World Wrestling Entertainment presents RAW
Date: 4/28/2003
From: Boston, MA
Chris Jericho makes his way out to kickoff the program. Jericho talks about seeing Roddy Piper backstage at Backlash. Jericho says if Piper can drag out Piper’s Pit and have his show on Smackdown, Jericho thought he could have a show. Jericho debuts the “Hi-Lite Reel.” Jericho got the biggest guest he could get for the debut edition. Jericho got an old friend from WCW and a man who destroyed The Rock last night. Jericho introduces his first guest, Goldberg!
Goldberg makes his way out to join the segment. Jericho puts over Goldberg for destroying Rock last night at Backlash. Jericho notes that he’s beaten Rock several times himself. Jericho talks about himself and Goldberg having a storied history in WCW. Jericho talks about challenging Goldberg to a match in WCW several times, but Goldberg refused. Goldberg tells Jericho this is a new beginning and he’d be more than happy to kick his ass right now. Jericho tells Goldberg he’s an interviewer and not a wrestler right now. Jericho asks Goldberg who he thinks he is. Jericho talks about Goldberg walking around like he’s a big shot who owns the place and wants to know why Goldberg speared Rock and not just stay home. Goldberg begins to tell Jericho why he came to the WWE, but is cutoff by Christian.
Christian appears on the top of the aisle and has a better question for Goldberg. Christian thinks he’s the new people’s champion since Rock called him his favorite wrestler. Christian asks how it felt when half the people booed him at Backlash. Christian brings up how the Red Sox haven’t won anything since 1919 and they want to cheer for something. Goldberg calls Christian a punk and says the people can do whatever they want because they spend their hard earned money. Goldberg is there to earn his stripes in the WWE. Goldberg says his job is to destroy everyone’s ass that gets in his way. Goldberg brings up spearing Christian’s ass two weeks in a row. Jericho chimes in and says nobody is going to get speared tonight. Christian brings out Steven Richards, Victoria, Three Minute Warning and Rico. Christian says they all think Goldberg doesn’t belong in the WWE. Christian thinks he and others deserve the spot on PPV before Goldberg. Goldberg cuts off Christian from listing his accomplishments. Goldberg tells them to come down there and do something if they have a problem. Steven Richards says they aren’t afraid of Goldberg and they begin to head to the ring. Richards slides into the ring, but nobody joins him and Goldberg spears Richards! The other heels backoff to end the segment.
MATCH #1: CHIEF MORLEY VS. THE HURRICANE
FINISH: Hurricane avoids the Money Shot and hits the Overcast (blockbuster) for the win.
Bob’s Take: Early on, Hurricane mocks Morley’s days as Val Venis using his cape as a towel. Morley gets control after a knee lift to the midsection and showed his power advantage slamming Hurricane to the mat. Morley continued to control the bout with knee lifts and a nice overhead suplex. Morley delivered a nice spinebuster and taunt the crowd, but that taunt prevented a three count. Hurricane battled back with the Eye of the Hurricane. Morley almost wins following a Blue Thunder Bomb after avoiding a shining wizard. Morley misses the Money Shot allowing for the finish. The match was a little plodding in spots, but Morley was good showcasing his power moves and I wasn’t bored to death. I like Hurricane winning and I think there’s potential to make him a bigger deal on the brand.
Match Rating: **1/4
Backstage, Triple H meets with Ric Flair in the locker room. Flair is reading the RAW Magazine and says that he sees HHH on all the magazine covers. Flair puts over HHH as being the greatest wrestler and champion of all-time. HHH says if Flair feels that way that’s good enough for him. HHH asked Flair to put his gear on and wants to help Flair out. HHH wants Flair to have some gold and tells Flair they are challenging for the RAW Tag Team Championships. Flair likes the sound of that and struts out of the room.
Teddy Long and Rodney Mack appear on the aisle where Long says they have another white boy challenge. Mack wants to talk about Larry Bird. Long says that if Larry Bird was a black man he wouldn’t have been thought of and never given a chance. Long says he’s about equal opportunity and giving people a chance. Long says the people will know what it means to back the Mack.
MATCH #2: RODNEY MACK VS. WHITE BOY #2 — FIVE MINUTE WHITE BOY CHALLENGE
FINISH: Mack plants White Boy with a running powerslam for the win. After the match, Teddy Long says we just witnessed once you go black you never go back. Long introduces the new WWE Women’s Champion Jazz. Balloons fall from the rafters for the celebration. We see Trish Stratus watching on a screen before walking off.
Bob’s Take: As expected, Mack simply dominates the match. Long is on commentary really driving home the racism. Mack destroys the enhancement guy with a clothesline. Mack looked fairly good in this match. These segments are examples of showcasing talent to get them over.
