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Binge-watch every episode of SmackDown from 2002 with us and uncover the fascinating evolution of the blue brand. Learn about the early struggles, the questionable booking decisions, and the rise of a new generation of superstars like Brock Lesnar and John Cena who would go on to define an entire era.
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00:00SmackDown! 2002, a very interesting time for WWE, because WCW was dead, and therefore Vince McMahon was going to create
00:07his own competition, turn SmackDown into its own brand thanks to the draft.
00:11It's all to where we got ruthless aggression and John Cena pushing that noise, and don't forget who was booking
00:15this show, Paul Heyman, that was mad, the ECW guy helping WWE at writing level, oh how far we'd come.
00:23You also get Batista Randy on and Brock Lesnar arriving in big fashion, but there's more, so let's watch it
00:28and see what was what.
00:29Number 10, the first episode of 2002, has 25 minutes of wrestling.
00:33Which brews the attitude era hadn't totally gone away? It was madness and promos.
00:37This was the secret sauce in the early 2000s, and even though SmackDown was a two-hour show at the
00:41time, on the 3rd of January, no match in the card actually goes longer than five minutes.
00:46Now, to be fair, it does include The Rock vs. Booker T, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and
00:50RVD, as well as The Undertaker vs. The Big Show in a hardcore fight.
00:54So the card looked great, but we were just zooming through them.
00:56This goes on for a while until WWE got an influx of new talent, but the balance is way off
01:01at the start of 2002.
01:03I assume Vince McMahon truly believed fans weren't turning in to watch actual wrestling.
01:07It is sort of mad because it's clear the previous era had already peaked, and what WWE really needed was
01:11something new.
01:12Different approach, if you will.
01:13Instead, Vince sort of hoped it would all double back around eventually.
01:16Small spoiler, it did not.
01:18Number 9, before the draft, it wasn't great.
01:21Maybe it wasn't the worst idea after all.
01:23Now, the draft didn't go down until late March, so you do get a lot of SmackDown mixed in with
01:27Raw, but honestly, WWE does not seem to care at all.
01:30The Rock cut angle The Undertaker and Chris Jericho helped massively, but the undercard was a bunch of nothing.
01:35I think WWE had just decided it didn't matter because we've got our stars.
01:39Otherwise, it was just mad matches like Scotty 2 Hottie and Albert vs. Billy and Chuck, and fans could see
01:44what was going on there.
01:45You can call Albert the hip-hop hippo all you want, but it's not Rikishi and we're not going to
01:49accept it.
01:50Hardcore Holly vs. Maven does have a good tough enough angle tied in, but they are given no time, so
01:54you can't do anything.
01:56And also, what kind of new fan is going to tune into that?
01:58You can just feel that the product does need new stars because it was the same thing over on Raw.
02:03The whole thing feels tied, which does make sense.
02:05Again, WWE have been flying for a good few years straight.
02:08You can't keep that going forever.
02:10In 2002, it crashes.
02:12Hard.
02:12Number 8, the OVW debuts.
02:15This goes back to the foursome from Developmental that was soon going to take over WWE.
02:19Dave Bautista, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Randy Keith Orton.
02:22You should go and watch all of them debut on the main roster other than Big Dave,
02:26because for some reason he was cast as Deacon Bautista and helped Reverend Devon collect money from fans.
02:32You can see a picture of him on the screen right now.
02:34I have no idea what we were thinking.
02:35And in case you want to see it and get sad, it's on the 9th of May.
02:38A couple of weeks prior, Randy does face Hardcore Holly on the 25th of April Smackdown.
02:42This one is way better.
02:44Orton is full of youth and enthusiasm, and you can see that he instantly gets it.
02:48It's that smoothness, man.
02:49It's just always been there.
02:50Cena came after these two in June, but his arrival is way more famous.
02:54The Kurt Angle match is now part of history, even though it's sort of shrouded in controversy.
02:57You can see John Cena talking about this on YouTube.
03:00He thought it was weird that Kurt tried to blow him up, rather than focus on trying to build a
03:04new star.
03:05He's right, by the way.
03:06Doing that is always ridiculous.
03:07Fans don't care.
03:08By the second half of the year, Brock is running wild, and good grief,
03:11we could all dream of having a debut like that.
03:12He is treated as a threat instantly, and he just wrecks proper superstars when the Hardy Boys are eaten alive.
03:19They may be dead.
03:19It really does show WWE can get behind young talent, which they rarely do now.
