Goldberg's debut. The Rock's farewell. Cena vs Lesnar. This PPV changed everything.
Backlash (2003) was the fifth annual Backlash PPV. It was presented by Castrol GTX, and took place on April 27, 2003 at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts and starred talent from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brands. The main event and featured match of the Raw brand was the encounter of Goldberg and The Rock. The featured match on the undercard was a WWE Championship match from the SmackDown! brand, between John Cena and the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar. 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. The predominant undercard match from the SmackDown! brand was the encounter of The Big Show and Rey Mysterio.
Practical Effects
Goldberg's explosive debut and post-match destruction
Stunts
Rey Mysterio vs Big Show size mismatch genius
Acting
The Rock's final full-time performance, peak electricity
Director
Kevin Dunn
Dwayne Johnson
The Rock
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg
Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar
John Cena
John Cena
Paul Levesque
Triple H
Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Chris Irvine
Chris Jericho
Michael Hickenbottom
Shawn Michaels
Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash
Booker Huffman, Jr.
Booker T
Paul Wight
Big Show
Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio
Rey Mysterio
Carlene Moore
Jazz
Patricia Stratigeas
Trish Stratus
Glenn Jacobs
Kane
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This show marks WWE's formal split into Raw and SmackDown brands, creating the modern wrestling landscape we still have today.
Goldberg's debut was kept so secret that most wrestlers didn't know until that day; The Rock agreed to lose clean specifically to establish him as a dominant force.
US
