Royal Rumble (2003)
The 2003 Royal Rumble was the 16th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. 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 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 Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. However, due to the brand split introduced in March 2002, the winner received a match for their respective brand's world championship at WrestleMania XIX, either Raw
The primary main event from the Raw brand saw Triple H versus Scott Steiner for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Steiner won by disqualification resulting in Triple H retaining the championship, as titles do not change hands by disqualification unless stipulated. The main event for the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship, which Angle won by making Benoit submit to the Ankle Lock, thus retaining the championship.
Production
Background
The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring until that PPV's discontinuation after 2002. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2003 event was the 16th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and took place on January 19, 2003, at the Fleet Center in 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, thus the 2003 event included wrestlers from both brands. It was also the first Royal Rumble held under the WWE name, following the promotion being renamed from World Wrestling Federation to WWE in May 2002.The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and, since 1993, the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. 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.
Storylines
The event comprised six matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or 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!.The buildup to the Royal Rumble match began on the December 23, 2002 episode of Raw, when Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff informed viewers that the upcoming Royal Rumble match would feature 15 wrestlers representing the Raw brand and 15 wrestlers representing the SmackDown! brand, since this would be the first Royal Rumble match to take place after WWE's brand extension. 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. 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. 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.
;Royal Rumble qualification matches
- Jeff Hardy defeated Raven - Raw January 13
- Chris Jericho defeated Batista, Kane, and Rob Van Dam in a battle royal Raw January 13
The main rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Triple H and Scott Steiner over the World Heavyweight Championship. On October 24, WWE had announced on its official website that Scott Steiner had signed a three-year contract with WWE. After eight years away from the company, Steiner returned to WWE as a free agent at Survivor Series and attacked Matt Hardy and Christopher Nowinski for insulting New York City. Steiner was then approached by both the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and the SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon, each looking to sign Steiner to their respective brands. He initially decided to join the SmackDown! brand, but after McMahon rejected Steiner's advances, he moved to the Raw brand. At Armageddon, Triple H defeated Shawn Michaels in a Three Stages of Hell to win the World Heavyweight Championship. 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.
The secondary rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Lance Storm and William Regal and The Dudley Boyz over the World Tag Team Championship. On the December 23 episode of Raw, General Manager Eric Bischoff forced Raw commentators Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler to wrestle in a tag team match against Storm and Regal for making bad comments against Bischoff. Ross and Lawler defeated Storm and Regal after interference by the Dudley Boyz. As a result, on the January 6 episode of Raw, Bischoff forced the Dudley Boyz to wrestle 3-Minute Warning, Rico and Batista in a handicap match. Storm and Regal avenged their loss by costing the Dudley Boyz the match. Later that night, Storm and Regal defeated Booker T and Goldust for the World Tag Team Championship. 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. On the December 19 episode of SmackDown!, Torrie gave bad remarks about her storyline father Al Wilson on getting married with Dawn. On the January 2 episode of SmackDown!, Dawn and Al had their storyline wedding in their undergarments. 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.