" the Brock Lock or is it just something I made up that eventually became headcanon?

Who called it the Horse Collar? That one is new to me.

I'm guessing the Stretch Muffler name came from whoever invented in Japan? My first exposure to the move came under that name in one of the old Smackdown video games.

I always called it the Brock Lock initially. Dunno if it was ever called that live or if it's one of those wrestling game tags. Did he ever use it again in that initial run once Benoit bounced? Obviously he moved on to Eddy and then Goldberg so probably not.

First heard it called Stretch Muffler on the indies, again Sami the biggest name to use it. He literally would say that out loud like how Jeff would announce the Swanton if the crowd was dead.

Horse Collar was another random indy call, which sounded cooler than SM. I think maybe Claudio?

Nov 28, 2020 2:31:26 GMT Baker said:

Now I'm confused.

Did WWE ever officially call Brock's "Stretch Muffler" the Brock Lock or is it just something I made up that eventually became headcanon?

Who called it the Horse Collar? That one is new to me.

I'm guessing the Stretch Muffler name came from whoever invented in Japan? My first exposure to the move came under that name in one of the old Smackdown video games.

Nov 28, 2020 2:34:46 GMT @ness said:

I always called it the Brock Lock initially. Dunno if it was ever called that live or if it's one of those wrestling game tags. Did he ever use it again in that initial run once Benoit bounced? Obviously he moved on to Eddy and then Goldberg so probably not.

First heard it called Stretch Muffler on the indies, again Sami the biggest name to use it. He literally would say that out loud like how Jeff would announce the Swanton if the crowd was dead.

Horse Collar was another random indy call, which sounded cooler than SM. I think maybe Claudio?

Pretty sure they didn't have a name for it in the Benoit match, so Tazz being the smart mark's commentator (but in a less obnoxious way than Matt Striker, I guess?) just called it what it was called elsewhere I think... Hence stretch muffler.

Then I think Brock wrestled Rey the following week and did the move again. I think this time Vince & Co. were ready and tried having them push Brock Lock. Except Brock maybe only ever did it twice after that, so it had no chance to really gain traction regardless of what you called the move.

Meanwhile, back in Summer of 2002 is when they were half-heartedly trying to push the bear hug as the Brock Lock. Think it was the Hogan match where they either started or at least pushed Brock Lock the hardest.

But then again, Brock quit doing it shortly thereafter... Probably realizing a boring terrible bear hug wasn't the greatest signature submission hold, at least not in 2002.

Binge night. And it looks like this is turning into a Best of Rey Mysterio project. Not gonna lie. All those 10-15 minute videos of Rey vs. A Good Wrestler are hard to pass up. I start to get leery of 20 minute + videos, but those 10-15ers are right in my wheelhouse.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio- 1/23/03- This made my Top 10 last time and Pete gave it as a positive review earlier in this thread. It held up and I am largely in agreement with Big P. Stellar actionfest with a few clever wrinkles, a sick bump or two, and a great finish which stuck with me for 17 years. Still likely to fall a few spots on my list though. But just a few!

Tajiri vs. Rey Mysterio- 9/25/03- I had an undated Rey/Tajiri match on my list last time. Hopefully it was this one because this match ruled. It had action, smarts, a strong face/heel story, and Tajiri mercilessly working over Rey's ribs with nasty kicks and bulldog-like tenacity. We even got mist psychology! ****. Behind only the JBL/Benoit Cage Match on the current leaderboard. Rey/Tajiri was my WWE Cruiserweight dream match since the moment Rey signed with the company and I am happy to say they delivered. Check it out.

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Benoit- 10/3/02- A step down from the last two. That's hardly a knock though. This was still a quality bout which followed the Angle/Rey formula with the larger man as the aggressor and Rey picking his spots. We also got a fun post-match fracas between feuding partners Angle & Benoit. An Honorable Mention contender.

Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri vs. Team Angle- 5/22/03- There is a chance I was wrestled out for the night because my mind wandered a bit while Team Angle was working over Eddie. Some neat spots. Eddie and Haas had a top notch bit of wrestling early on. But guys seemed out of position a few times and had to hustle to be get they belonged. The patented Eddie Guerrero "Lie, Cheat, Steal" finish will either be awesome or awful depending on your perspective. Crowd loved it. But I thought it was dumb because it made the ref look like a total maroon. Perfectly acceptable tv tag match, but not listworthy. Still on the search for the great Team Angle tv match. It did have a Haas of Pain for 🤯 though. 

Big Pete Your best bet for a Batista match is probably the MNM vs. Rey & Batista tag series. There's also a Batista/Taker cage match from May 2007 with a twist ending that I've seen show up on several "Best of Smackdown" lists, but in real time I thought it was a step down from their two PPV matches earlier in the year. Also remember liking a Batista/MVP match or two, and then there's the Elijah Burke spear match. 

Tajiri vs. Rey Mysterio- 9/25/03- I had an undated Rey/Tajiri match on my list last time. Hopefully it was this one because this match ruled. It had action, smarts, a strong face/heel story, and Tajiri mercilessly working over Rey's ribs with nasty kicks and bulldog-like tenacity. We even got mist psychology! ****+ and supplants the JBL/Benoit Cage Match as the current leader. Rey/Tajiri was my WWE Cruiserweight dream match since the moment Rey signed with the company and I am happy to say they delivered. Check it out.

You wouldn't have had to wait too long, Tajiri was Rey's second ever WWE opponent and it was actually a good television match. This one sounds better although their first meeting was nothing to snort at. Nice contrast in styles with Tajiri working less of his strike based offence and going more with a mat based approach. Some really neat submissions as well, I think 🤯 would be into it. I was surprised at how competitive both it and Rey's debut against Chavo was. It wouldn't shock me to hear that the Rey/Chavo match got Chavo over with the office, they worked really well together. I also think Rey attempted a Code Red in the match as well! That or that little wheelbarrow-bulldog move he does (you know the one).

Just caught the Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit match from Bake's post. I like how Benoit scouts a lot of Rey's reversals early on and meets them with really aggressive counters. None of it looked crisp or pleasing to the eye, but they all looked appropriately painful. Rey to his credit ends up devising some new spots to throw Benoit off. We get a second turnbuckle to the floor rolling plancha and a great sunset flip where from the mat, Rey grabs Benoit's arm and flips himself over Benoit. This also had a really slick 619 counter, where Benoit counters the move and instantly turns it into a shoulder breaker and follows up with a diving headbutt for a neat nearfall. THe finish was a play on the earlier Angle/Edge match, with Angle guillotining Benoit on the top ropes allowing Rey to hurracarana style pin him.

This was something of a famous episode where a bunch of fans got upset because Taker took an F5 onto a bag of popcorn. I forget why the fans were upset about it, I think there was some serious bloodlust and they wanted to make The Undertaker a literal dead man. Matt Hardy also got a pinfall over Taker and threatened to show Brock some real Mattitude at No Mercy.

The Edge/Angle match got plenty of time, but it was nothing more than solid. Edge spent the majority of the match selling his busted ribs from last week's No DQ match. It wasn't the most exciting match, but I was enjoying the story they were telling until the lame cop-out referee spot. Chioda takes one of the all-time great referee bumps when Angle reverses an attempted spear attempt into an overhead suplex straight into Chioda. It looked great, but then a new referee comes in, Angle picks up the win with a superplex (of all moves) and for some unknown reason, Chioda says it doesn't count although it all looked legitimate. For whatever reason despite being on top, Angle decides to grab a chair, Benoit tries to take it off him, the chair inadverently wacks Angle in the face allowing Edge to score the win with a spear.

You wouldn't have had to wait too long, Tajiri was Rey's second ever WWE opponent and it was actually a good television match.

