WWE No Way Out (February 2003)

From Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Your Hosts are Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and Tazz

Opening Match: Chris Jericho v Jeff Hardy: Jeff has nearly his entire face and body painted here, which looks... odd... to say the least. That's the politically correct way to put it, anyhow. They criss cross a bit to start, until Jericho gets him into the corner for some chops, but misses a stinger splash, and goes flying out of the ring. Jeff follows him out with a springboard somersault bodyblock, then rolls Chris back in for a slingshot moonsault for two. Jericho bails right back out, so Jeff baseball slides him, but a railrunner is countered when Jericho stunguns him onto the steps. Back in again, Chris delivers a hanging vertical suplex, but a bodyslam is countered into a cradle for two, so Jericho dropkicks him to cutoff a comeback. Snapmare sets up a chinlock, as Jeff's weird makeup job stains the ring like some sort of Broadway Great Muta. Chris misses a charge in the corner to allow Jeff a diving forearm, and he adds a sloppy sitout chincrusher for two. Jericho fires back with an enzuigiri for two, and a bulldog sets up the lionsault, but Jeff blocks with his knee, and DDTs Chris for two. Jeff with a flying somersault bodyblock for two, but an enzuigiri of his own misses, and Jericho slaps on the Walls. Hardy makes the ropes, so Chris goes up, but Hardy pops up with a belly-to-belly superplex, and hits the Swanton for two. Chris uses the referee to block an assault and snap the Walls back on, but Hardy counters with an inside cradle for two, then plants a dropkick on Jericho. Neckbreaker sets up another Swanton, but Jericho gets out of the way, and lionsaults him for two. Side suplex, but Hardy counters into a schoolboy for two, so Jericho plants him with a sleeper slam for two. He goes up, but Hardy blocks with a rana off the top - only for Jericho to counter back with a powerbomb on the way down, then lock the Walls on for the win at 13:00. Decent, and it worked as an opener to get the crowd going, but Hardy was blowing stuff left and right, and what he did manage to do was done with no shortage of sloppiness. * ¼

World Tag Team Title Match: William Regal and Lance Storm v Kane and Rob Van Dam: The graphic still shows the old tag belts, despite having new belts for months now. That's just sad. Storm starts with Van Dam, and a criss cross goes RVD's way - sending Lance scurrying for a tag. Regal decides to use his superior wrestling ability to slow RVD, but Van Dam manages a spinheel kick to escape a wristlock, then adds a slingshot moonsault for two. Over to Kane with an elbowdrop for two, and he nearly kills Regal with a botched bodyslam, they leaves them having to improvise as he's knocked silly and can't continue on to the next spot. They help him tag Storm, and Kane press-slams him, as William shakes off the cobwebs on the apron. Powerslam, and he tags RVD to punctuate it with rolling thunder, but Storm bails to the floor, so Rob dives after him with a somersault plancha instead. Slingshot legdrop on the way back in gets two, but a trip upstairs gets Van Dam shoved off into the rail, and the champs cut the ring in half. Kane gets the tag and comes in hot to trigger a four-way brawl, but a miscommunication results in Kane chokeslamming his own partner, and Regal pinning Van Dam off of it at 9:20 to retain. Started off well enough, but the heat segment kind of killed the groove. *

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Matt Hardy: They trade wristlocks to start, and Matt snaps off an armdrag, then a bodyslam to control. Kidman comes back with a pair of his own armdrags, and adds a rana, but a hiptoss reversal sequence ends with Billy out on the floor. He eats post out there, and back in, Matt backelbows then legdrops the champion for two. Another bodyslam sets up a fistdrop for two, and a neckbreaker is worth two. Straightjacket chinlock, but Kidman escapes, and victory cradles him for two, so Matt neckbreakers him again to keep control. Straddling ropechoke gets two, and the challenger grounds him with a front-facelock. Kidman counters into a sleeper, but Matt quickly escapes into the Ricochet for two. Matt tries grounding him again with a half-crab, but Kidman pops up with an enzuigiri in a nice block, then BK Bombs him for two. Corner whip, but Kidman eats clothesline as he charges, and Hardy 2^nd rope legdrops him for two. Twist of Fate, but Kidman counters into a dropkick to put Matty on the floor, then dives after him with a plancha. Billy with a flying axehandle on the way back in, but Matt counters into the Twist of Fate, so Billy counters back into a somersault cradle for two. Nice sequence there. Shannon Moore distracts the champion to allow Matt the Side Effect for two, but Kidman fights back with a bulldog - only to have the Shooting Star Press miss. That allows Hardy the Twist of Fate for two, so he gives him another one off the top rope to win the title at 9:34. Good back-and-forth match. ** ½

