- 8 minutes ago
Step back in time to 2003, a year when WWE creative decisions went off the rails. This video breaks down the ten absolute worst moments, from baffling storylines like the 'Redneck Triathlon' to characters being called 'boring' live on air.
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00:00By 2003, it was clear the end of WCW wasn't good for wrestling.
00:04The WWE had realized they could take their foot off the gas,
00:06and the end result was a drop in quality.
00:09Wasn't a big surprise, everybody does need a break,
00:12but as WWE were the only game in town,
00:14they assumed they would keep their audience regardless.
00:17Wasn't true, but it would take a little while before they picked up on that.
00:21Now, of course, that doesn't mean that WWE was all bad in 2003,
00:24but man, there were some doozies.
00:26So I am Simon Miller, I have no hair,
00:28and let's look at what came out bottom of the heap.
00:32Number seven, WWE says they're boring.
00:34That's right.
00:35In 2003, everybody knew what wrestling was.
00:38It was predetermined entertainment.
00:40Therefore, anything we saw on screen came from Vince McMahon and the creative team.
00:44This was their choice.
00:45Then in June 2003, when Lance Storm was having a match,
00:48then general manager Steve Austin walked out and said,
00:52Lance Storm, you are boring.
00:54That's right.
00:54He basically stopped the fight too.
00:56So let us get into that, because it's absurd.
00:59It could have worked if you picked a comedy character that was going to lean into all that,
01:03but Storm was already the opposite of boring.
01:05He was serious, sure, which was part of his catchphrase, but my gosh.
01:09He was such a good in-ring performer,
01:11and if you wanted to believe in what you were seeing,
01:14you went and watched Lance Storm.
01:15Given he was from Canada, he almost felt like a new age Bret Hart.
01:19That's how much Storm could get you to buy in.
01:22There was no fluff.
01:23And sure, I think he'd be the first to say his promos weren't of Dusty Rhodes levels,
01:27but who cares?
01:28Wrestling is great because you get all sorts.
01:30Go and watch Lance at ECW.
01:32It's perfect.
01:33The most legit Mother Hubbard.
01:35But yes, as Vince McMahon didn't get this,
01:37he sent the biggest star of all time out there to just suck it all away.
01:41There was no way the rattlesnake agreed with this either,
01:43because he must have watched Storm's work.
01:45And of course, the follow-up was a ha-ha-hee-hee team with Goldust.
01:49Nothing wrong with that either,
01:50but there are just better paths to take to get there.
01:53I mean, push somebody's strengths and all of that.
01:55It just felt like Vince thought this would be funny,
01:57and that he enjoyed embarrassing people on live TV.
02:01It was really dumb.
02:02This is why you do need competition.
02:04Always give talent the choice.
02:06Number nine, the Redneck Triathlon.
02:08I mean, the title of this one alone,
02:10how do you even get to say those words in a sentence for a wrestling show?
02:14It does start with Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin
02:16being the co-general managers of Raw,
02:19because won't that be funny?
02:20They had some real-life heat after Bischoff fired Steve from WCW.
02:24We can lean on that.
02:25It was for most of 2003, and come June, Austin was so mad,
02:29he told Eric it was time for the Redneck Triathlon.
02:32Such challenges included were burping,
02:34a pie-eating contest, and a sing-along.
02:36I'm not joking, this was on pay-per-view too.
02:39WWE wanted you to spend money on this stuff.
02:42It's Bad Blood 2003,
02:44where we also got Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels.
02:47It's bizarre.
02:48Halfway through the Austin Bischoff stuff as well,
02:50Mae Young came out to give Eric a Bronco Buster 2,
02:52so I suppose that was a twist.
02:55There was another one as well.
02:56The karaoke was switched to a pigpen contest,
02:59so Austin threw Bischoff into some poop.
03:02Great.
03:03Methinks that somebody may not have been totally over World Championship Wrestling.
03:07I'm sure Austin was still getting used to the fact he couldn't wrestle anymore,
03:10but WWE was not using him right at all.
03:12The Rattlesnake was fine with doing comedy,
03:14but this was not good.
03:16And again, it was on pay-per-view,
03:18$50 to throw Bischoff into some...
03:21Well, you know the word.
03:23It rhymes with bit.
