Armageddon 2003 Armageddon 2003 was the fourth Armageddon professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . The event , presented by Square Enix ' s " Final Fantasy X - 2 " , took place on December 14 , 2003 at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando , Florida and was a Raw brand - exclusive event . All four championships exclusive to the Raw brand were contested for ; three were lost while one was retained . The main event was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Kane , Triple H , and champion Goldberg . Triple H won the match and the World Heavyweight Championship after pinning Goldberg following a chokeslam from Kane . One of the predominant matches on the undercard was the defense of the WWE Intercontinental Championship by Rob Van Dam against Randy Orton . Orton won the match and became the Intercontinental Champion after pinning Van Dam following an RKO . Another primary match on the undercard was Batista versus Shawn Michaels , which Michaels won by pinfall after executing Sweet Chin Music . The event grossed $ 450 , 000 with 9 , 000 ticket sales and received 200 , 000 pay - per - view buys . The event was claimed to be a " flop " by " Canadian Online Explorer " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s professional wrestling event section . They rated the overall event a six out of ten . When the event was released on DVD , it reached a peak position of second on " Billboard " ' s DVD sales chart for recreational sports . It remained on the chart for four consecutive weeks . Background . The main feud heading into the event was between Goldberg , Kane , and Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship . In November , at Survivor Series , Goldberg retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H . The night after Survivor Series , Kane became involved in the feud between Goldberg and Triple H after attacking Goldberg following a Handicap match . The following week , on the November 24 episode of " Raw " , Kane interfered in a match between Triple H and Goldberg . After the match , General Manager Eric Bischoff announced that Goldberg would be defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H and Kane in a Triple Threat match at Armageddon . Another primary feud heading into the event was between Randy Orton and Rob Van Dam over the WWE Intercontinental Championship . Van Dam won the title on the September 29 episode of " Raw " by defeating then - champion Christian . On the November 17 episode of " Raw " , during a match between Ric Flair and Van Dam , Orton interfered and executed an RKO on Van Dam . Later that night , Orton was granted an Intercontinental Championship match against Van Dam at Armageddon . On the December 8 episode of " Raw " , Co - General Manager Mick Foley appointed himself as the special guest referee for the match . One of the predominant matches on the card was Batista versus Shawn Michaels . Their feud first started when Batista attacked Michaels during his elimination match at Survivor Series , with Steve Austin ' s career on the line . On the November 24 episode of " Raw " , Eric Bischoff scheduled a match between the two for Armageddon . Later that night , Michaels and Chris Jericho defeated Batista and Ric Flair in a tag team match . Towards the end of the match , Jericho turned on Michaels and superkick ed him . Michaels landed on Flair as a result and got the pinfall to win the match for himself and Jericho . After the match , however , Batista executed a powerbomb on Michaels . Event . Before the live broadcast of the event began , Rico defeated Heidenreich in a match that aired on " Sunday Night Heat " , a 30 - minute pre - show for the event . The event began with Lilian Garcia singing the United States National Anthem . Preliminary matches . The first match of the event was Booker T versus Mark Henry . Henry controlled most of the match , as he was able to execute a spinebuster and apply various submission holds on Booker . Booker , however , executed a scissors kick and pinned Henry afterwards to win the match . The match that followed saw Rob Van Dam defend the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Randy Orton with Mick Foley as special guest referee . The match contained many notable spots , including the execution of an elevated spike DDT by Orton on Van Dam , and the execution of rolling thunder by Van Dam . Ric Flair , who accompanied Orton , attempted to interfere many times on Orton ' s behalf , but was stopped by Foley . Orton pinned Van Dam after an RKO to win the match and begin his first reign as Intercontinental Champion . The third match was an Intergender tag team match billed as the " " Battle of the Sexes " " . It saw Chris Jericho and Christian face off against Trish Stratus and Lita . The match went back and forth , as each team was able to gain the advantage . In the end , Christian pinned Stratus with a roll - up to win the match for himself and Jericho . The next match was Shawn Michaels versus Batista . Near the end of the match , Batista executed a series of spinebusters on Michaels and attempted to execute a powerbomb . Michaels escaped the powerbomb attempt and executed Sweet Chin Music . He pinned Batista