How To Watch The WWE In A Focused, Fun Manner, Whether You're New Or A Long Time Fan, 9: Emotional Impact

4/15/2025

This is the final season of The Smackdown Six dominance of WWE. Initially, the Guerreros, Benoit, Mysterio, Edge, and Angle start to simmer down the card while the members of DX and Evolution climb back to the top but then a Guerrero/Mysterio feud, and John Cena’s feud with Edge bring the Smackdown Six back for one last hurrah. Unfortunately, Eddie Guerrero dies right before the last quarter of the season, and we see a chunk of tributes to him from not only WWE but also ROH and Impact. It’s definitely a depressing time to be a wrestling fan, even though the booking and matches from this season are spectacular.

The big story in ROH? The Summer Of Punk. CM Punk signs with WWE, then wins the ROH title and threatens to take it with him. Meanwhile, Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries become the driving forces in ROH, keeping the titles warm before Daniel Bryan Danielson returns from a brief hiatus to become the King of The Ring Of Honor.

Christian crosses the line into Impact. While there aren’t a lot of new stories in Impact, there are a lot more excellent matches than there have been for the last two seasons.

Season 9:
Emotional Impact

Sorbet Episode: Navigating NOAH (2001-2004)

The combination of Strong Style Heavyweights and Aging Luchadores make NOAH a fascinating company to watch at the turn of the millennium. I have a roughly Wikipedia knowledge of NOAH but I spent some time watching through their early 2000s series of events, most of which had “navigating” in their title, and was thrilled by what I saw.

1. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs Juventud Guerrera & Ricky Marvin at Navigation Against The Current.

2. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi at Navigate For Evolution.

3. Jushin Thunder Liger vs Makoto Hashi at Navigate For Evolution.

MAIN EVENT: YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs LO-KI at NAVIGATION OVER THE DATELINE

Season 9, Episode 1: The Masterlock Challenge (2005)

This season begins with the rise of Chris Masters, a chiseled heel with a penchant for putting people in Full Nelsons. He's going to spend the season slowly climbing the card.

We also welcome our first new tag team that isn't just a combination of existing solo Smackdown stars who are put together just to eventually break up. MNM has a fun red carpet entrance and a definitive look and personality that will carry them into the title scene much faster than Chris Master's rise in the singles scene.

1. Chris Masters vs Stevie Richards from Raw.

2. Shelton Benjamin (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Chris Jericho vs Christian from Raw.

3. Kurt Angle vs Eddie Guerrero from Smackdown.

4. Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio (WWE Tag Champs) vs MNM from Smackdown.

5. JBL vs Booker T vs Kurt Angle vs Big Show from Smackdown.

6. MnM (WWE Tag Champs) vs Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio from Smackdown.

7. Shelton Benjamin (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Chris Jericho at Backlash 2005.

MAIN EVENT: EDGE vs CHRIS BENOIT in a LAST MAN STANDING MATCH at BACKLASH 2005.

Season 9, Episode 2: Destination X (2005)

After only a couple of episodes last season, Impact starts to ramp up the action again. Unsurprisingly, this means More AJ Styles!

1. Team Canada (Impact Tag Champs) vs America’s Most Wanted at Final Resolution 2005.

2. Petey Williams (Impact X Champ) vs AJ Styles vs Chris Sabin at Final Resolution 2005.

3. Abyss vs Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem Match at Against All Odds 2005.

4. AJ Styles (Impact X Champ) vs Christopher Daniels in an Iron Man Match at Against All Odds 2005.

MAIN EVENT: AJ STYLES (IMPACT X CHAMP) vs CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs ELIX SKIPPER vs R-TRUTH (as RON KILLINGS) in an ULTIMATE X MATCH at DESTINATION X 2005.

Season 9, Episode 3: The Usual Suspects (2005)

The Smackdown Six + from last season are still the main guys in WWE, even if a few of them have been bumped over to Raw. Paul London from ROH pops into the Cruiserweight Division, and Charlie Haas bops around the tag team division with various partners now that Shelton Benjamin is shining as a solo star.

The main story, though? Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero's feud is still going from season five! Their battles never seem to get stale. In fact, this season, it gets very personal.

1. Shelton Benjamin (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Shawn Michaels from Raw.

2. Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero in a Streetfight from Smackdown.

