John
03-20-2009, 08:08 AM
Many thoughts come to my mind when I think of this Friday night’s 500th episode celebration of SmackDown. Some fans may not remember that yours truly was the first play-by-play voice of SmackDown when it debuted on Thursday nights on the UPN television network on Aug. 26, 1999 in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.
I can remember several facets of that somewhat chaotic and stressful TV taping day which was, to be exact, Aug. 24, 1999. Apparently the term “network TV” had many on edge, even though when the show came on the air it was going to be business as usual as far as I was concerned.
After the Owen Hart tragedy, Kemper has never been one of my favorite places to work, but let me make one thing perfectly clear about that statement. It has nothing to do with the fans of K.C. who have been loyal fans of the genre since the Central States Wrestling days of yesteryear.
We produced a live Raw as usual the night prior to the first SmackDown taping, and everyone would have to gear up to go again 24 hours later. That’s not a new development nowadays, but it was back in ’99. With all my administrative duties as Vice President of Talent Relations and being the voice of Monday Night Raw, I was somewhat concerned how I was going to hold up with the addition of another project to do every week. Luckily for me, Michael Cole was prepared and ready to go as the voice of SmackDown and he started his long and admirable tenure on the network broadcast with show No. 2.
The first SmackDown featured a main event consisting of The Rock challenging the new WWE Champion, Triple H. HBK had returned to WWE and had been named “Commissioner” and named himself as the special referee for that first SmackDown main event. For the record, Referee/Commissioner HBK delivered some “Sweet Chin Music” to Rock as The Great One was about to “layeth the SmackDown” on Triple H with a “vintage” (Sorry, Michael Cole, but I couldn’t resist, Pal) “Peoples Elbow.” Triple H then pedigreed the future movie star at 9:43 of the main event to retain the WWE Title.
Do you remember who the WWE Tag Team Champions were at that time? Stay tuned for the answer.
This program also featured a skirmish between ring announcer Tony Chimel and former ring announcer Howard Finkel. Thanks to a manipulative Chris Jericho, this then lead to an altercation between The Fink and Ken Shamrock that allegedly saw the World’s Most Dangerous Ring Announcer “soil himself.” By the way for you trivia buffs, Fink came to the ring that night to confront Sir Anthony Chimel using the music of Ultimate Warrior.
The Hall of Fame duo of Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco also got in on the action that night, which was always a treat for me to see. Plus, Mankind battled Shane McMahon on the first SmackDown, which saw Shane upset the Mandible Claw expert thanks to his future brother-in-law Triple H’s interference.
I can remember several facets of that somewhat chaotic and stressful TV taping day which was, to be exact, Aug. 24, 1999. Apparently the term “network TV” had many on edge, even though when the show came on the air it was going to be business as usual as far as I was concerned.
After the Owen Hart tragedy, Kemper has never been one of my favorite places to work, but let me make one thing perfectly clear about that statement. It has nothing to do with the fans of K.C. who have been loyal fans of the genre since the Central States Wrestling days of yesteryear.
We produced a live Raw as usual the night prior to the first SmackDown taping, and everyone would have to gear up to go again 24 hours later. That’s not a new development nowadays, but it was back in ’99. With all my administrative duties as Vice President of Talent Relations and being the voice of Monday Night Raw, I was somewhat concerned how I was going to hold up with the addition of another project to do every week. Luckily for me, Michael Cole was prepared and ready to go as the voice of SmackDown and he started his long and admirable tenure on the network broadcast with show No. 2.
The first SmackDown featured a main event consisting of The Rock challenging the new WWE Champion, Triple H. HBK had returned to WWE and had been named “Commissioner” and named himself as the special referee for that first SmackDown main event. For the record, Referee/Commissioner HBK delivered some “Sweet Chin Music” to Rock as The Great One was about to “layeth the SmackDown” on Triple H with a “vintage” (Sorry, Michael Cole, but I couldn’t resist, Pal) “Peoples Elbow.” Triple H then pedigreed the future movie star at 9:43 of the main event to retain the WWE Title.
Do you remember who the WWE Tag Team Champions were at that time? Stay tuned for the answer.
This program also featured a skirmish between ring announcer Tony Chimel and former ring announcer Howard Finkel. Thanks to a manipulative Chris Jericho, this then lead to an altercation between The Fink and Ken Shamrock that allegedly saw the World’s Most Dangerous Ring Announcer “soil himself.” By the way for you trivia buffs, Fink came to the ring that night to confront Sir Anthony Chimel using the music of Ultimate Warrior.
The Hall of Fame duo of Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco also got in on the action that night, which was always a treat for me to see. Plus, Mankind battled Shane McMahon on the first SmackDown, which saw Shane upset the Mandible Claw expert thanks to his future brother-in-law Triple H’s interference.