WWE: The Gorilla Position ~ Vol. II

[EZ3]

THE ROAD TO BACKLASH
March 30, 2003 - April 27, 2003
Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts​

A Series of [Un] Fortunate Events [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
With just four short weeks between WrestleMania and the next pay-per-view, Backlash presented by Monday Night Raw, things were off to a hot start a mere 24 hours after the conclusion for the grandest stage of them all. After successfully defending his World Heavyweight Championship, Triple H - along with Evolution - gloated about the defeat of Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a long promo to open Raw, drawing good heat from the audience, as Triple H outlined how he had once again proven that he was on another level in this business and was still at the very top. He predicted that Randy Orton and Batista would be inspired by what they saw last night, and that it would spur them onto their great success in the WWE - all because of his mentorship (and that of Ric Flair). Upon the titantron, Eric Bischoff would appear and congratulate the World Champion, and he confirmed that there was going to be a fatal four way match for the number one contendership later this evening to determine the challenger for Backlash. This has been advertised throughout the day and on WWE's website.

Bischoff announced that the match had been intended to feature Chris Jericho - however, the Highlight Reel was unable to get to the building due to travel issues and may not make it in time. Therefore, Bischoff had no choice but to organise a last-minute battle royal with the winner taking the final spot in the fatal four-way. The battle royal took place after the first commercial break and was won stunningly by Shawn Michaels! HBK escaped elimination with one foot hitting the floor ala 1995, and scored the victory with a superkick to Sean O'Haire. Later that same evening, Shawn Michaels would overcome the most unlikely odds and win the fatal four way - securing himself a title shot at Backlash. As Raw came to a close, Chris Jericho arrived at the arena and locked eyes with HBK. The following week, Shawn Michaels and Triple H signed the contract for Backlash - the two former friends going back and forth about their most recent battles at the end of 2002. Meanwhile, Chris Jericho pleaded his case to Eric Bischoff that he should be getting the shot at the title since he forced HBK to tap out at Wrestlemania, and if not for car troubles and a stupid driver, Jericho would’ve won the fatal four way. That argument ultimately fell on deaf ears, and Jericho was left to deal with a personal issue that sprouted an alternative path for him.

Evolution became involved during the last two weeks heading into Backlash. Shawn Michaels took on Randy Orton in a solid fifteen minute match which ended in a no contest due to the involvement of the Dudley Boyz and Batista. We saw a deeply personal promo between Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair - the former spoke about how much he had worshipped Flair growing up but now he was frustrated to see Ric assigned to be a lackey for someone like Triple H. This drew the ire of ‘The Game’ who promised to step out from the shadow of his former friend, once and for all, at Backlash. He had beaten Steve Austin at WrestleMania - something that Shawn had never done - and at Backlash he would finally put to an end the debate as to who was better; Triple H or Shawn Michaels.

Three’s Company, Honey [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
Following a disappointing loss at WrestleMania, the WWE Intercontinental Champion, Christian was locked out of the office of the Raw General Manager when he tried to get a meeting. Christian was frustrated and yelled through the door that he would make it up to Eric. He cut a promo backstage with Kevin Kelly about how he was going to be the greatest Intercontinental Champion that this brand had ever seen - he was going to be a champion that Eric Bischoff could be proud of and that’s all that mattered. Rob Van Dam interrupted the promo and said that he had never seen someone kiss so much ass as Christian was going right now. Van Dam told Christian that the Intercontinental Championship was something he had always wanted as a kid, and now, with WrestleMania in the rearview, RVD had his sights set on gold.

The following week, Christian sat on commentary during one of Rob’s matches and oversaw his potential challenger get a solid win. Christian then snuck into the ring and hit Van Dam from behind with the title belt and proceeded to attack him. Fire then burst from the ring posts as Kane rushed down for the save and drove Christian from the ring, and sent him fleeing into the crowd - but without the title. The belt remained in the ring - which Kane picked up, looking at the title as if it was calling to him, and he raised it into the air to declare his intention of challenging for it again! The decision was made to have a number one contender's bout two weeks before Backlash - Kane vs. Rob Van Dam in a WrestleMania rematch - with the winner facing Captain Charisma at the pay-per-view.

