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WrestleMania XIX was the nineteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. It took place on March 30, 2003 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington. The event drew a record-breaking attendance of 54,097 fans from all 50 states and numerous countries from around the world at Safeco Field. The gate attendance generated more than $2.76 million.

WrestleMania XIX was the first WrestleMania to be promoted under the World Wrestling Entertainment name. It was a joint-promotion PPV event, featuring wrestlers from both the RAW and SmackDown! brands. The theme song for WrestleMania XIX 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. R&B singer Ashanti sang "America the Beautiful" at the beginning of the show.

The commentators for the RAW brand were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. The SmackDown! commentators were Michael Cole and Tazz. The Spanish commentators were Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich. Howard Finkel did the ring annoucing for the RAW bouts and Tony Chimel did the same for the SmackDown! matches.

Match results

Lance Storm and Chief Morley defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam after interference from the Dudley Boyz who after giving Storm the 3-D, then elbow dropped RVD and put Storm on top of him for the pin.

Matt Hardy defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after gaining leverage from the ropes.

The Undertaker pinned A-Train after a Tombstone Piledriver to improve his WrestleMania record to 11-0. Nathan Jones also interfered in favor of Undertaker (Jones was originally Undertaker's Tag Team partner but was "injured" by A-Train and Big Show prior to the match.)

Trish Stratus pinned Victoria to become the Women's Champion for the fourth time after she countered a widows peak into a chick kick to the mid section.

Team Angle retained their championship when Shelton Benjamin gained the pin from Chavo Guerrero after Rhyno hit Chavo with the Gore.

During the match, Jericho makes numerous attempts of making HBK tap out to his Walls of Jericho. After avoiding HBK's Sweet Chin Music, Jericho went for another Walls of Jericho but Michaels grabbed the ropes. Jericho went for Michaels in the corner, HBK rolled up Jericho for the pin.

The "match" ended when the ladies pulled Jonathan Coachman's pants down, revealing his underwear, and rolled him up for a pinfall.

Triple H defeated Booker T by pinfall to retain the World Heavyweight Championship after Ric Flair intervened on Triple H's behalf with Booker's pin followed by Triple H hitting the Pedigree on Booker T.

During the match, Vince hit a leg drop off a ladder through the Spanish announcers' table. Despite interference from a returning Roddy Piper and Sylvain Grenier, nothing seemed to stop Hogan. In a match billed as "20 years in the making", Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon after three leg drops.

In their third WrestleMania matchup, The Rock made two attempts to pin Austin after hitting the Rock Bottom on him but only ended up with Stone Cold kicking out. Rock hit one more Rock Bottom to finally defeat Austin at a WrestleMania.

Brock Lesnar hit the F-5 on Kurt Angle and went for the pin but Angle managed to get a shoulder up before the pin. After an attempt by Angle to hit an Angle Slam, Brock reversed it into another F-5. However, rather than attempt to pin the fallen Angle, Lesnar uncharacteristically crawled towards the turnbuckle. After slowly ascending the turnbuckle, Lesnar attempted the shooting star press, but failed to rotate sufficiently, causing him to land almost directly on his head. Angle, capitalizing on the situation, went for the pin, but Lesnar kicked out. Lesnar went for a third F-5 on Angle to pin him and win the WWE Championship.

