This is kind of an odd DVD to review so...I'll just hit these in order and comment where appropriate before giving you my overall thoughts at the end. So without further ado...
100. Cena Introduces The Spinner Belt
99. Bishcoff pulls Stephanie: This was a surprisingly memorable moment, Bishcoff forcibly snogs Steph on Halloween, she ended up liking it.
98. Big Show Chokeslams Brock Through The Announce Table.
97. The Thanksgiving Food Fights.
96. Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker: The rubber match between the two, a good TV main event, had very dramatic but nothing special, it’s interesting to look back in time to earlier in Orton’s development, includes one of the best ref bumps in history, Cowboy Bob took a hilarious bump through the ropes. (***1/4)
95. Mattitude: Good Gimmick Great Memories.
94. Kurt Angle shoots the Big Show with a Tranquilizer Dart and then shaves him bald, okay that was random.
93. Rey vs. Eddie - Steel Cage Match: Part of the Dominic storyline. The cage match format and the ad breaks hurt this match but there were some great spots and some truly memorable moments. (**1/2)
92. Mr. America: Well the less said about this one the better, Hogan flaked out and they just kind of stopped this storyline dead, it was pretty memorable and incredibly cringe worthy, at least there’s no signs of Zack Gown.
91. Vince’s Plays Acoustic Guitar to Steve Austin.
90. Edge plays practical jokes on Kurt Angle apparently this was the origin of the “You Suck” chant.
88. Hardcore Holly is injury prone! They showed Kurt Angle breaking Holly’s arm with a moonsault.
87. Triple H and Stephanie send Foley to jail, which is actually a fake cage attached to the DX express which Triple H drives to Connecticut.
86. The Return of Piper’s Pit.
85. Carlito vs. John Cena (This was Carlito’s debut and he defeated John Cena to win the US Title in a very strong TV match) (**3/4)
84. Eddie Guerrero sprays shit all over Big Show (seriously that’s actually what happened)
83. The Boogeyman? Seriously we want people to remember this. It culminates in Boogeyman eating Jillian’s mole off her face. Huh, I did wonder how they explained the mole disappearing.
82. Red and Yellow Hulk Hogan returns to Smackdown in 2002, this really was a special moment.
81. Tazz vs. Triple H - ECW Champion vs. WWE Champion: The Involement of Tommy Dreamer was dramatic but the match was clunky. (*1/2)
80. The Bar Room brawl at the late Tim White’s Friendly Tap between the APA & The New Age Outlaws.
79. Rhyno Gores Chris Jericho through the Smackdown stage set. (Like the other 99% percent of the invasion storyline I’d blocked this out of my memory)
78. Triple H’s Six Pack Gauntlet challenge: Triple H wins a 3 out of 5 extremely tough matches to qualify to be in the Six Pack Challenge for the WWE title.
77. The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection clip show.
76. Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Jericho - Undisputed Title Match: Not much too this one but it was great to see the WWE crowd so into Hogan in so into the product in general. (*3/4)
75. Steve Austin steals Kurt Angle’s Gold Medals and throws them in a river, in a throw back to his 1997 feud with The Rock.
74. Eddie Guerrero auctions off all of Kurt Angle’s belongings “hilarity ensues”. Actually it’s a nice feel good moment between two greats.
73. Torrie and Dawn Marie fight at Al Wilson’s funeral. They put the Al Wilson stuff in the greatest moments!!! This is actually very funny in retrospect in the moment it was just horrid. In case you don’t remember RAW had Katie Vick and necrophilia, Smackdown had Dawn Marie sleeping with Torrie Wilson’s seventy year old dad, she literally fucked him to death, leading to this brawl. This absorbed months and months and months of TV time.
72. Vince’s goes on a rant about the WWE fans who complain that things “aren’t fair”, well Vince informs them “life sucks and then you die”.
