The WWE’s Best Of SmackDown 10th Anniversary set concludes with disc 3, which is the top 39 spots in the countdown.  For this, Matt Striker and Michael Cole have moved to the WWE’s HD Production Truck rather than being in the arena for disc 1 and backstage for disc 2.

#39 on the countdown is one of the most memorable moments from the show, as Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley slaps her mother down on March 23rd 2000.  William Regal, who is becoming ever more a highlight of the talking heads, has a huge smile on his face as he describes this, and this angle really did a lot to add to Stephanie’s evilness, and the arrogant smirk on her face throughout, especially afterwards, really showed that being a power-hungry heel is her perfect role, and the babyface GM run in 2003 was a huge waste of her.

#38 is a far happier moment, Eddie Guerrero’s celebration from the SmackDown following his WWE Title win, on February 19th 2004.  We had balloons, confetti, a crowd going completely mental, and a great wrestler revelling in the fact that he’s the top guy in the industry he’d loved his whole life.  This was a genuine feelgood moment, and one that I think everyone who saw it will remember forever.  When Jeff Hardy’s celebration was included on disc 2 I was worried it was at the expense of this, but I really shouldn’t have been, because both are quite rightly worthy of inclusion.

#37 takes us back to September 9th 2004.  We get clips of an Eddie Guerrero v. Kurt Angle lumberjack match that ended in the way that all lumberjack matches do, a mass brawl erupts when everyone at ringside piles into the ring.  In this case, the brawl ended when The Big Show made his return from injury to lay everyone out.  OK it’s the kind of thing I’ve seen dozens of times from various different people over the years, but there really was something cool about seeing Show standing over a trail of broken bodies all the way from the ramp down to the ring.

#36 is from March 24th 2005 and I’m just going to quote the lyrics.  “I think I’m cute. I’ve got got medals. I got the moves that make them all tap out. The Angle Slam, The Ankle Lock, Marty Jannetty still can’t walk. I’m just a sexy Kurt (Sexy Kuuuuurt), I’ll make your ankle hurt (ankle huuuuuuurt). I’m just a sexy Kurt (sexy Kuuuuurt), I’ll make your ankle hurt (ankle hurt!), Oh yeah eat your heart out Shawn. Hands off the merchandise. WOOOO!”  If it was me putting this top 100 moments DVD together I’d have seriously needed a shitload of convincing/bribery not to put this top 3.

#35 is the first complete match on this disc, as The Rock N Sock Connection wins the tag titles from the New Age Outlaws on October 14th 1999.  The amount of times the commentators said the initials “WWF” in commentary is staggering judging by the amount of editing and therefore awkward silences in this match, probably more than anything else I’ve watched in WWE-era edited form.  The Outlaws really didn’t work as heels, especially as they’d refuse to drop all their normal crowd pleasing spots like Roaddogg’s dancing punches because they needed their cheap pops, but against Rock N Sock it’s not that big of a problem because The Rock’s crowd reactions were amongst the biggest of all time around this era, I mean he gets an ungodly entrance pop that would be hugely memorable today, but is just the kind of pop he used to get every week.  The match was lots of energy, a lot of fun, and a great atmosphere even if it wasn’t all that great technically and Foley especially was clearly falling apart by this time. 

#34 is a collection of highlights of Crash Holly’s fantastically entertaining run as hardcore champion, specifically the institution of the 24/7 rule that meant he could defend the title any time, any place.  This was a tremendous part of the show, and something that wrestling writers should really bear in mind today.  I know the old saying “funny doesn’t make money” and that’s fine, but some harmless comedy as light relief in the midcard is a good thing if you’re counterbalancing it with serious main events and not lame DX comedy bullshit, and given WWE’s kid-friendly TV ratings nowadays, a small guy doing these whacky matches in places like Fun Time USA is something that people would really get into I think.