Match Rating: SQUASH
Backstage, Eric Bischoff is on the phone saying he wouldn’t miss something when Trish Stratus enters the room. Stratus wants a rematch with Jazz and says she will do whatever it takes to get a rematch. Bischoff asks if he gave her a match with him tonight where if Stratus wins then she gets a rematch. However, if Stratus loses then Bischoff gets some quality time with Stratus. Stratus accepts the challenge.
Backstage, Stacy Keibler is talking to Test. Test says he knows things didn’t look good last night and he knows Stacy doesn’t have eyes on Scott Steiner. Test wants to move past this and wants to know why he’s teaming with Steiner. Keibler thinks Test and Steiner can win the tag titles. Test asks if he looks like he needs help, which Keibler doesn’t say he doesn’t. Test will do the match, but wants Stacy to trust him again. Keibler says she wants to before walking off.
MATCH #3: RAW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS KANE & ROB VAN DAM VS. RAW WORLD CHAMPION TRIPLE H & RIC FLAIR
NOTE: Shawn Michaels is shown on the phone saying ‘he’s in the ring right now. He’s a sitting duck.’
FINISH: Late in the match, Kevin Nash comes out with a sledgehammer to chase HHH through the crowd leaving Flair by himself. Kane chokeslams Flair leading to the Five Star Frog Splash for the win to retain the titles.
Bob’s Take: Kane and Flair kickoff the tag title match with Kane controlling the match with a press slam. Flair looked to tag out, but HHH seemed to be uninterested, but did tag in when RVD was tagged in. RVD knocked HHH to the floor with kicks and hit a crossbody on both men. Kane and RVD show good tag team wrestling double teaming HHH with a powerslam/leg drop combo. RVD gets a good amount of offense on HHH, which isn’t something I was expecting to see for him. HHH stops RVD’s momentum with a spinebuster. Flair wraps RVD’s leg around the ring post to help keep control in HHH’s favor. Kane ends up getting the hot tag and cleans house. It’s a formula hot tag segment with a bunch of clotheslines and a side slam to HHH. Flair chop blocks Kane on the knee, but that doesn’t stop Kane. HHH chop blocks Kane to stop him and Flair locked in the figure four. RVD kicked HHH from the top and hit the rolling thunder on Flair. HHH plants Kane with the Pedigree, but that’s when Kevin Nash came out with a sledgehammer. I’m glad there was a clean finish. They got plenty of time and it was a pretty average tag match overall. I thought it was a solid quality tag match.
Match Rating: **1/2
Backstage, HHH is still running away from Kevin Nash. HHH hops into a limo, but Nash breaks the window with the sledgehammer causing the limo to drive off.
MATCH #4: TEST & SCOTT STEINER VS. CHIRSTOPHER NOWINSKI & RICO
FINISH: Steiner tags himself in and plants Nowinski with a reverse DDT to win the match. After the match, Test is a bit annoyed with Steiner tagging himself in and winning the match. Steiner grabs a microphone and does his catchphrase.
Bob’s Take: I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of Test and Scott Steiner as a tag team. Test is better off being a singles heel at this point as they are still kind of positioning Test as a babyface simply due to his connection to Stacy. Obviously, I never thought that Rico and Nowinski had a chance to win this match, so I kind of felt tuned out a bit. Test has good fire when he gets tagged in and cleans house rather well. This is just an extended squash match and the slow burn for Test turning heel continues.
Match Rating: SQUASH
La Resistance come out as Scott Steiner finished his catchphrase to make their official RAW debut. Rene Dupree and Slyvan Grenier introduce themselves. They show footage from two weeks ago where Steiner issued his support for the troops and considered France to be similar to hell. Dupree says they are lovers and fighters since they are French. Grenier says they want to talk their issues out and they don’t want Steiner to be afraid. Steiner fights off La Resistance sending Dupree to the floor, but is stopped by a chop block. Back in the ring, Steiner is laid out with a double spinebuster.
Backstage, Chief Morley tells Eric Bischoff that he has nothing to worry about. Morley tells Bischoff that he suspended the Dudley Boys. Bischoff says he’s made sure there’s a do not disturb sign on his door.
Backstage, Goldberg meets up with Booker T. Booker wants to level with Goldberg saying he’s going through what Goldberg is dealing with. Booker shows off the crowd reacting to him well. now that he’s got himself settled in the WWE. Booker says the guys from earlier are punks and they don’t speak for him or the people out there. Booker says once you earn your keep you’re all set. Booker officially welcomes Goldberg to the WWE and he’s going to take care of Christian.
