Rating: Summary: Decent PPV Review: -Brock Lesnar vs Big Show The winner of this match would get the 30th and final spot in the Royal Rumble (not necessarily the 30th position, but a spot). Typical big man match, lots of powerhouse moves, not past paced at all. Obvious ending to the match, but it was watchable. ***/*****-Lance Storm and William Regal (c) vs Dudley Boyz For the World Tag Team Championship. I don't really like any of these four guys, but they put on a heck of a match. Four guys with four completely different styles, a lot of times that doesn't work out to a good match, but this was great. ***/***** -Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie A stepdaughter vs stepmother match. Dear lord, what did we do to deserve this? At the time, Torrie wasn't good in the ring at all (she has since gotten better) and Dawn is just rolling around like she has no clue how she got in there in the first place! Terrible match. */***** -HHH (c) vs Scott Steiner For the World Heavyweight Championship. As you can see from my name, I'm a big Steiner fan, but this match was flat out horrible. Steiner had been away from wrestling for a while, and he comes back. He has a tremendous body, but he was out of shape. There was constant slow downs in the match to give Steiner some time to rest, and he did about ten belly-to-belly suplexs. He went into that match as the fan favorite, but came out with a ton of boos. **/***** Kurt Angle (c) vs Chris Benoit Match of the year 2003, in my opinion. Two great wrestlers hooking it up. After years in the business, Benoit has a chance to be on top. Great technical match, which is something not seen a whole lot today, lots of reversals, submission holds. They could turn it up, but also slow it down and still have it be an amazing match. You'll be seeing this one on a classic network twenty years from now. *****/***** -The Royal Rumble It's kind of hard to enjoy something when you flat out know what the result of the match is going to be. Which was the case for this. However, that's not to say that it wasn't worth it. Many guys that are worthy to win the Royal Rumble, Jericho, Michaels, Kane, among a host of others. There were some mistakes made in there that were nicely covered up, but still noticable. Overall, I'd say it was the best Royal Rumble in the last four years, which isn't saying a lot. ***/*****
Rating: Summary: The Royal Rumble Review Review: The Royal Rumble is in BOSTON!!! That's what I like about it; but let's get to the matches. I'll make this as short and sweet as I can. Here we go! Match No.1: Brock Lesnar versus The Big Show with Paul Heyman This match was nice enough, but it's a little too much like the Survivor Series matchup but whose keeping score? I like Brock, Big Show I realy don't care about. Brock lifting the Big Show for an F5 was very nice. So I give this match 3/5 Match No.2: The Dudley Boyz versus Lance Storm and William Regal Don't get me wrong, this was was above average and I did like the tag team Storm and Regal are like them or not but YOU HAVE TO LOVE THE DUDLEYS BEING BACK TOGETHER SINCE SURVIVOR SERIES!!!!! I had missed that tag team along with E&C and the Hardy Boyz. Anyway. Decent wrestling but pretty boring at the same time until the climax of the match. It was pointless becuase the Dudleyz lose the belts on the next night. They should have had a better ending if Lance & Regal were going to be Tag Champs longer. I give this match 2.75/5 Match No.3: Torrie Wilson versus Dawn Marie The reason I'm interested is becuase Torrie and Dawn are HOT!!! Sizziling Hot! I like the HLA segment at the hotel room. But other than that, I did not have any other interest in this match. It was corny but Torrie wins. Good for her. I give this "unneeded" match 2.25/5 Match no.4: Triple H with Ric Falir versus Scott Steiner Talk about some of the previous matches being lacking of action, this is a suckfest!!!! That's right you heard me...SUCKFEST!!!! At least Steiner didn't win. Scott was like Superman at the beginning and end. He needs to stay away from them steroids. I give this match 1/5 Worst Matchon the card! Match no.5: Kurt Angle versus Chris Benoit FINALLY, A FIVE-STAR MATCUP! Angle and Benoit are the best wrsetlers alive right now. This match was the real deal. They kicked out of eachother's moves, traded and countered holds, and other great wrestling inbetween. Benoit kicking out of 2 Angle Slams. That's how bad Benoit wants to be champion. But that match had to end somewhere and it has a fantastic ending. Definitely among the top 10 matches of 2003 in my opinion. Loved that matchup. At least this Pay-Per-View has one good match. I give this match 5/5. Best Match on the card! Match no.6: THE ROYAL RUMBLE Match (I've wrote alot so I'll make this quick) This match was good and...well...the ending was too predictable because the winner of the 1st match was surely going to win again. But overall, I liked it for awhile. The Taker's return wasn't as great as I thought it was. They;ve been show commericals of UT's old gimmich. I WANTED THE OLD UNDERTAKER!! But a return is a return. Brock won after eliminating Team ANGLE (Charlie Hass & Shelton Benjamin), Matt Hardy V.1, and finally The undertaker. Anyway tho end this review, I give this 4/5 The average score is 3/5 Decent PPV, buy it if you want.