Christian watched most of the match from the backstage area on a monitor. In the dying moments of the contest, Kane was looking set to win the bout until Christian rushed the ring with a steel chair and hit both men! The referee called the match a draw, unable to rule as to who was hit first, and had no other option but to throw the match out. Christian got on the microphone and said that since neither man won - he was going to have the night off and skip having to wrestle in Massachusetts. Eric Bischoff had a different opinion, however, announcing via the titantron that he had been stewing on a way to punish Christian for his failure at WrestleMania - and tonight he finally had the perfect idea. Since Christian loves getting involved in the affairs of Kane and Rob Van Dam, he is going to get a front row seat at the pay-per-view when he defends the Intercontinental Championship against BOTH men in a triple threat match! In the final week, Kane and Rob Van Dam had a segment in the locker room where the two friends discussed their recent matches, Rob saying he thought he was in trouble last week, and Kane sounding slightly irritated that he was robbed of actually getting a win over his tag partner. No matter what, they would fight fair on Sunday and see that one of them walked out with the title.

The Eighth Reign Lasts Less Than a Day [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
For the eighth time in their career, the Dudley Boyz had captured the World Tag Team Championships after dethroning the Un-Americans just 24-hours earlier. With their backs against the wall, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley kept their tag team career alive and achieved their first ever WrestleMania victory. The night next on Raw, upon arriving at the building, Chief Morley informed the champions that their first title defence was going to be later in the evening. When asked their opponents would be that night, Chief Morley refused to answer and said that champions on Raw must always be ready for the unexpected and then wished the two men luck - laughing as he walked away gleefully. Later that evening, Johnny Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo (the FBI from Smackdown) were introduced as the opponents for the Dudley Boyz. We saw a hard hitting match with the Dudley Boyz ultimately surviving and retaining the belts after a 3D on Stamboli. Post match, Palumbo and Stamboli jumped the champions from behind and wore them down in frustration with a cheap assault.

The night looked complete until Chief Morley walked out onto the stage and announced that the FBI weren’t the challengers he had alluded to - as a Smackdown team can’t challenge for titles on Raw. He then introduced Randy Orton and Batista - Evolution, who were the real challengers! Orton and Batista dethroned an already half-beaten champions, ending the eighth reign of the Dudley Boyz and kickstarting their first reign as a team. For the record, the pinfall was secured by Randy Orton after he hit the RKO on D-Von. The following week, we saw a vignette of Randy Orton and Batista at a photoshoot with the newly won titles, and a group of hot models fawning all over them. Orton and Batista immediately became more smug on-screen, always making sure their titles were in shot of the camera and demanding that a referee open the ropes for them when they entered the ring for promos or matches.

The feud between the Dudley Boyz was hot leading into Backlash with it being a match of new school vs. old school. Bubba Ray cut a promo in the ECW arena off-site, talking about how he and D-Von shed blood to get to the top of the business while Orton and Batista have jumped on the backs of others. They have taken the easy road and wouldn’t have lasted two seconds in the land of extreme. When given the chance, the Dudley Boyz are going to rip Evolution’s head off their shoulders and leave them for dead in Massachusetts! In contrast, Orton and Batista did an offsite promo from the airport which showed them skipping the line for security and heading onto a private jet with a pretty stewardess. They spoke about how they didn’t need to wrestle in a bingo hall to make it in the business and that they, in their first reign, were already better than the Dudley Boyz after eight. On the last show before Backlash, Orton and Batista had a big brawl with the Dudley Boyz which ultimately saw Ric Flair eat a Dudley Death Drop through a table whilst the champions looked on having fled!

