The 2004 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. It was the 17th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The event was based around the men's Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-man battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the winner received a world championship match at WrestleMania. As a result of the brand extension introduced in March 2002, which led to the creation of a second world championship with each brand having its own top title, the winner of the 2003 Royal Rumble challenged the world champion of their respective brand. For the 2004 event, the winner could choose which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania XX: 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 at the time, last held by Bob Backlund, staying in the match for over one hour; this record would be 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 Raw's 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.
Production Background
The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988; that first event was a television special before it became an annual pay-per-view (PPV) beginning in 1989. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It is named after and centered on the men's Royal Rumble match. The 17th Royal Rumble event was scheduled to be held on January 25, 2004, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands.
The Royal Rumble match is a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time, and it generally features 30 wrestlers. Since 1993, the winner earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. With the introduction of the brand split in March 2002, which led to the creation of a second world championship with each brand having its own top title, the winner of the 2003 Royal Rumble earned a match for their respective brand's top championship, but for 2004, the winner could choose which title to challenge for at WrestleMania XX: Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship.
Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. 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.
Royal Rumble qualification matches John Cena and Chris Benoit defeated Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo, and Johnny Stamboli in a handicap match – SmackDown!, December 30 (aired January 1) Rico defeated Tommy Dreamer – Heat, January 12 (aired January 18) Matt Morgan defeated Orlando Jordan – Velocity, January 13 (aired January 17) Rikishi defeated Scotty 2 Hotty – SmackDown!, January 13 (aired January 15) The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated Basham Brothers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham) – SmackDown!, January 13 (aired January 15) Nunzio defeated Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli in a triple threat battle royal – SmackDown!, January 13 (aired January 15) Big Show defeated Funaki – SmackDown!, January 13 (aired January 15) Tajiri defeated Billy Kidman – SmackDown!, January 20 (aired January 22) A-Train defeated Shannon Moore – SmackDown!, January 20 (aired January 22) Bradshaw defeated Akio and Sakoda in a triple threat match – SmackDown!, January 20 (aired January 22)
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.
A secondary rivalry heading into the event from the SmackDown! brand was between Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero. At Survivor Series, the Basham Brothers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham) defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship. After the event, Los Guerreros started to break up as a team when Chavo began blaming Eddie for the team's recent failure. On the November 20 episode of SmackDown!, Los Guerreros defeated The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) but after the match, Haas and Benjamin attacked Chavo and injured his leg. This caused Chavo to blame Eddie for the injury. On the November 27 episode of SmackDown!, Chavo was attacked again and he blamed Eddie. This continued on the December 4 episode of SmackDown!, when Eddie helped Chavo in defeating Benjamin in a one-on-one match. Chavo blamed Eddie for stealing the spotlight that Chavo needed. On the January 1 episode of SmackDown!, Eddie and Chavo finally broke up the team after losing to The World's Greatest Tag Team. However, on the January 8 episode of SmackDown!, Kurt Angle reunited Los Guerreros and earned them a WWE Tag Team Championship match against the Basham Brothers, which Los Guerreros lost. After the match, Los Guerreros finally ended when Chavo attacked Eddie and caused him to bleed. As a result, Chavo turned heel. On the January 15 episode of SmackDown!, Angle informed Eddie that the SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman had made a match between Eddie and Chavo at Royal Rumble.