Mike Reviews WWF SmackDown #2

Happy SmackDown Saturday Everyone!

This week we’ve got the second ever episode of SmackDown to watch, which was also the first episode of SmackDown’s run as a regular weekly WWF/E offering. We’ve got Triple H, The Rock, The Undertaker, Mankind and many others, so this episode should Smack a whole lotta Down!

You can view the card for SmackDown #2 by clicking below;

Smackdown #2 Card

SmackDown is emanating from Kansas City, Missouri on the 24th of August 1999, and aired on the 26th of August

Calling the action are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Rip it round, Move it round, Cruisin’ and sellin’ cakes!

Triple H failed to win the WWF Title back at SummerSlam 99, but he subsequently won it on Raw the night after, so we’re now living in the HHH Era. We get clips recapping everything to start out.

New WWF Champ Triple H joins us for the opening 20 minute promo, with Chyna in tow. Tri crows about finally winning the belt, complaining of course about those that held him back following the whole curtain call thing. Of course we were nearly 3 years removed from that by this point and he’d received a super solid push in that time, but let’s not let that get in the way of a good whiny narrative. Triple H says he’ll take out anyone to defend the belt, which leads us to The Rock interrupting HHH and making his SmackDown re-debut. Well, it IS his show at the end of the day. It will shock none of you to learn that Rock is very over here, as he runs through the usual material and lays down a challenge for the WWF Title tonight. Tri of course isn’t down for defending the belt tonight like the good Heel is, which means Commissioner Michaels has to intervene and set the match up before HHH and Rock can start fighting. Michaels also decides to make himself the referee for the match, to ensure we get a fair fight. Shane McMahon (Triple H’s buddy in storyline and resident Heel authority figure at the time) doesn’t like this, so he joins us to complain about things. Shane tries to make himself co-referee, but The Commish isn’t very impressed with this and says that Shane will be wrestling Mankind tonight. Mankind joins us following that, looking resplendent in his $3 Salvation Army shirt, and the brawl is on! The Rock ‘N’ Sock Connection do a decent job of clearing the ring, with even The Mean Street Posse taking a beating when they try to help out. This segment was a bit overly long in my opinion, but it set up the two big matches tonight well enough and the crowd seemed to like it. It’s the Attitude Era, you expect most shows to start with a whole lotta talking. It kind of comes with the territory.

Opening Match
WWF Intercontinental Champ Jeff Jarrett w/ Debra Austin and Miss. Kitty Vs “Mr A$$” Billy Gunn

There was a backstory here where Gunn had dodged a Jarrett guitar shot and allowed ally Chyna to take the brunt of it before clocking Jarrett with a second guitar later on (all whilst no one drew a dime I guess). Thus Gunn is wrestling Jarrett here with the aim to get himself in the Title picture. Kitty was brought in as an assistant for Debra, but Debra isn’t happy about it because it takes the shine off of her and every woman has to be a snide bitch to every other woman on the show because Vince Russo is writing the television. They start this one quickly, with Gunn shaking off an initial Jarrett attack to run wild with his usual array of power moves. A distraction from the managers leads to Jarrett catching Gunn with the Divorce Court arm breaker though and that leads us to an abbreviated heat segment. Gunn sells well during that, although Jarrett’s offence looks a little loose. Chyna eventually joins us, annoyed at her previous guitaring, and she tries to take out Kitty with a guitar, only to accidentally clock Debra instead. I think we’re supposed to think that Kitty either pulled Debra in the way or Debra took the bullet for her new lackey, but neither is really clear. Jarrett is distracted by all this and it allows Gunn to get a roll-up for three.

WINNER: BILLY GUNN
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: For a quick TV match this was basically fine, although Jarrett was working so light out there that some of his stuff didn’t even look like it might hurt. It’s great that Jarrett was taking care of his opponent, but you have to at least create the illusion that your offence might be capable of causing damage to someone

Chyna and Gunn argue following that, with Chyna clocking Gunn right in his smoking gun’s as payback for Raw.

Lillian Garcia is backstage interviewing Al Snow, who begs The Big Boss Man to return Al’s dog, Pepper, to him.

Howard Finkel is lackeying for Chris Jericho.

Test is waiting for Stephanie McMahon to show up to see whether she’ll accept his marriage proposal or not.

