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Some of WWE's worst moments EVER happened in 2003. You won't believe what they booked!
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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.
16:36Know of any 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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