• Hall Of Famer Praises WWF For Jobbing Out Brock Lesnar & Randy Orton In Dark Matches
Before both of them had their official debut on WWF TV in the spring of 2002, both Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton wrestled several dark matches before WWF TV-Tapings in late 2001 & early 2002, while they were still WWF developmental wrestlers in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
On some of those dark matches, both – now legendary – WWE Veterans did the job for well established WWF Superstars, but no one saw these matches, except for the fans in the arena that night (and some rare, hacked satelitte-feeds).
In such untelevised, unofficial & unseen matches, Brock Lesnar did the job for Billy Gunn, Albert (later known as A-Train) and Mr. Perfect, while Randy Orton lost to Mr. Perfect, Billy Gunn, Val Venis, Albert, Brock Lesnar and Chuck Palumbo.
During a recent episode of his weekly ‘Grilling JR’ podcast, legendary WWF play-by-play commentator Jim Ross addressed Brock & Randy’s early days in what was then known as The World Wrestling Federation, until the name change to WWE on May 5, 2002.
Here’s what Good Ol’ J.R. had to say:
“I’m not gonna say they learned in one match. The deal is that the locker room was going to be more willing to accept a Randy Orton and a Brock Lesnar, who they conceived were gonna threaten their spots.
But for the locker room’s sake and their perception in the locker room, doing the honors, even though it was dark, was a smart thing to do. I thought that was good booking.”
WATCH: Lana Having Fun With Her Assets:
• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (December 28, 2000) – WWF SmackDown!
On this day in 2000, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF SmackDown!’.
It was pre-taped at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee and featured pre-taped matches & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF Royal Rumble 2001’ PPV.
Here’s the match-card:
1. Chris Jericho vs. Edge & Christian
2. Chris Benoit vs. Matt Hardy
3. The Goodfather & Bull Buchanan vs. The Acolytes
4. Raven vs. Jeff Hardy
5. T&A vs. Too Cool
6. The Rock & The Undertaker vs. William Regal, Kane & Rikishi
