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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 4, 2017 17:11:04 GMT -5
So opinion on the WWE from 2003 is pretty torn between fans. The general consensus is that SD was at its peak, while Raw was at one of its lowest points due to the year long "HHH vs WCW" booking. I'm of this thought, but have been watching a lot of Raw from that year recently (I watched all of the 2003 SD episodes last year and earlier this year) and have been trying to find the positives from that year. Some of the things I noticed...
- The start of Randy Orton's rise - Orton got his "Legend Killer" gimmick this year, and while he spent the first half of the year injured, the second half was great as he was instantly inserted into the upper midcard and was given wins over guys like HBK, Booker T and RVD on his way to winning the IC Title to close out the year. We also got to see early glimpses of Orton's great charisma before becoming the boring "Viper" years later.
- The start of Christian's singles push - Christian has always been one of the most under appreciated stars in WWE history IMO, and 2003 is proof as to why. He started the year not doing much, but following WM19 he found himself in promos with The Rock, changing his look (for the better) and winning the IC Title. He had some fun matches with Booker T, RVD and Jericho during this time, and was even given matches with Goldberg and promo time with Steve Austin.
- HHH/Scott Steiner build up - Yes the matches sucked, but the build up to their first encounter at the RR was entertaining. HHH showing his insecurities while in different competitions against Scott was fun, and it had a big-match feel going into it. Steiner ripping HHH's clothes off on the go home Raw was fun as well.
- HHH/Kevin Nash - I'm not sure why people bash this feud. Probably due to Nash's WCW reptutation, but he showed up in great shape and ready to work. The buildup had personal history behind it, and the culminating HIAC was brutal as hell. Their street fight at Insurection that year is also a forgotten gem (and should have been what we got at Judgement Day).
- Evolution begins - Arguably the greatest group of the 2000s (sorry Shield fans) started this year, and while Orton missed half the year and Batista 9 of 12 months, they had a great start taking out Steiner and Goldust, and Orton had a great second half to the year as noted above.
- Austin as GM - Any Stone Cold is better than none, and it was fun seeing him get the better of Bischoff week after week until Bischoff finally got rid of him at SS.
Yes the bad far outweighs the good from Raw in 2003 but it's been fun going back to watch it. Anyone else have any favorite moments from Raw in 2003?
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 4, 2017 17:34:21 GMT -5
I think Raw in 2003 was pretty decent. I feel it was better than the 2002 Raw shows we seen, and I know that really the missing part of Raw was Chris Benoit. When he came over to Raw in 2004 the night after the Rumble, it felt like everything that was going for Smackdown just changed direction and went to Raw. Not saying Benoit was the man then, but he had a huge fan following and Raw picked up huge when Benoit joined it in early 2004.
I think the problem with 2003 was it really seemed like Triple H had to beat all of WCW's top stars. And even in 2002 he had to beat all of ECW's top stars as well. Once he got that out of his system, he was ready to do business and make Raw enjoyable it seemed.
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Post by The Brain on Sept 4, 2017 18:56:10 GMT -5
2 BIG positives for Raw during that time period. I also enjoyed the Kane unmasking then going totally insane during that Summer. |
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Post by LA Times on Sept 4, 2017 19:34:39 GMT -5
Rob Van Dam and the Bookerman as the top babyfaces
Stone Cold cutting promos designed for the crowd to yell "WHAT?!"
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Post by theoutlaw1999 on Sept 4, 2017 19:43:36 GMT -5
2 BIG positives for Raw during that time period. I also enjoyed the Kane unmasking then going totally insane during that Summer. Maybe it's just me but I always thought JR and King weren't as good together during the RA days. They were much better when Lawler was a heel but when both were faces it wasn't the same. |
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Post by The Brain on Sept 4, 2017 20:38:30 GMT -5
2 BIG positives for Raw during that time period. I also enjoyed the Kane unmasking then going totally insane during that Summer. Maybe it's just me but I always thought JR and King weren't as good together during the RA days. They were much better when Lawler was a heel but when both were faces it wasn't the same. While I agree they were the best during the AE, IMO their run in RA era wasn't bad.I do recall him still cheering the heels during this time. King to me got stale when Cole joined Raw in 08. That's when they turned him full on face for reasons I'll never understand. |
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 5, 2017 10:01:25 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me but I always thought JR and King weren't as good together during the RA days. They were much better when Lawler was a heel but when both were faces it wasn't the same. While I agree they were the best during the AE, IMO their run in RA era wasn't bad.I do recall him still cheering the heels during this time. King to me got stale when Cole joined Raw in 08. That's when they turned him full on face for reasons I'll never understand. I remember in 2004 we had the strange "Jerry Lawler is in love with Randy Orton" concept happening with how he talked about Orton during his matches. The Vengeance 2004 match with Edge it was really bad! You really would think The King was in love with Randy then. |
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Post by T R W on Sept 5, 2017 10:14:14 GMT -5
It didn't seem that great at the time, but it wasn't terrible. However it is miles more exciting than Raw has been the last several years.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 5, 2017 10:23:28 GMT -5
One thing I really loved about 2003 Raw was Chris Jericho.
He went from having a great feud with Shawn Michaels from January till the big final match on Raw in July. And during that time, he even had feuds with Jeff Hardy and helped Triple H in his feud with Booker T.
He helped get Christian over as a believable top heel. And even feuded with him and RVD for the IC Title in matches.
