WWE Backlash
April 27, 2003
Live from the Worcester’s Centrum Center in Worcester, Massachusetts
On April 27, 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment promoted a listless effort of a PPV marked by one-shot characters that lost their shot, a poor workrate, all being the culmination of what was one of the companies most poorly laid-out booking strategies that managed to be both un-apologetically obnoxious and unforgivingly half-assed. The question most realized at the end of Raw and Smackdown the week prior was not “how do I order this PPV” but “why would I do so.”
Out of all the people on the card, Hogan, Benoit, Austin (who recently retired from the ring), among others, were nowhere to be found. The huge push of John Cena, which led to one of three matches featured as main-events, was not even fully carried through, company officials admitted even before starting the tournament for the number one contender, to which Cena was determined to be the winner before-hand thanks to a feud that began before WrestleMania. The push was botched miserably, with only one and a half weeks given to promotion and Cena being buried by The Undertaker (also not on the card thanks to surgery). John Cena only could win after three people interfered. His match with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar buried both of them due to the way the match was booked and the poor workrate. The man who is slated to be next in line for Lesnar is a 500-pound buffoon named the Big Show who has never drawn during a number of misconceived pushes, defeated Rey Mysterio Jr., in a 1/2* squash match to set up the future feud.
The card also featured the second part of what was a push for Sean O’Haire, who, after taking on a new manager in Roddy Piper, changed his character and music. The payoff was not to be witnessed as either O’Haire has nothing to deliver, similar to Mike Sanders, or he needs more training. O’Haire delivered a 1/2* match with Rikishi well below expectations. Test continued to be portrayed as a dumb babyface, despite the overt sexual harassment of Torrie Wilson which was mistaken by Stacy Kiebler as something it wasn’t, thanks to Sable.
Raw presented the other two-thirds of the triple main event, the first of which being the second-best match of the night, a mediocre six-man tag match featuring the heels: World Champion Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Ric Flair against Booker T., Shawn Michaels, and Hunter’s adversary in a returning Kevin Nash, the proportions and implications of which delighted the insider crowd and fans of the anomaly (now representative of an “industry-standard,” if you will) known as the Clique. They delivered the best match on the card (if not a close second-best) to end off a horrible build-up. The second was the official main-event, a poor match between Rock and Goldberg built-up since Goldberg’s arrival.
A. Scott Steiner over Rico.
1. Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros. Team Angle came to the ring holding a big color photo of Kurt Angle up high. Cole pointed out that Haas had a very good GPA in college, but Tazz said that wouldn’t help him. Early on the Guerreros cheated which got cheers from the crowd. They kneed their opponents from the ring apron when bouncing into the ropes and double-teamed at any opportunity. At 6:00 Haas showed signs of life and managed to tag in Benjamin. Cole made a big deal of Team Angle’s cheating after ignoring the Guerreros’ early cheating. Eddie struggled to tag out to Chavo, but Benjamin prevented it. Benjamin followed with a powerslam which Cole said “should be it,” even though there was zero sense among the fans in the arena of a pending finish. Announcers, for the sake of their credibility with the TV viewers, ought to take a cue from the crowd and not hard-sell pin attempts unless the crowd is going to (and in this case obviously they weren’t) because otherwise it sounds really forced. Chavo hot-tagged in at 12:00 and hit a nice high dropkick on Benjamin. Haas dove toward Chavo, but Chavo moved and Haas splashed Benjamin in the corner instead. Chavo scored a near fall at 12:42 that drew “oohhs” from the crowd. Guerrero hit an interfering Benjamin with a top rope dropkick. He followed by giving Haas three consecutive vertical suplexes. The ref then sent Eddie out of the ring since he wasn’t legal. Chavo crawled onto Haas for a near fall which also popped the crowd. Eddie hit Haas with an illegal frog splash, so the ref ordered him out of the ring. Chavo covered Haas for a very near fall, but Benjamin yanked Chavo out of the ring to stop the pin. Eddie and Benjamin fought at ringside. In the ring, Chavo lifted Haas for a suplex, but Benjamin tripped him and Haas fell on top of Chavo and scored the pin. After the match, as Team Angle celebrated in front of the big photo of Kurt Angle (setting on a pedestal), Chavo leaped over the top rope with a bodyblock knocking them and the Kurt photo to the floor. Then they took the tag belts and ran to the back. (*)
Winners: Team Angle at 14:41. After the match, the Guerreros got in a car that played off every stereotype of Mexicans they could use.