03:23Always feels like there's a hurdle.
03:25And I presume some of these ideas were just down on a piece of paper waiting to be executed.
03:29That means John Cena could have been the decad.
03:31Thankfully, Batista does move on from that character quite quickly, and look at it today.
03:35All four are legends in their own right.
03:37I mean, that's quite the class.
03:38Number seven, Rey Mysterio ruled.
03:40It is hilarious that at one point, WWE didn't know if they wanted Rey Mysterio.
03:45Goes back to this whole learned of the Giants thing, but screw that.
03:48Mysterio had changed the game years prior to this, and when you go through his career today,
03:52he could be the best ever.
03:53I mean, what hasn't he done?
03:54He finally gets his foot in the door in 2002, and man, it is just the best,
03:58and exactly what the WWE needs.
04:00The mask is back on to after WCW had removed it, and go and watch his debut against Chavo Guerrero.
04:06It's the wake-up you need, and Chavo makes sure everybody gets it.
04:09He bumps his ass off because he knew Rey was the dude.
04:12This was the 25th of July as well, so between the new famous and famous old ones,
04:16SmackDown actually starts to feel exciting again.
04:18And of course, nobody in WWE was working like Mysterio in 2002.
04:22Let's steal RVD's catchphrase.
04:24One of a kind.
04:25Number six, the SmackDown Six.
04:27And the fact that they are still great to watch.
04:29Nothing has changed here.
04:30If anything, you can see them opening the door for the style of wrestling that would be adapted years down
04:34the line.
04:35The six relates to Edge, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, and Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle,
04:40who found themselves in the blue brand and decided that in-ring quality was going to be their focus.
04:44They honestly do this week after week two.
04:47If the bell rings and they're on TV, they're going to go nuts.
04:50If we are talking about the kind of match you expect to see on free TV too,
04:53this was as good as it gets, and really a lot of it is as good as what you see
04:57today.
04:57It's also how Mysterio proved he was able to stand on the shoulders of giants,
05:00and Edge also took advantage of this.
05:02By the end, he's totally increased his stock.
05:05Angles, angles, but he was an all-timer almost instantly,
05:07and the Guerreros were next level, I tell you.
05:10I mean, look what Eddie would do soon after.
05:12They all start having tag matches soon, and that's even more crazy for WWE,
05:16because Vince McMahon notoriously hated tags, but these guys don't care.
05:19Look what we can do.
05:20It was all thanks to Paul Heyman, in the sense he was booking SmackDown,
05:23and basically wanted to replicate what he used to do on ECW.
05:26Some of the same talent were part of that crew too, so they totally got it.
05:29The greatest is there, man.
05:31It's no wonder they all went on to do good things.
05:33Number 5, an all-timer.
05:35Unforgiven 2002, Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero.
05:38People were pumped for all the reasons we just talked about, and it was good.
05:41I say that with a tinge of confusion,
05:43because maybe it didn't reach the heights that some people were expecting at the time.
05:46It was a bit unfair watching it back now, but that's how good they both been.
05:50Fans wanted home runs.
05:51I'm not sure if that filtered through to Edge and Guerrero,
05:54but on the 26th of September SmackDown, they do it again, and good grief, this is excellent.
05:58The no-DQ stipulation allows them to go even more bonkers, and go read about this.
06:03People, to this day, still say it's one of the best SmackDown matches ever, and I get that.
06:07I just think they understood that being on TV was the best way to get the message across
06:11that maybe they should get a push, and within a few years,
06:14both were going to be a world champion.
06:15So that wasn't a fluke.
06:16It wasn't a fluke at all.
06:18They totally earned it.
06:19Number 4, Brock Lesnar's early days.
06:20WWE has gone over the Brock Lesnar origin story more than Batman,
06:24but this is because they pitched him as a huge star early on.
06:26They continually sold the beast to the audience.
06:29When you do go back and watch it, it's amazing to see somebody new get pushed so hard,
06:33because you are under no illusion within about five minutes that WWE wants to turn this guy
06:37into a massive deal.
06:38Does, however, mean some of the finer points are missing,
06:41including what happened on the 5th of September.
06:42Because amazingly, WWE had the balls to book brand new Brock Lesnar versus brand new Randy Orton,
06:47and then two weeks later, they do brand new Brock Lesnar versus brand new John Cena.
06:51Once again, these were the rookies, and they got thrown right into the center of things.
