2004 Royal Rumble Review

Tonight im starting a review for one of the best Rumble ppvs ever, the 2004 edition. Now this review comes years after the whole Benoit family murder suicide so let's see if the aftermath affects my judgement of the ppv. Im reviewing from my original copy of the broadcast which includes a Sunday Night Heat match.


JR, King and Coach are doing commentary for Raw and Tazz and Cole are covering Smackdown.


Womens Match

Victoria w Steven Richards Vs Molly Holly


Don't think this was included on the home video. It's just a preshow match and the main event of the Heat episode that took place at the rumble 1 hour to showtime. Victoria gets the win with the widows peak at 4:58ish. Standard womens match. 1 star.


Match #1

Raw Tag Team Championship Tables Match

Ric Flair And Batista Vs The Dudley Boys


Batista insults the Eagles but the fans don't care mutch because it's January and they imploded once again in the playoffs. Everybody fights outside and Batista eats post. D-Von powerslams Flair and the Boys set up the table, but Batista moves it out of the way. Dudleys get a double neckbreaker on him and D-Von dumps him with a clothesline, Flair chops Bubba and Bubba rams him into the table and does the flip flop fly elbow. Dudleyz go for the 3D on Flair through a table but Coach runs interference and Batista spinebusters D-Von through the table for the win at 5:14. Lousy opener. Call it 1/2 star.

Cena cuts a promo and RVD interrupts him. Cena busts on his weed habit, funny stuff.


Match #2

Cruiserweight Championship Match

Rey Mysterio Vs Jamie Noble


I still remember this match vividly. Not because it was great. Just because right at the introduction I went downstairs to make a sandwitch and when I came back they were running the promo for the Guerrero feud. This match got the piss break treatement. Noble sends Rey outside then Rey sets him up for an early 619 but gets dropped on his face instead. Noble stomps and kicks then drops Rey on the ropes for a 2 count. Rey gets a schoolboy for 2 but Noble clotheslines him down. Noble chinlocka nd Rey fights out with a rana then a bulldog for 2. Springboard crossbody hits Noble’s knees. Noble goes for a tiger driver but Rey escapes and Nidia (who is still blind from Tajiri's mist) trips up Noble and Rey hits the 619 and west coast pop for the pin only 4:30 in. Bleh cruiserweight match. 1 star.


Match #3

Singles Match

Eddie Guerrero Vs Chavo Guerrero w Chavo Sr


They hook up and they chop eachother then they wind up outside where Sr tosses Eddie to the steps. Back inside they roll around and punch at eachother on the mat. Eddie gets an armbar. Chavo gets out of it and gets a back suplex then the triple suplex. Chavo tries a tornado ddt but Eddie counters and does his own triple suplex. Eddie goes up top for the frog splash and gets the pin at 7:58. Eddie beats the snot out of Chavo postmatch to end the feud. Call it 2 stars.


Match #4

Smackdown Championship Match

Brock Lesnar Vs Hardcore Holly


Brock accidently hurt Hollies neck months back and now Holly wants to kill him.
Big fight outside to start and Bob gets posted. Back inside Bob gets snap suplexed. Brock with a bearhug on the mat. Brock works the back and it's a slow methodical (aka boring) match. Brock gets a fisherman brainbuster for 2. Brock with an overhead suplex for 2 then back to the bearhug. Holly fights out and makes the comeback and he hits the dropkick and alabama slam but goes for his new gimmick, the full nelson to try and break Brock's neck. They fall outside and Holly won't let go. Out of nowhere Brock gets off an F-5 and pins Holly to retain at 7:14. Well, there goes Hollies title contention run. 1 1/2 star. Just didn't like it very much.


Stupid promo for the Raw title match as they treat it as if this is the direct followup to HHH/Michaels Summerslam and act as if they haven't already been feuding for the past year and a half almost straight.


Match #5

Raw Championship Last Man Standing Match

HHH Vs Shawn Michaels


They punch it out and Michaels wins it then he goes to a headlock. HHH gets off a facebuster then sends him to the corner and a backbreaker to work the age old injury. Shawn gets a figure four, he lets go so the ref can count but HHH is up at 3. Shawn dropkicks the knee and charges as HHH pulls the rope down and Shawn goes outside. They fight onto the announce table but it goes unused and the crowd complains. Back in, Shawn goes up, but gets kicked coming down. HHH gets backdropped over the top. Shawn tries a springboard crossbody, HHH dodges adn he lands on the prepped table and blades off of whatever. Back inside Shawn gets up at 7 and HHH pounds on him. Shawn takes a count, gets up gets punched down and repeat this for a few moments. HHH goes for a chair and cracks Shawn who still gets up at 9. HHH goes for the Pedigree, but Shawn counters with a slingshot and HHH gets busted open. Chairshot from Shawn and HHH gets up before the 10 count. Flying forearm and both guys are out, but Shawn kipup and gets an inverted atomic drop. Superkick is blocked by a low blow. They slug it out and Shawn tries a sleeper and that puts HHH down for 8. HHH gets a desperate ddt. Shawn gets sent to the corner then backdropped, but both guys are out again. Back up at 8 for both, but HHH gets the pedigree first. HHH is up first obviously and Shawn still gets up before the 10 count. Shawn gets the superkick finally but both guys are KO'd at 22:33ish. It's a draw and the crowd booes it out of the building and chants BS as both do the stretcher job. JR tries selling them as dead but HHH would probably of been out the following Raw for the first segment of the show and ramble on how he beat Michaels. Im going 3 stars then ending hurt it.