03:24Number 8, Al Wilson dies from sex.
03:26I mean, I don't know how else to say it.
03:28WWE brought in Al Wilson, who was Tory's dad,
03:31and then killed him off.
03:33This was her real-life father as well.
03:35They didn't even get an actor.
03:37This did start in the latter part of 2002,
03:39but 2003 was way worse.
03:41Dawn Marie, who was obsessed with Tory for some reason,
03:44decided that she would attack her personally
03:46by wooing Al and then marrying him too.
03:49That's right, we got hitched on live TV,
03:51even though the age difference must have been close to 35 years.
03:55Don't worry though,
03:56we also made sure to make plenty of erectile dysfunction jokes the whole time.
04:00I mean, you do have to tick every box.
04:02I suppose that tied in as desperate to please his wife,
04:06Al tried everything before he had a heart attack.
04:09And yes, he died while having sexual intercourse.
04:13Now I bet at one point somebody suggested to put Viagra on a poll,
04:16because WCW had done that in 2000,
04:18but thankfully we didn't.
04:19Although we did have a backstage segment where everybody was grieving.
04:23I suppose that's only fair as well.
04:24A pensioner had died because he wanted to please his wife.
04:27It was just a garbage storyline though,
04:29and somehow just got worse and worse,
04:31because yes, soon after the fact,
04:33it basically turned into a lesbian angle too.
04:35Even if that was always the plan,
04:37there are other ways to do it
04:38than by bringing in somebody's dad
04:40and then murdering them.
04:42Well, he wasn't murdered, but he did die.
04:44I just do not understand who would tune in for this.
04:47That was really dumb.
04:48Number seven, Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania mistake.
04:50So if you do go back and watch the main event of WrestleMania 19 now,
04:53between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar for the WWE title,
04:56you will go hot damn.
04:58That was a damn good bout.
04:59That's because it was.
05:00And in terms of the WWE roster,
05:02Brock and Kurt were probably two of the best.
05:04It was the right thing to do as well,
05:05because we were essentially making new stars here,
05:07especially Brock Lesnar,
05:08who continues to climb the ladder.
05:10When you get to the final move,
05:12oh my gosh,
05:13it's the most terrifying thing you've ever seen in your life.
05:15Now, long in the internet rumor mill,
05:17people had said that Brock was able to do a shooting star press,
05:19even though he is built like a mountain.
05:21I suppose because it was WrestleMania 19,
05:23it was time to show that off.
05:25So he went to the top rope,
05:26and my gosh,
05:27he got three quarters of the way through the move
05:29before something went wrong.
05:31It does look like he slipped,
05:32and he landed right on his head.
05:35Obviously,
05:35he was knocked out instantly and had a concussion,
05:37but if he hadn't been built the way that he had been built,
05:40I think it's fair to say that Lesnar would have been a way worse shape.
05:43I mean,
05:43a smaller person could have died.
05:45I'm not kidding.
05:46You can even find behind the scenes footage that WWE shot of this,
05:49and Brock Lesnar is like an absolute crazy person,
05:52because he can't get his bearings.
05:54Again,
05:55I would warn you before you do go and tune in to see this,
05:57if you haven't seen it before,
05:58it's absolutely horrific.
06:00It is just watching somebody land right on their skull.
06:03The story got worse as well,
06:04because Kurt Angle shouldn't have been competing in this match either,
06:06because he was scheduled for neck surgery,
06:08which meant you just get the last five seconds of two broken men figuring it out.
06:12Fair play to the Olympic gold medalist,
06:14because he just shouts F5 at Brock,
06:16who does get it done,
06:17but yeah.
06:18Surely they both wish they could redo this one,
06:20but it's not what you want,
06:22especially not in the main event of WrestleMania.
06:23Now nobody ever chooses to make a mistake,
06:25so you have to throw that one in there too,
06:27but this was bad just from a scary point of view.
06:31Reminds you how dangerous wrestling can be,
06:33and that's why they all deserve our respect.
06:35They genuinely do put their lives on the line every single time.
06:38Number six,
06:39Hulk Hogan becomes Mr. America.
06:41So it is back to WrestleMania 19 here,
06:43which yes,
06:44had Vince McMahon versus Hulk Hogan.
