PWTORCH PPV FLASHBACK
WWE JUDGMENT DAY
MAY 18, 2003
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
REPORT BY WADE KELLER, PWTORCH EDITOR

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the program. They then went to Michael Cole and Tazz at ringside for a few words, followed by a few words in Spanish from Carlos Cabera and Hugo Savinovich.

Steve Austin came out. He said he was going to watch the show from "Redneck Heaven" in the stands in his own personal little skybox. "I'm gonna drink beer, raise hell, and watch every single match, and have a damn good time in the process."

(1) John Cena & The FBI beat Chris Benoit & Rhyno & Spanky at 3:55. Good, but short match. (**)

Backstage in the Austin Suite, as Austin talked to a woman about ordering food, Eric Bischoff walked in. Austin asked him what he was doing in his suite. Bischoff said they're co-GMs, "that means 50/50." Austin said, "Can I make myself a wonderful host and give you this hotdog." Bischoff declined. Austin took offense, so Bischoff bit into it. He then asked for mixed drinks. Austin said only beer. Bischoff accepted the beer. Austin toasted it, knocking it all over Bischoff which drew a laugh from the crowd.

(2) La Resistance beat Scott Steiner & Test (w/Stacy Keibler) when Steiner was pinned at 6:20. La Resistance complained about the American government promoted hatred toward the French. Test and Grenier botched a spot with Grenier lifting his boot and test sidestepping it and clotheslining him in the corner. Later Test powerslammed Grenier, but the ref was concerned with Stacy standing on the ring apron. Grenier surprised Test with a dropkick, knocking Test into Stacy who fell off the apron into Steiner's arms. Test got upset, giving the heels a chance to take control. Steiner quickly entered the ring and went after both heels. Test went to give Grenier a big boot, but it hit Steiner by mistake instead. La Resistance cleared the ring of Test, then gave Steiner their double flapjack for the pin. A watchable mess. (1/2*)

They showed Mr. America entering the arena. Gregory Helms approached Mr. America about his real identity. America turned the tables and said his sources say Gregory and Hurricane are the same person. They both agreed their sources are wrong... Josh Matthews interviewed Eddie Guerrero backstage. He introduced Tajiri as his new partner to replace the injured Chavo... Another over-the-top vignette aired hyping the upcoming return of Kurt Angle...

(3) Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri beat Team Angle at 14:10 to capture the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles. In the end, Tajiri sprayed his green mist at Benjamin, knocking him off the ladder. Guerrero then unsnapped the belts. Very good stunt match. Some new moves. (***1/2)

Steve Austin began to get Eric Bischoff drunk. He made fun of Bischoff sipping beer rather than chugging it. He asked the crowd if Bischoff looked like a sissy.

Chris Jericho and Roddy Piper bumped into each other backstage. They weren't especially friendly with each other. They ended up promo'ing their matches... Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talked about the history of the Intercontinental Title. An IC history feature aired. Howard Finkle then introduced Pat Patterson who kicked off the launch of the IC Title battle royal.

(4) Christian eliminated Booker T to win an eight-man battle royal at 11:55 to capture the reinstated Intercontinental Title. Kane eliminated Lance Storm in the opening minute. Everyone ganged up on Kane to eliminate him at 1:07, drawing boos. By 2:15 only four were left: Goldust, Jericho, Booker T, and Christian. Goldust tried to eliminate Booker, but Booker reversed Goldust and threw him over the top. He looked out at Goldust and smiled. They shook hands. That left Christian and Jericho against Booker. At 8:20 Christian tricked Jericho and tossed him over the top rope as he went for the Lionsault. Next Booker eliminated Christian. Patterson got up from ringside to present Booker with the belt. Christian punched Patterson and brought the belt in the ring and hit Booker with it. Booker's music stopped playing. Christian threw the belt out of the ring. He then dragged Booker up and threw him over the top rope just as the ref came to. The ref called for the bell and awarded the match to Christian. Fun finish. The opening rapid-fire eliminations were a bit of a letdown, but the rest of the match was pretty solid. (**1/2)

Austin had gotten Bischoff completely bombed backstage. Bischoff said he wasn't feeling well. Austin gave him a slice of pizza out of his pocket, which Bischoff ate, then tricked him into eating a jalapeno pepper. When Bischoff's mouth burned, Austin gave him a drink, which turned out to be the jar the jalapeno came in. Well done and good for some laughs... Sable approached Torrie backstage. Sable rubbed oil on her legs seductively and said how good it felt. Torrie watched, then walked away....

Tazz m.c.'d the contest in the ring. Torrie danced behind some sheets with Lilian Garcia singing her theme song along side her live. Sable then came out. They both stripped to near nothingness. The crowd chose Torrie. Torrie said she wanted to show Sable she had no ill feelings, so he walked right up to her and gave her a kiss on the lips. No open mouths, but definitely seductive. It seems Sable's mindgames are working on Torrie.

