VHS Memoirs Volume 24:No Way Out 2003

By
Jim LaMotta
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Today marks 19 years since the 2003 edition of No Way Out, the pay-per-view that promoted the return of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin after the former champion walked out of the company several months earlier because of a dispute over a scheduled match with Brock Lesnar on Raw. Besides the fact that the event was 19 years ago, it’s topical in another way with the rumors that Austin will return for the ring for a comeback in his home state of Texas at Wrestlemania. In retrospect, Austin’s return for the company at this show was the unknown start of the end of his in-ring career, as he had his last match against The Rock the following month so you can see how his original exit from the company further halted much of the momentum that the industry had during the Attitude era. The closure of World Championship Wrestling saw a few million wrestling fans simply stop watching professional wrestling, and any fuel that remained into 2002 was exhausted when Austin disappeared from TV screens. Granted, every wrestling boom, by nature, is followed by a down period, but the Stone Cold exit was definitely a shift in the standing of the business in pop culture.

The show opened with Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho for a solid bout, and again, in hindsight it’s interesting to see the development of these stars at this point in their careers. Jericho, who was a big free agent signing before he hit a rough patch in the WWF, was the first undisputed champion, but his time in the main event during this era was rather brief and more or less designed to put Triple H over after the devastating injury that put him on the shelf for almost a year. Jericho only had the championship for a few months before he dropped it to Triple H and despite a Wrestlemania main event, Jericho wasn’t solidified as a main event guy in 2003. It’s very disappointing that Hardy was released from the company for drug issues just two months after this match since you can see glimpses of the potential that he lived up to years later when he cleaned up his personal problems. There was some really good fast-paced spots throughout this contest, including some impressive high-flying from Hardy. The finish saw Jericho hit a power bomb from the top rope before he used the Wall of Jericho to get the win. Post-match, Shawn Micheals did a run-in to make the save for Hardy, and despite the show taking place in Montreal, the site of the infamous screw job, the crowd still gave Micheals a decent reaction, as his confrontation with Jericho added to the storyline for their at Wrestlemania.

Next up was a tag title match as the champions William Regal and Lance Storm defended against Kane and Rob Van Dam. On the surface, the biggest takeaway here is that while Kane and RVD had a good run as a team, it’s odd to think that this was a throw together team since the writers didn’t have anything better for them to do on the shows. As I’ve written many times, Regal is one of the most underrated legends of all-time, and much of the same can be said for Storm, who was just never in the right place at the right time to get a really big run. Regal and RVD had a great technical exchange at the start of the match, but when Kane tagged in, a mistimed power slam unintentionally knocked out Regal. The replay was tough to watch and it’s even more difficult to watch now with the increased awareness of concussions in sports. Obviously, if this happened today the match would’ve been stopped, but 2003 was a time when the show must go on and as soon as Kane realized Regal was hurt, you can see everyone in the match try to buy time. Lance takes over and gets Regal back to the corner so he can tag in and you can see he and Kane improvise some spots. It was also difficult to watch Regal get tagged back into the bout after he recovers and continue the match. The finish was well done when Storm grabs Kane’s mask and while The Big Red Machine can’t see who is in front of him, he accidentally choke slams RVD so Regal and Storm can retain the belts.

The cruiser weight champion Billy Kidman defended the title against Matt Hardy. The match was fine, but considering how much of a lack of the spotlight the WWE put on the entire division, the crowd’s interest in this contest was minimal at best. Kidman was a solid performer, but it was clear that he was typecast in the WWE, and the office had plans for Hardy as a heel rather than the division itself so Kidman and the rest of the cruiser weights were more or less cannon fodder for this angle. Matt Hardy won the title after an impressive Twist of Fate off the ropes.


As we know, this retro reviews allow for comparisons to how different competitors progressed in their careers, and The Big Show certainly has an interesting narrative to his WWE tenure. While The Big Show had a great run in the main event that nobody probably expected years later, what should’ve been the prime of his career here was very underwhelming. He was sent to OVW in 2000 to get in better shape, but those problems persisted at various times throughout his two-decade run in the WWE. Big Show vs. The Undertaker gave a definite contrast for a big man that was in shape opposite a big man that was getting by on height alone. Within the first few minutes, Show looks completely out of breathe and the majority of his time on offense was cumbersome and sloppy. The Undertaker sells a lot for him, including bleeding a small amount, but Big Show is too tired to look like a monster. The Undertaker gets the victory with the triangle choke, which was followed by a post-match attack from A-Train, but any attempt to get heat back was lackluster because the match was average at best.

Edge was attacked earlier in the show so it was Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle, Shelton Benjamin, and Charlie Hass in a handicapped match. The action was fine, but there’s not necessarily too much to discuss because how many epic handicapped matches have you seen? This contest was booked more to sell the storyline for the Brock vs. Angle match at Wrestlemania 19. Brock and Benoit got the win, but nothing too speculation as far as the in-ring stuff.

Triple H defended the World Heavyweight title against Scott Steiner for a rematch of their infamously awful bout at Royal Rumble the previous month. I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist (was there anyone on the grassy knoll?) but the rumor was floated over the years that prehaps the Steiner/Triple H Royal Rumble bout was designed to make Steiner look bad or that Triple H sandbagged him to tank the performance. All things considered, I’d say that Triple H, at least in 2003, had no interesting in making Steiner look like a major star, especially after how Steiner’s run in the WWE continued after this. This match at No Way Out went only half the time of their previous contest and after Steiner got the DQ win at the Rumble, which was a totally flat finish, he was beaten here to more or less conclude his time in the title picture. Besides the fact that politically Triple H was going to take the blame for the subpar matches, proof that management had no plans for Steiner to do anything worthwhile was that he wasn’t even on the card for Wrestlemania the following month. I’m just guessing, but I think the only goal that management wanted to accomplish here was for Triple H to squash the free agent signing that got a major crowd reaction at Survivor Series a few months earlier.

Steve Austin vs. Eric Bischoff wasn’t really a match, but the crowd went insane to see Stone Cold back into a WWE ring. The segment itself went about five minutes, but quite frankly, that’s it it needed to be to send the crowd home happy. The audience in Montreal just wanted to see Stone Cold back in the ring and to hit a few stunners, which he did and the fans went crazy for it so mission accomplished.


The main event was The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan, which was mostly a spinoff of their incredible match-up at Wrestlemania the prior year. This contest was fine, but at only around 10 minutes, it wasn’t going to replicate the emotion of the iconic WM bout. The Rock used his Hollywood heel persona and made the aging Hogan look great in the ring. The Rock got the win after heel referee Sylvain Grenier assisted during the match and all things considered, 2003 was his last major year in wrestling before he went to Hollywood full-time.

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.

Until next week
-Jim LaMotta

E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Twitter @jimlamotta

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