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With the busiest time of the wrestling year behind them, the WWE begin their focus on splitting the PPV’s. It’s bad news and good news for the wrestlers. The theory is, it gives the wrestlers who don’t usually appear on PPV’s the chance to appear on them but it’s less money for the stars that appear on all the PPV’s. With business down, the problem is obvious.
The champions before the 4th PPV of the year, Backlash, were as follows:
Raw World title: Triple H
Raw Tag Titles: RVD and Kane
Women’s title: Trish Stratus
Smackdown World title: Brock Lesnar
Smackdown Tag titles: Team Angle
Cruiserweight title: Matt Hardy
The only title that had yet to change hands this year was the Raw World title, with Triple H still clutching the belt that he values more than anything else, except maybe his position in the company. Also, the Raw after Wrestlemania, RVD and Kane finally got their hands on the Raw Tag team titles.
So, Backlash was upon us and it was the 2nd of the 4 PPV’s that the UK viewers had to pay for. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. Backlash was on the 27th April and saw the WWE PPV debut of Goldberg. Was it enough to boost WWE buyrates?
Backlash kicked off with Team Angle V Los Guerreros for the Smackdown Tag Titles. Team Angle stole this one after Benjamin tripped Chavo and held on to Haas so Chavo couldn’t kick out. After the match, Los Guerreros stole the titles in a bid to keep the feud fresh. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the Smackdown roster meant this match had been seen many times before. It was still a good match.
Next saw Shaun O’Haire take on Rikishi. O’Haire was being accompanied by Roddy Piper at the time in an sttempt to push Shaun O’Haire as a big heel. O’Haire won with a Spinebuster after Piper tried to hit Rikishi with a coconut but Rikishi got him with it instead. The distraction was enough. The match was short enough to okay but it won’t win any awards.
RVD and Kane defended the tag titles against The Dudleyz with Chief Morley as the guest referee. It was everything you would expect. Morley interfered constantly, ends up attacking the Dudleyz, Dudley 3D, no ref. RVD hits the frogsplash for the win to defend the titles when a new ref makes the count. The constant interference makes this feud a must miss and it just hurt the tag division on Raw.
The Women’s title was on the line as Trish defends against Jazz. Jazz was being managed by Teddy Long as part of the whole ‘white boy’ angle with Rodney Mack. A solid match resulted, probably one of the best that the Women’s division has to offer. Jazz nicked the title after holding onto the ropes during the cover. A notable moment was when a cover on Jazz was stopped when Teddy Long threw in a shoe. Seriously, a shoe.
Rey Mysterio faces Big Show next in a total squash match. Not only did Big Show make Rey look like a total jobber, he totally killed Rey’s finisher and switched the fans off even more than they were before. They then put Rey on a stretcher, only to have Big Show slam him into the ring post and then drop him on his head. Never step in the ring with an oversized moron. Never!
John Cena got a shot at the Smackdown World title next against Brock Lesnar. John Cena was still working on his act and his ability in the ring and they were put in a 15-minute match where they showed that they both weren’t ready. Brock won with obvious F5 and it really needed an experienced wrestler like Benoit for them to learn off.
The Raw Champion was in action next as he successfully avoided defending his title and we get a 6-man tag match. HHH, Flair and Jericho take on Michaels, Booker T and Kevin Nash. The finish sees Nash powerbomb Jericho but HHH nails Nash with a sledgehammer and pins him. This is supposedly going to set up Nash as a challenger for the title but how does that work? HHH, the champion, pins Nash and that immediately makes him Number 1 Contender. Interesting logic, I think you’d agree. It was Nash’s first match back as well.
The main event at Backlash saw Goldberg take on The Rock. The Rock was so totally over that he would rip it out of the fans and get cheers. It was obvious that this match was a bad idea with The Rock disappearing again after this match and Goldberg having only 4 moves at the most. The fans had totally turned on Goldberg by the end and it was such an obvious end, Goldberg picking up the win with the Jackhammer.
Well, there was Backlash. It was billed by many as the worst PPV of the year so far and after a moderately successful Wrestlemania, it was a total disaster. Will they be able to bounce back after a mess like Backlash? Backlash was missing notable names like Benoit and Angle (Angle being injured at this point) and the lack of real quality or suppression of talent was noticeable.
This moves us to Judgment Day on the 18th May and in a way, it was judgment day for the WWE. The WWE had announced that the next PPV would be a Raw only PPV so they would have to make a big impact in what was a crucial time.
Judgment Day saw Austin in the role of co-GM of Raw and he spent the show with Bischoff in a skybox. I like Austin and he can be hilariously funny but I felt his talent being wasted with every passing segment. The first match at Judgment Day was a 6-man tag between Cena, Palumbo and Stamboli V Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky. Palumbo and Stamboli were wrestling under the guise of the faction name called the F.B.I. The match lasted less than 4 minutes and was mostly Spanky getting beaten down. The finish saw a double team move from Palumbo and Stamboli on Spanky and that was that. It was a total waste of talent as Benoit, Cena and Spanky, who had been on fire wrestling wise of late were left to rot in opening match filler.
The next match was the PPV debut of the ‘French’ team, La Resistance, although one of them is actually Canadian. La Resistance were taking on Test and Steiner and Test and Steiner were on the verge of a break up. The end result was Test ‘accidentally’ hitting Steiner with the boot and a double flapjack on Steiner was enough for the win. However, the break up never happened. The match was brutal to watch and delaying the inevitable did neither guy any favours. La Resistance looked green in the ring to say the least.
We go from the brutal to the brilliant as Team Angle took on Eddie and Tajiri for the Smackdown tag titles in a ladder match. Chavo got legitimately injured a week or so before the match and Tajiri was a late replacement. The match was typical Team Angle and Eddie stuff that Smackdown had been giving us for a while, however, Team Angle looked nervous, probably due to the nature of the ladder match. It was their first ladder match and the nerves were evident. The result was Eddie and Tajiri taking the titles in what was a major surprise.
Next, we saw the return of the Intercontinental title. The Intercontinental title was a proving ground for future stars with the hope that this will elevate them to main eventers. The match was a Battle Royale with over the top rope elimination. Apparently, everyone in the match was a former Intercontinental Champion and it included Val Venis (after being fired as Chief), Jericho, Goldust, Lance Storm, RVD, Kane, Christian, Test and Booker T, even though Booker T had never held the Intercontinental title before. The result saw a ref bump (yes, a ref bump in a Battle Royale) and Booker winning it clean but the ref was not able to see it. A belt shot and Booker being bundled out saw Christian take the Intercontinental title. The obvious suppression of Booker T was annoying to myself and many others and his constant jobbing in front of his hometown fans was just shocking to say the least.