06:46Given the history of those two individuals,
06:48it was pitched as a pretty damn big match.
06:50I mean,
06:50you could call it decades in the making for obvious reasons,
06:52and actually,
06:54you won't be disappointed if you do go watch this fun brawl in Seattle.
06:57I think both guys knew what they were and weren't capable of.
07:00They'd just go out there and have some fun.
07:02What made no sense,
07:03however,
07:03is that after the fact,
07:04these two decided to keep the program going.
07:07It meant that Vince's on-screen character reacted to losing by firing Hogan,
07:11and then yes,
07:12on the 1st of May 2003 SmackDown,
07:14we had a brand new character debut on Piper's Pit,
07:17Mr. America.
07:19This wasn't random either.
07:21WWE had spent weeks of vignettes,
07:22teasing his arrival.
07:24Now,
07:24obviously,
07:24you can see the image on the screen right now,
07:26but I need to make this clear.
07:28Nothing was done to hide the person's identity.
07:30It was literally Hulk Hogan in a mask.
07:33Like if WWE had released this action figure beforehand,
07:36the title would have read,
07:37now you can buy Hulk Hogan in a mask,
07:40and oh my gosh,
07:41it's blue.
07:41The real issue from a kayfabe point of view though,
07:44is that every heel in the company went out of their way
07:46to try and prove to you this was Hulk Hogan,
07:48even though every single person on the planet,
07:50including your nan,
07:51could just look at it and go,
07:52well,
07:52yes,
07:52I'm aware of that.
07:53Why do you even need to do any investigating to begin with?
07:56Somehow that led to a judgment day match between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper.
08:00Look,
08:00I don't want to be horrible here,
08:01but it was one of the worst matches of 2003.
08:04What's even worse is that Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon fell out before this storyline even finished,
08:08so Mr. America just vanished into the dust.
08:12I really don't know what the payoff was going to be,
08:14or why Hulk Hogan couldn't have just been Hulk Hogan,
08:17but let me know in the comments below.
08:19I mean,
08:19at least one of you was probably 10 watching this,
08:22likely thought it was the best thing ever.
08:23Number five,
08:24the unmasking of Kane.
08:26Now I can totally understand why on the 23rd of June 2003 Raw,
08:29Kane,
08:30Vince McMahon,
08:30and everybody else decided it's finally time to take off the mask.
08:34The big red machine had been wearing that since 1997,
08:37and if he was going to be a character that had serious longevity,
08:40well,
08:41that's just wrestling,
08:42dude.
08:42It was always going to happen eventually.
08:44So I can only talk about this from my vantage point,
08:46but during that moment,
08:47and even now as I sit here today,
08:49just think it was a massive mistake.
08:52Sometimes you can just get a character and a gimmick and a story so well,
08:55that you don't actually need to tinker with it at all.
08:57I mean,
08:58I would use The Undertaker,
08:59but of course he went on a transformation of his own.
09:01But even in June of 2003,
09:04well,
09:04I was happy for Kane to keep that damn thing on his face forever.
09:07Now I think there's probably more to this as well,
09:09because in 2002,
09:10what storyline had Kane been subjected to?
09:13Two words,
09:14my friends,
09:14Katie Vick.
09:15I've talked about that on other videos,
09:17so I won't go into it here,
09:18but the headline is,
09:19it was about necrophilia.
09:20So if Glenn Jacobs did get a year down the line,
09:23and was desperate to get away with that,
09:24and the best way to do that was to show his face,
09:27well,
09:27believe you me,
09:27I get it.
09:28The other thing we did do here is that we just threw the entire Kane law down the toilet,
09:32because as soon as you could see his face,
09:34there were no burns,
09:36so we had to sell this as psychological.
09:38I wouldn't think about that too much,
09:40because it doesn't make sense as to what happened with The Undertaker and Kane when they were kids.
09:44But once again,
09:45it is wrestling,
09:46sometimes they just don't care.
09:48Now you can't fault it too much,
09:49because the Kane character essentially went on for another two decades,
09:52but also after this,
09:53he electrocuted Shane McMahon's testicles.
09:56Maybe the peak was always going to be 1997 and 1998,
10:00because as debuts go,
10:02well,
10:02it's pretty much perfect,
10:03one of the best character arrivals of all time.