Fair enough. I should have worded it better. Something like "An extended Rey vs. Tajiri program with stakes was always destined to be the peak of WWE's Cruiserweight division." Basically Rey/Tajiri in something with a little gravitas than a one off to help establish a noob.

I thought you were onto something when you theorized Chavo got over with the office in Rey's debut match. The way I remember it Chavo got a lot more Smackdown time after that match. So I did a little research...

Chavo worked Velocity 6 out of 7 weeks leading up to the Rey match. So far, so good.

But then the poor guy was back to Velocity 4 of the next 6 weeks.

It wasn't until September that he became a Smackdown regular rather than a humble Velocity mainstay.

Nov 30, 2020 10:39:08 GMT Big Pete said:

Just caught the Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit match from Bake's post. I like how Benoit scouts a lot of Rey's reversals early on and meets them with really aggressive counters. None of it looked crisp or pleasing to the eye, but they all looked appropriately painful. Rey to his credit ends up devising some new spots to throw Benoit off. We get a second turnbuckle to the floor rolling plancha and a great sunset flip where from the mat, Rey grabs Benoit's arm and flips himself over Benoit. This also had a really slick 619 counter, where Benoit counters the move and instantly turns it into a shoulder breaker and follows up with a diving headbutt for a neat nearfall. THe finish was a play on the earlier Angle/Edge match, with Angle guillotining Benoit on the top ropes allowing Rey to hurracarana style pin him.

This was something of a famous episode where a bunch of fans got upset because Taker took an F5 onto a bag of popcorn. I forget why the fans were upset about it, I think there was some serious bloodlust and they wanted to make The Undertaker a literal dead man. Matt Hardy also got a pinfall over Taker and threatened to show Brock some real Mattitude at No Mercy.

The Edge/Angle match got plenty of time, but it was nothing more than solid. Edge spent the majority of the match selling his busted ribs from last week's No DQ match. It wasn't the most exciting match, but I was enjoying the story they were telling until the lame cop-out referee spot. Chioda takes one of the all-time great referee bumps when Angle reverses an attempted spear attempt into an overhead suplex straight into Chioda. It looked great, but then a new referee comes in, Angle picks up the win with a superplex (of all moves) and for some unknown reason, Chioda says it doesn't count although it all looked legitimate. For whatever reason despite being on top, Angle decides to grab a chair, Benoit tries to take it off him, the chair inadverently wacks Angle in the face allowing Edge to score the win with a spear.

That episode looks to be right up there with 7/4/02, 9/26/02, and 10/31/02 as a GOAT Smackdown contender. Actually it's probably the best. Because Matt Hardy beat Taker. 

I was a little too dismissive of Rey/Benoit. The one time I don't overwrite...

I just preferred Angle/Rey because it was a tighter version of Rey/Benoit with a much better finish. There was a pretty lengthy resthold in Rey/Benoit. Still, I liked all the bolded stuff Pete mentioned. Also liked Benoit's intensity. He didn't hold back on his chops and really pounded Rey's back when Mysterio was up top in moonsault position. Another cool thing was Rey hit his wheelbarrow bulldog early in the match and later on Benoit actually hits the rare Wheelbarrow Suplex. Rey took a big back body drop, too. If only Benoit had hit the rarely seen in WWF Dragon Suplex...

*Taking a little break from Smackdown after stumbling down a rabbit hole I don't think anybody else in the history of the world has ever been sucked into. To be continued in the Match Review thread...

I've covered 90 matches from the SmackDown Six era and written 17,000+ words of notes and it's fair to say:

It's going to take a few days to unpack everything but I think what a lot of these matches had going for them was flow. It was very easy to follow along with every match and they rarely stayed in too low or too high a gear through out. The hot tags were usually well put together and the counters on counters mixed with the sports entertainment elements gave the matches an element that was easy to get invested in.

