WWE Smackdown/Heat tapings
October 15, 2002
Toronto, Ont.
Report by Stuart Detsky, Torch Newsletter subscriber

Dark Matches

(1) R.C. Haas & unknown jobber (Sky?) defeated Bull Buchanan & Red Dog. Dud-erific.

(2) Scott Vick defeated local jobber with Text Book on his tights. Scott Vick received some heat as everyone was wondering if he would avenge his sister's death. The local jobber was tiny, maybe 150 lbs. The match was terrible except for Vick's finishing move which was a variation on the Vertebreaker.

(3) Val Venis defeated Shelton Benjamin. First pop of the night for local boy Venis. Not a great match, with one unknown move by Benjamin being completely flubbed. Val won with one of the lamest submission moves I've ever seen.

Velocity

The Velocity pyro is incredible live.

(1) Tajiri defeated Funaki. Decent pops for both wrestlers. Great crowd interaction by both as well.

(2) Albert defeated local jobber (Bobby Cruz?). Albert cut a funny promo, but the match was by-the-numbers vanilla plain.

(3) Crash defeated Shannon Moore. The old "one hand on the ropes while pinning = 3-count".

Smackdown

(1) Edge & Rey defeated Simmons & D-Von. Fast-paced match, all of the highlight moves were hit, and Edge won with the Edge-O-Cution. The Guerreros did a post-match beatdown.

(2) Jamie Noble defeated Nidia with Tajiri as guest referee. Just a mess of an angle, with Noble and Nidia playing the fighting lovers only to have Noble give the beatdown on Tajiri for no discernible reason and the two white-trash lovebirds renewing their love for each other.

(3) John Cena defeated Billy Kidman. Worst heel turn ever by Cena for no reason other than Kidman was pinned in their tag-team tournament match. Not a bad match, but the crowd couldn't have cared less. I've never seen so many people leave to go to the bathroom during a TV taping match. For everyone who complains about WWE storylines, Kidman and Cena are proof that no storyline at all is much worse.

(4) Brock Lesnar defeated Chuck. This was a fantastic match with the crowd into it the whole way. Some very impressive moves by both wrestlers, including overhead belly-to-belly suplexes by both, a pair of fabulous jungle kicks by Chuck, and an amazing F5 to end it. Undertaker with the post-match beatdown.

(5) Rikishi & Torrie defeated Matt Hardy (version 1.0) & Dawn Marie. This match will mostly be remembered for the ridiculous outfit Torrie wore, being a tight white top with rips all the way across the front. This was actually a well-booked "humour" match, with the highlight being Matt using Dawn Marie's face as a shield against the Stinkface.

(6) Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle defeated The Guerreros. Fantastic match. It began with Edge and Rey attacking the Guerreros only to be jumped by Angle and Benoit. The finish came as Benoit faked Chavo into thinking he would hit Angle with chair, only to clock Chavo and then Eddie, allowing Angle to hit the Angle Slam for the victory.

Storyline wise, The Undertaker, Stephanie, Heyman and Brock were involved in the (sarcasm alert) riveting plot of whether Undertaker would be allowed to wear his cast during their match at the PPV. The last segment of the night was Stephanie announcing in-ring that he would be allowed to wear the cast, causing Brock to do his creepy stalking of Steph, causing Undertaker to make the save and beat the crap out of Heyman. After the show ends, Undertaker chokeslams Heyman after spending at least 10 minutes teasing it.

The only other promos/skits of note were Torrie Wilson finding her father in the shower with Dawn Marie (except his clothes were on!?), Eddie cutting one of his best promos ever with Chavo and Benoit (I can't do it justice in writing), and Angle cutting a by-the-book promo with Benoit.

Overall, a decent to good show. The only complaints I have were the lousy sound (too quiet, sometimes muted TitanTron) and the fact that the "commercial breaks" were way too long for a taped show. Two of the breaks in particular were longer than a live commercial break would have been.

Biggest Pops 1) Edge

2) Benoit

3) Rey

4) Undertaker (although there were lots of boos too)

5) Torrie Wilson

Most Heat

1) The Guerreros (by far)

2) Tony Chimmel pimping merchandise in between the last match and last skit

3) Anytime Rock was on the TitanTron (including the 3(!) Scorpion King DVD ads)

Biggest Crowd Reaction split evenly into cheers and boos

1) Angle

2) Lesnar

3) Matt Hardy

A typical Toronto crowd which loves cheering heels that are good workers.

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