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EditorialRoyal Rumble Series #16 (2003)

Royal Rumble Series #16 (2003)

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Hello! This is a Royal Rumble 2003 detailed review. Welcome back to the series! Did you miss any earlier volumes? Links are provided below:

#1 (’88)#2 (’89)#3 (’90)#4 (’91)#5 (’92) #6 (’93)#7 (’94) #8 (’95) #9 (’96) – #10 (’97)#11 (’98)#12 (’99)#13 (’00)#14 (’01)#15 (’02)


Royal Rumble #16 – Boston

With an attendance of 15,338, the Royal Rumble event (yet again) continued the trend of having a smaller crowd than earlier years. No tagline used for this PPV, and it was the first-ever “WWE” Royal Rumble. The biggest absentees were Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Austin had left the company due to severe injuries (& drama with his booking).

The Rock on the other hand, left to focus on his film career after seeing fan support plummet the months following his victory over Hollywood Hogan at Wrestlemania X8. They both returned to WWE shortly after this PPV, in different roles. I did not watch the entire show this time, so the results are as follows:

1) In the opening match, Brock Lesnar earned his way in to the Royal Rumble with a win over Big Show; managed by his former advocate Paul Heyman.

2) The Dudleys claimed their 7th WWF/WWE World Tag Team Championships with a win over Lance Storm & William Regal.

3) The only women’s match on the card, featured Torrie Wilson going over Dawn Marie “Wilson” (I believe Dawn had married Torrie’s Father in the story ..) in three minutes. Yawn.

4) One of the worst feuds of the year culminated with Scott Steiner beating Triple H. But it was by disqualification .. so the World Heavyweight Championship (Big Gold Belt) did not change hands. The less said about it the better.

5) One of the best title matches in Royal Rumble history went down before the main event. While to some, it may be hard to watch due to the challenger .. Kurt Angle regularly reminisces over the magic contained within. He and Chris Benoit fought for the WWE Championship in a wrestling clinic.

It was one of the greatest counter-for-counter matches of the ruthless aggression era. I remember watching it live .. totally glued. I had never seen a match like this before. Some would say we get matches like it all the time now .. but back then? Angle & Benoit were setting the bar.


Rumble Roundup

Shawn Michaels out first for the second time in his career. A rare mistake from Jim Ross, as he labeled it the 15th Royal Rumble. Chris Jericho out as number 2 .. but wait? That’s not Jericho! It’s Christian. Jericho sneaks in from behind and low blows Michaels. After beating him down, Y2J pushes a ringside guy over to grab a steel chair. He got in the ring and delivered a dangerous looking shot to HBK’s head. And he’s busted open!

Out next is Harvard graduate Christopher Nowinski. I believe it was his only Rumble appearance as concussions affected his health so badly, he had no choice but to retire early and start his own research company to help athletes deal with brain conditions. Of course he did the smart thing by waiting to get in to the ring. Jericho toyed with the bloodied Michaels, before dumping him out of the Rumble! The crowd hated it .. but it was needed to give Jericho added momentum going in to their classic encounter at Wrestlemania. Jericho goaded Nowinski in, but he was reluctant as the countdown timer popped up.

619! Rey Mysterio hit the ring and heads straight for Jericho. They fight hard as Nowinski takes his sweet time deciding when to enter the match. After Rey takes Jericho down with a springboard move, Nowinski enters and attacks Rey from behind. #5 is Edge. He lights the place up with quick double clotheslines and spears. Rey & Edge work together to force Jericho in to the ring post, and he falls out of the ring but is not eliminated. Nowinski escapes as well, and is laying on the outside.

