Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 20th, 2003

WWE Monday Night Raw

October 20th, 2003

Wilkes Barre, PA

World Heavyweight Champion: Goldberg (since 9/21/03)

Intercontinental Champion: Christian (since 8/10/03)

World Tag Team Champions: The Dudley Boyz (since 9/21/03)

WWE Women's Champion: Molly Holly (since 7/28/03)

In Memory of Road Warrior Hawk Video Package airs… 

To open the show, Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out. He says there was a note on his desk to meet someone in the ring so here he is. Out comes Test and Stacy Keibler. Test is pissed about last week and the fact that he got injured at a house show in a match Austin booked. Austin tries to get Test to provoke him. Stacy ends up bumping Test into Austin and Austin cracks him with a stunner. Eric Bischoff comes up on the screen and says this shit is pathetic and proposes a Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff match at Survivor Series. If Team Austin wins, the physical provocation rule will be void and if Bischoff wins, Austin will no longer share GM responsibilities with him. Austin is down and toasts and STACY JOINS IN THIS TIME!!!

Backstage, Shane McMahon is standing around. 

1) The Dudley Boyz vs. La Resistance (Rob Conway & Rene Dupree) 

The only thing this is good for is them Dudleyz hitting a Doomsday Device in tribute to Road Warrior Hawk. Take er home boys. 

Match rating - *1/2

Backstage, Ric Flair and Randy Orton are talking when Booker T walks up. They get into it about who’s here to prove themselves more and Book slaps him and challenges him to a match NEXT. 

2) Booker T vs. Randy Orton 

My review of this match kept getting ate, it rocked, though. But I am not about to write up anything again so here's the rating.. Book wins via contour in sub 5 mins. 

Match rating - **3/4

3) Rob Van Dam & Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho & Scott Steiner 

“What is ice?” -Jim Ross 

This was a good Monday Night Raw tag team match. Jericho & Storm naturally work well together. Steiner & RVD play their roles well. Steiner continuously pulls Storm out and slams him into the steps and shit. Just good basic rudo shit. Steiner even ends up using a chair on Van Dam’s back behind the ref’s back and it allows Jericho to hit the lionsault for the win.

Match rating - **3/4

After the match, Jericho & Steiner add insult to injury by continuing to assault Van Dam & Storm.

Back at the commentary table, JR & King pay tribute to Hawk and also queue up a Stu Hart memorial video with a monologue by Vince.

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho is all worked up and starts flirting with Trish Stratus. They both seem to have a thing for each other and awkwardly walk off. The crowd was chanting “We Want Puppies” through this whole thing. 

Over in the Evolution locker room, Randy Orton gets ambushed by Lance Cade & Mark Jindrak. I AM SCREAMING. This shit was hilarious. They steal the brief case with the Goldberg bounty money in it and run off. Orton chases after them as we go to commercial. 

Back from commercial, Orton is still running and he runs into Ric Flair. Flair doesn’t realize Orton lost the money so Orton plays it off. Flair says “you got the money right?” And Orton says yes and Flair tells him to go flaunt it front of Shawn during his match. Flair walks off WOO’ing and Orton looks concerned as fuck cause his dumbass lost the money. 

4) Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Molly Holly & Victoria (w/ Steven Richards)

“These two, they’re a potato salad and baked beans away from a tailgate party.” -Jim Ross 

JR says Molly has a bullseye on her backside and Jerry gets horny. He then says Stevie Richards is Victoria’s TRAILER. These fuckers have got to STOP LMAO. Stevie ends up being the determining factor of this match as he helps Molly & Victoria get the victory. After the match, they attack Lita while Trish is down and… Christian? comes down to make the save. 

5) Maven vs. Ric Flair

Flair basically lets Maven get a chance to shine and he doesn’t necessarily shine. He holds steady and does stuff and it’s passive and fine, but when you d got Naitch in there and he’s doing his schtick and letting you get stuff in, you have to nail it. I guess it’s better than shitting the bed, but in a way, you got a chance to wrestle Flair and all I could say was good here was Flair bumping around for you.. hm. Anyways. Flair wins using the tights, once again making Maven look better than he could make himself look here. 