#33 is one of those moments that I really believe the WWE should play up far more than they do. It’s from July 25th 2002, and we start with highlight clips of an excellent cage match between Edge and Chris Jericho, which main evented that show.  After Edge won, the Un-Americans come in and attack Edge.  John Cena, still a newcomer at this point, tries to make a save but gets beaten down. So Rey Mysterio, on what I believe was the night of his debut in the WWE, climbs to the top of the cage and dives down onto the heels.  This meant the closing scene of the show was Edge, John Cena and Rey Mysterio standing tall, and you definitely got a vibe that these three were going to be amongst the guys who are the future of the company, and that has proven to be the case in the years since then. 

#32 is The Undertaker stalking, threatening to kill, and then tombstoning Vickie Guerrero on September 24th 2008.  This was very uncomfortable to watch, and even though Vickie had been a total bitch and a great heel, and the death stuff fits Taker’s character I still didn’t like it.

#31 is a recap of the Vince McMahon/Trish Stratus affair in 2001, starting with Vince’s crazy “I want a divorce” rant on Linda, then Linda having a mental breakdown, only to be wheeled out to sit there and watch Vince and Trish snogging.  Stephanie and Shane McMahon talk about how it made them sick to watch it, and everyone else (ie Vince McMahon’s employees) seemed to have no problem with this and thought it was great. Funny how that works.  Fact is, it did a great job at getting over Vince as an evil bastard who got his payback in excellent fashion at WrestleMania where Linda’s lowblow on Vince is still one of the largest crowd reactions and most memorable moments ever, but does the end goal mean you have to put up with this uncomfortable-to-watch television to get there?

#30 is John Cena’s WWE debut, as he takes on Kurt Angle on June 27th 2002.  This started with Vince McMahon and Kurt cutting these deliriously happy promos as Kurt had just beat Hulk Hogan cleanly via tap-out at King Of The Ring the previous Sunday.  Kurt is just incredible talking about how great he is, and issues a challenge to anyone in the back who he’d never faced before.  Out came Cena, and Kurt looked puzzled and asked why he thought he could hang with an Olympic Gold Medallist.  Cena replied that he had ruthless aggression, which was one of Vince’s buzzwords of the time, and slapped Kurt across the face.

This was a really great match, Kurt wrestled like you always hear about Ric Flair when he’d go into territories to face the local guy and make them believe they could be World Champion.  Kurt took Cena, a guy in his first match on TV, and sold his ass off, put over Cena’s strength, allowed Cena to counter the anklelock even, and allowed him several close nearfalls before Kurt hooked Cena’s arms and rolled him up for 3.  Cena’s natural charisma and babyface fire shone through in this match, and the bigger star Cena becomes, the bigger deal this match will turn into.  Angle was at the top of his game, and it’s clear from the comments of Cole and Tazz that somebody in WWE, and all reports I’ve heard have it down as Paul Heyman, was really high on Cena as a top guy for the future already.

#29 is from August 8th 2002, and is highlight clips of one of the most famous matches to ever take place on SmackDown, that being Brock Lesnar’s total and utter destruction of Hulk Hogan.  They show Brock throwing around Hogan like a rag-doll, taking some moves that I’m very surprised a guy in his 50s with a broken down body would take such as a powerbomb and the F-5.  Brock not going for the cover after the F-5, instead choosing to squeeze the life out of him with a bearhug until the referee stopped things was a brilliant finish, probably the most decisive loss Hogan ever had in his career, and it put Brock over huge as an unstoppable monster on the way to his first WWE Title win a few weeks later against The Rock. 

#28 is a needless selection, especially this high up the list, as it’s The Big Show doing an impersonation of Fat Bastard from the second Austin Powers movie.  Hearing Santino talk about Big Show is almost worth the inclusion by itself though.

#27 is where I start to question the people who put this list together, as it’s a retarded choice, especially this high up the list.  From June 13th 2002, Kurt Angle is wrestling with that ridiculous wig and amateur hairpiece, which gives Jerry Lawler the chance to make a Vince McMahon wears a toupee joke which I haven’t heard since Vince gave up being a babyface commentator 12 years ago.  Hogan pulls off the wig and we see Kurt bald.  Kurt’s reactions are great, but seriously, a top 30 moment in the history of the show? Fuck off.

