With my 2003 PPV Rambles all posted on the site, it’s time for another Perfect PPV!

The rules remain the same; 8 matches, no repeated superstars, and all titles must be defended (except for the women’s title because I tend to skip all those matches lol). That being said… I DID have to break 1 rule this time around. The WWE Tag Team Championship match will not be taking place on my card. Why? Well, unfortunately, while Smackdown in 2003 was on a pretty big roll in terms of match quality… the best matches from the year were usually all involving the same few people. Meaning some guys bounced around different title divisions, making it impossible to include ALL the SD titles.

The Card

WWE United States Championship Match – Eddie Guerrero Vs Chris Benoit – Vengeance – ****1/4 – 6

Nothing like kicking off a Perfect PPV with a tremendous match that actually was the opening match from the PPV in the first place! For my money, this is their best match together in the US, and one of the top US title matches in WWE history! These two guys being used here is one of the few reasons I ended up scrapping the WWE Tag Tiles match, as both men are involved in the 2 matches on PPV, and Eddie is the only wrestler to have the US title on PPV until he loses it to Big Show, who never defends it on PPV until WM XX!!! I say it often in these things, but sacrifices must be made to benefit the rest of the card. The WWE Tag Team Championship match would have screwed up a US title match AND the upcoming CW title match too. BUT like I already said, it’s for the best, as the US and CW title matches combined are better than both WWE tag title matches combined!

World Tag Team Championship Match – The Dudley Boys Vs La Resistance – Unforgiven – *** – 2

Not much to choose from with the World Tag Team titles, but thankfully the tag division guys didn’t effect any other title matches so it was easier to add to the show. Not a great match, but certainly the best tag match from the Raw side of things in 2003 on PPV. And hey, if a LA RESISTANCE match gets *** then it definitely deserves a spot on the card!

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match – Tajiri Vs Rey Mysterio – No Mercy – ***3/4 – 4

What a tremendous contest this one was! Rey is awesome, Tajiri is awesome, and combined they are SUPERMEGAEXTREMEAWESOME. Trufax. And I’d MUCH rather have this match on the card that sacrifice Rey by sticking him in the WWE Tag Title Match which would have screwed up my whole card. The CW division around this time on Smackdown was killing it every week, and these two are important figures in the division for helping the quality of matches. Stick them together and they absolutely cannot disappoint! Just a wonderful match with some incredible KICKS by Tajiri!

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match – RVD Vs Randy Orton – Armageddon – ***3/4 – 4

Randy really started to come into his own by the end of 2003, and would go on to have one hell of a run for the next couple of years. And hey, if you are relatively new to wrestling (he’d been in the business for what, 2 years at this point?) AND can get a great match out of RVD, you deserve a fucking MEDAL. Not to say RVD was bad in this match though, he pulled his weight for a change, and between the two of them, we got a great contest. IC title matches in 2003 were rarely anything to talk about, so the last PPV of the year ending with a quality match like this for the belt was awesome.

World Heavyweight Championship Match – Triple H Vs Booker T – WrestleMania – ***3/4 – 4

Oh boy. Picking a good WHC match in 2003 wasn’t hard at all, because most of them absolutely SUCKED. Triple H was in his reign of terror days, single handedly burying the old WCW roster (Steiner, Booker, Nash, Goldberg). Thankfully, the stars aligned at WM 19 and somehow we were blessed with a terrific WHC match!!! An often overlooked match unfortunately mainly due to the finish, as many people believed a) Booker T should have won and b) HHH taking as long as he did to make the cover make Booker T look like shit. Good points, but Booker T IS shit usually so him not winning wasn’t exactly a bad thing for me. Anyway, despite all the negativity surrounding the match, both guys pulled out great performances and helped make WM 19 the best PPV and WM ever imo.

High Profile Match – Chris Jericho Vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania – ****1/4 – 6

Speaking of WM 19 being awesome, here’s another match from the show! HHH mainly dominating WCW stars for the WHC on PPV allowed us to have a nice selection of great quality high profile matches to choose from, and I was happy this one was available as it really adds to the card. Y2J facing off against one of his wrestling idols who was making his return to WM for the first time in 5 years. Jericho was out to prove that HE was now the Showstopper, The Main Event, and even Mr WrestleMania, while Shawn was out to prove that he was STILL all of those things. I might not like it quite as much as I did back in the day, but the fact it still holds up as a classic after all these years is a testament to both men.

High Profile Match – The Rock Vs Steve Austin – WrestleMania – ****1/2 – 7

Oh look, ANOTHER match from WM 19!!! And it’s a favourite of mine. WM 17 is often the match people think of first when the Rock/Austin rivalry is mentioned, but for me THIS is the cream of the crop from their series. Wonderful story to the match, and Rock gave perhaps THE best performance of his entire career (right up there with Judgment Day 2000 in the Iron Man match). Austin, despite being broken down and knowing this would be his last match, was still able to put on one hell of a show too, but this is definitely Rock’s match. The promo before hand, and then the symbolism of Austin taking THREE Rock Bottom’s to lose was just perfect. A hell of a match!

WWE Championship Match – Brock Lesnar Vs Kurt Angle – SummerSlam – ****1/2 – 7

Finally, the main event! A match I used to consider to be *****. Not quite there any more, but still clearly the best WWE title match on PPV that year! At WM 19 they had a great match, but Angle’s neck was fucked. Come SummerSlam, Angle was healthy (or as healthy as a guy like Angle can be), and Lesnar was now a heel with Vince McMahon in his corner, and everything came together perfectly to create one heck of a show. Angle being a face now against a monster heel Lesnar worked so much better than Angle heel and Lesnar as a face, and boy did it show here. They worked a beautiful wrestling match filled with great holds, moves, counters and reversals, AND managed to hold it all together with a story! Far too often that last thing is forgotten about, but thankfully they included it here, and it’s the glue that holds everything together. A must watch match imo!

And there is my Perfect PPV for 2003!!! On the CAL SCALE, it gets a MASSIVE 40 points! Making it THE best Perfect PPV thus far! Not only that, but it’s a whole 10.5 points ahead of the actual best PPV (WM 19) from 2003! For a year where Raw suffered, those few Raw WM matches along with the great contributions from Smackdown all come together to give us something truly special!

Follow