Edge & Rey shake hands, while simultaneously kicking each other. Edge misses a spear, and Rey misses a 619. A cool spot with Edge getting Rey seated on the top rope and pushing him off .. only for it to backfire as Rey gets his legs around his head. Edge is close to being eliminated, but both Raw & Smackdown referees agree that only one foot touched the floor. Rey springboards off the top rope at Edge, and is powerbombed for his effort. Christian! The #6 entrant gets in the ring and hugs his brother, doing his best to form an unlikely alliance. When Christian goes after Rey and misses, Edge shows his allegiance by spearing his brother.

Nowinski almost has the greatest moment of his wrestling career, as he pushes both Edge & Mysterio over the top rope. The dumb thing? He celebrates too early and fails to check they’re eliminated. As he celebrates the moment, Edge and Rey get on a turnbuckle each. Nowinski turns around and gets knocked down by Rey with a double legged dropkick .. but in the words of Ron Simmons (Damn!), Edge came down immediately after and lands full weight on his head. Poor guy!

Chavo Guerrero out .. and you just know he’s wasting no time finding his old friend Rey Rey. After a lucha libre sequence, Mysterio hit the 619 on Chavo so easily you could almost believe they’ve never fought before. Edge holds Christian on the ropes so Rey can hit him with a 619 as well. He goes for the springboard on Christian, yet is instead caught in mid-air by Nowinski who tries dropping him to the outside, but Rey has a better idea in using his legs to eliminate him. Absent for a while, Jericho finally returns and catches Rey completely off-guard with a clothesline which eliminates him; the crowd does not like that either.

Tajiri! Always one of my faves. Some wicked kicks directed at Christian, before being cut off by Chavo. Tajiri takes him for a modified aeroplane spin, while Jerry Lawler jokes that he can’t tell Tajiri or Funaki apart (you’re not funny King). Hmm .. the controversial Bill DeMott is next. I liked what he was doing at this time. I’m positive he was on the verge of a push, but perhaps he wasn’t well-liked backstage? Commentary sells him as being possibly one of the strongest guys in the match. He brawls his way through everyone, looking a threat for a while. Appears to no-sell too, especially Christian’s punches. JR tells us DeMott is a “stud”, and a “stallion”.

Tommy Dreamer! E-C-F’n-W! And he’s bringing weapons, so this Rumble is getting hardcore. Dreamer and his trusty kendo stick take control of the match. Edge joins in with a kendo stick of his own, and both he and Dreamer punish DeMott with repeated hits. One of Edge’s shots hit so hard it told DeMott’s brain to launch his body over the top to the floor. See ya “stud”. This happens literally a minute after commentary salivated over his potential.

Dreamer celebrated too long, and gets nailed with err .. what to call it, a Con-Trash Can Lid-To?? From Jericho & Christian. Jericho hits Dreamer with a kendo stick, then becomes so angry with the stick he throws it full force in to the mat, launching it across the ring like The Rock selling a Stunner. Some serious kendo stick abuse right there!

Y2J & Christian eliminate Dreamer and again .. like HBK & Rey earlier, the crowd is not enjoying the quick eliminations of their favourites. Tajiri tries locking in the tarantula on Jericho, but Y2J escapes and simply pushes Tajiri off the ropes he’s hanging from. B-2! My word. Anyone remember B-2? John Cena’s best friend? He sucks. And lasted a grand total of 24 seconds before Edge eliminates him.

Whatever happened to him? Bull Buchanan had been under contract since 1997, but this was his last televised WWE match due to his Smackdown match with Redd Dogg being cut from the following episode. After being released, he wrestled in Japan and the American independent scene til his retirement in 2014.

Chavo manages to briefly escape elimination, til Edge spears him off the ring apron. Edge throws Jericho over, but he holds on and does a sweet job of emulating HBK’s move of teasing elimination before pulling himself back over the top. He notices Edge & Christian are very close to getting each other out, so he gives them a helping hand and eliminates both! He’s left in the ring on his own, given time to rest. He has this big .. ugly (carbuncle-like) blood spot on his eyebrow, possibly sustained from a kendo stick shot from Dreamer. Rob Van Dam is here. Dammit Rob .. at least try to make your strikes look like they’re connecting. RVD hits his usual moves and Rolling Thunder. Again, Jericho is close to being eliminated after a slingshot.

