RAW
March 31st, 2003
Key Arena
Seattle, Washington
 
Dark Matches:
 
1. Buddy Wayne defeats Timothy Flowers.
 
4/6 Sunday Night Heat taping:
 
1. Rodney Mack (w/ Theodore Long) pins Spike Dudley.
2. Christian pins Tommy Dreamer.
3. Trish Stratus pins Ivory.
 
Actual Show:
 
We see highlights from WrestleMania XIX.
 
We see the opening video for RAW.
 
Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
 
We see the Rock backstage shining up his sunglasses as a makeup artist tries to do his face though Rock says his face is fine and tonight is “Rock Appreciation Night”, and he has the artist put a dab on his face and says tonight is about appreciating him before walking away.
 
Steve Austin comes down to the ring and says that he’s going to say something that’s hard to say as he’s always been honest since being in WWE, and he says he went to WM last night with a 2-0 record against Rock though Rock was the better man last night and he got his ass whipped. He says that since he is saying Rock was the better man doesn’t mean he’s going to be the better man tonight, and he says that since it is “Rock Appreciation Night”, he wants him to come out so he can shake his hand and say he was the better man last night and that he appreciates him. Just then, Eric Bischoff comes out on the stage with papers in his hand and he says that Austin doesn’t want to shake Rock’s hand, he wants to kick Rock’s ass for beating him last night and he knows Austin is vengeful as he wants to make sure Rock doesn’t have his night. He says that he has news for him as Austin won’t be kicking Rock’s ass tonight nor is he going to be kicking anyone’s ass anytime, and he says that he knows Austin’s secret and what he’s been trying to hide as he asks if it’s truth Austin spent the night before WM in the hospital. He says that there was a rumor floating around that it was because of an anxiety attack and he had his lawyers look into it, and he says there’s a lot more wrong with Austin than just his personality and according to Austin’s doctors, he had his neck fused from previous surgery and now he has more injuries to his neck as he has been experiencing numbness in his legs. He says that the physician also states that he told Austin he was at high risk to injury and he will not clear him to wrestle, and Austin says that he doesn’t appreciate Bischoff digging up his personal info and he wants him to come to the ring to tell him to his face. Bischoff says he’s fine right here and Austin says if he wants to wrestle and raise hell, that’s going to happen and no one can stop him as Bischoff says that he begs to differ and he says that Austin is a liability to the company. He says that due to those medical reasons, Austin’s position has been terminated or in other words, he is fired and Austin says Bischoff can do many things but he can’t fire him. Bischoff says that he is the GM of RAW and a FedEx copy of his termination papers is on its way to his home in Texas as he reiterates that Austin is fired.
 
Commercial break
 
We see Steve Austin backstage.
 
1. Triple H (w/ “Nature Boy” Ric Flair) pins the Hurricane with the Pedigree at 3:56.
 
Analysis: We kick off this edition of RAW with a pretty basic matchup. Triple H retained the World Title the night before at WM and looks to get another win here over Hurricane, who had finished his issues with Rock and looks to get an upset win here. Hurricane gets a good pop from the crowd while Triple H was pretty hot as a heel, and Hurricane gives his mask to a fan at ringside only for Flair to take the mask from the fan and rip it up. Hurricane goes outside and attacks Flair until Triple H attacks him from behind to start the match and he throws him into the ring, and Hurricane grabs Triple H by the throat though Triple H gets a knee in and he sends him to the outside only for Hurricane to quickly returns to the ring. He pounds on Triple H who ducks a back elbow and he hits a spinebuster on Hurricane as he whips him hard into the corner, and he pounds on Hurricane and whips him into the other corner as he gets a kick in only for Hurricane to escape a suplex attempt. He sends Triple H into the corner and hits a neckbreaker though Triple H recovers first by getting a shot in, and Hurricane ducks a shot and hits a pair of clotheslines as he hits the Shining Wizard for a two count and pounds on him. Triple H reverses a whip and Hurricane catches him ducking with a swinging DDT for a two count as Flair trips him up from the floor, and Hurricane hits a baseball slide on Flair who gets on the apron as Hurricane ducks a shot and grabs Triple H by the throat. He hits the chokeslam on Triple H for a two count as Flair pulls him outside and Hurricane knocks him down as he goes up top, and he hits a crossbody on Triple H for a two count and looks for the Eye of the Hurricane though Triple H shoves him off. He gets a kick in and looks for the Pedigree only for Hurricane to escape with a backdrop and he gets a kick in, and he looks for the Pedigree on Triple H who trips him up and slingshots him into the corner. Hurricane escapes a slam attempt and hits the Eye of the Hurricane for a two count as Triple H reverses a whip into the corner, and Hurricane avoids a charge and goes up to the middle rope only for Triple H to avoid the neckbreaker. He gets a kick in and hits the Pedigree on Hurricane which gets the three and he wins the match. The match itself was pretty much a squash as Hurricane got a few shots in, but he puts Triple H over in just under 4 minutes. The crowd was into the match and Hurricane, but are not happy when Triple H wins. Triple H gets the win over Hurricane and both men move on. Grade: 1.5
 
