An Alternate History of WCW - 1998 and Beyond
Oct 1, 2024 1:15:31 GMT 1
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Oct 1, 2024 1:15:31 GMT 1
Part LXIII: WCW Uncensored 2003
We're into March of 2003, which means it's time for Uncensored! As always, there's a number of different stipulations on this card, but in addition to that, there are also a number of four-way matches, all with titles on the line. The biggest of those is the main event, which sees Owen Hart put his WCW World Heavyweight Title on the line against Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle. This is the convergence of a couple of different stories, with Angle and Benoit still at each other's throats after their falling out, Lesnar still having his own issues with Angle as well as trying to get back the WCW World Heavyweight Title after losing it back in the Fall of 2002. Now despite the fact that this PPV main event was announced a number of weeks in advance, Owen was still defending his title across WCW television, which just goes to show what a fighting champion he was. During the first full week of March, he defending his title twice....against Eddie Guerrero and John Cena (more on those two later) in a Three-Way Match on the March 3rd Nitro, and against The Great Muta on the March 6th Thunder. He also had a successful title defense against Chris Jericho on the March 10th Nitro. Elsewhere in the buildup, Kurt Angle pinned Owen Hart in a Six-Man Tag on the February 24th Thunder (Team Angle against Brock Lesnar and The Hart Brothers), and Chris Benoit beat Angle in a No Holds Barred Match on the March 3rd Nitro. This should be a very fascinating Four-Way contest for the top prize on WCW. Will Owen Hart's reign at the top continue, or will one of the three challengers be able to unseat him?
To this point, there have been three Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches, and all three were three team matches. Well, the 2003 edition of Uncensored would feature the fourth TLC Match, and to up the ante this time around, it's a four team match, with Chris Jericho and Christian defending their WCW World Tag Team Titles against Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz, and the Latino World Order duo of Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis. Of course, I mentioned the bouncing around of these titles in my last post, with the Latino World Order winning the titles at Bound For Glory, only for Jericho and Christian to win them back in a Steel Cage Match the next night on Nitro. When you have the issues between those two teams, and then you throw in the issues that Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam have been having with The Dudley Boyz, and you've got a pretty exciting title picture. All four teams would be involved various skirmishes in the weeks leading up to the PPV, and it all sets up for a match that should be filled with danger and excitement. Can Jericho and Christian hold on to their titles, or will one of the challenging teams leave East Rutherford, New Jersey with tag team gold?
The third Four-Way bout on this card involves the WCW Women's Title. On the March 3rd Nitro, Manami Toyota was defending her title against former champion Lisa Marie Varon. When things weren't going Varon's way, Luna Vachon got involved, leading to a disqualification. Meiko Satomura would make the save, but she also had aspirations of regaining the WCW Women's Title herself. Thus, a Four-Way Match was set up for the PPV. A pretty straight forward setup, but I definitely felt that it had some potential when I was putting the card together.
In the semi-main event, we have the conclusion to the AJ Styles/Mike Awesome rivalry, as they do battle inside a Steel Cage for the WCW World Television Title. They're 1-1 on PPV, after Styles won their first clash at Starrcade 2002, while Awesome won the title back from Styles in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Mayhem 2003. In the weeks leading up to the PPV, Awesome had title defenses against Amazing Red and Jerry Lynn, and in both cases, Styles had to save his allies from a post-match beatdown by Awesome. Can Styles regain the WCW World Television Title, or will Awesome emerge victorious in the final chapter of this rivalry?
Another major title bout on this card sees Goldberg defending the WCW United States Title against Ric Flair. While Flair wasn't on the Bound For Glory card, he was busy battling former Flair Administration member Billy Kidman. He did defeat Kidman in a Strap Match on the February 17th Nitro, which actually wound up being Kidman's last match in WCW (another situation to some other talents during 2002 where I just didn't see a role for them going forward on my roster, so I let Kidman go when his deal ran out). Looking to bring his administration back to relevance after it had been diminished through the first part of 2003, Flair decided to go after one of the biggest dogs in the yard, so to speak.....Goldberg. He made the challenge for Uncensored, and Goldberg was quick to accept the challenge. Will Goldberg be able to overcome the (almost certain) involvement from The Flair Administration, or will the President of WCW become the United States Champion?
