WrestleMania XIX WrestleMania XIX was the nineteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It took place on March 30 , 2003 at Safeco Field in Seattle , Washington . The event was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Washington , and the first Wrestlemania to use the WWE name . A record - breaking 54 , 097 fans from all fifty states and numerous countries from around the world at Safeco Field resulted in a gate attendance generating more than USD $ 2 . 76 million . WrestleMania XIX was the first WrestleMania to be promoted under the WWE name and the first to have taken place after the WWE Brand Extension . It was a joint - promotion pay - per - view event , featuring performers from the Raw and SmackDown ! brands . The tagline for WrestleMania XIX was " " Dare To Dream " " . The official theme song for the event 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 . The main match on the SmackDown ! brand was Kurt Angle versus Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship , which Lesnar won by pinfall after executing an F5 . The predominant match on the Raw brand was for the World Heavyweight Championship between Triple H and Booker T , which Triple H won by pinfall after performing a Pedigree . Other matches on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho , Hulk Hogan versus Vince McMahon in a Street Fight , and The Rock versus Steve Austin , in what would be the latter ' s last ever match . Background . The main feud heading into WrestleMania on the SmackDown ! brand was between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar , with the two feuding over the WWE Championship . Angle won the title three months prior at Armageddon by defeating then - champion The Big Show with Lesnar ' s help . At the Royal Rumble in January , Angle defeated Chris Benoit to retain the WWE Championship , and Lesnar won the Royal Rumble match to become number one contender to the WWE Championship at WrestleMania when he last eliminated The Undertaker . The following month at No Way Out , Lesnar and Benoit defeated Team Angle ( Kurt Angle , Shelton Benjamin , and Charlie Haas ) in a Handicap match . During that Pay Per View , Edge was supposed to team up with Lesnar & Benoit to wrestle Team Angle in the scheduled Six Man Tag team match but Edge was attacked backstage and it was announced he could not participate in the match . On the March 6 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Lesnar defeated Paul Heyman in a Steel cage match to earn a championship match against Angle the next week . The next week on " SmackDown ! " , Angle defeated Lesnar to retain the WWE Championship . Before the match began , Kurt , who was " praying " in the corner , switched with his brother Eric . Lesnar then came out and the match began . Shortly after the match began , Benjamin and Haas came to the ring and distracted Lesnar , which gave Eric time to switch back with Kurt . As Lesnar regained his focus , Kurt was able to pin him with a small package for the win . The following week on the March 20 edition of " SmackDown ! " , SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon told Angle that if he tries to get himself disqualified or if his brother , Benjamin , or Haas try to interfere in their match at WrestleMania , he would lose the title . The main feud on the Raw brand was between The Rock and Steve Austin . On the February 20 edition of " Smackdown ! " , The Rock returned to WWE after a six - month hiatus from wrestling ( since SummerSlam ) . On that evening , he was in a confrontation with Hulk Hogan before their WrestleMania X8 rematch at No Way Out . At the No Way Out event , The Rock defeated Hogan with the help of Vince McMahon . On the following night ' s edition of " Raw " , The Rock returned to the Raw brand in a 20 - man Battle royal that would determine the opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship . Rock however , was unable to win after he was eliminated by Booker T ; after the match , Rock criticized Steve Austin for being chosen as the " Superstar of the Decade " by the WWE fans in January , beginning the feud between Rock and Austin . The following week on " Raw " , Austin , who was on a long hiatus before returning that previous Sunday at No Way Out , made his WWE television return , as he cut a promo about the WWE fans , before he was interrupted by Rock , who challenged him to a match at WrestleMania because The Rock , himself , was obsessed of not beating Austin at a WrestleMania event by the time they fought at WrestleMania XV and X - Seven during a four - year span . As soon as the challenge was made , Raw General manager , Eric Bischoff , announced that the following week on " Raw " , Rock would face Booker T in a match , and if he won , he would have the choice to face either Austin or Triple H at WrestleMania . On the March 10 edition of " Raw " , Rock , with Bischoff ' s approval , announced that he would pick his own opponent for later that night , which turned out to be The Hurricane , in hopes for Rock to gain an