Monday Night Raw – February 17, 2003: How Did I Last As Long As I Did?
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Night Raw
Date: February 17, 2003
Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Theme song gets us going.
Rob Van Dam vs. Lance Storm
Kane and Regal are at ringside due to the newly announced tag title match on Sunday. They trade flipping counters to start until Van Dam gets his stepover kick to the jaw to put Storm down. Lance takes him into the corner but gets caught by a middle rope cross body for two. Rob rolls to the apron and suplexes Storm next to him for an apron slugout, only to have Rob get slammed face first into the barricade. Back in and a springboard clothesline gets two for Lance as the crowd is trying to get into this.
Shawn talks to Jeff Hardy about losing his luggage on a flight when Bischoff walks up. Michaels sarcastically tells him good luck on Sunday but Bischoff says he has an announcement that might make Shawn need luck.
Jacqueline/Molly Holly vs. Victoria/Jazz
Jazz beats up Jackie to complete silence which JR says is the crowd being in awe.
We recap Goldust being attacked by Evolution and getting electrocuted.
Booker T says Goldust has some neurological problems since the attack. He swears revenge on Evolution.
Rodney Mack vs. Al Snow
Jericho and Christian are ready for their match and Jericho slaps his gum away ala Hennig. That made me smile.
Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Shawn Michaels/Jeff Hardy
Jericho freaks out and wants a piece of Jeff Hardy.
Hurricane vs. Christopher Nowitski
Hurricane quickly takes him down to start and gets two off an Oklahoma roll. Nowitski bails to the floor but gets caught with a hurricanrana off the apron. Back in and Chris chokes away on the top rope before we hit the chinlock. Hurricane fights up and gets another rollup for two, only to be caught in a nice toss into the air spinebuster. Not that it matters as the Eye of the Hurricane is good for the pin on Chris a few seconds later.
Morely and Bischoff warm up with Morely making fun of JR.
Spike Dudley vs. 3 Minute Warning/Rico
Scott Steiner/Booker T vs. HHH/Batista
HHH and Booker get us going with Booker leapfrogging the Game and hitting a kick to the face. A backdrop puts HHH down for two but Batista gets in a cheap shot from the apron, setting up the knee to the face to give Evolution control. The still very green Batista comes in for a hard clothesline in the corner and another one in the middle of the ring. Back to HHH but Booker rolls into the corner for the hot tag off to Steiner.
Back in and HHH puts on a sleeper which is quickly broken. The crowd is almost eerily silent here. Everything breaks down off the hot tag to Booker and house is cleaned. Batista runs him over with the clothesline but Steiner breaks up a Pedigree. Orton gets slammed off the top as Steiner clears the ring. HHH takes a scissors kick out of nowhere to give Booker the pin.
Rating: D+. The match was ok but it had nothing to it. The ending was a nice surprise but Steiner vs. HHH is just death and WWE figured that out by this point. This crowd is just dead though and it needed more than a generic tag match to fix that. Batista looked good in the short spurts he was in there though which is a good sign for the future.
Eric Bischoff vs. Jim Ross
Bischoff breaks some boards and a watermelon before the match to show how awesome he is. JR comes to the ring in his announcing clothes and Eric makes it no holds barred because he can. He looks at Morely as he says this to really hammer in the idea. Lawler is really worried but of course he stays seated.
Bischoff drinks beer and says Austin catchphrases to end the show.
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