71. The Al Snow & Steve Blackman “head cheese” skits. Now these skits do not age well.
70. Batista, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy & Finlay vs. JBL, Kane, The Brian Kendrick & MVP: Now you may well be asking how the hell is this a great moment? Well it was the main event of Smackdown’s debut on My Network. Good formula multiman action. (***)
69. Mr. Kennedy’s debut and rise to fame. I have to admit he was absolutely brilliant at first especially when he used to point out that he’d lost or gained a pound.
68. Big Show throws Mick Foley across the stage into a grave.
67. Stephanie’s wins the Women’s title in her first ever match.
66. Randy Orton vs. Hardcore Holly: This was Randy Orton’s first ever match and I have to say that I do remember this one, impressive debut and a good TV match, Orton oozed cool and won with an Oklahoma roll (*3/4)
65. Kurt Angle’s over the top celebration for winning the European Title.
64. Batista & Rey Mysterio win the WWE Tag Team Titles in 2005. This match looked like alot of fun why wasn’t this on the DVD?
63. Heidenreich’s poetry. They show the epic rape of Michael Cole.
62. The Rock vs. The Dudley Boyz – Tables Match: Another Smackdown moment that I have fond memories of and I have to say this was a very nice action packed dramatic TV match up. (**1/4)
61. The infamous “Lethal Dose Of Poison” promo, Vince McMahon non-sensically brings in the n.W.o. This was exciting at the time but in retrospect it was pretty campy and embarrassing.
60. Eddie Guerrero faces John Cena in a parking lot brawl, definitely a fun memorable moment. This was probably a moment that was alot better in hindsight than it was in first time around, a very nice highlight package.
59. Rey Mysterio vs. Matt Hardy Version 1.0 – WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: It’s nice to see Crash Holly at ringside it’s easy to forget about his passing, tremendous TV match up, it told a well paced dramatic story with Rey injuring his leg and groin early in the match up. (***1/4)
58. Impersonations. We get the Rock mocking Big Show, Kane and Edge both impersonating Hulk Hogan. In the analysis Striker does some really good Savage, Hogan and Piper impression. Then they show Edge and Christian with the old Hardyz. These were definitely some fun memories.
57. The Big Show destroys cars including a jeep.
56. Vince’s holds interviews for a new personal assistant, of course it includes plenty of homophobia (but at least this was pretty funny), of course Stacy Keibler comes out and gives Vince a lap dance leading to the “your hired Stacy” one liner.
55. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Rob Van Dam – WWE World Title Match: Now this match came about in the middle of the Alliance, to prove he respected his troops Austin said he’d defend the title against the next man who walked through the door, and it happened to be Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam. Really enjoyable match the crowd were unbelievably into this one. (***)
54. Edge and Vickie’s love story, marriage and many many mishaps. Now this was classic TV, I loved every minute of it.
53. Steve Austin hunts down DX one by one before catching them in a giant net.
52. Debra’s cookies, not bad but doesn't age all that well.
51. Rikishi’s stinkfaces, it culminates in Vince kissing Rikishi’s arse. Vince’s overselling was pretty hilarious.
50. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri vs. The World’s Greatest Tag Team: A really good TV tag match with insane back and forth near falls, and it’s also incredibly memorable as this was the match where Eddie rang the ring bell to break up a submission hold and then planted a title Belt on Charlie Haas and faked being hit, this was Smackdown at it’s apex. (***1/2)
49. The Rock and Busta Rhymes have some fun together.
48. Jeff Hardy’s world title win celebration. This really was a special moment the only time the crowd has been genuinely willing for someone to break through in a long time.
47. The Billy & Chuck Wedding. Well for better or worse they fooled alot of people, and by alot of people I of course mean magazines and TV shows of course not actual wrestling fans. They replay this segment in full for God knows what reason. Well what can I say? It was worse than Al Wilson but it was better than Katie Vick. Although I have to say the Eric Bishcoff reveal was utterly superb, and one of the most memorable moments in WWE history. For better or worse it truly is a moment I’ll never forget.
46. Tribute To Eddie Guerrero. Well this really should have been and would have been a top ten moment if it wasn’t for Undertaker blowing up the Low Rider at the end of the show. It was truly a great and sad moment in WWE history, far better than forty eight slot.
45. Where is Mick Foley? This segment was about Mick Foley’s commissioner role and the various locations of his office.
44. Jeff Jarrett nails the Fabulous Moolah over the head with a guitar. This was one of Jeff’s last ever performances on WWE tv.
43. Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL – WWE World Title Cage Match: This was just a fantastic TV match up, wrestled at a gruelling pace, with really intense selling and some stunning visuals. Both JBL and Eddie played their roles to perfection and the crowd were going bananas at various points, it wasn’t fast paced all action but it was a very well told dramatic story, there were so many nice little touches, like when Eddie worked the crowd into a frenzy only for JBL to hit a snap DDT out of nowhere to silence the crowd. Obviously the only down point was that El Grand Luchador (Kurt Angle) runs in to coast Eddie the title and take away an all action dramatic conclusion but they gave us the reveal that Kurt Angle wasn’t crippled as an alternative crescendo. (***3/4)
42. Big Show saves Brock Lesnar from a 6-1-9 and throws Rey about eight rows deep into the crowd. It’s a nice visual but the forty second greatest moment? Get real.
41. Jamie Noble & Nidia! Now this is what I’m talking about, Jamie and Nidia were undoubtedly one of Smackdown’s highlights in the mid 2000s.
40. Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker – WWE World Title Match: How do you know when a match is good? When your dad who tolerates wrestling at best gets absolutely hooked on a single match to the point of cheering and being shocked at the conclusion. I give my dad credit though, he had good taste, he was normally annoyed when I had wrestling on but if he saw Kurt Angle he’d happily sit down and watch. This match was classic, borrowing a finish from MMA when Matt Hughes broke a triangle choke with a powerbomb. The match was only ten minutes long but it was a good ten minutes with an unforgettable finish. (***)
39. Stephanie bitch slaps Linda McMahon live on Smackdown. This was a pretty big moment back in the day, Linda’s reaction to Steph calling her a bitch was priceless, but to be honest the more memorable moment was when Vince and Linda stood up to Steph and Shane and Linda slapped down Stephanie. However the sickening praise they lavish on this moment is all too much.
38. Eddie Guerrero’s World Title celebration! Now this was a truly great moment and unlike in the previous Stephanie moment you can see the joy on Kofi Kingston and The Miz’s face as they talk about Eddie making it, and the little guy reaching the top.
37. The Big Show returns. Can’t say I saw this moment but it looks pretty damn cool moment. A huge brawl erupts during a lumberjack WWE title match and Big Show storms to the ring and destroys the entire lockeroom, now that’s a return.
36. Sexy Kurt! An absolutely classic feud and a hilarious moment, my friend Ole loves his moment. Another moment another dead superstar this time its Sensational Sherri.
35. The New Age Outlaws vs. The Rock And Sock Connection: This was billed as the Rock and Sock’s connection last ever match, only problem was...they won the tag titles, actually there was another problem the match sucked. (*1/4)
34. Crash Holly’s infamous 24/7 title reign. Now this really does bring back some great memories of the dearly departed. Again Matt Striker talks about defending a cardboard title against his sisters, this is the second time Striker has mentioned wrestling with his sisters and mother, the only problem? Matt Striker is 35 and this happened ten years ago when he was 25??? Oh well, these are great memories regardless.
33. Edge vs. Chris Jericho in a steel cage, they only show a moody dramatic high light package, I don’t think I saw this one, but it looks pretty damn good again I wish they’d put this on the DVD instead of the Rock and Sock match, that said it would have been the forth cage match on this one DVD. This match had a wild post match brawl with Rey Mysterio hitting a flying cross body off the top of the Cage onto Storm and Christian.
32. Undertaker’s gets revenge on Vickie Guerrero: A great video package to end a great feud, anything with Vickie in was brilliant she was the WWE’s number one heel for over two years, although I have to say this stuff was pretty uncomfortable, I mean what kind of babyface attacks defenceless women, let alone promises to choke them to death.
