Royal Rumble (2004)

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Royal Rumble (2004)
Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s)	RAW SmackDown!
Date	January 25, 2004
Venue	Wachovia Center
City	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance	17,289[1]
Pay-per-view chronology
Armageddon (2003)	Royal Rumble (2004)	No Way Out (2004)
Royal Rumble chronology
Royal Rumble (2003)	Royal Rumble (2004)	Royal Rumble (2005)

Royal Rumble (2004) was the seventeenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on January 25, 2004 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The official theme song was "Nothing Left to Lose" by Puddle of Mudd.^[2]

Contents 1 Results 2 Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations 3 Royal Rumble qualification matches 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Sunday Night HEAT match: Victoria (w/Steven Richards) defeated Molly Holly (4:56)^[3][4]
  • Victoria pinned Holly after a Widow's Peak.^[3][4]
• Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) in a Tables Match to retain the World Tag Team Championship (4:23)^[3][4]
  • Batista used a spinebuster to put D-Von through a table.^[3][4]
• Rey Mysterio defeated Jamie Noble (w/Nidia) to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (3:12)^[3][4]
  • Mysterio pinned Noble after a Droppin' The Dime.^[3][4]
• Eddie Guerrero defeated Chavo Guerrero (w/Chavo Guerrero, Sr.) (8:03)^[3][4]
  • Eddie pinned Chavo after a Frog Splash.^[3][4]
  • After the match, Eddie assaulted both Chavo and Chavo Sr.^[3][4]
• Brock Lesnar defeated Hardcore Holly to retain the WWE Championship (6:30)^[3][4]
  • Lesnar pinned Holly after an F-5.^[3][4]
• World Heavyweight Champion Triple H fought Shawn Michaels to a double count-out in a Last Man Standing match (22:46)^[3][4]
  • Both men failed to answer the referee's ten count after Michaels hit Triple H with Sweet Chin Music and both men collapsed. As a result, Triple H retained the title.^[3][4]
• Chris Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble (1:01:30)^[3][4]
  • Benoit won by last eliminating The Big Show^[3][4]

[edit] 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
01 1	Chris Benoit	SD!	30 -	WINNER	61:30 1:01:30
02 2	Randy Orton	RAW	17	Foley	33:43
03 3	Mark Henry	RAW	03 3	Benoit	05:14 5:14
04 4	Tajiri	SD!	02 2	Rhyno	03:39 3:39
05 5	Bradshaw	SD!	01 1	Benoit	00:38 0:38
06 6	Rhyno	SD!	07 7	Benoit	14:00
07 7	Matt Hardy	RAW	08 8	Duprée	14:18
08 8	Scott Steiner	RAW	05 5	Booker	06:49 6:49
09 9	Matt Morgan	SD!	10	Benoit	12:14
10	Hurricane The Hurricane	RAW	04 4	Morgan	00:19 0:19
11	Booker T	RAW	12	Orton	09:11 9:11
12	Kane	RAW	06 6	Booker	01:30 1:30
13	Spike Dudley	RAW	-	Never entered the ring	00:00 0:00
14	Rikishi	SD!	11	Orton	03:48 3:48
15	René Duprée	RAW	09 9	Rikishi	00:33 0:33
16	A-Train	SD!	13	Benoit	01:44 1:44
17	Shelton Benjamin	SD!	14	Orton	00:37 0:37
18	Ernest Miller	SD!	15	Orton	00:56 0:56
19	Kurt Angle	SD!	27	Big Show	29:04
20	Rico	RAW	16	Orton	01:06 1:06
21	Mick Foley	RAW	18	himself	00:43 0:43
22	Christian	RAW	19	Jericho	07:39 7:39
23	Nunzio	SD!	22	Goldberg	03:48 3:48
24	Big Show The Big Show	SD!	28	Benoit	22:38
25	Chris Jericho	RAW	26	Big Show	14:58
26	Charlie Haas	SD!	20	Goldberg	06:53 6:53
27	Billy Gunn	SD!	21	Goldberg	05:37 5:37
28	John Cena	SD!	24	Big Show	07:37 7:37
29	Rob Van Dam	RAW	25	Big Show	06:44 6:44
30	Goldberg	RAW	23	Angle	02:07 2:07

[edit] Royal Rumble 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 Chris Benoit, thus Paul Heyman would only allow one of them to enter.

[edit] Notes

• 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.
• 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 knowing GM Paul Heyman's intentions to screw him over and challenged Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.
• During the Royal Rumble, the famous 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 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 came out and eliminated Orton. The two then brawled to the back.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official 2004 Royal Rumble website
• "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts", Wrestling’s Historical Cards, Kappa Publishing, 2007, pp. 114. 
• twnpnews.com - Royal Rumble