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The John Report: WWE Smackdown Greatest Hits Review (FOX TV Special)

By John Canton • Published 28th September 2019
TJR Wrestling

­Here is my review of the WWE special that aired on Fox tonight called Smackdown Greatest Hits. It aired at 8pmET with a 60-minute runtime.

There was a video package that aired for about three minutes showing Smackdown highlights.

The show was hosted by The Miz and Charlotte Flair, who were standing in an empty arena while the “Fox” and “Smackdown” logos were in the background. They talked about how Smackdown’s 20 year anniversary.

They showed highlights of The Rock on Smackdown since the word “Smackdown” was part of his “lay the Smackdown” catchphrase routine. It was also mentioned that Smackdown was added to the dictionary in 2007.

There was a video package about Triple H as well while showing some of his title wins.

Edge was the next greatest superstar featured. Some of the highlights were from Raw and PPV events, but they also showed his Money in the Bank cash-in on The Undertaker on Smackdown in 2007.

There were also video packages about Booker T, who won King of the Ring on Smackdown in 2006.

Eddie Guerrero was next and he won the WWE TItle in 2004 as part of the Smackdown brand.

Kurt Angle was next showing his many title wins during his WWE career.

The Undertaker was the last man featured in the video package since he was a Smackdown mainstay in the 2000s.

(Commercial)

There was a clip from Renee Young on the WWE Backstage set talking about how they will be talking about Smackdown at 7:30pmET, which is 30 minutes before Smackdown airs.

They showed a video package of the first Smackdown from August 26, 1999 when Shawn Michaels, who was the referee, hit The Rock with a superkick to help Triple H retain the WWF Title.

Miz and Charlotte talked about great moments on Smackdown, so they showed clips of various things.

The clips of great moments included Arnold Schwarzenegger beating up Triple H, the Smackdown on September 13, 2001 after the September 11 tragedy in NYC, Steve Austin beating up Triple H after jumping out of an ambulance, Hulk Hogan and Edge winning the Tag Team Titles in 2002 and Shawn Michaels/The Undertaker in 2009. They also showed NFL player Clay Matthews making a pinfall count in 2011 and AJ Styles winning the WWE Title in November 2017. Rhyno hitting a Gore on Chris Jericho through the screen was also shown. The Billy & Chuck “wedding” also made a clip with Eric Bischoff revealing himself as the priest. There were also some high spots moments from Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, Eddie Guerrero and The Shield putting The Undertaker through a table. Kevin Owens attacking Shane McMahon was shown as well as Randy Orton lighting Bray Wyatt’s house on fire.

The huge moment when Brock Lesnar gave Big Show a superplex that exploded the ring in 2003 was shown from multiple angles. The fans went wild for it.

There was also a video package showing the finishing moves of wrestlers like Roman Reigns (The Spear and Superman Punch), The Rock (Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow), Shawn Michaels (Sweet Chin Music), Charlotte Flair (Natural Selection and Figure Eight), Randy Orton (RKO), The Undertaker (Tombstone), John Cena (Attitude Adjustment), Becky Lynch (Disarmher), Steve Austin (Stone Cold Stunner), Brock Lesnar (F5), Triple H (Pedigree) and Seth Rollins (The Stomp). They got most of the biggest names in the last 20 years there.

Still to come: Kofi Kingston and Alexa Bliss will be there. Up next is a look back at Steve Austin on Smackdown.

(Commercial)

The banter by Miz and Charlotte reading the prompter was really cheesy with Miz being really over the top, but that’s expected on these kinds of shows.

They showed highlights from December 13, 2001 on Smackdown when Steve Austin beat up Booker T in a supermarket. That was hilarious and is one of the most memorable moments in Smackdown history. There were plenty of funny lines from Austin and also a lot of comedy as they fought in the supermarket. Austin saying “price check on jackass” was a classic way to end it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuoOrT6smo

They showed the video of Steve Austin blowing up the DX Express bus from April 2000.

Kofi Kingston was still to come and they were also going to show some of Smackdown’s funniest moments.

(Commercial)

They showed the clip from when R-Truth lost the 24/7 Title to Fox Sports TV host Rob Stone. Moments later, Elias pinned Stone to win the 24/7 Title.