#26 is from April 8th 2004 and it’s JBL at the Texas/Mexico border at night, whispering like he’s on some nature TV show, and scaring border crossers into going back to Mexico and not coming into the States to pay no taxes.  I love JBL, and he really grew into the role over time to become an incredibly entertaining part of SmackDown and one of the names most identifiable with the show, but here they were really doing the most desperate things they could possibly come up with to try to get him hated enough to be a main event heel champion, when really all they needed to do was give him a mic in front of a live crowd and let him cut great promos.

#25 is the next full match on the set, and it’s The Big Show v. Zach Gowan & Stephanie McMahon in a no-DQ handicap match where if Zach and Steph win, Zach gets a WWE contract.  Yes, of all the great matches on SmackDown over the years, they chose THIS, a storyline abomination with some hilarious complete bullshit from Michael Cole beforehand about how this shows that the WWE are a tolerant company who will give opportunities to people of all shapes and sizes.  They don’t mention that John Laurinitis accidentally hired the wrong one-legged wrestler at first for some reason.  Anyway, the match was actually a really fun short angle-driven contest, especially when Vince’s interference backfired allowing Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar to run in and hit Big Show with their trademark moves before Zach hit the moonsault to win.  If they had to show a Zach Gowan match, I’m bitterly disappointed it’s not the one with Brock Lesnar where Brock F-5’d his good leg into the ringpost infront of his family who were sat ringside, because that was truly awesome.

#24 is the segment from July 27th 2000, as Triple H is teaching Trish Stratus how to wrestle since Commissioner Foley forced them to team together.  Of course, we get Triple H bending Trish over to teach a hammerlock counter, and that’s when Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley comes in and goes mental after the obvious misunderstanding. This was sowing the seeds early for the HHH/Steph split which they should’ve pulled the trigger on a couple of months later but never did – a decision that really you can point to as the start of the downturn of the company from a creative standpoint.

#23 is from May 11th 2007 and a truly great angle that really should be top 10, maybe top 5 because it was that good and legitimately changed the course of the brand for the next two years.  It started with highlight clips of the World Heavyweight Title steel cage match between The Undertaker and Batista, a bloody brutal war which went to a double-finish as both guys hit the floor at the same time.  Then Mark Henry made his return from injury and laid out Taker with some big splashes and other power moves.  With Taker left laying in the ring, Edge appeared, jumping over from RAW in order to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase, and he beat Taker after two spears.  A brilliant angle that cemented Edge as SmackDown’s top heel and Edge v. Undertaker as the go-to main event SmackDown feud for the next year and a half on and off.  I’m also very happy this was included because it’s the first match on the set, even in highlight clip form, to feature JBL’s commentary, and he was awesome at it, the best colour commentator to come around in over a decade, and one of the best ever.

#22 is another extended highlights package, this time of the Brock Lesnar v. Kurt Angle Iron Man Match that took place on September 18th 2003.  This match made excellent use of the multiple-fall format, and really showed the athleticism of both guys.  Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch gave this match a full ***** rating, and while going from memory I think that’s a little high, mainly because it was a bit repetitive as far as both guys going for a millionth suplex to the point where I really would be happy if I didn’t see another one as long as I live, it was still a tremendous match with a great story of ups and downs, and Kurt really had the fans with him as he tried to fight back from a 5-2 deficit in the last 10 minutes, and one that I’d hope the WWE will release in full on DVD someday, although given that both guys are out of the company and in Brock’s case almost certain to never return it may become a lost gem in time unfortunately.

#21 is from April 27th 2000, the go-home show for the excellent Backlash PPV that year, as The McMahon-Helmsley Facgime spend the entire show looking for Stone Cold Steve Austin, including Shane McMahon beating up an Austin cardboard cut-out, before The Rock announces that Austin is in the parking lot, and we see Austin blow up the DX Express bus.  It’s classic Austin.

