10 Best Ruthless Aggression Era WWE PPVs
4. Vengeance 2003
This all-SmackDown event was a superb highlight reel of wrestling.
The opener saw Eddie Guerrero defeat Chris Benoit in the finals of a tournament to crown the first ever WWE United States Champion - whose belt design is still in use to this day it is that beautiful. Eddie was fully immersed in his lie, cheat and steal character here, and it was evident he was slowly winning the crowd over, setting the wheels in motion for his WWE title win seven months later.
Also on the card, the former WCW tag team of Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Titles from the wonderful World’s Greatest Tag Team in an outstanding tag team match.
This event also highlighted the upside of John Cena as he went toe to toe with the American Badass version of The Undertaker. This match was hard hitting and classic storytelling based on respect. Cena was in full momentum as the Doctor of Thuganomics here, and this was the last thing of merit The American Badass persona did before returning from the dead at WrestleMania XX.