The 2004 Royal Rumble was the 17th annual Royal Rumble 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 January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania, in this instance, WrestleMania XX. Beginning with this Royal Rumble, the winner could choose which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania, either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
WrestleMania XX was the 20th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It featured professional wrestlers from both of the promotion's two brand divisions – Raw and SmackDown!. The event took place on March 14, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the third WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden and the fourth of six WrestleManias in the New York metropolitan area. To this date it is the last WrestleMania to have been held at the Garden. Its calendar date of March 14 also stands as the earliest that WrestleMania has ever been held in any year.
Paul Donald Wight II is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as a wrestler and was a commentator for its web television show, AEW Dark: Elevation, under his real name of Paul Wight. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1995 to 1999 as The Giant and his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation from 1999 to 2021 under the ring name (The) Big Show.
WrestleMania XIX was the 19th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place at Safeco Field in Seattle on March 30, 2003, becoming the first WrestleMania held in the state of Washington. A record-breaking 54,097 fans from all 50 states and numerous countries around the world at Safeco Field resulted in ticket earnings of $2.76 million. WrestleMania XIX was the first WrestleMania to be promoted under the WWE name after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in May 2002. It was also the first WrestleMania to take place after WWE introduced the brand extension in March 2002. Many fans and insiders consider this show the "epilogue" of The Attitude Era. The official theme song for the event was "Crack Addict" by Limp Bizkit, who appeared at the event to perform the song; the band also performed their song "Rollin' " during The Undertaker's entrance.
The 2003 Royal Rumble was the 16th annual Royal Rumble 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 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 (WWF) to WWE in May 2002. It was also the first Royal Rumble to occur under the first brand split.
The 2002 SummerSlam was the 15th annual SummerSlam 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 August 25, 2002, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. With this event, SummerSlam became the first pay-per-view to have events in the three major indoor venues in the New York metropolitan area. Madison Square Garden hosted the event in 1988, 1991, and 1998, and the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey hosted the event in 1989, 1997, and later in 2007. This was also the first SummerSlam held under the WWE name, after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May, and the first SummerSlam held following the introduction of the brand extension in March.
The 2003 SummerSlam was the 16th annual SummerSlam 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 August 24, 2003, at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 2005 SummerSlam was the 18th annual SummerSlam 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 August 21, 2005, at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the Sunday Night Heat pre-show.
The 2002 Survivor Series was the 16th annual Survivor Series 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 November 17, 2002, from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The official theme song was "Always" by Saliva, who performed the song and Chris Jericho's entrance music live from The World. This was the first Survivor Series held under the WWE name, after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May, and also the first Survivor Series held under the first brand split.
The 2003 Vengeance was the third annual Vengeance professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown! brand division. The event took place on July 27, 2003, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
The 2002 No Mercy was the fifth No Mercy 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 October 20, 2002, at the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. It was the first No Mercy held following the introduction of the brand extension, as well as the first No Mercy held under the WWE name after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May.
The 2002 Vengeance was the second annual Vengeance 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 July 21, 2002, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first Vengeance event held under the WWE name, after the company had been renamed from World Wrestling Federation to WWE in May that year, as well as the first Vengeance held under the first brand extension.
The 2003 Backlash was the fifth Backlash 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 April 27, 2003, at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was the first Backlash event held under the WWE name after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May 2002 and the last Backlash to be sponsored by Castrol GTX. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WrestleMania XIX.
The 2009 Judgment Day was the 11th and final 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, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on May 17, 2009, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Judgment Day was replaced by Over the Limit in 2010.
The 2002 Unforgiven was the fifth annual Unforgiven 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 September 22, 2002, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the first Unforgiven held under the WWE name, after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE earlier that year in May, as well as the first Unforgiven held during the first brand extension that began in March.
The 2002 Backlash was the fourth Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on April 21, 2002, at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri—it was the first PPV event to be held at Kemper Arena since Over the Edge in May 1999, in which Owen Hart, competing as The Blue Blazer, died after falling 78 feet from a harness to the ring. It was the company's first PPV held following the introduction of the brand split. It was the fourth consecutive Backlash presented by Castrol GTX and the final Backlash held under the WWF name as the promotion was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) the following month. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WrestleMania X8.
The Bash was the sixth annual Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and 20th Great American Bash event overall. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on June 28, 2009, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. It was the final Great American Bash event to be held on PPV as the event was replaced by Fatal 4-Way in 2010. It was also the only Great American Bash to be titled as "The Bash", as in 2012, the event was revived as a special episode of SmackDown, which returned to using the full name of "The Great American Bash". After another eight years, the event was again revived for WWE's developmental brand, NXT, in 2020 and has since been held as an annual event for NXT.
The 2002 Judgment Day was the fourth 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. It took place on May 19, 2002, at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This event was the promotion's first pay-per-view held under the WWE name after the change from its previous name, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), two weeks prior to the event, although promotional materials produced before May 10, 2002, still bore the WWF logo. The theme song for this event was the song “Broken” by the hard rock band 12 Stones.
The 2002 King of the Ring was the 10th annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that featured the 16th King of the Ring tournament. It took place on June 23, 2002, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. It was the first King of the Ring PPV and tournament held under the WWE name after the promotion had been renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE the previous month. Although the tournament continued to be held periodically, this was the final King of the Ring event to be produced as a PPV until 2024. The King of the Ring's June PPV slot was replaced by Bad Blood in 2003. Another King of the Ring event was produced as a livestreaming event in 2015, but not on PPV, but it returned to PPV and livestreaming in 2024.
The 2012 SummerSlam was the 25th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on August 19, 2012, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for the fourth consecutive year. It was the first SummerSlam held since the end of the first brand extension, which happened shortly after the 2011 event.
