15 YRS AGO – WWE in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Triple H vs. RVD headlines, Christian vs. Goldust, Dreamer, Orton, Steiner, Lance Storm, Val Venis

Randy Orton (photo credit Wade Keller © PWTorch)

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

The following article was published 15 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…


WWE house show report
June 28, 2003
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Report by Joey Berwick, PWTorch.com correspondent

Small arena, but it was packed; at least 2,000 people there. Here’s what happened:

(1) Scott Steiner defeated Lance Storm with his flatliner-type move. About what you’d expect from these two.

(2) Val Venis & Hurricane defeated Rodney Mack & Rosey (w/Theodore Long, Chris Nowinski). Venis pinned Mack after a Shining Wizard / Money Shot combo.

(3) Randy Orton defeated Maven. Maven missed missile dropkick off the top; Orton hit his Diamond Cutter move for the win.

(4) Tommy Dreamer defeated Rico with a DDT. Good grief, Rico has this…. um, “flaming” character down pat…. even grabbed the ref’s ass after the match.

(5) La Resistance defeated Dudleyz with a double flapjack, retaining the tag titles. La Resistance did the French national anthem bit, completely butchering the song. I don’t know what it is they think they’re singing, but I can guarantee it is NOT La Marseillaise. And they didn’t even bring out a French flag…. anyway, a HUGE pop for the Dudleyz; lots of “We want tables” and “USA, USA” chants. Postmatch, Spike ran in and hit the Dudley Dog on one of the heels; Bubba and D-Von put the other through a table with the 3-D.

Intermission; Howard Finkle hawked merchandise. They seemed to have a lot of old stuff for sale; I saw a couple of kids walking around with Steve Austin smoking skull title belts….

(6) Christian defeated Goldust to retain the IC Title. Slight “Goldust” chants during the match. Pretty neat ending: Christian reversed a Curtain Call into a Tomikaze, which was reversed into a rollup by Goldust, which was reversed into ANOTHER rollup by Christian, who held the ropes and got a handful of tights for the win.

(7) Victoria & Molly Holly (w/Stevie Richards) defeated Ivory & Gail Kim. Kim went for something off the top rope; Richards pushed her off; Victoria got the pin. Nothing special out of Gail Kim….

(8) Triple H defeated Rob Van Dam. ENORMOUS pops for both guys. Triple H held a sleeper for at least five minutes during the match. Ending saw the ref somehow get KO’d…. RVD hit rolling thunder, but no ref for the count; RVD goes for frog splash, but Randy Orton runs out and interferes. RVD fights him off, hits the frog splash; ref counts to two, then Orton pulls him out of the ring. KANE then runs in and chokeslams RVD; Triple H covers, and ref counts to three.

Postmatch Kane hit another *huge* chokeslam on RVD; trainers came in to help RVD up (I think that one of them was Fit Finlay, but not sure). RVD’s music played; end of show.

Overall, a pretty enjoyable night. Kane was not only *completely* bald, but had no “burn” makeup on his face whatsoever…. wonder what he’ll look like next Monday night.

Top face reactions:
1. Dudleys
2. RVD
3. Charles Robinson — seriously, the crowd was crazy for him, “whooing” every time he came out for a match

Top heel heat:
1. Triple H
2. La Resistance
3. Rico


NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS 2003 FLASHBACK: 15 YRS AGO – WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT (6-26-03): Radican’s debut for PWTorch including Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan as Mr. America, Angle & Lesnar, Undertaker & APA team, Cena vs. Orlando Jordan, Piper

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply