Unforgiven 2003

Unforgiven 2003 was the sixth annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was presented by Namco's Soulcalibur II and took place on September 21, 2003 from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The main event was Triple H versus Goldberg for the World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg won the match and the World Heavyweight Championship after pinning Triple H following a spear and a Jackhammer. Two of the predominant matches on the card were a Triple threat match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship between Christian, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam, which Christian retain the title by pinning Van Dam after hitting him with the belt, and the other was a Last Man Standing match between Shane McMahon and Kane, which Kane won after Shane failed to answer the referee's ten count. Another primary match on the undercard was Randy Orton versus Shawn Michaels, which Orton won by pinfall after hitting Michaels in the head with a pair of brass knuckles.
==Background==
The main feud heading into Unforgiven was between Triple H and Goldberg over the World Heavyweight Championship. One month prior at SummerSlam, Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship by last eliminating Goldberg. After the match ended, Triple H, along with Evolution members Ric Flair and Randy Orton, handcuffed Goldberg to the Chamber and attacked him with a sledgehammer. The next night on Raw, Goldberg challenged Triple H to a match later that night. Triple H declined and said that they would face off at Unforgiven instead. Triple H then added the stipulation that if he won, Goldberg would have to retire from professional wrestling. On the September 1 episode of Raw, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, and Maven defeated Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and Ric Flair). Towards the end of the match, Orton attacked Goldberg from behind as he was preparing to spear Triple H. Goldberg was able to kick out of the pinfall attempt and hit Orton with a Jackhammer for the win. The next week on Raw, Co-General Manager Steve Austin added the stipulation where if Triple H got himself counted out or intentionally disqualified, he would lose the World Heavyweight Championship.
The other main match on the card was a Last Man Standing match between Shane McMahon and Kane. On the June 23 episode of Raw, Kane was forced to unmask himself after he had lost a Mask vs. Title match to Triple H. Shortly after Kane unmasked himself, Kane turned on and chokeslammed his tag team partner Rob Van Dam. Three weeks later on the July 14 episode of Raw, during an interview between Kane and Jim Ross, Kane set Jim Ross on fire after he thought he was mocking him. The following week on Raw, after a match between Kane and Van Dam ended in a no-contest, Linda McMahon came out to try and stop Kane from attacking Van Dam. Kane, however, gave Linda McMahon a Tombstone Piledriver on the steel ramp. On the July 28 episode of Raw, Shane McMahon made a surprise appearance by attacking Kane for his actions the week before. The next week on Raw, Eric Bischoff defeated Shane McMahon after Kane interfered and gave McMahon a Tombstone Piledriver on the steel ring steps. On August 24 at SummerSlam, Kane defeated Rob Van Dam in a No Holds Barred match, and Shane McMahon defeated Eric Bischoff in a No Disqualification Falls Count Anywhere match. The following night on Raw, during a match between Shane McMahon and Chris Jericho, Kane interfered and performed a chokeslam on McMahon. Shortly afterwards, McMahon superkicked Kane into a dumpster that was on fire and full of gasoline. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Bischoff announced that McMahon and Kane would face each other in a Last Man Standing match at Unforgiven. The next week on Raw, after both men signed a contract for their match at Unforgiven, McMahon gave Kane multiple low blows, followed by a Leap of Faith through an announce table.
One of the main matches on the undercard was between Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels. At the previous Raw brand pay-per-view, Bad Blood, Ric Flair defeated Shawn Michaels after Randy Orton interfered and hit Michaels with a steel chair. One month later, on the July 21 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho defeated Michaels in a Singles match. In the match, Orton interfered on Jericho's behalf by executing an RKO on Michaels while the referee was distracted. The following week on Raw, during Jericho's Highlight Reel talk show, Orton claimed that he was becoming a "Legend Killer" and that Michaels was going to be the next legend killed. Michaels came out shortly afterwards and the two started brawling. On the September 1 episode of Raw, Steve Austin announced that Orton would face off against Michaels at Unforgiven. Two weeks later on the September 15 episode of Raw, Orton told Michaels that he was going to use him as a "stepping stone towards greatness." Michaels responded by slapping Orton and telling him that if he was going to use him as a stepping stone, he had better step hard.
The Divas match set for Unforgiven was a tag team match pitting Trish Stratus and Lita against Molly Holly and Gail Kim. Gail Kim debuted on the June 30 episode of Raw and won the WWE Women's Championship in a battle royal, only to lose the title to Molly Holly four weeks later. After Stratus defeated Holly in a non-title match on the following week, she was attacked in the ring by Holly and Victoria. Kim entered and appeared to save Stratus by fighting off both Divas, only to attack Stratus herself, turning Kim into a villain. Kim later formed an alliance with Holly to eliminate Stratus, and the pair continuously attacked Stratus for several weeks. On the September 15 episode of Raw, Lita returned from injury and saved Stratus from being attacked from Holly and Kim, setting up the tag team match for Unforgiven.
==Event==
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Maven defeated Stevie Richards in a match taped for WWE Heat. The first match that aired was a Handicap Tables match between The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Rob Conway and La Resistance (Sylvan Greinier and Rene Dupree). The Dudleyz put Dupree though the last table to win the World Tag Team Championship.
The next match was between Test and Scott Steiner. Before the bell rang, Keibler hugged Steiner to make Test jealous. The match officially started when Test was giving a series of hits to the back and body when down on the mat. After Test tried to get a clothesline on him, Steiner reversed with a powerful fallaway slam and quickly went to cover, but Test kicked out right after the referee counted one. Steiner then continued hitting him with a series of chops to the chest. Later during the match, Test had the upper hand over Steiner, until Test went for a flying double Axe handle and Steiner reversed it into a suplex. At the end of the match, Test tried to go for a chair shot to Steiner, but Keibler came inside the ring and took the chair and tried to hit Test. Instead, she hit Steiner, and Test hit him with a running big boot and got the pin. Therefore, Steiner became Test's property, as per the pre-match stipulation.
The third match was Shawn Michaels versus Randy Orton in a match billed "Legend vs. Legend Killer." Michaels hit Orton with Sweet Chin Music and covered him for the pin, but on the outside, Flair put Orton's foot on the bottom rope. Flair passed Orton a pair of brass knuckles, but Michaels hit Flair with another superkick. Michaels went for a back suplex, which did not succeed. Orton then hit Michaels with the brass knuckles and pinned Michaels to win the match.
Next was a Divas tag team match between the team of Trish Stratus and Lita and the team of Molly Holly and Gail Kim. When the match began, all four Divas were battling each other. When the two legal Divas were inside the ring, it was between Lita and Kim. Lita started out, getting Kim with arm takedowns, then a throw back. Throughout the match, Lita's team had the upper hand over Kim and Holly. Later at the end of the match, Stratus threw Kim out of the ring, and Lita, her partner, performed a moonsault on Molly Holly to get the pin.
Next on the card was a Last Man Standing match between Kane and Shane McMahon. Before the match began, McMahon popped up from behind Kane, who was doing his entrance, and hit him with steel chair multiple times on the back. As the referee officially called to ring the bell to start the match, Kane pushed McMahon away, to block another chair shot. After McMahon got back into the ring, he jumped and hit Kane. After multiple shots with the chair, McMahon dropped the chair and went after Kane's knee using the steel pole on the turnbuckle. Later during the match, Kane attempted to perform a big boot on McMahon, but he moved away, and instead, it hit the referee. After back and forth action, Kane went to the outside of the ring and brought the steel steps into the ring, in attempt to Tombstone McMahon, but McMahon countered and reversed it into a bulldog. Later at the end of the match, McMahon had Kane near the entrance area, and McMahon attempted to do his signature move, the Leap of Faith, from the top of the arena TitanTron. He missed, however, when Kane moved out of the way. Kane won the match when McMahon did not get up from a ten count.
A Triple Threat match, for the WWE Intercontinental Championship involving Christian, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam (RVD) was next. The match started off with Jericho and Christian teaming up on RVD, both giving him multiple stomps to the back. RVD reversed Jericho and Christian's offense, by performing a double dropkick to take them both down. In the middle of the match, RVD did a double DDT on the two, which brought Christian to the outside of the ring, leaving RVD and Jericho in the ring. Later during the match, RVD got thrown out of the ring, leading to a battle between Christian and Jericho. At the time, Christian was about to jump off the turnbuckles and RVD was about to get back into the ring, but Jericho ran and pushed the ring ropes, which caused RVD to fall back to the outside. It also caused Christian to lose balance and fall on his groin before the jump attempted. At the end of the match, RVD was about to do another one of his signature move, the frog splash, but when the referee's back was turned, Christian took the belt, and when RVD was about to land on him, he landed on the belt. Christian then quickly went for a pin and successfully retained his title.
The seventh match was Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman taking on Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler for the commentator position of Raw. Chris Jericho came out and interfered, allowing Al Snow and Coach to get the victory.
Next was the main event, which saw Triple H defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Goldberg. Triple H made the first attack when he threw a fist at Goldberg and then threw him face first into the turnbuckle. Later, Triple H tried to throw Goldberg into the other turnbuckle, but Goldberg reversed and performed his signature move, the pumphandle fallaway slam. Triple H fell on his back and then rolled to the outside. Goldberg then tried to perform a spear, but Triple H countered and reversed it into, a facebreaker knee smash. After Triple H tried to perform a second knee facebreaker, Goldberg reversed the move, kicked Triple H in the stomach, and performed a clothesline. Later at the end of the match, Goldberg did a spear and a Jackhammer, quickly got the cover, and became the new World Heavyweight Champion.
==Aftermath==
Following Unforgiven, Triple H offered a $100,000 bounty to anyone who could "take out" Goldberg. The first individual to act on the bounty was Steven Richards. He was unsuccessful, as he was quickly taken out by Goldberg. Others who tried included Mark Henry, Rodney Mack and Tommy Dreamer, but all three were unsuccessful. On the October 20 episode of Raw, Goldberg faced Shawn Michaels in a World Heavyweight title match, after Raw Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff booked the match the week before. During the match, Goldberg and Michaels were down, along with the referee. Batista made a run-in, as he kayfabe attacked Michaels and dragged him out of the ring. He then proceeded to attack Goldberg, which led to Batista inserting a chair on Goldberg's ankle. He then jumped off the second rope onto the chair, kayfabe shattering Goldberg's ankle. Afterwards, Evolution gave the $100,000 bounty to Batista. The following week, Bischoff set to present Triple H with the World Heavyweight title, after the events that took place the week before, but Co-General Manager Steve Austin intervened and announced a title match at Survivor Series between Goldberg and Triple H. On the November 10 episode of Raw, Goldberg and Batista were scheduled in a match, which resulted in a disqualification, after Triple H interfered. Triple H tried to injure Goldberg's knee with a use of a chair and sledgehammer. Goldberg, however, speared Triple H and attacked Batista with the sledgehammer. At Survivor Series, Goldberg retained the title, after he hit Triple H with a spear and Jackhammer for the pinfall.
