Live Feed Mania – WWF Smackdown 04.03.01

WWF @ Oklahoma City, OK – Myriad Convention Center – April 3, 2001 (11,572; sell out)

It’s the week after Wrestlemania X-7 so let’s see how the company is holding up after turning Austin heel, courtesy of Richard Land!

Dark Matches

Charlie & Russ Haas vs. Steve Bradley & Scott Vick

Steve Bradley has an insane 9.33 rating on CageMatch. I know he died young but so did Terry Funk and he’s only at 9.45. The Haas Bros. are typically solid and athletic before Charlie gets isolated. Bradley crotches him and lands a top rope Frankensteiner before Vick reminds us all he was Sick Boy in WCW and predictably fucks up a springboard something. Bradley takes an impressive running Bret Hart bump into the turnbuckles until Charlie busts out lovely dropkicks and an even lovelier assisted tope to the outside.

Bradley wants to prove he’s worth what his mum thinks of him and busts out an Asai Moonsault too. Haas’ German Suplex-Into-A-Moonsault is enough to finish off Vick and one hell of a dark match that even Katie’s brother couldn’t mess up.

Ivory vs. Jazz

This is Jazz’s pre-TV debut! She’s only had one match between ECW and WWF so no wonder they feel the need to ease her in. She gets a decent pop as she does her WWF-mandated waving and clapping so the fans know she’s a face.

Jazz easily escapes an arm-wringer with a backflip that Ivory could only dream of pulling off while she’s wearing those constraining trousers. Jazz wipes the floor with Ivory and her mat knowledge but sadly even Jazz has to fall for the “opponent pulls the ropes down on a charge causing her foe to fly over” which has always confused me because even wrestlers built like Thumbelina have to act like it’s a natural thing that happens even though they have to leap to fall outside. Anyway Ivory somehow manages a missile dropkick but Jazz kicks out to get a near fall from a Fisherwoman’s Buster and the crowd are pissed when it doesn’t end. Ivory rolls Jazz up with an illegal tight grab so annoy the fans.

Jazz almost looked too good, something she’d continue during an underappreciated run through the Fed.

Coachman and Hayes head out to do commentary with Hayes at least getting Badstreet, USA for his entrance.

Sunday Night Heat (Aired 04/08/01)

WWF European Championship

Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Test

Test gets a huge shrieking female pop, Eddie gets “EDDIE SUCKS”. That’s not fair. Commentators point at something that a fan has thrown into the ring but I can’t see it. Test’s wonderful tilt-a-whirl side slam gets two as does his diving Powerbomb, either would have been cool finishers for lesser big dudes back in the day. Does anyone do a diving powerbomb anymore? Test isn’t in a selling mood but it doesn’t matter as even as he’s getting stomped into the mat or taking snake eyes, the crowd still chant that he sucks. Eddie begs off to avoid a Big Boot. Spinning sit-out Powerbomb only gets two as Eddie finally manages some offence- no wait no he doesn’t as he somehow kicks out of Uncle Slam too. Eddie low blows and rolls up Test to retain in his only bit of offence.

And then Test big boots him afterwards to be a sore loser. Match was nothing but Eddie on defence but crowd loved it so eh.

Hayes tells the voice in his head-set to remind the Dudleys and Hardys to be selling as they make their entrances. Oh I’m sure they needed to be reminded to sell the effects of TLC 2, thanks for your help Hayes.

Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs. The Acolytes (Bradshaw & Farooq)

Ah my least favourite bit of re-watching 2001: seeing Saturn and Malenko giving up in real time. The Radically-stop-caring try to meet their foes before they enter the ring but get bounced around with ease. Saturn wriggles out of a Dominator to land an overhead belly-to-back. Malenko’s jumping calf kicks don’t impress the crowd and neither does his quick tagging out to Saturn. Farooq makes his own comeback to tag in greasy Bradshaw who Sacks Of Shits Malenko while big booting Saturn. Perry gets an unconvincing pump kick on Bradshaw so the crowd can get behind the team who are selling as much as British events ran by The Authors of Pain. Farooq comes in tot take Perry’s Moss Handled etc before Saturn runs directly into a spinebuster to finish.

The Radicalz were not the right team here as The APA refused to make any of their offence seem even vaguely threatening. But it’s only Sunday Night Heat, let’s not kid ourselves here.

