The Shimmy 4.09.07: Looking Back: Interpromotional Matches (Part One)

Posted by Andy Clark on 04.09.2007

In celebration of the five year anniversary of the Brand Extension, The Shimmy takes a look back at the WWE's Interpromotional Matches. Plus, Matt Adamson's 500 Good Words and a special apology!

Welcome everyone to Monday Morning Shimmy! I am your host Andrew Kennedy McClark. We have a great line up in store for you today, including the first part of our two part series looking back at Interpromotional Matches caused by the Brand Extension, as well as a very special apology. This column is only partially based on real events (those by WWE of course) and any relations or likeness to any persons or columns (say, I dunno, Matt Sforcina's Evolution Schematic) living or dead is purely coincidental. Copying of this column without the written consent of Andy Clark™ or 411 LLC is strictly forbidden and makes you liable for a $5000 fine and/or 2 years in jail. Tickets will be doubled in work zones and speeding is strictly monitored by aircraft. Line jumping is cause for removal from the park. While we may film you, you cannot film us. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy this week's column.

Now, with the legal disclaimers out of the way let's get down to the meat and potatoes of the column. This April will mark the fifth anniversary of WWE's Brand Extension which started back in 2002 (yes, I did the match for you, go me!). While the Brand Extension itself is a controversial subject amongst the IWC, I'm not here to argue its merits (that'll be for next week). Instead I am here to look at the Interpromotional Matches that have taken place as a result of the Brand Extension. This week will focus on the time period from 2002--2005 until where Interpromotional Matches were few and far between Next week we'll take a look at the topsy turvyness of 2005 which saw the rise of gang warfare between Raw and SmackDown. The following week will see the rise of ECW as the third brand. For now, however, we'll only be dealing with Team Red and Team Blue.

For the first few years of the Brand Extension Interpromotional Matches were pretty much a rarity despite them being a very easy booking crutch. In a way the temptation of doing Interpromotional Matches outright was kept at bay by the fact that the (then) Undisputed WWE Champion would appear on both shows until they actually got the right rosters together. Still, it was hard for the booking to let go for a bit. Look no further than the first PPV after the draft, Backlash 2002. Not only did they have the reunion of the APA (who acted like it had been years since they'd seen each other despite it only being a few weeks) they had a member of each roster interfere in the Triple H-Hulk Hogan main event. One month later at Judgment Day Trish Stratus (seconded by Bubba Ray Dudley) defended her Women's Championship against SmackDown's Stacy Kiebler. Care to guess who was in the corner of Stacy? Yep, SmackDown's Reverend D-Von (Dudley) and his muscle-bound Deacon, Batista.

The first official Interpromotional Match of the Brand Extension Era, however, occurred that the UK-only PPV Insurrextion. You see, Undertaker had been the Raw superstar that interfered in Triple H's title match at Backlash and it had not been to the benefit of the Game. In order to get revenge on the Deadman, and to "get away from his father-in-law" Triple H signed on to take part in the Raw exclusive event. Triple H would get his revenge from Backlash by beating Undertaker (despite what Taker would have you believe). The opening shot had been fired and SmackDown received the first win.

Oddly enough, it would be The Game's father-in-law that would represent the blue brand next. Fed up with the way that Ric Flair was running Raw into the ground as Co-Owner of WWE, including letting Stone Cold Steve Austin walk out on the company, Vince McMahon showed up on Raw to challenge Flair to a No DQ Match for 100% control of the company. Always the proud competitor Flair accepted the match and seemed to have things under control…until Brock Lesnar made his way to the ring and delivered the F5 to the 16-time champion. Three seconds later and McMahon had full ownership of the company and SmackDown would own yet another win over Raw.

For the first time in its history the King of the Ring tournament would find itself in the midst of the Brand Extension turf war. While the opening rounds of the tournament were contested between members of the same brand the Semi-Finals pitted men from opposing brand against one another. The first Semi-Final would be a classic match between Raw's Rob Van Dam and SmackDown's Chris Jericho. Ultimately RVD would walk away with the duke and a shot in the finals. The second Semi-Final was a rare heel vs. heel match as Brock Lesnar took on SmackDown's Test. At this point Brock was still undefeated and Test was not going to be the one to stop that. Brock would defeat the Un-American and make it an all Raw final. Brock would go on to win the King of the Ring but more importantly Raw had tied things up with SmackDown in the all-time record.