#20 is from January 13th 2006, as Batista is forced to give up the World Heavyweight Title he won at the previous year’s WrestleMania, in what was really the last long-term World Title run on the brand.  This is one instance where I really thought putting it out as clipped highlights to music really missed the boat in terms of getting across how good a segment this was.  I remember watching this when it happened, and Batista was crying, and they found fans in the crowd who were in tears, and it really felt like this great emotional moment, which doesn’t come across here nearly as much.  They also show clips of the battle royal from the same night where Kurt Angle jumped over to SmackDown from RAW and won the World Title.

#19 is The Rock acting as special referee for the WWF Title match between The British Bulldog and Triple H on 30th September 1999.  Rock essentially took the piss here, standing back and applauding HHH instead of counting the pin after he hit the pedigree, turning away from the action to talk to fans at ringside, and even ducking out of the ring to do commentary, something he explained as “It’s The Rock’s show, he can do what the hell he wants” which is a valid argument.  Of course there’s the famous “1…2…IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THE ROCK COUNTS TO 3” line, and then the really great moment which people like Miz and Punk put over huge, he beats Bulldog down and delivers a people’s elbow, only this time he’s wearing dress shoes instead of wrestling boots, and they allow him to slide along the canvas to hit the move, a genuine highlight reel moment.

#18 is the next full match, Edge and Hulk Hogan wining the tag titles from Billy & Chuck on the July 4th 2002 episode of the show.  I only recently reviewed this match as part of Edge’s Decade Of Decadence DVD, and my opinions haven’t changed so here’s my cut and pasted review from there.  It’s your standard tag team match building to a hot tag and the babyfaces win the tag titles at the end for the happy ending.  But – that hot tag babyface is HULK HOGAN, and in the first WWE nostalgia run of 2002 it was undeniably something special to watch, and for Edge, who has talked a lot of being a childhood Hulkamaniac, I imagine it was the stuff dreams are made of.  And you know what? As bad as Hogan is in the ring, and as embarrassing as it was hearing Michael Cole refer to Billy Gunn as “the greatest tag team wrestler of all time” – I enjoyed watching this again.  Seeing Edge as the American hero babyface on July 4th was a little weird, what with him being Canadian and all, but whatever.

#17 is another major step in the Triple H/Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley love triangle storyline, as Kurt and Stephanie are in a mixed tag match against The Rock and someone who is never shown on camera but I’m assuming Lita since The Hardyz are involved in the postmatch brawl, from 17th August 2000.  At one point, Stephanie was knocked unconscious off the apron, and HHH came out to carry her to the back.  He then went back out to help Angle (why he’d do this made no sense at the time and in retrospect really doesn’t but whatever), so Kurt left HHH to get beat up, went to the back, hugged Steph, then kissed her.  This could’ve been one of the biggest moments ever if they’d followed up like they should’ve done, but they didn’t.

#16 is from the episode of SmackDown taped in Japan on February 10th 2005.  Is it the excellent 25-minute Rey Mysterio v. Kurt Angle match? Nah, don’t be stupid, it’s JBL being shot by a super-tranquilizer dart by the mad hot Amy Webber (why did Randy Orton have to shit in her bags fuck sake, I’d love to still be watching her on SmackDown every week instead of some of the bland nothings in the current WWE diva division).  JBL is awesome here to be fair, as he challenges a blow up doll who he thinks is Godzilla, and carries it to the ring, falling over a few times, before challenging it to a fight, then flipping out like he’s a heavily-sedated version of 1999 Ric Flair as he strips to his underwear.  JBL was hilarious here, but I really didn’t see it as a major moment in SmackDown history.

