Backlash (2003)

The 2003 Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the fifth annual Backlash and took place on April 27, 2003, at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The concept of the event was based around the backlash from WrestleMania XIX. This was the first Backlash held under the WWE name after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May 2002. It was also the last Backlash to feature multiple brands until 2007, as beginning with Bad Blood in June, all monthly PPVs outside of the "Big Four" (WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble) became brand-exclusive until brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued after WrestleMania 23 in April 2007. The event grossed US$450,000 with 10,000 ticket sales and had a 0.67 buyrate. The main event and featured match of the Raw brand was the encounter of Goldberg and The Rock, where Goldberg, in his first WWE pay-per-view, defeated The Rock by pinfall, following a spear and a Jackhammer. The featured match on the undercard was a WWE Championship match from the SmackDown! brand, between John Cena and the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, where Lesnar defeated Cena by pinfall after an F-5. The other predominant match on the undercard was a six-man tag team match from the Raw brand, between the team of Triple H, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho facing Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, and Booker T with Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Triple H, Flair, and Jericho won the match by pinfall, after Triple H hit Nash with a sledgehammer thus retaining his title. The predominant undercard match from the SmackDown! brand was the encounter of the Big Show and Rey Mysterio, where...