WWE SmackDown 6/27/2002: Retro 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc.'s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our globally celebrated loved/hated format! And on a week like this, with John Cena preparing to wrestle his final match on WWE programming at "Saturday Night's Main Event, there's no better show to re-watch than the one that featured his first match on WWE programming, all the way back on June 27, 2002 — the days when "WWE SmackDown" was taped on Tuesdays and broadcast on Thursdays!

Don't let current WWE pacing fool you — there was a time when this company knew how to pack a bunch of stuff into two hours with commercials, and we can't quite cover all of it here. The biggest thing that goes unmentioned (much to the chagrin of our Canada-loving editor) is the formation of the Un-Americans, as Lance Storm, Christian, and Test come together following Storm's victory over Mark Henry and Test getting screwed over by the American referee and then taking a Stinkface from the American Rikishi. Suffice it to say, we're Team Test around these parts. But there are so many other things we do talk about, including the in-ring debut of Batista (on the same night as Cena!) the last days of The Bikertaker's Undisputed title reign, Edge coming back for revenge on Chris Jericho, the unfortunate lack of wokeness of 2002 WWE. If you're ready to travel with us back to a time when John Cena didn't wear jorts, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/27/02 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"

There would have been very little reason to revisit this episode of "WWE SmackDown" if it wasn't for this segment — Kurt Angle emerging down the ramp donning a headguard and very convincing toupe, coming out as bald in the ring before calling out someone he has never wrestled before to prove their worth. It took a few more jibes from Angle, but sure enough, John Cena emerged for his debut. And we all know what has happened in the decades since. 

This Cena is a fresh-faced newcomer, donning bright and short wrestling trunks and boots, and retrospectively stripped of all things you'd come to know as John Cena in the years following. He was hardly special on superficial level, as has been chronicled in anecdotes about almost being released after the debut buzz fizzled out. But watching back, albeit with the benefit of hindsight, this was a great introduction for Cena. 

Working opposite legitimately one of the best workers to have stepped through the ropes, there was very little chance that Cena could have had a terrible showing in the five minute contest. That said, it very easily could have been a squash match leading to Angle's eventual win. Instead, Cena got the majority of the offense in and Angle walked out of the match having barely survived his debutant challenger. This match actually carried something that many in contemporary wrestling lack, and that was a sense of urgency and emphasis on the idea that it only took three seconds to win – as opposed to the moves used to get to that point. 

Cena was going for pin attempts two, three times in a row, he wanted to pin Angle and it was carried across in what he did. He wasn't setting up for grandiose moves designed for shock and awe, he was slamming Angle to the canvas, rolling him up on his shoulders, and never really gave Angle a chance to breathe in the contest. Angle tried for his signatures, but Cena was just a fly he could not catch in the ring. But that worked the other way when all was said and done, and ultimately the veteran kept his opponent down for the three-count and survived the night. 

This was an Angle coming off of submitting Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring, so to have him essentially endure what the newcomer had set Cena in good stead for the future. That immediate future was rocky, but now we know how things have gone, it's fair to say that this is a pivotal moment in WWE history. And it holds up as a fun match too.

Written by Max Everett

I feel like I am not the first person to write about what a mistake the Billy & Chuck team was. Nor am I the first person to say that WWE simply doesn't give a flying f*** about the tag team division. So instead, I will practise a bit of intersectionality and discuss where these two heinous issues intersect.

There have been a lot of gay-coded teams in WWE who got over through sheer force of personality. Where teams like MxM and Breezeango never sniffed anything more than a midcard showcase, somehow the offensive vaudeville act of Billy and Chuck (and their hairdresser Rico) had two, yes, two World Tag Team Championship reigns.

Now, the tag team title division in 2002 was admittedly a mess, with teams like Spike Dudley & Tazz, Hulk Hogan & Edge, and Rikishi & Rico all managing to carry the gold. By the end of the year, the newly minted WWE Tag Team Championships would put a shot of adrenaline into the WWE tag scene, the June 27, 2002, "SmackDown" took place in what can only be called "the doldrums." It's a sad state of affairs that I'm sitting here arguing "Why not give Hardcore Holly and Val Venis a run?" but that is what summer of 2002 WWE will do to a motherf****er.

Billy Gunn is one of the most decorated tag team competitors in WWE history, and Chuck Palumbo has always been something of a "what could've been." Wrestlers from WCW got buried the way we in the Jewish faith do: just two little nails in the coffin lid. Palumbo already had one nail coming in as a WCW guy, and this wildly ill-advised tag team had to be the second, and final nail.

Written by Ross Berman

2002 is one of the most unique years in the history of WWE as the transition from both the end of the Attitude Era and the WWF name into the Ruthless Aggression era and the WWE name led to a lot of change. A nostalgia run for Hulk Hogan, a brand split where the original rosters got turned and twisted within a few weeks, and a top guy in The Undertaker who didn't really have a space at the top of the card. 

He was a heel as the WWE Undisputed Champion, but the "Big Evil" gimmick was getting over with the fans and it caused people to start cheering "The Deadman" at this point in time. However, the company decided to march on with him as a heel that led to some rather confusing television.

A great example was the promo segment he had with Kurt Angle in the middle of this show. We'd already seen both men on the show previously, with Angle wrestling John Cena in the opening contest while The Undertaker shook Cena's hand backstage, a very babyface thing to do for a heel champion. Taker runs down The Rock for getting involved in the main event of the King of the Ring main event a few days earlier, claiming that when "The Great One" returns to WWE, he will beat him down to within an inch of his life. "The Deadman" also takes the time to bad mouth Jeff Hardy as their iconic Ladder match for the WWE Undisputed Championship would take place on the next episode of "WWE Raw," once again, heeling it up big time.