Trivia

  • To date, this is the only WrestleMania to have taken place in Seattle, Washington.
  • This was the third time The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin have faced each other at WrestleMania, and the first time The Rock won. This was also Stone Cold's last WrestleMania match to date and his final match as an active competitor.
  • The Rock versus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIX was their only encounter not to include interference or a championship.
  • This event was not only Brock Lesnar's first WrestleMania main event, but his first WrestleMania match as well. Also having their first WrestleMania matches were Rey Mysterio, Victoria, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Rhyno, and Chavo Guerrero.
  • The Sunday Night HEAT match was originally supposed to take place on the actual pay-per-view, but was pushed to the free pre-show due to timing conflicts. This was a controversial move, as Kane and Rob Van Dam were and are considered two of the company's most popular stars.
  • Kurt Angle had been diagnosed with a heavily injured neck before the show and many thought that if a mistake were made in the ring, Kurt may wind up paralyzed. During their match, Brock Lesnar was extra-careful with the injured Kurt. Many told Kurt not to wrestle, but Kurt insisted on putting on a show in the Main Event. After the match, Kurt Angle was hospitalized and spent the next three months out of action. Angle returned in July and recaptured the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar in a Triple Threat Match.
  • The night before the show, Stone Cold Steve Austin was hospitalized due to nerve problems and it was thought not be able to compete.
  • This was the first and (only WrestleMania to date) that has had a feature documentary filmed live and shown the following year. The documentary was named The Mania of WrestleMania
  • This was Rhyno's first and only WrestleMania match to date.
  • Triple H broke his record for retaining a World Championship twice as a heel. The first time this happened was three years prior, at WrestleMania 2000, where he became the first heel to walk out of WrestleMania as the World Champion.
  • This was the first time the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship were defended on the same WrestleMania card. This was also the first and only time to date that the World Heavyweight Champion retained his title.
  • WrestleMania XIX was the second time to date that Vince McMahon had competed in a WrestleMania match (the first being WrestleMania X-Seven). Ironically, both of his WrestleMania matches were Street Fights and he lost both of them. He would later participate in yet another street fight match at WrestleMania, the next being WrestleMania 22, losing another one to Shawn Michaels.
  • The WWE Tag Team Championship and WWE Cruiserweight Championship were defended for the first time at this event.
  • WrestleMania XIX set the Safeco Field attendance record at 54,097.
  • This was the first WrestleMania to use WWE's initials and logo after the lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund the previous year.
  • WrestleMania XIX marked Limp Bizkit's second affiliation with WWE and ultimately WrestleMania having provided the theme songs for both WrestleMania XIX and WrestleMania X-Seven.
  • This was the first WrestleMania match for Shawn Michaels since Wrestlemania XIV.
  • This was the first time at a WrestleMania that The Undertaker did not compete in a singles match. Instead he fought in his first WM handicap match.
  • Before the event began, John Cena came out with cardboard cut outs of Jay-Z and Fabolous and rapped about the two, mocking and embarrassing the two, due to the fact that they refused to accept his challenge for a battle rap.
  • The Undertaker's match was originally supposed to be a tag team match pitting him and Nathan Jones against A-Train and Big Show. However, disappointment in Jones' matches prior to the event lead to his removal from the WrestleMania event. The kayfabe reason was the Full Blooded Italians along with Big Show and A-Train attacked him along after luring him into an ambush. He did do a run-in during the match itself, however.
  • This was the third straight WrestleMania to be held in a stadium.
  • Brock Lesnar received a concussion during his match with Kurt Angle after a botched Shooting star press which resulted in Lesnar landing on his face. This incident is responsible for the term 'to Brock'.
  • Three wrestlers had to defeat their opponents at WrestleMania XIX by hitting their finishers three times for the pinfall. Hulk Hogan gave Vince McMahon three Leg drops, The Rock gave Stone Cold Steve Austin three Rock Bottoms while Brock Lesnar gave Kurt Angle three F-5s.These three wrestlers were former Undisputed Champions in 2002.
  • This was Matt Hardy's fourth consecutive WrestleMania match.
  • Chris Jericho says his favourite WrestleMania match was his match at WrestleMania XIX
  • This was the year that Jerry Lawler finally passed Gorilla Monsoon for the record for most WrestleMania events on the commentary team, with his 9th appearance in 10 years.
  • WrestleMania XIX is the first WrestleMania after the WWE Brand Extension, featuring both Raw and Smackdown! matches.

References

External links

2003 in sports | Sports in Seattle | WrestleMania

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "WrestleMania XIX".

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