9 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2003

Let us try again, close your eyes, think of something from 2003 in WWE, I'll give you a second, and my guess will be you just drew a blank. It really is such an odd year, and I think a big reason for this is because, for one reason or another, Vince McMahon decided to steer clear of some obvious huge matches. I would guess in some form or fashion, the backstage political game was getting in the way. What else can we learn if you do sit down and binge watch WWE from decades ago? I'm Simon Miller, I've just done that, and I'm gonna tell ya. 9. The Stupid Chris Jericho Easter Egg So this one is a bit silly, but it does open your eyes instantly as to how much has changed in wrestling. During the first show of the year, WWE put on Chris Jericho and Christian vs. RVD and Kane, and when it's time for announcer Jerry Lawler to describe all this, he says, you know what, that's going to be a dynamite main event. Ha ha, cue laughter. Now, of course, AEW wasn't even a thought in anybody's mind all this time ago, but if you're a nerd like me, you will notice it, and the next step is for your brain to realize that not only is Jericho in AEW, but Christian is there, and to a smaller degree, so is RVD. Or at least that's as of me talking. Chris Jericho has likely by now gone back to WWE. Lawler is also sitting next to Jim Ross, who also went to All Elite Wrestling, and then there's Kane. I mean, he became a politician, but let's not talk about that. I only mention it because the equivalent would be getting to 2047, and seeing Wade Barrett in some promotion that is yet to exist as Bron Breakker headlines. I mean, that sounds ridiculous now, but that's what anybody would have said back in 2003 too. Chris Jericho ain't going to go anywhere else. Well, let's double back around to this in a couple of decades. 8. The weird coming together of eras 2nd of June, Monday Night Raw, Evolution face Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, and The Hurricane, and if that hasn't already made your eyebrow raise, it should start twitching now. It means Randy Orton and Shane Helms are duking it out with Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash. That does make sense when you think about it, but at first, it really does feel like the coming together of two totally different generations. Triple H is there as well, but it kind of feels like he's always around. And do not forget Orton was being pitched as the guy in 2003. I always liked to think the Hurricane was on that list too. And while the gimmick was great, it did kind of feel like it had a ceiling. He was very good mind. You even get the superhero posing with a heartbreak kid. And again, Michaels wrestled for years after this. So I don't really know why I was so surprised. I guess I just never had it in my head, especially them teaming together. so yeah all kind of ties in 2003 really was a strange old 12 months number seven scott steiner doesn't work out or does he of course i don't mean literally scott steiner clearly goes to the gym now overall i actually think this is quite a shame because when people do think back to scott steiner's time in wwe they get a sad face and i get that the dude was a huge deal in 2003 he most definitely should have been part of the invasion angle but that's a whole different video but to be fair if you do go back and watch it today, I don't think it's as bad as we remember, or maybe the discourse that it created after the fact. Now, it is ridiculous for me to say out loud, but I was so jacked, ironically, to see him and Triple H do a bodybuilder pose down. Everybody in the stands loves this guy. Big Papa Pump was getting pops all over the place, and his promo work was as unhinged as ever, but it did allow him to stand out. You just eventually do get to those matches at the Raw Rumble and No Way Out, and they're all just a bit meh. And they're not awful. Scott is just struggling with a foot injury and it does kind of feel like Steiner and Triple H well maybe they just don't like each other he did not flop as a superstar attraction however once again people were desperate to see him and early on in the year i think he's actually the most popular dude on the roster wwe most definitely needed that in 2003 and the debut itself is flipping awesome it just runs out of steam so fast although there are a lot of different attributes to blame a lot of people point the finger at scott i think that's true number six the unmasking of kane some will say this was needed live and in person in 2003 sure i get it kane definitely needed a creative shake up but in hindsight i think we should have just taken him off tv for a while or essentially pull an undertaker this wasn't on the cards though so yeah we did what wrestling always does because it removed the mask from the mask guy i mean don't forget the dead man version of the undertaker returned a year after this, which was done for the exact same reason. How do we freshen these characters up? We've basically done everything else. I think the real problem was that 2002 had seen the Big Red Machine dragged through the mud because he had to be in that Katie Vick story, and that essentially ended everything that the old persona was. I mean, we had humanized him and basically made him a joke. Why bother keeping the mask on? We've already admitted the original backstory was a lie. I mean, there are no burns. Without those constraints, though, WWE absolutely went to town and a decade later for example we had corporate cane with a big old mug it was ridiculous removing the so-called hood did make him feel like more of a freak though which was exactly the idea so i still didn't like it but sure i understand i mean before this wwe really had no idea what to do with him remember that time he used a voice box and then he stopped using a voice box. Let's move on. Number five, the co-general managers. Something fascinating about 2003 in general is the use of Steve Austin. He retired quietly at WrestleMania 19, but WWE were never going to ignore him. It was Stone Cold, he was still the biggest draw they had. Nobody could have had a proper plan, however, because somebody decided, well you know, he did used to have beef with former WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff, so