Haku vs. Raven

I don’t see this going well. Raven lands his clothesline out the corner before taking Haku outside for his Russian Legsweep into the guardrail which loses a lot of it’s impact on the giant soft ones WWF uses. Haku shoves him into the ring post and steps as the crowd chant for Raven. This is an amazingly hot crowd. Haku gets repeated bearhugs in until the crowd applaud at the level he’s wanting. Raven powers out so he can get his firey babyface comeback consisting of a clothesline/bulldog out the corner. Did Punk steal that from him? And then Haku gets the Tongan Death Grip out of nowhere to win. Huh.

I love Haku’s aura but he was the wrong guy at the wrong time in 2001.

Hayes praises the crowd for being louder than “the lousy North East.”

Lita vs. Spike Dudley

Hayes is impressed with the female fan sat front row with a “MARRY ME LITA” sign. “What a good sport!” The Dudleys and Hardys are accompanying and both are selling. Hayes compliments The Dudleys We’re Coming Down theme. “That’s a hot song!” Spike wrestles Lita as an equal so that obviously means he loses the early going and takes a half dozen roll ups. Crowd have absolutely no issues taking this as a normal match by the way. Spike asks for a test of strength which Lita wins. Lita’s headscissors doesn’t kill Spike so she’s improving. Spike lands a neckbreaker and crowd hates the Wayne’s World lookalike. Crowd VERY loudly chant for Lita so The Hardys think “fuck it” and jump on the apron to distract, allowing Spike’s leg drop to miss. The Duds crotch Lita on the ropes in response leading to both teams going at it on the outside. Meanwhile, Lita splats Spike with the moonsault to win a fun, well-worked main event.

Lita was not having a lot of good matches during her first few years so well done Spike, this was the Lilliput equivalent of Jericho vs. Chyna.

The ring gear gets changed over and there’s no video for the crowd so they sit in silence until Lilian sings the anthem. Taz & Cole head out, with Cole’s theme being My Way by Limp Bizkit so he gets a huge pop haha.

Taz gets mad at Cole telling him “one day you’ll do a proper sound check” so Taz yells “alright FUCK IT CHECK CHECK ONE TWO ONE TWO.” They’re my favourite married couple.

The live crowd get an exclusive video of Vince, Austin and Triple H all insulting Oklahoma to remind the fans they’re supposed to be booing Austin now. Good luck with that. “Oklahoma isn’t that bad, you get to feel smart when you’re here!”

SmackDown!

Cole is already calling X7 the greatest Wrestlemania ever. It’s weird when Cole is right about something.

The Undertaker & WWF Hardcore Champion Kane vs. Right To Censor (Steven Richards, Bull Buchanan, & The Goodfather)

The Brothers Of Destruction were both successful at Wrestlemania so they get RTC who were slightly less successful. Steven says the media desensitizes kids to violence. He’s right, did you see Undertaker chokeslam Triple H onto that giant mattress?

It’s three-on-two in an attempt to give this some suspense. Bull gets mauled by both brothers for a bit before Undertaker yells his favourite Will Farrell film as he walks the ropes and drops an elbow. That’s right, he yelled “Anchorman!” Steven gets destroyed by Undertaker to give us a preview of the mighty Kronik feud later in the year. Goodfather & Bull take stereo chokeslams as Kane no-sells the Stevenkick. Steven takes the Last Ride to end a mega-squash at 4:18.

White hot squash match, shame the unedited Last Ride was a mess:

Backstage, Vince hangs out with The Two Men Power Trip. Triple H pretends to respect Jericho before laughing and telling everyone he’s going to kick his ass and take his IC Title tonight. I don’t think Triple H knew the cameras were on.

During the satellite feed: Taz & Cole have to hype up UPN’s Chains Of Love and laugh their arse off at the whole thing. “The hell is this??” Critics felt the same.

Vince heads to the ring while a fan holds up a sign that reads “WELL IT’S THE BIG CHODE”.

