Customer Reviews

WWE Royal Rumble 2003

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The final four Superstars in this Royal Rumble Match were Batista, Undertaker, Kane and Brock Lesnar. At first, it appeared that Kane and Undertaker would work together, but rarely do allegiances last in the Royal Rumble Match. Ultimately, Lesnar eliminated Undertaker to win.

ORDER OF ENTRY

Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho
Christopher Nowinski
Rey Mysterio
Edge
Christian
Chavo Guerrero
Tajiri
Bill DeMott
Tommy Dreamer
B-2
Rob Van Dam
Matt Hardy
Eddie Guerrero
Jeff Hardy
Rosey
Test
John Cena
Charlie Haas
Rikishi
Jamal
Kane
Shelton Benjamin
Booker T
A-Train
Maven
Goldust
Batista
Brock Lesnar
Undertaker
ORDER OF ELIMINATION

Shawn Michaels by Chris Jericho
Christopher Nowinski by Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio by Chris Jericho
Bill DeMott by Edge
Tommy Dreamer by Jericho and Christian
Tajiri by Jericho
B-2 by Edge
Chavo Guerrero by Edge
Edge by Jericho
Christian by Jericho
Jeff Hardy by Rob Van Dam
Rosey by Kane
Eddie Guerrero by Booker T
Chris Jericho by Test
Goldust by Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
Booker T by Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
Test by Batista
Rikishi by Batista
Charlie Haas by Brock Lesnar
Shelton Benjamin by Brock Lesnar
Matt Hardy by Brock Lesnar
John Cena by Undertaker
Jamal by Undertaker
Maven by Undertaker
A-Train by RVD and Kane
Rob Van Dam by Kane
Batista by Undertaker
Kane by Undertaker
Undertaker by Brock Lesnar
WINNER: Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar vs. The Big Show - OK Match. The best F5 Brock ever gave The Big Show was at Survivor Series 2002. Out of ***** I'd give it a **1/2.

RAW World Tag Team Titles Match:
(Champions)Lance Storm & William Regal vs. The Dudley Boys - No point to the match as the Titles change hands the next night on RAW anyways. **.

Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie - The whole angle was stupid. Actually, it was a good Angle until they did what they did to Al Wilson at the end. Terrible match. But, they kept it short. *1/2.

RAW World Heavyweight Title Match:
(Champion) Triple H vs. Scott Steiner - Bad Match. Triple H really wanted to put on a good 30-minute match with Steiner, he just couldn't though. Botched spot by Steiner. Not a great ending. **.

Smackdown! Undisputed Title Match:
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - Best match of the night. Some backstage in the WWE said it was one of the best matches in the franchise's history. *****.

Royal Rumble Match:
Great Match. Most entertaining of the nighht probably. Except for maybe Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit. Obvious winner, though. ****.

Overall Show Rating: ***1/2.

The Royal Rumble 2003 was anything but a flop PPV, but without the help of Kurt, Jericho and Benoit, things would have got messy.

Here's how the grades work:
***** = The perfect match, the dream match, it's like Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair!
****1/2 = An excellent match, worthy of rememberance
**** = Great match
***1/2 = A good match, only a few flaws...
*** = An okay match, worthy only for a mid-carded and below match
**1/2 = Not even worthy of a mainevent on RAW or SD!
** and below = Horrible performance. I might as well give the result of the match away to you, it's that simple.

First up is the contendership for the 29th entry into the Royal Rumble- Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show
A month earlier Brock had cost the title for Big Show out of revenge, and a match was made at the RR so that these two could contend for a spot in the rumble. The match is short, and thankfully so, but there are a few decent spots in this match. Very predictable outcome, though.
**1/2 (half a star taken off as a result of shortness, though match would've gotten worse throughout.)

World Tag Team Championship- The Dudleyz vs. Lance Storm and Regal
Short & Simple- this is WAY after the Dudleyz started to lose their spark. Regal and Storm are a team on RAW that nobody cared for that year. Add that with slow wrestling, basic holds and nobody caring about the outcome, and you got yourself a chapter skip.
**

Dawn Marie vs. Torrie Wilson
A women's match that started because of the death of Torrie's dad, who was also Dawn's on-screen husband. As the storyline was just as stupid and pathetic as it was, the match was just as bad. I won't go into detail, but Torrie wins with a swinging neck breaker of all moves.
*

World Heavyweight Championship- Triple H vs. Scott Steiner
The match happened because HHH was bragging about how he was the champ. Scott Steiner comes out of nowhere, challenges him, and gets a match at the Rumble. Weeks earlier, Trips had challenged Steiner to posing, arm wrestling and push-up contests, with Scott winning them all.
The match itself is not TOO bad, but is quite slow and repetitive. HHH is definitely good when he has good talent to carry him through the match, but Scott isn't good enough. The crowd gets restless when Steiner repeats the same belly-to-belly suplexes about 8 times, and the ring psychology is poor, but no match could've toppled Angle's and Chris' match later on. HHH's and Steiner's No Way Out match is better though, because the Canadian crowd boos Steiner, and cheers HHH. Just thought I'd let you know that...
***

EDIT: Man, I must've been on drugs when I first reviewed this, because it was absolutely dreadful!