Were too early to finish the ppv so Bishoff comes out to shoot on Heyman and how Raw is better then Heyman shows up and they squabble then Austin shows up and stuns them to get to the main event.


Terri interviews Goldberg and Brock jumps in and Golbderg makes him look like a punk. Which confimrs that Goldberg won't be winning.


Match #6

2004 Royal Rumble


JR and Tazz doing commentary. The first year that one guy from Raw and one from Smackdown would do commentary together for the Rumble. Chris Benoit is #1, made personally by Heyman who doesn't like him very much and #2 is the IC champ Randy Orton. Benoit stomps away in the corner and gets a snap suplex, but Orton fights back and they struggle to eliminate eachother. Mark Henry is #3 adn he beats on both. First year where each guy has their name on screen along with their #. Henry works Benoit over in the corner, as Tajiri is #4. He kicks Orton and gets the handspring elbow, but Benoit stops him with a german suplex. Orton gets tossed, but hangs on. Orton pounds on Henry in the corner as Bradshaw is #5 and he kills everyone except Benoit who counters the Clothesline from Hell with a crossface. Brashaw manages to stand up and put him over the top but Benoit scissors him out. This is the guy they would put over Eddie for the Smackdown title later in the year? Rhyno is #6. He goes after Orton and Benoit while Tajiri gets a half Tarantula on Henry. Rhyno ends up goring Henry and that dumass Tajiri gets eliminated in the same fashion as last year. Henry staggers to the ropes and Benoit bumps him out after 3 shoulder charges. In a replay we see Tajiri spraying mist in Henries face. Matt Hardy is #7 and no Matt Facts:( Side effect on Rhyno. Everyone pairing off. Rhyno tries to suplex Matt out and Scott Steiner is #8. He starts throwing clotheslines and suplexes on everyone and doesn't fall down like last year. He goes for Benoit, but Chris gets some german suplexes on him. Matt almost has Orton out, but Benoit saves with a backdrop suplex, and Matt Morgan is #9. He immediately hits Benoit with a sitout powerbomb, and Boots Matt down. Nash Choke on Orton in the corner. Hurricane is #10 and he comes in with a bodypress on Matt, then jabs at Morgan who isn't fazed by it, but Huricane uses the Hot Rod eyepoke then runs for a cross body and gets tossed and tweaks his knee on the way down. While this is going on Steiner and Orton and doing some homoish looking routine on the mat, creepy. Hardy tries clipping Morgan, but it doesn' really work. Booker T is #11, and he and Steiner duke it out. Axe kick on Orton and he fights with Morgan. Kane is #12 and during his entrance Steiner gets eliminated off camera and it's shown on the replay as an afterthought. Last year he is pushed to the moon and doesn't have to wrestle a single match, goes to the 2003 Rumble for a title shot, makes an ass out of himself and by this point he gets eliminated off camera, just another lower card heel. I always found the Rumble interesting to watch in chronological order because you really get an idea of how each guys career status was with the following year. Kane chokeslams everyone and then #13 is.........a bell toll.......IT'S THE UNDERTAKER!!! Kane freaks out and Booker dumps him and it's actually Spike Dudley pulling a fast one. Kane chokelsams him on the ramp and that's enough to keep him out of the match. Spike was getting revenge for Kane beating him up and causing him to miss the #30 entrant battle royale the previous week. Benoit tries to get Hardy out, and Rikishi is #14. Rhyno makes a lameass blind charge and Benoit dumps him easy. Rikishi gives Morgan the stinkface as Rene Dupree is #15. He fights with Matt and suplexes him to the apron then dropkicks Matt off the apron and out. Dupree does his fa**otty dance and Rikishi eliminates him with a phantom superkick. A-Train is #16 then Benoit dodges Morgan and he ends up going over and out. Everyone gangs up on Train, but Orton decides to dump Rikishi instead rather easily. Then he dumps Booker immediatelyl after which was kind of a sucky elimination spot. A-Train, Benoit and Orton are left and Shelton Benjamin is in at #17. Benoit dumps Train as Shelton goes after Orton, he misses a superkick and gets crotched on the top rope and Orton shoves him out. Back to Benoit/Orton. Benoit hits a belly to back suplex and they run the ropes and collide for a double knockout. Ernest Miller at #18 (god I hated this gimmick) runs in and does his stupid dance and Benoit and Orton beat him up and his little toady butler and throw them both out. Kurt Angle is #19. Benoit and Angle fight it out and Randy hangs out in the other corner. Benoit with the knife edges and elbows Angle in the corner. Vertical suplex by Angle and he tries to put Benoit out, but Orton breaks it up. Rico is #20 and he starts kicking Orton but eats and RKO and Orton disposes of the corpse. Test is #21 but noshows. The cameraman finds him backsatge and he is out cold. Austin and some refs check him over and Austin argues with somebody off camera and tells them that they are takign