We’re looking at the first episode of WWE SmackDown from April 29, 1999. We have Michael Cole and Jim Cornette on commentary with this episode being treated as a WWE TV special.
Cornette has mentioned this as a pilot which I can see. Usually, pilots are followed by a short run of the show in the following week. The first official episode of WWE SmackDown is listed as August 26, 1999.
This is going to be an interesting one as the real attraction of this show is the promos.
As usual, when I review TV shows, matches are rated as a show from that period. PPV expectations are higher as expected.
Low-Tier
The Blue Blazer vs. Val Venis was decent as a reintroduction of The Blue Blazer character. What pushed this along is that it’s obviously Owen Hart under the mask.
Watching Owen matches as the Blue Blazer is weird but that’s not what dented this match. It was the time as both men could really go.
If you want a great example check Val Venis‘ matches on Shotgun Saturday Night or Sunday Night HeAT. This wasn’t an awful match there just wasn’t enough there to make it interesting.
Big Show vs. Test was a brief match where Show basically steamrolled Test. I couldn’t call this competitive.
D’Lo Brown taking on Droz is another match that needed more time. These two were tailor-made for this period in WWE. Especially Droz. U
Mankind vs. Big Bossman also needed more on the bone. Bossman was doing well as a slimmer brawler at this time. He was could also mix it up in the entertaining street fights of the Hardcore division.
So, this could’ve been better but lacked the time.
Mid-Tier
A street fight! You folks know how I love a street fight. This one was alright. Bradshaw still isn’t at the point where I care about his singles exploits.
Shamrock takes on Bradshaw and I’m here for “World’s Most Dangerous Man” in these kinds of matches. It was a short match so it’s really hard to mess this up unless people are doing risky spots and trying to do them quickly.
Overall, it was a low-risk but entertaining brawl that probably would’ve been better if it was placed earlier in the show.
Tag Team champions X-Pac and Kane defended the belts against the New Age Outlaws in the episode’s longest match at seven minutes.
This was a solid bout with something on the bone. Mind you, this would be a sampler on PPV but on TV where fans don’t have to pay to watch it, this was a nice amount of time and the two teams worked with it.
Now, while it had no length to it, the main event with Stone Cold and The Rock taking on The Corporate Ministry was really enjoyable.
Mind you, it wasn’t an epic nor was I expecting one. On paper, this is the kind of match you want to run on a special presentation. It looks like it’ll be a good one.
In execution, it had a big match vibe and there was some sizzle to it. If you’re familiar with WWE Raw main events from this period, you’ll know not to get your hopes up for a lengthy, proper main event.
WWE SmackDown #1 Verdict: Mid-Tier (5/10)
Despite WWE being stingy with the match length, the overall show was actually really good. However, since I rate on matches WWE SmackDown’s first outing gets the very bottom of the mid-tier.
The main event was expected of late 90s-early 00s WWE TV. With that said, I can’t strongly recommend any of the matches on this episode.
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