It's the final stop before WrestleMania 19, as the WWE makes it's way back to Montreal for the first time, at least on pay-per-view, since the infamous Survivor Series in 1997. To honor the occasion, Hulk Hogan and The Rock are back, both having not appeared on television since the previous summer, to once again do battle in the Great White North. These two joined Vince McMahon, The Undertaker and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as high-profile returnees since the beginning of 2003, with the company obviously looking to ramp up hype with 'Mania set to be hosted in the 50,000+ capacity Safeco Field in Seattle. This card is stacked with name value, but devoid of the type of high octane in-ring action that you would come to expect from watching many of the WWE's productions around this time. As such, it feels like a massive outlier, an ode to sports-entertainment rather than pure wrestling, so the fact that it garnered a more mixed response critically wasn't much of a surprise to me. But hey, I think every aspect of this business deserves to be given a chance, and the opportunity to see how a Montreal crowd would handle their first chance at the spotlight post-Screwjob was more than enough to get me excited.
- No Way Out 2003 comes to you from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the same host as Survivor Series six years prior, and you just know Vince was hoping for an electric response on this night. What he got was honestly a bit tepid, especially for the first half of the show, but the circumstances surrounding this choice of host, plus the response for the main event, makes it one of the most memorable crowds for a B-tier event.
- Our opening contest sees Chris Jericho take on Jeff Hardy, who is fresh off a poorly received heel turn that was quickly forgotten. This match is solid, I doubt these two guys could manage anything worse than that, but there wasn't any real attempt to make it memorable, just a lot of trading offense and Jericho working the crowd. Chris gets the win with the Walls of Jericho, but the real fun begins after the bell. Christian hops in to join Y2J in a post-match beatdown, only for Shawn Michaels to make the save. The crowd is understandably not thrilled to see him, but then he drops Jericho and Christian with a double DDT to a pretty massive pop, as Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler on commentary note that the fans don't really seem to know how to feel. That moment was great, everything surrounding this Jericho/Michaels feud has been, though it completely overshadowed the match that came before it.
- William Regal and Lance Storm are already the World Tag Team Champions again after help from Eric Bischoff's assistant, Chief Sean Morley, Val Venis under his real name. They defend the tag straps here against the team of Kane and Rob Van Dam, and while there was a good chance of this being one of the better matches of the night, it never got that chance. Early on, Kane accidentally slams Regal on his head, knocking William unconscious and leaving him with a concussion for the remainder of the match. Obviously, under modern standards, it would've been stopped immediately, but Regal just works right through it and the other three guys have to piece together a new match on the fly. Storm rakes at Kane's mask, blinding the monster, who delivers a chokeslam to his own partner in the confusion, allowing Lance to sneak in and pin RVD to retain. Despite this seemingly giving the World Tag Titles some stability at last, it wasn't to be, as Regal's concussion, plus a heart parasite, would put him out of action for over a year, as the belts were vacated.
- The Cruiserweight Championship is back on pay-per-view for the first time since Survivor Series, as Billy Kidman defends against Matt Hardy. Matt has done some great work after the creation of the Version 1 gimmick, and that culminates here, as he claims the gold in a match that really put him over strong. The elder Hardy has some great heel work, although the crowd doesn't care, and brings out an impactful top rope Twist of Fate to score the three count.
- The Undertaker made his return at number thirty in last month's Royal Rumble, and has now set his sights on revenge against the Big Show, who delivered the attack that wrote the Deadman off television late last year. Big Show has tried to weasel his way out of an a** kicking with a series of lame gifts to The Undertaker, including a puppy and Undertaker's old manager, Brother Love, but Undertaker has refused to give up the chase and so the big men must clash. Undertaker put on some really stellar performances in his matches with Brock Lesnar in '02, and keeps up that workrate here, lighting the crowd on fire with brawling and his stunning suicide dive onto Big Show's allies, Paul Heyman and A-Train. The fans were really excited to see Undertaker try and hit either a chokeslam or the Last Ride on Big Show, but the WWE is trying to get him over as a submission expert for some reason, so he chokes Show out instead with what would come to be known as the Hell's Gates. After the match, A-Train jumps in to hit the Derailer, making it obvious that Undertaker would have to find a partner for a tag match at 'Mania.
