12 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2003

Pictured above: Brock Lesnar not having a clue what just happened as he greets Kurt Angle following their WrestleMania XIX headliner and tries to shake off landing on his head during a Shooting Star Press attempt gone wrong. Not pictured above: The absolute riot both Brock and Kurt would have throughout 2003 on episodes of SmackDown as both sworn enemies and friendly rivals.

They weren't the only notable names on the blue brand in '03, but Lesnar and Angle were 2 of the most impressive. The Undertaker was in the last vestiges of his biker character before turning the clock back to go old school in 2004 - indeed, some of 'Taker's work in 2003 was flat out bizarre. You might've forgotten all about one of his TV feuds, for example.

WWE went WCW on SmackDown that year too. Hulk Hogan's honeymoon return the prior year had been gold (for the most part), but now writers were struggling to come up with valid excuses to keep the red and yellow around on the roster. Their reaching led to spectacular fails and one of the worst rip-offs/offshoots ever seen.

Pensioners snuffed it due to being oversexed (?!), several classic matches have been lost to the sands of time (such was the strength of in-ring work generally during this era), and one of the biggest alliances yet went exactly nowhere when it should've blown up. Throughout, SmackDown was never less than watchable across 52 barmy episodes.

Raw was sagging in '03 over on Mondays, but Thursdays ranged from bad > outrageous > world class and everywhere in between.

Insert jokes here about the earliest knockings of SmackDown's 2003 being dominated by a pensioner. No, it wasn't any of the older WCW crew, but Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were still rattling around the place in significant spots on TV. Shockingly, it was actually Torrie Wilson's dad Al who became a pretty big deal on blue brand episodes as 2002 gave way to 2003.

He'd been all over TV for a few months by that point.

January ’03 was dominated by Al's wedding to Dawn Marie on the 2 January episode, then his kayfabe death due to too much sex, then his funeral on the 16 January edition. How on earth did this come to hog attention on SmackDown heading into the Royal Rumble?! Parts of it are perversely entertaining to revisit, if only because Torrie’s dad was totally out of his element like Donnie in The Big Lebowski, but the timing was bizarre.

After all, Vince McMahon had one of the biggest pay-per-views of the entire year to promote, but he was happy to hand as much camera time as possible to the ever-awkward Al Wilson. This would be like Triple H pausing during WrestleMania season to say: 'Hey, y'know who we need to feature? The Miz's father. Get him on the phone!'.

WWE still fancied being as scandalous as possible as calendars turned. They didn't quite have Katie Vick, Billy & Chuck, HLA etc out of their system, which is presumably why old Al had to fake a heart attack because he couldn't keep up with one of the Divas under the sheets. Thankfully, they didn't film those parts!

What a time, people.