Next was a bikini contest between Sable and Torrie. Of course, the fans were asked to decide. Strangely, Sable actually got a bigger cheer but of course, Torrie was declared the winner and a lesbian kiss resulted. Vince was quickly getting a reputation of being a dirty old man. Sorry, he already had a reputation of being a dirty old man.
Moving swiftly on, or should I say, moving via walking aids, we reach Mr. America V Roddy Piper. The Mr. America angle was so poor and anyone with half a brain could see it was Hogan but we were supposed to buy that no one could see it. It was around this time that we saw Zach Gowen, a one-legged wrestler. He was in Hogan’s corner for this match. The result saw Vince run in and go low, O’Haire try and knock Hogan out with a pipe but Hogan hit the leg drop for the win. This was watchable in 1985 but not in 2003.
The Raw World Title was on the line as Nash, pinned by HHH on his first match back, takes on HHH. The result was almost a carbon copy of HHH V Steiner as HHH gets disqualified and setting up a rematch for the first Raw PPV, Bad Blood. Nash’s lack of ability and mobility was obvious as the only thing people remember of the match was when Nash jack-knifed HHH through the announcer’s table. The HHH reign continues.
The crowd are meant to be really hot at the moment, which they are not, so we get a ‘calm down’ match for the Women’s title. Jazz defends her title against Jackie, Trish and Victoria. A total mess results with Jazz defending after a DDT on Jackie.
The main event saw Brock Lesnar defend the Smackdown World title against Big Show in a stretcher match. They used the Big Show’s incompetence of dropping Rey on his head at Backlash to set up this match. The complete misuse of Rey was evident here when he attempted a run in and got ‘killed’ by Big Show. The ending saw Brock drive back into the arena with a forklift, F5 on Show, put him on the stretcher, raises him up with the forklift and drives him over the line for the victory. I think they are trying to tell the Big Show something here.
If you though Backlash was bad, this was worse. Judgment Day was widely acknowledged as one of, if not, the worst PPV in WWE history. A series of bad shows plus bad matches at this PPV put the WWE in a slump with no sign of recovery. The talent continued to be wasted and the constant pushing of big guys and wrestlers that can’t entertain was a real concern but to the WWE and Vince, that was not the problem. Will the problems be resolved before the major PPV split happens?
They didn’t have long as Bad Blood came along quickly on 15th June. Raw was on display here as Bad Blood was the first Raw only PPV and this really needed to be a success. The WWE went on the hard sell with HHH and Nash facing off in a Hell in a Cell and Mick Foley as referee for that match. For those who don’t know, Bad Blood replaced the King Of The Ring PPV, which upset a few purists. The King of the Ring was a tournament of future stars. With the exception of a few, the majority made it big.
Bad Blood kicked off with the Dudleyz taking on Mack and Nowinski. This match was down to the ‘white boy’ angle with Teddy Long and a segment beforehand saw Teddy Long try and turn D’Von away from Bubba by saying that Bubba orders D’Von around. The match saw D’Von hesitating in getting the tables and Nowinski laying out Bubba with his nose guard mask for the win.
Bad Blood saw a Redneck triathlon between Bischoff and Austin. It was obvious that they had no idea what to do with Austin and Bischoff was just cannon fodder for him almost all the time. The first contest was a burping contest. The burps were pre recorded and was ultimately pointless. Austin won the first round.
Test and Steiner had finally split up after much wrangling and they face each other one on one with the winner getting Stacy. Steiner wins meaning he gets Stacy and everyone hopes that the feud is over. Next is Christian V Booker T for the Intercontinental title. Will Booker finally get his hands on a title? The answer is no as after a bit of back and forth, Christian stays out of the ring hoping for a countout. The ref threatens to give the title to Booker T so Christian hits Booker with the belt for a DQ. Let me get this straight. They threaten a screwjob finish with the title changing hands and then they give us a screwjob finish with the title not changing hands. Needless to say, the booking is laughable and the suppression of Booker T continues.
After another gross segment featuring Mae Young (the WWE can’t seem to get enough of them) resulting in Bischoff taking round 2 of the Redneck triathlon, the Raw tag titles are on the line as Kane and RVD defend against La Resistance. La Resistance win the titles with their double team finisher on RVD. La Resistance have been in the WWE less than 5 minutes and they are now supposedly the best tag team on Raw. It is a major problem with the WWE. They continue to push wrestlers that they have promoted from OVW and try to make them look good but they look so weak and green that their push is counter productive. La Resistance were only ever receiving cheap heat for being French.
Goldberg faces Chris Jericho in the next match. Before the PPV, Linda McMahon had admitted that Goldberg had been disappointing since entering the WWE. Jericho needed to perform a miracle to get a good match out of Goldberg. The match was based around Goldberg injuring his arm and Jericho working on it only for Goldberg to fight back and win. Jericho got a good match out of Goldberg and was walking on water the next day. At least it was Jericho showing off then us just watching Goldberg do his 4 moves to win.
We get what should be the show stealer and that is HBK V Flair. This should have been a 30-minute cracker but didn’t even get half of that. Flair won the match after Orton hit HBK with a chair. The point of the match was to hammer home that Orton was being pushed. There was information circling that HBK and Flair wanted the match to go longer but HHH wanted 45 minutes for his match. We get the final part of the Redneck triathlon as a singing contest turns into the first to get thrown into a pigpen. Austin wins over Bischoff again.
Speaking of someone that always wins, that leads us nicely into the main event of Bad Blood, which was the Hell In A Cell match between Nash and HHH for the HHH title with Foley as the special ref. After numerous weapon shots, attacks on Foley by HHH and Foley getting a measure of revenge, HHH wins the match with a Talent Suppresser after a sledgehammer shot. To me, the result didn’t matter, as Nash with the title would probably be worse than the title on HHH. Unfortunately, HHH with the title was getting beyond boring at this point. The match lasted only 20 minutes so they could have happily given Flair and HBK more time.
The end product after the dust had settled was that although Bad Blood was better than Judgment Day, Bad Blood was an extended version of Raw, which was bad news, as Raw was producing poor programming. A string of sub standard PPV’s was a worrying trend and with another major PPV approaching (Summerslam), they needed to pull their finger out and fast.
In Part 3, we’ll go on to see how Smackdown, widely regarded at this point in time as the better show, get on when they host their own PPV. We also see if Summerslam repeated the success of 2002, as the 2002 PPV was regarded as PPV of the year back then. We also get another Raw brand PPV at Unforgiven, with a lot to prove.
Thanks for reading.
The champions before the 4th PPV of the year, Backlash, were as follows:
Raw World title: Triple H
Raw Tag Titles: RVD and Kane
Women’s title: Trish Stratus
Smackdown World title: Brock Lesnar
Smackdown Tag titles: Team Angle
Cruiserweight title: Matt Hardy
The only title that had yet to change hands this year was the Raw World title, with Triple H still clutching the belt that he values more than anything else, except maybe his position in the company. Also, the Raw after Wrestlemania, RVD and Kane finally got their hands on the Raw Tag team titles.
