The Most Underrated Match of 2003

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

What match in 2003 tickled your fancy, but not the board's?

 

My picks:

 

1. The Undertaker vs. Big Show and A-Train - WrestleMania XIX

 

Because it was smart, quick, and effective for what it tried to accomplish. It also kept the crowd hot and showcased some of Taker's better MMA type stuff.

 

2. Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker -No Mercy

 

I still think this is a *** 3/4 match. It got a lot of love the night of the PPV and the next day everyone was shitting on it. Whatever.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

HHH vs. Booker T from Wrestlemania. Easily the best match either guy has had since 2001.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

HHH vs. Booker T from Wrestlemania. Easily the best match either guy has had since 2001.

Agreed. The ending leaves a bad taste, but the match is still very good. The effort was there from both men in spades.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

YES! I agree with the first one! That match blew me away... mainly because I wasn't really expecting it to be that good... also because I was disappointed with the rest of the show and that stood out above it all... YES!

 

Underrated: Taker vs. Cena Vengeance 03. I dug this match more than Benoit/Guerrero and the Tag match (pretty much well because of the same reasons as I listed above). It was different from the usual "heel beats down face, face comes back to win" formula that the WWE loves. Taker beat the shit outta Cena, Cena made the lil comeback, Taker still won. It has some neat psychology IIRC and Taker was feelin it. I should watch it again cause I've only seen it once. I would have put Austin/Rock WM 19 up here as well cause the first time I saw it was was thinkin it was the best match they had yet, but I saw it again about a month ago and it didn't stand up _at_all_.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

YES! I agree with the first one! That match blew me away... mainly because I wasn't really expecting it to be that good... also because I was disappointed with the rest of the show and that stood out above it all... YES!

 

Underrated: Taker vs. Cena Vengeance 03. I dug this match more than Benoit/Guerrero and the Tag match (pretty much well because of the same reasons as I listed above). It was different from the usual "heel beats down face, face comes back to win" formula that the WWE loves. Taker beat the shit outta Cena, Cena made the lil comeback, Taker still won. It has some neat psychology IIRC and Taker was feelin it. I should watch it again cause I've only seen it once. I would have put Austin/Rock WM 19 up here as well cause the first time I saw it was was thinkin it was the best match they had yet, but I saw it again about a month ago and it didn't stand up _at_all_.

I agree with your pick as well. I dug the HELL outta that match.

[Tawren 0]

Triple H vs Scott Steiner, Royal Rumble. Way better than we claim.

[Guest Ray]

HHH vs. Booker T from Wrestlemania.  Easily the best match either guy has had since 2001.

Austin/Booker - SD 1/24/02 was a better Booker T match (narrowly avoiding the 2001 cutoff ).

 

 

Underrated:

 

Chris Benoit vs. Matt Hardy - SD 7/17/03

 

Undertaker vs. A-Train - SD (early 2003?)

Edited December 1, 2003 by Ray

[Guest JRE]

2. The Big Show/Lesnar Stretcher Match from Judgment Day

 

....that really left me ina good mood, it was pretty exciting, I loved the finish (the drive off the fork-lift made me totally mark out), and the image of Lesnar when he won was pretty awesome.

 

1. Rock/Austin from WMXIX

 

I'm biased towards this, and it's really not even rated low....just below what I'd rate it. I was at the event, and it really had the most interesting mood. The end, with The Rock's third Rock Bottom, where he stalled and took in the moment- before using all he had left to drive Austin down and put him away. Then after the match...he just looked like "Damn, I did it." Not excited, really solemn....hugs his family. Has the long outro. The mood is very hard to describe...it was very odd, but awesome. Then Austin had his long outro, and you just got a feeling...he did his best, ya know? It was pretty damn incredible to feel

[NYU 0]

Angle/Lesnar at SummerSlam. I thought it was the best match of the series, and easily the best match at SummerSlam, but many seem to disagree. To me, it was a ***3/4 or **** match. It just felt like it worked better, and was more solid than the WrestleMania match or the Iron Man match.

[Styles 0]

I too vote for Undertaker/Cena. Besides the totally wrong guy going over, the match itself was suprisingly very good and was one of my honorable mentions for the top 10 of the year. That's like 4 matches at or around **** for Vengeance. Insanely good show. Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton from Unforgiven is also much better than most people give credit to. Booker/HHH beside the result was also good but was lost amongst the other matches at Mania.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I think the Taker/Cena match is OVERrated if anything.

 

It had very poor flow...and if you look at it...the whole first half of the match was Taker squashing Cena...then Cena finally took over...until Taker kicked out of his finisher and pinned him clean.

 

I've seen squash matches with more momentum switches than this match.

[Guest Choken One]

Cena/Taker-Vengence

Taker/Lesnar-No Mercy

Lesnar/TBS-Judgement Day

 

 

What about the Eddy/Cena Backlot Brawl?

[Downhome 0]

Triple H vs Scott Steiner, Royal Rumble. Way better than we claim.

WTF?

 

I'll just assume you are being sarcastic.

[The Mandarin 0]

Rock/Austin was, in my opinion, WrestleMania's best match. Their entire series is classic, but this is a fitting end. Seemed really magical.

 

I think Angle/Lesnar from SummerSlam was the best match from their feud.

 

On another note, I'm suprised that the Iron Man match got completely shit on. I thought it was very, very good.

[Guest Choken One]

I thought the Austin/Rock match was little rushed...

 

It seemed like they started...brawled traded finishers and it was suddenly over. I still say it was ***1/2 but it just seemed quick while WMXVII was a fucking epic match.

 

 

 

still better then the WMXV match which I gave ***.

