10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2002

Smackdown 2002, a very interesting time for WWE because WCW was dead and therefore Vince McMahon was going to create his own competition, turn Smackdown into its own brand thanks to the draft

It's all to where we got ruthless aggression and John Cena pushing that noise. And don't forget who was booking this show, Paul Heyman. That was mad. The ECW guy helping WWE at writing level. Oh, how far we'd come

You also get Batista Randy on and Brock Lesnar arriving in big fashion, but there's more. So let's watch it and see what was what

Number 10, the first episode of 2002, has 25 minutes of wrestling

Which proves the adjunct era hadn't totally gone away? It's madness and promos

This was a secret sauce in the early 2000s, and even though SmackDown was a two-hour show at the time

on the 3rd of January, no match in the card actually goes longer than five minutes

Now, to be fair, it does include The Rock vs. Booker T, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and RVD

as well as The Undertaker vs. The Big Show in a hardcore fight. So the card looked great, but we were just zooming through them

This goes on for a while until WWE got an influx of new talent

but the balance is way off at the start of 2002. I assume Vince McMahon truly believed fans weren't turning in to watch actual wrestling

It is sort of mad because it's clear the previous era had already peaked. What WWE really needed was something new

Different approach, if you will. Instead, Vince sort of hoped it would all double back round eventually

Small spoiler, it did not. Number nine, before the draft, it wasn't great

Maybe it wasn't the worst idea after all. Now, the draft didn't go down until late March

so you do get a lot of SmackDown mixed in with Raw, but honestly, WWE does not seem to care at all

The Rock cut angle The Undertaker and Chris Jericho helped massively, but the undercard was a bunch of nothing

I think WWE had just decided it didn't matter because we've got our stars. Otherwise, it was just mad matches like Scotty Too Hotty and Albert versus Billy and Chuck

and fans could see what was going on there. You can call Albert the hip-hop hippo all you want

but it's not Rikishi and we're not going to accept it. Hardcore Holly versus Maven does have a good tough enough angle tied in

but they are given no time so you can't do anything. And also, what kind of new fan is going to tune into that

You can just feel that the product does need new stars because it was the same thing over on Raw

The whole thing feels tired, which does make sense. Again, WWE have been flying for a good few years straight

You can't keep that going forever. In 2002, it crashes. Hard. Number 8

The OVW debuts. This goes back to the foursome from developmental that was soon going to take over WWE

Dave Bautista, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Randy Keith Orton. You should go and watch all of them debut on the main roster other than Big Dave

because for some reason he was cast as Deacon Batista and helped Reverend Devon collect money from fans You can see a picture of him on the screen right now I have no idea what we were thinking In case you want to see it and get sad it on the 9th of May A couple of weeks prior Randy does face Hardcore Holly on the 25th of April Smackdown

This one is way better. Orton is full of youth and enthusiasm, and you can see that he instantly gets it

It's that smoothness, man. It's just always been there. Cena came after these two in June, but his arrival is way more famous

The Kurt Angle match is now part of history, even though it's sort of shrouded in controversy

You can see John Cena talking about this on YouTube. He thought it was weird that Kurt tried to blow him up

rather than focus on trying to build a new star. He's right, by the way. Doing that is always ridiculous

Fans don't care. By the second half of the year, Brock is running wild and good grief, we could all dream of having a debut like that

He is treated as a threat instantly and he just wrecks proper superstars

when the Hardy Boys are eaten alive. They may be dead. It really does show WWE can get behind young talent

which they rarely do now. Always feels like there's a hurdle. And I presume some of these ideas were just down on a piece of paper

waiting to be executed. That means John Cena could have been the decadent

Thankfully, Batista does move on from that character quite quickly, and look at it today

All four are legends in their own, right? I mean, that's quite the class. Number seven, Rey Mysterio ruled

It is hilarious that at one point, WWE didn't know if they wanted Rey Mysterio

Goes back to this whole learned of the Giants thing, but screw that. Mysterio had changed the game years prior to this

and when you go through his career today, he could be the best ever. I mean, what hasn't he done

He finally gets his foot in the door in 2002, and man, it is just the best

and exactly what the WWE needs. The mask is back on to after WCW had removed it

and go and watch his debut against Chavo Guerrero. It's the wake-up you need, and Chavo makes sure everybody gets it

He bumps his ass off because he knew Rey was the dude. This was the 25th of July as well

so between the new famous and famous old ones, SmackDown actually starts to feel exciting again

And of course, nobody in WWE was working like Mysterio in 2002

Let's steal RVD's catchphrase. One of a kind. Number six, the SmackDown 6

and the fact that they are still great to watch. Nothing has changed here

If anything, you can see them opening the door for the style of wrestling that would be adapted years down the line

The Six relates to Edge, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero

Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle, who found themselves in the blue brand and decided that in-ring quality was going to be their focus

They honestly do this week after week two. If the bell rings and they're on TV, they're gonna go nuts

If we are talking about the kind of match you expect to see on free TV too, this was as good as it gets

and really a lot of it is as good as what you see today. It's also how Mysterio proved he was able

to stand on the shoulders of giants, and Edge also took advantage of this. By the end, he's

totally increased his stock Angles angles he was an all almost instantly and the Guerreros were next level I tell you I mean look what Eddie would do soon after They all start having tag matches soon and that even more crazy for WWE because Vince McMahon notoriously hated tags but these guys don care

