Live Feed Mania – WWF Smackdown 02.13.01
By Maffew Gregg on 8 February 2026
WWF @ Long Island, NY – Nassau Coliseum – February 13, 2001 (12,127; sell out)
Ten days out from No Way Out, but will there be a way out of hearing about the XFL?
Oh it’s worth mentioning the production is atypically set up with the entrance on the right. It’s off-putting.
Dark Match!
Scott Vick vs. Steve Bradley
These two already had a dark match against one another so I’ll spare you the details. Perfectly acceptable wrestling but Vick doesn’t look confident or comfortable in between spots. Loud boring chant dominates things until Bradley lands a top rope Frankensteiner. Vick comes back seconds later with White Noise, crowd responds with No Noise.
Dark Match!
The Inferno Kid vs. Mike Bell
It’s Mike Bell’s last WWF match before the Saturn shoot. I think the only he did of note after that was being in that steroid documentary. It was big but wasn’t clever. Inferno is wearing a wrestling singlet and a bandana and it is not a good look. Crowd can smell the bad indie emanating from this and leaves for the concession stand. Mike at least knows where the hard cam is. Inferno dodges a top rope splash and looks OK on offence until Bell does an enziguri to the front of Inferno’s face rather than the back of his head which must have sucked. Inferno dodges a Patera Charge to land a Blockbuster type move off the top but with Bell facing the other way so it was more like a jumping Diamond Dust. Good enough for the win.
WWF music video set to Larger Than Life which I don’t remember but it’s well done.
I’m glad we’re at the point where WWF started airing videos to get the live crowd hyped so it’s not just Chimel trying to shill Steve Austin bandanas.
Kelly and Coachman head out to test their head-sets and say nothing of note.
Haku vs. Hardcore Holly
Battle of the two lads who beat up underneath guys and got applauded for it. Holly takes Haku’s shots and keeps him at bay with a wristlock. “Let’s Go Hardcore” chants break out. Maybe they enjoy George C. Scott films. Holly lands the not-a-low-blow before Haku counters a Frankensteiner into a Powerbomb. Various strikes and yelling from Haku get a two count but cause the crowd to lose interest. I think that was a big issue for Haku’s 2001 run, fans were expecting more than just yelling and striking. I guess it could work in a quick match or squash but here Haku has to take Holly’s face comeback of backdrops and dropkicks, and as a result looks like just another guy. Haku halts Holly coming off the top with the Tongan Death grip and pins him. Solid nothing.
The Undertaker vs. Christian (w/ Edge)
Crowd go wild for Undi and his push bike appearing this early. Undi ignores Christian’s offence to land some plodding offence before Edge grabs his foot while running. Undi backward vaults over the ropes to take out his future Wrestlemania main event opponent, allowing Christian to blindside the dead (stupid) man. Undi Takers Up after a few Christian punches to land a DDT and Last Ride. Edge chair shots Undi before he can pin his brother-friend which ends the match and causes Kane to show up to scare off Edge. Just an excuse to get some star power on Heat. Only thing of note was Coachman getting legit scared when Kane’s pyro went off.
Eddie Guerrero vs. K-Kwik
Kwik does everything he can during his entrance to get the crowd into him but his rap is still met with silence. Eddie blasts him from behind while yelling “c’mon rap now! I can’t hear you!” to get the crowd to boo him. They do not. Eddie takes a Flatliner and backdrop before dumping Truth with a stungun which finally generates an EDDIE SUCKS chant. Truth comes back with the backflips and dropkicks he still does to this day, causing the crowd to “wow” politely. Kwik misses a dive to allow Eddie to land the Frog Splash to win. Eddie tried but Kwik was the wrong guy at the wrong time.
WWF World Champion Kurt Angle wearing his sweet title-over-workout-gear look heads out. What a fucking look.
He says there’s an upcoming superstar with Hollywood looks who is heading to Wrestlemania…not the Rock, him Kurt Angle! Kurt insists his title reign is just starting and that he doesn’t suck because he’s the champ. “Brahma Bulls will fly out of my rear end before you beat me, Rock!” This was OK by Kurt’s standards, another way to advertise that big stars are on Heat even if they’re not doing much.
The ring gear gets switched over with Lilian singing the anthem to keep the fans bored. She should have mixed it up and belted out The Mountie’s theme now and again to see if anyone is paying attention.