Kofi Kingston, the WWE Champion, showed up in the arena to join The Miz and Charlotte Flair. Kingston did not have the WWE Title with him. Miz asked Kingston where were the tray of pancakes? Kingston said that he was told this was supposed to be classy, so no pancakes, but perhaps he can have a crepe. Miz took that seriously even though it was a joke. Kingston said that the power of the positivity is the key to his success as the WWE Champion and that’s what it is all about with New Day. Kofi said they have great athletes, but they love to entertain to have fun.

A video package aired about Smackdown’s funny moments. Clips included the classic Steve Austin/Kurt Angle cowboy hat bit from 2001, Kane/Daniel Bryan arguing as a team and there was a clip of Teddy Long screwing up a promo, plus some other bloopers like Lilian Garcia falling down. The Undertaker’s “buckle up, Teddy” was shown and Eddie Guerrero spraying sewage on Big Show was there as well. Some food fights made it as well. The moment where Stephanie McMahon caught Triple H “showing holds” aired, then the wedding mishaps of Teddy Long and Kristal Marshall (Long had a heart attack) and Vickie Guerrero caught Edge cheating when they had a wedding. More comedy clips were shown including Damien Mizdow along with some dance break moments featuring some bad dancing. The clip aired of Kurt Angle poorly singing “Jimmy Crack Corn” leading to Vince McMahon leaving. Big E doing the splits made it! Vince McMahon’s famous line was shown: “Life sucks and then you die.” They ended it with a Ron Simmons “DAMN” line.

Up next they’ll look back on the legendary career of John Cena.

(Commercial)

A clip aired showing John Cena’s debut when he answered an open challenge from Kurt Angle in June 2002. Cena lost the match, but he was impressive. After the match, The Undertaker shook Cena’s hand and told him he did a good job.

The Miz and Charlotte had some scripted banter talking about John Cena with Miz mentioning he beat Cena at WrestleMania. It was a terrible match, by the way. Just saying. Anyway, they mentioned Cena’s 16 World Titles in WWE.

There was a video package about John Cena showing his early Smackdown days from 2002-2005 when he was a heel that insulted faces and then he became a face. The video package then focused on Cena’s accomplishments that were mostly when he was a Raw guy. There’s no denying Cena’s star power and success in WWE over the last 17 years. They also showed some of Cena’s charitable work. There were also clips of Cena making various media appearances on stuff like the Today Show, Ellen, award shows, movie clips and more stuff like celebrities doing the “you can’t see” hand gesture. The end of it featured saying that Smackdown has always been his home.

Up next is Alexa Bliss, who is a Raw superstar from the current roster, but it’s not like that matters.

(Commercial)

There was a clip of Renee Young and Booker T on the WWE Backstage set talking about next week’s Smackdown with Kofi Kingston defending the WWE Title against Brock Lesnar.

Alexa Bliss was shown reading some dialogue for “A Moment of Bliss” segment. Bliss talked about stars of the past and said now it’s time to talk about current superstars.

Bliss talked over highlights of the current superstars. The wrestlers mentioned were Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch were shown with Bliss talking about them as a power couple, Bray Wyatt as The Fiend, Roman Reigns and there were shorter clips of Charlotte Flair, The Miz, AJ Styles, New Day and herself, Alexa Bliss.

This Sunday on Fox, there’s a special called WrestleMania’s Legendary Moments narrated by John Cena. Check your local listings.

There was a plug for Smackdown next week with Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Trish Stratus, Lita, Jerry Lawler, Sting and Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title. Also, Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon in a Ladder Match where the loser is fired. They plugged the start of the show at 7:30pmET on Fox because there’s a 30-minute pre-show before the 2-hour broadcast.

Analysis: Steve Austin will be there next week too, but they didn’t mention. I think he was added later, so maybe not when they taped this special in the arena.

There was a final video package showing highlights of WWE superstars along with celebrity talking heads talking about how great WWE shows are. It ended with The Rock punching a camera. That was it.

Final Thoughts

It was a decent show in terms of showing what WWE is all about. It was for casual fans, rather than those of us that are hardcore. It’s also very telling that they spent so much time putting over legends of the past like The Rock, Steve Austin and John Cena and they didn’t devote enough time to current stars.

I would not recommend this to a hardcore WWE fan because there was nothing new about it. If you’re reading us here at TJRWrestling, there’s nothing on this show that was going to surprise you or be new to you. I’m not hating. Just being honest.

Thanks for reading. My contact info is below.

John Canton

Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport

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