SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report was originally published on PWTorch.com 15 years ago this weekend…
WWE Raw house show
May 31, 2003
Portland, Or. at the Rose Garden
Report by Ron English, PWTorch.com reader
I just returned from a GREAT WWE house show in Portland. Here are the results…..
(1) Christian beat Booker T to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title. Christian had plenty of heel heat. Tons of “Christian sucks” & “Asshole” chants and Booker was WAY over with the crowd. He even did 2 spin-a-rooni’s. The crowd was way into this match and Christian ended up getting the pin by using Booker’s tights. Atta boy Christian. That guy is going nowhere but up and you can clearly see….his heart beeps for his peeps!
(2) Goldust & Maven beat Lance Storm & Mark Jindrak. I must’ve been the only person who marked out for Mark Jindrak! Maven got a great hometown ovation and plenty of “Maven” chants. The crowd is really pumped tonight. Goldust and Maven got the win when Goldust did a powerslam on Mark Jindrak. A powerslam as the finisher? Kind of lame…..but the crowd loved it.
(3) Jazz (w/Theodore Long) beat Victoria (w/Stevie Richards) and Ivory and Jacqueline – WWE Women’s Championship Title 4-Way Match. The crowd was very pissed that Trish Stratus wasn’t there. There were plenty of “We want Trish” chants. The crowd was basically dead for the first part of the match which saw Jacqueline and Victoria get eliminated quickly. The crowd started to liven up when it was Jazz vs. Ivory and they HATED Jazz! But Jazz ended up getting the win over fellow Pacific Northwesterner Ivory. Ivory got a standing ovation after the match.
(4) Rico (w/Jackie Gayda) beat Lance Cade. Nobody had the slightest clue who Lance Cade was. When he first came out he was wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and plenty of people thought he was the blonde haired version of Bradshaw. I was really surprised to see Jackie Gayda with Rico. It’s only a matter of time before they show up on TV together. It was a pretty good match……..but the crowd really wasn’t into it at all besides the “Rico sucks” chants and such. Jackie Gayda did a really good job and even looked good as a valet. This could be a great pairing. Rico won the match by the way.
(5) Chris Nowinski & Rodney Mack beat the Dudley Boyz. Everybody loved the Dudley Boyz. There were never-ending chants of “We want tables” and “Insert Dudley name here”. Nowinski and Mack played up to the crowd BIG TIME. There were “Harvard sucks” chants and such. Nowinski and Mack won the match which really disappointed the crowd who had hoped to see tables. But they were relieved when Spike F’N Dudley ran down and gave both Nowinski and Mack the Dudley Dog. And then Bubba & D-Von gave Nowinski the 3-D through a table! After the match the Dudley’s played up to the crowd for about 10 minutes which resulted in a kid getting pulled out of the audience and getting a piece of the broken table. Good stuff.
Intermission… a/k/a beer time!
(6) RVD & Kane beat La Resistance to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. La Resistance got major heel heat. They got on the mic and spoke some stuff in French which nobody could understand…that resulted in a “USA” chant. Then finally RVD & Kane’s music came out to a HUGE POP. The match was really good with La Resistance playing the role of the egotistical yet cowardly heels. RVD & Kane picked up the win with a 5 Star Frog Splash. Then they played up to the crowd a bit.
(7) Test beat Val Venis. Both these guys got great reactions from the crowd when they first came out…….but plenty of “Boring” chants were heard throughout the match. When the match first started there was a “We want Stacy” chant and Test replied by grabbing the mic and saying “You want Stacy? Too bad. I told that bitch to stay at home!” Good stuff by Test. It was a fairly boring match but Test finally picked up the win. After the match Val Venis did the “Hogan pose” where you find which part of the audience is the loudest and he threw his towel out to that side.
Howard Finkel gets on the mic and say’s “There are good crowds, great crowds, and Portland crowds!” Basically giving us props for cheering our asses off all-night long. He then said “We’ve had a 10 year absence from the great city of Portland. But I promise that’ll never happen again! Check your local television stations for upcoming live events!” I read somewhere that the WWE plans on coming to Portland 3-4 times a year. That’d be hella sweet.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel!
Woo hoo! The best part of the evening! Jericho comes out to major heel heat. He gets on the mic and say’s great things like “This is the City of Roses? Looks more like the City of Jackasses!” which got major laughs from me. He played the crowd for awhile before introducing his guest……The Hurricane! They insulted each other back and forth for a bit before The Hurricane noticed that Jericho was wearing his wrestling boots, his tape, and his “pink pajamas” which resulted in a brief altercation and Jericho running off. Good stuff.
(8) Triple H (w/Ric Flair) beat Kevin Nash to retain the WWE Title. Both wrestlers came out to GREAT ovations! Obviously not everybody hates Triple H like the Internet wants you to believe. The crowd was majorly into this match with most people standing up through the whole thing. Triple H bladed early but it was one of those blades with not much blood. Weak! Towards the end of the match Triple H ended up knocking out the actual ref which resulted in Nash getting hit with a chair and then Flair signaling for another ref. The ref ran down but Nash kicked out. Nash ended up hitting Triple H with the title and GETTING THE PIN! The crowd erupted thinking there was actually a new Worlds Champion! But the regular ref decided to be a jackass and reverse the decision since he saw Nash use the title to get the pin. This resulted in Nash giving Triple H the jack-knife and the crowd going home with voices lost.
Biggest Heat
1. Chris Jericho
2. Christian
3. La Resistance
4. Chris Nowinski
5. Triple H
Most popular
1. The Dudley Boyz
2. RVD & Kane
3. Booker T
4. Kevin Nash
5. The Hurricane
Overall a great show. Hope to see more sometime soon.
NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS 15 YRS AGO FLASHBACK: 15 YRS AGO – WWE in Bossier City, La. (5-23-03): Scott Steiner challenges Triple H in main event, plus Dudleys, La Resistance, RVD, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Stacy Kiebler, Jericho, Lance Storm
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