06:55Now, each of them only lasts about five minutes,
06:57but it's incredibly fun to see how they were here compared to their later careers.
07:00I mean, you can see they have all the tools,
07:02but of course, they're still learning on the job.
07:04Should give hope to all of us.
07:05At this stage as well, Brock had been presented as a monster, so fans were into him.
07:09When it came to John and Randy, or dare I say it, the crowd is still figuring them out.
07:13That's a ludicrous thing to say now.
07:15But hey, we all got to start somewhere.
07:17Number three, Stephanie, the general manager.
07:19This one is up for debate, which when done in a nice way is actually the best part of wrestling.
07:23What do you think about this?
07:25Well, in 2002, Stephanie McMahon was often despised as the GM,
07:28whereas going back now, well, I tell you, she actually does a decent job.
07:32Vince does come out and announces that she is now leaving SmackDown on the 18th of July,
07:36and that is a position she held all the way until October 2003.
07:40So that is longer than both Paul Heyman and Kurt Angle who would follow her.
07:43Throughout the year, though, you can see her growing confidence to the point she becomes a babyface,
07:46and actually just comes across better and better.
07:49The shrill voice isn't ideal, but that gets moved to one side as well as she finds her real voice.
07:54That's a stupid sentence.
07:55It also makes McMahon a fresh authority figure as over on Raw, Eric Bischoff was just pure evil.
08:00And I guess throughout 2002 is when you see her becoming way more comfortable as a performer.
08:04It's far better than the alliance position she had the year prior.
08:07So I get why this is overlooked because at other times Stephanie would just steamroll baby faces.
08:11This shows she can do both sides.
08:13Works.
08:14Number two, Hollywood Hogan.
08:15In 2003, Hulk Hogan fused with Vince McMahon and becomes Mr. America.
08:20It's not good and basically derails whatever momentum was left from his WrestleMania 18 coming out party.
08:25He really does go on a run too as the return to the red and yellow is great.
08:28His tag team with Edge is oddly fun.
08:30On the 8th of August SmackDown, Brock Lesnar beats him clean.
08:33And we needed that.
08:34It's massively important.
08:35Let's get this young pup over.
08:36Hogan is undisputed chair from Abel to May meant he was able to appear on both shows.
08:40But when he becomes a SmackDown dude just after, it works again.
08:43Fans love it.
08:44Hulk seems game to ensure other people get over.
08:46It does not feel like a smashing grab.
08:48And dare I say, it also feels like he's legitimately happy to be there.
08:52So you could say that there's not much to dislike about Hogan on this show throughout 2002.
08:57And if only the old issues hadn't reared their heads the following year.
09:00It really does become downhill.
09:02And despite the usual limitations, his matches are actually fine as well.
09:05Not that Undertaker world title switch.
09:07But let's mark that as the before times.
09:09What I'm trying to tell you is that if you are looking for the last bastion of Hogan joy
09:12in WWE before it really explodes, you go here, ticks the box.
09:17Number one, the second half of 2002 is far superior.
09:20I suppose we've touched upon this and the need for new stars as 2002 begins.
09:23But there's another box tick for SmackDown as we get into the year.
09:26It actually becomes better than Raw.
09:28Monday nights soon become the exclusive home of Shock TV with the Katie Vick saga and HLA.
09:33If you know, you know.
09:34Although SmackDown did host some of this too because they had the Billy and Chuck stuff.
09:38The end of that one is so short-sighted.
09:40Otherwise though, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker have a proper death feud.
09:43You've got the SmackDown 6 doing their thing.
09:45And the whole show just has an identity.
09:47Doesn't feel like we're trying to push the envelope.
09:50It feels like we're trying to make a good wrestling TV show with a roster.
09:53Who, well, I think took exception to Vince McMahon calling Raw the A-show.
09:57They were going to change it all.
09:58I would say from July onwards, it is the best wrestling program on TV in 2002.
10:02And while that's sort of a niche, it was important.
10:05The post-WCW attempts have made a lot of us worry.
10:07And at least for a few months, it felt like WWE would be alright.
10:11Different video for a different day.
10:13Is there anything else from SmackDown in 2002 you want to talk about?
10:16Well, make sure you let us know in the comments below.
10:18Before you like the video, share the video and damn it, subscribe.
10:20You can also click the video on the screen to learn even more about wrestling from the past.
10:24But otherwise, my friends, have a terrific day.
10:26Talk to you soon.