The next Interpromotional Matches would occur due to certain superstars fulfilling their commitments on the SmackDown only Global Warning Tour. Mr. McMahon had opened up the contracts of all his competitors allowing them to jump to another brand if they so chose. A few of the individuals that went from SmackDown to Raw were the Un-Americans, Test and the World Tag Team Champions Lance Storm and Christian. They had already been booked for the SmackDown show, however, so they competed as scheduled. Test would come up short against Kurt Angle and Storm & Christian would successfully defend their titles against Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman. There would still be one more Interpromotional Match on this night, though. Undisputed Champion The Rock would defend his title against Raw's Triple H and SmackDown's Brock Lesnar in a Triple Threat Match. The Rock managed to hold off both men and retain his title, being the first Interpromotional win that didn't benefit either Raw or SmackDown.

Another superstar that decided to switch brands was Raw superstar Chris Benoit, who along with friend Eddie Guerrero would move back to SmackDown. However Eddie wouldn't be the only one coming with Benoit. So too would the Intercontinental Championship that he had just won from Rob Van Dam. It would seem that the IC Title would be lost to SmackDown but due to some good undercover work by Stacy Kiebler RVD retained his rematch clause. RVD would take advantage of his one last opportunity at the title by winning it back for himself and Raw by defeating Chris Benoit at SummerSlam.

By this point the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon were literally at one another's throats. They wanted to make sure that the other did not succeed at making their brand the best in WWE. Bischoff took things to a whole new level when he sabotaged the biggest publicity stunt SmackDown had, the Billy & Chuck commitment ceremony. Not only did we learn that neither Billy Gunn or Chuck Palumbo were gay and that the entire commitment ceremony was only a means for their stylist Rico to become a superstar but we learned that the "priest" was actually Bischoff in disguise. Rico would defect to Raw and Billy & Chuck would be demolished by Bischoff's wrecking crew 3 Minute Warning. The trio of Billy, Chuck, and Stephanie would exact revenge on Raw by attacking Eric Bischoff so badly that we demanded an "Intercontinental" Match between the two teams for Unforgiven. Not only would brand pride be on the line but Bischoff promised to join Stephanie McMahon's "Kiss My Ass" club should his team lose. [Thanks to 411's own Nick Marisco for clearing up my memory on that one] If Billy & Chuck lost, though, Stephanie would have to participate in some HLA…hot lesbian action.

To the delight of everyone 3MW came away with the victory over Billy & Chuck at the PPV. To the disgust of everyone Bischoff sent back the two hot lesbians he had picked out for Stephanie and replaced them with a woman that looked suspiciously like Rikishi (a member of the SmackDown roster) in drag. Turns out, it was Rikishi in drag and instead of seeing Stephanie McMahon make out with two hot chicks we saw Eric Bischoff's face shoved up the big Samoan's dimpled behind.

Perhaps in as payback for having a SmackDown superstar appear on the Raw UK-only PPV in the spring the next Interpromotional Match would see a Raw superstar, Booker T, compete on a SmackDown UK-only PPV, Rebellion. The 5-time WCW Champion made short work of Matt Hardy, V.1.

A few weeks later WWE would have a special Tuesday show to promote the upcoming Survivor Series PPV, Super Tuesday. The show would feature one match from Raw, one match from SmackDown, and one Interpromotional Match. The Interpromotional Match would be a Bikini Contest between Raw's Trish Stratus and SmackDown's Torrie Wilson. Needless to say Trish came out the winning end of that one.

2003 would bring with it the biggest battle between Raw and SmackDown to that time: the Royal Rumble. 15 superstars from Raw and 15 superstars from SmackDown would compete to determine the challenger for "their brand's" champion at WrestleMania XIX. Representing Raw were: Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Christopher Nowinski, Christian, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy, Rosey, Test, Jamal (today's Umaga), Kane, Booker T, Maven, Goldust, and Batista. From SmackDown: Rey Mysterio, Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Tajiri, Bill DeMott, Bull Buchanan, Matt Hardy, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Charlie Haas, Rikishi, Shelton Benjamin, A-Train, Brock Lesnar, and Undertaker. The Final Four would come down to Undertaker and Brock Lesnar from SmackDown and Batista and Kane from Raw. Undertaker would doublecross his brother and Kane would be the first of the four eliminated. Batista would be next, leaving it an all SmackDown final. Batista's distraction would allow Brock Lesnar the opportunity to dump Taker, but SmackDown won either way.

Unlike the WrestleManias that would follow it, WrestleMania XIX was light on Interpromotional Matches. In fact, the only Interpromotional Match on the card was a "Pillowfight" between the two Miller Lite Catfight Girls "Great Taste" Kitana Baker and "Less Filling" Tanya Ballinger which would turn into a Fatal Four-Way as Raw's Stacy Kiebler and SmackDown's Torrie Wilson got involved. In the end, however, it was Jonathan Coachman that ended up "losing" as he was pants and counted down by the ladies.

The only other Interpromotional Match of 2003 took place at the Spike TV Video Game Awards in December. It was scheduled to have been Raw's Chris Jericho vs. SmackDown's Rey Mysterio. The two men did in fact fight for a bit, but somehow they ended up being replaced by Trish Stratus and Victoria, both Divas from Raw. Trish ended up pinning Victoria in what I can only imagine was a Mixed Tag Match.

With the dawning of 2004 (The Year of Andy for those scoring at home) it came time for yet another Royal Rumble. This year the Raw superstars were Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Scott Steiner, Gregory Helms (still as The Hurricane), Booker T, Kane, Spike Dudley, Rene Dupree, Rico, Mick Foley (subbing for Test), Christian, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, and Goldberg. SmackDown's representatives were Chris Benoit, Tajiri, JBL, Rhyno, Matt Morgan, Rikishi, A-Train, Shelton Benjamin, Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/ Lamont), Kurt Angle, Little Guido Maritato, Big Show, Charlie Haas, John Cena, and Billy Gunn. After enter at No. 1 Chris Benoit would go on to win the match, last eliminating fellow SmackDown superstar Big Show. Unlike Brock Lesnar a year earlier, however, Benoit jumped ship to Raw to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Triple H instead of risking being screwed by SmackDown GM Paul Heyman yet again.

WrestleMania saw the debut of the multi-Interpromotional Match formula that we still see to this day (even in non-Big Four PPVs nowadays). First was a Playboy Evening Gown Match between Sable & Torrie Wilson (SmackDown divas and Playboy covergirls) vs. Stacy Kiebler & Miss Jackie (Raw divas and people I think we'd have rather seen in Playboy). Since there was no title on the line and the covergirls weren't heels of course they got to go over.

The next Interpromotional Match is one of the best car wreck matches of all time. Brock Lesnar, representing SmackDown vs. Goldberg, representing Raw. This was a battle of two one-time rookie monsters that would obliterate just about anyone. Brock had cost Goldberg the Royal Rumble and Goldberg had cost Brock the WWE Title. Now it was time to settle the score. Of course this would be both men's final match with the company and the merciless New York crowd made sure they both went out in a blaze of…well, something. The crowd booed the two men out of the building and out of the company, only cheering guest referee, and Raw Sherriff, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Goldberg was the man that actually won the match, but the true winner was Austin who got to deliver the Stone Cold Stunner to both men.

The semi-main event of the evening featured Raw's Kane facing off with his half-brother, SmackDown's Undertaker. Kane had buried his half-brother alive at Survivor Series in November and now he was returning to WWE with a vengeance. Not only was he returning to WWE but he was returning to his roots and the Deadman. No longer the American Bad Ass, Undertaker arrived with blackness, fog, druids, and Paul Bearer. Following these headgames it is no wonder that he emerged victorious.