“Matt Strongly Dislikes Mustard”. I loved Mattitude, it was arguably his best gimmick. Shannon Moore appears on stage next to him for a brief second, but quickly disappears. Side Effect on RVD. He tells Jericho they should go after Rob. They keep up the double team, but not for long as RVD fights back. Y2J goes for the lionsault but misses. RVD sees he is down and takes to the sky with a 5-star Frog Splash.

As Matt & RVD fight, the always welcoming “Latino Heat” theme plays Eddie Guerrero in to the match. After some back-and-forth, RVD coaxes Eddie in to the corner and sends him flying across the ring with a monkey flip. RVD places Eddie on the top turnbuckle, but is cut off by Matt, who tells Eddie to stay up there. He scoop and slams RVD down, giving Eddie Guerrero time to Frog Splash him .. on his head? Yep, Eddie falls in the direction of RVD’s head. Matt surprises Eddie with a Twist of Fate! Surprisingly it’s Matt Hardy in control.

It’s Jeff! How come The Hardys always happen to find each other in Rumbles? Unlike last time (when they reunited), Jeff makes a hand gesture to imply Matt “talks too much” and deserves a beating. Jeff comes very close to eliminating his brother, but Shannon Moore pops up, using his legs to keep his mentor from falling to the floor. Jeff hits the Twist of Fate on Matt and climbs to the top. Shannon enters the ring and pleads with Jeff not to do it, proceeding to put his own body over Matt to protect him. Jeff does not care and gives them both the Swanton!

As the countdown clock returns, Eddie hits a perfect standing dropkick on Jeff. Roman Reigns’ big brother Rosey (RIP) of 3-Minute Warning out, with his manager Rico. He takes it to RVD, and Jericho after him. Test (RIP) out next with Stacy Keibler; I was always a fan. And just like Edge earlier in the match, Test lights up the ring. Taking down everyone, including Matt Hardy with a pump handle slam (never see that move anymore). General brawling til the next entrant .. which is John Cena “Thuganomics” style! Comes out with a full-on rap. Ends with “My style’s like a swollen penis, you can’t beat me”. Think of the kids John! .. Oh wait.

Cena gets jumped by RVD on the outside and forced in the ring. He takes so long to rap the countdown clock pops up again. It’s only Charlie Haas though. Interesting to see Cena going at it with Eddie in the corner (Eddie was a mentor to him). Jeff isn’t thinking, as he goes for Whisper in the Wind .. leaving RVD an easy chance to push Jeff off and eliminate him. Eddie does one of the classic lucha libre style hurricanranas on Jericho, where you hold their arm and go the turnbuckle way.

Rikishi out, and JR says he holds the record for most appearances in the Rumble (with 8).  He takes down Cena, Hass, Jericho, and Hardy before coming face-to-face with his fellow family member Rosey. There’s a stare down, before Shannon Moore gets involved for no clear reason. He splashes him in to Matt, who seems to be standing there waiting to be squished. Rosey calls to Rikishi to run them down with his backside.

As Matt & Shannon fall to the floor like they’re setting up the stink-face, Rikishi turns to look at them .. but Rosey completely turns him inside out with a clothesline! So much for a family alliance. Another family member in Jamal AKA Umaga enters the fray. And unlike Rosey, Jamal superkicks Rikishi right away. Rikishi fights back and gets Jamal in that familiar position .. so he can stink-face his own family! That’s one way of keeping strong family bonds. Jamal doesn’t sell it long though, and is back to punching Rikishi in the face. Rico finally manages to direct Rosey & Jamal to work together on Rikishi. Oh oh .. it’s Kane! Brace yourselves. Eliminations are coming.

