This Pay Per View came out of nowhere to be one of the best of 2003, a shade underneath Wrestlemania 19. It was the first Smackdown-only Pay Per View, and although Smackdown lacked the obvious star power of Raw, which trotted out Steve Austin, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Goldberg, Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, and even The Rock on occasion; Smackdown made the most of what they had. Every match on this show was good in its own way. The Eddie Guerrero/Chris Benoit match for the reinstated United States championship lived up to its billing, with Eddie really getting into his lying, cheating, and stealing character. The storyline-driven matches of Sable/Stephanie and Vince/Zack Gowen pulled the most of out the limited abilities of the combatants, especially with Vince bleeding buckets to help get the match over. John Cena took the very first step to the next level by going toe-to-toe with The Undertaker (and internet fans were furious when Cena lostjust let that marinate for a little). The tag team championship match between Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman was better than it had any right to be. Even the lower card matches like Jamie Noble vs. Billy Gunn and the APA Bar Room Brawl were entertaining. The main event triple threat for Vengeance 2003 seemed similar to the main event of the previous years Vengeance, and it blew it out of the water. Brock and Angle were all-world at that point, and Big Show, despite his limitations, played his big man role well. From top to bottom, this Pay Per View was fantastic.