Sean O'Haire gave Piper a pep talk. Vince McMahon gave Piper a pep talk...

(5) Mr. America (w/Zach Gowen) beat Roddy Piper (w/Sean O'Haire) at 4:50. After ring introductions, Mr. America welcomed Zach Gowen (a/k/a Tenacious Z) to ringside. Piper dominated early. At 3:30 America began his superman comeback. McMahon then walked out toward the ring. Piper hit a distracted America with a low blow from behind. O'Haire mistakenly hit Piper with a pipe. America dropped his leg and scored the pin. Zach grabbed McMahon's leg to prevent him from stopping the pinfall count. Zach then hid behind America in the ring. In the ring, it was what it was. Overall, passable. (*)

Stephanie approached Hunter backstage and quietly told him to be careful out there...

(6) Kevin Nash (w/Shawn Michaels beat Triple H (w/Ric Flair) at 7:22. Flair and Michaels fought to the back before the match. WWE officials separated them. Nash and Hunter brawled at ringside, then in the ring where Nash opened with some knees in the corner. Hunter made a comeback and gave Nash a Pedigree at 6:30 for a near fall. Hunter set up another Pedigree, but Nash backdropped him over the top rope to the floor. Hunter grabbed his sledge hammer from under the ring. The ref yanked it away from him, so Hunter rammed him with the hammer. Nash then punched away at Hunter. The ref called for the DQ. "Hunter saved his ass, maybe, Hunter saved his title, for sure!" declared Ross. The crowd booed the DQ finish. Nash gave Hunter a post-match Jackknife. As Hunter was helped to the back, Nash beat up the refs and officials and went after Hunter. Nash then Jackknifed Hunter through the Raw announce table on the stage. Passable action. An honest effort, assuming you can refer to a seven minute World Title PPV match as an "honest effort." Let's say it wasn't an embarrassment. I think Jim Ross alone is responsible for making this at least one star. (*1/4)

Back to the suite, Bischoff was leaning against the glass and looking very ill. He complained that Austin fed him too much, then he threw up on the fans outside the suite. They showed it in slow-mo twice...

(7) Jazz (w/Teddy Long) beat Jacqueline and Trish Stratus and Victoria in a four-way match at 4:47 to capture the Women's Title. Late, Victoria tossed Trish over the top rope. Trish landed with a thud. Jackie went for a bridge pin on Victoria. Jazz splashed Jackie's stomach while she was bridging and then hit a DDT for the win. Good non-stop action. (*3/4)

(8) Brock Lesnar beat Big Show in a stretcher match at 15:27 to retain the WWE Heavyweight Title. They used the backboard as a weapon early, then brawled up the aisle. At 11:45 Rey Mysterio showed up in the ring out of nowhere and gave Show the 619. Show nailed Rey with return fire that knocked Rey silly. Brock then drove a fork lift to the ring popping the crowd. Brock flew at Show with a crossbody block and showed great fire as he charged him in the corner with several consecutive shoulder tackles. He followed with a vertical suplex, and then leaped to his feet. Brock followed up with a F5 at 14:00. Brock put the backboard on the forklift. He then rolled Show onto the backboard, then drove the forklift out to win the match. Much better than expected. (***)

***

PWTorch Staff PPV Roundtable Reviews

Pat McNeill, columnist (5.0)

Judgment Day wasn't a bad show, but outside of the ladder match there wasn't anything worth going out of your way to see.

The stretcher match between Brock Lesnar and Big Show came across well. That's a minor upset, all things considered. The opening minutes of the match were good. The show lost its steam in the middle portion. And it wrapped up with the Hollywood ending as Lesnar arrived with the forklift to save the day. This was probably WWE's most effective month of pushing Brock Lesnar since he turned babyface.

Kevin Nash's match with Triple H wasn't as bad as we expected, but it sure wasn't anything good. The Game deserves some credit for doing what he could to get Nash over, but he would have been better off using whatever influence he has to kill off this feud in the womb before it was born.

The Mr. America match was the right length and it will hopefully spell the end of Roddy Piper's pro wrestling career.

The ladder match was an entertaining and athletic effort. Tajiri was a suitable substitute for Chavo Guerrero. Hopefully WWE will protect the ladder match gimmick and their wrestlers by only rolling it out once or twice a year. This was one of the company's better PPV matches of the year. I'm looking forward to the July PPV and mildly anxious about having to sit through the next month of Raw.

