WWF/E SmackDown! - May 30, 2002

### Rico/Rikishi d. AGD to retain the tag titles.
* OK, I like Rikshi and I sorta dig Chuck Palumbo but this angle needs to be sent to the glue factory, stat. Get the IC Title on Smackdown and the Tag Titles on RAW also.
* "Faggot" chants. Ouch.
* Pretty much a nothing match and an excuse to further this pointless storyline so let's continue.

### Seems like they're pairing Maven with Torrie. OK, that's cool. Though I wouldn't be using Yoshihiro here as a grumpy peeping tom. He should kicked a fifty-yarder with Maven's head right here.

### Christian d. Maven
* Thumbs up to Christian. Maven broke his leg sliding under him and Christian (as well as the editing crew) tried their best to compensate and hide Maven's injury.
* Thumbs WAY up to Maven. He may be green and has yet to go to OVW (IIRC) - but he had the courage to continue in that match after damaging his leg. Hopefully, he won't be out too long b/c the WWF/E can't afford more injuries. More on that later.

### Welcome Vince McMahon's newest member of his filthy harem, Dawn Marie. Enough Vince. Oh... and he convinces that his match against Faarooq is a GOOD thing. (I miss DDP). Bah - well, Kudos to Vince for explaining and making sense of the Crippler being on RAW.

### "Y2J" Chris Jericho (the man who unified the WWF and WCW World Titles) d. Faarooq (the first black WCW World Champion). Was Faarooq the first black World Champ ever? I think he was but I'm not totally sure.
* This was a pretty cool match with Jericho going over cleanly (for a heel).
* Another hack job by the editing crew b/c Jericho was not getting booed and Faarooq was. I guess that's why Faarooq started being the heel of the match to appease the she... sorry, I mean the CROWD. Don't want anymore scoldings and/or lectures on me not having a grasp on the English language again. :)
* Ron Simmons' Spinebuster Slam is just so awesome. But I wish he would connect with the Dominator every once in a while.

### Stoneface confesses to Reverend D-Von. I guess that was done to turn the hometown crowd against him. And Stoneface showed EMOTION~! I'm not up on my Canadian currency since I've not been there in 5 years (except that their dollar is only about 65 cents to us Americans). So you'll have to pardon my ignorance but what exactly is a "loonie"? I heard that's the coin he dropped in the collection box.

### Loyd with Hogan. I guess you can mark in Hogan v. Vince at KOTR. For once, Hogan might be going in the ring with someone even older than himself. And the attack from Angle to justify him coming out later which I didn't really approve of.

### UT d. Randy Orton to retain the Unified World Title.
* OK - why did UT cute a Rock-like babyface promo there? I don't get that at all. Cole says UT is sucking up but he can make accusations like that since he's a heel I guess.
* This was surprisingly very good. UT is bumping like crazy for Orton. Even gets BACK BODY DROPPED. I don't think I've EVER seen Taker get the back bodydrop before. Randy Orton using HEEL TACTICS (the begging off) = AWESOME.
* Orton is using Elix Skipper's move as his finisher. That just makes me miss Prime Time even more.
* Pencil in HHH v. UT for the Unified World Title at KOTR too. HHH looks cool in white, BTW. He should switch to that color for his trunks and maybe his boots too.

### Yoshihiro Tajiri/Chavo Guerrero d. Hurricane/Billy Kidman.
* I like that new Cruiserweight belt. I hope they put it on highspots or wwfbelts soon so I can have a closer look.
* Billy Kidman, put your clothes back on. And while you're doing it - tell Albert to do the same. Sorry - but Kidman should go back to the wife beater T-shirt and the jeans again.
* Great match. Kidman's shooting star off the ropes (sans turnbuckle) was awesome. Even got a "Holy Shit" chant. :)
* The Hurri-Stalker next Hurri-Week. I heard it might be Jamie Knoble but we'll see.

### Test (FINALLY) d. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley
* Three years too late, IMO, but it's great to see regardless. HHH has been jobbing a bit much lately.
* Test was bumping like a wildman here also. Also, HHH selling Test's Avalanche Clothesline with the Walking Flair Flop = GOLD.
* Another Stoneface appearance. The IC Belt needs to be on both shows - if nothing else - I'd SO love to see an RVD-Storm series right now.
* Out comes UT and this has to be one of the more BORING beatdowns I've seen. Aside from HHH selling the chairshots to the back like they split his spine in two - it ws really too lagging and dragging. The crowd didn't seem to care much either.
* Test seems to have problems with finishers. IMO, I think he should use the Savage Elbow as a setup to the Whitby Whiplash (© BrewGuy).

### Edge and Val are brothers-in-law, right? Cole: "The cage will tear flesh and skin at the very touch." Sigh. Where's Joey?

### CONFIDENTIAL = Shawn Michaels: "The Heartbreak Kid is dead and gone." :( Hopefully I won't miss this one since they'll have a package on Davey Boy for sure.

### Edge (the 2001 King) d. Kurt Angle (the 2000 King).
* There's Jim Neidhart. And there's Stu who is looking very UNDEAD and zombie-like. Ewww.
* Awesome match - but not as good as the IC Ladder Match (sans idiot). I do believe this is the first time Edge has wore the crimson mask. I don't recall him blading ever before.
* Edge's Backdrop Supersuplex on Angle = SICK. Especially the way Angle landed. When I saw that I thought - "No Moonsault off the Cage Today."
* I'm not sure this feud is really over b/c Edge still hasn't gotten that wig off yet. Angle is obviously keeping his head clean shaved (which is not all that easy to upkeep, BTW).
* It was established why earlier but I wasn't too pleased with Hogan coming down and subsequently hoarding Edge's spotlight like that. He wins a big match against his hated 1arch-rival and Ol' Ketchup and Mustard comes down to steal Edge's thunder. NOT cool.
* Apparently Edge banged up his shoulder here. It's bad enough when you get injured when getting injured during an elevation is worse. BTW, I miss Kane also. :(

I must say this has been a MUCH IMPROVED week of WWF/E programming. It seems they're taking steps in the right direction to do what this roster split is supposed to do - get new people some airtime. Though they REALLY need to get their #2 title as well as the (WORLD) Tag Team Titles on both shows.

Let's hope RAW makes it 3 in a row.