Monday, October 26, 2020

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - October 17th, 2002

WWE Smackdown

October 17th, 2002


1) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. D-Von Dudley & Ron Simmons - Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match 

Kicking off the show with tag team tournament action. Edge & Mysterio coming off a hot win last week over Tajiri & Brock Lesnar and keep that momentum going here. Rey gets isolated, Edge gets the hot tag and it breaks down for a minute. Edge hits the edgecution on D-Von for the win. 

Match rating - **1/2

2) Jamie Noble vs. Nidia - Special Referee: Tajiri

This is probably one of the dumbest things to happen in 2002. Noble and Nidia argued last week and got sorta physical. Now they are facing each other. Noble pins her after a few minutes. Nidia goes after him after the bell, Tajiri gets in between them and gets slapped by Nidia. Noble & Nidia make up, makeout, and beat up Tajiri... ok. 

Sit down interview with Undertaker about the accusations made toward him last week regarding cheating on his wife. Taker says he knows Tracy from years ago, but that was before he met his wife. He says the last few weeks have been hell, but nothing compared to the hell he is gonna put Brock and Heyman through at No Mercy this Sunday.

Backstage, Eddie & Chavo walk to their locker room and the light is off. They turn it on to reveal Chris Benoit. Eddie asks Chris if he thinks he attacked him last week. Chris is just staring. Eddie goes ballistic trying to get Chris to talk. Eddie freaks out and threatens to ACTUALLY attack him if he doesn't say something. Chavo holds him back and says "shame on you" to Benoit for assuming Eddie would do such a thing. 

Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, and Tracy are strutting through the arena. Tracy is pissed that Taker is trying to blow off the accusations and Brock says "Steph is gonna love to hear this" or something like that. 

3) John Cena vs. Billy Kidman

CENA  DEBUTS THE WORD LIFE HAND SIGNAL THING FOR THE FIRST TIME in his entrance here. That's cool, but also weird bc he still has generic music and attire as of right now. This match stems off them losing their tag match last week. It's kinda.. not good. Cena is still green and Kidman can do cool stuff, but not carry a match. Cena wins using the ropes and based off this and his pre-match promo, it seems like they're trying to add a heelish edge to his character.

Match rating - *1/4

4) Brock Lesnar vs. Chuck Palumbo 

Great prolonged squash. Chuck almost matches Lesnar in size so it’s a hoss fight. Brock busts open the lip of Chuck and then wears him down and throws him around. Chuck fights back and gets some believable offense in and honestly makes you wanna see him get a legit shot at Brock. Good shit. F5 ends it. 

Match rating - **3/4 

TAKER RUNS IN POST MATCH AND BUSTS BROCK OPEN with his fists and cast. Paul is squealing and it’s amazing. Hell in A Cell is only a few days away. 

Last week, Dawn Marie gave Torrie Wilson’s dad her room key as she continues to try to seduce him. Torrie brings it up to her day and he assures her nothing happened and is just there to watch her match tonight. 

5) Matt Hardy & Dawn Marie vs. Rikishi & Torrie Wilson 

“Rikishi may be about to DELETE mattitude.com.” -Michael Cole (wow the irony this statement holds in 2020) 

Hardy debuts the mattitude web browser entrance here and it rules. He plays coward all match, but he & Dawn end up getting a stink face. Torrie rolls up Dawn, but Matt interferes and Dawn reverses for the win. Post match, Hardy grabs Torrie. Rikishi makes the save. Torrie slaps Dawn and... sets up to stink face Matt. He gets excited and closes his eyes so they switch and Rikishi nails him. 

Bloody Brock is backstage with the trainers. Brock yells for Heyman to make Steph force Taker to remove the cast before No Mercy. 

Paul goes to her office but doesn’t really get anywhere and he screams and yells and she tells him to leave and she will answer him later tonight. 

Torrie finds her dad in the shower with Dawn Marie... smh. 

6) Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Eddie & Chavo Guerrero - Smackdown Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final Match

Yup, this ruled. I mean, how could it not? Everyone in this is in their peak and there’s so much backstory with Angle/Benoit especially. After a ton of back and forth, Angle & Benoit overcome their beef and the adversity and outsmart the Guerrero’s and get the victory. This means it’s Angle & Benoit vs Edge & Rey at No Mercy in the finals for the tag team titles. 

Match rating - ***3/4

Closing segment is Steph announcing whether or not Taker’s cast will be banned at No Mercy. Brock was busted open by it earlier in the night and is sporting a bandage, but Steph says that he’s the one who injured Taker’s hand in the first place and it will not be banned. Brock corners Steph, Taker comes down, but Brock gets the upper hand. Brock leaves and Heyman tries to kick Taker but gets caught and gets busted open. Brock retreats. 

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