August 2003

This is a pretty solid outing with a lot of pure lucha leanings as per Atlantis showing up, which meant that Kashin had to do a lot more than he at times is used to doing. Atlantis is a bit slower than what he was in the 90's but he makes this mostly work. I really liked his babyface work and how he wasn't a idiot by pretending to fall for shit like Kashin's handshake ploy or finding every opportunity to get the advantage: but also sold convincingly when on the backend and really looked like he was in pain, especially some of the holds he was stuck in. There's a good balance of valunablity and scrappy work that felt really natural and not at all put on. Kashin was such a …

Eddie Guerrero defends the WWE United States Heavyweight Title I used to hate it when they'd announce a Triple Threat or Fatal Fourway match for a PPV, and I think it's worse when midcarders are involved. Call me old-fashioned, but shouldn't PPV matches be better than the matches you see on television? I know folks in 2003 weren't waiting three months to see these guys square off, but give us SOMETHING to distinguish it from a Smackdown match. Eddie's performance was disappointing. The Latino Heat stuff really undercuts his ringwork at times. Benoit worked his tail off. As usual, no-one bothered to tell him the match he was in was fucking useless and that he shouldn'…

The second Elimination Chambers match. Again for the WWE title. Again with Trip as the champ going in. Should tell you everything you need to know. On paper, doesn't look as good as the first match. In execution, was much better as a whole until the finish. Shawn vs Jericho as the Wargames workhorse opener. These guy know how to begin. Damn, Shawn was quite back in shape and style there. When Randy Orton gets in, he gets crickets. He's still a young guy with potential pushed to the main event scene because of the name and look. And he's already kinda bland. Kevin Nash gets the Kane spot. Except Nash in 2003 was still better at it than Kane the previous year. …

WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar - WWE Summerslam 2003 I remember marking out huge for this match when I watched it back in 2003 with my family and cousins. I have not watched it since. Totally did not expect it to live up to the memory. Who am I to doubt Brock Fucking Lesnar??? Excellent match. Totally tops the match from Mania. First off this is heel Brock. Remember this angle like it was yesterday. They do the friendship angle but then Angle beats Brock for the title. This leads to the heel turn. I am a sucker for the heels trap the babyface in the cage and loved it when Vince and Brock did it. Then Brock's path of rage. My brother still brings up the ab…

Inspired by watching AJ vs Low Ki from a couple of weeks before this, I've been going through some of the Styles back catalogue from this time and there is a lot of really fun matches, with a number of different opponents. He has a series with D'Lo Brown the month or so before for example that is pretty good. This is another example, as AJ and Raven have really good chemistry. The opening where Raven wants to keep throwing him to the outside, as that's where his strengths as a brawler will come into play, and AJ knowing that and doing everything to get back inside is really well done. That is highlighted by Raven finally getting him out of the ring and hitting multipl…

This was a decent match while it lasted. I was perversely fascinated by Vampiro vs Terrible just as I'm perversely fascinated by most things Vampiro does. I really enjoyed Atlantis' performance in this match. You can't really point to anything special Atlantis did in 2003, but he was excellent in every match I saw him in, and as ever, he was the glue in each and every trios match. They teased us with some Atlantis vs. Wagner, but this wasn't a match where any of the individual pairings erupted. In fact, it finished with Wagner shoving El Terrible after the bell, and Wagner and Shocker squaring off to the delight of the crowd. Then the GdI jumped Shocker and held him in a …

This was a short trios match that was mostly based around Pierroth and Violencia, who had just signed the contract for their hair vs. mask match at the Anniversary Show. The other workers didn't really do much, aside from clearing the ring for the grandstand finish between Pierroth and Violencia. I wanted to like the Pierroth/Violencia exchanges more than I did, but they barely touched one another.

This was a decent match that was part of the build for their mask match. It ends up being screwy because it's a Tijuana match, and that's what happens in Tijuana matches, but my immediate impression was a distinct reminder of what a great brawler Santo is, especially for a tecnico. He's one tecnico who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, or bloodied, as the case may be. Super Parka isn't super, but we know this. It's still interesting seeing what Santo can do with him, and frankly this is an era of wrestling that could do with a little Santo on television. If they'd cut the shenanigans and had a more epic finish, this probably would have been a hidden gem. Instead, it's…

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