By far the biggest match on the card not involving a championship sees the continuation of the feud between Eddie Guerrero and John Cena. Their Three-Way with Hayabusa for the WCW Hardcore Title at Bound For Glory was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to their rivalry. Of course, other parties would be involved in this story, as Eddie has the Latino World Order (as well some other allies like Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri) while John Cena has his alliance with the Full Blooded Italians, so that would lead to a variety of multi-person tags. As I already mentioned, Eddie and Cena were also involved in a WCW World Heavyweight Title Three-Way with Owen Hart on the March 3rd Nitro, and the tension just build up to the point where a Last Man Standing Match was necessary. They also participated in a wild tag team bout on the go-home Nitro on March 17th, where Eddie teamed with AJ Styles against Cena and Mike Awesome (the match would end in a No Contest as the two sides wouldn't stop brawling). Who will come out on top in this Last Man Standing Match?
Earlier this year, we got the start of the feud between CM Punk and Raven, which is obviously based on their real-life feud in Ring Of Honor (with Punk having pretty much the same motivations, in terms of why he would hate Raven). That story picked up in a major way on the February 17th Nitro, when the two were involved in a Three-Way Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title with defending champion Chael Sonnon. While Sonnen would retain, the match just served to further fuel the issues between Punk and Raven. I believe I had also mentioned in one of my previous posts that Punk had picked up an ally in the form of Steve Corino. Well, eventually we got to the point where Punk and Corino were going team together in a tag match against Raven. Who would Raven get as his partner? A young upstart (also from Chicago) named Colt Cabana, who had been making some appearances for WCW since the end of 2002. The tag team bout took place on the March 15th Saturday Night, and if you know anything about the real life Punk/Raven feud in ROH, you knew exactly where this was going. Cabana turned on Raven, and officially formed The Second City Saints with CM Punk. This all leads to a Raven's Rules Match at the PPV. Can Punk beat Raven in his own match, or can Raven get some revenge on the young straight-edge star? I should also note that Paul Heyman has a vested interest in the outcome of this one (more on that later).
In my last post, I noted that back in late January/early February, the WCW Cruiserweight Title had been vacated after then-champion Low Ki and WCW had reached an impasse. I mentioned that a tournament would be held to crown a new champion. Well, the tournament kicked off in the middle of February after Bound For Glory, and continued throughout the month of March, leading up to the Finals that would take place at the Uncensored PPV. This was a thirty-two man single elimination tournament, and featured a plethora of former WCW Cruiserweight Champions, as well as wrestlers who had previously participated in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournaments from 2001 and 2002. As you can see in the bracket below, there were some interesting names who went deep, some other big names who got knocked out early.
Reaching the tournament finals from the left side of the bracket is Rey Mysterio, who (as you all know) is a former multi-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Coming out of the right side of the bracket is a relatively new addition to the WCW Cruiserweight Division....Matt Hardy. That's right, much like in WWE during OTL, the Sensei Of Mattitude is entering the cruiserweight ranks, complete with his Version 1.0 gimmick and with the assistance of his loyal disciple Shannon Moore. With Rey Mysterio add another Cruiserweight Title reign to his resume, or will Matt Hardy complete his takeover of the Cruiserweight Division?
Filling out the PPV card is a Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match with the winner getting a future shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. The teams involved are America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm), Booker T and Sting (who are working together more regularly as a tag team at this stage), Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper from the Triple X Prophecy, and World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). While Benjamin and Haas were mainly involved with Kurt Angle and his battles against the other babyfaces in the WCW World Heavyweight Title scene in the weeks leading up to the PPV, the other three teams were more intertwined with each other. America's Most Wanted had just started having issues with Triple X Prophecy members Devon Storm and Sean O'Haire (who recently formed a tag team of their own), and they would end up joining forces with Booker T, Sting, and Hurricane Helms (who eliminated Christopher Daniels in the first round of the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament, as seen above) to battle the Triple X Prophecy and The Great Muta in a Five-On-Five Elimination Match on the March 10th Nitro. The four teams involved in this match are more than capable of winning the WCW World Tag Team Titles, but which one will emerge from Uncensored with a future shot at the winners of TLC IV?
I don't think there are any other title changes to make note of, so with everything out of the way, let's go into the PPV!
WCW Uncensored 2003
March 23rd, 2003 - Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, New Jersey
1.) WCW Women's Title - Four-Way Match - Manami Toyota (c) def. Lisa Marie Varon, Luna Vachon, & Meiko Satomura
2.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Tournament Final - Matt Hardy (with Shannon Moore) def. Rey Mysterio
3.) Raven's Rules Match - CM Punk def. Raven
4.) Four-Way Tag Team #1 Contender's Elimination Match - Booker T & Sting def. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), The Triple X Prophecy (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper), & World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)
5.) WCW United States Title - Goldberg (c) def. Ric Flair
6.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - TLC IV - Chris Jericho & Christian (c) def. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz, & The Latino World Order (Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis)
7.) Last Man Standing Match - John Cena def. Eddie Guerrero
8.) WCW World Television Title - Steel Cage Match - AJ Styles def. Mike Awesome (c)
9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Four-Way Match - Kurt Angle def. Owen Hart (c), Brock Lesnar, & Chris Benoit
For Uncensored 2003, I got an overall score of 90%, which is 3% higher than Bound For Glory 2003, and thus, takes the lead for the highest rated PPV of 2003. Match Of The Night honors went to TLC IV for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, which earned a score of 94%. That isn't a major surprise, considering some of the participants involved. The match with the next-highest rating was the Four-Way main event for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, which finished with a score of 90%. Six of the remaining seven matches were in the 80% range. Both Eddie Guerrero vs. John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match and Matt Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio in the finals of the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament wound up with scores of 89%. Then, there were three matches that all got a 87% score. Those were Mike Awesome vs. AJ Styles in a Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Television Title, Goldberg vs. Ric Flair for the WCW United States Title, and the Four-Way Tag Team #1 Contender's Elimination Match. Rounding out the card were CM Punk vs. Raven in a Raven's Rules Match, which earned a score of 85%, and the Four-Way for the WCW Women's Title, which finished with a score of 73%.
So of the six title matches on the card, we had three new champions crowned (if you include the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament Finals), while three champions retained. Kurt Angle is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion once again, and AJ Styles regained the WCW World Television Title. Meanwhile, thanks to help from Shannon Moore, Matt Hardy is your new WCW Cruiserweight Champion. As for the retentions, Chris Jericho and Christian survived all three challenging teams to retain the WCW World Tag Team Titles in TLC IV (and they will have Booker T and Sting waiting in the wings). Manami Toyota also retained in her Four-Way title bout, and Goldberg did indeed overcome various attempts at interference to retain the WCW United States Title against Ric Flair. Elsewhere, John Cena scored a big victory over Eddie Guerrero in the Last Man Standing Match, and in the Raven's Rules Match, Paul Heyman would get involved....and helped CM Punk beat Raven. So in 2003, CM Punk and Paul Heyman are now paired together, which should be very fascinating. On the whole, I thought this show turned out very well. I'm satisfied with a lot of the ratings, and....yeah....not much to complain about on my end!
Next month, however, is a big one. Calgary, Alberta, Canada will be the host of the next WCW PPV, which will see the final match of one of the greatest professional wrestlers in history. It's Spring Stampede: The Hitman's Last Stand!
To this point, there have been three Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches, and all three were three team matches. Well, the 2003 edition of Uncensored would feature the fourth TLC Match, and to up the ante this time around, it's a four team match, with Chris Jericho and Christian defending their WCW World Tag Team Titles against Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz, and the Latino World Order duo of Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis. Of course, I mentioned the bouncing around of these titles in my last post, with the Latino World Order winning the titles at Bound For Glory, only for Jericho and Christian to win them back in a Steel Cage Match the next night on Nitro. When you have the issues between those two teams, and then you throw in the issues that Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam have been having with The Dudley Boyz, and you've got a pretty exciting title picture. All four teams would be involved various skirmishes in the weeks leading up to the PPV, and it all sets up for a match that should be filled with danger and excitement. Can Jericho and Christian hold on to their titles, or will one of the challenging teams leave East Rutherford, New Jersey with tag team gold?
The third Four-Way bout on this card involves the WCW Women's Title. On the March 3rd Nitro, Manami Toyota was defending her title against former champion Lisa Marie Varon. When things weren't going Varon's way, Luna Vachon got involved, leading to a disqualification. Meiko Satomura would make the save, but she also had aspirations of regaining the WCW Women's Title herself. Thus, a Four-Way Match was set up for the PPV. A pretty straight forward setup, but I definitely felt that it had some potential when I was putting the card together.
In the semi-main event, we have the conclusion to the AJ Styles/Mike Awesome rivalry, as they do battle inside a Steel Cage for the WCW World Television Title. They're 1-1 on PPV, after Styles won their first clash at Starrcade 2002, while Awesome won the title back from Styles in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Mayhem 2003. In the weeks leading up to the PPV, Awesome had title defenses against Amazing Red and Jerry Lynn, and in both cases, Styles had to save his allies from a post-match beatdown by Awesome. Can Styles regain the WCW World Television Title, or will Awesome emerge victorious in the final chapter of this rivalry?
Another major title bout on this card sees Goldberg defending the WCW United States Title against Ric Flair. While Flair wasn't on the Bound For Glory card, he was busy battling former Flair Administration member Billy Kidman. He did defeat Kidman in a Strap Match on the February 17th Nitro, which actually wound up being Kidman's last match in WCW (another situation to some other talents during 2002 where I just didn't see a role for them going forward on my roster, so I let Kidman go when his deal ran out). Looking to bring his administration back to relevance after it had been diminished through the first part of 2003, Flair decided to go after one of the biggest dogs in the yard, so to speak.....Goldberg. He made the challenge for Uncensored, and Goldberg was quick to accept the challenge. Will Goldberg be able to overcome the (almost certain) involvement from The Flair Administration, or will the President of WCW become the United States Champion?
By far the biggest match on the card not involving a championship sees the continuation of the feud between Eddie Guerrero and John Cena. Their Three-Way with Hayabusa for the WCW Hardcore Title at Bound For Glory was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to their rivalry. Of course, other parties would be involved in this story, as Eddie has the Latino World Order (as well some other allies like Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri) while John Cena has his alliance with the Full Blooded Italians, so that would lead to a variety of multi-person tags. As I already mentioned, Eddie and Cena were also involved in a WCW World Heavyweight Title Three-Way with Owen Hart on the March 3rd Nitro, and the tension just build up to the point where a Last Man Standing Match was necessary. They also participated in a wild tag team bout on the go-home Nitro on March 17th, where Eddie teamed with AJ Styles against Cena and Mike Awesome (the match would end in a No Contest as the two sides wouldn't stop brawling). Who will come out on top in this Last Man Standing Match?
Earlier this year, we got the start of the feud between CM Punk and Raven, which is obviously based on their real-life feud in Ring Of Honor (with Punk having pretty much the same motivations, in terms of why he would hate Raven). That story picked up in a major way on the February 17th Nitro, when the two were involved in a Three-Way Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title with defending champion Chael Sonnon. While Sonnen would retain, the match just served to further fuel the issues between Punk and Raven. I believe I had also mentioned in one of my previous posts that Punk had picked up an ally in the form of Steve Corino. Well, eventually we got to the point where Punk and Corino were going team together in a tag match against Raven. Who would Raven get as his partner? A young upstart (also from Chicago) named Colt Cabana, who had been making some appearances for WCW since the end of 2002. The tag team bout took place on the March 15th Saturday Night, and if you know anything about the real life Punk/Raven feud in ROH, you knew exactly where this was going. Cabana turned on Raven, and officially formed The Second City Saints with CM Punk. This all leads to a Raven's Rules Match at the PPV. Can Punk beat Raven in his own match, or can Raven get some revenge on the young straight-edge star? I should also note that Paul Heyman has a vested interest in the outcome of this one (more on that later).
In my last post, I noted that back in late January/early February, the WCW Cruiserweight Title had been vacated after then-champion Low Ki and WCW had reached an impasse. I mentioned that a tournament would be held to crown a new champion. Well, the tournament kicked off in the middle of February after Bound For Glory, and continued throughout the month of March, leading up to the Finals that would take place at the Uncensored PPV. This was a thirty-two man single elimination tournament, and featured a plethora of former WCW Cruiserweight Champions, as well as wrestlers who had previously participated in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournaments from 2001 and 2002. As you can see in the bracket below, there were some interesting names who went deep, some other big names who got knocked out early.
Reaching the tournament finals from the left side of the bracket is Rey Mysterio, who (as you all know) is a former multi-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Coming out of the right side of the bracket is a relatively new addition to the WCW Cruiserweight Division....Matt Hardy. That's right, much like in WWE during OTL, the Sensei Of Mattitude is entering the cruiserweight ranks, complete with his Version 1.0 gimmick and with the assistance of his loyal disciple Shannon Moore. With Rey Mysterio add another Cruiserweight Title reign to his resume, or will Matt Hardy complete his takeover of the Cruiserweight Division?
