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Royal Rumble (2004)
The 2004 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 17th annual Royal Rumble and took place on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania, in this instance, WrestleMania XX. Beginning with this Royal Rumble, the winner could choose which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania, either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the 2004 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. SmackDown!'s Chris Benoit, the first entrant, won the match by last eliminating Big Show, also from SmackDown!. This win resulted in Benoit breaking the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund, staying in the match for over one hour, but was then broken by Rey Mysterio in 2006. Benoit also became the second wrestler to win the match as the first entrant, after Shawn Michaels. The primary match on the Raw brand was a Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship, which ended in a draw. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Brock Lesnar versus Hardcore Holly for the WWE Championship, which Lesnar won to retain the championship. The featured match on the undercard was a tables match for the World Tag Team Championship between Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) and the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), which Evolution won to retain the titles.
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2004 event was the 17th Royal Rumble and was scheduled to be held on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands.
The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. The previous year, the winner earned a match for their respective brand's top championship, but for 2004, the winner could choose to challenge for either brands' world championship at WrestleMania XX: Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown! brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown!.
The buildup to the Royal Rumble match started on the January 1 episode of SmackDown!, when John Cena interrupted a promo from SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman about the Tribute to the Troops event in Iraq. This angered Heyman and Heyman forced Cena to compete in a handicap match with a partner and the two needed to win the match to gain entry in the Royal Rumble match. Cena's partner was revealed to be Chris Benoit and the two defeated The Full Blooded Italians (Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo, and Johnny Stamboli) to qualify for the Royal Rumble match. As a result, all the three members of Full Blooded Italians lost their spots in the Royal Rumble match; had Cena and Benoit would have lost, neither would have been able to participate in the match. After the match, Kurt Angle announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match and would win it. Later that night, Benoit insulted Heyman and Heyman forced Benoit to compete at the #1 spot in the Royal Rumble. On the January 5 episode of Raw, Kane announced that he was going to win the Royal Rumble but was confronted by Booker T, who claimed that he would eliminate Kane from the match and win the match. Three days later on SmackDown!, Benoit defeated the Full Blooded Italians in a handicap mini Royal Rumble to retain his spot in the Royal Rumble. On the January 12 episode of Raw, Goldberg defeated Matt Hardy and announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match. On the January 15 episode of SmackDown!, several qualifying matches were held for the Royal Rumble, including a battle royal between the Full Blooded Italians, which Nunzio won. On the January 19 episode of Raw, Goldberg, Randy Orton, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Mark Henry, and Chris Jericho won matches to qualify for a Battle Royal to determine the #30 entrant of the Royal Rumble match. Goldberg won the match and earned the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble.
The main rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Triple H and Shawn Michaels over the World Heavyweight Championship. At Armageddon, Triple H defeated Goldberg and Kane in a triple threat match to win the World Heavyweight Championship after interference from Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista). On the December 15 episode of Raw, Michaels and Rob Van Dam defeated Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista) in a handicap match, when Michaels pinned Triple H. As a result, Michaels earned a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H on the December 29 episode of Raw in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Michaels seemingly defeated Triple H to win the title, but the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff declared the match a draw due to both men's shoulders being down on the mat during the pinfall. As a result, Triple H retained the title. On the January 5 episode of Raw, the self-proclaimed Sheriff of Raw Stone Cold Steve Austin announced that Triple H would defend the title against Michaels in a Last Man Standing match at Royal Rumble.
The main rivalry heading into the event from the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Hardcore Holly over the WWE Championship. The rivalry could be dated back to September 12, 2002, episode of SmackDown!, when Lesnar defeated Holly in a non-title match and injured him by breaking his neck, putting him out of action for over a year. A year later, at Survivor Series, Holly returned to WWE from injury to take revenge from Lesnar. On the December 18 episode of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman announced that Holly would team with Shannon Moore in a tag team match against A-Train and Matt Morgan, in which Holly could get a match of his choosing if he won but if he lost, his WWE contract would be terminated. Holly and Moore won the match, allowing Holly to wrestle a match of his choosing. On the January 1 episode of SmackDown!, Holly intentionally got disqualified in a match against Big Show by brutally assaulting him. On the January 8 episode of SmackDown!, Holly defeated Big Show in a street fight. As a result, Big Show placed a restraining order on Holly and Lesnar stayed with Big Show to protect himself from Holly. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown!, Holly attacked Lesnar during a handicap match pitting Lesnar, Big Show, Matt Morgan, and Rhyno against John Cena and Chris Benoit. This led to a match between Lesnar and Holly for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble.
