The 2004 Unforgiven was the seventh annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on September 12, 2004, at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. It is one of only two WWE pay-per-view events to ever be held in the state of Oregon, the other being No Mercy in 2008.

The main event was Randy Orton versus Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Triple H won by pinfall after executing a Pedigree onto a steel chair. One of the predominant matches on the card was Shawn Michaels versus Kane in a No Disqualification match, which Michaels won after performing Sweet Chin Music. Another primary match on the undercard was Chris Jericho versus Christian in a Ladder match for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship, which Jericho won by retrieving the suspended belt.

Unforgiven was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 21st In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998. Following the discontinuation of the In Your House series in February 1999, Unforgiven branched off as its own PPV in September that year, becoming WWE's annual September PPV. The 2004 event was the seventh event in the Unforgiven chronology and took place on September 12 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Like the previous year's event, it featured wrestlers exclusively from the Raw brand.

Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card beforehand, which were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's script writers. The buildup to these matches and scenarios that took place before, during and after the event were also planned by the script writers. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from the Raw brand – a storyline expansion in which WWE assigned its employees. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match.

The main feud heading into the event was between Randy Orton and Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship. At SummerSlam, Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the World Heavyweight Championship, thus making Orton the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history. On the August 16 episode of Raw, Orton successfully retained the title in a rematch with Benoit. After the match, Evolution (Batista, Ric Flair, and Triple H), Orton's fellow stablemates, threw him a fake celebration, only to reveal that they were not pleased with his new victory. While Batista had Orton propped on his shoulders in elation, Triple H gave him a pleased thumbs up; Triple H, however, abruptly changed the thumbs up to a thumbs-down and told Batista to drop Orton to the mat. Flair and Batista then began to beat Orton in the ring as Triple H claimed that Orton was nothing without Evolution. Orton's break-up with Evolution began a new storyline for him as a face when he began to feud with his former group members. On the August 23 episode of Raw, after Orton refused to give Triple H the World Heavyweight Championship, Orton spat in Triple H's face and hit him with the title belt. Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff then scheduled a match between the two for the World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven. On the August 30 episode of Raw, Eugene defeated Triple H in a singles match after Orton interfered and performed an RKO on Triple H. On the September 6 episode of Raw, Orton defeated Kane in a Steel Cage match by escaping the cage. Shortly after the match ended, Ric Flair and Batista came out and, along with Triple H, began attacking Orton. In an interview with the Daily Star in 2006, Orton revealed that WWE chairman, Vince McMahon, came up with the idea of having Orton turn face the day of SummerSlam. According to Orton, transforming into a face was "tough" because "no one bought it".

The second main feud heading into the event was between Kane and Shawn Michaels. This feud began after Bad Blood, when Michaels lost a Hell in a Cell match to Triple H. On the June 14 episode of Raw, Raw commentator Jim Ross tried making amends between Michaels and Triple H by making them to shake hands. Michaels and Triple H extended their hands to shake, however, Kane came out and attacked Michaels, which resulted in Kane, in storyline, crushing Michaels' throat with a wedged chair. Michaels was then taken out in an ambulance for medical attention. On the June 28 episode of Raw, Ross interviewed Kane and asked him to explain his actions towards Michaels; Kane explained that he was robbed of the World Heavyweight Championship at Bad Blood against Chris Benoit, as Michaels got in his way, which angered him. On the August 30 episode of Raw, Kane revealed that Eric Bischoff's wedding gift to him and Lita, who married on the August 23 episode of Raw, was to name any match he wanted at Unforgiven. Lita then informed Kane that Bischoff's present was for both of them, where they were able to pick Kane's opponent for Unforgiven, which resulted in Michaels being picked. Prior to the match, Kane revealed that it had become a no disqualification match.

The third main feud heading into the event was between Chris Jericho and Christian over the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship. On the September 6 episode of Raw, Eric Bischoff stripped Edge of the Intercontinental Championship, after Edge suffered a legitimate groin injury. Christian interrupted Bischoff and stated that all his peeps would riot the streets if Bischoff did not award him the vacant championship. Jericho suggested that he and Christian wrestle in a match later that night over the vacant championship. Bischoff, however, scheduled a Ladder match at Unforgiven between Christian and Jericho.

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Maven defeated Rodney Mack in a match during Sunday Night Heat.