WWE Championship Match- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit.
The match was announced once Benoit beat Big Show on a SmackDown! episode, and the feud started once Kurt had his lackeys, Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas to attack Chris while Kurt was injured. Kurt had later revealed that his knee-injury wasn't as bad as was reported, so Kurt could defend his title at the Royal Rumble after all to Benoit. Kurt looked like an underdog to Chris on SD! epidodes, so you knew that Chris had a great deal of chance winning at RR.
The match itself- what can I say? It is without a doubt the best match of 2003, and the only ***** match in recent history. This is the best Kurt-Benoit match I have seen, and is definitely better than their WrestleMania X7 match. The technicality is tremendous, the psychology is perfect, the effort shown by both men would bewilder anyone and the crowd goes crazy in the dying moments and during all of the submission moves. In fact, this is without any argument better than the mainevents at WrestleManias XV through to XX- it is just that good. While every other match has it flaws at any PPV, this one has none. I will say no more.
*****

The Royal Rumble
Some of the storylines based around the Rumble were that Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho had been fighting over the #1 entry spot, because they both liked the thought of being known as the greatest because they won the Rumble while being in the ring for the whole time. Also, Undertaker returned at the Rumble after being 'injured' at the hands of the Big Show on SD!, and had a #30 entry.
All I will say is this- Jericho puts on one hell of a performance for the long time that he remains in the Rumble, and I enjoyed his effort just as much as that of Ric Flair's Rumble performance back at '92. This also sets the stage for Jericho vs. Michaels at WrestleMania XIX.
**** (maybe even ****1/2, considering that it must go on for longer than 45 minutes)

The DVD's best features are the 3 Undertaker returns video teasers, which I like because they blend the music well with the clips, and the extra 4-man battle royal match, which has Batista, Jericho, Kane and RVD fighting it out to determine who gets to choose their entry in the Rumble. The match itself is decent.

Overall, this PPV gets ***. It would get more, but the first 3 matches make this PPV just that much more worse.

Royal Rumble
featuring 15 SmackDown! and 15 RAW Superstars

WWE Championship
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

World Heavyweight Championship
Scott Steiner vs. Triple H

Stepdaughter vs. Stepmother
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie

Winner Enters The Rumble
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show

World Tag Team Championship
Dudley Boyz vs. William Regal and Lance Storm

This DVD features the full Royal Rumble 2003 event and also these extras:

- Revolutionary Royal Rumble TV Promo (& the making)
- Royal Rumble Moments (Confidential, 18th January 2003)
- Undertaker Returns at The Rumble (all 3 teaser promos)
- Over-The-Top-Rope Challenge: Batista vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho (RAW, 13th January 2003)
- Pre-Match Interviews (Dawn Marie, Eric Bishoff)
- Post-Match Interviews (Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, Dudley Boyz, Triple H, Team Angle, John Cena & Brock Lesnar)

1.Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show- ok match winner went to rumble. Very predictible and a very predictible rumble. Great when Lesnar gave Big Show an F-5
Winner- Brock Lesnar
2.Dudley Boyz vs. Lance Storm and William Regal-not that good of a match. Gets boring
Winners- Dudley Boyz
3. Scott Stiener vs. Triple H- boring match. Triple H tried to leave and get dqed. He finally gets dqed
Winner- Scott Stiener by dq
4.Chris Beniot vs Kurt Angle- the best match of the year! Beniot headbutts Angle when Benoit is on the outherside of the ring
Winner- Kurt Angle
5.Royal Rumble- an ok rumble. Undertaker returns. Very predictible rumble
Winner- Brock Lesnar

Winner Advance to the Rumble Match
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show
Anticipated rematch isn't too bad if somewhat predictable.

World Tag Team Championship
Lance Storm & William Regal vs. Dudley Boyz
"Reunion" match for the Dudleyz. The ending is well deserved but the next night on Raw wasn't. Good match.

Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie
997th meeting on ppv. Worthless, abhorrent crap.

World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H vs. Scott Steiner
A lot of hype for the match and a lot of scrutiny for Steiner. I do like this match. A dream match of sorts. The only bad idea was the dq ending. Steiner looked slow but solid.

WWE Championship
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
Best match ever!! No matter how many times they work together is seems to get better each time. An absolute masterpiece from start to finish.

Royal Rumble Match
Taker's return, Hardy's meeting, and some other cool moments but the outcome was predictable. It was still very entertaining.

Big Show v. Brock Lesnar Winner is in The Rumble
Very good match. I would have liked it to have been longer but it was okay.

Dawn Marie v. Torrie Wilson
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Lance Storm & William Regal v. Dudley Boyz World Tag Titles
Very refreshing after watching Dawn v. Torrie. The Dudley Boyz win tag gold again. How good are they.

Triple H v. Scott Steiner World Title
Why does everybody had this match I loved it. Even though HHH wins by DQ. HHH & Steiner have even a better match at NO Way Out.

Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit WWE Title
Greatest Angle v. Benoit of all-time. Techincal masterpiece. I really thought Benoit was gonna win. Angle wins with the Ankle Lock.

30-Man Royal Rumble
One of the best Royal Rumble's ever. I hated Jericho for that. But I had a smile on my face when Michaels came back and kicked his butt. Lesnar eliminates Undertaker to win.

Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar 8/10
This was a good match. Good opener. I like Big Show & Brock Lesnar matches.

World Tag Titles
Regal & Storm vs. Dudley Boyz 6/10
This wasn't bad it was an average tag match.

Stepmom vs. Stepdaughter
Dawn Marie vs. Torrie Wilson 4/10
This match was bad. I liked the video package before the match.

World Title
Scott Steiner vs. HHH 7/10
This match was not half bad. The only things that I didn't like were to many of the same moves and it was slow. It wasn't that bad.

WWE Title
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Beniot 10/10
What preasure did Chris Beniot and Kurt Angle had knowing that all of the matches except for one weren't great. They gave us one of the best matches I have ever seen. All of there matches are great but this one really stood out. I wanted Benoit to win but he got a standing ovation. Kudos to both men.

Royal Rumble Match 9/10
This was a great match. The return of the Undertaker. He and Lesnar were the last two in the end. I wanted Taker to win but Brock went to Wrestlemania XIX.

Buy this DVD for Kurt Angle and Chris Beniot. It was excellent!!!

Rating out of *****

Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show **
Survivor Series Match was better

Dudley Boys vs. Regal/Storm **1/4
Its good seeing dudleys back together, but this match wasn't that great.

Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie .5
Snorefest along with the next match:

Scott Steiner vs. Triple H 0
17 minute snorefest.

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit *****
Great Match by these two.

30 man Royal Rumble ****
Good but too predictable

Royal Rumble 2003 was not a bad show, but it wasn't great. The show kicked off with a Royal Rumble qualifying match between Big Show and Brock Lesnar. This was not a bad match at all, but the whole angle was bad. Instead of having a qualifying match, both men should have been in the Royal Rumble itself to settle which would have been a great stage to settle the rivalry and fuel the hatred between Lesnar and Heyman. Anyway, Lesnar wins with the F5. The next match was for the World Tag-Team titles. Lance Storm and William Regal defended against The Dudley Boyz. I honestly didn't like having this match at the ppv. It was really only there because Raw needed another match at the ppv to go along with HHH and Steiner. THe Dudleyz win, but are screwed the next night on Raw by Morley. The whole angle between the Dudleyz and Morley sucked and never went anywhere. The next match was a dull stepmother versus stepdaughter match between Torrie and Dawn Marie. The storyline leading to this was horrendous and should not have lasted four freakin months. Torrie wins. Next up was a highly anticipated World Heavyweight title match betweeen Triple H and Scott Steiner. I did not know how this match would go but I did have a hunch that Trips would retain. That he did in a very slow-paced 30-minute blunderfest. For all those Triple H haters out there...look at what he has to put on a match with... Scott Steiner. This guy messed up so many times and looked clueless the whole match. The Boston crowd hated this guy(we know who to cheer here in MA). One of the worst title matches of all time, right up there with Hogan and Taker from the year before. The Rumble was okay, not nearly as good as some in the past. Lesnar won(didn't see that coming). They should have added another obstacle in Lesnar's path and have Big Show win the match via a screwjob leading to a rematch at No Way Out. Decent show...the one before it, Armageddon is better, and so is the one after it, No Way Out.