Season 2003 Episodes
1. Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble (2003) was the sixteenth annual Royal Rumble PPV. It was presented by PlayStation and took place on January 19, 2003 at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, for his choice at either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship. Six professional wrestling matches were featured at the event. The main event was the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. The primary match on the Raw brand was Triple H versus Scott Steiner for the World Heavyweight Championship. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship. The featured match on the undercard was a Royal Rumble qualification match between Brock Lesnar and The Big Show.
2. No Way Out
No Way Out (2003) was the fourth annual (fifth overall) No Way Out PPV. It was presented by Starburst, took place on February 23, 2003 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec and starred the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brands. The main event from the SmackDown! brand was a rematch from WrestleMania X8 between Hulk Hogan and The Rock. The main event from the Raw brand was a World Heavyweight Championship match between Triple H and Scott Steiner. The main match on the undercard from Raw, was the encounter of Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff, while the main match on the undercard from SmackDown! was a Six-man Tag Team match between the team of Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas, and Shelton Benjamin) and the team of Brock Lesnar, Edge, and Chris Benoit, where Edge was unable to participate in the match due to injury.
3. Wrestlemania XIX
WrestleMania XIX was the nineteenth annual WrestleMania. It was presented by Snickers Cruncher and took place on March 30, 2003 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington. A record-breaking 54,097 fans from all around the world resulted in a gate attendance grossing US$2.76 million. The tagline for WrestleMania XIX was "Dare To Dream". The official theme song for the event was "Crack Addict" by Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit performed the theme song live, as well as "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" during The Undertaker's entrance. The main match on the SmackDown! brand was Kurt Angle versus Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. The main match on the Raw brand was the third Wrestlemania meeting between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The predominant match on the Raw brand was for the World Heavyweight Championship between Triple H and Booker T. Other matches on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho and Hulk Hogan versus Vince McMahon in a Street Fight.
4. Backlash
Backlash (2003) was the fifth annual Backlash PPV. It was presented by Castrol GTX, and took place on April 27, 2003 at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts and starred talent from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brands. The main event and featured match of the Raw brand was the encounter of Goldberg and The Rock. The featured match on the undercard was a WWE Championship match from the SmackDown! brand, between John Cena and the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar. The other predominant match on the undercard was a six-man tag team match from the Raw brand, between the team of Triple H, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho facing Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, and Booker T. The predominant undercard match from the SmackDown! brand was the encounter of The Big Show and Rey Mysterio.
5. Judgment Day
Judgment Day (2003) was a PPV presented by Clearasil that took place on May 18, 2003, at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the fifth annual WWE Judgment Day event and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The first match from the SmackDown! brand featured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's title defense against The Big Show in a Stretcher match. The second match from the Raw brand was between Kevin Nash and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. Three matches were featured on the undercard. The first match featured Women's Champion Jazz defending against Victoria, Jacqueline. and Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four-Way Match for the title. The next was a Battle Royal featuring Christian, Val Venis, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Test, Rob Van Dam, Kane, Goldust and Booker T for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The final was between the team of Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri, and the team of Team Angle in a ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
6. Insurrextion
WWE Insurrextion (2003) took place on June 7, 2003 at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle, England, UK. The Main event was a Street Fight between Triple H (with Ric Flair) and Kevin Nash (with Shawn Michaels), with loads of match ups including Jazz defended the WWE Women's Championship in a divas match against Trish Stratus.
7. Bad Blood
Bad Blood (2003) was a PPV presented by Maxim Hair Color, which took place on June 15, 2003 at the Compaq Center in Houston, Texas. It starred wrestlers from the Raw brand and marked the beginning of PPVs (other than the big 4) being brand exclusive. The main event was a Hell in a Cell match, featuring World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defending against Kevin Nash. Two predominant bouts were featured on the undercard; in respective singles matches, Ric Flair fought Shawn Michaels and Goldberg fought Chris Jericho. The event marked the second time the Hell in a Cell format was used by WWE in a Bad Blood event. The 2003 Bad Blood event grossed over $500,000 ticket sales from an attendance of 10,000 and received about 285,000 PPV buys.. This event helped WWE increase its yearly pay-per-view revenue by $6.2 million from the previous year. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of second on Billboard's DVD Sales Chart.
8. Vengeance
Vengeance (2003) was a PPV presented by Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness blockbuster, which took place on July 27, 2003 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. It was the third annual Vengeance event and starred wrestlers from the SmackDown brand. The main event was a No DQ Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, in which WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defended the title against Kurt Angle and The Big Show. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In a singles match WWE Chairman Vince McMahon fought Zach Gowen and The Undertaker fought John Cena. Vengeance had an attendance of approximately 9,500 and received about 322,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $6.2 million from the previous year.
9. SummerSlam
SummerSlam (2003) was a PPV presented by Stacker 2's YJ Stinger. It took place on August 24, 2003 at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the 16th annual SummerSlam event and starred wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The first main event was an Elimination Chamber match featuring wrestlers from the Raw brand.. World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defended his title against Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels. The other main event featured SmackDown!'s WWE Champion Kurt Angle defending against challenger Brock Lesnar in a singles match. There was a No Holds Barred match between Kane and Rob Van Dam. and a Fatal Four Way for the US Champioship between Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rhyno, and Tajiri.
10. Unforgiven
Unforgiven (2003) was the sixth annual Unforgiven PPV. It was presented by Namco's Soulcalibur II and took place on September 21, 2003 from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The main event was Triple H versus Goldberg for the World Heavyweight Championship. Two of the predominant matches on the card were a Triple threat match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship between Christian, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam and the other was a Last Man Standing match between Shane McMahon and Kane. Another primary match on the undercard was Randy Orton versus Shawn Michaels in a singles match.
11. No Mercy
No Mercy (2003) was a PPV presented by Subway, which took place on October 19, 2003 at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the sixth event under the No Mercy chronology and starred wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. The main event saw WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defend his title against The Undertaker in a match where a chain was hung from a pole and the first man to reach it could use it as a legal weapon in what was called a Biker Chain match. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In a singles match for the WWE United States Championship, the Big Show challenged Eddie Guerrero for the title. The other was also a singlesmatch, in which Kurt Angle fought John Cena.
12. Survivor Series
Survivor Series (2003) was the 17th annual Survivor Series PPV and was presented by Microsoft's Xbox. It took place on November 16, 2003 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas and featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown! The main match on the Raw brand was for the World Heavyweight Championship between Goldberg and Triple H. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was a Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Vince McMahon. This would also be marked as The Undertaker's last appearance portraying Big Evil/The American Badass, as he would return four months later at WrestleMania XX in his Deadman persona. The predominant match on the Raw brand was a 5 on 5 Traditional Survivor Series match between Team Bischoff (Chris Jericho, Christian, Randy Orton, Scott Steiner and Mark Henry) and Team Austin (Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, and D-Von Dudley). The main match on the card featured an Ambulance match between Kane and Shane McMahon.
13. Armageddon
Armageddon (2003) was the fourth Armageddon PPV. The event, presented by Square Enix's Final Fantasy X-2, took place on December 14, 2003 at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, Florida and was a Raw brand-exclusive event. The main event was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Kane, Triple H, and champion Goldberg. One of the predominant matches on the undercard was the defense of the WWE Intercontinental Championship by Rob Van Dam against Randy Orton. Another primary match on the undercard was Batista versus Shawn Michaels. The event grossed $450,000 with 9,000 ticket sales and received 200,000 pay-per-view buys. The event was claimed to be a "flop" by Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling event section. They rated the overall event a six out of ten.