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Royal Rumble (2004)
The 2004 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 17th annual Royal Rumble and took place on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania, in this instance, WrestleMania XX. Beginning with this Royal Rumble, the winner could choose which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania, either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the 2004 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. SmackDown!'s Chris Benoit, the first entrant, won the match by last eliminating Big Show, also from SmackDown!. This win resulted in Benoit breaking the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund, staying in the match for over one hour, but was then broken by Rey Mysterio in 2006. Benoit also became the second wrestler to win the match as the first entrant, after Shawn Michaels. The primary match on the Raw brand was a Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship, which ended in a draw. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Brock Lesnar versus Hardcore Holly for the WWE Championship, which Lesnar won to retain the championship. The featured match on the undercard was a tables match for the World Tag Team Championship between Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) and the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), which Evolution won to retain the titles.
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2004 event was the 17th Royal Rumble and was scheduled to be held on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands.
The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. The previous year, the winner earned a match for their respective brand's top championship, but for 2004, the winner could choose to challenge for either brands' world championship at WrestleMania XX: Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown! brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown!.
The buildup to the Royal Rumble match started on the January 1 episode of SmackDown!, when John Cena interrupted a promo from SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman about the Tribute to the Troops event in Iraq. This angered Heyman and Heyman forced Cena to compete in a handicap match with a partner and the two needed to win the match to gain entry in the Royal Rumble match. Cena's partner was revealed to be Chris Benoit and the two defeated The Full Blooded Italians (Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo, and Johnny Stamboli) to qualify for the Royal Rumble match. As a result, all the three members of Full Blooded Italians lost their spots in the Royal Rumble match; had Cena and Benoit would have lost, neither would have been able to participate in the match. After the match, Kurt Angle announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match and would win it. Later that night, Benoit insulted Heyman and Heyman forced Benoit to compete at the #1 spot in the Royal Rumble. On the January 5 episode of Raw, Kane announced that he was going to win the Royal Rumble but was confronted by Booker T, who claimed that he would eliminate Kane from the match and win the match. Three days later on SmackDown!, Benoit defeated the Full Blooded Italians in a handicap mini Royal Rumble to retain his spot in the Royal Rumble. On the January 12 episode of Raw, Goldberg defeated Matt Hardy and announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match. On the January 15 episode of SmackDown!, several qualifying matches were held for the Royal Rumble, including a battle royal between the Full Blooded Italians, which Nunzio won. On the January 19 episode of Raw, Goldberg, Randy Orton, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Mark Henry, and Chris Jericho won matches to qualify for a Battle Royal to determine the #30 entrant of the Royal Rumble match. Goldberg won the match and earned the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble.
The main rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Triple H and Shawn Michaels over the World Heavyweight Championship. At Armageddon, Triple H defeated Goldberg and Kane in a triple threat match to win the World Heavyweight Championship after interference from Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista). On the December 15 episode of Raw, Michaels and Rob Van Dam defeated Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista) in a handicap match, when Michaels pinned Triple H. As a result, Michaels earned a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H on the December 29 episode of Raw in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Michaels seemingly defeated Triple H to win the title, but the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff declared the match a draw due to both men's shoulders being down on the mat during the pinfall. As a result, Triple H retained the title. On the January 5 episode of Raw, the self-proclaimed Sheriff of Raw Stone Cold Steve Austin announced that Triple H would defend the title against Michaels in a Last Man Standing match at Royal Rumble.
The main rivalry heading into the event from the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Hardcore Holly over the WWE Championship. The rivalry could be dated back to September 12, 2002, episode of SmackDown!, when Lesnar defeated Holly in a non-title match and injured him by breaking his neck, putting him out of action for over a year. A year later, at Survivor Series, Holly returned to WWE from injury to take revenge from Lesnar. On the December 18 episode of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman announced that Holly would team with Shannon Moore in a tag team match against A-Train and Matt Morgan, in which Holly could get a match of his choosing if he won but if he lost, his WWE contract would be terminated. Holly and Moore won the match, allowing Holly to wrestle a match of his choosing. On the January 1 episode of SmackDown!, Holly intentionally got disqualified in a match against Big Show by brutally assaulting him. On the January 8 episode of SmackDown!, Holly defeated Big Show in a street fight. As a result, Big Show placed a restraining order on Holly and Lesnar stayed with Big Show to protect himself from Holly. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown!, Holly attacked Lesnar during a handicap match pitting Lesnar, Big Show, Matt Morgan, and Rhyno against John Cena and Chris Benoit. This led to a match between Lesnar and Holly for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble.