Last updated 15 June 2003
WWE 2003 Bad Blood from Houston TX
15 June 2003
Short version
- Nowinski & Rodney Mack over Dudley Boyz
- Scott Steiner over Test for Stacy
- Booker T over Christian
- La Resistance over RVD/Kane
- Goldberg over Chris Jericho
- Ric Flair over Shawn Michaels
- HHH over Kevin Nash
Hack-Man Report of the PPV
Here's my review of the latest outing from WWE (WrestleMania), based
on "how much money was this match worth?" At the end, I add it all
up and see if the PPV as a whole was worth the sum of its matches.
This was the lowest turnout at the sports bar I think I've ever seen for a PPV. That's weird, since I think the guy collecting cover charge collected more than for just about any other PPV (because he stayed at the door instead of wandering away and letting people get in for free).
I didn't see Sunday Night Heat, and only saw the last minute or so of the PPV Preview channel's hype, so I don't know if there was anything there that would have added to the PPV experience.
1. Nowinski & Rodney Mack over Dudley Boyz in 7:08
This should not have been on a PPV. No promo (or commentary) by Teddy Long. They should have booked a women's match and put this thing on Heat instead. Nowinski took off the nose-guard and tried to use it but Dudley countered. Nowinski eventually did hit Bubba with the mask for the win.
MATCH RATING: $0.25
Steve Austin defeated Eric Bischoff in a burping contest, even though they piped in someone else's burp for the last of Austin's three attempts. It didn't help that they turned the sound all the way up as well (so when Eric was clearing his throat it echoed throughout the arena).
RATING: $0.15 (only because Terri was nipping out)
2. Scott Steiner over Test for Stacy in 6:27
Steiner blew the very first move (he tried to jump off the apron onto Test, but he slipped and fell forward onto the outside mats instead). That didn't bode well for the rest of the match. Test shoved Stacy down when she tried to take a chair from him. He swung the chair at Steiner, but Steiner moved and the chair bounced into Test's own face leading to the pin.
MATCH RATING: $0.15
3. Booker T over Christian (who kept the title by getting DQed)
Your basic "bury the hometown guy" match. Yeah he "won", but in the lamest way possible. This should have been *so* much better.
MATCH RATING: $0.20
Like I said last Monday, they'd work Mae Young (and/or Moolah--but they usually go for Mae in these types of things) into the poontang pie contest. My booking scenario was to have SCSA pick Mae Young for Eric's "pie". Bisch would counter by picking Debra as SCSA's "pie". SCSA would say "you wanna trade?" Bisch would say "no". Anyway, Bisch had four Houston strippers there for the contest, but since Eric said he wanted to go first, SCSA said he got to choose Eric's pie. Eric agreed, since all four were fine. As expected, SCSA picked Mae Young (accompanied by Moolah). After great facial expressions from both Eric and SCSA (and MAe, for that matter) Eric said "no way". SCSA said that then he would win by forfeit, and they wouldn't need a third event. Eric said he would do it and kissed Mae. SCSA said "that's not pie--you just kissed her". Eric fell into the corner and Mae stripped down to her underwear and did the bronco-buster on Bisch. That was something I really didn't need to see. Luckily the guy in front of me had his head blocking the screen for the most part. Bisch said that it was SCSA's turn, and Steve said he would just forfeit. So he stunnered Mae (who didn't take it that good).
RATING: $0.90
4. La Resistance over RVD/Kane in 5:48
Kane's pyro went off at the beginning of the match, signaling that they wouldn't win. Finish came when RVD flipped over the top rope to hit La R, but Kane got hit instead. Yawn.
MATCH RATING: $0.20 (all for RVD)
5. Goldberg over Chris Jericho in 11:00
This was the first match of the card that was better than I expected. Either Goldberg hurt his right arm/shoulder, or he did the best job of consistently selling it for the remainder of the match. Goldberg juiced hardway from one or two places on the top of his head during the match. The highlight was when Goldberg went for a spear on the outside but Jericho moved and Bill speared through the safety barrier instead. No real rest holds in an 11-minute Goldberg match? Wow.
