Judgment Day (2003)

Judgment Day (2003)
Promotional poster featuring Booker T
Tagline(s)	You will be the judge...
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s)	Raw SmackDown!
Sponsor	Clearasil
Date	May 18, 2003
Attendance	13,000
Venue	Charlotte Coliseum
City	Charlotte, North Carolina
Pay-per-view chronology
Backlash (2003) Judgment Day (2003) Insurrextion (2003)
Judgment Day chronology
Judgment Day (2002) Judgment Day (2003) Judgment Day (2004)

Judgment Day (2003) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and 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.^[1]

Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first match from the SmackDown! brand featured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's defeat of The Big Show in a Stretcher match to retain the title after Rey Mysterio interfered, attacking The Big Show.^[2] The second match from the Raw brand was between Kevin Nash and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, where Nash won by disqualification. Three matches were featured on the undercard. The first match featured Women's Champion Jazz defeating Victoria, Jacqueline. and Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four-Way Match to retain 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. Christian won the title, re-activating it after it had been unified with the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002.^[3][4] The final was between the team of Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri, and the team of Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) in a ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Guerrero and Tajiri won the match and the titles.^[5]

Background

The event featured nine professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from either one of the WWE's brands – SmackDown or Raw – the two storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees.

The main feud heading into WrestleMania on the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Big Show, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. At Backlash, The Big Show defeated Rey Mysterio and then smashed him with a streatcher on the ringpost. The next Smackdown, Lesnar confronted Big Show about it while Big Show refused to face him. The next week, Big Show was set to team up with A-Train against Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar, as Lesnar challenged Big Show to a Stretcher match at Judgment Day. The F-B-I then locked Lesnar in his room as Big Show defeated Benoit. Big Show tried to injure Benoit as he did to Mysterio but Lesnar saved him, only to get chokeslammed by Big Show. The next week, Big Show took Rey Mysterio during an interview to the ring as Lesnar ran out to save Rey, helping him hitting Show.

The main feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Kevin Nash, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. After Triple H pinned Nash at the six men tag at Backlash, him and Ric Flair challenged Rob Van Dam and Kane for the Tag titles. Nash interfered and then chased Triple H out of the arena, as Triple H flew with his car. The next week, both Nash and Triple H were guests of the Highlight Reel, Chris Jericho's talk show. Both brawled all over the arena. The next week, Nash fought against Jericho, and won after Shawn Michaels pervented Triple H and Ric Flair from interfering. Nash then hit Triple H with the Jacknife Powerbomb.

The secondary feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Mr. America (Hulk Hogan) and Roddy Piper. After Hogan won against Vince McMahon t WrestleMania XIX, McMahon was frustrated with him and wanted Hulkamania to die, and forced him to sit out the rest of his contract. For weeks after that, mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown! shows. On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hulk Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). McMahon couldn't fire Mr. America due to his contract with Stephanie McMahon. The next week, Vince said that he would prove that Mr. America is Hulk Hogan in order to fire him. He interviewed Hogan live via sattelite from his home, but then was informed that Mr. America is in the building. Vince tried to rip the mask off Mr. America's face but Mr. America layed him out. The next week, Piper challenged Mr. America to a match at Judgment Day, but then Piper attacked Mr. America and his fan. Piper then pulled the prosthetic leg off the fan, who was revealed as Zach Gowen.

Results

Battle Royal

See also

• WWE Judgment Day
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

References

External links

• Official website