3. John Cena (WWE Champ) vs JBL at Judgment Day 2005.

4. Paul London (WCW Cruiserweight Champ) vs Chavo Guerrero at Judgment Day 2005.

5. Batista (WCW Champ) vs Edge from Raw.

6. MNM (WWE Tag Champs) vs Charlie Haas & Hardcore Holly from Smackdown.

MAIN EVENT: EDDIE GUERRERO vs REY MYSTERIO from Smackdown.

Season 9, Episode 5: Manhattan Mayhem (2005)

Sami Zayn debuts in our chronology as the masked luchadore(?), El Generico. We get a couple of solid early Jay Lethal matches, and our first dog collar match in many seasons.

1. Roderick Strong vs Sami Zayn (as El Generico) at ROH Stalemate.

2. Jay Lethal (ROH Puro Champ) vs Brian Kendrick (as Spanky) at ROH Stalemate.

3. Austin Aries (ROH Champ) vs James Gibson at ROH Stalemate.

4. BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs (ROH Tag Champs) vs Generation Next at Manhattan Mayhem.

5. Jay Lethal (ROH Puro Champ) vs Samoa Joe at Manhattan Mayhem.

6. Jimmy Rave vs CM Punk in a Dog Collar Match at Manhattan Mayhem.

MAIN EVENT: AUSTIN ARIES (ROH CHAMP) vs ALEX SHELLEY at MANHATTAN MAYHEM.

Season 9, Episode 5: The Money’s On The One Night Stand (2005)

ECW! EC...W? Paul Heyman's funhouse is back in an only slightly watered down fashion as WWE tests the waters for an ECW relaunch by pitting the old school ECW stars against the current crop of WWE guys, some of whom happen to also be old school ECW stars. It's not precisely an INvasion but it's much more fun and successful than the actual INvasion.

1. Chris Benoit vs Gene Snitsky from Raw.

2. Chris Benoit vs JBL from Raw.

3. Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho at One Night Stand 2005.

4. Super Crazy vs Tajiri vs Little Guido from One Night Stand 2005.

5. Chris Bennoit vs Eddie Guerrero from One Night Stand 2005.

6. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka at One Night Stand 2005.

MAIN EVENT: THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs SANDMAN and TOMMY DREAMER at ONE NIGHT STAND 2005.

Season 9, Episode 6: Old Grudges, New Frontiers (2005)

Since they don't do complex storylines, it's rare that a feud or wrestler gets stale in Ring Of Honor. There's a lot of wrestler combinations that we've seen several times having another tussle in this episode, and it's still great. Honestly, if every week was Daniel Bryan Danielson versus a shoe, and Samoa Joe versus a garden hose, I would still probably watch every match.

1. Austin Aries (ROH Champ) vs James Gibson from Final Showdown 2005.

2. Daniel Bryan Danielson vs Homicide in a Steel Cage Match at Final Showdown 2005.

3. CM Punk vs Jimmy Rave in a Steel Cage Match at Nowhere To Run.

4. Austin Aries (ROH Champ) vs Daniel Bryan Danielson at Nowhere To Run.

MAIN EVENT: SAMOA JOE (ROH PURO CHAMP) vs JAMES GIBSON at NEW FRONTIERS.

Season 9, Episode 7: Vengeance (2005)

Apart from the first of only two-ever Kurt Angle vs Ric Flair matches, this episode is also a bunch of repeats of things we've seen before but continue to be spectacular. Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle? Please, once a month from 2004-say 2010 would have been great. Rey Mysterio vs either Chavo or Eddie Guerrero? I think we did get this once every other month for a decade, and it felt fresh every time. Triple H vs Batista was usually a snoozer but the match in this episode was nearly as good as their Hell In A Cell.

1. Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle at Vengeance 2005.

2. John Cena (WWE Champ) vs Chris Jericho vs Christian at Vengeance 2005.

3. Rey Mysterio vs Juventud Guerrera from Smackdown.

4. Batista (WCW Champ) vs Triple H at Vengeance 2005.

5. Kurt Angle vs Ric Flair from Raw.

MAIN EVENT: REY MYSTERIO vs EDDIE GUERRERO at GREAT AMERICAN BASH 2005.

Season 9, Episode 8: The Return of The 1-2-3 Man (2005)

After floundering in his final WWE run, Sean Waltman (aka 1-2-3 Kid, aka Syxx, aka X-Pac, aka SyxxPac) returns to Impact to wrestle under his given name for a change. He's a great addition to the X Division.

Abyss continues to be a wonderful monster, rarely putting on a match that's less than entertaining.