why can't those two be co-general managers? Like we're trying to script some kind of sitcom, and they do have a ton of fun together and you can see that they're enjoying themselves and we certainly get some moments, but after a while it sort of becomes a way to fill TV time, and the constant teasing of a match just wasn't needed. That was never going to happen for all the reasons we just talked about. also, it would just be Steve Austin versus Eric Bischoff. We'd seen that before. That's kind of just a gimmick. Now, Austin was great because without the pressure of wrestling, he can just be so over-the-top funny, but maybe the transition just happened too fast and it didn't really have an end goal. So I wouldn't call it bad, it's just jarring, because a lot of Raw in 2003 is them arguing as the wrestlers sort stand around waiting to deal with the consequences. I suppose WWE was as blindsided as the rest of us because in January, nobody thought Austin was going to be done in ring in a couple of months. But yeah, could we have used Stone Cold Steve Austin a lot better than this? I do believe the answer is yes. Number four, Goldberg actually does better than people say. Now, something must have gone wrong here because between 2003 and 2004, Goldberg hated being in WWE and WWE didn't really like him being there. They just did not see eye to eye at all. When you go through the whole run though here's a couple of words to change the narrative it was fine massive matches against the rock and triple h are given suitable hype and he does go and win the world heavyweight title i'm sure politics went to ruin that one but he still gets there which dare i say it is exactly what the fans wanted i mean making bill do long ww main events and selling wasn't smart but even these aren't horrible before all of that too goldberg is squashing a bunch of dudes too so you know they kind of did do it ultimately it was when we did go too far for example making him wear a wig and the obvious poor relationship which brings all this down i tell you though if you come up to me right now and say simon do you think this run was better than goldberg in wcw 2000 absolutely i do I mean that one was genuinely horrendous dare I say embarrassing in fact one idea they put out there I won't even repeat on this video because it was so stupid that's Vince Russo's problem you know what let's talk about it another time number three Raw does become WCW and not that it's bad but at the same time some of the main players on Monday Night Raw are Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and Goldberg so it basically becomes Nitro SmackDown also has Hulk Hogan doing his thing which means 2003 is more invasion than the 2001 invasion which is two plus two equals potato the only difference is that nobody is waging war against WWE and yes you know the deal with all of that it was rushed and silly. It was kind of inevitable because as WWE wanted to inject life into the product they went with the old established stars as opposed to building fresh talent. However because they'd never really been on WWE TV before that kind of made them feel individual and unique or something. Now there's pros and cons to all of that but go and watch the whole year now if you want to be a massive nerd. They are all over the thing. By the end of 2003 you'll actually be a little bit mad. If only we had brought them in 2001 or you know just held off the invasion angle until we could pull the trigger. I will never understand why we had to do this in Fast Forward. Number two, the ignored match. Now, this will sound nuts at first, but I do believe at one point WWE clearly thought about doing Vince McMahon versus Kane, and then they just didn't. I mean, the Big Red Machine tombstoned wife Linda on the 21st of July Raw, and their following week actually had a stare down with the boss. Now, WWE rarely does that without a plan, and incredibly too, Vince was the babyface, and fans bought into all that. Wrestling's nuts, As I'm sure you remember, we then pivoted to Shane McMahon instead, who was going to defend his mother's honor. And eventually, somebody had their testicles electrocuted. I'm sure some of you think I'm joking. I am not. Look at the screen. The way it kind of does go all down, though, suggests that Shane was one part of this, but Vince was definitely the other. McMahon was having a lot of big matches around this time, too. He would face Brock Lesnar, Zach Gowen, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, and his daughter, Stephanie McMahon. Maybe that's why he didn't do it. He filled up his bump card. Shane and Kane was totally fine as well, all things considered. And also, that does rhyme, so maybe that's why WWE did it. You can't argue against a rhyme. Number one, sadness. Because of the amount of teases WWE did do in 2003. It's sort of hilarious because in later years, the word was always that if Vince McMahon could not pay off a story on TV, he wasn't even going to suggest it. Well, you go back a few decades. Nope, not here at all. Because come the 12th of May, things start to really get tense between Bill Goldberg and Steve Austin. and surprise, surprise, fans thought this was the final coming together of the Attitude Era's biggest stars. They have a proper stare-off too, and you could feel the buzz in the room, but nope, I guess it was just down for TV ratings because nothing was coming. I would imagine the creative team just felt like they couldn't ignore it, because how do you have Bill and Stone Cold under the same roof and act like they wouldn't clash at some point? So I can understand it, but the fact we never got this fight properly, it just feels wrong i tell you this was the match it also goes to show that 2003 was just trying to grab whatever they could but if they could hint at something which could spark interest well they'd basically go and do it there's more matches you can tie in as well because when paul heyman and austin did this on the stone cold podcast a decade later to pretend we were getting steve austin versus Brock Lesnar Vince McMahon allegedly went nuts that it's not on the cards so don't you dare act like it is well they just copied you vince so if you do need a life lesson in short never trust professional wrestling.