The Undertaker v Big Show: Slugfest on the floor goes Undertaker's way, and he hits a guillotine legdrop across the apron, then brings a chair with him on the way in, but it backfires, and Show bootchokes him in the corner. Undertaker tries a slam, but Show topples him for two, and hits a hanging vertical suplex for two. This match is already dragging, and we're only in the first few minutes. Show helps things along with a bearhug, bless his heart. Undertaker slugs free, so Show sidewalk slams him for two, then tosses him to the floor to allow Undertaker to blade. Back in, Show unloads headbutts, but Undertaker's too legit to quit, and won't stay down! Ropewalk forearm and a jumping DDT get two, but a stupid attempt at the Last Ride is countered with a spinebuster for two. Undertaker manages a dragon sleeper, but Paul Heyman and A-Train distract him, so Undertaker lets off to dive at them both with a tope suicida. Back in, Show has recovered enough to hit the Chokeslam, but it only gets two, and 'Taker grabs him in a triangle choke as he kicks out for the submission at 14:08. Not that I was looking forward to this match, but if you're already going to book it, does it really need to be fifteen minutes? This style of match went out of style with Andre the Giant, and believe me, no one was clamoring for it to make a comeback in 2003. –*

Handicap Match: Team Angle v Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit: Shelton Benjamin starts with Chris Benoit, and Chris controls on the mat, then corner whips him with authority. Over to Charlie Haas for Benoit to abuse with a backdrop, and he passes to Brock to destroy poor Charlie in the corner. Snap suplex, and he gets bored of him - hiptossing Haas into his corner to try forcing a tag to Kurt Angle, with Angle wisely refusing. Haas suffers for it with a press-slam, and Benjamin gets one as well, as he tries sneak attacking. Brock keeps beating Haas in the corner while death-glaring at Kurt, so the heels take a cheapshot, and NOW Kurt wants to tag in. He grounds Lesnar with a sleeper as Team Angle works the cut the ring in half, but Brock manages to dump him head first into the turnbuckle to escape. Ouch. Tag to Benoit, and he's a house of fire - suplexing everything in sight. He gets overwhelmed in short order when Team Angle utilize their handicap, however, and they get cut the ring in half on their new victim. Chris escapes a front-facelock from Angle to trigger a bunch of nearfalls via a series of cradles, but Kurt grabs him in a release German suplex to stop his fun. Haas and Benjamin double-team Benoit through a straddling ropechoke for two, but Benoit escapes a drop-toehold from Shelton with a dropkick, and gets the tag. Lesnar comes in hot, and also suplexes everything in sight, as Scott Steiner likely freaks out backstage because they're messing with his suplex quota. F5 for Kurt, but his cronies save, and dump Brock as a four-way brawl breaks out. Angle gets Benoit in the Anklelock, but Chris counters into the Crossface, so Kurt counters back to the Lock - countered again by Benoit to the Crossface until the cronies save again. That backfires, however, as Benoit slaps the hold on Haas instead, and Brock chases Benjamin away, then F5s Angle to prevent anyone from saving for the submission at 13:17. Unlike Undertaker/Big Show, another five minutes would have been more than welcome here. Good stuff from bell to bell, with fun tag team psychology, and well executed stuff all around. ***

