2003 was an interesting time in my wrestling fanhood – to me, it’s one of the greatest periods in wrestling history. That calendar year produced some of my favorite shows, including one of my favorite WrestleManias. But, there’s also that thing we do when we tend to look back on our own experiences more fondly. Was 2003 really that good? Would it hold up to the golden ages of wrestling? Or, do I just think that way because I was a young man finding my way in life through the WWE? Who’s to say?
When I thought about what the best pay-per-view events of the year were, Vengeance came to mind right away. In hindsight, that card was absolutely loaded with a little bit of everything – good technical wrestling, singles wrestling, tag team wrestling, the gaga hot mess storylines, and a title match for the ages. On paper, that show absolutely was as stacked as I remember it.
The summer before, the brand split felt more like a suggestion than a guideline. Wrestlers were swapping shows left and right. You never knew who from Monday’s show would show up on Thursday and vice versa. In 2003, it felt like the WWE realized it had to get serious about the brand split if they were going to make the whole thing work. So, they started splitting their pay-per-views up by brand. Raw had Bad Blood in June of 2003. Smackdown had Vengeance in July of 2003. If this thing was going to work, Vengeance had to deliver. From what I remember, it did. But, I wanted to take the opportunity to see how it holds up 23 years later. Was it really as good as I remembered? Or, was I just a teenager happy with whatever slop WWE fed me? Let’s fire up the Netflix engine.
Rewatching WWE Vengeance 2003
- Man, I do miss excessive and extravagant displays of pyro for no other reason than to let the audience know that the show has started.
- United States Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero – What an opener! Starting this thing off with Benoit and Guerrero for that beautiful new United States Championship (still my favorite version of the U.S. title) was certainly a message. I love the fast paced tit for tat technical style and this one felt pretty evenly matched. To me, this is what the midcard titles are all about. This was a physical contest between two guys who were just out there going for it. Man, Eddie got UP for those German suplexes. We got some classic Guerrero shenanigans and a Rhyno heel turn on Benoit. This is a U.S. Championship classic and a true testament to what an opening match on a big show should be.
- Billy Gunn vs. Jamie Noble – No way! This was the indecent proposal match! “If you beat Billy at Vengeance, I’ll sleep with you right here on SmackDown next week” is a WILD thing to say if you’re Torrie Wilson. I had forgotten about this run where they paired her up with Billy Gunn. Deciding to run the Mr. Ass gimmick back in 2003 was certainly a decision, though. I wonder why they don’t have more “I’ll have sex with you if you beat my man” angles in 2026! These two could go – it wasn’t all gross. Gunn was just smacking Noble’s body into the mat like a ragdoll. These two dialed up the physicality. Noble wins after some shenanigans, and Michael Cole is on commentary saying he wants to be a fly on the wall on Thursday’s SmackDown when Noble and Wilson are supposed to fuck. What the hell are we watching?
- The APA Invitational – There’s Funaki running that Smackdown number one announcer gimmick. Those were the days. You’ve got Bradshaw openly drinking Jack Daniels in this backstage promo. What a time to be alive. It’s time for the APA Invitational. I totally forgot about half of these participants – the FBI, the Easter bunny, Brother Love, Sean O’Haire, what a clusterfuck. Nobody can bump in this thing because there’s glass and broken shit all over the floor…it’s a concrete floor to boot. Bradshaw wins, and damn it if I wasn’t laughing my ass off the whole time. They need to bring this concept back at some point.
- WWE Tag Team Championship: The World’s Greatest Tag Team (c) vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio – Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas were awesome but holy shit was “the world’s greatest tag team” a terrible gimmick. Generic tights. Generic music. Generic everything. To no one’s surprise, this was a really high energy fast paced match with TWGTT going over. This was the 4th match and there’s been some really good variety on this show – from technical to gaga bullshit to brawling to high flying…this show has something for every wrestling fan in it.
- Sable vs. Stephanie McMahon – The announcers calling this a “cat fight” sure was a sign of the times. I totally forgot about Stephanie ripping Sable’s shirt off on Smackdown. At one point, Sable loses her shirt (again), and Tazz says “I don’t think Sable’s hands are big enough to cover those things.” I’m just warning y’all. If you thought the indecent proposal angle aged poorly, wait ’til you fire this up. Sable wins the cat fight after A-Train comes out and steamrolls Stephanie McMahon for some reason. This wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t long so they understood the assignment to advance whatever the fuck kind of soap opera this was meant to be.
- John Cena vs. Undertaker – I was ready for a step up in the action by this point in the show, so Undertaker and John Cena were a welcome sight. This show was paced really well – that’s the first time I caught myself thinking, “okay, I’m ready for some of the top guys.” It’s wild to think about where Cena was at for this – you forget there was a time when he was indeed an “up and comer,” and not “the dude.” I like that the build for this was Cena claiming he was the SmackDown “legend” and that Taker had to teach him a lesson and put the brash upstart in his place. But, this match was awesome. Cena could absolutely go – hopping up 10 feet in the air on that chokeslam. It’s wild watching this slugfest in 2026 because it feels like it ought to be the main event! Anyone who says Cena can’t wrestle should watch this one back…Taker wins after a Last Ride to the moon.
- Mr. McMahon vs. Zach Gowen – “You may have beaten cancer but you will not beat me” is a bar. I won’t even lie. This whole angle was clearly designed to make McMahon look like a vile human being. That’s fine. Sometimes, things in wrestling can be that simple. In this case, it was “mission: accomplished.” Gowen’s theme was a banger – I forgot about that Seether song. The match itself was perfectly fine given the context. I didn’t appreciate it as a 17-year-old, but watching it back now, I found that the commentary team did a fantastic job in this match. Maybe they were biased and openly rooting for Gowen, but it just hit that extra gear in putting McMahon over as a dastardly heel. Man, I forgot how fucking gnarly that chairshot was at the end, though. I mean, McMahon was SPOUTING blood. For what it was, it was perfectly fine serving a narrative.
- WWE Championship triple threat: Kurt Angle vs. Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar – I remembered this match most vividly prior to my rewatch, and while I still enjoyed it quite a bit, in 2026, I’d say that Benoit-Guerrero and Cena-Undertaker were both better matches. Still, this one holds up well. It’s more of a frenetic sprint than I remember. Big Show was out there bumping his ass off for these guys. Seeing Lesnar sell like that is something you rarely see today. And, Angle getting the title back after the big WrestleMania angle was cool. There was an ample amount of violence and chaos, as every good triple threat has. It was a fitting cap on a damn good show – I can’t imagine the folks in Denver didn’t go home happy that night. I’ve found that it’s rare that things I liked from my childhood and adolescence hold up as an adult, but this show did. It’s one I’d highly recommend clearing an evening for to go back and relive. We really didn’t know how good we had it back then.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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