Look what we can do. It was all thanks to Paul Heyman, in the sense he was booking SmackDown

and basically wanted to replicate what he used to do on ECW. Some of the same talent were part of that crew too

so they totally got it. The greatness is there, man. It's no wonder they all went on to do good things

Number five, an old timer. Unforgiven 2002, Edge versus Eddie Guerrero. People were pumped for all the reasons we just talked about, and it was good

I say that with a tinge of confusion, because maybe it didn't reach the heights as some people were expecting at the time

It was a bit unfair watching it back now, but that's how good they both been. Fans wanted home runs

I'm not sure if that filtered through to Edge and Guerrero, but on the 26th of September SmackDown, they do it again, and good grief, this is excellent

The no-DQ stipulation allows them to go even more bonkers, and go read about this

People, to this day, still say it's one of the best SmackDown matches ever, and I get that

I just think they understood that being on TV was the best way to get the message across that maybe they should get a push

And within a few years, both were going to be a world champion. So that wasn't a fluke. It wasn't a fluke at all

They totally earned it. Number four, Brock Lesnar's early days. WWE has gone over the Brock Lesnar origin story more than Batman

But this is because they pitched him as a huge star early on. They continually sold the beast to the audience

When you do go back and watch it, it's amazing to see somebody new get pushed so hard

because you are under no illusion within about five minutes that WWE wants to turn this guy into a massive deal

Does, however, mean some of the finer points are missing, including what happened on the 5th of September

Because amazingly, WWE had the balls to book brand new Brock Lesnar versus brand new Randy Orton

and then two weeks later, they do brand new Brock Lesnar versus brand new John Cena

Once again, these were the rookies, and they got thrown right into the center of things

Now, each of them only lasts about five minutes, but it's incredibly fun to see how they were here

compared to their later careers. I mean, you can see they have all the tools, but of course they're still learning on the job, should give hope to all of us

At this stage as well, Brock had been presented as a monster, so fans were into him. When it came to John and Randy, or dare I say it, the crowd is still figuring them out

That's a ludicrous thing to say now, but hey, we all got to start somewhere

Number three, Stephanie, the general manager. This one is up for debate, which when done in a nice way is actually the best part of wrestling

What do you think about this? Well, in 2002, Stephanie McMahon was often despised as the GM, whereas going back now

Well, I tell you, she actually does a decent job. Vince does come out and announces that she is now leaving SmackDown on the 18th of July

and that is a position she held all the way until October 2003. So that is longer than both Paul Heyman and Kurt Angle who would follow her

Throughout the year though you can see her growing confidence to the point she becomes a babyface and actually just comes across better and better The shrill voice isn ideal but that gets moved to one side as well as she finds her real voice That a stupid sentence It also makes McMahon a fresh authority figure as over on Raw Eric Bischoff was just pure

evil. And I guess throughout 2002 is when you see her becoming way more comfortable as a performer

It's far better than the alliance position she had the year prior. So I get why this is overlooked

because at other times Stephanie would just steamroll babyfaces. This shows she can do both

sides works. Number two, Hollywood Hogan. In 2003, Hulk Hogan fused with Vince McMahon and becomes

Mr. America. It's not good and basically derails whatever momentum was left from his WrestleMania

18 coming out party. He really does go on a run too as the return to the red and yellow is great

his tag team with Edge is oddly fun, and on the 8th of August Smackdown, Brock Lesnar beats him

clean. And we needed that, it's massively important, let's get this young pup over. Hogan is undisputed

shared from Abel to May meant he was able to appear on both shows, but when he becomes a

Smackdown dude just after, it works again. Fans love it, Hulk seems game to ensure other people

get over, it does not feel like a smashing grab, and dare I say, it also feels like he's legitimately

happy to be there. So you could say that there's not much to dislike about Hogan on the show

throughout 2002, and if only the old issues hadn't reared their heads the following year

I mean, it really does become downhill, and despite the usual limitations, his matches are

actually fine as well, not that Undertaker world title switch, but let's mark that as the before

times. What I'm trying to tell you is that if you are looking for the last bastion of Hogan joy in

WWE before it really explodes, you go here, ticks the box. Number one, the second half of 2002 is

far superior. I suppose we've touched upon this and the need for new stars as 2002 begins, but

there's another box tick for Smackdown as we get into the year. It actually becomes better than Raw

Monday night soon become the exclusive home of Shock TV with the Katie Vick saga and HLA

if you know, you know. Although Smackdown did host some of this too because they had the Billy

and Chuck stuff, the end of that one is so short-sighted. Otherwise, though, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker have a proper death feud

You've got the SmackDown 6 doing their thing, and the whole show just has an identity

It doesn't feel like we're trying to push the envelope. It feels like we're trying to make a good wrestling TV show with a roster

who, well, I think took exception to Vince McMahon calling Raw the A-show

Hey, we're going to change it all. I would say from July onwards, it is the best wrestling program on TV in 2002

And while that's sort of a niche, it was important. The post-WCW attempts have made a lot of us worry, and at least for a few months, it felt like WWE would be alright

Different video for a different day. Is there anything else from SmackDown in 2002 you want to talk about

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