Rico decides to get on the ring apron and gets choke slammed by Kane. Nice, I always hated that guy. Rosey manages to charge at Kane and knock him down, but he sits right back up. He charges at him again and Kane sends him flying over the top to the floor. He proceeds to double choke slam Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore! Jericho is knocked by Kane, getting so close to being eliminated, he literally swings (like a monkey) with one arm to propel himself back in. Benjamin in. Only brawling til the next entrant, which is Booker T “Sucka”. Makes a statement by giving Kane a Scissors Kick. Royal Rumble Spinaroonie! Eddie charges fast at Booker T .. but is thrown over the top so quick it’s easily missed.

A-Train (Albert, Tensai, etc) is #25, and possibly at his most dangerous. I always thought the A-Bomb finisher was his best. Again Jericho is close to being eliminated, this time by Rikishi. Shawn Michaels is out! He’s after Jericho! And for some reason Matt Hardy and John Cena attack him like he’s in the match, when he clearly isn’t. Test intercepts Jericho and launches him over the top! Well, that was unexpected. Michaels launches himself over the top to the floor on Jericho, just to make sure he’s eliminated. Oh my god, it’s my favourite wrestler of all time .. Maven! (joking). To show how far his character progressed in a year, he’s still using his Tough Enough entrance music and video.

Maven takes down Cena (can’t believe I just wrote that), but Kane’s too much for him. There’s been a lot of bodies in this match for long periods; aside from when Jericho briefly got the ring to himself. Goldust is out (with fireworks) .. but doesn’t last a minute before Benjamin & Haas eliminate him. They go one further and get rid of Booker T as well. Batista! Making his Rumble debut. He gets in to a scrap with Test, and is almost eliminated, but manages to dodge a big boot, sending Test hurtling to the floor instead. After a cross body on Shelton, The Animal clotheslines and eliminates Rikishi. Oh my King .. here comes the pain! Brock Lesnar.

He starts off alright, but is soon cornered by Team Angle. They try eliminating him, but are instead eliminated themselves by Brock! Matt tries to do something, but is F-5’d to the outside on top of Team Angle! It takes both A-Train and Batista to stop the momentum of Brock. And #30 is .. Biker Taker! On a bike of course. He gives almost everyone a punch in the face, til he spots Cena and uppercuts him to elimination. Jamal is out next. Maven tries eliminating Undertaker like he did the previous year .. but ‘Taker is wise to it, and makes up for the previous embarrassment by getting rid of Maven after a choke slam.

A-Train hits the A-Bomb on Undertaker. Lesnar goes after Kane, but is choke slammed in the middle of the ring. RVD & Kane work together against Batista, and particularly A-Train. They eliminate the big hairy guy together. Kane motions to RVD for a double team, so he lifts him like he’s going to drop him on to Batista .. but betrays his tag partner and throws him out! It’s every man for himself. Never trust Kane. Four big guys remain: Undertaker, Kane, Lesnar and Batista. We get a familiar sight, with The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar staring each other down from across the ring.

Batista blindsides Undertaker, while Kane goes after Brock. Batista spine busters Taker. Batista and Kane try to double team Lesnar, but The Beast fights back and sends Batista flying with a belly-to-belly. F-5 to Kane. Taker and Lesnar go back to their stare down. They brawl til Lesnar whips off and eats a big boot. He recovers and tries to F5 Taker, but he wriggles out and goes for the Tombstone .. and connects! He turns, sees Batista is up, and clotheslines him out of the ring for elimination. For the first time since Taker got in, he interacts with Kane. He helps him to his feet and signals they should go after Lesnar. But Taker doesn’t need Kane and throws him out anyways!

Sore loser Batista gets in the ring with a steel chair but Taker kicks him down. He picks up the chair and hits Batista with it, and he flops out of the ring. Taker looks down on him, and this is a big enough distraction for Lesnar to recover and eliminate The Deadman! Undertaker grins in disbelief. Brock Lesnar celebrates going to face the champion in the main event at Wrestlemania. Undertaker gets in the ring and tells Brock to go and win the title, before giving him a forceful hand slap. Brock agrees, and Undertaker leaves the ring so he can bask in the spotlight.


