The 2003 Judgment Day was the fifth Judgment Day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on May 18, 2003, at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. This event is notable in the fact that is the last non-Big Four pay-per-view that was not brand-exclusive until Backlash 2007.
Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first main match was from the SmackDown! brand, which was the card's main event, and featured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defeating Big Show in a Stretcher match to retain the title after Rey Mysterio interfered, attacking Big Show. The second main match was from the Raw brand and was between Kevin Nash and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, where Nash won by disqualification. Three other championship matches were featured on the undercard. The first match featured Raw's WWE Women's Champion Jazz defeat Victoria, Jacqueline, and Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four-Way match to retain the title. The next was a Battle Royal for the revived Intercontinental Championship on Raw, which Christian won. The final was between the team of Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri and Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) in a ladder match for SmackDown's WWE Tag Team Championship, which Guerrero and Tajiri won.
Production
Background
Judgment Day was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 25th In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in October 1998. It then returned in May 2000 as its own event, establishing Judgment Day as the promotion's annual May PPV. The 2003 event was the fifth event in the Judgment Day chronology and was held on May 18 at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands.
Storylines
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 Judgment Day on the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Big Show, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. At Backlash, Big Show defeated Rey Mysterio and then attacked him as he was strapped onto a stretcher. On the May 1 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar confronted Big Show about it while Big Show refused to face him. On the May 8 episode of SmackDown!, 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 for the WWE Championship. The FBI then locked Lesnar in his locker room as Big Show and A-Train defeated Benoit. Big Show tried to injure Benoit as he did to Mysterio but Lesnar saved him, only to get chokeslammed by Big Show. On the May 15 episode of SmackDown!, Big Show took Mysterio during an interview out to the ring to attack him once again, but Lesnar ran out and saved Mysterio.
The main feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Kevin Nash, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the April 28 episode of Raw, Triple H and Ric Flair challenged Rob Van Dam and Kane for the World Tag Team Championship. Nash interfered wielding a sledgehammer and then chased Triple H out of the arena, as Triple H sped off in his car after Nash smashed in some of the car's windows. On the May 5 episode of Raw, both Nash and Triple H were guests of the Highlight Reel, Chris Jericho's talk show. Both men brawled all over the arena. Raw Co-General Managers Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff announced a World Heavyweight Championship match between Nash and Triple H at Judgment Day. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Nash fought against Jericho, and won after Shawn Michaels prevented Triple H and Flair from interfering. Nash then hit Triple H with the Jackknife Powerbomb.