WWE Royal Rumble 2003
Boston, Massachusetts
WWE Champion: Kurt Angle
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H
WWE Tag Team Champions: Los Guerrero’s
WWE World Tag Team Champions: William Regal & Lance Storm
WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Billy Kidman
WWE Women's Champion: Victoria
Winner goes into the Royal Rumble Match, Other goes home: Brock Lesnar vs. The Big Show (w/ Paul Heyman)
This was good but not as good as the SSeries match cause that was short and both men came out hitting move after move after move, hell this isn’t as good as some of the later matches they would have down the line this year. Show uses his size leverage to overpowers Brock at first but Lesnar shows his speed and relentless to hit a couple of shoulder block and even hitting Show with 2 belly-to-belly suplexes but on the third show does this sick counter by throwing Lesnar over the top rope with both hands. Back in and Show goes to work with chops and boots in the corner, Show misses a charge and Lesnar release German suplexes him. Heyman grabs Lesnar’s leg that allows the Big Show to big boot and sidewalk slam him. Chokeslam is countered into am arm drag roll for two
Lesnar hits another belly-to-belly but this time Heyman gets on the apron so Lesnar flings him in the ring and props him up for an F5 but Big Show makes the saves with a chokeslam which only gets a two count. Show goes for another but that gets countered into an F5 for three and for the win. **1/2
Terri Runnels interviews Chris Jericho, She asks why Chris Jericho picked the #2 he cuts her off by saying he choose to be #2 because Vince McMahon just GAVE the #1 spot to Shawn Michaels. But that doesn't matter, because he'll survive, throw out 29 other people, and go back to WrestleMania to regain his World Championship.
WWE World Tag Team Championship: Lance Storm & William Regal vs. The Dudley Boyz
While Team Un-Americans 2.0 makes their way down to the ring Referee “THE GOAT†Nick Patrick checks over Regal for brass knuckles. Bubba and Storm start and it’s alright, have to admit Bubba is getting fatter as the shows go by. Anyway the Dudleyz get the better of both Regal and Storm until Devon goes charging into Regal who’s in the corner but Storm pulls him out of the way and they hit a double clothesline to takeover. The heat segment was alright they worked on the head and neck wearing him down they also had quick tags. JESUS! Even Storms trash talking is boring “HOW’S YOUR TAG PARTNER DOING? HE’S DONEâ€
Bubba gets the hot tag and its basic, didn’t care for it at all Bubba Bomb on Storm but Regal breaks the three count. D-Von tags in and the Dudleyz hit the Wazzup spot followed by a double-flapjack for two. They set up for the 3-D but Chief Morley, heads to the ring and argues with the referee allowing Regal to pulls out the brass knuckles. The Dudleyz hit the 3-D on Regal as Morley gets nailed by Bubba. D-Von grabs the knuckles and clobbers Storm with them for the win. UGH! **
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie Wilson
Both girls selling the heartbreak during their entrances is GREAT! Dawn attacks Torrie before the match even starts, she stomps away until Torrie slingshots Dawn Marie on her face; Dawn counters a German suplex into a Fujiwara armbar
Marie elbows and punches then nails a desperation flapjack on Torrie. Double KO leads to backslide followed by couple of nice arm drags by Torrie. Dawn hits a springboard rebound clothesline, Torrie ends it with a swinging neck breaker for three.
