Mike Reviews WWE No Mercy 2003

Happy No Mercy Friday Everyone!

We continue our journey into 2003 WWE today by looking at SmackDown exclusive pay per view No Mercy from October 2003. We’ve got Vince McMahon Vs Stephanie McMahon and Brock Lesnar Vs Undertaker as two of the most hyped matches, but thankfully we’ve got Kurt Angle Vs John Cena on the undercard at least

You can view the full card for No Mercy by clicking below;

WWE No Mercy 2003 Card

No Mercy is emanating from the Baltimore Arena, in Baltimore, Maryland on the 19th October 2003 (Although I can’t confirm whether Stringer Bell was in the audience or not)

Calling the action are Michael Cole and Tazz

We get he dramatic video package to start focusing on the McMahon Family soap opera and Brock Lesnar being an insane monster who is going to have to fight Undertaker tonight

Interestingly the theme tune by Dope is left intact here whilst Sevendust’s theme for Unforgiven last month was dubbed out, as I continue to ponder what causes some of these themes to remain in place whilst others are dubbed out

Match One
WWE Cruiserweight Title
Champ: Tajiri Vs Rey Mysterio Jr

Rey defeated Tajiri in a good match on SmackDown, but Tajiri then went Heel on Rey and won the belt from him in a rematch, so this will be the rubber match between the two here at No Mercy. There was a side issue here as well where Tajiri spat black mist in Nidia’s face at the behest of Vince McMahon, setting up Jamie Noble as Tajiri’s next feud once this issue with Rey has been closed off. They work a good match here, with Tajiri focusing on strikes to inflict pain and wear Rey down whilst Rey tries to use speed and high-flying in order to keep Tajiri on the backfoot. It’s a fun clash of the styles and the crowd gets into the match more than they perhaps normally would for a Cruiserweight Title match due to Tajiri and Rey being slightly above the usual Cruiserweight losers on the WWE totem pole (I should stress that it was WWE that treated the Cruiserweight’s like losers and the crowd would respond accordingly. I personally didn’t think they were losers at the time and actually really liked Paul London in particular during this era).

Tajiri shoves Rey off the top rope onto the apron for the cut off and then works some heat, with Rey selling it well and the crowd sticking with Rey whilst he gets worked over by the Champ. Rey eventually fights back and we get a fun closing stretch, with each wrestler having chances to win it. One of the best near falls comes from Tajiri countering the West Coast Hop into a snap Powerbomb at one stage. Rey gets a good near fall of his own from dodging a Tajiri attack by leaping onto the top rope and getting a Moonsault onto a standing Tajiri for two. Rey gets the West Coast Hop successfully on a second try and looks to have things won, but Ryan Sakoda and Jimmy Yang make their debuts as Tajiri’s new heavies and distract Rey and the security, which allows Tajiri to kick a distracted Rey in the face for the three count after about 12 minutes.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: TAJIRI
RATING: ***1/2

Vince McMahon tells Josh Matthews that if anyone interferes in his match with Stephanie tonight then they will be fired, stacking the deck further against Stephanie. The flaw with that plan of course is that, if Stephanie won thanks to someone helping her, she’d still be General Manager and could just hire them back right away anyway

Match Two
The A-Train Vs Chris Benoit

A-Train is Albert/Lord Tensai/Giant Bernard for those who weren’t around for 2003 but may have come across his work in different forms. Benoit defeated A-Train a few times and it just made A-Train really angry, hence we got a feud out of it. This is a very effective Big Vs Small match here, with A-Train working well as a violent big man whilst Benoit enters a strong performance as a tenacious smaller man who keeps bringing the fight even though he’s outsized. Seeing a match like this you can understand why A-Train did so well in Japan in the 2000’s and 2010’s, because when he’s in there with a smaller guy who can work he looks like a genuine monster, whereas in WWE he’d often wrestle folks who were closer to his size who weren’t as good in the ring as Benoit was here, so he looked like just another face in the crowd in WWE whilst he felt special in Japan.

Unfortunately, even though this is a good match that the live crowd at No Mercy get into, the main thing it is best known for is a pretty notable botch. A-Train brings a chair into the ring with designs on using it, but when he tries a Military Press Slam he loses Benoit and Benoit lands head and neck first onto the chair in a terrifying looking spot that Benoit somehow lives through here but it probably didn’t help with the brain damage that contributed to the horrors he committed during the last days of his life. Despite Benoit’s life nearly ending with the chair spot, they just keep on working and the match continues to be good. A-Train props the chair in the corner, but when he goes to kick Benoit he ends up kicking the chair instead, leading to Benoit locking in The Sharpshooter for the clean win after about 12 minutes, which was a tribute to the recently deceased Stu Hart.

WINNER: CHRIS BENOIT
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Horror with the chair aside, this was a good match, with each wrestler playing their respective role well and the crowd getting into it. Seeing as Benoit made it through the rest of the match, the production crew of course gives us two replays of Benoit landing on the chair, because if he survived then it’s okay to exploit it I guess…

John Heidenreich is throttling Shannon Moore backstage because Matt Hardy supposedly threw Heidenreich’s try-out tape in the garbage. Matt talks his way out of it, saying that it was actually Shannon’s tape that Matt threw away, and Heidenreich accepts that. Well, that was certainly a segment that happened

Match Three
“The Sensei of Mattitude” Matt Hardy Version 1.0 w/ “The #1 Mattitude Follower” Shannon Moore Vs Zach Gowen

These two were originally supposed to wrestle at SummerSlam but Gowen got destroyed by Brock Lesnar on SmackDown prior to that event and the match got called off. However, it was apparently ESSENTIAL that we got Matt Hardy losing to a one-legged man, so we’re getting it here at No Mercy. Zach Gowen’s entrance music has also survived the music dubbing here, which is interesting because I believe it was a licensed song. For those who weren’t around at the time and didn’t see his brief recent AEW run, Zach Gowen is a wrestler who only has one leg, but he can still do an impressive looking Moonsault. One of the biggest stories that surrounded him in wrestling actually had nothing to do with him, as Johnny Ace was tasked with signing him but he ended up signing a DIFFERENT one legged wrestler, causing much embarrassment. Matt takes most of the match here, with Zach selling well and taking some nice bumps. Matt tries his own Moonsault, but Gowen dodges it and then makes a comeback, getting a very impressive dive over the top rope to the floor onto Matt. Matt fires back and looks for a Super Backdrop off the top, but Gowen elbows his way out of it and gets the Moonsault for three after about 7 minutes.

WINNER: ZACH GOWEN
RATING: **

Thoughts: Totally fine SmackDown match that they put on No Mercy. Gowen actually got a decent pop for his win, but I don’t think he was ever seen again on WWE television following this match. I think the problem with a wrestler like Gowen is that the moment you make him a regular wrestler then the specialness is gone, but he didn’t have the charisma or magnetism to work as a big special attraction act, even though he could work a standard match just fine as this bout showed. So basically WWE didn’t have a role for him that was going to work, so they cut their losses. This was one of the many nadirs for poor Matt, as the creative team seemed dedicated to just kicking the metaphorical crap out of him at every turn once he started doing the Mattitude character, possibly because he got over off his own back and those making the decisions didn’t necessarily like that?

Linda McMahon heads into Vince McMahon’s locker room to try and talk him into not taking the match with Stephanie tonight. Linda is as robotic as always when delivering her lines, but she tries her best at least. The gist of this is that Vince will still do the match, but Stephanie can pin him to win whilst Vince can only win by submission. Vince also makes the match No Holds Barred

Match Four
The Basham Brothers (Doug and Danny) w/ Shaniqua Vs The APA (Faarooq and Bradshaw)

The Basham’s had been feuding in OVW, but WWE decided to bring them both up and make them a team without telling Jim Cornette, leading to Cornette having to scramble for a way to make it all make sense in OVW storylines. The Basham’s were doing an S&M styled gimmick, with Shaniqua as their dominatrix. Bradshaw gave Shaniqua a Lariat on SmackDown in order to give her an excuse to go and get a boob job, so she’s not at ringside for The Basham’s during their entrance but she does eventually show up as the match goes on. We get a quick video recap during the entrances, where we see Danny Basham braining Bradshaw with two gnarly unprotected chair shots to the head. Just taking normal bumps in a wrestling ring will do lifelong damage to your body that you’ll feel when you’re older, you don’t want to add unprotected shots to the head on top of that as well.

