September 2003 | PPV | Kansas City, KS
The BCW Championship tournament was scrapped because Barron Blade wasn't signed to a WWE contract, however his opponent in the semi-final, Sun-Moon Chen, was given an opportunity. A bout for the Hardcore Championship where the winner would not only get the title but a permanent deal with WWE while the other would be released. Rhyno attacked Chen from behind prior to the match, desperate to keep his title, but Chen quickly regained composure. Most of the TLC match was spent on the outside, but when Chen eventually hit a Neckbreaker on Rhyno and put him through a table, that gave him more than enough time to scale the ladder and claim the Hardcore Championship and a WWE contract. Not a bad debut in the big leagues for the Japanese superstar.
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Kurt Angle earned the right to face Cena for the United States Championship on the go-home episode of RAW, but he called out his protege, Donny Zenk, fellow member of American Alpha, to take his place instead. Zenk was ready for the opportunity and showed it, dazzling the WWE Universe with an array of high flying moves and causing Cena major problems. He almost had the champ beat with his Crossroads finisher, but Cena kicked out at two. When the match continued, Zenk made a mistake, though and got caught with the F-U, from which he would not kick out. Angle looked on in disappointment as Cena raised his hands triumphantly over his protege, then started beating him down. Kurt rushed the ring eventually to stop the assault. Despite the loss, an impressive performance from Zenk, and this surely won't be the last we see of the American Patriot in the US Title picture.
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Rey Mysterio has had some really impressive performances in WWE over the past two years, but this simply was not one of them from an offensive standpoint. Orton dominated the matchup, ragdolling the former Cruiserweight Champion repeatedly with powerful moves. Orton hit the RKO after a while, but Mysterio to his shock, kicked out of that. Not long later, Mysterio outdid even that by kicking out of a Punt Kick, a move that typically hospitalizes opponents, and that made Orton furious. He took things outside the ring and just started beating Mysterio senseless, slamming him into the announce table and finally hitting him with a second RKO. Then Orton slithered back into the ring and waited for the referee to count to 10, defeating Rey by count out and retaining his belt.
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Trish was set to face Mickie James for her Women's Championship after winning a shot at the belt in a victory over Beth Phoenix on RAW. However before the match got started, Stephanie McMahon came out to announce that the Women's Championship was being retired after this match and the winner would take home a brand new, WWE Divas Championship. This bout was excellent between the two women, with both hitting and kicking out of each other's finishers. After a big series of reversals near the end of the match, Mickie had Trish in position for the Spiking DDT, but Stratus countered it and caught her with a Chick Kick to knock her out cold and become the WWE Divas Champion.
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After teaming up with each other to take down the World Tag Team Champions on RAW, Goldberg and Chris Jericho were pitted as foes at Backlash. Vince McMahon announced that because of their recent success, the winner of a one on one, No Holds Barred match between these two would become the #1 contender for the new unified WWE World Heavyweight Championship, set to be awarded to the winner of the main event tonight. Jericho was simply no match for Goldberg and was getting killed by the much larger athlete. Goldberg headed to the corner to set up a Spear as Jericho rose slowly. He bulldozed his way over but Jericho ducked out of the way just in time then low-blowed Goldberg. Normally an illegal move, but perfectly legal in a No Holds Barred match, the shot to Goldberg's private area was enough to keep him down for three and allow Jericho to steal the victory. Y2J is the new #1 contender!
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When the Hardyz arrived in the ring, they found out who owned the voice that had challenged them on Monday, Shelton Benjamin, one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions. He came out and explained that his partner, Charlie Haas, had left the business for personal reasons, but he'd found a replacement. Out came the man formerly known as the American Dragon, Daniel Bryan. The new pair challenged The Hardyz to a title for title match in which the winners would claim both the WWE and World Tag Team Championships to become Unified Tag Team Champions. The Hardyz accepted and things got underway. The match was very evenly contested between these two with a contrast of styles between the Hardyz aerial assault and American Alpha's olympic wrestling style. Jeff Hardy was taking on Bryan one on one and looked to have the upper hand. He went for a Swanton Bomb to win it but Benjamin broke up the pin and then kicked Matt Hardy off the apron to take him out as well. In the confusion, Jeff lost sight of Bryan and paid dearly for it when he locked him in the Yes Lock and forced him to tap out to grab the win.
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Austin was sleeping