On Raw, we had Rikishi (representing Austin) vs. The Rock (representing HHH) with the winner getting to pick the stipulations for No Way Out. Rock ended up winning before getting beat down by HHH & Rikishi for old time’s sake. Austin stunnered Rikishi but can’t touch HHH so he gives him a STARE. WWF video recaps were top-tier at this point as the dramatic production music coupled with J.R.’s raspy commentary made any Raw main event seem like the biggest deal ever.
Vince is here to say he loves to share his life with people and also his family with people! We sadly know this to be true. Tonight he’s gonna share Valentine’s Day with his wife Linda!! Also here’s his son-in-law HHH wearing the double jacket. I love that dumb look.
HHH rants about Austin for a bit and how’d he love to beat him and bloody him and get the most possible punishment out of him so he’s decided their match will be the first ever Three Stages of Hell match! First fall is a Normal Match to prove he’s simply bettererer than Austin. Second fall is a Street Fight with HHH adding that he beat Cactus Jack at the Rumble in this stipulation, which is true. And then the potential Third Fall will be a Cage Match which will allow him to finish THE GAME.
Vince approves. For tonight he books Austin vs. Benoit, and also HHH vs. The Rock. Vince assures us that it’ll be a fair match before raising HHH’s hand. Good opening segment with HHH at his most believable while talking about how great he is while double-jacketed.
We get footage of comatose Linda McMahon sat next to some pills as Cole yells “we’ll find out what this means later!” I mean I think we all just figured it.
Oh but before we find out Whatever Happened to Baby Linda, here’s the maniacally grinning Edge & Christian. On Raw, Undi and Kane took on E & C but The Dudley Boyz were commentating and ended up getting involved (which means they got punched out by the Brothers of Destruction) so it’s a triple threat between them all at No Way Out.
Kane (w/ the Undertaker) vs. Edge (w/ Christian)
Even though it’s a singles match, Kane & Undi still do the Kane’s pyro segue into Rollin’ because it’s cool. Oh also The Dudleyz show up to watch Undi beat Christian through the crowd. Kane throws Edge off the top rope and then pins him after a clothesline off the top rope, just like that at 1:55!
I wondered why we got this weird three way feud at NWO but it turns out everyone involved was banged up and after watching this quick match I believe it.
Kane stands on the apron to mouth off at The Duds but dumb ass Undi throws Christian at Kane who flies off the apron and through a table. But Kane instantly gets up like nothing happened and helps Undi chokeslams E & C. The hell was that? “Hey even though we’re wrestling in the tag division, don’t forget we’re a million miles above you and your gimmicks.”
Kevin Kelly in the parking lot informs Austin of the Three Stages Of Hell gimmick and asks for a response. Austin laughs and wanders off, same as he did when the police knocked on his door.
XFL: L.A. Xtreme vs. Las Vegas Outlaws! This Saturday! He Hate Me!
William Regal joins us for an exclusive video for the live crowd. He accepts the British Toy Retailer’s Best Boy’s Toy Of The Year Award for WWF’s Kidz Biz action figures despite not having a figure himself. “Note to self: get a better agent.” Crowd didn’t react and I don’t know how they were supposed to.
Kelly asks Al Snow why’s he leaving the arena. Al asks him why he should stay and get booked in punishment matches by Vince? That doesn’t narrow it down Al, can you at least give us a year for reference? Who was President? Oh it’s because he supports Mick Foley. So Al declares he’s heading to Mick’s house.
Lilian interviews Chris Benoit about his battle plan tonight. He asks her advice because she’s been here longer than him. She suggests winning because he’s the best technical wrestler in the WWF. “Very good, Lilian!” Benoit was a good dick here.
On Raw, Lita moonsaulted Trish to win a multi-person intergender match. Post-match, Saturn gave her a backbreaker. Malenko didn’t appreciate that because he fancies her so he lifts her up…only to clothesline her down cos he’s a prick and this storyline lasted way too long. Lita insists she will be around for The Hardyz match tonight because she’s tough.
The Ultimate Fanatic Series competition: Answer five questions online and you have a chance to commentate with Mick Foley at WWF New York! Transport is covered as well as money for your Booker T-Bone steak so this sounds like a sweet deal.
We get another shot of comatose Linda. Lawler: “Ah she’s fine, I saw her move earlier…she blinked!”
Matt Hardy (w/ Lita & Jeff Hardy) vs. Perry Saturn (w/ Terri)
Team Xtreme are brought to you by Chef Boyardee Overstuffed Ravioli, Ben Weider Results, and WWF SmackDown 2 for the PSX!
