10 Greatest Matches From WWE's SmackDown Six
It was a great era for WWE's Blue Brand - which matches set the world alight?
In 2002, a little backstage finagling left Paul Heyman with exactly the roster he wanted. As the booker for SmackDown, he had a vision, and was given the creative space to set up one of the great runs of the era. Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker battled for the big belt, but stealing focus on a weekly basis were the SmackDown six.
Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Rey Mysterio, and Chavo Guerrero. All six had put on great shows before and would do so for years to come, but under the auspices of Paul Heyman’s SmackDown, they raised their game immeasurably. Some kept up the momentum they’d been building prior, some used this as a launching pad. All of them would put on career best performances.
This list focuses primarily on matches taking place during Heyman’s SmackDown years, but the writers would find ways to pair off these talents even after the band had been broken up. Three of these stars are in the Hall of Fame already, with at least one likely to follow (and one who’ll never be inducted, for obvious reasons) - WWE knew they were onto a winner here.
10. Rey Mysterio Vs. Chavo Guerrero (SmackDown 2007)
Rey worked wonders with Eddie Guerrero, but their best matches came in WCW. While he’s less remembered for his feud with then-heel Chavo, this I Quit match is an underrated encounter, and shows Chavo especially at his brutal best.
In an interesting bit of trivia, Rey and Chavo are the only WWE wrestlers to have locked up in two I Quit matches, and they make the most of the stipulation here. The story is that Chavo wants to ruin Rey’s upcoming world title shot by going after his recently repaired knee, but Rey ends up turning the tables. With Chavo hanging upside down in the corner, Rey goes after his former friend’s leg, bashing it wish a chair until Chavo yells the necessary words. Given the amount of kids the cameras pick out in the crowd, this is a violent encounter, with stiff head shots and a great spot in which the two duel with chairs.
This was the beginning of the end for Chavo as an upper midcarder, but as we’ll see, he is a cruelly underrated member of the SmackDown six, capable of adding a great deal to the roster, even if he was less flashy and obviously gifted than his contemporaries.