The Year in PPV- 2004, Part II

2004 continues by bringing the Ruthless Aggression Era's greatest rivalry to an end...


6. Bad Blood

This show's undercard was fine, but it really boils down to how well two different feuds performed. The first was the feud between Chris Benoit and Kane. Centered on their World Heavyweight Championship match towards the end of the evening, the feud spilled over to the opening contest that saw Benoit and Edge challenge La Resistance for the World Tag Team Championships. The feud really worked out well for Benoit and Kane. Benoit was the proper wrestler to challenge Kane to have one of the greatest matches in his career, while Kane provided the Goliath to Benoit's David in another test of Benoit's legitimacy. Some extra credit should be given to the psychology involving Benoit's Crippler Crossface and whether he'd be able to put it on the Big Red Machine.

The main event, however, was much more important than the World Heavyweight Championship, as it brought the greatest rivalry of the Aggression Era to a close. Triple H and Shawn Michaels stepped inside Hell in a Cell to finally settle their differences. Battling for almost 50 minutes, this match is very polarizing among fans. Many appreciate the match for what it is, while others consider it too long and drawn out to be entertaining. I agree that it could've been shorter, but I still enjoy the brutality of the Hell in a Cell match and it's the best match to end their epic feud. That being said, the casual viewer (and even some die-hard fans) will have a tough time sitting through this one, so it does lose a few points for that.

Mild Recommendation


7. The Great American Bash

This show was main evented by a Concrete Crypt match. The concept being that the Undertaker would fight the Dudley Boyz and if Taker didn't do the "right thing" in Paul Heyman's eyes, Heyman would continue to pour cement in a glass crypt with Paul Bearer inside it. It's a truly idiotic idea in hindsight, but if you at least acknowledge that, you can laugh and enjoy yourself. But the main event is not enough to deteriorate from the fun I had watching this show.

This show featured 3 very unique and entertaining championship matches, and that's definitely worthy of some recognition. John Cena defended his United States Championship in a 4-Way Elimination match against Rene Dupree, Booker T, and Rob Van Dam. This was a main event worthy concept with the talent involved, and when it goes on first, that's a very good sign for your midcard. Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero absolutely tore it up in a Cruiserweight Championship match that went on for nearly 20 minutes. Talk about endurance from 2 of the greatest Cruiserweight competitors wrestling has ever seen. Then, in what should have been the main event, Eddie Guerrero defended his WWE Championship in a Texas Bullrope match against JBL. I'm not the biggest fan of strap match gimmicks, but these two make the most of it. Their feud had become so bitter, that it really didn't matter what match they had to settle their differences. Plus, the ending result did leave a lasting mark on history and perfectly shows how a superstar can have two feuds going on at once.

Recommended


8. Vengeance

A show can have good matches on the undercard and even a decent main event, but if the main storyline is an atrocity to professional wrestling, then it leaves a haunting shadow over the rest of the show. Case in point the feeling of ridiculousness that Eugene brought to Vengeance. Yes, at the height of the Ruthless Aggression Era, after the success of WrestleMania XX, the WWE thought it would be a great idea to introduce the character of Eugene, Eric Bischoff's mentally challenged nephew. Do I even need to explain why this shouldn't have been approved? As politically incorrect of a gimmick you'll ever see. A gimmick that would probably (and does) evoke a backlash response from the fans. And most importantly, a gimmick that brings all momentum for his opponents to a screeching halt. He's been around since Backlash, but I decided to leave him off because he wasn't harming anyone. But then he harmed Evolution and Chris Benoit. Thanks to the booking of Vengeance and the storyline going on with Triple H using Eugene to reclaim the World Heavyweight Championship, Eugene actually had an impact on two different matches on the card. To the horror of many, there was potential of Eugene become World Tag Team Champions with Ric Flair. Oh my goodness. Then, Eugene had a looming presence over the World Heavyweight Championship match between Chris Benoit and Triple H. Now, that match was a bit too much pure wrestling if you ask me, but Eugene was NOT the personality that needed to be injected into the feud.

Even if the show has a fun No Disqualification match with Kane and Matt Hardy, and an instant classic Intercontinental Championship match featuring Randy Orton and Edge, the momentum is almost completely killed with the idea of this show being built around Eugene. Seriously though, go find the Orton/Edge match anywhere else, but stay away from the rest of this show. Keep this match as far away from the Eugene context as possible. As far as Vengeance is concerned, you can call this the first disaster show of 2004. Hopefully the company learned from their mistakes.