Two weeks later WWE held the Draft Lottery, switching certain superstars from each brand. One of the superstars that would be switching brands was La Resistance member Rene Dupree. Dupree would have to leave his fellow partners Sylvain and Rob Conway on Raw and he would become a member of the SmackDown roster. Before having his first match on his new show, however, he was booked a match with Chris Jericho as a going away present. Dupree would not be leaving Raw on a positive note.

This match was the last Interpromotional Match of 2004. There would be more in 2005. Many more. And this time, it was war.

An Apology To…WrestleMania 23

Yes, you read that right. I would like to apologize to WrestleMania 23. Last week I wrote the column mere moments after WrestleMania went off the air. At the time I was a bit disappointed in the show and I was a bit hard on it as I reviewed it. Over the past week I've rewatched the show and have really come to enjoy it. The match I was probably the hardest on last week was the Benoit-MVP match. Upon further review it really was a good match, although I certainly wouldn't call it match of the night. I still feel that the finish was absolutely horrible and I don't really like them jobbing out MVP, but the match itself was fine.

The other match that I have gained an appreciation for is the Cena-Michaels main event. I think my expectations for those two men were a bit misguided. When I reviewed the match last week I was thinking that they should have had a more fast paced match throughout and I let that cloud my judgment of what they were able to accomplish. The match was still pretty damn good even when they didn't go the way I thought they should have. I still think that Batista-Undertaker probably should have went on last but Cena-Michaels isn't anything to sneeze at. So there you have it. Sorry, WrestleMania. It hurt to be so mean last week and I'm glad I have the opportunity to change my mind. Can we still be friends?

Andy! Andy! At Last You Have Some Feedback!

Jake Winter praises my WrestleMania review:

That was a perfect review Mr. Clark. Everything I would have wanted to say. I e-mail a fellow named Arnold over at 411wrestling who thought HBK /Cena was a 4 1/4 star match???
I especially disliked the leg work leading to nothing, and the no-sell comeback of Cena.
HBK really looked old. This was his last Wrestlemania main event for sure. I miss the old HBK but even his best fans have to admit his time has come and gone.

PS-loved that part about Shawn being pissed about jobbing

Hopefully you don't hate me after my change of heart, Jake! I do agree, I wouldn't have given Cena-HBK 4 ¼ stars, but I'm pretty crappy with star ratings anyhow. You know, I've watched the match four times now and you know what I've noticed? Shawn Michaels wasn't working over the leg that much. There are really three main moments in the match where he's taking on the leg, but it's really not that big a deal how Cena shook it off. Someone of the forums said it best, we've seen much worse no-sells. Hell, Shawn Michaels kipped up after Triple H's brilliant destruction of Michaels' back at SummerSlam 2002. It's all part of the story.

Dean Turner has an interesting idea:

Firstly great Column and i am also anticipating next years mania.

Secondly me and me brother had an interesting idea for this angle that is happening with Teddy Long and Crystal i think it is. Neway it would be pretty classic if T-LO was already married and his wife turned out to be Shelton's Mama. then you put the WGTT on smackdown to challenge Kendrick and London.

Thats all. looking forward to another column.

This is a really funny idea. I absolutely hated Mama Benjamin when she was around, but if there were a time where she might actually be funny, this could be it. Plus, who wouldn't want to see TWGTT vs. London & Kendrick?

Stephen gives a live report on the Mania crowd:

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It wasn't just tv. I was there live, and was shocked at how dead the crowd was. Crowd was hot for Batista/Taker and for Cena/HBK (lots of dueling chants, at least in my section), but very down on the rest. Relatively little heat for the MitB match, and NOTHING for the ECW match. Pretty good reaction for CM Punk and, to a lesser extent, Kennedy, but really, nothing outside of the two main events and the pop for Austin.

This is disappointing and reaffirming. It's disappointing to think that a town like Detroit would represent so poorly. It really hurt the show in my opinion. It's reaffirming to know that I wasn't wrong.

