2003 in professional wrestling

2003 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events in 2003.

WWE

 * – Raw
 * – SmackDown

Raw and SmackDown each had a world championship, a secondary championship, and a tag team championship for male wrestlers. SmackDown also had a title for their cruiserweight wrestlers. There was only one women's championship and it was exclusive to Raw.

Debuts

 * Uncertain debut date
 * Aero Star
 * Drew McIntyre
 * John Wayne Murdoch


 * January 31 – Nobutaka Moribe
 * June 26 – Daichi Kakimoto
 * February 2 - Hiroshi Nagao
 * March 16 - Hiroshi Nagao and Takaya Shibayama
 * July 6 - Deborah K
 * July 7 - Kuniyoshi Wada
 * July 20 - Kyoko Kimura
 * August 1 – Mike Mizanin
 * August 2 – Mickie Knuckles
 * September 17 - TAMURA
 * October 3 - Andrade El Idolo
 * October 11 - Ricochet
 * December 14 - Yuya Susumu, Juri Ogawa and Yumiko Kawada

Retirements

 * Steve Austin (1989–March 2003) (returned to wrestle at Wrestlemania 38)
 * Bruce Hart (1972–2003)
 * Brian Adams (1986–January 2003)
 * Eric Angle (2000-December 2003)
 * Taylor Matheny (2001–2003)
 * Nick Mondo (1999-2003) (Returned for a match in 2017)
 * Christopher Nowinski (2001-June 24, 2003)
 * Ahmed Johnson (1989-November 2003)

Deaths

 * January 18 - The Original Sheik, 76
 * February 3 - Shadito Cruz, 88
 * February 10 – Curt Hennig, 44
 * March 19 – Hiromichi Fuyuki, 42
 * March 20 - Sailor Art Thomas, 79
 * April 16 - Ray Mendoza, 73
 * May 1 – Miss Elizabeth, 42
 * June 2 – Freddie Blassie, 85
 * July 20 - Bull Johnson, 49
 * August 8 - Giant Ochiai, 30
 * August 24 - Kent Walton, 86
 * September 7 - Great Antonio, 75
 * September 25 – Anthony Durante, 36
 * October 16 – Stu Hart, 88
 * October 19 – Road Warrior Hawk, 46
 * October 26 - Floyd Creatchman, 46
 * November 6 - Crash Holly, 32
 * November 24 - Dick Hutton, 80
 * November 29 – Moondog Spot, 51
 * December 6 – Jerry Tuite, 36
 * December 19 - Mike Lozansky, 35
 * December 26 – Danny Fargo, 44