20 YRS AGO – WWE Live Event Report (8-30-2003): Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, plus Vince McMahon and Sable, APA, Hardy, Rey, more

WWE house show
August 30, 2003
Boston, Mass. at Fleet Center
Report by David Fornier, PWTorch.com correspondent

I attended the WWE house show at the Fleet Center. I apologize that the report is as detailed as I wanted it to be but the pen I was going to use to take notes ran out of ink. This had to be the poorest turnout for a WWE event in Boston in sometime. They did not sell any seats in the balcony at all. And they were selling seats that are usually $30 at a $20 ticket price. Earlier in the week these same seats were selling for the $30 price. I talked to one of the usher and he said they only around 5,000 tickets. The floor was completely full and the center area of the lower section seats were full but the rest of the lower level seats were empty. I wasn’t expecting much from the show and it really wasn’t great but it was ok for what it was.

(1) Rey Mysterio beat Nunzio to retain the Cruiserweight Title with the 619 and the West Coast Pop. This was the best match of the night.

(2) Doug & Danny Basham defeated Billy Gunn & Jamie Noble. After the match Noble and Gunn argued before leaving.

(3) Matt Hardy defeated Mortis. Matt played total babyface shaking hands with the crowd while coming to the ring. He was way over with the crowd.

Mr. McMahon was introduced and he came out with Sable. He went on to brag about himself and then said that this was Labor Day weekend and since it was Labor Day weekend he was going to stick with tradition and not do any labor and that he would not be refereeing the main event. But he said there would be a special guest referee for the match. A Boston homie. John Cena. He said that he guaranteed that at the end of the match Brock Lesnar would have his hand raised as the #1 contender. He then said he was going to do something that every guy in the building wanted to do. He said in fact it was something that a lot of women in the building wanted to do. He then told Sable to kiss him. They kissed and then he said come on you can do better than that bitch kiss me and they made out with a long kiss. He then said hit my music and told everyone to have a good night.

(4) Billy Kidman & Spanky beat Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli of The FBI.

(5) Albert beat Orlando Jordan with a backbreaker. This was an okay match. Jordan kicked out of the A-Bomb. But Albert later hit the backbreaker for the win.

(6) The Worlds Greatest Tag Team beat The APA to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. Before the match Simmons got the crowd to chant Shaniqua at Benjamin. I went to the concession stand so did not see the finish but heard the announcement that Haas & Benjamin retained.

They then took an intermission.

(7) Rhyno beat Tajiri in a #1 contenders match for the U.S. Title.

Then introduced Romero from Jammin 94.5 a Boston radio station to emceee the Bikini Contest. He thanked the crowd and said he was thrilled to be doing this. First out was Nidia followed by Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson, and then Sable. Nidia went first and she did this weird dance and she looked really good in the bikini. Second was Dawn Marie who was wearing a thong and even gave a lap dance to ring announcer Tony Chimel. Next was Torrie who had a pink bathing suit on. She paraded around the ring Last was Sable who also paraded around the ring. The emcee then had the crowd applause as to who each one that. Then after dooing so he announced Torrie as the winner. In my opinion Sable got the louder response but I’m sure they had it already decided as to who was going to win.

(8) Undertaker beat Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar in a Triple Threat Match. Out came special referee and hometown boy John Cena. He played total face to the crowd wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt. He then pulled out a NY Yankees shirt and then got the crowd to chant Yankees suck. He then did a great rap talking about each individual in the triple threat #1 contenders match basically giving kudos to all three men. The match was very similar to the TV match on Thursday night. Undertaker again went over. After the match Lesnar got up. He and Cena argued. Cena went to leave but Lesnar shoved Cena. Cena got back in the ring kicked Lesnar gave Lesnar the F-5 and then left to a huge reaction from the crowd.

Like I said, not a bad show but very small crowd.

PWTorch.com reader Jeff Finger of Norwood, Mass. also attended the Fleet Center show and sent the following notes…

I went to the house show at the Fleet Center last night in Boston and was extremely disappointed. First off I don’t understand how the event card (when is this thing printed?) could be incorrect. The event card which comes with the program (which they are amazingly charging 5$ for the WWE 2003 Preview, which contains great photos of D Lo Brown, Crash, Heyman, and Lesnar in same picture (maybe that picture might be ok soon but didn’t they break in October/Nov 2002) etc. The event card had the main event Angle-Lesnar-Show for the title. It also had a three-way for the number one contender match for U.S. Title Cena-Tajiri-Rhyno. Obviously Cena did not wrestle (he was the special guest ref in the main event) and Angle was not there along with Benoit and Eddie. Nothing like having your three best wrestlers not on a show in a Major Market.

Second problem were that the TV ads promoting the show up to the last minute were incorrect. The TV Ads hyped Cena vs Gunn (Okay; both guys showed, so no big deal) and Vince as special guest ref for Undertaker-Show-Lesnar number one contender match.

Biggest Problem: They just had a number one contenders match on Smackdown on Thursday night. Undertaker won. How can you have the same match on a house show and not have a reason for it. Here is how I thought it was going to go down. Vince was going to come out and say that the results for the number one Contender Match on Smackdown have been voided because he did not like the officiating. Thus tonight in Boston he will be the special guest ref. for the rematch which will choose the legit #1 contender. Undertaker comes out to argue with Vince, and just when he is about to beat up Vince, Show and Brock show up and destroy the Undertaker. Thus now you have a main event angle.

Or they could have just had Angle show up, have Undertaker go out to the ring, say that he does not want to wait til Thursday Night on Smackdown, demand a title shot in Boston, and have Angle agree and have an Angle vs Undertaker Title Match.

But then again, Vince thinks I should be happy paying $45 to see him call Sable a bitch and kiss her, and tell us why Labor Day should be called Vince McMahon Day. Now THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!

I will give props to Lesnar who really worked hard in the main event including doing all his power moves on Show which look great live. He also tapped out to Cena in the ankle lock after the main event was over, after the hold was applied for like five seconds, which I did not like because it truly does hurt Lesnar’s character in the long run.

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