We see Kane in the locker room as Rob Van Dam walks up to him and Kane says after what happened last night, he thinks they should go their separate ways and RVD says that they could do that, but he got them a rematch against Storm and Morley with no interference for tonight. He says that if they were to lose, they would join the Bischoff Administration and Kane asks how could he do something like that without talking to him about it as RVD says they’re going to win.
 
We see a vignette for Bill Goldberg.
 
Commercial break
 
2. Scott Steiner forces Christopher Nowinski to tap out at 2:35.
 
Analysis: Our next match on the card is a pretty interesting matchup. Steiner has been cruising in the midcard and looks to get a win here over Nowinski, who was floating in the midcard and looks to get back on track here. Steiner gets a good pop from the crowd while Nowinski had decent heat as a heel. Nowinski rolls outside to stall to start the match and tries to go into the crowd only for Steiner to stop him and he rams Nowinski into the apron, and he throws Nowinski back into the ring and pounds on him in the corner as he hits a clothesline and drops an elbow on him before doing a set of pushups. He stomps on Nowinski and rides him as he drives the elbow into his head repeatedly and Nowinski catches him ducking with a kick, and he hits a headbutt on Steiner and stomps on him as he whips him into the corner and splashes him. He stomps on him repeatedly and pounds on him as he whips him into the other corner and Steiner catches him with a boot to the face, and he hits a spinning belly-to-belly suplex on Nowinski for a two count and then he hits another belly-to-belly suplex. He pulls Nowinski’s face mask up and punches him in the face as he hooks the Steiner Recliner on with Nowinski tapping out and Steiner gets the win. The match itself was pretty much a squash as Nowinski got a few shots in, but he puts Steiner over in 2 and a half minutes. The crowd was into the match and popped for Steiner when he won. Steiner gets the win over Nowinski and both men move on. Grade: .5
 
Terri tries to interview Steve Austin who says that Bischoff dug up his personal records and it’s true his neck sucks as well as that he was fired because of it.
 
Commercial break
 
We see the Dudley Boyz in Eric Bischoff’s office as Bubba says if he let RVD pinned Storm last night, they would be back out on the street and D-Von says Morley forced them to join Bischoff’s administration and Morley is crazy. He says that Morley then made himself a tag champion because Regal is out and he doesn’t like this as Bubba says he agrees with him, but they have to play by the rules for now as Chief Morley and Lance Storm come in and Morley says that RVD and Kane have a tag title match tonight with no outside interference. He says that they won’t be coming to them in their corner though they will be in the match instead as it will be a Triple Threat Elimination match, and he says that they have the job of making sure they eliminate RVD and Kane before allowing them to pin them and retain the titles. Bubba says that they understand and Morley says when it’s over, they will welcome Kane and RVD to the Bischoff Administration.
 
We see Booker T getting his leg taped up as Ric Flair comes in and asks if Booker’s knee is still bothering him, and he says that the 5-time World Champion turned out to be a zero as Booker grabs him by the throat and dares him to say it again as he says he’s hurt people for a lot worse. He says that if Flair gets in his face again, he will knock his punk ass out as he throws him out of the doctor’s office.
 
Commercial break
 
We see highlights of Ashanti performing the National Anthem at WrestleMania XIX.
 
We see a shot outside the Key Arena.
 
3. Maven pins Rosey (w/ Rico) with a sunset flip at 1:50.
 
Analysis: Our next match on the card is a pretty basic matchup. Maven has been floating in the midcard and looks to get back on track here against Rosey, who was floating as part of 3 Minute Warning and looks to get a win here. Maven gets a decent pop from the crowd while Rosey had tepid heat as a heel. Maven ducks a shot and pounds on Rosey to start the match until Rosey gets a shot in and he pounds on Maven, and Maven catches Rosey ducking with a kick only for Rosey to knock him down and he hits a headbutt as he pounds on him. He chokes Maven on the ropes and Rico trips him up from the floor as he drapes him across the apron and kicks him in the throat, and Rosey pounds on Maven in the corner and whips him into the other corner only to miss a charge and Maven ducks a shot as he hits a flying forearm. Rico gets on the apron and Maven scares him to the floor as Rosey hoists him up and Maven escapes a spinning slam attempt, and Rico gets on the apron again and Maven dropkicks Rosey in the back as he avoids knocking Rico off the apron. Rosey gets a shot in though Maven escapes a slam attempt and hooks a rollup for a two count as Rosey gets a shot in, but Maven catches him ducking with a sunset flip which gets the three and he wins the match. The match itself was nothing much as both men tried and put on a fairly sloppy match. Maven was slowly getting into a groove by this point while Rosey struggled in this solo outing, and they didn’t have the best chemistry as Maven steals the win. The crowd was in and out of it for the match though they did pop for Maven when he won. Maven gets the win over Rosey and both men move on. Grade: .5
 