Match Two
WWF Tag Team Titles
The Unholy Alliance (Undertaker and Big Show) w/ Paul Bearer Vs The Acolytes (Faarooq and Bradshaw) Vs Red DX (Kane and X-Pac)

Taker and Big Show defeated Kane and X-Pac back at SummerSlam, whilst The Acolytes won a Tag Team Turmoil match to become #1 contenders. So what we’re getting here on Smackdown is an amalgamation of the former Champs getting their rematch whilst the #1 contenders also get their Title shot as well. Taker cared so much about being a Tag Champ here that he doesn’t even bother carrying his belt down to the ring and just has Bearer do it. Taker in fact doesn’t even wrestle here, as he instead takes a seat at the commentary desk and leaves Big Show to wrestle the match all by himself, with the idea being that he’s displaying some tough love to his understudy. Big Show doesn’t fare too well, so Taker chews Big Show out and sends him back into the ring, although that doesn’t really work that much either. The crowd is into the action here, although it’s pretty messy. Kane ends up coming in and destroying everyone, and that actually looks really good. X-Pac stupidly tags himself in though and that leads to the Choke Slam from Big Show for the three count.

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: UNHOLY ALLIANCE
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Another abbreviated match, but the crowd seemed to dig it and it was good when Kane ran wild on everyone. The match was more of a backdrop for the Undertaker/Big Show storyline, and it advanced that well enough

Test is still nervous about what his possible fiancé will say later on. Stephanie arrives and says she has an answer, but doesn’t reveal what it is.

The Big Boss Man joins us and says that he’ll return Pepper to Al Snow if he gets a shot at the WWF Hardcore Title. Al Snow joins us and agrees to the match, which will happen next.

Match Three
WWF Hardcore Title
Champ: Al Snow Vs The Big Boss Man w/ Pepper

Snow had defeated Boss Man back at SummerSlam, but their feud would continue all the way up to Unforgiven in September. Boss Man has blackmailed his way into a Title match here, and says that he’ll return Pepper afterwards. Boss Man makes Pepper sit on the commentary table before heading into the ring to start the match. Snow of course just wants to get to Pepper, because he’s a dumb babyface. Newsflash Al; you can batter Boss Man with any weapon you want. Just beat him into a stupor and then you can easily reclaim your dog. This ain’t rocket science dude. The usual hi-jinx follow, with a ladder getting used at one stage, as well as a metal cooking sheet. Snow of course has the match won with a ladder shot at one stage, but instead he stupidly goes out to get Pepper, and that leads to Boss Man clocking Snow with his trusty nightstick for three.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: BIG BOSS MAN
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: More an elongated angle than a match. I know Snow’s whole character was that he was nuts, but this just made him look like an idiot. I get wanting to get to your dog, but he was fine with Lawler and Ross at the commentary desk. Beat the absolute crap out of Boss Man and then claim Pepper once you know it’s safe to do so

Boss Man of course takes BOTH the belt and Pepper following that, because he’s actually clever and Al Snow is a big dummy. Way to get your babyface over there guys.

Kane and X-Pac are arguing backstage because X-Pac feels he is the weak link in the team.

Chris Jericho is ready for his close up Mr. Deville.

Al Snow is looking for Boss Man and Pepper, to no avail

Match Four
“Y2J” Chris Jericho Vs The Road Dogg

Jericho had only recently debuted and his first two feuds were with Roadie and Ken Shamrock, neither of which really set the world on fire due to the infamous “Jericho Curse” that came about whenever Jericho debuted in a new place. Jericho used Finkel as a distraction so that he could attack Roadie on Raw, so Road Dogg is looking for payback here on SmackDown. Jericho was basically doing his WCW “King of Loopholes” gimmick in the early days of his WWF run because Vince Russo was a big fan of it, but it didn’t really work in the WWF and things picked up for Jericho a bit later in the year when he started becoming a bit more dynamic and rougher around the edges.

The action is decent here, with them continuing the trend so far tonight on SmackDown by working at a quick clip. Roadie gets the better of things, but this brings out The Fink to throw an energy drink in Road Dogg’s face for the cut off. Roadie does a good job of taking Jericho’s more Japan/Mexican inspired styled offence here, and they actually work reasonably well together. Jericho decides to bring a table into the ring, but this allows Road Dogg to make the comeback with the punches and shaky knee drop for two in a decent near fall. Jericho responds by Powerbombing Roadie through the table though and that’s the DQ.