Conclusion

It was the first to feature separate rosters for each brand. Triple H continued to dominate Raw, while “the next big thing” climbed to the top of the mountain on Smackdown. I think it was tough for those who couldn’t get behind Triple H or Brock Lesnar, as there were other talents possibly more deserving of a push. Remembering how I felt back in 2003, I missed Austin the most. I don’t blame him at all, but his absence left a gap too wide to fill. It opened up opportunities for guys like Lesnar, Cena, and Batista to peak Vince McMahon’s interest.

WWE’s quest to find the next Stone Cold Steve Austin remains incomplete to this day. You could say John Cena made them a lot of money over a longer period, but he’s another subject altogether. What’s important to understand, is how badly WWE wanted someone who could sell merchandise on Austin or The Rock’s level. And to the fans who could see the writing on the wall, it wasn’t a matter of “if” Lesnar won the Rumble. They were hoping for something more exciting, and unpredictable.

Honestly, it would’ve been more of a shock if Lesnar didn’t win. And I must say, him rolling out at #29 was disappointing. Had he worked hard for at least half the match before eliminating Taker at the end, it may have garnered him more respect with the fans.

Remember the botched shooting star press at Wrestlemania? I believe more remember that moment, than when he was shown a huge amount of respect from The Deadman here. You could see how happy (the man portraying) The Undertaker was for Brock though. Watch his body language, it’s almost like he’s telling everyone .. “He’s the man. We’ll tear it up again down the road”. And they sure did. This marks the beginning of the one-sided story of The Phenom and The Beast. Their interactions made the end sequences more meaningful.

The rest of the match had its moments, but they were few-and-far between because eliminations slowed to a snail’s pace after Jericho eliminated Edge & Christian. There were flashes of fun, fast-paced action, but it soon reverted back to the typical randomness. You know what I mean? With the amount of talent they had, there could have been more spots planned. Jericho vs. HBK was the only serious feud, and they totally delivered.

Bit strange Matt & John Cena attacked a bloodied HBK who was only interested in Jericho, but I’ve seen weirder things. Speaking of which, there wasn’t anything risky or innovative. No controversy. Unless you include Cena’s rap. And who lasted longest? Believe it or not, Chris Jericho (most eliminations with 6), Rob Van Dam and Matt Hardy. No “legends” popped their heads out from behind the curtain either.

Rumble 2003 is a mixed bag. It has some good moments, but there could’ve been more. HBK didn’t need to go out as soon as he did. Mysterio needed longer than six minutes. Tommy Dreamer had great support, yet couldn’t last a minute. A short match time which felt longer than it was. I believe the positives outweigh the negatives though, so I’d recommend you check it out if you’ve never seen it, or it’s been a long time.

As we head towards the 2019 Royal Rumble, I find it a little ironic that almost sixteen years later I’m again thinking “Is Brock Lesnar going to win in predictable fashion?”, while also thinking “But will WWE listen to the fans and take a chance?”. We’ve been down this road before, and it’s never safe to bet against “The Beast” .. but anything’s possible. Just look at Eddie Guerrero. Can Finn Balor emulate Latino Heat’s historic win by dethroning Brock Lesnar in shocking fashion on the Road To Wrestlemania? Or is Brock destined to do what he did 16 years ago at Royal Rumble 2003 .. what he always finds a way to do? Predictably dominate everyone in front of him.

I’ve enjoyed bringing this to you, although I’m sure the 2004 Rumble will be more interesting. Thank you for reading! As always, it’s much appreciated.

If you would like to read up on what happened next .. you can find my old, freshly edited (Jan. 2019) review on Wrestlemania XIX here: >>> Wrestlemania XIX

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