#15 is highlight clips of the TLC III match on May 24th 2001.  This is one of the best matches in the history of SmackDown, but showing the full match wasn’t going to happen because it heavily features Chris Benoit, the match being built around him doing an injury spot before coming back to win.  They show a shitload of amazing highspots involving Chris Jericho, The Hardyz, The Dudleyz, Edge and Christian, and Benoit is only shown at the beginning during his teams’ entrance.  It’s probably the right thing that highlights of the match were included, as the spots shown were amazingly spectacular, probably even moreso now because it isn’t shortly following on from the previous TLC matches.

#14 is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance on the show on November 11th 1999.  Essentially he cut a promo and had some interaction with wrestlers while showing no aptitude for or knowledge of the business, clearly there just to plug his movie.  And given how we see that most weeks on RAW now with their guest host concept, it really doesn’t seem like the special moment that it probably was at the time.

#13 is the next full match on the set, Jeff Hardy v. Triple H from April 12th 2001.  This was Hardy wining the InterContinental Title in one of those “the bigger star does the job but in such a way where you don’t forget that he’s the bigger star” deals.   HHH essentially destroyed Hardy for the entire match until a ref bump allowed Matt Hardy to run in and nail HHH with a chairshot allowing Jeff to get the win.  Again, what I wrote in my review of the Hardyz Twist Of Fate DVD last year hasn’t really changed, so I’ll just copy that. For a Jeff Hardy match right at the end of the TLC spectacular highspot era, this is awfully boring.  I completely understand that at the time Triple H was a dominant main event heel and Jeff was a tag team wrestler, but does that mean endless sleeperholds, punches and not much else for 10 minutes until Triple H beats up a referee, Matt runs in and hits Hunter with the chair allowing Jeff to hit the swanton for the win?  It’s Jeff’s first big singles title win, but I don’t think that would have been enough to include it here if not for who Jeff’s opponent was. 

#12 is Vince McMahon wining the WWF Title from Triple H on September 16th 1999.  This was another step in the “Desperate HHH push to make people believe he was a top guy” that lasted until they put Steph with him and Mick Foley put him over huge, and seeing a bloody Vince being beaten on by HHH while Chyna holds back Linda really made them look evil.  Of course Vince and Shane’s comments now as talking heads are hilarious, as Vince says he beat the living hell out of HHH, while Shane pretends not to remember who Vince beat, just saying it was some schlub, and Vince saying the match was easy. 

#11 is a collection of John Cena’s raps, starting with the one from the Halloween party where he was dressed as Vanilla Ice.  This was not only the TV debut of the gimmick that shot him on the road to becoming the biggest star in the company, but also it was a chance to see Steph with giant cleavage in her hot witch outfit.  Michael Hayes really puts over Cena’s raps, and in the WWE’s current PG format there’s no way he could get away with some of the things he said, the fact that they’re mainly innuendo notwithstanding.   It really showed how high the WWE were on Cena that they would allow a comedy midcard heel to talk shit about guys like Undertaker, Angle and Big Show, especially nowadays when WWE are so protective of the guys they see as their top guys.  Definitely a worthy inclusion this high up the list.

#10 is the Tribute To The Troops shows.  For all the talk of the bad things that the WWE do, and there are many and they deserve criticism for that the majority of the time, the Christmas tours to Iraq to entertain the troops is a great thing, and something that many of the wrestlers that have done the shows, several of whom talk about it here on the DVD, speak of as not just a highlight of their wrestling career but of their lives.  I think they especially deserve credit for continuing on with these shows as when they started they could’ve opened themselves up for criticism of jumping on the bandwagon because every two-bit entertainer was making their way out there to visit the troops, but very few if any go back out there year after year like the WWE do. 

#9 is from December 13th 2001, and it’s one of my personal favourite moments as far as comedy moments in wrestling, as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Booker T have their supermarket brawl.  They fought everywhere, the place was a total mess, but it was goddamn hilarious, a particular highlight being Austin holding a pizza and using salami as a pretend microphone as he sings That’s Amore, before hitting Booker with the pizza, and of course appearing out of the freezer cabinet in order to drench Booker in milk.