Skip It


9. SummerSlam

I'm going to go ahead and split this review up between the SmackDown and RAW segments of the show. Let's start with SmackDown, as they opened the show with a 6-man tag that saw the Dudley Boyz take on the team of Rey Mysterio, Paul London, and Billy Kidman. This was a very exciting match to get the Toronto crowd excited for SummerSlam, as it had good tag team psychology and tons of Cruiserweight action as well. Then Booker T and John Cena squared off in the first match in a Best of 5 Series for the United States Championship. These two had a solid amount of chemistry together and the series really helped legitimize the value of the US title for SmackDown. Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero had a WrestleMania rematch that was a lot quicker in pace, but still had all the quality these two could put on a big stage environment. And to end the SmackDown portion of the show, JBL defended the WWE Championship against the Undertaker. These two put on more of a brawl than a wrestling match, so while some may show some dissatisfaction with the ending, I didn't mind it because it played out like anyone would expect.

For RAW, their matches were kicked off with a Till Death Do Us Part Match. Kane and Matt Hardy fought in a match where the winner would marry Lita on RAW. Yeah, they actually had a match like that. Anyways, we then had the Intercontinental Championship on the line in a Triple Threat (Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. Batista). It is here where it became exceptionally noticeable that the fans were reacting very strangely to the show, when they began booing hometown superstar Edge. Later on, the fans proved to be hostile again by booing the Diva Dodgeball segment. In reality, I probably would've booed that too, but Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler believed it to be hostile, so who am I to argue with JR and the King? We also had Triple H square off against Eugene. To know how I feel about this, I redirect you to my Vengeance review. Now put that on the second biggest show of the year, and you have my exact thoughts on why this is ludicrous to watch. At least it was against someone like Triple H, who still worked his butt off to keep the match compelling and entertaining. In the main event, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton faced off for the World Heavyweight Championship. This match was a great way to end the show, and with the amount of chemistry these two had, I wish their paths would've crossed more often afterwards. But still, the moment was a really memorable way to end a fantastic SummerSlam.

Highly Recommended


10. Unforgiven

The undercard for Unforgiven actually had 3 really solid matches (seems to be a pattern with this year). The show opened with Ric Flair and Batista taking on William Regal and Chris Benoit in a tag team match. They only mentioned Eugene on commentary, so I wasn't as bothered by his involvement. I instead focused on seeing the good tag team action between these 4 competitors. Then, the vacant Intercontinental Championship was decided in a ladder match between Christian and Chris Jericho. I'll go on record to call this match underrated, as I felt it not only delivered in quality, but also brought some closure to their memorable rivalry. And in a surprisingly good match, Kane took on the returning Shawn Michaels in a No Disqualification match. It may have been tied together with the silly Kane/Lita married storyline, but with Michaels involved, I was easily entertained.

While nearly every fan could argue with the decision of the World Heavyweight Championship match, it can't be denied that they really built up the feud between Randy Orton and Triple H as something special and intense. After winning the title at SummerSlam, Orton was kicked out of Evolution by Triple H. Rather than cower in fear of The Game, Orton fought back and vowed to put Triple H in his place. The match is pretty solid as well. I've gone on record to hate on most of their encounters, but this one had the right buildup and booking. Just wish the end result would've happened at a later time.

Recommended


Thoughts: The change in scenery was good while it lasted. Not to sound like I'm hating on these PPVs, which I'm not, but it really does feel like they were dangling the Benoit and Guerrero pushes in front of the fans only to take them away months later. Even more so, the fact that Unforgiven ended with Evolution back on top put things back into the regular routine for the company. It's as if Benoit's push was a nice little vacation for Triple H and when he was ready to come back to work (so to speak), he was able to take his spot back without any problems. How a superstar can go from ending his greatest rivalry, to wrestling a mentally challenged character, to becoming World Heavyweight Champion once again is beyond me. As for the SmackDown side of things, I really enjoyed seeing the rising stock for both JBL and John Cena, with them taking on legends like Eddie, Taker, Booker, and RVD to boost their credibility, good character development all around. I didn't hate seeing Eddie out of the WWE title picture because he was kept in a high profile rivalry with Kurt Angle. Shows at this point are mixed bags with high quality main events. Occasionally, the midcard delivered one or two matches that really impressed me so the chain of momentum was kept at a decent level. Hopefully things can end on a high note for 2004.

Concluded in Part III...


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