A More Traditional Champion, Please [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
For the women of the Raw brand, Trish Stratus continued to reign at the top of the division as the WWE Women’s Champion post-WrestleMania. Her feud with the ‘Black Diamond’ Jazz was put on hold for the next four weeks - with Jazz moving to the side and continuing to work with local talents and beat them up to rebuild her as the monster challenger following her defeat at Wrestlemania. Trish cut a promo about having achieved her two big goals in the last two months; winning the title in Canada and defending it at WrestleMania. It has been a wild ride for her since February, and now she is wondering what is next? That’s when she revealed that she was going to be the cover of ‘Muscle Mag’ for May 2003 - and a HUGE cover dropped from banner role that was set up above the ring. That got a huge pop from the crowd but drew the ire of the champion’s next foe - Molly Holly.

Molly Holly was quick to the point, she hated what Trish stood for as a representative for the WWE and young women everywhere. Here she was proud of posing in a magazine like a piece of meat and doing so whilst holding the most important title in women’s wrestling. That made Molly sick and she needed to bring respect back to the division by taking that title from the woman who was prostituting herself for a quick buck! Trish accepted the challenge and told Molly she’d wrestle her anytime, anywhere and that they could do it right now! That wasn’t going to work for Molly, who faked accepting the bout immediately, striking Trish with a lariat and hitting a powerbomb onto the belt, before telling Trish that she’d see her at Backlash.

The following week, Molly Holly cut a promo outside of the arena with a barrel which had been lit on fire inside of it. She had a stack of Trish’s magazines and went off on how disgusting this woman was for parading herself around over and over. That wasn’t what someone should do - the WWE needed a traditional woman as the champion and Molly was going to bring back a higher level of standard when she beat Trish. During the promo, Trish Stratus showed up and tackled Molly, the two fighting on the cold pavement outside the arena until security pulled them apart. In the final week, Trish wrestled a match against a local talent and ran through them like it was nothing. She then marched over to the announce desk, put on a headset and shouted that she wanted Molly to listen up - “You’ve demeaned me for the past three weeks, you’ve humiliated me in front of millions on TV, you hit me when I wasn’t ready - yet you say I’m the one who doesn’t have any standards. I’m a four-time WWE Women’s Champion - you’re chasing me, Molly. Not the other way around. I’ll see you at Backlash… and I’m going to kick your head off, bitch!”

Rattlesnakes Do Not Like Authority [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
A week after WrestleMania 19, we saw the first appearance of Stone Cold Steve Austin on Monday Night Raw. The Texas Rattlesnake made an entrance like only he can, driving a pickup truck out into the arena and climbing over the top of the down to the canvas inside the ring. Austin cut a promo about taking a week off but he thought it was time to get back to work and to doing what he does better than anyone else in the business - and that’s kick some ass. He made an open challenge to anyone back in the locker room who wanted to get into a fist fight with Stone Cold… nobody answered. He continued to goad the boys, saying he was beat up, run down, a washed up old man, ripe for the picking and someone could come and finish off what’s left of Stone Cold. Still, he got no answer until Chief Morley strolled onto the stage. With a level arrogance, Morley lashed Austin verbally due to Austin’s involvement in assisting the Dudley Boyz pre-WrestleMania, and said that Stone Cold had made an enemy out of this administration.

In response, Austin said he didn’t care if Morley liked him or not but if he wanted to come down to the ring and do all that talking he’d end up getting a Stunner - booyah! Morley continued to accuse Austin, saying that he still hadn’t learned that going against authority was never the right move, and Austin should know better, especially since so many of the people in the audience liked to emulate him. Before Austin could retort, he was attacked by Christopher Nowinski. The Harvard graduate attacking Austin long enough for Morley to join in and both men laid the boots to the Rattlesnake, forcing him to the outside of the ring. They posed in celebration in the ring for the moment until Austin grabbed a chair and set both men running for the hills. Morley and Nowinski cut a promo together later that same evening - cementing the latter’s alignment with the administration and Morley moving forward, as well as their intention of beating Austin into submission for his actions.

