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Sunday 8 December 2013

The Scottish View: Royal Rumble 2003



Royal Rumble 2003 Review


One of my earliest wrestling memories is receiving this PPV on DVD for my 10th birthday and watching it with all of my friends. Even though I still loved everything to do with WWE, I knew that the World Title match was awful. So how does this PPV hold up eleven years later? Let's find out.



Brock Lesnar vs Big Show
The winner of this match advances to the Rumble match. Lesnar was still trying to get his revenge on Paul Heyman after he betrayed him at Survivor Series. Strange how we had the same kind of angle ten years later. The matches between these two were always entertaining because Lesnar was able to suplex Show around the place. Entertaining opener that got the crowd fired up as Lesnar heads to the Rumble. **1/2



The Dudley Boyz vs Lance Storm & William Regal
The World Tag Titles are on the line. I think the Tag Titles had just recently changed their design, but I could be wrong about that. Not much to say about this one as it was just a generic tag match with the Dudleys hitting all their signature moves and winning the tag titles. It was an enjoyable match though. **1/4



Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson
Good god not this awful storyline. This didn't belong on TV nevermind a PPV. There was nothing good about this story and it didn't even lead to anything or do anything for anybody. Pointless and the match was awful too. DUD


And speaking of badness, it's time for the World Title match.



Triple H vs Scott Steiner
Do I really have anything to say about this match that hasn't already been said? The buildup was awful due to the pose down contests and the arm wrestling matches and the pushup contests. I hope the person that decided to give this eighteen minutes was fired shortly after. Horrific World Title match and probably one of the worst if not the very worst. DUD


Time to get this show back on the road.



Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit
The WWE Championship is on the line. I'm still pissed off at the fact that the HHH/Steiner match was given a rematch, and this one didn't happen on PPV again. No wonder 2003 was an bad year for the WWE. Anyway enough of the negativity, because we just came out of hell and into heaven with this bout. An absolute technical masterpiece that has to be seen. Easilyy the Match of the Year. This might be their best contest together, and that is saying a hell of a lot. This one match easily made up for the last two blunders. I didn't want this to end, but unfortunately it had to as Angle retains with the ankle lock. After the match Benoit gets a well deserved standing ovation from the crowd. Unbelievable stuff. *****



Royal Rumble Match
There weren't a lot of storylines going into this rumble, but I did enjoy Jericho trolling Shawn Michaels at the start of the match, which would end up leading to their awesome Mania match. Overall I'd say it was a very fun Rumble that also featured the return of the Undertaker. Brock winning was kind of obvious but it was still a great Rumble match. ***3/4



7/10. Man those two DUDs almost brought a halt to the whole show, but the Angle/Benoit classic brought it back again, along with a great Rumble. The first two matches were pretty enjoyble, but definitely skip the two matches after them. The WWE Title match is must-see.

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