We encounter an issue I had forgotten about: This match is treated as a very serious encounter because of the actions to Lita so the production teams cuts from Saturn’s entrance to a close-up of Matt Hardy’s fuming face…and Lawler is gooning over Terri. What a vibe-killer he is, just a walking bucket of cold water.
Matt charges Perry as they’re wasting no time here to get a match done before the bullshit starts. Saturn drops with a Powerbomb as Ladies Man Dean Malenko heads out to stare at Lita. Matt manages a sweet rope-assisted DDT onto Perry on the floor before immediately jumping directly onto his shoulders for a DVD. Lawler calls it the Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza but I always thought that was a Moppy-era rename. He had that name when he was serious? Huh. Perry blocks a Twist of Fate by placing Matt onto the top rope. Lita distracts the ref which causes Perry to knock Lita into Dean’s waiting hands which distracts Perry long enough into getting pinned by Matt at 3:38.
Dean forcibly kisses Lita who responds with a vicious slap. Lita says she’s pulled some pranks on him in the past but this has to end, so he knows men love it when women give men rings, he should know he has one so she’s going to give one via a match in this ring on Monday. Not much pop for that wordplay. That match would finally end that nothing-ass feud, hallelujah.
Coach asks Raven why he accepted The Big Show’s challenge tonight. Raven says it’s to prove he’s the best. Coach asks is it because Vince made him? Raven pauses before replying with a meek “yes.” Ha! That could have been a shoot.
Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit
Austin so over during his entrance that Cole tries reminding the audience of The Three Stages Of Hell stipulations and you can barely hear him over the cheers and Disturbed cover.
Austin kicks the dog poo out of Benoit in the corner. Then Benoit does it to him and then Austin does it to him again. Stomp stomp stomp choke choke choke. Benoit starts chopping before blocking the Stunner with a Crossface counter. Crowd gasped at that counter. Austin grabs the ropes which allows Austin to come back with a STF. HHH waddles out to cause Austin to lose his focus and get kicked over the announce table. Benoit peppers Austin with strikes like Boss Man preparing Al’s dinner. The commentators’ head-sets get kicked off so we can’t hear Lawler. In a week’s time that situation would be permanent. Benoit lands Air Canada (other airliners available) as HHH grins. Austin gets a small package so HHH distracts the ref. Benoit tries attacking with a chair that HHH handed him (as Cole yells “this looks like a plan to me!!”) but Austin counters with a Stunner mid-swings and pins him despite HHH’s best efforts at 8:13.
Match was all about keeping Austin’s intensity levels high so this wasn’t on the same level as the fierce matches these two would deliver later in the year. The timing on the match-ending stunner was lovely.
XFL! More than a game! Please watch!
During the commercial, the commentators fully switch to fully-functioning head-sets because Austin really did break them on that landing. “I didn’t even see that coming, I looked at the monitor and then Steve was on my lap!” They recover long enough to plug Gary & Mike on UPN.
Vince is here in-ring with a Valentine’s Day gift for Linda. Vince starts playing a romantic tribute video for her but it cuts to comatose Linda being visited by Vince. He lets us know she can hear us even in this sanatorium “that cost him a lot of money.” But that’s because he loves her! He knows she can’t appreciate the presents in the same way she never appreciated him. but it’s ok, she’ll have some medication and he’ll continue to enjoy the 100% of the company’s assets!
In a moment that’s amazing in hindsight, Vince points at his wedding ring and reminds everyone they are still married “even though everyone thinks they’re divorced.” Divorce is off the table because Vince doesn’t want her to get 50% of everything. So this was all just hiding in plain sight, huh? Vince insists he still loves Linda which is why he will continue to wear his ring. Also Trish Stratus is here to say Linda reminds her of her nana. Trish kisses her and remarks that she’s cold as ice, Vince replies “some things never change.” Vince decides to take the gift he just brought Linda to give to Trish. Even with the glaring hindsight moments, I still love these segments as they showcased the best use of Linda’s acting ability: having her do nothing.
Regal and Trish head out because they were a pretend couple to throw people off Vince & Trish’s scent. Stephanie is so pissed she doesn’t wait for entrances to finish so she can spear Trish and slap Regal. “Did you see that look on Trish face? You could put that on waffles.” Crowd are behind her so Vince buggers off. After the break, Regal is shoving a furious Trish into a limo and suggests they fight at NWO. Vince is mad he’d suggest it but realises it’d make a lot of money and books it because he’s evil on TV and not just in real life.