easy victory . However , Austin made his way down the entrance ramp , which distracted Rock and allowed Hurricane to Roll up Rock into a successful pinfall , which made the Austin - Rock match at WrestleMania official . On the March 24 , and final edition of " Raw " leading into WrestleMania , Austin was banned from entering the arena that night . He managed to enter the arena and attack Rock , however , before Rock fled the ring . The secondary feud on the SmackDown ! brand was between Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon . One month prior at No Way Out , during a match between Hogan and The Rock , McMahon got involved and distracted Hogan came down to the ring , only to distract Hogan , which allowed the referee , Sylvan Grenier to give The Rock a chair , which Rock used to hit Hogan and pin him for the win . After No Way Out , McMahon proclaimed that Hulkamania was dead and proclaiming a new ' mania ; McMahonamania . On the March 6 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Hogan informed McMahon that Hulkamania was not dead and that McMahon had nothing to do with creating it . McMahon informed Hogan that he did not hate Hulkamaniacs or Hulkamania , but he hated Hogan . He then told Hogan that he hated him for leaving WWE ( then known as the WWF ) for Ted Turner ' s WCW and for testifying against him in the steroid trial in the 1990s . McMahon proceeded by challenging Hogan to a match at WrestleMania where if Hogan lost , he would have to retire from professional wrestling . Hogan accepted his challenge later that night . Two weeks later on the March 20 edition of " SmackDown ! " , McMahon and Hogan had a contract signing for their match at WrestleMania . As Hogan was preparing to sign the contract , McMahon attacked with a steel chair from behind . Shortly afterwards , McMahon hit Hogan several times with the chair in the head , causing him to bleed . McMahon then signed the contract and forced Hogan to sign with his blood . Another feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Booker T , with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship . Triple H won the title three months prior at Armageddon by defeating then - champion Shawn Michaels in a 3 Stages of Hell match . Since that event , Triple H had fought Scott Steiner during the following two pay per view events for the World ' s title . First was at the Royal Rumble , where Triple H got himself disqualified when he nailed Steiner with the Sledgehammer but retained the title . Then at No Way Out , he defeated Steiner by Pinfall to retain the title . On the February 24 edition of " Raw " , Booker won a 20 - man Battle royal by last eliminating The Rock to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania . On the March 3 episode of " Raw " , World Champion , Triple H , cut a controversial promo on Booker T . Triple H downplayed Booker T ' s WCW success , pointing out that the WCW Championship had been held by non - wrestlers like Vince Russo and actor David Arquette calling WCW and its title " a joke " . He implied that Booker T , as a convicted criminal , would never win a world championship in WWE , although this is often misconstrued , as a racist promo , as he claimed " people like you " were not championship material . However this misunderstanding may have been intentional by Triple H knowing the heat he would generate . In the Wrestlemania XIX press conference Michael Cole questioned Triple H as to whether he had cut a racist promo , Triple H confirmed this was not the case and was indeed referring to Booker ' s criminal past . A week later , Booker got revenge by attacking Triple H in the bathroom , laying him out . On the March 24 episode of " Raw " , Booker T & Goldust defeated Triple H & Ric Flair in a Tag team match . Another feud from the Raw brand was the squabble over the WWE Women ' s Championship ; the champion Victoria had captured the title from Trish Stratus back in November at Survivor Series . Then a month later at Armageddon , Victoria defeated Stratus and Jacqueline in a Triple threat match to retain the Women ' s title . Stratus and the returning Jazz had a match on Raw to determine who would challenge Victoria for the Championship at WrestleMania . During the match , Victoria entered the ring and hit both women with the title belt , earning a double disqualification . It was then announced that Victoria would defend the title against both Stratus and Jazz in a Triple Threat match at the pay - per - view . A smaller feud , also from the Raw brand was between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels . When Michaels was a guest on Jericho ' s in - ring show " The Highlight Reel " , Jericho claimed he had idolised Michaels from a young age and that he had been his inspiration to become a wrestler . The feud had been ongoing for some time with Jericho sabotaging Michaels in the Royal Rumble after Michaels received the # 1 entry which Jericho wanted to enter . The feud would be settled as the two would face each other in a match at the pay - per - view .