Filling out the PPV card is a Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match with the winner getting a future shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. The teams involved are America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm), Booker T and Sting (who are working together more regularly as a tag team at this stage), Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper from the Triple X Prophecy, and World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). While Benjamin and Haas were mainly involved with Kurt Angle and his battles against the other babyfaces in the WCW World Heavyweight Title scene in the weeks leading up to the PPV, the other three teams were more intertwined with each other. America's Most Wanted had just started having issues with Triple X Prophecy members Devon Storm and Sean O'Haire (who recently formed a tag team of their own), and they would end up joining forces with Booker T, Sting, and Hurricane Helms (who eliminated Christopher Daniels in the first round of the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament, as seen above) to battle the Triple X Prophecy and The Great Muta in a Five-On-Five Elimination Match on the March 10th Nitro. The four teams involved in this match are more than capable of winning the WCW World Tag Team Titles, but which one will emerge from Uncensored with a future shot at the winners of TLC IV?
I don't think there are any other title changes to make note of, so with everything out of the way, let's go into the PPV!
WCW Uncensored 2003
March 23rd, 2003 - Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, New Jersey
1.) WCW Women's Title - Four-Way Match - Manami Toyota (c) def. Lisa Marie Varon, Luna Vachon, & Meiko Satomura
2.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Tournament Final - Matt Hardy (with Shannon Moore) def. Rey Mysterio
3.) Raven's Rules Match - CM Punk def. Raven
4.) Four-Way Tag Team #1 Contender's Elimination Match - Booker T & Sting def. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), The Triple X Prophecy (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper), & World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)
5.) WCW United States Title - Goldberg (c) def. Ric Flair
6.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - TLC IV - Chris Jericho & Christian (c) def. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz, & The Latino World Order (Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis)
7.) Last Man Standing Match - John Cena def. Eddie Guerrero
8.) WCW World Television Title - Steel Cage Match - AJ Styles def. Mike Awesome (c)
9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Four-Way Match - Kurt Angle def. Owen Hart (c), Brock Lesnar, & Chris Benoit
For Uncensored 2003, I got an overall score of 90%, which is 3% higher than Bound For Glory 2003, and thus, takes the lead for the highest rated PPV of 2003. Match Of The Night honors went to TLC IV for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, which earned a score of 94%. That isn't a major surprise, considering some of the participants involved. The match with the next-highest rating was the Four-Way main event for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, which finished with a score of 90%. Six of the remaining seven matches were in the 80% range. Both Eddie Guerrero vs. John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match and Matt Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio in the finals of the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament wound up with scores of 89%. Then, there were three matches that all got a 87% score. Those were Mike Awesome vs. AJ Styles in a Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Television Title, Goldberg vs. Ric Flair for the WCW United States Title, and the Four-Way Tag Team #1 Contender's Elimination Match. Rounding out the card were CM Punk vs. Raven in a Raven's Rules Match, which earned a score of 85%, and the Four-Way for the WCW Women's Title, which finished with a score of 73%.
So of the six title matches on the card, we had three new champions crowned (if you include the WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament Finals), while three champions retained. Kurt Angle is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion once again, and AJ Styles regained the WCW World Television Title. Meanwhile, thanks to help from Shannon Moore, Matt Hardy is your new WCW Cruiserweight Champion. As for the retentions, Chris Jericho and Christian survived all three challenging teams to retain the WCW World Tag Team Titles in TLC IV (and they will have Booker T and Sting waiting in the wings). Manami Toyota also retained in her Four-Way title bout, and Goldberg did indeed overcome various attempts at interference to retain the WCW United States Title against Ric Flair. Elsewhere, John Cena scored a big victory over Eddie Guerrero in the Last Man Standing Match, and in the Raven's Rules Match, Paul Heyman would get involved....and helped CM Punk beat Raven. So in 2003, CM Punk and Paul Heyman are now paired together, which should be very fascinating. On the whole, I thought this show turned out very well. I'm satisfied with a lot of the ratings, and....yeah....not much to complain about on my end!
Next month, however, is a big one. Calgary, Alberta, Canada will be the host of the next WCW PPV, which will see the final match of one of the greatest professional wrestlers in history. It's Spring Stampede: The Hitman's Last Stand!