Rating: Summary: Pretty good Review: This DVD was good, but not the best Royal Rumble. Let's get to the matches. Winner Advances to Royal Rumble Match - Brock Lesner vs. Big Show. This match was pretty good, I think it was better than their match at Survivor Series, since they had more time in this match. But Brock showed his power and Big Show did the same, and it ended with Brock hitting the F5 to advance. ***(out of 5 stars) World Tag Team Titles - Un-Americans vs. Dudleyz. This match was ok, but I say ok because it was kinda sloppy. I'm sure both teams could of done a better job, and for that I give it **. Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie. Do you think this match was good? I didn't think so. This match only lasted like 3 minutes, and was boring. DUD World Heavyweight Title - Triple H vs. Scott Steiner. Ya know I had heard from just about everyone that this match was horrible, and I thought to myself nah it can't be that bad. Well I watched it, and you guys were more right than ever. This match was almost as bad as Torrie vs. Dawn. It was 20 minutes of nothing but clotheslines, punches, & Belly to Belly Suplexes(which Steiner did about 8 of). It ended in DQ, which kinda pissed me off, since I went thru 20 minutes of nothing. ** WWE Championship - Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit. If it wasnt for this match, I'd give this ppv about 2 stars, or 1 star, but this match saved the show. It's close to the end of 2003, and this match was probably the greatest match of the year. These men put on a match like you wouldn't believe. If you've seen these two in matches before, you can't blame me for bragging, but this was their greatest match together, and the greatest match this year. Benoit and Kurt are two of my fav. wrestlers, and this match explains why. Intensity, brutality, submissions, it's all here, and probably when I'm done reviewing this I'm gonna go watch this match since I havent watched it for a while. But this match is a classic, I bought this DVD only for this match. *****(if i could give more stars, I would) The Royal Rumble - We had some pretty interesting stuff happen in this match, like the Hardy Boyz encountering each other, Taker returning, etc. Personally, I was rooting for HBK or Jericho to win(or basically anyone but Brock, I just don't really like him), but it didn't happen. Brock won after sneaking up behind Taker and eliminating him. *** A pretty good DVD. This was a ok Royal Rumble, but contained the greatest WWE Championship match so far this year, the only reason I bought this DVD. If you're asking me on if ya should rent of buy this first, I'd say rent it, but for you Kurt or Benoit fans, buy this DVD for that WWE Championship Match. If ya want the best Royal Rumble, I'd say get RR 01, it was the best imo.
Rating: Summary: Not too bad... Review: While not as good as the 2002 Royal Rumble, the 2003 Royal Rumble still held it's ground in comparison to past Royal Rumble's. The card was decent with only one or two blemishes and the Rumble itself was decent, but not as good as the previous year's. Here's the card: Brock Lesnar vs The Big Show w/Paul Heyman:The Winner Advances to the Royal Rumble Match- Heyman had screwed Lesnar at the Survivor Series and helped the Big Show become WWE Champion. Now Lesnar was finally getting his hands on The Big Show after costing the Big Show the title to Kurt Angle at Armageddon. The novelty of someone manhandling the Big Show the way Lesnar does had yet to subside when this match took place. Overall, it was a decent match and it was kept short as to not expose any of the Big Show's weaknesses. Not as good as their Survivor Series match, but still a decent Big Show match. I give it 7 out of 10 stars. Lance Storm and William Regal vs. The Dudley Boyz for the World Tag Team Championship-The Dudley Boyz are always involved in a tag title match at the Royal Rumble. In 2000 the fought the hardyz. At the 2001 RR they fought Edge and Christian and at the 2002 RR they fought Spike Dudley and Tazz. The Dudleyz had been trying to get their hands on the tag team championships since they reunited at the Survivor Series and this looked to be the night that they would finally get their chance. The only problem with this match is what happened the next night on RAW, which pretty much made this match pointless. Nonetheless a somewhat decent match, I give this one 7 out of 10 as well. Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie in a "Stepdaughter vs. Stepmother" match- IF they're going to put a women's match on a ppv it should be a Women's Title match. However, this was before Torrie Wilson's Playboy spread so they were trying to get her some more exposure. Thankfully, this match was kept short as it should be, but with an obvious outcome this match is hampered. 5 out of 10 stars. Triple H w/Ric Flair vs Scott Steiner for the World Heavyweight Championship- Whenever anyone talks about the 2003 Royal Rumble they talk about how horrible this match is and they may be right. However, when I watch a match with Scott Steiner in it I don't expect a technical match. I have never watched a Scott Steiner match and gone "Man what an awesome match." With that said Steiner is not what he used to be. He has lost a step he seems almost as slow as Hogan when he is in the ring. Couple that with the fact that HHH was also coming off of an injury and you have the makings of a stinker. I give it 6 out of 10 stars. Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship- Any match with Benoit and Angle is a classic and this is no exception. Benoit is probably one of if not the greatest technical wrestler in the world right now. The only thing that he is missing is a Heavyweight Championship around his waist. It's too bad that this is not his night. Still, the match is off the charts. I could try and do justice describing it, but it would not do it justice. 10 out of 10 stars. Royal Rumble Match 15 Wrestlers from RAW and 15 Wrestlers from Smackdown-Am I the only one that dislikes how the WWE has been announcing who is in the Rumble? It kind of throws off the suprise of who is coming out next and any potential suprise returns. The Rumble itself is good. I actually like the openeing swerve with Jericho,HBK and Christian. An obvious ending hampers this from being a great Rumble. 8 out of 10 stars. The dvd itself comes with some nice extras. A bonus match from RAW and a number of promos hyping the actual event.
Rating: Summary: Better Then Expected Review: The WWE present their annual pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble, this past January, and it's now available on DVD. Featured matches include Triple H defending his title against Scott Steiner, Kurt Angle defending against Chris Benoit, and the Royal Rumble Match where superstars enter the ring every 90 seconds. The show was average by WWE standards, with a pair of pretty good title matches. The Steiner-Triple H match was far better then many give it credit for, and the Benoit-Angle match was off the charts as expected. The Rumble Match started off great, with Jericho lasting for over 40 minutes, but it did have some slow spots to it. At one point over twelve men were in the ring, which is too much for a Rumble. The choices for the final four in the ring was somewhat surprising, but the winner wasn't. It had a very anti-climactic ending. As for the extras, the WWE loaded this DVD in my opinion. It featured a match from Raw six days before the event, several pre and post-match interviews, two Confidential segments, and several Royal Rumble commercials. Overall, this is an excellent DVD for WWE fans, despite being an average event.
Rating: Summary: this is one of the top 5 wrestling PPV's Review: Brock Lesner vs. Big Show wasn't a good match it was to short it wasn't a good match. 4/10 Dudley Boyz vs. Lance storm and William Regal was a short match but it was worth watching. 7/10 Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie wasn't a good match and ist'n worth watching. 3/10 Triple H vs. Scott Steiner kinda made the PPV go bad and Scott would have won but Ric Flair had to interfere. 3/10 Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit save the PPV from Scott Steiner vs. HHH and should be called match of the year. 10/10 The Royal Rumble was one of the best Royal Rumbles i ever saw through out my life. 10/10