Test approached Torrie Wilson backstage and said he can tell she wants him. She told him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone. He grabbed her and forced a kiss on her. She tried to slap him, but he blocked her slap. She left in a huff. Sable poked her head out of a dressing room door and smiled at the camera. (*)
2. Sean O’Haire vs. Rikishi. Rikishi took early advantage after an attempted sneak attack by O’Haire before the match at ringside. O’Haire took over control after a distraction from Piper. O’Haire went to a twisting chinlock at 1:45 which took the crowd out of the match immediately. In another blatant disregard for any hope of credibility with viewers, Cole said that the crowd booing something going on in the crowd was actually due to antics by Piper at ringside. Nevermind that Piper was on the lower left corner of the screen and everyone in the crowd was looking toward the right. It’s just such bad business to kill off the lead announcer credibility with unnecessary lies such as that. O’Haire and Rikishi hit each other with kicks at the same time. Cole, for the first time in the history of wrestling announcing, correctly identified O’Haire kick as a “roundhouse kick.” Piper entered the ring with a coconut, but Rikishi got it away from Piper and broke it over his head. Piper sold it like he was shot as Cole sold it as being “twenty years in the making for Rikishi’s family.” O’Haire took Rikishi out with his finisher for the win. O’Haire helped Piper to the back. (*)
Winner: O’Haire at 4:55.
Sable convinced Stacy that Test and Torrie were having a relationship behind her back.
3. Rob Van Dam and Kane vs. The Dudleys for the tag titles. Johnathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler took over commentary for this Raw match. RVD hit some nice kicking combinations early. At 3:00 Kane tagged in for a couple of minutes of back-and-forth action. RVD tagged back and the Dudleys quickly took control. D-Von hit his top rope headbutt between the legs of RVD. Bubba applied a twisting chinlock, but threw enough screams into the situation that it kept the crowd interested. RVD snuck in a reverse sidekick to gain the space necessary to hot-tag Kane. Kane’s hot-tag got very little pop, indicative of how much the current portrayal of RVD and Kane has stolen the mystique away from Kane. RVD tagged in at 10:00 and hit Rolling Thunder on Bubba. D-Von gave RVD a scary-looking hangman’s neckbreaker off the ropes. Before D-Von could cover RVD, Kane nailed him with a clothesline off the ropes. When Kane went for a chokeslam on Bubba, Morley nailed Kane with a low-blow from behind. Kane kicked out of Morley’s count. If Morley has free reign to cheat, why not make a really fast count? Morley accidentally clotheslined Bubba, which prompted D-Von to attack Morley which popped the crowd. Lance Storm ran to the ring and nailed D-Von with a clothesline off the ropes. Bubba then gave Storm the Bubba Bomb. The Dudleys then gave Morley the 3D. Kane grabbed Bubba by the throat and chokeslammed him. He threw D-Von over the top rope to the floor. Kane and RVD worked the crowd into a frenzy. RVD then hit the Frog Splash. Another ref ran to the ring to count to three. (*)
Winners: RVD & Kane at 13:04 to retain the WWE Raw Tag Titles.
Backstage, Stacy went to the women’s locker room and told Torrie she heard what happened. Torrie seemed relieved that Stacy knew and said she was so sorry. Torrie said Test kissed her. Stacy didn’t believe her and attacked her. They had a brief cat fight which actually included a real life cat running through the scene. The rest of the women broke them up. (*)
4. Jazz vs. Trish Stratus. Before the match, Long said that this night is about vindication for “baby girl Jazz.” He said she would rise above all bigotry by becoming the new Women’s Champion. “Tonight the bitch is back and the bitch is black; believe dat!” Typical intensity from Jazz in everything she did. Trish applied an STF and a Boston Crab in the early minutes. Long threw a chair at Trish during a pin attempt at 5:00. Long plead innocence and blamed someone in the crowd. Jazz then reversed Trish into a pin and grabbed the ropes for leverage to win. (*)
Winner: Jazz at 5:50 to capture the WWE Women’s Title.