A handicap match was made for Backlash after the attack. It would be Morley and Nowinski against Steve Austin; 2 vs. 1 with Austin at the disadvantage. Over the next two weeks, Austin continued to defy the administration as he gave away a truckload of free merchandise - which Jerry Lawler pointed out, did not include Austin’s merchandise. Austin did a walk-through promo in the concession area, where he spoke with one of the workers and did a spot handing out free beers to fans from behind the concessions desk - advising to just charge it to the tab of Chief Morley and Monday Night Raw. One of his final antics involved Austin going into Morley’s office and replacing a big picture of Morley with one of himself. Austin would stun Nowinski on the final Raw before Backlash and drink a beer on top of the announce table to a rockstar reception from the audience whilst Morley fumed with rage.

Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The [Dirtest Player In] The Game [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
One of the big shifts coming out of WrestleMania was the push for Booker T. He was left off the WrestleMania 19 card but featured heavily in the pre-show battle royal which earned him a lot of credibility with those backstage. On the Raw immediately after Mania, Booker T had a segment with his tag partner Goldust where they agreed to part ways for the moment to search for new opportunities, but remained on good terms and agreed to join up later down the line. Booker T approached Eric Bischoff about what he could do to put himself into the World Title picture, and was told that he had to start impressing the GM far more than he had been. Booker T took that personally and went out the following week and scored a win over D'Lo Brown. Post-match, Booker T went back to Bischoff and asked how that was for impressive, and was told that it would take a lot more than that to get into the top end of the competition.

Later that same night, Booker T was shown leaving the arena when he bumped into Ric Flair. The Nature Boy kept walking, but then stopped, he turned and shouted out to Booker T. Flair said that he couldn’t let this go and said that for a guy who was looking to get to the top of the WWE, he was sure as hell clueless on how to do it. Look at you right now, leaving the arena and the top guys are still preparing to go out there and wrestle in front of millions. If you want to be at the top, you'd best start watching what we do at the top and you learn how to hang with us! Booker T dropped his bags and said he could hang with any of them, including Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Ric Flair. That drew a laugh from Flair, he dismissed the notion that Booker T could beat him in a match and asked if he was serious. Booker T did not stutter. He confirmed again that he believed that if given the opportunity, he could and would beat any of them - and one day he would become a six time World Champion.

Flair reminded Booker that those were fighting words, and to be careful because he was standing across from a sixteen time World Champion. Booker refused to back down and told Flair that he’d go speak to Bischoff next week, and try to get a match booked. Flair told him to do just that and he’d meet him anywhere. The next week, Flair vs. Booker T was booked for Backlash, and Flair cut an in-ring promo alongside Evolution about how he was going to show Orton and Batista a masterclass in professional wrestling when he outclassed a man who could not tie his laces. Booker T, somewhat foolishly, interrupted and got into the ring with Flair and said that this was going to be a shock of a lifetime when he beat Flair in Boston. Orton and Batista jumped Booker T, and held him up as Flair slapped him across the face for disrespecting him.

In The Name of The Father [MONDAY NIGHT RAW]
Much of what happened on the night post-Mania has been covered at this point in the outline, but just to recap, Chris Jericho was supposed to be in the fatal four way to determine a number one contender for the World Championship at Backlash. He was delayed getting to the arena due to car troubles, which forced Bischoff to host a battle royal for Jericho’s spot in the four way, and that was won by Shawn Michaels - the man who lost to Jericho the night before. Jericho arrived at the arena as the show ended and had a staredown with Michaels to end Raw. After failing to get the result overturned or have himself added to the match the following week, Jericho was confronted in the ring by Goldust. At first it seemed that Goldust was coming down to the ring to cut short Jericho’s whining over being excluded from the World Title match but upon entering the ring, Goldust shocked the world when he slapped the taste out of Jericho’s mouth without saying a word.

