History of WWE
The two top stars of the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually left the company in 2003 and 2004 respectively, while newcomers such as Brock Lesnar, who would become the youngest WWE Champion and Randy Orton, who became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, saw huge success. Triple H would also be featured prominently during this time, winning several of his fourteen world championships, as would The Undertaker whose WrestleMania win streak started gaining fame. Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Rob Van Dam were also given main event opportunities and all ended up becoming multiple-time world champions. From mid 2002 to 2003, WWE brought several prominent WCW stars to the company, including Eric Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Ric Flair. The Great American Bash, originally a WCW pay-per-view event, made its debut in WWE.
Alberto Del Rio
On July 17 at Money in the Bank, Del Rio defeated Alex Riley, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, R-Truth and Rey Mysterio in a Money in the bank WWE Championship Contact Ladder Match for a future WWE Championship match whenever and wherever over the next year, while also becoming the first wrestler in history to win a Royal Rumble and a Money in the Bank match in the same year. Following the orders of Vince McMahon, Del Rio attempted to cash in his contract later that same night on CM Punk, who had just defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship, but was attacked and laid out by Punk before he could do so. Del Rio eventually cashed in his contract on August 14 at SummerSlam, challenging CM Punk after the main event, where he had defeated John Cena to become the undisputed WWE Champion. Between the two matches, Punk was attacked by Kevin Nash, which led to Del Rio scoring a quick pinfall victory to win the WWE Championship for the first time. In winning the title, Del Rio became the first ever Mexican-born WWE Champion. Del Rio made his first televised title defense the next night on "Raw", defeating Rey Mysterio to retain his title. On September 18 at Night of Champions, Del Rio lost the WWE Title to John Cena, but gained it back on October 2 at Hell in a Cell by defeating Cena and Punk in a Hell in a Cell match. On October 23 at Vengeance, Del Rio successfully defended the WWE Championship against John Cena in a Last Man Standing match, after The Miz and R-Truth interfered. On November 20 at Survivor Series, Del Rio lost the WWE Championship to Punk. Del Rio received a WWE championship rematch on the November 28 episode of "Raw", but lost after Punk dropped him onto an exposed turnbuckle, managing to avoid a disqualification, which would have cost him the title in the process. On December 18 at , Del Rio failed again to regain the WWE Title from Punk in a triple threat Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, also involving The Miz. The next night on "Raw", Del Rio suffered a torn groin muscle, which required surgery and sidelined him for four to six weeks.