The lack of Brock was surprising. I wasn't aware that Brock tore his PCL around this time (which may have explained why he dropped the title to Show when he did) and was effectively working the same schedule he works now.

Shit, I forgot this was a thing!

I just started WrestleMania X...

😳

Dec 8, 2020 12:33:27 GMT 🤯 said:

Shit, I forgot this was a thing!

I just started WrestleMania X...

😳

We're not going to get this done by December 12th. :lol: I'm cool with making this a dedicated thread for the time being. One of my favourite threads is the WCW C Show thread over on the DVD-R forum, and there's still plenty of eras I want to revisit before I even start putting a list together. I'm not sure if I could rank those 90 matches.

I just realised I went off early. I didn't catch the 2/20/03 show which has a few SmackDown six related matches.

Hopefully you enjoy Wrestlemania X as much as Burt Reynolds did.

Whoops. Been slacking on this. Eschewed Smackdown matches in favor of dying day late 80s-early 90s territories. I'm with Pete. Let's make this a long term project. 90 matches and 17,000 words....very impressive. I get where you're coming from. I'd have a hard time just ranking the 20 or so matches I've watched so far for this project.

Going back to the earlier point on Rey hitting a Code Red, I forgot that Crash started using the Styles Clash as his finisher and even A-Train busted out a Muscle Buster on Benoit in a really fun sub two minute match against Benoit on the 2/20/03 show.

Also feel like Nunzio and his arm-based offense may make him a low-key Bake guy. Every match of his during his 'Noble's cousin' gimmick is him just working an arm for 3 minutes to set up his tornado arm-crusher finisher.

Dec 10, 2020 0:36:56 GMT Big Pete said:

Going back to the earlier point on Rey hitting a Code Red, I forgot that Crash started using the Styles Clash as his finisher and even A-Train busted out a Muscle Buster on Benoit in a really fun sub two minute match against Benoit on the 2/20/03 show.

Also feel like Nunzio and his arm-based offense may make him a low-key Bake guy. Every match of his during his 'Noble's cousin' gimmick is him just working an arm for 3 minutes to set up his tornado arm-crusher finisher.

Remember Crash using the Styles Clash, but not Albert's Muscle Buster.

Could never get into Nunzio in any promotion. Shin and I would occasionally argue over the merits of Little Guido. But tastes do change. Fwiw my favorite thing Nunzio ever did was his "sign of the cross" sell when about to take a Last Ride from Taker.
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Kane vs. Albert- 6/14/01- IC Title Match
Kane vs. Albert- 6/28/01- No DQ IC Title Match

Doesn't look like much on paper, but these matches have a cult following. I actually saw the first one live in Baltimore. Let's see if they're worthy of the hype...

Yes and no. They're largely plodding affairs as you'd expect from these two. BUT each match does feature a memorable spot or two which is precisely why people do remember these matches. First one has Albert press slamming Kane and Kane countering a Baldo Bomb with a dropkick. Second match features a Kane Frankensteiner! First one is better due to the clean finish. Kane goes over with a Chokeslam. Second one saw DDP run in to Diamond Cut Kane leading to Albert becoming perhaps the worst IC Champ to date. 

Verdict- Fun tv matches at best. Definitely not listworthy though. Worth watching just to see a pair of hosses do things they normally don't do. Come for the Kane Frankensteiner and be rewarded with YO, YOU DEALING WITH THE X FACTOR~!

What I love about this thread is seeing matches that I don't even remember happening. And one spot does seem to carry matches, especially tv. Like I remember big hype around a match with Rock and Eddy when he had his one month face everyone reign in 02. Though this may be a Raw match.

Anyways it was promoted on the then current Rock comp. I have a feeling they just wanted a token Eddy match. I say that because one spot (maybe he countered the rock bottom I dunno) was all it was beyond a 7 minute resthold.

What's my point? Like the match I dunno if I have one.