September 2003

This is to determine the No. 1 contender to the FWA Title at British Uprising II to face Doug Williams. Each won a match at Vendetta in June to qualify for this match; Tighe beat Jody Fleisch while Barker knocked off Jack Xavier. This is being presented as the future of the FWA in Tighe versus the veteran Barker, and it makes for a nice dynamic. I also liked the announcers playing up Barker’s desire to return to British Uprising one year on from losing his title at the same event. These two match up well stylistically – Tighe was excellent as a mat wrestler, combining that with the hybrid style being popularised by ROH at the time. Barker during his heel British Title…

This match stems from the last show Vendetta, where they were tag team partners against Burchill in a handicap match. Both blamed the other for the defeat so here we are. Simmons, the wrestling butler to the Duke of Danger is starting his run as the true cult favourite of the FWA, getting more and more over to where the chants for him during his entrance and his matches is getting pretty deafening. The match itself is pretty inoffensive, but with not much of interest going on. Sloan as the more experienced of the two, and trainer of the FWA Academy controls most of the match with Simmons’ hope spots keeping the crowd invested. Sloan was always solid in the ring, but a…

I’ve talked over the previous shows I’ve reviewed about the rivalry between The Family and Shane/Herman, and the increased violence in the feud being something that the UK scene had not been used to. As you will see from the stipulation for this match, clear inspiration is being drawn from ECW. I enjoyed the two teams last match at Vendetta – a tag team first blood match – which had the right kind of BS finish that builds heat on top of being a fun match, but this in contrast is a real mess and comes with an ending that even Dusty Rhodes would balk at in terms of screwing over the fans and trying to be too clever. This is Shane and Herman’s last shot at the belts whil…

I did not know that the Sexy Boy wrestled Randy Orton on PPV in 2003. The reason I didn't know is because the match is instantly forgettable. Orton was being pushed as the future of the company while Cena was barely holding onto his career with his Thuganomics gimmick, but for whatever reason, Michaels barely lifted a finger to help him. It was the most generic TV match imaginable on a RAW PPV. Orton wasn't a very good worker at this stage, but everybody involved could have tried a little harder.

This was so uninspired. You look at the listing and think, "Ugh, three way match." Then you watch it and think, "Ugh, three way match." JR was strangely subdued in this match. I don't know if he was trying to sell the gravity of Kane sending Shane McMahon to the hospital, or he was meant to be nervous about his upcoming tag match against Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman, OR because he was still recovering from Kane setting on fire, but he seemed bored. So you've got a bored Jim Ross commentating over a boring match that barely rises above the level of a television match. I didn't realize that 2003 WWE was this meh. Such stupid booking. If they had ran the Christian vs. RVD l…

Hey look, Homicide wrestled Terry Funk in 2003! And it wasn't a tribute show, either, but a legitimate effing match. Funk totally outclassed Homicide here. I love Homicide, but he followed Funk around like a puppy dog in this match. I'm sure it's tough to go up against a legend like Funk, but Homicide treated him with kiddy gloves. The match was fun because nobody told Terry that there was no need to fight tooth and nail and bleed a gusher, but it ended with a ten minute angle setting up the 6th Anniversary Show that was apparently Funk and Sabu vs. Homicide and Mafia/Dan Maff.

It was hard not to draw comparisons between this and Rob Van Dam's excellent ladder match with Eddie Guerrero, but these two won me over in the end. I'm surprised they gave away a PPV-quality match like this for free on RAW. It was certainly better than a lot of the PPV matches from this era. Christian wasn't really a huge personality at this point, but he was an excellent workmanlike talent. He had a bit of an air about him of a second rate Chris Jericho or Edge, but there's no questioning whether he brought his working boots. A couple of things stand out about Rob Van Dam. First of all, he's not as goofy as you'd expect. Secondly, he was over with the crowd. You have to…