5. Big Show vs. Rey Mysterio. Rey embarrassed Big Show early, so Big Show kicked the ringside stairs in frustration. Shaq, I mean Show, soon overpowered Rey and tossed him around the ring with ease. Rey snuck a chair out from under the ring and nailed Show in the head with it. He followed with a top rope split-legged tackle which Cole called a flying senton (which costs him the point he gained for recognizing a roundhouse kick earlier). Rey then hit three 619s in a row at 3:33 at which point Cole ruined the moment by proclaiming, “Rey Mysterio is going to win this!” Of course, Show caught Rey in mid-air when he went for the West Coast Pop and slammed him to the mat for the win. The ref called for medics to stretcher Rey out of the ring. When they got Rey attached to the stretcher, Show shoved the medics out of the way and swung the stretcher with Rey attached into the ringpost. Rey bounced off the ringpost and Rey fell onto his head. (*)
Winner: Big Show at 3:45.
Torrie and Stacy were fighting backstage when a bin full of objects fell onto Stacy’s head. Scott Steiner checked on her and he picked her up to carry her somewhere. Test saw Steiner holding her and yelled at Steiner for touching his girlfriend. (*)
6. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE Smackdown title. Cena went after Lesnar aggressively at the very start, but Lesnar quickly took over and gave Cena two backbreakers and an overhead suplex. Cole said maybe Cena got himself in over his head. Lesnar followed a moment later with a vertical suplex. At 3:00 Lesnar continued to dominate Cena by whipping him into the ringside table. Cena made a comeback at 4:00 by reversing Lesnar into the ringside stairs. He made a remarkable recovery after taking a brutal beating for four minutes. He held Lesnar’s belt in the air and signalled to the crowd that it would soon be his. Lesnar bled from the forehead after the shot into the stairs. At 7:15 Cena rolled Brock into the ring and covered him for a near fall. It was at that point that Tazz said, “Cena just might win here,” acting as if he didn’t take cena seriously until them. Cena scored another two count at 8:25. He gave Lesnar a spinebuster and then went to a grapevine/chinlock combination. The crowd got restless after a couple minutes of stagnation. WWE has not gotten over mat holds enough to justify spending over two minutes in an unestablished mat hold like Cena’s grapevine/chinlock. Lesnar rose and backed Cena into a corner at 12:10. Cena charged at Lesnar with an elbow. Lesnar fired back with two clotheslines. He followed with a powerslam for a near fall. Lesnar speared Cena into the corner and followed with two shoulder blocks. The match got really sloppy during this time with neither wrestler seeming to be sure-footed about what the other was doing. For being lost, they covered relatively well, though. Cena fired back at 13:45 with a low blow and a roll-up for a near fall which popped the crowd. Some fans booed Lesnar’s kickout. Lesnar charged into Cena, sending him backward into the corner. Cena’s head snapped under the top rope in a nasty-looking move. Cena took out his chain, but the ref admonished him and took the chain. Lesnar then finished Cena with a F5. They replayed Cena’s low-blow after the match, and it didn’t come close. WWE is usually really good about not showing slow-mo replays that expose a move. (*)
Winner: Lesnar at 15:15.
7. Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, & HHH vs. Booker T, Kevin Nash, & Shawn Michaels. Not surprisingly, Chris Jericho carried the opening four minutes for his team as Hunter and Flair observed from the ring apron. Each of the babyfaces worked against Jericho in the opening minutes. Hunter then tagged in and went back and forth with Booker. Hunter tagged in Flair at 5:30. Booker then tagged in Michaels. When Michaels took control over Flair, Hunter interfered and surprised Michaels with an illegal Pedigree. The ref scolded Hunter, then began to count both Michaels and Flair down on the mat. Hunter tagged in at 7:45 and nailed Michaels with a solid flying knee on a criss-cross in mid-ring. Flair tagged in, but Michaels surprised Flair with a roll-up for a two count. Flair tagged in Jericho right away. At 12:00 Michaels hot-tagged Nash, who made his first grand entrance with his usual routine. Nash has “Big Daddy Cool” on his shirt. Nash gave Hunter the Snake Eyes over the top rope. He followed with a sideslam. Flair intervened with interference. Nash no-sold his chops. Booker then entered the ring and blindsided Flair. Chaos ensued with Jericho working on nash in the ring and Flair and Booker battling at ringside. Hunter recovered and went for a Pedigree on Nash, but Nash backdropped out. Nash then set up his Jackknife, but Jericho hit him with a dropkick. Booker flew off the ropes and hit Jericho. More chaos followed for a couple minutes. Flair put Michaels in a figure-four as Jericho taunted and kicked Michaels. He also hit the vulnerable Michaels with a Lionsault. Nash then began clearing off the ringside announcers’ table (the U.S, not Spanish!) and was going to Jackknife Hunter on it, but when he saw the trouble Michaels was in, he returned to the ring first. He methodically set up Jericho for a Jackknife, but Flair intervened. Nash threw Flair out of the ring, taking down the ref in the process. Nash then gave Jericho the Jackknife. Hunter by this time had recovered enough to re-enter the ring with a sledgehammer and ram Nash with it. The ref returned to the ring and counted the pin. (*)
Winner: Hunter & Jericho & Flair at 17:45. I’ve heard that the general consensus on this match was that it was bad, but that is not the case at all because it was an above-average six-man tag. The finish is fine by me because you need to put the champ over in matches like these, or you have nothing.
