WWE Backlash 2003

WWE Backlash 2003

Worcester, Massachusetts - April 2003

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Brock Lesnar is the WWE World Champion while Triple H holds the World Heavyweight Championship on RAW at the start of this show. Trish Stratus holds the Womens' Championship and Matt Hardy is the Cruiserweight Champion, while the Intercontinental Championship and United States Championships remain inactive (having been unified way back in October 2002 at the No Mercy show). The WWE Tag Team Champions are Team Angle, while RAW's Kane and Rob Van Dam hold the World Tag Team Championships. 

COMMENTARY: Jerry Lawler and Jonathan Coachman (RAW), Tazz and Cole (SmackDown)

Backlash 2003 kicks off with the WWE Tag Team Champions, Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defending the straps against Los Guerreros, Chavo and Eddie. By this point, Los Guerreros had perfected their "Lie, Cheat, Steal" gimmicks, adding schtick to every second of the match, whether it was tagging themselves in (even when unnecessary), using the tag rope to choke out their opponent, or causing countless ref distractions. Haas and Benjamin, as would be the case for most of their respective WWE runs, are impressive athletes and even show off some dazzling teamwork - but they struggle to even match a tenth of the character that their opponents have and what could be a really hot opener suffers a little bit because of it. (3/5)

Backstage, Test flirts awkwardly with Torrie Wilson and plants one on her. Yuck.

Back in the ring - Roddy Piper's protege Sean O'Haire vs. Rikishi. Absolute shit match. O'Haire has a good look, but is a non-athletic athletic type, everything he does looking less smooth than the last maneuver he tried. The reactions Rikishi draws are ghosts of louder ones from 4 years earlier. Roddy Piper is around, but he overplays things so much it really makes his WCW run in the 90s look like a career peak in comparison. Half-point for not extending beyond 5 minutes. (0.5/5)

Sable introduces herself to Stacy Keibler backstage and tells her that she caught Keibler's boyfriend, Test, kissing Keibler's BFF, Torrie Wilson. I'd say that this is the type of garbage soap opera writing that, thankfully, the WWE doesn't produce too much of these days - but every storyline Lana's been involved in since her debut has had the similar stench of lazy writing. 

Rob Van Dam and Kane defend their World Tag Team Championships against The Dudley Boys next, though, the deck is stacked against them as heel authority figure Chief Morley is the referee. As was fairly typical for their matches around this time, the Dudleys draw heat mostly by not giving the fans what they want - tables - while the babyfaces pop em' with signature offense. Has any wrestler been in more "unlikely duo" teams than Kane? A somewhat surprising number of inventive, cool spots here out of both teams make things a bit less tedious than I expected and, after a miscommunication with Morley and surprise appearance by Lance Storm, the match explodes into the best kind of chaos. Solid finish too. (2.5/5)

The Keibler/Wilson drama continues when Stacy confronts her friend. A catfight ensues and for some reason the camera lingers on the scene for a comically long time. The "acting" here is laughably bad. (-1)

Teddy Long accompanies Jazz down the aisle for her match against the reigning Womens' Champion Trish Stratus, the females attempting to somehow lift the reputation of the entire female roster through their work. Like their match at the previous month's WrestleMania, Jazz and Trish dish out considerably more sophisticated offense than what one might've assumed in the Era of the Hair Toss. At one point, Stratus attempts her classic head scissors in the corner and Jazz reverses it into a nasty half-crab back on the mat (which eventually morphs into Stratus strapping on the STF after a nifty series of counters). Jazz hits a huge dropkick that wakes up the largely disinterested crowd, but Stratus is able to connect with a telegraphed Stratusfaction for two. Dirty tactics lead to the final result and this feud continues. Not a great match, but O'Haire should probably still take notes. (2/5)


The Big Show takes on Rey Mysterio next. This isn't too great of a match, but the post-match is absolutely brilliant. Exactly as one might expect, Show uses his size to capture the W after Mysterio hits a flurry of offense that almost makes it seem like he can overcome the odds. Again, bonus half-point for the post-match angle, which is just an incredible visual. (3/5)

Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Ric Flair are backstage with Lillian Garcia. They proceed to deliver one of the most awkwardly poor promos I've seen recently - honestly, this is like subtraction by addition, each guy almost seeming to forget what their old reliable catchphrases are and deciding to just stumble through gibberish instead. So poor that Garcia attempts to abandon ship but Triple H mistakenly brings her back to "wrap things up" with more nonsense. Terrible promo. (-1)

John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship, folks! This is the first PPV meeting of these two, Cena not yet at that true main event level (he'd get there a little under two years later). Cena comes in sporting Yankees attire and raps to antagonize the crowd - it is crazy to think that a Massachusetts crowd has ever booed Cena, but here's the proof. Lesnar takes control early on, press slamming Cena and then clotheslining him out of the ring (where he proceeds to toss him against the announce table). The Doctor of Thuganomics is able to reverse Lesnar's momentum, though, whipping him into the steps and then targeting a wound above the Beast's eye. Cena continues to control for a lengthy stretch, keeping the pressure on the fading champion with a legdrop against the ropes and then by applying a full body scissors as the New England crowd slowly begins to chant for the challenger. Lesnar, a freak of strength, is able to stand up with Cena on his back, ramming into the corner three times until he releases him. There's some miscommunications in the next sequence, but Lesnar keeps the momentum going by simply lifting Cena up and slamming into the mat - an easy fix when you have that kind of brute strength. Cena catches Lesnar with some surprising near falls, but Lesnar rallies back with another double-leg into the corner. Cena reaches for his chain, but gets caught in an F-5 for his trouble. A good showing for a young Cena and an equally strong performance out of Lesnar, but not a "must see" match like some of their other higher profile bouts. (3.5/5)

