My review of the No Way Out 2003 DVD

[Guest AndrewTS]

Bravesfan already gave his thoughts on this DVD, but he was interested in my viewpoint. Plus, those who didn't see that post (I'm a regular poster and I somehow missed) may get a good idea of whether or not this is a worthy pick up for WWE DVD collections.

 

THE SHOW

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This isn't a show report, just a general overview of the matches.

 

Live from Montreal, Quebec (2-23-03)

 

1. Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho:

 

Good choice as an opener here. Jeff Hardy was playing the part of HBK's protege as the Jericho/HBK fued was heating up. Jeff looked pretty good here, pulling off most of his spots rather crispy, and even dusting the turnbuckle-to-top-rope springing moonsault, a plancha, and railrunner (missed, but he landed on his feet) for this match. Coach mentions that HBK is teaching Jeff how to "add substance" to his matches. I'll avoid the bad drug-use joke and just wonder why HBK isn't really used in such a fashion. A bit real-life tutelage could do Jeff...er, well, RVD I guess a lot of good. Best damn finish of the night, as Jericho blocks the Super Rana and POWERBOMBS Jeff center of the ring, and turns it into a Walls of Jericho. Jeff taps out--and hot damn, a clean Jericho win! Jericho doesn't let go, so HBK runs in post match (crowd boos) and saves Jeff. Christian runs in, and beat on HBK until he manages to fight back. Jericho retreats.

 

Probably the best Jeff Hardy match this year--or maybe even in the past year. Still, his last PPV match in WWE was a good one thanks in no small part to Chris Jericho. ***

 

Kurt in the locker room--he has a plan to give him and Team Angle a "head start" over their opponents in the 6 man tonight...

 

HHH and his wannabe Horsemen arrive--hey, Austin's truck!

 

 

2. WWE World Tag Team Championship Match: Storm and Regal vs. Kane and RVD

 

Montreal loves RVD, although the champs actually get some pops as well. Storm and RVD start out with a cool offensive exchange, making me miss their days of having good singles matches. Kane and Regal get tagged in--botched bodyslam by Kane (Regal has such lousy luck...) on Regal. Pretty good match--for a Raw. Finish involves Kane's mask being turned around backwards, and Storm shoving RVD into Kane--RVD gets chokeslammed, and pinned while Kane turns his mask around correctly. One would think this was to signal a breakup--3 months later, they're still teamed up. *shrug*<P>** for the match...I never liked the Regal/Storm tandem much and Kane just seems like a big red anchor on RVD, so your opinion may vary.

 

3. Cruiserweight Title Match: Kidman vs. Matt Hardy v. 1.

 

The deal here is that Matt Hardy allegedly has been losing weight to slim down to the Cruiserweight weight limit. He should have given Christian a call to see if he still had the chicken suit. It's OBVIOUS that Matt looks way too big to be in the division, but he has yet to be called on it. Billy's just plain ol' vanilla midget couldn't-draw-at-a-flea-market (credit: Hulk Hogan) but somehow is banging Torrie--Billy Kidman, and somehow has the Cruiser Title despite Noble being a far superior champion in every way. *shrug*

The finish involves Matt hitting the Twist of Fate--for TWO?! Kidman goes to the well once again for the Shooting Star, but Shannon grabs the leg, TOP ROPE TWIST OF FATE for the title!! **3/4 stars, and a very good match, although I don't know what good the Cruiser Title is really going to do for Matt (much like the World Tag titles, Matt's still champion as of this writing).

 

WHO RAN OVER EDGE!!--well, attacked, but there is absolutely no hint of what happened to Edge. So much for 6 man action (this was used to get Edge out of action for his neck surgery).

 

4. Undertaker vs. Big Show

 

This fued and even this match wasn't the worst thing ever. Interesting video package shows Taker thrown from the stage in slow motion. Do it again, Show! Do it again!! *Ahem* Sorry. Well, after Taker came back at the Rumble, Big Show was kept off TV (injury? I'm not sure), and Big Show tried to apologize, and after Spanky's telegram was answered with a Last Ride, Show tried various wooden crates of goodies for Undertaker. These included: Brother Love in a crate, telling Taker to forgive Show (Tombstoned); Chris Kanyon singing Culture Club (I missed that episode, but you can guess what Taker does); and--a puppy? Taker smashes another crate, but Big Show jumps him. Up until that point it was my favorite Big Show fued ever.

 

The match itself isn't so bad, as actual psychology is employed as Show works the back to prevent the already unlikely Chokeslam or Last Ride. Tazz hypes up how Taker has been altering his style (subtle hint), and after Taker fails to hit his signature moves, he makes Show pass out with a Triangle Choke. *, because they certainly tried enough though it was as slow as you'd expect.

