Monday Night Raw
Date: May 26, 2003
Location: Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Alabama
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Last week’s big announcement was what might only be the second worst disaster of a HHH pay per view rematch (Kevin Nash should send Scott Steiner a raw meat basket) this year will be held inside the Cell. Other than that, Steve Austin likes to torture Eric Bischoff and Chris Jericho wanted to murder Goldberg for whatever reason. Let’s get to it.
–Jim Ross narrates a video package that puts over Adam Bomb and Jean-Pierre LaFitte, announcing that both men will face each other on today’s show.
–Ross and Stan Lane are doing commentary and they are kicking off a new set of tapings in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The tapings were done on June 7 and according to historyofwwe.com they drew 2,000 fans.
–Jerry Lawler notes how much his feet stink and that he would not want to be Aldo Montoya later in today’s show.
–Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are in charge of commentary and they are taped from Wheeling, West Virginia. The tapings were held on June 6 and historyofwwe.com says that they drew 3,800 fans.
–Jim Ross recaps the events on last week’s show that led to today’s Razor Ramon & Savio Vega-Blu Brothers main event.
–Ross and Pettengill are handling commentary and are still in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Monday Night Raw
Date: May 12, 2003
Location: First Union Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the final Raw before Judgment Day and the big matches are Goldberg vs. Christian inside a cage and Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash. Both of these matches are Steve Austin’s ideas, which makes me think that Austin might want to stick to the being retired thing as he’s not the best match maker in the world. Let’s get to it.
–Vince McMahon says that on today’s show Jerry Lawler will make a “royal decision” about whether to accept Bret Hart’s challenge.
–McMahon and Dok Hendrix are handling commentary and they are doing the last of this cycle of tapings in Danbury, Connecticut.
–Jim Ross recaps how Savio Vega contributed to Razor Ramon winning a King of the Ring qualifying match against Jacob Blu on Superstars and how that has led to Eli Blu signing to face Savio on today’s show.
–Ross and Todd Pettengill are today’s commentators and they are still in Springfield, Massachusetts.
–A video package plays up the ongoing Bret Hart-Jerry Lawler feud, including Bret’s challenge to Lawler on Monday Night RAW.
–Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are the commentary team for today’s show and they are taped from Danbury, Connecticut.
–A promo video puts over how King Kong Bundy is going to try to put Shawn Michaels on the shelf permanently tonight in their King of the Ring qualifying match.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth and they are taped from Binghamton, New York.
Backlash 2003
Date: April 27, 2003
Location: Worcester Centrum, Worcester, Massachusetts
Attendance: 10,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz, Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler
If WWE held the least important pay per view in recent memory, does it matter in the slightest? This is a glorified Raw pay per view with a handful of Smackdown matches thrown in to fill out the card. It’s a really bad time for WWE at the moment and I don’t remember looking forward to a pay per view less than this one in a long time. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: April 21, 2003
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home show for Backlash and we have a major main event for a change. This week will see HHH defending the Raw World Title against Booker T. in a Wrestlemania rematch, but there’s something a bit bigger to cover. Tonight is also the second Rock Concert as Rock is ready to deal with Bill Goldberg this coming Sunday. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: April 14, 2003
Location: Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Jonathan Coachman, Jerry Lawler
We’re less than two weeks away from Backlash and we have the bigger stories already set up. Last week saw the return of Kevin Nash for reasons of general stupidity, along with more of Eric Bischoff being evil for preventing Steve Austin from wrecking his neck and back even worse. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 3, 2003
Location: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s Wrestlemania month and that means it’s time to pick things up in a hurry. Tonight that will be accomplished by having Steve Austin show up to confront the Rock, who called him out last week for winning Superstar of the Decade. Other than that we’re going to start the build to HHH vs. Booker T. for the Raw World Title, which certainly won’t get really uncomfortable in a hurry. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: February 17, 2003
Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home Raw for No Way Out and thankfully Scott Steiner vs. HHH II doesn’t feel like it’s anywhere near the biggest thing on the show anymore. Unfortunately what is the biggest story on this show is the chance that Steve Austin will be here on Sunday, which leaves a bunch of talking and nothing to see building up to the show. Let’s get to it.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are taped from Glen Falls, New York, the home of Hacksaw Jim Duggan!
–Vince McMahon discusses the events of WrestleMania XI, aided by pictures of the event. McMahon reveals that Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow, WWF Champion Diesel successfully defended his title, and Owen Hart won the tag team titles with his new partner Yokozuna.
–McMahon and Jim Cornette are doing commentary and they are live from Poughkeepsie, New York. Cornette compares the return of Yokozuna to the return of Michael Jordan.
–A video package quickly highlights the various WrestleMania’s. It is notable that celebrities are emphasized in this package instead of wrestlers, partly due to the fact that Hulk Hogan, competing in WCW, was in the main event of most of them.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are live from Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford Civic Center is probably the worst WrestleMania venue in history since it lacks the history and size of its predecessors and successors. Its selection is an illustration of the problems that the company was experiencing the mid-1990s.
Sunday Night Slam was a show that the company aired a couple of times in 1994 and one time in 1995. It served as a lead-in for big pay-per-view events like SummerSlam and Survivor Series and tried to entice fans to buy the shows by showcasing the major feuds and angles in various matches. It was not quite a Clash of the Champions concept that WCW was using but it did provide the company with additional exposure on USA Network outside of its usual timeslots for Monday Night RAW, WWF Mania, and The Action Zone. Later on, the name of the show would be used to hype other pay-per-view events before the Free for All was created in January 1996, but it never again featured original matches.
–Vince McMahon and Jim Ross are doing commentary for the event. The matches were taped along with several episodes of Monday Night RAW on March 13 in Stockton, California.
–Todd Pettengill narrates a video package to hype today’s Shawn Michaels-Adam Bomb main event. The package makes no mention of their encounter a month ago on Superstars.
–Jim Ross and Pettengill are in the booth and they are concluding the tapings in North Charleston, West Virginia.
–Doink and Bam Bam Bigelow cut promos on each other for today’s feature match. Doink says he is going to win and let Lawrence Taylor know all of Bigelow’s secrets. Bigelow rebuts that he thought he got rid of Doink for good at WrestleMania X but will finish things today.
–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are doing commentary and they are still taped from North Charleston, West Virginia.
