Royal Rumble (2003)

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Royal Rumble
World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown!
DateJanuary 19, 2003
CityBoston, Massachusetts
VenueFleet Center
Attendance15,338[1]
Buy rate585,000[2]
Pay-per-view chronology
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Royal Rumble chronology
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2004

The 2003 Royal Rumble was the 16th annual

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on January 19, 2003, at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts
. It was the first Royal Rumble event produced under the WWE name after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May 2002. It was also the first Royal Rumble to occur under the first brand split.

As has been customary since 1993, the

main event was the 2003 Royal Rumble match, which was won by SmackDown!'s Brock Lesnar, who last eliminated The Undertaker
, also from SmackDown!.

The primary main event from the Raw brand saw

submit to the Ankle Lock
, thus retaining the championship.

Production

Background

Boston, Massachusetts
.

The

Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first Royal Rumble to occur under the first brand extension introduced in March 2002, which split the roster between the Raw and SmackDown! brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform on their respective shows,[5] thus the 2003 event included wrestlers from both brands.[1] It was also the first Royal Rumble held under the WWE name, following the promotion being renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May 2002.[6]

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and, since 1993, the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania.[7][8] As a result of the brand extension, the winner of the 2003 Royal Rumble match earned a match for their brand's top championship at WrestleMania XIX: Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship. This made it the first Royal Rumble to feature the World Heavyweight Championship, following its introduction on Raw in September 2002 after the WWE Undisputed Championship became exclusive to SmackDown! and was renamed to the WWE Championship. This was subsequently also the first time in which two world championships were eligible to be challenged for by the winner of the titular match.[5]

Storylines

The event comprised six matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed

less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown! brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown!.[9][10]

The buildup to the Royal Rumble match began on the December 23 episode of Raw, when

brand extension.[11] The buildup continued on the January 2 episode of SmackDown!, where a vignette aired hyping the impending return of The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble match. Later that night, Paul Heyman announced that Brock Lesnar and Big Show would wrestle in a match at the PPV, with the winner receiving a spot in the Royal Rumble match.[12] On the January 6 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels argued over who would be drawing the #1 entry in the Royal Rumble match.[13] On the January 13 episode of Raw, a Royal Rumble qualification match took place in which Jeff Hardy defeated Raven. Later that night, Jericho defeated Batista, Kane and Rob Van Dam in an over the top rope Challenge to earn the right choose an entry number of his choice. Jericho chose #2 because #1 was already given to Michaels.[14]

Royal Rumble qualification matches

The main

disqualification when Big Show interfered in the match and attacked Benoit.[18] However, Lesnar rescued Benoit from the post-match assault by Angle and Big Show and brutally assaulted Angle, injuring him. On the December 26 episode of SmackDown!, as a result of Angle's injury, the SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon cancelled Angle's scheduled title match against Big Show and decided that Big Show would wrestle Benoit to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble; Benoit won the match.[19]

The main rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between

Three Stages of Hell to win the World Heavyweight Championship.[15][16][23] The following night on Raw, Triple H held an Appreciation Ceremony on winning the title but the ceremony was interrupted by Steiner, who announced that his contract said that he would earn a world title shot. As a result, Steiner and Triple H's match for the World Heavyweight Championship was made official for the Royal Rumble.[24]

The secondary rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between

Goldust for the World Tag Team Championship.[13]
This led to a title match being signed between Storm and Regal and the Dudley Boyz at the Royal Rumble.

The secondary rivalry heading into the event from the SmackDown! brand was between Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie. At Armageddon, Torrie and Dawn did a lesbian segment in a hotel room.[16] On the December 19 episode of SmackDown!, Torrie gave bad remarks about her storyline father Al Wilson on getting married with Dawn.[18] On the January 2 episode of SmackDown!, Dawn and Al had their storyline wedding in their undergarments.[12] On the January 9 episode of SmackDown!, Josh Mathews announced that Dawn and Torrie would wrestle in a match at Royal Rumble billed as a "Stepmother" vs "Stepdaughter" match.[25]

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English commentators Jim Ross (Raw/Royal Rumble)
Jerry Lawler (Raw/Royal Rumble)
Michael Cole (SmackDown!)
Tazz
(SmackDown!)
Spanish commentators Carlos Cabrera
Hugo Savinovich
Interviewer
 Jonathan Coachman
Ring announcer Howard Finkel (Raw)
Tony Chimel (SmackDown!)
Referees Charles Robinson (Raw)
Nick Patrick (Raw)
Jack Doan (Raw)
Earl Hebner (Raw)
Mike Chioda (SmackDown!)
Jim Korderas
(SmackDown!)
Brian Hebner
(SmackDown!)
Mike Sparks (SmackDown!)
Chad Patton
General managers Eric Bischoff (Raw)
Stephanie McMahon (SmackDown!)

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Spike Dudley defeated Steven Richards by pinning him after a Dudley Dog. The match aired live on Sunday Night Heat.[26]

Preliminary matches

The first match was a Royal Rumble qualification match between

1995 Royal Rumble and who he was feuding with).[1][27][26]

The second match was a

disqualification, but the referee refused and the match continued. Regal attempted to hit The Dudley Boyz with a pair of brass knuckles, but The Dudley Boyz performed a 3D on Regal. D-Von hit Storm with the brass knuckles and pinned him to win the titles.[1][27][26]

The next match was between Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie. Wilson performed a swinging neckbreaker on Marie to win the match.[1][27][26]

Main event matches

The fourth match was between

Pedigree on Steiner, but Steiner countered and performed an exploder suplex. Steiner attempted a military press slam, but Triple H countered with a neckbreaker for a near-fall. Flair interfered in the match, prompting the referee to eject him from ringside. Triple H threw the referee out of the ring, but the referee did not disqualify Triple H. Triple H hit Steiner with a sledgehammer, meaning Steiner won by disqualification, but Triple H retained the title. After the match, Steiner applied the Steiner Recliner on Triple H.[1][27][26]

The next match was between

submit to the hold to retain the title. Afterwards, Benoit received a standing ovation from the crowd for his performance. [1][27][26]

The main event was the Royal Rumble match. The first two entrants were

619 on Edge, with Edge avoiding the move. Mysterio and Edge continued to fight until Christian officially entered at #6. After entering the ring, Christian attempted to embrace and reconcile with his former tag team partner Edge, but was speared by Edge. Edge and Mysterio then performed a double missile dropkick on Nowinski. The move was somewhat botched
, causing Edge to land directly onto Nowinski's face, causing legitimate injuries.

Rolling Thunder
.

Van Dam and Jericho continued to battle each other, and Van Dam had nearly eliminated Jericho until

rapping
on his way down to ringside, entering the ring after finishing his rap.

Brock Lesnar won the 2003 Royal Rumble match.

Scissors Kick on Kane and a Flapjack
on Matt. Booker went on to eliminate Guerrero by backdropping him over the top rope.

Batista entered at #28 and started dominating everyone. Shortly after entering, Batista eliminated Test and then Rikishi. Brock Lesnar entered at #29 and started fighting all the participants. Lesnar eliminated Haas and Benjamin and then eliminated Matt by performing an F-5, which sent Matt over the top rope onto Haas and Benjamin. Batista and Lesnar then had a stand off. Finally, The Undertaker
returned to WWE after a three-month injury hiatus by entering at #30 as the final entrant of the match.

Undertaker quickly eliminated Cena and then eliminated Jamal. Maven attacked Undertaker from behind, trying to eliminate him for the second consecutive year, but Undertaker recovered and eliminated Maven. Kane and Van Dam started to double-team A-Train, clotheslining and eliminating him. Afterwards, it looked as if Kane was going to Gorilla press slam Van Dam on Batista, but instead Kane tossed Van Dam over the top rope, eliminating him from the match. Kane and Batista started teaming as they were the remaining participants from Raw and battled Lesnar and Undertaker, who were the remaining participants from SmackDown!. Undertaker eventually eliminated Batista and then battled Kane before eliminating him. Batista was angered at his elimination, so he angrily re-entered the ring and attempted to hit Undertaker with a chair, but Undertaker avoided it and nailed Batista with the chair instead. Lesnar took advantage of the situation and eliminated a distracted Undertaker to win the Royal Rumble match.[1][28][27][26]