10:06Number four,
10:07the sad reality of Scott Steiner.
10:09Now I don't want to take too many shots at Scott Steiner after he debuted at the Survivor Series in
10:132002,
10:14because everybody wanted this to begin with.
10:16The real shame is that he didn't walk in during the invasion angle,
10:19that would have been massive.
10:21Much like Scott,
10:22look at his biceps,
10:23those peaks.
10:24The problem with 2003 though,
10:25as Steiner did move up into the main event scene,
10:27is that he just wasn't the man he once was,
10:30because injuries and the wrestling lifestyle had caught up to him.
10:33I mean,
10:33he barely only had one foot.
10:35It meant really that if WWE were going to book him in bigger bouts,
10:38all of these should have gone short.
10:40When we got to the Triple H feud,
10:41and yeah,
10:42they just went on and on and on.
10:44Even if some of the elements were pretty decent,
10:47after a while,
10:47you kind of just tuned out,
10:48because again,
10:49Scott wasn't able to keep the same pace he used to be able to.
10:52And around this juncture,
10:53I'm going to tell you to watch his main event run in WCW,
10:56because you will see a totally different performer,
10:58but that's why this one was so damn disappointing.
11:00He was struggling with drop foot,
11:02so could only move at half the speed that he used to do,
11:04and think how tough that must be,
11:06nothing else is going to affect your mental game.
11:08It just meant the two matches he had with Triple H at Royal Rumble,
11:11and No Way Out,
11:11are not worth your viewing,
11:13and that's a real shame,
11:14because in a different year,
11:15it probably would have been absolute bangers.
11:17I know that most people were excited to see Scott Steiner back in the WWE as well,
11:22especially as Big Papa Pump,
11:24but we probably should have pulled the trigger early with this.
11:27My gosh,
11:27you can say that about a lot of people.
11:29We've waited too long.
11:31Number three,
11:31Vince McMahon versus Stephanie McMahon.
11:34Now,
11:34the best way to sum this up is twofold.
11:36One,
11:37WWE would never do this today,
11:38and two,
11:39I dare you to show this to somebody that doesn't watch wrestling.
11:43You won't do it,
11:44because you'll be embarrassed,
11:45and you'll cry into your cornflakes.
11:46Given that we had done every single other McMahon scenario,
11:49though,
11:49I suppose this was always going to happen with the family,
11:51and at No Mercy 2003,
11:54Vince McMahon went into an I Quit match against his own daughter Stephanie.
11:58A pre-match stipulation also called for the loser to immediately vacate their position as an authority figure,
12:04but actually,
12:04Stephanie technically didn't quit.
12:06Instead,
12:07her mother Linda chucked in the towel,
12:09while Vince choked his own flesh and blood with a lead pipe.
12:13You can now see this image on the screen now,
12:15how much Vince McMahon seems to be enjoying it.
12:17If you feel uncomfortable,
12:19don't worry,
12:19because I do too.
12:20Now,
12:20the truth was,
12:21the McMahon family melodrama had peak years before this,
12:24likely around WrestleMania 17.
12:26That is one of the issues that people had with WWE in 2003.
12:30Why do we keep going back to it?
12:32We'd also run out of ideas,
12:33which is why we did move to the shocking and repulsive.
12:36Believe you me,
12:37if you watch all of this and some of the promos,
12:39you are going to sit there with a slap jaw.
12:41We also do have to throw in as well,
12:43because Stephanie McMahon talked about this in a documentary.
12:45It was also this period where we had one abandoned creative pitch,
12:49which was for Stephanie McMahon to have a baby.
12:52And who would the father be?
12:54That's right.
12:54It would be Vince.
12:56And surprise,
12:56surprise,
12:56Steph said,
12:57no,
12:58dad,
12:58we're never doing that because that's totally flubbed up.
13:01Instead,
13:01she got whammed in the head with a lead pipe.
13:03I guess that's just WWE.
13:05Number two,
13:06Booker T versus Triple H.
13:07So we have talked about this time and time again,
13:09but it's important to keep the flame alive.
13:11Although we have to say this,
13:13Booker T has always come out and said he was totally cool with it.
13:15And his opinion probably should matter the most.
13:18I mean,
13:18he was one of the guys in it.