1. AJ Styles vs Abyss in a Steel Cage Match at Lockdown 2005.

2. Samoa Joe vs Chris Sabin at No Surrender 2005.

3. King Of The Mountain Heavyweight Title Match at Slammiversary 2005.
AJ Styles (Impact Champ), Abyss, Monty Brown, Raven, XPac (as Sean Waltman)

4. Jeff Jarret & Rhyno vs Raven & Sabu at Sacrifice 2005.

5. AJ Styles vs XPac (as Sean Waltman) at No Surrender 2005.

6. Christopher Daniels (X Division Champ) vs Pety Williams at No Surrender 2005.

7. Jerry Lynn vs XPac (as Sean Waltman) at Sacrifice 2005.

MAIN EVENT: SAMOA JOE vs AJ STYLES at Sacrifice 2005.

Season 9, Episode 9: Summer of Punk, The Beginning (2005)

CM Punk is the most chanted phrase in wrestling history. We've been seeing him rise through the ranks of Ring Of Honor, and have some matches in Impact, but here he wins the championship the night AFTER it's announced that he's leaving for the WWE. It's pandemonium, will he leave with the belt?

Also, WWE's Matt Hardy got fired between seasons because, while injured, he discovered his long-time girlfriend, Lita, was having an affair with his friend and often-tag-team-opponent, Edge. It wasn't a story, it was real life drama. And when he complained about it on social media, Vince McMahon fired him. So he has a brief stint in ROH to keep hie reputation strong before WWE eventually hired him back.

1. Austin Aries (ROH Champ) vs CM Punk at Death Before Dishonor 3.

2. Austin Aries vs Homicide vs James Gibson vs Samoa Joe in a Four Corners Survivor Match as Sign Of Dishonor.

3. CM Punk (ROH Champ) vs Jay Lethal at Sign Of Dishonor.

4. Matt Hardy vs Christopher Daniels at Fate Of An Angel.

MAIN EVENT: CM PUNK (ROH CHAMP) vs RODERICK STRONG at ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.

Season 9, Episode 10: The Summer Of Punk, The Final(?) Chapter (2005)

The main story here is that CM Punk is still the champ, and still in ROH, despite being contracted to WWE. Matt Hardy is also still in ROH but he doesn't get the celebration that Punk gets after wrestling his final ROH main event for nearly twenty years.

1. Generation Next vs The Embassy at Redemption.

2. Matt Hardy vs Homicide at Redemption.

3. CM Punk (ROH Champ) vs Christopher Daniels vs James Gibson vs Samoa Joe at Redemption.

4. Jay Lethal & Samoa Joe vs The Rottweilers at Punk: The Final Chapter.

5. Matt Hardy vs Roderick Strong at Punk: The Final Chapter.

MAIN EVENT: CM PUNK vs COLT CABANA in a ⅔ FALLS MATCH at PUNK: THE FINAL CHAPTER.

Season 9, Episode 11: Dirty Dom's Daddy Drama (2005)

In the mid 2020s, Dominik Mysterio has risen to be one of the top heels in wrestling. In 2005, he was a rosy-cheeked child who cheered on his father, Rey. But Eddie Guerrero revealed to the world that Dominik may have been raised (reysed?) by Rey Mysterio but that he was actually Eddie Guerrero's son. This upped the drama in their constant feud and resulted in the absolutely ridiculous match in this episode where Eddie and Rey fought in a Ladder Match where the briefcase contained custody papers, making the boy's future dependent on the results of a wrestling match.

Shawn Michaels, meanwhile asks Montreal who their daddy is, as he cuts two absolutely killer promos in this episode before putting on a ridiculously fun match against Great Grandpa Hogan.

In other melodramatic news, Matt Hardy returns to WWE to have his revenge on Edge and Lita.

1. Chris Masters vs Rosey from Smackdown.

2. Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero in a Custody Of Dom Ladder Match at Summer Slam.

3. John Cena (WWE Champ) vs Chris Jericho at Summer Slam.

4. Hulk Hogan vs Shawn Michaels at Summer Slam.

5. Kurt Angle vs Shelton Benjamin from Raw.

6. Shawn Michaels vs Chris Masters at Unforgiven.

MAIN EVENT: MATT HARDY vs EDGE in a STEEL CAGE at UNFORGIVEN.