Match rating - *3/4

Backstage, Flair approaches Orton stoked on his win. Orton still can’t find the money so he tells Flair that Cade & Jindrak jumped him and stole the money. Flair spazzed the fuck out and they go to find the money when a bunch of cops and security come running through and BY FUCKING GOD ITS KANE STANDING IN THE GARAGE WITH A TOWEL ON HIS HEAD. JR exclaims “MY GOD….” with a growl that made me howl. 

SURVIVOR SERIES coming in 4 weeks to Dallas, Texas and holy fuck that video package just made me so nostalgic. Man… I miss my childhood. I gotta find that song somewhere. (it’s Build a Bridge by Limp Bizkit)

Back from commercial, Big Kane is here. JR is still unloading. Kane walks us through his thoughts when he beat up Linda. He explains that inflicting pain turns him on. He says Shane can’t do anything to stop him. Fire couldn’t, a tractor trailer crash couldn’t, but at Survivor Series, he will give him one more shot. Kane says Survivor Series will be the end of Shane, but for now, his pain has just begun. 

Meanwhile, Triple H catches Cade & Jindrak with a 2x4 as they are trying to escape the arena with the briefcase full of money. H approaches Orton & Flair in the locker room and says Orton best not lose the money again because Shawn Michaels is about to beat Goldberg and collect the bounty up next..

6) Goldberg (c) vs. Shawn Michaels - World Heavyweight Championship Match

This doesn’t go too long before Goldberg accidentally spears the referee. Shawn superkicks him and another referee runs down. Before anything can happen, BATISTA jumps the railing making his first appearance in a long ass time. Batista hits the spine buster and the Batista bomb on Goldberg then snaps his leg in a chair while Jim Ross puts him over like crazy on commentary. “THIS GUY IS BIGGER THAN GOLDBERG!!!”” Batista leaves the ring and Evolution comes out to meet him at the entrance to deliver him his bounty for destroying Goldberg. This closes the show. 

BATISTA HAS COLLECTED THE BOUNTY.....

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE No Mercy Review - October 19th, 2003

WWE No Mercy 

October 19th, 2003

Baltimore, Maryland 

WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar (since 9/18/03)

WWE United States Champion: Eddie Guerrero (since 7/27/03)

WWE Tag Team Champions: Los Guerreros (since 9/18/03)

WWE Cruserweight Champion: Tajiri (since 9/25/03)

Taz & Michael Cole welcome us in after the opening video package highlighting Steph/Vince and Angle/Cena and then introduce the Spanish announce team. 

1) Tajiri (c) vs. Rey Mysterio - Cruserweight Title Match 

I buckled up for this one. They do some limb work that is good, but inevitably this breaks down into spots and stuff. Great opening match type shit, though. Rey seems to be building a comeback when two “fans” try to run in and it distracts him and Tajiri hits a buzzsaw kick and pins Rey to retain. 

Match rating - ***

Backstage, Josh Mathews interviews Mr. McMahon… he says anyone who tries to interfere tonight in his match with Stephanie will be fired. 

2) Chris Benoit vs. A-Train

These two are just awesome together and this was no different. In this one, A-Train gets the upper hand early and dominates the Rabid Wolverine. Train tosses him around and Benoit’s mouth ends up busted open which is a great visual. After getting dropped head first on a chair, Benoit somehow manages to fire up and drop Train with some suplexes after a cross face attempt false finish. A-Train regains control momentarily and sets up a chair in the corner, he ends up accidentally kicking it when Benoit moves and his leg gets caught in it. This gives Benoit a target. Dragon screw into sharpshooter and Train has no choice, but to tap. 