MATCH RATING: $3.00
After the match, Goldberg went up to a guy in the front row who was wearing a Winnie the Pooh outfit (Tigger, Punisher, and Superman were next to him) and yelled at him for having a Jericho-holic sign. Pooh didn't back down. Pooh is my new hero. This was doubly funny, since I was at an indie card last year in Minneapolis where there was a guy drunk off his ass who was wearing the same Winnie the Pooh outfit.
RATING: $1.00
6. Ric Flair over Shawn Michaels in 14:19
Flair (shirtless) got in his chops on several occasions, did a slo-mo Flair Flip over the turnbuckle, and won with help from Randy Orton. I expected Michaels to go over (despite it being from Texas). Very good match from both guys. Not either guy's best match, but considering how infrequently Michaels has wrestled and how old Flair is--this was much better than the first four matches combined. Both Flair and Michaels juiced hardway from a table spot. Michaels set up a table on the outside, put Flair on it, and jumped off the top turnbuckle. HBK was cut under his left arm and Flair was bleeding from the back of his head/neck. HBK and the ref both got a groin shot from Flair in the corner earlier.
MATCH RATING: $3.00
The third Redneck contest was a singing contest. I predicted that SCSA would lip-synch with Lillian Garcia singing behind him (since he already lip-synched the belching contest). Instead, Eric lip-synched to his own theme song. SCSA called him on it, so Eric sung his own theme song. He did okay for an amateur. SCSA said that he wouldn't be able to do any better. That sounded like a forfeit to me, but SCSA said that they would spin the wheel for a fourth event. He spun the wheel and stopped it himself on the pig pen match. Austin threw Bischoff into a hog pen to win the Redneck Triathlon 2-1
RATING: $0.60
7. HHH over Kevin Nash in 21:02
Before the opening bell I predicted triple blood. Since it started at about 15 past the hour, I didn't think anyone would blade until 15 minutes into the match, so they wouldn't get light-headed in what was set to be a 30-minute match. For some reason, the PPV ended after only about two and a half hours, so all three men bladed early. No one escaped the cage. No one climbed the cage. Other than a few spots of people getting pushed into the cage--it wasn't really used at all. HHH found a tool box under the ring and used a hammer on Nash to set up the first blade job. Then he brought in a screwdriver. Later, a (rubber) barbed-wire 2x4 was brought out from under the ring, used on Nash's gut, and then over various people's heads. HHH won with a pedigree. Better match than I really expected from Nash/HHH.
MATCH RATING: $2.95
TOTAL MATCH RATINGS: $9.75
TOTAL SKIT RATING: $2.65
TOTAL PPV RATING: $12.40
WWE price of the PPV: $39.99? Or are the non-Mania PPVs still $34.99? Either way, I didn't my money's worth.
I spent about $3.90 in gas and $28.00 on food and booze, so by that token I didn't get my money's worth either.
This was the worst of the three PPVs I've seen this year, but I went into it expecting it to be bad (since none of the PPVs after WM looked good on paper).
Thanks to CRZ and pwTorch for the match results, so I didn't have to
scribble down notes instead of enjoying the PPV.
A rating of $12.40 comes out to a .310 rating on the zero to one scale, or a 4 on the one to ten scale.