So, Backlash was upon us and it was the 2nd of the 4 PPV’s that the UK viewers had to pay for. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. Backlash was on the 27th April and saw the WWE PPV debut of Goldberg. Was it enough to boost WWE buyrates?
Backlash kicked off with Team Angle V Los Guerreros for the Smackdown Tag Titles. Team Angle stole this one after Benjamin tripped Chavo and held on to Haas so Chavo couldn’t kick out. After the match, Los Guerreros stole the titles in a bid to keep the feud fresh. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the Smackdown roster meant this match had been seen many times before. It was still a good match.
Next saw Shaun O’Haire take on Rikishi. O’Haire was being accompanied by Roddy Piper at the time in an sttempt to push Shaun O’Haire as a big heel. O’Haire won with a Spinebuster after Piper tried to hit Rikishi with a coconut but Rikishi got him with it instead. The distraction was enough. The match was short enough to okay but it won’t win any awards.
RVD and Kane defended the tag titles against The Dudleyz with Chief Morley as the guest referee. It was everything you would expect. Morley interfered constantly, ends up attacking the Dudleyz, Dudley 3D, no ref. RVD hits the frogsplash for the win to defend the titles when a new ref makes the count. The constant interference makes this feud a must miss and it just hurt the tag division on Raw.
The Women’s title was on the line as Trish defends against Jazz. Jazz was being managed by Teddy Long as part of the whole ‘white boy’ angle with Rodney Mack. A solid match resulted, probably one of the best that the Women’s division has to offer. Jazz nicked the title after holding onto the ropes during the cover. A notable moment was when a cover on Jazz was stopped when Teddy Long threw in a shoe. Seriously, a shoe.
Rey Mysterio faces Big Show next in a total squash match. Not only did Big Show make Rey look like a total jobber, he totally killed Rey’s finisher and switched the fans off even more than they were before. They then put Rey on a stretcher, only to have Big Show slam him into the ring post and then drop him on his head. Never step in the ring with an oversized moron. Never!
John Cena got a shot at the Smackdown World title next against Brock Lesnar. John Cena was still working on his act and his ability in the ring and they were put in a 15-minute match where they showed that they both weren’t ready. Brock won with obvious F5 and it really needed an experienced wrestler like Benoit for them to learn off.
The Raw Champion was in action next as he successfully avoided defending his title and we get a 6-man tag match. HHH, Flair and Jericho take on Michaels, Booker T and Kevin Nash. The finish sees Nash powerbomb Jericho but HHH nails Nash with a sledgehammer and pins him. This is supposedly going to set up Nash as a challenger for the title but how does that work? HHH, the champion, pins Nash and that immediately makes him Number 1 Contender. Interesting logic, I think you’d agree. It was Nash’s first match back as well.
The main event at Backlash saw Goldberg take on The Rock. The Rock was so totally over that he would rip it out of the fans and get cheers. It was obvious that this match was a bad idea with The Rock disappearing again after this match and Goldberg having only 4 moves at the most. The fans had totally turned on Goldberg by the end and it was such an obvious end, Goldberg picking up the win with the Jackhammer.
Well, there was Backlash. It was billed by many as the worst PPV of the year so far and after a moderately successful Wrestlemania, it was a total disaster. Will they be able to bounce back after a mess like Backlash? Backlash was missing notable names like Benoit and Angle (Angle being injured at this point) and the lack of real quality or suppression of talent was noticeable.
This moves us to Judgment Day on the 18th May and in a way, it was judgment day for the WWE. The WWE had announced that the next PPV would be a Raw only PPV so they would have to make a big impact in what was a crucial time.
Judgment Day saw Austin in the role of co-GM of Raw and he spent the show with Bischoff in a skybox. I like Austin and he can be hilariously funny but I felt his talent being wasted with every passing segment. The first match at Judgment Day was a 6-man tag between Cena, Palumbo and Stamboli V Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky. Palumbo and Stamboli were wrestling under the guise of the faction name called the F.B.I. The match lasted less than 4 minutes and was mostly Spanky getting beaten down. The finish saw a double team move from Palumbo and Stamboli on Spanky and that was that. It was a total waste of talent as Benoit, Cena and Spanky, who had been on fire wrestling wise of late were left to rot in opening match filler.
The next match was the PPV debut of the ‘French’ team, La Resistance, although one of them is actually Canadian. La Resistance were taking on Test and Steiner and Test and Steiner were on the verge of a break up. The end result was Test ‘accidentally’ hitting Steiner with the boot and a double flapjack on Steiner was enough for the win. However, the break up never happened. The match was brutal to watch and delaying the inevitable did neither guy any favours. La Resistance looked green in the ring to say the least.
We go from the brutal to the brilliant as Team Angle took on Eddie and Tajiri for the Smackdown tag titles in a ladder match. Chavo got legitimately injured a week or so before the match and Tajiri was a late replacement. The match was typical Team Angle and Eddie stuff that Smackdown had been giving us for a while, however, Team Angle looked nervous, probably due to the nature of the ladder match. It was their first ladder match and the nerves were evident. The result was Eddie and Tajiri taking the titles in what was a major surprise.
Next, we saw the return of the Intercontinental title. The Intercontinental title was a proving ground for future stars with the hope that this will elevate them to main eventers. The match was a Battle Royale with over the top rope elimination. Apparently, everyone in the match was a former Intercontinental Champion and it included Val Venis (after being fired as Chief), Jericho, Goldust, Lance Storm, RVD, Kane, Christian, Test and Booker T, even though Booker T had never held the Intercontinental title before. The result saw a ref bump (yes, a ref bump in a Battle Royale) and Booker winning it clean but the ref was not able to see it. A belt shot and Booker being bundled out saw Christian take the Intercontinental title. The obvious suppression of Booker T was annoying to myself and many others and his constant jobbing in front of his hometown fans was just shocking to say the least.
Next was a bikini contest between Sable and Torrie. Of course, the fans were asked to decide. Strangely, Sable actually got a bigger cheer but of course, Torrie was declared the winner and a lesbian kiss resulted. Vince was quickly getting a reputation of being a dirty old man. Sorry, he already had a reputation of being a dirty old man.
Moving swiftly on, or should I say, moving via walking aids, we reach Mr. America V Roddy Piper. The Mr. America angle was so poor and anyone with half a brain could see it was Hogan but we were supposed to buy that no one could see it. It was around this time that we saw Zach Gowen, a one-legged wrestler. He was in Hogan’s corner for this match. The result saw Vince run in and go low, O’Haire try and knock Hogan out with a pipe but Hogan hit the leg drop for the win. This was watchable in 1985 but not in 2003.
The Raw World Title was on the line as Nash, pinned by HHH on his first match back, takes on HHH. The result was almost a carbon copy of HHH V Steiner as HHH gets disqualified and setting up a rematch for the first Raw PPV, Bad Blood. Nash’s lack of ability and mobility was obvious as the only thing people remember of the match was when Nash jack-knifed HHH through the announcer’s table. The HHH reign continues.
The crowd are meant to be really hot at the moment, which they are not, so we get a ‘calm down’ match for the Women’s title. Jazz defends her title against Jackie, Trish and Victoria. A total mess results with Jazz defending after a DDT on Jackie.
The main event saw Brock Lesnar defend the Smackdown World title against Big Show in a stretcher match. They used the Big Show’s incompetence of dropping Rey on his head at Backlash to set up this match. The complete misuse of Rey was evident here when he attempted a run in and got ‘killed’ by Big Show. The ending saw Brock drive back into the arena with a forklift, F5 on Show, put him on the stretcher, raises him up with the forklift and drives him over the line for the victory. I think they are trying to tell the Big Show something here.
If you though Backlash was bad, this was worse. Judgment Day was widely acknowledged as one of, if not, the worst PPV in WWE history. A series of bad shows plus bad matches at this PPV put the WWE in a slump with no sign of recovery. The talent continued to be wasted and the constant pushing of big guys and wrestlers that can’t entertain was a real concern but to the WWE and Vince, that was not the problem. Will the problems be resolved before the major PPV split happens?
They didn’t have long as Bad Blood came along quickly on 15th June. Raw was on display here as Bad Blood was the first Raw only PPV and this really needed to be a success. The WWE went on the hard sell with HHH and Nash facing off in a Hell in a Cell and Mick Foley as referee for that match. For those who don’t know, Bad Blood replaced the King Of The Ring PPV, which upset a few purists. The King of the Ring was a tournament of future stars. With the exception of a few, the majority made it big.
Bad Blood kicked off with the Dudleyz taking on Mack and Nowinski. This match was down to the ‘white boy’ angle with Teddy Long and a segment beforehand saw Teddy Long try and turn D’Von away from Bubba by saying that Bubba orders D’Von around. The match saw D’Von hesitating in getting the tables and Nowinski laying out Bubba with his nose guard mask for the win.
Bad Blood saw a Redneck triathlon between Bischoff and Austin. It was obvious that they had no idea what to do with Austin and Bischoff was just cannon fodder for him almost all the time. The first contest was a burping contest. The burps were pre recorded and was ultimately pointless. Austin won the first round.
Test and Steiner had finally split up after much wrangling and they face each other one on one with the winner getting Stacy. Steiner wins meaning he gets Stacy and everyone hopes that the feud is over. Next is Christian V Booker T for the Intercontinental title. Will Booker finally get his hands on a title? The answer is no as after a bit of back and forth, Christian stays out of the ring hoping for a countout. The ref threatens to give the title to Booker T so Christian hits Booker with the belt for a DQ. Let me get this straight. They threaten a screwjob finish with the title changing hands and then they give us a screwjob finish with the title not changing hands. Needless to say, the booking is laughable and the suppression of Booker T continues.
After another gross segment featuring Mae Young (the WWE can’t seem to get enough of them) resulting in Bischoff taking round 2 of the Redneck triathlon, the Raw tag titles are on the line as Kane and RVD defend against La Resistance. La Resistance win the titles with their double team finisher on RVD. La Resistance have been in the WWE less than 5 minutes and they are now supposedly the best tag team on Raw. It is a major problem with the WWE. They continue to push wrestlers that they have promoted from OVW and try to make them look good but they look so weak and green that their push is counter productive. La Resistance were only ever receiving cheap heat for being French.
Goldberg faces Chris Jericho in the next match. Before the PPV, Linda McMahon had admitted that Goldberg had been disappointing since entering the WWE. Jericho needed to perform a miracle to get a good match out of Goldberg. The match was based around Goldberg injuring his arm and Jericho working on it only for Goldberg to fight back and win. Jericho got a good match out of Goldberg and was walking on water the next day. At least it was Jericho showing off then us just watching Goldberg do his 4 moves to win.
We get what should be the show stealer and that is HBK V Flair. This should have been a 30-minute cracker but didn’t even get half of that. Flair won the match after Orton hit HBK with a chair. The point of the match was to hammer home that Orton was being pushed. There was information circling that HBK and Flair wanted the match to go longer but HHH wanted 45 minutes for his match. We get the final part of the Redneck triathlon as a singing contest turns into the first to get thrown into a pigpen. Austin wins over Bischoff again.
Speaking of someone that always wins, that leads us nicely into the main event of Bad Blood, which was the Hell In A Cell match between Nash and HHH for the HHH title with Foley as the special ref. After numerous weapon shots, attacks on Foley by HHH and Foley getting a measure of revenge, HHH wins the match with a Talent Suppresser after a sledgehammer shot. To me, the result didn’t matter, as Nash with the title would probably be worse than the title on HHH. Unfortunately, HHH with the title was getting beyond boring at this point. The match lasted only 20 minutes so they could have happily given Flair and HBK more time.
The end product after the dust had settled was that although Bad Blood was better than Judgment Day, Bad Blood was an extended version of Raw, which was bad news, as Raw was producing poor programming. A string of sub standard PPV’s was a worrying trend and with another major PPV approaching (Summerslam), they needed to pull their finger out and fast.
In Part 3, we’ll go on to see how Smackdown, widely regarded at this point in time as the better show, get on when they host their own PPV. We also see if Summerslam repeated the success of 2002, as the 2002 PPV was regarded as PPV of the year back then. We also get another Raw brand PPV at Unforgiven, with a lot to prove.
Thanks for reading.
Stupid Alt tab made me press enter.
Was gonna say Great stuff Matt
Was gonna say Great stuff Matt
Haven't been on the WWE for ages, so haven't seen part 1.
Good to see Goldberg winning a couple of matches, but not ggod to see the crowd against him.
Good to see Goldberg winning a couple of matches, but not ggod to see the crowd against him.
Good stuff like the last one. I thought this one was better than Part 1 since you didn't insult HHH as much as before. :D
I think you questioned my thoughts on those same matches when I commented on them at the time, Ant. :)
Hehe, another enjoyable read.
I agreed with most of it, apart from perhaps the Test v Steiner and Cena vs Lesnar bashing. In my view both matches, especially the latter, were reasonably good. In fact I'd go as far to say that all the Steiner/Test PPV matches were of a good quality.
Excellent stuff though Matt, lookin forward to next bit.
I agreed with most of it, apart from perhaps the Test v Steiner and Cena vs Lesnar bashing. In my view both matches, especially the latter, were reasonably good. In fact I'd go as far to say that all the Steiner/Test PPV matches were of a good quality.