Aftermath

Due to winning the Royal Rumble match,

handicap match; however, Lesnar and Benoit managed to defeat Team Angle.[30] At WrestleMania XIX, Lesnar defeated Angle to win the WWE Championship.[31]

After retaining the

disqualified, Triple H continued his rivalry with Steiner over the title. On the February 3 episode of Raw, Steiner became the number one contender for the title by defeating Chris Jericho.[32] At No Way Out, Triple H defeated Steiner to retain the title.[30]

Results

No.Results
submission
Singles match for the WWE Championship19:57
7Brock Lesnar won by last eliminating The Undertaker30-man Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania XIX[28]53:47
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
P – the match was broadcast on the pre-show

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

  – Raw
  – SmackDown!
  – Winner
Draw Entrant Brand Order eliminated Eliminated by Time Eliminations[33]
1 Shawn Michaels Raw 1 Chris Jericho 02:05 0
2 Chris Jericho Raw 14 Test 39:00 6
3 Christopher Nowinski Raw 2 Rey Mysterio 04:37 0
4 Rey Mysterio SmackDown! 3 Chris Jericho 05:55 1
5 Edge SmackDown! 10 11:00 3
6 Christian Raw 9 Chris Jericho 09:03 1
7 Chavo Guerrero SmackDown! 8 Edge 07:10 0
8 Tajiri SmackDown! 6 Chris Jericho 04:41 0
9 Bill DeMott SmackDown! 4 Edge 02:13 0
10 Tommy Dreamer Raw 5 Chris Jericho & Christian 00:48 0
11 B-2 SmackDown! 7 Edge 00:24 0
12 Rob Van Dam Raw 26 Kane 33:00 2
13 Matt Hardy SmackDown! 21 Brock Lesnar 27:13 0
14 Eddie Guerrero SmackDown! 13 Booker T 16:29 0
15 Jeff Hardy Raw 11 Rob Van Dam 07:26 0
16 Rosey Raw 12 Kane 10:16 0
17 Test Raw 17 Batista 18:45 1
18 John Cena SmackDown! 22 The Undertaker 19:45 0
19 Charlie Haas SmackDown! 19 Brock Lesnar 17:16 2
20 Rikishi SmackDown! 18 Batista 14:55 0
21 Jamal Raw 23 The Undertaker 16:07 0
22 Kane Raw 28 20:24 3
23 Shelton Benjamin SmackDown! 20 Brock Lesnar 10:54 2
24 Booker T Raw 16 Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin 06:20 1
25 A-Train SmackDown! 25 Kane & Rob Van Dam 11:00 0
26 Maven Raw 24 The Undertaker 08:19 0
27 Goldust Raw 15 Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin 00:47 0
28 Batista Raw 27 The Undertaker 09:55 2
29 Brock Lesnar SmackDown! — Winner 09:00 4
30 The Undertaker SmackDown! 29 Brock Lesnar 06:45 5

References

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  2. ^ "WWE Pay-Per-View Buys (1993-2015)". Wrestlenomics. March 25, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  4. ISBN 9781439193211
    . At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
  5. ^ a b "WWE Entertainment To Make Raw and SmackDown Distinct Television Brands" (Press release). WWE. March 27, 2002. Archived from the original on April 17, 2010. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  6. ^ "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on January 19, 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  7. ^ "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Archived from the original on July 14, 2005. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
  8. ^ Waldman, Jon (February 2, 2005). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  9. Discovery Communications. Archived
    from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "WWE Raw Report". PWWEW.net. December 23, 2002. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  12. ^ a b "WWE SmackDown Report". PWWEW.net. January 2, 2003. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  13. ^ a b "WWE Raw Report". PWWEW.net. January 6, 2003. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  14. ^ "WWE Raw Report". PWWEW.net. January 13, 2003. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
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  17. ^ a b "WWE SmackDown Report". PWWEW.net. December 12, 2002. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  18. ^ a b "WWE SmackDown Report". PWWEW.net. December 19, 2002. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  19. ^ "WWE SmackDown Report". PWWEW.net. December 26, 2002. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  20. ^ "Wrestler Profiles: Scott Steiner". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  21. ^ "Survivor Series 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. November 17, 2002. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
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  33. ^ "Royal Rumble Elimination Info". Pro Wrestling History. 2009-07-09.
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