Goldust then exited the ring and walked to the back. After a commercial break, cameras caught up with Goldust and he told the world that Chris Jericho disrespected his father, Dusty Rhodes, at WrestleMania and this was the first chance that he had to walk up to Jericho and teach him some manners. As far as he was concerned, the matter was now settled, but if Jericho opened his mouth about the Rhodes family again - then he’d get another slap to the face. The next week, Jericho marched to the ring and cut a somber promo about growing up watching wrestling and named his favourites including Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Randy Savage… but he always hated that stupid fat slob Dusty Rhodes. The crowd roared with boos as Jericho blasted Dusty for being a loser and “failing to make it in WWE” and only thriving in a small pond like Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling. When it came to the big stage, Dusty and the rest of his stupid family were, in the eyes of Jericho, a bunch of failures.

This drew Goldust out again - this time not wearing any face paint as he marched down to the ring in street clothes. As he entered the ring, Jericho got the first strike in - nailing Goldust with a microphone to the back of the head. Jericho then attacked him and applied the Walls of Jericho until he felt enough time had passed. Grabbing the microphone, he said that this was a lesson in respecting your betters. You got the jump on me once, Dustin, but you can’t fool me twice. Step into this ring with me again and I’ll beat your ass even worse. The final week before Backlash, Goldust cut a promo in the ring and called out Jericho, he challenged him to a match at the pay-per-view, because he needed to stick up for his family. Jericho answered the challenge and accepted, saying he would love nothing more than to beat up one of Dusty’s kids. During the final promo between the two, Jericho promised to wear polka dots at Backlash on his tights.

***

Backlash - April 27, 2003
Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts

World Heavyweight Championship Match:
World Champion, Triple H defends against;
The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels

Intercontinental Championship Match:
Christian vs. Kane vs. Rob Van Dam

World Tag Team Championship Match:
Evolution (Batista/Randy Orton) vs. Dudley Boyz

Women’s Championship Match:
Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly

2-on-1 Handicap Match:
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Christopher Nowinski & Chief Morley

Singles Match:
Booker T vs. Ric Flair

Singles Match:
Chris Jericho vs. Goldust

Intercontinental Championship Contendership Battle Royal:
Jeff Hardy, Justin Credible, Lance Storm, Mark Jindrak, Scott Steiner, Sean O'Haire, Test, The Hurricane, Tommy Dreamer & William Regal
​

Other Notes (Raw Only):

• Maven and Stacy Kiebler entered into a TV feud with Steven Richards and Victoria. Victoria attacked Stacy in the women's locker room unprovoked after Kiebler accidentally spilled a coffee on her. Maven was in the area outside of the locker room and ran in to break the fight up, grabbing Victoria which pissed off Richards, who attacked Maven the following week backstage after a verbal confrontation.
• Test began a slow heel turn when he failed to check-in on Stacy after the attack by Victoria. He refused to team with Stacy in a tag team match against Richards and Victoria due to a slight knee injury, but jumped at the chance to enter the Intercontinental Championship contender's battle royal - exposing that he was picking and choosing what to compete for.
• Chief Morley and Christopher Nowinski officially formed a tag team known as the Administration.
• Sean O'Haire is given TV time each week with at minimum a Devil's Advocate vignette but also appears on screen in the background of other segments speaking with various wrestlers and even crew members. He's seen speaking with Test about not wanting to risk injuring his knee for some little 'women's tiff' when there are bigger things out there for him. Which ultimately leads to Test's heel turn and the breakdown of his relationship with Stacy Kiebler.
• Vignettes begin to air hyping the debut of Gail Kim. Her debut is not given a timetable, but rumours are that she is expected within the next 2 months.
• Talks have begun regarding several potential mid-card talents on the independent scene, including Paul London and Steve Corino.