Excellent stuff though Matt, lookin forward to next bit.
Can't wait to see Part 3, since i wanna see the Triple H bashing for the result, and the whole situation around the Elimintion Chamber at Summerslam.
Another good review but not up to the standard as the first one, only because there wasn't as much HHH bashing in this one :-D
Goldberg only gets worse from here on in so there will be plenty of bad mouthing. :)
Thank you for the comment. I'm not sure when Part 3 will be up. I hope it will be tomorrow, but the final 2 parts should be up before the end of the year.
Thank you for the comment. I'm not sure when Part 3 will be up. I hope it will be tomorrow, but the final 2 parts should be up before the end of the year.
Good overall coverage of the year. :) I didn't reply in the first one cause I saw I had this one to read yet.
It's been interesting so far. Just write more bad things about Goldberg in the next part. ;) :D
It's been interesting so far. Just write more bad things about Goldberg in the next part. ;) :D
With the busiest time of the wrestling year behind them, the WWE begin their focus on splitting the PPV’s. It’s bad news and good news for the wrestlers. The theory is, it gives the wrestlers who don’t usually appear on PPV’s the chance to appear on them but it’s less money for the stars that appear on all the PPV’s. With business down, the problem is obvious.
The champions before the 4th PPV of the year, Backlash, were as follows:
Raw World title: Triple H
Raw Tag Titles: RVD and Kane
Women’s title: Trish Stratus
Smackdown World title: Brock Lesnar
Smackdown Tag titles: Team Angle
Cruiserweight title: Matt Hardy
The only title that had yet to change hands this year was the Raw World title, with Triple H still clutching the belt that he values more than anything else, except maybe his position in the company. Also, the Raw after Wrestlemania, RVD and Kane finally got their hands on the Raw Tag team titles.
So, Backlash was upon us and it was the 2nd of the 4 PPV’s that the UK viewers had to pay for. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. Backlash was on the 27th April and saw the WWE PPV debut of Goldberg. Was it enough to boost WWE buyrates?
Backlash kicked off with Team Angle V Los Guerreros for the Smackdown Tag Titles. Team Angle stole this one after Benjamin tripped Chavo and held on to Haas so Chavo couldn’t kick out. After the match, Los Guerreros stole the titles in a bid to keep the feud fresh. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the Smackdown roster meant this match had been seen many times before. It was still a good match.
Next saw Shaun O’Haire take on Rikishi. O’Haire was being accompanied by Roddy Piper at the time in an sttempt to push Shaun O’Haire as a big heel. O’Haire won with a Spinebuster after Piper tried to hit Rikishi with a coconut but Rikishi got him with it instead. The distraction was enough. The match was short enough to okay but it won’t win any awards.
RVD and Kane defended the tag titles against The Dudleyz with Chief Morley as the guest referee. It was everything you would expect. Morley interfered constantly, ends up attacking the Dudleyz, Dudley 3D, no ref. RVD hits the frogsplash for the win to defend the titles when a new ref makes the count. The constant interference makes this feud a must miss and it just hurt the tag division on Raw.
The Women’s title was on the line as Trish defends against Jazz. Jazz was being managed by Teddy Long as part of the whole ‘white boy’ angle with Rodney Mack. A solid match resulted, probably one of the best that the Women’s division has to offer. Jazz nicked the title after holding onto the ropes during the cover. A notable moment was when a cover on Jazz was stopped when Teddy Long threw in a shoe. Seriously, a shoe.
Rey Mysterio faces Big Show next in a total squash match. Not only did Big Show make Rey look like a total jobber, he totally killed Rey’s finisher and switched the fans off even more than they were before. They then put Rey on a stretcher, only to have Big Show slam him into the ring post and then drop him on his head. Never step in the ring with an oversized moron. Never!
John Cena got a shot at the Smackdown World title next against Brock Lesnar. John Cena was still working on his act and his ability in the ring and they were put in a 15-minute match where they showed that they both weren’t ready. Brock won with obvious F5 and it really needed an experienced wrestler like Benoit for them to learn off.
The Raw Champion was in action next as he successfully avoided defending his title and we get a 6-man tag match. HHH, Flair and Jericho take on Michaels, Booker T and Kevin Nash. The finish sees Nash powerbomb Jericho but HHH nails Nash with a sledgehammer and pins him. This is supposedly going to set up Nash as a challenger for the title but how does that work? HHH, the champion, pins Nash and that immediately makes him Number 1 Contender. Interesting logic, I think you’d agree. It was Nash’s first match back as well.
The main event at Backlash saw Goldberg take on The Rock. The Rock was so totally over that he would rip it out of the fans and get cheers. It was obvious that this match was a bad idea with The Rock disappearing again after this match and Goldberg having only 4 moves at the most. The fans had totally turned on Goldberg by the end and it was such an obvious end, Goldberg picking up the win with the Jackhammer.
Well, there was Backlash. It was billed by many as the worst PPV of the year so far and after a moderately successful Wrestlemania, it was a total disaster. Will they be able to bounce back after a mess like Backlash? Backlash was missing notable names like Benoit and Angle (Angle being injured at this point) and the lack of real quality or suppression of talent was noticeable.
This moves us to Judgment Day on the 18th May and in a way, it was judgment day for the WWE. The WWE had announced that the next PPV would be a Raw only PPV so they would have to make a big impact in what was a crucial time.
Judgment Day saw Austin in the role of co-GM of Raw and he spent the show with Bischoff in a skybox. I like Austin and he can be hilariously funny but I felt his talent being wasted with every passing segment. The first match at Judgment Day was a 6-man tag between Cena, Palumbo and Stamboli V Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky. Palumbo and Stamboli were wrestling under the guise of the faction name called the F.B.I. The match lasted less than 4 minutes and was mostly Spanky getting beaten down. The finish saw a double team move from Palumbo and Stamboli on Spanky and that was that. It was a total waste of talent as Benoit, Cena and Spanky, who had been on fire wrestling wise of late were left to rot in opening match filler.
The next match was the PPV debut of the ‘French’ team, La Resistance, although one of them is actually Canadian. La Resistance were taking on Test and Steiner and Test and Steiner were on the verge of a break up. The end result was Test ‘accidentally’ hitting Steiner with the boot and a double flapjack on Steiner was enough for the win. However, the break up never happened. The match was brutal to watch and delaying the inevitable did neither guy any favours. La Resistance looked green in the ring to say the least.
We go from the brutal to the brilliant as Team Angle took on Eddie and Tajiri for the Smackdown tag titles in a ladder match. Chavo got legitimately injured a week or so before the match and Tajiri was a late replacement. The match was typical Team Angle and Eddie stuff that Smackdown had been giving us for a while, however, Team Angle looked nervous, probably due to the nature of the ladder match. It was their first ladder match and the nerves were evident. The result was Eddie and Tajiri taking the titles in what was a major surprise.
