WWE Backlash (April 2003)

From Worchester, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and Tazz

Opening WWE Tag Team Title Match: Team Angle v Los Guerreros: Charlie Haas starts with Eddie Guerrero, and a reversal sequence on the mat goes to a stalemate - though, if you were scoring on points, it was all Eddie. Criss cross goes Guerreros way with a shoulderblock for two, and a snapmare sets up a quick inside cradle for two. Over to Chavo Guerrero, but Haas quickly passes to Shelton Benjamin before making contact, to disorient his challenger. Their own reversal sequence also ends in a stalemate, so Chavo tags Eddie back in, and he blasts Benjamin with a European uppercut for two. Quick tag back to Chavo for a flying axehandle, and the challengers work Benjamin's arm. Cheap shot from Haas allows Benjamin to takeover on Chavo, but only briefly, as Eddie fires off an even better cheapshot to turn things right back around. Cute. The challengers destroy Benjamin in the corner, but get bored of him, and allow him to tag out to Haas. In reality, it looked like he may have been knocked a bit silly, and needed to get out of there. Haas quickly backdrops Eddie, and Shelton is back in the game with a snap suplex for two. The champs cut the ring in half on Eddie while targeting the back, until Eddie finally suicide dives at Haas, counting on Charlie to reflexively counter with a stungun - which he does, in turn dropping him right into a tag. That was some awesome psychology. Chavo is a casa of fire, but walks into some tandem abuse, leading to another awesome bit of tag team psychology, as Eddie can't quite reach him to tag, so he comes in with a Frogsplash anyway, which gets the referee on his case, but is enough to allow his battered partner to cover for two. Chavo looks to finish with a side suplex on Haas, but Benjamin hooks his angle from the floor, and Charlie topples him to retain at 15:04. Good, solid tag team wrestling match, and a strong opener. Great psychology from the Guerreros here. ***

Rikishi v Sean O'Haire: O'Haire has Roddy Piper with him here, for reasons I can't be bothered to remember. Rikishi comes in hot, and quickly drops him like a Samoan, so Piper hops up onto the apron for a distraction, and Sean blasts Rikishi with a superkick. Clothesline gets two, and he slaps on a headvise. Dude, Rikishi's Samoan! Not even Joe Pesci could headvise him into submission! Did they not teach that at the Power Plant? Kick to the face gets two, and he tries his own Samoan drop, but Rikishi escapes, and mashes him in the corner. Stinkface, but Sean pushes him off to block, and a double-superkick spot leaves both guys looking up at the lights. Piper comes in with a coconut, and while Rikishi fights him off, O'Haire sneaks over with the Widowmaker at 4:55. Nothing match that had no place on pay per view. DUD

World Tag Team Title Match: Kane and Rob Van Dam v The Dudley Boyz: Sean Morley acts as the special guest referee for this one. Rob starts with Bubba Dudley, and a reversal sequence goes to a stalemate. Rob spinheel kicks him for two, but takes too long flipping around to setup a simply monkeyflip, and gets leveled with a lariat for it. Tag to D-Von Dudley, but Rob manages to spinkick him to setup a corkscrew legdrop for two, then pass to Kane. He comes in hot, but falls prey to some double-teaming before catching Bubba with a spinebuster, and tagging back to RVD. Bunch of flipping and flopping finally lead to a splitlegged moonsault for two, but he tests Bubba's patience with his acrobatics, and ends up getting sidewalk slammed. Wassup Drop allow the Boyz to cut the ring in half, but Rob manages to spinkick Bubba to allow the tag back to Kane. He's a house of arson to setup the usual four-way brawl stuff, so Morley takes a shot at Kane to prevent victory, but accidentally hits Bubba as well, and D-Von kills him. You'd think that would be an automatic DQ, but none comes. Instead, Kane chokeslams Bubba, and RVD Five Star Frogsplashes him to retain at 13:02 - the fall counted by a second official. This was nothing. ½*