Backstage: Stephanie McMahon interrupts Eric Bishoff who is talking to a young Randy Orton, and asks what his big bombshell is, and Eric promises that it's a huge announcement for Raw. Eric asks what her plan is, and she says she's a way better GM, but also has a big announcement for this Thursday on SD. Stephanie says that as far as her job security, blood is thicker than urine, and Eric says money is thicker than blood.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Scott Steiner vs. Triple H (w/Ric Flair)
I forgot 2003 was the year Hunter was in his different colour main event tights mode. Tonight he’s got the Red ones on. Earl Hebner lays down the rules early on and says he’s not putting up with any crap tonight, face-off to start and they start trading punches right away that Scotty wins; now chops are being lit up by Scott as Hunter tries his best to punch his way out of the corner. Whip is countered into a clubby forearm by Scotty and now a military press slam connects as Hunter rolls to the outside where Scotty meets him with a clothesline. Scott now begins to work the lower back on the guardrail and apron before supperslexing him back in for two. But goes right back to work on the lower back, ELBOW DROP TO THE BACK OF HUNTERS HEAD! He now applies a Boston Crab but Triple H makes the ropes and Scott elbows away at his head. Hunter counters a whip into a facebuster that Scotty no-sells and goes right into the bear hugs , but Triple H and turns it into a belly-to-belly; Flair pulls Hunter out of the ring as Scott goes after him. Back in, Steiner charges right into a big boot of Triple H who takes it to the floor and whips Steiner into the steps. Back in the ring and Hunter his a swininging neckbreaker for two and now Triple H goes to work, Flair even gets involved by choking Scott with his $500 jacket. More referee distraction allows more Flair choking; Steiner counters the Pedigree and slingshots him head first into the buckle. Exploder suplex by Scott and he goes for a Tombstone but Hunter reverses it and then hits a cutter-like neckbreaker. Triple H then hits a vertical suplex and decides to head up but jumps into a belly-to-belly suplex. Steiner starts hitting Steinerlines and another belly-to-belly; Steiner hits a twisting belly-to-belly this time. BUT NOW THE BEST PART OF THE MATCH! Steiner tries a butterfly suplex and barely gets Triple H over: lmao Hunter tries to go to the top again but Steiner catches him and superplexes him. Flair grabs the world title and decides FUCK THIS! And begin to leave but Steiner runs them down and nails Hunter in the head with his own the world title as the Ref is busy with Flair, OH SHIT Hunter is bleeding. Back in the ring Steiner hits another belly-to-belly as the fans begin to boo everything Scott does Triple H tries to escape into the crowd but Scott pulls him back into the ring and begins to do push ups. Triple H flings the referee out of the ring hoping for a DQ; Hebner refuses to DQ him and Steiner hits another belly-to-belly for two. Triple H kicks Steiner in the balls and rolls him up for two. Triple H heads out the ring and gets his BFF the sledgehammer, he brings it into the ring and nails Steiner in the gut with it and Hebner has seen enough and calls for the DQ.
Post-Match: Scott is pissed so destroys Hunter and Flair with the hammer. He puts Hunter in the Steiner Recliner until referees pull him off. Scott then poses with the title, and puts it on H's chest before leaving. The first few minutes or so was good but after that when Scott took over he looked lost, poor Hunter he tried when it was his time but Scott No-sold any and all of it. *1/2
WWE Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle (w/ Team Angle)
As Chris comes down to the ring he does the EPIC thing and goes right up in Team Angles face causing them to push Benoit away. So the re sends team Angle to the back making this a one-on-one match. GENIUS! Side headlock by Benoit to start and he nails a huge should tackle which forces Angle out, back in and Benoit gets another sidelock on Angle. Angle tries to hiplock, Benoit blocks and Angle tries a dragon screw but Benoit dropkicks him. Angle locks in a sleeper but Benoit arm drags out and dragon screws into another Sharpshooter attempt. Kurt then throws Benoit shoulder first into the ring post and clubs the surgically repaired neck and upper back. Benoit boots Angle to counter a corner charge and clotheslines the back of his head and then knees him in the gut; more Benoit chops but Kurt counters and hangs Benoit off the top rope via vertical suplex. But as Kurt comes in Benoit counters the follow-up with a hangman’s clothesline off the top. Both men are not battling on the ring apron where Benoit DDTs Angle off the ring apron and blood comes down the nose of Angle right away, back in and Benoit covers for two. Benoit MISSES! A diving headbutt. Angle goes for the Angle Slam but Benoit floats over into a Sharpshooter but Angle makes the ropes. Benoit lands a nice backdrop suplex and gets a two count, he goes for another but Angle reverses it and nails Benoit with a belly-to-belly suplex. Angle flings Benoit to the floor now and rams him into the barricade. Back in, where Angle applies a rear naked chinlock with a body scissors. Benoit manages to fight out and hits an arm drags to get out but walks into a belly-to-belly and followed by a backdrop suplex as Kurt goes right back to the chinlock. But again Benoit gets to his feet to break the hold but this time both men go charging in and knock heads for the double DQ spot. Benoit gets to his feet first and begins to punch and chops his way back; he delivers the triple Germans but Angle does the standing switches on the third and delivers his on triple Germans. Benoit counters the third one and lands his final one. Benoit goes up for the headbutt again but Angle pops up and runs the ropes for the belly-to-belly superplex off the top. Benoit avoids another Olympic Slam into a Crippler Crossface, which forces Angle to makes the ropes. Benoit applies an ankle lock on Kurt before Angle reverses it into his own ankle lock
Shades of the Unforgiven match. Benoit reverses the ankle lock into another Crossface but Kurt does this ridiculous counter into a cradle for two but runs right back into the Crossface. But now Angle counters a Peterson rolls out of the Crossface and into the Angle Slam
for two. Angle PULLS DOWN THE STRAPS! And applies the ankle lock but Benoit rolls through and counters a German into roll up for two. Benoit goes for more German suplexes but this time Angle counters into one then Benoit shows him up with one of his own, but this time on the release he throws Angle in some full mid-air backflip/270 degree release German suplex. Benoit again goes up looking for the Headbutt for the 3rd time and this time he connects half-way across the ring for two. Benoit tries another Crossface but Angle reverses into an Alley-oop, face-first, into the top turnbuckle. ANGLE SLAM connects for two, this is FUCKIN’ AMAZING! Benoit pops up and locks in another Crossface but Angle rolls through again into an ankle lock. Benoit fights out fights out but Angle maintains the grip, eventually grape vining the leg and that forces Benoit to tap. Just an absolutely awesome match, everything was crisp, smooth, and technical just like every other Benoit/Angle match in the past. My only problem with this was the length of the chinlocks in the middle of the match. But other than that these two traded back and forth between anklelocks and crossfaces and just absolutely ruled, hell even Cole and Tazz did a wonderful job telling the story of the match and showed they did have what it takes to be the best commentary team if they wanted to. To me this match proves you don't need weapons, gimmicks or blood to get the crowd the size of the WWE audience invested in a match.
