Retro 3 Things We Hated And three Things We Loved

Welcome to a different edition of Wrestling Inc.’s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our globally celebrated loved/hated format! And on every week like this, with John Cena preparing to wrestle his final match on WWE programming at “Saturday Night’s Major Event, there isn’t any higher show to re-watch than the one which featured his first match on WWE programming, all the best way back on June 27, 2002 — the times when “WWE SmackDown” was taped on Tuesdays and broadcast on Thursdays!

Don’t let current WWE pacing idiot you — there was a time when this company knew tips on how to pack a bunch of stuff into two hours with commercials, and we won’t quite cover all of it here. The most important thing that goes unmentioned (much to the chagrin of our Canada-loving editor) is the formation of the Un-Americans, as Lance Storm, Christian, and Test come together following Storm’s victory over Mark Henry and Test getting screwed over by the American referee after which taking a Stinkface from the American Rikishi. Suffice it to say, we’re Team Test around these parts. But there are such a lot of other things we do discuss, including the in-ring debut of Batista (on the identical night as Cena!) the last days of The Bikertaker’s Undisputed title reign, Edge coming back for revenge on Chris Jericho, the unlucky lack of wokeness of 2002 WWE. Should you’re able to travel with us back to a time when John Cena didn’t wear jorts, listed below are three things we hated and three things we loved concerning the 6/27/02 episode of “WWE SmackDown!”

There would have been little or no reason to revisit this episode of “WWE SmackDown” if it wasn’t for this segment — Kurt Angle emerging down the ramp donning a headguard and very convincing toupe, coming out as bald within the ring before calling out someone he has never wrestled before to prove their value. It took a couple of more jibes from Angle, but sure enough, John Cena emerged for his debut. And everyone knows what has happened within the many years since. 

This Cena is a fresh-faced newcomer, donning shiny and short wrestling trunks and boots, and retrospectively stripped of all belongings you’d come to know as John Cena within the years following. He was hardly special on superficial level, as has been chronicled in anecdotes about almost being released after the debut buzz fizzled out. But watching back, albeit with the good thing about hindsight, this was an ideal introduction for Cena. 

Working opposite legitimately among the finest employees to have stepped through the ropes, there was little or no probability that Cena could have had a terrible showing within the five minute contest. That said, it very easily might have been a squash match resulting in Angle’s eventual win. As a substitute, Cena got the vast majority of the offense in and Angle walked out of the match having barely survived his debutant challenger. This match actually carried something that many in contemporary wrestling lack, and that was a way of urgency and emphasis on the concept that it only took three seconds to win – versus the moves used to get to that time. 

Cena was going for pin attempts two, 3 times in a row, he desired to pin Angle and it was carried across in what he did. He wasn’t establishing for grandiose moves designed for shock and awe, he was slamming Angle to the canvas, rolling him up on his shoulders, and never really gave Angle a probability to breathe in the competition. Angle tried for his signatures, but Cena was only a fly he couldn’t catch within the ring. But that worked the opposite way when all was said and done, and ultimately the veteran kept his opponent down for the three-count and survived the night. 

This was an Angle coming off of submitting Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring, so to have him essentially endure what the newcomer had set Cena in good stead for the long run. That immediate future was rocky, but now we know the way things have gone, it’s fair to say that it is a pivotal moment in WWE history. And it holds up as a fun match too.

Written by Max Everett

I feel like I’m not the primary person to put in writing about what a mistake the Billy & Chuck team was. Nor am I the primary person to say that WWE simply doesn’t give a flying f*** concerning the tag team division. So as a substitute, I’ll practise a little bit of intersectionality and discuss where these two heinous issues intersect.

There have been quite a lot of gay-coded teams in WWE who got over through sheer force of personality. Where teams like MxM and Breezeango never sniffed anything greater than a midcard showcase, one way or the other the offensive vaudeville act of Billy and Chuck (and their hairdresser Rico) had two, yes, two World Tag Team Championship reigns.