Austin did essentially squash Booker and completely destroy him to the point where if it happened in the ring during a wrestling match setting it would’ve maybe been one of the worst moments on SmackDown, but those on-location fights, as shown by the brawls at The Friendly Tap, or CM Punk and Chavo Guerrero fighting by the Gulf Of Mexico, or The Rock throwing Stone Cold off the Roody Poo bridge have shown, a brawl that goes anywhere outside the arena is awesome if you do it right and make it entertaining.  This was GREAT.  Of course they edit out Austin scanning Booker and asking for a price check on a jackass, so the DVD inclusion wasn’t done perfectly, but you can’t have everything.

#8 is the next full match, Eddie Guerrero v. Edge in a no-DQ match from September 26th 2002.  This is a fairly famous match, and it’s an excellent one.  Want to know how good? Everyone remembers this match, yet the main event happening later on that very same show was Rey Mysterio v. Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit.  I assume that match was at worst really good, because the people involved mean it can’t possibly have been bad, but I have absolutely no memory of that, yet I remembered this match clearly, even though I’d only watched it the once since I saw it originally.  Again, it’s one I’ve reviewed before, as part of the Viva La Raza Eddie Guerrero DVD, and my feelings haven’t changed.

No-DQ matches are generally amongst the main match types that don’t hold up to repeated viewings years later.  And the reason for that is usually that they descend into any excuse to use hardcore plunder with no psychology or no build to the spots.  Eddie Guerrero and Edge used two weapons the entire match, most famously a ladder, but also a chair, which was only used once, after a referee took a ladder to the face and Eddie gave Edge a chairshot to take him down as he was distracted.  But the big spots were built to, hell they didn’t even grab the ladder at all for the first 10 minutes, and then after the ref bump and chairshot went back to the ring for a bit.  Once the ladder was brought in, it actually added to the regular spots such as Eddie being monkey-flipped into the corner by the other guy’s legs, a spot Eddie used to do all the time particularly with Rey Mysterio, and the slingshot senton from the apron into the ring, which here was done onto an Edge ladder sandwich.  You know it’s a great match when, during some of the nearfalls, you can see Michael Cole in the background leaping up and down in his chair, since normally he looks like he’s about to fall asleep on the rare occasions he is actually caught on camera.  But him marking out for the kickout from a sunset flip off the top of the ladder was so awesome.  And the DDT off the ladder to finish was amazing, one of the most breathtaking looking finishes to a match in years.  This match convinces me that Edge would have no problems going babyface in the future, as awesome as he is as a heel, but also that Eddie was amazing and the standing ovation he received in losing the match just showed that.  This is without doubt one of the best WWE matches of the decade, and certainly one of the most memorable.

#7 is a collection of The Rock’s catchphrases, and given that the show is named after him you really couldn’t not put this in the top 10.  William Regal says his favourite Rock thing was when he’d make fun of Coach, “because Coach was pathetic” and Kofi Kingston talks about the time he asked Lillian Garcia if she wanted the people’s strudel, and then Rock cut her off to yell at her for not being professional.  It’s become clear since he left that as wrestling fans we really were spoiled having The Rock cut promos on TV every week, the guy could read the phone book and make it entertaining, but given the freedom to cut loose he was magic.

#6 is a moment that was funny at the time, but really a forgettable moment that should be nowhere near this high on the countdown, as The Big Bossman gatecrashes The Big Show’s dad’s funeral, runs down Show and steals the coffin.  CM Punk calls this a “youtube classic” which is a nice way of saying “wrestlecrap moment” but I doubt even Punk would be cocky enough to try to sneak that phrase onto a WWE DVD.  Admittedly, Big Show surfing on the coffin as Bossman drove away was absolutely hilarious.