WINNER BY DQ: ROAD DOGG
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Another decent enough TV match that was too short to be rated higher. They worked reasonably well together there, but the finish reeked of them trying to have their cake and eat it too by getting out of anyone doing a job. Jericho really should have picked up the win here considering that Road Dogg would eventually be going back into the tag ranks and also going Heel again, meaning that he could survive a pin fall job to a newcomer here. I’m not saying Dogg had to take Jericho’s finish clean in the middle, but a tights assisted roll-up or something wouldn’t have gone amiss

Jericho beats up Road Dogg further following the match, which does at least help make Jericho look a bit more dangerous, which is kind of what they needed to do. The cowardly preening character Jericho played in WCW was good up to a certain level, but he needed more of an edge if he was ever going to make it higher up the card in a place like the WWF during the Attitude Era.

Chris Jericho convinces Howard Finkel to attack Tony Chimel, which leads to Fink running down to the ring (complete with Ultimate Warrior’s entrance music) and shoving Chimel down. Chimel fights back, giving us a ring announcer battle that Chimel mostly gets the better of to a good pop. This was actually quite fun, although I do feel bad that they always embarrassed Fink in situations like this, as he was a loyal employee that the folks running the company just loved torturing for some reason. Ken Shamrock heads down for a match following that, which leads to Jericho demanding that Fink attack Shamrock too. That goes about as badly as you’d think for Fink, but it allows Jericho to get a chair shot in before he and his lackey escape with Shamrock giving chase. In one of Jericho’s books he said that Shamrock didn’t stop running once he got backstage and actually caught Jericho for real just so he could prove to himself that he could!!

Stephanie McMahon joins us straight after that, as this is basically becoming one of those ECW situations where segments just keep bleeding into one another into one continuous mass. Test joins us in the ring, to learn what Stephanie’s answer will be, complete with him getting on one knee. Stephanie says yes and they’re engaged. And I’m sure that Stephanie and Test will be very happy together and Test will one day get to run the entire company. Oh, wait…

Anyway; The Mean Street Posse and Shane McMahon run down to attack Test, but Mankind makes the save with a chair and it’s time for the next match. This really is just an episode of ECW right now. I’m not complaining; it’s just incredible how blatant the WWF was at stealing basically the entire format of ECW’s show sometimes when it came to the Attitude Era.

Match Five
Shane McMahon w/ The Mean Street Posse Vs Mankind w/ Stephanie McMahon and Test

Shane played a role in costing Mankind the WWF Title, so the masked nutter is looking for some revenge tonight here on SmackDown. Mankind offers Shane a free shot with a chair to start, but Mankind of course shrugs that off and takes it to The Boy Wonder. We quickly head into the crowd, as they might as well change the name of this show to “SmackDown Hardcore TV” at this stage. The Posse try to help out their buddy and attack Mankind at one stage, but Test recovers and fights them off. Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson run down to help Test, and that leads to The Posse getting removed. Stephanie even attacks Pete Gas at one stage! Mankind drills Shane with a Double Arm DDT inside the ring whilst that is all going on and the Socko Claw looks to end things. However, this brings Chyna and Triple H down for a distraction and attack respectively in order to give Shane the improbable win.

WINNER: SHANE MCMAHON
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: Another match that was more an angle than anything. I question why Mankind had to do yet another job just one show removed after losing the WWF Title to Triple H, but they at least did this in a way that he wasn’t hurt too much by it due to it needing essentially three people to defeat him

Chris Jericho leaves Howard Finkel stranded by escaping in the rental car alone, despite their being two seats (I guess he likes to put his feet up?). Ken Shamrock then shows up and makes Fink fowl himself in fear, whilst Vince McMahon and he cronies probably guffaw in the Gorilla Position.

Michael Cole goes to speak with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who has a torn ligament in his knee courtesy of a Triple H chair attack at SummerSlam. HHH has heck to pay once Austin gets back! This was a good promo from Austin that laid the table for a match between HHH and Austin down the line.