- We were scheduled to get Team Angle facing off with Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit and Edge in six man tag team action on this show, but earlier in the night, the latter was written off, courtesy of a backstage attack from Kurt and his boys. Now it's a handicap match, and to the surprise of no one, it's still the match of the night. There wasn't a ton of flashy action, though Benoit and Angle got the crowd into it by trading submissions and Brock got to toss some fools around, but the psychology is perfect, with the three heels working the numbers game, though the two faces are obviously the superior athletes straight up. Brock and Benoit pick up the win, as Chris forces Charlie Haas to tap to the Crippler Crossface, while Lesnar stops Angle's run-in, dropping the WWE Champion with an F-5. Though the match was entertaining, I think the company is running into some trouble here, as the result of the main event just seems inevitable at this point. Brock just seems so far above Kurt, and even though I'm sure many hardcore fans would still love the match no matter what, the more mainstream audience that typically drives up buys for 'Mania might not be very interested.
- Triple H and Scott Steiner get another chance for a solid world title match, as they face off one more time with Big Gold on the line. I thought this was a slight step up from the Rumble, as at least Scott does something more than just suplex, working Hunter's notoriously weak quads, even slapping on a figure four right in front of Ric Flair, exactly the kind of pettiness that "Big Poppa Pump" was defined by in WCW. Of course, that potential story is just abandoned halfway through, and it quickly falls off a cliff. Steiner continues to have some of the worst punches in wrestling, way too weak to take seriously, and the crowd lets him hear it, booing what was supposed to be one of the WWE's big new stars out of the building. In a precursor to many main event finishes in the next couple years, the recently formed Evolution run in, as Randy Orton and Batista distract Scott for long enough to let Triple H jump in and brain the challenger with the belt. The fans popped huge for that, then react with derision when Scott kicks out, but Triple H just ends it moments later with the Pedigree. For my money, Scott Steiner has to be the most disappointing signing in WWE history, bar none. The man got two world title matches and they were both just abysmal, and this crowd simply refused to let him be a conquering babyface, also a sign of the future with the reactions to John Cena and Roman Reigns.
- Seeing Eric Bischoff versus Steve Austin as an actual wrestling match on an actual wrestling card is quite a trip, but even though you can roll your eyes at this booking, Montreal loved it. Austin's return garners a massive roar, as does each one of the four(!) Stunners that Uncle Eric takes. This definitely dragged out for way too long, there's enough bad blood between these two men to make a beating of this caliber feel earned, but it just got way too repetitive. But hey, at least Austin is back and seemed refreshed after his eight-month sabbatical, ready to go for one final showdown with The Rock at WrestleMania.
- Speaking of "The Great One", it's main event time, as The Rock faces Hulk Hogan in a rematch of one of the highlights of WrestleMania 18. I'm not normally a fan of the Hogan main event match formula, but this was fun, mostly thanks to Rock's antics. His "entitled big shot actor" heel run is just so damn entertaining, you can tell he was eager to sink his teeth into something new. Rock takes Hulk's bandana and whips Hogan with his own weight belt, drawing some excellent heat and building towards the comeback. After the leg drop, though, the lights go out, and Rock combines with corrupt referee and future tag champ Sylvain Grenier, plus Mr. McMahon, to execute another screwjob in Montreal. Vince distracts Hogan, Genier slides a chair to Rock, and a chair shot plus the Rock Bottom spells defeat for Hogan once again. After the match, Vince sets the stage for his match with Hogan, delivering the signature shirt rip to massive heat from the fans. This was exactly what you'd expect it to be, a terrible wrestling match but entertaining spectacle, though anything to do with the screwjob was beyond played out by this point and got an eye roll from me.
6/10
No Way Out was a fairly mixed bag, nothing too awful but nothing great either. The handicap match was the best of the night, though no match provided any truly memorable moments. This was basically just an advertisement to WrestleMania, and I think it did it's job effectively without too much fuss.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: WrestleMania 19, as Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar meet in an intense main event. Plus, Chris Jericho battles Shawn Michaels, Booker T challenges Triple H, The Rock and Steve Austin face off one last time and Hulk Hogan meets Mr. McMahon in a Street Fight. See you soon.
- Henry
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