World Heavyweight Title Match: Triple H v Scott Steiner: Scott's sucking wind at the bell, which can't be a good sign. He wins a lockup, and goes after the arm with an overhead wristlock, but HHH escapes with a turnbuckle smash, so Steiner kicks at his taped leg to back the champ off. Scott chops him into the corner for a ten-punch, then clotheslines him down - stopping to do his pushup taunt. Well, at least he was smart enough to do it early on this time, before he became physically incapable like at the Royal Rumble. Scott goes after the taped up leg again, as he removes the tape for some direct shots. I doubt that thin layer of tape was really offering that much protection, but wrestling is all about the visual, after all. Leglock goes nowhere, so Steiner head-and-arm suplexes him to setup a figure four, but Ric Flair breaks it up with an eyerake. Scott goes after him on the floor, but that allows Hunter to recover, and knock him into the steps. Can we consider 'capitalizing on 'roid rage' as psychology? Sure, why not. Back in, Hunter hits a swinging neckbreaker for two, then blocks a clothesline with another neckbreaker for two. Steiner also manages to block a clothesline with an overhead suplex, but a corner charge hits boot, and Hunter covers, but the referee catches him using the ropes for leverage. Funny bit, as HHH gets into his usual shoving match with the referee over it, but they have to extend the entire bit because it takes Scott so damn long to get up and attack. Steiner with a backdrop and a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Corner whips knocks Hunter out of the ring for a shot into the post, and Steiner overhead suplexes him for two on the way back in. What happened to going after the bad leg? Scott gets an ugly fallaway slam off the top for two, then slaps on the Recliner, so Flair motions Randy Orton and Batista out to save. Scott takes them out, but the distractions allows HHH to whack him with the title belt for two. Pedigree then finishes anyway at 13:02. That was kind of anticlimactic ending. This wasn't as brutally bad as last time, but still a definite stinker of a match that should have never even been booked following the disaster that was the Rumble match. ¼*

Steve Austin v Eric Bischoff: Bischoff desperately tries to talk his way out of things, but Steve spears him down, and unloads, then chokes him with his vest. He stomps a mudhole in the corner, then moves him to another corner and does it again. Well, that's considerate, for those trying to get good photos. He tries moving him again, but Bischoff swipes at him. It has no effect, so Eric runs, but gets caught on the floor, and Steve throws a fans drink in his face. Back in, three Stunners finish at 4:25. This was fun in an insider-ish kind of way, but obviously didn't have the same resonance that it might have in the 90s. DUD

Main Event: The Rock v Hulk Hogan: Rock stalls to start, and tries a sneak attack as Hogan plays to the crowd, but that backfires, and Rock ends up stalling on the floor again. Hulk goes after him on the floor, but he's too slow, and Rock stomps him on the way back in, but gets reversed going into the corner, and Hulk punches him out of the ring again. Hulk goes after him again, but gets his throat snapped across the top rope as he does, and Rock Bottoms him for two. He takes Hulk's weight belt off of him for some shots, but stopping for a water break proves to be a mistake, and Hulk retaliates with some belt shots of his own. Rock fires back with a DDT out of a criss cross, and he slaps on a sharpshooter, but Hogan makes the ropes. Rock drags him back in it again, forcing Hulk to power out so hard that Rock flies to the outside off of it. Rock grabs a chair out there, but it backfires, so Rock settles for blowing him low, and hitting a spinebuster to setup the People's Elbow. Second one hits, but we've got a HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! - but the lights die just as Hogan covers. They come back on with the referee down and out, so Vince McMahon struts down to ringside to figure out what happened. Hulk thinks Vince had something to do with the power dying, but Vince pleads innocence - allowing Rock to whack Hulk with a chair that the referee (Sylvain Grenier) passes him. Rock Bottom finishes at 12:36. Ugh, this match was le suck. They were trying to recapture lightning in a bottle, but WrestleMania X8 this was not, and in fact, it backlit every problem with the 'Mania match, without the insane crowd reaction, or epic feeling to make up for it. – ¾*

BUExperience: There’s some decent stuff, but nothing near good enough to carry a show with two negative star matches. And that’s not even touching on Scott Steiner and Triple H.

DUD