SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report was published originally on January 20, 2003, 20 years ago this week…
WWE RAW REPORT
Aired January 20, 2003
Live from Providence, R.I.
Broadcast live on TNN
1st Quarter Hour
Vince McMahon narrated a video tribute to Martin Luther King Jr… The opening montage aired and was followed by the usual smiling photo of Eric Bischoff… Highlights aired of Vince McMahon telling Bischoff last week that he has 30 days to turn around Raw… Highlights also aired from Heat of Bischoff promising to drop a bombshell on tonight’s Raw… The opening montage aired… Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the show while Triple H’s entrance music played…
Triple H and Ric Flair walked to the ring. Triple H had a several bandages on his forehead as a result of his blade job from the night before. Ross recapped the match by saying that Hunter did everything he could to get himself disqualified. Hunter stood on the ring apron but didn’t do his usual water spitting routine. Lawler assumed Triple H’s ribs were too sore to spit water.
“Let me ask you a question,” Triple H started. “Who is the World Heavyweight Champion?” Triple H told viewers that he went 30 minutes with Scott Steiner. Hunter rightfully said that Steiner is an embarrassment to the company. Hunter claimed he embarrassed Steiner to the point that Steiner used a sledgehammer to intentionally disqualify himself. Hunter borrowed a line from “Rocky” by saying that there won’t be a rematch.
Steiner’s music played and he stormed to the ring (with his ribs taped) and demanded a rematch later tonight. Triple H said there is nothing he would like to do more than embarrass Steiner again. However, he pulled a doctor’s slip out of his pocket and explained that his doctor wouldn’t let him wrestle because of the sledgehammer shots he took. Believe it or not, Flair took the mic and said his “main man” Batista would be happy to wrestle Steiner later in the show.
Batista’s music played, causing Steiner to look toward the ramp while Batista walked onto the stage. Hunter punched Steiner from behind, then tried to whip him into the ropes. Steiner reversed Hunter and was supposed to clothesline him, but never lifted his arm. Hunter ran into Steiner’s shoulder and then had to wait for Steiner to remember the spot. Steiner finally delivered the clothesline, which sent Hunter and Flair scurrying to ringside, where Batista joined them…
[Commercial break]
An ad aired for the replay of the Raw Tenth Anniversary Special, which will be rebroadcast Saturday night…
(Commentary: As if Steiner didn’t embarrass himself enough last night, he completely blew the clothesline spot tonight. Something tells me that his WWE run isn’t going to last more than another month or two.)
2nd Quarter Hour
(1) Rob Van Dam beat Jeff Hardy at 3:56. The announcers noted that Jeff challenged RVD to the match because of the way RVD eliminated him from the Rumble. Lawler hyped tomorrow night’s Smackdown taping by saying that Stephanie McMahon will have a huge surprise. Ross said he had no idea what the surprise could be. The announcers then turned their attention to Bischoff’s bombshell promise. Lawler said he thought he knew what the bombshell was but didn’t elaborate. Jeff hit the Swanton at 3:30 and went for a cover, but RVD kicked out. Moments later, RVD used a backslide to score the pin. A fun match with solid crowd heat. After the match, RVD started his usual celebration (pointing at himself while the crowd said his name). Jeff took offense and clotheslined him over the top rope. Jeff followed RVD to ringside and toyed with the idea of hitting with a chair. Jeff eventually dropped the chair and headed up the ramp…
Backstage, Christian and Christopher Nowinski were chatting about the Rumble. Eric Bischoff arrived and happily greeted both wrestlers. Bischoff noticed the bruises on Nowinski’s face and asked him what the hell happened. Nowinski shrugged it off and noted that Bischoff has only 21 days left (technically should be 23) to save his job. The wrestlers asked Bischoff to let them in on what he was going to announce, but he passed. After Bischoff walked away, Nowinski told Christian he thinks he knows what the surprise is but wouldn’t’ tell him…
[Commercial break]
Backstage, Randy Orton approached Scott Steiner and tied in Steiner’s failed attempt to win the title to his own injured shoulder. Steiner grabbed Orton by the jacket and shoved him against a wall. Orton begged Steiner to watch his shoulder. “It’s only at 95 percent and I can’t afford a setback.” Steiner called Orton and asshole and released him…
Backstage, Chief Morley took Nick Patrick to task over the job he did officiating last night’s tag title match. Morley showed Patrick a clip of the Dudleys using a pair of brass knuckles on Lance Storm before scoring the pin. Patrick admitted he should have DQ’d the Dudleys. Morley insisted that Patrick publically apologize…
[Commercial break]
Morley dragged Patrick to the ring to publically apologize. After Patrick complied, Morley asked him to reverse the decision and give the belts back to Regal & Storm. Patrick said that a referee’s in-ring decision is final. Morley said he understood that decision and called the Dudleys to the ring.