Doug Basham might actually be the best wrestler in this entire match, as he’d been working in OVW for years prior to getting brought up to the main roster, and his selling, bumping and feeding is really good. Danny is pretty clumsy, whilst Faarooq was well past his prime years by the time 2003 came around. Bradshaw is totally fine as a hard hitting brawler, and has more charisma and presence than Doug, but Doug looks to be the more mechanically sound inside the ring. The Basham’s spend most of the match working some heat on Faarooq, with it all building to the Bradshaw hot tag. Bradshaw’s tag actually gets a decent reaction, although Bradshaw decides to chase The Basham’s all around the ring rather than just standing in the middle and letting them come to him, so it’s not as smooth as it could have been. Bradshaw gets a big Last Call Suplex from the second rope onto Doug, but Danny breaks up the count at two, leading to referee Mike Sparks getting accidentally knocked out by Faarooq. This allows Shaniqua to run down and hit Bradshaw with a club leading to Doug getting the pin on Bradshaw after around 9 minutes with a Leg Lariat.

WINNERS: THE BASHAMS
RATING: **

Thoughts: This wasn’t great, but it was okay for what it was. The Basham’s were lacking a lot of star power here, but Doug’s work was good and they were a new team getting a bit of a push at least

Josh Matthews interviews The Basham’s and Shaniqua, where Shaniqua shows off her new flowery baps and suggests that her and The Basham’s will be off for some fun whipping action. This was awfully acted, to the point that it became perversely entertaining. Has this gimmick ever been inducted into Wrestle Crap, because if not then I think it should be considered

Match Five
No Holds Barred Father Vs Daughter I Quit Bout
Vince McMahon Jr w/ Sable Vs Stephanie McMahon w/ Linda McMahon

The story here is that Stephanie is the SmackDown GM, but she’s made a bunch of decisions that Vince didn’t like, such as signing Zach Gowen and Hulk Hogan at different points. Vince then angered Stephanie by having an affair with Sable, which led to a match eventually being booked. If Vince wins then Stephanie can no longer be SmackDown GM. If Stephanie wins though then Vince will have to resign as the Chairman of the Board. In reality, Stephanie was getting married to Triple H soon, so they booked this as a way to write her off of TV so she could go and do that. Apparently Linda is there not only for storyline purposes but also to shoot make sure that Vince doesn’t get too excited and end up hitting Stephanie in the face, ruining Stephanie’s wedding pictures in the process. The McMahon Family everyone! Sable actually gets her own entrance here for some reason, and she looks to be having fun in this role as Vince’s mistress. It’s good that SOMEONE is having fun with this storyline at least, as the fans certainly weren’t if the buy rate for this pay per view was anything to go by.

Once the match actually starts; it’s not awful in all honesty. Neither Vince or Stephanie can actually wrestle, so they instead make it all about melodrama and crowd work, with it working in that context at least as the live crowd buys into the story being told of Stephanie being a gutsy underdog who won’t give up against her tyrannical father. It doesn’t change the fact that watching a father beat up his daughter, even in a worked pro wrestling match, makes for pretty uncomfortable viewing. Michael Cole has a very good night on commentary at least, really selling his disgust at the whole thing and actually sounding like a human being and not a robot reciting pre-programmed corporate buzzwords. Sable tries to pass Vince a metal pipe at one stage, but Linda clocks Sable and then slaps Vince, leading to Stephanie using the pipe for a near fall that the crowd actually bites on. This may be exploitative as all heck, but it’s working for the live crowd here at No Mercy at least. Vince of course begs off at one stage whilst Stephanie has been brave and defiant all match, highlighting the difference between the two. Vince eventually manages to rally though and chokes Stephanie out with the pipe, leading to Linda throwing in the towel for the finish after about 9 minutes.

WINNER: VINCE MCMAHON
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: All four of the people involved in this one actually entered strong performances, but the whole concept of the match was so exploitative that I struggled to enjoy it. I will give credit to everyone that they managed to get the crowd emotionally invested in the story being told, and Michael Cole had possibly one of his better performances on commentary. Interestingly they could have used the towel getting chucked in as a loophole to bring Stephanie back in because technically she never actually quit, but Stephanie didn’t come back until the autumn of 2005, at which point she was just a Heel again who got on with her father, because WCW. Oh wait, sorry, force of habit

Match Six
“The Doctor of Thuganomics” John Cena Vs Kurt Angle

Cena was a rebellious rapping Heel at the time whilst Angle was a virtuous American patriot, so booking them together felt like a natural feud. Cena gets a lot of support here despite being a Heel, and WWE would soon turn him babyface in order to capitalise on it and Cena wouldn’t be a Heel again for nearly 22 years. The story of this one is that Angle is the better wrestler whilst Cena is the better brawler, so when Angle can keep it as a wrestling match then he tends to control things, whilst Cena is able to finally get a foothold when it becomes more of a fist fight. It’s a simple story and it’s told well, with the duelling chants from the crowd helping to give the match a special atmosphere. This definitely feels like the actual wrestling match that the No Mercy crowd is most invested in, which is something that bade will for Cena clearly but also showed that the actual Main Event feuds that SmackDown had at the time weren’t really capturing the imagination the same way this one was.