[Guest drdrainoscott]

Besides Angle/Beniot from RR, my favorite match of the year was TWGTT vs. Gurrerro & Tajiri from Smackdown over the summer. I never hear anything about that match, so that would be my pick for the underated match.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I agree with Choken about Rock/Austin.

 

I can't really think of a WWE match this year that I think is really underrated.

 

But I can tell you that the most underrated match I've seen this year is Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams from Night of Champions in RoH. How that match is not mentioned as one of, if not the MOTY in RoH is beyond me. I liked it more than London/Dragon, and I even liked it a tad more than London/Styles.

[The Mandarin 0]

I thought the Austin/Rock match was little rushed...

 

It seemed like they started...brawled traded finishers and it was suddenly over. I still say it was ***1/2 but it just seemed quick while WMXIX was a fucking epic match.

 

still better then the WMXV match which I gave ***.

I agree, their WM X-Seven match was epic. In fact, I honestly think it's the best match I've ever seen.

 

 

And to get back on topic, that Filthy Animals/TWGTT match shown on the day of the blackout was AWESOME.

 

Too bad quite a number of people missed it. Due to, y'know, no power and all.

[Styles 0]

Rock/Austin XIX better than XV but not as good as XVII.

Backlot brawl was creative and fun but didn't really feel like an actual match, you know?

I too thought Summerslam was the best of the Angle/Lesnar series (but the 3 way with Big Show might be even BETTER than any of their singles).

I liked the iron man too. They kept it fresh for 60 minutes. Didn't care for the Wrestlemania match too much though.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Since I don't splooge4Cena, I didn't mind (a)Taker dominating, and (b)Cena losing. I should watch it again.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Since I don't splooge4Cena, I didn't mind (a)Taker dominating, and (b)Cena losing. I should watch it again.

That wasn't the problem.

 

The problem was...it was like watching one guy dominate. Then the other guy start dominating. Then that's it. It was like they weren't even fighting each other...just picking which half they'd showcase their moves.

[Guest Choken One]

I thought the Austin/Rock match was little rushed...

 

It seemed like they started...brawled traded finishers and it was suddenly over. I still say it was ***1/2 but it just seemed quick while WMXIX was a fucking epic match.

 

still better then the WMXV match which I gave ***.

I agree, their WM X-Seven match was epic. In fact, I honestly think it's the best match I've ever seen.

Yep WMX7 match was epic in many ways because let's face it...

 

It was the Culmination of the last five years of Wrestling. It was the last great hour of WWE.

 

Before the Invasion ruined everything.

[Styles 0]

Since I don't splooge4Cena, I didn't mind (a)Taker dominating, and (b)Cena losing.  I should watch it again.

That wasn't the problem.

 

The problem was...it was like watching one guy dominate. Then the other guy start dominating. Then that's it. It was like they weren't even fighting each other...just picking which half they'd showcase their moves.

I would have to watch it again but I didn't expect much than a slow methodical brawl but they really delivered an energetic match that totally suprised me. I just wish Taker would have given Cena a little more (preferably the win).

[Guest Choken One]

Since I don't splooge4Cena, I didn't mind (a)Taker dominating, and (b)Cena losing.  I should watch it again.

That wasn't the problem.

 

The problem was...it was like watching one guy dominate. Then the other guy start dominating. Then that's it. It was like they weren't even fighting each other...just picking which half they'd showcase their moves.

Which is SOMEWHAT like a MMA match...where dominace is traded...

 

Which is likely another thing RRR dug.

[Tawren 0]

Triple H vs Scott Steiner, Royal Rumble. Way better than we claim.

WTF?

 

I'll just assume you are being sarcastic.

Underrated: to be better than usually stated.

 

Was it good? No. Was it better than we say? Yes.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

And that's part of what I liked about it. It wasn't "Taker starts off strong, Cean cheats and gets the advantage, Cena beats down Taker, Taker comes back, Cena cheats again, Cena hits finish, Taker kicks out, Taker wins". They reversed the roles.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

My favorite thing about that match was watching it live and turning to my friend half way through and saying "well...since Cena hasn't gotten any offense in...I guess they are going to put him over." The funny part came a few minutes later.

[Styles 0]

Triple H vs Scott Steiner, Royal Rumble. Way better than we claim.

WTF?

 

I'll just assume you are being sarcastic.

Underrated: to be better than usually stated.

 

Was it good? No. Was it better than we say? Yes.

Well, I guess if you REALLY like belly to belly suplexes and winded muscleheads, then it was pretty good! Add a sarcastic Canadian crowd in and you probably liked the rematch too!

I agree though that those matches were FUNNY bad not painful to watch bad. I would go back and watch them just for fun.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Personally, I'm a sucker for Pinfalls, so I thought the Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle encounter from WWE WrestleMania XIX was the best, although Brock's failed Shooting Star Press is definitely what spoiled the match, but I admire Brock a hell of a lot for trying it when he hasn't done it in a while to make WrestleMania a better show. He was spewing his guts up post-match, and the good sportsmanship between both men when the match had ended was great, along with the fireworks to end the greatest WWE show of the year.

[Tawren 0]

Triple H vs Scott Steiner, Royal Rumble. Way better than we claim.

WTF?

 

I'll just assume you are being sarcastic.

Underrated: to be better than usually stated.

 

Was it good? No. Was it better than we say? Yes.

Well, I guess if you REALLY like belly to belly suplexes and winded muscleheads, then it was pretty good! Add a sarcastic Canadian crowd in and you probably liked the rematch too!

I agree though that those matches were FUNNY bad not painful to watch bad. I would go back and watch them just for fun.

And...where did I call it good?