#5 is Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle playing guitar to try to cheer up Vince McMahon on June 12th 2001.  This was great, and Michael Hayes tries to use how funny the interaction was as a justification for Steve Austin’s babyface turn that started the decline in WWE’s business.  First off I’ll revert to the old saying “funny doesn’t make money” which old-time promoters really believed and really still holds true today, serious feuds in main events are what makes me interested as a fan.  Also, while Austin going heel wasn’t necessarily a bad idea, it was a bad idea to do it at a time when Rock was leaving and Undertaker was probably performing worse than at any point in his career, and HHH for some reason wouldn’t turn babyface even though that would’ve been the obvious money feud.  And it’s The Miz of all people who point out that singing comedy heel Austin really wasn’t what people wanted to see.  But regardless of that, these segments were hilarious, with Kurt Angle singing Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don’t Care…I Got Olympic Gold after Austin sang Kum-Bye-Ya, only for Vince to look disgusted and walk out while Austin and Angle yell at each other over whose fault it was being something I can still watch and enjoy today.

#4 is the pilot episode of the show on April 29th 1999.  The success of this show meant that UPN agreed to take on the show full-time from that August, but really given the popularity of wrestling at the time, riding the wave of Stone Cold and The Rock, there was never any danger UPN wouldn’t pick it up, or at least someone else would if for whatever reason UPN ducked out.  The main development of the show was Shane McMahon usurping Vince as leader of the Corporation and then merging with the Ministry Of Darkness to create The Corporate Ministry, complete with the best theme music anyone’s ever had in WWE using a mix of their two themes (Chris Jericho and Big Show take note).  We get clips of all the major players from the era, including an Owen Hart promo as The Blue Blazer, telling everyone to say their prayers, eat their vitamins, and drink their milk WOOOO! in what was sadly Owen’s only ever appearance on SmackDown.

#3 is the final full match on the DVD, and the main event of the first actual show, on August 26th 1999, as Triple H defends the WWE Title against The Rock, with WWE Commissioner Shawn Michaels as the referee.  What I got mainly from this match is the contrast between the fantastic energy the match had as the crowd exploded for Rock’s comebacks, as compared to just how boring things were with HHH on top.  He really learned somewhere over the next few months how to fill out the main body of his matches better, because here I’m falling asleep as  he’s getting the heat, and a couple of months later he was awesome.  The ending saw HBK turn heel by nailing Rock with Sweet Chin Music as he was about to win, a heel turn which went absolutely nowhere as he disappeared from TV immediately.

#2 is from June 12th 2003, and is one of my favourite endings to a match of all time, as Brock Lesnar superplexes The Big Show and the ring breaks.  The entire crowd chanting Holy Shit as these two giants and the referee lay there in a broken ring was an incredibly cool image, and from a wrestling standpoint is probably the highlight of the decade of SmackDown as far as the most memorable spot.  I wish they’d have shown the full match, maybe switched the highlights/full match spot with HHH/Rock as from what I remember these two always worked really well together, and while you sense that from the highlights, I’d love to see this in full to get a full perspective of the build to such a great finish.

#1 is really the only possible choice to make as the most important and best moment in the ten-year history of SmackDown, and really one of the major moments in the entire history of the WWE.  On September 13th 2001, two days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, the WWE broadcast a live edition of SmackDown that became the first arena crowd to be in a public gathering since 9/11.  Michael Cole and Matt Striker introduce this with a video package of Americans in the days following the attacks, and talk about how important it was to show that the company, and the nation, could stick together and move on.  Then highlights are shown of the show, particularly Vince’s speech, and the pre-recorded comments (thankfully Stephanie McMahon’s shamefully ill-advised speech isn’t included).  Lillian Garcia talks about what a big deal it was for her to sing the national anthem on this show, and then they show clips of it, and with the entire WWE roster stood there on the apron it really is a powerful moment, and the perfect way to end the DVD.

Wow, they really stacked that last disc didn’t they? I really didn’t mean to write so much, but once I got going I couldn’t stop.  Overall while the over-reliance on comedy/celebrity moments ahead of wrestling matches and major angles really made this a questionable list at times, lots of major moments with lots of great memories for me were on this DVD, and as such I’d highly recommend it for a great trip down memory lane.

Mark Bright
mark@ifight365.com