WWF IC Championship
Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac
X-Pac made his return after months away to attack Jericho on Raw because he was responsible for his absence. Oh because of that sweet cage match at No Mercy 2000? That’s such an underrated match. X-Pac has the same gear as before but without the D-X colours as he’s in his “not over the divorce” period of his career. But more importantly than that, later on that same episode Justin Credible made his debut to help his mate who’s in that Clique that he’s not allowed in. Lawler adds “I didn’t know ECW was still in business!” The ECW wrestlers thought the opposite until they tuned into next week’s Smackdown to see Heyman commentating.
Jericho points out X-Pac has changed so much about himself…now he’s wearing red tights. And so starts the long period of mocking X-Pac’s lack of change. “Justin Credibly Buck Toothed” also gets it from both barrels. Cole does a good job of selling X-Pac’s disdain, adding that Jericho knew about his history of neck injuries and that’s why he aimed for them during their last match. “Or he could be whining” adds an uncharacteristically bitchy Cole.
Jericho sends X-Pac outside with the middle rope crossbody he stopped doing. Lawler takes issues with Jericho mocking X-Pac’s greasy hair. “what does he wash his hair with? Castrol GTX?” Jericho avoids the Bronco Buster but they know each other so well that Waltman predicted the counter and for his homework he takes an enziguri instead. Well done dickhead.
X-Pac lands the Bronco Buster but as he’s posing afterwards in the post-Bronco glow we can all relate to, Jericho puts him in The Walls but he’s too close to the ropes. Jericho gets shoved into the ref so X-Pac low blows him and lands the X-Factor for the…DQ finish at 3:46 as Eddy Guerrero runs in because he’s in the Four Way at No Way Out too. So in reality doing this did nothing to help his chances at winning the belt. Then Justin Credible joins in to loud E-C-DUB chants. Jericho chases them away with a chair and then plants Eddy with one to the face so he doesn’t look completely rubbish. Good ending and X-Pac was able to hang with the former WCW guys for a few months until everyone joined in ragging on him because it was fun.
Big Show gets ready for his Hardcore Title match by pushing over bins backstage and presumably eating the lovely gifts he finds.
Buy WWF the Music Volume 5! They hype the hell out of The Rock’s Pie song when they should be focusing on The One Billy Gunn’s classic theme.
Kurt Angle also thanks the British Retailer Toy of The Year Award. Kurt likes that his action figure is front because it’s the best and he uses it to smash the others before adding a tiny “it’s true, it’s true.” OK I’m wrong, these definitely weren’t shown to the crowd and were presumably filmed during the taping to save time.
WWF Hardcore Championship
Raven vs. The Big Show
This was set up because Big Show vs. Raven vs. Kurt Angle happened on Raw for some reason. A cool moment sees Show get blasted in the face with a fire extinguisher before getting mad and making it look like steam was fuming off his face.
Raven is wearing a Batman: Dark Victory shirt. It’s the only success he finds as bonking various weapons over Show’s head to little success. Somewhat noticeable is Big Show being back to full gear rather than his big boy shorts he’d been trying with. Fire extinguisher is no-sold (should have watched the replay) before Raven gets sent up the ramp. The Masked Ninja Who Isn’t Tori shows up to also get her offence no-sold. Show lobs a trolley at Raven but misses. KAI EN TAI run out and attempts to pin Raven because 24/7 rule is still in effect. Show chokeslams both of them which is a shame as there’s a few KAI EN TAI signs in the crowd.
Albert and his enormous head try to get the win so Show has to start working hard now to prevent anyone else winning. K-Kwik also takes a chokeslam, this time through a bin. Raven attempts to launch a bin at Show but he blocks it with a punch in a cool moment. Val Venis also fails at pinning Raven so while Show is squishing him, Raven does a runner through the crowd. Show somehow catches up but while he’s posing, Taz tries to pin Raven and gets dumped on a friendly guard-rail. Typical of Taz to last a short length of time.
We head backstage with Hardcore Holly and Steve Blackman teaming up to also get beat up by Show. Show dunks Raven into a basketball net (one of those one in Chuck ‘n’ Cheese, not a NBA regulation one. Jeez, can you imagine?) but while he’s dealing with everyone who wouldn’t get a match at Wrestlemania, Raven escapes and that’s the end of the match at 5:16 cos you can’t lose if you run away. This was a tremendous slice of big dumb pie.