Rating: Summary: it was ok Review: Royal Rumble 2003 wasn't bad nor great. It was just right. I will review and rate each match. Winner Advances to the royal rumble match: Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show This was better than there survivor series match. It wasn't great though. 6/10 World Tag team Championship: Lance Storm and William Regal vs. Dudley Boyz This a good match. It was better than I thought it would be. 8/10 Step Mother vs. Step Daughter match: Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie This absolutely .... It was terrible. Probably the worst match in history. 0/10 World Heavyweight Championship: Triple H. vs. Scott Steiner This also has be a candidate for worst amtch ever. It wasslow and boring. It also had the worst ending ever. 0/10 WWE Championship Match: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit This was the best match on the card. It was one of the greatest matches of all time. 1000000/10 Royal Rumble Match: This was a good rumble. It just .. how fast shawn michaels was eliminated. Oh well good match. 9/10 Overall it was okay but angle/bemoit and the rumble are the only matches worth it oh and the tag team match
Rating: Summary: I would suggest merely renting it unless... Review: ...unless you got the video for like 5 or 10 bucks like I did at Half Price Books. This way I don't have to exchange an arm and a leg for such a video, or all my limbs to get cable and actually watch in on PPV. Believe me, the WWE has been much better than this. I try to be nice, but that doesn't mean I will not be critical. I have to be, to look at Royal Rumble 2003 for what it is. To begin with, the awesome theme song by Trust Company is not used often enough or effectively. That band is headed for the top; if you've heard the song, "Falling Apart," you'll know what I'm talking about. The first match on the card is Brock Lesnar and Big Show. I don't think there was any speculation necessary. Big Show's talent lies in being big and powerful, not athletic or particularly skilled. But Brock makes him look good by scoring great moves on him. In the process to give Brock ANOTHER push, they have him win with a mediocre-looking F5, and he goes on to the rumble match. Then we are, um, treated to the Dudley Boyz vs. Lance Storm and William Regal for the tag titles. It's a RAW-brand match, and if the RAW show is usually this bad, I don't think I'll ever get cable as long as I live. The angle with Chief Morley (Val Venis?!) is ridiculous, and the match lacks teamwork or enthusiasm. Besides, the winning Dudleys get [cheated] the next night anyhow. Third is Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie, and you will be surprised when I assure you that this is NOT the worst match of the PPV! No, not even with the insulting, horrible storyline that dragged on for four hideous months, or the hilariously incompetent match itself. I cannot think up enough dispariaging adjectives to describe how bad this was, however. A 3 1/2 minute match that put the crowd to sleep. The WWE needs some real female wrestlers. Which these are not. Then there's the "anticipated" RAW Championship match in which Scott Steiner challenges Triple H. Let me do each man justice as I serve it to this horrible bout. First comes Scott Steiner. In the promo at the video's beginning he says, "tonight, Big Poppa Pump (Freakzilla) gets a chance to PROVE that he belongs in the main event at Wrestlemania!" Well, if Steiner proved anything, it was precisely the opposite. He surely does not belong in any main event in a PPV, and putting him in a Wrestlemania would be a shot to wrestling fans everywhere. Steiner is terrible in this match. He has no chemistry with Triple H. He delivers NINE belly-to-belly suplexes-I do not exaggerate like other people. I actually counted them. Plus he completely messes up an underhook powerbomb, which would probably have left me in tears of laughter had I not been rendered unable to move by this total sleeper of a match. And we can't count out Triple H for having been injured and not being able to put people over (Hulk Hogan has even admitted that he and Triple H have a lot in common; believe me, that says it all). He must have been hurting very badly here, maybe in the back area along with the initial injury from his return, which I know little about. But I think he should have waited longer to come back, because he wrestles like a total cripple in this match. To make it worse, the thing drags on for nearly 20 minutes and Triple H loses by DQ and keeps the title. Total letdown. The crowd actually started booing Steiner. And then the best match on the card saves the PPV from disgrace, just barely: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE Title. Both men are in their prime, and can wrestle amazingly well. Angle makes everyone look good, and Benoit returns the favor in an unprecedented performance. Just amazing. If not for that match, I would have rated this event lower than 3 stars. The rumble match is last. It's about 50 minutes to an hour. Chris Jericho does great and gets a huge knot on his head from a Kendo stick shot...a RAW guy called Chris Nowinski from Harvard who has JOBBER written all over his back takes one of the biggest bumps I've ever seen. Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr. get up on the turnbuckles and both leap on him at the same time; Mysterio's dropkick sends him down and Edge's boots rake right across his face: OUCH! But if you look at what the wrestlers are actually doing in the ring in between the entrances and big moves, they're basically just punching and kicking and doing some rather sloppy moves. Also John Cena's rap was unnecessary; he's going to ruin his career with this horrible gimmick. He can NOT rap, and he proves it successfully before he even gets in the ring. Worst lyrics since Ludi's "Welcome to Atlanta" song..and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're a lucky person. The only thing that spoiled it was the predictable ending. I mean, DUH, Brock Lesnar was going to win. Even though he doesn't deserve it, his skills are improving, and he made the most of it later. The crowd gives him a good pop, at least. I don't have the right to rate these matches since I'm not a professional critic or a fanatical, grizzled wrestling fan. But I am a guy with common sense who expects good stuff from wrestling videos. In this one, only Angle v. Benoit and the rumble actually delivered it. Like I said before, just rent it if you want to see it. Or buy it for 5 to 10 bucks, a practical impossiblity. I don't know how the video got in HPB in the first place...maybe some poor sap paid big money for it and then turned it in right after watching it.