Jason Powell, assistant editor (4.0)

Brock Lesnar and The Big Show capped off what was an otherwise forgettable pay-per-view with an entertaining gimmick main event. The only flaws in the match were that Rey Mysterio's interference could be seen coming a mile away, and bodyslamming Show should still be treated as a major accomplishment, not as a move so ordinary that it went down at ringside. As creative as the forklift finish was and as hard as the two big men worked, they lack the skills to deliver the type of main event needed to save this show.

Is Vince McMahon stubborn or simply out of touch? That's the question everyone should be asking now that WWE has set the stage for a Triple H vs. Kevin Nash rematch for the first Raw brand pay-per-view. That event is being held in Booker T's hometown, so instead of doing the right thing and booking him a title match against Triple H, WWE is going to throw Booker a bone by presumably having him beat Christian for the Intercontinental Title.

I would hope that WWE had established some plan prior to Chavo Guerrero's injury that required Team Angle to lose the Smackdown Tag Titles. Otherwise, there's no good excuse for giving the makeshift team of Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri the straps. The right move would have been to insert Chris Benoit into the mix, since WWE can't come up with anything better for him than a meaningless feud with The FBI. At the very worst, I was hoping Team Angle would retain the belts because (a) it was too soon for another title change and (b) Smackdown could use a talented singles heel like Eddie.

Notes: Biggest bump of the night goes to Trish Stratus. As if that doesn't seem odd enough, it's even more bizarre when you include the fact that there was a ladder match on the show... Mr. America vs. Roddy Piper was every bit as bad as it looked on paper. And now it appears that Tenacious Z will be playing Robin to Hulk Hogan's Batman... Putting Hunter and Steph back together? Yeah, that's what the fans want to see. Oh boy...

Bruce Mitchell, columnist (3.0)

This show was just about what it figured to be coming in, really bad. The best of the show, the ladder match and the women's title match, were mediocre at best. The only performer on the show who had a stand out night was Eddie Guerrero. Apparently Kevin Nash and Triple H have just given up. If they haven't, they ought to. There's a real cornball taste to WWE these days, between Mr. America's "Inspiration," Zack, and the vomitous humor of the two GMs. The only funny thing on the show was Shawn Michaels's hugging of Earl Hebner. Watching Brock Lesnar and the Big Show beat up stretchers is not my idea of entertainment. Roddy Piper vs. Mr. America was terrible. The laughable screwjob at the end of the Battle Royal hurt, too. This is a promotion and entertainment genre on the way down.

Wade Keller, editor (5.5)

This show was better than I expected. Not a lot better, but better. Big Show vs. Brock was much better than I expected. Brock really showed some signs of progress not just as worker in the sense of moves and timing, but in terms of how he carries himself in the ring. He seems to be getting more comfortable and establishing a better connection with the crowd. To do that against Big Show is saying something. The introduction of the fork lift played very effectively into the hype going into the match. Rey gave the match an extra burst of juice at just the right time. The dive at the end by Brock was a more pleasant surprise than the moonsault against Angle.

Triple H vs. Nash was better than expected in part because they didn't set out to prove they could do a four star match. They limited themselves to seven minutes, didn't try to do anything too extreme, and booked the content of the match in a logical fashion. The finish was bad, as the crowd boos indicated. Stretching this out to another PPV I think isn't so much an endorsement by Vince McMahon in Nash vs. Hunter but an admission that there isn't anyone else ready to push into that slot who won't be hurt in the long-term by being shoved right out of it so Goldberg can move in for SummerSlam against Hunter.

Mr. America vs. Roddy Piper filled its slot just fine. It wasn't overplayed, it wasn't too long, and nobody took themselves too seriously (nor too flippantly). The match had the right tone, and it's nice to see Vince McMahon in a second tier legends feud rather than messing around with the main events. He's found the right slot for himself, too. The wrestling was what you'd expect (terrible!), but at least Piper knows his limitations and didn't try to do things he can't pull off. Same with Hogan. By the way, Zach needs to look like he hasn't been there before. He stood in the corner watching Hogan as if he had been there 200 times before. He didn't seem awestruck, and that really worked against him gaining the sympathy of the crowd, which is the role he should be playing.

The women as usual put in a spirited, high-energy performance. The IC battle royal wasn't designed to be anything spectacular, but Christian saved the day with another in his string of strong performances. He seems to be finding his stride as a character right now. I completely disagree with Bruce about the finish of the IC battle royal. Christian is an opportunist, and the timing of the finish and the way he played it are perfect. It sets up house show matches with Booker chasing Christian, which has a lot more drawing power than Booker winning and the chase being over.

The ladder match was the obvious highlight of the in-ring wrestling. They managed to add some new spots. The Steve Austin-Eric Bischoff skits were funny and usually just the right length (the first one went a tad bit long, but overall it was good comedy relief). Who would have ever thunk Austin and Bischoff would have this type of on-air chemistry. It is funny to see Bischoff playing the role of an inexperienced drinker.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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