WWE Smackdown has been one of the most famous wrestling show for sixteen years. WWE. com recently talked about the best matches in Smackdown history;
#10 Triple H vs. The Rock – WWE Championship Match w/ Shawn Michaels & Shane McMahon as special guest referees: Aug. 26, 1999
They say first impressions count. And WWE took that to heart as a blockbuster main event was scheduled for SmackDown’s official series premiere. The Rock challenged Triple H, who had ascended to the top of the mountain by finally winning the WWE Title earlier that week. To make things a little more special, The Game’s old pal and then-WWE Commissioner, Shawn Michaels, was brought in as referee.
HBK ejected Chyna from ringside, but Shane McMahon scurried down to take Chyna’s place. After The Boy Wonder attempted to interfere one too many times, The People’s Champion had enough and blasted Shane with a big right hand.
With the champion’s allies seemingly out of the picture, The Great One planted Triple H with a Rock Bottom and prepared to deliver The People’s Elbow, but HBK shockingly connected with a vicious Sweet Chin Music to Rocky’s jaw. A Pedigree later and The Game retained his title, reuniting the DX founders and continuing Triple H’s first title reign.
#9 Kurt Angle vs. Booker T – WCW Championship Match: July 26, 2001
Could a WWE Superstar actually capture WCW’s premiere championship? It happened on SmackDown on July 26, 2001, when WCW Champion Booker T was defeated by WWE’s Kurt Angle in a historic match that turned the tides of the Invasion. But for the defending champion, it was about more than just titles.
“Coming to WWE, I had to prove myself all over again,” Booker T told WWE.com. “To be able to go out there and do it against Kurt Angle was like icing on the cake.”
The eventual five-time WCW titleholder knew stepping into the ring with an Olympic Gold Medalist meant having to elevate his game in unprecedented ways. And while Booker did his very best, Angle was just that much better to bring the WCW Championship to WWE’s side of the fence.
“Kurt was one of those guys that if you didn’t work up to his level, he’d run over you. I knew my intensity was going to have to go up another level,,” Booker explained. “I always compared myself to the great wrestlers, and I thought Kurt was great.”
#8 TLC III: May 24, 2001
The third edition of the Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match marked the first time the carnage of TLC had been aired on broadcast television, but the national platform did nothing to censor the bout’s trademark chaotic nature.
The four teams pulled out all the stops in hopes of capturing the World Tag Team Titles. The Dudley Boyz executed a super 3-D on Christian off a ladder and through a table. When they weren’t scrambling frantically up the rungs to escape with the titles, Edge & Christian swung chairs at their foes with complete disregard. And The Hardy Boyz used ladders to their advantage, with Jeff launching himself over one to put Bubba Ray Dudley through a table, while Jeff took out D-Von with a Twist of Fate off another ladder.
In the end, all the punishment the TLC veterans inflicted on each other left an opening for Jericho’s team to scale the ladders and retrieve their championships after a brutal epic in the squared circle.
#7 Eddie Guerrero vs. John Cena – United States Championship Parking Lot Brawl: Sept 11, 2003
By the time they were finished tossing each other through windshields and onto car hoods during their Parking Lot Brawl, the battered bodies of Eddie Guerrero and John Cena could’ve easily passed for crash-test dummies. The unorthodox bout, inspired by Cena’s theft of Latino Heat’s low rider, saw the combatants encircled by cars inside a parking garage, with both Superstars making ample use of their surroundings.
“If anyone were to question whether I was all style and no substance, matches like that certainly deaden the conversation,” John Cena told WWE.com. “It showed everybody that not only could I talk the talk, but I could walk the walk.”
WWE Hall of Famer Guerrero, well known for his ring presence, even proved to have parking garage awareness, slyly slamming doors into Cena’s skull, spraying windshield wiper fluid into his eyes and burning him with a car cigarette lighter. Despite the bizarre enivronment, there’s honest-to-god wrestling to be found, too, like Cena’s delayed vertical suplex (onto a car hood) or Eddie’s match-winning Frog Splash delivered from the roof of a minivan onto Cena, who was on the hood of an adjacent vehicle. The real winner here, besides WWE fans? The Brisco Bros. Body Shop, of course.
#6 Rey Mysterio vs. Matt Hardy – Cruiserweight Championship Match: June 5, 2003
Perhaps no Superstar is as closely associated with the now-defunct Cruiserweight Title as eight-time champion Rey Mysterio. But when The Master of the 619 challenged extra-large cruiserweight Matt Hardy for the crown in June 2003, with his family in attendance, The Ultimate Underdog was looking to reclaim the title for the first time in nearly four years. Hardy wasn’t all Mysterio had to worry about, either, as the champion had Mattitude Followers Shannon Moore & Crash Holly prowling around ringside, and Mysterio was battling a nagging groin injury.
