This time around I take a look at a World Wrestling Entertainment house show that took place on August 29th, 2003 in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s a RAW brand show, so the major angles are Goldberg chasing after WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, Kane has been unmasked and tormenting his former best friend, Rob Van Dam.
Do we get a Goldberg appearance? Lets check out the show and see if it’s something we’d go to looking back at it.
Match #1: WWE Intercontinental Champion Christian va. Val Venis
By this point in time Venis has been largely regulated to Heat matches after a heel run earlier in the year with Lance Storm, if I remember correctly. Christian is a good wrestler and his heel act has always been enjoyable, but this is a weak title defense to have on the house show circuit. I wouldn’t be able to buy into Venis as a challenger at this point, anyway. Would it be a horrible match? No, but it doesn’t add anything to the show to make me want to attend it.
Match #2: Rodney Mack, Mark Henry, Steven Richards & Rico vs. The Hurricane, Rosey, Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade:
Speaking of Sunday Night Heat, here is literally all the guys that competed on the show throughout 2003 for the most part. Feels like a filler match and aside from Hurricane being involved I don’t see much of anything exciting about the match.
Match #3: Test vs. Scott Steiner:
Two guys who don’t like each other and have had issues for a few months. Steiner isn’t anywhere near the level he was at during his WCW days, that’s for sure. Regardless, Steiner to me has always been enjoyable to watch whether it’s cutting promos or competing. Plus, having a match that has a purpose is a good thing, I’d think. Judging by everything I just said, Steiner in ’03 on some level is still a draw. That feels weird to say.
Match #4: WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus vs. Jazz:
On a very rare occasion do I find myself entertained by women’s wrestling, or overly interested in seeing a match. However, this is a triple threat match that I wouldn’t mind seeing. Jazz is a good female power wrestler, Molly is more than capable in the ring and Trish was super popular and good in the ring as well. I think it’s a good match on the card to have.
Match #5: Randy Orton vs. Maven:
Well, this feels like it would be a squash for Orton and it probably should be. Maven never impressed me and when I saw this on the card I cringed a little bit.
Match #6: Bubba, D-Von & Spike Dudley vs. WWE Tag Team Champions Rene Dupree, Sylvan Grenier & Rob Conway:
La Resistance came in and got plenty of momentum and heat on them as they quickly won the WWE Tag Team Championships upon their arrival. The Dudley Boys may have been a little played out by this point, but the issues between them was relevant and to be fair everyone involved are solid wrestlers. It’s a worthwhile undercard match and I think it would be enjoyable to watch live.
Match #7: Shawn Michaels & Jerry Lawler vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H & Ric Flair:
Of course, since we’re in Memphis, the king of Memphis would have to make an appearance with Jerry Lawler being involved in a co-main event match. It’s an interesting match, I’d say with Lawler teaming with Michaels against Evolution members HHH and Ric Flair. I tried talking myself out of being interested in the match, but I really am curious to see how this would go down. I think the Memphis crowd would be behind Lawler big time and it would be an entertaining match to witness.
Main Event: Rob Van Dam vs. Kane inside a steel cage:
I remember at the time being very interested in Kane since his unmasking and how each week he was just destroying everyone or had some kind of interesting segment. Anyone that has followed the site for a while knows that I’m a sucker for cage matches and this is a feud that would completely warrant the steel cage stipulation. This is a main event I’d like to see.
There is some filler on here, but the main event cage match, Evolution vs. Lawler/HBK, the six man tag and the women’s triple threat match are all solid bouts that would be entertaining. The more I look at the show it seems like a relatively strong show and something I’d spend money on attending. So, yeah, I’d go to this show. Would you? Or, perhaps, did you go to this show?
Thanks for reading.