3rd Quarter Hour
After a brief stop at the announcers’ table, the Dudleys entered the ring. Morley asked them to forfeit the titles back to Regal & Storm. The Dudleys refused, pointing out that Regal brought the brass knuckles they ended up using. Morley claimed he came to the ring to stop Regal from using the brass knuckles on the Dudleys. “That is a load of crap,” Bubba said. Morley demanded that the Dudleys give him the tag titles before he makes them regret it. Bubba said Morley is nothing more than a an ass-kissing, washed-up former porn star. Bubba said he and D-Von don’t feel bad for attacking Morley last week, but they do regret not using the tables as Vince McMahon suggested. Morley tried to take the belts away from the Dudleys, only to be punched by D-Von. The Dudleys set up a table and prepared to 3D Morley through it, but Regal & Storm entered the ring from out of nowhere and attacked the Dudleys. The former champions put Bubba through the table, then Morley announced that the Dudleys would have to defend their titles against Regal & Storm immediately…
(2) William Regal & Lance Storm beat The Dudleys to regain the Raw Tag Titles in 0:14. Morley ordered Patrick to call for the bell, which he reluctantly did. Regal immediately covered Bubba. Patrick counted to two and then hesitated before finally counting to three…
(Commentary: A good segment with strong mic work from everyone involved. It seemed pretty obvious that Regal & Storm would get their tag titles back because they just won them a few weeks ago, but give WWE credit for coming up with a creative way to get there.)
[Commercial break]
The announcers recapped the tag title change, and hyped Batista vs. Steiner…
4th Quarter Hour
(3) The Hurricane & Trish Stratus beat Steven Richards & Victoria at 3:00. Hurricane gave one of his masks to a young girl who was sitting in the front row. Ross explained that the match was a mixed-tag, meaning that the women could only wrestle the women, and vice-versa. Victoria appeared to blow a spot early when she fell over while trying to lift Trish onto her shoulders. Trish did a nice job of covering the blown spot by immediately going for the pin. In the end, Trish hit Stratusfaction on Victoria for the win. A solid short match…
Backstage, Eric Bischoff attempted to reach Vince McMahon via telephone, but his personal secretary Beth wouldn’t put the call through. Bischoff told Beth to pass along the message that he would be making a bombshell announcement next that would rock Vince’s world. After Bischoff hung up, he threw a dart at a board that was covered by a Shane McMahon photo…
[Commercial break]
Sean O’Haire’s latest vignette aired, complete with the line questioning whether there is such a thing as God. “Hey, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know,” O’Haire finished…
Eric Bischoff walked to the ring with a cocky smirk on his face. He said he could tell by the looks on the faces in the crowd that fans were dying to know what his bombshell announcement was. He said the fans weren’t alone because Vince McMahon was watching at home with the same anticipation. Bischoff said he didn’t know what to do when Vince ordered him to shake up Raw. He said he watched the Raw anniversary special and “had a vision.” Highlights aired from the anniversary special of Vince McMahon saying that Steve Austin wasn’t invited to the awards show. Bischoff said that fans have heard Vince McMahon and Jim Ross’s explanation as to why Austin is no longer appearing on Raw. Bischoff promised that he would give Austin a chance to explain his side of the story. He said he stopped the presses on WWE Magazine for that very purpose this morning. “But that’s not my bombshell,” Bischoff said.
5th Quarter Hour
Bischoff aired highlights of the infamous Austin milk-bath segment, then said he was personally inviting Austin to return home. The crowd cheered. Bischoff continued by saying that he was personally inviting Austin to make his return at the “No Way Out” pay-per-view. The crowd’s cheers quickly turned to boos…
(Commentary: The live crowd may not have been pleased for the obvious reasons, but that was still a strong segment.)