 

5. Team Angle and Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar.

 

Turns out Stephanie offered Benoit and Brock a chance at having a tag partner of their choice replace Edge--they say know. Badasses, they are. Kurt dodges Brock as much as possible in the match, while Team Angle does what they do best--bump and get their asses kicked. For the finish, Brock hits the F-5 on Angle as Haas taps to the Crossface. Benoit gets to win the match for his team? Cool. I question why the tag titles were going to be put on Team Angle if they're just going to be Brock's bitches, but this still was a damn good match, best of the night. ***1/4 easily.

 

6. The Big Gold World Title o' Raw Match: Steiner...Trips...II!! The biggest rematch--oh, not this one.

 

This match blew, but the way the crowd reacted makes it worth viewing. Not as funny-bad as the Rumble match. Belt shot and Pedigree wins the match for Triple Haitch. Steiner was shunted back down to the midcard which is more than he deserves.

 

Morely and Bisch plot until Vince visits--anyone who interferes in the Austin/Bisch match is FIIIIIIIRED!!

 

7. Eric Bischoff vs. Steve Austin

 

Bischoff gets only one effective move in--the eye poke. Spin Kick to the chest no-sold and laughed at, and Austin beats the hell out of Bisch, getting in the WHAT?! stomps, and the Stunner for--2? Well, only because Austin pulled up the shoulder. He does this one more time, then hits a 3rd and final Stunner for the 3. Good for the marks, but the storyline leading up to this was terrible. This included Eric the Desperado searching for Steve, the teasing of Austin showing up but not--and above all making the folks at home pay to see Austin's first appearance.

 

8. Rock-Hogan II

 

If you demand workrate in your matches, pass on this one. Sylvan Grenier (one of the Frenchies) is your referee tonight. Hogan gets big pops, natch. Rock has one of the longest introductions ever (shortened down from this point on). Mostly brawling match, with some interesting spots such as Rock stealing the bandanna and mocking Hogan. Hogan steals the spit-punch, getting Rock back from SD. Crowd's way hot for the match. You surely have seen the ending by now...blackout, screwjob, and Vince comes out to gloat as the show goes off the air.

 

OVERALL

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Some good matches, but I wouldn't consider it a "must-have" PPV--merely an average one. Still, it's far from a stinker--and there's still another big thing to consider about the DVD...

 

EXTRAS!!!

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Video Packages for Steiner-HHH and Rock-Hogan: Well done ones, but hardly a biggie as an extra...

 

Austin's surprise return to Raw after it went off the air: This was pretty kick ass. LONG sucker. Bischoff begs for Vince to reconsider because he's a "fair" and "reasonable" man (flattery ). Glass hits after Vince leaves, and Austin gets a huge ovation. You can guess what happens to Bisch--Morely tries to save, Stunner for his troubles. Jericho comes out to share a beer with Steve, cutting a promo on what an honor it would be--for Steve ("I wanna party with YOU, cowboy!"). After a toast, Jericho gets Stunnered. Morely gets another Stunner and Steve gets JR a beer. Morely is trying to crawl away outside of the ring, but Austin stops him--and offers him a beer? He timidly takes it, but gets crowned with Austin's beer. Silly fun, and a cool bonus for the crowd there that night--still fun to watch in retrospect.

 

Hulk Hogan/Rock confrontation from Smackdown: Unlike the previous segment, we've seen it before. Still pretty funny, as we get a stare down in the ring to start, and Rock cuts a promo on Hogan. Rock thinks an apology is in order, so he wants to hear Hogan give it. Rock claims credit for Hogan's renewed popularity, and in return Hogan calls him a "Rocka Jabroni?!" Hogan says "HELL NO!" on the apology, and begins to rip the shirt. Rock tells him to calm down, because he was just entertaining, and offers a handshake before "we electrify" at No Way Out--but Rock swerves him, spitting in his face.

 

BONUS MATCH:

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble from Heat

 

Rey never wins on PPV, but when he gets a Heat match he wins. HMPH...well, what we get is a good little match to fire up the crowd--about ** and with a cool finish. 619 is hit but Noble avoids the Springboard Hurracanrana, but Rey gets a Hurracanrana into a roll up for the pin. Shame that Noble is just the designated jobber of the Cruiserweight Division, but it's a nice bonus for the DVD.

 

Edit Forgot about this promo:

Pre Match Interview: Regal cuts a good promo describing how he and "Lonce" complement each other. He says both of them are te best scientific wrestlers on Raw, and Lance has strong legs that allow him to leap around like a gazelle. Regal makes fun of his own stubby legs, but makes up for it because he's English and is filled with spite and anger, and he has "the gift" (he kisses his fist and looks upwards saying "Thank you!"). They'll hold onto the titles as long as they want.

 

POST MATCH INTERVIEWS:

 

Austin: Terri says she's a Southern girl so she knows what a mudhole is (I think city slickers can guess). Austin adds that he damn sure walked it dry, and he gloats over his victory--that's basically it.

 

Evolution: Steiner is a tough man, but he wasn't Tough Enough. HHH uses the "passed you by" Evolution catchphrase as Ric shamelessly kisses his ass and calls him the greatest wrestler in WWE. Ric Flair is a total whore.

 

Chris Jericho: He's proud of his victory and talks about how HBK is no longer the star attraction, and mentions how HBK headlined WM14 but he, the Highlight of the Night headlined X8 (So big deal, they both jobbed in those matches).

 

Matt Hardy: He wants Kidman's name plate removed off the belt and replaced with "Matt Hardy, v. 1, the teacher of Mattitude and greatest Cruiserweight Champion of all time." Lloyd takes it as a joke--but Matt isn't joking, and flashes the "Version 1" hand signal.

 

Brock Lesnar: He's F-5ed Kurt Angle, and now wants to do it to Heyman, and do it to Kurt one more time before taking back "his" title at Wrestlemania.

 

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The DVD extras aren't outstanded as I'd prefer, but help add up with a decent PPV to make it a worthy buy, but not a must have.

Edited May 11, 2003 by AndrewTS

[Guest bob_barron]

I'm the only one who loved the tag match at NWO I guess.

 

I liked HHH v. Steiner a LOT better at No Way Out. Sure it still sucked a dick but the crowd made me love that match

[Guest AndrewTS]

I'm the only one who loved the tag match at NWO I guess.

 

I liked HHH v. Steiner a LOT better at No Way Out. Sure it still sucked a dick but the crowd made me love that match

How can you love a match where Kane drops Regal on his head?

 

And the crowd was a major part of both matches. Seeing them turn on Steiner in Boston was a blast, and the blown spots ahoy were amusing. They didn't attempt as many moves in this match, thus making it more boring to me. Seeing the MASSIVE changes in crowd response--boos for a Steiner move, cheers for a HHH move (and mega cheers when he gave Hebner hell), along with "You screwed Bret" and "Booooring" chants made the crowd were cool but the only part of the match that was interesting. The match in the ring wasn't good enough or bad enough to hold my interest by itself.

[Guest bob_barron]

Boston made me sit through the match to begin booing Steiner.

 

::BPP's music hits::

 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

I believe they also started shitting on the match the moment it started. I was just laughing the whole time- it covered up the shoddy ring work.

 

Kane dropping Regal on his head sucked but other then the match I thought the match was very good tag team formula. A good way for Regal to go out.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Boston made me sit through the match to begin booing Steiner.

 

::BPP's music hits::

 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

I believe they also started shitting on the match the moment it started. I was just laughing the whole time- it covered up the shoddy ring work.

 

Kane dropping Regal on his head sucked but other then the match I thought the match was very good tag team formula. A good way for Regal to go out.

Well, Boston hadn't seen Steiner wrestle yet. Montreal had.

 

Oh, edited it above--I forgot about the Lance/Regal promo from Heat.

[Guest bob_barron]

Matt Hardy: He wants Kidman's name plate removed off the belt and replaced with "Matt Hardy, v. 1, the teacher of Mattitude and greatest Cruiserweight Champion of all time." Lloyd takes it as a joke--but Matt isn't joking, and flashes the "Version 1" hand signal.

 

I met Matt a few weeks later and sadly they did not put all that on the nameplate.

[Guest CanadianChick]

Aw man! I just want to see Austin's after-Raw-went-off-the-air thing with Jericho! I taped the PPV, so I don't really want to buy it. God damn!

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

So.....in your review of Matt vs Kidman you give it **3/4 yet call it a "very good match." Care to elaborate?

[Guest AndrewTS]

So.....in your review of Matt vs Kidman you give it **3/4 yet call it a "very good match." Care to elaborate?

Okay, rather good. I like Hardy and was into the match, but I feel he's lacking when it comes to transitioning, and he did seem very out in place against a true Cruiserweight.

[The Dames 0]

Sadly, the "Bring Me to Life" song is the only reason why I want that DVD.

 

Dames

[Guest JHawk]

Sadly, the "Bring Me to Life" song is the only reason why I want that DVD.

 

They didn't change to generic stock music?

[The Dames 0]

OH, that would PISS me off!

 

Dames

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

The Rumble '03 DVD still has the Theme song intact, but that's one of the big 5 so it may be different.

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

Sadly, the "Bring Me to Life" song is the only reason why I want that DVD.

 

Dames

Was that the Evanesence song? God I hated that song with a passion.

 

Good times.

[The Dames 0]

Yes, that song. Do you know if it's been replaced by stock music on the DVD?

 

Dames

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

No clue.

[Guest bravesfan]

Yes, that song. Do you know if it's been replaced by stock music on the DVD?

 

Dames

It hasn't.

 

In fact, it's a focal point of the DVD menu and the options.

[The Dames 0]

YES~!

 

Dames

[Guest AndrewTS]

YES~!

 

Dames

I think the PPV theme on the menu was just a brief 15 second snippet.