31. Vince McMahon divorces Linda: More “classic” McMahon family soap opera, the image of Vince screaming “I want a divorce” was pretty impressive. They also show Linda in the sanaterium as well as Vince making out with Trish Stratus. William Regal says “That man’s my Hero”.
30. John Cena debuts in the Kurt Angle invitational challenge: We get the full match and the pre match promos from both Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon. This was also the unveiling of Kurt Angle’s bald head. Kurt’s promo is absolutely superb this was Kurt at his best as he lays into the fans before issuing a challenge to someone he’s never faced before. Cena steps up and Kurt Angle showed ass and made John Cena a star, an unforgettable debut. Cena’s giant bitch slap to start the match was a great moment. Kurt Angle’s superb timing and brilliant selling combined with Cena’s huge energy levels really made this match. A superb five minutes. (**1/4)
29. Icon Destruction: Great to see some Lesnar on this list, this was another moment that really sticks out in my mind when I think of Smackdown, this was the Match when Brock Lesnar destroyed Hulk Hogan not settle for a F-5 victory and instead putting Hogan to sleep in the bear hug and waffling Hogan with a Steal Chair. Your lesson? Brock Lesnar is a bad arse.
28. Big Show dresses up as Fat Bastard from Austin Powers: his impression is pretty good but this really should not be anywhere near the top thirty.
27. Kurt Angle’s hair piece: This culminates in Hogan and Triple H removing Kurt’s hair piece.
26. JBL’s border patrol: Well I had this one in my top ten! I mean seriously what the hell was this skit? This was JBL at his raving right wing nutcase best.
25. The Big Show vs. Stephanie McMahon & Zach Gown: Oh Dear Oh Dear, who thought this was a good idea? Okay Zach is a pretty remarkable guy but the crowd just shit on this angle, it was the circus freak show at its worst. Now that’s no knock on Zach he’s not a freak but the way they played the story up with Vince and Steph was just sickening. Stephanie’s overacting was somehow even worse than usual. This was the best moment of the entire feud, Zach wowed the crowd, Vince was evil, Steph was brave, Brock was awesome, it was all downhill from here. But this was their one moment in the sun the finale of Zach drop kicking a chair into Big Show’s head, Kurt hitting an Angle Slam, Brock hitting an F-5 and Zach hitting the moonsault for the win. It was all downhill from here. (*1/2)
24. Right Place, Wrong Time: Another classic moment, I think all wrestling fans remember this one. Triple H teaches Trish a few wrestling holds in preparation of their tag team matches so he teaches her how to escape a few holds. He teaches Trish how to escape the hammerlock, this of course involves her bending over and Stephanie walking in at the inopportune moment.
23. Ultimate Oppurtunist: Edge cashes in the Money in the bank briefcase he stole from Mr. Kennedy to win the world title. This was a pretty cool moment and their video package is very dramatic. Taker draws a brutal cage match with Batista he’s left a bloody mess, Mark Henry the destroys Undertaker after the match, allow Edge to sneak in with two spears to win the World Championship.
22. The Iron Man Match: This really should be in the top ten, it’s a little overated but it is one of the all time great matches and one of Smackdown’s stone cold classics. Kurt & Brock used really unique psychology and lots of creativity to produce a Match of The Year Candidate. The story they told was superb with Lensar cheating to take a 5-2 lead with Kurt battling desperately against the clock to win the match up. Brock survives the Ankle lock to win the match 5-4. A absolute classic and a great highlight package. This really should have made the top 5.
21. Stone Cold Steve Austin destroys the DX-Express, yeah this was a memorable moment for sure, but it shouldn’t be above the Iron Man match, and the fireworks look very shakey.
20. Batista forfeits The World Championship due to injury, for a guy who’s not renowned for promos or emoting, Batista has given two great heartfelt promos, this was a well handled moment in hindsight. This moment is combined with Kurt Angle’s shocking return to Smackdown. Kurt was thrown through the announce table by Mark Henry but Angle’ made the super hero comeback to win the battle royal. This moment is slightly damped by the fact it happened twice and Khali won the second time but first time around this was special.