At ringside Cole and Tazz sold the Mysterio injury like crazy.
8. The Rock vs. Goldberg. Rock came out first and interacted with the crowd via facial and hand gestures. Goldberg then made his big ring intro with the camera following him from his locker room to the stage. A variation on his WCW intro music played. They didn’t need to change anything, but the change was fine. Goldberg entered the ring and began doing ballet stretches with his legs on the top rope. It got a laugh out of Lawler. The bell rang to start the match at exactly half past the hour, giving them a full 30 minutes for the entire match and post-match activities if needed. Rock ordered the ref to back Goldberg so he could get in the ring safely. A “Rocky” chant began, and Rock played into it with a hyper active smile. A “Goldberg” chant then broke out, although not overwhelming in volume. It wasn’t until 3:00 that they actually began exchanging punches, with Goldberg getting the better of Rock, no-selling an early punch and then knocking Rock to the floor. Goldberg carried himself like a pro during this early sequence, which played to his strengths (intensity, facial expressions, sweating and twitching) and away from his weaknesses (wrestling a fluid match with ebbs and flows, especially without much recent ring time). Rock took his sweet time getting back to his feet and re-entering the ring. At 4:50 Rock yanked Goldberg throat-first over the top rope and finally re-entered the ring. Many fans cheered Rock’s comeback. Goldberg returned fire quickly with a Rock Bottom which drew a lot of boos. Rock came back by sidestepping a Goldberg charge and shoved Goldberg through the turnbuckles into the ringpost. He followed by putting Goldberg in a Sharpshooter at 6:45. Coachman said “at least half of these fans are fans of Goldberg.” Rock gave Goldberg a low kick and then did a funny celebratory end zone dance. Goldberg surprised Rock with a Spear, although it wasn’t a full-powered Spear. Both were slow to get up. Goldberg knocked Rock down with a shoulder block which, as with most of Goldberg’s offense, drew scattered boos and few cheers. Rock slammed Goldberg and then nipped up. He waited for Goldberg to rise and then immediately gave him a Rock Bottom for a pop. Goldberg made a very late kick out, so late that the ref had to stop his third count to wait for Goldberg’s kickout. Coachman screamed, “What a great ending to an outstanding night.” It just wasn’t the same as if Jim Ross had screamed it. Coachman just doesn’t seem to really feel it, although he’s trying hard and isn’t an embarrassment on play-by-play by any means most of the time. Rock then set up the People’s Elbow. When he hit it, the crowd popped and counted along for Rock’s pin attempt. Louder boos when Goldberg kicked out. Goldberg fired back with a Spear at 13:15. Rock was slow to get up. A loud “Goldberg sucks!” chant broke out to counter a soft “Goldberg” chant. The anti-Goldberg fans were winning out. Rock was hilarious in regaining his feet, taking a deep breath, and taking solace in regaining his composure only to immediately get another Spear followed by the Jackhammer at 14:50. (*)
Winner: Goldberg at 14:54. Pretty bad because they were out there for 15 minutes.
* – Courtesy: The Pro Wrestling Torch
{4/10 (3.5/10 for work; 4.5 for entertainment; 4 for booking)}
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Was it just me or did Teddy Long drop Kwanzaa balloons during RAW?
~Trevor (And yes, Chris Reynolds, just like every month, I watched the show)
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