I'm liking these reviews of the post-Invasion shows, because it's all such a blur to me right now, but I remember loathing the product just so much outside of obvious spurts (SmackDown Six, mostly) that seeing someone come back with a fresher set of eyes is worthwhile.
Really looking forward to next week. Vengeance '03 is one of my favorite WWE shows ever.
I know the sentiment that WWE (WWF, at the time…well half of the time) turned into WCW as soon as they bought them out. Assuming you buy into that idea then I feel like ‘01/‘02 is like ‘97/‘98 WCW where there is a lot of aggravating, disappointing booking and feeling that things are in process of going off the rails but still enough good to great stuff to keep you engaged.
Stretch of shows after WrestleMania XIX feels like ‘99 WCW. Still some pockets of great stuff on the undercard but man oh man, rest of the show has lost the plot.
I remember Bad Blood getting trashed when it first happened, but honestly that probably had more to do with the general malaise of Austin/Bischoff/Nash/HHH being all over RAW every week.
Looking forward to your Vengeance review as well. I order the PPV and bought the DVD when it came out. I've got a fair bit of nostalgia for that show.