Next, we saw the return of the Intercontinental title. The Intercontinental title was a proving ground for future stars with the hope that this will elevate them to main eventers. The match was a Battle Royale with over the top rope elimination. Apparently, everyone in the match was a former Intercontinental Champion and it included Val Venis (after being fired as Chief), Jericho, Goldust, Lance Storm, RVD, Kane, Christian, Test and Booker T, even though Booker T had never held the Intercontinental title before. The result saw a ref bump (yes, a ref bump in a Battle Royale) and Booker winning it clean but the ref was not able to see it. A belt shot and Booker being bundled out saw Christian take the Intercontinental title. The obvious suppression of Booker T was annoying to myself and many others and his constant jobbing in front of his hometown fans was just shocking to say the least.
Next was a bikini contest between Sable and Torrie. Of course, the fans were asked to decide. Strangely, Sable actually got a bigger cheer but of course, Torrie was declared the winner and a lesbian kiss resulted. Vince was quickly getting a reputation of being a dirty old man. Sorry, he already had a reputation of being a dirty old man.
Moving swiftly on, or should I say, moving via walking aids, we reach Mr. America V Roddy Piper. The Mr. America angle was so poor and anyone with half a brain could see it was Hogan but we were supposed to buy that no one could see it. It was around this time that we saw Zach Gowen, a one-legged wrestler. He was in Hogan’s corner for this match. The result saw Vince run in and go low, O’Haire try and knock Hogan out with a pipe but Hogan hit the leg drop for the win. This was watchable in 1985 but not in 2003.
The Raw World Title was on the line as Nash, pinned by HHH on his first match back, takes on HHH. The result was almost a carbon copy of HHH V Steiner as HHH gets disqualified and setting up a rematch for the first Raw PPV, Bad Blood. Nash’s lack of ability and mobility was obvious as the only thing people remember of the match was when Nash jack-knifed HHH through the announcer’s table. The HHH reign continues.
The crowd are meant to be really hot at the moment, which they are not, so we get a ‘calm down’ match for the Women’s title. Jazz defends her title against Jackie, Trish and Victoria. A total mess results with Jazz defending after a DDT on Jackie.
The main event saw Brock Lesnar defend the Smackdown World title against Big Show in a stretcher match. They used the Big Show’s incompetence of dropping Rey on his head at Backlash to set up this match. The complete misuse of Rey was evident here when he attempted a run in and got ‘killed’ by Big Show. The ending saw Brock drive back into the arena with a forklift, F5 on Show, put him on the stretcher, raises him up with the forklift and drives him over the line for the victory. I think they are trying to tell the Big Show something here.
If you though Backlash was bad, this was worse. Judgment Day was widely acknowledged as one of, if not, the worst PPV in WWE history. A series of bad shows plus bad matches at this PPV put the WWE in a slump with no sign of recovery. The talent continued to be wasted and the constant pushing of big guys and wrestlers that can’t entertain was a real concern but to the WWE and Vince, that was not the problem. Will the problems be resolved before the major PPV split happens?
They didn’t have long as Bad Blood came along quickly on 15th June. Raw was on display here as Bad Blood was the first Raw only PPV and this really needed to be a success. The WWE went on the hard sell with HHH and Nash facing off in a Hell in a Cell and Mick Foley as referee for that match. For those who don’t know, Bad Blood replaced the King Of The Ring PPV, which upset a few purists. The King of the Ring was a tournament of future stars. With the exception of a few, the majority made it big.
Bad Blood kicked off with the Dudleyz taking on Mack and Nowinski. This match was down to the ‘white boy’ angle with Teddy Long and a segment beforehand saw Teddy Long try and turn D’Von away from Bubba by saying that Bubba orders D’Von around. The match saw D’Von hesitating in getting the tables and Nowinski laying out Bubba with his nose guard mask for the win.
Bad Blood saw a Redneck triathlon between Bischoff and Austin. It was obvious that they had no idea what to do with Austin and Bischoff was just cannon fodder for him almost all the time. The first contest was a burping contest. The burps were pre recorded and was ultimately pointless. Austin won the first round.
Test and Steiner had finally split up after much wrangling and they face each other one on one with the winner getting Stacy. Steiner wins meaning he gets Stacy and everyone hopes that the feud is over. Next is Christian V Booker T for the Intercontinental title. Will Booker finally get his hands on a title? The answer is no as after a bit of back and forth, Christian stays out of the ring hoping for a countout. The ref threatens to give the title to Booker T so Christian hits Booker with the belt for a DQ. Let me get this straight. They threaten a screwjob finish with the title changing hands and then they give us a screwjob finish with the title not changing hands. Needless to say, the booking is laughable and the suppression of Booker T continues.
After another gross segment featuring Mae Young (the WWE can’t seem to get enough of them) resulting in Bischoff taking round 2 of the Redneck triathlon, the Raw tag titles are on the line as Kane and RVD defend against La Resistance. La Resistance win the titles with their double team finisher on RVD. La Resistance have been in the WWE less than 5 minutes and they are now supposedly the best tag team on Raw. It is a major problem with the WWE. They continue to push wrestlers that they have promoted from OVW and try to make them look good but they look so weak and green that their push is counter productive. La Resistance were only ever receiving cheap heat for being French.
Goldberg faces Chris Jericho in the next match. Before the PPV, Linda McMahon had admitted that Goldberg had been disappointing since entering the WWE. Jericho needed to perform a miracle to get a good match out of Goldberg. The match was based around Goldberg injuring his arm and Jericho working on it only for Goldberg to fight back and win. Jericho got a good match out of Goldberg and was walking on water the next day. At least it was Jericho showing off then us just watching Goldberg do his 4 moves to win.
We get what should be the show stealer and that is HBK V Flair. This should have been a 30-minute cracker but didn’t even get half of that. Flair won the match after Orton hit HBK with a chair. The point of the match was to hammer home that Orton was being pushed. There was information circling that HBK and Flair wanted the match to go longer but HHH wanted 45 minutes for his match. We get the final part of the Redneck triathlon as a singing contest turns into the first to get thrown into a pigpen. Austin wins over Bischoff again.
Speaking of someone that always wins, that leads us nicely into the main event of Bad Blood, which was the Hell In A Cell match between Nash and HHH for the HHH title with Foley as the special ref. After numerous weapon shots, attacks on Foley by HHH and Foley getting a measure of revenge, HHH wins the match with a Talent Suppresser after a sledgehammer shot. To me, the result didn’t matter, as Nash with the title would probably be worse than the title on HHH. Unfortunately, HHH with the title was getting beyond boring at this point. The match lasted only 20 minutes so they could have happily given Flair and HBK more time.