We see footage of Jerry Lawler taking part in a Playboy shoot.
 
Commercial break
 
4. Booker T defeats Chris Jericho by disqualification at 2:27.
 
Analysis: Our next match on the card is a pretty big matchup. Both men were coming off tough losses the night before and now they face off here to see who will regain momentum. Booker gets a good pop from the crowd while Jericho was red hot as a heel. Jericho wastes no time and hits a chop block on Booker’s knee to start the match as he stomps on the knee in the corner, but Booker tries to battle back only for Jericho to continue kicking at him repeatedly and he trips him up. He drops an elbow on the knee and stomps on him as he slams down on the knee twice only for Booker to send him over the top to the floor, and Jericho returns to the ring and Booker pounds on him until Jericho kicks at him twice and looks for the Walls of Jericho. Booker counters with a small package for a two count and then he hits a flapjack on Jericho as he pounds on him and hits a spin kick, and Jericho catches him ducking with a kick and hits the running bulldog only to miss the Lionsault and Booker hits a side kick. But then, Ric Flair runs down to the ring and tries to attack Booker which draws the DQ and Booker gets the win. The match itself was not much as they only get 2 and a half minutes until Flair came out. The crowd was into the match and Booker, but are not happy with the ending. Booker gets the win over Jericho by DQ and this issue isn’t over yet. Grade: 1
 
After the match, Booker continues to pound on Flair until Jericho attacks him from behind and knocks him down, and he drops the elbow on Booker’s knee repeatedly as Triple H comes down to the ring and Flair and Jericho hit a wishbone on Booker. Triple H slaps the back of Booker’s head repeatedly and hits the Pedigree as Flair hooks the Figure-4 on Booker and Triple H stomps on him, but then Shawn Michaels runs down to the ring and attacks all three men as he sends Jericho over the top to the floor and hits an atomic drop on Triple H. He hits a clothesline on Triple H and knocks Flair down as he clotheslines him over the top to the floor and he sets up for Sweet Chin Music, but Jericho gets back in the ring and knocks Michaels down as he pounds on him on the mat along with Triple H. Jericho stomps on Booker’s knee and sends him to the outside as Triple H hits a backbreaker on Michaels, and Jericho mocks Michaels and hooks the Walls of Jericho on as Booker gets in the ring and attacks Triple H who kicks at Booker’s knee repeatedly. He hooks the Indian Deathlock on Booker and then turns into the inverted version as Flair stomps on both Booker and Michaels.
 
Commercial break
 
5. Jeff Hardy pins Steven Richards (w/ Victoria) with the Swanton Bomb at 3:42.
 
Analysis: Our next match on the card is a pretty interesting matchup. Jeff has been cruising in the midcard and looks to get a win here over Richards, who wasn’t able to help Victoria keep the Women’s Title the night before and looks to get a win here. Jeff gets a good pop from the crowd while Richards had decent heat as a heel. The two men square off to start with Richards getting a kick in and he pounds on Jeff in the corner and rams him into the buckle, and Jeff reverses a whip back into the corner and hits a slingshot dropkick on Richards who rolls outside to regroup. Jeff goes outside as well and runs the barricade though Victoria pulls Richards out of the way and Jeff pounds on him, and he throws him back into the ring and pounds on him in the corner as Richards reverses a whip into the other corner. Jeff goes up top though he misses Whisper in the Wind and Richards hits an armbreaker on Jeff for a two count, and he hits a snapmare and hooks a submission on the arm as Jeff fights to his feet and escapes the hold with a jawbreaker. He ducks a shot and he hits a flying forearm on Richards as he hits a pair of clotheslines and Richards catches a kick attempt, and Jeff hits an inverted enzurgiri on Richards and then he hits a modified Poetry in Motion for a two count as Richards reverses a whip. Victoria trips Jeff up from the floor and Richards gets a shot in as Jeff reverses a whip and trips Richards up, and he hits a legdrop to the groin and hooks a rollup for a two count as he pounds on him in the corner. Jeff blocks an atomic drop attempt and drives his knees into Richards’ face as he goes up top only for Victoria to grab at his leg, but then Trish Stratus runs down to the ring and pulls Victoria down as she ducks a shot and hits the Chick Kick. Richards nails Jeff and goes up himself only for Jeff to shove Richards to the mat as he sets himself on the top rope, and he hits the Swanton Bomb on Richards which gets the three and wins the match. The match itself was nothing much as both men worked hard and put on a basic match. Jeff was really looking sloppy at this point while Richards was still pretty serviceable, and they had decent chemistry as Stratus takes out Victoria and helps Jeff get the win. The crowd was into the match and popped for Jeff when he won. Jeff gets the win over Richards and both men move on. Grade: 1.5
 