MATCH #5: CHRISTIAN VS. BOOKER T
FINISH: Late in the match, Three Minute Warning and Rico come out to attack Booker T and cause the disqualification. The fans know that Goldberg will be coming out. Jamal splashes Booker in the corner. Rosey plants Booker with a swinging side slam, but Goldberg comes down and cleans house to make the save. Goldberg plants Jamal with the Jackhammer. Christian clotheslines Goldberg from behind allowing Rosey to briefly get control, but is sent into the post. Goldberg waits on the floor and spears Rosey through the barricade!
Bob’s Take: Booker has the early advantage on Christian delivering a clothesline, heel kick and several chops in the corner. Christian battles back with some basic offense to gain control for a bit. Booker stops Christian’s momentum with a flapjack. Booker nails Christian with a flurry of strikes and a side slam, but can’t finish off Christian. Booker plants Christian with a spinebuster, but still couldn’t finish him off. Booker feels like a much bigger wrestler than Christian does at this point. The finish was a bit obvious, but the match itself was a basic encounter to fill time. The aftermath was nicely done, and this was the first ever spear through a barricade spot that would become a spot that is often repeated in WWE history.
Match Rating: *1/2
Prior to the main event, Eric Bischoff asks Trish Stratus if she really wants to do this because Bischoff knows he wants to. Bischoff knows what he’s going to do be doing later tonight. Bischoff reveals the match is now no disqualification.
MAIN EVENT: TRISH STRATUS VS. ERIC BISCHOFF — WOMEN’S TITLE SHOT VS. NIGHT WITH BISCHOFF — NO DISQUALIFICATION
FINISH: Bischoff pins Stratus after she was attacked by Jazz. After the match, Bischoff continues to taunt Stratus, but we see a limo arriving to the arena. The limo driver opens the door and it is Linda McMahon!
Bob’s Take: Stratus nailed Bischoff with a kick to the head after Bischoff taunted her, but Victoria quickly ran into the ring and attacked Stratus hitting a standing moonsault. Stratus disposes Victoria to the floor, but then WWE Women’s Champion Jazz came out and attacked Stratus. Jazz lifted Stratus into the air and dropped Stratus face first onto the floor. Bischoff tells Jazz that’s enough for him. Bischoff is being a real creep about spending the night with Stratus before getting the pin.
Match Rating: NR
Eric Bischoff sees that it is Linda McMahon and quickly shifts his tone to demanding someone help her get up. Bischoff demands the officials be careful with Stratus as the show went to commercial. Upon return from commercial, Linda makes her way out to the ring. Bischoff is not in the ring when she’s arrived to the ring. McMahon says her job is to monitor the job of upper management, and that includes Eric Bischoff. Linda says that Bischoff chooses to conduct his business in public and asks for Bischoff to come back out to the ring. Bischoff returns to the ring. Bischoff takes the approach to compliment Linda. Bischoff doesn’t want Linda to take it too seriously that he was going to sleep with Trish. He’s just making compelling television. Bischoff is more interested in a mature woman. Linda says that Bischoff makes her job easy. McMahon says that Bischoff’s actions this past month have been unprofessional, abusive, harassing, and egomaniacal. Linda says there is some on the board who think Bischoff shouldn’t be in his role. The board has reached a compromise. Starting tomorrow morning there will be a new General Manager to share the role with Bischoff on a 50/50 basis. Linda suggests the co-GM is more in-tuned with the audience and will keep Bischoff in line. She even says they are sensitive. Linda introduces the new co-GM of RAW as being…
Steve Austin makes his way out to join the segment as the new co-GM of RAW! The crowd erupts with excitement to see Austin back in the WWE. Austin asks how Bischoff is feeling. Austin is sure Bischoff feels like this couldn’t work. Austin offers his hand for a handshake. Bischoff doesn’t feel like this is a marriage made in heaven. Bischoff isn’t saying he doesn’t trust Austin. Austin asks the audience if they should trust him, and they say he should with a hell yeah. Austin wants to shake hands and be partners with Bischoff. Bischoff shakes hands with Austin, but Austin doesn’t let go. Austin reminds Bischoff that it starts tomorrow and drops Bischoff with a Stunner to end the program.
Final Thoughts:
There is some interesting things happening on RAW coming out of Backlash. Goldberg is going to be a good presence on RAW, and it looks like they’re slowly bringing him along by having him involved with lower acts such as Christian, which is fine. Christian could essentially be the 1998 version of Jericho in WCW, and I think there’s value in that direction. Steve Austin being a foil to Bischoff heel tendencies as GM should make for an interesting dynamic. I’m looking forward to that aspect of the relationship. I’ll consider this an average episode with some decent wrestling, and some fun angle advancements overall.
Thanks for reading.