411’s WWE This is Awesome Report: Most Awesome SmackDown Moments

– WWE This is Awesome just pops up with new episodes and I don’t realize it until I see a random commercial at the end of Level Up. Let’s get to it!

-Greg Miller, wearing the black CM Punk shirt, is in The Awesome Studio and today it’s all about SmackDown. The Blue Show is celebrating 25 years and over 12000 episodes!

-Opening montage: The Talking Heads discuss twenty-five years of SmackDown and Kofi notes that he feels old. We all do, Kofi! Xavier Woods, Cody, and Gargano all want The SmackDown Fist back and Gargano thinks it should be in the WWE Hall of Fame! Lots of nostalgia here: RUTHLESS AGGRESSION! Edge cashing in on Taker in Pittsburgh (I was at that show). Sami Zayn making The Bloodline corpse! So much fun! BUCKLE UP TEDDY! JIMMY CRACK CORN! As always, the nostalgia alone will make this a fun show.

SmackDown Pilot and SmackDown #1

-Obviously, we start at the beginning (April 1999) with the pilot episode of SmackDown on UPN. They used the basic RAW set-up for the pilot and The Corporate Ministry was formed that night. Later that Fall, SmackDown gets picked up as a weekly show on UPN. The talking heads discuss how cool and hip the shows were on UPN and how it was a different audience for WWE. THE SMACKDOWN OVALS! WWE came out guns blazing that first episode with HHH defending The WWF Title against The Rock. HHH gets the win after Shawn Michaels, special ref, superkicks Rock’s teeth out. Shame we never got a match between those two. The comebacks never really aligned and obviously whatever heat there was for Shawn being a dick in the Attitude Era.

Big Show’s Father’s Funeral

-YES! Boss Man crushed it with this douchebag, over-the-top villain character! Boss Man’s poem is just amazing as Woods notes that Boss Man lost his mind. “My Daddy’s gone…WAAAH.” The funeral is Nov. 11, 1999, and Show is giving a eulogy with everyone crying and grieving. Here comes Boss Man in a police car with a megaphone on top like The Blues Brothers. Show jumps on the car and gets knocked off. While the family checks on him, Boss Man chains the coffin to the back of his car and tows it away. Woods is dying of laughter as he talks about Show jumping on the moving coffin and falling off. This is tremendous! I want the unedited footage of Woods talking about this. He calls it the greatest moment to ever happen in pro wrestling and doesn’t care what anyone says. Corbin loved it, and really, it’s something he would do.

Finisher Palooza 2001

-November 15, 2001: Survivor Series is 3 days away and that show featured Team WCW/ECW vs. The WWF. To hype the show SmackDown gives us Rock/Jericho vs. Austin/Angle and it’s awesome as you would expect, but after the DQ, all hell breaks loose. Everyone involved in the 10-man Main Event at Survivor Series comes down at various points to hit their finishing move as the crowd is losing their minds. Just glorious SPAM FINISHER and Austin gets the last show as Rock takes his tremendous oversell of The Stunner. Bodies are just everywhere with Austin standing tall. I believe Vince came out at the end and smiled at Austin, but that’s not included here obviously.

-Commercials!

Grocery Store Brawl

-We stay in 2001 as The Invasion angle is done, but Booker T and Steve Austin have unfinished business. This feud was actually talked about on the latest episode of WWE Rivals and my review can be found here. Booker is hiding in a grocery store as Austin announces over the intercom. Booker attacks a bald man in a black shirt, but it’s not Austin. The real deal pops open a beer behind Booker and the BRAWL IS ON! Cinematic Wrestling! Austin destroys Booker with anything he can get his hands on and makes puns and jokes along the way. Both these men sold this tremendously! Booker gets in minimal offense and tries to trap Austin in a cooler, but he comes back through the milk freezers and thanks Booker for the drink. The report is the WWE paid $10,000 to the store to cover the damage. Then, of course, we end with the iconic: “Price check on a jackass.”

Angle-Taker

-The story of Kurt Angle messing up Taker’s motorcycle while celebrating a win. He tries to apologize and offers Taker a scooter. Glorious! Angle and his comedy against the serious Taker is always a win. Many years later we get Taker vs. Angle on SmackDown for the Undisputed Title. Ciampa mentions that Taker had great chemistry with anyone who had grit and legitimacy, and nobody had that more than Angle. It’s a draw as one ref counts the fall while the other sees Angle tapping out at the same time. Kind of a weird moment to include as not the most memorable, but they all can’t be winners.

-Commercials!

Rey Mysterio Debut

-July 25, 2002! Rey Mysterio makes his WWE debut against Chavo Guerrero (perfect opponent) after sitting out his WCW contract. WWE immediately put him back under the mask because they knew kids loved masked superheroes and they could make a fortune selling the masks. Later in the show, there is a cage match with Cena and Edge getting attacked by a group of heels, and here comes Rey, who dives off the top of the cage with a crossbody. That was awesome as the first night of Rey on SmackDown was a homerun. Storm and Christian caught him perfectly!

Spinner Belt

-Some hated it, while others loved it, but in 2005 John Cena introduced The WWE Spinner Championship. They gloss over the fact he had a spinner US Title. Woods notes that spinner rims were hot at the time and we get discussion of G Unity and 50 Cent with their spinning G Unit logo. Prison Dom says he hates to admit that he was a fan as a kid and loved the belt. Ivar is not a fan. Kofi loved the belt. I was neutral on the belt as it didn’t bother me and I didn’t love it either. It was finally retired in 2013.

Christian/Randy Orton

-Showing some love to Christian as he won The World Title for the first time at Extreme Rules. Corbin notes it was a great moment for everybody. Christian was in Edge’s shadow and finally got his moment. Five days later he celebrates on SmackDown, but Teddy Long is a dick and immediately wants a challenger. He lets the fans vote and they pick Orton over The Great Khali and Mark Henry. Yeah, that was a tough choice. Again, Teddy Long is a dick and makes the match for that night. You knew then things weren’t going to go well for our new Champion. Randy Orton wins and becomes the new World Champion to end Christian’s reign at five days (actually two as SmackDown was taped on Tuesday). I remember people losing their minds when spoilers came out. It ended up working though as they used it to turn Christian heel and that made for a better dynamic over the summer. Christian would regain the World Title later that summer before dropping it back to Orton. They had a feud summer run together. Gargano notes he wanted Christian to have the Title longer. Christian’s “one more match,” deal was fun!

-Commercials!

Steel Cage: Lynch vs. Bliss

-SmackDown: Jan 17, 2017: For the first time ever on SmackDown there is a women’s cage match and it’s between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss! TALKING SMACK FOOTAGE! Back when the show was new and must-see TV every week. I miss that version of the show so, so much! Bliss came out of nowhere when the WWE brought back The Draft as she didn’t get to do all that much in NXT compared to the other women, but she was the breakout star of the women’s division when she got her chance on SmackDown. It was a fun cage match at a time when the Main Roster WWE fans were still getting used to women in the Main Event and having gimmick matches that the men would have. La Luchadora helps Alexa Bliss retain her Title. She unmasks and it’s Mickey James, who got a good run out of it.

AJ Styles Dethrones Jinder Mahal

-Nov. 7, 2007: Jinder Mahal had been WWE Champion six months or so and was set to face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, but there was no way that was happening. Instead, SmackDown has a show in Manchester, England and for the first time ever, The WWE Title changes hands outside of North America. Corbin puts over how great Mahal was at getting the fans to boo him and want him to lose the Title every night. This was another case of spoilers being available and it probably drew in a bigger audience as we knew a Title change was happening. Great moment for AJ as it’s always a big deal when you win the Title for a second time. It shows they have faith in you. Styles would hold the title for nearly a year before losing it to Daniel Bryan (which started his amazing heel run). Gargano calls AJ Styles once in a generation. Again, I am so happy he got one more run with the WWE Title and it was a heck of a run at that.

-Commercials!

The Rock

-SmackDown was known as The Rock’s show obviously so we end with the talking heads discussing the greatness of The Rock. So this isn’t focused on just one moment, but The Rock’s best moments. THE SLIDING PEOPLE’S ELBOW! That is still jaw-dropping and KO has no clue how he did it. It just made him look so much cooler which is crazy to think about. Torturing The Coach! The Final Boss which Priest says is Rock’s best work. KO says there is an air of unpredictability with The Rock on the show. COCAINE AND METH USE IN PHOENIX! Rollins says it is not a ride he was expecting to take in 2024. Rock is so important the show was named after him and SmackDown ended up a word in the dictionary in 2007.

-Greg Miller wraps things up and next time it’s Most Awesome King and Queen of The Ring Moments in WWE History. Spoiler: Austin 3:16!

-This was a fun trip down memory lane, but they left a lot of moments out there. I assume we will get a second volume at some point. Brock/Show breaking the ring would be one of the big misses, but perhaps Brock is still on the banned list at this point. Leaving Roman out seems weird too as The Bloodline dominated SmackDown for years and all we got was a brief mention of Ucey in the show opening. Overall, another fun show as this series continues to be my jam thanks to nostalgia alone. Thanks for reading!