Now, the tag team title division in 2002 was admittedly a multitude, with teams like Spike Dudley & Tazz, Hulk Hogan & Edge, and Rikishi & Rico all managing to hold the gold. By the tip of the yr, the newly minted WWE Tag Team Championships would put a shot of adrenaline into the WWE tag scene, the June 27, 2002, “SmackDown” took place in what can only be called “the doldrums.” It is a sad state of affairs that I’m sitting here arguing “Why not give Hardcore Holly and Val Venis a run?” but that’s what summer of 2002 WWE will do to a motherf****er.

Billy Gunn is one of the decorated tag team competitors in WWE history, and Chuck Palumbo has at all times been something of a “what could’ve been.” Wrestlers from WCW got buried the best way we within the Jewish faith do: just two little nails within the coffin lid. Palumbo already had one nail coming in as a WCW guy, and this wildly ill-advised tag team needed to be the second, and final nail.

Written by Ross Berman

2002 is one of the unique years within the history of WWE because the transition from each the tip of the Attitude Era and the WWF name into the Ruthless Aggression era and the WWE name led to quite a lot of change. A nostalgia run for Hulk Hogan, a brand split where the unique rosters got turned and twisted inside a couple of weeks, and a top guy in The Undertaker who didn’t really have an area at the highest of the cardboard. 

He was a heel because the WWE Undisputed Champion, however the “Big Evil” gimmick was getting over with the fans and it caused people to start out cheering “The Deadman” at this cut-off date. Nevertheless, the corporate decided to march on with him as a heel that led to some relatively confusing television.

A fantastic example was the promo segment he had with Kurt Angle in the midst of this show. We might already seen each men on the show previously, with Angle wrestling John Cena within the opening contest while The Undertaker shook Cena’s hand backstage, a really babyface thing to do for a heel champion. Taker runs down The Rock for getting involved within the essential event of the King of the Ring essential event a couple of days earlier, claiming that when “The Great One” returns to WWE, he’ll beat him all the way down to inside an inch of his life. “The Deadman” also takes the time to bad mouth Jeff Hardy as their iconic Ladder match for the WWE Undisputed Championship would happen on the following episode of “WWE Raw,” once more, heeling it up big time.

Then the Olympic Gold Medalist comes out and demands that Taker accepts his challenge for a title match on the next week’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” if he gets past Hardy, which in a vacuum signifies that we’re witnessing a heel challenger and a heel champion cutting promos on one another. You would like faces and heels in wrestling otherwise the basic design of the business just falls apart, and on this segment, nobody knew who to cheer for. Do you cheer for Angle because he’s Kurt Angle and he rocks (especially in 2002)? Or do you cheer for The Undertaker?

Granted, Taker would turn face just a couple of weeks later and would remain a face up until he retired 18 years later, however it was evident that WWE had ran out of babyfaces right now and were simply waiting for The Rock to return back to fill that void. Context is perhaps needed from previous episodes to offer this promo some much needed weight, because by itself, it’s a multitude.

Written by Sam Palmer

While it never hit the dizzying heights of the WCW cruiserweight division, which continues to be celebrated as one in all the best group of wrestlers to ever appear on American television, the WWE cruiserweight division began to take shape in 2002 following the invasion angle. Everyone desired to see the massive stars like Sting, Goldberg, and the Latest World Order, and despite the fact that those names would eventually make appearances, one could argue that the ultimate members of the WCW cruiserweight division were the largest winners coming over to WWE as they got one other probability to strut their stuff.

Three of the 4 men involved on this small tag team match were a part of WCW in its dying days, but hadn’t lost a step and were at all times an entertaining a part of “WWE SmackDown” irrespective of who was featured. Here we have now The Hurricane, formerly referred to as Shane Helms, portraying probably the most beloved version of himself as he got one in all the largest pops of the night. He teamed up with Billy Kidman, who did look somewhat strange wrestling in trunks relatively than jorts but you get used to it in a short time. They were taking up the WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble, who with the assistance of Nidia had dethroned The Hurricane at King of the Ring for the title, and the person with one in all the best nicknames in wrestling history, “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Tajiri.

