The first main event was an Elimination Chamber match, in which World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeated Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels to retain his championship.

In the other main event, defending WWE Champion Kurt Angle defeated Brock Lesnar in a standard wrestling match.

The undercard included Kane defeating Rob Van Dam in a No Holds Barred match, and Eddie Guerrero defending his United States Championship against Chris Benoit, Rhyno, and Tajiri.

SummerSlam (2003) grossed over $715,000 ticket sales from an attendance of 16,113 and received about 415,000 pay-per-view buys, more than the following year's event.

Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",[1] it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four".

[8] In the first main event of SummerSlam, wrestlers from the Raw brand competed in an Elimination Chamber match.

The match was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Triple H defended the title against Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels.

Later during the episode, co-general manager Stone Cold Steve Austin altered Bischoff's announcement, stating that the World Heavyweight Championship would be contested in an Elimination Chamber match, with Triple H defending his title against Goldberg, Jericho, Nash, Orton, and Michaels.

[11][12] On the August 18 episode of Raw, the rivalry among the six competitors intensified during a promo, in which each participant in the Elimination Chamber discussed the match and taunted the other wrestlers.

[17][18] On the August 14 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon announced that Angle would defend the WWE Championship against Lesnar at SummerSlam.

[19][20] In a preliminary match involving wrestlers from the Raw brand, Rob Van Dam wrestled Kane under No disqualification regulations.

The events leading up to this match began on the June 23 episode of Raw, when Kane took his mask off and exposed his face in front of Van Dam and the crowd after he lost to Triple H in a match for the World Heavyweight Championship (which was the stipulation) before chokeslamming Van Dam.

[9][10] On the August 4 episode of Raw, Shane McMahon scheduled a No Disqualification match between Kane and Van Dam for SummerSlam.

brand competed in a fatal four-way match for the WWE United States Championship: Eddie Guerrero defended the title against Chris Benoit, Rhyno, and Tajiri.

[17][18] On the August 14 episode of SmackDown!, it was announced that Guerrero would defend the WWE United States Championship against Benoit, Rhyno, and Tajiri at SummerSlam.

[19][20] Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Matt Hardy faced Zach Gowen on Sunday Night Heat.

Gowen, however, was unable to compete due to kayfabe injuries he sustained at the hands of Brock Lesnar on the August 21, 2003 edition of SmackDown!.

Throughout the match, both teams performed many offensive maneuvers, though The Dudley Boyz were able to gain the upper hand when they executed a 3D on Duprée.

During the encounter Guerrero applied a Lasso From El Passo on Tajiri, while Benoit employed a Crippler Crossface on Rhyno.

The hold distracted the referee, which allowed Guerrero to hit Rhyno with the United States Championship belt.

Capitalizing on the situation, Guerrero then performed a Frog splash on Rhyno, after which he scored the pinfall, thus retaining the WWE United States Championship.

Mr. McMahon interfered, came into the ring and hit Angle's back with a steel chair to break the submission hold.

[31] The main event was the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Triple H defended the title against Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels.

The match began with Jericho and Michaels in the ring, while Goldberg, Nash, Orton, and Triple H were locked in the chambers.

Nash was the first wrestler eliminated from the match after Michaels executed a Sweet Chin Music and Jericho covered him for a pinfall.

[42][43] After SummerSlam, Kurt Angle focused his attention on The Undertaker, whom he wrestled in a match for the WWE Championship during an episode of SmackDown!

[40] On September 8, 2003, during an episode of Raw, Eric Bischoff scheduled a Last Man Standing match between Kane and McMahon for Unforgiven.

[48][49] After SummerSlam, Eddie Guerrero began a rivalry with John Cena over the WWE United States Championship.

At No Mercy, Big Show defeated Guerrero via pinfall to win the WWE United States Championship.