13:19For a fan like me though,
13:20back in 2003,
13:21especially moving into WrestleMania 19,
13:24I was desperate to see Booker walk away with the World Heavyweight Championship,
13:27just because I think this is what sports entertainment should be.
13:30Triple H and Ric Flair had been awful to this man.
13:33So you get to the big show,
13:34and the baby face proves you can't be a bully.
13:37It doesn't work out.
13:38And the reason this one is more than bad booking and still gets brought up today
13:41is because WWE really leaned into the race angle.
13:46Like at one point,
13:46the game even said to Booker,
13:48people like you,
13:49and had some terrible words to describe the hair on his head.
13:52There was other things in here as well,
13:54all of which will make you raise an eyebrow,
13:56and none of it was handled with that much grace.
13:58I really do think it would be easy to defend if Booker T had beaten this guy at WrestleMania.
14:03We've already talked about that.
14:04He didn't.
14:05And just to add fuel to the fire,
14:07I'm sure you've heard of this one,
14:09after Triple H hits the pedigree,
14:11he takes around about 45 seconds before he pins Booker T.
14:14I mean,
14:14it really didn't make any sense at all.
14:16If nothing else,
14:17there was zero need to inject race into this story anyway,
14:20because Booker T absolutely could have been the guy coming from WCW
14:23that finally wanted his shot at the top of WWE.
14:26He worked great with Triple H as well,
14:28because these two could go,
14:29but to throw all the other stuff into the mix,
14:32it was a mistake,
14:33it was offensive,
14:34and it just did not work out at all.
14:36Number one,
14:37Eric Bischoff and Linda McMahon.
14:39So before we do get into it,
14:40you need to think about it for just one second.
14:42Vince McMahon,
14:43who once again was writing the scripts,
14:45told old enemy Eric Bischoff,
14:47it was time for him to get intimate with both his wife and daughter on camera
14:51in several ill-advised and really quite unfortunate pre-taped skits.
14:55Eric Bischoff also talked about this in his 83 Weeks podcast,
14:58and said when Vince described his kiss with Linda,
15:01he wanted it to look very forceful.
15:03Did your stomach just turn?
15:05Because mine most definitely did.
15:06Now the idea was that McMahon wanted fans to be so irate
15:09that when we did get to SummerSlam,
15:11they were desperate for Shane McMahon to beat up Eric Bischoff.
15:13But once again,
15:14there's better ways to do this.
15:16It was the August 18th,
15:172003 Raw,
15:18when Linda was shown speaking remotely on camera to Jim Ross,
15:21and yes,
15:21she was at home.
15:22The doorbell then rings,
15:24and who happens to be there?
15:25It's Eric Bischoff,
15:26who somehow had her address.
15:28We have to throw in that Linda was recovering
15:30after being hit with a tombstone by Kane,
15:32when,
15:33I mean,
15:33I can't think of other ways to put it,
15:35Eric sort of forced himself on her,
15:37while saying things like,
15:39you are a big-breasted beauty.
15:41I feel sick again.
15:42The funny part to all of it is that Shane saw this happening on the big screen,
15:46so got in a car to drive to save his mother.
15:49The issue was,
15:50he was at Raw in Grand Rapids,
15:51and Linda McMahon was in Michigan.
15:53That's around a 12-hour drive.
15:55I don't think you're going to make it.
15:56Eric also said on that podcast,
15:58that Vince McMahon was cooking eggs in the kitchen throughout all of this.
16:01So there's some trivia you didn't need.
16:03And I suppose the best way you can see how awful this is,
16:06is by watching it for yourself.
16:08Once again,
16:09I can't believe this was bringing anybody in to increase the ratings,
16:12and it just felt creepy and weird.
16:15It didn't get me more interested in Eric vs. Shane.
16:17It made me want to turn off my TV.
16:19It was also really over-the-top and unbelievable,
16:21and not in a good way,
16:22and it was just in bad taste.
16:25I know that makes me sound like an old man,
16:26but it was.
16:27You want wrestling to be entertaining, man?
16:30And seeing the Raw GM try to kiss the boss's wife?
16:33Well, that ain't for me.
16:35I would rather have anything else.
16:36Not many other awful things that happen in WWE come 2003,
16:40well, you can now let us know in the comments below
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