A lengthy nu-metal soundtracked video package hypes our next match - Chris Jericho, Triple H, and Ric Flair vs. Booker T, Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash. Everyone gets their own entrance with Nash getting the biggest pyro display due to him being positioned as the fresh, new challenger for Triple H's World Championship. Nash was 44 years old at the time and coming off an injury that had put him out for 9 months, so, y'know, this was a great idea. Michaels and Jericho start things off before Nash comes in to take out all the heels. Things get more "workrate-y" when Booker and Jericho get some extended time in the ring together, all leading to Shawn Michaels getting the hot tag against a surprisingly spry Ric Flair (age 54). Triple H comes in and gets to work on Michaels' knee with Flair following up with some of his patented offense. The Heartbreak Kid eventually makes the tag to Nash, who comes in and, as he did earlier, basically stands still and allows the heels to run into his fists and boots. Nash hits a snake eyes' and follows it up with a sidewalk slam, but his pin attempt is broke up by the Nature Boy. Nash is finally taken off his feet by a Jericho dropkick from the top rope and we've got a melee on our hands. The Spinnerooni shows up as Booker and Y2J duke it out on the outside. Back in the ring, Flair and Michaels come to blows while Triple H and Nash start brawling up the aisle. Michaels starts tuning up the band but Jericho hits him with a bulldog and Flair locks in the figure four. Jericho adds insult to injury by hitting a Lionsault on him too, but none of them are the legal men so it doesn't matter. Nash comes in to make the save, but the ref is sent to the floor for his troubles. He hits the Jacknife on Jericho, but Triple H rocks him with the sledgehammer for the win. Not a "must see" match, but worthy of being a RAW main event, with Flair, Jericho, and Booker T all showing considerable fire at times. Triple H and Michaels take the night off a bit and Nash's weaknesses are wisely covered up. Smartly worked match. (3/5)

Main event time - The Rock vs. Goldberg. Its surprising how little "play" this match got over the course of the night. Before the match begins, The Rock cuts a somewhat weird promo sans any catchphrases, calling Goldberg a "whisker-biscuit bitch" at one point and noting that the only thing he hasn't done is "make a white baby." Despite being fairly over as a heel, he has at least a third of the crowd on his side coming in. Goldberg gets his usual entrance, the camera following him from backstage. The match begins with Rock refusing to get into the ring and lock up, the "Goldberg" chants beginning to drown out the small "Rocky" ones. After some jawing back and forth, the bell finally rings and the match begins, Goldberg outpowering The Rock early and sending him to the mat. They lock up a second time and, again, the Rock is tossed (this time all the way to the arena floor). The Rock's overselling is bordering on Shawn Michaels-level. Goldberg hits a Rock Bottom just a few minutes in (which makes so little sense) and then gets ready for the Spear (which does) - but the Rock sidesteps and Goldberg hits the post, the crowd roaring in support of the Great One. The Rock locks in a Sharpshooter because this match, in the span of 6 minutes, is already in finisher mode, I guess, and Rock sees no reason to target Goldberg's damaged shoulder? The Rock sets up for the Rock Bottom, but Goldberg launches himself into the Brahma Bull with an unexpected spear. Goldberg can't make the cover, though, his shoulder too hurt. Rock is up first but walks into a series of fists, a shoulder block, and a powerslam. The layout of this match is just weird. The Rock takes control with a spinebuster and then lands the Rock Bottom for 2 and 4/5ths - again, the a loud portion of the crowd boos. Rock hits another big spinebuster and connects with a People's Elbow again for two (and again, there's a sizable negative response). As the Rock tries to figure out how to finish things, Goldberg gets up and hits a huge spear! Rock milks his recovery for all its worth and gets hit with another vicious spear and then, the icing on the cake, a Jackhammer for the W. Goldberg's victory gets a pop, but this match was just too weird and almost too favorable towards The Rock, whose mix of stooging and signature offense was practically designed to make sure he was the focus. Weird bout, but at least more entertaining than your average match. (3/5)


With a Kwang score of 2.05-out-of-5, Backlash 2003 is one of the weaker shows I've reviewed in some time. With more lows than highs, the show is tolerable throughout but never really that much better than that. Rock/Goldberg is a somewhat enjoyable oddity more than its a "good" match. All three tag bouts are solid, but skippable. The best match of the night is Cena/Lesnar, largely because Lesnar gets opened up early and its fun to watch Cena work as a heel using non-signature offense with 2016 eyes. Aside from that, though, a pretty piss poor show, with O'Haire/Rikishi being one of the worst matches I've seen this year.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville