WWE Smackdown, Savannah, GA
Three days of television and one day of real life after Marty Jannetty returned to WWE for a one-night Rockers Reunion on Raw, Marty has his already-advertised showdown with Kurt Angle on Smackdown. This was also a Ko-fi request, because Marty will be part of the upcoming season of “Dark Side of the Ring.”
This is Marty’s first WWE singles match since a loss to Sycho Sid on Superstars in Sept. ’96. Actually, the Rockers Reunion deal was his first WWE match ever. After this one, he’d return for matches in 2007 against Mr. Kennedy and 2009 against The Miz on Raw shows, too.
This is opening Smackdown. Marty has different, less frilly gear for this match, and it’s also color coordinated with the blue Smackdown ropes, unlike Monday where he had a red of sorts. A real pro.
They do a little simple wrestling early, with Marty holding his own, using his veteran smarts. Angle sort of amused, but you can also tell he’s not super arrogant here, he’s taking Jannetty seriously. Kurt Angle may be a scoundrel and a pervert, but he is no fool, and he knows he can’t afford an embarrassing setback on The Road to WrestleMania and shit.
Angle works a side headlock for a bit, Marty eventually gets free and goes to Angle’s arm. They start to pick up the pace just a little with Jannetty using a headscissors while skinning the cat, dumping Angle out to the floor. Dropkick through the ropes, and then a flying axhandle from the top down to the floor from Marty as the match goes to break.
Returning from break, Angle has a waistlock on Jannetty, and they’re on the mat. Marty elbows his way out but runs into a knee from Angle, couple of quick pin attempts. Vertical suplay from Angle, Jannetty kicks out of another pin. Angle just wearing Jannetty down now, clubs to the back, a backbreaker, and a bodyscissor from Angle, clawing at the face of Marty.
Jannetty jawbreakers himself out of Angle’s grasp, but runs into an overhead belly-to-belly. Kurt goes for the Angle Slam, but Marty counters with an armdrag, sliding down the back. Jannetty slowing down noticeably, hits the corner and comes out into a release German suplay. Angle trying to pin him, Marty won’t stay down.
More of Angle holding Marty down on the mat. Jannetty again elbows his way free in time. He just keeps hanging in this match. Angle has mostly controlled the match, but Jannetty won’t go away easily and keeps hitting just enough offense to keep Angle from totally dominating.
DDT from Jannetty rocks Angle pretty good and gives Marty a breather, too. Jannetty with right hands, firing away, back elbow catches Angle coming off the ropes. Spinning heel kick from Marty! Taz is wild for Marty Jannetty!
10-punch in the corner, Marty breaking out all the classics. Angle tries to power bomb him, but Marty ranas him over and goes up top, waiting for Kurt to get to his feet for a flying crossbody, but Angle rolls through for a two count of his own.
Release German from Angle and now he’s dropping the straps. Angle Slam again doesn’t go, Jannetty gets two on a roll-up, Angle goes for the ankle lock, and Jannetty spins and kicks him in the chest. The crowd isn’t going nuts but they’ve gotten progressively into the match, too, and then Kurt grabs the ankle lock. Jannetty hangs on and is able to use his weight to send Angle into the turnbuckles.
Marty goes for the Rocker Dropper, but Angle just takes the knee out and grabs the ankle again. This time, he’s got it, and nothing Marty does is stopping Angle, who grapevines the leg. Marty fights, but he has to tap out.
This is nearly an 18-minute match, something most people probably figured would go five, tops. I think you can argue there was a minor mistake in how to approach this from the jump, because with the expectation everyone would reasonably have, you might want to have Angle start more aggressive. Instead, this is so clearly being worked as, like, “We’re going a while here,” and right at the outset, within the first couple minutes it’s clear they’re working a style that goes a fair few minutes. Maybe that’s just because you don’t want to risk blowing Marty up on a hot start, I don’t know. And I do think, as said before, you can also argue that it’s a way to show Angle not just totally overlooking Jannetty; he saw him on Raw, he knows Marty can still handle himself in the ring.
It’s good, not great, but “great” wasn’t really a potential outcome, either. “Good,” especially giving them this much time to open TV, is your high-end, and they did that. It was very much an NWA Power Hour type of match on 2005 Smackdown, and I also dug that pretty quickly, the match simply became about “Kurt Angle and Marty Jannetty,” not so much anything to do with Shawn Michaels. That’s in the backdrop of everything here, sure, but Angle and Michaels didn’t need a lot of extra selling. Involving Jannetty was a fun thing, and it worked out really well.
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