Vince says it’s great being here in Oklahoma! A foreign country like Zimbabwe! “I’ve been there, I know!” Mugabe’s cheque must have cleared. Oklahoma people are so dumb they called their main city the same name in case they forgot it. Tazz laughed at that. Vince clarifies that Nixon is no longer U.S. and The Rock is no longer WWF champ. And there’s no such thing as the Queen Mother. Vince reminds us that he and Austin are now cool so please don’t cheer for him. Triple H joined them in the cage at the end of Raw to tease an alliance with The Rock before joining them. Triple H & Rock teaming up would have been a much more interesting outcome with hindsight.

Vince gets the crowd excited by going on and on about how The Rock will want his revenge, right? He’s going to beat up all three of them tonight, right? Nope, cos he’s not here tonight because he doesn’t want to get beat up again! Oh and Vince has suspended him as well! Bye!

Long but effective segment with Vince going really hard on the whole “please please boo Austin now” thing to ensure even the most Oklahomian of Oklahomians could get it.

Vince McMahon messes up his lines so he re-records them during the episode so the corrected audio can be used on the broadcast days later, Smackdown 04/05/01

— maffew uhhh (@maffewgregg.bsky.social)2026-03-29T17:53:39.365Z

XFL is on UPN this Sunday! The names of the teams aren’t mentioned but it was SF Demons vs. LA Xtreme. You’re welcome.

Foot Locker and Lady Foot Locker and apparently Baby Foot Locker too presents The Slam Of The Week: Chyna wrestling like she’s on minimum wage against Ivory at Wrestlemania.

Coachman interviews Chyna in a flower bra. She’s had her ups and downs but has faith in herself and she’s happy she’s inspired so many men and women. She thinks if you change yourself to appease others then you’re as bad as your critics. Chyna had plenty of critics after that performance at WM so she’d know. Also why is Chyna talking about changing to please others when she’s had more surgeries than Rey Mysterio’s left knee?

William Regal is in his office reading the WWF Magazine this week which has Lita on the front. Team Extreme don’t take it as a compliment though, even when Regal reveals he has a life-size version of the cover for his office. Presumably so he can’t miss. Regal is impressed with their work but he saw them talking to Shane McMahon on raw, the owner of a rival wrestling company? Well in that case Jeff hardy can wrestle The Big Show tonight! Ta ra Jeff.

JR is interviewed by Lilian about his upcoming interview and says nothing.

Lugz Slam Of The Week: Crash Holly & Molly Holly taking Gores from Rhyno! I always wondered how the ad-team presented intergender violence to companies.

Kurt Angle talks to his medals backstage before Regal (with a worn-out chopped chest) discuss their strategy about taking on Regal tonight. Both think their submission holds are superior but Willie is sad that Angle doesn’t take him seriously.

Rhyno vs. K-Kwik

K-Kwik wasn’t good enough for Wrestlemania and his partner is gone so I don’t fancy his chances here.

Kwik manages a headscissors and an impressive jumping splits before backfliping into a backflip into a Gore for the pin at 1:26. That would be Kwik’s penultimate Smackdown match.

Crash Holly attacks Rhyno as he tries to leave but he ends up taking another Gore to the crowd’s delight.

We get a recap of the Angle vs. Benoit feud. Both lads thought their submission holds were superior so they competed at Wrestlemania…and then Kurt won with a roll-up because this is just the start of their feud. On Raw, Benoit demonstrated how much he hated Kurt by saving Jericho from a beatdown. Ah so that’s how that team started: mutual hatred!

Backstage, Edge & Christian tell Rhyno that match was GOREGOUS so he needs to go shower and then they can eat something. Rhyno yells “No, let’s go now. I’ll drive!” and marches off still in his gear and sweating. I can’t believe he wasn’t multi-time world champ in WWF.

Kurt Angle & William Regal vs. Chris Benoit

Handicap match. Benoit starts by German suplexing each man three times. The ones on Kurt are brutal, directly onto his non-bald head. Benoit crossfaces both men who are saved by their partner and the reaction for Benoit is far louder and crazier than I remembered. This crowd rules. After Regal and Angle deliver their own Germans, Regal applies the stretch on Benoit, with Angle applying the ankle lock as well and Benoit taps at 2:59.

Angle keeps it locked on while Regal shrugs and goes “oh well.” This leads to Jericho making the save for Benoit and to officially announce these two are fucking teaming. Anyway, this was all about getting the much-needed push of the Canadians so this was all grand.