The announcers recapped Bischoff’s announcement. Ross said he hopes Austin does return at “No Way Out”…
(4) Booker T & Goldust beat Rosey & Jamal (w/Rico) at 9:23. The announcers continued to discuss the possibility of Austin returning at “No Way Out.” The live crowd was pretty drained from Bischoff’s announcement and the wrestlers didn’t do much during the first three minutes to change that. Things picked up later in the match as the crowd got behind Booker as he played to them while waiting for a hot tag from Goldust. Just before the hot tag, Jamal could be heard and seen calling a spot. Booker fought off both heels and performed the Spinaroonie for the usual big pop. He went for a cover on Rosey, but Jamal broke it up.
6th Quarter Hour
In the end, Booker hit a scissors kick on Jamal for the win.
A highlight video recapped the storyline involving Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho from last night. The announcers hyped Test vs. Chris Jericho for after the break…
[Commercial break]
An ad aired for WWE Confidential…
(5) Chris Jericho fought Test (w/Stacy Keibler) to a no-contest in 7:00. Before the match, Ross gave a hard-sell plug for Raw next week’s show in Chicago. Chris Jericho took the mic before entering the room and said that like Martin Luther King Jr., he also had a dream. He said he dream was stolen from him by Shawn Michaels. Jericho promised to gain revenge on not only Michaels, but Test also for some reason. The match was nothing special and the live crowd reacted accordingly.
7th Quarter Hour
Late in the match, Jericho swung a chair at Test at ringside. Test ducked, causing the chair to hit the ringpost that Stacy was standing behind. Stacy fell to the ground as if the chair hit her. Both wrestlers stopped in their tracks and several crew members ran out of the backstage area to tend to Stacy. The announcers stopped talking in an attempt to make the shot seem legitimate. EMTs placed a collar around Stacy’s neck and Test did his best to start crying. Eventually, a pair of referees escorted Jericho to the back while he insisted he didn’t mean to hurt Stacy…
After the break, Test was still trying to cry as the EMTs continued to tend to Stacy. Ross and Lawler turned on their sad voices while trying to sell the angle. Ross introduced footage that was taped earlier in the day of Al Snow hyping the Tough Enough 3 finale for Thursday night…
The announcers continued to sell the angle while Stacy was wheeled to the backstage area…
Backstage, Ric Flair did his best to get Batista excited for his match. Meanwhile, Batista did his best to come up with a second facial expression…
[Commercial break]
(Commentary: I have no idea where WWE is going with the Stacy Keibler injury angle, but it was pretty silly of them to show the chairshot repeatedly because it was so obvious that Jericho hit the ringpost, not Stacy…
(6) D-Lo Brown (w/Teddy Long) beat Tommy Dreamer at 3:43. Teddy Long walked onto the stage with D-Lo Brown. Long said something about black men having to take matters into their own hands if they want to get ahead in the world. He tried to tie his comments into the MLK holiday. Long held the mic for D-Lo as he said, “Free at last, free at last, free to cane a white boy’s ass.” Okay.
8th Quarter Hour
Early in the match, Tommy swung his cane at D-Lo, who ducked, causing the cane to hit the ringpost. Test ran out bawling again… Okay, that last part didn’t really happen, but Dreamer and D-Lo did perform the same spot. In the end, D-Lo hit Dreamer with a cane shot and then followed up with the Lo-Down for the win…
[Commercial break]
The latest Nathan Jones vignette aired…
(Commentary: Is anyone else with me in assuming that we won’t be getting a clean finish in the main event?)
(7) Scott Steiner fought Batista (w/Ric Flair) to a no-contest at 1:29. Before the match, the announcers said that Stacy Keibler had arrived at a local hospital and they were hoping to update her condition before show’s end. Steiner took control of the match until Randy Orton ran in for the finish. Steiner was holding his own with the heels until Triple H ran in and joined the attack. Batista and Orton held Steiner while Triple H punched him repeatedly. The heels continued their attack until Steiner was bloodied and lying lifeless on the mat. Hunter picked Steiner up from the mat and Pedigree’d him. The four heels raised their arms together as Steiner remained on the mat to end the show…
(Commentary: A better than usual effort tonight. Sure, the show had its share of quirky moments, but at least WWE is introducing storylines for some of the mid-card wrestlers. The heels didn’t raise four fingers at the end of the show, but those are the wrestlers that have been rumored to be starting the new Four Horsemen faction.)
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