Angle eventually misses a shoulder charge into the corner, which leads to Angle hitting the ring post and tumbling to the floor. Cena works some heat following that, with the crowd continuing to battle back and forth over which wrestler they like the most. Cena gets a decent amount of offence in on Angle, which helps make Cena look like a genuine contender to the established top star. Cena looks a bit ungainly out there (as he did in his younger days) but he shows good charisma and has a real star presence, whilst Angle does his usual good job of carrying a lesser in-ring performer to a good match (and that’s not an insult to Cena either, as most people Angle hooked it up with around this timeframe was a lesser in-ring performer to him in some capacity or another). In a move that probably didn’t help with Angle going back on the shelf in 2004, Cena FLINGS Angle into the corner with a Powerbomb at one stage, with Angle’s body jolting like he was in some kind of high speed traffic collision upon impact. Cena follows up with the F-U after that, but Angle kicks out at two, leading to Cena doing a great facial expression that shows a mixture of frustration, grudging respect and acceptance all in one go.

Cena gets to kick out of the Olympic Slam soon after that, so it’s not just Angle kicking out of Cena’s big moves. Cena tries to use his signature chain as a weapon following that, but as the referee is disposing of the chain, Cena clocks Angle with Angle’s own gold medal, which gets him a two count when the referee turns around. If Cena were going over here at No Mercy then that would have been the way to do it I think, as it would both protect Angle but Cena would have genuinely gained something because it was such a smart resourceful move on his part. Angle manages to catch Cena with the Ankle Lock OUTTA NOWHERE not-too-soon after that though, and ends up locking in the hooks, which is enough for Cena to tap out after about 18 minutes. It was a nice touch that Angle got the hooks in, as that was always the MDK version of the hold and it put Cena over that Angle felt it necessary to bust out that version of it because he’d previously only used it on the likes of Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar.

WINNER: KURT ANGLE
RATING: ****

Thoughts: Two of Cena’s biggest singles matches in 2003 were the Vengeance match with Undertaker and this one at No Mercy with Kurt Angle, and he actually lost them both. However, both matches were examples of an up and coming star losing a match but not being hurt by it, as Cena looked competitive in both matches and was clearly starting to win the audience over, so losing here didn’t hurt him. Plus, Heels can ultimately lose more and not have it effect their heat as much because they’re the bad guy and the bad guy losing on their path to switching alignment can work. Once Cena turned babyface they smartly kept his pay per view singles match jobs to a minimum, and it helped Cena climb the ranks as 2004 wore on. The match itself was excellent, with good wrestling, a strong story and lots of crowd investment. Possibly Cena’s best pay per view outing in his career up to this point, certainly in the singles realm at any rate

Match Seven
WWE United States Title
Champ: Eddy Guerrero Vs Big Show

Eddy was both US and Tag Champ at the time, but clearly the creative team felt it was time for him to face some adversity leading into WrestleMania Season. Eddy had doused Big Show in excrement using his cousin Chewy’s waste truck, but Big Show had then Choke Slammed Eddy onto Eddy’s custom truck on the go-home SmackDown, meaning Eddy’s back has been all cut up. The majority of this match is Big Show just destroying Eddy whilst Eddy sells and looks to try and find a way to fight back. It’s not a terrible match because Big Show’s offence looks okay and Eddy’s selling is on point, but it’s not an especially exciting match to watch. It’s also probably not the match you want to do if Big Show is going over, as it makes the match a borderline extended squash at points.

If Eddy was going to get killed for 10 minutes then find a way to win then it’s less egregious as Eddy at least looks gutsy that way whilst Big Show is protected in defeat, but this way Eddy just looks weak. There’s an obvious size difference between the two, but you could still give Eddy more offence here, especially if he’s going to eat a pin in the end. Referee Nick Patrick ends up taking a bump, which allows Eddy to hit Big Show with some brass knuckles, but that only gets two for Eddy, leading to Eddy using a belt shot and then heading up with a Frog Splash for another two count. Eddy does at least get to survive a Choke Slam with a foot on the bottom rope, and then kicks Big Show right in the Wight’s before following up with a DDT, but Big Show kicks out of that as well and just Choke Slam’s Eddy again for three after about 11 minutes.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: BIG SHOW
RATING: **1/4