Then the Olympic Gold Medalist comes out and demands that Taker accepts his challenge for a title match on the following week's episode of "WWE SmackDown" if he gets past Hardy, which in a vacuum means that we are witnessing a heel challenger and a heel champion cutting promos on each other. You need faces and heels in wrestling otherwise the fundamental design of the business just falls apart, and in this segment, no one knew who to cheer for. Do you cheer for Angle because he's Kurt Angle and he rocks (especially in 2002)? Or do you cheer for The Undertaker?

Granted, Taker would turn face just a few weeks later and would remain a face up until he retired 18 years later, but it was evident that WWE had ran out of babyfaces at this time and were simply waiting for The Rock to come back to fill that void. Context might be needed from previous episodes to give this promo some much needed weight, because on its own, it's a mess.

Written by Sam Palmer

While it never hit the dizzying heights of the WCW cruiserweight division, which is still celebrated as one of the greatest group of wrestlers to ever appear on American television, the WWE cruiserweight division began to take shape in 2002 following the invasion angle. Everyone wanted to see the big stars like Sting, Goldberg, and the New World Order, and even though those names would eventually make appearances, one could argue that the final members of the WCW cruiserweight division were the biggest winners coming over to WWE as they got another chance to strut their stuff.

Three of the four men involved in this small tag team match were part of WCW in its dying days, but hadn't lost a step and were always an entertaining part of "WWE SmackDown" no matter who was featured. Here we have The Hurricane, formerly known as Shane Helms, portraying the most beloved version of himself as he got one of the biggest pops of the night. He teamed up with Billy Kidman, who did look a little strange wrestling in trunks rather than jorts but you get used to it very quickly. They were taking on the WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble, who with the help of Nidia had dethroned The Hurricane at King of the Ring for the title, and the man with one of the coolest nicknames in wrestling history, "The Japanese Buzzsaw" Tajiri.

To say this match doesn't overstay its welcome would be a massive understatement as it lasts just over four minutes, but so much is packed into it. Tajiri didn't have the same mean streak as he did in ECW less than two years earlier, but even though you know all of his trademark moves, they look so natural that you genuinely don't see the Tarantula or the Handspring Back Elbow coming. Noble was coming into his own as a character along with Nidia, who both worked very well with Tajiri by their side. Noble's recent feud with The Hurricane brought a sense of aggression out of the former champion that would be lost when he got transferred to "WWE Raw" a few weeks later, and while he didn't have too much shine in this match, Kidman's Shooting Star Press was what sealed the deal for his team, earning a shot at Noble's title in the process.

It's not a five-star match by any stretch of the imagination, but it is so much fun to look back on a division that would grow even stronger when Paul Heyman took over the creative direction of the show less than a month later. A great example of television wrestling done right.

Written by Sam Palmer

It will shock you to read this, but WWE in 2002 was not the most enlightened promotion in the world when it comes to gender. Still, even in that context it's pretty shocking to remember what the company had for women to do at the time, especially on a show like "SmackDown." If this episode was any indication, you could either be Nidia — a valet who "gets" to participate in exceptionally weird backstage segments in which Jamie Noble decides to offer his girlfriend to his tag partner as an incentive for winning — or you could be Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler, or Dawn Marie, which means you get to come out on stage in lingerie and promote something called "WWE Divas Undressed." Not even the most male parts of my psyche were into the latter, for the simple reason that I am no longer 12.

Like, I wasn't expecting a women's match. I wasn't even expecting a women's segment. I understood the period of time I was in. But man, the entirety of the "women's division" represented here being a lingerie parade and the latest chapter in the ongoing "Tajiri is horny" storyline somehow failed to clear the extremely low bar I came in with. This was actually a pretty fun episode of "SmackDown" apart from the blatant misogyny, to the extent that I found myself wishing they just wouldn't bring the women out at all so I wouldn't have to think about it (the exact opposite of how I feel about wrestling today, in which I basically only care when women are on-screen).

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Not only did this "SmackDown" present fans with the debut of John Cena, it also features Batista's first main roster match. The future WWE Hall of Famer was introduced the month before as Deacon Batista, the heater for Reverend D-Von. Just prior to the main event, Batista and D-Von wrestle a tag match against Farooq (Ron Simmons) and none other than Randy Orton, who had made his own debut just two months before.

The match is short and sweet, with the one and only goal of putting Batista over as a monster. It moves at a wicked pace and lasts only three minutes, ending with Batista planting his future Evolution stablemate Orton onto the mat with a behemoth Spine Buster, in perhaps the most blatant example of "Ruthless Aggression" of the night.

Later on, at the episode's end, Edge makes an appearance to get some revenge on Chris Jericho, with the show going off the air as Hulk Hogan celebrates in the ring with the younger star. Though Edge wasn't a new addition to the company, this period also marked his ascension to the top of the singles division, serving as yet another way this show was pushing the company forward.

Featuring appearances from WWE's biggest stars, like Hogan and The Undertaker, combined with showcasing the wrestlers set to take over the industry in the years to come, this episode of "SmackDown" succeeded in setting the stage for a new era. There would be plenty of ups and downs to come, but looking at this show in a vacuum, it would have been easy to feel optimistic about where the product was headed as wrestlers like Hogan and Undertaker began the elongated process of passing the torch.

Written by Nick Miller