Tags
A-Train, Batista, B², Bill DeMott, Booker T, Boston, Brock Lesnar, Charlie Haas, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Christian, Christopher Nowinski, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Goldust, Jamal, Jeff Hardy, John Cena, Kane, Matt Hardy, Maven, Rey Mysterio, Rikishi, Rob Van Dam, Rosie, Shannon Moore, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Tajiri, Test, The Undertaker, Tommy Dreamer, WWE, WWE Network, WWE Royal Rumble 2003
For today’s Main Event Madness match, I decided to check out the WWE 2003 Royal Rumble match because tonight I am heading to the XWA Xtreme Rumble event. The 03 Rumble match which was held at The Fleetcenter (TD Garden) in Boston and it was an event that I had attended. What is crazy about the event are the names involved in this match. They are names that are no longer with the company, but it promised to be a good one. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels drew number one and was looking to see if lightning would strike twice for him while Chris Jericho drew number two. The only problem is that when it was time for Jericho to come out from the back, it wasn’t him, but it was Jerichos partner at the time Christian who came out to trick Michaels. All of a sudden we see Jericho come from behind Michaels and he just begins to beat him senseless even using a chair which busted Shawn right open. Nonetheless, Shawn was almost eliminated right away by Jericho. The match would continue on featuring the likes of Christopher Nowinski, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Matt Hardy, Chavo Guerrero, Jeff Hardy, B², Tommy Dreamer, Eddie Guerrero, etc.
One moment in the match that was cheesy, but cool at the time was when the old John Cena came out rapping with an Astros jersey in Boston. Matches like these are full of great spots like Shannon Moore sacrificing himself so that Matt wouldn’t take the grunt of the impact or Jeff Hardy trying for a high flying move, but as soon as he reached the top rope, RVD was there to eliminate him. At one point in the match, Shawn Michaels would come back to the ring and he would attack Chris Jericho which would then cause Test to eliminate Jericho who had lasted quite some time in the ring. There were several wrestlers in the Rumble that I had forgotten had been in the WWE like Tough Enough winner Maven who made a name for himself one year for eliminating The Undertaker (who would get his revenge in this Rumble match). Business in the Rumble would pick up with pick 28 and up as Batista (28), Brock Lesnar (29), and The Undertaker (30) would make their way to clean house. Brock when entering would eliminate Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, and Matt Hardy all in a row while The Undertaker would eliminate John Cena, Jamal, and Maven all in a row. The final four in the match would consist of A-Train, Batista, The Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar. The Undertaker made the mistake of thinking that he had Brock Lensnar down and out with a tombstone, but after eliminating Kane and Batista he took his eyes off of Brock to talk trash to Batista and Brock came from behind and eliminated him to win the Rumble.