WWE Women's Title Match: Trish Stratus v Jazz: Jazz gets all up in her area to start, so Trish waistlocks her down, and hooks a magistral cradle for two. Japanese armdrag follows, but it's executed so poorly that Jazz gets offended on behalf of the Japanese viewing audience, and she pops up and backbreakers the champion. Another one, but Trish counters into a gutwrench suplex for two - only to get cutoff with a clothesline, and sitdown splashed. Schoolgirl gets two, and Jazz starts jabbing, but Trish hits back. Handstand rana, but Jazz counters into a Boston crab on the way down, which Trish turns into a pinfall reversal sequence that ends in Stratus hooking her own crab. She shifts it into an STF to prevent Jazz from getting the ropes, but Teddy Long helps her get them anyway to break. Chick Kick gets two, but Jazz jawbreakers her before she can follow-up, then hits a dropkick for two. Side suplex, but Trish counters into Stratusfaction for two - the count broken when Long throws his shoe at her. Long then trying to blame it on some poor sap in the front row is pretty hilarious. The distraction allows Jazz an inside cradle for two, so Trish tries Stratusfaction again, but Jazz holds the ropes, so Stratus shifts into a sunset cradle - only for Jazz to drop to reverse for the title at 5:51. Didn't really care for the flow, but decent enough otherwise that I was focused more on the wrestling than how incredible Trish's tits looked. * ¼

Big Show v Rey Mysterio: Rey wisely keeps his distance early on, using his speed advantage to take the high ground, then baseball sliding into Show. Springboard dropkick, but an attempt to corner Show backfires, and Rey gets tossed hard into the corner. Cross corner whip, but Mysterio wisely bails back out to avoid hitting the post, then springboard bodypresses back in - only for Show to catch him in a backbreaker. With Rey weakened, Show manages the corner whip successfully, then casually press-slams him - too casually, as Rey lands on his feet, and kicks at the leg. Show cuts him off with a shot across the shoulder blades, so Mysterio grabs a chair and whacks him over the head to setup a flying seated senton for two. Rey gets a modified 619 that targets the knee to setup a standard 619, but the West Coast Pop is countered with a Chokeslam at 3:48. This was fun, and very visually appealing due to the extreme size difference, but not a whole lot to it, overall. *

WWE Title Match: Brock Lesnar v John Cena: Don't adjust your browser, you're still reading Backlash 2003. John attacks before the bell, and gets Brock into the corner for a series of elbowsmashes, but Lesnar shrugs him off, and hits a two-alarm no-release backbreaker into a blockbuster. Brock plants him with a snap suplex, then adds another before covering, just to be a dick. They only get two, so Brock slaps on a front-facelock, and when Cena powers up to his feet in the hold, Lesnar drops him with a release fisherman’s suplex. Press-slam and a clothesline knock the challenger out of the ring, and Brock follows to abuse him with various objects at ringside, but gets reversed going into the steps. Cena immediately capitalizes by ramming his face into the steps a couple more time to draw blood, then rolls him in to get a quick two count out of it. Side suplex gets two, and an elbowdrop is worth two. Backelbow gets two, as it becomes obvious that John doesn't quite have the move set needed for this level of match yet. Shoulderblock sets up a 2^nd rope guillotine legdrop to put Lesnar back on the outside, and John follows to post him. Back in, that gets two, so Cena works to ground the champion with a chinlock. Brock powers up, so John DDTs him back down for two, but a charge is countered with a spinebuster from Lesnar. He unloads knees, but Cena manages to stun him with a jawbreaker, and level him with a lariat for two. Back to the chinlock for a long while, until Lesnar finally fights to his feet, then impressively runs into three separate corners with Cena hanging on his back to escape. Brock with a series of clotheslines and a powerslam for two, then a running powerslam for two. John blows him low to stop the onslaught, then schoolboys the champion for two. Throwback gets two, so Cena decides to grab a weapon to finish the beast, but Bock F5s him into oblivion at 15:14. Not as good as what they'd do years later, once Cena was a more established star, but still perfectly fine effort for his first foray into the main event. **