A commercial for the WWE anthology music which was probably the last WWE CD I ever purchased. Good times, anyway we are back and Benoit is standing in the middle of the ring as pretty much all 15 thousand people give him a standing ovation as he leaves. GIVES ME CHILLS!
In the back, Kane tells RVD that he's one hell of a tag partner, but it's every man for himself tonight, and he's going to win it. RVD says that's cool, but the winner of the Rumble is going to be ROB! VAN! DAM!
Royal Rumble Match
#1 Shawn Michaels and #2 Chris Jericho kicks off the Rumble this year. As Jericho comes down to the ring we in fact see its Christian who FAKES! Jericho’s entrance allowing the Chris Jericho to come through the crowd and low blow Shawn from behind. Jericho goes out to the floor and collects a chair on the floor and absolutely nails Shawn in the head with the chair busting him open.
FUCKIN’ AWESOME! Storytelling. Christopher Nowinski is out now but he decides to waits on the floor as Jericho beats on Shawn some more, Jericho now decides enough is enough and throws tosses Shawn out of the ring and Shawn’s out first OH SHIT! Rey Mysterio runs to the ring and dropkicks Jericho followed by a springboard hurracanrana. Nowiniski still has not gotten in the ring yet. Jericho tries to counter the pop-up hurracanrana but Mysterio turns it into an X-Factor. Jericho tries to press-slam Rey but he counter but runs into a boot in the corner. Jericho tosses him into the buckle upside-down; Jericho tosses him over the top but he hangs on and springboard missile dropkicks him as Nowiniski finally enters the ring as Edge makes his way. Edge spears Nowiniski and Jericho; Rey adds a top rope head scissor take down on Jericho, Edge avoids a 619 and he and Edge go over the top and (nearly) eliminate each other. Rey tries another springboard… right into a powerbomb. Christian out now and he right away hugs Edge trying to reconcile. Rey slides through his legs and Edge spears him. AWESOME! A couple seconds past as Chavo Guerrero makes his way down e and Rey do a brief Luchadore series ending with a 619 to Chavo. Rey nails Christian with one as well. He springboards back in and lands on Nowiniski’s shoulders and hurracanranas him over the top for the elimination. Jericho returns and clotheslines Mysterio over the top eliminating him
Tajiri heads in and kicks Jericho and Christian for a bit as everyone does that pairing in the corner for a breather. Bill DeMott is in now and everyone is still doing nothing. #10 is Tommy Dreamer
he brings a rash can full of weapons to make this a HARDCORE ROYAL RUMBLE, But sadly this isn’t even close to the 2001 Rumble. Anyway Dreamer and Edge team up to eliminate Bill with a Kendo stick over the top, Jericho and Christian con-chair-to Dreamer with two trashcan lids and kendo stick then throwing him out. Tajiri tries a Tarantula on Jericho but he just flings him over
Bull Buchanan is out now, he gets at least one cheap shot on everyone before charging at Edge but Edge ducks and he’s gone. Chavo goes over the top and lands on the apron but Edge spears for the elimination. Edge tosses Jericho over for about the tenth time. Jericho regains his composure and dumps both Edge and Christian over the top for the elimination. RVD out now and they do some stuff until Matt Hardy comes out next attacks RVD immediately and he and Jericho double team him. RVD flips over a Jericho on a double team whip and spin kicks Matt Hardy. Eddie Guerrero out next, he attacks RVD and Matt Hardy but walks right into a RVD monkey flips across the ring. Matt sets up Guerrero for a frogsplash of his own on RVD then Matt delivers a Twist of Fate to Eddie.