But one thing about Jericho that rocked was the whole, "get Austin fired" thing. He really drove that home and thanks to that and the Survivor Series, it set up for the Jericho/Christian feud in 2004 along with Trish Stratus. All because of that $1 - Canadian - bet that they created over who would get lucky first, Jericho with Trish, or Christian with Lita.
Brilliant story telling and writing back then for Raw. Like most said, back then we felt it sucked, or was lacking, but compared to today's Raw, the 2003 ones were gold!
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Joined on: Nov 29, 2024 20:37:14 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2017 10:29:46 GMT -5
I enjoyed Victoria during 2003. Thought she put on great matches way ahead of their time.
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Post by The Brain on Sept 5, 2017 10:59:44 GMT -5
One thing I really loved about 2003 Raw was Chris Jericho. He went from having a great feud with Shawn Michaels from January till the big final match on Raw in July. And during that time, he even had feuds with Jeff Hardy and helped Triple H in his feud with Booker T. He helped get Christian over as a believable top heel. And even feuded with him and RVD for the IC Title in matches. But one thing about Jericho that rocked was the whole, "get Austin fired" thing. He really drove that home and thanks to that and the Survivor Series, it set up for the Jericho/Christian feud in 2004 along with Trish Stratus. All because of that $1 - Canadian - bet that they created over who would get lucky first, Jericho with Trish, or Christian with Lita. Brilliant story telling and writing back then for Raw. Like most said, back then we felt it sucked, or was lacking, but compared to today's Raw, the 2003 ones were gold!No doubt about it. Raw 03 destroys Raw from today. |
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Post by Rated [R] NinJa on Sept 6, 2017 6:35:59 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure even back then (I was 10) I enjoyed RAW for the most part but I hated the World Heavyweight title scene constantly featuring Triple H. Sheriff Austin and the Rock/Hurricane feud were hilarious though.
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 6, 2017 7:29:24 GMT -5
I'm with you guys that he JR/King team seemed to be missing something from the AE (King being full heel), but I still enjoyed them during this time. I also enjoyed their mini feud with Coach and Al Snow. I feel like Coach was a great heel and it was always fun seeing him getting under JR and Kings skin.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 6, 2017 8:02:58 GMT -5
Raw 2003 also gave us the great Scott Steiner vs. Test feud. And I know people crap on those two at times, but honestly, that feud was great for hilarious reasons only. It really brought out a personality in Test, which was awesome because I always liked Test. Scott Steiner was great as always with his promos, and his wrestling botches in matches with Test. And Stacy Keibler and her legs were amazing as always!
Raw 2003 also gave us the comeback of HBK! Sure, he came back in 2002, but he only wrestled like 4 times that year, but it was in 2003 that he stepped up his game. The match with Jericho at WM 19, then Flair at Bad Blood, Orton at Unforgiven, the Survivor Series drama with him vs. 3 men to save Austin's job, and finally his match with Triple H on Raw at the end of 2003 where we all thought HBK won the World Title once again.
Great stuff there!
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Post by The Brain on Sept 6, 2017 11:17:07 GMT -5
Another positive...
The last good Raw theme IMO.
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Post by Funk The Revival on Sept 6, 2017 14:21:33 GMT -5
I enjoy the PPV matches when I'm watching through Smackdown's and now and again I'll watch an episode, I don't mind it. One of my favourite segments from that year overall was the Rock concert, the stuff with Hurricane was fun too.
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Post by greenjack1992 on Sept 6, 2017 14:56:57 GMT -5
2003 was generally an awesome year for WWE. I don't know what you're talking about.
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 6, 2017 17:41:12 GMT -5
2003 was generally an awesome year for WWE. I don't know what you're talking about. People crap on 2003 Raw all the time due to HHHs strangle hold. 2003 was arguably SDs best year but considered one of the worst for Raw by many fans. |
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Post by Escape The Rules on Sept 6, 2017 17:59:56 GMT -5
It seems that people who were adults back then hated Raw in 2003 while people like myself, who were kids, loved it. I was 11 back then, and I'd been watching WWE since the 90's, but I still look back at 2003 as one of my favourite years ever. I don't even think it's the rose tinted glasses of it being my childhood, because I can still watch it back now and I still get hyped.
Kane's unmasking was definitely my favourite thing that year.I never knew what he looked like, so even though I'd always been told that wrestling was predetermined, I was still watching under the mindset that underneath the mask, Kane had been badly disfigured in a fire as a child. So in the regard, It was incredible to me how different he looked after unmasking. I'm glad I was a kid during that era, because I probably wouldn't have enjoyed Kane as much knowing that he was just Dr Isaac Yankem and the fake Diesel under a new moniker.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 6, 2017 19:24:53 GMT -5
2003 was generally an awesome year for WWE. I don't know what you're talking about. People crap on 2003 Raw all the time due to HHHs strangle hold. 2003 was arguably SDs best year but considered one of the worst for Raw by many fans. I would pick Sept. - Dec. 2002 Smackdown over Sept. 2003 - Dec. 2003 Smackdown though. In late 2002 - early 2003 we got Benoit vs. Angle, plus we got Benoit & Angle tagging against Edge/Mysterio and Los Guerreros. Plus he cruiser weight division seemed better then with Kidman, Matt Hardy, Rey, Tajiri, Noble, compared to later on in the 2003 year. But I do agree that Smackdown over all was better than Raw. |
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