The end product after the dust had settled was that although Bad Blood was better than Judgment Day, Bad Blood was an extended version of Raw, which was bad news, as Raw was producing poor programming. A string of sub standard PPV’s was a worrying trend and with another major PPV approaching (Summerslam), they needed to pull their finger out and fast.
In Part 3, we’ll go on to see how Smackdown, widely regarded at this point in time as the better show, get on when they host their own PPV. We also see if Summerslam repeated the success of 2002, as the 2002 PPV was regarded as PPV of the year back then. We also get another Raw brand PPV at Unforgiven, with a lot to prove.
Thanks for reading.
The champions before the 4th PPV of the year, Backlash, were as follows:
Raw World title: Triple H
Raw Tag Titles: RVD and Kane
Women’s title: Trish Stratus
Smackdown World title: Brock Lesnar
Smackdown Tag titles: Team Angle
Cruiserweight title: Matt Hardy
The only title that had yet to change hands this year was the Raw World title, with Triple H still clutching the belt that he values more than anything else, except maybe his position in the company. Also, the Raw after Wrestlemania, RVD and Kane finally got their hands on the Raw Tag team titles.
So, Backlash was upon us and it was the 2nd of the 4 PPV’s that the UK viewers had to pay for. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. Backlash was on the 27th April and saw the WWE PPV debut of Goldberg. Was it enough to boost WWE buyrates?
Backlash kicked off with Team Angle V Los Guerreros for the Smackdown Tag Titles. Team Angle stole this one after Benjamin tripped Chavo and held on to Haas so Chavo couldn’t kick out. After the match, Los Guerreros stole the titles in a bid to keep the feud fresh. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the Smackdown roster meant this match had been seen many times before. It was still a good match.
Next saw Shaun O’Haire take on Rikishi. O’Haire was being accompanied by Roddy Piper at the time in an sttempt to push Shaun O’Haire as a big heel. O’Haire won with a Spinebuster after Piper tried to hit Rikishi with a coconut but Rikishi got him with it instead. The distraction was enough. The match was short enough to okay but it won’t win any awards.
RVD and Kane defended the tag titles against The Dudleyz with Chief Morley as the guest referee. It was everything you would expect. Morley interfered constantly, ends up attacking the Dudleyz, Dudley 3D, no ref. RVD hits the frogsplash for the win to defend the titles when a new ref makes the count. The constant interference makes this feud a must miss and it just hurt the tag division on Raw.
The Women’s title was on the line as Trish defends against Jazz. Jazz was being managed by Teddy Long as part of the whole ‘white boy’ angle with Rodney Mack. A solid match resulted, probably one of the best that the Women’s division has to offer. Jazz nicked the title after holding onto the ropes during the cover. A notable moment was when a cover on Jazz was stopped when Teddy Long threw in a shoe. Seriously, a shoe.
Rey Mysterio faces Big Show next in a total squash match. Not only did Big Show make Rey look like a total jobber, he totally killed Rey’s finisher and switched the fans off even more than they were before. They then put Rey on a stretcher, only to have Big Show slam him into the ring post and then drop him on his head. Never step in the ring with an oversized moron. Never!
John Cena got a shot at the Smackdown World title next against Brock Lesnar. John Cena was still working on his act and his ability in the ring and they were put in a 15-minute match where they showed that they both weren’t ready. Brock won with obvious F5 and it really needed an experienced wrestler like Benoit for them to learn off.
The Raw Champion was in action next as he successfully avoided defending his title and we get a 6-man tag match. HHH, Flair and Jericho take on Michaels, Booker T and Kevin Nash. The finish sees Nash powerbomb Jericho but HHH nails Nash with a sledgehammer and pins him. This is supposedly going to set up Nash as a challenger for the title but how does that work? HHH, the champion, pins Nash and that immediately makes him Number 1 Contender. Interesting logic, I think you’d agree. It was Nash’s first match back as well.
The main event at Backlash saw Goldberg take on The Rock. The Rock was so totally over that he would rip it out of the fans and get cheers. It was obvious that this match was a bad idea with The Rock disappearing again after this match and Goldberg having only 4 moves at the most. The fans had totally turned on Goldberg by the end and it was such an obvious end, Goldberg picking up the win with the Jackhammer.
Well, there was Backlash. It was billed by many as the worst PPV of the year so far and after a moderately successful Wrestlemania, it was a total disaster. Will they be able to bounce back after a mess like Backlash? Backlash was missing notable names like Benoit and Angle (Angle being injured at this point) and the lack of real quality or suppression of talent was noticeable.
This moves us to Judgment Day on the 18th May and in a way, it was judgment day for the WWE. The WWE had announced that the next PPV would be a Raw only PPV so they would have to make a big impact in what was a crucial time.
Judgment Day saw Austin in the role of co-GM of Raw and he spent the show with Bischoff in a skybox. I like Austin and he can be hilariously funny but I felt his talent being wasted with every passing segment. The first match at Judgment Day was a 6-man tag between Cena, Palumbo and Stamboli V Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky. Palumbo and Stamboli were wrestling under the guise of the faction name called the F.B.I. The match lasted less than 4 minutes and was mostly Spanky getting beaten down. The finish saw a double team move from Palumbo and Stamboli on Spanky and that was that. It was a total waste of talent as Benoit, Cena and Spanky, who had been on fire wrestling wise of late were left to rot in opening match filler.
The next match was the PPV debut of the ‘French’ team, La Resistance, although one of them is actually Canadian. La Resistance were taking on Test and Steiner and Test and Steiner were on the verge of a break up. The end result was Test ‘accidentally’ hitting Steiner with the boot and a double flapjack on Steiner was enough for the win. However, the break up never happened. The match was brutal to watch and delaying the inevitable did neither guy any favours. La Resistance looked green in the ring to say the least.
We go from the brutal to the brilliant as Team Angle took on Eddie and Tajiri for the Smackdown tag titles in a ladder match. Chavo got legitimately injured a week or so before the match and Tajiri was a late replacement. The match was typical Team Angle and Eddie stuff that Smackdown had been giving us for a while, however, Team Angle looked nervous, probably due to the nature of the ladder match. It was their first ladder match and the nerves were evident. The result was Eddie and Tajiri taking the titles in what was a major surprise.
Next, we saw the return of the Intercontinental title. The Intercontinental title was a proving ground for future stars with the hope that this will elevate them to main eventers. The match was a Battle Royale with over the top rope elimination. Apparently, everyone in the match was a former Intercontinental Champion and it included Val Venis (after being fired as Chief), Jericho, Goldust, Lance Storm, RVD, Kane, Christian, Test and Booker T, even though Booker T had never held the Intercontinental title before. The result saw a ref bump (yes, a ref bump in a Battle Royale) and Booker winning it clean but the ref was not able to see it. A belt shot and Booker being bundled out saw Christian take the Intercontinental title. The obvious suppression of Booker T was annoying to myself and many others and his constant jobbing in front of his hometown fans was just shocking to say the least.
Next was a bikini contest between Sable and Torrie. Of course, the fans were asked to decide. Strangely, Sable actually got a bigger cheer but of course, Torrie was declared the winner and a lesbian kiss resulted. Vince was quickly getting a reputation of being a dirty old man. Sorry, he already had a reputation of being a dirty old man.
Moving swiftly on, or should I say, moving via walking aids, we reach Mr. America V Roddy Piper. The Mr. America angle was so poor and anyone with half a brain could see it was Hogan but we were supposed to buy that no one could see it. It was around this time that we saw Zach Gowen, a one-legged wrestler. He was in Hogan’s corner for this match. The result saw Vince run in and go low, O’Haire try and knock Hogan out with a pipe but Hogan hit the leg drop for the win. This was watchable in 1985 but not in 2003.
The Raw World Title was on the line as Nash, pinned by HHH on his first match back, takes on HHH. The result was almost a carbon copy of HHH V Steiner as HHH gets disqualified and setting up a rematch for the first Raw PPV, Bad Blood. Nash’s lack of ability and mobility was obvious as the only thing people remember of the match was when Nash jack-knifed HHH through the announcer’s table. The HHH reign continues.
The crowd are meant to be really hot at the moment, which they are not, so we get a ‘calm down’ match for the Women’s title. Jazz defends her title against Jackie, Trish and Victoria. A total mess results with Jazz defending after a DDT on Jackie.
The main event saw Brock Lesnar defend the Smackdown World title against Big Show in a stretcher match. They used the Big Show’s incompetence of dropping Rey on his head at Backlash to set up this match. The complete misuse of Rey was evident here when he attempted a run in and got ‘killed’ by Big Show. The ending saw Brock drive back into the arena with a forklift, F5 on Show, put him on the stretcher, raises him up with the forklift and drives him over the line for the victory. I think they are trying to tell the Big Show something here.
If you though Backlash was bad, this was worse. Judgment Day was widely acknowledged as one of, if not, the worst PPV in WWE history. A series of bad shows plus bad matches at this PPV put the WWE in a slump with no sign of recovery. The talent continued to be wasted and the constant pushing of big guys and wrestlers that can’t entertain was a real concern but to the WWE and Vince, that was not the problem. Will the problems be resolved before the major PPV split happens?
They didn’t have long as Bad Blood came along quickly on 15th June. Raw was on display here as Bad Blood was the first Raw only PPV and this really needed to be a success. The WWE went on the hard sell with HHH and Nash facing off in a Hell in a Cell and Mick Foley as referee for that match. For those who don’t know, Bad Blood replaced the King Of The Ring PPV, which upset a few purists. The King of the Ring was a tournament of future stars. With the exception of a few, the majority made it big.
Bad Blood kicked off with the Dudleyz taking on Mack and Nowinski. This match was down to the ‘white boy’ angle with Teddy Long and a segment beforehand saw Teddy Long try and turn D’Von away from Bubba by saying that Bubba orders D’Von around. The match saw D’Von hesitating in getting the tables and Nowinski laying out Bubba with his nose guard mask for the win.
Bad Blood saw a Redneck triathlon between Bischoff and Austin. It was obvious that they had no idea what to do with Austin and Bischoff was just cannon fodder for him almost all the time. The first contest was a burping contest. The burps were pre recorded and was ultimately pointless. Austin won the first round.
Test and Steiner had finally split up after much wrangling and they face each other one on one with the winner getting Stacy. Steiner wins meaning he gets Stacy and everyone hopes that the feud is over. Next is Christian V Booker T for the Intercontinental title. Will Booker finally get his hands on a title? The answer is no as after a bit of back and forth, Christian stays out of the ring hoping for a countout. The ref threatens to give the title to Booker T so Christian hits Booker with the belt for a DQ. Let me get this straight. They threaten a screwjob finish with the title changing hands and then they give us a screwjob finish with the title not changing hands. Needless to say, the booking is laughable and the suppression of Booker T continues.
After another gross segment featuring Mae Young (the WWE can’t seem to get enough of them) resulting in Bischoff taking round 2 of the Redneck triathlon, the Raw tag titles are on the line as Kane and RVD defend against La Resistance. La Resistance win the titles with their double team finisher on RVD. La Resistance have been in the WWE less than 5 minutes and they are now supposedly the best tag team on Raw. It is a major problem with the WWE. They continue to push wrestlers that they have promoted from OVW and try to make them look good but they look so weak and green that their push is counter productive. La Resistance were only ever receiving cheap heat for being French.
Goldberg faces Chris Jericho in the next match. Before the PPV, Linda McMahon had admitted that Goldberg had been disappointing since entering the WWE. Jericho needed to perform a miracle to get a good match out of Goldberg. The match was based around Goldberg injuring his arm and Jericho working on it only for Goldberg to fight back and win. Jericho got a good match out of Goldberg and was walking on water the next day. At least it was Jericho showing off then us just watching Goldberg do his 4 moves to win.
We get what should be the show stealer and that is HBK V Flair. This should have been a 30-minute cracker but didn’t even get half of that. Flair won the match after Orton hit HBK with a chair. The point of the match was to hammer home that Orton was being pushed. There was information circling that HBK and Flair wanted the match to go longer but HHH wanted 45 minutes for his match. We get the final part of the Redneck triathlon as a singing contest turns into the first to get thrown into a pigpen. Austin wins over Bischoff again.
Speaking of someone that always wins, that leads us nicely into the main event of Bad Blood, which was the Hell In A Cell match between Nash and HHH for the HHH title with Foley as the special ref. After numerous weapon shots, attacks on Foley by HHH and Foley getting a measure of revenge, HHH wins the match with a Talent Suppresser after a sledgehammer shot. To me, the result didn’t matter, as Nash with the title would probably be worse than the title on HHH. Unfortunately, HHH with the title was getting beyond boring at this point. The match lasted only 20 minutes so they could have happily given Flair and HBK more time.
The end product after the dust had settled was that although Bad Blood was better than Judgment Day, Bad Blood was an extended version of Raw, which was bad news, as Raw was producing poor programming. A string of sub standard PPV’s was a worrying trend and with another major PPV approaching (Summerslam), they needed to pull their finger out and fast.
In Part 3, we’ll go on to see how Smackdown, widely regarded at this point in time as the better show, get on when they host their own PPV. We also see if Summerslam repeated the success of 2002, as the 2002 PPV was regarded as PPV of the year back then. We also get another Raw brand PPV at Unforgiven, with a lot to prove.
Thanks for reading.