Thoughts: Big Show would barely ever defend the belt on TV or pay per view, to the point that it became almost a running joke within actual WWE continuity. The match itself was okay from an in-ring perspective, although it probably wasn’t the match you should be doing if Eddy was losing in the end, as he got beaten up for most of the match and then none of his offence worked in the closing stages. That would be acceptable if Eddy was a Heel finally getting his comeuppance or a mid-card guy with no real upside outside of being an opponent to put a bigger star over, but Eddy was in the midst of a hot streak at the time as a character and really his days of being fodder for someone like Big Show should have been long over by this point as Eddy had genuine upside as a top babyface whilst Big Show had hit his ceiling a long time ago and shouldn’t have been getting such a dominant win over Eddy

Eddy argues with his nephew Chavo following that, teasing their eventual split

Main Event
Biker Chain Bout for the SmackDown Title
Champ: Brock Lesnar Vs BikerTaker

Lesnar had gone Heel back in the summer, and had then defeated Kurt Angle for the belt in September. Needing a feud for No Mercy, they decided to rehash the Lesnar Vs Taker feud again, to diminishing returns. The stipulation here is that a chain is hanging from a pole and the first wrestler to grab the chain can use it as a weapon. This of course means that the fans know the bout won’t end until the chain gets grabbed, so they have no reason to really care about the match until someone gets the chain. The match is actually a decent big man brawl with power wrestling elements to start, with Taker surprising Lesnar with a La Magistral at one stage for a two count. It’s generally worked at a quick clip and is a decent watch, although the fans don’t get into any of the pin attempts because the chain hasn’t been grabbed yet. The two wrestlers don’t really make that many attempts for the chain either, with them kind of just having a match with the chain hanging above the ring doing no one any good.

Taker Finally does decide to go for the chain, which wakes up the crowd, but at that point the lights go out and that delays Taker, allowing Lesnar to stop the climb. This is No DQ anyway it seems, with Lesnar bringing in the ring steps and it being allowed, which means it’s even more pointless to climb up a pole for a weapon when you can already use every other weapon, many of which are in much easier to reach areas. The action in the match itself continues to be decent at least, as these two generally worked well together (with the exception being Mania XXX when Taker got knocked loopy early and the match never really recovered). Taker busts out a Triangle Choke at one stage, but he hadn’t managed to get himself over as an MMA submission expert yet, so the crowd is almost silent during it whilst Lesnar and Taker are trying to do this dramatic submission tease.

There’s a moment where Taker gives Lesnar a Choke Slam back into the ring when Lesnar is trying to grab the chain, and he decides to go for the chain rather than making the pin, which allows Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli of Full Blooded Italians to run in and stop him. Taker easily fends them off and gives Lesnar the Last Ride, but he gets a serious case of Tommy Dreamer disease and decides to go after the lackeys rather than going for the win over the person he’s actually wrestling, as he dives out onto Palumbo and Stamboli before clocking Nunzio and finally grabbing the chain. However, now Vince McMahon interferes, as he shoves Taker off the top rope and that allows Lesnar to grab the chain and clobber Taker with the chain for the three count after about 24 minutes. Taker’s fault there really, as he had it won with the Last Ride and decided to go after The FBI and then climb for the chain.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: BROCK LESNAR
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: I really don’t know why they didn’t just make this a Street Fight or something, seeing as they did a brawl with no rules anyway and the chain ended up being a distraction that didn’t really add anything to the match. I also think 24 minutes was way too long for this. 15 minutes would have been a much better run-time in my opinion. It didn’t really help Lesnar’s standing as Champion that he needed so many run-ins to defeat Taker also, especially as Lesnar not only pinned Taker clean inside Hell in a Cell just a year prior to this at No Mercy 2002, but he also eliminated Taker to win the Royal Rumble in 2003, so they’d already established that Lesnar was capable of beating Taker so him needing all the help was a backwards step in Lesnar’s evolution as a character. Shave about 10 minutes off this, remove the chain stipulation and have just the Vince run-in, and I think this could have been a pretty good match

In Conclusion:

No Mercy 2003 is a decent show by 2003 WWE standards. Tajiri/Rey, Train/Benoit and Cena/Angle are all good to great matches, and there’s nothing offensively awful in there either. I can imagine some will enjoy the McMahon Family misery more than I did too because it was well-executed melodrama, just not the sort of melodrama I personally wanted to see. It’s certainly worth checking out the better matches if you’ve never seen them and happen to have a Netflix sub

No Mercy comes mildly recommended