DAWN MARIE VS. TORRIE WILSON

  This is a rematch from No Mercy, which I reviewed (here). Then the previous month at Armageddon there was a segment with these two divas in a hotel room, this was before Dawn Marie married Torrie Wilson’s (storyline) father whist in their underwear. This somehow lead to a Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter match, not therapy. The match was announced by Josh Matthews and before the match there’s a vignette announcing the arrival of Nathan Jones (look, I need some tags for matches like this.) The prematch promo reminds me this is after Dawn killed Al Wilson with excitement on the honeymoon. This is the kind of bullshit that happens when they have nothing to wrestle for. Oh, and who could forget the casketside brawl? I tried to, really, I did.

Dawn Marie enters first wearing a veil mourning her late husband. Torrie Wilson gets the cheers over her evil stepmother.

Michael Cole and Tazz are on commentary for this match.

 

DAWN MARIE VS. TORRIE WILSON

(Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter)

WWE Royal Rumble 2003 (19^th January 2003)

The referee checks that Torrie is feeling okay to start the match, which gives Dawn Marie the perfect opportunity to blindside Torrie, starting the match.

  Dawn Marie taunts Torrie Wilson before slapping her, Marie gets in a stomp but Torrie Wilson with the double-leg takedown and she starts slamming Dawn’s head into the mat. Dawn Marie is sent across the ring by her hair and irish whipped into the corner. Torrie Wilson charges, Dawn gets her boot up but it’s caught, Torrie takes Dawn Marie down again and catapults her into nothing so she just hits the mat. Torrie Wilson gets in some stomps but the german suplex is blocked as Dawn Marie grabs the top rope. Dawn Marie catches Torrie with an elbow and takes her down with an armbar. I did not expect that. Torrie Wilson gets her free arm close to the bottom rope so Dawn brings her closer to the middle of the ring. We see a replay of the start of the match as Dawn Marie stomps Torrie Wilson and puts her in a hammerlock on the mat. She rolls Torrie Wilson over and covers but only gets 2. Dawn Marie starts targeting the arm whilst telling Torrie it’s for her dad. She gets into a cover but again Torrie Wilson kicks out. Dawn gets some right hands in and sends Torrie off the ropes, Torrie Wilson ducks a clothesline but runs into a flapjack. That scream made me glad the television is on an outside wall. Torrie Wilson gets her foot up on the turnbuckle to stop herself going into the corner and they collide in the corner for a double-down. Torrie Wilson gets a nearfall from a backslide pin and arm drags Dawn Marie over.

  Dawn Marie is sent into the corner but she jumps to the middle rope and clotheslines Torrie down, which was also apparently for Torrie’s father. Dawn Marie stomps Torrie and sends her off the ropes but Torrie hits a swinging neckbreaker for the sudden win.

WINNER: TORRIE WILSON

 The right person won (if the match had to happen at all) and Dawn Marie had some nice actual wrestling, Torrie sold the arm throughout and if it wasn’t for the storyline surrounding it then I would probably rate it higher. [*] 1.5/10

After the match Michael Cole feels the need to mention that winning the match won’t bring Al Wilson back. Thanks Cole, I bet you’re fun at parties, if you ever get invited.