Backstage, Vince tells JR not to worry about this big interview, just calm down and ask the big questions there kid before patting him on his widdle face

It’s time for the JVC Boombox Boom of The Week and fucking hell how many people sponsor this show? You’d think you were watching WWE. Anyway it’s Edge’s spear from TLC 2. Aye fair.

Kevin Kelly asks Debra about her opinion on Austin’s turn. She no-sells him and like every Debra segment this was nothing.

The Big Chode vs. Jeff Hardy (w/ Lita & Matt Hardy)

Jeff is hesitant to get in the ring with the big lump and he’s immediately press slammed so no wonder. Show slowly slams Jeff around while cutting off every comeback. Show slams Matt into the guard rail and chases Lita around too. The ref gets in the way so Show shoves him but there’s no DQ. Instead, Show goes to the top rope (!) and misses an elbow…which causes Lita, Matt and Jeff to land moves off the top, pin him and the ref is still pissed so he not allows it but fast-pins to end the match at 3:07 before everyone runs out of the ring.

I thought this was hilarious at the time and decades later it still makes me smile. Show would spend the rest of the year doing not-much so this was a good use for him.

Show is pissed and goes through the backstage area passing by a young Michael Shane.

Show continues to look for the Hardys before getting punched by Kane and Undertaker who put him through a table (full of food for maximum irony) with Billy Big Bikes yelling “Next time, knock!”

X-Factor (X-Pac, Justin Credible, & Albert) vs. Billy Gunn, Steve Blackman, & Grandmaster Sexay

It’s X-Factor Ver. 1 without proper chyron or Uncle Cracker theme.

On Raw, Billy Gunn hit the Fameasser on X-Pac but Albert Baldo Bombs to help X-Pac wins because X-PAC MUST WIN.

Albert immediately takes a double suplex/crossbody triple team. Albert slams Sexay into the ring post to isolate Blackman. Blackman tries his best but not even his kicks can put a dent on the air conditioning unit that is Albert’s head. Blackman hot tags Billy who cleans house and hits a…One and Only on Credible. This causes the match to break down with Sexay landing the Hip Hop Drop on Credible! Gunn goes to pin but Albert breaks it up, ref gets distracted and after a X-Factor, X-Pac wins again because X-PAC MUST WIN at 4:38. Not a bad match but too rushed to mean anything.

Backstage, Steph wishes Jericho good luck in his match tonight because he’s going to need it after he cos he interfered in the Trish vs. Steph match on Raw. Jericho appreciates the luck but warns Steph that if she interferes, he’ll make her scream louder than HHH ever has. “See you out there, sweet-cheeks.” Jericho still talks to women on AEW TV like this when he’s allowed to speak to them.

Backstage, Vince warns Austin about JR. Austin nods and walks off, so Steph hurriedly brings a VHS tape of Linda to Vince. Sure it isn’t just Weekend At Bernie’s? Vince isn’t convinced so he plays it and OH NO, Linda’s alive again! She’s back to being CEO of WWF and no longer on her meds like Steve-O. Linda vows that after kicking Vince in the “gonads” at Wrestlemania, she’ll hit him where it will hurt the most when they’re on Raw on Monday. Mick Foley brings in some grapefruits for Linda to slice in half on a chopping board, and then Vince looks at his groin and gulps. I don’t get it. Maybe Linda’s best promo ever which is like saying “this is Matt Striker’s least annoying moment of existence.”

JR heads to the ring to a hero’s welcome and tell the crowd he’s happy to be here. Why? Every time you’re here something bad happens to you. Case in point, new WWF Champion Steve Austin heads out to genuine boos from the crowd and a mad-on for his friend. Austin basks in the boos for a bit until JR asks Austin “why?” Bit soon for that. Austin tells JR it’s an insurance policy, how stupid are ya?

Austin: I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Crowd: Booooo

Austin: …I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Crowd: BOOOOOO

Austin: I SAID I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Crowd: BOOOOOOooooOOOOO

Austin pauses and stares at the hard cam as it shakes from the crowd reaction.

Austin explained he just made the most successful comeback of all time and he had the best backup of all time so he’s going to stick with Vince. When did Austin ever say that he wanted to be these people’s hero? “You’ve never heard me say it, have ya? You’ve heard me say DTA every week and these fans should have listened.”

Austin’s expressions are getting more devious as he’s glaring at JR now. “Are you sassing me? You’re not? Well don’t.”

JR asks how he can team up with Triple H after he orchestrated the car attack on him years ago. It’s a very valid question. Austin changes the subject and asks why JR is talking about Triple H behind his back when he’s not here to defend himself. Austin explains if Triple H is that heinous to plan something like that then that’s someone Austin wants with him rather than against him. Makes sense.

Austin turns his attention to JR. “Look at your little cowboy hat, your stupid little glasses. YOUR STUPID BELT BUCKLE.” JR gets mad at Austin laughing at him cos he looks like he just lost his best friend. JR reminds Austin who was there when Austin recovered from surgery and being at his wedding. Austin no-sells history and knocks JR’s hat and glasses while asking him repeatedly if he still wants to be Austin’s friend. “C’mon hillbilly, take a shot at your best friend!”

JR tries to leave while apologising so Austin attacks JR from behind. Vince pops out and demands to know why Austin is going so easy on his best friend. “Beat him, beat him!!” Austin goes wild on JR, bloodying him (I’m guessing Vince appeared to give JR a chance to blade) and choking him with his own belt before kicking him in the gonad-fruits. The boos are long and loud for Austin as he presses his World Title into JR’s bloody forehead. Triple H and Steph are shown watching this backstage while laughing evilly.

I remembered disliking this as a kid but looking back, this was everything you needed to make a heel turn work and Austin’s new character was a breath of fresh air compared to the constant “stunner, never lose, stunner, beer drink” formula he was stuck in. Austin’s mannerisms and demeanour were reminiscent of De Niro in Cape Fear. It’s a shame there were so many things working against this from succeeding as it could have done but at least we got this segment. Maybe they should have had JR get beat up every week, with his cowboy hat getting more-and-more bandaged up like Colin Delaney.

WWF IC Championship

Chris Jericho (c) vs. Triple H (w/ Stephanie McMahon)

Jericho is attacked before he enters the ring in case anyone thought he had a chance. Crowd chants “slut” and the camera shows the crowd and it’s mostly kids. Hahahaha the PTC did nothing wrong. Jericho is able to land a crossbody to the outside while still selling his own ribs. Jericho brings Triple H onto the announce table before they wander into the ring without using it. Huh. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Steph gets a slap in. Sleeper hold on Jericho until he escapes and turns a Pedigree into a Walls…no wait a slingshot into the turnbuckle, into a bulldog and Lionsault to nothing as Steph distracts the ref so Jericho like a dumb-dumb goes to get her. He surprisingly manages to lock The Walls in again on but Triple H but the ref is still distracted so Regal runs out to attack, but instead gets nailed himself. So Steph runs in to help, getting locked in The Walls herself. Naturally, Triple H nails him with a chair to win th-NO, JERICHO KICKS OUT. OK that got me. Triple H gives Jericho his patented “ha ha well done kid” face before delivering The Pedigree to win the title at 7:30 (and to also become the first former World Champion to win the IC Title since Pedro Morales.)

Pedestrian match with an exciting ending sequence to protect Jericho a lot more than I thought they would, even with the finish never being in doubt as the WWF puts all their chips in on The Two Man Power Trip. But also worth mentioning that Jericho was already above the IC Title at this point anyway so Chris was in that position to be hyper-pushed and needed the secondary title off him anyway.

Post-Show

As Triple H heads to the back, Undertaker cuts him off and scares him into the ring. Undertaker delivers a delayed chokeslam to prove he can do his finishing moves without fucking them up and celebrates with the crowd to let them know there’s nothing they can do to stop Austin vs. Undertaker Part 30.

Overall: Post-WM is such a fascinating time to watch back with the benefit of hindsight and see how things could have been improved if only a small thing had been tweaked or if they’d gone left instead of right. As it is, with this episode alone Heel Austin had the chance to work if they’d either gone with Face Triple H or instead pivoted directly to the Canadian feud and by-passed the Brothers Of Destruction. The show itself was worth a watch purely for the camera-shaking crowd reactions most of the wrestlers got so yeah, get this down you.

I’ve been Maffew and these take ages to type out, so suck it.