Match rating - ***1/2 

Backstage, Heidenreich has Shannon Moore jacked up against the wall. Matt Hardy walks up. Heidenreich is pissed because “Little Jimmy” told him about them throwing his tape away. Hardy says it was misinformation and it was actually a “Best of Shannon Moore” tape that they threw away so Heidenreich lets Shannon go. 

3) Matt Hardy (w/ Shannon Moore) vs. Zach Gowen 

This shit ain’t fun no more. Gowen doesn’t die and it’s boring. Shannon interferes. Hardy plays chicken shit. Gowen gets his first ever win in WWE and also his lamest showing ever. Greeaaaatttt. 

Match rating - ** 

4) The Bashams vs. APA (Bradshaw & Farooq) 

This all stems from Bradshaw and the clothesline from hell he hit on Shanequa a few weeks back (I think). This happens and it isn’t Great. Near the end, after Bradshaw hits the last call on one of them Basham boys, Shanequa shows up with a bat while the ref is down off an unintentional Farooq bump and hits Bradshaw which allows the Bashams to get the upset victory. 

Match rating - *1/2 

Backstage, Shanequa says Bradshaw’s clothesline the other week caused her tits to swell and that doctors say IT MIGHT BE PERMANENT. Doug and Danny Basham are horny and gripping her waist. Shanequa says they’ve been doing such a good job and deserves a reward. Doug says “yes mistress” and they go to “whip it good”… what a segment. 

5) Mr. McMahon (w/ Sable) vs. Stephanie McMahon (w/ Linda McMahon) “I Quit” Match

If Stephanie loses, she is no longer Smackdown GM. This is a fucking mess. Horrible Vince melodrama. Cringy. Stupid. Gross. All the Things. I’m not recapping anything that happened in this shit because it is not worthy of such. Vince wins after Linda throws in the towel while her daughter is being choked. 

Match rating - 1/2*

After the match, Vince takes shit a step further and shoves his wife of 37 years, Linda McMahon to the mat and then proceeds to make out with Sable on the ring apron. Cameras shift to Cole & Tazz as they ponder the future of Smackdown without Stephanie as GM and emphasize how fucked everything Vince just did was. 

6) John Cena vs. Kurt Angle 

This match lowkey rocks. It is no masterpiece. It is no all timer, but it bangs. The street fighting dynamic against the Olympic gold medalist was awesome and these two worked it super well and made it the full story of the match. I say it a lot in these reviews, but it’s so easy to see why WWE saw so much in John Cena in these early years and pushed him toward what he would become. Unfortunately, it goes into Kurt formula and he wins with the ankle lock.

Match rating - ***

7) Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. The Big Show - United States Championship Match 

The build to this was phenomenal and set the stage for a story that was super easy to follow. Eddie’s back is all taped from the glass that cut him up on Smackdown. Show chops not only the chest, but also the back which cause blood to begin to drip from the bandages on the champion’s back. Eddie fights from underneath which is always good. It’s a little more one sided than I anticipated and Eddie ends up eating the loss and we have a new US Champion. Crowd was also kinda dead for this after Cena/Angle. 

Match rating - **3/4 

After the match, Chavo tries to comfort Eddie and remind him they are still tag champs, but Eddie isn’t having it, he wants his US Title back. 

Backstage, Big Show hoots and hollers about how he told everyone he would destroy Guerrero and now he’s done it and is our new United States Champion. 

8) Brock Lesnar (c) vs. The Undertaker - Biker Chain Match for the WWE Championship 

Off the jump, I’ll say this felt more like a TV main event than a PPV main event. A lot of the early time felt sort of wasted to kill time til the FBI interference and the build toward the grabbing of the chain by Taker. The crowd pops and wakes up huge for these moments, though. Taker gets the chain after fighting off interference, but once he does, Mr. McMahon shows up and crotches Taker on the top rope. DAMN. This allows Brock to scoop the chain and scoop the victory and retain the title. Vince flees the ring and it’s funny as fuck how scared he is of Taker even when he’s on his ass. 

Match rating - **1/2 

 

The show closes with Lesnar celebrating with the title.