SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report was originally published 20 years ago this week on PWTorch.com…
WWE house show results
January 31, 2003
Minneapolis, Minn. at Target Center
Report by Justin Alfs, PWTorch.com correspondent
(1) Steven Richards beat Spike Dudley with the Dragon Bomb. Pretty solid technical match. False finishes made for an exciting curtain jerker. On a side note, I sat in front of the only two members of the Stevie Richards fan club.
(2) Sean O’Haire beat Rico with the Outsider’s Edge. O’Haire’s bigger than I remember. He actually threw the other guy across the ring twice.
(3) Rob Van Dam beat D-Lo Brown with the 5 Star Frog Splash. This match was the second-worst RVD match I’ve ever seen. D-Lo dominated early with some really boring, sloppy offense. RVD came back with some botched offense of his own. I can safely say that no one is down with the brown.
(4) Scott Steiner (w/Ric Flair) beat Batista with a sit-out powerbomb. If you used to read IGN-wrestling back in the day, you’ll know what I mean by 4-assed-monkey. If you don’t understand, it means this was off-the-scale terrible. My friend put the over/under amount of Steiner belly-to-belly suplexes at 23. Surprisingly it was only two. Batista expanded his arsenal by adding a scoop slam to compliment his spinebuster, powerbomb, and clothesline.
(5) Victoria beat Jackie and Molly Holly. Stevie came in for some last second interference and helped her win.
(6) William Regal & Lance Storm beat The Dudleyz with help from Chief Morley. This was one of the better matches of the night due to the intensity of the men involved. Regal grabbed the mic first and paused as an “asshole” chant started. He responded, “I can’t possibly be an asshole. I’m not from Minnesota.” The Dudleyz encouraged a “tables” chant before the match even started. They delivered as promised when they 3D’d Val thru one.
(7) Booker T beat Christian with the Booker Kick. Decent match. No one cares much about Christian. One of the highlights of the night came when he was on the edge of the apron, standing on the bottom rope jawing at Booker when he slipped off and fell to the ground.
(8) Chris Jericho beat Test with the Edge-o-matic. Another solid match. I love the Jericho shuffle. Christian interfered and got clobbered for his trouble.
(9) Brock beat Shelton Benjamin (w/Charlie Haas). The first ten minutes consisted of amateur-style wrestling. That’s about 5 minutes more than the crown can handle. Shelton worked the leg just like against Edge the other night, but Brock usually no-sold it. Both of these guys need to fight against a veteran because neither one really understands how to put together a good match.
Top Babyface Pops:
1. Brock
2. Steiner
3. RVD
Most Heel Heat:
1. Flair
2. Jericho
3. Regal
Notes: The best part of the night was anytime Flair took the mic. He is a god. Most people would have killed him themselves if they could, they hated him so much. In particular, there was a large black woman in the front row on her feet the entire time, screaming bloody murder at him. Flair “whoooed” right in her face. She was momentarily shocked, then “whoooed” him right back. Later he walked to the entrance area, and she started walking over people so she could jump the fence and strangle him. During the steroid vs. steroid match I watched her the entire time.
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