Season 9, Episode 12: Unbreakable (2005)

ECW isn't just occasionally running rampant in WWE this season, with Raven as the Impact Champ, and Sabu and Rhyno running around, Impact also has an extreme infestation.

The main event can't technically be called a Survivor Series Match, since that's trademarked by WWE but, let's be honest, a 4x4 elimination tag match is precisely what a Survivor Series match it.

1. Abyss vs Sabu at Unbreakable 2005.

2. Raven (Impact Champ) vs Rhyno in a Raven’s Rules Match at Unbreakable 2005.

3. Christopher Daniels (Impact X Champ) vs AJ Styles vs Samoe Joe at Unbreakable 2005.

4. Abyss vs Jeff Hardy vs Rhyno vs Sabu in a Monster’s Ball Match at Bound For Glory 2005.

5. AJ Styles (Impact X Champ) vs Christopher Daniels in an Iron Man Match at Bound For Glory 2005.

MAIN EVENT: SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH at GENESIS 2005.
Alex Shelley, Christopher Daniels, Roderick Strong & Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley & Sonjay Dutt

Season 9, Episode 13: Survival Of The Fittest (2005)

ROH's spin on the survivor series match involves a tournament where the winners of six solo matches go on to face each other in a one-on-one-on-one-on-one-on-one-on-one match for the glory. This episode shows the first-ever Survival Of The Fittest Match.

We also get to see Nigel McGuinness start to ascend to the top tier of Ring Of Honor.

1. Samoa Joe (ROH Puro Champ) vs Nigel McGuinness at Dragon Gate Invasion.

2. James Gibson (ROH Champ) vs Daniel Bryan Danielson at Glory By Honor 4.

3. Christopher Daniels vs James Gibson at Survival Of The Fittest 2005.

MAIN EVENT: AUSTIN ARIES vs CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs COLT CABANA vs JAY LETHAL vs RODERICK STRONG vs SAMOA JOE in a SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCH at SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2005.

Season 9, Episode 14: Homecoming Homecoming USA (2005)

After a few years airing on Spike TV, Raw returns to the USA channel with a killer set of episodes to draw in a new audience. We also continue the Taboo Tuesday experiment, where people could use the WWE website to vote for what stipulations they wanted to see, or who would face off in championship matches. It was a fun little experiment that created a couple of excellent bouts.

We also see the debut of Missssssssssssster Kennnnnnnnnuhdeeeeee (Kenuhdeee) in our chronology, which is also, sadly, our final ever match with Eddie Guerrero.

1. Carlito (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Ric Flair from Raw.

2. Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man Match from Raw.

3. Edge vs Matt Hardy in a Loser Leaves Town Ladder Match from Raw.

4. Ric Flair (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Triple H in a Steel Cage Match at Taboo Tuesday.

5. Eddie Guerrero vs Mr. Kennedy from Smackdown.

MAIN EVENT: JOHN CENA (WWE CHAMP) vs SHAWN MICHAELS vs KURT ANGLE at TABOO TUESDAY 2005.

Season 9, Episode 15: Re-Enter The Dragon (2005)

ROH Champs usually have pretty lengthy reigns, and yet we're skipping over Colt Cabana's, and most of James Gibson's. Daniel Bryan finally takes the title here, and establishes him as The Next ROH Superstar the WWE sets their eyes on.

1. Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi at Joe vs Kobashi.

2. Roderick Strong vs James Gibson at Unforgettable 2005.

3. Daniel Bryan Danielson (ROH Champ) vs Austin Aries at Enter The Dragon.

4. Homicide & Kenta Kobashi vs Samoa Joe & Lo Ki at Unforgettable 2005.

MAIN EVENT: DANIEL BRYAN DANIELSON (ROH CHAMP) vs RODERICK STRONG at THIS MEANS WAR.

Season 9, Episode 16: The Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show (2005)

If you were to ask me what the saddest moment in wrestling history was, I'd say it was a tie between the on-air death of Owen Hart (which I left out of the chronology because it's gutting to watch, even though the actual death was not on camera) and the announcement of Eddie Guerrero's death on an episode of Raw. This was the only time I remember all three of the major wrestling companies acknowledging one wrestler's death and dedicating an episode to them. In fact, the entire final quarter of this season is filled with episodes about Eddie, after his death.

By far the hardest part to watch is how utterly broken Chris Benoit looks. Especially knowing of his own impending tragedy.

This episode contains both the Raw and Smackdown tribute matches and then pivots to the Survivor Series, which has some great matches with unfortunate names.