Fab Ric has a completely different take on things:

Andy, i think you may need your hearing checked. I was at wrestlemania, and the crowd was crazy. Since i didn't see it on tv obviously, so maybe the crowd was drowned out a little bit. But ford field has a roof, so there was nowhere for the sound to escape. We weren't only booing everything batista did, but we were also going nuts for everything 'taker did. And you can't expect the crowd to be hot for a shitty match like khali vs. kane, especially since we were so exhausted from the money in the bank match. It was also hard to get into the 2.5 minute long womens match, and no one cared about lashley-umage, we just wanted to see someone get shaved. There was constantly dueling let's go michaels and let's go cena chants the whole match. Not to mention the slow pace for the first 20 minutes of this match were very boring. And by the way, I'm one of the Cena haters but I think his entrance in the speeding car was completely cool.

It's funny how I can get two completely different stories from men that were there. I will say that the crowd was alive for Taker-Batista and during certain segments of the main event, so you're at least right there.

411's Justin Swift also has a live account:

I was In Detroit - I will say i was suprised at how the crowd sounded...like ...it got REALLY LOUD during Undertaker + Batista..in fact that was the LOUDEST part of the show, but at times i could hear parts of the stadium cheering and it seemed loud there..thats dissappointing that it came off poorly on tv...because the crowd was into almost all of the show! I was hoping for a crowd like Chicago, that made me enjoy the show more , being there, seeing the crowd so into the show at both events...and although i am a large fan of Cena's *He is entertaining on the mic* I liked the Mustang intro :) it was fun to watch

I also really like your card for WM 24, I hope it Happens!

Glad you enjoyed the show, dude. I think I'm leaning towards going to Orlando next year (although that could change by next week!) so I hope at least part of my card turns out too!

Nick Milks takes his town to task:

I was reading your recap/notes on WM 23 and, as someone who attended (and got advance tickets, no less), I wanted to comment on the crowd.

I've been to a few wrestling events in the Detroit area, but only a couple of WWF (it'll always be the WWF in my mind) shows. Months ago, my fiancee's family saw a Smackdown! house show and picked up
pamphlets to order pre-sale WM 23 tickets. I've been pumped up for the past few months since they came in the mail, and like you, I was horribly disappointed with the crowd. I know you were hoping that it was the result of the sound being carried straight up, but take it from me, most of the people were just dead. They did the typical pops
for big spots and entrances, but I was absolutely LIVID that nobody cared about Benoit/MVP and Originals/New Breed. Now, granted, neither match was stellar given the time contraints (by the way, I'd LOVE to find ANYone who can tell me the last WWF PPV that actually lasted
until 11 pm), but I believe that the workers can only give a dead crowd so much. Sure, they could have done better, but if you think the crowd doesn't care about your match, would you try that much harder? And as far as the ECW match goes, maybe it's just my bias, but as a
longtime ECW fan, I really wish WWF fans would give them more respect. Moreover, I wish Vince had never purchased them (or WCW), but that's another tangent for another day.

I will say that people in my section tried. Myself and those I was with cheered those we liked, booed those we didn't, and in general, gave heat where it was needed. The row of guys behind us provided a host of funny moments by way of shouting out one-liners, which we joined in, but will surely prove to go unheard. But during the matches, if nothing major was going on that particular moment, it was like someone died. I couldn't understand it. Even during the video packages, save for any WM 3 and/or Stone Cold references (another side note: I can't, nor will I ever, understand why people continue to cheer that wife-beating redneck piece of shit. We turned our backs during his entrance. Not that it mattered, but it pissed off some of those around us, which was funny), silence was the word of the day. I feel like there were a LOT of fairweather fans there, and those of us that have been hooked on wrestling for longer than we can recall were the only ones really into the card, even if the current match was lackluster. Oh, and my final side note: The placement of the TitanTron was HORRIBLE. Why wasn't the WM23 screen on top, and the video package screen on the bottom? Those of us who were sitting on the oppositeside of the entrance ramp could see maybe half of that screen.

All in all, I expected more from my hometown.

Very well said. While I'm not a huge fan of Austin I do enjoy having him around from time to time. I can certainly understand your point on him though. As for when a show went off at 11:00, I think the closest we've had in recent years was Royal Rumble 2005 which went to about 10:55 or so.