The injury might’ve hamstrung Rey’s trademark, fast-paced offense slightly, but the lucha king still managed to use his speed and creativity to launch himself into crazy moves like an insane springboard senton to the floor. No matter what Hardy threw at Mysterio — a second-rope Side Effect, a top-rope legdrop — The Ultimate Underdog wouldn’t stay down. After a series of steadily heightening high-risk moves, Mysterio scored the victory and the championship gold in the most unlikely fashion: a double-leg takedown and quick rollup.
#5 JBL vs. Eddie Guerrero – WWE Championship Steel Cage Match: July 15, 2004
Following Bradshaw’s stunning transformation from barroom brawler to Wall Street tycoon JBL, the newly crowned WWE Champion engaged in a heated rivalry with cult hero Eddie Guerrero that culminated in a brutal Steel Cage bout. Always known to top himself, Eddie ascended the structure and performed his signature Frog Splash onto a prone JBL lying on the canvas.
“Doing the Frog Splash off the top of the cage was pretty spectacular, but people don’t realize that the guy he landed on is where the problem came in,” JBL recalled. “I thought he broke me in half. I couldn’t feel the entire right side of my body for about 45 seconds. Nick Patrick, the referee, leaned down and said, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I don’t think so.’”
JBL managed to recover and retain his title with the help of Kurt Angle who appeared under a Mexican luchador mask. But the sight of Eddie torpedoing down from the cage has remained one of the most indelible images in SmackDown’s history for both fans and for JBL.
#4 Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Los Guerreros – No. 1 Contender Match for WWE Tag Team Championship: Oct. 24, 2002
This match is fast, fast,fast. Every Superstar involved moves like they got shot out of a cannon. Edge, especially, is a house on fire, sprinting pell-mell across the ring and spearing opponents with such reckless abandon you think he’s going to break himself in half. Eddie and Chavo put on an acrobatic display worthy of a Cirque du Soleil Chavo in particular is a revelation to those who only know him from his latter, more methodical style during his WWE career. And Rey? Well, The Ultimate Underdog legitimately dazzles in his limited action during the eight-minute contest, scurrying around like Sonic the Hedgehog and executing a standing moonsault that takes your breath away.
It’s four innovators at the height of their powers. The only disappointment is that Kurt Angle interferes before the match can reach a conclusion that would have surely been as epic as the rest of it.
#3 The Shield vs. Randy Orton & Team Hell No: June 14, 2013
It’s hard to imagine Daniel Bryan, Kane and Randy Orton coexisting, but the trio somehow cooperated to give The Shield their first Six-Man Tag Team Match loss in June 2013. At the time, The Hounds of Justice were unstoppable, having won the WWE Tag Team Titles and the United States Championship by way of their military precision and a ruthless disregard for their opponents. After dominating throughout the match, The Shield was forced on the defensive when Kane unleashed on Dean Ambrose with a fiery barrage. With a blind tag, Bryan continued the assault by sending all three Shield members outside the ring and then throwing himself at his dazed opponents with reckless abandon. After Kane took out Reigns and Orton stunned Rollins with an aerial RKO, Bryan made The Architect tap out.
“They caught us that night, what can I say?” Rollins told WWE.com. “It was actually a little bit of a relief to get that first loss out of the way, because there’s a lot of pressure that comes with being undefeated.”
Even though Rollins admit that The Shield was off its game that night, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more exciting and competitive Six-Man Tag Team Match.
#2 Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle – WWE Championship Iron Man Match: Sept. 18, 2003
Arguably one of the greatest matches ever to have taken place on a SmackDown telecast happened on Sept. 18, 2003, as then-WWE Champion Kurt Angle took on the challenge of the upstart Brock Lesnar in an Iron Man Match. Whoever scored the most falls within a one hour time limit would be declared the winner.
There was no love lost between these two combatants, which was evident in the first decision, as Lesnar got himself disqualified for nailing Angle with a chair. With the Olympian now somewhat incapacitated, Lesnar evened the score at 1-1 with his F-5. As the match progressed, the challenger built what appeared to be a commanding 5-2 decisions lead. But Angle came roaring back, and had narrowed the gap to 5-4; the momentum had clearly shifted.
With less than four minutes remaining, a desperate Lesnar hit Angle with a lowblow. But the champion quickly recovered and applied his patented ankle lock to try to win a fall and take the match to sudden death overtime. But it was not to be, as time had expired, and a very fortunate Brock Lesnar won the match, and became the new WWE Champion.
#1 Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero – No Disqualification Match: Sept. 26, 2002
On Sept. 26, 2002, San Diego, Calif., was the setting for the culmination of a bitter rivalry between two consummate Superstars: Edge and Eddie Guerrero. Having suffered a loss to Guerrero at the Unforgiven event only days prior, Edge wanted Guerrero anew at the earliest opportunity possible, so a No Disqualification Match was booked, where anything and everything goes. And did it ever!
This was a closely contested bout, especially when ladders and chairs were introduced. Each man was hell-bent on capitalizing with the additional in-ring hardware. From an amazing sunset flip off the ladder by Guerrero, to the match-winning “Edge-a-cution” from the rungs by the talented Canadian, this match undoubtedly set the bar for matches of this type — not to mention matches on SmackDown — going forward.