afterward to win the bout . After the match , Maven and Matt Hardy came out for their scheduled match . The two , however , attacked one another outside the ring . Hardy then threw Maven into the ring , where Batista still was . Batista attacked Maven and executed a powerbomb , which forced the referee to declare that Maven could not compete and that his match against Hardy was canceled . Main event matches . A Tag Team Turmoil match for the World Tag Team Championship followed . Two of the overall seven teams started the match , with another team entering the match once one was eliminated . Hurricane and Rosey started the match against La Résistance ( Robért Conway and René Duprée ) . Hurricane eliminated La Résistance after pinning Conway following a Super Hero Splash . Seconds after the elimination , Mark Jindrak came into the ring and rolled up Hurricane to eliminate him and Rosey . Jindrak and Garrison Cade then faced off against the team of Val Venis and Lance Storm . While Venis was performing a vertical suplex attempt on Jindrak , Cade clipped Venis ' legs , which in turn caused Jindrak to fall atop of Venis . The referee counted the pinfall and eliminated Venis and Storm . The Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D - Von ) then eliminated Jindrak and Cade and the team of Test and Scott Steiner to supposedly win the match . General Manager Eric Bischoff , however , announced that Evolution | Ric Flair and Batista would be the seventh and final team to compete . Flair and Batista eliminated the Dudleys to win the match and begin their first reign as World Tag Team Champions . The sixth match saw WWE Women ' s Champion Molly Holly defend her title against Ivory . Holly pinned Ivory while holding onto her tights for extra leverage to win the match and retain the title . Next was the main event , which saw Goldberg defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Kane and Triple H in a Triple Threat match . The match was evenly controlled between the three , as every man was able to gain the advantage . Towards the end of the match , Goldberg performed a spear on Triple H and attempted to get the pinfall . Kane , however , broke up the pin and executed a chokeslam on Goldberg . Evolution member Batista came down and pulled Kane out of the ring , which allowed Triple H to gain the pinfall on Goldberg . Triple H won the match to begin his eighth overall reign as World Heavyweight Champion in WWE . Aftermath . Randy Orton defeated Rob Van Dam at the event to begin his first reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion , which would last seven months , the longest reign in over seven years at the time . Orton began feuding with Mick Foley following the event . At the Royal Rumble , Foley eliminated Orton from the Royal Rumble match . After being eliminated , Orton hit Foley with a steel chair and attacked Foley up the entrance stage . Orton pinned Foley in a Handicap match at WrestleMania XX , and defeated him in a Hardcore match to retain the title at Backlash 2004 . Orton finally dropped the title to Edge in July 2004 . Triple H ended his storyline with Goldberg and Kane , and started to feud with Shawn Michaels . At the Royal Rumble , Triple H and Michaels fought to a no - contest in a Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship . The two would face off again , as part of a Triple Threat match , at WrestleMania XX . Chris Benoit , the other participant in the match , forced Triple H to submit to the Crippler Crossface to win the title . Benoit ended the storyline between the three at Backlash , when he defeated Michaels and Triple H in another Triple Threat match . Batista and Ric Flair ' s first World Tag Team Championship reign would last three months , as they would lose the titles to Rob Van Dam and Booker T in February . Christian defeated Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XX . After the match , Trish Stratus , Jericho ' s on - screen girlfriend at the time , turned on Jericho and joined Christian . Jericho , however , would go on to defeat the two in a Handicap match at Backlash to conclude their storyline . Reception . The event grossed $ 450 , 000 with 9 , 000 ticket sales , and received 200 , 000 buys , which was less than the 300 , 000 buys the previous year ' s event received . The buys from Armageddon helped the promotion ' s pay - per - view revenue of $ 13 . 2 million , which was significantly lower than the prior year ' s revenue of $ 21 . 2 million . " Canadian Online Explorer " s professional wrestling section claimed that the event was a " flop " , rating the overall event a six out of ten . The Triple Threat main event match was rated a six and a half out of ten , while the match between Batista and Shawn Michaels received the highest match rating — an eight and a half out of ten . The event was released on DVD on January 20 , 2004 . The DVD reached a peak position of second on " Billboard " ' s DVD sales chart for recreational sports on February 12 , 2004 . It remained on the chart for four consecutive weeks , until on March 6 , 2004 , when it ranked twentieth . The DVD was also reviewed by customers ; the average customer rating from " Amazon . com " was three out of five stars .