1. Kurt Angle vs Shelton Benjamin from Raw.

2. Shawn Michaels vs Rey Mysterio from Raw.

3. Chris Benoit vs Triple H from Smackdown.

4. Chavo Guerrero vs JBL from Smackdown.

5. Triple H vs Ric Flair in a Last Man Standing Match at Survivor Series 2005.

MAIN EVENT: TEAM RAW vs TEAM SMACKDOWN in a SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH at SURVIVOR SERIES 2005.
Batista, Bobby Lashley, JBL, Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio vs Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane, Shawn Michaels & The Big Show

Season 9, Episode 17: X Marks The Spots (2005, 2006)

The X-Division continues to be the highlight of Impact wrestling events. However, we continue our ECW resurgence with more Sabu and Rhyno matches, The Dudley Boyz turning up as Team 3-D, a hardcore battle, and a barbed wire match.

1. Abyss vs Sabu in a Hardcore Match at Genesis 2005.

2. AJ Styles (Impact X Champ) vs Petey Williams at Genesis 2005.

3. Rhyno & The Dudley Boys (as Team 3-D) vs Jeff Jarrett & America’s Most Wanted at Genesis 2005.

4. Sabu vs Abyss in a Barbed Wire Massacre Match at Turning Point 2005.

5. AJ Styles (Impact X Champ) vs Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2005.

6. Jeff Jarrett (Impact Champ) vs Rhyno at Turning Point 2005.

MAIN EVENT: SAMOA JOE (IMPACT X CHAMP) vs CHRISTOPHER DANIELS at FINAL RESOLUTION 2006.

Season 9, Episode 18: A Night Of Tribute (2005)

ROH's tribute to Eddie, who briefly wrestled there in 2001, is also moving. This episode also features our first look at the Global Heavyweight Championship from Japan's Pro Wrestling Noah, which took a journey overseas so that Kenta could defend it against ROH's Lo-Ki.

1. Daniel Bryan Danielson (ROH Champ) vs Roderick Strong at Vendetta 2005.

2. Generation X vs The Embassy in a Steel Cage at Steel Cage Warfare 2005.

3. AJ Styles vs Matt Sydal at Hell Freezes Over.

MAIN EVENT: KENTA (GHC JR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP) vs LO KI at FINAL BATTLE 2005.

Season 9, Episode 19: The Ultimate Opportunist (2005, 2006)

This episode is just a series of fun matches between unlikely opponents until we reach one of Booker T & Chris Benoit's best-of-7 matches from WWE (they also had at least one series of best-of-7 matches in WCW) and then get the tail end of a previously underwhelming feud between The Legend Killer and The Undertaker.

Also, remember that Money In The Bank Match from last season? Well, it's time to see how that plays out.

1. Shawn Michaels vs Carlito from Raw.

2. John Cena (WWE Champ) vs Kurt Angle vs Chris Masters in a Submission Match from Raw.

3. Chris Benoit vs William Regal from Smackdown.

4. Chris Masters vs Viscera from Raw.

5. Chris Benoit vs Booker T at Armageddon 2005.

6. Undertaker vs Randy Orton at Armageddon 2005.

MAIN EVENT: ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH at NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION 2006.
Carlito, Chris Masters, John Cena, Kane. Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels

Season 9, Episode 20: The Guerrero Rumble (2006)

We close off the season with one last major Guerrero story as he pranks Rey Mysterio from the grave. We actually have two battle royal matches in this episode, as well as the beginning of Ric Flair's unlikely turn to hardcore wrestling at the tender age of 350.

1. WCW Championship Battle Royal at Smackdown.
Bobby Lashley, Brian Kendrick, JBL, Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Nunzio, Orlando Jordan, Paul Burchill, Paul London, Psicosis, Rey Mysterio, Road Warrior Animal, Simon Dean, Super Crazy, Sylvan, Vito, William Regal

2. Edge (WWE Champ) vs Ric Flair in a TLC Match at Raw.

MAIN EVENT: ROYAL RUMBLE 2006.
Big Show, Bobby Lashley, Booker T, Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris Masters, Eugene, Goldust, Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, Jonathan Coachman, Kane, Matt Hardy, Orlando Jordan, Psicosis, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Road Warrior Animal, RvD, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Simon Dean, Super Crazy, Sylvan, Tatanka, Trevor Murdoch, Triple H, Viscera

0 Comments

Popcorn Culture