500 Good Words w/ Matt Adamson

Champion vs. Champion – Part 2

It is no secret that professional wrestling is a very controversial and confusing business. As I discussed last week, the NWA saw that and wanted to fix the problem in at least one aspect of the business, the World Championship. After Lou Thesz went on his national tour unifying all the world titles into one World Heavyweight Championship everything involving the title seemed a heck of a lot less confusing. There was one World Champion in professional wrestling but it wasn't long before the situation with the title became even more confusing than it ever had been before.

It was June 4th 1957, only about a year after the NWA thought it had taken care of any confusing surrounding who the World Champion was. Lou Thesz was facing Edouard Carpentier for the NWA title. Carpentier wins the match when Thesz is unable to continue due to injury. With this not being the plan of the NWA Board, they do not award the title to Carpentier. This however wasn't the case with the Omaha Territory, who Carpentier was running under at the time. They felt as though Carpentier was their champion and thus recognized him as the World Heavyweight Champion.

Around this same period, Pat O'Connor would become NWA World Champion. He would tour the nation defending his title. Often the NWA champion would make their way up to the Chicago territory to face off with their best guy, who at the time was Verne Gagne. Gagne was adored by the fans and was ready, willing, and able to have a run with the NWA title, but the NWA Board would have nothing of it for fear that Gagne would keep the title in the Chicago territory. They weren't too far off. With growing frustration, Gagne tired of the NWA politics and decided to start his own promotion, the American Wrestling Association. They named their first champion Pat O'Connor (who was still NWA champion at the time) and gave him 90 days to defend the title or it would be given to the number one contender. With O'Connor bound to the NWA, he was unable to meet the AWA's requirement and Verne Gagne was awarded the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on August 16, 1960. The title would change hands a few times over the next couple years as would the Omaha version of the World title, which would end up in the hands of The Crusher when he defeated Verne Gagne on February 15, 1963

With Verne Gagne holding the AWA World title and The Crusher holding the Omaha World title, a match was set for July 9, 1963 in Minneapolis, MN between the two champions. Both titles would be on the line in this match and the winner would walk away with both titles. During this time the AWA was absorbing the Omaha territory into the AWA. The Crusher would come out victorious in this match and become both AWA Champion and retain his Omaha World title. He would later lose both titles to Verne Gagne who would in turn lose both titles to Fritz Von Erich. On August 8, 1963 Gagne would win back the AWA title, but would do so in a match where the Omaha World title was not on the line.

It didn't take long before the writing was on the wall for the Omaha World title, and a match was set between the Omaha World Heavyweight Champion Fritz Von Erich and the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Verne Gagne for September 7, 1963 in Omaha, Nebraska. With the AWA completely absorbing the Omaha territory, the winner of this match would unify both the Omaha World and the AWA World titles into the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Verne Gagne would come out on top of this classic champion vs. champion match to unify these titles and the rest as they say is history.

To be continued…

Well, there you have it. Are you confused? You should be. That period of time was very confusing for professional wrestling as it also included the split between the Northeast territory from the NWA which led to the formation of the WWWF which is now the WWE. What the NWA thought would end up making everything work better and unifying the titles into one ended up making things break apart and become more confusing than they ever had been before. This would be the norm for the NWA. Make sure to read 500 Good Words next week as I continue my series on champion vs. champion matches. While it will become slightly less confusing for a week or two, the confusion will return when we reach the 1990's.

Any feedback or complaints… or if you happen to know where a guy can find footage of this period in the AWA and Omaha, please drop me an email at [e-mail] and please check out my column "Destiny" on Sunday. I know it's a few days away, but you can always read yesterdays "Destiny" as well. Until next time.

The Shimmy Likes It Raw!

What's on tap for tonight's show?

No. 1 Contender's Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton; If you don't know how this one is ending then you haven't been watching WWE in the last, oh, three years. They'll actually probably have a really good match and they'll make it out to be a big deal. Shawn Michaels, since he's technically still a face I guess, will be about to win the match by tuning up the band. Suddenly, Edge will come out and attack both men ending the match in a no contest. The next day WWE.com will announced a Fatal Four-Way Match for Backlash. Do I really need to watch the show tonight?

Well that's all for this week. Next week I continue the look back at Interpromotional Matches. Until then, don't die. Clark…out.