WWE Smackdown
October 10th, 2002
Phoenix, AZ
The Undertaker is in the parking garage waiting for Brock Lesnar to show up. They show replays of last week where Brock broke Taker’s hand and Steph announcing that and that the match at No Mercy was still happening and it’s HELL IN A CELL.
Matt Hardy is out. Cole calls him a jackass. Hardy brags about his defeats of The Undertaker and goes as far as to say the reason Taker is in the parking lot and not out here is because he’s afraid of him etc. Taker comes down and they brawl. This shows Taker can go with the broken hand and even uses the cast as a weapon. Hardy gets split open and is bleeding. Wild seeing this just weeks after watching him in real time getting busted open by Sammy Guevara on AEW, a whole 18 years after this. So nuts. Hardy fights back and this brawl goes on longer than you’d think. Hardy gets a chair but Taker still overcomes. Finally some officials come down to separate but don’t really do the job. Taker miss Hardy and punches the ring post with his fucked up hand. OOOOF. Hardy escapes.
Rikishi is out after the break. During his entrance we cut to Taker getting his hand checked out. The trainer says they need to do another X-Ray.
Back to the ring it’s LAAAAATINOOO HEAT.
1) Eddie Guerrero (w/ Chavo Guerrero) vs. Rikishi
This stems off the first round tag title tourney match last week where the Guerrero’s beat Rikishi and Mark Henry. Lots of fuckery here as always with Eddie & Chavo around this time but it’s so much fun. Eventually Eddie taps out Rikishi.
Match rating - **1/4
Torrie is backstage looking through her lingerie. Her dad walks up and this is awkward.
ANGLE AND BENOIT STAREDOWN IN THE LOCKER ROOM BACK FROM COMMERCIAL HOLY EPIC. Steph is talking them down and asking them to take the tag match tonight and the tournament seriously and to help establish the division. Then gets threatening with the whole suspension w/o pay thing. Benoit tells Angle to follow his lead tonight. They argue about who leaves the room first and Steph throws her hands up.
Smackdown #1 announcer Funaki is with Rey Mysterio to hype up the main event with Edge & Rey facing Tajiri & Noble in the rah tournament. Nidia shows up and they start speaking to each other in Spanish. She leaves pissed and gets into an argument with Jamie Noble. Security kicks them both out? Okie
Eddie & Chavo are riled up backstage about what they did to Rikishi. They say they will become tag champs at No Mercy. Benoit walks out of Steph’s office and it’s awkward.
2) Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. John Cena & Billy Kidman - Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match
Okay this was good as fuck. Angle & Benoit play off the tension arguing from the jump. Cena & Kidman use this to get an advantage. This leads to several believable near falls including off a Kidman shooting star press. This forces Angle into helping Benoit and breaking up the pin. Eventually they overcome and win, but it got real competitive for a second.
Match rating - ***
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come to the ring with a woman named “Tracy” who apparently is going to enlighten us on who Undertaker truly is. Tracy claims Taker has been cheating on his pregnant wife Sara with her and lying about it the whole time. She says she has no idea he was married, much less with a pregnant wife. Taker says he doesn’t know who the hell Tracy is and gets slapped in return. Tracy walks off with tears in her eyes.
Backstage- Brock, Paul and Tracy are leaving when Steph stops them and announces Brock will be Tajiri’s partner tonight against Edge & Rey Mysterio bc Jamie Noble hasn’t returned to the arena after being booted.
3) Devon Dudley vs. Billy Gunn
Ron Simmons is accompanying Devon and Chuck is with Billy. This is whatever. Simmons pulls the legs of Billy and Chuck super kicks his ass. This allows Billy to hit the famousser for the win.
Match rating - *1/4
Undertaker is backstage on the phone with Sara swearing he doesn’t know who Tracy is. She hangs up on him and he’s pissed and in distress. Poor deadman.
Chavo Guerrero is running down the hall yelling for Benoit. He says Kurt Angle attacked him and he is still attacking Eddie. Benoit runs down the hall only for Chavo to lock him in a room. After a bunch of noise, Chavo opens it up and Eddie walks out with a chair. What the fuck even lmao.
There's a lingerie contest that I skipped bc idk how to review that. Bye.
Brock & Paul are headed to the ring. Brock asks for Paul’s phone and he gives Taker’s wife Sara a call saying he’s sorry that everything earlier had to be aired out publicly and says he’s here for her. When Paul realizes he called Sara, his reaction is hilarious.
4) Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar & Tajiri - Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match
The winners of this match will face Devon & Ron Simmons next week. This is the first interaction between Brock & Rey and Brock & Edge and it rules. The dynamic of Brock & Tajiri as a team is funny also. This doesn’t last long but is good fun while it does. Edge & Rey double drop kick Brock to the floor and hit a 619 followed by a spear for the win.
Match rating - **1/2
Brock attacks Rey Mysterio post match. Undertaker runs down and lays in some shots before Brock gets away. “In 10 days at No Mercy, there will be no way to escape inside Hell in A Cell....”