19. Special Referee Rock: Rock referees a title match between heel Bulldog and heel Triple H, and he instead does some colour commentary and destroys both men before delivering the greatest people’s elbow in history where he slid to the middle of the ring stopped perfectly and dropped the elbow. I have to say I don’t remember this one, actually I remember the match, but looking back that was one of the coolest spots ever.
18. Hulk Hogan & Edge vs. Billy & Chuck – WWE Tag Team Title Match: Well this is definitely a classic Smackdown moment, even though I’ve never much cared for Hogan this stuck out in my mind for a long time. It was the 4th of July after all. The match itself was brilliantly executed to give the crowd all the right feel good moments and to be fair to them each man worked their arses off and double leg drop finish was an incredibly memorable visual. Great stuff, this is what wrestling is all about. (***)
17. Kurt Kisses Stephanie: They remind us of the “friendship” between Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon. It was campy and over the top but Triple H and Kurt Angle’s facial reactions were over the top. Anyway Stephanie takes an impressive bump of the ring apron onto the ringsteps and is carried to the backstage area. Anyway it all leaves to Kurt planting a huge kiss on Stephanie McMahon. All the talking heads sell it like Kissing Stephanie McMahon is the greatest thing in the history of the world. This was pretty shocking at the time.
16. JBL vs.Godzilla: YES!!! More JBL, this one is to hard to explain. JBL accidently gets shot back a tranquillezer dart, he pulls it out before it can knock him out but as a result he ends up kind of high and wobbly. It culminates with him fighting Godzilla, it’s absolutely brilliant and oh yes, this Smackdown was coming live from Japan!
15. TLC III: They just show clips of this one, I’ll have to check this one with my Ladder match DVD but I’m pretty sure this one was much better than TLC II, of course WWE edit it so you can’t even tell that Chris Benoit was in the match. You only see his back as he grabs the tag titles. Oh well this is on another DVD but it would have been pretty cool if this had made it on the disk.
14. Arnold Schwarzenegger is Smackdown! This moment I didn’t see but looks very cool, Arnie gets a monster reaction and is presented with a fake title, he ends up kicking the crap out of Triple H. He has a smile on his face the whole time he truly looked liked he loved being there and as a result the fans loved it. It’s really simple, if you’re going to use Celebrities get ones that like wrestling or at least like beating people up.
13. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy – WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Another unforgettable match one of Triple H’s last in his prime before he tore his quad the first time. This was during the two man power trip storyline with Austin and Tripper holding almost all the belts at once. The match itself was really great, Jeff Hardy brought the energy levels and Triple H sold and held the match together brilliantly while Jeff took unholy beating. There were some truly creative but easy executes spots used that we just don’t see today. Of course Matt Hardy runs in and Jeff Hardy shockingly defeats Triple H in a feel good moment. (**3/4)
12. Vince McMahon wins the world title: Well thank God they at least had the decency to keep this out of the top ten. It certainly was a memorable moment but most people tend to look back and groan.
11. John Cena’s Raps: This definitely had to make the list some of his rhymes were absolutely insane, his destruction of the Big Show was particularly awesome.
10. Tribute To The Troops: Well this was a nice thing to do but it does feel like their fellating their own egos, seriously if you do something good you shouldn’t post about it all year long. I’ll let them off though, I get the feeling there’s worse to come.
9. The Supermarket Brawl: Again I don’t think this was nessecarily great TV but it was incredibly memorably as hell with Steve Austin destroying an entire supermarket and putting Booker T through hell.
8. Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge – No DQ Match: This match was during a period when I was really down on Edge, he had everything but somehow to me at least it didn’t fit together, he should of been really exciting but it didn’t quite click, however this match along with many others helped change my mind, and by the time he turned heel I realized how foolish I had been. The match itself was brilliant, the action was so crisp and incredibly dramatic and Edge destroying the referee with a ladder was an unforgettable sight. There were some clunky moments where they were setting things up but they were totally overcome by a superb end result. The ropewalk ranna that Edge countered into a sitout powerbomb is one of the coolest spots I’ve ever seen. Eddie truly was on the top of his game, the ladder helo sandwhich was incredible but the Sunset powerbomb of the ladder was mind blowing, now I know we’ve seen that move a million time but no one has ever done it with that much skill, timing or impact, ditto for his back body drop spot. The Final spot the Implant DDT off the ladder was equally impressive. It’s a tough call to rate, it was an awesome fifteen minutes of action. (****)
7. The Rock Says: This was a collection of the Rock’s best interview segments, no complains about this one.
6. Funeral Crashers: This was the Big Show’s father’s funeral, it involves Bossman reading a poem and crashing the funeral, this was during the Bossman-Big Show World Title fued. This was horrible, embarrassing and largely regrettable. This has no business in the top six.
5. Angle & Austin Unplugged: Now this was pretty funny and pretty memorable, it’s the famous spot where Austin and Kurt Angle competed for Vince’s love by playing acoustic guitar. Again this was some of their more memorable comedy but honestly the fifth greatest moment, seriously?
4. The Pilot: The first episode, not particularly memorable, but I totally understand this show making the top ten as it was the first and it did have the big Corperate ministry reveal. It was nice looking back at the old clips and seeing Owen Hart even if he was sadly dressed as the Blue Blazer.
3. Triple H vs. The Rock – WWE World Title Match (Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels): Now I never saw this match as I don’t think they’d agree UK distribution of Smackdown at this point. It’s weird to see cocky deuchy Shawn Michaels it’s such a contrast to today’s HBK. This was the main event of the first ever show, we’ll have to see whether it’s top three worthy. This was a pretty standard contest between the two with a milked headlock and a shocking turn by HBK at the end to give the match the extra kick but it’s hardly a classic. Although I will say that HBK does deliver one of his all time greatest super kicks. (**1/4)
2. The Bigger They Are: This is the absolutely unforgettable moment when Brock superplexed Big Show off the top rope and the ring implodes! This was an unbelievable visual and even when you knew about it in advance this was a mind blowing epic moment! This was certainly my number two if not my number one.
1. The 9/11 Tribute Show: Okay I have a real problem with this one, it was a special time and even if it was the largest gathering after 9/11 it still felt hideously awkward and the positioning of this show, and how they present it on this DVD is so self serving, there’s too many scripted comments where you can clearly read between the lines and see the WWE patting themselves on the back. They really put across a sense that the WWE did something great, and that really misses the point, there approach is subversive but it’s still grating. Now I’m not American so I’ll always have a different emotional relationship to 9/11 but there are certain elements of this show and they way they’ve positioned it here that make me deeply uncomfortable, but it is an understandable number one. I’d rather have seen it at ten or anywhere else, but this is a safe choice for the top spot, I just wish they’d said less about it.
Overall Thoughts: Well there’s alot of moments on this list that were either forgettable or totally out of place. The amount of comedy in the top ten (and the list as whole) is ridiculous, and the way they downplay Brock Lesnar is interesting and undeserved, the same can be said of Booker T especially in the King Booker era. Of course there is no mention of Chris Benoit on this DVD and they do their best to edit him out of the TLC match, it’s a shame because he is so associated with Smackdown and while I understand the decision it leaves the countdown feeling empty. He had some classic matches and the tag team of Kurt Angle & Benoit led to some of their greatest comedy and in ring moments. The number one pick is somewhat controversial but it’s not half as frustrating as the positioning of Stephanie and Vince on this DVD, their sending out the usual messages and the wrestler’s lines seemed so forced in the talking head interview section. That said, this is an enjoyable countdown, that flies by, gives you some good wrestling, some great memories. It’s a really nice concept for a DVD and I’m glad they went with it, it’s not a must have, but it’s a good casual DVD that I can see alot of people picking up especially in the sales. Just to clarify in my list the top three would have been the Eddie Guerrero tribute video, The ring exploding and the Iron Man Match between Kurt Angle & Brock Lesnar. Overall a very good effort even if it does contain some rather annoying omissions and some revisionist history. (8.0/10)
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