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Ric Flair v Shawn Michaels, Booker T, and Kevin Nash: What was with Triple H using all these weird alternate colors in 2003? I'm assuming it ties into his Flair-hero worship, because I have no other way to justify the bright purple tights otherwise. Hunter teases starting with Nash, but neither wants to give the other the satisfaction, so they settle on Jericho/Michaels - which might actually give a whole lot of other people actual satisfaction. Big criss cross ends in them trading off in a pinfall reversal sequence, that ends in Shawn hooking a backslide for two. Dropkick, but Jericho counters into the Walls - blocked by Shawn by reversing the momentum, then armdragging Chris. Tag to Nash, and he tosses Jericho out of the ring, then knocks Flair off the apron to try to force HHH into things. Hunter teases it, but only long enough to allow Jericho to sneak attack. Nash quickly big boots him down, and passes to Booker for a savate kick, but Jericho ducks it, so Booker settles for a whiplash instead, for two. Flapjack gets two, but he gets caught in the wrong part of town, and HHH tags in. Booker briefly fends him off with a savate kick, but telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a kneeling facebuster. Spinebuster, and he tags Flair - who promptly misses an elbowdrop to allow a tag over to Shawn. Michaels quickly backdrops him, so Jericho charges in illegally, and also gets backdropped - out of the ring. Hunter comes in and takes an inverted atomic drop, then back to Flair with a diving forearm. Superkick, but HHH breaks up the pin with a Pedigree, and Flair manages to tag Chris. Good sequence. Shawn is still dead from the Pedigree, so Chris simply elbowdrops him, and covers for two. Tag to Hunter with a high knee for two, then back to Flair to chop him. Figure Four, but Shawn cradles for two, so Flair passes back to Jericho for a side suplex. They continue to cut the ring in half on Michaels, until Shawn manages to counter a kneebreaker from Flair with an enzuigiri, and get the tag off to Nash. He finally gets his hands on HHH with elbowsmashes in the corner, and takes out the other two members of the team with bodyslams as they run-in. Snake-eyes sets up a sidewalk slam on HHH for two, but Flair and Jericho keep getting involved, triggering a six-way brawl. Lots of finishers traded, until Nash saves Shawn from the Walls by Powerbombing Jericho - only for Hunter to whack him with a sledgehammer for the pin at 17:53. Six-mans are usually fun, and this was no exception: well paced, with hard work from all involved - though logical booking dictates that Nash really should have went over Triple H to setup their program, not the other way around. ***

Main Event: The Rock v Goldberg: This is Goldberg's WWE in-ring debut. He overpowers Rock through the initial lockup, and a hard shove out of a second lockup puts Rock on the floor. Rock keeps trash talking all the while, but Goldberg casually shoulderblocks him as he comes back in, then clotheslines him right back out. Rock stalls out there, frustrating Goldberg, and suckering him to the edge of the ring to snap his throat across the ropes. Rock hustles in after him, but quickly walks into a uranage. Spear, but Rock manages to sidestep it, and Goldberg ends up on the floor. Back in, Rock slaps on a sharpshooter, but Goldberg gets the ropes to break, after failing to power out. Rock responds by literally punching him in the balls to setup a Rock Bottom, but Goldberg blocks with a spear, then shoulderblocks him, and hits a powerslam for two - selling the shoulder getting hurt on the missed spear spot earlier all the while. Rock goes after it with a pair of clotheslines, and Bottoms him for two. Spinebuster sets up the People's Elbow for two - which somehow takes more out of Rock than Goldberg. How is that even believable? It’s not even a move where he has to muscle Goldberg, or that has any sort of high impact. It’s a fucking elbowdrop ten minutes into the match. Goldberg manages a spear, then adds another for good measure. Jackhammer finishes at 13:04. This would have probably done a record buyrate in 1999, but it was too little too late by 2003, and the fact that the match itself fell completely flat didn't help - especially with Rock's extreme overselling coming off more goofy than effective. ¾*

BUExperience: Some decent stuff, but overall an extremely forgettable show outside of Goldberg’s in-ring debut, and the more-interesting-in-hindsight Lesnar/Cena match.

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