2002's "SmackDown Six" period was considered the apex of Paul Heyman's WWE booking tenure as the former ECW head honcho pushed all his favourite wrestlers whilst using Al Wilson's sex drive as a distraction piece for Vince McMahon.
With Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio otherwise engaged on the show and Edge out injured though, the spots in one final supercard showdown featuring the crew fell to Team Angle and Rhyno. In just 8:48, the replacement sextuplet brought the goods.
Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were gifts to the midcard in early 2003 and slid effortlessly into the high impact action audiences had been permitted to expect from Los Guerreros and Chris Benoit at the time. 'The Crippler' himself was a stand-by main eventer ahead of the show - he'd get his moment next year but was one of the multiple moving pieces in a rapid-fire clash won by the newbies to help spins the Champions off into the feud that would eventually make Eddie Guerrero the next great babyface hope.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
