Royal Rumble Count-Up – 2003 (2013 Redo): The Now Big Thing
Royal Rumble 2003
Date: January 19, 2003
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 15,338
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz
The opening video is about what you would expect it to be: thirty men wanting to go to Wrestlemania.
Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar
A big boot slows Brock down and a side slam looks to set up the chokeslam. Brock kind of rolls through it into a two count, followed by another belly to belly. Heyman gets dragged in but Show saves him from an F5. The chokeslam gets two as Heyman is losing his mind. Show gets rammed into Heyman and the F5 sends Brock to the Rumble.
Raw Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. William Regal/Lance Storm
Nathan Jones is coming. Oh geez.
Dawn Marie vs. Torrie Wilson
House show ads, including one for 7pm on a Monday night.
Nathan Jones is STILL coming. Seriously did we need that twice in 30 minutes?
Raw World Title: HHH vs. Scott Steiner
HHH has red trunks on here for some reason. He mixed them up every now and then and rarely did the other colors work. Stick with basic black Game. Hebner brings them to the middle for instructions which is ultra rare stuff. Steiner wins an early slugout and pounds on the champion in the corner. A gorilla press sends HHH to the floor and Steiner pounds away with those weird looking overhand punches of his.
Remember that back stuff he did at the beginning? Completely forgotten. Did you see him try his finisher? Not even once. He somehow managed a belly to belly suplex every two minutes, despite being on defense for a good third of the match. This was absolutely horrible and quite possibly the worst world title match I can EVER remember, which is covering a lot of ground.
We cut to Cole and Tazz and even MICHAEL FREAKING COLE has a look on his face as if to say “WOW that was an abomination.”
We recap Benoit vs. Angle. Angle won the title from Big Show at Armageddon thanks to Lesnar before revealing that he hired Paul Heyman to be his new manager. Heyman said anyone could get a shot other than Brock Lesnar and brought in Team Angle (Haas and Benjamin) to protect Kurt during a knee injury. Benoit won a title shot over Big Show to set this up.
Smackdown World Title: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle
Back to the floor where Benoit gets dropped onto the barricade to further mess with his head. Off to a rear naked choke back inside so Kurt can overly loudly call some spots. Angle catches Benoit in another belly to belly followed by a belly to back for two. Back to the chinlock for a bit until a double clothesline puts both guys down. Benoit rolls some Germans but so does Angle. And people wonder why their necks were held together by tape.
Royal Rumble
The Bronco Buster hits Nowitski and Chavo is #7. He immediately takes Rey down but gets caught in a 619. Rey drops the dime on Chavo and hits a 619 on Christian. He tries a springboard rana on Christian but lands on Nowitski and takes him to the floor in the process. Jericho puts Mysterio out, leaving us with Jericho, Edge, Christian and Chavo at the moment. You can add Tajiri at #8 to that list.
Maven from Tough Enough (finally with actual trunks) is #26. He goes right for Kane like an idiot and gets punched in the face for his efforts. Goldust is #27 and he barely makes it 45 seconds before Haas and Benjamin put him out. Booker goes off on Haas in the corner but gets thrown out by Team Angle as well. He would get the world title shot at HHH as a consolation prize.
Taker punches everyone and dumps Cena and Jamal with ease. Maven dropkicks Taker in the back and celebrates, earning himself a chokeslam. The elimination is academic. A-Train hits the chokebomb on Taker to finally slow him down as Kane chokeslams Lesnar. Kane and Van Dam, the Raw tag champions, start teaming up to beat people up but A-Train takes them both down. Van Dam saves Kane from a backbreaker and the champs double clothesline Albert out.
Taker says go win the title but he wants the first shot. Brock says ok to end the show. Did we need that?
Ratings Comparison
Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar
Original: D
Redo: C+
Dudley Boys vs. William Regal/Lance Storm
Original: C
Redo: D
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie
Original: DD
Redo: D-
Scott Steiner vs. HHH
Original: G-
Redo: H (As in HHH)
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle
Original: A+
Redo: A+
Royal Rumble
Original: B
Redo: B-
Overall Rating
Original: B-
Redo: C-
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/22/royal-rumble-count-up-2003-best-match-ever/
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