SmackDown is at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on October 12th, 2000. Tommy Blacha was in the building for this one and says the atmosphere around these LA shows is changing. More agents, more Hollywood meetings, Vince at a Radio and Television Society luncheon while the product is getting worse. Before getting to the show, they read a listener comment from PMFG who fantasy books three different options for the driver. Rob and Tommy work through all of them and land on the same conclusion: Kurt Angle was the only pick that would have made the subsequent program worth watching.
The show is mostly a cooldown episode that barely moves anything forward. The Rock sits down with JR and distances himself from Rikishi. Tommy says this is the wrong call entirely. The Rock should be furious at Rikishi for using his name and his car and putting him through a year of interrogations. Eddie Guerrero attacks Billy Gunn with a tire iron before their scheduled match, turning it into a triple threat IC title match with X-Pac, and then steals the pin directly off X-Pac's cover to win the title. Austin sits in his truck all episode while cops, JR, and Foley try to talk him out of it. He eventually agrees to face Rikishi at No Mercy in a no holds barred match.
Angle and Stephanie are the one thing that actually works. Angle convinces Right to Censor to put Val Venis in a Rock title match by telling them it is a win for everybody and admits he cannot see his own goosebumps. He and Stephanie stand tall after the main event to close out SmackDown looking strong heading into No Mercy. Tommy and Rob spend the back half of the episode discussing the growing chaos in the writing room and the decision to make Stephanie head writer, which nobody who was there was happy about.
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Other major discussion points include:
0:00:00 Cold Open
0:00:27 Welcome / SmackDown 10/12/00
0:02:10 Staples Center / WWF Scaling Up / XFL Distractions
0:05:02 PMFG Fantasy Books the Reveal
0:10:22 Kurt Angle as the Best Option for the Driver
0:16:49 Episode Overview
0:19:55 Dudleys vs Low Down / Conquistadors Debut at Commentary
0:22:38 The Rock Sitdown Interview with JR
0:27:18 Eddie Attacks Billy Gunn With a Tire Iron
0:29:19 X-Pac vs Eddie vs Jericho (IC Title Triple Threat)
0:32:08 Austin in Garage / Cops Show Up
0:32:40 Angle Recruits Right to Censor / Val Venis vs Rock Booked
0:34:27 Al Snow (Hong Kong) vs Albert / Regal on Commentary
0:36:36 Jim Ross Pleads With Austin
0:39:28 Triple H & Road Dog vs Benoit & Saturn
0:43:25 Triple H / Stephanie Backstage
0:44:13 Foley to Ring / Austin Agrees to No Mercy
0:49:49 Hardys vs Raven & Taz (Tag Title Match)
0:53:12 Stephanie Announces She Is in Angle's Corner Permanently
0:53:36 Kurt Angle vs Kane
0:56:01 Austin Confronts Too Cool / Clocks Grandmaster Sexay
0:57:31 Rock vs Val Venis (Main Event)
1:00:06 Angle & Stephanie Stand Tall After the Match
1:00:45 Stephanie as Head Writer / Russo WCW Discussion
1:07:57 Patreon / Sign-Off
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