Test's place. IT'S MICK FOLEY!!! Crowd goes nuts, Orton ****'s himself and Foley beats his powder blue smug ass all over the ring. At the time I was so roped up in the match I was honestly suprised when Foley showed so I kinda marked out too:) Cactus Clothesline eliminates both guys at and Mick chokes out Orton with an electric line. Christian is #22. Foley takes out a ref with the steel steps and Orton lays him out with a chair. Up the rampway and Foley pulls out Mr Socko. Nunzio is #23, and he walks right into it. Orton punts Foley in the nuts and runs away. Nunzio decides to sit outside the ring for awhile. Benoit and Christian team up on Angle. Angle hits a german on Christian, and one on Benoit, then fights to get Christian out. Big Show is #24, and he goes right for Angle, and then deals with the other two. He pounds Angle down and owns the ring. Jericho is #25 and he helps Christian beat up Angle. Jericho is in tweener mode at this point, gearing up for the feud with Christian in a few weeks. Show doublel headbutts both guys. Everybody gangs up on Show and Show is able to fight them off. Charlie Haas is #26, and he gets double suplexed by Jericho/Christian. Christian and Jericho toss Benoit, but he hangs on. Then Christian turns on Jericho and tosses him, but he scoots back in then he backdrops Christian out from the apron, eliminating his stooge for a second year in a row. Billy Gunn is making his "return" at #27 and he gives some people the fameasser. Everybody finds a partner as Jericho gives Angle a belly to back suplex. John Cena is #28, and stares at Nunzio who tells him to piss off, Cena says "YOU CAN'T SEE ME" and throws him in. Show slaps Nunzio accross the back. Cena takes over and gets beat up himself. Rob...Van.....Dam is #29 and he goes right after Show. Cena FU's Angle and Goldberg is #30. Goldberg destroys everything in sight. Spear on Show, spear on Gunn and a powerslam on Haas. Nunzio gets the ugliest spear in history and he's DOA. Haa's get eliminated with an atomic wedgie by Goldberg, then he sends Billy out and another step closer to finally leaving for good for TNA. Goldberg press Nunzio out then tries a jackhammer on Show but Brock runs in and gives Goldberg the F-5 to a huge pop and Goldberg yells menacingly at Brock and Angle sneaks up and dumps him to another pop. Were left with Benoit, Angle, RVD, Cena, Jericho and Show. They make another attempt but they can't get enough leverage and he splits the pile. So they beat him into unconsciousness with an angle slam, lionsault, five star frog splash, five knuckle shuffle (a lamer version of the peoples elbow if that's possible), and flying headbutt. Angle directs traffic and they try to pick up the load but can't budge him except rolling him to the ropes. Show yells instructions ON CAMERA about the elimination order which has always hurt the match for me personally. Wakes up and throws Cena out and he lands bad on the knee. RVD does the back flip shoulder thrust and tries a monkey flip and gets dumped out like a dummy. He tosses Jericho who goes Michaels 95 and gets back in. Jericho is backdropped out but slides in again. Show tosses him into the corner, but Jericho comes back with a bulldog and goes for the walls of jericho. Angle breaks it up and fights with Jericho on the ropes, but Show breaks it up and chokeslams Jericho out finally to leave himselfc against Benoit and Angle. Angle walks into a sideslam, and Show chokeslams Benoit. Show fights off Angle’s suplex attempt, but gets angle slammed again, and Benoit gets one too. Angle asks the crowd who to go for first and Show wins the vote. Angle lock and Show is tapping but that doesn't count for nothing. Show gets to the ropes and pulls himself over and Angle is too stupid to let go and he ends up getting pulled out and eliminated. Benoit is now left against the Big Show who eliminated the other 4 finalists. Benoit with a diving headbutt that brings Show back in then Show tries a chokeslam and Benoit counters to the crossface as Show taps. Show powers up and sideslams Benoit. Show goes for a press slam, but Benoit counters to a front facelock and Show walks him to the ropes but Benoit hangs on and uses his low profile to slowly pull Show down and Show starts teetering!! HE'S, HE'S!!!?? BIG SHOW IS ELIMINATED, BENOIT WINS THE ROYAL RUMBLE at 1:01:33. Still the best Rumble ending in history for me personally. Benoit's miserable end doesn't really dillute this or any of his career in my mind, but then again, I might of had a psychotic episode where I blocked out the grief, who knows. Im giving it 4 1/2 stars. Im only knocking off 1/2 star for that business of calling the spots so audibly on camera.


Overall Opinion: Most of the card was horribly rushed to accomodate the Rumble match, but more it was the fault of HHH/Michaels who got more time than they needed to run a lameass double KO draw. The 2004 Rumble or 1991 are my favorites of all time.


Final Score: Because of how weak the undercard was this one only gets a 4.8. It's definately still worth checking out for the main event.