The Year in PPV- 2004, Part III

With 2004 ending, fans wondered if anyone could stop JBL's reign as WWE Champion...


11. No Mercy

This era just seems primed for a fan like myself. I love the quality talent that are on this show, ranging from the likes of Booker T and John Cena fighting for the United States Championship, to Eddie Guerrero opening the show with Luther Reigns, to Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam challenging Kenzo Suzuki and Rene Dupree for the WWE Tag Team Championships. Every match, whether it was a main event or a midcard match or even a filler feud match, felt like enough effort and progression was put into them in order for all to stand out as a fight worth watching.

The two major highlights of the show came in the form of two very different types of main event matches. The first saw Big Show seek revenge on Kurt Angle for shooting him with a tranquilizer dart and shaving his head. I REALLY would not want to be Kurt Angle during this match, for the record. The other match saw JBL defend the WWE Championship against the Undertaker in a Last Ride match. In order to win this match, you have to beat your opponent so senseless that you can stuff them in the back of a hearse. In this instance, I really wouldn't like to be JBL either. While he was definitely a fighting champion, everyone in the world knew he would need a miracle to walk out of this match as champion. This was the genius of the JBL character. Everyone thought his next championship match would be his last, so whenever he'd walk away victorious (no matter the circumstances), fans were left stunned and amazed that he was able to survive. That's a textbook example of how to effectively book a main event heel.

Recommended


12. Taboo Tuesday

For the first show of its kind for the WWE, this felt like a really important event. Sure, there's a handful of junk matches on the card, but at least the fans were able to vote in entertaining stipulations. On the championship side of this show, the choices are absolutely excellent. You have the options of who to vote in to challenge Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship with some of the options including Batista, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, and even Jonathan Coachman. The World Heavyweight Championship match saw fans vote between Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, and Edge to see who would challenge Triple H for the belt. The two that weren't voted into the match would instantly become number one contenders for the World Tag Team Championships in a match against La Resistance. That's a lot of talent being (minus Coach) properly utilized on a PPV.

The main event feud between Ric Flair and Randy Orton was a tad questionable, as I would've placed the World Title match for the end, but I guess this match gave a better "send them home happy" moment. Overall, this show is very entertaining due to the fan participation gimmick and for the first of its kind in the WWE, it was treated with a lot of respect in its execution.

Recommended


13. Survivor Series

Even if they had a dull match between the Undertaker and Heidenreich, SmackDown still felt like the dominant brand in talent at this show. To think that this show opened with a Cruiserweight Championship match that saw Spike Dudley, Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, and Billy Kidman battle in a Fatal 4-Way for the belt, had Team Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Rob Van Dam, and Big Show) take on Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak, and Carlito), AND had JBL defend the WWE Championship against Booker T, it's easy to see the array of diverse talent the blue brand had at the time.

That's not to say RAW wasn't impressive, as they had some pretty good action as well. Shelton Benjamin defended the Intercontinental Championship against Christian in a very impressive match that continued to show how much promise a talent like Shelton Benjamin had at the time. The Women's Championship match, while brief, saw the greatest women's rivalry of all-time (Trish Stratus vs. Lita) get to arguably its most personal of encounters. The title didn't matter to Lita. All she wanted was to beat the living daylights out of Trish, and boy did she succeed. The main event had some big fight implications (potentially) as Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Maven) challenged Team Evolution (Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Snitsky) in a match where the winning team would control RAW for a month. Admittedly, Maven felt like an odd choice (couldn't they have worked in Kane or Shawn Michaels?), but he's not in it very long so no major harm done. This show has a lot of variety from both shows, and is definitely worth a look from most fans.

Highly Recommended


14. Armageddon

Give credit where credit is due. While not every match here is an instant classic, at least the show provided enough variety to leave fans happy. On this show, we have a Street Fight (John Cena vs. Carlito's bodyguard Jesus for the United States Championship), a Dixie Dog Fight boxing match (Daniel Puder vs. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin), a handicap match (Big Show vs. Team Angle), and even a match where Kurt Angle challenged Santa Claus. While variety is important, there should also be some importance on the quality of championship matches. We definitely had that in the form of the show's opener (Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam vs. Kenzo Suzuki and Rene Dupree for the WWE Tag Team Championship), and an impressively handled underdog match for the Cruiserweight Championship (Spike Dudley vs. Funkai).

Then we have the main event to end the year which combined SmackDown's match quality and variety by forcing JBL to defend his WWE Championship in a Fatal 4-Way against Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, and the Undertaker. Wow, talk about star quality. This match was incredible to watch considering the diverse amount of talent. We had moments of technical wrestling, high-flying action, brawling, power moves, even some hardcore wrestling with the no disqualification rules. This match had it all, and it once again showed how brilliant the JBL booking was going at the time, because at this point, everyone thought JBL didn't have a prayer to walk away victorious. A great representation of all of SmackDown's positives in 2004 culminating in one match.

Recommended


Final Thoughts: I was on vacation when I was watching the final string of 2004 shows and I think that really helped maintain my excitement levels. That being said, this string was fascinating particularly for the SmackDown side of things, which had a bit more direct continuity of talent that was showcased. This show had Big Show, Van Dam, Cena, Booker, JBL, Eddie, Angle, Mysterio, and Taker. My goodness, what an arrangement of talent for your brand. Whenever these men were featured in a main event matchup, fans were engaged the whole way through and I definitely appreciate that. As for RAW, while Orton led a rebellion against Evolution, it was very short lived, but changes were on the horizon. But RAW at the end of 2004 was still in that teasing stage of when Batista would break free and stand up to Triple H, so in terms of PPV, RAW ended a bit early. But still, the main event matches really worked, and there were enough midcard matches that maintained overall solid shows. It was a great way to bring an excellent year like 2004 to a close.


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