After the match, Stratus gets in the ring and raises Jeff’s arm as they tease something before heading to the back.
 
We see Steve Austin leaving the arena as people are shaking his hand and saying goodbye to him.
 
Commercial break
 
Rock Appreciation Night Moment: Rock throwing out numerous insults
 
We see Test in the locker room on the phone with someone as Goldust is behind him going through a bag, and Test talks about the person in a magazine spread until Stacy Keibler comes up to him and he quickly hangs up. He says that she looks good and she asks who he was talking to as he says it was no one and gets angry about her questioning him, and he asks Goldust to back him up and Goldust says she has nothing to worry about until he blurts out Torrie Wilson’s name. She asks if he was talking to her and Test denies it as Goldust again tries to back him up only to blurt out the fact that Test wanted to see Wilson naked in Playboy which comes out tomorrow, and she walks away disgusted and Test calls Goldust an idiot as he goes after her and Goldust asks if he said something.
 
We see the Rock backstage looking for Steve Austin and he asks why everyone is upset as Austin needed to stay for his Appreciation Night, and he says that he can be their friend and everything is going to be fine as he needs them to make him look good.
 
We see a vignette for Bill Goldberg.
 
Commercial break
 
We see a clip from WrestleMania XIX of the announcement of 54,097 in attendance at Safeco Field.
 
6. Rob Van Dam and Kane defeat the Dudley Boyz and Lance Storm and Chief Morley in an Elimination match to win the World Tag Team Championships.
 
Eliminations:
1. D-Von Dudley pinned by RVD at 5:08.
2. Morley pinned by RVD at 11:56.
 
Stipulation: If RVD and Kane don’t win the match, they would be forced to join Eric Bischoff’s administration
 
Analysis: After a fairly quick and interesting night of wrestling, we come to our main event. Morley and Storm defeated RVD and Kane last night with some help from the Dudleyz and now the three teams face off here for the titles as well as RVD and Kane’s freedom. RVD and Kane get a big pop from the crowd while the Dudleyz get a mixed reaction from the crowd and Storm and Morley had decent heat as heels. RVD and Kane waste no time and brawl with the Dudleyz to start the match with Kane hitting a big boot on D-Von and RVD reverses a whip, and he hits a spin kick on Bubba as Morley and Storm get in the ring only for RVD and Kane to attack them and send them over the top to the floor. RVD hits a slingshot somersault senton onto Morley, Storm, and Bubba on the floor and kicks at D-Von, and Kane hits a slingshot plancha onto all four men on the floor as RVD and D-Von return to the ring and lock up. They trade momentum until RVD hits a drop toehold and he floats over into a front facelock as he switches into a headlock, and D-Von whips him off and RVD ducks a shot as he hits a botched spin kick for a two count and Bubba tags in. Kane tags in as well and they trade blows until Bubba rakes the eyes and pounds on Kane who ducks a shot and hits a flying clothesline, and Bubba avoids the elbow and knocks RVD off the apron as he ducks a shot and yanks Kane to the mat by his hair. He holds Kane’s legs up as D-Von goes up top and hits the diving headbutt to Kane’s groin before pounding on him, but Kane battles back as he knocks Morley and Storm off the apron and D-Von catches him ducking with a kick. Kane catches him in a sidewalk slam and tags RVD who kicks and pounds on D-Von as he hits a spin dropkick, and he whips D-Von into the corner and rams the shoulder into the ribs twice as he does a backflip and hits a pump kick. He hits a side kick on Bubba and Morley comes in as RVD catches a kick attempt and hits a spin kick on Morley, and he hits a clothesline on Storm and a dropkick on D-Von before hitting the Rolling Thunder for a two count as Morley and Storm break it up. Kane gets in the ring and attacks both men as he sends them over the top to the floor while Bubba pounds on RVD in the corner, and he whips RVD into the other corner as RVD hits a springboard side kick on Bubba and goes up top only to miss the 5-Star Frog Splash. Storm and Morley whip Kane into the steps and Storm tries to bring a chair into the ring as Morley does bring one into the ring, and Bubba holds RVD from behind only for D-Von to prevent Morley from using the chair and he swings it at Morley though Bubba tackles Morley to save him. RVD hits the Van Daminator on D-Von which gets the three and the Dudleyz are eliminated as they argue with Morley and Storm, and Storm drags RVD to the corner and rams his knee into the post twice as Morley hits a trio of suplexes for a two count. Storm tags in and they hit a double back elbow on RVD for a two count as RVD tries to battle back only for Storm to reverse a whip, and he trips RVD and rolls through into a half Boston crab on RVD who reaches the ropes to force a break. Storm avoids an enzurgiri only for RVD to hit a reverse enzurgiri as Kane gets the hot tag and he hits a pair of clotheslines on Morley, and he hits a clothesline and a backdrop on Storm as he hits one on Morley and he splashes both men in the corners. He hits a big boot on Storm and a sidewalk slam on Morley for a two count as he knocks Storm off the apron and hits a tilt-a-whirl powerslam on Morley for a two count, and he goes up top and hits the flying clothesline on Morley for a two count as Storm breaks it up and RVD goes up top. He hits a side kick on Storm and Kane whips Morley into a spin kick from RVD as Storm gets in the ring and nails RVD from behind, and Kane grabs Storm by the throat only for Morley to hit a low blow and Storm hits a side dropkick for a two count. Kane catches both men ducking with kicks and grabs both men by the throat as he hits a double chokeslam, and RVD tags in and goes up top as hits the 5-Star Frog Splash on Morley which gets the three and we have new champions. The match itself was good as all three teams worked hard and put on a solid title match. All three teams were hitting their groove by this point and had good chemistry as RVD and Kane overcome the odds and finally become champions. The crowd was into the match and popped for RVD and Kane when they won. RVD and Kane get the win over Morley and Storm and the Dudley as they are the new tag champions, but this issue isn’t over yet. Grade: 2.5
 
We see Eric Bischoff in his office on the phone with someone as he says if they were surprised on Austin being fired, they haven’t seen anything yet as he has a bigger surprise and the ink on the contract is still wet.
 
Commercial break
 
The Rock comes down to the ring and starts to say that he has finally come back to Seattle, but instead says to see everyone show him appreciation and he wanted to say to Steve Austin that he’s sorry he got fired, and he says that he thinks it sucks because in all honesty, they put on a great performance last night and they gave each other everything they had as he has respect and love for Austin. He says that if Austin knew it was going to be his last match, he wouldn’t have wanted to go out with receiving 3 Rock Bottoms and losing the match as if Austin is going to get beat, it’s fine to get beat by the greatest in the wrestling business. He says that he could talk about his accomplishments and he does appreciate the love though he has something important to say, and he says that he left for Hollywood though he did come back only to get booed as the crowd starts chanting “Goldberg”. Rock says they shouldn’t think they’re cool because they know his accountant Ira Goldberg as he brings up tax season, and he says that he’s now beaten Austin, Hogan, Triple H, Undertaker, Angle, and everyone else as there is nothing left for him. He says that he left and came back for the fans only for them to boo him and now at 30 years old, he has done it all and he says that it is over, and he says that he’s done trying to entertain the fans who don’t appreciate him and this is the last time they will ever see him as they can kiss the People’s Ass. Just then, we see Bill Goldberg backstage as he makes his way out to the stage and then he comes down to the ring as he and Rock circle each other, and Goldberg takes the mike and says that Rock wants to know who’s next as he says Rock is next and he hits the spear on Rock before heading to the back and we go off the air.
 
Final Analysis: Overall, this edition of RAW coming off a historic WrestleMania was a pretty solid show with some big moments. As mentioned, WrestleMania ended up being one of the greatest in history and RAW typically is just as historic though sometimes it doesn’t, but this year ended up being very memorable. We had one title match as RVD and Kane now rule the tag division while Triple H, Steiner, Maven, Booker, and Jeff get big wins, and the matches were pretty standard as the show is best remembered for Austin being fired by Bischoff and Goldberg making his debut going after Rock. 2003 has been an interesting year for RAW at this point as they were still a bit behind Smackdown even though they did have a great showing at WM, and as we begin the build to Backlash we will see how things play out especially now with Goldberg in the fold. As for this show, it is a pretty memorable episode of RAW coming off a very historic WM. Final Grade: B