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| Royal Rumble (2004) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuring John Cena |
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| Theme song(s) |
"Nothing Left to Lose" by Puddle of Mudd[1] | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | |||
| Brand (s) | Raw SmackDown! |
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| Date | January 25, 2004 | |||
| Attendance | 17,289[2] | |||
| Venue | Wachovia Center | |||
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |||
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||||
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| Royal Rumble chronology | ||||
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Royal Rumble (2004) was the seventeenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on January 25, 2004 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The main event was the Royal Rumble match, which Chris Benoit won by last eliminating The Big Show to win the match. Benoit broke the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund staying in the match for just over one hour. Featured matches on the undercard included a Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship and Brock Lesnar versus Hardcore Holly for the WWE Championship.
Contents |
Background
Qualification matches
- John Cena and Chris Benoit defeated Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo, and Johnny Stamboli in a Handicap Match on SmackDown!. If Cena and Benoit would have lost, neither would have been able to enter the Rumble.
- Tajiri defeated Billy Kidman on SmackDown!
- Bradshaw defeated Akio and Sakoda in a triple threat match on SmackDown!
- Matt Morgan defeated Orlando Jordan on Velocity
- Rikishi defeated Scotty 2 Hotty on SmackDown!
- A-Train defeated Shannon Moore on Velocity
- The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated the Basham Brothers (Doug and Danny Basham) on SmackDown!
- Rico defeated Tommy Dreamer on Sunday Night Heat
- Nunzio defeated Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli in a Triple Threat match on SmackDown!
- In the angle, all three were supposed to be in the Rumble until they failed to beat John Cena and Chris Benoit in a Handicap match, thus Paul Heyman would only allow one of them to enter.
Event
Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff had a brawl before the Royal Rumble match, Steve Austin interrupted and gave them both Stunners.
During the Royal Rumble, the gong from The Undertaker's theme song played at #13. Kane, thinking Undertaker was buried and gone since Survivor Series 2003, became worried and ended up being eliminated while standing at the ropes by Booker T. Angry over his elimination, Kane attacked the real 13th participant; as a result, Spike Dudley couldn't make it to the ring. Test was set to enter at #21 but was found beaten up. Found by Steve Austin, he ordered another wrestler to enter the Rumble in Test's place. That wrestler turned out to be Mick Foley who immediately rushed to the ring and eliminated Orton as well as himself. The two then brawled to the back. Brock Lesnar rushed into the ring and delivered an F-5 to Goldberg when the latter was about to hit the Jackhammer on Big Show. Goldberg then turned his attention on Lesnar and was eliminated by Kurt Angle, after which Goldberg chased after Lesnar. With his win, Chris Benoit became the second person to win the Royal Rumble with the #1 draw. The first was Shawn Michaels in 1995. Benoit also broke Bob Backlund's previous longevity record from the 1993 Rumble.
Aftermath
Benoit was the first person to make use of a "contract loophole", enabling the Royal Rumble winner to change brands and challenge their champion of choice. Benoit defected to Raw the following night due to his knowledge of GM Paul Heyman's intentions to screw him over, and challenged Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, which he eventually would win in a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania XX also involving Shawn Michaels.
On the January 29 episode of SmackDown!, because of Benoit's defection, there was a second "Royal Rumble" match to determine who would challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at No Way Out. This match featured the 15 Royal Rumble entrants from SmackDown, with Eddie Guerrero replacing Benoit and Hardcore Holly replacing the injured Matt Morgan. Eddie Guerrero won the match and would then go on to defeat Brock Lesnar at No Way Out, with some help from Goldberg whom Lesnar was in a midst of a feud with, to win his first WWE Championship.
| Draw | Entrant | Order | Eliminated by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurt Angle | 14 | Guerrero |
| 2 | Rhyno | 5 | Angle |
| 3 | Charlie Haas | 9 | Guerrero |
| 4 | Shelton Benjamin | 10 | Angle |
| 5 | Bradshaw | 3 | Big Show |
| 6 | Ernest Miller | 1 | Angle |
| 7 | Tajiri | 2 | Big Show |
| 8 | Billy Gunn | 12 | Guerrero |
| 9 | The Big Show | 8 | Angle, Gunn, Guerrero, Rikishi, Holly, Cena |
| 10 | John Cena | 7 | Big Show |
| 11 | Nunzio | 4 | Cena |
| 12 | A-Train | 6 | Guerrero |
| 13 | Eddie Guerrero | - | WINNER |
| 14 | Rikishi | 13 | Guerrero and Angle |
| 15 | Hardcore Holly | 11 | Angle |
Results
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday Night Heat | Victoria (with Steven Richards) defeated Molly Holly[3][4] | Singles match | 04:56 |
| 1 | Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) (c) defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von).[3][4] | Tables match for the World Tag Team Championship | 04:23 |
| 2 | Rey Mysterio (c) defeated Jamie Noble (with Nidia).[3][4] | Singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship | 03:12 |
| 3 | Eddie Guerrero defeated Chavo Guerrero (with Chavo Guerrero, Sr.).[3][4] | Singles match | 08:03 |
| 4 | Brock Lesnar (c) defeated Hardcore Holly.[3][4] | Singles match for the WWE Championship | 06:30 |
| 5 | Triple H (c) fought Shawn Michaels to a double count-out.[3][4] | Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship | 22:46 |
| 6 | Chris Benoit last eliminated The Big Show to win.[3][4] | 2004 Royal Rumble match | 1:01:30 |
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
Red ██ and "RAW" indicates a Raw superstar, blue ██. and "SD!" indicates a SmackDown! superstar. A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds.
| Draw | Entrant | Brand | Order | Eliminated by | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Benoit | SD! | - | WINNER | 1:01:30 |
| 2 | Randy Orton | Raw | 17 | Foley | 33:43 |
| 3 | Mark Henry | Raw | 3 | Benoit | 5:14 |
| 4 | Tajiri | SD! | 2 | Rhyno | 3:39 |
| 5 | Bradshaw | SD! | 1 | Benoit | 0:38 |
| 6 | Rhyno | SD! | 7 | Benoit | 14:00 |
| 7 | Matt Hardy | Raw | 8 | Duprée | 14:18 |
| 8 | Scott Steiner | Raw | 5 | Booker | 6:49 |
| 9 | Matt Morgan | SD! | 10 | Benoit | 12:14 |
| 10 | The Hurricane | Raw | 4 | Morgan | 0:19 |
| 11 | Booker T | Raw | 12 | Orton | 9:11 |
| 12 | Kane | Raw | 6 | Booker | 1:30 |
| 13 | Spike Dudley | Raw | - | Never entered the ring | 0:00 |
| 14 | Rikishi | SD! | 11 | Orton | 3:48 |
| 15 | René Duprée | Raw | 9 | Rikishi | 0:33 |
| 16 | A-Train | SD! | 13 | Benoit | 1:44 |
| 17 | Shelton Benjamin | SD! | 14 | Orton | 0:37 |
| 18 | Ernest Miller | SD! | 15 | Orton | 0:56 |
| 19 | Kurt Angle | SD! | 27 | Big Show | 29:04 |
| 20 | Rico | Raw | 16 | Orton | 1:06 |
| 21 | Mick Foley | Raw | 18 | Himself | 0:43 |
| 22 | Christian | Raw | 19 | Jericho | 7:39 |
| 23 | Nunzio | SD! | 22 | Goldberg | 3:48 |
| 24 | The Big Show | SD! | 28 | Benoit | 22:38 |
| 25 | Chris Jericho | Raw | 26 | Big Show | 14:58 |
| 26 | Charlie Haas | SD! | 20 | Goldberg | 6:53 |
| 27 | Billy Gunn | SD! | 21 | Goldberg | 5:37 |
| 28 | John Cena | SD! | 24 | Big Show | 7:37 |
| 29 | Rob Van Dam | Raw | 25 | Big Show | 6:44 |
| 30 | Goldberg | Raw | 23 | Angle | 2:07 |
References
- ^ "Wrestling Information Archive - Other WWF Information". http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wwf/wwfother.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^ a b "Royal Rumble 2004 Results". Pro Wrestling History. http://prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/rumble.html#2004. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Royal Rumble 2004". PWWEW.net. http://pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/january/2004.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Royal Rumble 2004 Results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/royalrumble04.html. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
External links
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