On the October 20 episode of Raw, Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff proposed that he and Co-General Manager Steve Austin face off at Survivor Series in a "Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series match" to determine the future of Raw. The stipulation of the match was that if Austin's team defeated Bischoff's team, Austin could no longer have to be physically provoked before assaulting a Raw Superstar; if Bischoff's team, however, were victorious, Austin must resign his position as Co-General Manager. Austin promptly accepted the challenge, with Bischoff announcing the first two members of his team were Scott Steiner and Chris Jericho. Later in the night, Booker T was announced as the first member of Austin's Survivor Series team. The following week, Rob Van Dam, and Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley were named members to join Austin's team. For Team Bischoff, Christian and Mark Henry were announced as members, as well. On the November 3 episode of Raw, both Austin and Bischoff announced their final members to join their respective team; Shawn Michaels accepted Austin's invitation to join his team and Bischoff announced Randy Orton as the last member to join his team. At Survivor Series, Team Bischoff (Steiner, Jericho, Christian, Henry and Orton) defeated Team Austin (Booker T, Van Dam, Bubba Ray, D-Von and Michaels). As a result of Austin's team losing, he lost his position as Co-General Manager of Raw.
On the September 22 episode of Raw, Shane McMahon was hospitalized after the events in his match against Kane at Unforgiven. Shane sent a "message" to Kane, but before he could finish, Kane appeared in Shane's hospital room and attacked him. The attack led to Shane bleeding from his forehead and Kane telling him to "Get Well Soon!". Two weeks later, Shane interfered in a match between Kane and Rosey, which angered Kane. After the match, Kane ran around rampant backstage looking for Shane. Kane walked by a Semi-Truck and saw Shane, who taunted Kane and jumped into a limousine. Kane broke the limousine's window and got in through the sunroof. Shane proceeded to get out from the drivers seat and rigged the limousine to crash directly into another truck. After the crash, workers attend to the limousine with a bloody Kane inside. The following week on Raw, Shane challenged Kane, who was in the hospital recovering from the car crash from the week before, to a match at Survivor Series. As the challenge was made, Kane sprang up and attacked a doctor and a nurse who were attending to him. On the October 27 episode of Raw, Shane challenged Kane to an Ambulance match, which Kane accepted. At Survivor Series, Kane defeated Shane after Kane performed a Tombstone Piledriver on him and then throwing Shane into the ambulance.
==Results==
;
;
*Sunday Night Heat Match: Maven defeated Steven Richards (w/ Victoria) (5:13)
*The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) defeated La Resistance (Rene Dupree & Sylvain Grenier) & Rob Conway (c) in a Three On Two Handicap Table Elimination Match to win the World Tag Team Championship (10:12)
:*La Resistance eliminated D-Von Dudley
:*Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated Sylvan Grenier
:*Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated Rob Conway
:*The Dudley Boyz eliminated Rene Dupree
*Test (w/ Stacy Keibler) defeated Scott Steiner in a match for Stacy Keibler's services (7:01)
*Randy Orton (w/ Ric Flair) defeated Shawn Michaels (19:40)
*Lita & Trish Stratus defeated Gail Kim & Molly Holly (6:47)
*Kane defeated Shane McMahon in a Last Man Standing Match (19:32)
*Christian (c) defeated Chris Jericho & Rob Van Dam in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship (18:39)
*Al Snow & Jonathon Coachman defeated Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross in a Winners Get RAW Announcing Spot Tag Team Match (7:55)
*Goldberg defeated Triple H (c) in a Title vs Career Match to win the World Heavyweight Championship (14:42)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Jim Ross
*Jerry Lawler
*Carlos Cabrera
*Hugo Savinovich
;Interviewers
*Marc Loyd	
;Ring announcer
*Lilian Garcia
;Referees
*Charles Robinson
*Nick Patrick
*Earl Hebner
*Chad Patton
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*Unforgiven
*Event gallery
==DVD release==
* Unforgiven 2003 on DVD
==External links==
* Unforgiven 2003 Official site
* Unforgiven 2003 at CAGEMATCH.net
* Unforgiven 2003 at Online World of Wrestling
* Unforgiven 2003 on WWE Network
Unforgiven 2003
Unforgiven 2003
Category:Unforgiven
Category:Events with Handicap matches
Category:Events with Last Man Standing matches
Category:Events with Table matches