Rating: Summary: Don't Say I didn't warn you Review: Reading the other reviews, you may be led to believe that the Royal Rumble 2003 was a good deal. No...no it isn't. Every match I rate is out of 5. Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar This was the second of a long list of Show/Lesnar matches. They had some cool moves in here, but it's nothing spectacular. Except the German Suplex was pretty cool. ** Raw Tag Titles William Regal & Lance Storm (c) vs. The Dudley Boyz Your typical Raw tag match. Nothing spectacular, or that I even remember. It was quite boring as both teams were quite stale. *1/2 Dawn Marie vs. Torrie Wilson For the poor saps who actually watched this 'match', I feel sorry for you. Wait...that would make me a sap as well. Oh well, the match was just under four minutes, and with the addition of airing the whole horrible feud they had before this match. I would say this could have been the worst feud of the year if it had actually ended in 2002, but I guess Vince thought that it was important to put this match on a PPV because everybody wanted to see it. Oh right, a -****. Yes, that's a minus four stars. Raw World Title Triple H (c) vs. Scott Steiner This is what bothered me the most about the other reviews. They didn't make fun of this match at all. Nor did they even say this match was bad...it was possibly the worst title match I have ever seen. The match had no flow, as it seemed like they were just doing move after move to each other. Steiner did about twelve belly to belly suplexes, and screwed up a powerbomb. If not for Ric Flair, the match would have dipped into minus five star territory. Both men were booed out of the building. -*** Smackdown World Title Kurt Angle (c) vs. Chris Benoit The best match of 2003 thus far. I can't believe how amazing this match was, and was defiantely the best these two have had. This would be the only reason to even RENT Royal Rumble. At the end the crowd give a huge standing ovation to Benoit who really deserved it. ***** Royal Rumble I usually enjoy Royal Rumbles, but this year was rather boring and sluggish. After Jericho was eliminated, you can turn the PPV off, nothing of interest happens. ** I rated this DVD a 2 because of the amazing Benoit-Angle match, and if you can find this for under 10 bucks, then I would tell you to buy it...other than that, don't bother. Keep your money for better wrestling PPVs.
Rating: Summary: Royal Rumble was predictable...but not a bad show Review: Royal Rumble 2003 was not a bad show, but it wasn't great. The show kicked off with a Royal Rumble qualifying match between Big Show and Brock Lesnar. This was not a bad match at all, but the whole angle was bad. Instead of having a qualifying match, both men should have been in the Royal Rumble itself to settle which would have been a great stage to settle the rivalry and fuel the hatred between Lesnar and Heyman. Anyway, Lesnar wins with the F5. The next match was for the World Tag-Team titles. Lance Storm and William Regal defended against The Dudley Boyz. I honestly didn't like having this match at the ppv. It was really only there because Raw needed another match at the ppv to go along with HHH and Steiner. THe Dudleyz win, but are screwed the next night on Raw by Morley. The whole angle between the Dudleyz and Morley sucked and never went anywhere. The next match was a dull stepmother versus stepdaughter match between Torrie and Dawn Marie. The storyline leading to this was horrendous and should not have lasted four freakin months. Torrie wins. Next up was a highly anticipated World Heavyweight title match betweeen Triple H and Scott Steiner. I did not know how this match would go but I did have a hunch that Trips would retain. That he did in a very slow-paced 30-minute blunderfest. For all those Triple H haters out there...look at what he has to put on a match with... Scott Steiner. This guy messed up so many times and looked clueless the whole match. The Boston crowd hated this guy(we know who to cheer here in MA). One of the worst title matches of all time, right up there with Hogan and Taker from the year before. The Rumble was okay, not nearly as good as some in the past. Lesnar won(didn't see that coming). They should have added another obstacle in Lesnar's path and have Big Show win the match via a screwjob leading to a rematch at No Way Out. Decent show...the one before it, Armageddon is better, and so is the one after it, No Way Out.
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