[2002-10-03-WWE-Smackdown] Kurt Angle vs Edge

[ohtani's jacket]

Say what you will about Edge, but he followed up on that Eddie No DQ match with this lengthy bout against Angle. That's no mean feat. Edge vs. Angle seems like a wrestling nightmare, but I'm generally pro-Angle, and I can imagine this match up being far worse in say 2006 or 7. Edge is banged up from the No DQ match and still hurting. He tries slowing down the match and working over Angle's arm. Angle is portrayed as the uber-dominant, superior wrestler, so it's an interesting dynamic. You know it's not going to last and that Angle will start popping off suplexes, but considering the length of the match it's a solid start. They work their way through some nice midrange stuff, and then we get to the problem with the match. For some inexplicable reason, Chioda gets knocked out, Mike Sparks comes in, he counts a pinfall on Edge, Chioda counts a pinfall on Angle, and then Chioda gets pissed at Sparks and lays him out with a right hand. It's a pretty good punch coming from a ref, but it makes zero sense and the commentators quickly drop it as a talking point. Chioda orders the match to continue, but the crowd has had the wind taken out of its sails. It takes a while for the workers to recover the heat. They get there eventually, but what was the point of the double pin? Anything can happen on Smackdown? Benoit ends up getting involved and it's all very predictable, however Smackdown continues to deliver PPV quality matches on a weekly basis, which is nothing to sneeze at.