Kevin Kelly is waiting to interview The Rock and we catch him picking his nose.
Stacker 2’s Burn Of The Week is Al Snow dressed as Mick Foley on Raw in some sort of protest to Vince. Uh huh. Regal low blows Al to end what looked like a rubbish segment.
That rubbish segment is brought to you by Chyna’s If They Only Knew (what i’m gonna do to you) is #3 on the best seller list. I’ve heard nothing but negative things about it. Lawler: “You know what Foley’s house and Chyna’s book have in common? There’s a lot of dirt in both of them!”
Think we’re missing a segment that was inserted into the broadcast version. Yup, Al made it to Foley’s house and tried to convince him to come back. Foley declined and suggested Al become commissioner instead. They eat hoagies and watch the best of Steve Blackman together. Woah woah, Foley was doing Test jokes on Blackman? Shame on him. That’s not funny.
Kelly tries to interview The Rock but The Great One saw him picking his nose and makes Kelly keep his finger in the whole interview.
“Stick it in, hermie.”
“Speaking of noses…” Rock says he’s going to deal with HHH tonight and makes it clear he didn’t win on Raw for him, he won for him! He’s not skating tonight because despite the lack of titles on the line, HHH’s ass is on the line and that’s all that matters.
“STICK YOUR FINGER BACK IN HERMIE.”
Rock’s gonna beat HHH for Kurt Angle’s sake, cos he’s going to beat him 10 days from now. You can’t stop The Rock (crowd wildly chants for Rocky) if you smelalalalalalalalala. Rock was so much higher that most of the roster during this period I’m surprised he didn’t get vertigo.
Another XFL commercial. Three in one episode isn’t desperate, no sir.
The commentators AGAIN mess around with their mics because Austin’s ass really did fuck them up.
Smackdown 2 presents the WWF Rewind which is Rock beating Rikishi on Raw. To show how hot WWF was during this period: Smackdown 2 came out less than a year after Smackdown 1 and no-one complained.
Triple H vs. The Rock
Their penultimate singles match. Austin is here again, I think he really wanted the fans to buy his 116th skull shirt. Oh he’s here to commentate and to let us know he’s never hated a man as much as he’s hated HHH. “Yeah sit there and drink your water, it’s not going to do a damn thing. Stare at me all you want.”
HHH doesn’t want to wait for Rock so we start brawling around the ring while Austin grins while both rivals batter each other. We settle down for the usual knee based offence with HHH dominating cos he’s smart and the cerebral assassin. HHH keeps on mouthing off at Austin while Steve expositions The Three Stages To Hell. HHH goes for a chinlock. “Is he giving me the bird or is he letting me know his IQ?” Austin appreciates the little frosting on Cole’s hair in between abusing HHH. “What are you going to do you bastard?”
HHH works Rock’s neck methodically (slowly) until HHH goes up top to be thrown off like Flair. “He ain’t so cocky now!” Rock escapes a sleeper hold to lock in the Scorpion King Deathlock cos everyone needs a submission hold now because they’re scared of Benoit. It’s like when every NBA team needed a really tall guy to deal with Shaq and the Lakers. HHH grabs the ropes but when Rock tries it a second time, HHH pushes Rock into Hebner to send him out the ring. HHH launches Rock outside the ring, with Kurt running out to bonk Rock with the WWF Title and send him back in for mouthing off earlier. Austin leaves the booth to assault Kurt and to also hold the ref down so he can miss HHH’s pin on Rock. “He’s hurt!” yells Austin as HHH replies “I don’t give a shit!” Rock delivers the Rock Bottom on HHH with Austin magically healing Hebner but Kurt runs in to break up the pin for the non-contest at 8:10. A really hot backdrop for No Way Out with the usual WWF cheese and explosions.
Austin pounds on Kurt, with Benoit running out to get some revenge on Austin. So it’s a downer ending with Austin locked in the Crossface facing Rock who is stuck in the Ankle Lock, with HHH repaying the favour from last week and pouring beer over Austin.
Nice framing there, very Peter Greenaway.
Show ends after that, no exclusive feed post-show stuff.
Overall: It’s crazy how hot WWF was during this period when Winter 2000 was the opposite. Some classic segments here and a hot ass crowd, not much in terms of exclusive satellite feed goodness but when the product is this good who cares?
I’ve been Maffew.