For comparison, here's what I thought of the PPVs I saw in the last
couple of years:
WWF Wrestlemania 1998 1998/03/ unrated
WCW Spring Stampede 1998 1998/04/19 $24.10
WWF IYH: Unforgiven 1998 1998/04/26 $ 9.95
WCW Slamboree 1998 1998/05/17 $27.95
WCW Great American Bash 1998 1998/06/14 $28.05
WWF King of the Ring 1998 1998/06/28 $22.50
WCW Bash at the Beach 1998 1998/07/12 $17.35
ECW Heatwave 1998 1998/08/02 $24.90
WCW Road Wild 1998 1998/08/08 $29.80
WWF IYH: Fully Loaded 1998 1998/07/26 $ 6.95
WWF SummerSlam 1998 1998/08/30 $10.20
WCW Fall Brawl 1998 1998/09/13 $23.60
WWF Judgement Day 1998 1998/10/18 $25.10
WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 1998/10/25 $49.50
ECW November to Remember 1998 1998/11/01 $25.75
WWF Survivor Series 1998 1998/11/15 $21.40
WWF IYH: Rock Bottom 1999 1998/12/13 $ 8.40
ECW Guilty as Charged 1999 1999/01/10 $26.10
WCW Souled Out 1999 1999/01/17 $29.10
WWF Royal Rumble 1999 1999/01/24 $23.00
WWF St Val Day Massacre 1999 1999/02/14 $20.90
WCW SuperBrawl 1999 1999/02/21 $21.35
WCW Uncensored 1999 1999/03/14 $32.00
ECW Living Dangerously 1999 1999/03/21 $25.90
WCW Spring Stampede 1999 1999/04/11 $38.00
WCW Slamboree 1999 1999/05/09 $21.10
ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 1999/05/09 $15.30
WWF King of the Ring 1999 1999/06/27 $13.40
WCW Bash at the Beach 1999 1999/07/11 $20.70
WWF Fully Loaded 1999 1999/07/25 $10.80
WCW Road Wild 1999 1999/08/14 $13.90
WWF SummerSlam 1999 1999/08/22 $19.05
WCW Fall Brawl 1999 1999/09/12 $12.85
ECW Ararchy Rulz 1999 1999/09/19 $32.25
WWF No Mercy 1999 1999/10/17 $13.00
WCW Halloween Havoc 1999 1999/10/24 $ 3.35
ECW November to Remember 1999 1999/11/07 $28.45
WWF Survivor Series 1999 1999/11/14 $10.95
WCW Meyhem 1999 1999/11/21 $17.75
WWF Armageddon 1999 1999/12/12 $22.05
WCW Starrcade 1999 1999/12/19 $23.65
ECW Guilty as Charged 2000/01/09 $25.70
WCW Souled Out 2000/01/16 $13.20
WWF Royal Rumble 2000/01/23 $20.00
WWF No Way Out 2000/02/27 $16.95
ECW Living Dangerously 2000/03/12 $21.80
WCW Uncensored 2000/03/19 $21.65
WWF WrestleMania 2000/04/02 $22.05
WCW Spring Stampede 2000/04/16 $23.70
WWF Backlash 2000/04/30 $25.65
WCW Slamboree 2000/05/07 $23.55
ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000/05/14 $23.05
WWF Judgment Day 2000/05/21 $11.25
WCW Great American Bash 2000/06/11 $16.55
WWF King of the Ring 2000/06/25 $ 1.40
WCW Bash at the Beach 2000/07/09 missed
ECW Heat Wave 2000/07/16 $15.50
WWF Fully Loaded 2000/07/23 $24.40
WCW New Blood Rising 2000/08/13 $31.00
WWF SummerSlam 2000/08/27 $24.90
WCW 2000/09/17 missed
WWF Unforgiven 2000/09/24 $16.65
ECW Anarchy Rulz 2000/10/01 $21.30
ECW 2000/11/ missed
WWF Survivor Series 2000/11/ missed
ECW Massacre on 34th Street 2000/12/03 $ 9.65
WWF 2000/12/ missed
ECW Guilty As Charged 2001/01/07 $15.70
WWF 2001/01/ missed
WCW Superbrawl Revenge 2001/02/18 $37.60
WCW Greed 2001/03/ missed
WWF WrestleMania 2001/04/01 $29.50
WWF 2001/05/ missed
WWF King of the Ring 2001/06/24 $16.55
WWF Invasion 2001/07/22 $15.25
WWF SummerSlam 2001/08/ missed
WWF 2001/09/ missed
WWF 2001/10/ missed
WWF Survivor Series 2001/11/18 $11.25
WWF Royal Rumble 2002/01/20 $14.15
WWF No Way Out 2002/02/17 $ 3.40
WWF WrestleMania 2002/03/17 $25.30/$36.40
WWF King of the Ring 2002/06/23 $ 6.55/$10.15
NWA TNA 2002/08/14 $11.60/$12.20
WWF SummerSlam 2002/08/25 $21.10/$21.10
WWF Unforgiven 2002/09/22 $17.50/$21.15
WWF No Mercy 2002/10/20 $16.85/$20.00
WWF Survivor Series 2002/11/17 $ 7.50/$9.20
WWF Royal Rumble 2003/01/19 $19.55/$19.55
WWF WrestleMania XIX 2003/03/30 $22.55/$23.45
WWF Bad Blood 2003/06/15 $ 9.75/$12.40
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