WWE Unforgiven 2003

WWE Unforgiven 2003

Hershey, PA - September 2003

CHAMPIONSHIP RUDNOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Champion was Triple H, Brock Lesnar was the World Heavyweight Champion, Rey Mysterio was the Cruiserweight Champion, the US Champion was Eddie Guerrero, the Intercontinental Champion was Christian, La Resistance were the World Tag Team Champions, and Los Guerreros were the WWE Tag Team Champions. Lastly, Molly Holly was the WWE Women's Champion. 

Unforgiven 2003, a "RAW Exclusive PPV" back when they did that sort of thing, kicked off with World Tag Team Championship match pitting La Resistance (Dupree and Grenier) with Rob Conway against The Dudley Boys in a 3-on-2 Tables Match. This was originally a 3-on-3, but Spike Dudley took an absolutely nasty bump from inside the ring to the floor (he missed the table that was set up) from La Resistance in the build-up to this match and was legitimately injured. This was decent for what it was and I'm glad they didn't waste too much time getting to the table spots. I'm curious if La Resistance dropping the titles was a punishment for how they dropped Spike (and one of the La Resistance guys nearly gets put on his noggin too during this match, which certainly seems like a receipt). (2.5/5)

Scott Steiner vs. Test is next. This had a weird stipulation where if Test wins, Scott Steiner would become his "boss" or something and if Scott Steiner won, Steiner would essentially "free" Stacy Keibler (Test was Keibler's abusive "boyfriend"). Test and Steiner don't have the best chemistry, but it's not like this match is full of botches or anything. In fact, there are some really cool nearfalls towards the end where I wasn't 100% sure who was going to win. The focus of this match - and commentary and the camera crew's attention - was mostly on Stacy, though, who was mega-over and was sporting her trademark way-too-short skirt. I might be being a bit nice, but I'm going to call this "average" just because of the final few minutes, which had more swerves than one would've expected. (2.5/5)

Shawn Michaels took on Randy Orton in the next match. The crowd was more into this than I was. Orton held his own and was able to keep pace with Michaels but this felt pedestrian at times. Ric Flair seemed to be getting bigger reactions for his out-of-the-ring antics than anything Orton did aside from the RKO, which Michaels kicks out of for some reason. The finish isn't great either as Michaels gets the clean W but Flair puts Orton's foot on the rope after the bell and the referee re-starts the match only for Orton to deck HBK with a pair of brass knucks. Why didn't Flair drape Orton's foot over the rope before the ref made the count? Why didn't Flair break up the pin some other way? It wasn't like Hebner had really admonished him any of the previous times he attempted to interfere. This is a circumstance where I think they thought they had a clever, original finish, but really they just had a bad one. This goes close to 20 minutes but doesn't feel like it, which is maybe the best compliment one can give it. (3/5)

Trish Stratus and a returning Lita take on the team of Molly Holly and Gail Kim next. This was Lita's big comeback match after having neck surgery. Jerry Lawler spends most of the match's runtime making his usual crass jokes while the women actually try to put on a quality wrestling match. Unsurprisingly, Gail Kim is the standout in this match, wrestling with a ton of gusto and really trying to shine. Molly is the consummate pro but isn't as flashy. Trish would really improve in the years that followed, but its not apparent here. Lita ends up getting color from either a busted lip or biting her tongue or something. Keep that in mind as you read about the next match...(2/5)

Shane McMahon took on Kane in a Last Man Standing match next. The storyline that led up to this match involved Shane getting his balls electrocuted via jumper cables, so, yeah, the WWE was clearly in "throw shit against the wall" mode by this point in 2003 after the failure of the InVasion storyline in 01' and the rating drop that followed in 02' (RAW went from averaging somewhere in the 4.0-4.5 range for much of 2002 but fell closer to the 3.5-4.0 range in 03'). Kane is one of my least favorite workers but he's fine here because his only job is to get hit by stuff and hit Shane with stuff. This is not a wrestling match, but its not a great brawl either. There's some good chairshots early on and Shane's Coast-to-Coast is always fun. The "psychology" of this match makes sense as Shane uses every weapon he can and is able to avoid or counter every big Kane move. This match would've been just way, way worse if Shane was kicking out of chokeslams and Tombstones left and right, but that's not what it is. I wasn't a fan of the finish, which saw Shane do one of his trademark "fall from high places" spots, but this kept my attention and felt like the epic, violent battle they were going for. (3/5)

Christian vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho for Van Dam's Intercontinental Championship is next. They get plenty of time and, by the end, the crowd is fully with them, but some sloppiness on RVD's part keeps this from really cooking beginning-to-end. Jericho was a big part of this show as he was feuding with Steve Austin, who was now an authority figure of some type on Raw. I'm not sure what the plan was there as Austin was basically retired, but maybe Vince held on hope that he'd gut it out for a match at Mania? I think this match might've worked better as an opener as the crowd seemed a bit deflated from the McMahon/Kane stunt show. Speaking of which, JR is dreadful on commentary and I hate hearing him do his phony serious voice talking about Shane, whose fall was very obviously broken by crash pads. Anyway...a good-not-great match. (3/5)

Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman take on Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross in the next contest. I'm giving this a point because I really liked Jericho's run-in towards the end, which I did not see coming one bit. It is hard for me to watch Jerry Lawler matches because of how much I think he's a sex creep. I'm not even sure I could enjoy his classics from the 70s and 80s. Lawler and Al Snow do most of the heavy lifting, but it would take a herd of elephants to lift this one from the basement. Jim Ross was not an athlete so its hard to be too critical of his efforts here and I'd say the same about Coachman, but yeah, its clear that they had no business being in the ring. I think most people expected Lawler and JR to win because, if they lost, Snow and Coach would take over commentary on Raw and there was no way that Vince would willfully put those two on commentary. Of course, Vince decided to do it anyway because he was seemingly so excited about this incredible storyline and thought fans cared too. They didn't. Within a month, JR and Lawler would be back on commentary. (1/5)

Main event time - Goldberg vs. Triple H for Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship. At the previous show, SummerSlam 2003, Triple H narrowly escaped the second-ever Elimination Chamber with help from his Evolution stablemates, putting an absolute beating on Goldberg. Goldberg having to overcome Evolution and Triple H's desperation to retain the World Heavyweight Championship could've made for a quality, "Attitude Era"-inspired main event...but that's not what we get. Orton, Batista, and Flair are nowhere to be found because they loaded this match up with extra stipulations that don't allow them to be (the title can change hands on DQ or countout, I believe, and if Goldberg loses, he will be forced to retire). Triple H, who was working through a groin injury and doesn't look 100%, seemingly wanted to have a match that was slow and methodical so that it would feel like a real World Championship match (or so he could make Goldberg look bad), but the real losers are the audience that have to sit through a rather dull match. Speaking of Triple H, he was also at his "beefiest" here and while it may have given him some size and strength, it limited his one-time impressive bumping ability and athleticism. The Goldberg of 98' vs. the Triple H of 96' would've been almost an updated Rude/Warrior and I absolutely wish we had gotten that match instead. A stinker. (1.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.31-out-of-5, Unforgiven 2003 is not a show worth checking out in its entirety. The main event is below average. The JR/Coachman nonsense feels desperate. The Orton/Michaels and the Intercontinental Championship matches are good, but not great, while mileage may vary in regards to how one would feel about Kane vs. Shane.