Royal Rumble

The only thing that makes this PPV worth watching is Benoit Vs. Angle. A classic match which is in my opinion Match Of The Year quality.

But for the rest of the matches, well...Steiner Vs. HHH was bad, as predicted. The Brock Vs. Big Show match and the Dudley Boyz Tag match were below average at best.

The Rumble match had potential and was good. At least until it came down to the last 6 men. Then it just turned bad and fast. And who ever wrote that finish should be fired. One of the worst finishes in the Royal Rumble history.

ROYAL RUMBLE 2003 from Boston, MA ratings out of 10

* Brock Lesnar vs Big Show (4) Lesnar wins to gain entrance to the Rumble match later in the show. Pretty much the same as their Survivor Series except with no title on the line in this one. Pretty standard and only memorable for Lesnar connecting the F5 on Big Show.

* Regal & Storm vs The Dudley Boyz (3) Duds win the titles here in a very uninspired match. Lasts maybe 5 minutes. Forgettable despite the title change.

* Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie (DUD) Nuff said about this garbage. Instead of the logical brawl these two should have had, they went out there and tried to wrestle a technically sound match. Not a good idea. Skip this one.

* Triple H vs Scott Steiner (DUD) To quote Randy Quaid in Days of Thunder, this one looked like a "monkey screwing a football". Steiner proves that he is washed up. Helmsley did everything he could to sell his crappy array of clotheslines and suplexes. Crowd quickly turns on Steiner which would have made this match pretty funny had it not been so god awful to watch.

* Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (9) This is where to start watching the show. One of the best WWE title matches in a while. Couldn't quite give this one a 10 because of some of the headlocks early. Other than that, there are no other complaints about this match. If you're a wrestling fan, you can;t not like what these guys accomplished here.

* Brock Lesnar won the Rumble match (6) Its hard to grade these matches since they are so long and involve so many men. There were many good moments in this particular Rumble including Jericho's attack of HBK and HBK's eventual payback. Not a bad way to spend 60 minutes however I would have liked to a see a more dramatic finish.

I'll admit that this era of WWE is not my favorite. The Raw/Smackdown bifurcation never thrilled me and I felt like the business at the time was filled with rather generic "stars". Even so, I found this Royal Rumble 2003 PPV to be at least fairly entertaining (if not quite a bit higher for those who grew up in this era of WWE).

Some further thoughts...

-Lesnar/Big Show as a "play-in" match for Rumble participation is an entertaining concept, and both big men put on a great match.

-Dudleyz/Storm-Regal, Steiner/HHH, & Angle/Benoit are not necessarily my cup of tea, but they are decent enough matches and I can easily see where bigger fans of those individuals will find them more entertaining than I.

-The Rumble itself is the best in a few years. The bottom-roster talent might be a bit thin, but the entire narrative builds to a great conclusion that sets up well for the upcoming Wrestlemania.

Overall, I enjoyed this event much more than the previous 3-4 major PPVs. While not exactly "my era stuff", I can see a level of quality here that others may enjoy far more.

The 2003 Royal Rumble will be remembered for two reasons.. Kurt Angle Vs Chris Benoit was a classic match and the Triple H Vs Scott Steiner was one of the worst matches ever witnessed at a p.p.v. The 'actual' Rumble was quite good but we have seen better in recent years.

This was not a very exciting PPV.

First match sees Big Show taking on Brock Lesnar. Everyone knew that Lesnar was going to win, so it was no surprise when he won.

Next up the WWE demonstrates it doesn't give two hoots about the World Tag straps as Lance Storm and William Regal defend their titles against The Dudley Boyz in a boring match.

Then Torrie Wilson takes on Dawn Marie in a stepmother vs stepdaughter farce! Please gimme a break!

Next up One of the best matches I have seen in my 13 years as a wrestling fan. Chris Benoit takes on Kurt Angle in a fantastic battle. Even though Angle won and kept his title, Benoit got a deafening ovation from the crowd afterwards!

Then Triple H defends his WWE heavyweight title against Scott Steiner, which just doesn't live up to the billing. This bore the arse off me and I think a Mae Young vs Heidenreich match would have been better.

Then the Royal Rumble takes place. I've seen better. Lesnar won but everyone knew that.

Overall, not good!

Lesnar vs Show - 6/10 Wilson vs Marie - 1/10 Tag Team titles match - 4.5/10 Angle vs Benoit - 10/10 Steiner vs HHH - 2/10 Rumble match - 6/10