Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Monday Night Raw Review - July 7th, 2003

WWE Raw
July 7th, 2003
Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (since 12/15/02)
Intercontinental Champion: Christian (since 5/18/03)
World Tag Team Champions: La Resistance (since 6/15/03)
WWE Women's Champion: Gail Kim (since 6/30/03)

Commentators - Jerry "The King" Lawler & Jim Ross


GLASS SHATTERS.



Stone Cold is here to kick the show off after missing last week and his co general manager.. having a time. Austin says he had food poisoning last week and was stuck at home drinking beer and eating Mexican TV dinners. Austin says Bischoff is stove up from the chokeslam he took from Kane last week, so he’s running the show tonight and we’re kicking it off with a title match. 

1) Christian (c) vs. Booker T - Intercontinental Championship Match 

Christian gets on the mic. He says if Booker wants to beat him so bad, then the ref can start counting. Austin counteracts that and says the title can change hands on count out or DQ. Christian still refuses to get in the ring so Austin tosses Christian in the ring to a huge pop. I can’t even lie.. this was a ride. I was writing this review as I watched and got so mad at the fucked finish when Christian’s foot was on the ropes during a three count that I ranted about it. Only for my complaints to be rectified as Booker does indeed win once the match gets restarted and we get the moment we’ve been waiting for all god damn year. BOOK IS THE NEW IC CHAMP. This ended up being such a blast and they had me worked into a shoot half way through. Good shit. 

Match rating - ***1/4

Back from commercial, Tommy Dreamer is in the locker room bleeding like a stuck pig. Stone Cold, Bubba Ray, & Spike Dudley are all in there checking on him. They get medics in there and it’s chaotic as they try to check on him. 

At ringside, Lawler & JR decide to replay the Montreal Screwjob since we’re in Montreal. Jesus. Apparently Shawn is gonna address the incident on the Highlight Reel later. Whyyyyyy. 

Theodore Long is out next with Rodney Mack and Rosey. LEMME HOLLA ATCHA PLAYA. Teddy says the man has taken Jazz’s title from her as she wasn’t even eliminated last week. Teddy then shifts his focus to Rosey and says if he’s gonna be successful like Rodney he’s got to learn to knock a white boy out.

Meanwhile, cameras cut back to the garage. Coachman is asking who hurt Tommy as they wheel his bloody ass out of the arena. Apparently Bubba has an idea of who it is and storms off. 

2) Rosey (w/ Theodore Long & Rodney Mack) vs. The Hurricane 

This happened and it’s bad. Rosey stumbles through a victory with the Samoan drop. 

Match rating - * 

After the match, Rosey turns on Teddy & Rodney. Why? I’m not sure nor do I care. 



Backstage, Bubba is yelling at Ric Flair and Randy Orton. He’s accusing them of assaulting Tommy Dreamer. Stone Cold walks up and asks what he wants him to do about all this. Austin makes Bubba a tag match if he can find himself a partner. Before Austin can even blink, Miss Jackie runs up and apparently something has happened to Rico. Lord Jesus.. we cut to commercial from here. 

Back from commercial, Rico is laid out. Austin asks who did it and Rico says he thinks it was Kane. 

3) Victoria & Steven Richards vs. Gail Kim & Val Venis

HELLO GAIL. She’s the new Women's Champion as of last week. For some reason, she’s teaming with Val Venis. She’s the real highlight here and gets the win over Victoria after a few minutes. 

Match rating - * 

Backstage, Test runs up on Trish Stratus. He says she’s #1 on his list of people to hook up with. Trish says no and Test says he doesn’t take no for an answer and grabs her. KeLVIN NASH breaks it up and says he should try fucking with some bigger than him. Looks like we have a match set up for later! 


Chris Jericho brings out Shawn Michaels for The Highlight Reel. They do this weird shit where Michaels acts heelish, telling the fans to just get over the screwjob and move on with their lives. Jericho plays face and says Shawn needs to own up to what he did. Then it gets flipped when Shawn challenges Jericho to a match to avenge the Canadian people for the screwjob and Jericho says he won’t wrestle Shawn tonight in a place with such a terrible economy. Jericho says he will face Shawn in Hollywood in two weeks. 

Backstage, Stone Cold finds Kane in his office. Austin tells Kane he either needs to start destroying people in the ring and not backstage, or he can quit. He then tells Kane to get out of his chair. Kane slowly does and stares at Austin the whole way out. As Kane leaves, Austin notices some blood on the wall by where Kane was sitting. 

4) Kevin Nash vs. Test 


This stemmed from the backstage segment earlier. Trish comes down and tries to help Nash, but Test scores the cheap win in like a minute and a half or something. 

Match rating - 1/2*

Backstage, Terri interviews the NEWWW IC Champ Booker T. This was a blast. I’m so happy he’s finally got that belt. 

5) Chris Jericho vs. Mark Jindrak 

This is Jindrak’s TV debut. Jericho tries his best to make Jindrak look good, but the crowd doesn’t care. Thankfully they bring it home when the crowd starts chanting “boring.” This was better than the last 3 matches. 

Match rating - ** 

On Sunday Night Heat this weekend, Triple H faces our king Maven. 

6) Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly - #1 Contender’s Match for the Women's Title 

Jerry says some real nasty shit during this. And of course, there’s some pervert in the crowd taking pictures of these women when they haven’t been taking pictures all night. So fucking WEIRD. But this match is good. Trish is banged up from the bullshit with Test earlier. Molly takes advantage of that and works Trish over. She literally has her hands in her eyes and mouth and stretches her. Trish tries a comeback and fails. Molly taps her out to some sort of version of the camel clutch. I loved this squash, honestly.

Match rating - **1/4

In the back, Austin asks Kane if he’s gonna come to the ring with him or if he’s gonna quit.. he needs his answer. Kane says he will join him in the ring. 

7) Evolution (Randy Orton & Ric Flair) vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Rob Van Dam 

Bubba had to find a partner and boy, did he. Crowd pops hard for the surprise reveal of Van Dam for this. So, yeah, this was your standard hype Raw main event with big stars from this time. They don’t blow the roof of, but they do knock it out of the park. And the babyfaces win, to boot. So yeah, good shit. Bubba & Van Dam get the win. Second best thing on the show tonight.. or the only other good thing besides Book/Christian, to be honest. 

Match rating - **1/2 

The show closes with Stone Cold bringing Kane out to the ring. Kane gets a huge pop. Austin tells Kane he was right.. and asks him if hears how happy everyone is to see him. Austin continues by talking about how funny it was last week when he chokeslammed Eric Bischoff STRAIGJT TO HELL. This sets Kane off and he goes “are you saying I’m funny? Are you laughing at me?” Austin says he isn’t, but before he can explain himself, Kane throttles him. Austin and Kane have an awesome brawl. Kane gets busted open. Austin stuns him and starts smashing beers, BUT KANE SITS UP BAH GAWD!!! Kane chokeslams and destroys Austin to close the show and the broadcast ends with a closeup on Kane’s bloody face. Damn.. my man just killed both general managers two weeks in a row.. who’s gonna run this show next week?

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