Match Six
Non-Title Evening Gown Bout
WWF Women’s Champ: Ivory Vs Tori

Ivory defeated Tori back at SummerSlam and then tried to disrobe her, so this is Tori’s shot at some payback here on the re-debut of SmackDown. To win you have to rip off the other wrestler’s clothes. It was 1999, best just grit our teeth and get on with it. Now don’t get me wrong; I appreciate an attractive half naked lady as much as the next half naked lady liking person, but if I want to see that I can get it elsewhere and I don’t really need it invading the wrestling show that I tune in to watch wrestling on. This one is all cat fighting and hair pulling, because if an Attitude Era crowd watched women actually trying to wrestle then their heads might explode from the confusion of it all. Tori quickly rips off Ivory’s gown and that’s the match.

WINNER: TORI
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: You got the sense that they could possibly have had a fun energetic brawl together if they’d been give more than a few seconds to work with

Tori keeps attacking Ivory following the match until Luna Vachon runs down to break it up.

Chyna and Triple H aren’t having Lillian Garcia in an interview segment. Garcia was very green here, and it showed, but you gotta start somewhere.

People are walking around, so the SmackDown Main Event must be imminent.

Main Event
WWF Title
Guest Referee: Commissioner Michaels
Champ: Triple H w/ Chyna Vs “The People’s Champ” The Rock

Rock had scored a win over Billy Gunn at SummerSlam, which doesn’t sound too impressive, but you must remember that Gunn was the reigning King of the Ring at the time. These two spent most of 97-2000 clashing in some manner, so this is just a continuation of that here on SmackDown. Like basically every match tonight; they start this one at a frenetic pace right from the opening bell, with the two wrestlers going at it and mostly focusing on brawling, including a section where the two fight outside of the ring and essentially take a tour of the building. Michaels lets this go, because he’s The Commish and he has the authority to do so. Chyna clocks Rock right in the Johnson’s at one stage, which leads to Michaels ejecting Chyna from ringside. However, whilst Michaels is arranging that, it means he misses a Rock pin attempt following a DDT.

Shane McMahon joins us with Chyna being kicked out, with the announce team stressing that Shane is the one who actually owns the WWF at this stage in storyline due to Vince McMahon being gone at the time. HHH manages to cut Rock off and work some heat, which slows things down and gives the crowd a chance to chant for Rock. Rock manages to catch Tri with a Stun Gun (the move, not the item) but Shane distracts Michaels and delays the count. Rock takes out Shane with a punch and the Rock Bottom follows to HHH. However, Michaels chooses this moment to seemingly go Heel by kicking Rock in the face and Tri ends up getting the win. I’m not sure if that went anywhere, as Michaels was essentially back to being a babyface when he reffed the match between Rock and HHH at Judgment Day 2000. It was the usual Attitude Era SWERVE, as I guess they wanted to kick off the regular run of SmackDown with a noteworthy moment.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: TRIPLE H
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: A decent TV Main Event here, with a good brawl leading into a more traditional match. The crowd was into it and the action was to a solid standard. The finish kind of came out of nowhere, as they hadn’t really teased a Heel turn for Michaels as far as I can remember. The whole point of Michaels being the commissioner was that there was a babyface authority figure who could actually fight back against the McMahon’s, so turning him Heel removed a useful story telling tool, which is probably why they kind of just pretended this didn’t happen when Russo left and the new writing team took over

In Conclusion

The second episode of SmackDown was everything you expect to get from an Attitude Era show. Lots of segments, everything being done at a breakneck pace, very little actual wrestling, tonnes of cheap finishes, chicks getting their clothes ripped off, nonsensical turns done for the sake of a SWERVE, this episode of SmackDown had all of that and a bag of crisps.

If that sounds like something you’d enjoy; then this episode of SmackDown should suit you just fine, as all of the Crash TV elements were executed reasonably well. If you’re someone who prefers a more calmly paced and sensibly booked show with actual wrestling matches on it, then this episode of SmackDown is probably one that you’ll want to avoid, as there was very little of that stuff going on.

As someone who enjoys ECW, and didn’t mind when things would get a bit manic there, I can appreciate what they were going for with this episode of SmackDown, as it was basically just an episode of Hardcore TV with better production values and less blood. Your own mileage may vary depending on what kind of wrestling you prefer though.