To say this match doesn’t overstay its welcome can be an enormous understatement because it lasts just over 4 minutes, but a lot is packed into it. Tajiri did not have the identical mean streak as he did in ECW lower than two years earlier, but despite the fact that all of his trademark moves, they give the impression of being so natural that you simply genuinely don’t see the Tarantula or the Handspring Back Elbow coming. Noble was coming into his own as a personality together with Nidia, who each worked thoroughly with Tajiri by their side. Noble’s recent feud with The Hurricane brought a way of aggression out of the previous champion that may be lost when he got transferred to “WWE Raw” a couple of weeks later, and while he did not have an excessive amount of shine on this match, Kidman’s Shooting Star Press was what sealed the deal for his team, earning a shot at Noble’s title in the method.

It is not a five-star match by any stretch of the imagination, however it is a lot fun to look back on a division that may grow even stronger when Paul Heyman took over the creative direction of the show lower than a month later. A fantastic example of television wrestling done right.

Written by Sam Palmer

It’s going to shock you to read this, but WWE in 2002 was not probably the most enlightened promotion on the earth with regards to gender. Still, even in that context it’s pretty shocking to recollect what the corporate had for ladies to do on the time, especially on a show like “SmackDown.” If this episode was any indication, you might either be Nidia — a valet who “gets” to take part in exceptionally weird backstage segments during which Jamie Noble decides to supply his girlfriend to his tag partner as an incentive for winning — or you might be Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler, or Dawn Marie, which suggests you get to return out on stage in lingerie and promote something called “WWE Divas Undressed.” Not even probably the most male parts of my psyche were into the latter, for the straightforward reason that I’m not 12.

Like, I wasn’t expecting a women’s match. I wasn’t even expecting a women’s segment. I understood the time frame I used to be in. But man, everything of the “women’s division” represented here being a lingerie parade and the newest chapter in the continuing “Tajiri is horny” storyline one way or the other didn’t clear the extremely low bar I got here in with. This was actually a fairly fun episode of “SmackDown” other than the blatant misogyny, to the extent that I discovered myself wishing they simply would not bring the ladies out in any respect so I would not must give it some thought (the precise opposite of how I feel about wrestling today, during which I principally only care when women are on-screen).

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Not only did this “SmackDown” present fans with the debut of John Cena, it also features Batista’s first essential roster match. The longer term WWE Hall of Famer was introduced the month before as Deacon Batista, the heater for Reverend D-Von. Just prior to the essential event, Batista and D-Von wrestle a tag match against Farooq (Ron Simmons) and none aside from Randy Orton, who had made his own debut just two months before.

The match is brief and sweet, with the one and only goal of putting Batista over as a monster. It moves at a wicked pace and lasts only three minutes, ending with Batista planting his future Evolution stablemate Orton onto the mat with a behemoth Spine Buster, in perhaps probably the most blatant example of “Ruthless Aggression” of the night.

Afterward, on the episode’s end, Edge makes an appearance to get some revenge on Chris Jericho, with the show going off the air as Hulk Hogan celebrates within the ring with the younger star. Though Edge wasn’t a brand new addition to the corporate, this era also marked his ascension to the highest of the singles division, serving as one more way this show was pushing the corporate forward.

Featuring appearances from WWE’s biggest stars, like Hogan and The Undertaker, combined with showcasing the wrestlers set to take over the industry within the years to return, this episode of “SmackDown” succeeded in setting the stage for a brand new era. There can be loads of ups and downs to return, but taking a look at this show in a vacuum, it might have been easy to feel optimistic about where the product was headed as wrestlers like Hogan and Undertaker began the elongated means of passing the torch.

Written by Nick Miller