#15 Is Jeff Hardy, and he decides to ruin the Rumble by attacking Matt he throws him over the top but Shannon Moore holds him in a Virgil-like fashion to save the elimination
Rosey is next as the ring begins to get back and everyone goes back into pairing off for a breather, Test is out now and he clotheslines everyone and spinning sidewalk slams Eddie and pump-handle slams Matt. Test and Jericho go at it and Y2J almost goes out again for the 9th time. Test chokes out Matt with his boot as Cena makes his way to the ring complete with FULL 90 second freestyle. Everyone brawls in the ring as Cena keeps rapping around the ring
Charlie Haas is out now but in the ring; Jeff tries a Whisper in the Wind and RVD pushes him to the floor, what an idiot Jeff is. #20 is Rikishi and starts superkicking everyone in sight, Shannon Moore runs in and Rosie sets them up for a reverse avalanche from Rikishi. Rosey turns on him with a 360-sell clothesline. Jamal is up next and superkicks Rikishi; but Rikishi comes back with a reverse avalanche and a Stink Face. JESUS! The ring is ridiculously packed right now. MR 2001 Rumble MVP Kane heads out next as everyone tries to gets knocked down; Kane chokeslams Rico from the apron into the ring. Kane eliminates Rosey and chokeslams Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore. He tosses Jericho top for Jericho’s 12th time but he manages to get back in. Shelton Benjamin is out now so Team Angle works together on John Cena while Eddie Guerrero tries to sleeper Rikishi down. Everyone tries to eliminate everyone in the corners. UGH! Booker T comes out and backdrops Eddie Guerrero over, C’MON! A-Train to head out and Baldo Bombs John Cena then hits the Derailer on Shelton Benjamin; he drops another Baldo Bomb to RVD. Rikishi tries to throw Jericho out but A bloody bandaged up Shawn Michaels returns and attacks Jericho that distracts him enough for Test to sneak up and throws Jericho out. DAMMIT! Shawn dives over onto him and the battle all the way back to the dressing room. Maven out next, He then makes the mistake of attacking Kane and gets clobbered. A-Train slams and splashes Haas. More brawling on the ropes for #27 Goldust to head out and take out Team Angle; powerslam to Benjamin. Goldust gives Maven the Shattered Dreams in the corner. Team Angle collects themselves and eliminates Goldust; tag partner Booker T comes over to attack and he gets eliminated by Team Angle as well
Batista is out now and attacks everyone but gets full nelson slammed by Test who tosses him over the top; Batista lands on the apron, Test charges, so Batista low bridges him eliminating Test. Batista spinebusters Rikishi and eliminates him. #29 Brock Lesnar runs down. Team Angle tries to double team Lesnar but he eliminates them both; Lesnar then F5's Matt Hardy over the top onto Team Angle, eliminating him as well. Batista whips A-Train into an avalanche on Lesnar then Train turns on Batista with a bicycle kick. #30 IS THE RETURNING UNDERTAKER! Undertaker ELIMINATES John Cena and then eliminates Jamal. Maven tries to dropkick him over, like in the 2002 Royal Rumble
but that doesn’t go as well as it did the last time. Undertaker chokeslams him and eliminates S him. A-Train stops Taker’s momentum with a Baldo Bomb then goes for RVD. Kane chokeslams Lesnar and RVD saves Kane from a powerbomb, they both eliminates A-Train. As Kane lures RVD into a double team involving a press-slam but fakes him out and eliminates RVD instead
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Okay so the final four are; Kane, Brock Lesnar, Batista and the Undertaker. Batista and Kane double KO each other. Lesnar and Undertaker eyeball each other but Kane and Batista interfere before they battle. Batista manages a spinebuster on Undertaker as Lesnar battles back on Kane and Batista. Lesnar hits a belly-to-belly on Batista and nails Kane with a F5. Now Taker and Lesnar battle it out as Taker connects with a big boot. Undertaker charges and nearly goes out off a hotshot by Lesnar but Lesnar pulls him back in
Undertaker counters an F5 into a Tombstone and clotheslines Batista over the top. Taker then helps Kane up and but turns on him and eliminating him. Batista returns with a chair to try to take out Undertaker but Taker fights him off and Lesnar uses the distraction to sneak up and ELIMINATE Undertaker to win the 2003 Royal Rumble. This rumble was weird the first half or so was all the young guys with Jericho tearing it up but as we got deeper it became too much of a clusterfuck for my liking. I did actually like the final 4 beating the shit out of each other though.
